MANAFORT FOUND GUILTY ON EIGHT COUNTS

[Photo from wikipedia]

     As you have probably heard by now, former Trump campaign chairman and businessman, Paul Manafort, was convicted by a jury in federal court yesterday on eight counts of tax and bank fraud. The jury was reportedly unable to reach a verdict on the ten remaining charges. Sentencing will be at a later time.  Manafort also still faces other federal charges in the D.C. district.

As a practical matter, being convicted on even one count, in federal court, which utilizes the federal sentencing guidelines, is sufficient for a federal judge to consider all relevant conduct in imposing sentence. And there is no parole federally.
    

An Armenian Bank Fraud Ring Bites the Dust

[Photo from mortgage foreclosure.org]

As a former federal prosecutor, (and, currently, as an Augusta, Georgia criminal defense lawyer), I have often predicted that, sadly, most of us will eventually become victims of identity theft.  But this week, thanks to the good work of federal prosecutors in Los Angeles, at least one organized crime ring, which focuses on identity theft and bank fraud, has "bitten the dust!"

According to various news reports, four members of an Armenian organized crime conspiracy were found guilty in Los Angeles federal court of one of the largest bank fraud and identity theft schemes in California history.  

According to reports, the enterprise was headed by one of the defendants, Arman Sharopetrosian.  The four defendants operated their criminal enterprise out of their prison cells.  They reportedly used cell phones to access Social Security numbers and birth dates of innocent victims and used the information to steal over $10 million from victims' bank accounts.  (Just imagine what they might have accomplished if they had not already been incarcerated!?)  

The defendants will be sentenced at a later date.  And they will face some really tough federal statutory and guidelines sentencing!  Each count of federal bank fraud carries with it a 30 year statutory maximum.  Also, each count of aggravated identity theft carries with it a mandatory two year prison sentence which must run consecutive to any other counts!  Hopefully, these guys also won't be allowed to keep their cell phones!

Have you ever been a victim of identity theft or fraud?  Do you know someone who has?

Will DOJ Ever Bring Wall Street to Justice?

A Washington Post article published today raises an interesting question: Will the Department of Justice ever "bring to justice" the greedy Wall Street banks and bank executives who were responsible for nearly ruining the U.S. economy in late 2008? Attorney General Eric Holder has promised that such prosecutions will be forthcoming, but, after a year and a half since the financial meltdown, no noteworthy prosecutions have occurred.

However, as a former federal prosecutor, I can sympathize with the DOJ prosecutors entrusted with this responsiblity. For instance, can you imagine the enormous paper trail that the government agents and prosecutors must follow in such an enormous bank fraud investigation? There would be literally millions of documents to examine and just about as many witnesses to interview and rabbit holes for the investigators to jump into, in order to ferret out the fraud! In addition, government prosecutors would face difficult charging decisions. In other words, it's easy to lambast and rail against big banks and bankers, (and slow-moving prosecutors), but it can be difficult to decide, on an individual basis, whether or not sufficient evidence exists to charge an individual who may have simply been following orders, or following the status quo.

So, as to this question about whether or not DOJ is taking too long to bring the Wall Street "fat cats" to justice, I am willing to cut them, (i.e. the prosecutors), some more slack! In this case, government agents and prosecutors have an incredibly difficult task and I would prefer that they do their jobs right, instead of rushing to judgment!

What do you think?

Former Florida GOP Chairman Charged With Fraud

Have you heard the bad news from Florida? No, I'm not referring to the approach of oil toward Florida beaches from the BP oil spill. Instead, I am talking about the reported arrest earlier today of former Florida GOP chairman Jim Greer on fraud, theft, and money laundering charges. According to numerous reports, Greer, a close associate of Florida Governor Charlie Crist, is accused of utilizing a shell company to steal money from the state party.
Now, I have no clue about whether or not Greer actually committed any crimes. Also, I believe he should be entitled to a presumption of innocence. But as a former federal prosecutor, (and currently, as a criminal defense lawyer), I have often seen schemes to defraud committed in which the perpetrator utlized shell companies in this manner. The key to success is often whether or not the perpetrator has unchecked authority to pay bills of such an entity. In other words, if the victim entity has no real checks and balances in place, it can be relatively easy for someone who controls the checkbook of that entity to created a bogus, non-existent company and then pay its fictitious invoices.
Now, that's enough bad news about white collar crime today! Let's all get back to worrying about the BP oil spill mess! (Of course, if other news reports are true, there may also be some white collar crime percolating to the surface in the BP oil spill fiasco, too).

