Peter Madoff, Bernie’s brother is under fire January 31, 2010
Posted by jefhenninger in News.Tags: Madoff
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Anyone associated with Madoff should have retained an attorney by now. Family members, employees and associates have been either arrested or are the subject of various investigations. This week its Peter Madoff who is subject to both a criminal investigation and a civil suit brought by the charitable foundation of U.S. Senator Frank Lautenberg.
Numerous blogs picked up on this story including:
http://www.senseoncents.com/2010/01/peter-madoff-subject-of-criminal-probe/trackback/
And be sure to check out Madoff A to Z at
Entrepreneur Sentenced to 76 Months in Prison for Identity Theft January 31, 2010
Posted by jefhenninger in News.Tags: identity theft
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TERRENCE CHALK was sentenced this week to 76 months in prison for his participation in a conspiracy to make false statements and representations to financial institutions in connection with applications for loans, lines of credit, and credit cards, and for the crime of aggravated identity theft for using another person’s Social Security number to seek a line of credit from a bank. CHALK must pay restitution of $750,000.
CHALK, the principal of a White Plains-based computer systems company, and others submitted applications for loans, lines of credit and credit cards, in the names of various business entities controlled by CHALK (the “CHALK Entities”) that contained false information and representations. Some of the applications falsely represented that certain Chalk employees and clients were guarantors for the loans and/or were owners and officers of the various CHALK Entities when in fact they were not.
Included in the applications was personal identification information, such as names, addresses and Social Security numbers of the CHALK Entities’ employees, agents, or clients, without their knowledge or permission. While seeking to obtain the loans, lines of credit, and/or credit cards, CHALK and others met with representatives of financial institutions and falsely represented the ownership of the Chalk entities and the identity of the guarantors and/or supplied false financial information. Among other things, CHALK sought a loan using the name and personal information of a dead relative. CHALK continued his criminal conduct even after his initial arrest in this case, when from prison, he directed others on the outside to submit false information to BMW of Ridgefield, Connecticut, in order to secure BMW vehicles for, among others, CHALK’s girlfriend and someone who signed a bond to help secure CHALK’s release on bail. CHALK’s release on bail ended in July 2008 with his arrest in connection with the car leasing scheme.
Bank Employee Charged with Stealing Money January 31, 2010
Posted by jefhenninger in News.Tags: embezzlement
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Mary M. Knecht has been charged with theft, embezzlement, and misapplication by a bank employee. The Government alleges that Knecht embezzled approximately $750,000 from First Keystone National Bank of Berwick, Pennsylvania, where she worked as an accounting administrator.
Knecht allegedly began stealing from First Keystone in or around January 1992 through December 2009. The indictment alleges that Knecht fraudulently diverted and transferred funds from the bank’s internal general ledger accounts to personal First Keystone accounts that she controlled, using fraudulent bank cashier’s checks, deposit slips, debit and credit memoranda, and other documents to carry out and cover-up the thefts.
Texas Attorney Convicted for Role in Pump-and-Dump Stock Schemes January 31, 2010
Posted by jefhenninger in News.Tags: securities fraud
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A securities attorney was convicted this week by a federal jury in Alexandria, Va., for participating in multi-million dollar pump-and-dump stock manipulation schemes. Phillip Windom Offill Jr., of Dallas, was indicted on March 12, 2009, and was found guilty of one count of conspiracy to commit registration violations, securities fraud and nine counts of wire fraud.
Offill, an attorney in Dallas and a former attorney with the SEC, was retained by David Stocker, a Phoenix attorney who pleaded guilty in March 2009 in the Eastern District of Virginia to conspiracy to commit securities fraud. Ffrom approximately March 2004 through October 2004, Offill and Stocker evaded federal securities registration requirements and provided co-conspirators with millions of unregistered and “free-trading” shares of nine companies’ common stock that the co-conspirators could not have otherwise legally obtained. Many of the shares were subsequently sold by co-conspirators to investors in the general public. By evading the registration requirements, the co-conspirators were able to hide from the investing public the actual financial condition and business operations of the companies. The companies included Emerging Holdings Inc.; MassClick Inc.; China Score Inc.; Auction Mills Inc.; Custom-Designed Compressor Systems Inc.; Ecogate Inc.; Media International Concepts Inc.; Vanquish Productions Inc.; and AVL Global Inc.
