New York Paralegal Blog

Alleged Cross-Border Leasing Transactions Involving Key Bank and PNC Bank Were Improper Tax Shelters WASHINGTON – A federal judge in Cleveland rejected tax claims presented by a partnership owned by Key Bank and PNC Bank that they were entitled to more than $100 million in deductions related to an international leasing transaction, the Justice Department and Internal Revenue Service (IRS) announced today. In addition to disallowing the deductions as improper, the court held the partnership was liable for penalties for substantial understatement of tax. The banks claimed the deductions in connection with a purported Sale-In/Lease-Out (SILO) transaction in which they claimed to have acquired ownership of a trash disposal and energy generation plant in Germany. The banks claimed they acquired the plant from a German municipal utility and leased the plant back to the utility for at least 25 years on the same day. The utility continued to use and operate the plant without interruption, w...

If you’ve ever locked yourself out of your car or home, you know what a hassle it can be. Your first thought is to get someone to help. And if that someone ­– a family member, neighbor or friend – can’t deliver a spare set of keys, your next call probably is to a local locksmith. What’s the best way to pick a reputable – and local – locksmith? Do the research before you need one – the same way you would a plumber, electrician, or other professional – and then program his or her number into your phone. That’s one of several useful tips from the Federal Trade Commission, the nation’s consumer protection agency, in ‘The Keys to Hiring a Reputable Locksmith.’ The FTC says that some locksmiths advertising in your local phone book may not be local at all, and that others may not have professional training. Find out how to hire a legitimate local locksmith at: http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/edu/pubs/consumer/alerts/alt032.shtm The FTC works for the consumer to prevent fraudulent, decepti...

WASHINGTON – A federal court has barred a Tacoma, Wash., woman from selling a tax scam, the Justice Department announced today. The civil injunction order, entered against Sharon Kukhahn, will remain in effect indefinitely. Kukhahn operates businesses called IMF Decoder, Paralegal Research Advocates and Advocates for Justice, Liberty and Freedom. The Tacoma court found that Kukhahn’s IMF Decoder scheme falsely purported to "decode" Internal Revenue Service (IRS) computer transcripts of customers’ taxpayer accounts to show that the customers were not liable for federal income tax. The case is one of three civil injunction complaints filed last month in federal courts on the east and west coats, seeking to halt tax-fraud schemes related to Pinnacle Quest International (PQI). A federal court in Florida enjoined PQI from promoting tax-fraud schemes earlier this month. The court found that Kukhahn falsely represented to potential customers that they were not required to pay fede...

WASHINGTON – U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced today that its office in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam is implementing a DNA testing requirement for Vietnamese adoption cases where the birth parent(s) of the adopted child has been identified. USCIS is also reminding prospective adoptive parents that the agreement required by Vietnamese law to authorize adoptions between the United States and Vietnam will expire later this summer. USCIS expects that DNA testing will not only help confirm a child's status as an orphan, but will also significantly streamline the processing of cases in which a birth parent has been identified, as opposed to the more lengthy investigative time required to process adoptions when the birth parent is unknown.

WASHINGTON – Three Miami area doctors and six others have been charged in four separate indictments for their roles in HIV infusion fraud schemes totaling $56 million, the Department of Justice Criminal Division and U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Florida announced today. One indictment alleges that between August 2002 and March 2004, Dr. Ronald Harris, 57, and Enrique Gonzalez, 62, conspired to submit approximately $24.5 million in false and fraudulent claims to the Medicare program for HIV infusion services allegedly provided at Physicians Med-Care and Physicians Health Med-Care, HIV infusion clinics that Harris and Gonzalez allegedly controlled. Infusion clinics serve HIV patients by providing prescribed medications intravenously. As part of the scheme, Gonzalez caused the payment of cash kickbacks to Medicare beneficiaries in exchange for the patients signing documents stating that they had received the treatments being billed to Medicare when such treatments ...

