Mail Fraud

The former president of the union that represents Los Angeles County government workers has agreed to plead guilty to federal fraud and tax charges in connection with an alleged scheme to collect illicit consulting payments from a labor-related nonprofit, officials said Thursday. Alejandro Stephens, a longtime leader of the Service Employees International Union local, signed an agreement to plead guilty to one count of filing a false income tax return and two counts of mail fraud, the U.S. attorney's office said.

A Glendale man pleaded guilty Monday to fraud charges, admitting that he orchestrated an investment scam that bilked victims out of more than $14 million. Antoine D. Haroutunian raised the money between 2005 and 2008, promising to invest in commercial bridge loans, options and real estate. Instead, he diverted most of the money to himself and associates, said Thom Mrozek, spokesman for the U.S. attorney's office.

The practice of "cramming," or charging consumers on their phone bills for services they didn't ask for, has become the No. 1 scam in the U.S., ahead of "slamming" and sweepstakes frauds, a consumer group said. The nonprofit National Consumers League reported getting twice as many complaints for the first five months of this year about cramming as slamming, the illegal switching of customers' phone carriers without their knowledge.

A Beverly Hills doctor indicted on charges of overbilling Medicare's home health care program by more than $216,000 pleaded guilty on Monday in federal court. Dr. David Yedidsion faces 33 to 41 months in prison when he is sentenced Aug. 24 by Judge Ronald S. W. Lew on 10 counts of mail fraud and two counts of filing false statements to the government. In a plea agreement with the U.S.

For more years than she could remember, Elma Umpleby, a 91-year-old pensioner from Cottage Grove, Ore., had been entering her name in magazine subscription sweepstakes, but never won a dime, much less a million. In January of 1996, however, a telephone call to her home changed her fortune--or so she thought. Umpleby was told she had just won $1 million in the American Family Publishers sweepstakes, the one promoted by entertainers Ed McMahon and Dick Clark.

The owner of a Sherman Oaks acupuncture clinic that catered to the entertainment industry was arraigned on federal charges Monday for allegedly billing insurance companies hundreds of thousands of dollars for medical treatments she did not perform, authorities said. Miriam Yedvab, 49, a Tarzana resident, has signed a plea agreement and is expected to plead guilty to mail fraud at her next federal court appearance, expected within a week, said Assistant U.S. Atty. Jack Weiss.

Three Tustin men suspected of defrauding businesses across the country of as much as $600,000 in a phony billing scam were arrested Wednesday on suspicion of federal fraud. Michael Mueller, 35, Vern E. Willhite, 36, and Lane Devin Fife, 37, were charged with wire fraud, mail fraud and aiding and abetting the commission of a crime. In a criminal complaint, authorities allege that the men victimized companies by billing them for copier machine chemicals that were never sent.

At least a dozen local business owners have been targeted in recent weeks by an international fraud ring and police on Wednesday were warning others to be wary of letters from overseas that promise easy money. A barrage of letters from Lagos, Nigeria, are arriving at local businesses with a bogus offer: Get thousands of dollars for accepting a covert, international money transfer to your bank account.

The chef and owner of a Burbank Cajun restaurant has been accused of bilking more than 1,000 investors of at least $1 million, federal investigators said. Mark A. Foster, 41, was being sought Wednesday on a federal charge of mail fraud, postal inspector Jeff Fitch said. Foster owns Cafe N'awlins in Burbank. Foster solicited investments in limited partnerships by promising a return of eight times their investment in a 20-week period, Fitch said.

A Palos Verdes couple were sentenced to federal prison terms Friday for defrauding a government meals program. Wan Hee Moon, a state employee who oversaw the program in Southern California, was sentenced to three years, and her husband, Kyung Ho Moon, was sentenced to two years, said David Dickson, special agent in the inspector general's office of the U.S. Department of Agriculture. In addition, the Moons, who were sentenced in U.S.