Fraud
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Misrepresentation
Jacob R. Kirkley, a 48-year-old man from Bismarck, Ill., was found guilty on Dec. 4 of five counts of counterfeiting U.S. currency and selling and possessing counterfeit U.S. currency, according to a Justice Department press release.
Embezzlement
Kristi Margaret Berge, the 48-year-old founder and CEO of Keep Safe Investments, aka KSI Financial, a planning and investment services firm, was sentenced to 30 months in federal prison and two years of supervised release for her role in a wire fraud scheme in which millions of client investment funds were misappropriated, according to the […]
Money Laundering
Prosecutors unsealed an indictment in November that charges nine people in an alleged multi-state money laundering scheme that yielded millions of dollars from internet fraud and business email compromise (BEC) schemes.
Embezzlement
On Nov. 26, a U.S. district court sentenced Evan Bobzin, a 39-year-old man from Chester, Pa., to 24 months in prison, followed by three years of supervised release for theft and tax offenses in which he embezzled $2 million, according to a Justice Department press release.
Embezzlement
Teresina DeAlmeida, 59, from Warren, N.J., was sentenced to 36 months in prison on Dec. 6 for her part in a scheme to defraud Seton Hall Law School of over a million dollars, according to a DOJ press release. DeAlmedia, her sister Silvia Cardoso, 61, from Warren, N.J., and Rose Martins, 44, from East Hanover, […]
Financial Gains
Katherine Mott-Formicola, 54, from Pittsford, N.Y., pleaded guilty on Dec. 3 to charges related to a scheme to inflate various bank accounts artificially, according to a DOJ press release. Mott-Formicola pled guilty to money laundering and financial institution fraud for her “check kiting” scheme that cost the banks millions of dollars.
Misrepresentation
Cory Zeidman, 63, from Boca Raton, Fla., pleaded guilty on Dec. 4 to charges related to a multi-year, multi-million dollar sports betting scheme, according to a DOJ press release. Zeidman pled guilty to conspiracy to commit mail and wire fraud.
Misrepresentation
Saint Jovite Youngblood, aka. Koto Youngblood, 52, from Austin, Texas, was sentenced on Dec. 4 to 40 years in prison for charges relating to a scheme to defraud people out of millions of dollars, according to a DOJ press release.
Money Laundering
Richard Charles Appelbaum III, 40, from Maryland Heights, Mo., was sentenced on Dec. 5 to three years in prison for his part in a scheme to launder millions of dollars into cryptocurrency, according to a DOJ press release.
Border Patrol
Raj Matharu, 31, from Northridge in the San Fernando Valley of Los Angeles, was charged on Nov. 26 with possession with the intent to distribute methamphetamine, according to a DOJ press release.
Embezzlement
The owner of a property management company stole over one million dollars from over 70 homeowner associations in Virginia.
Financial Gains
A mother and son spent a month casing a salon in preparation for a jewelry heist that rocked Southern Florida.
Misrepresentation
Jimmy Fu, a 63-year-old man from West Hills, Calif., was arrested on Oct. 30, 2024, and subsequently charged with one count of a money laundering conspiracy, according to a Justice Department press release.
Medical Fraud
University of Colorado Health, doing business as UCHealth, has agreed to pay for allegedly violating the False Claims by automatically upcoding emergency room visits, according to a Justice Department press release.
Medical Fraud
An ophthalmology practice called Brandon Eye, which has offices in Brandon, Sun City and Plant City, Fla., has agreed to pay $1.3 million to resolve violations of the federal False Claims Act and a similar state statute, according to a Nov. 12 Justice Department press release.
Misrepresentation
A Macy’s employee made improper accounting entries to the tune of $150 million over three years, which should have been applied toward delivery expenses.
Misrepresentation
A federal jury in Brooklyn found Avraham “Avi” Tarshish guilty of a conspiracy to commit wire and bank fraud, according to a new Justice Department press release. Tarshish and a team of co-conspirators cheated mortgage lenders, including Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, out of millions of dollars.
