"Investing" by 401(K) 2013 is marked with CC BY-SA 2.0.
Harmed Investors to Receive Amounts Recovered
Washington D.C., — The Securities and Exchange Commission today announced that registered investment adviser City National Rochdale, LLC (CNR) has agreed to pay more than $30 million to settle charges that its undisclosed conflicts of interest defrauded current and prospective clients. The money CNR pays will be placed into an SEC Fair Fund for distribution to harmed investors.
According to the SEC’s Order, from at least 2016 through 2019, CNR, which has discretionary authority over client accounts, failed to inform its clients of its practice of investing their assets in proprietary mutual funds that generate fees for CNR and its affiliates, rather than in competitor funds whose fees may be lower. Additionally, the SEC’s Order finds that from at least 2016 until 2019, CNR failed to inform some prospective clients that they could invest in CNR’s proprietary funds at lower cost. Clients who opened accounts with certain CNR affiliates did not pay annual marketing or distribution fees, known as 12b-1 fees, but most clients who invested with CNR through their own financial advisors did.
“CNR’s failures to disclose its conflicts of interest deprived clients of their ability to make informed investment decisions while generating fees for the adviser and its affiliates,” said Melissa Hodgman, Associate Director of the SEC Enforcement Division. “When investors entrust their hard-earned money with an adviser, it is crucial they receive full and fair disclosures to allow them to understand and reject any conflicts of interest, and if the adviser does not abide by these rules, then the SEC will hold them accountable so we can return that money to investors.”
The SEC’s Order finds that CNR violated Sections 206(2) and 206(4) of the Investment Advisers Act of 1940 and Rule 206(4)-7 thereunder. Without admitting or denying the SEC’s findings, CNR agreed to cease and desist from committing or causing any future violations of these provisions; be censured; provide notice of the settlement to affected advisory clients; retain an independent compliance consultant; and pay disgorgement, prejudgment interest, and a civil penalty totaling $30,361,803 that will be distributed to investors through a Fair Fund.
The SEC’s investigation was conducted by Elisabeth M. Grimm and supervised by Rami Sibay.
"MTA Deploys PPE Vending Machines Across Subway System" by MTAPhotos is marked with CC BY 2.0.
District Attorney George Gascón released two public service announcements today warning people to beware of scams based on the increased demand for COVID-19 testing.
“The best way to protect consumers is with knowledge. My goal is to give consumers the information they need to avoid becoming victims,” said District Attorney Gascón. “These crimes are particularly egregious because fake COVID-19 tests and testing sites put everyone’s health at risk.”
District Attorney Gascón warned that fake and unauthorized at-home COVID-19 test kits are being sold online. These kits produce false results that may have adverse consequences for not just the people who use them but also for their family members, friends and communities.
He suggested taking the following steps to avoid becoming a victim of this crime:
Visit FDA.gov for a list of approved test kits.
Buy test kits with a credit card so you may dispute a fraudulent charge.
Do a web search on the company selling the kit using words such as “scam.”
District Attorney Gascón also warned residents about fake COVID-19 testing sites, which may look very real. They are set up to steal personal identifying information or money from consumers without ever providing test results.
For consumer safety, he advised:
Never give your Social Security or passport number to get a COVID-19 test. It’s not required.
Use testing sites listed on a health department website or get a referral from a trusted source.
"Money Roll - $100 Dollar Bills" by 401(K) 2013 is marked with CC BY-SA 2.0.
United States Attorney Leonard C Boyle, Inspector in Charge Ketty Larco-Ward of the U.S. Postal Inspection Service’s Boston Division, and J. Russell George, the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration, announced that a federal jury in Bridgeport has found three men guilty of offenses related to their participation in lottery and romance scams that defrauded primarily elderly victims across the country of millions of dollars.
Yesterday, after a week-long trial before U.S. District Judge Stefan R. Underhill, FAROUQ FASASI, 27, RODNEY THOMAS, JR., 31, and RALPH PIERRE, 32, all formerly of New Haven, were convicted of conspiracy, fraud and money laundering offenses.
According to the evidence presented during the trial, in a lottery scam, scammers notify victims by telephone, through online communications, or by mail, that they have won the lottery. The victims are then told that in order to collect the prize they must pay fees for things like taxes, shipping and processing. Often, once a victim sends a small amount of money, a scammer will ask for larger sums of money with a promise of more winnings. The victims never receive winnings. In a romance scam, scammers take advantage of people looking for companionship by pretending to be prospective companions. Scammers typically create fake online profiles on dating websites that include false personal details such as the death of a spouse, or military service, to lure victims to trust them. Once they have gained the trust of victims, scammers will ask victims for money, falsely claiming to need money for medical or business emergencies, for travel to see the victim, or other purposes.
