Bessemer man charged in elder fraud scheme

A 47-year-old man from Bessemer has been charged in a fraud scheme that involves an elderly family member.

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Bessemer man charged in elder fraud scheme

Georgia Woman Accused of Defrauding St. Charles County Widower

For Immediate Release

U.S. Attorney's Office, Eastern District of Missouri

ST. LOUIS – A woman accused of defrauding a 74-year-old widower in a St. Charles County, Missouri nursing home has turned herself in to authorities in Georgia.

Shanita Gray, 51, was indicted by a grand jury in U.S. District Court in St. Louis on Dec. 6, 2023, with ten counts of wire fraud, one count of use of a counterfeit access device and four counts of aggravated identity theft. The indictment was unsealed Friday.

The indictment accuses Gray of using the personal information of the widower and a fraudulently obtained financial power of attorney to access the credit and debit cards and financial accounts of the alleged victim, identified in court documents as “D.H.” 

Gray notified the administrators of D.H.'s nursing home that she was seeking emergency guardianship of him, the indictment says, and concealed the existence of D.H.'s half-sister. She told D.H.’s son that she would manage his financial affairs.

Gray searched D.H.'s Berkley, Missouri home to locate personal identifying information, identify his financial accounts, take possession of his debit and credit cards and obtain samples of his handwriting, the indictment says. When D.H. refused to sign a power of attorney authorizing her to manage his financial affairs, Gray added his name to a form in which she sought a court appointment to be guardian and conservator that had already been notarized, it says. She obtained online access to his financial accounts, added herself as a beneficiary, changed his contact information on financial accounts to her Georgia address and emailed the bogus power of attorney document to financial institutions, the indictment alleges.

The indictment says Gray obtained more than $300,000 by selling shares in D.H.’s investment accounts, transferring funds out of his bank accounts, drawing checks for her benefit and the benefit of others, conducting electronic funds transfers to pay her bills and redirecting D.H.'s pension and retirement checks to her personal and business bank accounts.

The wire fraud charge is punishable by up to 20 years in prison. The counterfeit access device charge carries a maximum prison term of 10 years and the aggravated identity theft carries a penalty of two years in prison, consecutive to all other charges. Each charge also carries the possibility of a fine of up to $250,000. If convicted, restitution would be mandatory.
Charges set forth in an indictment are merely accusations and do not constitute proof of guilt.  Every defendant is presumed to be innocent unless and until proven guilty.

The Social Security Administration Office of Inspector General and the Maryland Heights Police Department investigated the case. Assistant U.S. Attorney Tracy Berry is prosecuting the case.

Contact

Robert Patrick, Public Affairs Officer, robert.patrick@usdoj.gov.

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Georgia Woman Accused of Defrauding St. Charles County Widower

Former Chicago Citi Vice President Charged With Elder Fraud

By David Jackson, Injustice Watch

A former Chicago banking executive was charged on Friday with swindling her elderly clients out of nearly $1.5 million by using her influence to persuade them to invest in her private movie deals.

Helen Grace Caldwell, 58, who until 2021 was a vice president in the Michigan Avenue offices of Citibank, was charged with one count of wire fraud by the U.S. Attorney’s Office in the Northern District of Illinois.

Contacted Friday, Caldwell’s attorney said she intends to plead guilty.

“My client has taken responsibility and we’ve reached an agreement with the government as to a disposition,” said her attorney, Steven Rosenberg. He would not discuss any details, including potential financial restitution or penalties.

Wire fraud carries a maximum prison sentence of up to 20 years.

Caldwell’s case was featured prominently in an Injustice Watch series, Exploited Elders, which in August detailed gaping holes in Illinois’ safety net intended to thwart a skyrocketing number of fraud cases targeting the old and frail.

According to the charging documents filed Friday by acting U.S. Attorney Morris Pasqual, Caldwell persuaded her Citi clients to invest in horror movies being produced and promoted by her private movie company, Canal Productions LLC. According to the charges, each would share in the profits.

“In fact, as defendant knew, those representations were false because defendant intended to misappropriate, and did misappropriate, those proceeds for personal purposes,” the charges allege.

Full Article and Source:
Former Chicago Citi Vice President Charged With Elder Fraud

Virginia Man Convicted in Delaware County Guardianship Fraud; Accomplice Pleads Guilty

By Mary Roberts

Hampton, VА. — A federal jury has convicted Hampton, Virginia resident Carlton Rembert, 69, for his involvement in a scheme to embezzle funds from court-appointed guardianships. The elaborate fraud involved funneling money through a network of shell companies. Rembert faces charges of conspiracy, bank fraud, and wire fraud following a four-day trial in the Eastern District of Pennsylvania.

Gloria Byars, a 62-year-old Aldan woman, chose to plead guilty to charges of conspiracy, wire fraud, money laundering, and filing a false income tax return. Alesha Mitchell, 42, of Suffolk, Virginia, had previously pleaded guilty in 2022 to conspiracy to commit bank fraud for her role in the $1.2 million scheme.

The trio illicitly obtained over $1.2 million from incapacitated wards through unauthorized checks, manipulating the funds through various shell corporations. Byars, entrusted with managing assets for elderly individuals, abused her role as a guardian, diverting funds for personal use.

The complex financial fraud involved fraudulent checks, shell companies such as Global Guardian Services LLC, ICU Records & Billing, CWR Medical Services, and ACC Medical Billing LLC. Funds were stolen by Rembert and Mitchell, who deposited cashier’s checks into Byars’ accounts.

Byars spent the embezzled funds on personal luxuries, including vacations, clothing, vehicles, gifts, and parties. The investigation revealed that the fraud extended to the Church of the Overcomer, where the Collins, who serve as pastors, faced state charges in connection with the same scheme.

Byars and her co-conspirators collectively stole over $1 million from at least 120 incapacitated individuals. Sentencing for Mitchell is scheduled for December 5, Byars on February 20, and Rembert on February 29. Each faces up to 30 years in prison and substantial fines for their roles in the
conspiracy. The case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Tiwana Wright and Samuel Dalke.

Full Article & Source:
Virginia Man Convicted in Delaware County Guardianship Fraud; Accomplice Pleads Guilty

Tama Woman to Federal Prison for Stealing from Disabled Relative

For Immediate Release

U.S. Attorney's Office, Northern District of Iowa

A woman who spent her disabled relative’s entire trust fund was sentenced on November 2, 2023, to more than two years in federal prison.

Nancy Lee Johnson, age 69, from Tama, Iowa, received the prison term after a May 1, 2023 guilty plea to one count of wire fraud. Information from Johnson’s plea agreement and sentencing showed that in November 2017, Johnson petitioned the Meskwaki Tribal Court to become the guardian and conservator of her disabled relative, L.J.  In doing so, she swore that she would faithfully discharge the duties of a guardian and conservator, which included protecting, preserving, and prudently investing the estate of L.J.  At the time, L.J. had a trust fund valued at more than $360,000.  L.J. also received per capita pay from the Meskwaki tribe and Social Security benefits. The court recognized Johnson as L.J.’s guardian and conservator in February 2018. 

