[Tampa, FL] A prominent Tampa-area developer has plead guilty to mortgage fraud conspiracy in a case investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), according to the U.S. Attorney’s office.

In fact, it seems that pretty much everyone involved with La Encantada Villa – Spanish for “the enchanted village” or “the pleased town” – has either been found guilty, sentenced to prison or awaiting their fate after mortgage fraud against lenders for amounts totaling approximately $2 million.

Suffice it to say, no one is pleased about how this thing played out, especially the feds.

Richard Cartegena, 43, of Oldsmar is the developer behind La Encantada Villa, seven townhomes situated on Watrous Avenue in the historic Hyde Park area of Tampa. According to a description of the project, the townhomes were spacious two- and three-story units “in the style of Spanish and Italian influences.”

An individual garage, Jacuzzi, hardwood floors, granite counters and patios and balconies were prominent features at La Encantada Villa.

According to court documents, Cartegena was aware of the mortgage fraud perpetuated by two townhome purchasers, Stephen Hecklinger and Bohdan Horbacyck. Cartegena later purchased one of the townhomes for himself.

He now faces a max penalty of five years in federal prison and a fine of $250,000.

Neil Ferrigno, a minority partner in the development, provided false employment verification documents for Horbacyzk’s purchase, as well as received payments from Horbacyzk after the closing.

Those payments to Ferrigno and others were not noted in the closing documents. According to court docs, Hecklinger also completed a fraudulent mortgage application.

The fraudulent applications and documents allowed Horbacyzk and Hecklinger – as well as the developers – borrow money to close loans for properties that they ultimately could not afford. The lenders, fooled by the made-up docs, disbursed the fund on properties ranging from $600,000 to $900,000.

For his part in all this, Ferrigno, 49, of Tampa, got eight months in prison for conspiring to commit mortgage fraud.

Horbacyzk, 66, of Oldsmar, was sentenced on November 30, 2011. He received a nine-month sentence. In January of this year, Hecklinger, 45, of Paducah, Kentucky, was handed was handed down a sentence of five years of probation.

Yet to be sentenced is Shawn Morrison, 51, of Largo. He provided the down payment for Hecklinger’s purchase.

Francis Reeder, another La Encantada Villa townhome purchaser, was arrested on mortgage fraud charges in December and remains on bond.

The court has ordered each individual in this case to make restitution payments to victim lenders. This case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Kelley C. Howard-Allen.

By: Adam Rousso/Sunshine Slate

mortgage fraud

Updated – see correction below

With All Eyes On Mexico, South America Re-Emerges. Money Launderers Are Banking On It

By: Mark Christopher

[Miami, FL] Several recent high profile federal cases are reminding us of the difficulties that authorities face when they try to keep cocaine from entering the United States through Miami via South America, where the plant is grown and much of the processing occurs.

Then there are the multitude of U.S. banks and middlemen who profit from laundering the smugglers’ proceeds.

It is a “war” that has lasted for more than three decades, thanks to our porous borders, seemingly unsatisfiable appetite for cocaine and willing South Americans and island hoppers who will do just about anything to provide it to us.

But much of our law-enforcement focus has shifted to the U.S.-Mexican border.

“Recent trends indicate that a majority of cocaine brought into the United States comes through Mexico and the Southwest United States border,” Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) Special Agent Mark R. Trouville said last month.

While the DEA watches coke bundles hop the fence or flow through a tunnel, tons of South American cocaine continues to come into the United States the old fashioned way: through international shipments from the Caribbean and from countries such as Bolivia, Venezuela, Colombia and Ecuador.

And the resulting money can be conveniently laundered right in South Florida by “legitimate” banks who have looked the other way for years, even when under the watchful eye of regulators.

Last week, the announced sentencing of a two Bolivian nationals as well as the extradition of a major player in the Colombian cocaine network sent shock waves through the front lines on the “war on drugs.”

