Information for Victims in Large Cases
United States v. Dmitry Dokuchaev et al.
Four defendants were charged with the hacking of several mail service providers including Yahoo, Google and Yandex (Russian based server) on behalf of the Russian Federal Security Service, a/k/a the “FSB.. Defendants were also successful in obtaining user login information through spear phishing techniques.
United States v. Intercept or d/b/a InterceptEFT
Intercept Corporation, d/b/a “InterceptEFT” (“Intercept”), a privately held corporation headquartered in Fargo, North Dakota, operating an illegal money transmittal business. Intercept was a “third party payment processor” which processed electronic funds transfers for its clients through the Automated Clearing House (“ACH”) system, an electronic payments network that processed financial transactions without using paper checks. Among Intercept’s clients were numerous business entities that issued, serviced, funded, and collected debt from short-term, high-interest loans, commonly referred to as “payday loans,” because such loans are supposed to be repaid when the borrower received his or her next paycheck or regular income payment. Payday loans are effectively illegal in more than a dozen states, including Pennsylvania, and are highly regulated in many other states.
United States v. Justin E. Cain
Justin Cain was a postal employee in La Crosse, Wisconsin. He was suspected of stealing mail from the post office after he sold a stolen baseball card to a local vender. On October 18, 2013, federal agents made a controlled purchase of 23 purported gift cards from Cain. Three days later, on October 21, 2013, Cain was arrested by officers from the La Crosse Police Department with mail in his vehicle. During an interview with law enforcement officers, Cain admitted to stealing mail in order to feed his heroin addiction. Cain told investigators the stolen mail pieces were burned after items of value where removed.
United States v. Jeffrey Robert Bonner et al.
Jeffrey Robert Bonner owned and operated “call centers”, located in San Jose, Costa Rica, which he and his co-defendants used to defraud United States residents, typically over the age of 55, by deceiving them into believing that they had won prizes in a “sweepstakes contest.” The indictment alleges that Jeffrey Robert Bonner, Cody Trevor Burgsteiner, Darra Lee Shephard, and their co-conspirators made calls to victims from Costa Rica. Victims were informed that to receive their “prize,” they were to wire, via Western Union, thousands of dollars for a purported “refundable insurance fee” to a so-called “insurance entity” in Costa Rica. When victims questioned the legitimacy of the operation, they were given phone numbers purportedly to United States government agents who falsely reassured the victims that they had, in fact, won a sweepstakes prize. The co-conspirators then allegedly continued to solicit victims to send more money until their victims’ funds were depleted.
United States v. Anthony B. Brandel, et al.
Between approximately October 2009 through October 2013, the defendants used a Swiss corporation known as Malom Group AG to promote investments in European equities and debt offerings, which they said would yield high rates of return. The indictment alleges that the defendants created and provided to investors fake bank statements representing that Malom Group AG had large deposit balances at prominent European banks. The defendants collected payments of between $200,000 and $1.2 million per investor but did not put the funds toward the advertised investments. Instead, the defendants used the money for their own purposes.
United States v. Don Langford
According to court documents, Don Langford and others concealed the true value of TierOne’s loan and real estate portfolio and provided falsely inflated figures in its required reports to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the Office of Thrift Supervision (OTS). Specifically, Don Langford admitted that he used outdated property appraisals and rejected new appraisals that would have required TierOne to mark down the value of its real estate holdings. In addition, Langford admitted that he and others delayed seeking new appraisals to conceal the depreciating value of its loan collateral, and restructured loan terms to disguise the borrowers’ inability to make timely interest and principal payments. As a result, Langford admitted that he and others were able to hide millions of dollars in losses from regulators and investors.
United States v. James A. Laphen
United States v. Gilbert Lundstrom
Gilbert G. Lundstrom was the CEO of TierOne Bank from 1999 to January 2010. According to allegations in the indictment, he and others concealed the true value of TierOne’s loan and real estate portfolio. They also provided falsely inflated figures in their reporting to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the Office of Thrift Supervision (OTS). Specifically, Lundstrom and others allegedly used outdated property appraisals and rejected new appraisals that would have required TierOne to mark down the value of its real estate holdings. In addition, Lundstrom and others allegedly delayed seeking new appraisals to conceal the depreciating value of its loan collateral, and restructured loan terms to disguise the borrowers’ inability to make timely interest and principal payments. As a result, Lundstrom and others were allegedly able to hide millions of dollars in losses from regulators and investors.