As early as December 2017, she began to transfer money from L.J.’s trust fund to other accounts and by November 2018, the balance of L.J.’s trust fund was $0.  In March 2018, Johnson activated a debit card for an account she opened in L.J.’s name.  She had the only copy of the card.  Johnson used that card to make unauthorized purchases, which included the purchases of two purebred dogs and multiple pieces of jewelry.  During the time that she was his guardian and conservator, L.J.’s assets totaled at least $416,043.73.  In August 2019, when the Meskwaki Tribal Court terminated Johnson’s guardianship and conservatorship, L.J.’s funds had been reduced to $1,871.38.        

Johnson was sentenced in Cedar Rapids by United States District Court Judge C.J. Williams.  Johnson was sentenced to 33 months’ imprisonment.  She was ordered to make $387,213.40 in restitution to her relative.  She must also serve a three-year term of supervised release after the prison term.  There is no parole in the federal system.

Johnson was released on the bond previously set and is to surrender to the United States Marshal on November 27, 2023.

The case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Kyndra Lundquist and investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation. 

Court file information at https://ecf.iand.uscourts.gov/cgi-bin/login.pl. 

The case file number is 22-CR-0086.

Follow us on Twitter @USAO_NDIA.

Updated November 7, 2023

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Tama Woman to Federal Prison for Stealing from Disabled Relative

Feds urge prison time for Argillite woman

 By Mary Jane Epling

ASHLAND The United States recommends a former nurse and care home owner to spend more than two years in federal prison for defrauding her elderly patients.

Donna Sue Glass, 52, of Argillite, the former owner and operator of Glass Family Care Home was indicted in December 2022 on seven counts of wire fraud after the United States alleged she swindled three patients out of nearly $100,000.

According to a sentencing memorandum filed in U.S. District Court, Glass became the guardian over two of her residences — giving her full access to their finances and later a third after she became a signor on their bank account.

Glass’s actions, according to a U.S. attorney, constitute a 26-month incarceration. “Elder financial exploitation is the type of cynical, insidious crime that must be met with a serious sentence of incarceration,” the document reads.

According to plea agreement documents from April, Glass admitted to operating with the intent to deceive.

Per case documents, Glass became a co-signor on an elderly resident’s account when a physical ailment left him unable to sign his own checks.

Court records indicate Glass depleted the man’s account and spent $73,251 “to which she was not entitled,” between April 2014 and April 2019.

The U.S. also alleged Glass charged the man $1,500 per month in rent for a shared 16-by-20-foot room, with no access to a private toilet, while using the patient’s additional funds for vacation, mortgage payments and monthly subscriptions to Sun Tan City.

“She housed more residents than state statute permitted. ... She squeezed residents into housing conditions that were inadequate at best — not providing a wall for a bathroom is humiliating,” Assistant United States Attorney Kathryn M. Dieruf wrote in reference to Glass’s actions.

Glass became guardian to a second patient in October 2014. She is accused of depleting the woman’s account by “unlawfully (stealing)” $14,299.

In the case of the second patient, Glass is accused of collecting rent from other residents, “commingling funds to the point of inextricability.”

After the account was “bankrupted,” Glass increased the woman’s rent well beyond her monthly income — abusing her role as both guardian and landlord, Dieruf wrote.

Glass remained the woman’s guardian after she was moved to a new facility and, per court documents, Glass neglected to pay the new facility.

According to court documents, Glass was given access to a third patient’s benefits and financial accounts and she continued to collect his Social Security benefits after he was moved from the Glass Family Care Home.

“The defendant’s residents were senior citizens whose mental and physical capacities had deteriorated to the point of needing the care of a family care home. The defendant took advantage of her residents’ vulnerabilities, lack of oversight and trust in her to use and abuse their bank accounts or outright steal their income,” Dieruf wrote.

Dieruf also asks for restitution in the case, requesting the judge to order Glass to pay the amount lost to each of the resident’s estates.

The prosecuting sentence memorandum says the Glass Family Care Home is currently listed for sale at $260,000 and requests that any proceeds of a sale should be applied toward payment to her victims.

Glass’s attorney, Michael Curtis, also filed a sentencing memorandum, requesting the judge sentence Glass to home incarceration.

Curtis wrote Glass “has been a nurse and ... had done an excellent job in caring for her patients.”

“She is an extremely passionate person who feels for the other people and her sole job was caring for those in need,” Curtis continues.

Dieruf seemingly responded to that line in the U.S. memorandum with: “She insists she only cared for the well-being of her residents. The facts of this case demonstrate otherwise.”

Curtis says Glass’s mistake was commingling money — confusing her fiduciary duties.

The defense requested Glass receive mental health treatment if she were to be incarcerated, “or if she is released on some alternative form of sentencing,” Curtis wrote.

Curtis wrote home incarceration and supervised release would “reflect the seriousness of the offense and likewise promote respect for the law and provide just punishment.”

Glass’s official sentence, which will be decided by a judge after taking the sentencing proposals from counsel into consideration, will occur on Aug 14.

Full Article & Source:
Feds urge prison time for Argillite woman

Art dealer faked lung transplant to rob seniors in $1.6 million fraud scheme, FBI says

by Tresa Baldas

KEY POINTS

• A Michigan art dealer is being charged in U.S. District Court with running a $1.6 million scam that preyed on the elderly and involved more than 100 rare, fine art photographs.
• Instead of honoring her clients’ contracts to sell the artwork on consignment, the FBI says, Wendy Beard sold the photos without their knowledge and kept the money.
• The FBI also alleges that Beard created fake employees and email addresses, used to send clients messages that claimed Beard couldn't be reached because she was in the hospital or in a coma.

For years, Wendy Beard ran a lucrative art gallery she inherited from her millionaire father in Birmingham, Michigan.

But along the way, the FBI says, she got greedy – so greedy that she scammed seniors by taking their rare art on consignment, selling it and then keeping all the profits, including a mural-sized Ansel Adams photograph she sold for $440,000 without ever telling the owner.

When the 82-year-old owner of the photo tried to get the picture back, the FBI says, Beard came up with a story: She was in the hospital getting a double lung transplant and was too sick to deal with the request.

None of it was true, the FBI says.

Fake employees, fake emails, fake transplant

The 82-year-old woman – identified as Victim No. 1 in court documents – was not alone.

On Thursday, the FBI issued a plea to the public, asking for its help in identifying "additional potential victims" who may have provided art to Beard and never got paid, or who bought art from her and never received it.

In an alleged fraud scheme unraveling in U.S. District Court, Beard is charged with running a $1.6 million scam involving more than 100 rare, fine-art photographs that collectors entrusted her with to sell on consignment.

Instead of honoring her clients’ contracts, the FBI says, she sold the photos without their knowledge and kept the money. Moreover, the FBI says, Beard sold artwork to other victims but never delivered the goods – even after they had paid her – and created fake email addresses of fake employees she pretended worked for her.

