Florida Man Pleads Guilty to Orchestrating Business Opportunity Advance Fee Scheme

BOSTON—A Florida man was convicted today in connection with a scheme to defraud over 125 victims out of more than $380,000 in a business opportunity advance fee scheme.
Lawrence Amirto, 59, pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge William G. Young to conspiracy and mail fraud.
Between June 2010 and December 2010, Amirto conspired with co-defendants Jamon Caswell and William Totaro to defraud victims in a business opportunity advance fee scheme involving an entity called Premier Service Group Inc. (PSG). Amirto, Caswell, and Totaro falsely claimed that PSG provided credit repair services to consumers. They also advertised in publications throughout the United States the sale of independent businesses whereby independent affiliates would purchase geographic territories and would receive leads from PSG for potential credit repair clients within those territories. The affiliates were to contact these leads, describe the services that PSG would provide, sign them up as clients of PSG, and earn commissions. Affiliates were told that representatives at PSG’s home office in Burlington, Massachusetts, provided the actual credit repair services, although PSG never provided any such service. Instead, many of the newly recruited affiliates were immediately given the opportunity to recruit additional affiliates. The new affiliates were thereby diverted from learning that there was no actual credit repair business while soliciting still more affiliates. The funds collected from new affiliates were used for making payments to other affiliates, for expenses associated with the scheme, or for the personal expenses of Amirto, Caswell, and Totaro.
Sentencing is scheduled for May 1, 2013. The maximum sentence under the statute is 20 years in prison, to be followed by three years of supervised release, and a $250,000 fine.
In October 2012, Caswell pleaded guilty. Totaro is scheduled to plead guilty on January 30, 2013.
United States Attorney Carmen M. Ortiz; Kevin Niland, Inspector in Charge of the U.S. Postal Inspection Service; and Richard DesLauriers, Special Agent in Charge of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Boston Field Division, made the announcement today. The case was investigated by the U.S. Postal Inspection Service and the Federal Bureau of Investigation. It is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Kristina E. Barclay of Ortiz’s Public Corruption and Special Prosecutions Unit.

Charlotte Woman Sentenced to More Than Three Years in Prison for $730,000 Mail Fraud Scheme

CHARLOTTE, NC—A Charlotte woman was sentenced on Tuesday, January 22, 2013, by U.S. District Court Judge Frank Whitney to 41 months in prison, to be followed by three years of supervised release, for carrying out a six-year mail fraud scheme against her employer, announced Anne M. Tompkins, U.S. Attorney for the Western District of North Carolina. The defendant was also ordered to pay restitution in the amount of $737,733.
U.S. Attorney Tompkins is joined in making today’s announcement by Roger A. Coe, Acting Special Agent in Charge of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), Charlotte Division.
According to filed court documents and court proceedings, Maureen Barbara Mallon, 67, of Charlotte, in July 2011 pleaded guilty to one count of mail fraud. Court documents show that Mallon was employed by an insurance company in Charlotte as the company’s accounts payable/receivable manager and later as its office manager. From 2004 to 2010, Mallon engaged in a scheme to defraud her employer, court records indicate. According to court documents, Mallon’s position at the insurance company gave her full access to the company’s operating account and made her responsible for various administrative and financial tasks, including processing invoices and remitting payments of insurance premiums to insurance companies underwriting client policies for Mallon’s employer.
Court records indicate that beginning in March 2004, Mallon began issuing duplicate insurance premium payments from her employer’s operating accounts. According to court documents, Mallon would mail one check to the underwriting insurance company and deposit a duplicate check into her personal bank account. Filed court documents show that the duplicate company check was usually made payable to “Amwins Brokerage of the Carolinas,” which was an underwriting insurance company that did business with Mallon’s employer. To facilitate the deposit of the fraudulent checks, Mallon changed the name on the personal bank account to “Maureen B Mallon DBA Amwins Brokerage,” court records show.
According to court records and proceedings, over the course of six years, Mallon deposited approximately $730,000 into her personal bank account and used the money for personal expenditures, including vehicle expenses and residential rental payments.
Mallon was ordered to self-report to the Federal Bureau of Prisons to begin her sentence upon the designation of a federal facility. All federal sentences are served without the possibility of parole.
The investigation was handled by the FBI. The case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Mark T. Odulio of the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Charlotte.

Four Co-Conspirators Plead Guilty to Federal Drug Trafficking, Money Laundering Charges

