Articles Posted in Federal Crimes

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These have been big days for narcotics law enforcement specialists. State agencies as well as Boston’s various local FBI, ATF and DEA agents worked together to bring suspects to court and clients to lawyers.

Let’s take Pittsfield first. There, three daytime raids resulted in the seizure of approximately $35,000 worth of drugs as well as the alleged leader of the Bloods gang.

The hope is that the synchronized raids will bring an end to the violent crime problem that has been plaguing the area. The police chief said, “By following up in this investigation, it is our hope and expectation that we will come to a solution in some, if not all, of the violence that has plagued Pittsfield over the last several months.”

The raids were a result of an ongoing investigation by the Berkshire County Drug Task Force and the Pittsfield Police Department drug unit.

Meanwhile, a South Easton man was arrested on Massachusetts cocaine trafficking charges after police seized about $30,000 in cocaine and $9,000 cash in an undercover narcotics investigation headed by Foxboro Detective Thomas Kirrane and Sharon Detective Scott Leonard of the Norfolk County Anti-Crime Task Force.

Stephen K, 52, (hereinafter, the “Defendant”) who lives at the Easton Mobile Home Park on Route 138 in South Easton, was arrested last Wednesday in the Shaw’s supermarket parking lot at 760 South Main St. in Sharon, near the Foxboro line. When he was arrested the Defendant, who also has an address in Florida, had numerous bundles of cocaine with an estimated value of more than $2,000 and more than $2,300 in cash Continue reading

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Late 2008 and 2009 (so far) may go down in history as one of the worst times nonprofit organizations have had in terms of thievery. The daily Boston Criminal Law Blog has spent a great deal of time discussing the Bernie Madoff nightmare as well as other white collar fiasco’s which have targeted individuals as well as charities.

Here’s another one for your collection.

Last Tuesday, Andrew M., 33, of Weymouth (hereinafter, the “Defendant”) was sentenced to two years in prison by federal court judge George A. O’Toole. He has been convicted on Massachusetts white collar crimes of stealing $130,202 from a non-profit Boston community health center over a two-year period. Specifically, he pleaded guilty to embezzling the money from Dimock Community Health Center Boston in October, 2008.

After he has served his time in custody, the Defendant will begin a three years of supervised probation.

As you may recall from earlier postings, the crime of embezzlement involves the intentionally mishandling of funds entrusted to you for your own personal gain. In the Defendant’s case, his duties had required him to maintain various financial accounts that included checking, savings, money market and payroll for Dimock. He was also responsible for conducting daily cash transactions for business purposes, maintaining financial reports and cash deposit slips.

Not a bad job for a guy who already had an extensive criminal record.
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Unless you were in media-deprived seclusion yesterday, you have already heard that Bernie Madoff went to court and never went back home. While Bernie adjusts to his new multi-million dollar residence (paid for, like his penthouse apartment, by others), The Boston Criminal Lawyer Blog now reviews the star swindler’s performance as his “15 minutes of fame” seems to near its end.

Don’t misunderstand me…the results of his white collar crime will be with us much longer than said 15 minutes.

What once was considered a well-respected investment professional now had to wear a bulletproof vest to court.

Bernie pleaded guilty yesterday. He has not yet been sentenced. However, in play was the issue of whether or not he would be allowed to stay home pending sentencing. Apparently, he would not have the prosecutors to help him with that issue as everyone says that no deal has been struck between the federal prosecutors and the defense.

So how to try to stay home and get as gentle treatment from the System as possible? Well, if your “golden tongue” helped you outsmart the world for many years, why not go with what works?

So, Bernie made a speech.
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It’s been awhile since we checked in on the Bernie Madoff, the latest superstar of the Boston-created ponzi scheme. Once a larger-than-life society figure, he is now reduced to spending his time in his larger-than-life New York apartment, talking to his attorneys and hoping to avoid a smaller-than-life jail cell. As predicted by this daily blog many times, however, the finger of suspicion and blame in this case is too large for just one man.

For example, we have already explored in earlier postings (look under the blog’s White Collar Crimes section to review) the pressures brought upon out-of-state Madoff associates to come up to Boston to answer questions by regulators. We have also witnessed how the regulators themselves have been on and off the hot seat. Then, there have been questions about Madoff’s wife and her habits with the United States Postal service.

