Dan Wickline, 62, was sentenced to 18 months in prison while his son Chad Wickline, 34, received a 30-month sentence

Dan Wickline, 62, was sentenced to 18 months in prison while his son Chad Wickline, 34, received a 30-month sentence. Both men last July put an end to an ongoing trial by pleading guilty in U.S. District Court in Columbus to a count of conspiracy to commit money laundering. Chad Wickline also pleaded guilty to a count of mail fraud.The men worked through Liberty Resources, which marketed debt-elimination services over the Internet. Liberty charged a fee to help consumers get out from under credit card debt and they received documents from the business...

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Harry Markopolos tells 60 Minutes correspondent Steve Kroft about his futile efforts to expose a Ponzi scheme

first television interview, Harry Markopolos tells 60 Minutes correspondent Steve Kroft about his futile efforts to expose a Ponzi scheme that lost investors billions of dollars. Kroft's report will be broadcast this Sunday, March 1, at 7 p.m. ET/PT. Madoff is currently under house arrest, accused of running what may be the largest investor fraud operation in history. Markopolos, a financial analyst and fraud investigator, says a lot of people had...

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Christopher G. Brooks, 39, was sentenced in U.S. District Court in Seattle for his role in fraudulently netting more than $1.6 million

Christopher G. Brooks, 39, was sentenced in U.S. District Court in Seattle for his role in fraudulently netting more than $1.6 million for him and his wife by participating in 54 fraudulent loan transactions worth more than $27 million.The scheme of Brooks and his wife, Amani Moss, involved home sellers agreeing to overstate their homes’ sales prices, with the difference between the home’s true sale price and the overstated price going to the couple’s Peachtree Development company.Government officials said Brooks and Moss would recruit “straw buyers”...

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Frances M. Flood and Susie Strohm, former executive officers of ClearOne Communications, guilty of all counts charged in the indictment

Frances M. Flood and Susie Strohm, former executive officers of ClearOne Communications, guilty of all counts charged in the indictment (conspiracy, making false statements to an accountant, securities fraud and perjury). Ms. Strohm was convicted of one count of perjury and acquitted on all other charges in the indictment. The trial started Feb. 2. Sentencing is set for May 7 at 2 p.m. At the time of the conduct alleged in the indictment (2001-2002), Flood was the chief executive officer and president of ClearOne Communications, Inc. Strohm held...

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Laura Pendergest-Holt, the first person arrested in the $8 billion Allen Stanford fraud investigation, can walk free once she posts $300,000 bond

Laura Pendergest-Holt, the first person arrested in the $8 billion Allen Stanford fraud investigation, can walk free once she posts $300,000 bond, a Houston judge ruled on Friday.Pendergest-Holt, the 35-year-old chief investment officer for the Stanford Financial Group who was arrested by the FBI on Thursday, spent the night in a Houston detention center, then faced U.S. Magistrate Judge Mary Milloy in court.U.S. prosecutors had asked the judge to set bond at $1 million, an amount that Pendergest-Holt's attorney, Dan Cogdell, called "outrageous."While...

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Robert Cephas Brown Jr. and 49-year-old Duane Allen Eddings were indicted Thursday on multiple felony charges

55-year-old Robert Cephas Brown Jr. and 49-year-old Duane Allen Eddings were indicted Thursday on multiple felony charges, including mail fraud, wire fraud and money laundering. Authorities say they operated under multiple names, including Trebor Company, and lured investors with promises of high returns. One plan they are accused of offering promised to double investors' money in three months. According to the indictment, Brown spent the money on limousine services, a Ferrari Testarossa and expensive clothes, hotels and restaurants. He also allegedly...

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Broome County Security Division Case Integrity Unit recently filed criminal charges upon the conclusion of an investigation

Broome County Security Division Case Integrity Unit recently filed criminal charges upon the conclusion of an investigation of several local welfare recipients who received social services benefits they were not entitled to. In the sweep, twenty four people were arrested and charged with various violations of NYS penal law welfare fraud statutes, which identified $161,612 in fraudulent payments made to beneficiaries. Those charged will begin appearing in Binghamton City Court on Monday, March 2nd. “Many are seeking assistance during these tough...

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Texas billionaire R. Allen Stanford, chairman of the Stanford Group, and James M. Davis, the firm's chief financial officer, misappropriated billions

Stanford, chairman of the Stanford Group, and James M. Davis, the firm's chief financial officer, misappropriated billions of dollars of investors' money and falsified the bank's financial statements to conceal the fraud, the agency said in the complaint filed in federal court in Dallas. Securities and Exchange Commission yesterday amended its civil complaint against Texas billionaire R. Allen Stanford to accuse him of conducting a "massive Ponzi scheme" through companies he controlled. The SEC on Feb. 17 brought civil charges against Stanford,...