POCATELLO—Four more members of an Idaho Falls-area drug trafficking organization pleaded guilty in United States District Court in Pocatello, U.S. Attorney Wendy J. Olson announced.
Isidoro David Herrera, 31, of Idaho Falls, Idaho, pleaded guilty on Wednesday to conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute in excess of 50 grams of methamphetamine. The charge is punishable by a minimum term of 10 years, up to life in prison; a maximum fine of $10 million; and at least five years of supervised release.
Alberto Abarca, 22, of Idaho Falls, pleaded guilty on Wednesday to possession with intent to distribute methamphetamine. Nicolas Levi Olsen, 29, of Idaho Falls, Idaho, pleaded guilty today to aiding and abetting the possession of methamphetamine with intent to distribute. The charges are punishable by up to 20 years in prison, a maximum fine of $1 million, and at least three years of supervised release.
Ana Rosa Valdez-Ceja, 26, of Shelley, Idaho, pleaded guilty on Wednesday to money laundering, which is punishable by up to 20 years in prison, a maximum fine of $500,000, and up to three years of supervised release.
According to the plea agreements, from June 2005 through January 2012, a group of individuals centered around co-defendant Samuel Nevarez-Ayon entered into a conspiracy to possess and distribute in excess of 50 grams of actual methamphetamine in the Idaho Falls area. In furtherance of the conspiracy, Nevarez-Ayon admitted that he distributed methamphetamine to other individuals on at least three occasions during this same time period. In furtherance of the conspiracy, Nevarez-Ayon directed activities of various co-defendants. In addition to distributing methamphetamine, several defendants laundered proceeds from the sale of the methamphetamine, and made false loan application to local banks to further the laundering of money. During the course of the conspiracy, the defendants obtained in excess of $500,000 from the distribution of methamphetamine. The government is seeking forfeiture of assets derived from the criminal offenses.
Abarca and Valdez-Ceja are scheduled to be sentenced on April 29, and Herrera and Olsen on April 30, 2013, before Chief U.S. District Judge B. Lynn Winmill at the federal courthouse in Pocatello.
Nine co-conspirators pleaded guilty in December 2012 to related drug trafficking charges. Sentencings are set for March 6, 7, and 8.
The remaining defendant, Guadalupe Meraz, 41, of Madera, California, did not appear in court as scheduled. A warrant for his arrest has issued.
The charges are the result of a nine-month investigation by the Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force (OCDETF), including the Idaho State Police, Bonneville County Sheriff’s Office, Idaho Falls Police Department, Madison County Sheriff’s Office, Rexburg Police Department, Bingham County Sheriff’s Office, Fremont County Sheriff’s Office, Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), Internal Revenue Service-Criminal Investigation, and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF). Other federal agencies participating in the OCDETF program include the Drug Enforcement Administration and the U.S. Marshals Service.
The OCDETF program is a federal multi-agency, multi-jurisdictional task force that supplies supplemental federal funding to federal and state agencies involved in the identification, investigation, and prosecution of major drug trafficking organization.

Former Staff Sergeant Sentened for Stealing Public Money Earmarked for Her Military Unit

NEW BERN—United States Attorney Thomas G. Walker announced that in federal court today Nancy Nicole Smith, 27, of Columbia, South Carolina, was sentenced by United States District Judge Louise W. Flanagan to 20 months’ imprisonment, restitution of $100,000, and three years of supervised release. Smith previously pled guilty to theft of government money in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Section 641, and to bulk cash smuggling in violation of Title 31, United States Code, Section 5332.
Mr. Walker stated, “Smith abused a position of trust and betrayed the trust of the American taxpayers, including her fellow service members, when she stole $100,000 of U.S. funds earmarked for her military unit. The sentence imposed today reflects the seriousness of her offense and should serve as a deterrent for others.”
According to the criminal information filed on August 2, 2012, and information in the public record, Smith was a staff sergeant in the United States Army assigned to a Personnel Service Battalion attached to the 7th Special Forces Group based at Fort Bragg, North Carolina. From September 2009 through February 10, 2010, Smith was deployed to Afghanistan with the 7th Special Forces Group. While deployed, Smith was a disbursing agent responsible for, among other things, disbursing money and reconciling the books and records. On at least two occasions, Smith falsified documents in order to steal $100,000 from funds earmarked for her military unit. She thereafter brought the stolen money, which at the time was concealed in her backpack, back to the United States.
“Nancy Smith stole money intended for urgent projects in a combat zone, betraying her oath and our armed forces. Special Inspector General for Afghan Reconstruction (SIGAR) and our investigative partners are making it clear that those who defraud the U.S. government will be brought to justice,” said Special Inspector General John F. Sopko.
“We are very pleased with today’s sentencing,” said Frank Robey, Director of the U.S. Army Criminal Investigation Command’s Major Procurement Fraud Unit. “Stealing money during a time of war that is intended for such an important cause is reprehensible, and we will continue to do everything in our investigative power to bring those responsible to justice.”
“By stealing money from her U.S. Army unit while deployed to a combat theater, (former) Staff Sergeant Smith betrayed her position of trust for personal greed and deprived her fellow soldiers of much needed funds. The Defense Criminal Investigative Service continues our aggressive efforts to root out corruption and fraud impacting our warfighters and recover stolen taxpayer dollars,” commented Special Agent in Charge John F. Khin, DCIS Southeast Field Office.
Investigation of this case was conducted by the Department of Defense Criminal Investigative Service, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Office of the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction, and the United States Army Criminal Investigation Command. Assistant United States Attorney Banumathi Rangarajan is serving as prosecutor for the government.
News releases are available on the U.S. Attorney’s web page at www.usdoj.gov/usao/nce within 48 hours of release.