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FBI: High-Living Bergen Investment Broker Busted For Stealing Millions From Clients FBI: High-Living Bergen Investment Broker Busted For Stealing Millions From Clients
FBI: High-Living Bergen Investment Broker Busted For Stealing Millions From Clients FBI agents arrested a former investment advisor early Thursday at his River Edge home and charged him with gambling and pocketing nearly $3 million of clients' money. Kenneth A. Welsh, 41, victimized five clients in all while working for Wells Fargo Clearing Services in Fairfield, Acting U.S. Attorney for New Jersey Rachael A. Honig said. Welsh diverted at least $2.86 million of their money to "fund his gambling and to purchase high-end, luxury items for himself" from July 2017 through this past March 2021, Honig said. Federal agents charged Welsh with four counts of wire fraud and one of …

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by Jerry DeMarco
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FBI: Jersey City Stockbroker Scams Investors Out Of $600,000 With Bogus Ticket-Reselling Biz FBI: Jersey City Stockbroker Scams Investors Out Of $600,000 With Bogus Ticket-Reselling Biz
FBI: Jersey City Stockbroker Scams Investors Out Of $600,000 With Bogus Ticket-Reselling Biz FBI agents busted a now-former stockbroker from Jersey City who they said ran a side hustle that scammed victims out of more than $600,000 through a fictional ticket-reselling business. Michael J. Clarke, 62, lost his job once it came to light that his promises of getting discounted tickets that he could later sell at premium rates for concerts and sporting events -- as well as seat licenses to the U.S. Open -- were lies, authorities said. Clarke, who was a licensed municipal securities trader, promised victims who fronted him the money for the purported ticket brokerage that they'd get a …

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by Jerry DeMarco
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HOOP SCHEMES: Onetime Phenom, Ex-NJ Net Among 18 Charged By Feds With $4M NBA Health Care Fraud HOOP SCHEMES: Onetime Phenom, Ex-NJ Net Among 18 Charged By Feds With $4M NBA Health Care Fraud
Hoop Schemes: Onetime Phenom, Ex-NJ Net Among 18 Charged By Feds With $4M NBA Health Care Fraud Disgraced onetime phenom Sebastian Telfair and more than a dozen other NBA veterans are charged with scamming the league's health plan out of millions of dollars, federal authorities announced Thursday. Darius Miles and Glen Davis are also among the 18 defendants named in an indictment returned by a grand jury in Manhattan that alleges they filed nearly $4 million in fake medical and dental claims to the NBA’s Health and Welfare Benefit Plan for active and retired players. Former New Jersey Nets shooting guard Terrence Williams ran the scam, supplying letters that justified medical services…

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by Jerry DeMarco
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Feds: Bean Counter Admits Embezzling Hundreds Of Thousands Of Dollars From Bergen Tour Company Feds: Bean Counter Admits Embezzling Hundreds Of Thousands Of Dollars From Bergen Tour Company
Feds: Bean Counter Admits Embezzling Hundreds Of Thousands Of Dollars From Bergen Tour Company Only a week after her former manager took a guilty plea in federal court, a Lyndhurst accountant admitted Monday that she helped embezzle hundreds of thousands of dollars from the guided tour company they worked for. Ruby Baroni, 54, took a deal from the government rather than face trial – the same as Estela Laluf, 76, of River Edge, did last Monday, Acting U.S. Attorney Rachael A. Honig said. Between 2010 and 2016, the pair conspired to write checks against the East Rutherford-based company’s bank accounts to cash, Honig said. Checks were also issued to actual company employees and co…

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by Jerry DeMarco
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Feds Bust NJ YouTuber In Multi-Million-Dollar TV Pirating Ring Feds Bust NJ YouTuber In Multi-Million-Dollar TV Pirating Ring
Feds Bust NJ YouTuber In Multi-Million-Dollar TV Pirating Ring A self-proclaimed South Jersey “influencer” who live-streamed his arrest by federal authorities was charged with running one of the largest-ever illegal TV pirating rings. Bill Omar Carrasquillo – aka “Omi in a Hellcat” -- has insisted that he amassed a $30 million fortune, a stockpile of more than 50 vehicles and dozens of properties through a construction company and as a landlord. Federal authorities, however, say that Carrasquillo, 35, of the Gloucester town of Swedesboro, and partners Jesse Gonzales, 42, of Pico Rivera, CA, and Michael Barone, 36, of Queens, NY, offered subscribers all…

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by Jerry DeMarco
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Feds: Bergen Tour Company Manager, 76, Admits Embezzling Hundreds Of Thousands Of Dollars Feds: Bergen Tour Company Manager, 76, Admits Embezzling Hundreds Of Thousands Of Dollars
Feds: Bergen Tour Company Manager, 76, Admits Embezzling Hundreds Of Thousands Of Dollars A 76-year-old Bergen County guided-tour company manager told a federal judge Monday that she and a company accountant embezzled hundreds of thousands of dollars from their employer. Estela Laluf of River Edge, began working at the East Rutherford-based company in 1989 and took a management position in 1996, Acting U.S. Attorney Rachael A. Honig said. Between 2010 and 2016, she and the company accountant conspired to write checks against the company’s bank accounts to cash, as well as to various actual company employees and contractors, individuals and shell companies for work they didn't do…

