FBI

March 12, 2010 -- A securities attorney was sentenced today to 33 months in prison for defrauding investors in stock manipulation schemes involving 19 publicly traded companies, Assistant Attorney General Lanny A. Breuer of the Criminal Division and U.S. Attorney Neil H. MacBride for the Eastern District of Virginia announced today.

David B. Stocker, of Phoenix, pleaded guilty on March 11, 2009, in U.S. District Court in Alexandria, Va., for his participation in a stock manipulation conspiracy known as a "pump-and-dump" scheme. Along with the prison sentence, U.S. District Judge Liam O’Grady today ordered Stocker to pay jointly and severally $6,360,191 in restitution and to forfeit $2,175,993 in a money judgment as well as other property and assets.    » read more »

Pennsylvania Woman Indicted in Plot to Recruit Violent Jihadist Fighters and to Commit Murder Overseas

March 9, 2010 -- WASHINGTON -- David Kris, Assistant Attorney General for National Security, and Michael L. Levy, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, together with Janice K. Fedarcyk, Special Agent-in-Charge of the FBI in Philadelphia, today announced the unsealing of an indictment charging Colleen R. LaRose, aka “Fatima LaRose,” aka “JihadJane,” with conspiracy to provide material support to terrorists, conspiracy to kill in a foreign country, making false statements to a government official, and attempted identity theft.    » read more »

March 12, 2010 -- The Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) and the Federal Bureau of Investigation remind individuals to be cautious when using the Internet to advertise rental properties and real estate. The IC3 continues to receive numerous complaints from individuals who have fallen victim to scams involving rentals of apartments and houses, as well as online real estate postings.    » read more »

March 12, 2010 -- The Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3), a partnership between the FBI and the National White Collar Crime Center (NW3C), today released the 2009 annual report about fraudulent activity on the Internet.

Online crime complaints increased substantially once again last year, according to the report. The IC3 received a total of 336,655 complaints, a 22.3 percent increase from 2008. The total loss linked to online fraud was $559.7 million; this is up from $265 million in 2008.

Year

Complaints Received

Dollar Loss

2009

336,655    » read more »

Charges Allege $75 Million Investment Fraud and $19 Million Misappropriation from Clients’ Custodial Heath Care Accounts

March 1, 2010 -- CHICAGO -- Two co-founders of Canopy Financial, Inc., a bankrupt health care transaction software company based here, were charged today with allegedly defrauding investors of approximately $75 million, while at the same time misappropriating approximately $19 million from client custodial accounts intended for health care savings and expenses.    » read more »

Ordered to Pay $400 Million Criminal Fine

March 1, 2010 -- WASHINGTON -- BAE Systems plc (BAES) pleaded guilty today in U.S. District Court in the District of Columbia to conspiring to defraud the United States by impairing and impeding its lawful functions, to make false statements about its Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) compliance program, and to violate the Arms Export Control Act (AECA) and International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR), announced Acting Deputy Attorney General Gary G. Grindler.    » read more »

January 27, 2010 -- MIAMI—Jeffrey H. Sloman, U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Florida; John V. Gillies, Special Agent in Charge, FBI, Miami Office; and Daniel W. Auer, Special Agent in Charge, Internal Revenue Service (IRS), Criminal Investigation Division, announced today that attorney Scott Rothstein, 47, of Fort Lauderdale, Fla., entered a plea of guilty to a five-count information. Defendant Rothstein is scheduled for sentencing before the Honorable James I. Cohn on May 6, 2010. He faces a total maximum statutory term of 100 years in prison.    » read more »

January 18, 2010 -- Washington D.C. -- The FBI and the National Center for Disaster Fraud (NCDF) have established a telephone hotline to report suspected Haitian earthquake relief fraud. The number is (866) 720-5721. The phone line is staffed by a live operator 24 hours a day, seven days a week. You can also e-mail information directly to disaster@leo.gov.    » read more »

