FSA wins first criminal conviction for 'boiler room' fraud

The Financial Services Authority has secured its first criminal conviction for a "boiler room" fraud after David Mason was sentenced to two years in prison and disqualified from being a director for six years.The FSA regards boiler rooms – where investors are cold called to buy worthless, overpriced or nonexistent shares – as a "major menace to the public".After a two-year investigation, Mason pleaded guilty at Southwark crown court to 13 counts of carrying on a regulated activity without authorisation, one count of making false or misleading statements...

Read More

Bernard Madoff's payroll manager, Eric Lipkin, has pleaded guilty in a New York court after being charged with involvement in the Wall Street trader's multi-billion dollar fraud.

Lipkin, 37, admitted on Monday night that he "worked to deceive auditors". He pleaded guilty to six criminal counts, including falsifying documents and bank fraud, in a hearing in Manhattan federal court. The plea was part of an agreement to co-operate with the US government in its investigation of the biggest Ponzi scheme in US history.Madoff, 73, was arrested in December 2008 and is serving a 150-year sentence in a North Carolina prison.Lipkin admitted that he had doctored documents to show nonexistent account holdings, added fake employees to...

Read More

Pennsylvania Supreme Court this morning refused to hear an appeal of a 2009 civil fraud verdict against Philadelphia Common Pleas Court Judge Willis W. Berry Jr.

The Pennsylvania Supreme Court this morning refused to hear an appeal of a 2009 civil fraud verdict against Philadelphia Common Pleas Court Judge Willis W. Berry Jr.The one-sentence denial of review by the state's high court brings to an end the fight about the propriety of the verdict by a Philadelphia Common Pleas Court jury, which found that Berry defrauded a woman named Denise Jackson in the sale of a North Philadelphia lot.The jury awarded Jackson damages totaling almost $200,000 against Berry and his real estate development company, Reddberry...

Read More

businessman linked to a £100million investment scandal faked his death and is on the run in South-East Asia, fraud investigators suspect.

David Elias was declared dead after a bout of pneumonia in May 2009. He was living as a fugitive in Singapore and his ashes were purportedly scattered in the Malaysian rain forest on Borneo.The financier was said to be behind one of the biggest personal finance frauds in recent years.Investigators at the Serious Fraud Office probing the collapse of investment firm Keydata, to which Elias was linked, were reported yesterday to have ‘serious doubts’ that he is dead.One is understood to believe that he may have faked his own death  ‘Reggie Perrin-style’...

Read More

A staff member is being investigated for defrauding one of New Zealand's oldest friendly societies, allegedly taking up to $1 million over a decade.

The Serious Fraud Office said yesterday it was working with Wellington police to investigate allegations of employee fraud at Hibernian Catholic Benefit Society, whose headquarters are in Dixon St, Wellington.SFO chief executive Adam Feeley said that, after initial investigations, it appeared a single staff member had been committing fraud over an extended period."It's not a case of someone writing a single big cheque and walking off with it."It appears to be more covert and to have been carried out over a longer time, so there are a fair number...

Read More

A wanted Irish man who has been on the run for over 25 years has reportedly been found dead in France.

Robert Stapleton is wanted in connection with a multi-million pound fraud, with Irish, UK and European Warrants for his arrest.Lincolnshire Police previously said the 67-year-old was wanted over allegations of fraud of £5 million relating to companies he controlled.Mr Stapleton, who has appeared on Crimewatch’s Most Wanted board, was arrested on a European arrest warrant in Ireland in 2005 but failed to surrender to extradition and disappeared.It is now believed his body was found in a town in Brittany, France, on May 22nd. It is understood his...

Read More