Bribery
Frederick E. Cooper and his pharmaceutical company QOL Medical agreed to pay $47 million to resolve allegations that they caused the submission of false claims to federal health care programs by offering kickbacks in the form of free Carbon-13 breath testing services, to induce claims for QOL’s drug Sucraid, according to a Justice Department press […]
Identity Theft
A New York man was sentenced to life in prison on Nov. 6 for murdering and dismembering a woman in a plot to cash in on her $200,000 life insurance policy.
Financial Gains
Joseph Ponzo, a 51-year-old former police officer from Stoneham, Mass., and his younger brother Christoper, 50, pleaded guilty to a bribery and kickback scheme that netted them millions of dollars from Mass Save contracts, according to a DOJ public statement.
Financial Gains
The owner of Red Barn Diesel Performance installed illegal software to circumvent emission control systems required by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
Money Laundering
Ronald Bauer, a Canadian and United Kingdom citizen who resided in the UK, pleaded guilty for his role in a long-running so-called “pump-and-dump” stock manipulation scheme.
Misrepresentation
Jeffrey Alan Benjamin, 62, from Jenkinsville, S.C., was sentenced on Nov. 21 to one year and one day for failing to provide accurate information to the energy company SCANA, which caused them to deceive regulators, shareholders and the public, according to a DOJ press release.
Identity Theft
Ten people were convicted in federal court for their participation in an identity theft and fraud ring that extended from South Carolina north to New York, south to Florida and west to Texas, touching down in North Carolina, Florida, Georgia, Virginia and Missouri along the way.
Embezzlement
Brian Logan, 50, an attorney in Frankfort, Ky., pleaded guilty on Nov. 20 to aggravated identity theft, money laundering, wire fraud and bank fraud in a scheme to steal from charities, according to a DOJ press release.
Elder Fraud
If elder fraud were a stock, you would be a fool not to buy, buy, buy.
Misrepresentation
Roberto Munoz, a 29-year-old man from Hialeah, Fla., and Jason Rhodes, a 34-year-old man from Flushing, N.Y., were arrested and charged for their alleged roles as couriers in so-called “grandparent scams” that targeted senior citizens in multiple states, including Rhode Island and Massachusetts.
Bribery
The son of Ecuador’s former comptroller general has avoided trial by pleading guilty to a multimillion-dollar scheme to launder money on behalf of his father, Carlos Roman Polit Faggioni (Carlos Polit).
Bribery
Greg Lindberg, 54, currently living in Tampa, Fla., pleaded guilty on Nov. 12 to conspiracy to commit money laundering for his part in a scheme to scam insurance policyholders and regulators, according to a DOJ press release. The scheme took place in multiple areas, including Malta, Bermuda and North Carolina.
Misrepresentation
Aaron A. Wagner, 42, and Michael Mains, 46, both from Alpine, Utah, were officially indicted on Nov. 6 on 16 counts of financial crimes concerning money laundering and wire fraud, according to a DOJ press release.
Financial Gains
Babatunde Francis Ayeni, 33, a Nigerian national living in the United Kingdom, was sentenced to ten years in prison for his part in a years-long scheme that affected 400 people and stole nearly $20 million, according to a DOJ press release.
Embezzlement
A New York bank manager received a prison sentence for stealing from a customer who was about to die.
Embezzlement
A Springfield, Va., has pleaded guilty to a heinous act– stealing money from former prisoners of war.
Financial Gains
Darren Barr, 39, from Philadelphia, was sentenced to 57 months in prison on Nov. 6 for his part in a scheme to defraud the Lucas County Auditor’s Office, according to a DOJ press release. Barr organized and collaborated with other co-conspirators, pretending to be county-approved vendors to get over $620,000.
Elder Fraud
A federal court sentenced Ogheneofejiro Godswill Uzokpa, 28, of Warri, Nigeria, to seven years in prison for stealing hundreds of thousands of dollars from at least a dozen elderly women in a romance scheme, according to a DOJ press release. The sentence comes after Uzokpa pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy and one count […]
Medical Fraud
Michael Kestner, a 72-year-old owner of Pain MD and MedManagement, Inc. clinics in Franklin, Tenn., has been convicted of orchestrating a healthcare fraud scheme that involved pressuring vulnerable patients into receiving unnecessary back injections, primarily targeting individuals undergoing opioid addiction treatment.
