Crime INC

Dean Baldwin and Paul Debenham, both 25, and Michael Weightman, 26, attacked stores repeatedly across Britain.

2009-10-19T16:52:00.000+01:00

Dean Baldwin and Paul Debenham, both 25, and Michael Weightman, 26, attacked stores repeatedly across Britain. masked bandits used crowbars and sledge hammers to burst into high street shops overnight, cleaning out tills in a five-month burglary spree.The gang netted at least £60,000 in profits and caused a similar amount in damage, Inner London Crown Court was told. The raiders first struck in the early hours of August 19 last year, tearing through front doors of the Bedford town centre store and grabbing £300 from the till. They went on to steal from 43 more M&S stores in England, Scotland and Wales in well executed break-ins. James Brown, prosecuting, said: "These three defendants were involved in a long-running and sophisticated conspiracy to burgle Marks and Spencer stores up and down the country. "The conspiracy relied on a piece of inside knowledge namely that, at that time, a certain amount of cash was left overnight in the tills. "The participants were well-organised and aware of CCTV and forensic issues. "They were careful to remain only a few minutes inside the store once the alarms had gone off and were quite content to cause considerable damage to gain entry to the shop and the tills inside."
A raid at a store in Ayr on January 6 finally caught up with Baldwin, after his stolen blue VW Golf was captured by a security camera entering the town. He was arrested two days later by cops in the getaway car which contained gloves, crowbars and sledgehammers, and hundreds of pounds-worth of M&S vouchers stolen in Falkirk.
However the remaining members of the gang continued with the raids before being caught by police on January 23. Baldwin, of Croydon, Debenham, of Gatestone, Upper Norwood, and Weightman, of, Sutton, all in South London, each admitted conspiracy to burgle between August 1 last year to January 31 this year. Debenham admitted a further count of burglary, relating to the theft of a Wii console and a laptop on May 5 this year. Judge Lindsay Burn remanded the trio in custody ahead of sentence on October 28.

Hazem Khalid al-Braikan, who ran Al Raya Investment found dead with a self-inflicted gunshot wound to his head

2009-07-28T18:07:00.001+01:00

Hazem Khalid al-Braikan, who ran Al Raya Investment, was found dead just three days after the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) accused him of making millions of dollars from trading on falsified takeover deals. The SEC last week froze more than $5m (£3m) of his assets in various trading accounts after claiming the money was earned on false news of a purported offer by a secretive Middle Eastern investment group to buy US audio equipment maker Harman International Industries, a rumour which saw Harman’s share to rise 40pc before the opening bell on July 20.
Mr Al-Braikan’s body was found in his home in an upmarket district of Kuwait City on Sunday. Although the cause of death has not been officially confirmed, Associated Press reported the trader was found in his bed with a self-inflicted gunshot wound to his head. The SEC investigation made headline news last week not just because of the companies whose shares had been allegedly manipulated, but also because banking conglomerate Citigroup owns a 10pc stake in Al Raya. Citigroup has declined to comment on the matter. In addition to Al Raya, the SEC’s investigation focused on KIPCO Asset Management of Kuwait and the United Gulf Bank in Bahrain, which Mr Al-Braikan had connections to. Both institutions have denied profiting from the trades, which they have said were made on behalf of clients. In its allegations, the SEC at no time named Mr Al-Braikan as the man allegedly responsible for initiating the stock market rumours, and has declined to say who they believe started them. However, the regulator takes a dim view of those who make profits from market manipulation, whether knowingly or not. According to local reports, Mr Al-Braikan was yesterday buried at Sulaibikhat Cemetery on the outskirts of Kuwait City. Staff at Al Raya were given the day off to attend.

Amit Mathur, founder and former president of Entrust Capital Management of Worcester, was convicted last May

2009-04-28T11:48:00.000+01:00

Amit Mathur, founder and former president of Entrust Capital Management of Worcester, was convicted last May. He wants a new trial and is challenging the credibility of a primary witness.Assistant U.S. Attorney John Capin has filed a motion opposing the bid for a new trial, saying Mathur’s arguments show his "continued refusal to accept responsibility."Investigators say Mathur used the $13 million to cover trading losses and personal expenses such as jewelry and a Porsche sport utility vehicle. He is being held in a federal detention facility in Rhode Island while awaiting his scheduled May 11 sentencing.

Nancy Jean Siegel, 61, was convicted in March of second-degree murder, witness tampering, theft of government benefits, identity theft

2009-04-28T11:46:00.000+01:00

Nancy Jean Siegel, 61, was convicted in March of second-degree murder, witness tampering, theft of government benefits, identity theft and other charges of fraud, according to a statement from U.S. Attorney for the District of Maryland, Rod Rosenstein.
U.S. District Judge Andre M. Davis sentenced Siegel to 400 months in prison Thursday, according to Rosenstein. Thomas Saunders, Siegel's attorney declined to comment on the sentence.Siegel was convicted of killing Jasper Frederick Watkins, a Reisterstown man who prosecutors said was nearly 30 years older than Siegel and who moved into her Ellicott City home sometime after the two met and began a relationship in 1994.Within months of meeting Watkins, Siegel began using his bank and credit accounts, making extensive charges for clothing, jewelry and larger purchases, according to Rosenstein. She also obtained credit using Watkins personal information. By August 1995, Siegel had racked up tens of thousands of dollars of credit card debt and had an outstanding loan for a BMW for more than $40,000, according to Rosenstein.Siegel then persauded Watkins to obtain a $44,000 mortgage on his house in Reisterstown to pay off the balance on 13 credit cards, according to prosecutors. She later persuaded Watkins to take out another $20,000 mortgage, promising to marry him and use the money to buy a condo for them to live in, prosecutors said.She never bought the condo and used the money for her own expenses, according to Rosenstein. Siegel sold Watkins' house in April 1996 and began taking steps to have him wrongfully committed for psychiatric care, while pawning his personal assets, according to Rosenstein.
Autopsy reports indicate that Watkins died sometime around May 13, 1996, and found blunt force trauma to the back of his head and toxic levels of a sedative in his body, according to Rosenstein.
Watkins' body was found near trash at an access point to the Appalachian Trail in Virginia.For seven years after Watkins' death, Siegel diverted Watkins' Social Security and retirement annuity payments for her own use, according to Rosenstein.Siegel is being held by federal authorities, who declined to disclose her location.

Rafeal Heard, 34, of Cleveland, is charged with bank fraud and failing to appear in federal court

2009-04-28T11:37:00.002+01:00

Rafeal Heard, 34, of Cleveland, is charged with bank fraud and failing to appear in federal court. U.S. postal inspectors say Heard gets others to open checking accounts he uses to deposit checks he makes. Heard's criminal history includes aggravated trafficking in cocaine, drug possession, theft, forgery, tampering with records, having guns, falsifying records and passing bad checks.He is 6 feet 1 and 170 pounds. He has contacts throughout Cleveland's East Side and frequented the East 114th Street and Hopkins Avenue area.