South America is back, baby. It is simple: Mexico requires more immediate attention as the blood spills and the violence hits a little too close to home. The established cocaine-smuggling routes of the ’80s and ’90s have been dusted off and improved by South American entrepreneurs.

“Drug trafficking, and the lure of drug money, has no bounds,” said U.S. Attorney Wifredo Ferrer, who has been a major player in prosecuting the cocaine distributors. “Law enforcement in South Florida is taking proactive approaches to develop forward-looking strategies to stay ahead of the ever-changing face of narcotics trafficking.”

DEA-seized cocaine bricks

You just can’t stop the rock, brick or powder from reaching our shores. Especially when some of the players are high-ranking government officials and presidents of respected banks.

How high up the food chain does the corruption go?

• A former Bolivian general in charge of narcotics
• Bolivia’s head of intelligence
• A colonel with the Bolivian National Police’s anti-narcotics unit
• Executive President of Banco del Pacifico in Quayaquil, Ecuador
• Wachovia, one of the largest banks in the U.S.

According to official court documents, all have either taken part in drug smuggling or watched as their personal or professional profits soared from ill-gotten gains as a result of drug smuggling.

It is a culture of corruption from South America all the way to South Florida.

The General, The Director & The Colonel

Back in the summer of 2010, Marcelo Foronda-Azero – then a high-ranking Bolivian civilian official with the title of Director of Intelligence – and associate Jorge Sanchez-Pantoja approached a representative of a Colombian drug trafficking organization to negotiate selling huge amounts of cocaine.

That representative turned out to be a confidential source for the DEA.

The director and Jorge Sanchez-Pantoja were recorded selling hundreds of kilos of coke to a DEA undercover agent and a confidential source. The drugs were to be distributed in Miami as well as other parts of the United States. They claimed that their cocaine was protected by Bolivian police authorities.

Crack cocaine

But they wanted their money to be wired to bank accounts in Hong Kong, not to Bolivia, the poorest country in South America.

At another meeting, the general and his two soldiers met with whom they believed to be members of the Colombian cocaine distribution ring. These meetings were also secretly recorded with the assistance of Carabineros de Chile, the Chilean National Police Force.

Rene Sanabria-Oropez (the general) should have known better – he is the former head of the Bolivian National Police anti-narcotics unit, known as FELCN (La Fuerzas Especial de Lucha Contra el Narcotrafico). The involvement of Sanabria-Oropeza – the high-ranking director of Bolivian Intelligence – shows just how pervasive and entrenched the distribution networks really are.

There’s simply too much money in it.

Need proof? Besides the general and the intelligence guy, a third player in this scheme was Milton Sanchez-Pantoja, a colonel with the Bolivian National Police’s anti-narcotics unit. Both the colonel and the intelligence guy promised to use their official positions “to provide protection … so that the cargo container holding the cocaine would safely cross the Bolivia-Chile border without being seized,” according to the U.S. Attorney.

But they weren’t finished yet.

Sanabria-Oropeza (the general) also indicated that they “controlled the airport and could protect cocaine shipments sent by commercial airlines from Bolivia.” His price? $2,500 per kilo plus another ten grand to be spread around the operation. The DEA hooked them up with $50,000.

In September of last year, after traveling through Bolivia to the Port of Arica in Chile, 144 kilos of cocaine hit the Port of Miami on a ship hidden inside a cargo container full of zinc. DEA confiscated the goods and started the process of picking these guys up. It was all part of “Operation Just Because,” an ongoing investigation of the DEA’s Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force (OCDETF).

“This office stands committed to prosecuting high-level international drug trafficking organizations, and those that would protect their criminal enterprise, which, in this case, included a retired Bolivian General,” said Ferrer.

La Paz, Bolivia – the highest capital city in the world. No doubt.

The general got 14 years while the intelligence director got 9 years. Those sentences are extremely light, considering the quantities. They must have talked.

The Drug Lord

After nearly 20 years of bringing cocaine into the United States, Juan Carlos Rivera-Ruiz – known in the drug biz as “06” – was extradited from Colombia to face federal drug charges. He was arraigned in a federal court room in Miami on Friday.

