–Charles "Todd" Hill, who starred on the HGTV show "Flip It to Win It," was sentenced to jail in California for committing real estate and financial fraud against 11 victims, prosecutors said. Instead, Hill spent millions on overbudget remodels, laundered profits, and pocketed millions in fraudulently obtained money, "the Santa Clara County District Attorney's…
Insurance & Financial Fraud
Former Army financial counselor guilty of ripping off Gold Star families
Caz Craffy, former financial adviser in the Army, pleaded guilty last week to scamming grieving Gold Star families out of millions through a series of insurance fraud schemes.
Fabian Espinosa, owner of Richfield- based Fabian Espinosa Construction LLC, was originally charged in Hennepin County District Court with a third crime: sexually assaulting a female construction worker on his crew in December 2017. Given Espinosa's track record, advocates with the community and worker rights group Centro de Trabajadores Unidos En La Lucha…
A man who claimed to be a concert promoter for music artists such as Beyonce and Nicki Minaj has been charged with fraud, U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Texas Leigha Simonton said Thursday. Carlos Desean Goodspeed, 43, who operated under the assumed business name " Straight Like That Entertainment," was indicted Tuesday on three counts of wire fraud.
A Monroeville insurance agent is accused of taking $60,000 from customers by offering services that didn't exist, according to Pennsylvania Attorney General Michelle Henry. Henry announced felony and misdemeanor theft and fraud charges April 12 against Chad G. Skena, 47, of Monroeville. His attorney, Patrick Thomassey of Monroeville, said his client is…
MOBILE COUNTY, Ala.— A Prichard City Councilman has been indicted on four insurance fraud charges, according to the Mobile County District Attorney's Office. Derrick Nathaniel Griffin, 43, has now been indicted on a total of six insurance fraud charges by the DA's office since December. His charges stem from misrepresentations on insurance policies for four…
Iowa advisor schemed to defraud clients, making FBI Most Wanted list
An advisor wanted for allegedly ripping off clients for $1.5 million was captured by the FBI last week after a short time on the run.
A newly filed lawsuit accuses Roanoke technology company Luna Innovations and top executives of defrauding shareholders, who now seek compensation for paying what they describe as inflated prices for its stock. Luna joined the Roanoke business community in support of two major economic development initiatives, the Carilion Biomedical Institute, funded…
—Real estate tycoon Truong My Lan was sentenced Thursday to death by a court in Ho Chi Minh city in southern Vietnam in the country's largest financial fraud case ever, state media Thanh Nien said. The 67- year-old chair of the real estate company Van Thinh Phat was accused of fraud amounting to $12.5 billion— nearly 3% of the country’ s 2022 GDP.
Investigators with the Iowa Insurance Division's Fraud Bureau said Khalil Justin Crawley allegedly told his mother's insurance carrier that the vehicle was going 65 mph when it slid on ice and veered into a ditch near Jewell. Liberty Mutual Insurance paid Crawley's mother $9,895 in benefits and the city of Jewell $1,000 for medical costs.
Three new lawsuits have been filed in the ongoing fallout of what is said to be one of the largest bank frauds in Nebraska's history, discovered after the death of a Lincoln real estate investor in 2022.. Two of the cases were filed by Aaron Marshbanks' estate, and a third by the court-appointed receiver in a case where the Nebraska Department of Banking has alleged…
—Allen Weisselberg, a former longtime executive in Donald Trump’ s real estate empire, is set to be sentenced Wednesday for lying under oath in the ex-president’ s New York civil fraud case. Weisselberg admitted lying when he testified he had little knowledge of how Trump’ s Manhattan penthouse came to be valued on his financial statements at nearly three times its…
The Justice Department’ s pandemic fraud task force has recovered just $1.4 billion in money seized or forfeited from people who stole the government’ s coronavirus cash, just a fraction of 1% of the total lost to theft. They have reached more than 400 civil settlements and judgments and recovered $1.4 billion. The pandemic represented an unparalleled…
The Justice Department's COVID-19 Fraud Enforcement Task Force, made up of nearly 30 federal agencies, released its 2024 report on Tuesday. "Since that time, the COVID-19 public health emergency has ended, but the Justice Department's work to identify and prosecute those who stole pandemic relief funds is far from over," he said. "Under current funding levels, the…
Three new lawsuits have been filed in the ongoing fallout of what is said to be one of the largest bank frauds in Nebraska's history, discovered after the death of a Lincoln real estate investor in 2022.. Two of the cases were filed by Aaron Marshbanks' estate, and a third by the court-appointed receiver in a case where the Nebraska Department of Banking has alleged…
A Norwalk man has been charged with operating a business that sold insurance for prizes offered by individuals or organizations, through which he allegedly defrauded clients out of nearly $1 million, federal officials said. A grand jury on Thursday returned an indictment charging Kevin Kolenda, 66, with six counts of wire fraud, according to the U.S. Attorney "s…
Apr. 4— A Kennewick tax preparer cost the United States $42 million in lost tax revenue between 2017 and 2020 after filing tax returns that were riddled with errors, fabrications and fraudulent entries, alleges the Department of Justice. The Department of Justice filed a civil complaint in Eastern Washington District U.S. Court on Tuesday asking a judge to ban…
In a significant legal development, United States Attorney Mac Schneider announced that Kent Pfaff, a 60- year-old farmer from Washburn, has been sentenced to pay $379, 317 in restitution and serve three years of supervised release for committing crop insurance fraud. The sentencing took place on March 26, 2024, by U.S. District Court Judge Daniel L. Hovland,…
British billionaire Joe Lewis, whose family owns the Tottenham Hotspur soccer team, dodged prison time in Manhattan on Thursday for a yearslong insider trading scheme the feds described as“ brazen.”. The 87- year-old Tavistock Group founder was sentenced to three years "probation and agreed to pay a $5 million fine for sharing tips with friends, romantic…
