Monday, July 28, 2014

OKCupid Brags That It Experiments on Humans, Too

If you look for dates online, you’re the guinea pig for all kinds of experiments run by snarky Internet types, who grind up your loneliness and use it to feed their algorithms. Christian Rudder, one of the founders of OKCupid, proudly admitted as much on Monday in a post on the company’s blog entitled: “We Experiment on Human Beings!
OKCupid’s admission wouldn’t have come if people hadn’t gotten so angry about Facebook’s (FB) decision to tinker with users’ newsfeeds and publish the results in an academic journal.
The Facebook backlash came because they were conducting experiments on people’s emotions without the subjects’ permission. By that standard, OKCupid’s experiments were much worse. After all, dating is all about feelings. In one test, the company wanted to see if its matching algorithms—the way that it predicts whether people will like one another—worked. So it told people who it thought wouldn’t like each other that it thought they would like each other. So, you know, OKCupid performed the equivalent of setting people up on bad dates and then watching them from across the restaurant, giggling.
http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2014-07-28/okcupid-brags-that-it-experiments-on-humans-too#r=lr-sr 

Sunday, July 13, 2014

Former JP Morgan Chase Banker Convicted of Elaborate $779k Bank Fraud

HOUSTON – Carlos Lavin Ibarra, 33, of Houston, has entered a guilty plea to one count of bank fraud, announced United States Attorney Kenneth Magidson.
Ibarra worked at JP Morgan Chase Bank in Houston. He admitted that while employed there, he purchased or caused to be purchased $779,000 in cashier’s checks on accounts owned by a person from Nigeria. This person was deceased at the time of the defendant’s actions and Chase was not advised of his death. The defendant admitted he acted fraudulently and without authority.
The cashier’s checks were all made payable to “Ben Leasing.” Ibarra admitted he caused another individual to obtain a certificate of operation under the assumed name of Ben Leasing from the County Clerk of Harris County and open a bank account in that name. However, that person refused to accept the cashier’s checks and Ibarra then re-deposited the checks at Chase. He further caused eight more cashier’s checks to be purchased in various amounts, payable to different individuals with whom Ibarra had a relationship. Three of these checks were subsequently exchanged for identical Chase cashier’s checks. All of the Chase cashier’s checks were deposited into different bank accounts in Houston. 
http://www.justice.gov/usao/txs/1News/Releases/2014%20July/140709%20-%20Ibarra.html

Tuesday, June 24, 2014

15 medical professionals indicted in $25M scheme

By TAMI ABDOLLAH
Associated Press LOS ANGELES (AP) - Fifteen doctors, pharmacists and others medical professionals in Southern California have been charged in a $25 million workers' compensation scam that prosecutors say was linked to the death of a baby.
Recently unsealed indictments allege that Kareem Ahmed, who heads the workers' compensation claims management firm Landmark Medical Management, hired pharmacists to produce a pain-relief cream, gave kickbacks to doctors and chiropractors to prescribe it, and also conspired to submit phony claims.
A coroner's report said a 5-month-old boy in Los Angeles County ate the cream and died. Ahmed, pharmacist Michael Rudolph and Dr. Andrew Jarminski have been charged with involuntary manslaughter. In addition, the parents of the baby are suing over his death.
Prosecutors also alleged insurance fraud and conspiracy in the 44-count indictment, with crimes occurring from Oct. 1, 2009, through Jan. 31, 2013. Kickbacks to individuals were as high as $8 million over multiple years, the indictment says.
http://www.myfoxdfw.com/story/25862184/15-medical-professionals-indicted-in-25m-scheme

