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Phillip C. Lathrop, 39, faces a minimum sentence of five years in prison on the arson count, and a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison

Phillip C. Lathrop, 39, faces a minimum sentence of five years in prison on the arson count, and a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison on each of the four counts of mail fraud. He will be sentenced on May 8.In addition, after the verdict was returned at the conclusion of a three-day trial in Madison, Lathrop agreed that he had defrauded an insurance company of $253,038.39. He did not agree to repay the amount. Assistant U.S. Attorney Daniel J. Graber said he will try to recover the money by liquidating any of Lathrop’s assets he can find.Lathrop was indicted in August on six counts of arson and insurance fraud. He owned and operated Player’s Sports Bar and Grill in Hayward, which was destroyed by fire on Aug. 16, 2003, one day before his insurance premium would have increased significantly. Capitol Indemnity Corporation paid Lathrop $253,038.39 for the loss of the building.The indictment alleged that Lathrop hired an individual identified in the indictment as “D.M.” to burn down the bar. Lathrop also promised to pay D.M. $5,000 in cash and cocaine. The indictment also alleges that after the fire Lathrop instructed D.M. and others to tell investigators that a third individual, “J.M.,” ordered the arson.

Fr Francis Guinan, 66, was found guilty of second-degree grand theft of more than $20,000 up to $8m might have disappeared over a period of 20 years

Fr Francis Guinan, 66, was found guilty of second-degree grand theft of more than $20,000 ($13,800) but less than $100,000 (£69,000). Fr Guinan denied the charges, but another accused priest, Fr John Skehan, 81, had abandoned a not guilty plea. Fr Guinan faces up to 15 years in jail and will be sentenced on 25 March.
Fr Skehan, who had been at the church for 40 years, is set to be sentenced next month for taking $370,000 (£255,000).
The embezzling took place when the pair were at the St Vincent Ferrer Catholic Church in West Palm Beach. The prosecution told the court during closing arguments that Fr Guinan took money from a "slush fund" and also had records shredded and deceived his parishioners' trust. Fr Guinan "stole from the community he was appointed to protect" prosecutor Preston Mighdoll was quoted as saying by the Associated Press (AP). But defence lawyer Richard Barlow said that while the priests' actions may have been immoral, they had not done anything illegal. Father John Skehan admitted his guilt last month "The diocese, in their own rules ... gave the priest the unlimited discretion, without defining it, without restricting it, as to how you spend" the money, Mr Barlow said.
US law - the statute of limitations - prevents the priests being charged with thefts that occurred before 2001. But the auditors say that up to $8m (£5.5m) might have disappeared over a period of 20 years.

Shashi Bacheta, of Swansea, admitted 16 counts relating to benefit fraud worth about £40,000 and Jeffrey Cole, 58, admitted four charges

Shashi Bacheta, 52, had claimed she was so ill she had trouble getting out of bed, but investigators said she would go scuba diving. Bacheta, of Swansea, admitted 16 counts relating to benefit fraud worth about £40,000 and Jeffrey Cole, 58, admitted four charges worth some £12,000. They will be sentenced next month at Swansea Crown Court. He pretended to be her landlord when they were in fact living together, the court heard. Shashi Bacheta pleaded guilty to 16 charges at Swansea Crown Court Bacheta, now of Fforestfach, Swansea, admitted 16 charges of false accounting, fraud and deception. At various times between October 2002 and January 2008 she claimed housing benefit, council tax relief, income support and disability living allowances. She had claimed to be unemployed and failed to declare she was living with Cole at his home in the Sketty area of the city or declare any of his assets.
These included his yacht Kismet. He pleaded guilty to four offences of obtaining wrongful credits and false accounting. At one stage he was the postmaster at Rheidol Avenue Post Office in Clase while she managed the newsagent side of the business. Fraud investigators said they were both members of the Swansea Yacht Club and would regularly holiday abroad. The investigators, working for Swansea council and the Department of Work and Pensions, came across photographs of them on board Cole's yacht Kismet in Gran Canaria. His barrister, Francis Jones, said he was in the process of selling the yacht. Judge Huw Davies QC agreed to postpone sentencing to allow probation officers time to prepare reports on their backgrounds. He granted them bail but told them releasing them was no indication of the sentence they would receive. Judge Davies said guidelines indicated a custodial sentence when they appear again next month.

British Madoff, Terry Freeman,who is married to a Russian woman, was not at his home, where all the curtains were drawn, today.

It's the British Madoff as far as I'm concerned. I first invested £50,000 in November 2007 - it went up to £54,000 within a matter of weeks so I just put more in.
Terry Freeman, 60, a foreign exchange trader, was arrested at his home in Buckhurst Hill, Essex, on Monday by detectives from the City of London Police Economic Crime Department. Mr Head said: "There is no doubt in my mind that the present economic situation has led to this rise in reporting [of fraud]. "Most fraud is discovered internally by businesses, but historically I believe only a fraction of those crimes have been reported to the police. Time will tell if we are experiencing two rare positive effects of the economic climate: not only are procedures to prevent and detect fraud being tightened, but victims have a greater confidence to report suspects to the police." His home and offices were searched and large quantities of documentation were taken away for analysis. Mr Freeman, director of GFX Capital Markets Ltd, was released on police bail after questioning. The City of London force has appealed to investors in the firm, which had offices in Leadenhall and Moorgate, to come forward if they had concerns. It is understood the company recently stopped trading. A police spokesman said officers were investigating suspected money laundering and offences under the Financial Services and Markets Act. One source said: "This is a very fast-moving inquiry and we don't expect the dust to settle for a few weeks. Only then will we have a clear picture of what has been going on."
Police sources said they were investigating claims that GFX was running a Ponzi fund - a scam that appears to be succeeding wildly by paying supposed returns out of victims' own capital. Bernard Madoff, the American investor facing criminal charges in New York, stands accused of running a similar scheme, but on a $50 billion scale.
Mr Freeman's business ran into trouble last autumn and collapsed recently leaving investors with huge losses. GFX's website carried a message telling clients to contact the police and stating that Mr Freeman was under investigation. Phone calls to the firm's City offices were met with an answering machine. Detective Chief Superintendent Steve Head, of City of London police, said that his force had detected a marked rise in financial crime as the recession deepened. Mr Freeman, who is married to a Russian woman, was not at his home, where all the curtains were drawn, today. Neighbours said that he had not been seen for a number of days and frequently travelled abroad.Terry Freeman is understood to be the largest shareholder in the UK-based GFX Capital Markets - a licensed, but seperate, affiliate firm of the Swiss-based GFX Capital. The Swiss firm grants clients like Mr. Freeman limited power of attorney, enabling them to act as effective “money managers” and solicit their own clients to trade on the GFX platform. Investors in Mr Freeman’s outfit gave him the power to place trades, disburse money and pay fees in their name - though “critical account functions”, such as cash withdrawls, were supposed to remain with the investors.GFX’s trading platform is run by Saxo bank, a Danish bank specialising in providing currency speculation services for retail clients across Europe. According to a Saxo bank spokesman, GFX Capital were an “institutional partner”. Saxo and GFX clients may prove to be big losers in the affair and Saxo’s lawyers are said to be looking into the case as a matter of urgency.In fact, a bit of Googling shows that clients of Mr Freeman have been fearing for their money for some time. Shortly into the New Year, talk began circulating among GFX investors of large losses.Being a very web 2.0 outfit, GFX Capital - or, more specifically, Mr Terry Freeman - had a blog.And predictably, after turbulence in the markets at the end of last year, a sudden quiescence from GFX Capital UK, and a unexplained suspension of GFX Capital UK accounts over the Christmas holidays, it wasn’t long before rather concerned investors began to badger Freeman for answers - and seek to withdraw their cash.