Rivera-Ruiz had been in Colombian jails since his arrest in September 2009. The Colombians have long made life difficult for U.S. agents seeking to extradite drug criminals from their country. Many Colombian officials are paid handsomely for their stonewalling efforts.

Although it is believed that Rivera-Ruiz brought huge quantities of cocaine into the U.S., he is only charged with being part of a conspiracy to import and distribute 5 kilos of cocaine. He faces 50 years to life.

“Juan Carlos Rivera-Ruiz was one of the most significant drug traffickers operating in Colombia,” stated DEA Special Agent Mark R. Trouville.

True, Rivera-Ruiz was a former top lieutenant of Wilber Varela in the North Valley Cartel, responsible for smuggling massive amounts of cocaine into the United States. According to the U.S. Attorney, Varela was killed in Colombia in 2008.

But why then only charge Rivera-Ruiz with 5 kilos? And why did it take 20 years to get it done?

You need proof, hard proof to put these guys behind bars. And when you have that much money and are willing to kill anyone who threatens your operation, informants are hard to come by.

The Fly Boys

In July, Ferrer announced that an indictment had been unsealed alleging that thirteen were involved in a far-reaching international smuggling operation that brought vast quantities of cocaine from Colombia and Venezuela to the British Virgin Islands and ultimately, the United States.

U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Florida, Wifredo A. Ferrer

The 19-count indictment includes charges against those living in Colombia, the British Virgin Islands, the U.S. Virgin Islands, Miami, New York and San Juan, Puerto Rico.

The international consortium conspired to fly hundreds and hundreds of kilos of cocaine from Apure, Venezuela, to the British Virgin Islands. The coke was dropped into the Caribbean Sea and picked up using speed boats. The cocaine was to be distributed in the United States.

“ICE-HSI has clearly seen a recent increase in maritime narcotics smuggling emanating from the Caribbean,” said Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Acting Special Agent in Charge Michael Shea.

With the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and the DEA actively pursuing smugglers using the Mexican-American border, some of the South Americans and veteran smugglers in the Caribbean Basin are turning to their old tricks.

The Spanish Laundry

In another recent case, Ferrer announced that indictments charging three Floridians and a Spaniard of conspiring to launder $26 million in drug money had been unsealed. A fourth Floridian was charged with “bulk cash smuggling.”

It is alleged that Alvaro Lopez Tardon (of Miami Beach) and his brother Artemio Lopez Tardon (who lives in Spain) arranged with David William Pollack (of Miami) to launder huge sums of drug money earned from smuggling cocaine from Colombia to Spain. After the coke was sold, Artemio would wire-transfer the money or send as courier to Miami.

Fabiani Krentz (of Miami) and Pollack would help Alvaro launder the funds by purchasing exotic cars, including a Bugatti Veyron, a Ferrari Enzo, a Rolls-Royce Ghost, a Mercedes-Benz SLR McLaren, a Mercedes-Benz Maybach 57S, a Bentley Continental GT, an Aston Martin DB9, a Lamborghini Murceliago, a Lamborghini Gallardo, an Audi R8 and other models of Mercedes-Benz as well as BMWs.

A Mercedes Maybach 57 similar to that purchased by Alvaro Lopez Tardon

They would also purchase real estate, specifically luxury condos in Miami and Miami Beach.

All told, it is believed that $26 million was laundered this way since 2004.

The whole operation came apart when in April of this year, Vincente Orlando Cardelle, was stopped at Miami International Airport. He was headed to Madrid, Spain with 21,605 euro.

Now he is headed to prison for a maximum of five years. Alvaro, Artemio, Krentz and Pollack are facing maximums of 20 years if convicted.

“International money launderers can no longer seek refuge behind jurisdictional barriers. The outstanding cooperation among international law enforcement agencies and governments leaves no place to hide for those who profit from the drug trade,” said Ferrer.