Now, as sensitivities to this kind of thing have grown, a Massachusetts man has been accused of stealing $57 million from the descendants of a 19th century industrialist and using the money on personal extravagances, including three private jets.
John D. , 60, of Topsfield (hereinafter, “New Defendant”) was charged in a federal indictment Wednesday of assessing millions in phony fees, transferring company funds to himself and hiding the theft with various schemes, including false financial statements. New Defendant faces up to 20 years in prison, if convicted for the Massachusetts white collar crimes.

The U.S. Attorney’s office said in the indictment that New Defendant had stolen “more than $20 million” from Tenens Corporation, which was created to manage trusts for more than 100 descendants of the late Frederick Ayer Jr., who owned textile mills in Lowell. In a May 2008 lawsuit by Tenens against its auditors, the company estimated the theft at $57 million. Tenens attorney said New Defendant “looted” the family and “joins the likes of disgraced money manager Madoff…The family is heartbroken by [New Defendant’s] personal betrayal, and stunned by the scope and audacity of his criminal acts”.
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Federal court in Boston has now seen what could be the final act in the drama of the United States Attorney versus The Hooker Who Would Extort. Michelle Robinson (hereinafter, the “Defendant” ) has pleaded guilty to the Massachusetts white collar crime of extortion in return for a rather unusual sentence.

Due to some unfortunate internet circumstances experienced out of state, this otherwise daily blog posting is the continuation Part One of the story which can be found here. It should have been posted last Thursday. However, in the meantime, the debate has continued to rage.

The alleged facts were laid out in greater detail in Part One. However, to briefly recap, a 60 year-old gentleman, (hereinafter, “John”), wanted what he calls a “last hurrah” with a young woman. He elected the Defendant, an alleged prostitute, to “hurrah” with him. After about 18 months, he ended his “hurrah”. The Defendant responded by informing him that, unless he gave her enough money, she would reveal his identity to the world as having engaged her services. At first, John paid. Then, when she wanted more, he hired a lawyer and made a deal with the federal authorities to blow the whistle on her scheme if they would grant him immunity from prosecution…as well as from identity revelation.

The feds had to jump through hoops in order to accommodate John. However, being as he had former United States Attorney Stern as his lawyer, and as John was an influential business man himself, jumped they did to build the case of wire fraud and threats in interstate communications, making what otherwise would have been a state-prosecuted case about prostitution and extortion.

The subject of the ongoing debate, however, is another hoop the government had to jump through. Namely, they had to keep John’s identity secret .

What to do?
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Hey, guess what? It turns out there are law enforcement officials in Boston who Believe that there are actually crimes more heinous than prostitution! Today, we salute the local United States Attorney’s Office for deciding that extortion is worse than the world’s oldest profession.

He (his name has been withheld, but we’ll call him “John”) is a prominent businessman from the Boston area, married and in his 60s, who later told authorities that he had merely wanted a “last hurrah” – sex with a young woman.

And he got it. She ( who has been named) was 27-year-old Michelle R (hereinafter, the “Defendant”). The Defendant is alleged to be a prostitute from Canton who was happy to oblige John’s “hurrah”. Through an escort service, John and the Defendant made a deal. Well, kind of several deals. They all involved sex for money as one encounter led to another, and then another, and so on.

The “hurrah” allegedly lasted for 18 months.

But then, it ended. According to the FBI, however, the Defendant figured that if she could not do it to him one way, she would do it to him another way. This past July, shortly after the liaisons ended, she allegedly called John and explained that someone had offered her $60,000 to publicly reveal their relationship. So, if John wanted her to keep her mouth shut, he would have to pay him more than that.
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As the “Madoff Wars”, fought by investigators, attorneys and accountants, rage, score one for lawyers of the Commonwealth. They finally got Robert Jaffe, a crucial witness to Madoff’s operation, to the Hub where he finally spoke to regulators. The result? Boston regulators are ramping up a probe into Bernard Madoff’s alleged $50 billion Ponzi scheme.

As any loyal reader to this daily blog knows, we have been “checking in” with the Madoff Nightmare since the beginning. In our last episode, January 27ths Boston Secretary Of State Tells Madoff Associate To Visit; Attorney Says “Nope”., the Commonwealth and the court were telling him to come up from Florida to talk. Through counsel, his response had been in the negative.
Apparently, he has changed his mind. Yesterday, he met with state investigators. It is not clear whether Jaffe, who went to court last month in a failed bid to block the state’s subpoena, told regulators anything of value, however.

