Couple Scammed by a Fake IRS Agent! Just Who Can You Trust These Days?

So here you and the family are on a hot August day in Arizona and the IRS (so you think) just comes walking up to your door. You’re being audited – he might have said. Not the kind of thing you ever want to hear. But, Ben Carranza – fake agent for the IRS – presents himself. In your desperation to just make him go away, you give him money. O.K., I know bribery is illegal, but you’re desperate so what the heck.

Turns out – Ben Carranza – was Marco A. Ibarra, age 52, of Phoenix. This week he was indicted by a federal grand jury for Impersonation of an Internal Revenue Service Agent.

The investigation is ongoing and the public’s assistance is requested by the U.S. Department of the Treasury, Inspector General for Tax Administration. Anyone with information regarding Ibarra, or anyone who believes they are a victim of his impersonation scheme, should contact Special Agent Bruce A. Mason at 602-207-8304.

Every choice has a consequence. As a white collar crime and business ethics speaker, I speak from first hand experience about the truth about consequences. Reality is – no one escapes the consequences of their choices. You do reap what you sow. While an indictment is not an indication of guilt, rarely does a person indicted for something like this end up being found not-guilty.

Friedman’s Jewelers CEO Bradley Stinn – GUILTY – Accounting Fraud Scheme! Comments by White Collar Crime Speaker Chuck Gallagher

Pump up those sales! We’ve got to make the quarter! How often are those command heard and how tempting is it to make the wrong choices in order to please the investing public and Wall Street?

Following six weeks of trial – Bradley Stinn, age 47, – former CEO of Freidman’s, Inc. and Crescent Jewelers, found himself being convicted of securities fraud, mail fraud and conspiracy. Likewise, in addition to Stinn’s conviction, the former CFO, Victor Suglia and form Controller, John Mauro have entered guilty pleas into what was a massive accounting fraud.

So what happened? According to the US Attorney’s news release:

During the period of the conspiracy, Friedman’s was the third largest specialty retailer of fine jewelry in the United States, operating 686 stores in 20 states. The government’s proof at trial established that Friedman’s encouraged its sales personnel to increase sales by inducing customers to finance their jewelry purchases using the company’s installment credit program, which was used to finance more than half of Friedman’s $400 million in annual net sales. A major aspect of the fraud scheme was concealing that Friedman’s was increasingly unable to collect money owed by customers who bought jewelry on credit. Friedman’s collection problems stemmed from the company’s widespread failure to follow its own credit-granting guidelines – guidelines that STINN falsely told investors were strictly enforced. In fact, STINN and other senior executives encouraged routine violations of the guidelines to increase the company’s reported sales.

To cover up the collection problems, STINN caused Friedman’s quarterly reported credit statistics to understate the delinquency of its credit portfolio, and caused Friedman’s to report false earnings numbers. In some cases, the false earnings reported by Friedman’s met or exceeded the public estimates of professional stock analysts, and resulted in the artificial inflation of Friedman’s stock price.

Between November 2003 and May 2004, Friedman’s stock price lost more than half its value. On November 11, 2003, the stock closed at $11.99 per share. On May 6, 2004, the New York Stock Exchange halted trading in Friedman’s stock, at which time the stock was trading at $4.97 per share. On January 14, 2005, Friedman’s filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy.

Stinn’s lawyer, David Shapiro, confirmed the verdict. “We’re obviously very disappointed,” Shapiro said. “We think it was against the weight of the evidence. We think that there were some significant appeal issues in the case, and we are going to pursue an appeal.”

Was the pressure of financial performance so great that you would jeopardize your freedom and life to hit the numbers?

Every choice has a consequence. As a white collar crime and business ethics speaker, I speak from first hand experience about the truth about consequences. Reality is – no one escapes the consequences of their choices. While Stinn may have looked good hitting the numbers for a time and avoided the consequences – he did not avoid the consequences all together. Prison is no fun and Stinn is facing 25 years for his conviction. Likely he will serve time and that will prove to be a dramatic change from his prior activities. You do reap what you sow.

If anyone reading has any background on Stinn – feel free to comment as I study the behaviors and backgrounds of those convicted of white collar crime.

White Collar Crime Speaker – Chuck Gallagher – signing off…

 

Former Human Resources Director for Sage Telecom – William Chad Mercer – Sentenced to Federal Prison for White Collar Crime

For some reason, as often as I report on white collar crime, I always seem to find myself amazed at where the crime originates from. In this case, the Allen based company that provides telephone and internet services – Sage Telecom – found itself the losing end of a white collar crime scam.

Seems that William Chad Mercer – also known as Bryson Mercer – between March 2004 through November 2005, submitted false invoices to Sage Telecom representing that temporary employment services totaling $5,130,407.48 had been provided when they had not. Mr. Mercer wrote invoices for temporary employment and other employee services. He was authorized to approve payments for the company and made payments to a fake companies he created.