Between approximately August 2015 and March 2020, Fasasi, Thomas and others used lottery scams, romance scams and other fraudulent means to induce elderly victims to provide them with money, gifts and personal details. Victims sent cash, money orders or checks through the mail to various addresses in Connecticut, and also wired or deposited money into bank accounts in Connecticut controlled by conspiracy members and their associates.
Fasasi, Thomas, Pierre and other co-conspirators lived together for a time at a residence on Sherman Avenue in New Haven, where many packages containing cash, checks and money orders from victims were delivered. To help launder the money obtained from fraud victims, Pierre formed a fake charity, called “Global Protection Foundation,” and opened four bank accounts in the fake charity’s name.
The investigation revealed that these scams defrauded more than 200 victims across the U.S. of more than $5 million. Many of the victims were elderly and vulnerable, and some victims lost their life savings. One Connecticut victim lost more than $1 million.
The jury found Fasasi and Thomas guilty of one count of conspiracy to commit mail and wire fraud, one count of conspiracy to commit money laundering, and one count of mail fraud. Fasasi was also found guilty of three counts of money laundering. Pierre was found guilty of one count of conspiracy to commit money laundering and one count of money laundering. Judge Underhill scheduled sentencing for May 10.
Three other individuals have been charged and convicted of offenses stemming from their participation in this scheme.
“The Justice Department is committed to rooting out and prosecuting those who steal from seniors and other vulnerable victims,” said U.S. Attorney Boyle. “These verdicts will help to heal the many individuals who gave thousands of dollars to these predators. I encourage all to resist falling victim to these schemes and not send any money to anyone you haven’t met in person. Instead, call your local police department, or 833-FRAUD-11, for assistance and to report these crimes.”
“The verdicts exemplify the U.S. Postal Inspection Service’s dedication to protecting those who have been victimized by scams that utilize the U. S. Mail to perpetuate fraud,” said Ketty Larco-Ward, Inspector in Charge of the U.S. Postal Inspection Service, Boston Division. “The financial loss suffered by some of our most vulnerable population is devastating, often unrecoverable. The teamwork exhibited between multiple federal law enforcement agencies ensured the success of this investigation.”
The Justice Department has established a National Elder Fraud Hotline to provide services to seniors who may be victims of financial fraud. The Hotline is staffed by experienced case managers who can provide personalized support to callers. Case managers assist callers with reporting the suspected fraud to relevant agencies and by providing resources and referrals to other appropriate services as needed. When applicable, case managers will complete a complaint form with the Federal Bureau of Investigation Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) for Internet-facilitated crimes and submit a consumer complaint to the Federal Trade Commission on behalf of the caller. The Hotline’s toll free number is 833-FRAUD-11 (833-372-8311). For more information, please visit: https://ovc.ojp.gov/program/stop-elder-fraud/providing-help-restoring-hope.
This matter is being investigated by the U.S. Postal Inspection Service, Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration (TIGTA), U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), U.S. Secret Service, U.S. Army-CID, and New Haven Police Department. The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Heather L. Cherry and Stephanie T. Levick.
The new website will feature the latest in the agency’s work combating illicit use of digital assets as well as provide public awareness information on digital asset security and how to ensure it remains secure.
“Blockchain technology has brought massive development to many sectors, especially within finance. The Secret Service’s mission of investigating financial crimes has advanced in lock-step with this progress,” said U.S. Secret Service Office of Investigations Assistant Director Jeremy Sheridan. “Our obligation to enforce crimes against the nation’s financial systems includes both informing the public on how digital assets work and partnering with them to identify, arrest, and prosecute those engaging in crimes involving digital assets. The Secret Service will continue to expand its capabilities, collaboration, and effectiveness related to all financial crimes investigations.”
The U.S. Secret Service has been protecting the national financial infrastructure since its creation in 1865 and remains the foremost experts uniquely positioned to safeguard our nation’s economy and continue to play a role in our collective global security.
Digital money enables transnational cybercrime, including ransomware, as it provides a ready means for transnational criminals to convert to and from fiat currencies as well as transfer and launder proceeds of cyber-enabled crimes. Cyber criminals have additionally developed substantial networks of money mules and various digital money laundering services, such as over-the-counter brokers or exchange services and other unlicensed money services, to launder illicitly obtained funds. The Secret Service addresses this risk, in close partnership with the U.S. Department of the Treasury, to further investigations and directly address the financial motive of cybercrime through asset seizures and other actions.
Investments and transactions using cryptocurrencies and digital assets are not inherently criminal, however do provide new opportunities for those seeking to commit fraud or otherwise conceal further illegal activities. As digital and cryptocurrencies continue to become more popular forms of payments, the Secret Service must also remain at the forefront of both educating the public and combating financial fraud.
Defendant Cashed Her Deceased Grandmother’s Pension Checks
A federal jury convicted an Illinois woman on fraud and tax offenses for cashing her deceased grandmother’s pension checks and preparing false tax returns.