Mr Freeman assured clients early in the new year that they had nothing to worry about. “I eagerly look forward to being able to report positive news shortly. I do hope and expect that the progress we are making will allay the fears of many”, he said, adding though, that the firm had seen a “large number of disproportionate withdrawls”.

Everything got a bit more heated ten days later when Terry announced on the blog that clients should no longer contact his office or his staff in Bromley, but instead, all enquiries should be directed to GFX’s London office. The rather curt message ended with a rather worrying payoff:
Good evening

Earlier today it was mutually agreed that our London office should take over all client contact and correspondence, particularly with regard to withdrawals, and reports. This was a constructive decision, professionally arrived at, and does not imply any criticism of any person or company, only a recognition that our London office should be communicating directly and more effectively with our clients. There is absolutely no negative connotation to be drawn from a constructive business decision, and we expect to retain a good and positive working relationship with all the staff at Bromley who have done a great job and have our heartfelt thanks.

All clients with current requirements may expect a call or email from our London office within the next 48 hours

Garda Fraud Squad in the investigation of newly revealed banking practices,Anglo Irish Bank.

Financial Regulator is investigating the placing of a €4 billion deposit with Anglo Irish Bank by IL&P on September 30th, the day the bank’s financial year ended. It is understood that deposits placed by IL&P with Anglo during September totalled between €6-€7 billion, although €4 billion was lodged with Anglo Irish on September 30th, hours after the State’s bank guarantee was announced.The news hit Irish Life shares which lost as much as 19 per cent in early trade and at 3.20pm were trading at 5.7 per cent lower at €2.03 in Dublin.called for the resignation of top bank personnel and for the involvement of the Garda Fraud Squad in the investigation of newly revealed banking practices, while an Independent senator claimed the Government had bought a “pig-in-a-poke”.Terry Leyden (FF) said yesterday that the Government had been misled with regard to Anglo Irish Bank. Joining in criticism of the depositing of up to €7 billion by Irish Life and Permanent (IL&P) with Anglo Irish Bank, he said he believed that the management of IL&P had let down the staff. He called for the resignation of the chairman and the chief executive.He said Anglo Irish Bank and Irish Nationwide had collaborated on the Seán FitzPatrick loans which had been transferred overnight and he called for the resignation of Irish Nationwide executive Michael Fingleton. “The Houses of the Oireachtas have been misled . . . The fraud squad should be brought in to what happened. People should be put on trial.”Shane Ross (Ind) said nothing would surprise anybody about Anglo Irish bank and the activity it had been up to. There was probably a lot more to come from that source. He said he had never seen more obvious evidence of a cartel being run by the banks than the activity which had been reported by David Murphy of RTÉ.“It is all very well for a cowboy bank like Anglo Irish Bank to carry on in this way . . . but Irish Life and Permanent is one of the pillars of the Irish banking, insurance and assurance world. The statement issued by that bank was utterly ridiculous and comical.”Mr Ross said that if he were a shareholder of Irish Life and Permanent, he would “go bananas” to think that €7 billion of his money was going to help a rival which was in danger. He said they must ask who else was behaving in this way.“Is the Bank of Ireland doing it or AIB, and vice versa? . . . It seemed that the Minister might be buying a pig-in-a-poke and that the annual reports being issued by the banks were works of fiction and creative art.”The sitting of the House was suspended twice as Opposition members expressed outrage at the failure of the Minister for Education to tell the Seanad about planned cuts in funding for children with special needs.Frances Fitzgerald, Fine Gael leader in the Seanad, said it was a sham for Minister Batt O’Keeffe to address the House on Tuesday while at the same time sending letters to schools cutting vital services and not even mentioning it to Senators. Joe O’Toole (Ind) said the Minister had displayed a cowardly attitude in not feeling it necessary to mention something that would wreck lives of many people.