It was these fake employees who came up with the lung transplant story, the FBI says, alleging it was really Beard who made up the tale in emails to her unwitting clients.

The FBI detailed these allegations in a criminal complaint in U.S. District Court, where Beard is charged with wire fraud and bank fraud for allegedly running a yearslong scheme that preyed largely on the elderly, out of a gallery that her father founded more than 50 years ago.

Beard is free on bond. Neither she nor her court-appointed attorney could be reached for comment.

How the scam allegedly worked

According to the complaint, Beard’s scheme started in 2017 – one year before her father died – and ran out of two locations.

The gallery, which was renamed the Wendy Halsted Gallery a decade earlier, operated for a few years out of a Birmingham storefront. But in 2020, the business closed and relocated to Beard’s home in Franklin, Michigan.

Sometime this year, the Birmingham police received multiple complaints from art collectors alleging that Beard had taken their artwork on consignment and had not returned the art after the contract had ended.

Birmingham police referred the complaints to the FBI.

Dozens more victims came forward, including five individuals whose stories were shared in an FBI affidavit on file in federal court.

But as the FBI agent noted in the affidavit: "Bank records and other business records indicate there are likely to be more victims who have yet to be interviewed."

Victim No. 1

In 2018, an 82-year-old art collector gave Beard about $900,000 worth of fine art photography to sell on consignment. Among the prints was a mural-sized photo by Ansel Adams titled "The Tetons and the Snake River, Grand Teton National Park, 1942."

Beard had appraised the photo's value at $625,000, and brokered a nine-month agreement with its owner to list it for $685,000 – with a 5% commission going to Beard as the consignee. The agreement expired in December 2019.

On Nov. 14, 2019, Beard sent an email to her client and stated that she took the photo to Jackson, Wyoming, in attempts to sell it, but was not successful. She then asked the owner if they would consider taking $440,000 for the photograph.

But unbeknownst to the owner, Beard would eventually sell the photo for $440,000 to the Wyoming gallery, ship it from her Franklin home to a private collector, who then wired $440,000 to a bank account belonging to the Wendy Halsted Gallery. The signers on the account are Beard and her husband.

The Ansel Adams print would then be sold over and over again, for more and more money. It recently resold for $685,000 to a private client, who displayed it in a private residence in Idaho.

Meanwhile, the original owner of the photo got nothing, the FBI says, and was never notified by Beard what happened to the photo.

The lung transplant story

The FBI says Victim 1 made multiple attempts to get their photos back from Beard, but that Beard came up with multiple excuses, most of them alleging she was in poor health and struggling with lung issues that put her on a transplant list.

On Aug. 3, 2021, Victim 1 received an email from a "Wendy" at the gallery, citing an unplanned hospital stay by Beard. In the email signed "Wendy," Beard claimed to have been unconscious for an extended period of time but "got bumped up on the transplant list."

Victim 1 received similar emails from other email addresses, claiming to be Beard's assistants.

According to the FBI, the email addresses that these messages were coming from were created in 2021 and registered to Beard's personal cell phone number. The names tied to the addresses had no connection to the Wendy Halsted Gallery.

"Nor does there appear to be any payroll paid out to anyone via the Wendy Halsted Gallery bank accounts reviewed by the FBI," an FBI agent wrote in an affidavit, adding there were more victims who had been scammed by Beard, and they were getting the same types of emails as Victim 1.

"I believe Beard created these and other fictitious assistants and email addresses in furtherance of the fraud and to create sympathy from her victims and justify why she had not returned their artwork," the FBI agent writes, pointing to statements that claimed Beard was in the hospital or in a coma.

As for the lung transplant story, the agent added: "According to the United Network for Organ Sharing (UNOS), there is no record of Beard ever being on a transplant list or the recipient of a donor organ."

Victim No. 2: A man with Alzheimer's

In May, Birmingham police received a report from a person alleging their 89-year-old father with Alzheimer's had been scammed by the owner of the Halsted Gallery.

According to the relative, in 2020, their father gave Beard five photographs by Ansel Adams, Ion Zupco, Arnold Newman and Jerry Uelsma to sell on consignment. But the relative was not pleased with the progress Beard was making and requested to end the consignment agreement.

However, prior to returning the photographs, court records state, Beard dropped the photographs off at a local framing business.

When the relative received the photographs back, they noticed that one image, a signed photograph by Ansel Adams titled "Tenaya Creek," was now missing the artist's signature. Further, a second image purporting to be a signed photograph by Ansel Adams titled "Siesta Lake Portfolio" was actually a different Ansel Adams photo known as "Moon and Half Dome."

When Victim 2's relative contacted Beard to get the correct photos returned, Beard was evasive, court records state. So on the morning of May 24, police went to Beard's home, where Beard agreed to return the two missing Ansel Adams photos.

But when the detective unwrapped the packages, the wrong photographs were inside.

Almost two weeks later, Beard showed up at the Birmingham Police Department with two photographs. One was the correct "Siesta Lake" photograph. But the second photo was still the wrong one.

The signed "Tenaya Creek," valued at $4,000-$5,000, was still missing.

Victim No. 3: A Pulitzer Prize winner

In 2020, a 69-year-old Pulitzer Prize winning photojournalist and college professor emailed the Halsted Gallery to sell some rare original photographs. The photographer signed a deal for Beard to sell 20 photographs on consignment for a lump sum of $40,000. Beard would get a 10% commission and the agreement would expire after a year.

Within six months, the photographer said Beard became evasive. The photographer contacted a gallery in Florida where the photos were supposed to be on display, and was provided contact information for Beard's assistant, a so-called "Katy Welsh."

In May 2021, 18 months after the agreement had expired, Victim 3 lost all of his life's work and art collection in a residential fire. The photographer subsequently tried to contact Beard but was unable to reach her.

To date, the FBI says, Victim 3 has never been paid for any of the photographs on consignment with Beard, nor has she ever returned them.

Numerous victims interviewed by the FBI said that Beard had planned to take their artwork to her gallery in Florida to sell. In 2021, Beard leased space in Palm Beach Art showroom for seven months, but left an inventory of 62 photographs after her lease ended.

Victim #4 got a backdated check from a closed account

In early 2019, a 70-year-old art collector placed four items on consignment with Beard: a signed Ansel Adams book and three photographs.

A few years passed and the items didn't sell. So Victim 4 requested that everything be returned.

On Aug. 4, a UPS package arrived. It contained the signed Ansel Adams book and a backdated check for $4,000. It was dated Nov. 9, 2021. The memo on the check stated "Edward Weston," which Victim 4 concluded was for the sale of an Edward Weston photograph, even though Beard had never informed the victim of that sale.

Victim 4 contacted the bank, which disclosed Beard's account had been closed, and therefore the check was could not be cashed.

Beard claimed she would return the other two photographs, the affidavit states, though Victim 4 has yet to receive them.

