Tag Archives: attorney

Arkansas DEA Extortion Scam Alert!

The Eastern District of Arkansas put out a scam alert this week to inform residents that impersonators are contacting citizens in the Little Rock district posing as DEA (Drug Enforcement Administration) agents and extorting them. Anyone that receives a telephone call from a person claiming that they are a DEA special agent or other law [...]

Return-A-Pet Scam Preys On Victims Of Lost Pets

It’s annual pet scammer week! That’s a lie. But it sure feels like it. Eric Stein was charged with running an investment scam through Return-A-Pet LLC. Return-A-Pet was a New York company that allegedly facilitated the return of lost pets to their owners. Stein was out on supervised release for a previous investment fraud scheme [...]

Tax Refund Check Cashing Scheme Hits Southern Florida

As tax season rolls around it’s no surprise to see tax refund check cashing schemes arising in the news. Announced Monday was the filing of a criminal Information charging defendants Wilson Lau, and his wife, Kate Yuee Lau, for their participation in a check cashing scheme involving more than $5 million in fraudulently obtained tax [...]

A 25 Count Indictment For Investment Scheme Fraudster Announced

A federal grand jury in Pheonix returned a 25 count indictment against Gerald Lee Kelly on four counts of wire fraud, six counts of mail fraud, 10 counts of money laundering and five counts of structuring financial transactions to avoid federal bank reporting requirements. The indictment alleges that in 2006 and 2007, Kelly operated a [...]

Corrupt Criminal Club: Member’s Only

On Wednesday of last week word broke about the largest insider trading scheme involving single stock charged to date. Three defendants have pled guilty and are cooperating with the government’s investigating a scheme that allegedly netted more than $61.8 million in illegal profits. Charges were announced against seven investment professionals, who worked at three different [...]

Computer Programmer Charged With Stealing Software Code From Federal Reserve Bank

A complaint unsealed last Wednesday in Manhattan federal court charged Bo Zhang, a computer programmer, with stealing proprietary software code from the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, where Zhang worked as a contract employee. Janice Fedarcyk, FBI assistant director-in-charge, stated: “Zhang took advantage of the access that came with his trusted position to steal [...]

Timeshare Telemarking Fraudster Sentenced

It was announced on January 9, 2012 that Jennifer Kirk was sentenced to 188 months (almost 16 years) in prison for conspiracy to commit mail and wire fraud when Kirk victimized consumers in a timeshare telemarking scam. Kirk will also serve five years of supervised release after the completion of her prison term, during which [...]

Elaborate Scheme Leaves 180 With Over $1 Million In Fraudulent Purchases

Charges were announced last Thursday against seven members of an identity theft ring that allegedly used stolen identities of more than 180 people at major New York City retail stores including Home Depot, Sears, Kmart and Kohl’s, among others. The ring of fraudsters resold merchandise and gift cards for a profit after purchasing them under [...]

Romanian Citizen Busted For $1.5 Million Fraud Ring Of HSBC Customers

Last Thursday it was announced that Laurentiu Ilian Bulat was arrested yesterday for allegedly participating in a fraud ring that stole at least $1.5 million from HSBC customer bank accounts by installing “skimming” devices on more than 40 ATMs in Manhattan, Long Island, and Westchester, New York. According to the Complaint since May 2011, the [...]

Fraudster Sentenced After Defrauding Victims In Investment Fraud

James DeAngelis was sentenced last week to 57 months in prison for participation in a fraud investment scheme where he defrauded more than 15 victims out of $800,000. In May of 2011 DeAngelis pled guilty to conspiracy to commit mail and wire fraud, wire fraud, ad conspiracy to structure financial transactions to evade reporting requirements. [...]

Four Israeli Residents Charged With Phony Lottery Prize Scheme Extradited To US

It was recently announced that four defendants have been extradited from Israel on charges relating to their participation in multiple lottery telemarketing fraud schemes. The schemes targeted elderly victims in the United States and netted millions of dollars in profits. In July of 2009 three of the extradited defendants, Avi Ayache, Yaron Bar, and Ian [...]

Fraudster Deported Back To United States To Face $3.2 Million Fraud Charges

This past New Year’s weekend Joseph Randall Medcalf was deported by Panama officials back to the United States after being charged with defrauding investors of $3.2 million. Medcalf fled the country back in 2008 after filing for personal bankruptcy in 2007 in order to discharge debts related to his scheme. According to the indictment, between [...]

University of Georgia Ph.D. Student Sentenced For Fraud And Identity Theft

In early December, Carlton Lewis, a former Ph.D. student was sentenced to 70 months in prison for his role in an identity theft and credit card fraud conspiracy. Throughout the conspiracy, Lewis, who was enrolled as a Ph.D. student at the University of Georgia, provided credit and debit card skimming devices to waitresses working in [...]

Lebanese Financial Institutions Linked to Hizballah Allegedly Wired Over $300 Million Into The United States In Money Laundering Scheme

Announced earlier last week was the filing of a civil money-laundering and in rem forfeiture complaint alleging a massive, international scheme in which Lebanese financial institutions, including a bank and two exchange houses linked to Hizballah, used the U.S. financial system to launder narcotics trafficking and other criminal proceeds through West Africa and back into [...]

Fraud Scheme Related to the World Trade Center Site Clean-Up

A trucking company’s owners have been indicted on embezzlement, tax evasion and million dollar fraud charges related to the World Trade Center site clean-up. A thirty-one count indictment was unsealed in federal court in Brooklyn this month charging trucking company owners Gerardo P. Fusella and Vincent J. Fusella, Jr., with crimes including embezzlement, mail fraud [...]