Wire Fraud

Expensive pennies The Better Business Bureau is warning consumers to be wary of so-called penny auction websites, which advertise electronic products such as Apple Inc. iPads at bargain prices. Many people have complained about being charged fees as high as $150 after signing up for what was promoted as a free trial, the bureau said in a recent bulletin. Other customers have alleged that the sites use computer-programmed bots to place fake bids that drive up prices. The customers who have complained to the bureau also said they had been unable to obtain refunds, the bulletin said.

Three Orange County residents are among six people charged with fraud related to an alleged real estate flipping scheme that bilked at least $4.2 million from more than three dozen victims, prosecutors said. All six were accused of promising investors title to bank-owned homes that they said could be easily resold for a profit, according to the U.S. attorney's office in Los Angeles. The scheme lasted from mid-2009 through mid-2010 and targeted victims through seminars held online and in Irvine, Costa Mesa, Florida and Texas, according to the indictment.

Bankrupt real estate mogul Ezri Namvar pleaded not guilty Monday to charges that he stole $23 million from clients who paid him to safeguard proceeds from real estate sales. Namvar, free on $300,000 bond, was indicted Sept. 21 on five counts of wire fraud in connection with the alleged misappropriation of money from clients of his company, Namco Financial Exchange Corp., in 2008. The indictment alleged that Namvar, 59, used the money for a variety of purposes, including making interest payments to investors in a second company he owned, Namco Capital Group Inc..

Three Orange County residents are among six people charged with wire fraud related to an alleged real estate flipping scheme that bilked at least $4.2 million from more than three dozen victims, prosecutors said. Six people in all are accused of promising investors title to bank-owned homes that they claimed could be easily resold for a profit, according to the U.S. attorney's office in Los Angeles. The scheme lasted from mid-2009 through mid-2010 and targeted victims through seminars held online and in Irvine, Costa Mesa, Florida and Texas, according to the indictment.

A former stockbroker charged in the insider trading scandal involving leaked copies of Business Week magazine pleaded guilty today to one count of wire fraud. William Dillon, 33, who was dismissed last month from his job at Merrill Lynch & Co. in New London, admitted paying $10 to $30 for advance copies of the magazine to various employees of R. R. Donnelley & Sons Co., which prints Business Week at two plants, one in Old Saybrook.

A Vermont bank official confirmed Thursday that his bank has been swindled in a nationwide wire fraud scheme allegedly orchestrated by an escaped convict in the Los Angeles area. John Ewing, executive vice president of the Bank of Vermont, said the scam, which reportedly netted about $400,000, was being investigated by the FBI. The suspect, Tanya Marie Smith, 28, was serving a 13-year sentence for bank wire fraud when she escaped from prison in Alderson, W. Va., last January, officials said.

A former Irvine businessman pleaded guilty Monday to federal charges that he bilked hundreds of small investors out of $3.5 million in an Orange County boiler-room scam, authorities said. Daryl Goodwin, 57, pleaded guilty to two counts of wire fraud in connection with his operation of Bannister-Brighton Ltd., a bankrupt Orange County boiler room that purported to sell precious metals and gold coins over the telephone.

Joseph Hirko, former chief executive of Enron Corp. Broadband Services, pleaded guilty to one count of wire fraud to avert a retrial on fraud, conspiracy and insider-trading charges. Hirko, 52, entered the plea in federal court in Houston. He agreed to serve 12 to 16 months in prison and pay fines and restitution of $8.7 million. U.S. District Judge Vanessa Gilmore ordered an investigation to help her decide whether to accept the plea at Hirko's sentencing March 3. He would face decades behind bars if convicted of all counts in a retrial.

A federal jury in Houston found two former energy traders guilty of wire fraud in connection with the transmission of natural gas prices to industry newsletters but did not convict the pair on conspiracy and other false-reporting charges, the Justice Department said. Former Dynegy Inc. gas trader Michelle Valencia was convicted of seven counts of wire fraud. Former El Paso Corp. trader Greg Singelton was convicted of one count of wire fraud.

