Former Supervisor Drug Manufacturer Pleads Guilty To Theft Of Medical Products Valued At $1 Million+ – December 4, 2020
Gregory Settino was the production supervisor of manufacturing at Luitpold Pharmaceuticals, Inc. in Shirley, New York. In January 2019, Luitpold was renamed American Regent. One of the products manufactured at Luitpold and American Regent was Adequan, an injectable equine drug administered to horses with degenerative joint disease and sold throughout the United States.
Between 2012 and January 2020, Settino stole thousands of bottles of Adequan from Luitpold and American Regent valued at over $1 million and sold those drugs to horse trainers and veterinarians at New York racetracks, including Belmont Park, for more than $600,000. Settino’s conduct potentially endangered the health of horses because the drugs were not maintained, stored or transported in accordance with proper procedures for ensuring the safety, effectiveness and efficacy of the drugs. At times, Settino transported the drugs in shoeboxes stored in his car.
Defense Contractor Owner And 4 Employees Plead Guilty To Fraud Scheme Over 7 Years – December 4, 2020
From 2011 to 2018, Beyung Kim the owner of Iris Kim (AKA I Tek) and employees Seung Kim, Dongjin Park, Chang You, Pyongkon Pak, and Li-Ling Tu of China, engaged in a conspiracy and scheme related to certain government contracts for which I-Tek acted as a supplier of goods, including items for the U.S. Marine Corps, U.S. Army, U.S. Coast Guard, and the National Guards of various states, among other agencies.
These government contracts had certain set-aside preferences and source of good requirements. The conspirators acted to defraud the U.S. and commit other substantive offenses by fraudulently importing goods into the U.S. that were made in China, in violation of the terms of these contracts. They then falsely relabeled these goods as if they were made in the U.S. Kim and his employees also acted through a separate nominee company to conceal the importing of goods from China and installed a nominee officer of I-Tek in order to be able to fraudulently qualify for certain set-aside contracts. The conspirators also submitted false documents and further falsely classified the value of the goods imported into the U.S. so as to avoid higher duties and taxes.
https://www.justice.gov/usao-edva/pr/defense-contractor-and-employees-plead-guilty-fraud-scheme
Former Financial Coordinator For Dental Practice Sentenced To Prison For $120,00+ Of Bank Fraud – December 3, 2020
Melissa Evans worked as the financial coordinator for a dental practice. Over the course of four years, Evans stole checks mailed to the dental practice from insurance groups and fraudulently deposited the stolen checks into her bank account, instead of the dental practice’s bank account. Throughout her scheme, Evans fraudulently appropriated more than 300 checks and embezzled more than $120,000.
https://www.justice.gov/usao-sdwv/pr/wirt-county-woman-sentenced-prison-bank-fraud
Former IRS Employee Sentenced To Prison For Wire Fraud, Identity Theft – December 3, 2020
According to court documents and evidence introduced at trial, until 2014, Marcela Heredia worked at the Fresno Economic Opportunities Commission’s Transitional Living Center. Heredia also worked at the IRS as a Tax Examiner between 2008 and 2014. While working at the Transitional Living Center, Heredia stole residents’ personal identifying information and filed numerous tax returns that included false wage and withholding information, false educational expenses, false dependent claims, and others false claims. Heredia directed the refunds for those returns to her personal bank account, spending the money on various personal expenses. Heredia failed to report any of the refund money she directed into her account on her 2011 tax return.
Former District Of Columbia Chief Of Collections Sentenced To Prison For Paying Bribes – December 3, 2020
Bobby Tucker was the former Chief of Collections for the District of Columbia Office of Tax and Revenue (OTR). He was sentenced to 14 months of incarceration for his conviction for a bribery charge stemming from a scheme in which he paid bribes to an OTR official in order to reduce the tax liabilities of a business he consulted and to take other actions to benefit Tucker’s business interests as opportunities arose.
According to the government’s evidence, Bobby Tucker agreed to pay an OTR official, who was working as a confidential source, to obtain referrals of city taxpayers with outstanding tax liabilities. With respect to one such referral, Tucker paid $5,000 in bribes to the OTR official in exchange for that official wiping out nearly $150,000 in tax liability for a business organization operating in the District of Columbia.