According to court documents and evidence presented at trial, Eunice Salley, aka Eunice Sally Dobyns, aka Oya Awanata-Bey, aka Oya Awanata, 37, of Chicago, was found guilty on all 29 counts against her, including pension fraud, embezzlement, mail fraud and tax charges. The jury returned the verdicts Friday after a four-day trial in U.S. District Court in Chicago.
According to evidence presented at trial, Salley worked as a paid tax return preparer. In 2016 and 2017, Salley prepared and filed with the IRS 22 false individual income tax returns on behalf of clients. The returns, which sought more than $1 million in false refunds, contained fictitious wages and withholdings, as well as false medical, charitable and employment related expenses. Salley demanded that many of her clients pay her up to 50% of the refund, in addition to her regular preparation fee.
Evidence regarding the pension fraud revealed that Salley’s grandmother died in 2009 after having worked for American Can Co. After her death, the grandmother’s monthly pension checks continued to be delivered to the residence where Salley continued to reside. From January 2013 to December 2017, 33 pension checks, totaling $14,131, were issued to the grandmother and deposited into one of six bank accounts opened and controlled by Salley. On several occasions during that time Salley notarized and submitted to the pension plan administrator affidavits under her grandmother’s name, fraudulently affirming that the grandmother was alive. Salley did not report approximately $5,000 in income she received in 2017 from the pension checks that she embezzled.
Salley is scheduled to be sentenced on July 21 and faces a maximum penalty of 30 years in prison for mail fraud, five years in prison for each count of theft from an employee benefit plan, three years for each count of aiding and assisting the filing of a false tax return, and three years in prison for filing a false tax return. She also faces a period of supervised release, restitution and monetary penalties. A federal district court judge will determine any sentence after considering the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.
Acting Deputy Assistant Attorney General Stuart M. Goldberg of the Justice Department’s Tax Division; U.S. Attorney John R. Lausch Jr. for the Northern District of Illinois; Special Agent-in-Charge Justin Campbell of IRS Criminal Investigation (IRS-CI) in Chicago; and Special Agent-in-Charge Emmerson Buie Jr. of the Chicago Field Office of the FBI made the announcement.
The IRS-CI and FBI investigated the case.
Assistant Chief Andrew Kameros of the Tax Division and Assistant U.S. Attorney Barry Jonas for the Northern District of Illinois are prosecuting the case.
SCRANTON – The United States Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of Pennsylvania announced today that Vicki Hackenberg, age 57, of Bloomsburg, Pennsylvania, was sentenced by United States Chief District Judge Matthew W. Brann, to 12 months of imprisonment for perpetrating a bank fraud and money laundering scheme that included nearly $300,000 in COVID-19 relief guaranteed by the Small Business Administration through the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP).
The PPP is designed to help small businesses facing financial difficulties during the COVID-19 pandemic. Funded by the March 2020 CARES Act, PPP funds are offered in forgivable loans, provided that certain criteria are met, including use of the funds for employee payroll, mortgage interest, lease, and utilities expenses.
According to United States Attorney John C. Gurganus, Hackenberg pleaded guilty to a money laundering conspiracy involving her codefendant, Darryl Corradini, and others. The conspirators created a shell corporation, CGM Realty LLC, and opened bank accounts and a Bitcoin trading account in the corporation’s name, by using false and forged documents. The conspirators allegedly used the accounts to receive over $135,000 in fraudulently obtained funds, and over $296,000 from a PPP loan that was obtained with false and forged documentation. That documentation included false information and certifications about CGM Realty LLC’s employee payroll obligations, and intention to use the funds for approved purposes, when in fact CGM Realty LLC had no employees or legitimate business operations. Forged IRS documentation also was included with the PPP application, containing false information about CGM Realty LLC’s nonexistent payroll obligations. Over $350,000 was then used to purchase Bitcoins, a type of cryptocurrency.
During sentencing, Chief Judge Brann highlighted Hackenberg’s prior state conviction for a similar fraud offense, noting that she was on probation at the time she committed the instant offense. In addition to the Hackenberg’s sentence of imprisonment, Chief Judge Brann also ordered her to pay $431,289 to the victims of her crimes. Hackenberg’s codefendant, Darryl Corradini, also pleaded guilty to a money laundering conspiracy and awaits sentencing.
The case was investigated by agents with the Internal Revenue Service’s Criminal Investigations Division. Assistant U.S. Attorney Phillip J. Caraballo prosecuted the case.
On May 17, 2021, the Attorney General established the COVID-19 Fraud Enforcement Task Force to marshal the resources of the Department of Justice in partnership with agencies across government to enhance efforts to combat and prevent pandemic-related fraud. The Task Force bolsters efforts to investigate and prosecute the most culpable domestic and international criminal actors and assists agencies tasked with administering relief programs to prevent fraud by, among other methods, augmenting and incorporating existing coordination mechanisms, identifying resources and techniques to uncover fraudulent actors and their schemes, and sharing and harnessing information and insights gained from prior enforcement efforts. For more information on the Department’s response to the pandemic, please visit https://www.justice.gov/coronavirus.