500 investigations of corporate fraud amid the financial meltdown

FBI is conducting more than 500 investigations of corporate fraud amid the financial meltdown, FBI Deputy Director John Pistole told the Senate Judiciary Committee today.
Investigators are tackling an even bigger mountain of mortgage fraud cases in which hundreds of millions of dollars may have been swindled from the system, he told lawmakers.Pistole says there are 530 active corporate fraud investigations, and 38 of them involve some of the biggest names in corporate finance in cases directly related to the current economic crisis. Additionally, the FBI has more than 1,800 mortgage fraud investigations, more than double the number of such cases just two years ago.There are so many mortgage fraud cases to investigate, he said, that the bureau is not focusing on individual purchasers, but industry professionals generating fraud schemes that could total as much as hundreds of millions of dollars.
“It is a matter of lawyers, brokers or real estate professionals that are systematically trying to defraud the system,” Pistole said.Agents have even seen some instances of organized crime getting involved in mortgage fraud, he said.
Also appearing before the committee was Neil Barofsky, the watchdog of the government’s $700 billion Wall Street rescue package passed last year.Senate Democrats are urging more spending to expand the ranks of the FBI’s financial fraud investigators.After the 2001 terror attacks, about 2,000 FBI agents were moved to counterterrorism work, and Pistole said they are considering moving some of them back to buttress anti-fraud efforts.Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., urged the FBI and the Justice Department to put people who have committed mortgage fraud behind bars.“Most people are honest,” Leahy said. “The ones who are not honest in this field are creating economic havoc and I want to make sure that we’re able to go after them.“I want to see people prosecuted.... Frankly, I want to see them go to jail,” he said.Barofsky, who was appointed the inspector general of the ongoing financial bailout plan, suggested the best way to clean up mortgage fraud is to pursue licensed professionals in the industry, and make examples of them.“They have the most to lose, they’re the most likely to flip, and they make the best examples,” said Barofsky, a former federal prosecutor in New York.

Bernard Madoff’s wife withdrew some $15.5 million in the weeks before his arrest

Bernard Madoff’s wife withdrew some $15.5 million in the weeks before his arrest, Massachusetts regulators said yesterday. Massachusetts Secretary of the Commonwealth William Galvin is seeking to yank Cohmad Securities Corp.’s securities registration in the Bay State, accusing it of stonewalling his investigation of Madoff. In the complaint, filed yesterday, Galvin calls New York-based and Madoff co-owned Cohmad a Madoff feeder fund, and offers Ruth Madoff’s withdrawals from a Cohmad brokerage account as evidence that Cohmad and Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securities are “so intertwined that they could be viewed as a common enterprise.”“We cannot tolerate licensed securities dealers who refuse to assist in the detection and prosecution of fraud,” Galvin said.According to Galvin’s complaint, Ruth Madoff withdrew $5.5 million from the account on Nov. 25, and then $10 million on Dec. 10, the day before her husband’s arrest on charges of running a $50 billion Ponzi scheme and, according to prosecutors, the day he confessed his scam to his sons.While there is no indication that the withdrawals were illegal, if the Madoffs did not disclose the money to the Securities and Exchange Commission, Ruth Madoff could face charges of aiding and abetting her husband by trying to save the money from seizure.

Boss of Satyam Computer Services confessed to making up more than 10,000 employees to siphon money from the software company

Boss of Satyam Computer Services confessed to making up more than 10,000 employees to siphon money from the software company and to using his elderly mother's name to buy land with the money, a prosecutor said Thursday.B. Ramalinga Raju, the founder and chairman of Satyam, an Indian information services outsourcing company, has also confessed to forging documents related to fixed bank deposits, said K. Ajay Kumar, a prosecutor with the Crime Investigation Department of the Indian police.Kumar appeared in court Thursday to argue that Raju, his brother and the chief financial officer of Satyam should remain in police custody. A judge extended their custody until Friday.Kumar said in court in the Nampally district of Hyderabad that Satyam had just 40,000 employees, far fewer than the nearly 53,000 it claimed. The money that was recorded as paid to those fictitious employees was actually used by Raju to buy land using other people's names, Kumar said.Raju had conducted nearly 400 such "benami" land deals - or deals where a fake name is used for a transaction - including some under his mother's name, Kumar said.lawyer, S. Bharat Kumar, said later Thursday that there had been no diversion of funds from the company or falsification of employee data as alleged by the prosecution in court, Bloomberg reported.Satyam, which is based in Hyderabad, India, and has global clients and listings on the New York Stock Exchange and Euronext, has become India's largest, highest-profile fraud. The case has cast a pall over the country's high-flying outsourcing industry. Raju said Jan. 7 that he had fabricated about $1 billion in cash at the company and padded profit margins - though the extent and scope of the fraud appears to be much more severe than that, based on conversations with investigators and the prosecutors' account.Making up employees might sound complicated, but investigators said it was not that difficult."Employees are just code numbers in your system," explained one person involved in the investigation, who was granted anonymity to provide details about it."You can create any amount of them," he said, "all you need to do is make sure the income tax is deducted properly" and insurance is paid, he said.The growing size and scope of the fraud at Satyam is forcing many of its corporate clients to rethink their software and back-office operations, analysts say. The revelation that employee numbers had been fudged could intensify such re-evaluations, as clients question whether their invoices have been padded.Satyam claims one-third of the Fortune 500 companies, or the largest companies in America, as clients. Corporations including General Motors, General Electric and Nestlé do business with Satyam. So far, just one client, State Farm Insurance, has publicly broken ties with Satyam.The company's global links, and its international stock listings, mean that prosecutors and investigators from India are joining forces with those from the United States to determine how far the fraud went and how it was committed.Investigators in India say that the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission is working on the case with the Indian market regulator, the Securities and Exchange Board of India.

Ontario Securities Commission is seeking a fine up up to $100 million from the two men who run BlackBerry maker Research in Motion.

Ontario Securities Commission is seeking a fine up up to $100 million from the two men who run BlackBerry maker Research in Motion.The penalty relates to a stock-option accounting controversy that reaches back to the mid-90s.The Globe and Mail reports that the OSC's staff is speaking with lawyers representing RIM's co-chief executive officers, Jim Balsillie and Mike Lazaridis. The investigation began in 2006 and sources said the regulator began negotiating a potential settlement last fall.
The Globe says it is understood that the OSC wants Balsillie to pay most of the fine and give up his seat on the board. Sources say a negotiated deal is near.Reached last night at his home, Balsillie declined to comment on what he described as "rumours." Neither Lazaridis nor his lawyer could be reached. A spokeswoman for the OSC said: "We can't comment on enforcement cases."In 2007, a special committee of RIM's board investigated the back-dating issue, and determined the company had backdated more than 40 per cent of stock options granted to employees since 1996. It also concluded that 12 of the 16 option grants made to Mr. Balsillie and Mr. Lazaridis between 1996 and 2006, to acquire a total of two million shares, were priced using an incorrect date.