Fairfield Greenwich Group, the hedge fund that steered $7 billion to Bernard Madoff, faces new claims of fraud by investors

2009-04-28T11:33:00.001+01:00

Fairfield Greenwich Group, the hedge fund that steered $7 billion to Bernard Madoff, faces new claims of fraud by investors who previously alleged negligence against co-founders Walter Noel, Jeffrey Tucker and Andres Piedrahita. The class-action suit, first filed in January in Manhattan federal court, was amended April 24 to include claims that the three co-founders and the firm acted so recklessly in placing client money with Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securities LLC that their actions constituted fraud. The amended complaint relies on documents filed by Massachusetts Secretary of the Commonwealth William Galvin, who filed an administrative complaint against Fairfield Greenwich and its Sentry Funds April 1, and other investigation by the plaintiffs.
The investors’ complaint, which seeks damages for their losses, claims that Fairfield Greenwich and its executives had no basis to tell investors that their historical profits were real, that Madoff’s “split-strike conversion strategy” was legitimate, or that the firm conducted adequate due diligence. “The evidence that has come to light shows that certain of the Fairfield defendants had acted so recklessly in promoting the Fairfield Sentry Funds that they’re liable for fraud,” said Stuart Singer, of Boies, Schiller & Flexner LLP, one of the lead lawyers in the case. Had Fairfield Greenwich investigated Madoff, the “fraud would have been exposed many years ago,” he said. Madoff, 70, pleaded guilty March 12 to fraud by using money from new investors to pay off old ones in the largest Ponzi scheme in U.S. history. Before his Dec. 11 arrest, he had told his thousands of clients that they had about $65 billion in accounts with him, prosecutors said. Feeder funds like Fairfield Greenwich gathered investor money in their own names and sent it to Madoff. Fairfield Greenwich said the claim that it failed to exercise due diligence on behalf of investors is “false and misleading,” according to the company’s April 1 statement in response to the Massachusetts lawsuit. Fairfield “conducted vigorous and robust monitoring on an ongoing basis of the Madoff investments,” the statement said. “This monitoring was consistent with the representations made to investors in the Sentry funds.”
“These are absolutely meritless allegations against Mr. Tucker and Fairfield Greenwich,” his lawyer, Marc Kasowitz, said in an interview today. “Mr. Tucker and Fairfield Greenwich were as much the victims of Madoff’s fraud as the literally thousands of other victims.” The suit names Madoff, Fairfield Greenwich, and directors of Fairfield funds. Also sued were Citco Bank Nederland NV, a custodian; Citco Fund Services (Europe), a transfer agent; and fund administrator GlobeOp Financial Services SA. Noel’s lawyer, Glenn Kurtz, and Citco spokesman Jonathan Gasthalter declined to comment. A spokeswoman for GlobeOp who wouldn’t provide her name also refused to comment. Calls to Fairfield Greenwich’s lawyer, Peter Kazanoff, and Piedrahita’s lawyer, Andrew Levander, weren’t immediately returned. Among the approximately 30 named plaintiffs in the class action case are Pasha and Julia Anwar, an Illinois couple who claim Fairfield advisers ignored red flags about Madoff, and Pacific West Health Medical Center Inc. The suit seeks to represent more than 100 investors.

The 112-page complaint, which also contains breach-of-duty and gross negligence claims, says the investors lost their money as a “direct” result of the defendants’ failure to fulfill their obligations. It seeks the recovery of hundreds of millions of dollars in fees paid to the defendants.

“When members of the plaintiff class raised questions about Madoff, the Fairfield defendants repeatedly -- and falsely -- assured them that they had nothing to worry about,” the complaint said. In reality, “Madoff exercised total dominance and control over the monies invested as soon as he received them from the Fairfield defendants, without any oversight, advice or contest from them.” Fairfield Greenwich has also been sued by the town of Fairfield, Connecticut’s pension fund and its 1,500 members.
Separate suits are pending against other Madoff feeder funds, including Gabriel Capital LP and Cohmad Securities Group, which was part-owned by Madoff.

Metro Dream Homes was founded by Andrew Hamilton Williams Jr.

2009-04-28T11:21:00.002+01:00

Metro Dream Homes was founded by Andrew Hamilton Williams Jr., who used some of the $50,000 minimum payments provided by home owners to cover the losses of an automated-teller-machine scheme he was ordered to shut down in 2001, according to the indictment unsealed Monday.Investors in Metro Dream Homes who forked over the $50,000 were told the company would pay off the their mortgages, court documents said. Instead, the cash was used to pay off the mortgages of the original investors, and often just landed in the pockets of Williams and the three other top company officials charged, according to the indictment.The Dream Homes Program was advertised at seminars in luxury hotels in the District, Maryland and Beverly Hills, Calif., the indictment said. Some of the original investors whose mortgages were actually being paid by later investors, would tout the program’s success during the seminars. Investors were encouraged to invest $150,000 or more through incentives offering cash rewards and positions on Metro Dream Homes’ board of directors.
The company claimed the investment dollars would be spent on promoting the company’s three side businesses: the placing of ATM’s in high-traffic areas, placing in existing businesses electronic kiosks selling telephone cards, and the placing of flat screen televisions showing video advertisements in various businesses, prosecutors allege.None of those businesses ever turned a profit, according to the indictment. Instead, much of the cash was spent on the 10 chauffeurs hired to cart around company employees in high-end cars including several Mercedes-Benzes, Cadillacs, Lincolns and Land Rovers. They also sent select employees to the 2007 NBA All-Star Game and spent $60,000 sending employees to the 2007 Super Bowl, prosecutors contend.No lawyers for the company or persons indicted were listed in court records.federal grand jury has indicted four defendants, and an information has been filed against a fifth defendant, for their participation in a massive mortgage fraud scheme that allegedly promised to pay off homeowners' mortgages on their "Dream Homes," but left them to fend for themselves, Assistant Attorney General of the Criminal Division Lanny A. Breuer and U.S. Attorney for the District of Maryland Rod J. Rosenstein announced today. The indictment was returned on April 22, 2009, and unsealed today.
"The Criminal Division and the U.S. Attorneys' Offices are jointly committed to redoubling our efforts to uncover and prosecute fraud and abuse in all facets of the housing market - a market upon which so many American families have pinned their hopes and their futures for so many years," said Assistant Attorney General of the Criminal Division Lanny A. Breuer. "I want to assure the American public that we will not rest until the tide of this criminal activity is turned.""The indictment alleges that the defendants used slick marketing to conceal empty promises," said U.S. Attorney Rod J. Rosenstein. "They convinced many victims to invest at least $50,000 by refinancing their existing homes or buying new homes at inflated prices, while claiming that Metro Dream Homes would repay the mortgages with revenue from profitable businesses. The indictment alleges that there was no revenue to pay the mortgage payments. Instead, the conspirators used some of the investors' money to repay earlier investors in the Ponzi scheme and spent the remainder on themselves.""The effects of this wide-ranging mortgage fraud scheme are particularly disturbing within the backdrop of today's economic environment. With our federal, state and local partners working on 18 mortgage fraud task forces and 47 mortgage fraud working groups across the country, the FBI is committed to combating mortgage fraud and other financial crimes nationwide to protect the American homeowner and the national economy," said Executive Assistant Director Thomas J. Harrington, FBI Criminal, Cyber, Response, and Services Branch."IRS Criminal Investigation takes allegations of mortgage fraud seriously," said "Eileen Mayer, Chief, IRS Criminal Investigation. "These types of crimes drive home owners into foreclosure, erode the integrity of our tax system and threaten the financial health of our communities." According to the indictment, from 2005 to 2007 the defendants allegedly used corporate names such as "Metropolitan Grapevine LLC," "Metro Dream Homes," "POS Dream Homes," and "POS DH LLC" (collectively, MDH) to target homeowners and home purchasers to participate in a purported mortgage payment program called the "Dream Homes Program." To participate, an investor had to provide a minimum of $50,000 for each home enrolled in the program, in addition to an "administrative fee" of up to $5,000. In exchange, the program promised to make the homeowner's future monthly mortgage payments, and pay off the homeowner's mortgage within five to seven years. Thereafter, the homeowner and MDH would own an equal interest in the home. The indictment alleges that Andrew Hamilton Williams, Jr., 58, of Hollywood, Fla., was the founder and owner of MDH; Michael Anthony Hickson, 46, of Commack, N.Y., was the chief financial officer; Isaac Jerome Smith, 46, of Spotsylvania, Va., was the president; and Alvita Karen Gunn, 31, of Hanover, Md., was the vice president of operations. The information alleges that Carole Nelson, age 50, of Washington, D.C., was the chief financial officer of POS Dream Homes. The indictment further alleges that Dream Homes Program representatives explained to investors that the homeowners' initial payments would be used to fund investments in automated teller machines (ATMs), flat-screen televisions that would show paid business advertisements, and "Touch-N-Buy" electronic kiosks that sold telephone calling cards and other items. To give the Dream Homes Program a veneer of legitimacy and financial success, the defendants marketed the program through live presentations at luxury hotels in Maryland, Washington, D.C., and Beverly Hills, Calif., among other locations. The defendants allegedly told some of the investors that they should not worry about the price of the homes or monthly mortgage payments because MDH would make mortgage payments on their behalf.The indictment alleges that the defendants failed to advise investors that: the ATMs, flat-screen televisions and kiosks never generated any meaningful revenue; the defendants used the funds from later investors to pay the mortgages of earlier investors; and MDH had not filed any federal income tax returns throughout its existence. The defendants also allegedly failed to advise investors that their investments were being used for the personal enrichment of select MDH employees, including the defendants, to: pay salaries of up to $200,000 a year as well as their mortgages; employ a staff of 10 chauffeurs and maintain a fleet of luxury cars; and travel to and attend the 2007 National Basketball Association All-Star game and the 2007 National Football League Super Bowl, staying in luxury accommodations in both instances. Nor were investors told that investor funds were allegedly used to: pay off investors in a prior failed ATM investment venture that Williams had founded called Bankcard Group; make multiple donations of up to $50,000 each to charitable organizations to allegedly give MDH the appearance of being financially successful; and fund investments in third-party businesses that had not been disclosed to investors.On Aug. 15, 2007, the Maryland Securities Commissioner issued a cease-and-desist order to Williams, MDH and other related companies directing them to immediately cease the offering and sale of unregistered securities in connection with their promotion of the Dream Homes Program. However, the defendants thereafter allegedly called additional meetings in which they made additional misrepresentations about the financial success of MDH's operations. On Sept. 4, 2007, the defendants filed a legal challenge in federal court in Maryland to the cease-and-desist order. The indictment alleges that at a hearing on Sept. 12, 2007, Hickson testified that the financial success of the Dream Homes Program did not rely upon new investor funds, when in fact Hickson knew that the sole source of meaningful revenue for MDH was new investor funds.As a result of the scheme, more than 1,000 investors in the Dream Homes Program invested approximately $70 million. When the defendants stopped making the mortgage payments, the homeowners were left to attempt to make the mortgage payments MDH had promised to make in full.The four indicted defendants face a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison for the fraud conspiracy; 20 years in prison on each of the 15 counts of wire fraud; and 20 years in prison for conspiracy to commit money laundering. Hickson also faces a maximum sentence of five years in prison for making false statements. Smith also faces a maximum sentence of 30 years in prison for bank fraud arising out of his alleged misrepresentation of his income in order to obtain a bank loan to purchase a new Bentley automobile. Nelson was charged by information with money laundering, which carries a maximum penalty of ten years in prison. The indictment seeks forfeiture of the fraud proceeds, including $70 million.An indictment is not a finding of guilt. An individual charged by indictment is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty at some later criminal proceeding.This prosecution is being brought jointly by the Maryland and Washington, D.C. Mortgage Fraud Task Forces, which are comprised of federal, state and local law enforcement agencies in Maryland, Washington, D.C. and Northern Virginia. The Task Forces were formed to promote the early detection, identification, prevention and prosecution of various kinds of mortgage fraud schemes. This case, as well as other cases brought by members of the Task Forces, demonstrates the commitment of law enforcement agencies to protect consumers from fraud and help to ensure the integrity of the mortgage market and other credit markets. Information about mortgage fraud prosecutions is available on the internet at http://www.usdoj.gov/usao/md/Mortgage-Fraud/index.html.
Assistant Attorney General Lanny A. Breuer and U.S. Attorney Rod J. Rosenstein praised the FBI, IRS - CI, the Maryland Attorney General's Office, Securities Division and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, Office of Inspector General for their investigative work; and thanked Assistant U.S. Attorneys for the District of Maryland Jonathan C. Su and Bryan E. Foreman, who are prosecuting the case.

