Results tagged “scam”

Ladies, meet Martin Berres, a 62-year-old single man who describes himself on his MySpace page (martynycforever!) as a "classy native New Yorker." His heroes include Niccolò Machiavelli, and he is "in better shape and health than most men 1/3 my years. Do not let the age mislead you; I am young in heart and looks... I consider myself to be a find." Marty would love to meet you provided you meet the "paramount" requirement of "outside beauty" and "inside beauty." Oh, and you should also have lots of money and jewelry he can pawn—according to two women who say Berres swindled them out of $400,000.

Those curbside tables manned by people soliciting donations for the United Homeless Organization are nothing more than a scam that funnels money to the bosses at the top, according to a lawsuit filed yesterday by Attorney General Andrew Cuomo. You'll recall that UHO founder Steven Riley was deliciously skewered in a classic Fox 5 "Shame" segment last month; now Riley and UHO director Myra Walker are in Cuomo's crosshairs, accused of co-opting "a tax-exempt, charitable corporate structure for their own benefit"—benefits such as paying Riley's bills for cable and Weight Watchers!

Unlicensed cab drivers are charging tourists $120 a pop for a ride from the airports to Manhattan, and Inside Edition is mad as hell about it. In one of their priceless hidden camera exposés, airing tonight at 6 p.m., the show's muckrakers put their lives on the line to show you what you hopefully already knew: shady individuals are preying on people at the airport.

With their usual smorgasbord of awful, breakfast-related puns, the Post is reporting (with a "It's scam and eggs" headline) on an expensive scam that went on at the Belvedere Hotel on West 48th Street. Mary Comis, the 62-year-old controller of the hotel amassed $208,000 over three years by scamming patrons through the hotel's breakfast specials. The hotel had two specials for guests: The American Breakfast priced at $19.95, and a Continental Breakfast at $13.95. While calculating the large breakfast totals, Comis would charge the $6 difference to herself, meaning "she would have had to pull the scam roughly 34,699 times." The amounts she charged were so small that nobody caught on until recently. She's expected to serve 300 hours of community service, and is currently paying all of the money back to the Belvedere. Too bad, otherwise it would have been a parfait crime. (Your move, Post.)

As expected, Frank DiPascali, who acted as the chief financial officer for Madoff Investment Securities, pleaded guilty to helping Bernard Madoff (pictured) pull off a $65 billion Ponzi scheme. DiPascali, a self-described "kid from Queens" who landed a job with Madoff, said, "No purchases or sales of securities were actually taking place in their accounts. It was all fake. It was all fictitious. It was wrong, and I knew it was wrong at the time... I don't know how I went from being an 18-year-old kid who just happened to have a job to standing here in court. I regret everything I did. I hope my actions going forward with the government will make a difference."

The 3,000 square-foot East Side apartment belonging to Marc Dreier, the once prominent attorney who pleaded guilty to a $700 million fraud involving fake promissory notes, was auctioned off yesterday—and the winning bid was Berkshire Hathaway executive Ajit Jain's $8.2 million offer. Bloomberg News notes that's "21 percent less than what [Dreier] paid two years ago" and that "The last recorded sale at Beacon Court was a 3,058 square-foot unit on the 49th floor," which sold at $12 million in May. Dreier's apartment is on the 34th floor and boasts a huge terrace. The proceeds of the sale are being split by personal bankruptcy creditors and the U.S. Attorney’s office—Dreier did have a $5 million mortgage after all. The $8.2 million sale includes items inside the apartment, such as nine pints of Haagen Dazs, "a half-eaten raspberry peach pie, a collection of Christian Liaigre furnishings and seven pairs of black Ermenegildo Zegna shoes, mostly size eight." While signing the paperwork, Jain reportedly said, "Right now, I'm having buyer's remorse." These days, Dreier is sort of familiar with remorse.

