Category: wire fraud

Former US Army Financial Counselor Charged With Defrauding Gold Star Families

A former U.S. Army Reserves officer who worked as a financial counselor with the Army was criminally charged on July 7 for defrauding Gold Star families by losing $3.4 million of their investments while he collected $1.4 million in commissions. The U.S. Department of Justice charged Caz Craffy, 41, of Colts Neck, New Jersey, through…


Self-Professed ‘Wolf of Airbnb’ Pleads Guilty to Wire Fraud for Defrauding Landlords

NEW YORK—A Florida man who dubbed himself the “Wolf of Airbnb” pleaded guilty to a wire fraud charge Monday, admitting gaining about $2 million illegally by defrauding landlords and cheating a government pandemic program. Konrad Bicher, 31, of Hialeah, Florida, entered the plea in Manhattan federal court, agreeing not to appeal any prison sentence that…


Main Suspect in 2005 Disappearance of Natalee Holloway Arrives in US From Peru to Face Charges

BIRMINGHAM, Ala.—Joran van der Sloot, the chief suspect in the 2005 disappearance of Natalee Holloway, arrived in the United States on Thursday to face charges that he attempted to extort money from the missing woman’s mother. An FBI-operated plane carrying van der Sloot landed at Birmingham’s Shuttlesworth Airport just before 2:30 p.m. and the suspect…


Main Suspect in 2005 Disappearance of Natalee Holloway Departs Peru on Extradition Flight to US

LIMA, Peru—The main suspect in the 2005 disappearance of U.S. student Natalee Holloway was handed over to U.S. custody and departed Peru on a flight to the United States on Thursday, roughly a month after both countries agreed on his extradition. Joran van der Sloot is wanted in the United States on one count each…


Andrew Gillum Acquitted of Lying to FBI, US Government Will Seek Retrial

On May 4, a federal grand jury found former the mayor of Tallahassee and former gubernatorial candidate Andrew Gillum not guilty of lying to the FBI. For the remaining 18 counts against him and co-defendant Sharon Lettman-Hicks—which included wire fraud and conspiracy—jurors were deadlocked, and the court declared a mistrial. According to the June 22,…


Ex-Director of Orange County Democratic Party Pleads Guilty to Attempted Fraud and Bribery Scheme

LOS ANGELES—A former executive director of the Democratic Party of Orange County pleaded guilty April 14 to a felony charge for attempting to defraud one of her political consultancy firm’s clients. Melahat Rafiei, 45, of Anaheim, entered her plea to attempted wire fraud in Los Angeles federal court. Sentencing was set for Oct. 13, according…


FBI, US Marshals Offering US$20,000 Reward in Manhunt for Former Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan’s Chief of Staff

The FBI and the U.S. Marshals Service are offering a combined US$20,000 reward for information leading to the arrest of Roy McGrath, the one-time chief of staff for former Maryland Governor Larry Hogan. The reward for McGrath’s arrest comes after he failed to appear in court on March 13 to face federal fraud and embezzlement…


LA Man Charged With Hacking Into Instagram Accounts to Obtain Money

LOS ANGELES—A downtown Los Angeles man was charged Feb. 23 in a federal grand jury indictment for allegedly defrauding female social media influencers by hijacking their Instagram accounts to obtain money and engage in sexually explicit video chats. Amir Hossein Golshan, 24, is charged with two counts of wire fraud and one count each of…


Prosecutors Drop Charges Against NYPD Officer Accused of Spying for China

Federal prosecutors in Brooklyn have dropped their case against a New York Police Department (NYPD) officer who had been accused of acting as a foreign agent on behalf of the Chinese regime. Baimadajie Angwang, a 33-year-old ethnic Tibetan and naturalized U.S. citizen, was arrested in September 2020 on charges of allegedly acting as an illegal agent of Beijing…


FTX Boss Sam Bankman-Fried Denied Bail in Bahamas After Arrest, Faces up to 115 Years in Jail

Sam Bankman-Fried, the owner of the failed cryptocurrency exchange FTX, has been denied bail after his arrest in the Bahamas at the request of the U.S. government on Monday. In a hearing that lasted more than three hours on Tuesday, Chief Magistrate Joyann Ferguson-Pratt ruled that Bankman-Fried’s $250,000 bail request would be denied on the basis that Bankman-Fried…