New Task Force to Fight Mortgage Fraud in Georgia

I'll bet you'll never guess what the above four pictures have in common! Here's a hint: all four pictures relate to the State of Georgia, (where we, at The Goolsby Law Firm, practice law)! The simple answer is that Georgia leads the nation, (or is near the top), in the production of all four: broilers, (i.e. young chickens), along with cotton, peaches, and ...mortgage fraud! Actually, Georgia ranks only fourth in the nation as to the growing problem of mortgage fraud. But fortunately, Georgia Governor Sonny Perdue is reportedly trying to do something about it.

The Governor's office has announced plans to form a new mortgage fraud unit in the Georgia Bureau of Investigation. I can tell you from experience, as a former federal prosecutor, that such task force units are essential to combatting complex crimes involving fraud, such as mortgage fraud.

While task forces may be costly, mortgage fraud is costly, too. According to a recent estimate, the State of Georgia has lost a whopping $144 million to mortgage fraud (and bank fraud) in the past four years. Here's hoping that the State of Georgia will follow through by creating the mortgage fraud task force soon. And here's also hoping that, in the near future, Georgia will rank high only in the production of young chickens, cotton, and peaches!

Another Goolsby "War Story:" The Case of the Perfect Crime!

As a former federal prosecutor in Augusta, Georgia, I once prosecuted a bank executive who had pulled off the "perfect crime." Well, it was almost perfect! After all, she did get caught, or else I wouldn't be telling this story! Here is what happened and how she got caught.

"Miss Moneypacker," the crooked bank executive, was in charge of handling the accounts of the bank's wealthier customers. Her job included opening their accounts, arranging lines of credit, and otherwise providing them with good, personal service. (She was sort of like Mr. Drysdale or Miss Hathaway in the "Beverly Hillbillies!") In other words, if a wealthy bank customer needed something, they knew to always call "Miss Moneypacker" for assistance.

"Miss Moneypacker" was not only very attractive, but also she was very intelligent. She realized, for instance, that, as to her handling of the wealthy customers' accounts, her bank bosses had virtually no checks and balances in place. In other words, other than routine bank audits, there was no one looking closely over her shoulder. So, here is what she did: Occasionally, a wealthy bank customer would contact her and inform her that they were moving out of town. Then, these customers would come in the bank, give her a check, and ask her to help pay off and close their lines of credit. Now, "Miss Moneypacker" was smart enough NOT to steal these checks. She dutifully used the customer's check to pay on their line of credit. However, the wiley "Miss Moneypacker" did NOT close out the customer's line of credit. Thereafter, the customer moved away, believing that they had paid off and closed their accounts. Little did they know that "Miss Moneypacker" had kept their accounts open and continued to borrow thousands of dollars against their line of credit! She did this over and over again. She also submitted paperwork causing the bank to send monthly statements to new bogus addresses established by her. And she always carefully made payments each month on the (still open) lines of credit.

"Miss Moneypacker" also took many other steps to make sure she would never get caught. For instance, she would request the production of new PIN numbers and ATM cards, ostensibly for these customers, and then she would use the ATM debit cards to withdraw thousands of dollars each day at various ATM machines. This "perfect crime" actually continued for several years without any problems! Can you guess how "Miss Moneypacker" got caught?

One day, "Miss Moneypacker" got sick! So, she wasn't there when Harvey Smith, one of her former customers who had moved away, came back into the bank. Harvey had moved back to town and wanted to open a new line of credit! Another bank official had to step in and help Harvey, because "Miss Moneypacker" was out! Just imagine Harvey's (and the bank official's) shock and surprise when they learned that Harvey still owed the bank over $100,00.00 on his (still open) line of credit! The bank called the F.B.I. and all "Miss Moneypacker's" shenanigans were discovered! She was charged with federal bank fraud and bank employee embezzlement. The bank had lost over half a million dollars!

So, the moral to this story might be that, if you want to commit the perfect crime, you should never call in sick! (If "Miss Moneypacker" had been at work that day, she could have finessed the situation with Harvey, and I suspect she would still be the "line of credit queen!") Or maybe the moral should be: Don't do the crime, if you don't want to do the time!