Former lawyer from SC pleads guilty to bilking veterans, retirees in $31M fraud scheme

By Phillip Walter Wellman

Candy Kern, a former attorney from Anderson, S.C., pleaded guilty to federal charges in a $31 million fraud that took advantage of veterans and the elderly, the Justice Department said April19, 2023. (LinkedIn)

A South Carolina attorney who used her law firm to orchestrate a $31 million fraud scheme targeting veterans and the elderly faces up to five years in prison after pleading guilty this week to conspiracy.

Candy Kern, 55, carried out a nationwide scam from 2012 to 2021 that took advantage of cash-strapped veterans and clients who were seeking a secure retirement investment, the Justice Department said in a statement Wednesday, the same day as the plea agreement.

The scheme offered veterans cash in exchange for temporary rights to their pensions and disability payments, usually until their loans were repaid with interest.

Kern was the managing partner at the law firm and “served as the banker, legal counsel, and debt collector” in the scheme, which bilked victims out of $31.4 million, according to the DOJ.

Despite knowing that the contracts were illegal, Kern and her associates persuaded retirees to fork over the money lent to the veterans, saying the payments would eventually yield returns, the Justice Department statement said.

She filed lawsuits against those who defaulted, even though the contracts were void.

Over time, some veterans realized that the pension assignments were illegal and stopped paying, according to the statement.

This led to the collapse of the scheme after more than eight years. Kern and an undisclosed number of associates pocketed over $1.4 million, the DOJ said.

“This elaborate scheme preyed upon and exploited some of our most vulnerable populations, and when it collapsed, it left thousands of veterans in financial ruin and scores of retiree-investors without adequate resources to retire,” Brian Boynton, head of the Justice Department’s civil division, was quoted in the statement as saying. 

Kern surrendered her law license in 2021. As part of her plea deal, she agreed to help prosecutors in their ongoing investigation.

“It is reprehensible that a former member of the South Carolina state bar would participate in such a scheme and use her standing as a lawyer to give victims a false confidence,” Adair Boroughs, the U.S. attorney for the District of South Carolina, said in the statement.

The date of Kern’s sentencing was not provided in the statement. Besides prison time, she also faces a $250,000 fine.

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Former lawyer from SC pleads guilty to bilking veterans, retirees in $31M fraud scheme

Former Rockland lawyer admits to stealing more than $1 million from elderly clients

WABI) - A former Rockland lawyer has admitted to stealing more than $1 million from three elderly, incapacitated clients.

Village Soup reports 76-year-old Anita Volpe of Tenants Harbor pleaded guilty Monday to theft.

Charges of misuse of entrusted property were dropped in exchange for the guilty plea.

Volpe surrendered her license to practice law in 2016 after being accused of mismanaging clients’ money.

She faces up to 10 years in prison.

The judge says sentencing will likely be in February or March.

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Former Rockland lawyer admits to stealing more than $1 million from elderly clients

Former Brooklyn lawyer accused of $8M deed theft scheme

Sanford Solny accused of reaping $600K in rent on unlawfully obtained homes

 

By Georgia Kromrei

From left: 161 East 29th Street in East Flatbush, 2 Jardine Place in Ocean Hill and 163 Montauk Avenue in Cypress Hills (Google Maps)

A former Brooklyn attorney has been indicted for carrying out a nearly $8 million deed theft scheme, a practice that is not uncommon in areas with high foreclosure rates.

Brooklyn District Attorney Eric Gonzalez accused Sanford Solny of stealing deeds to eight properties in foreclosure by tricking victims into handing over their homes. He allegedly collected over $600,000 in rent from the properties, which are located in Bedford-Stuyvesant, East New York, Cypress Hills, Flatbush and Ocean Hill. The homes were valued at $7.8 million.

Solny was served a 63-count indictment for grand larceny, scheme to defraud and possession of stolen property.

“Brooklyn’s valuable real estate market continues to be an attractive target for fraudsters willing to deceive homeowners,” said Gonzalez. “These victims, who trusted the defendant to help them avoid foreclosure, instead allegedly had their homes stolen by him and were left facing financial ruin.”

The alleged deed thief, who lost his license to practice law in 2012, just before the alleged scheme began, received homeowners desperate to avoid foreclosure in his Borough Park office. Solny convinced them he would sell the properties to a third party in order to save their homes from foreclosure, and paid the alleged victims between $1,000 and $18,000 to take control of their properties.