Treasurer For Maryland Labor Union Pleads Guilty To Embezzling $294,000+ – December 3, 2020
From May 2015 through June 2018, while Sarah Holmes was the Secretary – Treasurer of the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers, Local Lodge 24, she embezzled union funds by writing checks to herself, altering checks and entries in Local 24’s accounting software, and forging signatures. 138 checks were signed only by Holmes, in violation of Local 24’s bylaws, which require that funds disbursed from the union’s account via check be countersigned by the President of Local 24. Holmes forged the second signature on 22 checks; and altered information in Local 24’s accounting software to fraudulently obtain 33 checks. In order to fraudulently deposit the Local 24 checks, Holmes altered the check numbers, as well as altered the dates checks, and altered the amount on some checks. In total, Holmes deposited 160 fraudulent checks, totaling $294,585.18. Holmes deposited the checks into her personal checking account— primarily using a mobile application on her cellular phone.
Holmes used the fraudulently obtained union funds at casinos and to make personal purchases, including food, household goods, beauty supplies, online gaming, and other gambling-related charges. On 17 occasions, Holmes deposited fraudulent Local 24 checks, totaling $39,894.79 on the same day that her player card was used at Maryland Live! Casino.
5 Current / Former New York City MTA Employees Charged With Extensive $1 Million+ Overtime Fraud Scheme – December 3, 2020
5 individuals, all senior MTA employees, for their role in an incredibly blatant overtime fraud scheme. In the case of at least one defendant, the excessive compensation he received from the MTA was equivalent to purportedly working 10 additional hours a day, every day, for 365 days. The others weren’t far behind, collectively earning more than $1 million in overtime pay.
https://www.justice.gov/usao-sdny/pr/5-currentformer-mta-employees-charged-extensive-overtime-fraud
Former Buckingham Palace Employee Admitted To Stealing Royal Residence Items And Selling Them On eBay – December 1, 2020
Adamo Canto pleaded guilty to three counts of theft between November 11, 2019 and August 7, 2020, when he was working as a catering assistant at the Queen’s London home.
Canto stole the items which included signed photographs of Prince Harry and Meghan and Prince William and Kate Middleton. He sold 37 of the stolen items on eBay.
The former palace employee’s role was changed to include more cleaning during the coronavirus pandemic, which meant Canto gained access to offices and other areas of the palace that he wouldn’t have otherwise been permitted to be in.
Former Employee Pleads Guilty To Stealing $233,000+ from His Employer And Another Business – December 2, 2020
Howard Ware admitted that between March 18, 2018 and July 20, 2018, he stole over $233,040 from his employer and from a trucking business by submitting more than 2,118 fraudulent invoices for services that were not actually performed.
Daughter Of Former Union Treasurer Pleads Guilty To Helping Mother With $40,000+ Embezzlement Scheme From Union – December 1, 2020
The daughter of a former secretary treasurer of a union at Jersey City Medical Center admitted her role in helping her mother embezzle $40,455 from the union.
Jennifer Rogers (Daughter) pleaded guilty with embezzling from Local 2254 of the American Federal State County and Municipal Amalgamated Transit Workers Union (AFSCME).
Linda Rogers (Mother) was employed at the Jersey City Medical Center and also held a part-time position at Local 2254 as its secretary treasurer. In that role, she had sole control over the union’s checkbook and savings account. From July 2016 through August 2017, Jennifer Rogers, also an employee at the hospital at that time, deposited 112 unauthorized checks totaling $35,267 from Local 2254’s account to joint checking and savings accounts she owned with her mother. From October 2016 through December 2016, Linda Rogers allegedly made six telephonic wire transfers from the Local 2254’s savings account, totaling $5,188, into her personal credit card account. None of the expenditures were authorized or for legitimate union purposes.
https://www.justice.gov/usao-nj/pr/daughter-former-union-officer-admits-embezzlement
Pain Clinic Owner Sentenced To Prison For Hiring Doctors To Prescribe Controlled Substances And Money Laundering – December 1, 2020
Tom Wynne owned and operated Pain and Wellness Clinic (PWC), a pain management clinic in Pinellas County, Florida. He hired medical doctors to prescribe for patients large quantities of Schedule II controlled substances, like oxycodone and hydromorphone, outside the usual course of professional practice.
