Results tagged “swindle”

Once Prominent Lawyer Pleads Guilty To $700 Million Fraud

From running a law firm that employed two hundred lawyers to facing life behind bars: Marc Dreier appeared in federal court and pleaded guilty to "money laundering, conspiracy, securities fraud and wire fraud." His admission read in part, "I engineered a scheme to issue and sell fictitious promissory notes purportedly issued by companies in the United States and Canada," and he noted that the scheme took place between 2004 and 2008.

DOJ: Nigerian Scammed Citibank Out of $27 Million

Hey, it's a twist on the Nigerian scam! The U.S. Department of Justice said that a Nigerian national apparently successfully convinced Citibank to transfer money—over $27 million— from the National Bank of Ethiopia into accounts controlled by him and his associates. Luckily, the many of receiving accounts were unable to accept the transfers and the banks alerted Citibank.

The Post spoke to a former employee of the Upper West Side resident accused of swindling Fortune 500 companies out of millions. The Department of Justice claims that Dina Wein-Reis and others would buy products, from contact lens and snacks to diabetes equipment and laundry detergent, at lower prices, claiming they'd be given out as promotions but actually sold them at higher prices to retailers like Walgreen's--raking in millions. The former employee said, "She treated people like crap, so she ended up going through staff very quickly,. She was very nasty to people and slow to pay... She was a good businesswoman, but she really just used her good looks to swindle people. She was very shrewd." Wein-Reis is being held without bail; the DOJ has asked that her and husband's West 75th Street and Riverside Drive mansion, full of millions of dollars worth of art, be seized.

It's one thing to believe the the supernatural. It's another to pay hundreds of thousands of dollars to a storefront psychic. But that's what happened to a stock trader when he came into contact with Tammy Mitchell, who ran a fortune telling business in Midtown.

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