A federal indictment charging Mercer with 10 counts of mail fraud was returned by a federal grand jury on May 10, 2007. Mercer remained a fugitive until he was arrested in August 2007.

Mercer, age 36, from Plano, Texas was sentenced to 78 months in federal prison for mail fraud violations and was also ordered to pay over $2.4 million in restitution and to forfeit almost $2.7 million.

Every choice has a consequence. As a white collar crime and business ethics speaker, I speak from first hand experience about the truth about consequences. Reality is – no one escapes the consequences of their choices. While Mercer avoided the consequences for a time – he did not avoid the consequences all together. Prison is no fun and will prove to be a dramatic change from his prior activities. You do reap what you sow.

If anyone reading has any background on Mercer – feel free to comment as I study the behaviors and backgrounds of those convicted of white collar crime.

White Collar Crime Speaker – Chuck Gallagher – signing off…

Mortgage Fraud Kingpin – Torrence James – Sentenced to Over 12 Years In Federal Prison for Massive Mortgage Fraud Scheme!

You reap what you sow. That statement is true and Torrence James one of two organizers of a mortgage fraud scheme was sentenced to over 12 years in federal prison for his masterminding role.

JAMES’ plea agreement, from August 10, 2004 through May 4, 2006, the defendant, along with others, including co-defendant RONALD FONTENOT, participated in and conducted a scheme to obtain loan proceeds from lenders using false statements and representations to such lenders in connection with the purchase and sale of real estate. It was the object of the scheme to acquire, control, and profit from residential real properties by fraudulently securing real estate purchases, typically through the use of straw purchases. The FBI has issued in their report on mortgage fraud that the use of “straw buyers” is a common ploy used in mortgage fraud schemes.

According to the US Attorney’s news release: JAMES and FONTENOT were the “organizers” of the scheme, which resulted in a loss to lenders totaling approximately $3,700,000. On certain properties, the defendant was also found to have assisted in arranging for the respective borrower to secure and use a stolen identity to purchase the home.

 

“Mortgage fraud adds to the underground economy that erodes the integrity of our tax system and threatens the financial health of our communities,” said Terry L. Stuart, Special Agent in Charge, IRS Criminal Investigation, Denver Field Office.

JAMES was one of seven defendants charged as part of this mortgage fraud scheme. NICOLE PULLER was sentenced to serve 34 months in federal prison. GLENN PULLER was sentenced to serve 12 months in prison. TALITA JAMES was sentenced to serve 24 months in federal prison. TAIWAN LEE was sentenced to serve 30 months in federal prison, CINDY INGRAM was sentenced to serve 28 months in prison. RONALD FONTENOT was sentenced to serve 72 months in federal prison.

 

Every choice has a consequence. As a white collar crime and business ethics speaker, I speak from first hand experience about the truth about consequences. Reality is – no one escapes the consequences of their choices. While JAMES and FONTENOT avoided the consequences for a time – they did not avoid the consequences all together. Prison is no fun and will prove to be a dramatic change from their prior activities. You do reap what you sow.

If anyone reading has any background on any of the above or were scammed by them – feel free to comment as I study the behaviors and backgrounds of those convicted of white collar crime.

White Collar Crime Speaker – Chuck Gallagher – signing off…

Cruise Scam Travel Agents – Carol Ribaudo and Sonja Ritz – Sentenced to Federal Prison! No Vacation for Them!

White collar crime comes in many forms, but this scam is just blatant and destined to produce negative consequences.

CAROL RIBAUDO, 52, and SONJA RITZ, 28, both of Clearwater, Florida were sentenced to 57 months and 37 months respectively in federal prison for their role in a scheme to sell booking to passengers for a fraudulent cruise.

According to the US Attorney’s news release: between July 2003 and January of 2004, Ribaudo and Ritz operated Elite Business Services, a travel-related business located in McKinney, Texas. At trial in August 2007, prosecutors presented the testimony of 30 witnesses and introduced almost 200 exhibits establishing that Ribaudo and Ritz made a series of false representations to prospective passengers indicating that they would be booked on a charter cruise scheduled to occur in February 2004 and accepted payments from these prospective passengers, despite the fact that Ribaudo and Ritz had neither contracted with any cruise line for passage nor had they provided payments to any cruise line.

Now, spending time in federal prison is no vacation. So let me get this straight – these two run a scam for less than 12 months and end up spending between 3 and almost 5 years of their life in prison. You’ve gotta wonder if they would say it was worth it today? The answer would have to be – NO!

Every choice has a consequence. As a white collar crime and business ethics speaker, I speak from first hand experience about the truth about consequences. Reality is – no one escapes the consequences of their choices. While Ribaudo and Ritz avoided the consequences for a time – they did not avoid the consequences all together. Prison is no fun and will prove to be a dramatic change from their prior activities. You do reap what you sow.

If anyone reading has any background on Ribaudo or Ritz or were scammed by them – feel free to comment as I study the behaviors and backgrounds of those convicted of white collar crime.

White Collar Crime Speaker – Chuck Gallagher – signing off…