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Stephen Walsh appeared before a federal magistrate this week along with Paul Greenwood.

Stephen Walsh appeared before a federal magistrate this week along with Paul Greenwood. According to charges filed by the Securities and Exchange Commission the men, while operating WG Trading Investors of Greenwich, Conn., were involved in conspiracy, wire and securities fraud. The complaint details actions back to 1996 and said the men promised investors that their money would be invested in a stock index arbitrage strategy.“Instead, Greenwood and Walsh essentially treated their clients’ investments as their personal piggy bank to purchase multi-million...

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$8 billion fraud case involving Texas financier R. Allen Stanford

$8 billion fraud case involving Texas financier R. Allen Stanford — with its toxic stew of frozen assets, growing stack of lawsuits and hundreds of furious investors and advisers — is shaping up to be a long-running nightmare that could take years to unravel. Investors' accounts in financial companies controlled by him may remain frozen for more than two years, according to Walter Pagano, head of the forensic-accounting division of Eisner LLP in...

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Antiguans expressed shock prime minister said it could be "catastrophic" for the nation.

Antiguans expressed shock on Tuesday at news their top investor, the Texas billionaire Allen Stanford, was charged with "massive" fraud, and their prime minister said it could be "catastrophic" for the nation."The fall-out threatens catastrophic and immediate consequences," Baldwin Spencer, the leader of the tiny twin-island state of Antigua and Barbuda said in a televised address. "There is no need for pani...

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Stanford Bank is healthy in Venezuela ?

Venezuela's top banking regulator says Stanford Bank is healthy in the country despite fraud allegations elsewhere that led U.S. authorities to shut down offices and freeze assets.Venezuela's superintendent of banks, Edgar Hernandez Behrens, said Stanford Bank Venezuela is in fine shape and that "the situation is normal." He was seeking to reassure Venezuelan depositors who panicked at the news of fraud allegations and sought to withdraw funds.Hernandez said Wednesday that Stanford Bank Venezuela is not affiliated with Stanford Bank on the Caribbean...

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Stanford Financial Group sponsors the Stanford St. Jude Championship on the PGA Tour and the Stanford Financial Tour Championship on the LPGA Tour.

Stanford Financial Group sponsors the Stanford St. Jude Championship on the PGA Tour and the Stanford Financial Tour Championship on the LPGA Tour.With its assets frozen and its chairman accused of fraud, will Stanford Financial Group be able to follow through on those sponsorship obligations? Will either tour want the company to remain as title sponsor?PGA Tour commissioner Tim Finchem released a very brief statement today, saying, "We want to categorically state that the PGA TOUR event in Memphis will be played as scheduled this year."So the...

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Panama's biggest scam to date

latest financial scam perpetrated by the Stanford International bank which has an office in Panama. Although only about 20% the size of the Bernie Madoff pyramid scheme, it has to rank as Panama's biggest scam to date. Obviously this is not a home grown fraud, but unfortunately the fact that it has been operating in Panama will not be good for the Banking commission and Panama's reputation.The history section of the Stanford website has this quote from the father of the founder:"Build the business, step by step, on a firm foundation of hard work,...

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Charges filed by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) portray the flamboyant Sir Allen Stanford as the ponzi-master’s offshore equivalent

Charges filed by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) portray the flamboyant Sir Allen Stanford as the ponzi-master’s offshore equivalent, perpetrating a fraud of “shocking magnitude” based on “false promises” and fabricated performance data, primarily through his Antigua-based bank.The central allegation is that Stanford International Bank hoodwinked investors over the safety and liquidity of uninsured certificates of deposit (CDs). It took in some $8 billion, consistently offering rates well above those of big banks—sometimes more than...

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Texas financier R. Allen Stanford disappears

The Texas financier accused of cheating thousands of customers out of $8B is currently missing, federal authorities said.Federal authorities raided all three of his headquarters but could not find 58-year-old Allen Stanford.CNBC reported that Stanford unsuccessfully tried to hire a private jet from Houston to Antigua. The jet company would not accept his credit card.On Tuesday, the Securities and Exchange Commission filed a complaint against Stanford...

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Bruce E. Hammonds, a former Merrill Lynch & Co. employee in San Antonio got Merrill Lynch clients to invest in a partnership he controlled

Bruce E. Hammonds, a former Merrill Lynch & Co. employee in San Antonio, admitted that for more than two years, starting in August 2006, he got Merrill Lynch clients to invest in a partnership he controlled without the knowledge of the investment giant or the investors who thought the money was going into a Merrill Lynch fund.The firm fired him in June for co-mingling investor funds with his personal funds and not disclosing the partnership.After his termination, he kept soliciting investors for the partnership, the U.S. Attorney's Office said...