WASHINGTON – The Justice Department today announced that the owners and managers of Shadow Canyon Apartments, located in Idaho Falls, Idaho, have agreed to pay $62,000 to resolve a lawsuit filed by the Department alleging that defendants refused to allow residents with disabilities to keep assistance dogs. "The Fair Housing Act requires landlords to make reasonable accommodations for persons with disabilities," said Grace Chung Becker, Acting Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Rights Division. "The Department will continue to vigorously enforce laws that prevent discrimination against people with disabilities." This lawsuit arose as a result of a charge of discrimination issued by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) following HUD’s investigation of a complaint filed by the Intermountain Fair Housing Council. The consent decree, which must be approved by the U.S. District Court in Idaho, calls for training, a nondiscrimination policy,...

The Federal Trade Commission has put a permanent halt to an operation that allegedly obtained consumers’ confidential phone records without their knowledge or consent and sold them to third parties. The defendants are barred from obtaining consumers’ telephone records without their consent and court orders impose judgments on the defendants totaling more than $600,000 – the estimated amount of their ill-gotten gains. This is the latest in a series of FTC cases targeting telephone pretexters – individuals who use false pretenses to obtain consumers’ confidential information. Since 2006 the FTC has charged sixteen individuals and their corporations with violating federal law by pretexting to obtain phone records of third parties. All have now been barred from pretexting and all have been ordered to give up the money they made engaging in the illegal practice.

WASHINGTON – Victor Diaz, 24, a resident of East Boston, was sentenced today to 51 months in prison after a federal jury in Boston convicted him of conspiring to engage in a child prostitution scheme, Acting Assistant Attorney General for the Criminal Division Matthew W. Friedrich and U.S. Attorney Michael J. Sullivan for the District of Massachusetts announced. Diaz was convicted on Feb. 4, 2008, after a week-long jury trial before U.S. District Judge Patti B. Saris of the District of Massachusetts. In addition to the prison sentence, Judge Saris also ordered Diaz to serve two years of supervised release. Diaz and his niece, Evelyn Diaz, were charged with conspiring to sex traffic a minor between April 2004 and April 2005. At trial, the government proved that between approximately July 2003 and May 2005, Evelyn Diaz operated an escort service that was advertised in multiple publications and on the Internet. The escort service sent individuals, including minors, on prostitution calls ...

WASHINGTON — The Department of Justice announced today that it has reached a proposed settlement with the National Association of Realtors (NAR) that requires NAR to allow Internet-based residential real estate brokers to compete with traditional brokers. The Department said the settlement will enhance competition in the real estate brokerage industry, resulting in more choice, better service, and lower commission rates for consumers. NAR has agreed to be bound by a 10-year settlement to ensure that it continues to abide by the requirements of the agreement. In September 2005, the Department’s Antitrust Division filed a civil antitrust lawsuit in U.S. District Court in Chicago, against NAR challenging policies and related rules that obstructed real estate brokers who use innovative Internet-based tools to offer better services and lower costs to consumers. The Department said that the policies prevented consumers from receiving the full benefits of competition, discouraged discountin...

NEW YORK - MARTIN WEISBERG, a former corporate partner in the New York office of an international law firm, has been indicted on federal wire fraud and money laundering charges. The charges are based on WEISBERG’s alleged theft of money from an escrow account established on behalf of one of his clients for which WEISBERG served as escrow agent. WEISBERG will be arraigned later today before United States Magistrate Judge Robert M. Levy at the U.S. Courthouse, 225 Cadman Plaza East, Brooklyn, New York. The charges were announced by Benton J. Campbell, United States Attorney for the Eastern District of New York, and Mark J. Mershon, Assistant Director-in-Charge of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, New York Field Division. The indictment alleges that WEISBERG assisted a corporate client establish a $30 million escrow account and advised the client that the account could not earn interest for the client’s benefit. In fact, WEISBERG caused the $30 million to be placed into an interest-...