In connection with Emerging Holdings, MassClick and China Score, evidence at trial showed that Offill knowingly participated in a conspiracy known as a “pump-and-dump” scheme to manipulate the price of these companies’ securities. Co-conspirators falsely manipulated the price and volume of some of the companies’ stock by making materially false and misleading statements in press releases and in spam e-mails to tens of millions of e-mail addresses throughout the United States in an effort to create artificial demand for the three companies’ stock. After fraudulently “pumping” the market price and demand for the companies’ stock, co-conspirators “dumped” shares by selling them for large profits to the general investing public in the over-the-counter market through listings on Pink Sheets, an inter-dealer electronic quotation and trading system. These shares were purchased by unsuspecting investors, including investors in the Eastern District of Virginia, and were often rendered virtually worthless.
Ten other defendants have pleaded guilty and eight of them have been sentenced in federal court in Alexandria, Va., for their roles in related stock manipulation schemes. David B. Stocker will be sentenced on March 8, 2010. Kenneth Owen pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit securities fraud and will be sentenced in federal court in Los Angeles on Aug. 25, 2010. Michael R. Saquella was sentenced to 10 years in prison; Justin Medlin was sentenced to six years in prison; Steven P. Luscko and Gregory A. Neu were each sentenced to five years in prison; Lawrence Kaplan was sentenced to three years in prison; Brian G. Brunette was sentenced to a one year in prison; Anthony Tarantola was sentenced to six months in prison; and Henry “Hank” Zemla was sentenced to three months in prison.
The case, which was referred by the Market Regulation Department of Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA), was investigated by the FBI and the U.S. Postal Inspection Service, with assistance from FINRA’s Criminal Prosecution Advisory Group.
Government brings Mortgage Fraud Charges Against Six People Involving Million-Dollar-Plus Houses January 31, 2010
Posted by jefhenninger in News.Tags: loan fraud
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A two-year investigation by the Greater Cincinnati Mortgage Fraud Task Force has resulted in a seven-count indictment charging two Cincinnati area home builders, a former Huntington National Bank vice president, and a self-employed tax preparer and interior designer with participating in a mortgage fraud scheme to sell four high-end luxury properties to “straw buyers.” A straw buyer is someone who is listed as the owner of a house, but is not really the one buying the house.
Charged were:
Eric D. Duke of Newport, Kentucky. Duke is a self-employed tax preparer and interior designer. He also owned a property management company called Rivendale Property Management Group, L.P., in Maineville, Ohio.
Terrence J. Monahan Jr., of Cincinnati, formerly with Huntington National Bank.
Bernard J. Kurlemann, of Mason, owner of Kurlemann Homes of Long Cove and Long Cove Management, LLC.
Bryan Sanneman, of Mason, owner of Sanneman Homes, Inc.
The charges stem from the sale of four residential properties in 2006 to 2007, three of which were sold for approximately $2 million each. The Government alleges that Monahan, Sanneman, and Kurlemann, each conspired with Duke to defraud lenders involved with the sales.
The scheme involved Duke locating two people willing to buy the properties in name only and let their names be used on loan applications. Duke worked with a mortgage broker who submitted fraudulent loan applications that contained false income and assets. Monahan gave Duke a customer bank account statement to be used as a “go-by” to create fictitious account statements to support fraudulent assets on the loan applications.
Sanneman and Kurlemann provided documentation to the lenders falsely stating that they had received down payments from the borrowers when they had not. The defendants conspired with Duke to have the fraudulent loans approved in order to sell their properties.
The defendants benefitted from the scheme because they were able to sell their expensive properties, get out from under substantial mortgages, and receive additional loan proceeds. All four defendants are charged with conspiracy. Duke and Monahan are charged with conspiracy to commit wire fraud and wire fraud. Duke and Kurlemann are charged with conspiracy to commit loan fraud and two counts of loan fraud.
Loan proceeds from the alleged fraud totaled approximately $6.7 million.
Charges have been filed separately against the straw buyers. Francisca Webster, of Cincinnati, has been charged in a separate information, with conspiracy to commit wire fraud. Christopher Gagnon, of Florence, Kentucky has been charged with loan fraud.
Clearly, the straw buyers have the best chance of working out a great deal in exchange for testimony.
Louisiana Man Charged with Conspiracy to Solicit and Give Bribes Involving a Public Official January 31, 2010
Posted by jefhenninger in News.Tags: Bribery
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RAY ANTHONY DAVEZAC, of Destrehan, Louisiana, was charged today in a one-count Bill of Information with Conspiracy to Solicit and Give Bribes Involving a Public Official. DAVEZAC owned and operated Davezac Consulting Engineers, LLC. The Government alleges that the President of St. John the Baptist Parish, William Hubbard, solicited a bribe from DAVEZAC. DAVEZAC paid a $5,000 bribe made payable to a local automobile dealership for the benefit of Hubbard. DAVEZAC received a contract from St. John Parish at a date after the bribe payment was solicited and paid.