Maybe they should have used a bank instead …

The Banks

In August, the largest privately-owned state-chartered commercial bank that is headquartered in Florida entered into a “deferred prosecution agreement” with the U.S. Attorney’s Office in the Southern District of Florida to resolve charges that it willfully failed to establish an anti-money laundering program.

The DEA’s investigation into Ocean Bank, which has 21 branches in South Florida, centered around the fact the financial institution allowed multiple customers to use Mexican currency exchange houses, in violation of the Bank Secrecy Act (BSA). These exchanges – or “casas de cambio” (CDCs) – are commonly used for money laundering.

According to court documents, Ocean Bank was aware way back in 1996 of risky nature of some of their customers’ deposits and that it was highly likely that drug proceeds were being laundered through CDCs. Ocean Bank ignored warnings from state and federal regulators, DEA and others about those risks.

That’s because they were making (ahem) bank.

One of Ocean Bank’s Miami branches

Growing ever-suspicious, investigators reviewed five accounts at Ocean Bank. Three of those were owned by the Bernal-Palacios drug trafficking organization, through which large sums of money were transferred using CDCs.

The other two accounts were used by a Miami-area businesses. These “business” transferred money from Mexican CDCs or deposited large sums of cash from convicted drug traffickers and money launderers into their Ocean Bank accounts. None of this activity fit within the normal business activities of the account holders, yet Ocean Bank said or did nothing, as required by law.

Ocean bank looked the other way as unusually large cash deposits came in, ranging from $10,000 to $140,000. They also didn’t ask why deposits were structured in a way as to avoid bank currency reporting requirements. They also allowed thousands of sequentially numbered money orders and travelers checks to be deposited.

There were also wire transfers from Mexican CDC’s and “same day incoming and outgoing wire transfers” in massive, yet suspiciously even, dollar amounts.

Ocean Bank failed to report any of these suspicious transactions for many years.

As punishment for those “serious and systemic BSA violations,” Ocean Bank has agreed to pay up nearly $11 million to the United States, the sum total of drug monies laundered through just those five accounts.

What about the accounts they didn’t see?

Joaquin Urquiola, one of Pacific National Bank’s fined board members

“Ocean Bank has a responsibility to not turn a blind eye to the money laundering activities of drug traffickers,” said Trouville, DEA Special Agent. “In this instance, Ocean Bank failed in its duty to the public and now faces justice.”

They are not alone. Not by a long shot.  Pacific National Bank, the one-branch bank, owned by the Ecuadorian government, has had  history of not complying with BSA laws, specifically those pertaining to money laundering.

It simply did not listen to the regulators who ordered Pacific National to put an end to its shady practices that went back to 2005.

That’s why it was fined $7 million earlier in the year and four of its board members and its former CEO were all fined for their failure to follow the law intended to limit money laundering. (see correction below)

Ferrer points out that it is not just the smaller banks that have allowed drug money to be laundered state side – even the big boys of banking got into the act.

“Just a little over a year ago, we announced the deferred prosecution of Wachovia, one of the largest banks in the United States, for similar failures,” added Ferrer.

South America may have seemed like it was out of the cocaine game, but as court documents show, it never left. And as long as Americans have an appetite for the white powdery stuff, there will be someone willing to risk it all to smuggle it into the country and make a healthy profit in the process.

You can bank on it.

***CORRECTION*** Ralph Fernandez was noted in a previous version of this story as being a/k/a Carlos Fernandez-Guzman. This was not true, the two are not related. Also, it was improperly reported that Ralph Fernandez was a member of the Greater Miami Chamber of Commerce, which is also not correct. We regret any error any apologize for the harm it may have caused as we were reporting in good faith.

[Tampa, FL] Earlier this week it was announced that a mail man and a taxi driver have admitted to a half-million dollar scheme to defraud the IRS.

The pair face hefty prison sentences for stealing mail, bribing a government official and conspiracy in a plot that involved filing fake tax returns, intercepting the refund checks and divvying up the stolen funds.

