$750K Scheme: Long Island Probation Officer Admits Stealing Employee's Welfare Funds $750K Scheme: Long Island Probation Officer Admits Stealing Employee's Welfare Funds
$750K Scheme: Long Island Probation Officer Admits Stealing Employee's Welfare Funds A Long Island man who served as the president of a probation officer’s union pleaded guilty to embezzling nearly a quarter of a million dollars from the union and its welfare funds. Dominic Coluccio, age 74 of Bellmore, entered his guilty plea for wire fraud on Thursday, April 11, the United States Attorney’s Office Southern District of New York announced. Coluccio served as the President of the United Probation Officers Association (UPOA) from 1989 until about 2016. The UPOA is a labor organization representing current and retired officers and supervisors in the New York City Department …
Shenanigans, Indeed: Manager At Capital Region Gentleman's Club Busted Selling Meth, Feds Say Shenanigans, Indeed: Manager At Capital Region Gentleman's Club Busted Selling Meth, Feds Say
Shenanigans, Indeed: Manager At Capital Region Gentleman's Club Busted Selling Meth, Feds Say The general manager of a gentleman’s club in the region is facing federal charges after he was allegedly busted in an undercover sting selling drugs. Luiggi Canessa, who manages Shenanigans gentlemen's club in Schenectady, is named in a complaint filed in US District Court in the Northern District on Tuesday, April 9. FBI agents began investigating a “wide array of crime” occurring at the club, as well as an adjoining business, Sheer Pleasure Lingerie, in late 2023, according to the complaint. That conduct allegedly included drug and sex trafficking, and wire fraud. Canessa, who manages…
$2.2M Scheme: Mass Man Convinces Victims To Invest In Youth Sports Ventures, Steals Funds $2.2M Scheme: Mass Man Convinces Victims To Invest In Youth Sports Ventures, Steals Funds
$2.2M Scheme: Mass Man Convinces Victims To Invest In Youth Sports Ventures, Steals Funds A Massachusetts man will spend years in prison for defrauding investors who believed they had been financing youth sports ventures, federal officials announced. Middlesex County resident Adrian Kawuba, of Watertown, age 34, was sentenced to 27 months in prison for taking part in a $2.2 million scheme to defraud investors into financing what they thought were youth sports ventures in Africa, the US Attorney's Office for the District of Massachusetts announced on Thursday, April 11. According to federal officials, Kawuba would tell victims that he would invest their money into …
Controller From NJ Who Embezzled $2.37M From Madison Avenue Firm Gets 27 Months In Fed Pen Controller From NJ Who Embezzled $2.37M From Madison Avenue Firm Gets 27 Months In Fed Pen
Controller From NJ Who Embezzled $2.37M From Madison Avenue Firm Gets 27 Months In Fed Pen UPDATE: A controller from Middlesex County was sentenced to more than two years in federal prison for embezzling $2.37 million from his Madison Avenue employer. Gerard Beauzile, 63, South Plainfield, conducted an elaborate, long-running scheme to issue bogus checks to himself that he then deposited into his bank account, U.S. Attorney Philip R. Sellinger said. Beginning a decade ago and continuing through the end of 2020, Beauzile admitted issuing 140 checks to himself from the Manhattan-based company, which offers news, analysis, research and data for the "global energy industry," accordin…
COVID-19: Ex-Court Officer From Valley Stream Sentenced For $770K Loan Fraud Scheme COVID-19: Ex-Court Officer From Valley Stream Sentenced For $770K Loan Fraud Scheme
Covid-19: Ex-Court Officer From Valley Stream Sentenced For $770K Loan Fraud Scheme Two former government employees from Long Island will spend more than a year in federal lockup for defrauding loan programs meant to help businesses impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. Arthur Cornwall, age 43, of Babylon, and Sean Williams, age 42, of Valley Stream, were each sentenced to 18 months in prison in Central Islip federal court on Wednesday, March 20, after pleading guilty to wire fraud. Prosecutors said Cornwall, a former signal maintainer with the New York City Transit Authority, and Williams, a former New York State Court officer, received nearly $770,000 in small business loan…
Bogus Bean Counter Gets 5 Years For $1.5M Scam That Targeted NJ Schools, Nonprofits, More Bogus Bean Counter Gets 5 Years For $1.5M Scam That Targeted NJ Schools, Nonprofits, More
Bogus Bean Counter Gets 5 Years For $1.5M Scam That Targeted NJ Schools, Nonprofits, More 𝗨𝗣𝗗𝗔𝗧𝗘: A Hoboken woman was sentenced to five years in federal prison for posing as an accountant to steal more than $1.5 million from nonprofits, private schools and religious institutions, among other victims across the state. Yezenia Castillo, 47, will have to serve at least 85% of her sentence -- a few months over four years -- because there's no parole in the federal prison system. From 2012 through 2021, Castillo "falsely claimed to be a CPA who could provide various financial and accounting services to non-profit organizations throughout New Jersey, including private schools and reli…
