Former Employee Sentenced To Prison For Defrauding His Former Employer Of $4 Million+ To Buy Condo, RV, Boat, Cars, Trucks – August 26, 2021
From June 2019 to May 2020, Michael Guzman executed a scheme to defraud his employer, identified in court documents as Company A, of more than $4 million, by improperly auctioning off Company A’s assets and funneling the proceeds through shell companies he formed. Company A is a large equipment rental company headquartered in Fort Mill, S.C., that rents out on-road and off-road machinery for construction and other purposes. Guzman worked for Company A as a Fleet Operations Manager, and was responsible for, among other things, the disposal of aged equipment, also known as assets.
Guzman arranged for approximately 398 assets of Company A to be auctioned off through an online auction house that buys and sells used heavy construction equipment. To perpetuate the fraud, Guzman represented to the auction house that the assets were owned by Guzman’s shell companies, when in fact the majority of the assets were still owned by Company A. In his capacity as a Fleet Operations Manager, Guzman was able to hide the scheme from Company A by manipulating internal company records.
According to filed court documents, Guzman arranged for the proceeds of the sales to be sent to a bank account under his control and used the money to buy a condominium in South Carolina, a plot of land in New York, an RV vehicle, a boat, and multiple cars and trucks.
Physician Assistant Sentenced To Prison For The Unauthorized Distribution Of Pain Medications At Pain Management Practice – August 26, 2021
William Sokye was employed as a physician assistant with Drs. Rosen and Hoffberg from 2011 to 2018, where he treated patients during follow-up doctor appointments. Soyke had privileges to prescribe controlled substance medications, but was required to operate under a delegation agreement between himself and the Rosen Hoffberg owners.
Soyke admitted that he believed that Drs. Rosen and Hoffberg prescribed excessive levels of opioids. Despite Soyke’s attempts to lower patient’s prescription doses, both doctors overruled Sokye’s opinion.
Sokye was aware that many of the patients presenting to Rosen Hoffberg did not have a legitimate medical need for the oxycodone, fentanyl, alprazolam, and methadone they were being prescribed. Nevertheless, Soyke issued prescriptions for these drugs to patients without a legitimate medical need and outside the bounds of acceptable medical practice.
Soyke also admitted that in several instances he engaged in sexual, physical contact with female patients who were attempting to get prescriptions. These patients often acceded to this sexual abuse for fear of not getting the medications to which they were addicted. The female patients complained to Dr. Rosen and Dr. Hoffberg about Soyke’s behavior, but the doctors did not fire Soyke because Soyke saw the largest number of patients at the practice and generated significant revenue for Rosen Hoffberg.
Jury Returns Verdict Of $1 Billion In Negligent Hiring Case Against Trucking Firm – 1 Killed / Accident Involved 22 Vehicles – August 24, 2021
The accident resulted in the death of 18 year old Connor Dzion, who was a University of North Florida student. The accident involved 22-vehicles in 2017 on Interstate 95.
The lawyer for the Dzion family, blames two trucking companies for Dzion’s death, saying the semi driver for AJD Business Services Inc., from New York state, was distracted by his cellphone, driving over his legal limit of hours and without a commercial driver’s license when he caused the crash that blocked the interstate. The driver was on a New York to Miami route and had been driving for 25 hours, against transportation laws.
The lawyer stated that as Dzion sat in the traffic backup, another trucker, with Kahkashan Carrier of Canada, was going 70 mph on cruise control when he slammed into stopped traffic, killing the Dzion.
The jury agreed the company did little to nothing toward safety and background checks before letting their driver behind the wheel.
Former Office Manager Pleads Guilty To $330,00+ Of Wire Fraud – August 25, 2021
Arlene Tranchina was employed as the office manager for a company. From 2017 to October of 2019, she embezzled approximately $234,000 from her employer by making over 90 checks for company expenses payable to herself or cash. In addition she also used a company credit card without authorization to make over $70,000.00 in purchases.
https://www.justice.gov/usao-edla/pr/laplace-woman-pleads-guilty-wire-fraud
Former Employee & 4 Conspirators Involved In $2+ Million Fraud Scheme – August 25, 2021
Kevin Miller was employed as the Director of Planning, Logistics, and Control for a company. The company engaged in the business of manufacturing personal products, such as hair care, hair dye and lotions.
From about September 2015, through March 2019, Chonnathason Has, Mean Peach, Eam Chou, Thi Ho, and Miller engaged in a scheme to defraud the company of at least $2.4 million.
In approximately September 2015, Miller was assigned the task of arranging for vendors to dispose of various waste products that were stored at the company’s two warehouse locations in Maryland. Has, Peach, Chou, and other conspirators created and used shell companies in various names, with business addresses that were mail boxes at commercial mail facilities, to submit fraudulent invoices to Millers company for waste disposal and other work that was never performed by those entities. Miller approved the fraudulent invoices and submitted them to his company’s accounting department for payment. His company then issued checks which the conspirators would transmit and cause to be transmitted from Maryland to Pennsylvania. Has, Peach, and Chou, would cash the checks at facilities in Philadelphia and the proceeds would be divided up among the conspirators.
Former Hospital Nurse Charged With Tampering / Removing Pain Medication From Vials And Replacing With Other Liquid – August 25, 2021
Mary Cheatham, while working as a licensed registered nurse at DMC Sinai-Grace Hospital, tampered with vials and syringes containing hydromorphone which she knew were intended to be administered to patients for the purpose of pain relief in the critical care unit of the hospital.
She removed the hydromorphone from the vials and syringes; replaced the hydromorphone with another liquid, and returned the adulterated containers knowing they could be administered to patients at the hospital.
https://www.justice.gov/usao-edmi/pr/former-nurse-charged-tampering-consumer-products
Former Air Conditioning Contractor Paid $93,000 In Bribes To Obtain Permits From City Inspector – August 11, 2021
A former city inspector admitted that accepted bribes from a contractor to approve permits for work in New Orleans, although the contractor didn’t hold the required city license.
Brian Medus, a mechanical inspector in the city’s Department of Safety and Permits, accepted money from heating and air-conditioning contractor James Mohamad, who was Kenner’s director of code enforcement at the time.
Mohamad paid Medus and other inspectors $93,000 as part of scheme to obtain permits.
Mercyhealth Fires Marketing & Public Affairs Vice President Suspected Of $3 Million Kickback Scheme – August 18, 2021
Mercyhealth has fired a Marketing & Public Affairs Vice President affairs executive due to her apparent involvement in a $3 million kickback scheme with a vendor, according to an internal memo.
In the memo shared with Fierce Healthcare by Mercyhealth, CEO Javon Bea said Mercyhealth Vice President Barb Bortner is suspected to have made “improper” arrangements with a vendor “that resulted in inflated invoices to Mercyhealth and kickback payments.
Bortner had been employed at Mercyhealth for more than 30 years. In addition to her removal from the health system, Bortner has also been fired from her staff position at the Mercyhealth Development Foundation, its philanthropic arm.
Mercyhealth is cutting ties with the unnamed vendor and currently awaiting more information from investigating authorities, according to the memo.
The health system is looking to recover the approximately $3 million it believes was wrapped up in the scheme and has hired a third party to review its internal financial controls.
Former Police Officer Pleads Guilty For Stealing Narcotics, Overdosing & Then Wrecking Police Car – August 24, 2021
On or about November 27, 2020, Thomas Reif is alleged to have entered the Klamath Falls Police Department’s temporary evidence room using an unauthorized key and removed an evidence item containing methamphetamine and fentanyl. Reif briefly left the evidence room before returning the evidence item to the evidence locker and leaving the facility.