A 25-year-old Chase Bank investment adviser is behind bars at Rikers Island after being charged with siphoning $110,000 from a millionaire's private account. Saucy Robin Katz worked at Chase's midtown headquarters until May, at which point she told employers she had to return to California for a family emergency. In April, one of Chase's clients realized that his seven-figure account balance had a six-figure shortfall, and auditors determined that an extra ATM card in the millionaire's name had been created in June 2008 and was used dozens of times to withdraw cash out of the account. Bank investigators traced the scam to Katz and asked her to return from California because she had some explainin' to do; she was arrested after arriving back in NYC last week. A police source tells the Post, "She just spent it... shopping and going out." The tabloid also pulls some choice quotes from Katz's MySpace profile, where she describes herself as a "rocket scientist by day, party fool by night," and lists her interests thus: "Politics: F-- Bush. Sex: F-- Me."

Marc Dreier, the once high-flying lawyer with hundreds of employees and celebrity friends, was sentenced to 20 years in prison for his $700 million scam to "issue and sell fictitious promissory notes purportedly issued by companies in the United States and Canada." He pleaded guilty to duping investors out of $400 million in May and said in a letter to the judge, prior to his sentencing, "I have lost all my friends. I have lost my law firm, my law license and all that I ever owned. I have seen my family suffer the unimaginable. I have lost my past and my future. I have lost everything a man can lose. And now I will lose my freedom as well, and rightly so."

A lawyer for the $65 billion-dollar Ponzi scheme man says that there will be no appeal for 150-year sentence handed down to Bernard Madoff last week. Ira Lee Sorkin said, "The decision has been made, and that's it." Next up for Madoff is finding out where he'll spend the rest of his life—he requested to be sent to the Otisville federal prison. CNN Money notes that it's "70 miles northwest of New York City, where he used to reside in a $7 million apartment, ...and one of the closest medium-security prisons to New York City, where Madoff has family." Also, there's a "prison camp, textile factory, a full-time rabbi," and, according to a prison consultant, "one of the largest and most active religious programs for Jewish inmates in the Bureau of Prisons."

Federal prosecutors are still looking to make examples out of swindlers. After successfully nailing Bernard Madoff for 150 years, now they are seeking 145 years for Marc Dreier, a once prominent lawyer who pleaded guilty to a $700 million scam involving fake promissory notes. The feds pointed out, "This defendant, an officer of the court, engaged in a more than $740 million series of frauds over a seven-year period largely to finance a personal life of extraordinary lavishness," and that his investors lost $400 million. Dreier's defense lawyer, however, is hoping to get his 59-year-old client 12 1/2 years, "In seeking some measure of leniency we appeal not to sympathy but to reason. As colossal frauds capture national headlines, sentences for white-collar offenders must not become disproportionately long." CityRoom has Dreier's letter to the judge, which includes, "I have lost all my friends. I have lost my law firm, my law license and all that I ever owned. I have seen my family suffer the unimaginable. I have lost my past and my future. I have lost everything a man can lose. And now I will lose my freedom as well, and rightly so."

The NY Post scored the first jailhouse interview with Thomas Prusik-Parkin, aka "Dead Mom Walking," aka "Dragnut," aka the dude who dressed up as his dead mother to collect her Social Security benefits and mortgage her Park Slope brownstone, and the guy who kept a coffin in his living room. And he discussed Psycho, Alfred Hitchcock's 1960 classic thriller about a cross-dressing murderer with mommy issues!

You already know some of Thomas Prusik-Parkin's reasoning for dressing up like his dead mother, Irene Prusik, for six years to cash her Social Security checks and collect other benefits. During his arrest, he reportedly told authorities, "I held my mother when she was dying and breathed in her last breath, so I am my mother." Then yesterday we learned that this man, now being held in lieu of $1 million bail, kept a casket in his home for undisclosed reasons—though it's safe to assume that's where he'd sleep, all snug and cozy in Irene's nightgown. And now it gets creepier, if that's even possible: According to court papers obtained by the Post, Prusik-Parkin says he was just following Mommy's orders. "She said, 'I will guide you,' he told cops after his arrest Tuesday. "I therefore have had to put on her things and represent the part of me that is her in order to fight for our rights and our home." Aw, a nice young man standing up for his mother's rights; maybe this story isn't so twisted after all!

