White Collar Crime

Published on: July 5, 2016

Hundreds Arrested for $900 Million Worth of Health Care Fraud

by Whittel & Melton, LLC

The Justice Department announced Wednesday it’s charging hundreds of individuals across the country with committing Medicare fraud worth hundreds of millions of dollars.

This is the largest takedown in history, in regards to the number of people charged and the loss amount, according to the Justice Department.

The majority of the cases being prosecuted involve separate fraudulent billings to Medicare, Medicaid or both for treatments that were never provided.

In one case, a Detroit clinic that was actually found to be a front for a narcotics diversion scheme billed Medicare for more than $36 million, the Justice Department said.

The actual numbers:

$900 million in false billing
$38 million sent from Medicare and Medicaid to one clinic to carry out medically unnecessary treatments
$36 million billed to Medicare by a Detroit clinic that was actually a front for a narcotics diversion scheme
1,000 law enforcement personnel involved
301 defendants charged across the United States
61 of those charged are medical professionals
36 federal judicial districts involved
28 of those charged are doctors

A doctor in Texas has been charged with participating in schemes to bill Medicare for “medically unnecessary home health services that were often not provided.”

Published on: June 29, 2016

Defense Department Employee Pleads Guilty To Bribery

by Whittel & Melton, LLC

A former civilian Defense Department officer who oversaw military contracts has pleaded guilty to bribery in connection with a wide-spanning Navy corruption case involving a Malaysian businessman, according to reports.

Prosecutors claim the Malaysian businessman swindled the military out of more than $34 million.

The former officer entered his plea Thursday in federal court in San Diego. Prosecutors allege he accepted hundreds of thousands of dollars in exchange for helping a Singapore-based businessman.

The former officer is among more than a dozen charged in the scandal centered around the Malaysian businessman.

The Malaysian businessman pleaded guilty to bribery charges and is awaiting sentencing.

Prosecutors claim the former officer helped the Malaysian businessman get Navy contracts to service its ships.

Bribery charges are nothing to joke about. In fact, a bribery crime can result in a state or federal crimes conviction. The majority of bribery charges arise from illegal actions of influential government officials or business leaders, as this case demonstrates. When someone is under investigation for or is charged with a violation of federal or state bribery laws, it is important to obtain legal help right away. A Florida White Collar Crimes Lawyer at Whittel & Melton can help you understand what you are up against and what the best defense strategy is for your particular situation.

Published on: June 17, 2016

UF Professor Arrested on Stalking Charge

by Whittel & Melton, LLC

A University of Florida professor has been arrested on a cyberstalking charge, according to a police report.

The 45-year-old professor in the College of Pharmacy is accused of stalking a woman who used to work for him, according to the University of Florida Police report.

The woman told UPD’s victim’s advocate office on Tuesday that the man had been communicating with her through email and text messages after she told him to stop, the report said. She told investigators that the professor’s actions caused her to quit her job.

The man allegedly continued to try to contact her, which she claims caused her distress and resulted in her having her mother accompany her to various locations. The woman also claims the man once followed her to her car and made contact with her father, believing that the woman was in the car.

The man is accused of resisting being handcuffed at the time of his arrest, the report said.

The man, who was hired in 2014, has been placed on administrative leave and UF is in the process of having him trespassed, according to a UF spokeswoman.

The man will not be allowed on campus until the case is resolved or it is determined he is not a threat, according to the university.

The man was arrested on charges of cyberstalking and resisting arrest. He was being held Wednesday in the Alachua County jail on $5,000 bond.

Stalking through social media websites, texting, calling and leaving voice mails are all forms of stalking. There are other varieties of stalking, including:

Unwanted following
Harassing
Lurking around the person’s place of employment
Hanging out in parking lots where the victim’s car may be parked

In order to prove stalking charges, it must be demonstrated that the offender has pursued the individual and repeatedly or continuously harassed them to the point the person has a reasonable cause to feel terrorized, frightened, intimidated, threatened, harassed, or molested.

Published on: May 27, 2016

Pinellas Park Doctor Gets 3 Years For 3 Pill Mill Deaths

by Whittel & Melton, LLC

A 76-year-old Pinellas Park doctor has been sentenced to 25 years in prison for the deaths of three patients who were prescribed pain medications at his clinic.

A federal judge in Tampa called the man a “drug pusher” at sentencing Monday and said he will have the “rest of his life to think about that.”

Reports indicate that the man was unaware he was breaking the law and asked the judge to show mercy on his 66-year-old wife who is scheduled for sentencing Tuesday. She managed her husband’s office.

The couple was convicted during a 17-day trial on multiple counts in a drug and financial conspiracy.

The man was held accountable for the three deaths.

In an attempt to crack down on the pill mill epidemic in Florida, police and prosecutors can be a tad overzealous when it comes to charging legitimate health care professionals with running pill mills. With that said, innocent doctors and other health care providers are often accused of committing crimes they did not commit.

