Husband and Wife Sentenced for International Elder Fraud Scheme

Husband and Wife Sentenced
for International Elder Fraud
Scheme
“A husband and wife were sentenced today to a combined 92
months in prison for their roles in a sophisticated fraud
scheme that primarily targeted elderly Americans,” posts The
U.S. Attorney’s Office in the Eastern District of Virginia.

“According to court documents, Chirag Choksi, 36, who was
sentenced to 78 months in prison, and Shachi Majmudar, 36, who
was sentenced to 14 months, were members of a criminal
conspiracy in which members used a variety of schemes,
including impersonating law enforcement officers and other
government officials, to trick and coerce victims into mailing
and shipping cash to other conspiracy members by convincing
the victims, a disproportionate number of whom were elders,
that it was in their best interests to do so.”

“These schemes generally started with automated “robocalls”
from a call center in India that were designed to create a
sense of urgency with unsuspecting recipients. The messages
typically told the recipient that they had some sort of
serious legal problem, and that if they did not immediately
take a particular action demanded by the callers then there
will be drastic consequences. Typically the recipients were
threatened with arrest, significant financial penalties, or
cessation of government benefits. The fraudsters almost
invariably instructed the call recipient that, in order to
prevent these dire consequences, the recipient must pay money,
by wire transfer or cash, to some purported government entity.
This conspiracy operated “money mule” cells in multiple
states, including New Jersey, California, Indiana, Texas,
Illinois and Minnesota. These money mules would receive
parcels containing cash that had been sent by victims and then

deposit the money      in   bank   accounts   controlled   by
conspirators.”

                      Read the article.

Two    Men    Indicted    for
Allegedly          Operating
Multimillion Dollar Sports
Betting Pyramid Scheme in Las
Vegas
“Two Las Vegas residents made their initial court appearances
in U.S. District Court on Friday for charges in connection
with a multimillion dollar investment fraud scheme,” reports
the U.S. Attorney’s Office District of Nevada.

“A federal grand jury returned a 14 count indictment on
Tuesday, charging John Frank Thomas III, 75, and Thomas Joseph
Becker, 72, both of Las Vegas, with one count of conspiracy to
commit wire fraud and 13 counts of wire fraud.”

“According to allegations in the indictment, from September
2010 to August 2019, Thomas and Becker maintained — and
advertised to investors as supposed investment funds — the
following entities: Sports Psychometrics; Vegas Basketball
Club; Vegas Football Club; Einstein Sports Advisory; Quantum
Sports Advisory; Wellington Sports Club; and Welscorp, Inc.
Thomas and Becker made false representations to investors that
they would use their sports betting skills and strategy to
make sports bets with the investors’ money.”

Read the article.

Memphis Physicians Agree to
Pay More Than $340,000 for
Alleged Overbilling
“Doctor Shoaib Qureshi, Doctor Imran Mirza, Memphis Primary
Care Specialists, Lunceford Family Health Center, and Getwell
Family Medicine agreed to pay $341,690 to resolve allegations
that they violated the False Claims Act by knowingly charging
Medicare for services rendered by nurse practitioners at the
higher reimbursement rate for physician services, the Justice
Department announced today,” released the Department of
Justice’s Office of Public Affairs.

“Medicare pays a higher rate for physician services than for
non-physician services. Medicare will pay the higher physician
rate for services rendered by non-physician providers if the
services are ‘incident to’ the services of a physician. Such
‘incident to’ services, however, must be provided under the
direct supervision of a physician. The United States alleged
that, from 2015 to 2018, Doctor Qureshi, Doctor Mirza, and
their clinics billed Medicare as though the physicians had
provided the services in question, when in fact nurse
practitioners had treated the patients without the supervision
required by Medicare’s ‘incident to’ rules. Indeed, the
government alleged that the services were rendered when the
physicians were out of the office, including times when they
were traveling out of state or abroad.”

                      Read the article.

Disbarred Attorney Pleads
Guilty   to  Stealing   9/11
Victim Compensation Funds
“… a disbarred lawyer in Westchester County, pled guilty today
in White Plains federal court to stealing government funds.
VILA’s plea results from his theft of approximately $1 million
that the Department of Justice’s 9/11 Victim Compensation Fund
(VCF) had awarded to the defendant’s client, a 9/11 first
responder,” released the Southern District of New York.

