Articles
How scams work, who they target, and what to do — explained in plain English.
Showing 211–240 of 387 articles (page 8 of 13)
Three Girardi Keese insiders were sentenced over Lion Air crash settlement money withheld from families. Tom Girardi's Chicago charges were dropped.
· 5 min read
Burhan Mirza and Kashif Iqbal are charged with billing Medicare and insurers through nominee-owned labs and DME firms and sending proceeds to Pakistan.
· 3 min read
Registered nurse Sharon Christine Sackman is charged with giving three Chicagoans fake 'Ozempic' that had no semaglutide in it.
· 2 min read
Chiropractor Clarence W. Brown III got 5 years 10 months for billing Blue Cross for care he never gave, some while on vacation abroad.
· 3 min read
Florin Nicolae Tarta got 6 years 9 months for putting skimmers and pinhole cameras on Bank of America ATMs; two co-defendants were also sentenced.
· 3 min read
Shawn Bashir is charged with billing an insurer $17.3M through fake children's therapy firms Success for Kids and Growing Kids Therapy.
· 3 min read
Jawad Fakroune, aka Angelino Escobar, is charged with taking $2.6M for fake container, cannabis and restaurant deals; he has an extortion conviction.
· 3 min read
Where the 13 Chicago defendants from the 2025 health care fraud takedown stand: Covid-test billing, a Pakistani call center, and two dismissals.
· 8 min read
Ridwan Adeleke Adepoju, extradited from the UK, got 43 months for running phishing, romance and fake tax return scams from Nigeria.
· 2 min read
Dr. Mona Ghosh got 10 years for billing Medicaid, TRICARE and insurers for unneeded procedures, some done without consent, and faked records.
· 3 min read
Jordan Roman of Drumstick Timpani Fund pleaded guilty to wire fraud for faking a client's account statements; he got time served and $500K restitution.
· 3 min read
Seven men from Malaysia and Taiwan are charged over a CLEU stock pump-and-dump run through fake U.S. advisers online. $214M was forfeited for victims.
· 4 min read
Awad Odeh of North American Refinery is charged with promising 10%-50% guaranteed returns and allegedly using investor money for a car company.
· 2 min read
Broker Stanislav 'Steve' Sannikov got 4 years 2 months for taking 'earnest money' for properties that weren't for sale and spending it.
· 2 min read
Adam R. Oliva kept clients' IRS payments, filed false returns to hide it, and took investors' money for fake short-term loans. He got 10.5 years.
· 3 min read
Mark Steven Diamond got elderly Chicago homeowners to unknowingly sign reverse mortgages for repairs he often never did. He got 205 months in prison.
· 5 min read
Lee Holliday recruited buyers for inflated Chicago homes with false FHA loan papers, costing lenders $1.53M, and admitted $391K in PPP fraud.
· 2 min read
Anthony Ibekie and Samuel Aniukwu ran fake inheritance, romance and email scams costing victims $3.5M+. Ibekie got 20 years; his appeal failed in 2026.
· 5 min read
Sean Grusd falsely claimed his funds were early investors in Instacart and Coinbase, took $23.1M from investors and spent it on cars and condos.
· 3 min read
Melrose Park loan originator Kevin Smith recruited buyers at seminars for 14 fraudulent FHA/VA loans. He got 118 months; the conviction was affirmed.
· 3 min read
Summer Matheson and Terrence Ewing billed Illinois Medicaid for youth counseling never provided and faked records. Matheson got 6 years, Ewing 4.5.
· 4 min read
Judy Strzelecki, office manager at A Woman's Place in Downers Grove, is charged with billing insurers for prostheses and wigs not provided as billed.
· 3 min read
Black Lion's Lee Rose and John Krcil pleaded guilty in a $3.9M fake trading program that hit a children's charity. Edward Wooten's charges are pending.
· 4 min read
Daniel M. Rosenbaum took $1M+ in annuity premiums from clients, including friends and family, for policies he never bought, then faked documents.
· 3 min read
Former Citibank wealth advisor Helen Grace Caldwell got elderly clients to fund her Canal Productions movies, then spent the money herself. 30 months.
· 4 min read
Stanley Demorest and Nicholas Recchia prescribed opioids with no medical need at a Melrose Park clinic and billed Medicare and Medicaid. Both sentenced.
· 3 min read
Olalekan Jacob Ponle used phishing and fake wire instructions to steal $8M from U.S. companies. He forfeited a Rolls-Royce, a Lamborghini and 151 bitcoin.
· 3 min read
Kenneth Courtright's Income Store promised website investors guaranteed income and paid them with newer investors' fees. 90 months, upheld on appeal.
· 3 min read
Dr. John A. Greager II billed Medicare and BCBS as if moles were removed on separate dates, held back pathology tests and faked charts. 6 months, $1M fine.
· 3 min read
Lee 'Ashley' Turner posed as gang members, prosecutors and corrupt police, and threatened an elderly man with limited vision until he paid her $1.6M.
· 3 min read