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Financial Crimes

Ex-Civil Court Officer Stole $1.5M In Role As Financial Collector, Bergen Prosecutor Says Ex-Civil Court Officer Stole $1.5M In Role As Financial Collector, Bergen Prosecutor Says
Ex-Civil Court Officer Stole $1.5M In Role As Financial Collector, Bergen Prosecutor Says A Florida man has been arrested on accusations he stole nearly $1.5 million while working as a court officer entrusted with collecting money pursuant to civil court orders, authorities in Bergen County said. Bruce Piekarsky, of Davie, FL, became the center of an investigation in September 2023, when the New Jersey Administrative Office of the Courts tipped off the Bergen County Prosecutor’s Office Financial Crimes Unit regarding allegations of misappropriation of funds, Bergen County Prosecutor Mark Musella said. Following a months-long investigation, detectives discovered that Pi…
Diamond District Operators From NJ, Long Island Busted In $673M Money Laundering Scheme: Feds Diamond District Operators From NJ, Long Island Busted In $673M Money Laundering Scheme: Feds
Diamond District Operators From NJ, Long Island Busted In $673M Money Laundering Scheme: Feds Four businessmen from New Jersey and one from Long Island laundered millions of dollars a day in cash through fronts they set up in New York City’s Diamond District, federal authorities charged. Federal agents tied the quintet to $673 million in dirty money laundered through the illicit operations over the past four years, U.S. Attorney for New Jersey Philip R. Sellinger said. In exchange, Raj Vaidya, 26; Rakesh Vaidya, 51; Shrey Vaidya, 23; and Neel Patel, 26, all of Edison; and Youssef Janfar, aka “Joe Rodeo,” 57, of Great Neck, NY collected sizable fees, he said. The three Vaidyas and P…
Thief Convicted Of Stealing Home, $110K+ From Victim Causing Her To Lose NJ Home Thief Convicted Of Stealing Home, $110K+ From Victim Causing Her To Lose NJ Home
Thief Convicted Of Stealing Home, $110K+ From Victim Causing Her To Lose NJ Home A 36-year-old Newark man has been convicted of theft and forgery that caused a woman to lose her home, authorities said. The thefts also caused the woman with a mental health condition to lose more than $110,000, according to Acting Essex County Prosecutor Theodore N. Stephens. ,After a four-day trial, the jury found  Obadiah Salters guilty on all 24 counts of theft and forgery charges, Stephens said on Friday, March 17. In December 2016, the Essex County Prosecutor’s Office Financial Crimes Unit initiated an investigation into alleged acts of forgery and theft by Salters against…
Owner Of Sports Rehab Center In Edgewater Charged With Unlicensed Practice Owner Of Sports Rehab Center In Edgewater Charged With Unlicensed Practice
Owner Of Sports Rehab Center In Edgewater Charged With Unlicensed Practice The founder and CEO of a sports rehab and medical center in Edgewater was charged with practicing physical therapy without a license, authorities said. Kim Pozharsky, 48, of North Bergen has never been licensed to practice physical therapy in the state of New Jersey, Bergen County Prosecutor Mark Musella said. The New Jersey State Board of Physical Therapy Examiners also barred Pozharsky from “holding himself out to the public as a physical therapist or participating in any aspect of the care and treatment of patients” in a prior disciplinary action, the prosecutor said. Investigating a re…
Hackensack Teacher From Oradell Charged With Pocketing $300,000 In Ponzi Scheme Hackensack Teacher From Oradell Charged With Pocketing $300,000 In Ponzi Scheme
Hackensack Teacher From Oradell Charged With Pocketing $300,000 In Ponzi Scheme A Hackensack schoolteacher from Oradell ran a Ponzi scheme that fleeced investors of $300,000 that she used for herself, authorities announced Monday. Suzette Hart, 54, “solicited multiple investors for various high-yield, well-known investment opportunities knowing that the investments were fraudulent” over a five-year period, Bergen County Prosecutor Mark Musella said. Hart, who most recently taught at Hackensack’s Fairmount School, then “disbursed money from one investor to other investors, which reinforced the deception that the investor’s money had been properly invested and was produc…
Bergen Pair Charged With Laundering $5.7 Million Bergen Pair Charged With Laundering $5.7 Million
Bergen Pair Charged With Laundering $5.7 Million The owners of several businesses in Leonia and Palisades Park laundered $5.7 million to avoid paying taxes on it, said authorities who busted them. Guatemalan nationals Juan Quevedo-Garcia, 40, and Magda Quevedo-Garcia, 35, were booked into the Bergen County Jail on Thursday and ordered released by a judge hours later, records show. Both are scheduled for first appearances Monday in Central Judicial Processing Court in Hackensack. Juan Quevedo-Garcia, of Fairview, owns commercial framing and excavation businesses in Palisades Park, while Magda Quevedo-Garcia, of Palisades Park, owns and op…
Prosecutor: Paterson Board Of Health Worker Pocketed $75,000 In Public Fees Prosecutor: Paterson Board Of Health Worker Pocketed $75,000 In Public Fees