Medical Fraud
Ivor Jallah, a 37-year-old pharmacy owner from Dallas, Texas, has been sentenced to federal prison for his involvement in a massive healthcare fraud scheme.
Misrepresentation
As King Louis XV – the one between the Sun King and the man who brought you the French Revolution – might say, “Après le déluge, les arnaques (after the deluge, the scams).”
Money Laundering
Chaojie Chen, 41, a Chinese national living in Chicago, pleaded guilty on Aug. 5, and Li Pei Tan, 46, from Buford, Ga., pleaded guilty on Oct. 30 to conspiracy and money laundering charges in a scheme that involved moving drug money for the Sinaloa and Jalisco Cartels, according to a DOJ press release.
Financial Gains
The Justice Department reached a settlement with NH Learning Solutions Corporation (NHLS) over allegations that the company inflated Post-9/11 GI Bill claims.
Embezzlement
On Oct. 12, Colby Parks, a 65-year-old former lawyer from Seattle, was indicted for twelve counts of wire fraud for allegedly embezzling from a client’s trust account.
Embezzlement
Jeffrey A. Royer, 61, from Montrose, Colorado, was indicted on Oct. 17 on charges of participating in a foreign exchange (forex) trading scheme, according to a DOJ press release. He allegedly defrauded his many investors out of over $1 million.
Embezzlement
A renowned art advisor Iadmits to scamming clients out of millions of dollars.
Money Laundering
Allen Onyema, the Chairman, CEO and founder of Air Peace, a Nigerian airline, was charged in a superseding indictment on Oct. 11 with obstruction of justice for submitting false documents to the U.S. government to end an investigation of him.
Misrepresentation
Bobby Shumake Japhia, aka Robert Samuel Shumake Jr., aka Shaman Bobby Shu, has been indicted on security fraud and obstruction of justice.
Financial Gains
A man admitted to stealing thousands of dollars from sports betting investors for years.
AI Extortion
Aleksandr Viktorovich Ryzhenkov, a Russian national, was charged with using the BitPaymer ransomware variant to perform attacks on numerous victims in Texas and throughout the United States, holding their sensitive data for ransom, according to a public statement by the U.S. Justice Department.
Medical Fraud
Zishan Alvi, a 45-year-old man from Inverness, Illinois, pleaded guilty on Sept. 30 to his role in a COVID-19 testing fraud scheme, according to a press release by the Justice Department.
Medical Fraud
Eight defendants were charged on Oct. 8 with a total of 14 counts of crimes related to a $68 million Medicaid fraud scheme.
Medical Fraud
Acadia Healthcare, one of the biggest for-profit chains of psychiatric hospitals, has agreed to settle fraud claims alleged by the federal government, according to a Sept. 26 Justice Department statement.
Identity Theft
Three members of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) have been charged with conspiracy, fraud, identity theft and wire fraud for allegedly hacking into accounts of current and former U.S. officials, media, NGOs and U.S. political campaigns, according to a recently unsealed indictment obtained by The Daily Muck.
Financial Gains
Handing over a counterfeit iPhone to Apple so they can replace it with a real one is not a foolproof plan.
Medical Fraud
As of Oct. 2, 2024, Precision Toxicology, doing business as Precision Diagnostics, has settled accusations of False Claims Act violations by agreeing to repay $27 million to the federal government.
Tax Evasion
Stephen T. Mellinger III, a securities broker, financial advisor, and insurance salesman from Florida, was indicted for a decade-long scheme to operate and promote an illegal tax shelter, stealing from his clients’ funds and money laundering, according to a Justice Department press release.
Misrepresentation
Defrauding wealthy businessmen has landed this cowboy in serious trouble.
Misrepresentation
A former investment management firm partner stole over $2.4 million in two fraud schemes.