US v. Brian Wallen & Andrew Stafford/ 16-CR-336 (2016R00314)
A federal grand jury has indicted Brian Keith Wallen, age 52, of Lutherville, Maryland, and Andrew Stafford, age 56, of Bel Air, Maryland with conspiracy to commit mail fraud and mail fraud arising from a nationwide fraudulent telemarketing scheme designed to ship unwanted and vastly over-priced light bulbs and cleaning supplies to thousands of businesses and non-profit organizations. The indictment was filed on June 30, 2016 and unsealed upon the arrest of Andrew Stafford. Brian Keith Wallen was reported missing on April 28, 2016, and is still being sought by law enforcement. Specifically, the indictment alleges that from about 2007 to 2014, Wallen, Stafford and other conspirators telephoned authorized representatives of businesses, who were often maintenance employees, on behalf of Midway companies. During these phone calls, the conspirators sought to conceal Midway’s true locations in Reisterstown, Maryland and in Florida. According to the indictment, during the initial calls, Wallen, Stafford, and the conspirators promised national store gift cards to the authorized representatives to induce them to place initial orders, or to provide Midway with additional company information or personal information, like the authorized representatives’ home address and personal phone number. The conspirators used the cell phone numbers and/or birthdays of the authorized representatives as “purchase order” numbers in order to lend legitimacy to later collections efforts.In addition, during the calls the conspirators allegedly made false statements, including: that the victim businesses had an existing business relationship with Midway; and that Midway would send a “half box” of light bulbs. In fact, the “half box” was a deceptive technique used to understate the volume and price of shipments, and disguise unwanted future shipments. Wallen, Stafford, and the conspirators allegedly did not divulge the price of any products, engaging in a practice called the “price blow-off,” falsely telling the victim business that they did not have the price in front of them, but that it would be at the corporate discount. In fact, Midway did not offer a corporate discount.The indictment alleges that as a result of the fraud scheme, Midway sent fraudulent invoices to victim companies for more than $100 million and received more than $50 million in payments on those invoices.
United States v. William B. Aossey Jr.
William B. Aossey was convicted by a federal jury of conspiring between around 2007 and 2010 to commit mail and wire fraud, sell misbranded meat, and related crimes. Aossey was also convicted of seven counts of making materially false statements on export certificates, and seven counts of wire fraud.
U.S. v. Jalel Aossey; Yahya Nasser Aossey; Midamar Corporation; Islamic Services of America; and ISA, Inc. d/b/a “Islamic Services of America, Inc.”
William B. Aossey was convicted by a federal jury of conspiring between about 2007 and 2010 to commit mail and wire fraud, sell misbranded meat, and related crimes. Aossey was also convicted of seven counts of making materially false statements on export certificates, and seven counts of wire fraud. In a related case, Midamar Corporation; Islamic Services of America; ISA, Inc.; and Jalel Aossey, pleaded guilty to conspiring between about 2007 and 2012 to commit mail and wire fraud, sell misbranded meat, and related crimes. Defendant Yahya Nasser Aossey pleaded guilty to two lesser counts relating to his responsibility for the sale of misbranded meat as a responsible corporate official.
United States v. Frank J. Morelli, III, et al.
An indictment charging a market manipulation scheme was unsealed today against six defendants in connection with the trading of stock in Super Nova Resources, Inc. (“SNRR”), announced United States Attorney Zane David Memeger. Charged with conspiracy, wire fraud, and securities fraud are: Carl Marciniak, 50, of California, Jeffrey Weinfurter, 46, of Yorba Linda, CA, James Wheeler, 54, of Corona, CA, Daniel Starczewski, 67, of Cornelius, NC, Danny Colon, 46, of Edgewater, NJ, and Louis Buonocore, 59, of Woburn, MA. According to the indictment, the defendants ran the scheme with the intent to cause approximately $150 million in losses to participants in the over-the-counter U.S. securities market.