Meanwhile, the FBI investigation would reveal that Beard had shipped one of Victim 4's still-missing photographs to an art dealer in Los Angeles. That dealer acknowledged selling one of the missing photos to a private collector – and paid Beard $7,875 for it in 2021.

The Los Angeles dealer could not find a buyer for the other photograph and shipped it back to Beard at her home in Franklin.

Victim No 5: A longtime friend of Beard

In July 2021, Beard contacted a 72-year-old longtime friend and asked if the friend was interested in buying an Ansel Adams photograph titled "Moonrise Hernandez" for $73,000.

The friend paid Beard for the photo in two payments: $40,000 and $33,000 in the form of personal checks.

As time passed, Victim 5 tried to contact Beard about the photograph, but Beard was evasive and gave various medical reasons for why she had not shipped the photo yet, including sending this email on Sept. 1:

"On computer finally. Been a crazy last bit .... Not all gone but at least out of the months long coma. Nice to see the sunshine sorry so short more later. "

According to the FBI, this would have been the second medical coma Beard experienced within a year.

Meanwhile, just two weeks prior to Beard sending that email, the FBI saw her leave her residence and drive to a Detroit parking structure.

According to the FBI: "Beard did not appear to be physically impaired."

Full Article & Source:
Art dealer faked lung transplant to rob seniors in $1.6 million fraud scheme, FBI says

Butte woman sentenced to prison for stealing more than $600,000 from elderly, blind victim under her guardianship

Department of Justice

U.S. Attorney’s Office

District of Montana

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Thursday, August 11, 2022

Butte woman sentenced to prison for stealing more than $600,000 from elderly, blind victim under her guardianship

MISSOULA  — A Butte woman who admitted to stealing more than $600,000 from an elderly and blind woman, now deceased, who was under her care, and spending the money instead on lake property, vehicles, a pontoon boat and other items for herself was sentenced on Aug. 10 to one year and a day in prison, to be followed by three years of supervised release, U.S. Attorney Jesse Laslovich said today.

Debra Gean Roeber, 66, pleaded guilty in April to wire fraud and to money laundering.

U.S. District Judge Dana L. Christensen presided.  Judge Christensen also ordered $661,549.00 in restitution. 

“Montanans are inherently trusting and the victim in this case trusted Roeber because she was the victim’s guardian.  Roeber abused that trust when she defrauded her elderly, lonely, and blind victim, which is not just tragic and egregious, it’s reprehensible and unacceptable.  Our office and our law enforcement partners will not tolerate elder abuse, and we will be steadfast in our commitment to protect our most vulnerable friends and neighbors,” U.S. Attorney Laslovich said.

“Senior citizens and those that care about them must be vigilant to prevent future scams targeting elder Americans,” said Andy Tsui, Special Agent in Charge, IRS Criminal Investigation Denver Field Office. “As a community, it is our responsibility to care for our elders. As a law enforcement community, it is our duty to hold individuals accountable who abuse their position of trust and steal from the people that are under their care.”

“Motivated purely by greed, Roeber defrauded the victim and betrayed her trust. This was a truly reprehensible crime aggravated by the fact that the victim was blind,” said Special Agent in Charge Dennis Rice of the Salt Lake City FBI. “Our elderly citizens should be valued, not victimized. The FBI and our law enforcement partners will hold accountable those who prey on society’s vulnerable populations.” 

The government alleged in court documents that the state district court appointed Roeber as the guardian and conservator for the victim, identified as Jane Doe, who was unable to care for herself or her financial needs without assistance because she was blind. From about January 2017 until June 2020, Roeber stole $661,549 from Jane Doe and used the money for, among other things, construction projects on lake property at Canyon Ferry, vehicles, furniture, a pontoon boat and cash. None of the expenditures was authorized. Roeber admitted she took advantage of Jane Doe “a lot,” including lying to the victim about her finances. Jane Doe, who is now deceased, lived her final days believing this fraud left her destitute and unable to care for her simple needs.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Ryan G. Weldon prosecuted the case, which was investigated by the FBI and IRS Criminal Investigation.

Source:

Butte woman sentenced to prison for stealing more than $600,000 from elderly, blind victim under her guardianship

Former Altoona financial adviser agrees to plead guilty to federal fraud charges

By Andrew Dowd

ALTOONA — A disbarred financial adviser who ran a wealth management firm in Altoona has agreed to plead guilty to two criminal fraud charges brought against him by the federal government.

Michael F. Shillin, 32, signed an agreement in late April to plead guilty to one count each of wire fraud and bank fraud, and the U.S. Attorney’s Office will dismiss nine other wire fraud charges contained in the same indictment.

Shillin’s next scheduled appearance is to formally enter his plea in U.S. District Court for the Western District of Wisconsin on May 23 at a courtroom in Madison.

The wire fraud charge carries a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison, three years of extended release and a $250,000 fine. The maximum penalty for bank fraud is 30 years in prison, five years of supervised release and a $1 million fine.

Shillin also will be required to pay restitution to his victims. That means he must pay back $462,000 in loans to Northwestern Bank of Chippewa Falls, but the amount he’ll have to return to his clients has not yet been determined.

Shillin was indicted in late October on the federal charges, but then allowed to be on release while his case was pending. Judge Stephen L. Crocker revoked Shillin’s release on April 14 after the defendant had been caught taking an unauthorized tropical vacation with his girlfriend to the U.S. Virgin Islands in early April.

The plea agreement explains how the government’s case relied on former clients and their documentation to establish that Shillin had lied to them about their investments.

“Shillin kept his clients artificially happy so they would refer other clients, keep money invested for longer, and invest more money,” stated the agreement written by Assistant U.S. Attorney Zachary Corey. Shillin’s firm charged its clients a yearly fee equal to a percentage of the money it managed for them.

One instance cited in the government’s case is a married couple that Shillin managed money for. He told them he’d bought shares of SpaceX for them and they were making a large profit. However, Shillin never did buy those shares, and SpaceX continues to be a private company that does not sell stocks to the general public. The plea agreement cited text messages and emails from fall 2019 and spring 2020 between the couple and Shillin to corroborate the allegations.

Shillin also is accused of defrauding clients by misrepresenting the costs and benefits of insurance policies he convinced them to buy. For example, Shillin advised a couple to switch their State Farm life insurance policies to ones at John Hancock with better long-term care benefits. However, when one of those clients called John Hancock in October 2020 about the policy, the company said the policy number provided by Shillin was invalid. The client then discovered the money provided to Shillin to buy the life insurance policy was still sitting in an investment account at Shillin Wealth Management.

Shillin also made fraudulent tax documents that led clients to believe they were eligible for tax breaks they were not entitled to, the plea agreement stated. Based on 1099 forms from Shillin, a couple expected to only pay $1,628 in federal taxes. But when learning they didn’t qualify for tax breaks Shillin promised, the couple re-filed and found they owed $27,512 in federal taxes.

