Frauds and Swindling

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    Dozens of Canadians Are Charged in $21 Million ‘Grandparent Scam’

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    The conspirators called older adults and posed as their grandchildren in need of bail money after a fake arrest, federal prosecutors said.They sat in call centers in Montreal and targeted older Americans, claiming to be grandchildren in need of bail money after an arrest. In all, federal prosecutors said, more than two dozen Canadians defrauded hundreds of vulnerable Americans out of $21 million over three years in what the authorities called a “Grandparent Scam.”On Tuesday, the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Vermont announced that 25 Canadian nationals had been charged with conspiring to defraud Americans in 45 states. All of those accused are from Ontario or Quebec, and 23 had been arrested in Canada as of Tuesday afternoon, prosecutors said.According to prosecutors, the conspirators placed phone calls from centers in and near Montreal between the summer of 2021 and June 4, 2024, as part of the scheme.“Today’s arrests are the result of domestic collaboration as well as our critical international partnerships with our colleagues in Canada, Sûreté du Québec and the Royal Canadian Mounted Police,” Michael J. Krol, a special agent for Homeland Security Investigations in New England, said in a statement on Tuesday. “Tackling transnational crime is one of our greatest priorities and we’re working hand-in-hand with our neighbors to dismantle organized criminal groups that threaten our safety and security.”The call centers were managed by five Canadians who were charged with money laundering in addition to the conspiracy charge that all of those charged face, according to court records.“These individuals are accused of an elaborate scheme using fear to extort millions of dollars from victims who believed they were helping loved ones in trouble,” Mr. Krol said in the statement.The conspirators also told the older adults that there was a “gag order” that prevented them from discussing their relative’s predicament with other family members, the U.S. attorney’s office said.The callers used a variety of tactics to obtain money from the older Americans, according to court records. The most common tactic was to pose as a young relative who had just been arrested after a car accident.After the victims turned over the money, it was eventually transmitted to Canada, the authorities said, noting that some of the transactions involved cryptocurrency.The 25 Canadians whose indictments were unsealed on Tuesday joined nine Americans who had previously been charged in the “Grandparent Scam,” the authorities said.Contacts for those charged or their lawyers were not immediately available.If convicted, the five managers would face a maximum of 40 years in prison, while the other alleged conspirators would face a maximum of 20 years in prison.The F.B.I. warned that grandparent schemes targeting older adults are common. One such scheme figured in the plot of the 2024 movie “Thelma,” starring June Squibb, which followed a 93-year-old woman on a journey to reclaim the money that had been stolen from her. More

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      Woman Will Plead Guilty in Scheme to Defraud Presleys and Sell Graceland

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      Prosecutors had accused the woman of creating fraudulent loan documents and forging Lisa Marie Presley’s signature.A Missouri woman agreed to plead guilty to mail fraud on Tuesday for her role in orchestrating what the authorities described as a scheme to defraud Elvis Presley’s heirs by claiming ownership of Graceland, his Memphis home, and threatening to sell it in a foreclosure auction.The woman, Lisa Jeanine Findley, of Kimberling City, Mo., will have a count of aggravated identity theft dismissed as part of the plea agreement, which was filed in United States District Court for the Western District of Tennessee.The mail fraud count carries a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison, but prosecutors said they would recommend a sentence of less than five years. A spokeswoman for the Justice Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment. A public defender listed in court documents for Ms. Findley also did not respond.The case involving Ms. Findley burst into the public eye in May, when lawyers for the actress Riley Keough, the granddaughter of Mr. Presley, went to court to stop what they said was a monthslong, fraudulent scheme to sell Graceland, which is now a lucrative tourist attraction that draws 600,000 visitors a year.Court papers revealed that the attempt had been made by a company known as Naussany Investments & Private Lending LLC, but exactly who was behind that company remained a mystery for many months. Naussany Investments had claimed in court papers that Mr. Presley’s daughter, Lisa Marie Presley, who died in 2023, had borrowed $3.8 million from the company and put Graceland up as collateral.The company subsequently scheduled a sale of Graceland. But a Tennessee judge blocked the sale and the state’s attorney general said his office would look into the situation after no one showed up in court to represent the company.Eventually, federal officials came forward and claimed that the whole situation had been part of an elaborate fraud.In an affidavit filed in August in support of an arrest warrant, Christopher Townsend, an F.B.I. agent, wrote that Findley used “a series of aliases, email addresses and fake documents” to engage “in a scheme to defraud Elvis Presley’s family for millions of dollars by threatening to foreclose on the ‘Graceland’ estate.”Mr. Townsend said in the 30-page affidavit that Ms. Findley had created fraudulent loan documents and unlawfully used Ms. Presley’s name and signature as part of her scheme.The affidavit also said that Ms. Findley published a fraudulent “Notice of Foreclosure Sale” in The Commercial Appeal, a Memphis newspaper, executed false affidavits that were sent to the Shelby County Register’s Office, and communicated with the news media through fake identities. More

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      Woman Pleads Guilty in Covid Tax Credit Scheme That Netted $33 Million

