Results tagged “checks”

For six years, 49-year-old Thomas Prusik-Parkin of Brooklyn disguised himself as his deceased mother so he could collect some $115,000 in Social Security and rent subsidies, police sources tell the Daily News. After being busted for the elaborate scam on Monday, Prusik-Parkin reportedly told detectives, "I held my mother when she was dying and breathed in her last breath, so I am my mother." And if you think that's creepy, take a look at his mug shot!

Federal prosecutors claim that Bernard Madoff had 100 checks in his desk—about $173 million worth, made out to friends, family, and employees— and that he would have sent them out, if not for the FBI arresting him. Madoff, who admitted that his investment empire was actually a Ponzi scheme of up to $50 billion, has been under house arrest (he put up $10 million in bail), but the U.S. Attorney's office wants him in jail, noting the many checks plus the packages of expensive jewelry he mailed to relatives are signs he's trying to hide assets.

Not everyone losing their shirts these days can blame it on the market collapse; some unlucky investors have broker Michael Axel to blame. Despite his totally boss name, Axel was definitely not the guy to trust with your savings. And he's (allegedly) living proof that people do actually fall for that overseas e-mail scam, whereby someone you don't know, usually residing in Africa, e-mails you with some ridiculous offer that, to paraphrase Michael McDonald, only a fool believes. Axel was that fool, prosecutors say; he was arraigned Thursday on grand larceny and forgery charges and could get 15 years in prison.

Brooklyn postal worker Michael Olivio was arrested by feds last week for stealing mail he was supposed to deliver when he suspected that cards contained cash or checks. After residents on his postal route began to complain that they were not receiving certain expected pieces of mail, postal inspectors began an elaborate investigation. First they mailed decoy greeting cards to establish that mail was indeed disappearing along Olivio's route. They followed that up by mailing...