Between August 2020 and September 2020, Shillin took out a total of $462,000 in loans from Northwestern Bank with the explanation it was to cover his firm’s payroll. To show he had collateral for the loans, Shillin provided a statement showing $1.25 million in an account owned by Shillin Wealth Management. However, that statement was actually for an account belonging to a couple advised by Shillin, not the financial firm itself, according to the plea agreement.

In addition to the federal criminal charges against him, Shillin also filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy in November. The bank and multiple former clients are among the creditors listed in Shillin’s bankruptcy petition. That case is still pending in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Eastern District of Wisconsin.

According to a Financial Industry Regulatory Agency database, Shillin began his career as a broker in July 2011 at Edward Jones in Chippewa Falls before changing firms to Raymond James Financial Services in August 2014. That second firm fired Shillin in mid-2018 for failing to follow the company’s procedures involving client fees, so then he opened his own firm. Shillin Wealth Management was in business in Altoona’s River Prairie development from mid-2018 until it closed at the end of 2020 while he was under investigation.

Shillin Wealth Management managed 2,992 accounts with nearly $135.5 million in assets in them before the firm went defunct in December 2020, according to a financial report provided to the court.

In January, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission barred Shillin from being a financial adviser, following similar bans imposed by Wisconsin regulators and FINRA.

Full Article & Source:

Former Altoona financial adviser agrees to plead guilty to federal fraud charges

Butte woman admits stealing more than $600,000 from victim under her guardianship

 

Department of Justice

U.S. Attorney’s Office

District of Montana

 

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Monday, April 11, 2022

Butte woman admits stealing more than $600,000 from victim under her guardianship

MISSOULA — A Butte woman accused of embezzling more than $600,000 from a woman who was under her guardianship and using the money to buy a house on Canyon Ferry, a vehicle and other items admitted to fraud charges today, U.S. Attorney Leif M. Johnson said.

Debra Gean Roeber, 66, pleaded guilty to wire fraud and to money laundering as charged in an information during an initial appearance hearing. Roeber faces a maximum of 20 years in prison, a $250,000 fine and three years of supervised release on the wire fraud count.

U.S. Magistrate Judge Kathleen L. DeSoto presided. A sentencing date was set for Aug. 10 before U.S. District Judge Dana L. Christensen. The court will determine a sentence after considering the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other sentencing factors. Roeber was released pending further proceedings.

The government alleged in court documents that Roeber was a guardian and had power of attorney for the victim, identified as Jane Doe, who was unable to care for herself or her financial needs without assistance because she was blind. Roeber served as a fiduciary for Jane Doe. From about January 2017 until June 2020, Roeber allegedly embezzled approximately $681,549 from Jane Doe. Bank records showed that Roeber used Jane Doe’s money to purchase a home and shop on Canyon Ferry, construction costs, vehicles, furniture and a pontoon boat, none of which was authorized. When interviewed by agents, Roeber admitted she took advantage of Jane Doe “a lot,” including lying to the victim about her finances, and that she stole from Jane Doe. Jane Doe is now deceased.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Ryan G. Weldon is prosecuting the case, which was investigated by the FBI and IRS Criminal Investigation.

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Butte woman admits stealing more than $600,000 from victim under her guardianship

Disbarred attorney who stole millions from LA and OC clients sentenced to 12 years

Philip Layfield was found guilty of 22 counts, including wire fraud, mail fraud, tax evasion, failure to collect and pay over payroll taxes and failure to file a tax return.

 

By City News Service

A disbarred personal injury lawyer who operated in Irvine, Los Angeles and El Segundo was sentenced to 12 years behind bars on Thursday, Feb. 17, for stealing the majority of a multimillion-dollar settlement that should have been paid to a car accident victim, as well as cheating on his taxes.

Philip Layfield was found guilty of 22 counts, including wire fraud, mail fraud, tax evasion, failure to collect and pay over payroll taxes and failure to file a tax return, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.

Following the August 2021 jury verdicts in Los Angeles federal court, the 48-year-old Layfield was remanded into federal custody.

After he had misappropriated millions of dollars from clients’ settlements, Layfield relocated to Costa Rica. Just before getting on a flight headed there, Layfield borrowed $700,000 from a business lender by providing misleading information and failing to disclose material information.

He then used substantial portions of the loan proceeds for personal expenses, including buying and shipping horses to Costa Rica, evidence showed.

In 2016, Layfield entered into an agreement to represent an individual who was struck by an automobile in Orange County and suffered significant injuries. After negotiating a $3.9 million settlement related to the accident, Layfield misappropriated most of the money owed to the victim — about $2 million — for personal and business uses, including to pay clients whose settlement proceeds Layfield had earlier misappropriated.

The car accident victim received only $25,000 of the settlement proceeds. Layfield also failed to file a federal income tax return for the tax year 2016, despite receiving more than $3 million, including embezzled client settlement money. He also caused his law firm to not pay about $120,976 in payroll taxes to the United States government for the second quarter of 2017.

The State Bar of California disbarred Layfield in October 2018. He also was a certified public accountant, but his CPA license expired in July 2019.

Full Article & Source:

Disbarred attorney who stole millions from LA and OC clients sentenced to 12 years

Former Florida deputy indicted for fraud

by: Aspen Popowski

 

PENSACOLA, Fla. (WKRG) — A former Santa Rosa County deputy was indicted on fraud charges after he allegedly exploited an elderly person for $10,000. A federal grand jury indicted Scott P. Haines, 49, on multiple counts of wire fraud and making false statements to federal agents, according to a news release from the U.S Department of Justice, Northern District of Florida. 

Investigators believe that the scheme took place over the course of six years, starting in January 2015 and ending in May 2021.The indictment alleges that Haines was able to take money from the victim after “inserting himself into the person’s personal and business affairs,” according to the news release.

When questioned about his relationship to the elderly person, the indictment says Haines lied to federal agents about his involvement in the victim’s affairs. Haines was arrested on state charges of exploitation of an elderly person or disabled adult, theft from a person 65 years of age or older, and unauthorized access of a computer system or network. 

Haines’ indictment does not mean that he is guilty. Haines has been formally accused of exploitation by a grand jury and must be given a trail. Haines’ trial has been set for March 7, 2022.

Full Article & Source:

Former Florida deputy indicted for fraud

Disbarred Columbus Lawyer Sentenced to Prison, Ordered to Pay $1.6 Million in Restitution in Fraud Case

 

Department of Justice

U.S. Attorney’s Office

Middle District of Georgia

---

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Tuesday, October 19, 2021

 

Disbarred Columbus Lawyer Sentenced to Prison, Ordered to Pay $1.6 Million in Restitution in Fraud Case

COLUMBUS, Ga. – A former Columbus-based attorney was sentenced to federal prison and was ordered to pay $1.6 million in restitution for mail fraud after a U.S. Secret Service investigation revealed he had stolen a settlement fee from two clients in a personal injury case.

George W. Snipes, 68, of Columbus, was sentenced to serve 51 months in prison to be followed by three years of supervised release by U.S. District Clay Land after he previously pleaded guilty to mail fraud. In addition, Judge Land ordered Snipes to pay $1,638,000 in restitution to the victims. There is no parole in the federal system.

