fraud

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Lawyer 'Channels' Client's Dead Wife

She made sexual advances in the deceased's name

(Newser) - An Arizona lawyer told a client she could channel his dead wife—and that they should have sex as a result, the National Law Journal reports. Charna Johnson began handling divorce proceedings for a client in 1999, then continued representing him when the wife committed suicide the next year. Soon...

Medicare Paid Out $28K in Penis Pumps, Many for Girls

Phony claims didn't even change names

(Newser) - It's no wonder Medicare loses billions to fraud: fooling the health care program is really, really easy. Just ask Emilio Lopez and Orlando Estevez, two Florida businessmen accused of bilking Medicare for $28,600 in penis pumps to combat impotence, even though the supposed patients included women. Yes, Medicare regulators...

Celeb Art Swindler Sentenced
 Celeb Art Swindler Sentenced 
Aug 4, 2010 3:05 AM CDT

Celeb Art Swindler Sentenced

Lawrence Salandar to serve 6-18 years

(Newser) - An art dealer who scammed clients including Robert De Niro and John McEnroe received the maximum sentence yesterday despite his pleas for leniency. Lawrence Salandar, once one of New York's most prominent art dealers, will serve between 6 and 18 years in prison, the New York Daily News reports. He...

Trustee Wants $30M More From Madoffs

Irving Picard sues, again, for money

(Newser) - The court-appointed trustee seeking to recover billions of dollars lost by Bernie Madoff is suing for $30 million that he says the Madoff family invested in oil, gas, and tech, reports the AP . The suit filed by trustee Irving Picard says the investments were used as vehicles to funnel money...

Fraud Fine Is Chump Change for Goldman

$500M penalty amounts to just 2 weeks of profits

(Newser) - The SEC is boasting that the $550 million settlement it agreed to with Goldman Sachs is the "largest-ever penalty paid by a Wall Street firm." That may be true, but that doesn't mean it's actually going to chasten Goldman. Top put things in perspective, Pro Publica notes that...

George Clooney Testifies, Italian Court Swoons

Actor takes stand against trio charged with co-opting his name

(Newser) - It's no wonder the Italian businessmen claimed George Clooney was behind their fashion line—the actor knows how to wow an audience whether he's on the red carpet or the witness stand. Maintaining his trademark aura of cool, Clooney delivered a few wisecracks today in Milan as he testified against...

Text Message Frame-Up Lands Woman in Jail

'Victim' blames ex for threats, gets 1-year sentence

(Newser) - It turns out, you can go to jail for threatening yourself—just call the cops and try to pin it on your ex-boyfriend and his sister-in-law. Jeanne Manunga, a 25-year-old California woman, has been sentenced to a year in jail for sending herself threatening text messages from a prepaid cell...

Supreme Court Sides With Skilling, Black

Limits 'honest services' prosecutions for white collar crimes

(Newser) - The Supreme Court ruled today that prosecutors erred in using a federal fraud law to convict former Enron chief executive Jeffrey Skilling, but left it to a lower court to determine whether his conviction should be overturned. The justices were unanimous in imposing limits on the use of the federal...

Detroit Mayor, Already in Jail, Indicted Again

(Newser) - Ex-Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick can't catch a break. Currently serving at least 14 months in prison for parole violations stemming from a 2008 conviction of perjury, misconduct in office and obstruction of justice from the so-called Text Messaging Scandal, he's now been indicted by a grand jury on 19 counts...

Identify Theft Cases Spike, but Hackers Aren't to Blame

Private data lying around in plain view on Internet

(Newser) - Last year the number of identity theft victims in the US jumped 12%, while the number of Internet-related fraud cases went up 23%. But the problem isn't just hackers, say experts: In many cases, we're exposing our private data to anyone and everyone who knows where to look. Atlanta officials...

Madoff Has $9B Secret Stash: Fellow Inmate

Former partner knows where it is, may cut deal

(Newser) - Bernie Madoff has a secret stash, and his partner in crime knows where it is. The Ponzi schemer has told fellow federal prisoners he funneled $9 billion to three people—“I think it was personal friends,” the source tells the New York Post —and he suspects Frank...

'Painter of Light' Busted on DUI Suspicion

Bankrupt Thomas Kinkade impaired but 'very polite': cops

(Newser) - "Painter of Light" Thomas Kinkade was arrested Friday on suspicion of DUI after being pulled over near his California home. Kinkade is having a rough month, Scripps Howard notes—his company has filed for bankruptcy in the wake of a multimillion-dollar federal fraud claim against him. "Tom is...

Prisoner Madoff: 'F*** My Victims'

Ponzi schemer serving 150-year sentence becomes celeb in prison

(Newser) - Bernie Madoff isn't wasting time fretting over the lives he ruined and the fortunes he destroyed. Shortly after he arrived at a federal prison in North Carolina last summer, another inmate was pestering him about the people he had duped, and the Ponzi schemer lost his patience. "f--- my...

ACORN 'Pimp' Takes on Census
 ACORN 'Pimp' Takes on Census 


Jun 1, 2010 11:59 AM CDT

ACORN 'Pimp' Takes on Census

'Sting' reveals workers left early

(Newser) - James O'Keefe is back, with a new video purporting to show “fraud” within the US Census—but the footage is a just a wee bit less scintillating than the ACORN “fake pimp” videos that made him famous. O'Keefe's signed up to work for the Census and discovered that—...

'Dead' Fraudster Jailed After Court Appearance

Resurrection is no miracle, judge decides

(Newser) - A Virginia man who had himself declared dead in a bid to dodge fraud charges might have gotten away with it if he hadn't tried to pull off more frauds from "beyond the grave." Rodney Newsome was jailed yesterday after turning up alive and well to a court...

Imposter Tricks Army to Become an Officer

26-year-old with no experience put in position to lead troops

(Newser) - A Texas man with no military experience managed to trick the Army into letting him enter a reserve unit as a noncommissioned officer earlier this year, putting an untrained soldier in a leadership position in a time of war, an AP investigation has found. Jesse Bernard Johnston III, 26, joined...

6 Most Infamous Harvard Swindlers

Adam Wheeler may be the latest, but he's not the worst

(Newser) - Adam Wheeler, the former Harvard student charged with plagiarizing his way into the school and swindling $45,000 in scholarship and grant money, isn't the first grifter to pass through the esteemed university's halls. AolNews lists six even more infamous Harvard fraudsters:
  1. Esther Reed: Went by Natalie Bowman when she
...

Goldman Sachs to Change Its Ways

Announces change to policies for institutional investors

(Newser) - With federal pressure at an all-time high, Goldman Sachs is planning to change its policies for dealing with institutional clients, a move which could presage an attempt to settle the SEC's fraud suit against it. Goldman would now instruct employees to ensure clients fully understand the risks associated with whatever...

Goldman Love Letters at Heart of SEC Case

Fooling 'widows' part of emailed sweet nothings

(Newser) - If there's anything Goldman Sachs bond trader Fabrice Tourre has learned it's: 1.) Don't rip off the public, and 2.) Above all, don't brag about it in love emails on a company computer to your gal pal. Tourre is the only individual named in the SEC fraud action...

Critics Rip White House Links to Goldman Sachs

Foes concerned about ties that blind

(Newser) - As the SEC builds its case charging Goldman Sachs with defrauding thousands of consumers, critics continue to hammer at White House links to the firm. Goldman Sachs CEO Lloyd Blankfein met twice with President Obama and twice with economic aide Larry Summers while SEC investigators probed the company. A White...

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