FL Lawyer Money Laundered in Mortgage Fraud

More mortgage fraud from Florida-Federal prosecutors say 49-year-old John A. Yanchek pleaded guilty Wednesday to conspiracy, money laundering and making false statements to a bank in connection with a commercial loan. The most serious offense, making false statements, carries a maximum sentence of 30 years in prison and a $1 million fine. According to the Associated Press, Yanchek and three other men conspired to get commercial loans to cover the purchase of vacant land in Sarasota and Manatee counties. The plan was to obtain loans in amounts that would let the conspirators purchase the property without down payments and then keep the extra money for themselves.

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Petty Fraud on the Rise

As the economy dwindles, we're seeing more instances of petty fraud throughout the country. In Omaha, two men shrink wrapped empty Zune (.mp3 players) boxes and "returned" them to a West Omaha Wal-Mart. After they received gift certificates from customer service for the fraudulent items, they went on to buy two more Zune players. And in Florida, a high school teacher has been accused of fraud for lying on Section 8 applications. Six people, including a Palm Beach County teacher, appeared in court Thursday, accused of ripping off a government agency of nearly $137,000, investigators said.

While it seems more salacious to cover the large fraud out there, so much petty fraud abounds. What are you seeing? How is this sort of crime impacting the country as a whole?

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Former Bank of America Employee Charged with Fraud

Ricardo Figuerado has surrendered to authorities early yesterday morning in connection with a multi-million dollar scheme that misappropriate funds from customer accounts, according to the U.S. attorney for the Southern District of Florida. Figuerado misappropriated more than $11 million in customer funds for personal investments in Guatemala, Spain and elsewhere, and more than $1 million in customer funds “to support his lavish lifestyle,” according to a news release. Figuerado faces up to 30 years in jail if convicted.

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Obama's Attorney General: Eric Holder Vows to Fight Fraud

President-Elect Obama's pick for Attorney General, Eric Holder vowed today to fight financial fraud at every level. According to AP.com, Holder told a Senate committee Thursday that taxpayers have a right to demand accountability for financial wrongdoing. As we foster in the new era of Obama, do you think that Holder and company will do justice and stop financial fraud? Post your thoughts here.

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Satyam Computer Services Admits Fraud

Indian mega company, Satyam Computer Services admitted to hugely inflating its earnings and assets for years. The news of this company, who serves more than one third of Fortune 500 companies, threw Indian markets in turmoil. According to The New York Times, the chairman of the company admitted that 50.4 billion rupees, or $1.04 billion, of the 53.6 billion rupees in cash and bank loans the company listed in assets for its second quarter, which ended in September, were nonexistent.

Because of Satyam's relationship with major Fortune 500 companies, this news will drastically impact the business of outsourcing to India. But just how much? We'll wait and see.



What do you think will be the ripple effects of this fraud? Comment here or on LinkedIn.

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NYT: Prominent Trader Accused of Defrauding Clients

From NYTimes.com

Bernard L. Madoff, was arrested at his Manhattan home by federal agents who accused him of running a multibillion-dollar fraud scheme — perhaps the largest in Wall Street’s history.


Investors in the Madoff scheme include Steven Spielberg, eek. The 70 year old Madoff seems to have walked away with nearly $50 billion dollars--but where did it all go? We can tell that this is going to be some epic news. Gordon Gekko has nothing on this guy.


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Patricia Blagojevich: First Lady Fraudster

From NYTimes.com

...Ms. Blagojevich appears to be an influential and demanding partner to her husband’s schemes to trade the Senate seat vacated by President-elect Barack Obama for money-making or politically aggrandizing opportunities.

From her foul-mouthed antics to her seemily cool and a cucumber demeanor, Mrs. Blago has more information on her infamous husband's dealings than his closest advisors. Patricia comes from Illinois political royalty and some would say this was a marriage for politicial power over love. Regardless, this lady has the goods that the feds want. Let's see what she can tell us about hubby.

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Feds Nab $100M Hedge Fund Fraudster

We have a new admission to the "Worst" category of money fraudsters. Marc S. Dreier has now been arrested in a $100M fraud schemes. Basically, Dreier forged the return on investments by clients and took home the profits. Sorry to say that $100M is nearly chump change to recent losses in the financial sector--its still bad, Dreier.

