Latest news with #financialFraud
CTV News
30-07-2025
- CTV News
Barrie Police investigate elaborate money scheme involving senior victim
A sophisticated plan to scam locals and target a senior is being shared by police. On Wednesday, just before 9 p.m., the Barrie Police Service received information about a man who had been found injured in a parking lot just off of Lakeshore Drive. Detectives learned that the man was the victim of a scheme that was designed to defraud him of his money. According to police, the victim had received an unexpected call from an unknown person stating that he was a suspect in a fraud investigation and police were going to come to his home and arrest him. The caller allegedly convinced the victim that in order to resolve the situation, he needed to show up to a Collier Street financial institution. Police say the victim took a cab to that location, where an unknown man reportedly pretended to be the bank manager, saying that the victim needed to go to another bank located at Minets Point Road and Yonge Street. The senior, who uses a walker, got into the alleged bank manager's car, and at the bank, deposited a cheque into the victim's bank account. The alleged bank manager, who is now considered the main suspect in this scheme, drove the victim away from the Minets Point Road and Yonge Street bank and stopped in a Lakeshore Drive parking lot, where he removed the victim from the car and allegedly drove away with his walker. The victim said he fell to the ground. Police discovered facial injuries and he was taken to a local hospital for treatment. The investigation into this incident remains ongoing. 'Barrie Police feel that these details need to be shared with our community so that no one else falls victim to the perpetrators of this unspeakable offense,' shared members of the service. Investigators are trying to track down the suspect, who is described as a, 30-40 years old man, with a brown complexion, black hair, and a beard, wearing a black shirt, and driving a black Cadillac.
CBS News
22-07-2025
- Business
- CBS News
Former Bay Area financial advisor accused of running $9.5M Ponzi scheme
A former Bay Area financial advisor was charged in connection with a $9.5 million Ponzi scheme, the United States Department of Justice said on Monday. The DOJ identified the suspect as 77-year-old Edwin Emmett Lickiss, Jr., and said he operated as a financial advisor from 1998 to September 2024. Lickiss, who was based in Alamo and Danville, was the owner of Foundation Financial Group and provided services in the Northern District of California, Idaho and throughout the U.S, the DOJ said. He was a registered broker. But the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority suspended his license in 2014, and he eventually lost the license in 2016, according to the DOJ. However, he kept soliciting and accepting investments, the DOJ said. He allegedly told investors that their money would be used for government bonds and claimed he had exclusive access to bonds that had rates of return even higher than 20%, the DOJ said. Lickiss is accused of making up the bonds, describing them as "safe, secure, and tax-free" and saying that they could be redeemed at any time, the DOJ said. As part of the Ponzi scheme, Lickiss allegedly gave fake promissory notes, made lulling payments to victim investors, and didn't disclose that his broker's license was suspended and that he eventually lost it, the DOJ said. The money Lickiss obtained was used for home renovations, travel, car, mortgage and credit card payments, and paying earlier investors, the DOJ alleges. The DOJ said the grand jury indictment was filed on July 17 and unsealed on Monday. He faces one count of wire fraud and one count of money laundering. His first court appearance is on Tuesday in San Francisco. The wire count charge carries a maximum of 20 years in prison and $250,000 fine, and the money laundering charge carries 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine, the DOJ said. Lickiss also faces a civil enforcement action from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission in the Northern District of California.
