How is any of that money changing hands legal? Does it come from their political campaign contributions or is it somehow taxpayer dollars (which would be illegal use)?
Now what perked my interest was the Nevada land transfers with no money changing hands, or so it was recorded on the titles.
CNBC's American Greed did the segment on a huge land fraud in Florida---an elaborate scheme that fooled retirees, seasoned real estate agents and big companies alike. The list of alleged victims is still growing, long after the crooks fled to Russia.
Allegations include claims that the Florida-based Sky Development Group:
- Forged deeds and sold more than $1M n worth of property it didn't own in one Citrus County development, Citrus Springs.
- Took millions of dollars for land without turning over the property to the buyers.
- Referred buyers to a fake title company managed by the crooks to close land deals.
- Took money for new homes it never built or never finished.
=============================================
Rory Reid is a lawyer; he claims he received "legal fees" via an account at Bonneville Bank. The fees from I Works’ general ledger that same day shows $50,000 was paid to RMR Consulting for “legal fees.” Another $200,015 was paid Dec. 2..
=============================================
We need to study the complex scheme one NY law firm engaged in before it was closed down for fraud.
====================================================
3/7/14 NY DAILY NEWS REPORT By Shayna Jacobs --Manhattan law firm top executives indicted in book-cooking scheme.... \three top executives of shuttered Manhattan firm firm Dewey & LeBoeuf were indicted Thursday in a $200 million book-cooking operation. They pleaded not guilty to grand larceny, scheme to defraud, securities fraud and falsifying business records.
Principles pleaded not guilty to grand larceny, scheme to defraud, securities fraud and falsifying business records. The fraud involved swindling big cash from insurance companies and financial institutions over a four-year period. --SNIP--
SOURCE Jefferson Siegel/New York Daily News http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/nyc-crime/law-firm-execs-indicted-book-cooking-scheme-article-1.1713723#ixzz2vqNjKHQR
============================================
ZEROHEDGE.COM---The Law Firm's Fraudulent Methods
RELATED CHARGES----MISLEADING BOND OFFERING--SEC filed a related civil lawsuit against Davis, DiCarmine, Sanders and two former Dewey finance officials, finance director Frank Canellas and former controller Thomas Mullikin. The SEC complaint accused the former executives of defrauding investors by misleading them about Dewey's finances in marketing materials for a $150 million bond offering in 2010.
By the end of 2008, the Schemers had created a document they called the “Master Plan” that described certain fraudulent accounting adjustments that the Schemers decided to pursue as part of the Scheme. From in or about the end of 2008 until the Firm’s bankruptcy in 2012, the Schemers input numerous of these and other fraudulent adjustments, and engaged in other fraudulent conduct, most of which made it appear that the Firm had either increased revenue, decreased expenses, or limited distributions to partners.
Some of these fraudulent adjustments and acts were:
a. Reversing disbursement write-offs – From 2008 through 2011, the Schemers improperly reversed millions of dollars of write-offs of client disbursements that the Firm had no intention or reasonable expectation of collecting.
b. Reclassifying disbursement payments – From 2008 through 2011, the Schemers improperly reclassified millions of dollars of payments that had been applied to client disbursements during the year and applied the payments instead to outstanding fee amounts.
c. Reclassifying Of Counsel payments – From 2008 through 2011, the Schemers reclassified millions of dollars of compensation to Of Counsel lawyers as equity partner compensation. Historically, Of Counsel compensation had been treated as an expense in the Firm’s financial statements.
d. Reversing credit card write-offs – In 2008 the Firm initially properly wrote off more than $2.4 million in charges from an American Express card associated with defendant SANDERS that had not previously been expensed and were not chargeable to clients. For year-end 2008, the Schemers fraudulently reversed this write-off and hid the amount in the Firm’s books as an unbilled client disbursement receivable. Each subsequent year, the Schemers initially wrote this amount off, but then reversed the write-off at year-end. The amount remained on the Firm’s books as an unbilled client disbursement receivable at the time of the bankruptcy.
e. Reclassifying salaried partner expenses – In 2008, the Schemers improperly reclassified as equity partner compensation millions of dollars in compensation paid to, and amortization of benefits related to, two salaried, non-equity partners. Similar amounts had previously been treated as expenses on the Firm’s financial statements, so the reclassification had the effect of reducing Firm expenses. This change in treatment was neither disclosed to the Firm’s auditors nor disclosed on the Firm’s audited financial statements. In later years, the compensation paid to these two salaried partners was classified as equity partner compensation.
f. Seeking backdated checks – During at least two year-ends from 2008 through 2011, the Schemers sought backdated checks from clients to post to the prior year. At the end of each of the Scheme years the Schemers engaged in efforts to hide the date on which checks were received by the Firm. These efforts minimized the risk that the Firm’s auditors would discover that December checks received in January, including backdated checks, were being posted to the prior year.
g. Applying partner capital as fee revenue – For year-end 2009, more than $1 million that had been contributed by a partner to satisfy his capital requirement was applied as a fee payment for the client of a different partner. This amount was backed out of fees and applied to the partner’s capital account during 2010, but for year-end 2010 it was again applied as a fee payment for the same client.
h. Applying loan repayments as revenue – In 2008, pursuant to defendant DAVIS’s authorization, the Firm took on $2.4 million in bank loans that benefitted defendants DICARMINE and SANDERS. In early 2012, defendants DICARMINE and SANDERS repaid the Firm the final $1.2 million owed under the loans but structured the transaction so the loan repayment would increase the Firm’s revenue for 2011.
Bottom line: on or about March 2012, the Scheme had collapsed in on itself. For years, the Schemers had been fraudulently claiming revenue that the Firm did not have and pushing expenses and financial obligations off into the future. The Firm could no longer pay partners enough to prevent their departure, and the Schemers could no longer fool the Firm’s lenders, investors, and others. The Firm declared bankruptcy; thousands lost their jobs; and the Firm’s creditors were left owed hundreds of millions of dollars.