Ashley Wynn, 28, of Virginia Beach, was sentenced today following her pleading guilty to conspiring to commit credit union fraud

2009-04-28T11:12:00.000+01:00

Ashley Wynn, 28, of Virginia Beach, was sentenced today following her pleading guilty to conspiring to commit credit union fraud in federal court in January, the news release said. former finance manager of a used car dealership was sentenced to serve 33 months in prison for defrauding the Navy Federal Credit Union, a news release from the U.S. Attorney’s office for the Eastern District of Virginia said.According to court documents, Wynn was working as the finance manager for the Car Store, a now defunct used-car dealership that operated in Virginia Beach. As its finance manager, Wynn regularly obtained car loans for prospective car buyers from Navy Federal by fraudulent means, the news release said.
Specifically, Wynn would assist buyers with poor credit in obtaining financing by preparing false loan applications and documents, concerning a buyer’s income, expenses, employment and living arrangements, and then forwarding the applications to Navy Federal.From August 2007 through May 2008, the credit union made 61 car loans totaling more than $1.1 million that were fraudulently obtained through the Car Store. Navy Federal Credit Union and several insurance companies have suffered losses on these loans totaling more than $500,000, the news release said.

Financier Danny Pang defrauded investors of hundreds of millions of dollars

2009-04-28T11:09:00.001+01:00

Financier Danny Pang defrauded investors of hundreds of millions of dollars,obtained a temporary order freezing his assets.As part of the SEC's civil lawsuit filed in federal court in Los Angeles, U.S. District Judge Philip Gutierrez froze the assets of Mr. Pang and the Irvine, Calif., businesses he ran, Private Equity Management Group Inc. and Private Equity Management Group LLC. The judge also appointed a receiver, Robert P. Mosier, to safeguard the existing assets.
SEC complaint against Pang SEC statement on Pang From the Archive
Highflying Financier Faces Questions 04/15/09Pang Firm Left Some Big Funds Unaudited 04/16/09China Business Leader Linked to Pang 04/17/09Pang Steps Aside as Head of Firm 04/17/09Taiwan Banks Probe PEMGroup Notes 04/23/09The judge ordered Mr. Pang to return money sent overseas and to surrender his passport. The investigation is continuing.Mr. Pang's investment practices came to light in a page-one article earlier this month in The Wall Street Journal. Mr. Pang stepped aside temporarily as chairman and CEO of PEMGroup shortly after the article appeared.The company hired law firm Gibson Dunn & Crutcher to perform an independent investigation. A company spokesman had no immediate comment on the SEC allegations. Mr. Pang, 42 years old, traveled to China two weeks ago for a religious pilgrimage, according to his spokesman.David Schindler, an attorney for Mr. Pang, said his client expects to be fully vindicated. He said Mr. Pang voluntarily returned to the U.S. more than a week ago to cooperate with PEMGroup's internal probe and is committed to saving the company.PEMGroup says it manages $4 billion, but the amount raised in Taiwan, where most of its investors were, was likely no more than $1 billion, according to people close to the matter. Ming-Daw Chang, director of the banking bureau under Taiwan's Financial Supervisory Commission, said the SEC move "could have a major impact" in Taiwan.

The SEC also accused Mr. Pang of lying about his past, saying PEMGroup falsely represented him as a former merger adviser at Morgan Stanley and said he held an M.B.A. degree from University of California, Irvine. Mr. Pang never worked at Morgan Stanley, nor did he attend or obtain any degrees from UC Irvine, the SEC said.