Anyone with information about allegations of attempted fraud involving COVID-19 can report it by calling the Department of Justice’s National Center for Disaster Fraud (NCDF) Hotline at 866-720-5721 or via the NCDF Web Complaint Form at: https://www.justice.gov/disaster-fraud/ncdf-disaster-complaint-form.
AN IMPORTANT NOTE: On June 22, 2021, Hadari Oshri –Marc Lubaszka’s business partner– filed a frivolous civil harassment restraining order (CHRO) against me to stop the publication of my investigative series “A Special Report: The Harrowing Impunity of White-Collar crime,” and any subsequent installments or future media coverage. On August 3, 2021, I filed an anti-SLAPP motion to strike Oshri’s CHRO petition. In a hearing held on September 13, 2021, Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Doreen Boxer granted my anti-SLAPP motion and denied Oshri’s civil harassment petition for failure to sustain the applicable burden of proof. Oshri will now have to pay my attorney’s fees for filing a frivolous case. She also declined to go on a recorded interview or provide statements via email. And what follows are the next installments of my months-long investigative series whose publication Oshri desperately attempted yet failed to stop.
Los Angeles, CA – In 2021, Hadari Oshri published several articles and gave interviews on digital media outlets portraying herself as an expert on global supply chain and PPE. By voluntarily thrusting herself in the public domain –as she has been doing for years now–, the 40-year-old Israeli entrepreneur has exposed herself and her statements to criticism and scrutiny by buyers, consumers, readers, journalists and the public at large.
Both Oshri’s articles and the interviews she allegedly gave during the COVID-19 pandemic show that she clearly understood the importance of PPE, which was designated as “scarce material” by President Donald Trump.
What follows is a collection of statements on PPE made by Oshri that contradict the testimonies provided by Alaa Hattab, CEO of Canada-based Saniton Corporation, and Bill Underwood, Counsel for former Texan energy executive Arael Doolittle. The latter pleaded guilty to PPE wire fraud in 2021 and was sentenced to 54 months in federal prison in February 2022.
A long-form one-on-one interview with Oshri published in 2021 on The Inscriber Magazine, her website and her Medium account states:
“When the pandemic hit, she (Oshri) saw an opportunity to sell PPE.”
The article, written by Oshri’s ghost writer (Ryan Foland), underscores that Oshri “has pivoted to helping hospitals and other organizations source much-needed medical supplies and PPE from suppliers around the world” and that:
“Using her existing global connections in trade, she is taking advantage of the global demand for PPE goods. For the time being, this market segment is booming, and Hadari knows it. When the pandemic settles, you can bet Hadari will be looking to pivot again, to an industry with even more growth.”
In a long-form article that appeared in 2021 on Disrupt Global, Oshri’s website and her Medium account, she states:
“Over the last year, in a world impacted by a global pandemic, I have seen buyers circumventing their brokers. I have heard clearly that sellers are not being 100% loyal to their brokers… I have seen people present sellers that are not sellers. Examples of this and other problems are common in the many PPE deals during the pandemic that blew up and never closed.”
Additionally, Oshri says:
“A new industry like PPE is growing due to a global demand to fight COVID-19, and as a result, it is constantly growing. These products are in such demand that goods are traveling by water, ground, and air. With the rapid expansion of so many people trying to get involved in the PPE space, the more chances there have been for unscrupulous players and scammers to try to take advantage of others. Unfortunately, I know about others who have been scammed because they didn’t fully understand how trading works. I will continue to mature, and so will the industry. The thing to remember about growth is that it also comes with growing pains. So buyer, broker, and seller beware.”
“In my experience with finding and funding international deals from fast-fashion inventory to millions of PPE products, I can tell you that the myriad of moving parts can make deals fall apart.”
In 2022, Oshri continues to spread misinformation about her PPE experience and alleged business deals by promoting her content on herMedium account.
Ryan Foland, Hadari Oshri’s ghost writer, blocked me on Twitter in response to my requests for comment.
Oshri’s ghost writer, author and public speaker Ryan Foland, blocked me on Twitter in response to my media requests for comment. Court documents also show that Foland referred to Oshri’s victims –former workers and contractors complaining about her business practices– as “trolls” in text exchanges between them.
The speaker went from having over 2K followers on Twitter to nearly 338K in an eye blink.
**If you’d like to share your testimony or story, please contact the reporter at Aitana_investigations@protonmail.com or connect with her on Facebook. All emails are checked for legitimacy, spam and viruses and deleted when suspicious malware is detected.
Have you been SLAPPED? Contact the newsroom at info@investornews.io and share your story with us.
