Solomon2day

  A federal jury in Miami convicted a Florida man and woman today for their roles in a conspiracy to defraud Medicare by billing over $93 million for home health therapy services that were never rendered. According to court documents and evidence presented at trial, Karel Felipe, 42, of Miami Shores, and Tamara Quicutis, 54, of Hialeah, conspired with others to submit false bills to Medicare for three home health companies located in Michigan. Their co-conspirators recruited individuals from Cuba to sign Medicare enrollment documents and appear as the owners of the home health agencies to conceal the identities of Felipe, Quicutis, and others involved in the scheme. Felipe, Quicutis, and their co-conspirators used these home health companies to submit claims for services that were not rendered using lists of stolen patient identities. Felipe, Quicutis, and their co-conspirators used hundreds of shell companies and bank accounts to launder the Medicare fraud proceeds and convert th...

HOUSTON – A 57-year-old Nigerian national has been extradited from France to face charges in the United States for his alleged leadership role in a conspiracy perpetrated against victims in more than 20 countries, announced U.S. Attorney Alamdar S. Hamdani. Uche Victor Diuno is set to appear today at 2 p.m. before U.S. Magistrate Judge Dena H. Palermo in Houston. He arrived in the United States Friday, June 9. The charges allege Diuno helped to orchestrate a scam involving false promises of investment funding by individuals who impersonated U.S. bank officials in person and over the internet to victims around the world. Those victims were allegedly told they had to make certain payments before they could supposedly receive their funding. Proceeds of the scheme were laundered through U.S. bank accounts and diverted back to the scheme’s perpetrators in Nigeria, according to the charges. Diuno allegedly lead a criminal network of “catchers,” who sent phishing emails to potential vic...

WASHINGTON – The Department of Justice, FBI, U.S. Postal Inspection Service, and other federal law enforcement agencies announced today the completion of a three-month campaign that disrupted networks used by foreign fraudsters to obtain fraud proceeds. Multiple law enforcement actions addressed conduct by individuals sometimes referred to as “money mules,” who have been providing critical services to fraudsters by receiving money from fraud victims and forwarding the fraud proceeds to the perpetrators (many of whom are based overseas). Some individuals knew they were facilitating fraud. Others first interacted with fraudsters as victims and may have been unaware that their activity furthered criminal activity. Over approximately the last three months, law enforcement took over 4,000 actions against individuals responsible for facilitating a range of fraud schemes. These schemes included those that targeted consumers, such as lottery fraud and romance scams, as well as those that targ...

A federal jury in the Middle District of Florida convicted a Virginia man today for his role in a scheme to defraud Medicare of over $1 million in prescription drug benefits. According to court documents and evidence presented at trial, Ronald A. Beasley II, 33, of Portsmouth, was the pharmacist in charge at NH Pharma, a pharmacy located in Lake Mary, Florida. Through NH Pharma, Beasley and his co-conspirators billed Medicare for expensive compound drug creams that they never actually purchased or dispensed, and instead provided Medicare patients an inexpensive compound drug cream not covered by Medicare. Inventory records showed that NH Pharma did not buy enough of the expensive prescription drugs to fill all the prescriptions NH Pharma billed to Medicare. In total, Beasley and his co-conspirators received more than $1 million in fraudulent proceeds from Medicare. Beasley was convicted of conspiracy to commit health care fraud and three counts of health care fraud. He is scheduled t...

Scheme Involved Selling Stolen Personal Identifiable Information CLEVELAND – A Nigerian national was sentenced today to more than three years – or 37 months – in prison by U.S. District Judge James S. Gwin after he was convicted by a jury of formulating a conspiracy to obtain stolen financial information, making fraudulent and unauthorized purchases of retail goods and gift cards, and stealing funds from victim bank accounts in Northern Ohio and elsewhere. Blessing Adeleke, 31, of Nigeria, was convicted in October 2022 of one count of conspiracy to commit bank fraud and 16 counts of bank fraud. According to court documents, between January 2014 through October 2016, Adeleke served as an administrator for an online marketplace, Shad0w.info, where compromised data, such as credit numbers and personally identifiable information (PII), were sold. As part of the conspiracy, Adeleke and others obtained stolen credit card information and purchased items, such as retail goods and gift ...

NEWARK, N.J. – A Union County man who previously served as a staff member in the New Jersey Senate today admitted his role in a conspiracy to falsely inflate the invoices that a political consultant submitted to various campaigns, political action committees, and IRS 501(c)(4) organizations, U.S. Attorney Philip R. Sellinger announced. Antonio Teixeira, 43, of Elizabeth, New Jersey, pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge John Michael Vazquez to an information charging him with one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and one count of tax evasion. According to documents filed in this case and statements made in court: From 2014 to 2018, Teixeira conspired with Sean Caddle, and Caddle’s political consulting firms, to defraud various campaigns, political action committees, and 501(c)(4) organizations of $107,800. Teixeira then failed to report this illicit income on tax forms that he filed with the IRS during those same years. Caddle was hired by a former New Jersey state s...

Nonprofit Feeding Our Future and 200+ Meal Sites in Minnesota Perpetrated the Largest COVID-19 Fraud Scheme in the Nation The Department of Justice announced today federal criminal charges against 47 defendants for their alleged roles in a $250 million fraud scheme that exploited a federally-funded child nutrition program during the COVID-19 pandemic. “These indictments, alleging the largest pandemic relief fraud scheme charged to date, underscore the Department of Justice’s sustained commitment to combating pandemic fraud and holding accountable those who perpetrate it,” said Attorney General Merrick B. Garland. “In partnership with agencies across government, the Justice Department will continue to bring to justice those who have exploited the pandemic for personal gain and stolen from American taxpayers.” “Today’s indictments describe an egregious plot to steal public funds meant to care for children in need in what amounts to the largest pandemic relief fraud scheme yet,” said F...

Members of the Association of Senior Civil Servants of Nigeria in Oyo state have called on relevant authorities to look into the financial records of the association. The members made this call in a press statement. ''We have reported their conduct to the Inspector General of Police who has promptly directed investigations by FCID, Alagbon Lagos on the matter.The fact of the matter is that, Mr. Alade Bashir Lawal and his partners were reported to the police for suspected fraud of monumental proportion and mismanagement of the union’s finance and resources. On the basis of the complaint the Inspector General of Police directed the Force CID to investigate the criminal allegations and the petition by the union’s President, Comrade Innocent Bola-Audu.The Commissioner of Police Lagos was also directed by the IGP to provide security in the Secretariat to ensure no breakdown of law and order, and in order to prevent the suspects in the case from tampering with evidence materials tha...