The story of the Park Slope man who dressed like his dead mother for six years to cash her Social Security checks and collect other benefits has captivated the world, with Google showing the Thomas Prusik-Parkin Psycho tale popping up as far afield as Turkey and Russia. Perhaps there's something about the story that resonates with humanity's deep-seated Oedipal urges—or maybe Prusik-Parkin has just tapped into our universal fantasy to live on the dole without our moms' nagging us to get a job. Either way, it gets creepier: The Daily News reports today that Prusik-Parkin kept a casket in his living room.

ABC News caught up Ruth Madoff, wife of multi-billion Ponzi-scheming investment guru Bernard Madoff, while she leaving the Metropolitan Correctional Center, where her husband is being held. When asked "if she had anything to say to the victims of her husband's scam or whether she played a role in it," she simply said, "I have no response to you." Apparently Ruth Madoff has been telling people that she's lonely and feels shunned ever since the scandal erupted, but a lawyer representing victims of the scam said, "Why would you have sympathy for his wife in any of these circumstances? She was one of the largest beneficiaries of the fraud. She enjoyed a very rich lifestyle that practically everyone would love to emulate and it was paid for by someone else." ABC News also likes to mention how Madoff was very generous with his employees—"Madoff sent $2.2 million so that one staffer, now under criminal investigation, could buy a New Jersey beach house. Frank DiPascali, Madoff's right hand man, was paid nearly $3 million a year. DiPascali's boat captain was also on the Madoff payroll."

The NYPD is calling on the public to help them track down a ring of thieves who used ATMs at two Sovereign Bank branches on Staten Island to rob customers of roughly half a million dollars. Police have released surveillance photos of three suspects who installed "skimmers" on the banks' ATM machines that grabbed data from the magnetic strips on the back of bank cards. They also attached tiny cameras in the lighted signs over the ATMs that videotaped customers' PINs. The suspects were then able to transfer that info onto a blank card and withdraw money from the victims' accounts. The bank has refunded customers, but Deputy Inspector Gregory Antonsen tells the Daily News that New Yorkers should monitor their accounts closely: "This crew is sophisticated. And they are coming up with new ways to steal your identity every day." Anyone ready to snitch can call Crime stoppers at 1-800-577-TIPS or submit their tips online via the Crime stoppers Web site. ATM skimming is an ongoing problem for banks and their customers; in 2006 thieves scored $100,000 from 50 Washington Mutual accounts.

While disgraced financier Bernard Madoff's chief financial officer allegedly may be talking to the feds, one former employee of the swindler is definitely talking: His former secretary, Eleanor Squillari. She has co-authored a 9,000-word article in Vanity Fair and now the magazine spills some of the details, like how he "had a roving eye" and acted like he was in a coma—"He began taking his blood-pressure every 15 minutes, refused to look at his mail"—right before his arrest.

Yesterday New York's highest court upheld the felony forgery conviction of a man who was arrested in 2005 for "selling swipes" to subway riders using MetroCards altered with a simple bending technique. How simple? Well, Judge Victoria A. Graffeo tells you pretty much exactly how to do it in the 12-page decision [pdf], which explains how defendant Jonathan Mattocks would bend discarded MetroCards in such a way that the turnstile computers were unable to read one of two magnetic fields on the cards, resulting in a "free" ride.

Yesterday, FBI agents raided the Lexington Avenue office of William Parente. Parente killed himself after killing his wife and two daughters in a Maryland hotel room last week—the Long Island family had been visiting the eldest daughter at college. Based on some papers left in the room, it's believed Parente was in financial trouble. Newsday reports, "Investors have said Parente used the money to make high-interest commercial bridge loans" (with high returns) and that the FBI has spoken to many individuals who invested $20 million with Parente over the past two decades. Some investors had demanded their money back, but Parente stalled on giving them the money and when he did, the checks bounced. One person said, "No one questioned him, because everyone knew him. I don't understand where the money could have gone." The FBI left the office with dozens of file boxes and a hard drive.

