New York Paralegal Blog

Howard Levine, owner of a Dix Hill, N.Y., tax preparation business was sentenced to 37 months in prison for tax crimes, the Justice Department and Internal Revenue Service (IRS) announced today. On Jan. 5, 2012, Levine pleaded guilty to obstructing the internal revenue laws and aiding in the preparation of false income tax returns for clients.

Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus R. Vance, Jr., today announced the guilty plea of KELLI CONLIN, 53, to one count of Falsifying Business Records in the First Degree, a class E felony. CONLIN served as the Executive Director and President of NARAL Pro-Choice NY (NARAL) and the National Institute for Reproductive Health (NIRH), both non-profit entities located at 470 Park Avenue South in Manhattan from 1992 to 2010. During CONLIN’s tenure, NARAL became a leading advocate in the pro-choice and women’s health movements. The organizations’ Boards of Directors removed CONLIN as President and Executive Director in early 2011 after an internal audit revealed the spending and accounting improprieties that led to today’s disposition. The investigation leading to today’s guilty plea revealed that beginning in 2007 until 2010, while working for NARAL and NIRH, CONLIN submitted credit card expenditure sheets and reimbursement check requests that contained false descriptions of her expenditur...

Daniel McMullen, Special Agent in Charge (SAC) of the Jackson Field Office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), and Special Agent in Charge (SAC) Scott Dennis, U.S. Small Business Administration, Office of Inspector General - Southern Region (SBA-OIG), joined in announcing the following arrests: VICTOR PLANETTA, age 57, and EILEEN PLANETTA, age 53, residents of Slidell, Louisiana, were arrested by Special Agents of the FBI, with assistance from officers of the Slidell, LA Police Department, at approximately 6:00 p.m., on April 26, 2011, pursuant to arrest warrants issued by the United States District Court for the Southern District of Mississippi. Following their arrests, the PLANETTAs were transported to Mississippi and held in the Stone County, MS Jail, pending their initial court appearance. The PLANETTAs were indicted by a grand jury in the Southern District of Mississippi on charges that they conspired to defraud the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) by making ...

Fifteen globally recognized U.S. companies introduced their products and services to three of India’s major metropolitan markets during the Department of Commerce’s first-ever franchising trade mission to India. Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Manufacturing and Services Nicole Y. Lamb-Hale led the mission which included stops in Mumbai, Hyderabad, and New Delhi, April 10-15. Among other stops, Lamb-Hale and the U.S. delegation visited a California Pizza Kitchen in Mumbai to highlight the success of current American brands in India. She also celebrated the opening of the 200th Subway® franchise in India. Mission participants completed more than 300 individual meetings with prospective investors, and public and private sector officials to explore the environment for their franchises. The franchise market in India has the potential to grow to $20 billion by 2020. Franchising in India is growing at an impressive rate of approximately 30 percent per year. Presently, there are 1,200 ...

U.S. Commerce Secretary Gary Locke was joined today at by Chair of the National Economic Council Gene Sperling and White House Cyber-security Coordinator Howard A. Schmidt to release the administration’s National Strategy for Trusted Identities in Cyberspace (NSTIC) – a White House initiative to improve online security, increase privacy and foster economic growth and innovation online. Hosted by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the event included a panel discussion with industry leaders and privacy advocates, as well as demonstrations of innovative smart technologies being developed to improve online authentication. NSTIC is a key building block in the national effort to secure cyberspace. According to industry surveys, as many as eight million Americans are victims of online fraud and identity theft each year and lose an average of $631 out-of-pocket per incident. Through a private sector-led effort facilitated by the government, NSTIC aims to make online transactions more trustworthy...

Late Friday evening, President Obama addressed the Nation from the Blue Room at the White House on the bipartisan agreement on the budget. As the President put it, leaders from both parties "acted on behalf of our children’s future" by finding the common ground necessary to keep the government open for business.

Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus R. Vance, Jr., today announced the indictment of SAM CHIHLUNG YIN, 34, for accessing and tampering with the corporate computer network of Gucci America, Inc. ("Gucci"), the Manhattan-based American affiliate of the Italian luxury goods retailer. YIN, who had been previously terminated by Gucci as a network engineer, used an account he secretly created during his tenure at Gucci to access and control the company's computer system, shutting down some of its servers and networks, and deleting data from others. He is charged in a 50-count indictment with Computer Tampering, Identity Theft, Falsifying Business Records, Computer Trespass, Criminal Possession of Computer Related Material, Unlawful Duplication of Computer Related Material, and Unauthorized Use of a Computer.[1] "Computer hacking is not a game. It is a serious threat to corporate security that can have a devastating effect on personal privacy, jobs, and the ability of a bus...

BUFFALO – Attorney General Eric T. Schneiderman today announced the sentencing of a former employee of the Williamsville Suburban Nursing Home in Amherst who pleaded guilty last December to falsifying records to conceal the neglect of a resident. Deborah Groth, 61, of Buffalo, was sentenced today by Erie County Supreme Court Judge Penny M. Wolfgang to a three-year conditional discharge and 50 hours of community service. Groth, a former Licensed Practical Nurse (LPN), had previously pleaded guilty on December 14, 2010 to three counts of Falsifying Business Records in the First Degree, a class E felony, for falsifying a resident’s records to demonstrate that she had administered an injection of insulin, taken and recorded the resident’s vital signs, and applied skin treatment when footage from a hidden surveillance camera revealed that she did not perform these procedures at all. As a result of these court proceedings, Groth surrendered her LPN license. Groth was also required to give ...

WASHINGTON – Victor Kaganov, who emigrated from Russia and set up numerous shell corporations in Oregon on behalf of Russian clients, pleaded guilty today to charges of operating an unlicensed money transmitting business, announced Assistant Attorney General Lanny A. Breuer of the Criminal Division and U.S. Attorney Dwight C. Holton for the District of Oregon. The shell corporations were used to move more than $172 million into the United States and out to more than 50 countries. "Using shell corporations to hide his illegal activities, Mr. Kaganov funneled more than $170 million into the United States and then back out to more than 50 countries around the world," said Assistant Attorney General Breuer. "Following the money trail is a hallmark of good law enforcement, but those efforts depend on transparency in financial transactions. Now more than ever, we are determined to bring to justice those who attempt to hide funds in U.S. financial institutions." "...

NEW YORK, N.Y. (December 3, 2008) - Attorney General Andrew M. Cuomo today announced the arrest of the owners of the popular Saigon Grill restaurants in New York City for allegedly failing to pay its workers legal wages, taking illegal kickbacks from workers, cheating the state unemployment insurance fund, and for creating fraudulent business records to cover up their illegal actions. Simon Nget a.k.a. Chang S. Nget, and his wife, Michelle Lu Nget a.k.a. Pei Ying Nget, are accused of numerous criminal charges based on their business practices at the Saigon Grill restaurants in Manhattan, located at 620 Amsterdam Avenue on the Upper West Side and 91 University Place in Greenwich Village, and formerly located at 1700 Second Avenue on the Upper East Side. The Ngets have owned and operated the popular restaurants since 1996. More...

The Federal Trade Commission has charged the marketer of a work-at-home business opportunity with violating federal law by falsely promising Spanish-speaking consumers substantial income for stuffing envelopes. The Commission seeks to prevent further violations and to obtain redress for affected consumers. In another matter, the remaining defendants in a similar scam have agreed to settle FTC charges for allegedly misleading consumers. According to the FTC’s complaint in the first case, the defendant marketed a fraudulent envelope-stuffing scheme to consumers throughout the nation, including Puerto Rico, via classified ads in Spanish-language newspapers and on a Web site available in Spanish and English. A typical print ad, translated from Spanish, stated that consumers could earn up to $1,500 and directed consumers to the Web site. More...