Fraud

Two brothers, each a dual-citizen of Panama and Italy, were each sentenced to 36 months in prison for laundering $28 million in a bribery and money laundering scheme involving Odebrecht S.A. (Odebrecht), a Brazil-based global construction conglomerate. The defendants were also ordered to forfeit more than $18.8 million, pay a $250,000 fine and serve two years’ supervised release. Luis Enrique...

SEC Charges Allianz Global Investors and Three Former Senior Portfolio Managers with Multibillion Dollar Securities Fraud Washington D.C. — The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) this week charged Allianz Global Investors U.S. LLC (AGI US) and three former senior portfolio managers with a massive fraudulent scheme that concealed the immense downside risks of a complex options trading strategy they called...

Los Angeles County District Attorney George Gascón announced that his office today charged a Tujunga doctor for issuing fake COVID vaccination cards and injecting some of his patients with blood plasma he received from donors. “It is disturbing that people, especially medical professionals, continue to use the pandemic as an opportunity to deceive the public,” District Attorney Gascón said. “Fake...

Defendants, including persons barred from the brokerage industry, allegedly sold shares they didn’t own, and pocketed more than $75 million Washington D.C. — The Securities and Exchange Commission announced this week that it obtained asset freezes and other emergency relief against StraightPath Venture Partners LLC, StraightPath Management LLC, Brian K. Martinsen, Michael A. Castillero, Francine A. Lanaia, and Eric D....

A federal jury convicted a Florida woman Friday for laundering approximately $786,000 in money stolen from Medicare, Medicaid, and private health insurers as part of a sprawling health care fraud scheme in Miami. According to court documents and evidence presented at trial, Jesmina Ramirez, 50, of Miami Gardens, laundered hundreds of thousands of dollars in fraud proceeds by cashing checks...

Two Florida men were sentenced Friday for leading a nationwide scheme to defraud the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) for millions of dollars in loans guaranteed by the Small Business Administration (SBA) under the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act. The U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Ohio sentenced Phillip J. Augustin, 53, of Coral Springs, to...

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...

Multiple Archegos Executives Charged with Misleading Counterparties Washington D.C. — The Securities and Exchange Commission has charged Sung Kook (Bill) Hwang, the owner of family office Archegos Capital Management, LP (Archegos), with orchestrating a fraudulent scheme that resulted in billions of dollars in losses. The SEC also charged Archegos’s Chief Financial Officer, Patrick Halligan; head trader, William Tomita; and Chief...

Defendants allegedly used funds from deceased beneficiaries’ accounts on golf tournaments and beach parties Washington D.C., May 2, 2022 — The Securities and Exchange Commission today announced fraud charges against Synergy Settlement Services, Inc., CEO Jason D. Lazarus, Esq., both based in Orlando, FL, and President Anthony F. Prieto, Jr. of Tampa, FL, for allegedly defrauding individuals with disabilities into...

A former Mississippi pharmacist was sentenced this week to 10 years in the Southern District of Mississippi for a multimillion-dollar scheme to defraud TRICARE and private insurance companies by paying kickbacks to distributors for the referral of medically unnecessary prescriptions. The conduct resulted in more than $180 million in fraudulent billings, including more than $50 million paid by federal...