Shortly thereafter, Reif overdosed while operating his police car. The car jumped a median, travelled into oncoming traffic, and caused a multiple-vehicle accident. Reif was rushed to the hospital and successfully revived by medical personnel. Toxicology reports showed that Reif was under the influence of substances including methamphetamine and fentanyl.
Former Sheriff Convicted Of Public Corruption Charges Involving Mail Fraud, Money Laundering Over 22 Years – August 24, 2021
Evidence presented at trial showed that from 1994 through 2016, vendors provided Sheriff James McCabe with cash, travel, entertainment, gift cards, home catering, personal gifts, and campaign contributions, in exchange for official actions that favored the vendors and their contracts with the Norfolk City Jail. These favorable actions included changing the terms of the contracts to favor certain companies, granting extensions and renewals, and providing inside bidding information.
Evidence further demonstrated that the defendant met with one vendor at a hotel in Philadelphia where he received $6,000 in cash.
https://www.justice.gov/usao-edva/pr/former-norfolk-sheriff-convicted-public-corruption-charges
Former Walmart Employee Pleads Guilty To Stealing $123,00+ Worth Of Gift Cards – August 24, 2021
Kenneth Werkau was employed as an associate at Walmart. From September 2019 to January 2020, Werkau stole $123,775 in gift cards and activating them without paying for them.
https://www.justice.gov/usao-ndwv/pr/ohio-man-admits-wire-fraud-charge
Former U.S. Postal Service Employee Admits Stealing Credit Cards From Mail Resulting In $100,000 Loses To Victims – August 24, 2021
Kyle Williams was employed by the USPS.
From July 2019 to August 2020, Williams stole from the mail credit cards issued by financial institutions and provided those credit cards to his conspirators, who fraudulently activated them and used them to make and attempt to make purchases without the cardholders’ authorization, including buying gift cards and electronics.
The victims have incurred over approximately $100,000 in intended and actual losses from fraudulent purchases made using their stolen credit cards.
In addition to stealing and illegally using credit cards, Williams and his conspirators also schemed to fraudulently use over $11,000 of funds pre-loaded onto Economic Impact Payment (EIP) cards issued by the U.S. Department of Treasury and sent in the U.S. mail pursuant to the Coronavirus Aid Relief Economic Security Act (CARES Act), that were stolen from the mail.
HACKERS LOOKING TO PAY $1 MILLION+ FOR DISGRUNTLED EMPLOYEES TO DEPLOY RANSOMWARE
Criminal hackers will try almost anything to get inside a profitable enterprise and secure a million-dollar payday from a ransomware infection. Apparently now that includes emailing employees directly and asking them to unleash the malware inside their employer’s network in exchange for a percentage of any ransom amount paid by the victim company.
Crane Hassold, director of threat intelligence at Abnormal Security, described what happened after he adopted a fake persona and responded to hackers proposal. It offered to pay him
40% of a million-dollar ransom demand if he agreed to launch their malware inside his employer’s network.
Abnormal Security documented how it tied the email back to a young man in Nigeria who acknowledged he was trying to save up money to help fund a new social network he is building called Sociogram.
Must Read Complete Article
https://krebsonsecurity.com/2021/08/wanted-disgruntled-employees-to-deploy-ransomware/
Former Senior Building Inspector & Building Inspection Commission President Charged With Building Permit Fraud / Asking For Charitable Contributions – August 19. 2021
Bernard Curran was employed at the San Francisco Department of Building Inspection (DBI) from 2005 until he resigned from his supervisory position as Senior Building Inspector while on administrative leave in May 2021.
Rodrigo Santos is a co-founder of the San Francisco-based Santos & Urrutia Structural Engineers who was appointed to the San Francisco Building Inspection Commission in 2000 by Mayor Willie Brown and promoted in 2004 by Mayor Gavin Newsom to be the Commission’s President. In 2012, Mayor Ed Lee appointed Santos to the San Francisco City College Board of Trustees. Santos’s day-to-day work involved providing engineering services to construction project owners and contractors through his structural engineering company. His services included obtaining building permits for his clients from DBI.
The complaint alleges that Santos requested his clients make charitable contributions attributable to Curran to a local non-profit athletic organization favored by Curran. These checks, in the amounts of $500 to $1,500, were written to the athletic organization on numerous occasions during the scheme. Curran is alleged in the complaint to have been aware of these donations and understood that the payments were in furtherance of the permit-approval scheme. In exchange for this stream of benefits flowing to Curran’s favored athletic organization, Curran repeatedly acted in his position as a DBI Senior Building Inspector to provide Santos’ clients with favorable official treatment. In one of several incidents outlined in the complaint, Curran inspected and issued a final approval of the work done under a DBI permit issued to a Santos client though work required to comply with the permit was never done. The complaint further alleges that most of the permits that Curran approved for Santos’ clients who donated were on properties outside of Curran’s DBI-assigned district and were the responsibility of other inspectors.
Army National Guardsman & DoD Subcontractors Charged Conspiring To Steal And Sell Military Gear / Uniforms – August 19, 2021
Brandon Schulte, Jody Stambaugh and Gary Stambaugh, are accused of conspiring with each other and others unnamed to steal military uniforms, tactical robots, night vision sights, high frequency radios, and other functional military equipment.
Jody Stambaugh and Joe Stambaugh were co-owners of Stambaugh Enterprises, a scrap metal company. Stambaugh Enterprises allegedly operated as a subcontractor on a DoD contract to pick-up, transport, and recycle scrap metal items from multiple DoD facilities in Illinois and Missouri, including Scott Air Force Base in St. Clair County, Illinois, and a Missouri Army National Guard facility in Jefferson City, Missouri.
The Stambaughs were obligated to mutilate and destroy all military property they hauled away from each DoD facility and were prohibited from reusing or refurbishing any military items for their own use or selling any military items to be reused or refurbished by someone else.
The Stambaughs allegedly removed truckloads of military property from DoD facilities but did not destroy or mutilate every item, in violation of their contracts. The Stambaughs transported the military property to their place of business in Mascoutah and sorted through the items to determine what could be converted to their own use or sold to others.
Brandon Schulte was a National Guardsman responsible for properly storing and disposing of military property at the Missouri Army National Guard facility in Jefferson City. The Stambaughs received military uniforms and other unauthorized, sensitive military property from Schulte, even though Schulte allegedly knew the Stambaughs were authorized to receive only scrap metal.
The indictment charges that Schulte understood he was required to follow specific procedures to dispose of sensitive military items, including uniforms. Such procedures are vital to national security, as terrorist groups overseas have previously acquired U.S. combat uniforms and used them to impersonate American soldiers, endangering American troops. Nevertheless, Schulte allegedly supplied the Stambaughs with thousands of pounds of military uniforms and other non-scrap military equipment.
Former Chief Financial Officer Sentenced To Prison For Embezzling $930,000+ From Employer Over 6 Years For Personal Expenses – August 23, 2021
In February 2014, Gregg William Johnson was hired as the Chief Financial Officer for a Minnesota-based manufacturing company.
Between 2014 and July 2020, Johnson stole approximately $930,000 in company funds by issuing checks from the company’s bank accounts to cover personal expenses such as credit card payments, mortgage payments, and college tuition for his children. To conceal his theft, Johnson added false entries into the company’s accounting software to make the cashflow appear balanced.
https://www.justice.gov/usao-mn/pr/former-cfo-sentenced-prison-embezzling-more-900000-employer
Former Bookkeeper Sentenced To Prison For $1 Million+ Mail Fraud And Money Laundering Scheme Over 6 Years – August 20, 2021
Rose Horne worked as a bookkeeper for a small family-run plumbing business in Fort Collins for 27 years.
