A former North Jersey politician was sentenced Thursday to five years in prison for his role in a $13 million mortgage fraud scam that used phony documents and “straw buyers” to make illegal profits on overbuilt condos in two South Jersey shore towns.
John Leadbeater, 59, of Kearny, New Jersey, previously pleaded guilty in March 2015 before U.S. District Judge Jerome B. Simandle in Camden to an indictment charging him with conspiracy to commit wire fraud.
With tax season upon us, the U.S. Department of the Treasury is warning taxpayers to be on high alert for a frightening fraud scam.
People pretending to be International Revenue Service (IRS) agents are making ruthless, aggressive calls, telling people they owe back taxes and threatening them if they don’t pay up immediately.
“I am going to proceed you to the sheriff’s officer. And within the next hour they will be at your doorstep to handcuff you and put you behind bars,” a fraudulent caller told ABC News.
The U.S. Treasury Deputy Inspector General for Tax Administration (TIGTA),Timothy Camus has received reports of nearly 900,000 fake calls since October 2013. Roughly 5,000 victims have paid over $26.5 million as a result of the scam.
A South Jersey businessman will spend 27 years in prison for his involvement in a $3 million conspiracy to scam timeshare owners by offering fraudulent consulting services to customers.
Adam Lacerda, 31, of Atlantic County, was convicted in September 2013 of defrauding hundreds of timeshare owners through the Egg Harbor Township-based Vacation Ownership Group LLC (now VO Financial), according to the FBI.
TWELVE members of a counterfeit drug ring – including six from the Grimsby area – raked in more than £10 million selling fake Viagra under the cover of a mail-order fishing tackle business.
The UK-wide conspiracy offered cheap erectile dysfunction pills to online and face-to-face customers around the world.
The northern branch was led by Thailand-based Stephen Laverick, but his ex-wife Catherine Laverick, 47, of Ulceby, was in charge of day-to-day operations in the UK.
Family members from the Grimsby area were recruited to assist with the massive criminal enterprise.
WASHINGTON — A sophisticated IRS impostor scam has become so widespread that ruthless criminals even tried to bilk the top US tax fraud investigator out of money.
“I myself received one of these calls at my home on a Saturday,” Timothy Camus, deputy Treasury inspector general for tax administration, told a Senate panel Thursday.
Federal authorities arrested three Los Angeles area residents Wednesday for allegedly running a multi-million dollar ‘pay to stay’ visa fraud scheme that let foreign nationals stay in the U.S. by “attending” vocational schools without attending classes.
The four schools were based in the L.A. area but almost all the students lived elsewhere. The investigation found that many were living as far away as Hawaii, Texas and Washington. When investigators visited one of the schools, they found only one student attending a class when records indicated the college had 300 students.