The Collar
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Boy Band Mogul Sings the Blues
Continue reading… 0 CommentsLou Pearlman—the mind behind boy band sensations Backstreet Boys and 'N Sync—will have plenty of time to plan new song-and-dance routines during the 25-year prison sentence he was given last week.
According to the Department of Justice, in addition to turning teenaged boys into stage-rattling heartthrobs, Pearlman also had a talent for making investor's money disappear.
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Wesley Snipes, Not Dangerous?
Continue reading… 4 CommentsA federal judge—who apparently still hasn't seen Demolition Man—on Thursday granted Wesley Snipes's request to remain free on bond until his conviction and sentence are reviewed by a higher court, saying that the former action hero turned tax criminal "does not constitute a danger of any kind."
From the judge's order, via the White Collar Crime Prof Blog:
The Court is persuaded by the history of the case and all of the attendant circumstances that the Defendant poses no substantial risk of flight and does not constitute a danger of any kind if he remains at liberty pending appeal.
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Warning: Chinese Earthquake Scam Reported
Continue reading… 0 CommentsThe FBI is warning consumers to be on the lookout for E-mails purportedly soliciting funds to support the victims of the recent earthquake in China. "Some of the Chinese earthquake scam messages claim to be offering free vacation trips to the largest donors and even use fake logos of legitimate online pay services to fool people," the FBI said in a release.
Similar fraudulent efforts followed other recent tragedies, such as 9/11, Hurricane Katrina, and the shootings at Virginia Tech, the FBI said. Criminals apparently use such events to prey upon the sympathy of individuals.
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How Frank Abagnale Would Swindle You
Continue reading… 19 CommentsDuring his years as a globe-trotting confidence man, Frank Abagnale passed $2.5 million of phony checks in every U.S. state and 26 countries. Now, as a teacher at the FBI academy, the real-life inspiration for the movie Catch Me If You Can trains law enforcement officials to prevent the very crimes he once committed. Abagnale recently spoke with U.S. News about how check forgery has changed over the years, why it remains such a problem today, and how he would swindle consumers—if he were still a bad guy. Excerpts:
How big of a problem is check forgery today?
I teach check forgery at the FBI academy. I really, honestly, truly believed 10, 15, 20 years ago that I would not be talking about it still today. It's amazing to me that check forgery is now at about $20 billion a year, up from about $12.6 billion in 1996. There was an increase in check forgery of over 25 percent last year. It's such a simplistic crime, and we are still very much a check-user society, so checks are still part of our payment system. -
Manhunt for Exec Ends at Golf Range
Continue reading… 0 CommentsIn a stirring tribute to a notoriously frustrating game, the alleged ringleader of a $20 million fraud scheme was captured on a golf driving range last week, authorities said. He had been a fugitive for more than two years.
Law enforcement officers arrested 52-year-old Jacob Kim of Palisades Park, N.J., while he was "taking swings" at the Alley Pond Golf Center in Queens, N.Y., according to the Department of Justice. Arresting officers reported finding $48,000 in cash—enough for quite a few range tokens—in his pocket.
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Former Financial Adviser Gets 87 Months
Continue reading… 0 CommentsAnd you thought your financial adviser was hosing you? At least he's not tipping strippers with your 5-year-old's college fund. Unfortunately, the clients of John A. Baldo, a former financial adviser from New Jersey, can't say the same.
Baldo was sentenced to 87 months in prison earlier this month for defrauding elderly investors out of hundreds of thousands of dollars and using the proceeds to pamper himself.
According to the Department of Justice, the 39-year-old Baldo obtained nearly $2 million from senior citizens in Massachusetts and Connecticut by convincing them they could enjoy "handsome returns" by investing with his firm, Freedom Financial.
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The Perp Walk
Continue reading… 0 CommentsDepartment of Justice: "Passaic Mayor Samuel 'Sammy' Rivera pleaded guilty today to attempted extortion, admitting that he accepted a bribe from a government cooperating witness who was representing an undercover insurance brokerage company in return for his official assistance in steering public contracts to the undercover company."
DOJ: "A Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officer has been arrested and charged for accepting bribes for fraudulently making and delivering an official travel document."
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The Perp Walk
Continue reading… 0 CommentsThe Wall Street Journal: "The Securities and Exchange Commission's investigation into Daniel Zwirn's hedge-fund firm has intensified, with more than a dozen subpoenas going out to investors in recent weeks, according to people with knowledge of the regulatory requests.
Newsday: "Two Brooklyn men were arrested yesterday on federal charges that they used their defunct mortgage company to pull a series of ripoffs, including $44 million involving over 250 home loans funded by Fannie Mae, the federally sponsored pool of home mortgages, officials said."
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Warning: Stimulus Check Scam Reported
Continue reading… 13 CommentsAs Americans receive their economic stimulus checks, Internet fraudsters are already looking to swipe them.
The FBI is warning consumers to be on the lookout for E-mails such as the following, which purport to be from the Internal Revenue Service but are actually attempts to purloin sensitive information:
Over 130 million Americans will receive refunds as part of President Bush program to jumpstart the economy.
Our records indicate that you are qualified to receive the 2008 Economic Stimulus Refund.
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The Perp Walk
Continue reading… 0 CommentsWall Street Journal: "U.S. prosecutors are investigating whether [UBS AG's private bank], which provides services to wealthy individuals, was involved in tax-evasion schemes that may have been carried out through Liechtenstein, a European principality that was beyond the reach of U.S. tax officials."
ABA Journal: "The FBI has raided the watchdog agency created to investigate complaints by federal employees and battle fraud in the U.S. government."
Department of Justice: "New York Man Sentenced for Role in Boiler Room Investment Scheme"
Department of Justice: "California Banker Pleads Guilty to Embezzlement"
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A White-Collar Sentence of 330 Years
Continue reading… 10 CommentsA federal judge sentenced 72-year-old Norman Schmidt last week to a mind-bending 330-year prison sentence after he was found guilty last May of a laundry list of conspiracy and fraud charges. Barring a scientific breakthrough in cryogenic technology, Schmidt will spend the rest of his days behind bars.
"When I first saw the headline, I said, 'Is that right—years? They must mean months,' " says Douglas Berman, a sentencing expert and law professor at Ohio State University. Berman, who has written about the sentence on his blog, calls it the longest he has seen since the Supreme Court ruled that federal sentencing guidelines were advisory—rather than mandatory—in 2005.
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Foreign-Exchange 'Guru' Gets Nine-Year Term
Continue reading… 0 CommentsAnd you thought Wesley Snipes had it tough.
A federal judge last week sentenced 49-year-old Joel Nathan Ward, a frequent commentator on foreign currency trading, to nine years in prison—that's three times as long as Snipes's term for tax violations—for running a Ponzi scheme that defrauded nearly 100 investors out of more than $11 million. In addition to the prison time, Ward was order to pay nearly $11.3 million in restitution.