“George Snipes violated his sworn oath as a lawyer and committed a federal crime when he made the choice to divert money intended for his injured clients into his own pocket,” said Acting U.S. Attorney Peter D. Leary. “The U.S. Attorney’s Office, along with our law enforcement partners, will hold individuals who lie and defraud people accountable for their crimes.”

“The United States Secret Service along with its law enforcement partners remain committed to aggressively investigative those responsible for defrauding victims the way Snipes did. Not only did he violate the trust of his clients but the oath he swore to uphold as an attorney,” said Clint Bush, United States Secret Service, Resident Agent in Charge, Albany, Georgia, Resident Office.

According to court documents, Snipes was a licensed attorney in Georgia, representing clients in personal injury cases. Two clients, injured in an automobile accident in August 2017, retained Snipes to represent them on a contingency fee basis in connection with their injuries and wages lost as a result of the accident. In September 2017, without the clients’ authorization or knowledge, Snipes settled the case with an insurance company for $48,000, and the settlement checks were sent to Snipes per his request. Snipes used the money for his own personal benefit. Snipes now admits he willfully participated in a scheme to defraud and obtain money by materially false pretenses by placing in an authorized depository for mail a request for funds for the payment of the two clients’ medical expenses and lost wages, knowing that the expenses would not be paid to the intended recipients.

In addition, records obtained from Snipes’ Interest on Lawyers Trust Accounts (“IOLTA”) from the same general period show a pattern of illegal distributions to Snipes. Essentially, all attorneys are required to maintain IOLTA accounts that accumulate interest until such time as distributions are made to clients or otherwise authorized recipients. Attorneys are not permitted to withdraw funds from these accounts without consulting with and gaining permission from their clients. From at least January 2017 to January 2018, there were numerous unauthorized distributions from this IOLTA account, including personal distributions to Snipes, payments to a rental company he owned, distributions to Parent-Teacher Associations and storage facilities. During this same time period, withdrawals from the IOLTA account made to “cash” totaled $468,750. There were also numerous checks written to Snipes totaling $167,600.

This case was investigated by the U.S. Secret Service and the Columbus Police Department.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Melvin Hyde prosecuted the case.

Source:

Disbarred Columbus Lawyer Sentenced to Prison, Ordered to Pay $1.6 Million in Restitution in Fraud Case

Former Mercyhealth vice president charged in kickback scheme

by Neil Johnson

The U.S. Attorney in Madison on Wednesday charged a former Mercyhealth official and the operator of a former marketing firm in a kickback scheme that officials said defrauded the Janesville-based health system of more than $3 million.

The Western District U.S. Attorney’s office, in a six-page charging document, lays out details of how former Mercyhealth vice president Barbara Bortner, 57, Milton, and marketing firm operator Ryan Weckerly, 46, Sycamore, Illinois, are suspected of creating business bank accounts to sock away checks and cash they’d siphoned off in a five-year-long scheme involving inflated billings by Weckerly.

Bortner, a 30-year employee of Mercyhealth, was charged in federal court Wednesday with wire fraud and tax evasion. Weckerly was charged with aiding and abetting in the preparation of a false income tax return.

Bortner and Weckerly both waived their rights to indictment by a grand jury and agreed to plead guilty, according to the release.

“The wire fraud and tax charges stem from Bortner and Weckerly’s involvement in a kickback scheme while she was the vice president of marketing at Mercyhealth,” the U.S. Attorney said in the release.

Janesville-based Mercyhealth is a multi-billion dollar nonprofit hospital and health care group that operates more than a half-dozen hospitals and more than 60 clinics across southern Wisconsin and northern Illinois, including Mercyhealth Hospital and Trauma Center, Janesville.

Weckerly was owner of Morningstar Media Group, a marketing agency based in Sycamore, and his company did business as health and wellness publication InVironments Magazine, the charging documents said.

“Beginning in February of 2015, Bortner and Weckerly devised a plan whereby he would submit inflated invoices to Bortner for his marketing work for Mercyhealth,” the release states.

“Bortner and Weckerly agreed that he would provide monetary kickbacks to Bortner for the funds he received from the inflated invoices,” the release continues. “In return, Bortner agreed she would continue to use Morningstar Media Group as the primary marketing agency for Mercyhealth. The kickback scheme continued until June of 2020 and involved over $3 million.”

Bortner failed to report her income from the kickbacks on her federal tax return in 2018, according to the release.

Weckerly was charged with aiding and abetting because he gave Bortner a false Form 1099 for 2019 that underreported her compensation from Weckerly by excluding the amount of money received in the kickback scheme, according to the charging documents.

Weckerly wrote 103 checks that totaled more than $2 million to Bortner and also gave her cash. Bortner deposited much of the money in an account she created at the Bank of Milton, one of the charging documents states.

The Bank of Milton account was in the name of “WeInspire LLC,” the document states.

According to the charging document, Bortner created WeInspire to make it “appear that she was performing legitimate work for InVironments Magazine.”

“In reality, Bortner’s creation of WeInspire was an attempt to disguise the source of the kickback payments from Weckerly,” the charging document continued.

Mercyhealth CEO Javon Bea previously told The Gazette that Bortner had clearance from Mercyhealth to authorized up to about $10,000 of marketing invoices at one time. Bea indicated that might have allowed the scheme to roll out incrementally over a five-year span.

He said earlier that Mercyhealth believes Bortner was the only Mercy employee involved.

The charges against Bortner and Weckerly were the result of an Internal Revenue Service investigation.

Bea indicated he learned of the fraud in early August and fired Bortner at that time. Mercyhealth also dissolved a partnership with a “vendor” believed to be involved in the scheme.

Bea told The Gazette that Mercyhealth officials were disappointed and shaken by the fraud, both because of Bortner’s longevity with the health care group, but also because she’d been a “big presence” at Mercy and a trusted member in its administrative inner circle.

Mercyhealth’s most recently available tax records show Bortner was being paid a $350,000 annual salary as the head of Mercy’s marketing division.

Bea said Bortner started out at Mercyhealth as an associate in the marketing department and moved up through the ranks.

According to the timeline laid out by the U.S. Attorney, the fraud Bortner and Weckerly are accused of continued to roll out through the summer of 2020.

That means the scheme would have overlapped a period in 2020 when Mercy laid off dozens of staff and chopped executive pay.

At that time, the health care group indicated it was weathering significant revenue losses from delinquent Medicaid repayments in Illinois. Mercyhealth had to scuttle patient surgeries for weeks during the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown.

Bortner has not responded to multiple requests for comment by The Gazette.

Full Article & Source:

Former Mercyhealth vice president charged in kickback scheme

Disbarred lawyer sentenced to six years for swindling clients

John L. Allen

Disbarred Bedford attorney John Allen will spend the next six years in federal prison for swindling clients out of more than $2.5 million, federal prosecutors announced on Friday.

