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45°
Saturday, apr 27
Tag:
Bank Fraud
Police & Fire
'
Bust
OUT': Dual US, Greek Citizen Living In Bergen Charged With $2.8M Bank Fraud
A dual U.S. and Greek national with a home in Bergen County orchestrated a classic debit card "bust out" scheme that fleeced a half-dozen banks out of $2.8 million, federal authorities charged. Dino Koutsogiannis, 57, of Fairview, and some unidentified cronies played the long game, U.S. Attorney for New Jersey Philip R. Sellinger said. They began by opening bank accounts for two bogus companies that Koutsogiannis created in Florida -- called Vegan Vacation and Orlando Dinos -- according to a federal complaint filed in Newark. Koutsogiannis was the only officer or director of the shell comp…
Police & Fire
$2M NJ Scammer Who Claimed Dead People As Biz Partners Gets 3 Years, No Parole
UPDATE: A scammer from Sussex County who fraudulently collected more than $2 million in federal funds by identifying people who'd been dead for more than a decade as business partners must spend the next three years in federal prison. John Jhong, 54, of Sparta, actually submitted bogus applications for more than $15 million in federal pandemic aid earmarked to help struggling companies during COVID-19, U.S. Attorney Philip R. Sellinger said. Jhong "turned these vital relief programs into his personal ATM," spending the more than $2 million he illegally collected on personal expenses, the U.…
Police & Fire
Feds: Mailbox ‘Fisher’ Who Plagued Bergen, Morris, Hudson Gets 27 Months Without Parole
UPDATE: A member of a crew that fished more than $100,000 worth of checks from mailboxes in Bergen, Hudson and Morris counties is headed to federal prison for more than two years. Brando Mancebopujols, 24, will have to serve just about all of the plea-bargained 27-month sentence because there’s no parole in the federal prison system. Mancebopujols, formerly of Paterson, admitted that he and his associates pocketed the money by depositing the checks into bank accounts that they controlled, U.S. Attorney for New Jersey Philip R. Sellinger said. As many as 40 postal boxes had been broken into…
Police & Fire
Ex-Hudson Sheriff's Officer Admits $98,000 Short-Sale Mortgage Scheme For Jersey Shore Home
A former Hudson County sheriff’s officer admitted defrauding a bank to duck $98,000 in mortgage payments on a Jersey Shore home, federal authorities said. Osbado Hernandez, 54, of Avenel, conspired with others to lie about a bogus short sale of his house in Keansburg so that the unidentified bank would discharge what was left on his mortgage, U.S. Attorney Philip R. Sellinger said. Hernandez bought the property for $239,900 in 2006, financing it through a mortgage loan from the victimized bank, a complaint on file in U.S. District Court in Trenton says. He ended up behind on the payments,…
News
'We Don't Want To End Up In Orange Jumpsuits,' Said CEO Arrested For $175M Scam In NJ
A former CEO whose star once shone so bright she made the Forbes 30-Under-30 list could soon be swapping her business suits for prison jumpsuits — something she'd been dreading. "We don't want to end up in orange jumpsuits," is what Charlie Javice apparently said months before her New Jersey arrest Monday, April 3, according to federal prosecutors. The 31-year-old founder of Frank, a for-profit company that simplified the student loan application process, is facing federal charges for falsifying data sets, ultimately scamming J.P Morgan Chase out of $175 million officials said. It wasn't i…
News
Mortgage Fraud: NJ Developer, Attorney Admit Swindling Lenders Out Of $3.5M
A New Jersey real estate developer and a lawyer admitted running a multi-layered mortgage fraud that cost banks more than $3.5 million in losses, federal authorities said. Developer Victor Santos, 63, of Watchung, paid stand-in "straw" buyers $5,000 each to first purchase a dozen properties in Newark and then secure tenants to lease them, U.S. Attorney Philip R. Sellinger said. A group of conspirators including him and attorney Fausto Simoes, 69, of Millington, covered the costs -- including fees and mortgage payments, the U.S. attorney said. "Santos, Simoes, and others also caused the sub…
News
Hudson County Man Seized By Federal Agents In $1M ID Theft Scheme
