Latest news with #wirefraud
Yahoo
17 hours ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Woman becomes 71st charged in Feeding Our Future scheme after arrest at MSP airport
Woman becomes 71st charged in Feeding Our Future scheme after arrest at MSP airport originally appeared on Bring Me The News. A 71st suspect in the $250 million Feeding Our Future fraud scheme has been indicted after she allegedly attempted to flee the country to Dubai. Hibo Daar, 50, was apprehended at the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport this week, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office in Minnesota. Daar was attempting to board a plane, with Dubai her ultimate destination. She's since been indicted on two counts of wire fraud in connection with the large-scale COVID child nutrition program fraud. According to court documents, Daar owned and operated Northside Wellness Center and claimed she was using it as a COVID food distribution site under the sponsorship of Feeding Our Future in 2020. Daar claimed to provide 40,000 meals to children every week from a small business park on Hennepin Avenue in Minneapolis. But Daar used false invoices and attendance records to inflate those numbers, according to court documents. In total, Northside Wellness Center submitted over $2.4 million in reimbursement claims, with Daar receiving $1.7 million in taxpayer dollars. Daar then allegedly transferred most of the money to family, associates and herself. Daar is also accused of paying $72,000 in bribes to a Feeding Our Future employee to process the fraudulent reimbursement claims. 'As we have said, the U.S. Attorney's Office is not stopping. We will continue to investigate and charge defendants who defrauded the government in the Feeding Our Future case – the largest COVID fraud scheme in the country and the single largest case charged in the history of this office,' Acting U.S. Attorney Lisa D. Kirkpatrick said in a statement. "Our work is not done." This story was originally reported by Bring Me The News on Jun 1, 2025, where it first appeared.
Yahoo
a day ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Upstate man indicted for embezzling $1.6 million from company
GREENVILLE, S.C. (WSPA) – A Greenville man was indicted for stealing approximately $1.6 million from a Long Island company. Tony Ream, 33, of Greenville, South Carolina, was arraigned in a federal court on Friday. Authorities say he's accused of wire fraud and money laundering for a worldwide medical and dental supply distributor company based in New York. According to the Department of Justice (DOJ), Ream was a credit supervisor for the company. Ream was hired in 2019 by the company to work in their credit department, and was given the role of credit supervisor in 2020, according to the United States Attorney's Office. Investigators said over the course of four years, Ream was accused of stealing corporate funds from customer refund accounts and reportedly sent wire transfers that reached a total of $1.6 million from the company's bank account to a bank account he owned. The DOJ claimed that Ream used the funds to pay for his wedding, as well as fund a failed restaurant in South Carolina. Ream also accused of spending the funds on luxury vacations. 'As alleged, Ream is a thief who abused his authority and betrayed his employer to fund his lifestyle, including paying for the renovations of a restaurant he opened, footing the bill for his own wedding, and traveling around the world, all on the company's dime,' stated United States Attorney Nocella. 'Embezzling company funds is a serious crime and my Office will vigorously prosecute this case to ensure Ream is held accountable for his brazen scheme.' If convicted, Ream could face a charged of up to 20 years in prison. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
5 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Ex-lawyer pleads guilty to embezzling $530K from disabled client
The Brief Former Tacoma lawyer Colby Parks pleaded guilty to wire fraud for embezzling over $530,000 from a disabled client's trust account, which he managed since 2010. Parks misused funds for personal gain, leaving only $15 in the victim's trust by 2019, forcing her to sell her home; he also manipulated financial records to conceal his actions, court records say. Parks resigned his law license amid investigations, and prosecutors are seeking a prison sentence of up to 33 months. TACOMA, Wash. - A former Tacoma lawyer pleaded guilty to embezzling more than $530,000 from a disabled client over the course of a decade. Colby Parks, 65, pleaded guilty to wire fraud in the U.S. District Court in Seattle, all in connection with a years-long scheme where prosecutors say he embezzled money from a client's trust account after they were permanently injured in a motorcycle accident. Timeline According to court records, Parks became the trustee of the client's account in 2010, which was intended to help pay the victim's expenses after the accident. At first, that trust account held around $1.66 million, but for the next seven years, Parks withdrew funds for personal use, court records say. Eventually, only $20,000 was left in the account. Court records say Parks had the victim take out a reverse mortgage on her home, and Parks used the money to fund the trust account — which he then continued to transfer to his own accounts. Prosecutors say, over the course of 10 years, Parks transferred some $880,000 from the victim's trust accounts, at least $530,000 more than he was entitled to as his management fees. By 2019, the victim had only $15 left in her trust, forcing her to sell her home. Parks then siphoned some of the funds from the sale, as well, claiming it was money he had advanced her and was owed, court records say. Dig deeper Washington's Adult Protective Services investigated Parks and the victim, and he told auditors he was only paid a flat rate of $24,000, court records say. Prosecutors allege he then changed that number to $54,000 per year when they asked for documentation, but they believe he was paying himself well over $80,000 per year from the victim's trust. The Washington State Bar launched a separate investigation, at which point Parks resigned his law license rather than be disbarred. Prosecutors have requested Parks be sentenced to no more than 33 months — or 2.75 years — in prison during his sentencing, scheduled for August 29. The Source Information in this story comes from the U.S. District Court in Seattle. Sweltering weather in store for Seattle this week Motorcyclist killed, driver arrested after Puyallup crash Mom of slain Idaho victim Xana Kernodle asks for help attending Bryan Kohberger trial Seattle Memorial Day weekend 2025: Your guide to events, traffic, more Tears, heartbreak at Chase Jones sentencing—teen in fatal Renton, WA crash To get the best local news, weather and sports in Seattle for free, sign up for the daily FOX Seattle Newsletter. Download the free FOX LOCAL app for mobile in the Apple App Store or Google Play Store for live Seattle news, top stories, weather updates and more local and national news.