“VILA was arrested on September 3, 2020, and pled guilty today
before U.S. District Judge Vincent L. Briccetti.”

“Acting U.S. Attorney Audrey Strauss said: ‘As he admitted
today, Gustavo Vila stole money awarded by the 9/11 Victim
Compensation Fund to his client, an NYPD officer and 9/11
first responder, and falsely told the client for more than
three years that the stolen money had yet to be released by
the Fund. Now Gustavo Vila awaits sentencing for his crime.'”

                      Read the article.

R.I.     Man    Admits     to
Fraudulently Seeking $4.7M in

COVID-19 Stimulus Loans
“A Middletown, R.I., man currently serving a term of federal
supervised release having been convicted and incarcerated for
robbing four banks, admitted in federal court in Providence
today to fraudulently seeking more than $4.7 million in
Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) forgivable loans guaranteed
by the Small Business Administration (SBA) under the
Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act,”
released the District of Rhode Island U.S. Attorney’s Office.

“Michael C. Moller, 41, admitted that he applied for and
received nearly $600,000 in PPP loans he claimed were to be
used to pay employees for a Fall River, MA, businesses he
operated, ‘Top Notch Tile.’ FBI and IRS Criminal Investigation
agents determined that ‘Top Notch Tile’ was not incorporated
with the Massachusetts Secretary of State, nor could
investigators locate any tax or bank records for the company.”

                       Read the article.

Portsmouth Lawyer Michael
Mearan Arrested on Human
Trafficking Charges
“Former Portsmouth,    Ohio, city council member and attorney
Michael Mearan was     arrested today on human trafficking,
racketeering and      related charges,” reports staff in
Cincinnati.com The     Enquirer.

“Mearan, 74, is charged with nine counts of promoting

prostitution, five counts of compelling prostitution, three
counts of trafficking in person and one count of engaging in a
pattern of corrupt activities.”

“All the charges are felonies … Mearan faces more than 70
years in prison if convicted.”

                      Read the article.

Coral Gables Attorney Accused
of Multiple Bank Robberies
“A South Florida lawyer has been arrested for his involvement
in at least five robberies or attempted robberies of local
banks, FBI officials said Wednesday,” was reported in NBC
South Florida’s Miami Dade County.

“Aaron Honaker, 41, was arrested Tuesday night as he was
attempting to enter a bank in Coral Gables, officials said.

“According to allegations in the complaint affidavit, Honaker
would follow a consistent approach during his robbery attempts
and succeeded twice: Honaker would walk up to a teller and ask
for assistance in making a withdrawal. He would then pass a
handwritten note to the teller that would say messages like,
‘don’t touch the alarm or call the police,’ ’empty all of your
$50s and $100s and put it in an envelope,’ and ‘keep calm, and
give me all the money in the drawer, I have a gun.’ Honaker
would take his note with him on the way out of the bank.

                      Read the article.

Broward    Attorneys    Face
Charges in Scheme to Steal
Foreclosure Surplus Checks
“Two Broward attorneys were arrested this week for their
involvement in a nearly $750,000 fraud scheme to rip off
unsuspecting victims of foreclosure surplus checks, according
to the Broward Sheriff’s Office,” report Brooke Baitinger
Eileen Kelley in South Florida Sun Sentinel’s Crime News.

“The attorneys, Rashisa Overby and Ria Sankar-Balram, worked
with Illya and Patricia Tinker, a married couple nicknamed
‘tomb raiders’ for another multimillion-dollar scheme in which
they stole properties across South Florida, some of which
belonged to the dead.”

“The Broward Sheriff’s Office arrested Overby and Sankar-
Balram Monday. Balram was released from jail after posting a
$57,000 bond. Overby who faces significantly more charges — 29
counts of fraud, money laundering and grand theft among other
charges, had bond set at $140,000.”

                      Read the article.