A Hudson County man was seized by federal agents early Thursday on charges of pocketing more than $1 million from victims whose identities they said he stole. Marc Lazarre, 37, of Secaucus was charged with bank fraud and aggravated ID theft charges following his arrest the morning of Oct. 20, U.S. Attorney Philip R. Sellinger announced. Lazarre swiped bank account and personal identity information to open accounts in the victims’ names without their knowledge and then withdrew funds, Sellinger said. Lazarre also "unlawfully obtained checks made out to victims, used fraudulent identificati…
News
Feds: NJ, NY Postal Workers Stole Credit Cards To Buy $1.3M In Luxury Items For Online Resale
Three U.S. Postal Service workers from New Jersey and New York City masterminded a scheme to buy more than $1.3 million worth of designer clothes and accessories using credit cards that they stole from the mail, federal authorities charged. The items were then sold with the help of an entrepreneur who operated an online shopping site, they said. Nathanael Foucault, Johnathan “Junzie-J” Persaud, and Fabiola “Lady Fab” Mompoint passed the cards to a quintet of shoppers who bought the items at department stores in New Jersey and the city with the stolen credit cards, an indictment returned by …
News
7 Bounty Hunter Bloods Banged By Feds In NJ Gang War That's Left Four Dead, 10 Wounded
An ongoing gang war that has ignited gunfire during a funeral and outside a hospital has led to charges against seven reputed members of a New Jersey gang associated with the Bounty Hunter Bloods. Federal authorities used the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) law to secure a grand jury indictment charging the defendants with conspiracy, U.S. Attorney Philip R. Sellinger said Tuesday, Sept. 20. All seven are members or associates of the Bounty Hunter Bloods, which operated under the umbrella of neighborhood street gangs known as “Parkside” in Somerset and “The Ville” in N…
News
$150M
Bank
Fraud
: Teaneck Landlord Gets 8 Years, No Parole
A Teaneck landlord must spend the next eight years in federal prison -- without parole -- for orchestrating a $150 million bank and securities fraud scheme. Seth Levine, 53, was the founding partner, owner, and managing member of Norse Holdings, the parent company to more than 70 subsidiaries, U.S. Attorney Philip R. Sellinger said. Each of the subsidiary companies owned one or more multifamily buildings, mostly in New Jersey, he said. Beginning in 2009, Levine directed a scheme for nearly a decade to fraudulently refinance the multifamily properties by lying on refinancing appli…
News
Feds: ID Thief Gets 4 Years For Stealing $600,000 From NJ Bank Customers
UPDATE: An admitted identity thief was sentenced to four years in federal prison for conspiring with a South Jersey bank employee and others to steal more than $600,000 from unsuspecting victims, federal authorities said. Lamar Melhado, 32, of the Bronx will have to serve just about all of the plea-bargained sentence handed down in U.S. District Court in Camden on Monday, March 7, because there's no parole in the federal prison system. Melhado received photos and screenshots of customers’ information and signatures from Mount Laurel bank call center employee Jamere Hill-Birdsong of Gloucest…
News
Conspirator Who Used NJ High School Students To Cash Stolen COVID Stimulus Checks Gets 4 Years
One of a nest of criminals who paid New Jersey high school students to cash COVID stimulus checks stolen from the mail was sentenced to four years in federal prison. Because there's no parole in the federal prison system, Jeffrey Bennett, 27, of Irvington, must serve just about all of the plea-bargained sentence rubber-stamped by a U.S. District Court judge in Newark via videoconference on Monday, Feb. 14. Bennett -- a reputed associate of a group called "The Members" -- recruited U.S. Postal Service employees to steal checks, checkbooks, debit cards, and credit cards from the mail in excha…
News
$6
Million
Scam
: Man Admits Role In Nigerian Bank Fraud Network Operating In NJ, PA, MD