Morris Man Seized By FBI For Scamming Victims Out Of $3.4 Million With 'Debt Relief' Service Morris Man Seized By FBI For Scamming Victims Out Of $3.4 Million With 'Debt Relief' Service
Morris Man Seized By FBI For Scamming Victims Out Of $3.4 Million With 'Debt Relief' Service A restaurant owner who'd fallen $200,000 into the hole during COVID thought he'd gotten a lifeline from a Morris County man who ran a phony debt relief service that promised to reduce what he owed by 40 to 45 percent. Under a contract he was required to sign, the business owner agreed to pay $4,150 every two weeks for two years. It wasn't until he'd already forked over $150,000 that the victim finally got wise to Mark Csantaveri, a 51-year-old Morristown resident with an alleged gambling habit, federal authorities said. It turns out the restaurant owner was one of more than 50 victims…
GUILTY: ‘Bling Bishop’ From Bergen Convicted Of Swindling NJ Parishioner's Mom, More GUILTY: ‘Bling Bishop’ From Bergen Convicted Of Swindling NJ Parishioner's Mom, More
Guilty: ‘Bling Bishop’ From Bergen Convicted Of Swindling NJ Parishioner's Mom, More 𝗨𝗣𝗗𝗔𝗧𝗘: A flashy Brooklyn bishop who lives in Bergen County – and was infamously robbed at gunpoint during a live-streamed church service – was convicted in lower Manhattan of swindling the elderly mom of a parishioner out of her life savings, among other counts. Lamor Whitehead, 45, promised to put the $90,000 toward buying her a home, federal prosecutors told jurors in the Southern U.S. District of New York who found him guilty of all charges after only three hours of deliberations on Monday, March 11. Instead, the infamous "Bling Bishop" blew the money on BMW payments and luxury purchase…
George Santos Announces Comeback Bid For NY Congressional Seat: 'Off To The Races' George Santos Announces Comeback Bid For NY Congressional Seat: 'Off To The Races'
George Santos Announces Comeback Bid For NY Congressional Seat: 'Off To The Races' Disgraced former New York Rep. George Santos is mounting a comeback campaign. The Republican ex-lawmaker from Long Island – who was ousted from his 3rd District seat representing parts of Nassau County and Queens – announced a primary challenge against Rep. Nick LaLota for his 1st District seat. In a statement on X shared during President Biden’s State of the Union address Thursday night, March 7, Santos said New York hasn’t had “a real conservative represent them” since he left office “thanks to RINO, empty suits like Nick LaLota.” Earlier Report: Exiled Congressman Turned Reality …
Virginia Army Reservist Used COVID Scam To Pay Swindlers Overseas: Feds Virginia Army Reservist Used COVID Scam To Pay Swindlers Overseas: Feds
Virginia Army Reservist Used COVID Scam To Pay Swindlers Overseas: Feds A Virginia Army reservist was apparently no better than the people he thought he was fooling. Russell Laraway, 56, of Leesburg, admitted he fraudulently claimed more than $400,000 in a COVID relief fund scheme, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia Jessica D. Aber said. Being busted by the feds ultimately may have saved Laraway, though, who allegedly gave some of his hard-earned cash to foreign entities "in scams of which he was a victim," Aber's office said. According to court documents, Laraway incorporated two business entities that he purported to operate out of …
Former DC Non-Profit Leader Gets Prison Time For $150K Affordable Housing Embezzlement Scheme Former DC Non-Profit Leader Gets Prison Time For $150K Affordable Housing Embezzlement Scheme
Former DC Non-Profit Leader Gets Prison Time For $150K Affordable Housing Embezzlement Scheme A minister who was the former head of a non-profit organization in Southeast DC is heading to prison taking from the poor and giving to her self while embezzling more than $150,000 from its coffers, federal authorities announced. Rowena Joyce Scott, 71, was sentenced this week to 18 months in prison for a scheme to steal money from a corporation she was entrusted to run which was created to aid some of the District's economically-challenged residents. According to prosecutors, Scott – a minister and the former head of the Ward 8 Democrats – was convicted following a June 2023 jury…
Over $800K Scheme: Stamford Man Gets Prison Time For Stealing From Family Trust Over $800K Scheme: Stamford Man Gets Prison Time For Stealing From Family Trust
Over $800K Scheme: Stamford Man Gets Prison Time For Stealing From Family Trust A 69-year-old Connecticut man will spend time in prison for stealing over $800,000 from his relatives' family trust that he administered, officials announced.  Fairfield County resident Curtis Solsvig of Stamford was sentenced on Tuesday, March 5 to 18 months in prison for his wire fraud scheme, the US Attorney's Office for the District of Connecticut announced. According to federal officials, in 1996, Solsvig began serving as a trustee of a married couple's trust intended to benefit their two children. Beginning in 2011, Solsvig, a relative of the victims, began stealing around $…