(SOURCE: Cleveland19.com) CLEVELAND, OH (WOIO) - A major new development surfaced Wednesday in a lucrative Facebook scam first exposed by a Cleveland 19 undercover investigation in June 2017. A Cuyahoga County grand jury has indicted Zienup Sbeih-Maddox, 24, of Cleveland; Kirsten Laurie, 26, of Cleveland; and Kimberly St. John-Stevenson, 54, of Cleveland Heights, in connection with the social media scam, which investigators say defrauded…

CHICAGO — A federal grand jury in Chicago has indicted a businessman on tax evasion charges for allegedly scheming to evade personal income taxes for three years. As the owner of the security firm World Security Bureau, ABRAHAM KISWANI, also known as “Ibriham Kiswani,” willfully failed to pay the full amount of taxes on his personal income for the calendar years 2010, 2012, and 2013, according to an indictment returned in U.S. District Court in…

Greenbelt, Maryland – On December 3, 2018, U.S. District Judge Roger W. Titus sentenced Michelle Sylethia Jordan, a/k/a Michelle Harris and Michelle Welsh, age 49; and her husband, Michael Paul Anthony Welsh, a/k/a Michael A. Welsh and Michael Paul S. Welsh, age 45, both of Laurel, Maryland, to 57 months and 46 months in federal prison, respectively, each followed by three years of supervise release, on conspiracy and wire fraud charges in…

(SOURCE: KSTP.com) A source told 5 EYEWITNESS NEWS the Office of the Department of Housing and Urban Development Inspector General is now investigating the theft of $270,000 from the Dakota County Community Development Agency. KSTP first reported in August that 39-year-old CDA employee, Yanglee Yang, had been fired in connection with the missing money. Yang was subsequently charged with five counts of theft in early November…

(SOURCE: clickondetroit.com) DETROIT - A former manager of the Colony Arms apartments in Detroit, Nekicha Redmond, 39, of Oxford, Mississippi, pleaded guilty on Monday to bribery, United States Attorney Matthew Schneider announced.  Schneider was joined in the announcement by Brad Geary, special agent in charge of the Department of Housing and Urban Development’s Office of Inspector General, and Timothy R. Slater, special agent in…

United States Attorney Erica H. MacDonald today announced a federal indictment charging ROBERT ANTHONY COLEMAN, 45, and YOLANDA YVETTE COLEMAN aka YOLANDA YVETTE PITTMAN, 50, with multiple counts related to the theft of more than $248,000 of government funds. ROBERT COLEMAN is also charged with two counts of false statements and an additional count of Social Security fraud. They will make their initial appearances in U.S. District Court at a…

(Source: STL NEWS) Montgomery, Ala. – On Tuesday, November 6, 2018, Christopher B. Pitts, 48 years old and a Georgia resident who was previously a practicing attorney in Montgomery, Alabama, received a 37-month sentence for devising a scheme to commit wire fraud affecting a financial institution. United States District Judge L. Scott Coogler sentenced Pitts after he pleaded guilty to defrauding the United States Department of Housing and Urban…

NEWARK, N.J. – A former candidate for the Hoboken City Council and a campaign worker were charged today by a federal grand jury with conspiracy to promote a voter bribery scheme by use of the mail, U.S. Attorney Craig Carpenito announced. Francis Raia, 67, of Hoboken, New Jersey, was a candidate for city council in 2013. Dio Braxton, 43, of Hoboken, worked for Raia’s campaign. A federal grand jury charged them today with conspiracy to violate…

BOSTON – A Wakefield man pleaded guilty today in federal court in Boston in connection with a decade-long mortgage fraud scheme involving at least two dozen fraudulent loan transactions and $4.3 million in losses to lenders. Joseph Bates III, 38, of Wakefield, pleaded guilty before U.S. Senior District Court Judge Douglas P. Woodlock to an Information charging him with one count of conspiracy, three counts of wire fraud affecting a financial…

A man who is alleged to have kidnapped his 21-month old son in Canada in 1987 was arrested this morning in Vernon, Connecticut. U.S. Attorney John H. Durham, U.S. Marshal Brian J. Taylor, and Special Agent in Charge Christina D. Scaringi of the Office of Inspector General, U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, made the announcement. According to court documents and statements made in court, it is alleged that ALLAN MANN, JR., 66,…