Daily Mail
5 days ago
- Business
- Daily Mail
Miami businessman fleeces millions from investors for lavish French wedding and extravagant lifestyle
A Miami businessman who stole millions of dollars from hundreds of investors faces a maximum of 20 years in prison after pleading guilty to a wire fraud conspiracy. Efrain Betancourt Jr., 36, a dual citizen of the United States and Colombia, admitted in a plea agreement filed last week that he defrauded more than 600 Venezuelan-American investors in the Miami area out of approximately $66 million through his payday loan company, Sky Group USA. Between 2016 and 2020, Betancourt solicited money from investors, promising high returns from short-term, high-interest loans to consumers, but, in reality, only about $12.2 million was used for those loans. The remainder of the funds was spent on company operating costs, sales commissions and Betancourt's personal expenses, according to a factual statement submitted with the plea agreement, the Miami Herald reported. According to prosecutors, Betancourt misappropriated more than $6.5 million for his own use which included money spent on a luxurious wedding at a French château. The former CEO put the large sum of money toward the wedding on the French Riviera, Caribbean vacations, expensive jewelry, a private aircraft and a luxury high-rise condominium on Biscayne Boulevard in downtown Miami, according to the Miami Herald. As part of his sentencing, Betancourt is expected to pay $8.3 million in forfeiture - a figure that includes credit card expenditures, according to federal prosecutor Roger Cruz. Cruz also indicated that six additional wire fraud charges against Betancourt will be dismissed at sentencing as part of the plea agreement. Betancourt has been in federal custody since his arrest last November at Miami International Airport after prosecutors argued that he posed a flight risk, with potential travel ties to Latin America and the United Arab Emirates. The former CEO's guilty plea comes roughly three years after Betancourt and his company settled a civil case with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). SEC attorneys accused him of using his payday loan company to defraud investors, and a federal judge ordered Betancourt and Sky Group to repay more than $39 million. However, according to authorities, investors have received no compensation since that judgment. Both the SEC and federal prosecutors described Sky Group's operation as a 'Ponzi scheme.' Betancourt sold promissory notes to investors with the promise of double- and triple-digit annual returns and while some early investors were partially repaid, most were not. The embattled businessman's fraudulent scheme collapsed in 2020, when the COVID-19 pandemic triggered mass defaults on the consumer loans Sky Group issued, causing a severe cash-flow shortage and halting investor payouts. 'He never paid a dime to resolve the claims,' Miami attorney Richard Diaz, who represents three victims of the scheme, said. 'My clients and I are looking forward to personally attending his sentencing to express to the judge the gravity of his greed and fraud, which economically devastated, not just hurt, many families.' According to court documents, Betancourt funneled millions in fraudulent proceeds to family members and associates. Cruz wrote that 'millions of dollars in fraudulent proceeds directly obtained by this defendant have disappeared, were funneled by him to his wife and other family members, and have otherwise been transferred overseas.' The SEC also reported that Betancourt transferred at least $3.6 million to individuals including his ex-wife, Angelica Betancourt and to EEB Capital Group LLC - a company whose bank accounts were controlled by Betancourt and his current wife, Leidy Badillo. The transfers were described as having 'no apparent legitimate business purpose,' In 2022, EEB Capital agreed to pay $2.2 million toward the judgment against Sky Group and Betancourt. Angelica Betancourt, who reported a $60,000 salary from Sky Group, also agreed to pay approximately $1.1 million toward the settlement. Angelica Betancourt, who reported a $60,000 salary from Sky Group, also agreed to pay approximately $1.1 million toward the settlement. Betancourt's sentencing hearing is set for August 14 before US District Judge Darrin P. Gayles where he faces a maximum sentence of up to 20 years in prison.
CBS News
23-05-2025
- Business
- CBS News
Woman sentenced to prison, ordered to pay $5M restitution for role in Feeding our Future fraud scheme
A Minneapolis woman has been sentenced by a federal judge to over four years in prison and ordered to pay just over $5 million in restitution for her role in the largest pandemic fraud case in the country. Sahra Nur, 63, was sentenced to four years and four months in prison, followed by two years of supervised release, according to a release Thursday from the U.S. Attorney's Office in Minnesota. As the owner of S and S Catering Inc., Nur enrolled her business in the Federal Child Nutrition Program as a food distribution site under the sponsorship of Feeding Our Future. Between December 2020 and April 2021, Nur said S and S catering served over 1.2 million meals to children, and sites that used the business as a vendor reported serving more than 8 million meals through the federal program. S and S Catering received more than $10 million in payments from the companies they reportedly served food to, and over $16 million in reimbursements from Feeding Our Future, according to the attorney's office. Nur misappropriated the funds for her benefit, including commercial real estate, federal officials say. She pleaded guilty in September 2023 to one count each of wire fraud and money laundering, after being charged in 2022 with 46 other people in connection with the fraud. The judge who sentenced Nur called the loss amount "staggering" and said that "public trust in government programs has significant decreased" as a result of her fraud. In April, Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison was grilled by members of the House Fraud Committee over a 2021 meeting he had with business owners later convicted in the Feeding Our Future fraud case. During the 2021 meeting, which was secretly recorded, the defendants are heard complaining about state agencies and discussing possible campaign contributions. Note: The video above originally aired April 29, 2025.
