Scheme

A fencing ring that sold more than $10 million worth of stolen goods in Maryland, New York and Georgia has been broken up with the indictment of 29 people, according to Richard H. Deane Jr., the U.S. Attorney for Georgia.Those indicted included a former Atlanta police officer and residents of the Atlanta area, Maryland and upstate New York.They were charged with conspiracy, money laundering and interstate transportation of stolen goods.The scheme -- which goes back to 1994 -- included the theft of pain relievers, cough medicine, health and beauty aids, electronics, tobacco products, razor blades, film and batteries from discount outlets like Target and other Atlanta stores.

Here is an excerpt of an editorial from the Los Angeles Times, which was published Monday.THE MOST widespread consumer fraud in the telephone business is committed by the phone companies themselves. It's called slamming and involves an unauthorized switching of a customer's long-distance carrier.All the states have laws against slamming, and federal authorities have adopted rules to give consumers greater protection.The phone companies, however, are campaigning to replace federal rules with their own "voluntary" consumer protection system.

A computer analyst who hatched a scheme to steal $16.8 million from his company and then flee to Europe under a new identity was sentenced yesterday to more than three years in federal prison.Scott Michael Posnanski, 31, of Lake-in-the-Hills, Ill., was described at the sentencing hearing in U.S. District Court in Baltimore as an intelligent man from a good family who succumbed to greed. He was caught by U.S. Postal Service inspectors, Secret Service agents and the FBI as he attempted to wire the money overseas.

Martin Bramson, the Columbia resident who masterminded one of the nation's largest insurance fraud schemes, was sentenced by a New Jersey judge to more than eight years in federal prison yesterday.Bramson, 52, who faces additional prison time when he is sentenced Feb. 11 in Maryland, ran a giant con game with two of his relatives that swindled thousands of doctors and others in 48 states. The scheme bilked victims of more than $12 million and laundered the money in 588 banks around the world.

A Potomac man pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court in Baltimore yesterday to charges of conspiring with a white-collar criminal in a scheme to defraud banks and mortgage lenders.Stephen R. Kersner, 44, a former partner with the Washington law firm Ross & Hardies, pleaded guilty to conspiring with Michael H. Clott, the mastermind of a home-refinancing scheme.According to the statement of facts presented at yesterday's hearing, Kersner forged loan documents in his parents' names and used three properties his parents then owned in New York, (( Florida and Pennsylvania as collateral.

They say Michael H. Clott had it coming.Considered by FBI agents and prosecutors to be one of the most incorrigible white-collar criminals to ever work in Maryland, Clott, 44, received the maximum penalty under federal law yesterday for swindling millions from homeowners in a crafty home-refinancing scheme -- 12 1/2 years behind bars without parole."

Two men were indicted by a federal grand jury in Baltimore yesterday on charges of conspiring with a white-collar criminal in a scheme to sell fraudulent mortgages to unsuspecting homebuyers.Robert C. Brown of Bowie and Stephen R. Kersner of Potomac were charged with conspiring with Michael H. Clott, the mastermind of a home-refinancing scheme who has pleaded guilty to money-laundering and fraud charges and is awaiting sentencing.Prosecutors say Brown worked closely with Clott in one of the schemes, which was offered through Phoenix Financial Services, and that Kersner helped Clott defraud banks and mortgage lenders.

Maryland Attorney General J. Joseph Curran Jr. said yesterday that his office has been "deluged" with calls from people who want to know if a wildly popular pyramid scheme that promises a $12,000 return on a $1,500 investment is legal.It isn't, he said, and people who "invest" their money are often likely to lose it.He said his investigators "are attempting to identify people involved to stop things before people get hurt and to identify the promoters for prosecution for what has become a very serious problem."

Helen Overington says she thought she had signed up for nothing more than a magazine subscription when telephone solicitors from a Lyndon LaRouche organization contacted her in 1989.But what started with a simple $2.50 pledge spiraled into a scheme that cost Mrs. Overington $790,000, according to a lawsuit the 87-year-old woman has filed against the group.After gaining her trust, the group used sophisticated fund-raising tactics, isolating her from family and friends while draining her of cash and stocks, according to the suit filed in federal court in Baltimore.

A Baltimore man who conducted an electronic tax fraud scheme that bilked the U.S. government out of about $200,000 was sentenced yesterday to 27 months in prison.Joseph Vines Jr., 33, of the 1600 block of N. Patterson Park Ave., was one of three men who carried out the scheme between late 1991 and May 1992, prosecutors said.The men paid people for the use of their names and Social Security numbers, which were used in filing false income tax returns.Vines pleaded guilty in May to conspiracy to defraud the United States and making false claims to the government.