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      A Nevada business owner prepared and filed false tax returns to fraudulently obtain Covid relief money for her businesses and others, prosecutors said.Some people binge-watched shows during the Covid pandemic. Others picked up pickleball. But according to federal prosecutors, one Las Vegas woman prepared and filed false tax returns for her business and others at a busy average rate of nearly 80 per month.Over a 16-month period beginning in June 2022, the Justice Department said Friday, the woman, Candies Goode-McCoy, filed more than 1,200 returns in order to fraudulently claim Covid-19 tax credits of nearly $100 million.Ms. Goode-McCoy, 34, who pleaded guilty under a plea agreement on Thursday in U.S. District Court in Las Vegas to charges of conspiracy to defraud the government, managed to get the I.R.S. to pay out about $33 million, prosecutors said. She took $1.3 million of that herself, they said, and received an additional $800,000 from those for whom she prepared the false returns.Ms. Goode-McCoy, who could face as much as 10 years in prison when she is sentenced in February 2026, used the money to gamble at casinos, take vacations and buy luxury cars, prosecutors said. She also purchased designer clothing from Dolce & Gabbana, Gucci and Louis Vuitton, court documents show.Her lawyer could not be reached for comment on Friday.According to prosecutors, the businesses for which Ms. Goode-McCoy prepared taxes were not eligible to receive the refundable credits in the amounts claimed.Under the plea agreement, Ms. Goode-McCoy agreed to return the most of the $33 million that was fraudulently obtained.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      Bannon Pleads Guilty to Fraud in Border Wall Case but Will Serve No Time

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      President Trump had already pardoned his adviser in a similar federal case, which accused him of skimming money from donations to build a Southern border barrier.Stephen K. Bannon, a longtime adviser to President Trump, pleaded guilty on Tuesday in Manhattan criminal court to a single count of defrauding donors who sought to help build a wall at the Southern border.Mr. Bannon’s plea deal stipulates that he will be given a three-year conditional discharge, meaning he will receive no prison time if he does not reoffend.He had faced five felony counts, including money laundering and conspiracy charges, and faced a maximum sentence of five to 15 years on the most serious charge.This is a developing story and will be updated. More

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      Tax Preparers Charged in Scheme to Defraud Covid Relief of $65 Million

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      The preparers filed for pandemic-related tax credits on behalf of ineligible clients and then netted hefty filing fees, officials said.Two Mississippi tax preparers used multiple schemes to defraud $65 million from programs that had been designed to help businesses stay afloat during the coronavirus pandemic, federal prosecutors said this week.The preparers, Renata Walton, 44, and Nicole Jones, 36, both of Olive Branch, Miss., were indicted on more than 50 counts of wire fraud, money laundering, preparing false tax returns and obstruction of justice, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Tennessee said on Wednesday.They both pleaded not guilty and were each released on $100,000 bond, court documents show.Ms. Walton owned R&B Tax Express in Moscow, Tenn., where she and Ms. Jones prepared tax returns.Federal prosecutors said that the two women contacted small-business clients and asked if they were interested in pandemic-related grant money, according to court records. The women would then file for pandemic-related tax credits on behalf of the clients even though they were ineligible for those funds, officials said.The money came mostly from the Employee Retention Credit and the Sick and Family Leave Credit programs, court documents show.The Employee Retention Credit program offered companies thousands of dollars per employee if they could show that the pandemic was hurting their businesses, but that they were continuing to pay workers. Sick and Family Leave Credit offered tax breaks to employers who voluntarily gave their workers paid sick and family leave if they needed to take time off because of the pandemic.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      UK Transport Secretary Louise Haigh Resigns After Fraud Conviction Revealed

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      In the latest setback for Prime Minister Keir Starmer, Louise Haigh resigned from the cabinet Friday after admitting she pleaded guilty to a type of fraud in 2014.Prime Minister Keir Starmer of Britain suffered the first resignation from his cabinet on Friday when the transport secretary, Louise Haigh, quit hours after it emerged that she had been convicted of a fraud offense involving a phone a decade ago.The departure is a blow to Mr. Starmer, who has been buffeted by a series of setbacks since Labour won the election in July, but the speed with which Ms. Haigh resigned suggests Downing Street is hoping to minimize the political fallout.As transport secretary, Ms. Haigh had overseen one of Labour’s flagship policies of bringing Britain’s troubled private rail network back into public ownership, through legislation which recently completed its passage through Parliament.Her resignation was triggered by reports from Sky News and The Times of London on Thursday night that revealed she had pleaded guilty to an offense in 2013. At the time she was 24 and working for Aviva, an insurance firm, when she was mugged in London.In her letter of resignation Ms. Haigh said “the experience was terrifying,” and said, “in the immediate aftermath, I reported the incident to the police. I gave the police a list of my possessions that I believed had been stolen, including my work phone.”She added: “Some time later, I discovered that the handset in question was still in my house. I should have immediately informed my employer and not doing so straight away was a mistake.”We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      Their Parents Are Giving Money to Scammers. They Can’t Stop Them.

