The former chief executive of Chicago-based private-equity firm WexTrust Capital LLC was sentenced to more than 13 years in prison a year after pleading guilty last year to a fraud that cost investors $9.2 million. Get the full story »
Filed under: Fraud
Visit our Filed page for categories. To browse by specific topic, see our Inside page. For a list of companies covered on this site, visit our Companies page.
Disbarred Chicago lawyer convicted of fraud
A disbarred Chicago lawyer faces the possibility of a lengthy prison term after a jury convicted her this week in a mortgage fraud case.
The U.S. Attorney’s office in Chicago says jurors convicted Lorie Westerfield on three counts of wire fraud and acquitted her of an additional fraud count after a weeklong trial. Each count carries a maximum 20-year prison sentence. Westerfield remains free on bond as she awaits sentencing on Aug. 4. Get the full story »
Madoff trustee to distribute $2.6B to victims
The court-appointed trustee charged with recovering assets stolen by Ponzi schemer Bernard Madoff is ready to distribute $2.6 billion worth of recovered funds to the victims. This will be the first time that Madoff’s victims will receive recovered funds. Get the full story »
Trustee: Citi shopped Madoff to other banks
Citigroup Inc. tried to pass its exposure to Bernard Madoff to other banks just months before his epic fraud was revealed, the Madoff trustee said in a lawsuit accusing a second major U.S. bank of unsavory dealings with the financier.
Trustee Irving Picard said red flags about Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securities LLC were apparent to Citi as early as 2005, according to court papers unsealed Monday. The lawsuit seeks $425 million from the bank. Get the full story »
Regent Realty owners indicted in fraud
The co-owners of a Chicago realty company that managed dozens of condominium properties have been charged with fraud for allegedly stealing more than $2 million in assessment payments, the U.S. attorney’s office in Chicago said Thursday.
Donald Doering of Wilmette and Jay Strauss of Scottsdale, Ariz., were each charged with three counts of wire fraud in a federal indictment returned by a grand jury Wednesday. Get the full story »
Madoff trustee sues Mets’ owner to recoup $300M
The owners of the New York Mets were accused of reaping $300 million of fictitious profits from Bernard Madoff’s record Ponzi scheme, a lawsuit by the trustee seeking money for Madoff’s victims said. Get the full story »
Record $2.5B recovered from Medicare fraud
The federal government recovered a record total of more than $2.5 billion from health care fraud last year, according to a government report issued Monday.
Results reflect both the continuing array of efforts to swindle the government Medicare program and a stepped-up effort by law enforcement to combat them, officials said. Get the full story »
Ex-Chicago fund manager charged in $3.5M fraud
A former Chicago hedge fund manager accused of engaging swindling more than $3.5 million from approximately 48 victims who invested in funds he purported to operate, has turned himself in to federal authorities.
James Brandolino, 42, of Joliet and formerly of Chicago, was charged with mail fraud in a criminal complaint filed in U.S. District Court by U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald. Prosecutors said he obtained about $4.7 million from 48 high net worth investors since 2003 for purported managed futures trading accounts and a commodity pool investment. He provided about $1.1 million in investor redemptions and allegedly lost roughly half of the total invested funds through trading and misused most of the remaining funds for his own benefit, prosecutors said. Get the full story »
Hearing set in Conrad Black’s bid to remain free
Conrad Black enters a Chicago court room in 2007. (Tribune file)
Will former media mogul Conrad Black eventually head back to prison? Or will the flamboyant, 66-year-old’s long-running legal saga end with a judge setting him free for good? A status hearing Thursday in Chicago isn’t likely to answer those questions definitively, though it could provide clues about what U.S. District Judge Amy St. Eve is inclined to do.
Two years into a 6 1/2-year sentence, Black was released last year from a Florida prison while he appealed his conviction for defrauding Hollinger International Inc. investors. Black, whose media empire once included the Chicago Sun-Times, The Daily Telegraph of London and community papers in the U.S. and Canada, was expected to attend Thursday’s hearing. Get the full story »
Ex-Chicago banker pleads guilty in securities fraud
Bloomberg News | Alexei Koval, a former pricing manager at Northern Trust Corp., has pleaded guilty to securities fraud in an insider trading scheme with former UBS banker Igor Poteroba. Poteroba pleaded guilty last month.
3 Chicago ‘entrepreneurs’ accused of $4M fraud
A federal indictment accuses three Chicago residents who allegedly posed as successful entrepreneurs with defrauding more than 50 victims out of approximately $4 million. Get the full story »
Massachusetts man charged in $9.6M fraud
A Massachusetts man is accused defrauding more than 50 investors by running a Ponzi-style scheme with their $9.6 million.
Randy M. Cho, 39, told investors he was a self-employed securities trader who had a special relationship with Goldman Sachs and could buy discounted shares of well-known companies such as Google, Facebook and Rosetta Stone before their initial public offerings, according to court documents. Get the full story »
Illinois couple sent to prison in Best Buy fraud
An Illinois couple convicted of defrauding Best Buy out of more than $32.8 million and failing to pay taxes on their fraudulent gains has been sentenced.
Prosecutors alleged that Russell and Abby Cole of Deerfield systematically overbilled the Richfield-based electronics retailer for four years through an online auction program. Get the full story »
Black loses appeal on remaining convictions
Conrad Black has lost an appeal of his remaining convictions on fraud and obstruction of justice.
The federal appeals court in Chicago said Friday that it has rejected a request by the former media tycoon for a full-court review of his case.
Get the full story »
Man who defrauded hundreds to be sentenced
A former Decatur man who pleaded guilty to stealing more than $15 million from about 300 people in central Illinois through a Ponzi scheme is scheduled for sentencing Friday in federal court in Peoria.
William Huber of La Jolla, Calif., pleaded guilty Aug. 10 to mail fraud, money laundering and other charges. The 61-year-old faces up to 50 years in prison and a maximum fine of $1 million. Get the full story »
