fraud

Stories 1 - 20 |  Next >>

Convicted Felons Launch Lobbying Firm With Fake Names

Pair have tried to frame government officials, spread far-right conspiracy theories

(Newser) - Jay Klein and Bill Sanders founded a startup last year to meld artificial intelligence with Washington lobbying, quickly attracting big-name clients including Toyota. Along the way, several employees became suspicious of their bosses and discovered they're actually Jacob Wohl and Jack Burkman, a couple of convicted felons and far-right...

HP Isn't Halting Lawsuit After Billionaire Dies in Yacht Sinking

Mike Lynch's widow, who survived the accident, could be on the hook for $4B civil fraud complaint

(Newser) - As billionaire Mike Lynch's family continues to grieve his death, and that of six others, after his superyacht Bayesian sank off the coast of Sicily on Aug. 19, they have another ongoing issue to contend with. People reports that Hewlett Packard Enterprise, which had sued Lynch for fraud after...

Duped Into Buying $6M in Fake Warhols, Family Sues

Florida family accuses Miami Fine Art Gallery, director Les Roberts of fraud

(Newser) - A family claims to have been duped by a Miami art gallery into paying more than $6 million for forged Andy Warhol works. "Les Roberts and Miami Fine Art Gallery are fraudsters," reads the lawsuit filed Thursday in state court in Miami, per the New York Times . Matthew,...

Army Employee Who Defrauded Gold Star Families Gets Prison

Financial counselor steered insurance payouts to a brokerage firm that paid him commissions

(Newser) - A former Army employee has been sentenced to more than 12 years in prison in a scheme to defraud Gold Star families of millions of dollars in life insurance payouts. Caz Craffy, 42, was a civilian financial counselor who took advantage of his position to "prey upon families of...

Woman Charged in Plan to Scam Presleys Out of Graceland

Scheme included aliases, fraudulent loan documents, prosecutors say

(Newser) - A 53-year-old Missouri woman faces federal charges in what the Justice Department described as a scheme to defraud Elvis Presley's family out of millions of dollars and ownership of his Memphis home, Graceland. Lisa Findley of Kimberling City appeared briefly Friday in court in Missouri and is now being...

Ex-PepsiCo Exec Is Suing Over Flamin' Hot Cheetos

Richard Montanez says he invented Flamin' Hot Cheetos, claims company ruined his career

(Newser) - A court case could soon settle a spicy dispute: Who invented Flamin' Hot Cheetos? A former PepsiCo executive is suing the company, saying it destroyed his career after questioning his claim that he invented the popular flavor of Cheetos. According to his lawsuit, Richard Montanez began working for PepsiCo as...

Boeing Cops Plea, Admits Defrauding FAA Over 737 Max

Company strikes deal with DOJ over 2 crashes that killed 346 people

(Newser) - The Justice Department submitted an agreement with Boeing on Wednesday in which the aerospace giant will plead guilty to a fraud charge for misleading US regulators who approved the 737 Max jetliner before two of the planes crashed, killing 346 people. The detailed plea agreement was filed in federal district...

His Obsession With Collecting Turned Into a Quest for Justice

The New York Times has the fascinating story of art forger and his client

(Newser) - "Oh my God, I hit the mother lode." That's what Doug Arbittier recalls thinking in 2013 when he saw an exquisitely carved antique woodblock on eBay, writes Christopher Kuo for the New York Times . The item featured an anatomical model of a human thorax and abdomen and...

Online Therapist Allegedly Let Untrained Partner Treat Clients

States say fraud was 'coordinated effort'

(Newser) - A social worker licensed to provide therapy in Florida and Tennessee let her untrained, unlicensed wife impersonate her in online sessions, according to authorities in both states. The alleged ruse wasn't discovered until Tammy Heath-Randolph, wife of Peggy Randolph, died in 2023, the BBC reports. State authorities say Randolph,...

Anna Sorokin Has Competition in 'Queen of the Con'
'Queen of the Con'
Extradited From Maine
UPDATED
Jul 2, 2024 11:38 AM CDT

'Queen of the Con' Extradited From Maine

Alleged fake heiress Marianne Smyth to answer 15-year-old fraud charges in Northern Ireland

(Newser) - A US woman who allegedly claimed to be an Irish heiress and scammed victims out of tens of thousands of dollars has been extradited to the UK to face charges there, reports the AP . Marianne Smyth allegedly stole more than $170,000 from victims in Northern Ireland from 2008 to...

