Fraud

SEC Halts Fraudulent Cryptomining and Trading Scheme Washington D.C. — The Securities and Exchange Commission this week announced fraud charges against MCC International Corp. (MCC), which does business as Mining Capital Coin Corp., its founders Luiz Carlos Capuci, Jr. (aka Junior Caputti or Capuci) and Emerson Souza Pires (Pires), and two other entities controlled by Capuci, CPTLCoin Corp. (CPTLCoin) and...

A rapper who boasted in a YouTube music video about getting rich quickly by scamming a COVID relief program was sentenced today to 77 months in federal prison. Fontrell Antonio Baines, 33, a.k.a. “Nuke Bizzle,” of Memphis, Tennessee, was sentenced by United States District Judge Michael W. Fitzgerald, who also ordered him to pay $704,760 in restitution to the California...

Six Texas men were sentenced a few days ago for their roles in a conspiracy to fraudulently obtain more than $20 million in forgivable Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loans that the Small Business Administration (SBA) guaranteed under the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act. Hamza Abbas, 31, Ammas Uddin, 31, and Arham Uddin, 27, all of Richmond, were...

Los Angeles – Two downtown Los Angeles residents were arrested on a federal criminal complaint alleging they fraudulently obtained more than $300,000 – and attempted to obtain an additional $1 million – in COVID-relief loans for several companies they claimed to own and operate. Sean Schoepflin, 42, a.k.a. “Sean Fitzgerald,” and Erika Leon, 44, a.k.a. “Erika Fitzgerald,” are each charged...

A federal jury in Detroit convicted a Michigan man today for a wire fraud and money laundering scheme to obtain more than $4.1 million in Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) and the Economic Injury Disaster Loan (EIDL) loans guaranteed by the Small Business Administration (SBA) under the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act. According to court documents and evidence presented...

LOS ANGELES – A Ventura County man who schemed with an Orange County man to illegally acquire disaster relief funds was sentenced today to 51 months in federal prison for fraudulently obtaining more than $1 million in loans intended to help businesses weather the COVID-19 pandemic’s economic fallout. Manuel Asadurian, 66, of Simi Valley, was sentenced by United States District...

New Member: Hadari Oshri AN IMPORTANT NOTE: On June 22, 2021, Hadari Oshri –Marc Lubaszka’s business partner– filed a civil harassment restraining order (CHRO) against Investor News reporter Aitana Vargas to stop the publication of her investigative series “A Special Report: The Harrowing Impunity of White-Collar crime,” and any subsequent installments or future media coverage. On August 3, 2021, Vargas...

A superseding indictment was unsealed today in the Southern District of Iowa charging the former Chief Financial Officer (CFO) of publicly traded reinsurance company, IRB Brasil Resseguros SA, aka IRB Brasil RE (IRB), for fraudulently propping up its stock price by spreading false information that U.S. investment firm Berkshire Hathaway Inc. had invested in IRB. According to court documents, Fernando...

Defendant Defrauded Investors of Over $6 Million A federal jury convicted a New York man this week in connection with a scheme to defraud investors by marketing and selling fraudulent virtual currency. According to court documents and evidence presented at trial, Randall Crater, 51, of East Hampton, founded My Big Coin Pay Inc. (My Big Coin), a purported cryptocurrency and virtual...

Washington D.C. — The Securities and Exchange Commission today charged Richmond, California resident Tilila Walker Sumchai with raising approximately $11.8 million from more than 1,000 investors through a fraudulent securities offering targeting members of the Tongan American community across the United States. According to the SEC’s complaint, from approximately January 2021 through October 2021, Sumchai convinced retail investors to acquire...