Lawyer’s                       False                   and

Inflammatory    Accusations
Leads to Suspension
“The Ohio Supreme Court today suspended a Lucas County
attorney for two years, with six months stayed, for levying
false and inflammatory accusations against opposing attorneys,
a magistrate, parties in two of his cases, and disciplinary
officials hearing the complaints against him,” reports Dan
Trevas in Court News Ohio’s Cases.

“In a unanimous per curiam opinion, the Supreme Court
suspended Thomas A. Yoder of Holland for violating several of
the rules governing the professional conduct of Ohio lawyers.
The offenses included calling a magistrate’s decision
‘insane,’ and not what ‘a normal, competent magistrate would
have done.'”

“The Toledo Bar Association filed a complaint against Yoder
with the Ohio Board of Professional Conduct in 2019 based on
allegedly false statements by Yoder and for threatening
letters he sent to two witnesses he intended to call during
his disciplinary hearings.”

                      Read the article.

Quincy Jury Awards $411M in
Verdict for Paralyzed Gadsden
County Veteran
A $411.7 million verdict was returned for a veteran paralyzed

in a 45-vehicle interstate pileup in 2018, reports a staff
reporter in Tallahassee Democrat’s News.

“It’s a record verdict in what appears to be the area’s first
ever trial conducted by video-conferencing.”

“Duane Washington, a former career Army sergeant and Gadsden
County resident, was traveling home on his motorcycle via I-10
near Tallahassee in July 2018” when “He came upon a pileup of
more than 45 vehicles, caused by a wreck. ”

                      Read the article.

After     Refusing     $30K
Settlement Offer, Bad Faith
Suit May Cost GEICO $2.7M
“More than eight years after Bonnie Winslett tore up and threw
away a summons that notified her she was being sued, the
Georgia Supreme Court is being asked to resolve questions of
law that will determine whether GEICO Indemnity Co. must pay
approximately $2.7 million of a court’s award against her,”
reports Jim Sams in Claims Journal.

“The 11th Circuit Court of Appeals on Monday sent three
certified questions to the state’s high court. Once answered,
the federal appellate court can then rule on an appeal of a
district court’s order in a bad faith case that requires GEICO
to pay 70% of the nearly $2.9 million in damages awarded by
the jury, plus interest.”

                      Read the article.

Four   COVID-19  Litigation
Trends That Are Affecting
Businesses and Individuals
“It has been six months since the initial wave of government
mandated ‘stay-at-home’ orders due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
During this time, we have seen at least four important
litigation trends emerge,” writes Tiffany Caterina in
Frankfurt Kurnit Klein + Selz’ News & Press.

The four trends discussed are:

   1.   Force Majeure
   2.   Deceptive Trade Practices
   3.   Business Interruption
   4.   Workplace Safety

                        Read the article.

Lawyer in Ex-Mobster’s Toby
Keith Restaurant Scheme Gets
Prison Term
“The Arizona lawyer who helped an ex-mobster orchestrate the
failure of a nationwide chain of Toby Keith restaurants was
sentenced Monday to six months in prison,” reports Robert
Anglen in azcentral’s Investigations.

“Gregory McClure also must repay $1.3 million he admitted
stealing, as part of his deal to cooperate with federal
prosecutors. They are going after his former employer on fraud
charges.”

“McClure, during the hour-long court hearing, told Arizona
U.S. District Court Judge G. Murray Snow he was ‘ashamed and
embarrassed’ by his conduct.”

                      Read the article.

Small Photo Credit Removal
May Result in Big Damages
“Omitting a small print photo credit can get you in big
trouble under the copyright laws,” writes Jim Burger, Justin
Mulligan, Mike Nepple, Michael Parks and Mark Sableman in
Thompson Coburn’s Insights.

“That’s what happened recently when a court affirmed an award
of almost $74,000 against BuzzFeed, because its reporter had
copied a photo from the New York Post website and removed the
photographer’s name.”

“Gregory Mango, the plaintiff, had authorized the New York
Post’s use of his photo, and the Post provided the usual small
print photo credit line (known as “gutter credit”) to him. A
few months later, a BuzzFeed reporter copied Mango’s photo
from the Post website and used it in a BuzzFeed article about
the person depicted in the photo. BuzzFeed replaced the photo
credit to Mango with the name of the law firm that represented
the person depicted.”

Read the article.