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U.S. brokerage regulators fined R. Allen Stanford’s firm more than a year ago for misleading investors while selling certificates of deposit

U.S. brokerage regulators fined R. Allen Stanford’s firm more than a year ago for misleading investors while selling certificates of deposit, raising new questions about watchdogs already under scrutiny for missing Bernard Madoff’s alleged $50 billion Ponzi scheme. Stanford Group Co. was fined $10,000 by the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority in November 2007 for distributing marketing material that “failed to present fair and balanced treatment” of the risks associated with CDs. The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission yesterday filed...

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nationwide ATM heist late last year netted thieves $9 million in cash in one day

nationwide ATM heist late last year netted thieves $9 million in cash in one day, according to published reports. The coordinated attack stemmed from a computer intrusion at payment processor RBS WorldPay.Atlanta-based RBS WorldPay announced on Dec. 23 that hackers had broken into its database and made off with personal and financial data on 1.5 million customers of its payroll cards business. Some companies use payroll cards in lieu of paychecks by depositing employee salaries or hourly wages directly into payroll card accounts, which can then...

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Manhattan judge releases indicted Marc Dreier $400 million fraud lawyer.

Manhattan U.S. District court judge releases indicted Marc Dreier$400 million fraud lawyer.New York, NY Late today a U.S. District Judge in Manhattan released indicted lawyer, Marc Dreier, on a $10 million bond. As reported by Reuters, Dreier, a high profile New York attorney for 30 years, was indicted by a U.S. federal grand jury for securities fraud, conspiracy, wire fraud, misrepresenting hedge funds and investment funds in New York and Canada. Prosecuting attorneys allege Drier orchestrated a $400 million investment fraud.Drier has since pleaded...

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After being caught by her boss, a company secretary who allegedly defrauded her company of funds shot herself dead

After being caught by her boss, a company secretary who allegedly defrauded her company of funds shot herself dead in their office in Iloilo City, a radio report said late Thursday.Radio dzRH reported that the secretary, identified only as Julie Fe, 27, shot herself in the temple with a .45-caliber pistol while her boss Raymond Coo reported her to the police.Initial investigation showed Coo confronted Julie Fe over the alleged fraud, and went to a police station to lodge a complaint against her.When he returned, he found her bloodied and lifeless...

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Verlin Swartzendruber has pleaded not guilty to 11 felony counts, including wire fraud, money laundering and conspiracy to defraud.

Verlin Swartzendruber has pleaded not guilty to 11 felony counts, including wire fraud, money laundering and conspiracy to defraud. Trial is scheduled for March 9 in Fargo.Defense attorney F. Clinton Broden filed two motions to delay the trial because he believes it conflicts with cases from two other clients. In his second appeal, Broden said he ``desperately requests this court'' to move the trial to June or July.In denying the motions, U.S. District Judge Ralph Erickson said Broden should have enough time to prepare for the Swartzendruber trial...

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Robert Miracle,who allegedly ran a $65 million pyramid scheme involving investments in Southeast Asian oil development

Bellevue businessman who allegedly ran a $65 million pyramid scheme involving investments in Southeast Asian oil development has been ordered held in federal custody by a U.S. magistrate judge after his arrest Thursday morning.Prosecutors allege Robert Miracle, 48, and two Malaysian men used money they took from some investors to pay others, all the while claiming they were helping develop vast tracks of oil-rich land overseas.The 23-count indictment unsealed Thursday alleges they lied to investors, created fake financial statements and ginned-up...

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Carlos De Graca Lopes was sentenced in federal court Thursday on charges including seven counts of visa fraud and four counts of perjury.

Carlos De Graca Lopes was sentenced in federal court Thursday on charges including seven counts of visa fraud and four counts of perjury. man who was accused of torture while working as a prison warden in Cape Verde has been sentenced to three years in prison for lying about his past when he came to the United States.The U.S. Attorney's office said Lopes, 46, had been ordered by a Cape Verdean court in 2006 to stay in the country. But he obtained a visa to work in the U.S.Shortly after arriving he was discovered and ordered deported. He then applied...

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Markku Salminen, who retired from the post of national police commissioner last year, was suspected of tax evasion

District prosecutor's office told the Finnish News Agency (STT) on Thursday that Markku Salminen, who retired from the post of national police commissioner last year, was suspected of tax evasion in failing to declare the repeated use of an official car for commuting and possibly other kinds of non-official travel.Mr Salminen has denied any wrongdoing."The inquiry has focused on the use of an official car for all kinds of private journeys," said Tapio Mäkinen, the district prosecutor heading the investigation.He added Mr Salminen was suspected...