From at least October 2005 through June 2011, Horne devised a scheme to steal over $1 million from her employer. Horne wrote approximately 170 unauthorized checks to herself from her employer’s payroll bank account. Horne used unauthorized checks drawn on her employer’s general business accounts to pay her personal balances as well as other personal bills. Horne forged the owner’s signature on some checks or presented checks to the authorized signatories under the guise the checks were to pay business expenses. Horne attempted to conceal the theft by writing void on check stubs, falsely writing the name of an actual vendor on the check stubs, and by cutting and blacking out portions of her employer’s bank statements that included copies of the checks in question.
Additionally, Horne obtained a personal credit card from Chase Bank, knowing the business also had a Chase credit card account, so that checks made payable to Chase Bank to pay her personal credit card bills would not raise questions.
https://www.justice.gov/usao-co/pr/fort-collins-bookkeeper-sentenced-mail-fraud-and-money-laundering
Former Employee Sentenced To Prison For Stealing $400,000+ Over 4 Years For Personal Use- August 18, 2021
Brian Janish was the former controlling manager of Lone Star Shredding’s.
Janish Janish admitted to using an unauthorized access device and engaging in other fraudulent activity to steal $403,293.19 between July 2013 and December 2017.
Janish was in charge of establishing bank accounts and approving expenses for the company. When the company switched banks, Janish failed to close the company’s previous bank account or destroy the corporate credit card issued in his name.
In fact, he charged personal expenses on the company credit card, including travel and online goods. Janish also wrote checks from the company account and withdrew cash for personal use. He attempted to cover his fraud by emailing fake bank statements to the company. He also increased his payroll without authorization.
https://www.justice.gov/usao-sdtx/pr/former-employee-sentenced-stealing-over-400000
Former Bookkeeper Sentenced To Prison For Embezzling $1.24 Million Over 9 Years – August 18, 2021
Alice Smith was the bookkeeper and office manager at Chattanooga Coin, Inc. (CCI) from 2004 to 2018.
From 2009 to 2018, Smith forged the signatures of CCI’s owners on approximately 1,400 checks that she then cashed. Smith also created fictitious check stubs in CCI’s financial records to cover up her fraud. In total, she stole approximately $1.24 million from CCI over nearly a decade.
https://www.justice.gov/usao-ndga/pr/former-bookkeeper-sentenced-prison-embezzlement
Husband Working For Pharmaceutical Company Provides Wife With Insider Trading Information / Wife Made $286,000 – She Is Now Being Charged – August 18, 2021
In August and September 2019, Denise Grevas made $286,960 in illegal profits from the purchase and sale of securities in a Washington state-based pharmaceutical company that was a target for acquisition and later acquired by an overseas-based pharmaceutical company that had an office in Deerfield, Ill., and employed Grevas’s husband. Grevas used material, non-public information about the expected acquisition to purchase shares in the Washington company ahead of a public announcement of the acquisition on Sept. 16, 2019. After the announcement, the Washington company’s stock price increased and Grevas sold her shares for the profit.
https://www.justice.gov/usao-ndil/pr/evanston-woman-charged-insider-trading
Former Netflix Software Engineer Pleads Guilty To Insider Trading And Receives $60,000 In Cash For Tip – August 18, 2021
From July 2016, to February 2017, Sung Mo Jun was employed by Netflix as a software engineer. He had access to Netflix’s internal subscriber data and had been trained by the company that such data was material, non-public information. Jun disclosed that information to his close friend, Junwoo Chon, and his brother, Joon Jun, with the knowledge that the two intended to use the information to profit on the purchase and sale of Netflix securities. Between July 2016 and April 2017, Jun’s brother, Joon Jun, made $215,419 and co-conspirator Junwon Chon made $521,400. After Chon made these significant profits on the illegal insider trading, he secretly provided Sung Mo Jun with $60,000 in cash as Sung Mo Jun’s share of the profits.
Former Ironworkers Treasurer Sentenced To Prison For Stealing $50,000+ Of Union Funds To Pay For Personal Expenses – August 18, 2021
Scott Merritt was convicted of theft from a labor union, and was sentenced to serve two years probation and ordered to pay restitution totaling $50,850.21.
Between May 2011, and August 2018, Merritt was the Treasurer of Ironworkers Local 470. As treasurer, Merritt embezzled $50,850.21 in union funds to pay various personal expenses.
https://www.justice.gov/usao-wdny/pr/former-ironworkers-treasurer-sentenced-stealing-union-funds
6 Maryland Law Enforcement Officers Facing Federal Indictment For Charges Related to Schemes to Defraud Financial Institutions And Insurance Companies – August 18, 2021
A federal grand jury has returned an indictment charging an officer for the Fairmount Heights Police Department, the Anne Arundel County Police Department, the Maryland-National Capital Park Police, and three officers from the Prince George’s County Police Department (PGPD) with federal charges for conspiracy to commit bank fraud, wire fraud and/or mail fraud.
According to the three-count indictment, the defendants conspired to commit three separate frauds, each of which involved filing false police reports and falsified loss claims in order to fraudulently obtain funds from financial institutions and insurance companies. The defendants were all police officers at the time of the alleged criminal activity.
Former U.S. Golf Association Employee Charged With Stealing 23,000+ Tickets Worth $3 Million+ And Then Selling Them Over 7 Years – August 17, 2021
Robert Fryer was employed by the United States Golf Association (USGA) in its Admissions Office. Beginning in 2013 and continuing through the 2019, Fryer abused his position in the USGA Admissions Office in order to steal more than 23,000 U.S. Open admission tickets. He then sold those stolen tickets to third-party ticket brokers in return for payments totaling more than $1 million, which was paid to Fryer mostly in the form of cash and PayPal transfers. According to the Information, the face value of the tickets that the defendant stole was more the $3 million.
The Information further alleges that the ticket brokers to whom Fryer sold the tickets bought them in bulk to then turn around and resell them to their customers. In fact, the Information alleges that the USGA had a strict 20-ticket cap on the number of tickets that it would sell to any one person, but these ticket brokers were able to acquire thousands of tickets to each U.S. Open by buying stolen tickets from Fryer.
According to the Information, Fryer delivered the stolen U.S. Open tickets to the ticket brokers in a variety of ways: sometimes in person, and sometimes by sending them via Federal Express or UPS, either to the ticket brokers themselves or directly to the customers of the ticket brokers. One of the ticket brokers regularly emailed the defendant prepaid UPS shipping labels that he then used to send the tickets to that broker and that broker’s customers.
Former Hospital Technician Sentenced To Prison For Secretly Recording 58 Female Undressed Patients / Civil Litigation Pending – August 16, 2021
Guy Caley, 53, was ordered to serve 11 to 22 months in the Allegheny County Jail, to be followed by 10 years of probation after pleading guilty in May to 89 criminal counts, including invasion of privacy and intercepting communications. He must register as a sex offender for 15 years. In addition, he must pay nearly $23,000 in restitution to cover the costs of therapy and medication for some of the victims.
Caley admitted that he hid video cameras inside an imaging room and a bathroom, where he recorded mostly female cancer patients in various stages of undress.
The cameras were discovered after a co-worker found one taped to a chair in a unisex bathroom, police said. Dozens of videos, captured in and around the hospital’s MRI room, were found on Caley’s laptop computer. A total of 58 people were identified as victims.
Former Human Resources Manager Convicted Of Deleting Over 17,000 Files (All Of Employers Data) While Being Terminated – August 16, 2021
In January 2019, Medghyne Calonge was hired by an online provider of professional services. She was to serve as the head of human resources.
On June 28, 2019, Calonge as terminated for failing to meet the minimum requirements of her job after, among other things, she improperly downgraded a colleague’s access to a computer system following an argument with the colleague.
While she was being terminated, and just before she was escorted from the building, Calonge was observed by 2 employees of repeatedly hitting the delete key on her desktop computer. Hours later she logged into a system which the company had invested 2 years and over $100,000 to build. During the next 2 days, she deleted over 17,000 job applications and resumes, and left messages with profanities inside the system. She completely destroyed all her employers data.