Prosecutor: Paterson Board Of Health Worker Pocketed $75,000 In Public Fees A Paterson Board of Health employee pocketed more than $75,000 in fees paid by the public for copies of birth certificates and other documents, authorities charged. Paris D. Washington, 46, has an Oct. 25 first appearance on theft charges scheduled in Central Judicial Processing Court in Paterson, Passaic County Prosecutor Camelia Valdes said. City authorities referred the case to her office, said Valdes, whose Financial Crimes Unit investigated. Washington deposited the stolen money into her bank account over nearly five years before being caught, the prosecutor said. She remains free p…
Fair Lawn Businessman Charged With Pocketing $250G From Investor Fair Lawn Businessman Charged With Pocketing $250G From Investor
Fair Lawn Businessman Charged With Pocketing $250G From Investor A self-employed Fair Lawn contractor embezzled $250,000 from an investor, authorities charged. Wilfried Werner, 56, who also works in real estate, received the money as a property investment but used it for himself instead, Bergen County Prosecutor Mark Musella said. Members of Musella’s Financial Crimes Unit arrested him in Fair Lawn on Tuesday, the prosecutor said. Werner, previously of Wyckoff, was charged with theft by deception and released pending an Aug. 7 a first appearance in Central Judicial Processing Court in Hackensack, the prosecutor said. Records show several judgments agai…
Authorities: Hackensack Stock Clerk Who Filed Scam Complaint Was Posing As Someone Else Authorities: Hackensack Stock Clerk Who Filed Scam Complaint Was Posing As Someone Else
Authorities: Hackensack Stock Clerk Who Filed Scam Complaint Was Posing As Someone Else A supermarket stock clerk from Hackensack presented a bogus ID stolen from a Florida resident when she filed a complaint with city police claiming she’d been scammed by someone else, said authorities who arrested her. Jayne D. Garrido-Contreras, 55, had been using the fake non-driver ID obtained from the New Jersey Motor Vehicle Commission (MVC) since November 2011, Bergen County Prosecutor Mark Musella said. She then got another in her own name in November, he said. Using the bogus ID and a fake Social Security card, Garrido-Contreras opened three bank accounts -- and in January filed the…
Passaic Prosecutor: Accused Con Artist Busted In $6,200 ‘Grandson In Trouble’ Phone Scam Passaic Prosecutor: Accused Con Artist Busted In $6,200 ‘Grandson In Trouble’ Phone Scam
Passaic Prosecutor: Accused Con Artist Busted In $6,200 ‘Grandson In Trouble’ Phone Scam A South Jersey woman was part of a group of thieves who conned an innocent victim out of $6,200 through the “grandson in trouble” phone scam, authorities charged. Greisy Breton, 40, of Cherry Hill had the money wired into an account she controlled at a Paterson bank after the elderly victim in Texas was told it was needed to bail a relative out of jail, Passaic County Prosecutor Camelia M. Valdes said Monday. Members of the prosecutor’s Financial Crimes Unit arrested Breton, who was released on theft charges pending a June 12 first appearance in Central Judicial Processing Court in Paterson…
Prosecutor: Manager From South Hackensack Embezzled $150,000 From Fair Lawn Pediatric Office Prosecutor: Manager From South Hackensack Embezzled $150,000 From Fair Lawn Pediatric Office
Prosecutor: Manager From South Hackensack Embezzled $150,000 From Fair Lawn Pediatric Office The former office manager for a Fair Lawn pediatric practice swiped $150,000 from his employer’s bank and Amazon accounts to pay his own bills and buy himself things, authorities said. Nicholas Caruso, 49, of South Hackensack, "gained access to his employer’s business checking account and used online banking and bill pay services to pay his own personal expenses,” Acting Bergen County Prosecutor Dennis Calo said. “Those expenses included credit card and vehicle finance charges. “Caruso also established an Amazon account in his employer’s name, which was attached to the business checkin…
Prosecutor: Woodcliff Lake Court-Appointed Guardian Pocketed $50,000 From Incapacitated Wade Prosecutor: Woodcliff Lake Court-Appointed Guardian Pocketed $50,000 From Incapacitated Wade
Prosecutor: Woodcliff Lake Court-Appointed Guardian Pocketed $50,000 From Incapacitated Wade A construction foreman from Woodcliff Lake serving as a court-appointed guardian pocketed $50,000 from his incapacitated ward and a second victim, said authorities who arrested him. Over the past 4½ years, Darren Pavesi “used his ward’s financial assets for his own benefit, misappropriating funds to make unauthorized payments to himself and to pay his own personal expenses,” Acting Bergen County Prosecutor Dennis Calo said Friday. Pavesi, 55, of Prospect Avenue, was charged with two counts of theft following an investigation by Calo’s Financial Crimes Unit, the prosecutor said. He was rele…
Dumont Tax Preparer Fleeced Family Of $200,000, Authorities Charge Dumont Tax Preparer Fleeced Family Of $200,000, Authorities Charge
Dumont Tax Preparer Fleeced Family Of $200,000, Authorities Charge DUMONT, N.J. – A tax preparer from Dumont swindled a family out of $200,000, said authorities who arrested him Tuesday. Stephen Adler, 75, “misappropriated the victims’ money for his own personal use," Acting Bergen County Prosecutor Dennis Calo said. Calo said members of his Financial Crimes Unit last June “received a complaint from a family who had lost approximately $200,000 in what they believed to be an investment scheme operated by their tax preparer.” Between 2014 and 2015, he said, Adler “persuaded them to invest in what he described as a secure investment vehicle [that] would…