Marc Dreier, the once high-flying lawyer whose firm had over 200 lawyers, will plead guilty a $700 million scam involving fake promissory notes. According to his lawyer, Dreier—who does not have a deal—will "enter a guilty plea to...conspiracy, securities fraud, money laundering and five counts of wire fraud," the Wall Street Journal reports. Dreier was arrested in December, after returning from Canada where he was arrested for impersonating another lawyer in an attempt to get business from a Canadian pension fund, and has been under house arrest. Dreier faces over seven counts, the New York Law Journal says, "Each count carries a potential sentence of 20 years in prison except for the conspiracy count, which carries a five-year term."

Even criminal street performers in the East Village ain't what they used to be. This weekend 21-year-old Dominic Lapsley used a metal walking stick to pretend that he was blind and bump into a group of strangers at the corner of St. Marks Place and 2nd Avenue around 12:30 a.m. Sunday morning. The five twenty-something victims were then confronted by 40-year-old Benjamin Pleasant, who yelled at them, "Don't run into a blind man! Give me your wallets," as he began going through a victim's pockets. At that point, two more accomplices came out of the woodwork and began beating on the rest of the group. Being on St. Marks on a Saturday night, the scene wasn't exactly off the beaten path and cops were able to quickly sweep the gang up. Just last week a group of transvestite teenagers in the West Village were arrested for robbing locals and spending the loot on wigs.

The police are looking for four people involved in a scam they operate in bank ATM alcoves. The AP explains the scheme:

After the target puts his or her bank card into an ATM, a woman approaches and says that machine isn't working. While the victim uses a nearby machine, a second suspect watches and notes the victim's personal code.

Continue reading "Beware the "ATM Not Working" Scam"

Marc Dreier, the once prominent attorney accused of swindling hundreds of millions from hedge funds and investors alike, was given bail by a federal judge yesterday. However, the NY Times reports, "The conditions set by the judge are so restrictive that even if Mr. Dreier posts the $10 million bond that the judge required — which could happen by early next week — Mr. Dreier would be holed up in what might be considered a fancy prison." Well, Dreier's lawyer did want a Madoff-like bail! Among the restrictions proposed: An electronic monitoring device, a security guard, approval of visitors and "no call forwarding, no modem, no caller ID, no call waiting and no wireless phone."

In his $6.6 million divorce settlement two years ago, big shot real-estate lawyer Steven Simkin (pictured) paid his ex-wife Laura Blank $2.7 million to buy out her half of their Madoff investment, which he thought was worth $5.4 million. Now, according to his attorneys, the "account" is worthless, "literally not worth the paper on which the parties' valuation rested." So Simkin wants some of that money back, because "Laura has been unjustly enriched, having received millions of dollars based on an illusory and exaggerated value attributed to the 'account.'" Blank, who works for CUNY, tells the Post she isn't really feeling Simkin's pain: "What he's doing is outrageous. He made a poor investment choice and it's his problem." Just as every bum's lot in life is his own responsibility, regardless of who he chooses to blame!

Yet another story about people being scammed by thieves claiming to be utilities workers—this time, they're posing as Con Ed employees in Brooklyn. According to WCBS 2, some men and women are trying to gain entry into residents' homes by flashing fake IDs and asking things like "We just want to know if you're interested in lowering your fill for Con Ed and National Grid?" One woman said, "They wanted a copy of our gas bill to see if we qualified for a discount. She tried to talk me into going onto my computer and go online to give her our info and everything." A Con Ed spokesman Michael Clendenin said that people should definitely ask to see an ID if someone claims to be from the utility; he also clarified, "If they're coming at night, we don't come at night. We don't make house calls. We don't come to read your meter unless we've made an appointment." Recently, the city warned about people claiming to be from the DEP were scamming seniors.

