Pharmacists Satender Singh and Rajnish Mehta were sentenced to probation on Friday in a federal health insurance fraud case prosecuted by the U.S. Attorney’s office in Tampa. Both Singh and Mehta previously pleaded guilty and received credit for cooperating with the investigation into federal health insurance fraud. The investigation is believed to be on-going and now includes numerous physicians.

Singh admittedly stole more than $99,000 from Tricare, the military health insurance program, and Medicaid. He was sentenced to five years of probation after pleading guilty to making false statements to a federal health care program. (more…)

The former corporate controller of Cast-Crete, a company founded by the late Tampa political activist Ralph Hughes, pleaded guilty this week to embezzling more than $5.3 million from the company. Franklin R. Derochemont had worked for the company since 1979.

Derochemont admitted, in a Tampa federal courtroom, mail fraud and tax evasion for conspiring with an accountant to steal from Cast-Crete between October 2003 and December 2008 and then failing to pay income taxes on the stolen money.

From 2005 to 2008, Derochemont’s annual income nearly quadrupled but he failed to pay taxes on his full income, according to court documents.

Mail fraud carries a maximum sentence of 20 years in federal prison,  while he faces up to five years in prison on the tax evasion charge. (more…)

After an eight day trial earlier this month, a federal jury in Tampa found Beau Diamond of Sarasota guilty of 18 counts of fraud and money laundering-related crimes. He faces up to 20 years in federal prison for each of the seven counts of wire fraud and three counts of
mail fraud, up to 10 years for each of the seven counts of illegal monetary transaction, and up to 10 years for transportation of stolen property.

According to witnesses and evidence at trial, Diamond operated a fraudulent Ponzi scheme from April 2006 to January 2009 through his Sarasota company, Diamond Ventures LLC. Diamond solicited friends, family, and others to invest in his company for the purported purpose of trading their invested funds in foreign exchange (Forex) currency markets. Diamond promised investors in Sarasota and throughout the United
States a monthly return of 2.75-5% on their investments and guaranteed the security of investors’ proceeds.

In reality, Diamond lost $13.3 million of the investors’ funds and then concealed the loss by providing investors with false account statements showing that their accounts were increasing as promised.

Diamond used investment proceeds to make interest payments to investors. A total of $37 million went into Diamond’s fund for the purposes of trading, all of which was dissipated through Ponzi distributions, losing trades, and diversions to Diamond for his personal benefit.

In a Ponzi scheme, investors are paid “profits” with their own money or that of other investors who got in after them.

The deals inevitably collapse when the influx of money stops being enough to make the outgoing payments. The current recession has stopped the investment influx in its tracks and caused many, many of these schemes to be exposed.

The investigation and prosecution of alleged Ponzi schemes are best navigated with the assistance of an experienced federal criminal defense attorney. Involving an attorney early on in the process can be extremely beneficial to any fraud suspect or defendant.

See Also:

• Sarasota Man Charged with Fraud in Alleged Ponzi Scheme

• Florida’s Gulf Coast: Hotbed of Ponzi Schemes?

A U.S. District Judge in Tampa sentenced a Pinellas County man to 57 months in federal prison last week for mail fraud and tax fraud. Joseph Christopher Hooker of Tierra Verde was also ordered to pay restitution in the amount of $2,478,423.98 to Roger William Erdelac, owner of a company called Blue Hawaiian Products, and $ 819,426 to the Internal Revenue Service.

Hooker had pleaded guilty in October 2009 but was not sentenced until last week.

According to federal prosecutors, Hooker and a man named Jack Shaw executed a scheme from approximately 2002 to November 2006 to defraud Blue Hawaiian Products, which is a company that manufactured and sold fiberglass swimming pool shells. Prosecutors claim, in court documents, that Hooker acquired customer checks that had been sent by private and interstate carriers (the interstate travel of the funds brings the fraud into the purview of the federal courts instead of the state courts) and made payable to his employer, Blue Hawaiian Products. (more…)

Pinellas County Sheriff’s Office detectives started making arrests this month in their year-long Operation Spring Hill investigation. So far, arrests number in the dozens. They are looking to arrest a total of 66 people in relation to prescription drug fraud in the Tampa Bay area.

The investigation began last summer after a pharmacist discovered a fake prescription from a doctor in Spring Hill. After calling the sheriff’s office, the pharmacist and investigators discovered more prescriptions from the same doctor – but the doctor told investigators that he didn’t write the prescriptions and didn’t know the patients.

Narcotics detectives have arrested over 30 people so far and have 127 pending charges of obtaining oxycodone, Xanax and methadone by fraud as a result of their investigation. (more…)

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit affirmed actor Wesley Snipes’ 2008 conviction and sentence for failing to file tax returns last week. Snipes faces a three-year federal prison sentence but has been free on bail pending appeal.

Now that the case has been affirmed, the case will be sent to a district judge and Snipes will be given a date by which to surrender to federal authorities. The only remaining appellate option for Snipes and his attorneys is a writ to the U.S. Supreme Court. The assistant U.S. Attorney on the case doesn’t think the case meets the criteria needed to reach the highest court. (more…)

Tampa’s highest-profile murder defendant in quite some time now faces four charges of murder in three separate incidents. Dontae Rashawn Morris is accused of first-degree murder in the shooting deaths of Tampa police officers David Curtis and Jeffrey Kocab earlier this month.

Morris has also been charged with the May 18th killing of Derek Anderson at an east Tampa apartment complex, in what authorities suggest was a failed robbery.  Most recently, Morris was charged with killing Harold Wright on June 8th in what was apparently a drug-related shooting.

Curtis and Kocab were both shot in the head after Curtis pulled over a car in which Morris was a passenger. After discovering an active arrest warrant for Morris, Curtis called for backup and Kocab arrived. A dashboard video recorder in one of the officers’ cruisers allegedly captured the shootings, according to an arrest affidavit. (more…)

Diane Ferron, a civilian employee at the Pinellas County Jail, was charged last week with driving under the influence (DUI) after reportedly crashing through a jail fence when leaving work. Ferron, an assistant inmate records supervisor, was leaving the jail after working on Wednesday when she lost control of her car and drove through the jail’s exterior chain-link fence.

Pinellas county deputies responded to the accident and felt that Ferron was impaired. She reportedly failed a field sobriety test. The deputies ruled out alcohol (presumably via a breath test of some sort), however. Ferron said she had taken prescription medication.

Ferron was charged with DUI and DUI with property damage. Both charges are misdemeanors and Ferron has been allowed to return to work pending an internal investigation. She faces up to six months in jail for the DUI charge and up to a year in jail for the DUI with property damage charge. (more…)

Tampa Bay – and the rest of the country – should probably ready itself for another round of federal mortgage fraud prosecutions. A few weeks ago, in late June, 2010, U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder announced yet another coordinated task force addressing the mortgage fraud issues that abounded during the real estate boom, which is now several years past, but are continuing today as people try to maneuver out of unfortunate financial situations.

Holder announced the results of Operation Stolen Dreams – a three and a half month takedown of mortgage fraud schemes throughout the country. Beginning on March 1, 2010, Operation Stolen Dreams has involved over 1,200 criminal defendants who were allegedly responsible for more than $2.3 billion in losses. In addition, the operation involved 191 civil enforcement actions through which more than $147 million has been ordered recovered, with still millions more pending court approval. (more…)