Wynne used the illegal proceeds generated from PWC to purchase property in the Tampa Bay area.
Driver’s License Examiner Sentenced To Prison For Unauthorized Access Of Computer To Commit Fraud – November 25, 2020
Linda Jean Palacios was previously employed as a Driver’s License Examiner with the Guam Department of Revenue and Taxation (DRT), Motor Vehicle Division. Between April 2015 and November 2015, Palacios used her access to the DRT’s computer system to create, process and issue fraudulent Guam driver’s licenses. Palacios processed at least 75 fraudulent Guam driver’s licenses for her own financial benefit. Palacios advised law enforcement that she entered information into the system when nobody was around, and she did not think she would ever get caught.
General Manager Of Public Utilities Commission Charged Wire Fraud For Taking Bribes In Public Bidding Process – November 30, 2020
Harlan Kelly was the General Manager of the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission.
Kelly engaged in a long-running bribery scheme and corrupt partnership with Walter Wong, a San Francisco construction company executive and permit expediting consultant who ran or controlled multiple entities doing business with the City of San Francisco. The complaint alleges that as part of the scheme, Wong provided items of value to Kelly in exchange for official acts by Kelly that benefited or attempted to benefit Wong’s business ventures.
The complaint alleges that Kelly developed an extensive relationship with Wong that involved coded text messages, multiple international trips paid for or subsidized by Wong, cash exchanges, free meals, and even personal car service provided by Wong or by Wong’s employees to Kelly. One example in the complaint alleges that Wong paid travel and expenses for Kelly and his family during a March 2016 vacation that the Kelly family took to Hong Kong and China. Wong paid for hotel expenses and incidentals such as meal and jewelry purchases.
Former Bookkeeper Arrested On Suspicion Of Staging Fire To Conceal $500,000+ Of Embezzlement – November 13, 2020
Janice Carlstrom was a bookkeeper for an investment firm. She was arrested after reportedly admitting she staged a fire last year at her workplace, and an assault on herself, to cover up her embezzlement of over half a million dollars from the company.
On the morning Nov. 4, 2019, county firefighters and sheriff’s deputies responded to a fire at the investment firm’s office and found Carlstrom inside, appearing to have been bound and gagged, according to a news release from the day. She reportedly told investigators that she was ambushed from behind by someone who duct-taped her eyes and mouth closed and then woke up to the sounds of fire sprinklers and the rescuing firefighters.
The sheriff’s office at the time immediately classified the case as a suspicious circumstance rather than an assault or kidnapping, and quickly ruled out any public threat.
Over the course of the past year, the sheriff’s office says it collected evidence indicating that Carlstrom was embezzling hundreds of thousands of dollars from her employer, with the last estimate being more than $580,000.
The investigation showed that she was withdrawing company funds and depositing them into personal accounts and paying off personal debts. Carlstrom’s thumb print on a piece of unspecified arson evidence, and the presence of some kind of accelerant at the fire scene, bolstered their suspicions.
Carlstrom’s assault and injuries appeared to have been self inflicted, as detectives found no evidence suggesting she was working with an accomplice.
Volunteer Fire Department Involved In Fraud, Forgery And Embezzlement Of $335,000 – – November 18, 2020
A newly released report from the state auditor paints a picture of fraud, forgery, embezzlement and possible kickbacks involving about $335,000 in questionable spending connected to the Mora Volunteer Fire Department, in Albuquerue, New Mexico.
‘We have over $100,000 worth of Fire Protection Fund monies that are either unaccounted for or were misspent and it’s just completely unacceptable,’ said State Auditor Brian Colón. ‘These funds were clearly for public safety purposes.
The report claims the former fire chief’s daughter authorized using money intended to help fight fires to over-pay family members, purchase personal boots, coats and jewelry. There was even a sauna and spa purchased for the firehouse.
The state’s audit also points to $1,500 in luxury flooring and financial records believed to be fabricated. The scope of the audit examined five years of financial records.
In January 2019, the former Fire Chief Dennis Romero was fired.
U.S. Postal Worker Charged For $230,000+ Fraud, Embezzlement Scheme Over 7 Years – November 18, 2020
ILiganoa Laufo illegally collected more than $230,000 over the course of a fraud scheme that began in 2011 and continued until 2018.
