Guilty Plea Date Set for Ponzi Scheme Case
A judge has set a Jan. 27 date for a disbarred South Florida lawyer to plead guilty to charges stemming from what authorities call a $1.2 billion Ponzi scheme. The date was set at a hearing Wednesday after Scott Rothstein’s attorney announced he will plead guilty. Rothstein had initially pleaded not guilty to racketeering, fraud [...]
Retired Army Officer Sentenced for Contract Scam
A retired U.S. Army major must serve 57 months in prison for accepting $245,000 in bribes from companies in exchange for awarding military supply contracts in Kuwait. Judge Clay D. Land of the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Georgia also ordered Christopher H. Murray, 42, to pay $245,000 in restitution to the [...]
Lawyer Charged in Fraud Gave $6M to Non-Profits
A defunct South Florida law firm run by an attorney now charged with operating a huge Ponzi scheme gave more than $6 million in the past year to charities and nonprofit groups. A federal bankruptcy court filing details contributions by the firm Rothstein Rosenfeldt Adler to more than 100 organizations. Former firm CEO Scott Rothstein [...]
Two Mi. Brothers Sentenced for Investment Scam
Two Lansing, Mich.-area brothers have been sentenced to 10 years in prison and ordered to pay $21.6 million in restitution as part of what authorities described as an oil and gas investment scheme. Fifty-five-year-old Eric Riley Merkle and 53-year-old Jay Vernon Merkle were sentenced Wednesday in U.S. District Court in Grand Rapids. The Williamston men [...]
Dismissal Sought in Stanford Document Shredding Case
Attorneys for two former employees of disgraced financier Allen Stanford are seeking the dismissal of charges that they illegally shredded thousands of documents in Florida. A hearing on the issue is scheduled to take place in a Fort Lauderdale court Tuesday. Lawyers for Thomas Raffanello and Bruce Perraud say prosecutors tried to intimidate a witness [...]
Astor’s Son Steals Millions, Gets up to Three Years
The son of Brooke Astor, eighty-five-year-old Anthony Marshall, was sentenced to up to three years in prison on Monday for stealing millions of his mother’s dollars. Marshall also is expected to continue his appeals and might be able to stay free on bail indefinitely. He tried, but failed, to get the judge to throw out [...]
Rajaratnam Pleads Not Guilty
Hedge fun operator Raj Rajaratnam, one of the wealthiest men in the United States, has pleaded not guilty to charges in an insider trading case. He entered the plea Monday to charges in an indictment returned last week. Prosecutors say Rajaratnam played a key role in a $52 million insider trading case that has resulted [...]
Legal Aid Group Sues Texas over Food Stamp Backlog
The state of Texas has been sued by a legal aid group over its backlog of food stamp applications. The lawsuit filed Thursday in Austin names the Texas Health and Human Services Commission. The lawsuit says the backlog is “denying individual Plaintiffs and tens of thousands of other Texans access to food, the most basic [...]
Two Convicted in Mortgage Fraud
A federal jury convicted two New Jersey men who were involved in a mortgage fraud scheme. The two were convicted following a six-week trial. Prosecutors say they conspired with others to obtain millions of dollars of mortgage loans for unqualified borrowers from 2002 to 2005. They were convicted on charges including wire fraud and money [...]
Ex-Kennedy Aide Charged with Defrauding Senate
A former office manager for the late Senator Edward Kennedy has been charged with defrauding the Senate of over seventy-five thousand dollars in pay and bonuses. Authorities charge that 39-year-old Ngozi T. Pole filled out paperwork to improperly boost his salary and bonus payments. He has been charged with wire fraud and theft of government [...]