Senior executives at the investment firm Ferris Baker Watts were warned numerous times over three years that one of their employees was manipulating stock prices and trading money from the accounts of unwary customers, but didn't rein in the illegal scheme and even allowed it to widen, according to the Securities and Exchange Commission. Ending its long-running investigation into the trading scandal at the Baltimore brokerage, the SEC fined Ferris $500,000 and ordered it to return another $300,000 in ill-gotten gains and interest.

Beware of an extortion scheme by callers who falsely identify themselves as "FDA special agents" or other FDA officials, according to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. Several cases have been reported of callers enticing consumers to purchase discounted prescription drugs by wiring funds to one of several locations in the Dominican Republic. No medications are ever delivered. A subsequent call is received from a fraudulent "FDA special agent" who orders the consumer to pay a fine of several thousand dollars to an address in the Dominican Republic to prevent incarceration or other legal action.

The Internet Crime Complaint Center issued another warning about the hit man e-mail scheme that first surfaced a couple years ago and, more recently, earlier this year. The center said it continues to receive thousands of reports on the hit man e-mail, but it warns that the content has evolved since late 2006. The two new versions of the scheme started appearing in July. One e-mail instructed recipients to contact a designated telephone number, and the other e-mail claimed the recipient or a "loved one" would be kidnapped unless a ransom was paid.

A former concrete contractor from Cockeysville has been sentenced to five years in jail, all suspended, for a kickback scheme involving University of Maryland, Baltimore County construction projects, the attorney general's office said yesterday. In 2006, Patrick R. Sisk pleaded guilty in Baltimore County Circuit Court to theft, conspiracy to commit theft and bribery. He admitted that between 1999 and 2003, he participated in a scheme with a UMBC construction manager to create a steady stream of illegal cash generated by false and inflated invoices to the university.

GREENBELT - Federal prosecutors accused eight people yesterday of bilking homeowners and banks of more than $35 million in a complicated mortgage fraud scheme involving phony loans and home purchases. The defendants, several of whom are related, preyed on homeowners who were in trouble with their mortgages and were facing foreclosure, according to a 47-page grand jury indictment filed in U.S. District Court. Under the scheme, the defendants promised to help them if they would temporarily turn over ownership of their homes, prosecutors said.

Bribery scheme nets jail time A former correctional officer at a federal medium-security prison in Western Maryland was sentenced yesterday to a year and a day in federal prison for taking bribes in a scheme to allow cigarettes to be smuggled to inmates, federal prosecutors said. After the prison term, Robb Phillips, 34, will spend two years on supervised release, according to the U.S. attorney's office. "Robb Phillips abused his authority as a correctional officer," Maryland U.S. Attorney Rod J. Rosenstein said in a statement after Phillips' guilty plea in November.

The Internet love interest came off as a single dad from Odenton with a tender side. He said he liked to paint and travel. He e-mailed a supposed picture of himself smiling and standing on a sailboat on a picturesque pond. From her small Parkville condominium, Shirley Singer was smitten. The dental assistant didn't realize that she was destined to become the latest victim of a devious Internet scheme that preys on the lonely looking for love online. After connecting with Singer on a dating Web site this summer, the mystery romancer made a seemingly innocent request: Would she accept deliveries for him at her condo while he tended to a hospitalized brother in Africa?

A single customer got Baltimore County Savings Bank in trouble. Now it is looking to many customers to get it out. Still wobbling from a check-kiting fraud last year that cost it millions of dollars, the suburban thrift is hoping that depositors will look past its losses and the government's concerns about its operations to buy up most of the stock in a sale that's expected this summer. Without a successful offering, the bank says, it could deplete its liquid assets within two years. Offering stock from such a position may be a tough sell.

Ferris Baker Watts said yesterday that its director of retail sales will return to work tomorrow while the brokerage and federal officials continue to probe an alleged stock manipulation scheme carried out by a former client. Patrick Vaughan was among six executives and traders placed on temporary leave as the firm's outside counsel conducted an investigation of the scheme. The alleged scheme involves a one-time Ohio client of Ferris who is accused of cheating investors in his IPOF fund.

The chief executive of Baltimore County Savings Bank has resigned, less than a month after the community financial institution revealed $6.9 million in losses from an alleged check-kiting scheme by one of its commercial customers. Gary C. Loraditch informed the board of his resignation effective yesterday, according to a news release issued by the bank's parent, BCSB Bankcorp Inc., after stock markets closed. David M. Meadows, the bank's general counsel, will act as interim chief executive while the board searches for Loraditch's replacement, according to the release.