Justices                Suspend                Lawyer
Following               Multiple              Alcohol
Arrests
“A mayor’s son and lawyer who has been arrested five times for
alcohol-related incidents has been suspended from the Indiana
bar for at least one year,” reports the IL Staff in The
Indiana Lawyer.

“The Indiana Supreme Court Disciplinary Commission last year
filed a formal complaint against Evan B. Broderick, son of
Anderson Democratic Mayor Thomas Broderick Jr., who also is an
attorney and former Madison County prosecutor.”

“Broderick in 2018 pleaded guilty to charges of Class A
misdemeanor operating a vehicle while intoxicated endangering
a person and Class B misdemeanor leaving the scene of an
accident after he struck a utility pole following an afternoon
of drinking.”

                      Read the article.

Woman           Arrested               at       Boston

Airport, Suspected of Running
Unlawful Law Practice in
Uptown Dallas
“A 32-year-old woman suspected since July of running an
unlawful law practice in Uptown Dallas has been arrested in
Boston, and police are asking anyone who may have been
victimized to speak up,” reports Marc Ramirez in The Dallas
Morning News’ Crime.

“Massachusetts state police detained Camilia Shene Johnson at
Logan International Airport on Sept. 5 as she tried to board a
flight to Istanbul, Turkey. Johnson, a convicted felon, also
goes by the name Camilia Johnson Ibrahim.”

“Authorities had been looking into Johnson’s conduct since
mid-July, when a skeptical DeSoto resident alerted police to
say that a number of legal actions being proposed to them by
the suspect were in fact not the law.”

                      Read the article.

Lawyer Who Allegedly Lied
About Health for Deadline
Extensions   Should    be
Suspended
“An Illinois lawyer, who reportedly lied and said he had
cancer—when he did not—and instead was looking for discovery

deadline extensions, is facing potential suspension from the
practice of law. He also allegedly lied about having cancer on
his University of Chicago Law School application,” reports
Stephanie Francis Ward in ABA Journal’s News.

“In 2015, Vincenzo Field reportedly asked an assistant U.S.
attorney in the Northern District of Illinois for additional
discovery time because he would be out of the office for four
months.”

                      Read the article.

Myrtle Beach Lawyer Disbarred
After Alford Plea to Indecent
Exposure, History of Similar
Charges
“A Myrtle Beach lawyer is no longer allowed to practice law
after entering an Alford plea on charges of indecent exposure,
and a history of pleas related to assault and voyeurism,”
reports Kaitlyn Luna in WSPA’s News.

“Jacob Parrott was disbarred on Aug. 13 by the state Supreme
Court, backdating to June 5, 2018, when he was arrested for
indecent exposure after police said he was exposing himself
and masturbating by a public pool, according to the court
records.”

“After the arrest, Parrott entered an Alford plea. Under an
Alford plea, a defendant does not admit guilt but acknowledges
prosecutors have enough evidence to gain a conviction.”

Read the article.

Ask Your Online Witness About
Their Off-Camera Resources
If you’re conducting a deposition or cross-examination there
are certain questions you need to ask, writes Dr. Ken Brodo-
Bahm in Persuasive Litigator, like:

     Where is the witness?
     Are they right there in the room with you, or are they
     many miles away in a room with their computer?

“With the pandemic still raging across the U.S., many are
social distancing their testimony via Zoom or other web-
conferencing platforms. Instead of being in a crowded
conference room or courtroom, they are alone in a separate
space in front of their laptop.”

There is a shared concern among lawyers that there is “not
only the potential for off-camera coaching, but also the
possibility for a witness to be surreptitiously looking at
documents or notes without the questioner knowing it.”

                      Read the article.

Vero   Beach   Lawyer   Buck
Vocelle Charged with DUI,
Property Damage and Personal
Injury
“Vero Beach lawyer Louis ‘Buck’ Vocelle, Jr., was arrested
Saturday night and charged with DUI, property damage and
personal injury,” reports Catie Wegman in TCPalm.’s News.

Vocelle, 64, was arrested near Cleveland Clinic Indian River
Hospital. He posted a $1,000 bond and was released Sunday,
with a court date set for September 22.

                     Read the article.