Misrepresentation
After being extradited from the United Kingdom in 2022, a Nigerian national was brought to justice for defrauding American businesses and universities of millions of dollars in an email compromise scheme.
Identity Theft
Working with the State Department and the Treasury Department, as well as other international and federal law enforcement partners, the DOJ seized cryptocurrency exchange websites and charged two Russian nationals in a billion-dollar money laundering scheme, according to an indictment that was unsealed on Sept. 26.
Medical Fraud
Billing government programs for prescriptions your customers never received can get you in hot water.
Financial Gains
Taking $70,000 in donations for a statue dedicated to fallen officers and spending it on yourself and your family won’t impress a jury of your peers.
Misrepresentation
Sport is, in theory, a noble competition in which the best of the best– those who combine talent with work ethic– win competitions and championships.
Medical Fraud
Oak Street Health, a CVS subsidiary, agreed on Sept. 18 to pay $60 million to resolve allegations that it paid kickbacks to third-party insurance agents, according to a DOJ press release.
Embezzlement
Jarett Robert Lewis, a 44-year-old man from Washington D.C, was arrested on Sept. 5 and charged with embezzling more than $320,000 from a non-profit advocacy organization.
Financial Gains
A Romanian national stole hundreds of thousands of dollars from families who can barely make ends meet.
Elder Fraud
Morice Armani Brown, a 24-year-old man from Jamaica residing in Florida, was sentenced to 63 months in prison, with an additional year on supervised release for his role in defrauding an elderly woman from Lenoir City, Tennessee.
Financial Gains
Jonathan Freeze, a 65-year-old man accused of conspiring to commit mail and wire fraud, pleaded guilty on Sept. 4 before United States District Judge Robert J. Colville, according to a plea agreement obtained by The Daily Muck.
Medical Fraud
Dennis W. Haggerty, a 48-year-old man from Burr Ridge, Ill., was sentenced to spend six years and five months in federal prison for misappropriating over $1.85 million in company funds, according to a press release by the U.S. Attorney’s Office, Northern District of Illinois.
Medical Fraud
“Ignorance and Empathy” may sound like the title of a Jane Austen novel, but they are two causes of what can be called “innocent” Medicare fraud. However, health care providers must remember two maxims: ignorance of the law is no excuse, and the road to Hell is paved with good intentions.
Medical Fraud
For over 13 years, Alexandria, La., pain management specialist Dr. Michael E. Dole billed Medicare for medically unnecessary urinalyses of his patients, according to a six-count indictment released Sept. 18, the Department of Justice announced in a recent press release.
Money Laundering
In a fascinating new case that tests the legality of AI-generated art, Michael Smith, a 52-year-old musician from Cornelius, North Carolina, was arrested and indicted for using sophisticated artificial intelligence to create a streaming music fraud scheme that netted him more than $10 million.
Financial Gains
Daniel Jarrett Ridlinghafer, 37, of Marana, Ariz., was indicted on 11 charges of bank, wire and mail fraud by a federal grand jury in Tuscon on Aug. 14, according to a DOJ press release. Ridlinghafer defrauded homeowners out of more than $695,000, prosecutors say.
Elder Fraud
As of the writing of this report, five Dominican Republic nationals have been extradited to New Jersey in a “grandparent scam” that defrauded hundreds of elderly Americans of millions of dollars. A Bronx man has also been arrested for wire fraud conspiracy in connection with the scheme.
Elder Fraud
Everyone’s fantasy: a rich relative you never knew about dies and leaves you several million dollars. Your first thought is, “This will change my life.” For 400 U.S. senior citizens who were conned out of $6 million over a five-year period, that statement proved to be all-to-true.
Identity Theft
Carlos Corona, a 37-year-old man from South Los Angeles, was sentenced to seven years and three months in federal prison for leading a conspiracy that defrauded banks and credit unions of more than $2.7 million, according to a court judgment in the case.
Financial Gains
In March 2016, federal agents seized a 2000-year-old, one-ton ceramic mosaic piece of floor that had been illegally brought into the United States several months earlier.
