HB Mortgage Fraud Results in Harsh Federal Sentence

The Orange County Register reported a Huntington Beach man and a female co-conspirator from Downey were sentenced to multiple years in federal prison for their role in a real estate fraud scheme which they operated from May 2003 through November 2005. The $12-million fraud targeted hundreds of southern California homeowners facing foreclosure. Victimized homeowners were identified via a computer database list of homes facing foreclosure.

As part of the scheme, the defendants would contact the homeowners and Read more

White Collar Convictions in Newport Beach Receiving Harshest Sentences

White-collar crime is generally recognized as a crime committed by a person in the course of his occupation. White-collar crime tends to overlap with corporate crime because the opportunity for fraud, bribery, insider trading, embezzlement, computer crime, and forgery is more available to white-collar employees. White-collar worker refers to a salaried professional or an educated worker who performs semi-professional office, administrative, and sales coordination tasks, as opposed to a blue-collar worker, whose job requires manual labor.

Recently, one of four co-defendants in a scheme that defrauded investors of more than $50 million was sentenced to 25 years in prison! According to U.S. Attorney Karen P. Hewitt, this sentence represents Read more

Orange County Commodities Trader Faces Civil and Criminal Charges

The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) has obtained a federal court order in Orange County California, freezing the assets and prohibiting the destruction of documents of an Orange-County commodity trader and his company.

The asset freeze order stems from a CFTC complaint charging both with misappropriating customer funds and concealing trading losses in connection with operating a fraudulent commodity pool.

The complaint alleges that the defendants solicited at least Read more

Embezzlement on the Rise in Orange County

The former president of a manufacturing company has been sentenced to nearly four years in prison for embezzling nearly $825,000. In addition to her federal prison sentence, the former executive was forced to sell her house and give up her company pension and personal retirement savings to satisfy her fine and help repay her debt.

California Penal Code 503(a) defines embezzlement as Read more

OC Major U.S. Export Enforcement Prosecutions on the Rise

Over the past two years the Department of Justice (DOJ) has investigated and tried several major export and embargo-related criminal prosecutions. These prosecutions are a result of investigations by the Department of Homeland Security’s U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), the Department of Commerce’s Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS), the Pentagon’s Defense Criminal Investigative Service (DCIS), and other law enforcement agencies. Read more

Ex partners of Prominent Class-action Law Firm Sentenced to Federal Prison

Steven Schulman and David Bershad, two former partners of the law firm formerly known as Milberg Weiss, were sentenced to six months in prison each for their role in an illegal class-action lawsuit scheme. It is illegal to pay lead plaintiffs in class-action lawsuits brought by the firm. Under the scheme, Milberg Weiss attorneys agreed to pay class-action lead plaintiffs a portion of the attorneys’ fees if Milberg Weiss won the case. Read more

Company AND Director Charged With Fraud for Misleading Press Releases

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) announced that it filed a complaint charging a publicly held corporation as well as its Chairman and CEO with issuing numerous press releases containing false and misleading information about the company’s business and its future prospects.

The complaint alleges that the company Read more