Laufo lied about her household composition and income, used stolen identities to claim additional benefits and open bank and credit accounts, and stole checks from the mail during a period when she was employed by the U.S. Postal Service.
Between April 2011 and December 2018, Laufo applied for welfare benefits, including food and income assistance, by claiming her husband did not live with the family. She submitted falsified documents to bolster the claim that her husband lived elsewhere. Had her husband’s income been counted, she would not have qualified for the assistance she received.
Laufo also stole and misused the identity information of minor children who lived in American Samoa, claiming they resided with her when they did not. By claiming these children, she received additional food and childcare benefits. LAUOFO submitted forged letters from doctors and landlords to support her claim that the children resided with her.
Starting in 2015, Laufo used the identity information of two family members residing in California and an acquaintance in American Samoa to receive additional benefits including food assistance, cash assistance, and childcare funds. She claimed still more children—again, actually living in American Samoa—were residing with her under these three false identities and created letters and documents to bolster those claims as well. Laufo received more than $220,000 from this scheme to which she was not entitled.
Laufo used the identities she stole to open bank and credit accounts. She opened one of those accounts in the name of her ex-husband three years after he died. She deposited worthless checks in the bank account and quickly withdrew cash before the bank realized the fraud. More than $10,000 in loss resulted from that conduct.
In March 2018, when Laufo was employed by the U.S. Postal Service as a letter carrier, she stole and deposited two checks from the mail she was assigned to deliver. She deposited the checks into an account in the name of one of the identities she had stolen in the benefits fraud scheme.
Apple Head Of Global Security Indicted On Bribery Charges – November 24, 2020
Apple’s head of global security was charged with bribery last week for allegedly promising to donate iPads to the Santa Clara County Sheriff’s Office in exchange for concealed-weapons permits.
The charges are part of a broader 2 year investigation into the sheriff’s office, according to a news release on the Santa Clara County district attorney’s website. The investigation explored an alleged scheme to trade concealed-weapons permits in exchange for goods, such as iPads and expensive sports tickets.
Thomas Moyer, who has run Apple’s security department since 2013, had applied for concealed-weapons permits, according to the release. The sheriff’s office held up the application, the news release alleges, until Moyer agreed to get Apple to donate $70,000 worth of iPads.
Through his attorney, Ed Swanson, Moyer denied the allegations and said there was no quid pro quo. Moyer helped arrange a donation of iPads to a new education center for the sheriff’s office, Swanson said, but that donation was not connected with four concealed-carry permits issued to Apple employees.
Santa Clara Undersheriff Rick Sung and Capt. James Jensen, who allegedly requested the bribes, were also indicted.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2020/11/23/apple-sheriff-bribery/
Owner And Employees Of Child Care Centers Charged With Defrauding State Low-Income Daycare Program Out Of $6.1 Million Over 8 Years – November 25, 2020
The owner of Chicago area child care centers and several of her employees fraudulently schemed to pocket more than $6.1 million from a State of Illinois program designed to help low-income families afford child caret.
Aleesha McDowell owned numerous child care centers. From 2012 to 2020, McDowell schemed with four directors of her centers and others to defraud the Illinois Department of Human Services’ Child Care Assistance Program by submitting and causing the submission of materially false information, including fraudulent paystubs and income verification letters, regarding a parent’s eligibility to qualify for state subsidy payments. McDowell and the co-schemers also assisted parents in completing false IDHS applications that fraudulently caused the state to issue subsidy payments to the centers.
The charges accuse McDowell of spending some of the criminally derived money on a 2017 Bentley Bentayga and a house.
Former Credit Union Employee Sentenced To Prison For $85,000+ Of Embezzlement – November 25,2020
Kaylyn Wolfe previously admitted that she committed the embezzlement from September 2016 through September 2017, while employed at the credit union. Wolfe acknowledged that she made numerous unauthorized changes to her and her husband’s credit union credit card accounts, that allowed her to obtain significant cash advances.