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      One son couldn’t prevent his father from giving about $1 million in savings to con artists, including one posing as a female wrestling star. The two became estranged.When Chris Mancinelli walked into his father’s home for the first time after the 79-year-old man died last summer, he stopped to look at family photos displayed on the refrigerator door. Near a crayon drawing spelling out “grandpa” in rainbow colors were photos of his father’s three granddaughters at a swimming pool.But one image jumped out: a photo of Alexa Bliss, a professional wrestling personality.Mr. Mancinelli’s father, Alfred, was completely smitten with the star — or at least with the con artist impersonating her. He was convinced he was in a romantic relationship with Ms. Bliss, leading him to give up about $1 million in retirement savings (and his granddaughter’s college fund) to the impostor and a varied cast of online fraudsters he interacted with over several years.When Mr. Mancinelli tried to intervene, moving his father’s last $100,000 to a safe account, Alfred sued him — his loyalty was to “Lexi.”“There was nothing we could do to convince him,” said Mr. Mancinelli, 47, a chemical engineer in Collegeville, Pa. An elder care specialist deemed Alfred “really sharp,” he said, but lacking purpose.Mr. Mancinelli and others who have tried to awaken their loved ones from this trance often feel powerless, even after they’ve done everything to shatter the fiction and protect their assets. They say it’s as if their parent had been brainwashed into a cult.In some ways, they were: These victims were slowly groomed by con artists posing as love interests, investment advisers or government officials, among others. Once ensconced inside this bubble, they are unable or unwilling to acknowledge that they have become victims. Even when their own children are warning them of the con.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      Art Adviser Lisa Schiff Pleads Guilty to Stealing from Her Elite Clientele

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      Lisa Schiff acknowledges stealing millions from major collectors who trusted her to buy them fashionable art.A leading art adviser whose clients have included Leonardo DiCaprio, and who was accused by the government of bilking her clients of millions, pleaded guilty on Thursday in federal court in Manhattan to one count of wire fraud, for stealing $6.5 million from people who trusted her to buy art for them.The adviser, Lisa Schiff, 54, whose eye for contemporary art launched a lucrative career acquiring blue-chip pieces for a host of major collectors, was accused by federal prosecutors of stealing money that clients had entrusted to her for the purchase of approximately 55 artworks. As part of the plea agreement, Ms. Schiff will forfeit about $6.4 million. The felony fraud charge also carries a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison. “For years, Lisa Schiff breached the trust of her art advisory clients by lying to them and diverting millions of dollars her clients had entrusted to her,” Damian Williams, the U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York, said in a statement. “Instead of using client funds as promised, Schiff used the stolen money to fund a lavish lifestyle.”Her lawyer, Randy Zelin, said the plea agreement had been in the works for several months. “Lisa has been anxious to have the opportunity to accept responsibility, she has been anxious to set out on a path of righting the wrongs and making amends,” he said in an interview on Thursday.Ms. Schiff, who is based in Manhattan, will be sentenced on Jan. 17 by J. Paul Oetken, a judge for the U.S. District Court in Manhattan.“The specter of standing in front of a judge and acknowledging criminal wrongdoing, and acknowledging the prospect of a prison sentence, is an extraordinarily daunting thing,” Mr. Zelin added. “But that is a fire that Lisa ran to, not away from.”We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      U.N. Official Took $3 Million in Secret Gifts From Businessman

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      The official secretly took $3 million in gifts from a businessman to whom he steered the organization’s funds, a court ruled. The U.N. got a song about the ocean.A high-ranking United Nations official secretly took $3 million in gifts from a British businessman while he steered more than $58 million of the organization’s money to the man’s companies, according to a ruling from an internal U.N. court.The decision provided a potential answer to a question that has baffled the organization since news broke in 2022 of Vitaly Vanshelboim’s disastrous investments: Why did a 20-year veteran of the United Nations defy auditors and common sense by entrusting his agency’s entire investment portfolio to a man he purportedly met at a party?The court found last week that Mr. Vanshelboim, a Ukrainian, had committed fraud and “blatant misconduct” by failing to disclose the gifts from the businessman, David Kendrick. It said Mr. Vanshelboim had received interest-free loans, home repairs, a new Mercedes and a $1.2 million sponsorship for his teenage son, who was a tennis player.“This is insane, how is this possible,” the son wrote back to his father at the time, according to an email cited in the court ruling. “I’m not even a good tennis player yet.”“Part of my job is to make insane things happen,” Mr. Vanshelboim replied, the court said.The United Nations now says that all $58 million that Mr. Vanshelboim’s agency entrusted to Mr. Kendrick has been lost. Mr. Vanshelboim was fired last year, fined a year’s pay and ordered to repay all the money lost through the United Nations’ dealing with Mr. Kendrick.He appealed those penalties, but the court largely rejected his arguments, saying he had to pay $58 million or lose his U.N. pension. Mr. Vanshelboim declined to comment. Mr. Kendrick did not respond to a request for comment on Tuesday.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More