January 14, 2010 -- WASHINGTON -- Defendants Alec Sou and Mike Sou, co-owners of Aloun Farm, pleaded guilty on Jan.13, 2010, in federal district court in Honolulu, to conspiring to commit forced labor. The two defendants, who are brothers, each face up to five years in prison for their respective roles in a labor trafficking scheme that held Thai agricultural workers in service at Aloun Farm through a scheme of debts, threats, and restraint.    » read more »

January 13, 2010 -- The FBI today reminds Internet users who receive appeals to donate money in the aftermath of Tuesday’s earthquake in Haiti to apply a critical eye and do their due diligence before responding to those requests. Past tragedies and natural disasters have prompted individuals with criminal intent to solicit contributions purportedly for a charitable organization and/or a good cause.

Therefore, before making a donation of any kind, consumers should adhere to certain guidelines, to include the following:

* Do not respond to any unsolicited (spam) incoming e-mails, including clicking links contained within those messages.    » read more »

January 6, 2010 -- Nora R. Dannehy, United States Attorney for the District of Connecticut, announced that FRANCESCO RUSCIANO, 28, of Stamford, waived his right to indictment and pleaded guilty today before Senior United States District Judge Ellen Bree Burns in New Haven to one count of wire fraud.

According to court documents and statements made in court, from approximately March 2007 to April 2009, RUSCIANO operated a private investment fund, the Ponta Negra Fund I, LLC at his residence in Stamford. In approximately January 2009, RUSCIANO started the Ponta Negra Offshore Fund, LTD.    » read more »

United States Attorney Charges Former Democratic Majority Leader of Yonkers City Council, Former Yonkers Republican Party Chief, and Attorney with Public Corruption Crimes; Former Yonkers City Councilwoman Sandy Annabi Allegedly Received More Than $160,000 in Secret Payments

January 6, 2010 -- PREET BHARARA, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York; JOSEPH M. DEMAREST, JR., the Assistant Director-in-Charge of the New York Field Division of the Federal Bureau of Investigation ("FBI"); and PATRICIA J.    » read more »

Murder and Other Offenses Related to Shooting Death of Two Afghan Nationals in Kabul, Afghanistan; Third Afghan National Wounded in Shooting That Led to Charges

January 7, 2010 -- WASHINGTON -- Justin Cannon, 27, of Corpus Christi, Texas, and Christopher Drotleff, 29, of Virginia Beach, Va., have been charged with crimes including second-degree murder, attempted murder, and firearms offenses while working as contractors for the U.S. Department of Defense in Afghanistan, Assistant Attorney General Lanny A. Breuer of the Criminal Division, U.S. Attorney Neil H. MacBride of the Eastern District of Virginia, and John Perren, Acting Assistant Director in Charge of the FBI’s Washington Field Office announced today.    » read more »

Defendant Faces Life in Prison if Convicted

January 6, 2010 -- WASHINGTON—The Justice Department announced that Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, a 23-year-old Nigerian national, was charged today in a six-count criminal indictment returned in the Eastern District of Michigan for his alleged role in the attempted Christmas day bombing of Northwest Airlines flight 253 from Amsterdam, the Netherlands, to Detroit.

Count one of the indictment charges Abdulmutallab with attempted use of a weapon of mass destruction, which carries a penalty of up to life in prison.

Count two of the indictment charges him with attempted murder within the special aircraft jurisdiction of the United States, which carries a penalty of up to 20 years in prison.    » read more »

January 8, 2010 -- Washington D.C. -- During the third quarter of 2009, there were 1,212 reported violations of the Federal Bank Robbery and Incidental Crimes Statue, a decrease from the 1,378 reported violations in the same quarter of 2008.1 According to statistics released today by the FBI, there were 1,184 robberies of financial institutions2 and 28 burglaries reported between July 1, 2009 and September 30, 2009. No larcenies or extortions were reported during the quarter.

Highlights of the report include:

* Loot was taken in 90 percent of the incidents, totaling more than $9.4 million.
* Of the loot taken, 22 percent of it was recovered. More than $2.2 million was returned to financial institutions.    » read more »