Washington D.C., Feb. 22, 2022 — The Securities and Exchange Commission today announced settled charges and an $18 million penalty against Baxter International Inc. for engaging in improper intra-company foreign exchange transactions that resulted in the misstatement of the company’s net income. The SEC also announced settled charges against Baxter’s former treasurer and assistant treasurer, Scott Bohaboy and Jeffrey Schaible, respectively, for their misconduct related to these transactions.
The SEC’s order against Baxter finds that the company violated the negligence-based anti-fraud, reporting, books and records, and internal accounting controls provisions of the federal securities laws. From at least 1995 to 2019, Baxter used a convention to convert non-U.S. dollar denominated transactions and assets and liabilities on its financial statements that was not in accordance with U.S. GAAP or generally accepted accounting principles. Beginning in at least 2009, Baxter exploited the convention to enter into intra-company foreign exchange transactions for the sole purpose of generating foreign exchange accounting gains or avoiding foreign exchange accounting losses.
“It is critical that companies that identify wrongdoing proactively come forward and cooperate with the SEC staff,” said Paul Montoya, Associate Regional Director of the SEC’s Chicago Office. “Baxter’s self-reporting and substantial cooperation in working with the staff in this complex investigation was an important consideration in assessing the appropriate sanctions for this case.”
The SEC’s orders against Bohaboy and Schaible find that they violated the negligence-based anti-fraud provisions of the federal securities laws and caused Baxter’s reporting and books and records violations. According to the order against Schaible he, along with others working at his direction, was primarily responsible for executing the transactions. The SEC’s order against Bohaboy finds that he did not take any steps to investigate how Baxter’s treasury department generated consistent gains or whether the transactions that generated the gains were permissible.
Without admitting or denying the SEC’s findings, Baxter, Bohaboy, and Schaible consented to cease and desist from future violations. Bohaboy consented to pay a $125,000 civil penalty. Schaible consented to pay a $100,000 civil penalty, disgorgement of $76,404 and prejudgment interest of $12,955. The settlement creates a fair fund for distribution of settlement proceeds to harmed investors.
The SEC’s investigation was conducted by Jen Peltz, Emily Rothblatt, Scott Hlavacek, Wilburn Saylor, Ann Tushaus, and Ariella Guardi, and was supervised by Jeffrey Shank and Paul Montoya.
A Special Report: The Harrowing Impunity of White-Collar Crime (Part IV)
The attempted sales are also allegedly linked to conman Marc Lubaszka’s private jet company, Fly Private X, and convicted fraudster Arael Doolittle
AN IMPORTANT NOTE:On June 22, 2021, Hadari Oshri –Marc Lubaszka’s business partner– filed a frivolous civil harassment restraining order (CHRO) against me to stop the publication of my investigative series “A Special Report: The Harrowing Impunity of White-Collar crime,” and any subsequent installments or future media coverage. On August 3, 2021, I filed an anti-SLAPP motion to strike Oshri’s CHRO petition. In a hearing held on September 13, 2021, Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Doreen Boxer granted my anti-SLAPP motion and denied Oshri’s civil harassment petition for failure to sustain the applicable burden of proof. Oshri will now have to pay my attorney’s fees for filing a frivolous case. She also declined to go on a recorded interview or provide statements via email. And what follows are the next installments of my months-long investigative series whose publication Oshri desperately attempted yet failed to stop.
Screenshot of the Fly Private X online catalogue (publicly available).
Los Angeles, CA – As rapper Dylan Raw took on management roles at both Buy Gold Brightly and Fly Private X, and Marc Lubaszka’s imaginary assistant –Krista Collinsworth– stayed busy recruiting personnel for a private jet company with no jets, around 2020, the runaway broker welcomed a new entrepreneur to his team: Hadari Oshri, a 40-year-old from Israel with a wake of business casualties marching her path, including her many unpaid fashion fairies and ex-contractors from her signature yet defunct pet project: Xehar.
Screenshot from Open Corporates showing Xehar, Inc. was registered at El Segundo, CA. The company went under around the Fall of 2018.
Initially, the Lubaszka-Oshri axis may have seemed like the perfect business marriage. With his reputation tarnished by his previous gold scam, Lubaszka would be the brains of the new partnership and remain in the background. Meanwhile, Oshri –with her mini-skirts, oversized shades and guffawed laugh– would be the front person in charge of closing face-to-face deals with investors and clients. Despite their demonstrated history of defunct businesses, they must have thought that, together, they could rise above their many failures to build an empire from scratch, create a new army of fictional business characters and put their audacity and talent to work. All towards their ultimate goal: To make hundreds of millions of dollars by trying to sell PPE and private jets –or “jests,” as Oshri baptized them in court documents.