The SEC alleged Mr. Pang's fraud began at least in 2003 when he raised hundreds of millions of dollars from investors, mostly in Taiwan. Mr. Pang sold investors securities and told them he would earn enough profit to pay them returns through purchasing life-insurance policies at a discount, the SEC said. In truth, the SEC alleged, the life-insurance policies didn't generate enough profit to cover the cost of the premiums or meet the returns he promised to investors. PEMGroup instead paid investors from new money that was supposed to be invested in time-shares, the SEC said.In one instance, PEMGroup presented investors with a forged $108 million insurance policy to support its claim that one investment was entirely covered by insurance, the SEC said. The SEC alleged the insurance policy was for approximately $31 million. When asked by investors to view the policy, the SEC said, Mr. Pang had it altered to increase the amount of the policy. Investors also were shown the "bogus insurance policy" by PEMGroup in order to win their business, it said.Rosalind Tyson, director of the SEC's Los Angeles office, said, "Pang's alleged use of phony credentials and false insurance coverage to guarantee his investments underscores how critical it is for investors to exercise due diligence."

Marc Dreier will enter the plea to securities fraud, wire fraud and money laundering charges

2009-04-28T11:05:00.001+01:00

Marc Dreier will enter the plea to securities fraud, wire fraud and money laundering charges, attorney Gerald Shargel told U.S. District Judge Jed S. Rakoff. Manhattan lawyer accused in a $700 million fraud will plead guilty next month to all of the charges he faces, his attorney told a judge Monday.Dreier, 58, will enter the plea on May 11 without a plea deal with the government, meaning he could face a maximum of 30 years to life in prison.
"I wasn't expecting any deal," Shargel said. He said Dreier wanted to "demonstrate his acceptance of responsibility and his profound remorse." Until December, Dreier had led a law firm, Dreier LLP, with 250 attorneys and celebrity clients. He was arrested after hedge funds complained he was stealing from them. Dreier has remained under house arrest and was not in court Monday. He was first arrested on impersonation charges in Canada in early December before he flew to New York City, where U.S. authorities arrested him at the airport. A court-appointed receiver, Mark Pomerantz, has said Dreier received $670 million between 2004 and 2008 from the sale of fictitious securities. Dreier was accused of spending much of it on a lavish lifestyle that included millions of dollars in artwork, beachfront homes on both coasts and the yacht, "Lady Seascape." The receiver has said Dreier's law firm, despite appearances of profitability including rapid growth and new construction, was actually losing enormous amounts of money.
Among assets described in court papers by the receiver was an extensive fine art collection worth about $39 million, a $10 million Manhattan apartment and three properties in the Hamptons and an $18.5 million yacht, "Lady Seascape." Prosecutors say $400 million of the $700 million involved in the fraud was missing, but Pomerantz has said he has since identified $100 million in assets. That leaves $300 million missin

Yang Zhen Xing and his girlfriend Zhou Xi, both 25, had 233,690 pounds pass through their bank accounts but there was no sign of the cash

2009-04-28T10:54:00.000+01:00

Yang Zhen Xing and his girlfriend Zhou Xi, both 25, had 233,690 pounds pass through their bank accounts but there was no sign of the cash when their bodies were found, Newcastle Crown Court heard.
Cao Guang Hui, 30, denies murdering the couple after robbing them, perhaps with others, last August.
Zhou, known as Cici, and Yang, also called Kevin, had mobile phones and a laptop computer taken from their ground floor flat.
The level of violence used was not even remotely necessary to take those items, according to prosecution lawyer Robert Smith.
The court heard that Yang made a living from selling false educational certificates and from his involvement in a fraudulent Internet betting scam.His declared annual income was just 3,000 pounds while his girlfriend earned 14,000 pounds a year as a waitress, but police found hundreds of thousands of pounds passed through their bank accounts.Yet when officers searched the murder scene, they found just 10 pounds. It was unclear whether cash was stolen on the day, the court heard.Zhou came to Britain as a student in June 2005, and her boyfriend arrived in 2003 to study English and accounting in Cardiff, Wales. They met in Newcastle.
Zhou was found face down on a bed in their flat with her wrists bound with tape and towelling stuffed into her mouth that caused her to suffocate. She was also hit over the head with a heavy weapon, possibly a hammer.Yang was found in the other bedroom, having been hit with a hammer in the face and head. His throat was slashed despite already being unconscious.Smith said the wound may have been to accelerate Yang's death, and the head injuries inflicted on Cici were done to ensure she died also.
After the murders, Cao changed his clothes and stole three mobile phones and a laptop, the court heard. The phones were found dumped nearby and when examined, revealed contact between him and the couple.The court heard Cao, who came to Britain in 2001 to study English and followed the trial with the help of a translator, pretended to want to sub-let a room in their flat.Cao was arrested and Yang's blood was found on his glasses. More blood was found in his watch, the jury heard.
The case continues.

Angus Weaver, 52, teamed up with 83-year-old Dennis Hancox to produce bogus £20 notes and euros, complete with embossed strips and holograms

2009-04-28T10:51:00.000+01:00

Angus Weaver, 52, teamed up with 83-year-old Dennis Hancox to produce bogus £20 notes and euros, complete with embossed strips and holograms, in an operation that began in Glasgow.Weaver's gang had circulated millions in fake euros with identical serial numbers before surveillance officers from the Serious Organised Crime Agency swooped on the 10 men in October 2007, Snaresbrook Crown Court heard.The operation had begun in Glasgow a year earlier, using equipment at Print Link, in St George's Road, Kelvingrove.
The men worked with Thomas McAnea, 58, a Glaswegian printer and veteran forger known as "Hologram Tam", who was jailed in 2007.Sophisticated software was used to scan images of the notes, remove the silver strip and hologram, and emboss them back onto fake notes.After a meeting at Claridge's Hotel in London, production was moved from Scotland to the English capital. A £12,500 machine was installed in Hancox's house in Chiswick, where the forged notes could be foiled and finished.Officers watched as the gang regularly met up in the South Acton Working Men's Club.
Yesterday Judge William Kennedy jailed Weaver, of Bethnal Green, for 52 months. He had admitted three counterfeiting charges.
The judge said the sentence would have been more had he not pleaded guilty.At an earlier hearing, Hancox was given a nine-month jail term, suspended for a year, and five other men were sentenced for their parts in the operation.James Watson, 58, of Hoddam Avenue, Castlemilk, Glasgow, will be sentenced on Friday. He has admitted two counterfeiting charges.

2,800 organised criminal gangs, British law enforcement is ill-equipped to deal with the threat that they pose.

2009-04-25T06:33:00.000+01:00

2,800 organised criminal gangs, British law enforcement is ill-equipped to deal with the threat that they pose. an official report revealing the finding by intelligence analysts. It was completed six months ago but marked “restricted” and circulated only to ministers and police chiefs. After a freedom of information request, it was made available this month in edited form. Issued by HM Inspectorate of Constabulary, it is the first time that officials have disclosed the true scale of the gangland threat and made the frank admission that they are struggling to cope with it.
The report states: “The UK law enforcement community now knows more about organised criminality than ever before. Worryingly, though, this increased knowledge has highlighted the need for a more effective response by the police and other agencies. The reach of organised criminality is more extensive than previously acknowledged . . . from local teams of criminals engaged in drug dealing and acquisitive crime through to international gangs committing acts of large-scale importation, kidnap, fraud and corruption.” The report, Getting Organised, predicts that the threat from organised crime will increase, with syndicates using the London 2012 Olympics to exploit opportunities for sex trafficking and illegal immigration. About 60 per cent of gangs are involved in drug dealing, two thirds engage in a range of criminal activities and all are characterised by an “ever-present willingness to use extreme violence to secure and protect profits”.
The report contrasts the nationwide spread of organised crime — from the inner cities to the shires — with the disjointed reaction of police and the Serious Organised Crime Agency (Soca). Britain’s response is described as “blighted” by a lack of direction, inadequate surveillance and under-investment in intelligence, analysis and enforcement. Passages edited out before publication are understood to include critical assessments of the ability of some police forces to deal with organised crime. The report does state: “The capability of individual forces is extremely variable . . . there is much work to be done.” There is no direct criticism of Soca, launched in 2006, but the findings add up to a scathing verdict on its failure to satisfy live up to its billing as Britain’s FBI. The biggest concentrations of crime syndicates are in London and the North West, with criminals there controlling satellite gangs elsewhere in the country. The scale of the threat is better understood but there is no firm grasp of how the gangs operate and interact. The law enforcement approach is also found to lack cohesion and co-ordination. The report says: “A number of groups and bodies are competing to set directions and priorities for the service, reporting to different Home Office directorates and, in the case of HM Revenue and Customs, a different ministry.” Without a national approach to the organised crime threat, the policing response would be “reactive, localised and ultimately ineffective”. The model of national leadership and collaboration pioneered in counter-terrorism should be copied to deal with organised crime, the report says. Vernon Coaker, the Home Office minister, said that he had earmarked £3 million for the areas facing the worst organised crime threat after reading the report. “I am determined to protect the public from serious organised crime. We have also brought together law enforcement partners through the Organised Crime Partnership Board to drive improvements in this area. A cross-government ministerial group will ensure that good progress is made,” he said.
A Soca spokesman said that the report was “a welcome contribution to the debate about how law enforcement can best tackle the complex and wideranging threats posed to the UK by organised crime”.