Published on: March 28, 2016

Scottie Pippen’s Former Money Adviser Gets 3 Years for Fraud

by Whittel & Melton, LLC

Chicago Bulls legend Scottie Pippen invested more than $20 million with a financial adviser he says had come highly recommended by the team who has just been sentenced to three years behind bars for fraud.

The 66-year-old former money advisor was convicted of a variety of fraud schemes that included forging Pippen’s signature on a $1.4 million loan that he used to pay off personal debts.

In his ruling, the judge found that the advisor had lied at trial about forging Pippen’s signature as well as by claiming he’d gotten the go-ahead to apply for a second loan in the name of another victim.

In addition to the prison time, the judge ordered the man to forfeit $2.7 million and pay an additional $1.5 million in restitution, including $400,000 directly to Pippen.

The man was convicted by a jury in 2014 of five counts of bank fraud. Prosecutors claim he illegally obtained a total of about $3 million in loans from Oak Brook-based Leaders Bank, which included the $1.4 million loan that he claimed Pippen needed to invest in a private jet. The man apparently instead spent most of the money for his own benefit, making mortgage payments and paying other investment clients, prosecutors said.

Bank fraud is a criminal offense defined as deliberately and knowingly carrying out a scheme to defraud a financial institution. Basically, bank fraud is the use of fraudulent means to obtain money, assets, or other property that is owned or in the control of a bank or other financial institution. Bank fraud can be committed in a variety of ways including the following:

Mail fraud
Wire fraud
Making false statements on loan applications
Falsifying documents
Forging checks
Loan fraud
Counterfeiting bank documents

Published on: February 1, 2016

Spring Hill Man Pleads Guilty to Making False Statement

by Whittel & Melton, LLC

A 38-year-old Spring Hill man pleaded guilty to making a false statement in an application to obtain a United States Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) loan earlier this month.

He faces a maximum penalty of five years in federal prison. A sentencing date has not yet been scheduled.

According to the plea agreement, the man purchased his home in Spring Hill for $110,000 on September 28, 2010. He and his wife apparently received a loan of $49,650 from HUD’s Neighborhood Stabilization Program (NSP), as a second mortgage on the home. The NSP was established by HUD to provide emergency assistance to stabilize communities with high rates of abandoned and foreclosed homes. The NSP was designed to assist households whose annual incomes are up to 120 percent of the area median. According to this loan program, the man would not have been required to repay the loan if he lived in the home for 15 years.

In his application to participate in the program, the man apparently provided false and incomplete information related to his debts, assets, employment, income, and tax returns. According to reports, he failed to disclose a debt from another loan that he had received from another government program to obtain a different home. Reports also indicate that he did not disclose income he earned from his DJ business, or that he owned certain assets, including two cars and a boat.

This case was investigated by the HUD Office of Inspector General and the Hernando County Sheriff’s Office. It is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Adam M. Saltzman.

One of the most common kinds of financial institution fraud involves loan or mortgage application fraud. In the past decade or so, many bank and mortgage company officials have encouraged individuals to misstate their income and other items on mortgage or loan applications. When these borrowers fail to make their payments, the bank then reviews the applications, looking for misrepresentations of income or other falsified information. If the banks happen to find something, they will then hand the case over to the federal government for prosecution.

The bottom line is that the banks and mortgage lenders attempt to use the government as a collection agency, to collect on bad loans they encouraged people to take in the first place.

It is important to understand that you can be charged in federal court for mortgage or bank fraud under the following circumstances:

The bank or mortgage company knew you were making a false statement
Bank or mortgage company employees encouraged you to misrepresent the facts
Regardless of how much of the information on your application was inaccurate.
If your loan application was denied and the information provided was false

Published on: December 16, 2015

Federal Corrections Officer Sentenced to 2 Years for Smuggling Contraband

by Whittel & Melton, LLC

A federal corrections officer from Clermont has been sentenced to two years in federal prison after pleading guilty in September to accepting a bribe by a public official.

According to the Department of Justice, the 32-year-old officer used his position as a correctional officer at the Coleman Federal Correctional Complex in Sumter County to smuggle contraband to inmates in exchange for money beginning in January.

The Department of Justice said federal agents monitored a June 18 meeting between the officer and a cooperating witness. During that meeting, the officer allegedly accepted $2,600 for items that he already smuggled into the prison.

Investigators met with the officer, and he apparently admitted he illegally negotiated $7,100 in cash payments in return for smuggling cell phones, prescription pills, tobacco, and other items to federal inmates.

Bribery charges are often highly publicized in the media. These crimes not only capture the public’s attention, but they have the ability to end careers and damage reputations. If convicted, the accused faces severe consequences, including lengthy time behind bars.