Veterans Affairs Employee (Purchasing Agent) Pleads Guilty To Theft Of $1.9 Million Of VA Equipment – Which He Then Sold – August 16, 2021
Kevin Rumph was employed by the VA as a purchasing agent since 2012. Rumph used his VA issued credit card to buy over $1.9 million worth of Continuous Positive Airway Pressure (CPAP) equipment. He then stole and sold the CPAP supplies to a vendor located in Ohio. CPAP supplies are medical products used to treat obstructive sleep apnea. Between 2013 to 2021, Rumph made hundreds of unauthorized CPAP supply purchases costing the VA in excess of $1.9 million.
https://www.justice.gov/usao-ndga/pr/veterans-affairs-employee-pleads-guilty-theft-medical-equipment
Former Law Firm Office Manager Sentenced To Prison For Embezzling $425,00 From Firm – August 16, 2021
Andrew Robertson was employed by the law firm as an office manager of the Washington, D.C., and Northern Virginia offices. Between February 2017 and November 2018, he used his firm-issued corporate credit card to make $425,000 in unauthorized personal purchases from retailers, unauthorized payments of personal expenses, and unauthorized payments to his own personal PayPal account.
Robertson attempted to cover up these unauthorized transactions by creating and submitting fraudulent invoices and accounting classifications to the law firm’s billing department to make it seem as though these expenditures were for legitimate law firm purposes, when, in fact, he knew that these expenditures were solely for his own personal benefit.
3 Former Fort Bragg Employees Accused Of Receiving $ 1 Million+ In Bribes For Contracts – August 13, 2021
From 2011 to 2019, Calvib Jordan was a procurement agent assigned to the Operations and Maintenance Division, Directorate of Public Works (DPW), at Fort Bragg, NC, and entrusted to contract for services for DPW.
Jordan, Edward Crisco (DPW Flooring Technician) and Stephen Sabato (DPW Roofing technician) each accepted payments from companies and individuals in return for increasing the amount of federal contracts with those companies and individuals. Jordan is alleged to have received thousands of such payments of at least $200 each. Over the 8-year period, payments received for such work orders amounted to a total estimated income to Jordan of $1,080,400. It is alleged that Jordan laundered some of that money by making cash deposits and then, in turn, withdrawing money to make large purchases including a BMW. It is alleged that during that time, Sabato profited at least $200,000, and Crisco profited at least $50,000
https://www.justice.gov/usao-ednc/pr/former-ft-bragg-employees-accused-receiving-bribes
Former Louisiana City Employee Sentenced To Prison For $400,000+ Credit Card Fraud & Identity Theft – August 13, 2021
Tory Jackson engaged in a scheme with a co-conspirator to fraudulently purchase fuel using Fuelman credit cards stolen from the City of Shreveport.
Jackson was employed by the Solid Waste Department in the City of Shreveport Public Works. In September 2017, using his position, Jackson stole three City of Shreveport Fuelman credit cards which he and his co-conspirator would use to unlawfully purchase gasoline and other items at Shreveport area gas stations.
The way the fraudulent scheme was carried out is that Jackson would meet a co-conspirator and others at a local gas station where they would use one of the stolen Fuelman credit cards, along with the Fuelman personal identification number of a Solid Waste Department supervisor, to pump fuel into large containers which could hold up to 500 gallons of fuel. Jackson’s co-conspirator and others would then take the tanks to a third party to sell, and the profit would be split among the co-conspirators. Many times, they would have to run multiple, successive transactions in order to fill up the tanks. From September 3, 2017 through Jackson’s arrest on October 16, 2019, the three credit cards belonging to the City of Shreveport were used to make transactions totaling $409,769.56.
Former North Carolina Social Services Employee Sentenced To Prison For Theft Of $200,000+ Of State Government Funds – August 13, 2021
Lakisha McDougald was employed as an income maintenance caseworker for the Department of Social Services in Harnett County.
Between approximately 2014 and 2019, McDougald used state computer networks to unlawfully access the accounts of individuals who were enrolled in the federal Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), formerly known as the Food Stamp Program. The targeted individuals were no longer eligible to collect benefits.
McDougald, however, used her access privileges to cause food stamp EBT cards registered in the names of the beneficiaries to be sent to her home address, added false dependents to increase the monthly benefit allotment, sold the cards to others, and used the cards herself to purchase merchandise. For example, one of McDougald’s clients in Harnett County moved to Florida, disqualifying her from receiving further SNAP benefits from the State of North Carolina. McDougald accessed the client’s account and changed the address on file to her own address, thereby causing multiple EBT cards loaded with government funds to be sent to her. Later, McDougald added three false dependents to the account to drive up the benefit amount and converted the funds for her own use. McDougald’s unlawful activities resulted in the loss of over $200,000 in government funds.
Former School Custodian Who Had Been Terminated Was Having Homicidal Thoughts Is Accused Of Planning Mass Casualty Event At School – August 5, 2021
A former high school custodian in Medford, Oregon, is accused of attempted 2nd degree murder and other criminal charges after police say he “made significant steps to carry out a mass casualty event.”
Kristopher Clay arrived at the police station lobby and told an officer he was having homicidal thoughts with plans to carry them out.
Police searched Clay’s 3 different residences and discovered ammunition, firearms, tactical gear and written materials, called “journals or manifestos” the police stated at a news conference. “The high school was at least one of the targets and there were others.”
Medford police say he was prohibited from legally owning firearms because a judge had determined in 2019 that he was mentally ill.
Clay had been a custodian at school since February and was terminated. Clay had no red flags during a required criminal background check, drug test and reference check, but their hiring process does not including a mental health check.
https://amp.cnn.com/cnn/2021/08/05/us/oregon-school-custodian-arrest-mass-casualty-event/index.html
Georgia Teacher Who Was Put On Administrative Leave, Returns To School The Next Day & Starts Fire, Shooting Gun Inside School – August 9, 2021
A Georgia teacher is now facing multiple charges after being accused of starting a fire and shooting a gun inside a middle school near Atlanta.
The incident at the school involving teacher Antonio Bailey, happened one day after he had been placed on administrative leave
https://www.foxnews.com/us/georgia-teacher-faces-arson-charge-middle-school
German Healthcare Worker Swapped Vaccine For Saline – 9,000 Patients Possibly Affected – Worker Was Critical Of Vaccine – August 10, 2021
Nearly 9,000 people in Germany must be vaccinated again after a nurse administering the shot swapped the vaccine for a harmless saltwater solution.
After dropping a vial of Pfizer vaccine in April, a German nurse replaced COVID-19 shots with saline and administered those to patients instead.
But police found the nurse may have swapped out the vaccine multiple times.
An investigation into the nurse’s motives is ongoing, authorities said. Investigators said the woman shared posts on social media that were critical of the vaccinations.
DEA Agent Sentenced To Prison In Corruption Case / 3 Other Agents Convicted – August 12, 2021
Chad Scott was narcotics agent known as the “white devil” among drug traffickers. He was sentenced to more than 13 years in prison for stealing money from suspects, falsifying government records and committing perjury during a federal trial. The sentencing capped a 5 year case that shook the DEA and resulted in convictions of 3 other members of a New Orleans-based federal drug task force.
Prosecutors portrayed Scott as more dangerous than the most hardened heroin dealers he locked up, saying Scott broke every rule in the book to enforce his own approximation of justice.
Scott was found guilty at successive trials of a long list of corruption counts. The charges stemmed from an expansive federal investigation into misconduct claims that had surrounded Scott for much of his 17-year career, even as he racked up headline-grabbing drug busts between Baton Rouge and New Orleans.