According to Gonzalez, the homeowners believed that after Solny sold their properties to a third party, the lender would forgive the loan amount. Instead, Gonzalez alleges that Solny never made any effort to sell the properties.

In some cases, the alleged victims would sign the deeds over to Solny directly, believing that doing so was necessary to carry out the short sale. In other cases, Solny would instruct the homeowners to sign paperwork they thought was related to the transaction, but instead ceded ownership of their homes. After the transaction was completed, he convinced the homeowners to vacate the property.

Solny’s alleged scheme is not an isolated occurrence, especially in minority communities, where foreclosure rates are elevated.

When a foreclosure filing is made public, which happens long before the lender takes back the keys to the property, homeowners are often met with a barrage of solicitations from lawyers, real estate brokers and house flippers with cash offers. The onslaught is such that foreclosure prevention specialists often struggle to distinguish themselves and reach the homeowner.

The pressure to sell rather than refinance or seek assistance is particularly severe in neighborhoods like East New York and Cypress Hills, where foreclosure rates are higher than the rest of the city. In November, the New York Department of State declared parts of those neighborhoods a “cease and desist zone,” a move that the Long Island Board of Realtors opposed.

Homeowners in parts of East New York and Cypress Hills can now add their names to a published list, which forbids real estate brokers from contacting those facing foreclosure without their permission. The restrictions will be in place until 2025.

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Former Brooklyn lawyer accused of $8M deed theft scheme

Former lawyer in central VA indicted on federal charges, arraignment scheduled Nov. 17

by Sara Grace Todd

Cherie Anne Washburn practiced at a law firm in Forest where she has been indicted on federal charged relating to financial exploitation. (WSET)

FOREST, Va., (WSET) -- A former lawyer who practiced in Forest, VA has been indicted on federal charges in connection to financial exploitation.

Cherie Washburn has been indicted on 13 counts of federal crimes - 10 counts of wire fraud, 1 count of mail fraud, 2 counts of false statements to a mortgage lender, according to court documents.

Washburn has been accused of using her position as Power of Attorney to write multiple checks to herself as well as online money transfers while working at Wetzel and Washburn, PLLC, located in Forest, VA.

20201029 Us.vcheriewashburn 19113998862 Downloaded by WSET on Scribd

One of the clients Washburn is accused of stealing from released a statement following the release of the indictments.

With the announcement of this indictment, we are pleased to hear that attorney Cherie Washburn is being held accountable for the harm that she has caused. As a former Commonwealth prosecutor and estate planning attorney, she used her position of trust to exploit, defraud, and prey upon others who entrusted her with everything they had. What made this worse is that she used her position as an attorney to manipulate, threaten, intimidate and silence her victims, including their loved ones, who questioned her about what happened to their assets under her care. We are thankful that her elaborate methodical scheme is coming to light, and we pray that she will be held fully accountable to the highest extent of the law.

Washburn is scheduled for a Nov. 17 arraignment via Zoom conference given the COVID-19 pandemic.

 

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Former lawyer in central VA indicted on federal charges, arraignment scheduled Nov. 17

Former lawyer admits to tampering charge in client theft case

The former law office of John David Moore, Jr.

By John Futty

John David Moore Jr., a former Columbus attorney accused of stealing from an elderly client, has pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor count of tampering with records.

A former Columbus lawyer accused of stealing from an elderly client has pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor charge in the case.

John David Moore Jr., 50, admitted to one count of tampering with records and was fined $250 by Franklin County Common Pleas Judge Dan Hawkins on Thursday.

Two felony theft counts and a felony tampering count were dismissed as part of a plea agreement with the county prosecutor’s office.

Moore, a graduate of Capital University Law School, surrendered his law license and retired from the practice of law, according to the judge’s sentencing entry.

He was indicted in August 2018, seven months after the Ohio Supreme Court’s disciplinary counsel filed a complaint accusing him of withdrawing $35,132 beginning in 2010 while overseeing the assets and nursing-home care of a man in a guardianship case. The complaint said Moore placed the money in his checking account and failed to provide a complete accounting of the funds in Franklin County Probate Court after the client died.

The theft charges accused Moore of stealing more than $7,500 from an elderly or disabled person. The counts of tampering with records accused him of falsifying, altering or destroying the guardian’s inventory and an affidavit in Probate Court.

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Former lawyer admits to tampering charge in client theft case