Moscow police are searching for two men who attacked a car repair cashier and made off with a bag containing 2 million rubles ($59,608),

2009-04-13T13:16:00.001+01:00

Moscow police are searching for two men who attacked a car repair cashier and made off with a bag containing 2 million rubles ($59,608), a police source told RIA Novosti on Monday. According to the source, the robbery occurred in Moscow's south on Sunday when the cashier and her husband approached the entrance to their apartment. "The robbers used the threat of physical force and took the bag with 2 million rubles that belonged to the [car service] company and fled," the source said. The source said a criminal case may be opened over the incident.

The Black Widow is being released from a Florida jail this weekend and will be deported to Canada.

2009-04-04T22:45:00.000+01:00

The Black Widow is being released from a Florida jail this weekend and will be deported to Canada.In 2005, Melissa Ann Friedrich was sentenced to five years in prison on seven counts of theft from a man in Florida she had met on the Internet.According to investigators, Friedrich stole about US$20,000 from Alexander Strategos.Court heard Friedrich met him on a dating website, drove south from Canada and moved into his Florida condominium.In 2001, she was convicted of manslaughter in the death of her second husband, Gordon Stewart, whom Friedrich had drugged and run over twice with a car in 1991 outside Halifax.The woman claimed she had been abused by Stewart.She later served two years of a six-year sentence for that crime.Robert Friedrich of Bradenton, Fla., her third husband, died in December 2002 at age 84.The 73-year-old woman, who once lived in Pictou County, was facing a single fraud charge in New Glasgow but the charge was dropped Thursday, CTV reported.

Antonnette Haughton-Cardenas is accused of collecting $12 million from several residents in Fort district, Leith Hall, St Thomas

2009-04-04T22:27:00.000+01:00

Antonnette Haughton-Cardenas was charged by the police in Yallahs, St Thomas, on Wednesday with two counts of fraudulent conversion.
The lawyer is accused of collecting $12 million from several residents in Fort district, Leith Hall, St Thomas, between 1990 and 2002, but failed to honour her obligations. Reports were made to the police and statements collected. Following investigations, the attorney was charged when she turned up at the Yallahs Resident Magistrate's Court. She was granted $100,000 station bail with a surety and will appear in the court on April 16.

Sara Shea, 30, who admitted money laundering, was jailed for two years by Liverpool Crown Court.

2009-03-31T17:47:00.001+01:00

Shea sashayed through Liverpool society draped head-to-toe in designer labels alongside her husband Keith, 36, a bullet-headed gangster who moved drugs worth millions around the country. In two years they spent £100,000 on his and hers diamond-encrusted watches, thought nothing of blowing £850 on Cristal champagne, and were planning a move to an £800,000 mansion in Caldy, Wirral, known as Footballers' Row. Sara Shea, 30, who admitted money laundering, was jailed for two years by Liverpool Crown Court. The judge said he hoped that the sentence would deter other families of criminals from encouraging and supporting their activities. “Your husband was a drug trafficker on a huge scale yet you chose to turn a blind eye and to ask no questions,” David Harris, QC, said. Shea's life of luxury ended in June 2007 when her husband was arrested in the act of moving cocaine and Ecstasy with a street value of £4.5 million. He was convicted of drug trafficking and jailed for 15 years.
When police raided their home in Wallasey, Merseyside, they recovered a Scorpion machine pistol and other firearms but were astonished by the treasure trove of goods amassed from the world's fashion houses. Officers found boxes of Rolex, Patek Philippe and Chopard watches and Christian Dior and Chanel jewellery worth hundreds of thousands of pounds scattered from room to room. All had been bought in cash so as not to leave a paper trail. Stuffed into a cupboard were designer handbags worth £12,000.

Detectives pieced together a life of spending, with holidays in Monte Carlo, Mexico and Marbella. A photograph showed the couple enjoying a honeymoon stroll on a beach beside the Sandy Lane Hotel in Barbados. Flights alone cost £12,500. They once took a chauffeur-driven Mercedes from their home to Claridge's in London where they spent £6,000 on a weekend stay. The bill for a meal at the Oxo Tower came to £1,095.

Merseyside Police hope that the prosecution of drug dealers' partners will send out a message that officers will pursue not only criminals but their wives and wider families who have been happy to enjoy the fruits of their criminality. Diane Smith, 52, the lover of another drug trafficker, Silvano Turchett, has already been given a 45-week prison sentence, suspended for two years, on a similar charge of looking after watches worth £42,000 for her boyfriend. Detective Constable Elaine Moore, in charge of the money-laundering inquiry codenamed Operation Rockwood, said that the police were determined to strip the couple of the proceeds of crime, even if they had to wait until Shea was released from prison. “We want to show that crime does not pay,” she said. “Instead of going to a restaurant at the top of the Oxo Tower, Shea is now eating off a tin plate ... Anybody, whether family member or partner, should remember one thing – Merseyside Police will be relentless in hunting them down and bringing them to justice.”
The Sheas' detached home, with its wall-mounted Bang & Olufsen television in the steam room, has long been repossessed, along with their collection of high-performance cars. A forthcoming confiscation case is expected to strip the couple of their remaining fortune. Shea made it clear to the court before she was jailed that she intended to divorce her husband and find a job on her release. She worked in Debenhams in the run-up to her court appearance. Merseyside Police have seized more criminals' assets than any other force apart from the Metropolitan Police, securing nearly £5.5 million cash and confiscating goods worth £12 million in the past two years.