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by Jerry DeMarco
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Confessed NJ ID Thief Admits Stealing $450,000 In Pandemic Unemployment Benefits From NY State Confessed NJ ID Thief Admits Stealing $450,000 In Pandemic Unemployment Benefits From NY State
Confessed NJ ID Thief Admits Stealing $450,000 In Pandemic Unemployment Benefits From NY State A Union County man admitted Monday that he stole $450,000 in pandemic unemployment insurance benefits from New York State by using other people's identities. Maurice Mills, 29, of Union Township took a deal from the government rather than face trial, pleading guilty to wire fraud during a video conference with a federal judge in Newark. Mills admitted that he submitted the bogus applications last year for the benefits, funded by the federal Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act, "using the names of other individuals," Acting U.S. Attorney Rachael A. Honig said. U.S. Di…

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by Jerry DeMarco
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Feds: Fort Lee Woman Gets 27 Months For Stealing $300,000 From ID Theft Victims Feds: Fort Lee Woman Gets 27 Months For Stealing $300,000 From ID Theft Victims
Feds: Fort Lee Woman Gets 27 Months For Stealing $300,000 From ID Theft Victims A confessed cybercriminal from Fort Lee was sentenced Monday to 27 months in federal prison for snatching nearly $300,000 from the accounts of ID theft victims, authorities said. Briana Burford was caught using Bitcoin to make the purchases through “carding” sites that traffic in stolen credit card and bank account information, Acting U.S. Attorney Rachael A. Honig said. Rather than risk trial, she took a deal from the government, pleading guilty in U.S. District Court in Newark in November 2019 to wire fraud. Federal authorities didn’t say whether the deal reached with Burford nearly two …

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by Jerry DeMarco
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Feds: PA US Golf Worker Resold US Open Tickets Worth $3.4M For Profit Feds: PA US Golf Worker Resold US Open Tickets Worth $3.4M For Profit
Feds: PA US Golf Worker Resold US Open Tickets Worth $3.4M For Profit A Pennsylvania man employed by the United States Golf Association was charged with federal fraud for reselling U.S. Open tickets worth $3.4 million for profit, authorities said. Robert Fryer, 39, of Perkasie, is accused of stealing more than 23,000 U.S. Open admission tickets for the 2013 U.S. Open held at the Merion Golf Club in Ardmore, PA, and continuing through the 2019 U.S. Open held at the Pebble Beach Golf Links in Pebble Beach, CA, according to Acting United States Attorney Jennifer Arbittier Williams. He sold those tickets to third-party ticket brokers in return for …

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by Nicole Acosta
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FEDS: India-Based Phone Scammers Admit Conning Elderly NJ Victims Out Of $600,000 FEDS: India-Based Phone Scammers Admit Conning Elderly NJ Victims Out Of $600,000
Feds: India-Based Phone Scammers Admit Conning Elderly NJ Victims Out Of $600,000 Two Indian nationals admitted Wednesday that they conned mostly elderly New Jersey victims out of $600,000 through a variety of phone scams, including posing as government officials and online support techs. Zeeshan Khan, 22, and Maaz Ahmed Shamsi, 24, operated India-based call centers that made robocalls to mostly elderly U.S. residents, Acting U.S. Attorney for New Jersey Rachael A. Honig said. Once contact was made, members of the international ring “would coerce or trick the victims into sending large sums of cash through physical shipments or wire transfers to other members of the cons…

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by Jerry DeMarco
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Former Bergen Resident From CT Admits Embezzling $540,000 From Security Firm Former Bergen Resident From CT Admits Embezzling $540,000 From Security Firm
Former Bergen Resident From CT Admits Embezzling $540,000 From Security Firm A former Bergen County resident now living in Connecticut admitted Wednesday that she embezzled $540,000 from a local company. Melissa Corso, 50, and her husband lived in Closter when she worked for a Delaware-based security systems supplier with an office in Ridgefield Park, federal authorities said. Corso, currently of Groton, CT, and co-worker Joseph Spaccavento steered customer payments owed to their former employer to a PayPal account registered to him and linked to her work email, according to an FBI complaint. The customers, in turn, sent more than $3.1 million through 1,150 transa…

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by Jerry DeMarco
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Feds: Jersey Shore Swindler Embezzled Hundreds Of Thousands From Philly Start-Up Feds: Jersey Shore Swindler Embezzled Hundreds Of Thousands From Philly Start-Up
Feds: Jersey Shore Swindler Embezzled Hundreds Of Thousands From Philly Start-Up A Jersey Shore hustler embezzled hundreds of thousands of dollars in investments from a Philadelphia-based tech startup when he was its chief operating officer, federal authorities have charged. Joseph Geromini, 54, of Linwood told investors who contributed roughly $2.25 million that he would use their money to help build the company, which developed blood testing for various diseases, an indictment returned by a federal grand jury in Camden alleges. The Atlantic County resident promised to “further develop and commercialize its products and services, for lab expenses, and to pay employee s…

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by Jerry DeMarco