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Maurice D. Brooks Sr.led a lavish lifestyle on the backs of mentally disabled people in Seattle, stealing hundreds of thousands of dollars

Maurice D. Brooks Sr. was paying tuition for his kids at a local private elementary school, owned a Lexus and Lincoln Navigator outfitted with flashy accessories, and vacationed twice a year at "Club Hedonism" in Jamaica.Brooks, who now lives in Texas, where he transferred his Renton-based hypnotherapy business, also was a frequent eBay buyer and had an account on Adult Friend Finder, an online dating service.In Washington state, he headed a small nonprofit company that was supposed to help people with disabilities sustain themselves with their...

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Angalia Moore has been charged with embezzling $200,000 from a company that helps the mentally ill and another that develops computer software.

Angalia Moore of Northwest Washington was indicted on 12 federal counts of wire fraud, mail fraud and theft in connection with the scheme that lasted from 2002 through early last year, authorities said yesterday.The 54-year-old District woman has been charged with embezzling $200,000 from a company that helps the mentally ill and another that develops computer software.Federal prosecutors said Moore embezzled the funds from Life Stride, a company in the District that provides services to the mentally ill, and Chiliad Publishing. As part of the...

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John A. Yanchek pleaded guilty Wednesday to conspiracy, money laundering and making false statements to a bank in connection with a commercial loan.

Authorities say a Sarasota, Fla., lawyer has admitted to participating in an $82.7 million mortgage loan scheme that defrauded seven banks.Federal prosecutors say 49-year-old John A. Yanchek pleaded guilty Wednesday to conspiracy, money laundering and making false statements to a bank in connection with a commercial loan. The most serious offense, making false statements, carries a maximum sentence of 30 years in prison and a $1 million fine.plea agreement says Yanchek and three other men conspired to get commercial loans to cover the purchase...

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Charles and Lynda Wilson set up a fictitious collection agency while he worked as a credit manager for the newspaper

Former Tampa Tribune employee and his wife have been charged with bilking the paper's parent company out of more than $1 million over a period of 10 years.Charles and Lynda Wilson set up a fictitious collection agency while he worked as a credit manager for the newspaper, the Secret Service said. Charles Wilson was responsible for collecting debt from advertisers.Wilsons used the shell agency, CCL Services, to charge Media General (nyse: MEG - news - people ) Inc. collection services, said John Joyce, special agent in charge of the Secret Service's...

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Chairman Kazutsugi Nami, 75, and other L&G executives arrested Thursday on suspicion of defrauding investors

Japanese police have arrested the chairman of a bedding company on suspicion he swindled investors out of $2.5 billion, in what local media said would be the biggest financial scam in Japanese history.Officers from the Tokyo Metropolitan and Miyagi and Fukushima Prefectural police departments converged on the home of Kazutsugi Nami, 75, chairman of L&G KK, a bedding supplier, on Thursday, arresting him and 20 other people, said an official in...

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Ron Parker who made millions in a Jacksonville mortgage-fraud scheme was sentenced to four years in federal prison.

Ron Parker, who ran seminars on real estate investing and marketed hundreds of homes through a Northside office, pleaded guilty last year to a single charge of conspiring to commit fraud in the early part of the decade.Ron Parker who made millions in a Jacksonville mortgage-fraud scheme was sentenced Thursday to four years in federal prison.His lawyer asked a judge to request a cell in the same Panhandle prison where Parker’s brother is already serving...

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Royal Mint has reported that the number of counterfeit £1 coins in circulation is on the rise.

Royal Mint has reported that the number of counterfeit £1 coins in circulation is on the rise.In a routine sampling of British coinage, the Mint found one in forty of the coins to be faked, the highest proportion since their introduction in 1983.In terms of value, faked £1 coins could therefore account for £37.5 million of cash in circulation.The increase represents a worsening of the situation in September of last year, when one in fifty of the coins were found to be the work of forgers. It also represents a 26% rise on 2007. Northern Ireland...

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F.B.I. slashed its criminal investigative work force to expand its national security role after the Sept. 11 attacks

Federal Bureau of Investigation is struggling to find enough agents and resources to investigate criminal wrongdoing tied to the country’s economic crisis, according to current and former bureau officials.Cuts at the Bureau The bureau slashed its criminal investigative work force to expand its national security role after the Sept. 11 attacks, shifting more than 1,800 agents, or nearly one-third of all agents in criminal programs, to terrorism and...

