Category: Fraud

Three Women Charged with Stealing Funds from Homeless Organization

LOS ANGELES—Three women were charged with grand theft and embezzlement in connection with a scheme to steal hundreds of thousands in public funds intended to aid the homeless. California Attorney General Rob Bonta announced the charges Oct. 21 for Latoi Pledger, 45, Sareena Stevenson, 44, and Valencia Stevenson, 40, with 56 felonies, including grand theft…


Ex-Lawyer From Redondo Beach Agrees to Plead Guilty to Conning Clients

LOS ANGELES—A former lawyer from Redondo Beach agreed Oct. 20 to plead guilty to a fraud charge, admitting he lied to clients about winning cases and deceiving them with bogus documents, some with the forged signatures of judges. Matthew Charles Elstein, 51, will plead to one count of wire fraud in Los Angeles federal court…


Nikola Shoots Up Nearly 5% As Judge Allows Its Patent Lawsuit Against Tesla To Continue

Shares of the pre-production electric automaker Nikola Corp. (NASDAQ:NKLA) shot up on Tuesday. The Numbers Shares of the trucking startup rose 4.74 percent to close at $11.48 on Tuesday. Nikola shares are down 28.6 percent so far this year. The stock has a 52-week high of $37.95 a share and a 52-week low of $9.02….


Nikola Shoots up Nearly 5 Percent as Judge Allows Its Patent Lawsuit Against Tesla to Continue

Shares of the pre-production electric automaker Nikola Corp. shot up on Tuesday. The Numbers Shares of the trucking startup rose 4.74 percent to close at $11.48 on Tuesday. Nikola shares are down 28.6 percent so far this year. The stock has a 52-week high of $37.95 a share and a 52-week low of $9.02. Why…


Ex-Director of Chatsworth Trucking School Sentenced to Prison

LOS ANGELES—The former director of a San Fernando Valley trucking school was sentenced Oct. 18 to 15 months behind bars for helping to siphon more than $4 million from the U.S. Department of Veteran Affairs (VA) in GI Bill funds. Robert Waggoner, 59, was also ordered to serve three years of supervised release after he…


Former Boeing 737 Max Test Pilot Indicted for Fraud After Withholding ‘Critical Information’ From FAA

A former Boeing 737 Max test pilot was indicted for fraud on Thursday for deceiving and withholding “critical information” from the Federal Aviation Administration’s Aircraft Evaluation Group (FAA AEG) the Department of Justice (DOJ) said. A federal grand jury in the Northern District of Texas indicted Mark A. Forkner, 49, who previously served as Chief Technical Pilot for Boeing, after he deceived federal…


4 Indicted in Alleged Target Gift Card Fraud Scheme

LOS ANGELES—Two Southland residents were arrested today in connection with an alleged fraud scheme that induced people into purchasing thousands of Target gift cards, which were then used at stores in Los Angeles and Orange counties to purchase electronics and other goods. Bowen Hu, 26, of Hacienda Heights, and Tairan Shi, 27, of Diamond Bar,…


UK Accountancy Grant Thornton Fined Over Patisserie Valerie Chain Audit

LONDON—Accountancy firm Grant Thornton has been fined for its audit of Patisserie Valerie, the British cafe chain that collapsed in 2018, throwing 900 people out of a job and triggering a separate fraud investigation into accounting irregularities. The Financial Reporting Council (FRC) said it was fining Grant Thornton 4 million pounds ($5.47 million) but would…


US Charges Ex-Wall Street Quantitative Analyst With Insider Trading

NEW YORK—A former Wall Street quantitative analyst was charged on Thursday with insider trading for making nearly 2,900 trades after learning his employer would soon make the same trades for clients, known as front-running. The U.S. Department of Justice said Sergei Polevikov, 48, of Port Washington, New York, generated more than $8.5 million of illegal…


Chinese Australian Man Sentenced to 7 ½ Years in Prison for Crypto Hedge Fund Fraud

New York-based cryptocurrency hedge fund manager Stefan He Qin was sentenced to seven and a half years in prison for fraud on Sept. 15. U.S. District Judge Valerie E. Caproni also ordered the confiscation of $54,793,532. The 24-year-old Qin was accused of misreporting the proceeds of the $90 million fund he managed and embezzled investor…