The ill-gotten gains Among the items found at the Sheas' home was a collection of designer handbags worth £12,000 The couple once took a chauffeur-driven Mercedes from their home to Claridge's in London where they spent £6,000 on a weekend stay and a meal in Gordon Ramsay's in-house restaurant They ran up a £1,095 bill at the Oxo Tower restaurant in Central London, including £850 on a bottle of Cristal champagne On their driveway stood a £110,000 Aston Martin, a £46,500 4x4 BMW X5 and a Range Rover They took guests to £5,000 hospitality packages at the Open golf at Hoylake, rock concerts at the MEN Arena and other events
Shea was arrested before they took a £33,000 cruise to the World Cup cricket in Barbados and a grand prix trip to Monaco for which a £6,000 cash deposit was paid
They spent £100,000 on his and hers watches that were encrusted with diamonds. Police officers also found boxes packed full of Rolex, Patek Philippe and Chopard watches

Lawrence B. Salander, 59, owner of the now-defunct Salander-O'Reilly Galleries, was indicted on multiple charges

2009-03-30T21:28:00.000+01:00

Lawrence B. Salander, 59, owner of the now-defunct Salander-O'Reilly Galleries, was indicted on multiple charges, including grand larceny, securities fraud, forgery, criminal possession of a forged instrument, falsifying business records and perjury.
He defrauded 26 victims, Manhattan District Attorney Robert Morgenthau said in a statement."Salander stole from his victims in two primary ways: He sold artwork not owned by him and kept the money, and lured investment money in fraudulent investment opportunities," Morgenthau said.In other cases, Salander inflated the estimated cost of artwork, oversold shares in works, claimed to own works he did not, and misrepresented or failed to pay the full return on sales when money came in, authorities said.In one instance, to secure a $2 million personal loan from Bank of America, Salander offered pieces owned by others, including McEnroe, as security by providing phony documents to establish that he and his wife owned the art, Morgenthau said.Salander's lawyer Charles Ross told CNN affiliate NY - One that his client is trying to raise money for bail, which was set at $1 million."He has been aware that there is an investigation for quite some time and he has prepared for this day," Ross told NY - One. "And as I said, he entered a not-guilty plea and we're gonna fight the charges."
The scheme funded a lifestyle that included trips to Europe by private jet, and the purchase of a Manhattan townhouse and a 66-acre estate in upstate New York, officials said.Salander's indictment points to dealings dating to 1994. If convicted, he would face up to 25 years in prison for grand larceny and additional time for other charges.Salander-O'Reilly Galleries went bankrupt in 2007 after more than 30 years of operation.

Brent Mueller, of Edmond, had pled guilty to failing to report the illegal taking of $1 million from Oklahoma City’s Quest Resources Corporation.

2009-03-30T21:22:00.001+01:00

Brent Mueller, of Edmond, had pled guilty to failing to report the illegal taking of $1 million from Oklahoma City’s Quest Resources Corporation.Mueller is the former purchasing director for Quest. In court, Mueller admitted that in the summer of 2008, he learned that a now former senior Quest executive had illegally wired $1 million out of Quest to use for personal investment in Oklahoma Hydrogen Gas Technologies.Upon learning of that illegal conduct Mueller admitted he took several steps to cover up that crime, including lying to Oklahoma Hydrogen about the source of the investment and trying to recover the $1 million to prevent Quest from learning about it, court officials said.Mueller also finds himself a defendant in a lawsuit filed by Quest earlier this month in Oklahoma County District Court. The suit also names David E. Grose, of Edmond, among others. It sought an asset freeze and damages related to the kickbacks and the misappropriation.Grose, Quest’s former chief financial officer, also is a defendant in a lawsuit filed last month in Oklahoma County District Court by the Oklahoma Department of Securities. The lawsuit alleges that Grose directly participated and/or materially aided Jerry Cash, the company’s former chief executive offer, in connection with the unauthorized transfer of $10 million to an entity controlled by Cash. The lawsuit alleges that Grose and Mueller received kickbacks from several related suppliers during a two-year period. The lawsuit also alleges that in the third quarter of 2008, Grose and Mueller engaged in the direct theft of $1 million for their personal use.
Bill Price, Mueller’s attorney, said he does not comment on pending litigation.James McMillin, Grose’s attorney, also declined comment for the same reason. In court, Grose stated that because there was an ongoing investigation, he invoked his Fifth Amendment privilege against self incrimination.Mueller will be sentenced in about 90 days. He faces up to three years in prison and, as part of the plea agreement, he must pay restitution to the victims of his crime.
Dan Webber, Cash’s attorney, said his client asserts that he is innocent until proven guilty. Webber said Cash is working with the Oklahoma Securities Commission to clarify the underlying facts.Webber said Cash is not connected to the kickback scheme associated with Grose and Mueller.According to court papers, Grose has 25 years of financial experience, primarily in the exploration, production and drilling sectors of the gas and oil industry, and his positions with Quest and Quest Energy included CFO and principal accounting officer.Grose and Mueller entered a conspiracy with defendant Rodger H. Brooks in which they would place orders for Quest to buy pipe from Brooks’ companies — Reliable Pipe and Equipment, Mid Continent Pipe and Equipment, RHB Global and RHB, the Quest lawsuit alleges. Grose and Mueller would mark up the price of the pipe and they would split the amount.Grose received about $850,000 in kickbacks and Mueller about $860,000, Quest alleges. Grose and Mueller used the kickbacks and funds they wrongfully converted and fraudulently obtained for their personal use and to support an extravagant lifestyle, including the purchase of homes, boats and cars, Quest alleges. Attempts to identify Brooks’ attorney by press time were not successful. Beginning in at least 2005, Cash caused Quest money to be transferred to a bank account in the name of Rockport Energy, the Oklahoma Securities Commission lawsuit alleges. Grose allegedly assisted Cash with the transfers into the Rockport account by authorizing and/or effecting the wire transfers. By July 2008, transfers to the account from Quest totaled $10 million.Cash had sole signatory authority over the Rockport account, and he allegedly spent the Quest money from the account for personal expenses and/or other business activities not related to Quest.To create the illusion that the money transferred to Rockport Energy was returned to Quest, Cash directed a series of suspicious financial transactions between the two companies, the lawsuit alleges.Specifically, on or within a day of the end of each Quest fiscal quarter, Cash allegedly issued a check drawn on the Rockport account, made payable to a Quest entity. The check would then be deposited into the bank account of the payee.
At all times, the balance on the Rockport account at the time each check was issued contained insufficient funds, according to court papers. The balance on the account rarely exceeded $2,000.Within days of the end of each Quest fiscal quarter, Cash directed that Quest funds, in an amount identical to the amount of the recent check from Rockport Energy, be wired to the Rockport account enabling each of the account checks to clear the bank.Grose directly participated in the fraudulent quarter-end transactions by authorizing and/or effecting the wire transfers from Quest to the Rockport account, the Oklahoma Securities Commission alleges.
The transactions between Rockport Energy and Quest were not disclosed in filings by Quest with the Securities and Exchange Commission, court papers show.

Sentenced Ahmad Kanan, 37, of Essex Junction to 37 months' imprisonment for bank, wire and tax fraud

2009-03-30T21:19:00.000+01:00

Sentenced Ahmad Kanan, 37, of Essex Junction to 37 months' imprisonment for bank, wire and tax fraud, according to a news release from the U.S. Attorney Office, District of Vermont. Kanan was also ordered to pay $213,000 in restitution and sentenced to five years of supervised release after the completion of his prison term. Court documents indicate Kanan, using stolen identities of about 36 victims, filed fraudulent tax returns with the Internal Revenue Service and several state tax agencies in order to obtain refunds. Acting U.S. Attorney Paul J. Van de Graaf commended the collaboration of the Internal Revenue Service, the Secret Service, the Department of Homeland Security, the Office of Immigration and Customs Enforcement and the Essex Junction Police Department.

Agency liquidating Bernard Madoff’s brokerage says the $2.6 billion it has on hand is enough to satisfy all legitimate claims by victims of the money

2009-03-30T21:13:00.000+01:00

“I have confidence there is sufficient money at SIPC to satisfy all claims,” he said in a phone interview.