Allen was sentenced in U.S. District Court in Concord, according to a statement issued by John Farley, the acting U.S. Attorney for New Hampshire.

Prosecutors say he funneled client money into trust accounts and then moved the money back and forth between the accounts and into another bank account, eventually spending the money for his personal and business uses. He also created promissory notes using other people’s identities.

He earlier pleaded guilty to wire fraud and money laundering.

“John Allen not only stole his clients’ money, but he betrayed their trust and violated his obligations as an attorney,” Farley said in a statement.

“While any white collar crime is unacceptable, this defendant’s actions were particularly reprehensible because he used his status as an attorney to take advantage of his clients for his own personal benefit,” Farley said.

Allen specialized in commercial real estate acquisition and development as well as secured lending transactions. The fraud took place over more than five years, ending in October 2109.

Allen also faces a restitution bill of $2.56 million, but it’s not likely to get paid.

After his arrest, Allen applied for a court-appointed lawyer, claiming he didn’t have the money to hire a lawyer.

And when he didn’t appear for his sentencing hearing in February, investigators found he stole a blank check from his girlfriend’s father and wrote himself a $10,000 check, prosecutors said. Investigators tracked him down to a Manchester hotel.

Allen provided no written pleadings before his sentencing, a common practice in federal court. A call left for his public defender, Jeffrey Levin, was not returned.

Three victims testified before a judge sentenced Allen, according to Farley’s office. John Hauser said he lost $1.5 million to Allen, which amounted to everything, including his house and his income stream. Another victim, Lynda Caza, said she had to delay her retirement because of the losses.

Full Article & Source:

Disbarred lawyer sentenced to six years for swindling clients

Palmer man sentenced to 24 Months for wire fraud

By Jacob Mann

WASILLA — Faunus Michael Doney, 37, of Palmer, was sentenced to serve two years for committing wire fraud.

United States District Court Judge Joshua M. Kindred sentenced Doney to serve 24 months in prison with three years of supervised release after pleading guilty to wire fraud on Sept. 22, 2020, according to a recent press release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Anchorage.

Doney was also ordered to pay over $377,000 in restitution to the victims of his fraudulent scheme that defrauded three victims from August 2018 to at least June 2019, according to the press release.

Doney was a licensed insurance broker in Alaska and worked for a life insurance and annuity company based in Iowa. He was was responsible for marketing life insurance and annuities to new and existing clients in Alaska. Many of these clients were elderly and purchased those products to secure income in retirement or for estate planning.

Doney made his way across the state hosting seminars that were setup to lure elderly Alaskans into investing in his products. He convinced the three identified victims to invest much of their retirement savings with him with the promise of substantial and guaranteed returns.

There were no investments. Doney just redirected the victims’ funds to his personal and business accounts, conjuring up fake balance sheets, account statements, and other doctored evidence and to allay his victims’ concerns.

Assistant U.S. Attorney James Klugman served as the prosecutor for Doney’s case. The IRS-Criminal Investigation (IRS-CI conducted the investigation with additional assistance from the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), and the State of Alaska Division of Insurance. Their combined efforts eventually led to a successful prosecution.

According to the press release, Kindred stated that he hoped Doney’s sentence would “send a message to Doney and others that fraudulent conduct on this scale will be met with serious consequences.”

The press release also indicated that combating elder abuse and financial fraud targeted at seniors is one of the Department of Justice’s key priorities.

Physical abuse, financial fraud, scams and exploitation, caregiver neglect and abandonment, psychological abuse, and sexual abuse are the five subtypes of elder abuse. Elder abuse is said to affect at least 10 percent of senior citizens across the country each year.

To learn more about the Elder Abuse Financial Exploitation Resources, visit justice.gov/elderjustice/roadmap.

Full Article & Source:

Palmer man sentenced to 24 Months for wire fraud

Shawn Parcells indicted on 10 counts of wire fraud tied to Topeka autopsy business

Shawn Parcells

By Brianna Childers

Topeka native Shawn Parcells, who allegedly illegally obtained funds from at least 375 clients who came to him seeking autopsies, has been indicted on 10 counts of federal wire fraud.

According to a news release Wednesday from U.S. Attorney for Kansas Stephen McAllister, the indictment in the case against Parcells, 41, also seeks to recover over $1 million in fees paid to Parcells by his clients.

Prosecutors said Parcells, of Leawood, falsely led his clients to believe they would receive an autopsy report from a pathologist, the indictment said.

The indictment said that in most of those cases, there was no pathologist involved in the autopsies. Parcells wasn’t a certified physician or pathologist.

Parcells owned National Autopsy Services in Topeka, where he provided private autopsy services, McAllister said.

Clients using the service typically paid Parcells $3,000 plus expenses up front for a full pathological study and diagnosis of the cause of death of a family member.

From 1996 to 2003, Parcells worked as a pathologist’s assistant for the Jackson County, Mo., Medical Examiner’s Office.

The indictment said that from May 11, 2016, to May 5, 2019, Parcells received funds from at least 375 clients for a total of over $1.1 million but never provided a full report in most of the cases.

Parcells could face up to 20 years in prison and a fine of $250,000 on each count, if convicted.

Parcells is a Topeka native and a 1998 graduate of Topeka West High School, according to previous Topeka Capital-Journal reporting.

Parcells made news in 2014 when he and another private professional conducted an autopsy on Michael Brown, an 18-year-old Black man who was fatally shot by a white police officer in Ferguson, Mo., on behalf of his family.

In March 2019, a court order temporarily banned Parcells from conducting autopsies in Kansas while the Kansas Attorney General’s Office pursued a civil lawsuit.

The Kansas Board of Healing Arts in April 2019 filed one criminal and two civil lawsuits against Parcells. The board alleged that he independently performed autopsies, made medical diagnoses and represented himself as a medical examiner and pathologist.

Parcells in 2019 questioned the board’s jurisdiction and said because he wasn’t a health care or medical provider he fell outside the board’s authority.

He also contended that his use of “P.A.” was lawful because he worked as a pathologist’s assistant and denied ever referring to himself as a physician.

In the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, Parcells hoped to sample corpses to determine if they were infected with the coronavirus. A district court judge banned Parcells in May from doing so.

Full Article & Source:

Shawn Parcells indicted on 10 counts of wire fraud tied to Topeka autopsy business

Two charged in ‘grandparent scam’

CLEVELAND — Two Tampa, Fla. men are charged in a nine-count federal indictment involving the scamming of elderly people throughout the Northern Ohio district.

John Tyler Pla, 25, and Johnny Lee Palmer, 25, both of Tampa, are charged with conspiracy to commit wire fraud and wire fraud, according to U.S. Attorney Justin Herdman. A federal grand jury sitting in Toledo returned the indictments.

“Protecting our district’s elderly and vulnerable populations from scammers and fraudsters is an important part of the work we do every day at the Justice Department,” Herdman said. “Manipulating and exploiting our district’s elderly in any way, for any reason, will be met with swift prosecution.”

