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Nine therapists in New York have been arrested and charged with stealing millions of dollars from a state health program that aims to help very young children who have developmental delays, federal prosecutors said Tuesday. The therapists stole over $3 million from the New York State Early Intervention Program over more than four years, according to the Department of Justice (DOJ). ... ...the therapists allegedly submitted fraudulent documents for thousands of EIP therapy sessions that never took place in order to get millions of dollars as payment. Some of the therapists are accused of falsely billing sessions every day for...

Clinton Foundation A "Charitable Foundation" Downsizes! Charitable Foundation? Really? Have you wondered why the Clinton Foundation folded so suddenly after Hillary was no longer in a position of influence? Perhaps this summary will provide some insight? From their 2014 990 Tax Form; they list 486 employees (line 5)! It took 486 people who are paid $34.8 million and $91.3 million in fees and expenses, to give away $5.1 MILLION The real heart of the Clintons can be seen here. Staggering but not surprising. These figures are from an official copy of the Bill, Hillary and Chelsea Clinton Foundation for the...

The FBI's investigation into the Clinton Foundation that has been going on for more than a year has now taken a "very high priority," separate sources with intimate knowledge of the probe tell Fox News. FBI agents have interviewed and re-interviewed multiple people on the foundation case, which is looking into possible pay for play interaction between then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and the Clinton Foundation. The FBI's White Collar Crime Division is handling the investigation. Even before the WikiLeaks dumps of alleged emails linked to the Clinton campaign, FBI agents had collected a great deal of evidence, law enforcement...

The Justice Department issued new guidance to its prosecutors on Wednesday, aimed at encouraging more white-collar criminal cases against corporate executives. The new policies come amid persistent criticism that the Justice Department, even while negotiating multi-billion-dollar settlements with large banks, has not been aggressive in prosecuting individuals for financial misconduct—including after the mortgage crisis that devastated the U.S. economy. The policy changes were outlined in a memo issued to Justice Department attorneys and to the FBI, and Deputy Attorney General Sally Yates was expected to discuss the issue in a speech Thursday at New York University’s law school. Though it’s...

Former HUD-OIG Special Agent In Charge Indicted on Mortgage Fraud Charges Herschell Harvell, Jr., 53, Conyers, Georgia, made his initial appearance in federal court on charges of making false statements to a bank to obtain a mortgage loan and conspiring to obstruct an investigation into his real estate transactions by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, Office of Inspector General (HUD-OIG). Until he was terminated in 2013, Harvell was the Special Agent in Charge of HUD-OIG’s Atlanta office, which encompasses several southeastern states. Harvell’s co-defendant and nephew, Tavus A. Wright, 32, Milledgeville, Georgia, also made his initial appearance...

ames Eades of Augusta is charged with obstruction of a police officer, stemming from an incident during Operation Thunder, but he says there is much more to the story than that. Eades says that he and a friend were driving down Alexander Drive early Friday morning when they came to an Operation Thunder Checkpoint on River Watch Parkway. What happened during that stop lead to Eades getting arrested... and he says it's all because he didn't roll down his window all the way "We saw what appeared to be an accident scene. A couple of police cars with blue lights,...

Bartiromo Takes Frank to Task Over Lack of ’08 Financial Crisis Prosecutions • Frank: 'Individuals' should be prosecuted on Wall Street, will not say who Former Massachusetts Congressman Barney Frank (D., Mass.) advocated criminal prosecutions against “individuals” involved in the 2008 financial crisis and the subsequent collapse on Wall Street Friday on CNBC. Maria Bartiromo reacted incredulously to Frank’s refusal to name specific individuals who may have perpetrated criminal wrongdoing, accusing the former Congressman of playing populist politics by making specious allegations against the financial industry. Frank attempted to deflect the criticism by stating as Chair of House Financial Services...

Radio Talk Show Host Charged with Mortgage Fraud Warren Ballentine, 41, Durham, North Carolina, and formerly of Country Club Hills, Illinois, a lawyer who hosts a national radio talk show, was indicted on federal charges for allegedly engaging in two mortgage fraud schemes that defrauded lenders of a total of approximately $9.7 million. The defendant allegedly schemed with others to obtain more than two dozen fraudulent mortgage loans and represented buyers at multiple closings, knowing that they were fraudulently qualified for loans to purchase homes in Chicago, Illinois, and various southern suburbs. Ballentine owns the Law Office of Warren Ballentine,...

A funny thing happened on the way to economic Armageddon: Iceland’s very desperation made conventional behavior impossible, freeing the nation to break the rules. Where everyone else bailed out the bankers and made the public pay the price, Iceland let the banks go bust and actually expanded its social safety net. Where everyone else was fixated on trying to placate international investors, Iceland imposed temporary controls on the movement of capital to give itself room to maneuver.

Should a lawyer be able to represent both a corporation and its employees? If a corporation’s executives and other employees can’t trust the company’s lawyer not to cooperate in their prosecution, how can anyone speak openly to that lawyer on behalf of the corporation? These, the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers argued, were among the questions raised by the Third Circuit’s decision in United States v. Norris, which the Supreme Court this week declined to review. Morgan Crucible Co. had waived its attorney-client privilege as part of its cooperation with an antitrust investigation by the Department of Justice, and...