There is no information about whether Hubbard has been charged yet or what the Government’s evidence is.
Wisconsin Man Charged with Child Pornography Offenses January 31, 2010
Posted by jefhenninger in News.Tags: distribution of child pornography
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Robin S. Bone of Madison, has been charged with distribution and possession of child pornography. The Government alleges that on April 17, 2005, Bone e-mailed sexually explicit images of minors to another individual. On August 22, 2005, Bone also possessed a CD ROM containing visual depictions of minors engaging in sexually explicit conduct.
The charges against Bone are the result of an investigation conducted by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Madison Police Department, and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
I’d like to know what took so long to charge him. The age of the email here can present big problems for the Government.
Several people charged with defrauding bank of $6.2 Million January 31, 2010
Posted by jefhenninger in News.Tags: bank fraud
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SUSAN A. CURTIS, her husband GARY J. STOCKING, both of Naugatuck, Conn. and CURTIS’ former husband, KEVIN W. CAFFREY, of Wolcott, have been charged with one count of bank fraud and one count of conspiracy to commit bank fraud. The Government alleges that CURTIS was employed in the Property Services Division of Webster Bank with responsibilities that included negotiating and managing bank property leases where Webster Bank was a landlord or tenant. CURTIS, STOCKING and CAFFREY established two companies called New House, LLC and Equity Realty, LLC, which CURTIS falsely represented to Webster Bank’s Vendor Management Department were landlords, an exempted category for due diligence and annual review.
CURTIS then submitted paperwork to Webster Bank’s Accounts Payable Department in which she falsely represented that New House and Equity Realty were due a fee in approximately 109 real estate related transactions involving 67 properties. As a result, Webster Bank made payments of approximately $5.04 million to New House and Equity Realty. CURTIS also caused a landlord, who was a lessor of property leased to Webster Bank, to send approximately $703,620 in lease improvement payments directly to CURTIS. CURTIS and STOCKING are also alleged to have altered the checks from the landlord to make them payable to Webster Bank c/o Equity Realty, and then deposited the checks to an Equity Realty account at another bank.
As if that wasn’t bad enough, CURTIS also falsely represented to other landlords or their counsel, who were dealing with Webster Bank, that a $450,000 check for property improvements should be paid directly to Equity Realty c/o Webster Bank. CURTIS and STOCKING then deposited the check into the Equity Realty bank account.
This is one very complex scheme. Someone needs to fall on the sword here. The question is, who is going to do it? Rarely does both the husband and wife go down on the charges. However, this case also involves the ex which makes things interesting.
New Jersey Tax Fraud Lawyer January 31, 2010
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New Jersey Tax Fraud Lawyer
In New Jersey, tax fraud can be prosecuted on either the State or Federal level. If you even think that you are under investigation for tax fraud, you should have a team of New Jersey tax fraud lawyers on your side to protect you. Anything you say can and will be used against you! Waiting to call a good NJ tax fraud attorney can make things worse. Our New Jersey defense lawyers have found that getting involved in tax fraud cases early often leads to great results!
In New Jersey, tax fraud cases can include: Federal IRS, FBI and state investigations, charges of failure to report earnings and income, tax fraud charges in relation to money laundering charges, failure to submit payroll and sales tax, tax evasion, trust fraud, non-filings, unfiled returns, false tax returns, tax audits, unreported income, off-the-books income and filing false tax returns.
With 10 offices in New Jersey, our tax fraud defense attorneys are easy to reach from anywhere in New Jersey. If you have received a notice from the IRS that you are under investigation or you have received a subpoena for records as either a tax filer or a tax preparer, call the tough team of NJ tax fraud attorneys today.
New Jersey Divorce Lawyers January 30, 2010
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Tired of New Jersey divorce lawyers that are not interested in quickly settling your case without breaking the bank? Confused about the divorce process in New Jersey? Looking to save money on a New Jersey divorce lawyer?
If you answered yes, you may be ready to try something different. Your New Jersey divorce does not need to drag on and be expensive. For great New Jersey divorce lawyers that won’t break the bank, check out the Divorce Different blog. With 10 offices in New Jersey, you don’t have to travel far to get a good divorce lawyer.