From NYTimes.com

...when the lawyer, Marc S. Dreier, stepped off a flight from Canada on Sunday night, federal authorities in New York arrested him in a $100 million fraud scheme, portraying his recent undertakings as more high-stakes grifting than high-end lawyering.

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Kansas City: Jury Convicts Columbia Businessman for Multi-million Dollar Investment Fraud, Money Laundering Conspiracy

They just keep pouring in from all over the country--phoney businessmen taking money from the well to do and losing it with ease.

Today's report comes from Missouri where crooked Daryl Miles Brown convinced people to invest in high-yield, short term investments. He made the investments sound very enticing--claming that they weren't available to the general public. There are a bunch of losers in this scenerio; however, its difficult to feel that sorry for people who blindly put their money into schemes that seemed too good to be true. Pyramid anyone?

From Infozine.com
Daryl Miles Brown, 31, who was chairman of The Vertical Group, located in Columbia, and principal of Cerberus, Inc., located in Fulton, Mo., was found guilty of the charges contained in an Aug. 11, 2006, superseding indictment.

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Mobster Busted for Money Laundering

Scranton, PA

StandardSpeaker.com

Reputed mob boss William “Big Billy” D’Elia was sentenced to nine years in prison Monday, as more information was revealed about his cooperation in the prosecution of Dunmore business magnate Louis DeNaples.The 62-year-old Hughestown man, whom investigators believe is the head of the Bufalino crime family, was sentenced for his role in hiding $600,000 in drug proceeds and for arranging a hit on a co-defendant who was cooperating with investigators.He receives credit for two years already spent in prison, and may not even serve the full remaining seven years if he continues to cooperate in the perjury case against DeNaples in Dauphin County.Assistant U.S. Attorney Gordon Zubrod said he will recommend the judge reduce D’Elia’s sentence if Dauphin County officials decide D’Elia provided “substantial help” in their investigation.
In July, D’Elia testified in front of a Dauphin County grand jury regarding DeNaples, who is accused of lying to state gambling regulators when he sought a license for his Mount Airy Casino Resort in 2006.What came to light Monday was that sometime before going to prison, D’Elia had written several letters and given them to friends to mail in case something happened to him. One of those letters, which was never mailed, was dated October 2006 and addressed to the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board.Defense attorney James Swetz recently turned that letter and others over to the U.S. Attorney’s Office. The prosecutor said he forwarded that and other handwritten letters from D’Elia to Dauphin County authorities involved in the DeNaples investigation.

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Chicago dentist gets 3 years for laundering money

From MLive.com:

CHICAGO (AP) — A downtown dentist who pleaded guilty to laundering thousands of dollars for an interstate prostitution ring operating in Illinois, Michigan, Hawaii and elsewhere was sentenced Thursday to three years and a month in federal prison.
Dr. Gary Kimmel, 59, admitted using prostitution money to buy cars including a Corvette, a Land Rover and a Mercedes Benz in his own name that members of the ring used to visit customers.
But Kimmel told U.S. District Judge Blanche M. Manning he is broke.

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Federal Government Charges 6 In $40 Million Class-Action Settlement Fraud

From CNNMoney:

Six people have been charged with participating in a scheme to steal more than $40 million in settlement funds from class-action lawsuits.
According to the indictment unsealed in Philadelphia by Acting U.S. Attorney Laurie Magid, the accused submitted numerous false and fraudulent claims in three class-action lawsuits - all of which were eventually settled - between 2001 and 2007.
The class-action defendants were Nasdaq OMX Group Inc. (NDAQ), Bank of America Corp. (BAC) and the former Cendant Corp. agreed to pay a combined $4.5 billion in their settlements.
In each case, accounting firms were used to administer the massive settlements. But the accused used a number of devices, from setting up fake corporations to creating phony brokerage-account statements and other financial documents in an effort to snatch some of the settlement funds, Magid said.
"Class-action lawsuits play a vital role in vindicating the rights of thousands of people with legitimate legal claims," Magid said. The defendants " exploited the system and created their own virtual world, full of false names, fake accounts, and bogus corporations. The only thing real in their world was the intent to deceive."

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