“At the IRS, protecting taxpayer money is a matter we take extremely serious,” said Special Agent in Charge Linda J. Osuna of the IRS Tampa Field Office – Criminal Investigation Division. “An integral part of the agency’s mission involves detecting and catching fraudulent refund claims.”

Carmelo Rosado, Jr., 40, has signed a plea agreement with the U.S Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of Florida agreeing to the charges of conspiracy to commit theft of stolen mail and bribery of a public official. The Orlando resident and former mail carrier faces a maximum penalty of 20 years in federal prison for his illegal activities.

Former Bronx, New York cab driver Victor Manual Pena, 42, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to steal mail. Pena faces a maximum penalty of five years in federal prison.

The scheme involved filing fraudulent federal income tax returns and requesting that the refund payments be issued in the form of the U.S. Treasury checks. Those checks were then to be mailed to locations in Orlando as well as to addresses throughout the United States.

They would use stolen names and Social Security numbers of residents of Puerto Rico, which are not required to file federal income tax returns as long as all of the their income is derived from Puerto Rican sources, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.

In this particular case, there were 68 bogus returns electronically filed with refunds totaling $509,017. The funds were to be delivered through the mail to apartments located in the Chapel Trace Apartment Complex in Orlando.

Rosado was recruited to intercept the checks – which he did on March 7 – and deliver the goods to Pena. He was paid $9,000 for his criminal actions.

By: Mark Christopher/Sunshine Slate

[Tampa, FL] An ex-con has plead guilty to mail fraud and money laundering for his role in operating a massive Ponzi scheme from January 2007 until July 2010.

It was announced by United States Attorney Robert E. O’Neill that 61-year-old James Davis Risher (or “Jay Risher”) of  Sanibel has admitted to representing himself as an experienced money manager and investor when, in fact, he was an ex-felon with prior convictions for fed-level felony fraud offenses and money laundering.

Risher is facing a maximum of 50 years in federal prison for perpetrating the fraud.

In developing his Preservation of Principal Fund, Risher enlisted Lakeland-based insurance agent Daniel Joseph Sebastian to help him promote the fund and sell his client base on the idea. Sebastian created marketing materials that falsely claimed Risher as a successful investor and never mentioned his time in prison.

The promotional materials stated that the that investors’ funds would be safely held in an account titled “The Preservation of Principal Fund.” That account was to be held at Penson Financial Services, Inc., located in Dallas.

There was no “The Preservation of Principal Fund” at Penson. However, Risher did have several accounts titled in his name or his spouse’s name at Penson. But instead of investing the funds as promised, he spent $12.4 million of the investors’ money on a lavish lifestyle, surrounding himself with jewelry, art, motor vehicles and property.

He also compensated the insurance agent $4.1 million for is help in pulling off the scam. He spent $3.8 million of the later investors’ money making payments to the early investors, hence the Ponzi designation.

All told, authorities say 106 victims ponied up $21 million for the chance at high returns (14% to 124%) from Risher’s “fund.” Many of his victims were teachers or retirees.

According to court documents, Risher had plans to fly to Bermuda on May 31, 2011. He was arrested on Sanibel Island before he made it out of the country.

“Risher, who masqueraded as a highly successful equity trader, teamed up with Sebastian to tout sophisticated trading strategies they claimed would generate substantial profits for investors. Instead, Risher and Sebastian used investors’ life savings and retirement nest eggs to line their own pockets,” said Eric Bustillo, Director of the Securities and Exchange Commission’s Miami Regional Office.

By: Mark Christopher/Sunshine Slate

[Miami, FL] Yesterday, an operator of a slaughterhouse was sentenced to two years of probation and 100 hours of community service for inhumane practices and the sale of uninspected and adulterated pork products.

Mauret Curbelo, 37, of Hialeah, is prohibited from working at any ranch, farm, or slaughtering facility throughout the duration of his probation. Curbelo did not receive a fine – customary in these cases – as the court determined that he could not afford it.