5 Charged in Plan to Bribe Juror, Persuade Others to Acquit

Prosecutors say defendants followed woman they wanted to argue racism to jury members

(Newser) - Federal prosecutors charged five people on Wednesday in a scheme to throw a fraud trial in Minnesota, after officials said they found a plan to pay off one juror and persuade others to vote for acquittal. Three of those charged were defendants in the federal fraud trial that ended this...

Jury Returns Verdicts After Fraud Trial Bribery Attempt

Five are convicted, two acquitted in case involving $40M in pandemic relief

(Newser) - A jury convicted five Minnesota residents but acquitted two others on Friday for their roles in a scheme to steal more than $40 million that was supposed to feed children during the coronavirus pandemic. The case received widespread attention after someone tried to bribe a juror with a bag of...

Nonprofit CFO Accused of 'Simply Astonishing' Fraud

William Smith allegedly embezzled almost $40M from Detroit Riverfront Conservancy

(Newser) - The former chief financial officer of a nonprofit tasked with improving Detroit's waterfront has been charged with a fraud that prosecutors say is "simply astonishing in scale." William Smith, who was fired as CFO of the Detroit Riverfront Conservancy last week, is accused of stealing around $40...

US Companies Inadvertently Gave $7M to North Korea

American charged in fraud scheme that saw North Koreans pose as remote US workers

(Newser) - Citizens of North Korea are snagging remote jobs with US companies and funneling earnings into their country's missile program, federal authorities said Thursday in announcing fraud charges against a US woman accused of facilitating such a scheme. Christina Chapman, 49, of Litchfield Park, Arizona, is among five people facing...

DOJ: Boeing Breached Deal to Avoid Prosecution on 737 Max

It's not clear if the Justice Department will now file charges over the beleaguered aircraft

(Newser) - Boeing has violated a settlement that allowed the company to avoid criminal prosecution after two deadly crashes involving its 737 Max aircraft, the Justice Department told a federal judge on Tuesday. It's now up to the Justice Department to decide whether to file charges against the aircraft maker amid...

Truth Social's Auditor Is in Hot Water With the SEC

Agency accuses BF Borgers of 'deliberate and systemic failures' in more than 1.5K filings

(Newser) - The auditing company responsible for keeping tabs on the parent company for Donald Trump's Truth Social platform apparently needed an auditor for itself. On Friday, the Securities and Exchange Commission accused BF Borgers of "massive fraud," saying the "sham audit mill" found "deliberate and systemic...

Anti-Trump Super PAC Says It Lost Big Bucks in Cybertheft

Lincoln Project says 'hackers' stole $35K

(Newser) - The Lincoln Project is already hard at work blasting out ads for the November election and covering Donald Trump's legal problems , making no bones about its mission to make sure the most recent ex-president doesn't get to the Oval Office again. But the anti-Trump PAC also has its...

Trevor Bauer's Accuser Faces Extortion Charge

Player says 'this entire situation has been a massive lie'

(Newser) - An Arizona woman who accused former major league pitcher Trevor Bauer of sexual assault has been charged with defrauding the baseball player. An indictment unsealed Monday in Maricopa County Superior Court charges the woman with fraud and theft by extortion, both felonies, but doesn't provide details about the accusations....

SBF Gets 25 Years: 'My Useful Life Is Probably Over'

Sam Bankman-Fried is sentenced over cryptocurrency fraud

(Newser) - Sam Bankman-Fried is going to federal prison for a long time over his fraud conviction in the world of crypto, though not as long as prosecutors wanted. Judge Lewis Kaplan on Thursday sentenced the 32-year-old former wunderkind to 25 years related to the collapse of his FTX crypto exchange, which...

Cops: Guy Had His Legs Amputated in Insurance Scam

Taiwanese pair claimed cold temperatures caused frostbite requiring amputation; investigators say it was dry ice

(Newser) - An alleged plot between friends to collect a more than $1 million insurance payout failed, leaving the pair no better for having frozen one man's legs to the point of requiring amputation, prosecutors say. Indeed, the two Taiwanese college students, identified as Zhang and Liao, both 23, are now...

Stories 1 - 20 |  Next >>