Published on: December 2, 2015

Largo Commission Candidate Charged with Extortion

by Whittel & Melton, LLC

A candidate for Largo Commission is facing felony extortion charges after police claim he attempted to force an opponent to drop out of the race.

The 31-year-old who is running for Seat 3 on the commission, sent an anonymous email to one of his opponents through the candidate’s website on Aug. 29, according to the Largo Police Department.

The email allegedly stated that the sender had negative information about the politician and the information would be released if he did not drop out of the race, police said.

Investigators got the IP address of the email’s sender and learned that it allegedly belonged to the accused.

The man was arrested on Monday and was being held at the Pinellas County Jail on $10,000 bond.

Extortion is a crime where someone obtains something, usually goods or services, by using threats. There are many different types of threats that can be classified as extortion, including threatening to reveal secrets that could damage a person’s public reputation or to the reputation of their business.

Extortion is also federal crime. Those who are convicted of extortion could be sentenced to up to 20 years in federal prison. In addition to jail, there is also the very real possibility of large fines and civil action.

Extortion is not a criminal offense that should be taken lightly. If you are facing allegations of extortion, it is in your best interest to contact a criminal defense attorney as soon as possible to ensure that your rights are being protected.

Published on: August 6, 2015

Texas Man Pleads Guilty to ID Theft, Counterfeiting in Clay County

by Whittel & Melton, LLC

A 46-year-old Texas man plead guilty to manufacturing counterfeit Federal Reserve notes, false representation of a Social Security number and aggravated identity theft.

The man faces a maximum penalty of 25 years in federal prison for the counterfeit note and false representation charges, to be followed by a consecutive mandatory minimum of 2 years in federal prison for the aggravated identity theft charge.

According to the plea agreement, on Feb. 2, 2015, the Green Cove Springs Police Department received information that two individuals, one of them later identified as the accused and another man, were manufacturing counterfeit Federal Reserve notes in their hotel room at the Astoria Hotel in Clay County.

The two men apparently had active arrest warrants for parole violations in Texas and were subsequently arrested at the hotel by deputies from the Clay County Sheriff’s Office.

Deputies claim they found a counterfeit $100 note on one of the men after his arrest.

During an interview with law enforcement, the men allegedly disclosed that they were involved in a drug deal in Texas in December 2014 and had been on the run ever since. Police claim they estimated printing and passing at least $10,000 in counterfeit currency. Police also believe they printed counterfeit checks using the identities of others.

Agents claim they located a box of personal identification information and financial documents belonging to other individuals, a printer/scanner/copier with counterfeit checks lying on top of it, counterfeit currency, and various computer media which had been used to manufacture the counterfeit currency during a search of the men’s hotel room.

A third man was also charged in the case for passing counterfeit currency.

This case was investigated by the Green Cove Springs Police Department, the Clay County Sheriff’s Office, and the United States Secret Service Jacksonville Field Office.

Under federal law, it is illegal to defraud, produce, forge, or alter any “obligation or other security” of the United States, which includes money. Penalties for manufacturing counterfeit currency include fines up to $250,000 and up to 20 years in prison. Similar offenses relating to counterfeiting currency include distributing, selling, or possessing counterfeit money and possessing counterfeiting tools.

Published on: July 29, 2015

Understanding Your Miranda Rights in Florida

by Whittel & Melton, LLC

As a U.S. citizen, you have what is known as Miranda Rights. The term Miranda Rights has its origins in a 1966 U.S. Supreme Court Case known as Miranda v. Arizona. The court’s ruling on this matter gives anyone in police custody or facing potential criminal charges to be advised of their right against self-incrimination. This is also an element of the 5th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution.

If you are taken into police custody for any reason, you are required to be given a Miranda warning briefing you on your rights. The Miranda warning must include the following information:

You have the right to remain silent
Anything you say may later be used against you
You are legally entitled to speak with an attorney
If you are unable to afford an attorney, one will be provided for you at no cost

The main purpose of a Miranda warning is to let the person in police custody understand that they have the right to remain silent. This must be communicated clearly to the person detained before any questioning by law enforcement.

What Does It Mean for You if You Were Not Given a Miranda Warning?

If law enforcement fails to properly advise or “mirandize” an individual in custody, the case could be dismissed, but this all depends on the evidence available. If the case has been established mostly on statements that the individual gave without a proper notice of Miranda warnings then those statements could be deemed inadmissible, which would likely lead to a dismissal. If the case has been built based on other evidence, then it is unlikely that the case will hinge on the lack of proper notice of Miranda Rights, but depending on specifics, the case could still possibly be dismissed.

What To Do If You Are Arrested

If you have been arrested and read your Miranda warnings, it is important to ask to speak to your lawyer immediately. Despite what law enforcement may tell you while you are in their custody, police investigators are not looking out for your best interests.