According to court documents and evidence, Curbelo was the operations manager of Danilo Ranch, a commercial slaughtering plant that processed and sold mostly food-grade pork products located in Hialeah. There, Curbelo knowingly distributing pork prepared, packed, and stored under unsanitary conditions which can be extremely harmful to human health.

That same batch of  meat was also placed into the food chain without having been inspected or passed as required under Federal Meat Inspection Act (FMIA) guidelines. The violations took place in June 2010.

Curbelo was also not following humane animal slaughtering guidelines, instead using a baseball bat to carry out his work. Pictures of the bat were introduced into evidence. The area used to slaughter the animals was also shown in pictures to be unsanitary and hazardous. A rat could be clearly seen decomposing near the area.

The sentence is quite light considering what Curbelo could have received for endangering human life and treating animals inhumanely. He was eligible for a sentence of up to nine years in prison for the Humane Methods of Slaughter Act (HMSA) and FMIA violations, five years in prison for the false statement charge and fines totaling one million dollars.

By: Mark Christopher/Sunshine Slate

Related reading:

Hialeah slaughterhouse worker sentenced to probation … manager responsible for day-to-day operations at Danilo Ranch in Hialeah. At Danilo, Curbelo and others killed pigs, then processed and sold the meat, all without following proper regulations, such as making sure the swine was insensible to pain. …

[Washington, D.C.] The Justice Department (DOJ) has released a scathing report on the unconstitutional treatment of prisoners under the care of the Miami-Dade County Corrections and Rehabilitation Department (MDCR).

The comprehensive investigation, launched in April 2008 in accordance with the Civil Rights of Institutionalized Persons Act (CRIPA), revealed that MDCR engaged in a “pattern or practice of constitutional violations” in their jail facilities.

“The systemic failures of the jail facilities have resulted in prisoners living in inhumane and shocking conditions,” said Thomas E. Perez, Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Rights Division. “Our findings show that due to the unconstitutional operation of the MDCR jail facilities, prisoners have suffered grievous harm, including death.”

The extensive investigation focused on the protection of some 7,000 prisoners from harm in all six jail facilities operated by MDCR, which runs the eighth largest jail system in the nation.

Through CRIPA, the Justice Department came up with a host of unconstitutional treatments at MDCR-run jails, including inadequate medical and mental health care, use of excessive force, inadequate protection from violence by other prisoners and numerous health and sanitation deficiencies.

“I am deeply concerned about the Department of Justice’s findings, and will be reviewing the progress that has already been made to address them,” said Mayor Gimenez in a prepared statement. “The Department of Justice has my personal assurance that they will get total cooperation from Miami-Dade County in this matter.”

The 40-page findings letter paints a pretty bleak picture of the MDCR facilities. Since 2007, eight prisoners have killed themselves and thousands have suffed due to “constitutionally inadequate mental health care.” Five additional deaths were attributed to MDCR’s failure to give the necessary medical care to prisoners suffering from withdraw symptoms related to drugs or alcohol.

Metro West Detention Center

The DOJ’s findings also detail MDCR’s inadequate initial screening and health assessments for new prisoners and their complete lack of treatments for those with chronic illness. Those prisoners with HIV, diabetes, hypertension or histories of seizures routinely were denied the required medications.

The findings letter also reveals a pattern of prisoner abuse at the hands of corrections officers at the facilities, saying that officers “openly engage in abusive and retaliatory conduct, frequently resulting in injuries to prisoners.”

Apparently, it had gotten so bad that MDCR C.O.’s  were regularly slapping or punching the prisoners in the head and/or verbally inciting a physically response when a prisoner would use abusive language or passively resist an officer’s order. A clear violation of MDCR policy and the constitutional rights of the prisoners.

Prisoner on prisoner violence was also rampant, thanks to a lack of supervision in housing units. Just before the department launched its investigation, nearly 675 incidents of prisoner assaults on fellow inmates were reported by MDCR.