A member of a sophisticated Nigerian-based fraud ring admitted his role in a massive conspiracy that scammed banks in New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Maryland out of $6 million. Ayanniyi Alayande, 47, of Darby, PA wasn't involved in the crudely constructed "Nigerian prince" emails schemes of the past. He ran with a ring that altered and cashed business checks stolen from the mail, authorities said. Alayande is the first of 12 defendants in the case to take a deal from the government and plead guilty rather than face trial. Members of the highly organized group altered the payee on the checks …
Police & Fire
Feds: International Fugitive Admits Role In $30 Million NJ Mortgage Fraud
A New Jersey mortgage company loan officer who’d been an international fugitive for several years admitted his role in a long-running, large-scale scam that cost lenders more than $30 million, authorities said. Isaac DePaula, 41, and a group of conspirators pulled off the scheme through a company called Premier Mortgage Services (PMS), according to a complaint on file in U.S. District Court in Newark. The thieves targeted low-income areas, recruiting straw buyers to seek mortgages for properties they really couldn’t afford, federal authorities charged. The conspirators secured the loans by…
News
Where Did This NJ Town Get A Maserati To Auction Off? Answer: From A Federal Convict
A Maserati that’s being auctioned off by a small Bergen County town was seized from a confessed ID thief from Hackensack who's now serving federal prison time for swiping $2 million from various victims, Daily Voice has learned. She was a he at the time. Closter police confiscated the flash ride during a 2018 investigation that produced the arrest of Ralph Taylor -- who according to the U.S. Attorney's Office has become Alexis Taylor while behind bars. Working with others, Taylor bought a “significant amount of stolen personal identifying information via the dark web, includ…
News
Sussex Man Who Spent $5.6M COVID Relief Money On Stock Market, Luxury Car, More Sentenced
A Sussex County man was sentenced Tuesday to more than five years in federal prison for spending $5.6 million in federal COVID-19 pandemic business loans for himself, authorities said. Azhar Sarwar Rana, 31, of Newton will have to serve out just about all of the 64-month sentence because there's no parole in the federal prison system. The federal Paycheck Protection Program was designed to keep struggling small businesses afloat during the pandemic. Rana used the money, instead, to invest millions in the stock market, make a payment to a luxury car dealership and send hundreds of thous…
News
Former Bookkeeper Who Embezzled $1.78M From NJ Steel Company Gets Six Years In Fed Pen
A former bookkeeper who embezzled $1.7 million from the Newark-based steel company she worked for must spend a plea-bargained six years in federal prison. There’s no parole in the federal prison system, which means Tammy L. Martinez, 49, of South Amboy, must serve out just about the entire term. For more than five years, Martinez forged her manager’s signature on bogus checks made out to her or to cash, Acting U.S. Attorney Rachael A. Honig said. She cashed the checks at area TD Bank branches where the company had an account or dropped the money into a personal account, a complaint on file…
News
Jersey City Man Gets 27 Months In Fed Pen For $450,000 Phony Passport Bank Fraud Scheme
A Jersey City man must spend more than two years in federal prison for his role in a ring that used bogus passports and IRS refund checks to pocket more than $450,000. Mamadou Diallo, 44, also must pay $150,052 in restitution as part his plea deal with the government, Acting U.S. Attorney Rachael A. Honig said. For 6½ years, beginning in 2012, Diallo admitted, he and others stuck photos of themselves to passports bearing others’ names. They then used the bogus IDs to open bank accounts into which they deposited phony IRS refund checks. They withdrew the funds from ATM and teller termi…
News
Feds: Accomplice Of NJ Bank Employee Admits Swiping $600,000 From Customers With Stolen IDs
A Bronx man admitted that he conspired with a South Jersey bank employee to steal more than $600,000 from unsuspecting victims after swiping their IDs, federal authorities said. Lamar Melhado, 32, used screenshots of customers’ information and signatures that were supplied to him and others by Jamere Hill-Birdsong of Gloucester City, Acting U.S. Attorney Rachael A. Honig said Thursday. Hill-Birdson, who worked for a call center at a Mount Laurel bank, recruited co-workers to take photos or screenshots of customers’ information and signatures and then pass them on to him and Melhado, she sai…