Indeed, their partnership seemed to be as timely as convenient. As COVID-19 ravaged countries and left a trail of desolation and deaths worldwide, some last-minute entrepreneurs were already capitalizing on other people’s desperation and suffering by promising to supply and ship by a certain date medical equipment they didn’t possess. And Lubaszka and Oshri needed to act quickly if they didn’t want to miss out on this rare opportunity.
“She wants to get on the bandwagon of whatever she thinks is selling,” says curvy model Cheyenne Lee, who worked for Oshri’s Xehar fashion fairy company until it came crashing down in the Fall of 2018. “I can already hear her voice in my head like ‘Oh my God! We are gonna make so much money! The pandemic is the greatest thing that ever happened, we are about to be rich!”
Seemingly unconcerned that law enforcement agencies had stepped up their efforts to aggressively prosecute fraudulent COVID-19 schemes, Fly Private X was ready to dive bomb into their newest illicit endeavor in an attempt to hit the PPE jackpot. And what better place to ride the lucrative wave of multimillion-dollar PPE sales than a luxurious beachfront property located in East Malibu –from where Hadari Oshri and Lubaszka were running their joint schemes for months, as shown by company filings, court documents and even one text message that, surprisingly, Oshri volunteered to me via email.
Lubaszka’s and Oshri’s business ties to sentenced PPE fraudster Arael Doolittle
Around June 30, 2020, Alaa Hattab, CEO of Canada-based Saniton Corporation, was awaiting a shipment of 10 million medical examination quality nitrile gloves from Fly Private X that never materialized.
In June 2020, Alaa Hattab attempted to buy $124M worth of PPE from Fly Private X. According to Hattab, the transaction was never completed because Fly Private X didn’t have the product.
The attempted $124.5M transaction was detailed in a PO (purchase order) that Hattab had sent to Lubaszka’s private jet company. Dissatisfied with the services rendered, Hattab referred to the Fly Private X team as “sketchy” and accused them of not having the PPE items they were trying to sell.
“The PO you (Aitana) are talking about was not completed. We were representing a client and sent a PO on the basis that they were buying from us. We were intermediaries in the transaction,” said Hattab in an email to me. “There was no product and the whole thing was a waste of time. Never proof of stock, always delays in getting us any sort of verification for products. It was a complete waste of time.”
Also on June 30, 2020, the now sentenced energy executive Arael Doolittle sent a PO to Fly Private X ordering 20 million boxes of nitrile gloves. But the jet company failed to deliver the PPE supplies, for which it was trying to collect $248M. Named in the PO was Bill Underwood, Doolittle’s attorney, who confirmed that the sale had gone South.
“I was involved in this transaction and it was not completed, which is the case with most of the PPE transactions that I have seen,” Underwood said in an email.
Although Doolittle’s attorney seemed to go easy on Oshri and Lubaszka for failing to deliver the promised PPE items, the POs that both his client and Hattab issued to Fly Private X contained misleading information: Both documents listed Oshri’s old Xehar warehouse in El Segundo (California) as the jet company’s offices. However, Oshri’s warehouse was vacated a few years ago and she no longer had ties to those offices. Neither did Lubaszka. It was, simply put, a smoke screen.
While no charges have been filed against Marc Lubaszka and Hadari Oshri for their dubious PPE operations, the POs obtained by this outlet also raise questions about the bigger role that the jet company and its representatives might have potentially played in a more elaborate PPE scheme across national and international borders.
In the meantime, in November 2020, Doolittle’s luck ran out. The businessman was charged with PPE fraud by the US Department of Justice for attempting to sell 50M nonexistent N95 masks to the Australian government. The fraudulent $317M transaction never materialized.
Doolittle pleaded guilty to wire fraud charges in 2021 and was ordered to serve a 54-month sentence in federal prison on February 16, 2022. As Judge Lynn N. Hughes handed down the sentence, he highlighted that despite “no actual financial loss in this case, there are still costs associated with cases like this that victims of frauds suffer.”
Judge Hughes’s opinion on PPE fraud is also echoed by other legal experts. According to a column published on the National Law Review site by Dr. Nick Oberheiden, a federal attorney who has defended clients in PPP loan fraud cases and COVID-19 investigations, PPE fraud can be construed as “promising to supply medical equipment or goods that the sellers do not have in order to capitalize on societal fear and make a profit at the expense of the emotional public sentiment.”
Hadari Oshri volunteered the POs linking both her and Fly Private X to a potential PPE scheme
When the news on Doolittle’s arrest broke in the Fall of 2020, it didn’t come as a surprise to Fergal Furlong, who already had first-hand knowledge that Oshri –with whom he had a contentious professional relationship at Xehar– had teamed up with Lubaszka in various ventures and that the 44-year-old gold broker had become her meal ticket.
In an exclusive interview at the beginning of 2021, Furlong explained that, around June 2020, Oshri was looking to hire a writer capable of placing promotional articles about Fly Private X in Forbes. But eventually, it also became clear to him that she played a key role in the jet company’s multimillion-dollar PPE operations. And it was Oshri who volunteered this information to Furlong.