“The Justice Department is committed to remedying these deficiencies, and we look forward to working with MDCR to develop and implement comprehensive reforms,” added Perez.

For his part, the mayor seems like he is taking the findings letter seriously. On Thursday, Gimenez met with corrections management and staff – including Jackson CEO Carlos Migoya and MDCR Director Timothy Ryan – to go over the report and talk about Miami-Dade’s “ongoing efforts” aimed at addressing the horrific treatment of prisoners and less-than-adequate supervision detailed in the Department of Justice report.

Download the Justice Department’s findings letter here.

By: Mark Christopher/Sunshine Slate

[West Palm Beach, FL] I can see jail in their future. A family of fortune tellers and spiritual advisers faces the wrath of federal prosecutors for their role in bilking more than a dozen “customers” out of $40 million. The spiritual scam has been going on since 1991.

Operating out of Florida, New York and New Jersey, nine self-proclaimed clairvoyants and psychics were indicted last week and marched into a West Palm Beach federal court room on 61 charges, including conspiracy to commit mail fraud and wire fraud, mail fraud, wire fraud and money laundering conspiracy. The tenth figure in this conspiracy – the one non-psychic in the bunch – acted as the family’s accountant and money launderer.

Each count carries a statutory maximum penalty of 20 years in prison and requires the defendants to pay restitution to the victims, if convicted.

Those arrested at the conclusion of “Operation Crystal Ball” include Rose Marks, 60, Nancy Marks, 42, Ricky Marks, 39, and Donnie Eli, 38, all residents of Fort Lauderdale and New York. Also on the list, Fort Lauderdale residents Cynthia Miller, 33, Rosie Marks, 36, Vivian Marks, 21, and Michael Marks, 33; Victoria Eli, 65, of Fort Lauderdale and Secaucus, New Jersey; and Peter Wolofsky, 84, of Boca Raton.

All have been arrested except for Victoria Eli, who is still at large.

The fortune-telling family had their victims believing that they could lift evil spirits or curses from their lives, or from the lives of their loved ones. To execute the scheme, the defendants used “magic tricks” and supernatural lies to scare their victims into handing over cash and jewelry.

Preying upon the victim’s perceived weaknesses, the scam artists told their victims that they would “suffer terrible consequences, including diseases, hauntings, and financial hardships, unless they turned over their money and valuables for “cleansing” by the defendants,” according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office Southern District of Florida release.

Rose Marks, also known as Joyce Michael, was the apparent star of the crime family, whose reach extended beyond Florida to franchises in New York and New Jersey. Marks claimed to be gifted by God and to have helped executives from Fortune 500 companies, movie stars and other worldly big wigs using her powers of “intuition” that went beyond the five normal senses.

Among her weapons of thievery: tarot card readings, palm readings, astrology readings, spiritual readings and numerology readings. She also convinced her victims that she had a hot line to Michael the Archangel, who could help them with their troubles such as curing disease, removing a curse, chasing away evil spirits and cleansing the body and mind.

But all they had to do was give Marks huge sums of cash and shiny valuables for her to hold until the bad things went away. Instead she kept the loot and lived the life of luxury.

The rest of the family ran similar scams using varying story lines and scare tactics.

According to the Sun Sentinel, the largest single victim is Jude Gilliam Montassir, a best-selling author who writes under the name Jude Deveraux. She was bilked out of approximately $20 million.

In 1998, Rose Marks (as Joyce Michael) was taken to court for allegedly leeching $125,054 from a Canadian businesswoman’s bank account using the same techniques.

By: Mark Christopher/Sunshine Slate

[St. Petersburg, FL] On Wednesday, it was announced that a Florida seafood company and its president have been sentenced for mislabeling shrimp and conspiring to commit Lacey Act violations.

The announcement was made jointly by the United States Attorney for the Southern District of Florida, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Office of Law Enforcement, and Adam Putnam, Commissioner of the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services.