At least a 12 DEA agents across the country have been criminally charged since 2015 on counts ranging from wire fraud and bribery to selling firearms to drug traffickers, according to court records. That includes a longtime special agent in Chicago who pleaded guilty to infiltrating the DEA on behalf of drug traffickers and another accused of accepting $250,000 in bribes to protect the Mafia.
https://www.foxnews.com/us/dea-agent-sentenced-corruption-case
Germany Arrests British Embassy Worker Suspected Of Spying For Russia – August 11, 2021
An employee of the British Embassy in Germany has been detained on suspicion of slipping documents from his workplace to Russian intelligence agents from Moscow.
The man, who is a 57-year-old British citizen identified only as David S. in keeping with German privacy laws, was detained on Monday in Potsdam and his home and office were searched, the prosecutor said in a statement. The authorities said that they suspected he had been working as a spy since at least November and that he was suspected of handing over documents from the embassy to a member of Russia’s intelligence agency in exchange for an undisclosed amount of cash.
Former Hospital Procurement Director Sentenced To Prison For $427,000 Bribery Conspiracy Involving Contracts – August 12, 2021
From 2005 through 2015, Brian Bravo worked as the Corporate Procurement Officer and Director of Materials Management of North Broward Hospital District, known in the community as Broward Health.
As Procurement Director, one of Bravo’s responsibilities was to decide which vendors would provide goods and services to Broward Health, including health care products, linens, compression sleeves, and printer repairs. Bravo admitted to accepting approximately $427,000 in kickback payments ($150,000 of it in cash) from two vendors and a consultant for two additional vendors in exchange for awarding them Broward Health goods and services contracts. In 2015, Bravo steered kickback payments to designated bank accounts in order to conceal the illegal activity.
3 Former Hotel Employees Charged For $153,000 Of Wire Fraud Scheme For Checked Out Guests – August 12, 2021
From at least September 2017 through June 2019, while employees at the Days Inn Hotel in downtown Charleston, Star Barkley and Audrina Lincoln conspired to devise a scheme to defraud and obtain money by means of false and fraudulent pretenses. Barkley and Lincoln would re-open guests accounts that were checked out and with zero balances, typically one to four months after the stay, and adjust various revenues posted to the account during the stay. These revenue adjustments would result in a credit balance on the account. To check-out and close the account, the remaining credit balance would have to be issued to some method of payment.
Barkley and Lincoln would refund the credit balances to debit cards and bank accounts they controlled as well as debit cards and bank accounts of other parties who would transfer money back to the defendants. Additionally, the indictment alleges that Barkley and Lincoln would provide false guest satisfaction complaints and other false representations in the hotel electronic database to justify the revenue adjustments.
It is alleged in the indictment that, at a minimum, $153,000 was unlawfully obtained in the scheme.
Former General Manager For Hospital Dining Facility Pleads Guilty To Theft Of $69,000+ From Cash Registers – August 12, 2021
Gregory Norton was employed by Sodexo, Inc., which was contracted to provide food services to the patients and staff of the General Leonard Wood Army Community Hospital, from August 2015 to July 2018.
Significant cash discrepancies totaling $78,320 were discovered during an audit in November 2018. These discrepancies were identified as being related to large unexplained voids conducted at the cash register Point of Sale (POS) systems, which began in November 2015 and ended in March 2018. The audit concluded the voids were conducted by one or more Sodexo managers in an attempt to defraud the government. The audit urther concluded Norton was present and working in the dining facility during the loss of at least $69,025. Multiple witnesses stated that Norton worked unusual hours, often staying at work longer than would be considered normal for someone in his position.
Norton admitted he conducted fraudulent voids at the POS systems from August 2015 to March 31, 2018. Norton used his manager code to authorize the voids and stole the voided amount of cash.
https://www.justice.gov/usao-wdmo/pr/former-manager-fort-leonard-wood-pleads-guilty-theft
Former Billing Manager For Medical Billing Company Charged With $100,00 Fraud Scheme Using Financial Services Company Square – August 11, 2021
Jacque Phillips was employed as a billing manager at a medical billing company in Steubenville, Ohio.
Beginning in January 2018 through March 2019, Phillips defrauded her employer, her employer’s patients, and insurance companies out of more than $100,000. Phillips allegedly used the financial services company Square, Inc. by linking her personal bank accounts to the Square, Inc. accounts she registered in her employer’s name. It is alleged that Phillips then used those Square accounts to transfer funds paid to her employer, some from insurance and health care benefits programs, into her personal accounts.
https://www.justice.gov/usao-ndwv/pr/hancock-county-woman-indicted-fraud-charges
Former High School Assistant Principal Sentenced To Prison For Scamming School System Out Of More Than $300,000 With Fake Invoices – August 11, 2021
Walter James was a former Montgomery Alabama Public Schools (MPS) employee.
James held himself out to be the owner of a consulting company, ED-ONE Professional Development Services while he was employed by the MPS system.
He then worked in partnership with others at his high school and the MPS central office to submit fraudulent invoices for consulting or professional development services. The invoices that were submitted listed vague descriptions of the types of services that had been supposedly provided. For example, the invoices would include descriptions such as books & materials, consulting, or three-day workshop. In reality, James did not provide any professional development services or products of any kind to MPS, nor did any of the purported consulting companies on the corresponding invoices that James submitted for payment.
From August 2016 to April 2019, James created a loss of $314,867.55 to MPS.
Former Boston Police Dept. Auto Repair Technician Pleads Guilty To Embezzling $260,000+ In Automotive Supplies – August 11, 2021
Bahram Gharony engaged in a scheme that allegedly defrauded the Boston Police Dept. (BPD) Fleet Management Division of over $260,000 in automotive parts, tools and supplies between June 2017 and September 2020.
Gharony used his position to order parts and supplies that he purported were for BPD, but were actually converted and sold to others by Gharony.
In an effort to conceal the scheme, Gharony submitted fraudulent and altered invoices to BPD for the parts, tools and supplies he falsely claimed were ordered for the fleet. Additionally, Gharony purported that he had lawfully purchased the items through a discount available to BPD when selling the items to others.
9 Employees Of The Philadelphia Bridges And Buildings Department And Vendors Charged In $870,00 Bribery And Fraud Procurement Scheme – August 11, 2021
During various times from 2013 through 2019, management-level employees working in the Bridges and Buildings Department (BBD) engaged in bribery and theft schemes with two BBD vendors.
BBD managers individually solicited the vendors for cash and personal items. The vendors agreed to provide the cash and personal items to the managers, and then fraudulently billed the BBD to cover the cost of those payments and products and to generate additional fraud proceeds for themselves.
Dental Practice Employees Sentenced To Prison For Ghost Employee $3 Million+ Payroll Scheme – August 11, 2021
According to documents in this case, Angela Jasinski worked as a receptionist and administrative assistant at a Fort Wayne dental practice from September 2010 until March 2016.
Her brother, Brian Nordan, one of the co-defendants in this case, was the Chief Marketing Officer and General Manager of the dental practice.
During Jasinski’s period of employment at the dental practice, she earned an hourly wage. In March 2016, she left her job and moved to Granger, Indiana. As she no longer worked at the dental practice, she was not entitled to any further wages or employee benefits from the practice. Due to her brother’s intervention, Jasinski was left on the payroll and continued to receive wages and benefits from March 2016 through September 2017 in a “ghost employment” scheme.
Jasinski’s co-defendants, Brian Nordan and Dustin Coleman, were sentenced for their roles in this fraud scheme. Between the three defendants in this case, the owner dentist was defrauded of over 3 million dollars.
Brian Nordan was sentenced to 42 months in prison, 2 years of supervised release and ordered to pay $2,981,357.05 in restitution.