Monday, January 27, 2014

Pulaski fin'l corp hit by 'elaborate fraud' by own commercial loan customer

Pulaski Financial Corp. has uncovered an "elaborate fraud" perpetrated against the bank by one of its commercial loan customers.
The customer, who claimed to be in the business of leasing equipment, appears to have created false documents to purchase assets that didn't exist and that were the subject of fictitious leases, according to a statement from Pulaski Financial, which is the holding company for Pulaski Bank. Pulaski's exposure to the customers consisted of an outstanding loan balance of $7 million, minus $631,000 in collateral held by the bank.
Pulaski is charging off the entire amount of the unsecured exposure, resulting in an after-tax charge to earnings of $3.9 million.
As a result of the discovery of the fraud, Pulaski reported revised financial results for the fourth quarter ended Sept. 30.
http://www.bizjournals.com/stlouis/morning_call/2013/11/pulaski-hit-by-elaborate-fraud.html

Sept 2013: Seven detained in alleged Gazprom shareholder fraud

Seven men have been detained in Moscow on suspicion of having embezzled 500 million rubles (over $15.4 million) of Gazprom shares, RIA Novosti reported Tuesday.
The fraud scheme allegedly occurred earlier this year, according to the Russian law enforcement agencies, which withheld further details.
The suspects were reportedly detained when they attempted to embezzle shares of the state-controlled Sberbank in the amount of 80 million rubles ($2.4million).
http://www.themoscownews.com/business/20130917/191927060/Seven-detained-in-alleged-Gazprom-shareholder-fraud.html

3 Men Indicted for $23m Iraqi Dinar Fraud

A federal grand indicted three men from the Toledo area for their roles in the operation of a $23 million fraud scheme involving the sale of Iraqi dinar currency and two non-existent hedge funds, said Steven M. Dettelbach, United States Attorney for the Northern District of Ohio, and Kathy Enstrom, Special Agent in Charge, IRS-Criminal Investigation, Cincinnati field office.
Those indicted are: Bradford L. Huebner, 66, of Ottawa Hills, Ohio; Charles N. Emmenecker, 66, of Sylvania, Ohio, and Michael L. Teadt, 67, of Maumee, Ohio.
Rudolph M. Coenen, age 47, of Jacksonville, Florida, has already pleaded guilty to crimes related to his role in the conspiracy.
The men are charged with conspiracy to commit wire fraud and wire fraud. Huebner is also charged with multiple counts of money laundering, structuring and willful failure to file currency and transaction reports.
As a result of the defendants’ conduct, investors lost about $23.8 million from dinar sales and more than $700,000 from the sale of non-existent hedge fund “seats” and “placements,” according to the indictment.
“These defendants made false statements time and again to convince people to part with their savings and hard-earned cash,” Dettelbach said. “The fact that they falsely claimed one member of the conspiracy was wounded while fighting in Iraq is particularly egregious.”
http://www.iraq-businessnews.com/2014/01/01/three-indicted-for-23m-dinar-fraud/

Canadian man accused in penny stock fraud caught in Thailand

A Canadian man accused of masterminding an international penny stock fraud scheme that swindled investors worldwide of more than $140 million has been arrested in Thailand.
The U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigations says Sandy Winick, 55, was arrested over the weekend, just days after authorities rounded up seven of his alleged accomplices.
Canadians Gregory Ellis, 46, and Kolt Curry, 38, were taken into custody Aug. 13, along with five Americans accused of helping to carry out what authorities have called one of the largest penny stock frauds in history.
Curry's father, 63-year-old Gregory Curry, is still at large and the FBI said he's believed to be living in or near Bangkok, Thailand.

Alleged 'pump and dump' scheme

It's alleged the defendants were involved in a massive "pump and dump" scheme — buying controlling interests in sketchy startup companies, then artificially inflating their value by promoting them in fictitious emails, social media messages and news releases.
Court papers say the defendants then victimized the same investors by convincing them to pay advance fees in return for helping them sell their securities or join lawsuits to reclaim their losses.
The sales campaign generated more than $120 million in investments, while the fees scheme brought in some $20 million, authorities said.
http://www.cbc.ca/news/business/canadian-accused-in-penny-stock-fraud-caught-in-thailand-1.1340651