Elder Fraud
Two more members of an international fraud ring that preyed on elderly Americans in several U.S. states were sentenced to federal prison on Aug. 16, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for Western Michigan announced in a press release. That leaves only the leader, nicknamed “Master,” to have his day in court.
Police
Bankruptcy is helpful when debt seems insurmountable, but committing bankruptcy fraud to get out of paying a settlement can get you in hot water.
Identity Theft
Four years ago, the United States and the world were in the grips of the COVID pandemic. While there were many heroes in that battle, there were also villains.
Medical Fraud
Owners of the medical practice named Orange Medical Care P.C. from Newburgh, New York, Ashikkumar A. Raval, and Manish A. Raval, were ordered to repay at least $600,000 of a $1.6 million lawsuit by the U.S. federal government, according to a press release by the U.S. Attorney, Southern District of New York.
Embezzlement
Nothing grinds the gears of law-abiding taxpayers more than a city official stealing nearly a million dollars from the city.
Embezzlement
With great power comes great responsibility. One trusted town clerk didn’t learn this lesson as he decided to steal the town’s money he was hired to protect.
Police
A federal jury convicted Morteza Amiri, a former police officer, of one count of wire fraud and conspiracy to commit wire fraud in a scheme to obtain pay raises from the Antioch Police Department, California, by falsely obtaining a university degree.
Identity Theft
Elvis Week is not the time to steal Graceland if you want to do it without the media attention. This “clever” lady, allegedly, didn’t get that memo.
Medical Fraud
When your doctor prescribes a custom compound medication for you, the last thing you’d expect is they’d get extra cheddar for doing so.
Financial Gains
Alcides Roman, a 65-year-old man from Lebanon, Tennessee, has been indicted on charges of defrauding investors out of more than $1 million.
Money Laundering
Mozambique’s former finance minister, 68-year-old Manuel Chang, was sentenced to 20 years in prison on Aug. 8 after being convicted of conspiring to commit wire fraud and money laundering in connection with a $2 billion scheme that targeted investors in the United States and other countries.
Identity Theft
After eluding authorities for seven years, an Orlando man has been sentenced to almost 5½ years in federal prison for fraud and identity theft, the U.S. Attorney for Central Florida reported in a press release.
Medical Fraud
The owner of a Spokane Valley medical supply company will pay almost $225,000 for a kickback scheme to bill Medicare for unnecessary medical equipment, the U.S. Attorney’s Office reported.
Medical Fraud
A New Orleans man, John M. Spivey, who pled guilty on July 30 to conspiracy to commit Medicare fraud will not be sentenced until April 15, 2025, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said in a press release.
Embezzlement
Long-time Des Peres Alderman John Pound was sentenced on Aug. 1 to five years of probation and ordered to repay $292,305 he embezzled from two clients of his property management company from 2006 to mid-2020, according to a press release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office, Eastern District of Missouri.
Embezzlement
Christopher Adam Jensen-Tanner, a former escrow company owner from Roswell, New Mexico, has been sentenced to 46 months in prison for defrauding his clients, according to a July 29 press release issued by the U.S. Attorney’s Office, New Mexico District.
Medical Fraud
A North Carolina/Tennessee healthcare company has been charged in federal court with Medicare fraud, according to a complaint filed by the U.S. Attorney for the Western District of North Carolina.
Misrepresentation
Did 23 Chinese Swimmers Cheat at the 2021 Olympics? A Meeting Has Been Called to Find Out
Misrepresentation
The U.S. has arrested a former Special Forces soldier and owner of a private security company on charges related to organizing a failed Venezuelan coup in 2020.
Medical Fraud
In a significant move to combat healthcare fraud, the Justice Department, in coordination with the FTC, filed an amended complaint last month against Cerebral, Inc., a telehealth provider, and its executives.
Negligence
Magellan Diagnostics, Inc., a medical device company out of Billerica, Massachusetts, pled guilty to federal criminal charges in June over accusations that it concealed a malfunction of a device that recorded incorrectly low lead results in tests it provided for tens of thousands of their patients, many of whom were children, according to a Department […]