Marcus Schrenker faces nearly $9 million in potential and actual judgments and legal claims

Indiana financial manager who parachuted
from a small plane in a suspected bid to fake his death handled
lucrative accounts in several states for years despite repeated
accusations that he was bilking investors.
Regulators in at least three states were warned about Marcus
Schrenker, in one case as early as 2002. Schrenker is now in a
northwest Florida jail.
It took nearly seven years before Indiana launched a criminal
investigation of Schrenker. Officials say he deliberately switched
his licensing from state to state to create confusion.
Felony charges are pending in Indiana, where authorities have
frozen Schrenker's assets and those of his wife. He also faces
nearly $9 million in potential and actual judgments and legal
claims.

B. Ramalinga Raju, the founder and former head of Satyam Computer Services may have skimmed huge amounts of cash from the company

B. Ramalinga Raju, the founder and former head of Satyam Computer Services may have skimmed huge amounts of cash from the company, rather than padded its books as he claims, according to a report in the New York Times that cited a person involved in the Satyam investigation.India's No. 4 software services exporter, has been battling for survival since Raju resigned as chairman earlier this month, revealing profits had been falsified for years and that $1 billion of cash on the books did not exist.
Investigators looking into the fraud have found a maze of about 300 companies related to Raju that were used to siphon as much as $1 billion in cash from Satyam, the report said, citing a senior official involved in the inquiry.The article said the picture emerging from the investigation of Satyam is very different from the one painted by Raju in a letter to Satyam's board earlier this month.In the letter, Raju said about $1 billion of Satyam's cash was "non-existent" and that he had falsified its profits for years to avoid losing control of the company.Raju said neither he nor his brother, B. Rama Raju, who co-founded Satyam, "took even one rupee/dollar from the company."The New York Times report, citing the person involved with the investigation, said the entire $1 billion Raju said was faked might have actually been earned by the company but then skimmed from it.

Agriprocessors CEO Sholom Rubashkin was granted a new hearing over whether he should remained jail

former chief executive officer of the nation's largest kosher meatpacking plant was granted a new hearing over whether he should remained jail as he awaits a trial on charges stemming from a large immigration raid.Chief U.S. District Court judge Linda Reade said in an order last week she will hear testimony and consider written evidence at the new bail hearing Thursday for former Agriprocessors CEO Sholom Rubashkin.He originally faced 12 counts of bank fraud, harboring illegal immigrants, document fraud and identity theft. He and three other men were named in a 99-count indictment last Thursday that added charges of money laundering and violating orders from the U.S. agriculture secretary.The Postville plant was raided May 12 by immigration officials, leading to the arrests of 389 people.Rubashkin has pleaded not guilty and is being held at the Dubuque County Jail. An earlier request to be released was rejected our of fears that he might flee to Israel.Prosecutors also have alleged Rubashkin tried to tamper with evidence after earlier being released from jail on Oct. 30. He was returned to jail after being arrested on bank fraud allegations.U.S. Attorney's Office spokesman Bob Teig said the order for the new bail hearing was "not unexpected," but declined to comment further.Rubashkin attorney Guy Cook said Saturday in an e-mail to The Associated Press that Rubashkin's defense team would be presenting witnesses to back up claims that Rubashkin was not a flight risk.His defense also said the invocation of an Israeli emigration law, called the Law of Return, improperly clouded evidence against Rubashkin at an earlier bail hearing.Along with the federal charges against Rubashkin, Agriprocessors and top managers have been accused of violating state and federal laws dealing with child labor, wage requirements and safety rules. The company has filed for bankruptcy protection.If convicted, Rubashkin faces up to 30 years in prison and a minimum fine of $1 million on each of the bank fraud counts, the most serious of the charges.

Arthur G. Nadel accused of defrauding investors out of millions is missing

Florida hedge fund manager accused of defrauding investors out of millions is missing and his family is worried because he left a note indicating he was "distraught," police said Saturday.

Authorities were interviewing investors and looking into claims that Arthur G. Nadel stole from them, said Sarasota Police Capt. Bill Spitler. It was too soon to say exactly how much was invested, but there were reports the hedge fund could be out $350 million

."The victims that I know of, I know some of them personally, they have no reason to lie," Spitler said.
Nadel, who operated under the name Scoop Management Inc. in Sarasota, was last seen Wednesday morning by his wife. She reported him missing later that day. Nadel, 75, left a note for his family, although authorities nor his wife would divulge its contents."The reason we were called was because he was distraught and they became concerned," said Sarasota County Sheriff's Office spokesman Lt. Chuck Lesaltato.
Peg Nadel said she was cooperating with the authorities and all the investors, but wouldn't go into any detail.Local authorities were working with the Securities Exchange Commission and FBI in the ongoing fraud investigation.Arthur Nadel was prominent in local social and philanthropic circles in the beach town along the central Gulf Coast. His investors ranged from individuals to the local YMCA Foundation, The Sarasota-Herald Tribune reported.Neil Moody, who said he employed Scoop as a trader for three funds in which he was a general partner, has told several investors interviewed by the newspaper that the hedge funds value was $350 million. He said Saturday that he has also lost millions.
"My family is over $12 million at risk," he said. He would not give any further information.Moody, a director of the YMCA and first vice chair, told the group's local president Thursday that the money was gone and resigned from the board, the newspaper reported.Another investor said he was not optimistic about getting the $730,000 he invested back."I feel abused. I feel beaten. I don't know who to believe," said Dr. Brad Lerner, an internal medicine physician.

Dorchester mortgage officer Nicole Lyder pled guilty to multiple charges that she fraudulently secured subprime mortgages

Dorchester mortgage officer Nicole Lyder pled guilty in Suffolk Superior Court on Monday to multiple charges that she fraudulently secured subprime mortgages for several unqualified home buyers.

Lyder, 34, pled guilty to charges of forgery, larceny of bank credit by false pretenses, uttering a false document, and making or publishing false or exaggerated statements. Following the change of plea on Monday, Suffolk Superior Court Judge Christine McEvoy sentenced Lyder to serve two years in the House of Correction.