Jaffe, a vice president at Madoff’s Cohmad Securities unit, introduced many alleged Massachusetts scam victims to Madoff. However, the 64-year-old has denied any knowledge of the reputed Ponzi scheme. Rather, Jaffe – the son-in-law of Hub philanthropist Carl Shapiro, who allegedly lost some $300 million in the scam – has said that he and his family are among Madoff’s victims.

“The responsiveness of Mr. Jaffe to (our) subpoena is presently being evaluated,” said State Secretary Galvin, whose office regulates Massachusetts securities sales. However, Galvin did say that his probe has expanded to include other “feeder firms” – companies that lined up Madoff investors.
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The chief judge of the Boston ‘s local United States District Court is threatening to sanction a federal prosecutor for what he characterized as the latest “egregious failure” of the United States Attorney’s office to disclose evidence that could have helped clear a defendant. Undisclosed, the result could lead to a wrongful conviction.

Chief District Court Judge Mark L. Wolf said in a sharply worded memorandum that Assistant US Attorney Suzanne Sullivan failed to disclose that a Boston police officer’s testimony at a pretrial hearing contradicted what the officer had repeatedly told the prosecutor beforehand. The defendant, a Mattapan man arrested on gun charges in July 2007, is still awaiting trial.

Wolf said the truth about the circumstances of the arrest came to light only when he reviewed Sullivan’s notes of her interviews of the police officer, Rance Cooley. The judge wants Sullivan and her boss, US Attorney Michael J. Sullivan, who are not related, to file affidavits by February 5th explaining why he should not sanction her, the US attorney’s office, or both.

“The egregious failure of the government to disclose plainly material exculpatory evidence in this case extends a dismal history of intentional and inadvertent violations of the government’s duties to disclose in cases assigned to this court,” Wolf, a high-ranking prosecutor in the office in the 1980s, wrote in his 42-page ruling.

He listed at least nine major cases he presided over during the last two decades in which prosecutors working for Michael Sullivan and his predecessors allegedly withheld important evidence. In several instances, the jurist, 62, wrote, the misconduct led to mistrials and convictions that were overturned.
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…Meanwhile, back in the Bernard Madoff (hereinafter, the “Defendant”) drama, Magistrate Judge Ronald L. Ellis awaits written argument from the Defendant’s criminal lawyer as to why his client should not be incarcerated while awaiting trial for his artful recreation of the Boston – originated “Ponzi Scheme”.

The issues involved are an interesting combination of typical bail-related considerations as well as a novel twist to the “danger to the community” approach.

First of all, for those of you just waking up from about a month-long nap, the Defendant was arrested on December 11th on a securities fraud charge after the FBI said he confessed to swindling investors. Authorities say he told his sons he ran a $50 billion Ponzi scheme and had only a few hundred million dollars left.

The results of the fraud have been felt around the globe and across all strata of society.

He has been under house arrest at his multimillion-dollar Manhattan penthouse with an electronic bracelet and 24-hour guard.

But that status may be about to change.

On Monday, prosecutors asked the court for the Defendant’s immediate incarceration, saying he and his wife violated a court order by sending jewelry and antique watches worth more than $1 million to relatives and friends over the holidays. They argued that the action violated a freeze of the Defendant’s assets and demonstrated a danger to investors that he might dissipate assets. In effect, that by dissipating assets, he was continuing his thefts from his victims.

The judge asked lawyers on both sides during a bail hearing Monday to submit arguments this week to help him decide whether the Defendant should be jailed before trial.
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How did you begin your weekend? I began mine by driving to court in Boston, doing other lawyer-like things at the office and then running home to “hunker down”, as the radio told me to do, because of the impending snow. I also dug out my car a couple dozen times.

I felt alittle put-upon by all that nasty snow.

In retrospect, though, I feel luckier. After all, 31-year-old Jason R. of Pelham, Massachusetts (hereinafter, the “Defendant”)did not have to shovel any snow on Friday, or Saturday or even Sunday. That was done for him.

In federal custody.

You see, he was arrested on Friday on federal warrants in Framingham stemming from a Pelham police investigation concerning illegal firearms possession.

Well, it was not just the fact that he was in possession of the guns…it was that he was a felon in possession of the guns.

The Defendant and law enforcement have had a bit of a stormy relationship over the past years.
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