FBI Special Agent Eric B. Smith said his unit is increasingly watching over the elderly to prevent scams.

“The FBI encourages everyone to educate their elderly family and friends on financial scams such as this,” Smith said, referring to the case against the Florida men. “These two fraudsters played on the heart-strings of grandparents. Discussions prior to receiving a possible phone call from scammers can prevent your loved one from being a victim.”

According to the indictment, from July 20 to Aug. 28 this year, the defendants are accused of conspiring together to orchestrate a “grandparent scam” on elderly victims in Brecksville, Parma, Gates Mills, Lorain, Mansfield, Fairview Park, Westlake and Mentor.

To conduct their alleged scheme, the defendants are accused of calling elderly victims in these areas claiming to be a relative — such as a grandson, granddaughter, or an attorney for the relative — and informing the elderly victim that he or she had been arrested and needed money for bail.

The indictment states that the conspirators would then arrange for a purported courier to pick up the money in person. The defendants would then rent a U-Haul vehicle and travel to the victims’ residence to collect the money in person. In total, the victims suffered a combined loss of $383,932.

The investigation preceding the indictment was conducted by the Cleveland Division of the FBI and Westlake Police Department. This case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Brian McDonough.

According to Herdman, this case is part of the Justice Department’s 2020 national Money Mule initiative. The Money Mule initiative seeks to stop the financial exploitation of the nation’s elderly and vulnerable populations.

Since President Donald Trump signed the bipartisan Elder Abuse Prevention and Prosecution Act into law, the Department of Justice has participated in hundreds of enforcement actions in criminal and civil cases that targeted or disproportionately affected seniors.

In particular, in March, the department announced the largest elder fraud enforcement action in American history, charging more than 400 defendants in a nationwide elder fraud sweep.

Full Article & Source:

Two charged in ‘grandparent scam’

Disbarred Sturgis lawyer accused of stealing from second client

The Federal Courthouse in Rapid City.

by Arielle Zionts

A disbarred lawyer who previously worked in Sturgis is accused of stealing money from a second client and covering her fraud by giving false documents to a tax preparer and lying to a legal assistant, lawyer and judge.

Rena Hymans, a 48-year-old from Vale, is now facing 57 charges in federal court related to allegedly stealing $217,699 from two clients between 2014 and 2019, according to a 21-page indictment.

Hymans pleaded not guilty in September at the federal courthouse in Rapid City to 38 counts of wire fraud, 17 counts of money laundering, one count of mail fraud and one count of bank fraud. She was released pre-trial.

If convicted, Hymans faces up to 30 years in prison on the bank fraud charge and up to 20 years on each mail fraud, wire fraud and money laundering count.

The charges come after Hymans resigned from the South Dakota State Bar on Jan. 22, which means she’s no longer eligible to practice law, according to documents provided by the state court administrator.

Hymans resigned after learning the state bar was investigating a complaint that accused her of breaking a law that says it’s illegal for attorneys to use clients' money in unauthorized ways. She was also accused of violating professional rules about misconduct and safekeeping property.

“I do not desire to contest or defend against the above-described complaint, allegations or instances of alleged misconduct,” Hymans wrote in her resignation letter.

Hymans was indicted in August on charges related to allegedly stealing $167,699 between May 2017 and July 2019 from a client who inherited the money from a relative. She was indicted on additional charges the next month related to allegedly stealing $50,000 from a second client between February 2014 and November 2015.

According to the new indictment:

In February 2014 Hymans put $50,000 in her client trust account for the Gilbert Keester Estate and was supposed to hold the money until litigation surrounding the estate was settled. Hymans instead embezzled the money into other accounts and used it for work and personal expenses.

In order to conceal the fraud, Hymans told her legal assistant that the transferred funds were earnings for her legal services. She also provided falsified documents to her income tax preparer that made the embezzled money look like income.

The mail fraud charge relates to Hymans sending a 2016 letter to a lawyer involved in the estate litigation that said the $50,000 remained in her client trust account when she had already spent it.

Hymans appeared in the Oglala Sioux court in 2018 on behalf of the Gilbert Keester Estate and falsely told the judge that she still had all of the money in her client trust account.

Later that year she wrote a check from her client trust account to the estate by using money that belonged to the other client she defrauded. ​

 

Full Article & Source:

Disbarred Sturgis lawyer accused of stealing from second client

 

See Also: 

Disbarred Sturgis lawyer accused of stealing $168,000 inheritance from client

 

60 Charged in $300M Phone Scam Targeting Elderly Victims

Photo: photo courtesy of pixabay.com

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) - Sixty people have been charged in a widespread magazine telemarketing scam that authorities say netted $300 million from more than 150,000 elderly and vulnerable people nationwide, the U.S. attorney’s office in Minnesota announced Wednesday.

U.S. Attorney Erica MacDonald called the scam the largest elder fraud scheme in the country.

MacDonald said the 60 defendants face a host of charges, including conspiracy, mail fraud, wire fraud, and violating the Senior Citizens Against Marketing Scams Act of 1994. The defendants are from 14 states and two Canadian provinces.

“Unfortunately, we live in a world where fraudsters are willing to take advantage of seniors, who are often trusting and polite. It’s my hope that this prosecution is a call for vigilance and caution,” MacDonald said in a statement.

The indictments and other court documents say that over the last 20 years, the defendants used a network of dozens of fraudulent magazine sales companies and telemarketing call centers to carry out the scam. Employees allegedly used deceptive sales scripts to trick people into making large or repeat payments to the companies.

The indictments allege that many of the defendants used a fraudulent “renewal” script in which the telemarketers falsely claimed to be calling from the victim’s existing magazine subscription company with a phony offer to reduce monthly subscription costs.

In reality, the callers had no existing relationship with victims and signed them up for expensive, new magazine subscriptions. As a result, consumers ended up having multiple subscriptions with fraudulent magazine companies.

“Using a tactic like telemarketing magazine sales, these deceitful scam artists bilk hard earned money from their aging victims - leaving so many financially devastated in their retirement years and without recourse for recovery,” Michael Paul, the FBI’s special agent in charge in Minneapolis, said.

Some of the defendants are also accused of using a “cancellation” script that targeted people who had been previous victims. According to the indictments, these defendants took advantage of victims’ desperation to make the subscriptions stop and offered to consolidate and cancel existing subscriptions and pay off an alleged “outstanding balance” in exchange for a large lump sum payment. In reality, victims owed no money.

The indictments charge defendants at all levels of the alleged conspiracies, including people who allegedly led the scheme, company owners, call center managers, telemarketers and others. Those who led the scheme provided the companies software programs that tracked orders, sales, and other customer information.

The U.S. attorney’s office says the fraudulent companies were operating in Minnesota, Florida, Georgia, Mississippi, California, Iowa, Kansas, Missouri, Illinois, Colorado, Arizona, New Mexico, North Carolina, and Arkansas.

Full Article & Source:

60 Charged in $300M Phone Scam Targeting Elderly Victims