News
Thief Who Swiped 94,000 Credit Card Numbers At Michaels Stores In NJ, NY, CT, PA Sentenced
UPDATE: A member of an ID theft ring that stole more than $600,000 from customers at Michaels stores in New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Connecticut and elsewhere was sentenced to 51 months in federal prison on Thursday. Jose “Tito” Salazar, 45, of Riverside, CA was part of a crew that replaced card-reading terminals at the arts and crafts retailer with wireless imitations that they used to capture customers' bank account numbers and PINs, Acting U.S. Attorney for New Jersey Rachael A. Honig said. They then created copycat cards that were then used to withdraw more than $500,000 from hun…
News
Ridgefield Park Man Gets 15 Months In Fed Pen For Major Mortgage Fraud
A Ridgefield Park man was sentenced Friday to 15 months in federal prison for his role in a scheme to defraud mortgage lenders out of hundreds of thousands of dollars. Dennys A. Tapia, 55, took a deal from the government rather than go to trial, pleading guilty to a single count of conspiring to commit bank fraud last December. He'll have to serve out the entire sentence because there's no parole in the federal prison system. Tapia and a number of unnamed co-conspirators produced bogus documents to a loan officer for potential borrowers, including fraudulent lease agreements, bank statement…
News
Busted
: Scammer, 71, Cons Recent Widow Out Of $100,000, Edgewater Police Charge
Her husband had just died when a widow lost $100,000 to a 71-year-old con artist from Edgewater, authorities charged. Anna Bors was already known to police. She has a record of arrests involving bank fraud, check kiting and thefts in Edgewater and Fort Lee and is believed to be part of an online “sweepstakes” or “lottery” scam ring, Detective Sgt. Teddy Wetklow said. This time, Bors weaseled account information from a 75-year-old recent widow in North Carolina, Wetklow said Tuesday. Detective Jorge Vanegas diligently worked the case, obtaining bank records as well as surveillance footage…
News
Feds: Sussex Man Admits Spending $5.6M COVID Relief Money On Stock Market, Luxury Vehicle, More
A Sussex County man who was seized by federal agents as he tried to board a flight to Pakistan admitted fraudulently collecting $5.6 million in federal COVID-19 pandemic business loans that he put to personal use, authorities said. Azhar Sarwar Rana, 30, of Newton, used the money -- designed to keep struggling small businesses afloat during the pandemic – to millions in the stock market, make a payment to a luxury car dealership and send hundreds of thousands of dollars to accounts in Pakistan, Acting U.S. Attorney Rachael A. Honig said. Rana submitted an application for a stimulus loan und…
News
Long Island Man Sentenced In NJ/NY ‘Shotgun’ Mortgage Scheme That Cost Banks $9 Million
A Long Island man was sentenced to a year and a day in federal prison for his role in a $9 million ‘shotgun’ mortgage scheme in New Jersey and New York. Yorce Yotagri, 54, of Freeport admitted last year that he partnered with Jorge Flores of Oakdale and Jose Piehrahita, also of Freeport, to secure several home equity lines of credit for the same properties and pocket the money before the lending banks found out, Acting U.S. Attorney Rachael A. Honig said. One of those properties was in Jersey City, a complaint filed in U.S. District Court in Newark says. Yotagri lived on another in Fre…
News
Jersey Shore Powerboat Racer Admits Faking Disappearance To Avoid Prosecution, US Attorney Says
A professional powerboat racer from Atlantic County has admitted faking his offshore death to avoid bank fraud charges, authorities said. Andrew Biddle, 45, of Egg Harbor Township allegedly disappeared for more than six months in 2014 after staging a sailboat crash, according to a federal indictment. Biddle pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court on Wednesday, Acting U.S. Attorney Rachael A. Honig said. Biddle admitted that he and a passenger took a boat out of Seavillage Marina in Northfield and traveled across Great Egg Harbor Inlet to a restaurant in Somers Point to have dinne…