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J.V. Huffman Jr. will appear in Superior Court on Monday for an administrative hearing.

J.V. Huffman Jr. will appear in Superior Court on Monday for an administrative hearing.Huffman, 45, of Claremont, was indicted by a grand jury on Dec. 8 on four felony counts of securities fraud and four felony counts of obtaining property by false pretense.Huffman is accused of lying to neighbors, family and friends for 17 years, telling them he bought and sold securities as he took millions of dollars from them to pay for his lavish lifestyle in a Ponzi scheme.According to U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission documents, about 500 people invested...

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Gordon Grigg's company, ProTrust Management charged Grigg and his firm with securities fraud

Davidson resident Steve Wieland has prayed with Gordon Grigg, invited the former Charlotte resident into his home and trusted him enough to let Grigg's company invest his life savings.But last month, Wieland said, he began to get suspicious about the types of investments Grigg said he was making. He called a friend of his who also had invested with Grigg's company, ProTrust Management of Nashville, Tenn., who shared his concerns.Then Wieland heard from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. This week, the agency charged Grigg and his firm...

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His heart wasnt in it charged a cardiologist from the southern Chicago suburbs with bilking Medicare and insurance companies out of more than $13 mill

Federal authorities have charged a cardiologist from the southern Chicago suburbs with bilking Medicare and insurance companies out of more than $13 million for care they say he never provided. According to U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald's office, 49-year-old Dr. Sushil Sheth faces as long as 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine for one count of health care fraud. Fitzgerald's office alleged Friday that Sheth received $13.4 million between January 2002 and July 2007 in fraudulent reimbursement for high levels of cardiac care that the office...

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Paymentech credit card numbers given by the pastor had been stolen from its computer system, Westdale Florists had been scammed out of $22,000.

First emails arrived at Westdale Florists on Friday, January 2.They were from Rev. Benjamin Wallace, pastor at Christ the King Cathedral in Ghana.His church was celebrating its anniversary and he wanted to order 50 gift baskets and wreaths from the small Hamilton flower shop and have them shipped to Ghana.What’s more, the good reverend provided all the money up front — around $6,700, including shipping fees. The funds went into the store’s bank account without a hitch.Wow, thought store owner Rosanna Yeomans, what a great start to the new year.And...

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Ronald Schongar of Clifton Park, N.Y., pleaded guilty to one count of mail fraud

Ronald Schongar of Clifton Park, N.Y., pleaded guilty to one count of mail fraud in U.S. District Court in New Haven on Friday. He had been indicted in 2006 on three counts of mail fraud and two counts of wire fraud. Schongar operated Microb Phase, a company hired by the school districts to remove mold from their buildings. Prosecutors say Schongar claimed he applied a certain product, but that he had no authorization to use or advertise it. Authorities say he is expected to be sentenced to between four and 24 months in prison when he is sentenced...

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MBilling, MB Moon Park, MB Hot Planet, and PHE Subscription fraud involves electronic drafts against a checking account ranging in amount from $24.95

ProPay, Inc. has recently become aware of what appears to be a very large and widespread international fraud scheme involving unauthorized electronic checks (ACH). The scheme has affected millions of people including, unfortunately, a small number of individuals who may be or have been ProPay account holders. To be clear, after internal and external analysis and investigation, ProPay is extremely confident that the stolen bank information came from other sources and not from ProPay.The fraud scheme mentioned above involves an electronic draft against...

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Hearing of the foreign currency scam case against Munaf Kalia, Haneef Kalia and Javed Khanani.

Tribunal for Prevention of Electronic Crimes adjourned till February 2, the hearing of the foreign currency scam case against Munaf Kalia, Haneef Kalia and Javed Khanani. The adjournment came on the request of Deputy Attorney General Aamir Raza Naqvi who stated that in view of his busy schedule the, government appoint a new lawyer as Special Public Prosecutor (SPP). The defense side lead by Dr Faroogh A Nasim and Shaukat Hayat opposed the adjournment and maintained that it was merely a tactic to delay the trial and the hearing in bail plea filed...

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Susanna and Anna Venter were each found guilty on 62 counts of fraud, while the third sister Lourentia Palland was found guilty on 56 charges.

Susanna and Anna Venter were each found guilty on 62 counts of fraud, while the third sister Lourentia Palland was found guilty on 56 charges. Three sisters who created fraudulent salary advice and bank statements to obtain credit from financial institutions were found guilty by the Bellville Commercial Crimes Court on Friday. The three created fake salary advice slips and falsified bank statements in order to obtain loans fraudulently, and to purchase a new car. The multiple fraud charges against the three involved about R700 000. The charge sheet,...

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