All Articles Tagged "fraud"
Is Bachmann’s Attack on Black Farmers Racist?
(Huffington Post)– Is presidential candidate Michele Bachmann’s (R-MN) attack on the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) settlement with African American farmers racist? Bachmann is coming under increasing fire for characterizing a settlement to black farmers who were discriminated against as mass “fraud.” For years, black farmers alleged that they were being denied USDA farm loans or that they were forced to wait longer for loan approval than other non-minority farmers. Some contended that they endured foreclosure and financial ruin as a direct result. Following a class action lawsuit that was initiated back in 1997 — the so-called Pigford Cases — a U.S. Court has established that between 1983 and 1997 the USDA discriminated against black farmers who applied for farm loans and other assistance on the basis of their race, and that the USDA also failed subsequently to investigate or properly respond to complaints.
Ex-School Official, Board Member Indicted in $800k Scheme
(Chicago Sun Times) — A former North Chicago school board member and her district’s transportation director were accused Thursday of taking kickbacks totaling at least $800,000 over 10 years from contractors who had been awarded lucrative school bus contracts. Gloria Harper, 59, of North Chicago, was a member of the board of North Chicago Community Unit School District 187, and Alice Sherrod, 59, of Gurnee, was in charge of transportation for the 4,000 students, prosecutors said in announcing a 26-count indictment against them and three contractors. It’s not the first time Harper has been linked to an education-based scheme. Just last month, she pleaded guilty to conspiring to defraud the federal E-Rate program that helps fund disadvantaged schools with computer and technology equipment.
How ATM Skimming Scams Work
(Chicago Tribune) — On the last Sunday in May, federal agents watched as two men dropped off a third near a Citibank branch across the street from Our Lady of the Resurrection Medical Center in Portage Park. At the bank, the man installed a device on an entrance door that, when patrons swiped their card to enter, recorded their account data. Inside the vestibule, he installed keypads that fit atop the existing pads on three ATMs to capture the PINs customers entered, according to a court filing. Federal authorities allege the three men were part of an Eastern European ring operating in Illinois, New York, California and Florida that has stolen at least $1.5 million. Charges filed under seal in New York allege one member stole almost $550,000 and compromised 639 bank accounts over three months. While a major case involving craft retailer Michaels drew attention to ATM skimming last month, the crime is not new. A Tribune review of federal charging documents filed in Chicago since 2009 shows the range in how such schemes work, from restaurant servers or store clerks getting paid to skim customers’ credit cards to more sophisticated work by overseas groups.
School Enrollment Fraud Points to Larger Issue
(The Grio) — Wayne McKenzie wasn’t satisfied with the schools his Crown Heights neighborhood had to offer his children. ”[As parents], we feel it’s our duty to get the kids, our kids, in the best schools possible and sometimes those schools are out of your neighborhood,” he said. McKenzie was able to send his two youngest sons to a private school in lower Manhattan which caters to low-income families. But the Brooklyn father said he sympathizes with parents who cannot afford a similar solution. Earlier this year, a Ohio mother was convicted of multiple felonies and served jail time for falsifying her home address to get her two children into better schools.
Fighting Fraud at Your Business
(Businessweek) — Small business owners reported $8 billion in fraud losses in 2010, mainly related to hacked credit cards and bank accounts, according to a new study of about 900 small business owners and self-employed individuals by Javelin Strategy & Research, a research firm in Pleasanton, Calif. Of that $8 billion, some $5.43 billion was out-of-pocket expenses incurred due to fraud, including lost business, legal fees, and insurance payouts, says Philip Blank, a senior research analyst at Javelin and author of the study. Blank spoke recently to Smart Answers columnist Karen E. Klein. Edited excerpts of their conversation follow.
Karen E. Klein: Your study documents a 27 percent decrease in consumer fraud from 2009 to 2010 and an even bigger decrease in fraud, 45 percent, for small and midsize business owners. Why did the fraud rate drop last year?
Philip Blank: Just as a general rule: As the economy drops, the fraud rate increases, and as the economy increases, the fraud rate decreases. So part of the decline is due to increasing sales and GDP in late 2010. Part is unfortunately due to the fact that some small and midsize businesses closed during the economic downturn. But there’s also been improved education about credit-card fraud, and the larger small companies are instituting best practices in line with payment card industry compliance and tighter regulation. There was also a decline in existing card fraud, which small businesses are about 50 percent more likely to suffer than consumers.
Game Over: How Con Men Took a Pro Athlete for Everything
(ESPN) — IT WAS THE KIND of sweltering Columbia, S.C., day Corey Jenkins usually spent bringing folks to their feet, legging out a double or snaring a line drive. But on this afternoon, June 1, 1995, the 18-year-old star was earning an ovation at Dreher High’s graduation. After the ceremony, as he made his way through the throng in the Carolina Coliseum, Corey saw James Brown, one of his agents. “The Red Sox took you in the first round,” Brown said. The good news for Jenkins was better news for Brown. He and Darnell Jones, his partner at Summit Management, had big plans for Corey and his cash.
