Fraud

A federal jury convicted a California man for submitting fraudulent applications seeking money from the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP), submitting false statements to a financial institution, and money laundering. According to court documents and evidence presented at trial, Robert Benlevi, 53, of Encino, submitted 27 PPP loan applications to four banks between April and June 2020 on behalf of eight...

AN IMPORTANT NOTE: On June 22, 2021, Hadari Oshri –Marc Lubaszka’s business partner– filed a frivolous 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 filed an...

An Oklahoma woman pleaded guilty in the Western District of New York for a scheme to defraud the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) of over $43.8 million in COVID-19 relief loans guaranteed by the Small Business Administration (SBA) under the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act. According to court documents, Amanda J. Gloria, 45, of Altus, admitted that she...

The Securities and Exchange Commission has charged Melville ten Cate, a U.S. citizen residing abroad, with fraud stemming from his allegedly phony offer to purchase Textron – a large U.S.-listed aircraft, defense, and industrial company. The SEC’s complaint, filed in federal district court in Manhattan, alleges that on November 9, 2020, ten Cate and Xcalibur Aerospace, Ltd., a now-defunct private...

A former coal company executive was arrested today on charges of violating the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA), laundering funds, and receiving kickbacks as part of an alleged scheme to pay bribes to government officials in Egypt in connection with contracts with an Egyptian state-owned and state-controlled company, Al Nasr Company for Coke and Chemicals (Al Nasr). The seven-count indictment...

SEC Charges Seven California Residents in Insider Trading Ring Washington D.C. — The Securities and Exchange Commission has announced insider trading charges against three software engineers employed at Twilio, Inc., a San Francisco-based cloud computing communications company, and four family members and friends for allegedly generating more than $1 million in collective profits by insider trading ahead of the company’s...

Washington D.C. — On March 29, 2022 at 7 p.m. ET the Securities and Exchange Commission’s New York Regional Office, in coordination with Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority Inc., Tau Omega Chapter, will celebrate women’s history month with a free investor education panel discussion about staying safe from financial fraud. The panel will feature four women from the SEC’s New York...

The FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) has released its annual report. The 2021 Internet Crime Report (pdf) includes information from 847,376 complaints of suspected internet crime—a 7% increase from 2020—and reported losses exceeding $6.9 billion. State-specific statistics have also been released and can be found within the 2021 Internet Crime Report and in the accompanying 2021 State Reports. The top three cyber crimes reported by...

Online dating can be a great way to find lasting love – or even your next fling. But reports to the FTC suggest it also creates opportunities for scammers. In the past five years, people have reported losing a staggering $1.3 billion to romance scams, more than any other FTC fraud category. The numbers have skyrocketed in recent years,...

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...