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Shady Concert Venue Operator, Bar Owner Sentenced For Bribing DC Tax Official: Feds
Two men are heading to prison for their roles in separate conspiracies to evade tax obligations through bribes to a former DC Office of Tax and Revenue employee.
Andre De Moya, 51, of Temple Hills, and District resident Davoud Jafari, 72, will possibly spend years behind bars for their respective roles in multi-year schemes, federal authorities announced on Thursday.
Specifically, De Moya was sentenced to 30 months in prison, while Jafari was hit with 24 months for their roles in the schemes.
In both schemes, the bribe payments and communications were facilitated by middleman Anthony Merri…
Mastermind Of Historic $175M Psychic Mail Scam Convicted, Feds Cite More Than 1M Victims
The mastermind of a mass-mailing scam that stole $175 million from more than a million victims, most of them elderly or ailing, was convicted by a federal jury in New York City.
Patrice Runner, a 57-year-old Canadian and French citizen, directed a ruthless psychic mail scheme for over two decades, beginning in 1994, the jurors found.
It was one of the largest -- if not the largest -- scam of its kind ever, the U.S. Department of Justice said on Friday, June 16, in announcing the verdict reached a day earlier on Long Island.
Runner sent mailings to millions of Americans that claimed t…
Seemingly Benevolent President, CEO In DC Admits To Bilking Nonprofit Out Of $336K: Feds
An executive from Maryland operating out of Washington, DC, will face decades in prison after admitting to stealing hundreds of thousands of dollars from a non-profit organization, federal authorities announced.
Chevy Chase resident Graham Hauck, 50, pleaded guilty this week to stealing more than $330,000 from a nonprofit trade organization while serving as the president and CEO of a company bearing his own family’s name.
While serving as the head of Hauck & Associates in Washington, DC, Hauck agreed with the nonprofit organization to an agreement paying his company nearly $150,000 for …
Love At First Site: Ex-NJ Couple, Nigerian Wingman Charged In $4.5M Cyberfootsies Scam
A former New Jersey couple and a Nigerian national scammed more than 100 lonely hearts out of $4.5 million in an elaborate online romance scheme, federal authorities charged.
Martins Inalegwu, 34, of Philadelphia and Steincy Mathieu, 26, of Brooklyn cooked up the plot with Moses Chukwuebuka Alexander and several of his Nigerian brethren, an indictment returned by a federal grand jury alleges.
Together, they trolled online dating and social media sites for willing marks, whom they “wooed with words of love” on the phone and in emails, U.S. Attorney for New Jersey Philip R. Sellinger said.
T…
Heard But Not Seen: Nigerian National Nabbed In $250,000 Audiobooks Scheme, NJ Feds Say
A Nigerian national living in Bangladesh contracted with more than 600 voice actors to produce audiobooks of written works that he didn't hold the rights to, federal authorities in New Jersey charged.
Anyanwu Benjamin Chizitere, 30, of Enugu, Nigeria, was part of a group that collected more than $250,000 by infringing on the copyright of a Newark-based company and its authors, U.S. Attorney for New Jersey Philip R. Sellinger said.
Chizitere worked for a financial services business that provided online money transfer and digital payment services to the company, the U.S. attorney said.
He po…
Fraudster Admits To Posing As Bail Bondsman As Part Of $800K Elder Fraud Scam In Virginia
Authorities announced that a 64-year-old man has admitted to his role in an $800,000 elder fraud scam where he targeted victims in Maryland, Virginia, Delaware, and the surrounding regions.
Michael Odell Anderson, 64, of Crystal Beach, Florida, and Dun Lorring, Virginia, pleaded guilty in federal court to conspiracy to commit wire fraud, in relation to his participation in an elder fraud scam, the Department of Justice announced this week.
Between April 2020 and December 2020, officials said that Anderson conspired with others to persuade elderly victims to give them thousands of dollars u…
DC Man Sentenced For Scheming To Steal $31M In Covid-19 Funds
A 31-year-old D.C. man was sentenced to 10 years in prison for trying to steal $31 million from the government’s COVID relief programs, officials said.
Elias Eldabbagh used his company, Alias Systems, LLC, to apply for 25 phony Paycheck Protection Program loans between July 2020 and May 2021, the U.S. Attorney's Office reported.
Eldabbagh used an alias to hide his identity and steal over two million dollars, which he spread across 13 separate bank and brokerage accounts, authorities said.
He also stole from the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act, which…
