James Thomas Webb, 52, Leland, North Carolina, a former real estate developer, was sentenced to 327 months imprisonment, followed by five years of supervised release. The court further ordered that Webb make total restitution of $11,946,739.80 to his victims.
Archives For Investment Scams
Robert Rivernider, 48, Wellington, Florida, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Robert N. Chatigny in Hartford, Connecticut, to 144 months of imprisonment, followed by five years of supervised release, for operating two investment schemes that caused a loss of more than $25 million to individuals and lending institutions.
Thomas Franklin Tarbutton, 54, Newport Beach, California, a fugitive hard money lender, has been extradited back to Orange County from Panama for embezzling nearly $3 million from investors in a Ponzi real estate fraud scheme.
Ronald Frank Muise, 51, and his son, Michael Derek Muise, 28, both of Las Vegas, Nevada, have been convicted of conspiracy to commit wire and mail fraud in connection with a telemarketing fraud scheme that spanned almost five years and victimized approximately 1,000 people.
Harold L. Gruber, 60, Brooklyn, New York, an attorney, and his condominium-developer clients, Joseph Scarpinito, 59, who has a prior federal felony conviction for bank fraud, and Shiraz Sanjana, 54, have been barred pursuant to a court order from doing condo and securities-related work in New York pending the court case. The order enjoins the respondents from engaging in any act directly or indirectly relating to the offer or sale of securities (which includes coops and condos) in or from the State of New York.
Frank Mete, 55, Berlin, Connecticut, waived his right to indictment and pleaded guilty before U.S. Magistrate Judge Donna F. Martinez in Hartford to fraud and tax evasion offenses stemming from an investment fraud scheme.
Local Records Office, Bellflower, California, a company that allegedly preys on unsuspecting new property owners, is the subject of a Consumer Protection Act lawsuit.
Diane Cobb, 56, and Paul Sloane Davis, 74, have been charged with fifteen counts of conspiracy, mail fraud, and wire fraud, and Diane Cobb has also been charged with five counts of aggravated identity theft.
Yin Nan (Michael) Wang and Wendy Ko have been charged with fraud and an emergency asset freeze was levied against a group of Pasadena, California-based companies at the center of an ongoing real estate investment scheme.
Robert Thomas, 36, Lakeworth, Florida, was sentenced to 40 months in federal prison for knowingly participating in a fraudulent telemarketing scam that victimized timeshare owners nationwide.