Wolfe was also ordered to pay $85,679 in restitution.
https://www.justice.gov/usao-mdpa/pr/former-credit-union-employee-sentenced-embezzlement
Former Priest Sentenced To Prison For Theft Of $250,000+ In Wire Fraud And Money Laundering Scheme – November 25,2020
Marcin Garbaczge was formerly an ordained priest assigned to the Catholic Diocese (CD) in South Dakota.
Garbaczge while employed as a priest with the CD, devised a scheme to steal monies collected from parishioners at various church services by secretly entering the areas in three parish churches where such monies were stored. He took steps such as entering the church buildings late in the evening, removing and replacing special, tamper-proof bank bags, making multiple same-day deposits totaling tens of thousands of dollars of stolen money in ATMs well after midnight, and laundering such stolen money through a variety of banks, investment firms, and credit card companies.
Garbacz used the more than $250,000.00 in stolen donations to purchase for himself over a dozen gold-plated chalices, numerous bronze statues, a $10,000 diamond ring, a grand piano, Mont Blanc fountain pens, and other items
Once he was made aware of the investigation, Garbacz drained his bank account of more than $50,000 and bought a one-way plane ticket to Poland. Fortunately, he was arrested by federal agents at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport in May 2019 just before his flight was to depart.
BAE Missile Systems Employee Sentenced To Prison For Giving Information To Hostile Foreign Powers – November 13, 2020
Simon Finch admitted sending foreign powers details of an unidentified missile system on which he worked during his time with BAE Systems.
Finch told police and the court that his motivation was to get revenge on the British state after, so he said, Merseyside Police ignored his attempts to report homophobic attacks against him in 2013. When he armed himself, fearing police wouldn’t help him if he was attacked again, he was arrested.
After being given a suspended prison sentence for carrying a hammer and a machete in a public place, following a separate arrest, Finch decided to dispatch details of the missile system. He emailed eight people, including members of charities, law firms, trade unions and nation states.
https://www.theregister.com/2020/11/13/simon_finch_missile_secrets_leaker_jailed/
Former D.C. Government Employee Sentenced To Prison For $800,000+ Fraud Scheme Over 4 Years – November 24, 2020
From approximately 2008 through December 2016, Eugenia Rapp worked as a vocational rehabilitation counselor with the District of Columbia’s Department of Disability Services, Rehabilitation Services Administration (DCRSA). The DCRSA Vocational Rehabilitation program provides vocational rehabilitation benefits, like college tuition, to qualified individuals with disabilities to help them prepare for and engage in gainful employment. Individuals must be D.C. residents to be eligible for the benefits.
From 2012 through 2016, Rapp conspired with others to defraud the D.C. government by having benefits awarded to individuals who weren’t eligible to receive them. As a result, the D.C. government awarded vocational rehabilitation benefits totaling approximately $834,536 to Rapp’s family members and friends.
Major Corruption Scheme At Federal Prison Involved Former Correctional Officers And Inmates – November 24, 2020
The Jessup Correctional Institution (JCI) is a maximum-security prison that houses approximately 1,800 male inmates, with approximately 423 Correctional Officers (COs).
From at least 2017 until her arrest earlier this year, Trinesse Butts was romantically involved with a JCI inmate. While her boyfriend was an inmate, Butts conspired with JCI COs, inmates, and other outside facilitators to smuggle contraband into JCI, including narcotics, alcohol, tobacco, and cell phones, in order to enrich themselves and protect and expand their criminal operation.
The COs accepted or agreed to accept payments from facilitators and / or inmates or engaged in sexual relations with inmates in exchange for smuggling contraband into JCI. Inmates acted as both wholesalers and retailers of contraband and in the process made profits that far exceeded the profits that could be made by selling similar drugs on the street. For example, conspirator inmates could purchase Suboxone strips for approximately $3 each and sell them inside JCI for approximately $50 each, or for a profit of more than 1,000 percent.
Butts conspired with a JCI CO, her inmate boyfriend, and others to smuggle controlled substances, including Suboxone and K2, into JCI, then distribute the contraband to other inmates. As part of the conspiracy, Butts made bribe payments to the CO and others. In addition, Butts managed financial accounts used to collect the profits from the smuggling operation. For example, Butts’ inmate boyfriend would routinely provide her with his customers’ reloadable prepaid debit card account numbers and instruct Butts to load their payments into accounts that Butts managed.