Remember that resourceful young Animal Collective fan who conned a bevy of real fans in the Craigslist ticket scam heard round the blogsphere? Well the plot thickens! NBC reports that, "a little over a week after a handful of hipsters around the city got ripped off, the scammer may have resurfaced on Craigslist, looking for his Williamsburg scam victim with 'cute bangs and funky glasses'." He even confesses in the ad, saying "I printed ten copies of my Animal Collective ticket and sold you one near the Lorimer stop. Maybe we can go to our next show together?" Sure, this has fake written all over it, but maybe, just maybe, this cold-hearted hustler listened to My Girls a few too many times and it softened him up.

One family may have really lucked out in the Bernard Madoff Ponzi scheme mess. Newsday reports, "The trustee overseeing the dismantling of Madoff's businesses said he would put aside $10 million, the amount being sought by the Rosenman family's limited liability company." Apparently the Rosenmans, who have an home oil delivery business based in the Bronx, had sent Madoff $10 million right before he was arrested; after his scheme was revealed, they sued his estate.

It seems some enterprising young chap decided to make some extra cash by scamming people on Craigslist, allegedly selling (many, many) counterfeit tickets at inflated prices to the Animal Collective show at Bowery Ballroom last night. Brooklyn Vegan commenters are all abuzz about it today, with one explaining, "There was some bad shit going down with counterfeit tickets. As I was going in some people got stopped when the guy scanned their tickets. He asked them if they'd bought them from a guy (he said his name) on Craigslist for $100 and they said yes. He said they were the tenth people that night who'd got caught in the same scam. So someone out there made a LOT of money from last night's show." It seems that the alleged grifter was selling the E-ticket receipt, which can only be scanned one time. And since his name was on it, he's now the object of a serious hipster witch hunt; BV's commenters claim to have figured out his address and work information! We called the fella, and even emailed for comment, but unsurprisingly haven't heard back yet. [via Free Williamsburg]

Marc Dreier, the once prominent attorney with over 200 employees, is hoping for bail once again. A lawyer for Dreier, who is charged with stealing $380 million through "high stakes grifting", says his client has been cooperating with authorities, noting that no money appeared to be put into off-shore accounts and therefore poses no flight risk. And FYI: Dreier used the money to, according to the NY Law Journal, cover "operating expenses, capital expenditures, construction costs and security deposits; invested in losing stocks; or used to buy property and artwork." Property like boats and cars (a 2007 Aston Martin DB9 Volante) and artwork like the Tom Otterness sculpture, Big Thief (pictured), and Henri Matisse's "Grand Masque."

While the scope of the alleged fraud isn't as wide-reaching at Bernard Madoff's, it doesn't mean accused Ponzi schemer Bryant Rodriguez didn't hurt his victims. Rodriguez allegedly convinced fellow parishioners at Iglesia El Camino in Washington Heights (which he first joined for baptism classes) to invest with him—promising returns of 30% every two weeks, since he was working with BJ's and Costco. It all unraveled when parishioners became suspicious when they didn't get their investments back. He was granted $2 million bail, plus must "post $750,000 in cash or property and turn in his passport before he would be released and would be subject to electronic monitoring," according to the NY Times. At the hearing, some people were present to defend Rodriguez, claiming they had received their investments. But the Manhattan DA's office says that the scheme may be bigger than the $1.1 million churchgoers invested, “We...believe that he may be perpetrating the same scheme in other churches.”

Newsday has a story on the record-keeping and security troubles at the NY State Office of Children and Family Services. A report from the State Inspector General offered this example: An Oakdale man, along with a teenage daughter, had been accused of abusing a younger daughter. The charges were unsubstantiated, but, according to the report, he contacted Verizon, claiming he was a state employee and asked to see the log of calls to the abuse hotline. "The [Verizon] employee sent the phone numbers to the man's AOL e-mail address because, she told state investigators, he told her his New York State e-mail address was 'broken.'" The report adds that the man "demanded cash from state officials in return for destroying the phone records." The man said he never pretended to be a state employee, adding, "It wasn't extortion. I said I'd like to have some kind of settlement for libeling and slandering our family's name."