CBS NEWS has learned that former AIG executive Joseph Cassano - the prime focus of the investigation into its collapse - will meet with Department of Justice attorneys next week in what will likely be an end to the two year criminal investigation into the company. Sources tell CBS News that the criminal case against Cassano - once called "the Man who Crashed the World" - has "hit a brick wall" - meaning that it is likely no one will be held criminally liable for the downfall of the company that triggered a $182 billion dollar federal bailout. Sources tell...

Inland swindler awaiting sentencing commits suicide By RICHARD BROOKS and LESLIE BERKMAN The Press-Enterprise An admitted swindler has hanged himself in Palm Desert where he was awaiting sentencing to as much as 32 years in federal prison for filing false tax returns and for his role in a mortgage and security scheme that prosecutors say cost investors $142 million. Christopher J. Oetting was found dead at 7:50 p.m. Feb. 16 at his home along the 40000 block of Sagewood Drive. He was free on $225,000 bond. Oetting pleaded guilty Dec. 21 in federal court in Los Angeles to money-laundering, conspiracy...

BOSTON, MA—A hedge fund manager was sentenced late yesterday to a year and a day in federal prison for his role in an insider trading scheme. The sentencing came nearly three years after the man’s original sentencing hearing and followed a series of appeals that ultimately reached the United States Supreme Court. Acting United States Attorney Michael K. Loucks and Warren T. Bamford, Special Agent in Charge of the Federal Bureau of Investigation - Boston Field Division, announced today MICHAEL K.C. TOM, age 40, of Winchester, Massachusetts, was sentenced by the Honorable Nathaniel M. Gorton to 12 months and one...

An 82-year-old businessman was charged Thursday with running a Ponzi scheme that took in at least $17 million from a clientele gleaned largely through ads in Catholic newspapers. Richard Piccoli of suburban Buffalo declined to comment after appearing in federal court on a criminal complaint charging him with mail fraud. He was ordered to return Tuesday for arraignment. He could face up to 20 years in prison and a $250,000 fine if convicted. The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, meanwhile, moved to freeze the assets of Piccoli and his 33-year-old company, Gen-See Capital Corp. Investigators said Piccoli guaranteed annual returns...

Bernard L. Madoff, the founder of Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securities and a fixture of the Wall Street trading world for decades, was arrested Thursday morning by Federal Bureau of Investigation agents and charged with criminal securities fraud by federal prosecutors in Manhattan. Press Release of Bernard Madoff's ArrestThe criminal complaint filed against Mr. Madoff alleges that he told senior employees Wednesday that his business was "a giant Ponzi scheme," according to a person familiar with the matter. The alleged scheme involved tens of billions of dollars, but the extent of investor losses wasn't immediately clear. The disclosure came after...

"Organizers of the action said the company can't pay employees because its creditor, Charlotte, N.C.-based Bank of America, won't let them. Crain's Chicago Business reported that Republic Windows' monthly sales had fallen to $2.9 million from $4 million during the past month. In a memo to the union, obtained by the business journal, Republic CEO Rich Gillman said the company had "no choice but to shut our doors. Bank of America received $25 billion from the government's financial bailout package. "Across cultures, religions, union and nonunion, we all say this bailout was a shame," said Richard Berg, president of Teamsters...

NEW YORK (Reuters) – The FBI, after years spent focusing on national security, is struggling to find agents and resources to investigate wrongdoing tied to the country's economic crisis, The New York Times reported in Sunday editions. Citing current and former FBI officials, the Times said cutbacks in its criminal investigative workforce following the September 11 attacks left the FBI weaker in areas like white collar crime. The cutbacks were the result of a shift in focus to terrorism and intelligence matters. More than 1,800 agents, or nearly one-third of all those in criminal programs, moved into those areas, the...

Last week, as federal regulators seized Washington Mutual in the largest U.S. banking failure, Congress was grappling with whether to spend $700 billion of public money to fix the financial industry's troubles. Lawmakers' initial reaction to the Treasury Department's staggering request: shock. That sum amounts to about a quarter of the U.S. government's annual spending. It's more than the Pentagon's annual budget, more than the nation pays out each year in Social Security benefits and more than the federal government's cost for Medicare and Medicaid. Members of Congress then asked the questions that continue to be on many Americans' minds:...

As posted, bill includes what appears to be funding for ACORN. Link

FBI searched Murrieta businessmen's homes in investment probe Friday, March 7, 2008 By LESLIE BERKMAN The Press-Enterprise The FBI confirmed Friday that it searched the Murrieta homes of James Duncan and Hendrix Montecastro for documents and computer data as part of a criminal investigation. Contents of the search warrant indicate that the FBI is looking into the investment schemes that already have made the two Murrieta businessmen and their colleagues the targets of lawsuits by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and irate investors. The U.S. attorney's office, acting on behalf of the FBI, obtained the search warrant from U.S....