Dustin Coleman was sentenced to 6 months in prison, 12 months of supervised release and ordered to pay $149,756.00 in restitution.
Ms. Jansinski was sentenced to 8 months of home detention and 80 hours of community service and ordered to pay $68,930 in restitution.
https://www.justice.gov/usao-ndin/pr/third-defendant-sentenced-fraud-against-fort-wayne-company
Former USDA Official Sentenced To Prison For Bribery For Preferential Treatment In The Award Of $19 Million Of Security Contracts – August 10, 2021
Richard Holman, the former Chief of the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Coordination, Physical Security Division, was sentenced today to 180 days of home detention and fined $110,000 for carrying out a multi-year scheme in which he accepted bribes in exchange for ensuring the awarding of USDA contracts.
According to court papers, between July 2013 and December 2015, Eric Schneider and Communications Resources, Inc. (CRI) gave Holman and other USDA officials Corvette wheels, concert tickets, PGA tour tickets, meals, alcohol, strip clubs, parking, concierge medical services, prescription drugs, and other cash tips. In exchange, Holman gave Eric Schneider and CRI preferential treatment in the award of USDA contracts worth over $19 million. As part of the scheme, CRI employees drafted procurement documents in such a way as to favor the award of a multi-million dollar contract to CRI, and USDA officials used the documents in the procurement process as if they prepared them.
Former Medical Office Bookkeeper Pleads Guilty To Embezzling $593,000 Over 5 Years – August 10, 2021
In connection with the guilty plea, Sandra Jo Doak, in her role as bookkeeper for the medical office of Matthew Klain, MD, embezzled company funds totaling approximately $592,833.30, and engaged in deceptive acts to conceal the embezzlement from her employer.
The embezzlement scheme produced the following stolen funds:
$536,887.21 in unauthorized checks written by Doak to herself;
$26,519.26 in unauthorized checks written by Doak for personal expenditures;
$29,426.83 in unauthorized checks used to pay for Doak’s personal expenses on the victim’s credit card.
Former Medical Clinic Employee & Accomplices Plead Guilty To Bank Larceny For Theft Of Over $200,000 Using Patient Information Stolen Medical Clinic – August 10, 2021
Ashley Green admitted that Royale Lassai was employed at a medical clinic. Lassai, without authority, obtained personal information of patients including dates of birth, social security numbers and addresses, and sold the information to her cousin Green. Green used this information to fraudulently obtain debit cards issued by the victim banks. These fraudulently obtained cards were mailed to an address controlled by Green and Brandon Livas who then used the cards to withdraw at least $200,000 from the victims’ accounts. Lassai was paid at least $1,000 to pilfer the patient’s information.
Company Accountant Sentenced To Prison For $140,000 Of Wire Fraud – August 6, 2021
Jason Pick was employed as an accountant for Company A between August 2016 and June 2018.
Part of Pick’s duties was handling the credit card accounts of Company A. Without authorization, Pick used Company A’s credit cards for his own personal expenses. Pick stole approximately $140,791.21 from Company A.
https://www.justice.gov/usao-edla/pr/new-orleans-man-sentenced-wire-fraud
Former Detroit Police Department Officer For 19 Years Sentenced To Prison For Accepting $15,000 Bribe – August 6, 2021
Officer Michael Mosley was a 19 year veteran of the Detroit Police Department. He was a member of the Police Department’s Major Violators Unit.
On April 3, 2019, Detroit police officers, including Officer Mosley, searched a drug trafficker’s house pursuant to a search warrant. The search uncovered two kilograms of heroin, one kilogram of cocaine, and six firearms. The drug trafficker admitted to owning the three kilograms of drugs to Officer Mosley, and the trafficker signed a confession. After the April 3rd search, Officer Mosley remained in contact with the drug trafficker in an effort to secure the trafficker’s cooperation concerning other criminal activity.
Subsequently, the drug trafficker offered Officer Mosley a cash bribe of $15,000 in exchange for not pursuing criminal charges based on the three-kilogram drug seizure. Officer Mosley agreed to the deal. On May 2, 2019, Officer Mosley collected $10,000 in cash left for him by the drug dealer in the backyard of an abandoned house in Detroit. On May 23, 2019, Officer Mosley accepted another $5,000 in cash left for him by the drug trafficker at the same abandoned house. In exchange, Officer Mosley gave the drug trafficker the original copy of his confession.
Former Law Firm Employee Sentenced To Prison For Embezzling $320,00 From Firm Over 4 Years – August 5, 2021
Katherine Ross was employed by the law firm as an hourly employee in a non-lawyer capacity. Without permission of the firm or its owner, she wrote checks to herself in amounts that she was not owed, forged signatures on those checks, and cashed the checks at bank branches in the District of Columbia, Virginia, and Maryland. From as early as August 2016 and continuing through the summer of 2020, she carried out a scheme in which she stole at least $320,000 from the firm and its owner.
Former Bank Officer Sentenced To Prison For $2.3 Million Embezzlement Scheme For Personal Benefit Over 5 Years – April 4, 2020
Jordan Young was charged with wire fraud, From 2006 through March 2020, Young worked at an Oklahoma City trust bank as a Trust Administrative Officer. Young oversaw trust accounts and distributed funds from those accounts to the beneficiaries as needed.
On February 22, 2021, Young pleaded guilty to making an unauthorized distribution, in the amount of $60,706.53, to his personal checking account from a trust account he was managing in October 2018. As part of his plea, Young admitted that he embezzled funds from his former employer from December 2015 through March 2020, and stipulated that the total loss to the trust bank from his embezzlement scheme was $2,323,036.91.
Leaked Document Says Google Has Fired 80 Employees Between 2018-2020 For Data Misuse – August 4, 2021
Google has fired 80 employees between 2018 and 2020 for abusing their access to the company’s tools or data, with some workers potentially facing allegations of accessing Google user or employee data, according to an internal Google document obtained by Motherboard.
The document provides insight into investigations of how the company’s own employees leverage their positions to steal, leak, or abuse data they may have access to. Motherboard previously uncovered instances at Facebook, Snapchat, and MySpace, with employees in some cases using their access to stalk or otherwise spy on users.
The document says that Google terminated 36 employees in 2020 for security-related issues. 86% of all security-related allegations against the employees included mishandling of confidential information, such as the transfer of internal-only information to outside parties.
Google terminated 26 people in 2019 and 18 in 2018 related to security incidents.
https://www.vice.com/en/article/g5gk73/google-fired-dozens-for-data-misuse
Former Bed & Breakfast Manager Accused Of Embezzling $500,000+ For Personal Use – August 4, 2021
Chiquita Blake was employed as a manager of a bed and breakfast in Savannah’s Historic District. From around May 2015 through December 2020, Blake knowingly executed and attempted to execute a scheme to defraud the inn.
The indictment alleges that Blake fraudulently transferred funds from the inn’s accounts and into bank accounts Blake controlled, and then used those funds for expenditures “such as the defendant’s bills and personal use.”
Blake is accused of embezzling more than $500,000 in a 14-count federal indictment.
TRUSTED PAYROLL COMPANY INVOLVED IN A $100 MILLION+ FRAUD SCHEME OVER 7 YEARS – August 4, 2021
The CEO Admitted To The Massive Scheme That Affected Banks, Financing Companies & Other Businesses
Michael Mann operated ValueWise Corporation, based in Clifton Park, New York, as well as subsidiary companies including MyPayrollHR.com LLC. He admitted that from 2013 to September 2019, he engaged in a fraudulent scheme to deceive banks and financing companies into loaning his companies tens of millions of dollars. Because Mann could not repay the loans with legitimate business revenues, he expanded the fraud, by stealing and diverting millions of dollars that were entrusted to his payroll companies, and engaging in the daily kiting of millions of dollars among bank accounts he controlled.