In November 2005, Lyder engaged in fraudulent activity in order to secure subprime mortgage loans for home buyers without their knowledge. The homebuyers would not have been able to obtain the mortgages otherwise, according to the Massachusetts attorney generals office, which issued a press release on Tuesday.
Beginning in April 2006, Lyder was employed by Lehi Mortgage Services Inc. in Quincy, Mass. The attorney general’s office began an investigation into Lyder’s activities after receiving a complaint about Lyder in September 2006. The investigation focused on mortgage loans that Lyder assisted homebuyers in securing from Fremont Investment & Loan Inc. of Brea, Calif., for two properties in Dorchester, one in Randolph and one in Taunton. Investigators found that Lyder had forged business certificates which contained false information relating to the financial status of the home buyers.Lyder then submitted those forged business certificates to Fremont Investment & Loan Inc. on behalf of the home buyers. In each of these four home purchases Lyder also exaggerated the home buyers’ financial standing on various other documents submitted to Fremont in support of the loan applications. As a result of this fraudulent activity, Lyder collected thousands of dollars in commissions.In addition to fraudulently securing subprime mortgages, Lyder also submitted false banks statements to secure an car loan for a $63,000 Landrover that she purchased. In July 2007, Lyder altered a bank statement belonging to one of her former mortgage clients, making it appear as if it were her own bank statement.

"Bankers of the scam-tainted company declined to comment on the IT major's accounts been frozen citing client confidentiality."

"Bankers of the scam-tainted company declined to comment on the IT major's accounts been frozen citing client confidentiality." CID said in its case sheet filed in the court.It, however, added that Citibank has responded saying that it has "frozen 30 trade receivable accounts of Satyam".Another lender to Satyam, state-run Bank of Baroda said it did not have any material exposure to the company. "BoB has some current account deposits of the company which are collection accounts," the case sheet said.While HDFC Bank has no "significant" exposure to the tainted company, another private sector lender ICICI Bank said it did not have any fund-based exposure to Satyam other than a marginal exposure of about Rs 3 crore on account of a forward contract.

Fraud at Reserve Management Co

Massachusetts Secretary of State William Galvin accused the New York company of making false statements to investors about plans to support its Reserve Primary Fund's net asset value when that dropped below $1, or "broke the buck," in September.
The fund sent shock waves through the investment management world in September when it halted redemptions, effectively freezing investors' assets and sparking a run on money-market funds, which had been considered safe in times of market turmoil.
The Reserve Primary Fund held 1.2% of its assets in debt issued by Lehman Brothers which collapsed when the investment bank filed for bankruptcy in September.ReserveManagement's sales staff "made numerous statements to investors and distributed materials to investors that were intended to calm those investors and dissuade them from making redemption requests," the state's complaint said.The complaint names Reserve Management Co. Inc., Reserve Partners Inc., Reserve Funds Trust and Bruce Bent II."Many of those statements contained outright falsities which the principals of Reserve Management knew at the time were not true," Galvin said in a statement.The charges are the latest blow to the New York investment manager credited with inventing the money market fund.Reserve Management Co. Inc said last month that it was informed by U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission staff on Dec. 18 that the agency intended to bring an enforcement action against the company and its president, Bruce Bent.

Former American Express employee has received a three year jail sentence after she was found guilty of paying for 121 luxury holidays

Former American Express employee has received a three year jail sentence after she was found guilty of paying for 121 luxury holidays with customers' credit cards. The woman, who worked at American Express's Stockholm office, was found to have spent 700,000 kronor ($87,000) on holidays to New York, Paris, Nice and Tunisia, Metro reports. Often she made use of the stolen trips to broaden her own travel horizons, while on other occasions she either treated friends to free holidays or sold the vacations at a knock down price. For more than half a year, the woman booked holidays using the Platinum and Centurion cards of various wealthy American Express clients. She also took payment for divulging clients' credit card numbers to third parties before finally being arrested in September last year.

Lennar in a lengthy statement released Monday morning, the Miami-based homebuilder said

In a lengthy statement released Monday morning, the Miami-based homebuilder said that, while it was not its practice to respond to “false and scurrilous allegations in the context of litigation,” Lennar had a responsibility to shareholders and the public to respond to requests for information.The release was issued in response to accusations made by Barry Minkow, who served prison time for stock fraud involving carpet-cleaning company ZZZZ Best.Minkow operates the Fraud Discovery Institute, a for-profit business that specializes in fraud prevention. He released a 30-page report Friday that makes several allegations about Lennar's debt and the use of joint venture operations.Lennar said in its statement on Monday that its chief operating officer had not received a mortgage on his home from the company, and it denied allegations the company treated its joint ventures like a Ponzi scheme by using older investments to pay for new ones.Lennar claims Minkow is acting as an agent acting for a disgruntled litigant, Nicolas Marsch III, who filed a civil suit against the company in California.

over 40 years, Park West has serviced 1.2 million clients in gallery sales and sea auctions and stand behind the authenticity of everything we sell

Michigan art collectors say they were swindled by a well-known Detroit-area gallery that allegedly sold them more than $594,000 in forged artwork.The supposedly original artwork included signed lithographs that investors claim in a lawsuit are merely worthless "glorified posters," The Detroit News reported Monday.The suit, filed in Oakland Circuit Court, alleges the artwork was purchased from Park West Galleries in Southfield, Mich. The investors claim much of the art was purchased by "unsophisticated" collectors during champagne auctions on cruise ships, the newspaper said. The gallery boasts $300 million in annual revenue and about 300,000 sales a year, and denies the allegations."For over 40 years, Park West has serviced 1.2 million clients in gallery sales and sea auctions and stand behind the authenticity of everything we sell, including the works of art in this meritless lawsuit," Park West attorney Rodger Young told the News. "The allegations are easy to make and hard to prove, and we look forward to going before a Michigan jury."

Satyam Computers,bank account statements are reportedly missing.