Agency liquidating Bernard Madoff’s brokerage says the $2.6 billion it has on hand is enough to satisfy all legitimate claims by victims of the money manager’s $65 billion Ponzi scheme. The Securities Investor Protection Corp. is using a formula that investors may challenge in court. The agency has the money in an industry-financed fund and from recovered assets to reimburse Madoff’s 5,000 customers to the maximum allowed by its charter, Stephen Harbeck, SIPC president, said in an interview. The SIPC has $1.6 billion in a fund designed to reimburse customers as much as $500,000 on lost investments, plus $1 billion recovered by brokerage trustee Irving Picard from Madoff firm bank accounts and desk drawers, Harbeck said. Madoff, 70, is in jail facing a 150-year sentence after pleading guilty March 12 to using money from new investors to pay off old ones in a global fraud that snared investors as varied as filmmaker Steven Spielberg and New York University. Prosecutors are seeking $170 billion in forfeitures from him, representing funds that flowed through his company. They have identified more than $100 million of his houses, cars, boats and jewelry they intend to seize. Some Madoff investors are up in arms about SIPC’s decision, announced by Picard at a Feb. 20 creditors’ meeting, to limit victim claims to “net equity” -- cash invested minus sums taken out. That formula ignores profit reported on customer brokerage statements for the past 20 years, gains that were fictitious because Picard found no evidence Madoff had made any trades or profits going back decades. Customers paid taxes on those phantom profits and “legitimately expected” that they owned the securities listed in official brokerage statements, said Helen Chaitman, a Madoff victim and lawyer with Phillips Nizer LLP who is advising 350 investors in the fraud without charge. The Securities Investor Protection Act, passed in 1970 to safeguard investor accounts and maintain confidence in the market, encourages SIPC to honor customers’ “reasonable expectations” by compensating them for lost profit as well as principal, said Chaitman, other victims and legal experts. In a similar case, involving a fraud at bankrupt New Times Securities Services Inc., a federal judge in New York, where Madoff’s firm is based, ordered SIPC in 2002 to pay $500,000 to customers whose statements reported nonexistent trades by actual mutual funds. An appeals court reversed that ruling in a 2004 precedent that Picard relies on. “Picard is behaving like a true insurance representative,” said Chaitman, who said she lost her “entire retirement” by investing with Madoff. “SIPC is being creative about not having to pay people the money to which they’re entitled.” Groups of victims and their lawyers are debating whether to seek a declaratory judgment in court that Picard is misinterpreting the law or a lawsuit to bar him from using his current formula to pay claims, said Lawrence Velvel, a customer who is dean of the Massachusetts School of Law. “There will be challenges to what Picard is doing,” said Velvel, who said he lost “a large chunk of savings” in the Ponzi scheme. “The only question is timing.”

The Biondi family partnership, which lost “under $1 million” with Madoff, hasn’t filed a claim with SIPC yet, said Adriane Biondi, 41, who lives with a friend in Florida after losing all her money. “We need to understand our strategies,” said Biondi, part of a group being advised by Chaitman.

Leading Precedent In the New Times case, a federal district court said investors were entitled to maximum $500,000 payments from SIPC if statements reflected investments in genuine mutual funds, while customers whose records cited fictitious mutual funds were only entitled to $100,000, the SIPC limit for cash initially invested.
In its 2004 ruling, the federal appeals court disagreed, finding customers should get back money they invested and not “artificial” returns reported in “fictitious account statements.” It adopted an argument by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, which exercises oversight, that SIPC would be “unacceptably exposed” if it had to pay customers “arbitrary amounts that necessarily have no relation to reality.” Biondi said she understood SIPC protection as a form of insurance that covered her family partnership losses. “Now they’re going to deduct money from my claim,” she said. “If you were to pay her based on fictitious, phony profits, there would be less money to distribute to someone who has lost principal,” Harbeck said. To date, Picard has authorized payments to 12 claimants of $500,000 each, according to his Web site, www.madofftrustee.com. Chaitman asked Picard and Harbeck, in a March 26 e-mail, “that you post on your Web site on a daily basis the number of claims that you have received, the number of claims you have processed, and the amount of funds SIPC has paid out.”

“In view of the desperate financial circumstances of many of the investors, we would like to know your position on establishing an expedited procedure for paying investors the sums to which they are entitled,” she said in the e-mail.

Sharon Lissauer, a multilingual former model for Leggs Pantyhose who lost her savings from modeling and her inheritance from her mother in a Madoff account, is seeking work to pay her bills while waiting for a letter from Picard that will entitle her to some payment. “There’s been no letter yet,” she said. “Modeling is slow, and I’m having trouble paying my bills.” Jonathan Landers, a lawyer with Milberg LLP, which represents more than 70 victims, said he’ll probably wait until Picard rejects a client’s claim before taking legal action. Courts are reluctant to render advisory opinions and “often get bogged down in questions of whether the case is ripe for decision,” he said. “We are going to wait until we have an actual case with a flesh and blood person to present to the court,” he said. “The court will then face the issue squarely.” He isn’t planning a group lawsuit, or class action, although some groups may join his clients’ effort later, he said. Meanwhile, Milberg plans to file a petition to force Bernard Madoff into personal bankruptcy, Landers said. While Madoff’s company is being liquidated by Picard, the convicted fraudster isn’t in his own bankruptcy proceedings. Lander’s theory: Under bankruptcy law, it may be easier to reach Madoff’s assets that have been transferred to his family or friends, he said. Landers’ advice to his clients has been to file a claim for what is owed according to the last customer statement, including reinvested profits. One of his clients, part of an informal committee of victims, has a $30 million claim. 31 Picard’s rule that payouts will equal cash invested minus cash taken out would unfairly penalize Madoff clients who withdrew funds to pay taxes on reported profit, as well as older investors with IRAs who were forced by law to start withdrawing money when they turned 71, he said. Some customers are “petrified” of Picard’s plan to seek so-called clawbacks on money they took out over the years that exceeded their principal, Chaitman said. “In dire need,” such customers aren’t filing claims in case information they provide gives Picard a “roadmap to clawbacks”, she said. Under New York law, Picard can seek return of redeemed false profits going back six years. Picard’s counsel David Sheehan said at the February creditors’ meeting. “It was all made-up profit” he said. “So you got somebody else’s money.” Kevin McCue, a spokesman for Picard at the law firm Baker Hostetler LLP in New York, didn’t have an immediate response to requests for comment on investor complaints.

Five clerks are accused of saying the tickets were losers and offering to throw them away

2009-03-30T21:01:00.000+01:00

Five clerks are accused of saying the tickets were losers and offering to throw them away. They then tried to cash in the tickets, either themselves or with an accomplice. Eight people were charged in Ramsey County with felony lottery fraud, which carries a maximum sentence of five years in prison and a $25,000 fine.
Lottery executive director Clint Harris said he wasn’t pleased with the five stores that failed, but he was proud that most employees resisted the temptation to lie.He said a similar test in California found that 18 percent of 450 stores that were checked broke the law. Minnesota lottery officials hope to continue the checks and expand them outside the Twin Cities.Lottery officials said it’s a good idea to sign the back of the ticket before trying to cash it. And 1,600 of the state’s 3,100 lottery retailers have electronic ticket scanners, so players can use those rather than relying on the clerk.

Indictments for Donald Joseph Dean, 44, of Tyler; Michael Day Lamont, 30 ,of Allen; and Carl Tinsley Ratner, 52,

2009-03-30T20:58:00.000+01:00

Indictments for Donald Joseph Dean, 44, of Tyler; Michael Day Lamont, 30 ,of Allen; and Carl Tinsley Ratner, 52, address unknown.
Hunt County District Attorney Noble D. Walker Jr. said his office did not handle the investigations and that the grand jury was presented with the cases by a special prosecutor associated with the Securities Commission of Texas.All three individuals received indictments for engaging in organized criminal activity, acting as an unregistered dealer and selling unregistered securities. Dean and Ratner was also indicted for securities fraud.The engaging in organized criminal activity indictments allege that the three defendants, three more people named in the indictments, “and others”, between March 21, 2006 and Nov. 14, 2007, were involved in theft of property offenses in which the aggregate amount of the value of the stolen property totaled $200,000 or more; were involved in securing execution of document by deception offenses of which the aggregate affected the pecuniary interest of others in the amount of $200,000 or more; and also were involved in money laundering offenses in which the aggregate criminal proceeds totaled $200,000 or more.The unregistered dealer or agent indictments allege the three offered to make or made sales of securities to three individuals on three occasions during 2006, “without being duly registered as a securities dealer or agent by and with the Securities Commission of Texas.”The final indictment against all three defendants allege the securities they offered for sale were also not registered with the Commission.

