Articles Posted in White Collar Crimes

Last week, we began this topic. At the time, I signed off with the famous last words “Good question. Let’s start with it tomorrow“. Once again, a few “tomorrows” came and went and I was too busy fighting for “the cause” to post. So….please consider today “tomorrow”.

We discussed the realities about police involvement when approached by what appears to them to be a crime victim. However, what about when it is not a case of who gets to the police first? What about cases where you have no reason to know that there is even suspicion about your activity, much less an investigation? Often, we see such a scenario in Massachusetts white collar cases.

Attorney Sam’s Take On Healthy Paranoia When It Comes To Questionable Paperwork

Now, we all know that, generally, it is not nice to lie. Further, we have discussed in the past that lying to police in a criminal investigation is actually a felony.

There are other times, of course, where the lying itself is actually considered a Massachusetts white collar crime, namely, criminal fraud.

Christopher Keefe, a 28-year-gent from Braintree (hereinafter, the “Defendant”), has gotten himself in trouble because of an apparent shaky relationship with the truth.

As we have discussed many times over the past years, we are seeing more and more prosecutions for things that we barely even heard about, much less saw Massachusetts criminal prosecutions for… although we kind of knew they existed.

Today, the Boston Criminal Lawyer Blog brings you another one.

A Suffolk County grand jury has now returned a 53 criminal charges for bribery against five Massachusetts Port Authority employees. They include Kenneth Clement, 67, of Attleboro; Michael Garvey, 51, of Melrose; Vadim Mkrtychev, 38, of West Roxbury; James Mulrey, 45, of Canton; and Donald Potis, 47, of Medford (hereinafter, collectively, the “Defendants”).

You have probably heard the old saying, “Hey, it’s only business”. The adage used to be used when one person got the better of a “friend” in business. No matter how ugly any deception would be, the rationalization was, “It isn’t personal…it’s just business“.

Usually the person on the winning end had an easier time accepting the notion than the losing party.

Today’s story reflects on a new version that you might be hearing soon. It would go, “Hey, it’s not personal…it’s just liberty.”

It would be particularly useful when trusted comrades turn on each other when facing the long end of the prosecutorial gun armed with years of potential incarceration.

Today’s case in point involves former Probation Commissioner John “Jack” O’Brien and two of his “most trusted lieutenants”. They have apparently struck a deal with the prosecution in which they have been granted immunity from prosecution in return for their testimony at trial. Against said former pal..

Trials in both Massachusetts state and federal court.

You see, O’Brien, who retired as commissioner in 2010, pleaded not guilty last September to bribery and conspiracy charges in connection with the 2005 fundraiser for Cahill he’s accused of stocking with probation employees in exchange for his wife’s Lottery job. The event is said to have brought in more than $11,000 for Cahill. In March, it was announced that O’Brien had been indicted on RICO conspiracy and mail fraud charges by a federal grand jury for currying favor with legislators in exchange for keeping their department’s budget flush with state money.

In these types of cases, former friends can make important witnesses. In this case, said friends are Edward P. Ryan, O’Brien’s liaison to legislators, and Francis M. Wall his deputy commissioner.
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Massachusetts extortion is an interesting white collar crime. I find that it is largely misunderstood as well.

Take the tale of Howie Winter, 83 years of age and hereinafter referred to as “Defendant1”. Defendant1 is also reputed with being the former head of the notorious Winter Hill Gang. He was just released on $25,000 bail in Somerville District Court. He is charged with trying to extort money from two people. He is accompanied by James Melvin, 70, of Braintree (hereinafter, “Defendant2”). The two are also charged with attempted extortion and conspiracy to commit extortion.

Both gentlemen have also been ordered to where GPS monitoring bracelets.

Prosecutors say the defendants tried to extort $35,000 apiece from two men, repeatedly threatening them during a series of meetings, phone calls, and voicemails. Part of this threatening was allegedly making repeated references to the North End, invoking the shadowy powers of organized crime.

Apparently, said threatening behavior was not overly successful. It merely drove the alleged victims to the hands of law enforcement.

The defendants’ attorneys describe a bit of a different scenario. They suggest that their clients were acting to aid a lawyer who was himself being extorted by the two men that the government is now portraying as the victims.

One of the attorneys asks the question of whether it is extortion to extort money from extortionists. That seems reminiscent of our present policy of bullying kids who are bullies…and we have statutory sanction for that!

But I digress.

Apparently, the government has collected recordings of the defendants in this case. The government expects those tapes to help the prosecution. The defense attorneys, however, claim that said recordings “may very well prove that there was no criminal intent.”
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This is a fact scenario you don’t see every day. It also brings forth another Massachusetts criminal defendant who likely thought he would never see himself being prosecuted for felony crimes.

Michael Clair, 53 years of age and hereinafter the “Defendant” was once a practicing dentist in Fall River. Now, he lives in Maryland. Soon, however, he may be back in the Commonwealth residing in involuntary government housing.

You see, the Defendant has pleaded guilty to an apparent scheme in which he was involved while practicing in Fall River.

Folks would go to the Defendant to get, among other things, root canals done. And the Defendant would give them root canals. However, it would appear that he used some unknown cost-cutting measures. For example, he would substitute paper clips instead of stainless steel posts, according to Boston’s Attorney General.

Perhaps that would not have been so bad if he had shared the savings. However, not only did he not tell his patients, but he also failed to mention it to Medicaid. In fact, he is said to have billed Medicaid for the cost of the stainless steel posts he was supposed to have used.

Presto! Change-o! The dentist became the Defendant.

Facing Medicaid Fraud, Grand Larceny and Assault and Battery charges, the Defendant has pleaded guilty and is awaiting sentencing. Incidentally, he has also pleaded guilty to tampering with evidence, intimidation of a witness, and illegally prescribing hydrocodone, Combunox, and Percocet.

All around bad news for the Defendant.

But, wait! There’s more!

This situation apparently began coming to light when the Defendant was investigated, in 2002, from the Medicaid (MassHealth) program. The Defendant was suspended from the program. Determined not to be a “quitter”, after his practice , Harbour Dental, hired other dentists who had not been ejected from the program, he apparently picked up where he left off. He began filing claims again, using their information for services he provided. According to AG Coakley’s office, this totaled about $130,000 over the course of two years.

In March 2010, a Bristol County grand jury indicted the Defendant and he was arraigned in April. He was released and ordered not to have any contact with the complainants in the case.

By November, he was facing the new charges of tampering with evidence and intimidating a witness.
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