Throughout 2020, Furlong demanded that Oshri start making payments as part of a $200K defamation and breach of contract settlement agreement that they had signed. To prove that she’d soon have the financial muscle to pay him, Oshri emailed him three POs totaling over $400M in attempted PPE sales that she claimed to be “working on” on behalf of Fly Private X. But the PPE sales were never completed, she failed to make any settlement payments and further tension set in between them.
Marc Lubaszka posed as an alleged attorney
Then, around June 2020, Furlong received an unexpected call from an alleged attorney who identified himself as “Marc,” wanted to clear the air and facilitate a payment plan between Oshri and Furlong. About two weeks later, Furlong and Marc met in a hotel in the oceanside city of Marina del Rey.
“Marc showed up dressed in a suit, wearing sandals and visibly drunk,” Furlong explained. “He looked like a complete mess.”
The self-proclaimed attorney stated that Oshri was broke, and instead of providing a payment plan, he offered Furlong multiple partnership opportunities that ranged from selling private jets to setting up gold websites and trading options. The meeting, however, ended abruptly when Furlong pulled out his phone and asked Marc about one of the POs that he’d received from Oshri showing Fly Private X’s involvement in attempted PPE sales.
“Marc just got up, then looked at me for a second, said he had to go and walked outside,” Furlong explains. “I had to pick up the breakfast tab.”
Minutes later, Furlong walked to the parking lot and headed to his car. “Marc was walking around, approached me and said: ‘You can’t be doing well if you’re driving that car.’”
This was the last time they saw each other. Yet blatantly unaware of how poorly the meeting had gone, Marc texted Furlong the same day to see how they could “work together” and asked for any correspondence between them to be delivered via email to his imaginary assistant, Krista Collinsworth, who responded to Furlong’s emails from a Fly Private X account, according to documents I had access to.
But by then, it was too late. Furlong had finally confirmed that the alleged attorney was small businessman Marc Lubaszka, and that he’d been working with Oshri for months.
“When I confronted him about his identity, Marc hung up on me, then called me a few minutes later and insisted that he was Marc Anderson,” Furlong explains.
By inventing a new persona, Lubaszka had just added another alias to the long list of pseudonyms and assumed personalities that he has used over the years to disguise his identity: From David to Anthony Cohen, Andrew Stevens, Scott Mason, British financier Jason Butler and deceased German-American philosopher Herbert Marcuse.
Indeed, in 2018, Marcuse must have risen from the dead to publish an ecstatic article on Medium to perpetuate the myth that Lubaszka had built a $100M real estate empire in Venezuela –a country the gold dealer survived in 2012 thanks to the humanitarian aid and free assistance provided by Venezuelan-Italian pastor Rubén Turtulici and his religious network. Needless to say, Marc Lubaszka’s piece, an obvious PR attempt to clear his name, was removed by Medium months ago.
Hadari Oshri incriminates herself in a multimillion-dollar PPE operation in legally recorded audio conversation
Legally recorded phone conversations between Furlong and Oshri that I had access to before March 2021 show that the origin and authenticity of the POs was a highly contested topic between them in the summer of 2020.*
When Furlong pushed Oshri for honest answers, doubted the nature of the documents and raised questions about potential fraud, the Israeli entrepreneur stated that she had “made up” the POs in an attempt to get him off her back by showing that, as soon as she completed several multimillion-dollar transactions, she’d be able to pay him.
In the audio recordings, Oshri also claimed that she named Fly Private X on the POs because she “had to use a company name” and decided to list Lubaszka’s private jet company.
Oshri’s remarks above, however, contradict those made by Hattab and Doolittle’s attorney, who confirmed to me that the POs listing Fly private X’s attempted multimillion-dollar PPE transactions were, indeed, authentic.
Hadari Oshri’s PPE version in the recordings is not supported by her own PR campaign
More importantly, the version Oshri provided in the recordings is not supported by her own self-promotional claims in articles published in 2021 on several digital outlets, in which she portrayed herself as an expert on global supply chain and a successful PPE businesswoman.
A screenshot of Hadari Oshri’s Facebook account linking to one of her stories about supply chain and PPE that she published on her Medium account.
“When the pandemic hit, she (Hadari Oshri) saw an opportunity to sell PPE,” says a story published on The Inscriber Magazine, her Medium account and her website. The article was written by her ghost writer, Ryan Foland, and went on to say that Oshri “has pivoted to helping hospitals and other organizations source much-needed medical supplies and PPE from suppliers around the world.”
A second piece authored by the Israeli businesswoman –yet written by Foland– that appeared in 2021 on Disrupt Global, her Medium account and her website stated that:
“Over the last year, in a world impacted by a global pandemic, I have seen buyers circumventing their brokers. I have heard clearly that sellers are not being 100% loyal to their brokers… I have seen people present sellers that are not sellers. Examples of this and other problems are common in the many PPE deals during the pandemic that blew up and never closed.”