The government, which moved in swiftly to protect the interest of stakeholders of Satyam Computers, has decided to order a probe by the Serious Frauds Investigation Office (SFIO) into the scam. The decision on the SFIO probe is expected to be announced in the next five days. The RoC, which is conducting the preliminary investigation, this evening recommended a probe by the SFIO. The RoC is finding it difficult to access important documents as they are not available in the corporate office. Some of these documents, sources said, are kept in company-owned premises 150 kms away from Hyderabad. The RoC has conveyed to the government that it has yet not been able to lay its hands on the bank account statements. The bank account statements are reportedly missing. The government will also give the SFIO the mandate to hire services of private experts - lawyers, chartered accountants, etc - to aid its probe. The SFIO team will be assisted by officials of the RBI, SEBI, ED, Police, customs, excise, banking, revenue intelligence and forensic department. The investigations will cover eight companies of the group. "The investigations will be carried out without hurting the interests of the company's stakeholders, employees and customers. The operations of the company will not be allowed to be affected as the government considers Satyam's operations and its talent important for the economy," said a senior government official. The governnment leadership said stringent action will also be taken against the auditors. "The ICI is mandated by the Chartered Accountants Act, 1949 to take action against errant firms," said sources. The action against the auditors will, however, depend on the result of the investigations of the SFIO.

Home builder Lennar was embroiled in fraud accusations

Home builder Lennar was embroiled in fraud accusations related to its joint ventures, sending shares down 22.9%. A consumer advocate said the company operated several of its ventures like a Ponzi Scheme. Lennar worked to reverse its tumbling share price Jan. 9 by saying a convicted felon used "false and inflammatory" language in critiquing the financial structure of some of its deals.“Today convicted felon Barry Minkow, acting as an agent for a disgruntled litigant, Nicolas Marsch III, posted false and inflammatory accusations concerning Lennar," a Lennar statement said.Marsch's civil litigation against Lennar was just dismissed by a California Superior Court judge,” Lennar said in a statement.Minkow, who served more than seven years for stock fraud involving carpet-cleaning company ZZZZ Best, operates the Fraud Discovery Institute, a for profit business that specializes in fraud prevention. He released a 30-page report Friday that makes several allegations about Lennar's debt and the use of joint venture operations.Shares of the nation's second-largest homebuilder (NYSE: LEN) were down $2.20 to $9.22 shortly before noon, but had climbed to $9.73 after Lennar denied the allegations in a statement.
The institute said it has sent a letter of complaint to the Securities and Exchange Commission, the FBI and the IRS.The company — which recorded nearly $166.9 million in sales from January through September 2007, according to the 2009 Orlando Business Journal Book of Lists — is the largest Central Florida production home builder. The company is building in 14 Central Florida communities.

Conrad Black has asked President George W. Bush for a pardon.

Conrad Black, the former chairman and chief executive of the Hollinger International media company, and two other former executives are urging the justices to hear their case because federal appeals courts around the country are divided on the central issue undergirding their convictions.

Conrad Black is asking the Supreme Court to overturn his convictions for fraud and obstruction of justice.A federal appeals court in Chicago already has upheld the convictions, for which Black is serving a 6 1/2-year prison term.Black, 64, and former executives John A. Boultbee and Mark S. Kipnis contend in an appeal filed Friday that they can't be convicted of fraud because they did no harm to Hollinger International.The 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeal's ruling rejecting their claim "sharply conflicts with the decisions of at least five courts of appeals," Miguel Estrada, their Washington, D.C., lawyer, wrote in court papers.Conrad Black, the former chairman and chief executive of the Hollinger International media company, and two other former executives are urging the justices to hear their case because federal appeals courts around the country are divided on the central issue undergirding their convictions.Black also has asked President George W. Bush for a pardon.He was convicted in 2007 of siphoning off millions of dollars belonging to Hollinger when he was chief executive officer of the company that once owned the Chicago Sun-Times, the Daily Telegraph of London, the Jerusalem Post and hundreds of community papers across this country and Canada.All of Hollinger's big papers except the Sun-Times have now been sold and the company that emerged changed its name to Sun-Times Media Group.

Gen See Capital and Gen Unlimited,One World Capital Group more Ponzi scheme surface

Richard Piccoli, 82, was arraigned in federal court in upstate New York Thursday in an alleged $17.0 million Ponzi scheme using his companies, Gen See Capital and Gen Unlimited. The prosecutor contends Piccoli targeted Catholics in particular, advertising in Church-related newspapers with offers of term certificates that earned a guaranteed 7.1% annually. Prosecutors said he explained in detail to a prospective investor how he invested that money in discounted mortgages, but his bank records indicate otherwise. (See “Another Day, Another Ponzi.”)On Wednesday, the U.S. Justice Department in Chicago said two men from Illinois had been arrested for a “Ponzi-like” scheme of their own, swindling $15.0 million to pay for a high-priced lifestyle that included strip clubs, jewelry and private jets. Charles G. Martin, 43, and John E. Walsh, 60, were charged with wire fraud, diverting money out of customer accounts, prosecutors said. A court closed their One World Capital Group in December 2007, freezing its remaining $636,815 of assets.

cashed in and got out before Bernard Madoff's $50 billion investment empire came crashing down might not be as lucky as they think.

cashed in and got out before Bernard Madoff's $50 billion investment empire came crashing down might not be as lucky as they think. Sources close to the Madoff case say that a recent court ruling in a similar collapse—a Ponzi scheme called the Bayou Group—is likely to provide the legal road map for recovering as much money as possible from the Madoff mess. And if so, those who profited stand to lose not only their gains but also, in some cases, the original principal they invested in the scheme.

Madoff's reputation as a financial wizard evaporated following disclosures that his business was a giant Ponzi scheme in which he paid out generous but fake profits to early investors from funds deposited by later ones. The clean-up is likely to fall under the jurisdiction of the federal bankruptcy court in Manhattan, which is already sifting through Bayou wreckage. That case made headlines last summer when Sam Israel, the fraud's mastermind, disappeared shortly before he was due to report to prison; his abandoned SUV was discovered outside New York City with the words SUICIDE IS PAINLESS scrawled on its hood. A few weeks later, Israel turned himself in to authorities.