Seven businessmen--six of them from Orange County-- swindled 21 banks and savings and loan companies out of $21 million in real estate loans, according to a federal grand jury indictment. The businessmen allegedly told the lending institutions that they planned to buy and develop land in Chatsworth and Newhall, the indictment, filed in Los Angeles, charged. But, according to court records, the men diverted the money for their own use.

The former payroll manager for the San Francisco Giants baseball team was sentenced to nearly two years in prison after admitting that she stole more than $2 million from the team. Robin M. O'Connor pleaded guilty in November to wire fraud. She had been accused of transferring team money to her personal bank accounts from June 2010 to June 2011. U.S. District Judge James Ware sentenced O'Connor on Tuesday to 21 months in federal prison and ordered her to reimburse the team nearly $1.5 million.

Here is a roundup of alleged cons, frauds and schemes to watch out for. Personalized T-shirts — The Better Business Bureau is warning that a company that sells made-to-order T-shirts has pocketed consumers' money without delivering the goods. The consumer group said it has received more than 100 complaints from consumers who said they paid Personally Yours for personalized T-shirts but did not receive them and could not get refunds. "When making online purchases, the best recourse consumers have is to pay by credit card," said Robert Crockett, chief executive of the BBB serving Southern Nevada.

Personalized T-shirts - The Better Business Bureau is warning that a company that sells made-to-order T-shirts has pocketed consumers' money without delivering the goods. The consumer group said it has received more than 100 complaints from consumers who said they paid a company called Personally Yours for personalized T-shirts, did not receive them and could not receive refunds. “When making online purchases, the best recourse consumers have is to pay by credit card,” said Robert Crockett, chief executive of the BBB serving Southern Nevada.  “In the event of fraud, non-delivery or non-communication with a business, consumers can dispute charges with their credit card company to try and receive refunds.” Ponzi scheme - A federal grand jury in San Francisco has indicted two people on charges related to a $129-million Ponzi scheme.

Reporting from San Diego -- An attorney who once was prominent in adoption circles was sentenced Friday to five months in federal custody and nine months of home confinement for her guilty plea in what prosecutors called an international "baby-selling" ring. Theresa Erickson, whose law firm was in Poway, had pleaded guilty to wire fraud for her role in a scheme that involved hiring surrogates to carry embryos to term and then arranging for the infants to be adopted. The "intended parents" often paid more than $100,000, according to the plea bargain signed by Erickson.

Reporting from San Diego -- Poway attorney Theresa Erickson was a star in the complex, competitive, and sometimes lucrative business of helping childless couples adopt babies. She was a frequent guest on national TV shows; she self-published a book on "assisted reproduction," and she presented herself on her website as a tireless, fearless advocate for adoption. Eager to expand her business, she was looking to attract gay clients. A different Erickson will appear for sentencing Friday in San Diego federal court: an admitted felon, the alleged ringleader behind an international scheme to pay surrogates to carry embryos to term so the babies could be placed with couples throughout the United States.

Los Angeles real estate investor Ezri Namvar was sentenced to seven years in federal prison on charges related to the theft of more than $20 million from investment clients. A jury had convicted Namvar on May 19 of wire fraud charges stemming from allegations that he stole from clients who had trusted him to hold proceeds from commercial real estate sales. Namvar's company, Namco Financial Exchange Corp., helped clients avoid paying taxes on real estate sales by holding their money until they used it to make new purchases.

A prominent San Diego attorney pleaded guilty Tuesday in federal court to being part of what U.S. Atty. Laura Duffy labeled a "baby-selling ring. " Theresa Erickson, a lawyer specializing in reproductive law, pleaded guilty to wire fraud for transmitting phony documents to deceive both the San Diego County Superior Court and couples seeking to become parents. Two other people in the ring have also pleaded guilty. According to court documents, Erickson hired women in San Diego to go to Ukraine to be implanted with embryos created from the sperm and eggs of donors.