WAIT. STOP. Excuse us as we stand on the brakes and screech to a halt. We’re not going to tell one more story about how quickly and horribly things can go wrong for a young athlete. We could, of course: Jenkins is still putting his life back together, nearly 20 years after he first met Brown and Jones. But you already know athletes get scammed all the time. Michael Vick wasduped while he was facing dogfighting charges and again while he was in Leavenworth. Scottie Pippen just held a giant yard sale after losing much of his $100 million in career earnings to bad investments. John Elway sank $15 million into a hedge-fund Ponzi scheme.
A full rogues’ gallery of shady agents and financial advisers have populated sports pages over the years: Luigi DiFonzo, Marc Dreier, Robert Allen Stanford, Triton Financial, Kirk Wright. And the big picture never seems to change: In 2009, Sports Illustrated found 78 percent of NFLers were either bankrupt or under severe financial stress within two years of retirement, and 60 percent of NBA players were bankrupt within five. In 2002, U.S. News & World Report reported that 78 NFL players had been defrauded of a combined $42 million over the previous three years.
Sentiments Vary as Jack Johnson Prepares Defense
(Washington Informer) — Former Prince George’s County Executive Jack Johnson might have a top-notch attorney in his corner, but the problem is that Billy Martin doesn’t seem to have much to work with as he angles to get his client off the hook. Those are the sentiments of WTOP political analyst Mark Plotkin, who also told the Washington Informer this week that, bottom line, Johnson, 61, — who faces eight charges of corruption — “took money,” period. “Quite frankly, Jack Johnson has put himself into this situation and his only possible relief from heavy prison time is to cut a deal of some kind,” Plotkin said. “But I don’t think there’s much leverage [because] all they’re going to try to say is that the federal government over-reached in terms of wiring him.” Although the FBI’s wiretapped conversations of Johnson are key to the prosecution’s conviction, Plotkin said they pose a technicality “rather than [points for] getting to the heart of the case.” Meanwhile, Johnson has pleaded not guilty to all counts and asked for a speedy trial by jury. Johnson and his wife Leslie Johnson’s lives began a downward spiral when they were simultaneously arrested last November in an FBI sting at their Mitchellville, Md., home.
Sentiments Vary as Jack Johnson Prepares Defense
(Washington Informer) — Former Prince George’s County Executive Jack Johnson might have a top-notch attorney in his corner, but the problem is that Billy Martin doesn’t seem to have much to work with as he angles to get his client off the hook. Those are the sentiments of WTOP political analyst Mark Plotkin, who also told the Washington Informer this week that, bottom line, Johnson, 61, — who faces eight charges of corruption — “took money,” period. “Quite frankly, Jack Johnson has put himself into this situation and his only possible relief from heavy prison time is to cut a deal of some kind,” Plotkin said. “But I don’t think there’s much leverage [because] all they’re going to try to say is that the federal government over-reached in terms of wiring him.” Although the FBI’s wiretapped conversations of Johnson are key to the prosecution’s conviction, Plotkin said they pose a technicality “rather than [points for] getting to the heart of the case.” Meanwhile, Johnson has pleaded not guilty to all counts and asked for a speedy trial by jury. Johnson and his wife Leslie Johnson’s lives began a downward spiral when they were simultaneously arrested last November in an FBI sting at their Mitchellville, Md., home.
Don’t Get Hustled While on the Job Hunt
(Daily Finance) — Some people kick you when you’re down, and with the effects of the recession lingering on through the jobless recovery, there are plenty of people down there to kick. Scams targeting the unemployed and cash-strapped are on the rise, and the con artists are getting more creative and sneaky. The Federal Trade Commission and its partners recently announced that they have brought more than 90 enforcement actions in a stepped-up campaign against scammers who falsely promise “guaranteed” jobs and opportunities to “be your own boss” to those who are struggling with unemployment and diminished incomes as a result of the recession. ”Working for a nonprofit credit counseling agency, we see too many people who are taken in by these scams because they are desperate and looking for a way out,” says Linnea Stephan, a certified financial planner with Lutheran Social Service of Minnesota. “That means that the rules on what to look for change, as the scammers will do whatever they can to look and sound legit,” she adds.
Don’t Get Hustled While on the Job Hunt
(Daily Finance) — Some people kick you when you’re down, and with the effects of the recession lingering on through the jobless recovery, there are plenty of people down there to kick. Scams targeting the unemployed and cash-strapped are on the rise, and the con artists are getting more creative and sneaky. The Federal Trade Commission and its partners recently announced that they have brought more than 90 enforcement actions in a stepped-up campaign against scammers who falsely promise “guaranteed” jobs and opportunities to “be your own boss” to those who are struggling with unemployment and diminished incomes as a result of the recession. ”Working for a nonprofit credit counseling agency, we see too many people who are taken in by these scams because they are desperate and looking for a way out,” says Linnea Stephan, a certified financial planner with Lutheran Social Service of Minnesota. “That means that the rules on what to look for change, as the scammers will do whatever they can to look and sound legit,” she adds.
