Tax advisor allegedly helps hundreds commit IRS refund fraud December 27, 2010
Posted by jefhenninger in News.Tags: tax evasion, tax fraud
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On promotional flyers spread through the United States and Canada, Ron Brekke called himself a U.S. Filing Agent, a kind of a tax guru who could get you out of debt by helping fill out the right forms. But federal prosecutors said Brekke’s methods ended up with hundreds of people filing more than three-quarters of $1 billion in frivolous IRS claims. Brekke, who lived in an office building in California, would hold seminars and correspond by email with people, charging $50 to $75 in fees for his help, according to a flyer that was submitted as evidence in a previous trial.
Allegedly, Brekke would help people fill out IRS 1099-OID forms, telling them to list their total debt as the amount they expected as a tax refund as federal tax withheld. It’s a scam first identified in 2008 as Form 1099-OID Fraud. The IRS cautions taxpayers that the fraud is “disguised as a debt payment option for credit cards or mortgage debt”. The fraud is also marketed as a way to reduce taxes or pay outstanding tax liabilities. It involves the filing of Form 1099-OID, Original Issue Discount, and/or bogus financial instruments such as bonded promissory notes or sight drafts.
In October 2009, that teller caught Donald Mason, one of Brekke’s students, trying to cash a refund check worth $359,926.80 at a Bellingham Bank of America, according to a evidence submitted during Mason’s trial. Mason was found guilty and sentenced to 33 months in prison. Another person using Brekke’s method, John Chung, pled guilty to a similar crime and spent one year, one day in prison.
After those convictions, federal investigators went after Brekke, who they said was still holding financial seminars, despite knowing that Mason and Chung had been captured. This just really shows how some people really buy their own BS. At the first sign of trouble, he should have hired an attorney.
Story is here.
New Mexico union official accused of fraud December 27, 2010
Posted by jefhenninger in News.Tags: identity theft
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A federal grand jury in Las Cruces has indicted Gloria Porter, a southern New Mexico union official on charges of wire fraud, mail fraud and identity theft. It alleges she defrauding the Army Military Council while employed at White Sands Missile Range. The indictment alleges Porter used a debit card to access a council account to purchase more than $13,500 in items for her own use between 2005 and 2008. During that time, she was national vice president of the federal employees federation, secretary-treasurer for the council and president of a local union.
Story is here.
Massachusetts man charged in $9.6M fraud December 27, 2010
Posted by jefhenninger in News.Tags: Ponzi scheme
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A Massachusetts man is accused defrauding more than 50 people by running a Ponzi-style scheme with their $9.6 million. Randy M. Cho allegedly told investors he was a self-employed securities trader who had a special relationship with Goldman Sachs and could buy discounted shares of well-known companies such as Google, Facebook and Rosetta Stone before their initial public offerings. In one case, Cho allegedly told an investor he could buy 20,000 shares of Google at $1 each, when shares were publicly trading at $425 or more each. Shouldn’t that raise a red flag there?
From 2001 to 2009, Cho allegedly collected more than $9.6 million from domestic and foreign investors. To keep his scheme going, Cho used more than $1.5 million from new investors to make payments to existing investors. All together, investors lost nearly $8 million. He was charged with one count of wire fraud and one count of filing a false federal income tax return for 2005, when he reported a total income of $118,475 but received nearly $1.2 million.
Like most of these cases, a civil lawsuit was filed. In that case, Cho was order to repay the nearly $8 million he took from investors, plus $289,320 in interest, and was fined $150,000.
Story is here.
Belmar Criminal Defense Lawyers
Cho’s lawyer, Jim Marcus, said he’ll review the charges before deciding what to do.
Utah man charged in Georgia over $30M scheme December 27, 2010
Posted by jefhenninger in News.Tags: securities fraud
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Federal prosecutors in Georgia have charged a Utah man with leading an investment company that allegedly bilked more than 100 people out of more than $30 million. Thomas Repke pleaded not guilty Monday to multiple counts of mail fraud, wire fraud and conspiracy and was soon after released on a $250,000 bond. Prosecutors said he and James Jeffery, promised people who invested in their company, Coadum Capital, with monthly returns of 5 percent (which should have been a huge red flag). But instead of keeping the money in escrow accounts, authorities say the two transferred more than $20 million to accounts in Switzerland and the Mediterranean island of Malta. At this point, most of the money is gone.
Story is here.
Lawsuit Alleges Securities Fraud December 27, 2010
Posted by jefhenninger in News.Tags: securities fraud
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A lawsuit filed against two securities brokers alleges the two were involved in securities fraud. According to reports, the securities investment fraud cost customers approximately $8 million. Securities fraud litigation filed by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), alleges at least 40 clients were defrauded by the securities fraud. According to the Charlotte Observer (12/17/10), the two securities brokers promised their clients there was no way they would lose their principal (big warning) and further told the clients they could get returns of 35 percent (big warning two). The SEC lawsuit alleges that 42 clients, most them elderly, ;ost approximately $8 million when the economy collapsed.
The SEC claims, one broker told an investor that his money was placed in stocks when it was used for options trading. Furthermore, clients were told to sign blank forms which were then used to make one of the broker’s wives the client’s agent and power of attorney for the accounts. In some cases, accounts were set up so clients would not receive statements.
In 2008, both men resigned from Wachovia. According to the SEC, one of the men confessed in his resignation letter to misdirecting $6.6 million from Wachovia customers and admitted he had conducted online trading without the clients’ authorization. The two brokers are charged with six counts of securities fraud.
It sounds like these guys are in big trouble You can be sure that criminal charges are around the corner which is often the case in these matters.