Unsurprisingly, nowhere in these articles does Oshri mention that Hattab and convicted PPE fraudster Doolittle never received the supplies that she claimed to possess and tried to sell for over $370 million.
But in her desperate effort to dictate and impose her own PPE narrative, Oshri may have made a fatal mistake. In a legally recorded phone conversation with Furlong, she delivered statements that could potentially trigger criminal liability for the Israeli entrepreneur: That she was aware that she had committed PPE “fraud” and that she knew it was “wrong.”
“In an attempt to hide Marc’s involvement, defend her business partner and avoid any potential investigation into him and his dealings, she told me that she made up the POs. But she didn’t. They were real,” Furlong explains.
Victims still waiting for justice
The POs that Oshri volunteered to Furlong amount to over $370M –an amount significantly higher than the $317M worth of nonexistent PPE that Doolittle fraudulently attempted to sell to a foreign government, for which he was criminally charged and recently ordered to serve a 54-month sentence in federal prison.
Why Lubaszka and Oshri remain untouched is a question that only law enforcement can answer, but one that lingers to this date and that, for years, their many victims have demanded to know.
“I just want to see some form of justice,” regrets Gern. “After so many years, you start losing all hope. How come these guys don’t get caught and prosecuted? What else needs to happen?”
Gern’s sentiment is also shared by other victims of Lubaszka. 78-year-old David Coonrod, who lost over $17,000 with the gold broker nearly ten years ago, is still hopelessly awaiting some form of closure.
“Your publication (Aitana) may be the only satisfaction any of us ever receive,” he regrets.
Don’t miss the next installments of this investigative series: Hadari Oshri Exposed: From questionable PPE operations through her company, Trade Safe Pro, to a failed fashion fairy empire that collapsed leaving behind a trail of unpaid models and workers.
*The audio recordings between Furlong and Oshri were made with Oshri’s consent and upon her request.
**If you’d like to share your testimony or story, please contact the reporter at aitana_investigations@protonmail.com or connect with her on Facebook. All emails are checked for legitimacy, spam and viruses and deleted when suspicious malware is detected.
***Lubaszka never responded to requests for comment.
(HOUSTON) – A 56-year-old Houston resident has been ordered to federal prison for scheming to fraudulently sell 50 million non-existent N95 facemasks to the Australian government, announced U.S. Attorney Jennifer B. Lowery.
Arael Doolittle pleaded guilty July 27, 2021.
Today, U.S. District Judge Lynn N. Hughes ordered him to serve a 54-month sentence. At the hearing, the court heard additional evidence that Doolittle had stolen another person’s identity and forged their signature during the commission of the offense. In handing down the sentence, Judge Hughes noted even though there was no actual financial loss in this case, there are still costs associated with cases like this that victims of frauds suffer.
In early April 2020, Doolittle attempted to sell 50 million 3M N95 respirator masks to the government of Australia. However, he actually did not possess them.
The Australian government was supposed to pay over $317 million for the masks, but authorities disrupted the transaction before it was completed.
Doolittle was also charged and convicted in a separate case for conspiracy to commit wire fraud. In that scheme, he solicited victims to invest in a petroleum trading company. However, Doolittle did not invest their money as promised. He actually used the funds to finance unrelated business and personal expenses. Doolittle defrauded the victims of this petroleum trading scheme out of a total of $1,935,613.95. He was previously ordered to serve a 54-month sentence.
The two sentences are ordered to be served consecutively, resulting in a total of 108 months in prison.
Doolittle has been and will remain in custody pending transfer to a U.S. Bureau of Prisons facility to be determined in the near future.
The Secret Service conducted the investigation of the fraudulent N95 masks. Assistant U.S. Attorney Justin R. Martin prosecuted the case. The FBI investigated the petroleum investment scheme.
On May 17, the Attorney General established the COVID-19 Fraud Enforcement Task Force to marshal the resources of the Department of Justice in partnership with agencies across government to enhance efforts to combat and prevent pandemic-related fraud. The task force bolsters efforts to investigate and prosecute the most culpable domestic and international criminal actors and assists agencies tasked with administering relief programs to prevent fraud by, among other methods, augmenting and incorporating existing coordination mechanisms, identifying resources and techniques to uncover fraudulent actors and their schemes and sharing and harnessing information and insights gained from prior enforcement efforts. For more information on the Department’s response to the pandemic – https://www.justice.gov/coronavirus.
Anyone with information about allegations of attempted fraud involving COVID-19 can report it by calling the Department of Justice’s National Center for Disaster Fraud (NCDF) Hotline at 866-720-5721 or via the NCDF Web Complaint Form.
Hadari Oshri incriminates herself in a multimillion-dollar PPE operation in legally recorded audio conversation 
