Florida attorney acquitted of bank fraud after 10-month trial

  • On April 29, 2011
An attorney closing agent from Plantation, Florida, has been acquitted of 13 federal counts of bank fraud and one count of conspiracy to commit bank fraud after a 10-month trial before the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida. She was accused of taking part in a $7.9 million mortgage loan scam headed […]
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Dawson County court clerk accused of embezzlement, tax evasion

  • On April 27, 2011
A 62-year-old woman who has served for 17 years as the Clerk of the Superior Court in Dawson County was charged by federal authorities yesterday with theft, tax evasion and bankruptcy fraud for allegedly taking approximately $134,000 from her job. She also faces state charges of theft by taking, Georgia’s term for embezzlement. Prosecutors allege […]
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Alleged fake doctor accused of health insurance fraud in Atlanta

  • On April 22, 2011
A 29-year-old Nashville man has been indicted by a federal grand jury in Atlanta for insurance fraud, Medicare and Medicaid fraud, and other crimes for impersonating a doctor and for persuading doctors in both Georgia in Tennessee to help him falsely bill Medicare, Medicaid and private insurance companies for medical services. He is said to […]
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Supreme Court: Can a federal sentence be raised for drug therapy?

  • On April 20, 2011
When a 31-year-old California woman was convicted on federal charges of attempted smuggling of immigrants and drug possession, the federal sentencing guidelines recommended a sentence of between 36 and 51 months. Although there were mitigating factors, the judge sentenced her to the maximum term — because that would give her enough time in prison to […]
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Tampa woman accused of insurance fraud for faking car accident

  • On April 15, 2011
An account manager for United Health Care in Tampa, Florida, was the target of a year-long criminal investigation after she was suspected of staging a car accident and pretending to be injured in order to obtain insurance money. The 36-year-old woman has been charged with insurance fraud and is being held in a Hillsborough County […]
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Criminal defense lawyers, prosecutors both shocked by missed knife

  • On April 13, 2011
On the night of April 3, a mother and two children were found stabbed to death in their home near Lithonia. DeKalb County detectives found a knife at the crime scene, and they thought they had the murder weapon. Twelve hours later, a reporter from the Atlanta Journal Constitution spotted a large, bloody knife in […]
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Crack amendment to federal sentencing guidelines now official

  • On April 7, 2011
When the Fair Sentencing Act of 2010 was signed into law on August 3, it reduced the mandatory minimum penalties for federal crack cocaine trafficking and eliminated the mandatory minimum sentence for simple possession of crack. This week, the U.S. Sentencing Commission announced that it has promulgated the final amendments to the federal sentencing guidelines […]
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Judge dismisses drug trafficking case; Video contradicts police

  • On April 4, 2011
In what the press described as “the latest case in which video appeared to undermine police testimony,” a San Francisco judge has dismissed drug trafficking charges against a 23-year-old California man after discovering numerous inconsistencies between videotape evidence and police testimony. The drug charges were filed after police allegedly found the man in possession of […]
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Mortgage fraud reports grow, particularly in Georgia and Florida

  • On April 1, 2011
According to a report by the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN), a division of the U.S. Treasury Department, allegations of mortgage fraud reported by banks has grown exponentially over the past ten years. Unsurprisingly, the increase in reports year by year closely reflects the mortgage and foreclosure crisis and the downturn in the economy. It […]
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