Mann’s scheme collapsed in September 2019, when one of his banks froze his accounts, setting off a chain of events that left his payroll companies unable to process payroll and tax payments for hundreds of small business customers nationwide.
Former U.S. Postal Service Carrier Sentenced To Prison For Dumping 5,800+ Pieces Of Mail In Woods – August 4, 2021
Runner Up For Insider Threat Of The Year – Not Sure There Where Any Behavioral Indicators
Tanner Brown admitted that between January 1, 2019, and July 24, 2019, while working as a postal carrier for the United States Postal Service, he intentionally detained and failed to deliver 5,833 pieces of mail.
Instead of delivering this mail to its intended recipients in Onondaga County, Brown drove it to Sharon Springs, New York, where he dumped some of it in a grassy field and the rest of it in a wooded area underneath a pile of discarded tires. When agents recovered the mail from those locations, they discovered that much of it was First-Class Mailand that most of it was wet, dirty, and/or covered in bugs. The Postal Service eventually delivered as much of the recovered mail as it could, and Brown is no longer employed by the Postal Service.
https://www.justice.gov/usao-ndny/pr/former-postal-carrier-sentenced-discarding-mail-woods
33 U.S Service Employees Charged In A Variety Of Crimes (Theft O Mail, Embezzlement, Bank Fraud, Etc.)
https://www.justice.gov/usao-cdca/pr/federal-authorities-charge-33-people-crimes-against-us-postal-service-including-theft
86 Years Old Janitor At Sugar Mill Kills Boss When He Found Out He Was Going To Be Fired After 31 Years
An 86 year old sugar mill worker with 31 years on the job, fatally shot his boss after found out he could not work another year at the mill.
Felix Cabrera is now in jail without bail on a first-degree murder charge following the shooting last month at the Sugar Cane Growers Cooperative in Belle Glade, Florida near West Palm Beach.
Cabrera’s boss, 67-year-old Billy Combass, from nearby Martin County was shot several times and died. Combass and worked at the mill for 47 years.
Authorities say Cabrera sought to work one additional year for financial reasons but was turned down. That’s when he allegedly pulled out a handgun and shot his boss.
The pair had worked together for decades and efforts are now underway to try to understand what led to Cabrera, said to be an easygoing, likable janitor to shoot Combass, who was a respected manager and devoted family man.
Cabrera, who was originally from Cuba and exiled to the U.S. in 1980, no longer has any living relatives having outlived them all. His life essentially revolved around the sugar plant.
The flashpoint for the shooting appears to have come 3 weeks earlier when Cabrera learned he was going to be fired, after 31 years of service.
On the day of the shooting, Cabrera left his home around 6:30am. Just after 10am, Combass told Cabrera that he was fired, to clock out and never return. Cabrera pleaded with his boss to keep his job for another year saying that he needed the income.
Combass is said to have ‘got out of his chair and started walking towards Cabrera telling him “no’ and to leave the office” the arrest report stated.
Former Hospital Employee Fired For Unauthorized Access To 1,200+ Individuals Personal Health Information – July 8, 2021
A Horizon Health Network employee who worked in the Health Records Department, was fired for inappropriately accessing the personal health information of 1,251 people at the Charlotte County Hospital in New Brunswick, Canada.
As part of Horizon’s investigation into this matter, they stated there is no evidence to suggest any health information was shared with anyone else, and the nformation was accessed by the employee out of curiosity.
Asked about the nearly 2 month delay in alerting patients, Horizon stated they had to complete its investigation before the letters could be sent. This involved preparing over 1,200 individualized letters, which required a significant amount of time to prepare,
The privacy breach was discovered during an audit of electronic accesses to personal health information.
Former Hospital Patient Service Representative & Accomplices Stole Identities Of Dying Patients For COVID Scam – July 23, 2021
Matthew Lombardo worked at the Scripps Health hospital in San Diego as a patient service representative where he obtained and verified patient information, including health insurance, name, age, date of birth and employment.
Lombardo is accused of sharing patient identities with scammers who then fraudulently tried to obtain their COVID-19 unemployment benefits. The group targeted deceased patients but preferred someone 55 or younger who is on their way out.
Lombardo is accused of scheming with 3 other people beginning in August 2020 with the agreement he would get a cut of the stolen unemployment benefits.
Lombardo worked on an as-needed basis from May 13, 2019 to April 14, 2021. He was terminated on April 14, 2021.
Former Urgent Care Employee Accused Of Taking Photos Of Patients’ Driver’s Licenses And Credit Card Information – July 27, 2021
TGH Urgent Care says the former employee took pictures of three people’s personal information while working alone on Sept. 9, at the intake window of its Seminole location. The hospital system adds it does not think the former worker took any other personal information from patients.
Out of an abundance of caution, TGH says it notified 558 patients whose charts were accessed by this employee between August 3, 2020, and September 9, 2020.
TGH says it has made immediate enhancements to its systems, security and practices, including training. It says it has re-educated its workers on the importance of maintaining the privacy and security of all patient information and reporting any suspicious activity.
Former French Intelligence Agent Sentenced To Prison For Selling Confidential Information From Law Enforcement Databases On Th Darkweb
Christophe Boutry is a former Directorate-General For External Security (DGSE) agent who was sentenced to 7 years in prison (With A 2 Year Suspension) for selling confidential information from law enforcement databases on the darkweb.
Documents stolen from police archives include fake marriage permits and certificates and sensitive information on the Marseille underworld. Documents that, according to French investigators, would have led to two murders. In exchange for bitcoins, the former police officer sold the stolen information on the darkweb using an account with the username “Haurus”.
Former Bank Branch Manager Sentenced To Prison For $315,000+ Fraud Schemes – July 30, 2021
Susan Fruits devised two separate fraud schemes. Fruits’ s bank fraud scheme targeted customers of the Brownsburg, Indiana bank where she served as branch manager.
Fruits admitted in court that between 2017 and 2020, she perpetrated a scheme to withdraw money from customers’ Certificate of Deposit (CD) accounts without their knowledge. She digitally signed for the customers without their authorization, effectively forging their signatures, and then approved the withdrawals using her position as branch manager. In total, she stole more than $180,000 from the bank’s customers using this scheme.
Fruits mail fraud scheme targeted three children for whom she served as guardian and trustee of their inheritance. Fruits admitted that in mid-2015, one of Fruits’ s close friends died, leaving trust accounts for the friend’s three children. Fruits was named the trustee for the accounts, each of which had more than $50,000 in them. Over the course of eight months, Fruits spent all the money in the children’s accounts on unauthorized purchases.
To conceal her thefts, she created and mailed false bank statements purporting to show that the children’s accounts still had thousands of dollars in them. The three trust accounts had zero dollars left because Fruits had spent all the money.
Between the two schemes, Fruits admitted to stealing more than $315,000.
https://www.justice.gov/usao-sdin/pr/former-bank-branch-manager-sentenced-fraud-schemes
Former Boston Police Auto Repair Technician Pleads Guilty To 3 Year $260,000 Wire Fraud Scheme Fraud – July 30, 2021
Bahram Gharony is alleged to have engaged in a scheme to defraud the Boston Police Department’s (BPD) Fleet Management Division of over $260,000 in automotive parts, tools and supplies between June 2017 and September 2020. It is alleged that Gharony used his position to order parts and supplies that he purported were for BPD, but were actually converted and sold to others by Gharony. In an effort to conceal the scheme, Gharony allegedly submitted fraudulent and altered invoices to BPD for the parts, tools and supplies he falsely claimed were ordered for the fleet. Additionally, Gharony purported that he had lawfully purchased the items through a discount available to BPD when selling the items to others.