Under the securities fraud indictments, Dean and Ratner were alleged to have on Aug. 24, 2006 offered for sale interests in the Mack Diamond Energy LLC, Honey Grove Single Well Joint Venture, an oil or gas mining lease or title, while not disclosing the funds raised were not used for those purposes.

Mack Diamond Energy is a company based in Wolfe City, which was the basis of two recent lawsuits.

Cypress Consulting of Houston sued Mack Diamond Energy Group in August 2006, claiming the seismic data it provided, for which it charged Mack Diamond $183,436.45, was paid for by a check which bounced. The company was initially suing for more than $265,000 in damages and interest, then later adjusted the suit to credit Mack Diamond for $184,000 in payments. The two parties were reported to have reached an agreement in May 2007 and the suit was dropped.
Joe R. Owen of Dallas, one of the persons named as a victim in the grand jury indictments issued Friday, filed suit against Mack Diamond in Dallas County, with the venue later transferred to Hunt County.Owen said he was offered investments over the Internet and telephone and invested $137,500. Owens wanted the investment rescinded, alleging Mack Diamond provided misrepresentations concerning purchases of oil and gas securities.The company issued a general denial of Owens’ claims.
The suit indicated C. Mack Hays, the founder of Mack Diamond Energy, died on March 5, 2008 and the complaint was dismissed in January of this year.

Lance K. Poulsen, a founder of National Century Financial Enterprises, had nothing to say as he stood in prison garb and shackles

2009-03-30T20:54:00.000+01:00

Lance K. Poulsen, a founder of National Century Financial Enterprises, had nothing to say as he stood in prison garb and shackles before U.S. District Judge Algenon L. Marbley and heard that he'd likely spend the rest of his life in federal prison.
"Mr. Poulsen was the architect of the fraud," Marbley said before sentencing the 65-year-old Poulsen to 30 years. The scheme he masterminded stole $2.4 billion from investors, shut down 275 health-care providers and enriched its conspirators by millions of dollars.Poulsen was the last major executive of the Dublin-based company to be sentenced, and he got the stiffest term.Marbley also sentenced National Century founder Rebecca S. Parrett, who disappeared after her trial last March, to 25 years for nine fraud-related charges yesterday. Officials said the hunt for Parrett, 60, continues."For the victims in this case, with these verdicts, there is a sense of justice," said an exuberant Assistant U.S. Attorney Douglas W. Squires after five hours of sentencing hearings yesterday.Those actions ended the bulk of a several-year investigation into National Century fraud.Poulsen, who was chief executive officer of National Century, was convicted in October of fraud and money laundering. He also was found guilty last year of witness tampering and obstruction of justice, along with his friend Karl A. Demmler, for trying to persuade key prosecution witness Sherry Gibson to feign amnesia when questioned in court.Gibson was wearing a wire during conversations with Demmler, who owned the Bogey Inn restaurant in Dublin.Yesterday, Marbley sentenced Demmler, 57, to seven years in prison for his actions. The judge had sentenced Poulsen to 10 years in that case, and that sentence will be served at the same time as his 30-year sentence.Demmler, also in shackles and prison garb, apologized in court for his actions and statements, which included saying that he'd like to cut up a bankruptcy judge "and feed him to the fish."He said his comments had been "taken entirely out of context" and that he had been "misled" by many people."I don't believe I was evil in this case," he said.Of the three sentenced yesterday, Demmler was the only one whose friends and family made statements in court.
His mother, Norma Demmler, 76, begged the judge to give him probation."I just want my son home. I hope you can help me," she said.However, Marbley said that although Demmler was "used and manipulated" by Poulsen, his "culpability was not inconsequential or slight" and his offense "goes to the very core of our system of justice."Demmler will get credit for 18 months in jail and on house arrest.The judge saved his harshest words for Poulsen, who said throughout his trial that he knew nothing of the fraud. Poulsen blamed investors for not catching the illegal acts."That's like the wolf blaming the hens for getting out of the hen house," Marbley chided him. "Nothing happened at National Century without your blessing."Marbley said it's impossible to know why Poulsen, a successful entrepreneur with children and a wife, went down the wrong path."Avarice and greed apparently took hold and clouded his judgment," the judge said. "He amassed significant wealth and thousands of investors suffered."Besides the prison time, the sentence for Poulsen and the others found guilty in the fraud case includes restitution of $2.4 billion.Squires said the federal government will be aggressively seeking that money by seizing goods, property, investments and pensions from the guilty. This week, the government seized nearly $400,000 from an account Parrett had in Arizona.In sentencing Parrett, Marbley said she is the only defendant in his 12 years on the bench who absconded after he presided over their trial."I believe, as justice is always served, she will be found," he said.National Century bought accounts receivable from health-care providers and charged a fee to collect what was owed. It raised money by selling bonds to investors. The fraud took place for seven years, beginning in 1995, when the company paid out millions of dollars without purchasing the accounts to back the loans. The company went bankrupt in 2002.
Squires said agents from the FBI and several other agencies "sifted through a warehouse of documents" to piece together the evidence in the case.Marbley said he meted out long sentences not just as punishment for those involved but to discourage other white-collar criminals.One National Century defendant, Brian J. Stucke, pleaded guilty to one count in 2003 and has not yet been sentenced.

Denver District Attorney Mitch Morrissey announced that he will use the state's organized-crime law to prosecute the gang members

2009-03-26T13:39:00.000Z

Denver District Attorney Mitch Morrissey announced that he will use the state's organized-crime law to prosecute the gang members. He said weapons and narcotics charges also would be filed. "This is an organized gang," said Morrissey. "Like any other organized crime group, they were using guns and drugs to generate the money they needed to keep the organization going." With their activities came violence and rip-offs, said the district attorney. Among the narcotics seized today were more than 2,600 Ecstasy pills as well as cocaine, methamphetamine and mushrooms.
During the nine-month investigation, agents seized numerous weapons used by the gang, including four semi-automatic pistols and two assault rifles, said Luke Franey, assistant special agent in charge of the ATF office in Denver. "One of those pistols was stolen from a federally licensed firearms dealer in Wyoming during a burglary of that establishment," said Franey. "I think it is common when you work with groups like this that you recover stolen firearms and assault weapons."
Kevin Paletta, the Lakewood police chief, said that arresting the group has made the streets safer. "This is a very active group, particularly along the Denver-Lakewood border. They are a violent group," said Paletta. "Getting these folks off the street not only prevented future crimes, but I'm confident they prevented future acts of violence."
The officials said that they have increasingly seen taggers develop into violent crime gangs in the metropolitan area. Deputy Denver Police Chief Michael Battista said that investigators have noticed tagging crews that "graduate into the criminal activity of narcotics and then into the more violent crimes." "I think one of the messages with this group — to see a tagger group evolve into violent organized crime like this — is that it is very concerning," said Morrissey.
"I think a lot of people think they can just walk up to a tagger, and it's just going to be a kid who they can stop from tagging their fence. I think they need to understand that there is a potential that a tagger may be armed and that a tagger would get violent," said Morrissey. Morrissey said the investigation nine months ago started as the result of an investigation of another group of taggers, who were rivals. Authorities quickly decided they needed to start an investigation of the first group and were able to "develop the evidence, make the buys, get the guns and recover the narcotics" necessary to make the arrests made today, said Morrissey. Arrested today were Joshua Yarmon, 20; Guadalupe Trujillo, 38; Gabriel Sears, 20; Stephanie Johnson, 23; Jesse Romero, 23; Rodrigo Padilla, 26; alleged ringleader Isaiah Lunas, 22; and Merina Valenzuela, 19. Police are still searching for Anthony Bernard, 32, and Stephen Oliver, 21.
Bail was set for six of those arrested: Four are being held on $1 million bail, two on $250,000 bail.