In October 2008 a judge in the Bayou case, Adlai Hardin Jr., ruled that investors who cashed out their interests within two years of the scheme's exposure had to hand back their principal as well as their profits—even though they were innocent victims of the swindle—if there was evidence that they got out because they suspected, or had been warned, there was something amiss. (The court also ordered profits made within the last six years to be surrendered.) Legal experts say the Madoff litigation could follow the Bayou ruling's lead. "Even though the potential scale of losses in the Madoff scheme seems to dwarf the $450 million at issue in Bayou," says an analysis by the KL Gates law firm, which represents victims of the earlier fraud, the Bayou case "provide[s] instructive guidance to [Madoff] investors and other affected parties." The lawyer in charge of the Madoff clean-up, Irving Picard, did not respond to a request for comment.

100 signed cheques totalling more than $173m in Mr Madoff’s office desk, “ready to be sent out,”

The Serious Fraud Office said on Thursday it had launched a full investigation after receiving an interim report from Grant Thornton, the accounting firm.financial investigators are probing the alleged $50bn Bernard Madoff fraud after seeing evidence gathered by his empire’s provisional London liquidators.the US federal investigaors have found approximately 100 signed cheques totalling more than $173m in Mr Madoff’s office desk, “ready to be sent out,” according to prosecutors who filed a second legal briefing on Thursday urging a judge to revoke Mr Madoff’s bail and jail him pending trial.“The only thing that prevented the defendant from executing his plan to dissipate those assets was his arrest by the FBI on December 11,” the prosecutors wrote.According to the original criminal complaint last month against him, Mr Madoff told his sons in December “in approximately one week, he planned to surrender to authorities, but before he did that, he had approximately $200-300m left, and he planned to use that money to make payments to certain selected employees, family, and friends.”In the UK the SFO launched a preliminary inquiry last month after it emerged that the alleged scam had caused big losses to a number of British investors, including Man Group, the world’s largest listed hedge fund, and Nicola Horlick’s Bramdean Alternatives investment funds.The SFO said it was investigating Mr Madoff’s British business operations, with a focus on victims and possible criminal offences committed. The agency said its action reflected partly public concern about the robustness of Mr Madoff’s British operations.
The SFO said it was working closely with authorities in the US and the City of London police, which has about a third of Britain’s police fraud investigation capacity. Banks and regulators all over Europe are still coming to grips with the arrest of Mr Madoff, who was charged by US prosecutors last month with running an alleged $50bn fraud.Mr Madoff established a British presence as chairman of Madoff Securities International, which is based in London’s West End, although the company has already tried to distance itself from the US troubles. Stephen Raven, chief executive of Madoff Securities International, said through his solicitor, Peter Binning, “I welcome the investigation announced today by the SFO and I have already offered my full co-operation with their inquiries.” Mr Raven added that he will cooperate with Grant Thornton as well. Mr Raven has said that the company’s business activities are not linked “in any way” to Mr Madoff’s investment management business that is at the centre of the US fraud allegations. A spokesman for Grant Thornton declined to comment.

Bernard Madoff moved nearly $160 million of his own assets to his British-based firm in 2007

Bernard Madoff moved nearly $160 million of his own assets to his British-based firm in 2007, according to company accounts and filings obtained by Reuters on Thursday.Madoff, accused by U.S. authorities of running a Ponzi scheme for many years in a fraud worth up to $50 billion, moved the assets via the allotment of two sets of new shares in Madoff Securities International Ltd, a British firm he controlled.In October 2007, Madoff bought 49.9 million new 100 pence shares in the British firm for 49.9 million pounds, the documents showed, the equivalent of about $100 million at the time and about $75 million at Thursday's exchange rate.In addition, the previous month he also received 6.25 million new $10 shares as payment for terminating a $62.5 million loan he had made to the British firm in 2000.
On Thursday, Britain's Serious Fraud Office (SFO) said it had begun investigating Madoff's British operations, focusing on British victims and any offences that may have been committed in the country.The SFO said in a statement the decision to investigate came after it was given an interim report by Grant Thornton, provisional liquidators in Britain.Madoff Securities International Ltd, based in London's Mayfair, a honeypot for hedge funds, was authorized by Britain's Financial Services Authority and is currently in liquidation.The firm was almost entirely controlled by Madoff, who owned the vast majority of the voting shares.Its accounts for 2007, the last set of accounts filed by the firm, show the sale of the nearly 50 million pounds worth of shares contributed to an overall increase in the cash position of 82 million pounds to 96.3 million pounds at end-December 2007.Madoff, under house arrest and surveillance in his luxury Manhattan apartment, was arrested and charged last month after authorities said he confessed to running a Ponzi scheme in which early investors profit from funds paid in by later investors.A trustee of the U.S. Securities Investor Protection Corp (SIPC), which helps investors who had accounts at failed brokerages recover money, has identified more than $830 million in liquid assets related to Madoff's investment firm that may be subject to recovery and is searching for more.

Satyam Computer Services Indian premier Computer Company disclosure of a fraud

The chairman of India's embattled Satyam Computer Services resigned Wednesday and said the company's profits had been inflated over the last several years, sending the stock down 71 per cent.The shocking revelation comes after India's fourth-largest outsourcer's botched attempt last month to buy two construction firms in which the company's founders held stakes and key customer World Bank dropping its ties with the outsourcing company. "The gap in the balance sheet has arisen purely on account of inflated profits over a period of last several years," Satyam Chairman Ramalinga Raju said in a statement to stock exchanges on Wednesday. Satyam's woes make it one of India's most high-profile company scandals in recent years. The comments from Satyam sent Indian equity markets in a tailspin, with Bombay's main benchmark index falling 3.9 per cent. Satyam, which specialises in business software and back-office services for clients such as General Electric, and Nestle, was due to hold a board meeting on January 10 to consider a buyback following a rash of broker downgrades even after the acquisitions were called off. "I think there is no future for this stock. This case for India is similar to what happened to Enron in the US," said Jigar Shah, senior vice-president at Kim Eng Securities.
"It will not stop at Satyam. Many more companies will come into scrutiny like that. There is a strong possibility investments in India will be affected." stock market in Mumbai came crashing following the disclosure of a fraud in an Indian premier Computer Company, which saw the index sinking deep by 700 points to peg at 9650. According to details, the Computer Company Satyam chief executive had tendered his resignation on the revelation of Rs 12.30 billion bungling in the company. This news today spread like a wild fire among the brokers and small investors, which saw the index reeling down by 700 points.