(Source: www.washingtonpost.com) HARTFORD, Conn. — A Canadian man accused of abducting his toddler son 31 years ago during a court-ordered visitation was arrested Friday in Connecticut, where authorities said he and his son had lived under aliases in a quiet suburb. U.S. federal agents said they found Allan Mann Jr. in Vernon after having received a tip from a relative that he may be living in Connecticut under another name. It was not…

BUFFALO, N.Y. - U.S. Attorney James P. Kennedy, Jr. announced today that George H. Moses, 50, of Rochester, NY, was charged by criminal complaint with making false statements to Special Agents of the FBI. The charge carries a maximum penalty of five years in prison and a $250,000 fine. Assistant U.S. Attorney Richard A. Resnick, who is handling the case, stated that according to the complaint, the defendant is the Chairman of the Board of…

Universal American Mortgage Company LLC (UAMC) has agreed to pay the United States $13.2 million to resolve allegations that it violated the False Claims Act by falsely certifying that it complied with Federal Housing Administration (FHA) mortgage insurance requirements in connection with certain loans, the Department of Justice announced today.  UAMC is a mortgage lender headquartered in Miami, Florida. “Mortgage lenders may not ignore…

(Source: www.ajc.com) The initiative, called MiSafeKid, took place on Sept. 26 in Wayne County. There were 301 files of missing children, and the children recovered were physically located, recovered safely and interviewed during the operation, the U.S. Marshals Service said in its release. The Detroit Missing Child Recovery Unit of the U.S. Marshals Service worked with the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, the U.S. Department…

(Source: gainesvilletimes.com) Updated: Sept. 18, 2018, 8:10 p.m. A woman who worked as an accounting specialist at the Gainesville Housing Authority pleaded guilty last week to selling $28,000 of stolen office supplies on her personal eBay account, according to court documents. Jennifer Sipe pleaded guilty to one count of federal program theft. She was sentenced Thursday, Sept. 13, to 12 months on probation. The Times reached out to multiple…

BOSTON – Three Massachusetts men were charged today in federal court in Boston in connection with a 10-year mortgage fraud scheme involving at least two dozen fraudulent loan transactions and $4.3 million in losses to lenders. George Kritopoulos, 46, of Salem, a real estate developer, was arrested today and charged with one count of conspiracy, two counts of wire fraud, six counts of bank fraud, one count of aiding the preparation of a false…

NEWARK, N.J. – A Hudson County, New Jersey woman was arrested and charged today for promoting a voter bribery scheme by use of the U.S. mail, U.S. Attorney Craig Carpenito announced. Lizaida Camis, 55, of Hoboken, is charged by complaint with a violation of the Travel Act for causing the mails to be used to aid voter bribery contrary to New Jersey state law. She is scheduled to have her initial appearance today before U.S. Magistrate Judge Mark…

(Source: coshoctontribune.com) COLUMBUS - The former executive director and chief financial officer of the Coshocton Metropolitan Housing Authority (CMHA) has pleaded guilty in a federal public corruption case, and another Coshocton resident has agreed to plead guilty to conspiring to embezzle money. Gregory J. Darr, 64, of Coshocton pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court on Tuesday to embezzling more than $431,000 from the United States…

COLUMBUS, Ohio – The former Executive Director and Chief Financial Officer of the Coshocton Metropolitan Housing Authority (CMHA) has pleaded guilty in a federal public corruption case. Gregory J. Darr, 64, of Coshocton, Ohio, pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court today to embezzling more than $431,000 from the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). Benjamin C. Glassman, United States Attorney for the Southern District…

Edward R. Daniel, a/k/a Edward Daniels, Judy Daniel, and the Edward R. Daniel Revocable Living Trust (collectively “Daniel”), a landlord participating in the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) Housing Choice Voucher/Section 8 (HCV) Program has paid the United States $50,000.00 to resolve civil claims.  The claims against Daniel, pursued under the False Claims Act, arise from the landlord’s alleged…