Pharmacy Employee Admits To $539,00 Medicare Kickback And Bribery Scheme With Accomplices – July 30, 2021
Magdalena Jimenez worked as a pharmacy technician and sales representative for a pharmacy located in Morris County, New Jersey.
From at least August 2019 to February 2020, Jimenez worked with other pharmacy personnel to pay kickbacks and bribes to a doctor’s employee in exchange for receiving numerous prescriptions from that doctor’s Jersey City office. Jimenez paid up to $150 for each prescription steered to the pharmacy, which resulted in monthly kickback payments of up to $2,500 cash. When Jimenez discussed the kickbacks and bribes, she instructed others to communicate in coded language. As a result of the scheme, the pharmacy received reimbursement payments from Medicare of approximately $539,000.
Housing Authority Director And 4 Others Charged With $5.8 Million Wire / Bank Fraud Scheme For Personal Use & Casinos – July 21, 2021
Tonya Robinson, the Former Executive Director of the South Bend Housing Authority, and 4 others were charged in a scheme that defrauded the U.S. Government of millions of dollars.
They’re accused of creating fraudulent housing authority payment checks for contracting work that was not actually done. The contractors cashed and deposited the checks, and they kicked back a portion of the money to Robinson and other authority employees. The indictment says payments to the contractors totaled $5.8 million “over the course of the scheme.”
The entire board was replaced in 2015 after the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development in 2013 found the housing authority had been plagued by mismanagement and financial woes.
The money went to the personal use and benefit of the defendants, including spending the proceeds at local casinos.
Robinson, 58, who ran the authority from 2014 until she was fired in September 2019, made cash deposits into her personal bank accounts totaling $655,000 from 2015 through 2019. She hid the scheme from the housing authority board, according to court documents.
Of the money from the scheme, the indictment says, Tonya Robinson lost at least $600,000 at casinos between 2015 and 2018, while Smith lost at least $450,000 in those years.
Trash Company Executive Agrees Plead Guilty To Bribing San Francisco Public Works Official For Contracts – July 28, 2021
Paul Giusti, the former Group Government & Community Relations Manager for the San Francisco group of a waste management company, was charged with conspiracy to bribe a local official.
Giusti was a central player in helping the company bribe Mohammed Nuru, then San Francisco’s Director of the Department of Public Works, with a continuous stream of benefits and money, ultimately worth over $1 million, to influence Nuru to perform official acts that would favor the waste management company.
Former Employee Pleads Guilty To Engaging In Wire Fraud Conspiracy With Co-Worker To Defraud Former Employers Of $546,000+ For Personal Use – July 28, 201
From February 2013 through September 2018, Melissa Corso conspired and agreed with a former co-worker, Joseph Spaccavento, to divert customer payments owed to their former employers, for their own personal use and benefit. Corso instructed certain customers of the companies to submit their payments to the unauthorized PayPal account, registered in Spaccavento’s name and associated with Corso’s work email address, over which Corso exercised control.
Corso and Spaccavento used the stolen funds at various commercial retailers to pay for personal expenses. Purchases from these retailers were shipped to the home and work addresses of Corso, Spaccavento, and others. By fraudulently diverting funds for their personal gain, Corso caused the Victim Companies losses of approximately $516,857 over the course of the conspiracy.
Former Security Supervisor Pleads Guilty To $119,000+ Bank Fraud Scheme Using the Stolen Identity Information Of Coworkers & Job Applicants From His Company – July 28, 201
Ricardo Carter admitted that in order to execute the check kiting and credit scheme, he used his position as a Security Supervisor at his company to open accounts using the stolen identities of individuals who worked for or applied to work his company.
From January 2015 to December 2017, Carter used stolen names, date of births, and social security numbers to open fraudulent bank accounts at financial institutions in Maryland, Virginia, and Washington, D.C. He then used the fraudulently opened accounts to execute fraud schemes.
Once Carter opened a bank account using a stolen identity, he deposited nonsufficient funds checks into the account, then withdrew the value of the check in cash before the check cleared or transferred the funds into another account, using the money for his personal benefit. When Carter used a stolen identity to open a credit account, he used the credit card associated with the account for personal expenditures, causing a loss to the bank and adversely affecting the victim’s credit score. Carter used the stolen identities to open a large number of bank accounts at multiple financial institutions, executing the scheme in multiple jurisdictions, and timing the withdrawal of cash from the deposited checks before those checks could clear.
Former Township Clerk Sentenced To Prison For $650,000+ Wire Fraud Scheme Over 8 Years – July 27, 2021
From December 2012 through October 2020, Maryann Stoffel used her position as the Clerk of the Township of Vermillion, an elected position, to misappropriate more than $650,000 of Township funds.
As the clerk, Stoffel had signature authority over the Township’s bank account. Township checks required at least two signatures. As part of the fraud scheme, Stoffel at times, forged the signatures of the Township’s Treasurer and the Chairman of the Township Board on Township checks. At other times, Stoffel solicited signatures from the Township’s Treasurer and the Chairman of the Township Board on blank Township checks by falsely representing that she would use the checks to pay the Township’s bills.
Instead of using the funds to pay the Township’s bills, Stoffel transferred the funds to her personal bank account for her own use and benefit. Stoffel concealed her fraud from the Township and from the State of Minnesota by excluding the unauthorized payments to herself on the Township’s annual report.
Former Intelligence Analyst Sentenced To Prison For Disclosing Classified Information to Reporter – July 27, 2021
A Tennessee man was sentenced today to 45 months in prison followed by three years of supervised release for illegally obtaining classified national defense information and disclosing it to a reporter.
Daniel Hale began communicating with a reporter beginning in April 2013 while enlisted in the U.S. Air Force and assigned to the National Security Agency (NSA). Hale admitted to meeting with the reporter in person on multiple occasions and communicating with the reporter via phone, text message, email and, at times, an encrypted messaging platform.
In February 2014, while working as a cleared defense contractor at the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA), Hale printed 6 classified documents unrelated to his work at NGA and soon after exchanged a series of messages with the reporter. The documents printed were later published by the reporter’s news outlet.
While working as cleared contractor for the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA) in 2014, Hale printed 36 documents from his Top Secret computer, including 23 documents unrelated to his work at NGA. Of the 23 documents unrelated to his work at NGA, Hale provided at least 17 to the reporter and / or the reporter’s online news outlet, which published the documents in whole or in part. 11 of the published documents were marked as Top Secret or Secret.
Hale’s cell phone contact list included contact information for the reporter. He also possessed a thumb drive that contained a page marked “SECRET” from a classified document that Hale had printed in February 2014 and had attempted to delete from the thumb drive. In addition, Hale possessed on his home computer another document that he had stolen from NGA.
Former U.S. Army Employee Pleads Guilty To Kickback Scheme To Steer $3 Million+ Of U.S. Government Contracts – July 21, 2021
A former civilian employee of the U.S. Army’s Directorate of Public Works pleaded guilty today for his role in a kickbacks scheme to steer government contracts for work at Camp Arifjan, a U.S. Army base in Kuwait.
Ephraim Garcia admitted that he conspired with Gandhiraj Sankaralingam, the former general manager and co-owner of Kuwait-based contracting company Gulf Link Venture Co. W.L.L. (Gulf Link), to steer government contracts to Gulf Link.
In his position with the U.S. Army, Garcia was involved in the solicitation, award and management of certain government contracts related to facilities support at Camp Arifjan.
In 2015, at an Olive Garden restaurant located in Mahboula, Kuwait, Garcia and Sankaralingam approached an employee of the prime contractor responsible for base support services. During that meeting, they offered to pay the prime-contractor employee in exchange for his assistance in steering subcontracts worth over $3 million to Gulf Link. Rather than agree to the scheme, the prime-contractor employee reported the kickback offer to authorities.