Bernard Madoff took $250 million (£166 million) from one of his closest friends less than a fortnight before allegedly confessing to $50 billion finan

Bernard Madoff took $250 million (£166 million) from one of his closest friends less than a fortnight before allegedly confessing to $50 billion financial scam, it emerged today, as investors in the fund were told that it would be at least a month before they were compensated for their losses. Mr Madoff, who apparently confessed to his sons about the alleged fraud in mid-December, asked Carl Shapiro for $250 million in what appears to be a desperate attempt to prevent the Ponzi scheme's collapse. It is not clear whether Mr Shapiro, a 95-year-old entrepreneur an philanthropist, saw the cash as an investment or a loan but sources said that he was assured that the money would be returned quickly. Thousands of investors who lost their savings have been told it will be at least a month before they get any of their money back. Stephen Harbeck, president of the Washington-based Securities Investor Protection Corp (SIPC), said some investors could be repaid "in a month or two". But he also warned that others would have to wait considerably longer if the missing Madoff cash proves hard to trace. "You're talking about unscrambling an egg," Mr Harbeck said in an interview yesterday. SIPC, which is funded by its membership of broker-dealers, has a mandate to return up to $500,000 each to individual investors who held accounts with Mr Madoff's securities firm during the last 12 months. Irving Picard, the trustee appointed to unwind Mr Madoff's company and locate the missing funds, sent out 8,000 claim forms in partnership with the SIPC last week. Mr Picard has uncovered about $830 million in cash in the company so far and about $850 million in liquid assets. The SIPC has just $1.6 billion with which to compensate investors but can ask Congress for additional funds to meet payment demands. Mr Shapiro first invested with the 70-year-old Mr Madoff in 1960, when he entrusted the then-fledgling fund manager with thousands of dollars to place on his behalf.

He was one of Mr Madoff's oldest friends and the two frequently lunched together. Mr Shapiro has personally lost an estimated $400 million in the alleged fraud, including the $250 million, and his charitable foundation a further $100 million.

Shortly before his confession, Mr Madoff told his sons that investors had made $7 billion in redemption requests on his funds and that he was having trouble putting together the cash. It is thought that he made an attempt to gather enough money to meet the redemptions by fleeceing a final round of victims. One investor, Martin Rosenman, gave Mr Madoff $10 million just six days before he was arrested.

Did real estate agent Samir Cabrera take investors for almost $3 million, masterminding a complicated scheme involving fraud and money laundering?

Did real estate agent Samir Cabrera take investors for almost $3 million, masterminding a complicated scheme involving fraud and money laundering?Or was he an honest businessman acting on the advice of his attorneys and unaware that any deception had occurred?Those are the narratives that prosecutors and defense attorney John Mills will be pitching to jurors at Cabrera's two-week fraud and money-laundering trial, which starts today in federal court in Fort Myers.
According to the indictment, Cabrera received almost $3 million in fees after buying two parcels of land on Fiddlesticks Boulevard in south Lee County in 2006 and "flipping" them the same day at a much higher price to investors who didn't know what was going on.But Mills said Friday at a pretrial status hearing he'll try to establish his client was told by attorneys the conditions of those deals had been disclosed to investors.Already, The United States v. Cabrera seems to be following a familiar dynamic in fraud cases, said Jerold Israel, a white-collar crime expert and law professor at the University of Florida."One of the arguments is, 'I relied on my accountants, on my lawyers. They said it was fine to set it up this way,'" Israel said."That happened in Enron all the time," he said, referring to the criminal charges brought against that company's executives as a result of a financial scandal eight years ago. "It's a question of who knew what, and when, and what he was told."
In Cabrera's case, those questions might be asked of three legal advisers in particular: Chicago-based Mitch Goldsmith, a securities expert hired by Cabrera's company, Cabrera Capital; Thomas Pence, a disbarred lawyer who served as Cabrera Capital's chief operating officer, and Tom Doragh, attorney for Bridge Loans. Bridge was owned by the late Frank D'Alessandro, Cabrera's broker and the man who financed most of his real estate deals.Mills said at a hearing Friday that Cabrera will testify he was told by Goldsmith and Pence that the terms of the deal were disclosed to the investors.Nobody else has been indicted in the real estate deals mentioned in the case against Cabrera, although Chief Assistant U.S. Attorney Doug Molloy said when the indictment was issued last summer that the investigation was continuing.However, "Right now we'll be focusing on the trial," he said recently.Even though Cabrera is the one indicted, the charges against him have affected two other high-profile Lee County residents: his wife Jessica Stilwell, a former news anchor for NBC-2 television; and her father, Don Stilwell, county manager for the past 15 years.Jessica Stilwell went on a leave of absence in August after station officials said her closeness to stories about her father and Cabrera became too much of a conflict.Part of the charges against Cabrera, for example, hinge on checks written on the joint checking account with his wife to "D.D.S.," which Don Stilwell later acknowledged was himself.Both Cabrera and Don Stilwell deny there was anything illegal regarding the checks. Stilwell has said they were repayments of loans made in real estate transactions.Don Stilwell invested $100,000 in one of the Fiddlesticks properties and also invested money in other Cabrera land deals including Daniels View, which is the subject of a civil lawsuit brought by some other investors.Daniels View and some other Cabrera deals involved the same "flipping" of properties, but no criminal charges have been brought.Whether the county manager lied about his involvement in Daniels View was the subject of an investigation by a forensic accountant brought in by the county attorney. County commissioners exonerated Stilwell in a September vote.Despite all the high-profile controversies, Israel said it shouldn't be too hard to choose a jury.A lot of people may have been financially harmed in the collapse of the real estate market in the past three years, he said, but "they're not victims of fraud. They're just victims of a bad real estate market."Besides, Israel said, "I don't think everybody was affected. You've got renters, all kinds of people out there."