Defendants Richard Stowell, 65, of St. Pete Beach, and United Seafood Imports, Inc., of St. Petersburg, had pled guilty to three felonies as a result of mislabeling and selling approximately one million pounds of shrimp. Stowell is the president, sole shareholder, and owner of United.

According to documents, Mark Platt and Shifco, Inc., whose majority shareholder is Platt, conspired to violate the Lacey Act with Stowell by mislabeling shrimp from Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand. Platt and Shifco pled guilty and were sentenced in March 2011.

The shrimp, valued at more than $700,000, were ultimately sold to supermarkets in the northeastern United States.

The Lacey Act prohibits the mislabeling of food such as shrimp and fish, and makes it unlawful “for a person to falsely identify any fish which has been, or is intended to be, imported, sold, purchased, or received from any foreign country or transported in interstate or foreign commerce.”

The Food Drug and Cosmetic Act “prohibits the alteration or removal of the whole or any part of the labeling of food, if such act is done while such article is held for sale after shipment in interstate commerce.”

U.S. District Court Judge Ursula Ungaro sentenced Stowell to two (2) years of probation, six (6) months of home confinement with electronic monitoring, and restrictions on working in the food industry and seafood industry.

Stowell is also required to complete one hundred hours of community service for each year of probation. He also has to teach the seafood industry about the dangers of such illegal actions.

United was sentenced to two years’ probation, a $200,000 fine, and a $3,200 special assessment. United is in the process of dissolution.

- Mark Christopher

Image: NOAA

[Boca Raton – Florida]

Anthony F. Cutaia, host of a South Florida real estate talk show and owner of  CMG Property Investment Group, was arrested last week on charges he defrauded investors by creating a Ponzi scheme.

He’s on top of it

Antony would sell investments in commercial real estate through his company, promising an astounding 8 percent return a quarter. He would then use the money to pay off other investors while also supporting the operating cost of the company, creating a Ponzi scheme according to a complaint filed by the U.S. Attorney’s Office. The charges carry a maximum 20 years in prison and a $250,000 fine.

He’s on the TV

Mr. Cutaia hosted “Talk About Mortgages and Real Estate,” a local television and radio program, according to the complaint. In previous years he had advertised his services in the local market.

He’s on Amazon

He along with his wife Susan, and another author wrote and published “Untapped Riches: Never Pay off Your Mortgage – and Other Surprising Secrets for Building Wealth” in January 2007. Most notably it has a 2.8 star rating on amazon.com.

He’s in the courts

This is not the first sign of trouble for Mr. Cutaia; has had a history of money problems. He has already filed Chapter 7 Bankruptcy twice, once in 1994 and again in 2007. He also lost an $8 Million commercial property to foreclosure in 2007.

What is A Ponzi Scheme?

The scheme is named after Charles Ponzi who became notorious for using the technique in early 1920. Ponzi did not invent the scheme, but his operation took in so much money that it was the first to become known throughout the United States.

More Info:

Talk show host Anthony Cutaia arrested in Ponzi investigation Anthony F. Cutaia recruited investors for commercial real estate projects arranged by his Boca Raton-based company, CMG Property Investment Group, according to a complaint filed Friday by the US Attorney’s Office. Cutaia invested “very little” of the …

Real estate guru Cutaia charged in Ponzi Susan and Anthony Cutaia touted real estate investing on their radio show, but a court filing says he operated a Ponzi scheme. Federal authorities have charged one-time real estate guru Anthony Cutaia with running a Ponzi scheme. …

Anthony Cutaia Ponzi: Noted real estate adviser charged with … Jun 7, 2011 … Anthony Cutaia, host of real estate talk show, defrauded investors after luring them into Ponzi scheme, U.S. Attorney’s Office alleges.

Talk show host Anthony Cutaia arrested in Ponzi investigation Jun 7, 2011 … A host of a South Florida real estate talk show was arrested last week on charges he defrauded investors by creating a Ponzi scheme