RNZ News
02-07-2025
- Business
- RNZ News
Dunedin Ponzi scamster lacks insight into 'abhorrent' crimes
By Rob Kidd of Barry Kloogh in the dock during his trial in 2020. Photo: RNZ / Tim Brown A Dunedin financial adviser, who put his $15.7 million Ponzi scheme down to "overconfidence", lacks insight into his crimes after more than five years behind bars, the Parole Board says. Barry Kloogh, 62, was jailed for eight years and 10 months when he came before the Dunedin District Court in 2020 and made his first application for parole on Wednesday. Despite his tears and the fraudster condemning his crimes as "abhorrent", board member Greg Coyle said the inmate lacked insight into what caused his 25-year scam. Kloogh, who wore the same grey jacket and white shirt in which he was sentenced, made no reference to the factors of greed and dishonesty, Dr Coyle noted. His next parole hearing will be in December and a psychological assessment was ordered to "dig deeper" into his motives. Vanya Thurston, who helped establish an investor support group, said the decline of parole was the correct result, but no cause for celebration among the victims. The losses would affect families for generations, she said. "A lot [of victims] didn't want to participate in this process because it was retraumatising. I truly believe it led to people's premature deaths; the stress of it has just been too much," Thurston said. Dr Coyle began yesterday's hearing by summarising the views of Kloogh's victims. "Dreams have been shattered; you've stolen their future; lives have been wrecked ... their world has been turned upside down, based on narcissistic greed." It was "disgusting, manipulative behaviour", they said. Kloogh acknowledged the statements were true. "I think I was too overconfident ... I simply thought I would be able to pay this money back. "I obviously have this character flaw that suggests I can achieve anything and I know I can't now." At Kloogh's sentencing, the court heard he had embezzled $15.7m of investor funds, but yesterday he said he believed the total was $18m. He estimated he personally profited by up to $3m. "I think that was more about making myself and others around me feel good. I think that was a mechanism to make me feel I was better than everyone else and I simply wasn't," Kloogh said. He told the Parole Board his use of alcohol was a key factor in the offending. Kloogh said he would drink to stifle any negative emotions and instil a sense of confidence. "I had moments I thought: 'This isn't going to work'. I had alcohol again, there was bravado and away I would go," he said. "What alcohol did was remove any semblance of morality that I had to pull myself in." Panel member Paul Knox said many victims had spoken about Kloogh's dramatic performances, which had led to them investing with him. How could the board be confident the prisoner's tears were not a similar manipulative display? "I absolutely have heartfelt emotions about these people," Kloogh said. "I never want to go into the emotions of harming people ever again. I made a pact that I would not do this ever again, that I would not get involved in this stupid behaviour ever again, and I've held true to that pact." Dr Knox suggested that might be a little hasty, given Kloogh had been in prison for the past five years. The board discussed with him an "exclusion zone" - a prohibited geographical area to stop a parolee unwittingly running into his victims - common in such serious cases. Kloogh said he had not considered living anywhere outside Dunedin because it was where all his support remained. He believed keeping "a low profile" and dedicating himself to studies and household chores would keep him out of the public eye. Kloogh said he had no assets remaining, bar a $12,000 KiwiSaver account. It still makes him better off than one of his victims, who told the Parole Board they had just $10 in the bank at present. This story was first published by the Otago Daily Times .
ABC News
26-06-2025
- Business
- ABC News
Truong My Lan likely spared death penalty after Vietnam ends the punishment for eight crimes
Vietnam has lifted the death penalty for eight crimes in legal reforms that may spare the life of a real estate tycoon imprisoned for the country's largest financial fraud case. The legal reforms in Vietnam ended the death penalty for eight crimes, including trying to overthrow the government, damaging state infrastructure, making and selling fake medicine, starting wars, spying, drug trafficking, embezzlement, and taking bribes. State media reported that Vietnamese lawmakers passed the reforms on Wednesday, local time. Minister of Public Security, Luong Tam Quang, said "the current structure of capital punishment was problematic and, in some cases, misaligned with evolving socio-economic conditions and the realities of crime prevention." Truong My Lan was sentenced to death for her involvement in Vietnam's largest financial fraud case, which was said to have caused $US27 billion ($41 billion) in total damages. The 67-year-old chair of the real estate company Van Thinh Phat was facing execution for her involvement in fraud amounting to $12.5 billion ($19b) — nearly 3 per cent of the country's 2022 GDP. However she will now be "eligible for the exemption for the death penalty" according to the new rules, her lawyer Phan Minh Hoang told The Associated Press. "We are still waiting for the official instructions of implementing the law amendment for next steps in her case," Mr Hoang said. The new rules also say that anyone already sentenced to death for these crimes but not yet executed by July 1 will have their sentence changed to life in prison after a final decision by Vietnam's highest court. After the legal changes, the maximum punishment for Lan's crimes will be life imprisonment without parole. Hoang said that they were continuing to work on repaying the damages to get her sentence further reduced. The law change will likely impact other ongoing trials such as the one that started earlier this week involving the real estate and infrastructure development company Phuc Son Group, whose chairman, Nguyen Van Hau, is accused of paying over $US5 million ($7.65m) in bribes to win contracts for major infrastructure projects across three provinces. Ten offences will remain subject to capital punishment in Vietnam, including murder, treason, terrorism and the sexual abuse of children, according to the report. Drug trafficking will also remain a capital offence. Capital punishment data is a state secret in Vietnam and it is not known how many people are currently on death row in the country. Lethal injection is the only method of execution after firing squads were abolished in 2011. ABC/wires
Washington Post
26-06-2025
- Washington Post
Vietnam ends death penalty for 8 crimes, may spare real estate tycoon
HANOI, Vietnam — Vietnam has lifted the death penalty for eight crimes in legal reforms that may spare the life of a real estate tycoon imprisoned in the country's largest financial fraud case. The legal reforms in Vietnam ended the death penalty for eight crimes, including trying to overthrow the government, damaging state infrastructure, making and selling fake medicine, starting wars, spying, drug trafficking, embezzlement, and taking bribes.