Police & Fire
Bergen Broker Gets 18 Months In Fed Pen For 'Short Sale' Scam
A Bergen County real estate broker was sentenced to a year and a half in federal prison for his role in a $4.6 million “short-sale” scheme. Steve Young Kang, 66, of Ridgefield, and others sold properties to an accomplice, Mehdi Kassai, for substantially less than they were worth, Acting Principal Assistant U.S. Attorney and Executive Assistant U.S. Attorney Rahul Agarwal said. The conspirators used false documents, straw buyers and cosmetic property damage, while also restricting the ability of others to bid on and buy those properties, Agarwal said. Kassai then “sold many of those propert…
Police & Fire
NJ Man Admits Using Postal Workers, Students To Steal, Forge COVID Stimulus Checks
A Union County man admitted recruiting postal service employees to steal federal COVID stimulus checks and then paying high school students to help cash them, authorities said. Tashon Ragan, 21, of Hillside was among a group of thieves associated with a group called “The Members” who paid US Postal Service employees in cash to steal credit cards and blank checkbooks from the mail, Acting U.S. Attorney Rachael A. Honig said. They then “forged the signatures of the accountholders and negotiated the checks by making them payable to individuals,” Honig said. Some were New Jersey high school st…
News
Feds: Wyckoff Man Busted Using Dead Brother's Identity To Get COVID Relief Loan
A Bergen County man stole his dead brother’s identity to get a $150,000 COVID economic disaster loan, said federal authorities who arrested him Thursday. Nathanael Zimmerman, 40, of Wyckoff also orchestrated a mortgage fraud scheme among applicants for Federal Housing Administration-FHA insured loans, submitting bogus bank statements and collecting a portion of the proceeds, Acting U.S. Attorney Rachael A. Honig said. The loans defaulted and the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development lost more than $300,000, she said. Last year, Zimmerman used his deceased brother’s personal iden…
News
Fugitive Admits Swiping 94,000 Credit Card Numbers At Michaels Stores In 19 States
A fugitive who was captured in Mexico admitted his role in stealing information from 94,000 credit and debit cards used by customers at Michaels stores in 19 states, including New Jersey, New York, Connecticut and Pennsylvania. Jose “Tito” Salazar, 44, of Riverside, CA was part of a crew that replaced card-reading terminals at the arts and crafts retailer with wireless imitations that they used to capture customers' bank account numbers and PINs, Acting U.S. Attorney for New Jersey Rachael A. Honig said. They then created copycat cards that were then used to withdraw more than $500,000 from…
News
Feds: Teaneck Owner Of 70 Multi-Family Properties Admits $150M Bank Fraud Scheme
A Teaneck landlord admitted in federal court this week that he orchestrated a $150 million bank and securities fraud scheme that lasted nearly 10 years. Seth Levine, 52, told a U.S. District Court judge in Newark via teleconference that he and others pocketed cash they received by illegally refinancing 70 multi-family buildings containing nearly 2,500 apartments. Levine said he lied on refinancing applications about the rents collected, the number of apartments leased, expenses and the true owners of the complex, Acting U.S. Attorney for New Jersey Rachael A. Honig said. That wasn’t all: L…
News
Bergen Exec From Passaic County Admits $91.5 Million Bank Fraud, Questions Remain
Now that an executive of a Glen Rock property management company has admitted his role in a $91.5 million loan fraud, questions remain about an "unnamed co-conspirator." Barton Schack, 65, of Ringwood, told a federal judge in Newark this week that he helped the other participant fraudulently secure a massive commercial mortgage loan by lying about how many tenants were in a network of medical office buildings used as collateral and how much rent they’d paid, Acting U.S. Attorney Rachael A. Honig said. The pair then pocketed millions of dollars in rent from the properties -- which …
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