Somerset County Man Charged with Stealing Nearly $100,000 December 26, 2010
Posted by jefhenninger in News.Tags: theft by deception
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Stephen Locrotondo, 51, of Bridgewater, was indicted on December 22, 2010 by a Union County grand jury on charges of second-degree theft by deception and second-degree issuing bad checks. The indictment alleges that between Oct. 14 and Oct. 27, 2006, Locrotondo stole $100,000 from a friend by giving her the false impression that he would invest the $100,000 on her behalf and would provide a “good return” on her investment within two weeks. The indictment further alleges that Locrotondo subsequently wrote his friend a personal check in the amount of $100,000, knowing that there were not enough funds in his bank account. At the same time, Loctrondo wrote the woman a check for $8,000. The woman received payment on the $8,000 check, for which there were adequate funds, but it is alleged that she never received any other payment from Locrotondo.
I realize that there are a number of facts missing from this story, but the State has to have more to show that this is a crime and not a civil case. You have to wonder what was left out of the press release and why?
FBI raids home of “fashion-obsessed” community college student/hacker December 21, 2010
Posted by jefhenninger in News.Tags: computer crime, computer hacking
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Ross Ulrich, a 22-year-old “fashion-obsessed” community college student from Ohio had his home raided by the FBI after he downloaded more than 1,100 files from a Condé Nast server last summer. He told the Smoking Gun that federal agents executed a search warrant at his parents’ Columbus home earlier this year, but have yet to charge him with a crime. There is no word on whether he has an attorney yet. If he does, he is probably not listening to his/her advice as he is clearly talking to the press.
Ulrich said that he downloaded the images so he could be the first to post them online. He said he did not pay for access to the sites. Condé Nast filed a copyright lawsuit against the user of an IP address that was eventually tied to him . He eventually agreed to pay Condé Nast $12,500 to settle the copyright claim. He also admitted to accessing a Warner Bros. server holding images and clips from a variety of movies in production. Warner Bros. filed a similar, federal lawsuit last year citing the same IP address, though Ulrich said he believes that they had decided not to further pursue its civil action, which sounds like an odd statement. Either the suit is active or its not.
Sounds like a really strange computer hacking case where he really didn’t have any sinister motivation. Just kind of an odd guy. Kinda hard to get a jury to get worked up over that so criminal charges may never be filed.
Story is here.
Time Person of the Year, Julian Assange Arrested in London December 7, 2010
Posted by jefhenninger in News.Tags: wikileaks
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Julian Assange was arrested today, but not for anything to do with Wikileaks. Instead, we learned that it has to do with sex charges mostly involving not wearing a condom. Sounds strange and difficult to prove, but he’s being held without bail at the moment. At some point, he will likely get out of these charges. Question then is, will the US come up with a way to file charges against him? So far, I haven’t even heard a pundit on TV give a plausible scenario as to how this could be done. The fact that the US has been silent on this issue indicates either that there is no way to prosecute him or that they will arrest him when it seems like he will be released on the current case. In other news, Drudge is reporting that he may be named Time’s Person of the Year.
Visit http://www.drudgereport.com/ for more info
New Charges for Michael Ritacco and Francis Gartland December 7, 2010
Posted by jefhenninger in News.Tags: Ritacco
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A superseding indictment was filed against Michael Ritacco and Francis Garland today. The first indictment, returned on October 19, contained 18 counts of mail and wire fraud, travel and use of facilities in interstate commerce to promote bribery, and bribery in connection with a local government agency receiving federal funds. The now 27-count indictment, adds nine counts to the previous indictment: two counts charging separate conspiracies to defraud the IRS, and seven counts of making and subscribing to false federal personal income tax returns – for tax years 2004 to 2006 for Ritacco and 2004 to 2007 for Gartland, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
While I doubt this will really change anything, it does give the Government some insurance of securing a conviction. Even if they can’t show the bribery and fraud counts, as long as they can show that Ritacco received income and that he did not include that on his tax returns, the Government can still get him on something. I assume Ritacco’s attorneys were expecting that this could be an issue at some point. One of the first things I do with my clients is to pull all of the records and see what was reported and what was not. Once all that is in hand, it shouldn’t take long to figure out if tax evasion charges may be filed sooner or later.
Two more arrested by Bergen County Prosecutor’s Office for attempting to meet children on Internet December 7, 2010
Posted by jefhenninger in News.Tags: endangering the welfare of a child
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Bergen County Attempted Aggravated Sexual Assault Lawyers
With an office in Clifton, our New Jersey criminal defense lawyers handle many cases in Bergen County. We also handle many computer crime cases across the state. For years, Bergen County has had the most active computer crime unit in the entire state. Based upon these recent arrests, it seems like they still do. In addition, the arrests the make are not limited to Bergen County.
Bergen County Prosecutor John L. Molinelli announced the arrests of Seth Dixon of 598 Ezara Court, Brick, New Jersey and Walter Domanski, Jr. of 215 W 22nd Street, Ship Bottom, New Jersey. Seth Dixon was arrested on charges of Endangering the Welfare of a Minor, specifically by transmitting Child Pornography and conspiracy to commit Aggravated Sexual Assault, specifically by arranging for an accomplice to travel to Bergen County for the purpose of having sexual intercourse with a six year old female. Walter Domanski, Jr. was arrested on charges of Attempted Aggravated Sexual Assault and Attempted Endangering the Welfare of a Minor, specifically by traveling to Bergen County for the purpose of having sexual intercourse with a six year old female. Both Dixon and Domanski, Jr. were arrested without incident.
The arrest came about as a result of an investigation conducted by members of the Bergen County Prosecutor’s Office Computer Crimes Unit. The arrest stemmed from an Internet investigation in which Dixon distributed Child Pornography via the internet, and then introduced Domanski to an undercover officer where Domanski used the Internet to make arrangements to meet a six year old child.
If you are charged with any computer crime in New Jersey, call us today to discuss your case.
