New York Paralegal Blog

NEW YORK – Attorney General Eric T. Schneiderman and the City of New York today filed a lawsuit against the Bank of New York Mellon (BNY Mellon) for defrauding clients in foreign currency exchange transactions. The lawsuit seeks to recover the profits BNY Mellon illegally earned by deceiving its customer. The victims include both public and private pension funds, including those of the New York City Employee Retirement System (NYCERS) and the State University of New York.

Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus R. Vance, Jr., today announced the indictment of ANDREW ALBERT, 49, for defrauding at least three investors of approximately $590,000 in a luxury shopping website called ON1AVE.com that he was purporting to launch. The defendant was indicted on charges of Grand Larceny in the Second Degree, Scheme to Defraud in the First Degree, and Criminal Tax Fraud in the Third Degree.1

Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus R. Vance, Jr., today announced the sentencing of SHARMON WADE, 37, to nine to 18 years in prison for defrauding investors in a scam that involved fictitious real estate property investments. Judge Michael Obus granted the District Attorney’s request that WADE be considered a predicate felon for previous convictions, and ordered WADE to pay $1,242,623.13 in restitution to these victims. WADE pled guilty on May 17, 2010, to grand larceny, securities fraud, scheme to defraud, and a violation of tax law.

WASHINGTON – The principal and co-owner of Integra Capital Management LLC, a North Carolina company, was arrested in Denton, N.C., today for defrauding commodities trading investors of more than $3.2 million, announced Assistant Attorney General Lanny A. Breuer of the Criminal Division and U.S. Attorney Anne M. Tompkins of the Western District of North Carolina. Nicholas Cox, 34, a North Carolina resident, is charged in an indictment returned on May 17, 2011, by a federal grand jury in the Western District of North Carolina, with one count of conspiracy to commit mail fraud, seven counts of mail fraud and one count of conspiracy to commit money laundering. Following his arrest, Cox made his initial appearance today before U.S. Magistrate Judge David Cayer in Charlotte, N.C. The indictment alleges that between September 2006 and January 2009, Cox and his co-conspirator, Rodney Whitney, who was also a principal and co-owner of Integra, engaged in a scheme to defraud investors in com...

RICHMOND, VA—Justin Glynn French, 40, of Richmond, Va., was sentenced today to 196 months, followed by three years of supervised release, for stealing millions from federal and state tax credit programs intended to rehabilitate historic buildings. Neil H. MacBride, United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia; Ken Cuccinelli, Attorney General of Virginia; Michael F.A. Morehart, Special Agent in Charge of the FBI's Richmond Field Office; Rebecca Sparkman, Special Agent in Charge of the Internal Revenue Service Criminal Investigation's Washington, D.C., Field Office; and Colonel W. Steven Flaherty, Superintendent of Virginia State Police, made the announcement after sentencing by United States District Judge John A. Gibney, Jr. "Justin French lined his pockets with millions in stolen tax dollars and defrauded more than 100 investors," said U.S. Attorney MacBride. "Mr. French exploited the rich history of the commonwealth to cheat taxpayers and in...

PLANO, TX—A 68-year-old Dallas man has been indicted in a commercial real estate investment scheme in the Eastern District of Texas, announced U.S. Attorney John M. Bales today. Eric Brauss was named in a 10-count indictment for his role in defrauding investors in a commercial real estate investment scheme. The indictment was returned by a federal grand jury on Feb. 16, 2011. The indictment alleges that Brauss raised investment capital for two large-scale retail development projects in New Mexico and Fort Worth—Unser Towne Crossing and Parkwood Crossing, respectively—by making false material representations to investors. The indictment further alleges that based on Brauss' false representations, investors provided $2,042,000 in payments to Brauss for the Unser project and $5,998,925 in payments to Brauss for the Parkwood project, and that Brauss used most of the investment capital raised for expenditures unrelated to the two projects. Brauss faces up to 20 years in federal prison...

Guillermo O. Mondino, 47, of Miami, pleaded guilty today to leading a scheme to defraud the Export-Import Bank of the United States (Ex-Im Bank) of more than $24 million, announced Assistant Attorney General of the Criminal Division Lanny A. Breuer, Osvaldo L. Gratacos, Acting Inspector General of the Ex-Im Bank, Special Agent in Charge (SAC) Rebecca A. Sparkman of the Internal Revenue Service Office of Criminal Investigation (IRS-CID) Washington, and Inspector in Charge Enrique Gutierrez of the U.S. Postal Inspection Service’s (USPIS) Miami Division. Mondino entered his guilty plea in U.S. District Court in Washington before U.S. Magistrate Judge John M. Facciola. Mondino pleaded guilty to a two-count criminal information charging him with one count of conspiracy to defraud the United States and to commit mail fraud, and one count of money laundering.

Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus R. Vance, Jr., announced today the indictment of TERESA NORA MARTINEZ for stealing $12,000 from immigrants, both by falsely claiming to be an attorney and by falsely claiming to be working with attorneys, purporting to provide immigration legal services and promising to obtain green cards. MARTINEZ, 39, has been indicted on charges of Scheme to Defraud in the First Degree, Grand Larceny in the Third Degree, Petit Larceny, and Practicing or Appearing as Attorney-at-Law Without Being Admitted and Registered.[1] The District Attorney's Office launched an investigation into the defendant's criminal activity when victims contacted the Office through the Immigrant Affairs Program.

A federal grand jury in Brooklyn returned an indictment charging nine defendants with a mortgage fraud scheme that resulted in losses exceeding $90 million. The indictment alleges the defendants conspired to defraud Washington Mutual Bank (“WAMU”) and DLJ Mortgage Capital, Inc. (“DLJ”), a subsidiary of Credit Suisse, in connection with the development of two tracts of land located in Brooklyn and Queens by staging the sales of the same properties to straw buyers in order to obtain multiple mortgages on those properties. Thomas Kontogiannis, John Michael, Elias Apergis, Steven Martini, Nadia Konstantinadou, Stefan Deligiannis, Ted Doumazios, Edward Hogan, and Jonathan Rubin are charged with conspiracy to commit bank and wire fraud. In addition, Kontogiannis, Apergis, Konstantinadou, Deligiannis, Martini, and Doumazios are charged with bank fraud, and Kontogiannis and Konstantinadou are charged with money laundering and money laundering conspiracy.1 The indictment was announced by Bent...