The financial news that actually matters
Covers financial scams, fraud cases, regulatory enforcement actions, and government crackdowns on illegal financial activity. It educates readers on financial safety and risk prevention.
Federal prosecutors indicted the two founders of a Tampa Bay-area real estate investment trust on Sept. 10, accusing them of pocketing 401(k) and health-insurance premium withholdings that were deducted from employees’ paychecks but never forwarded to the plans. Brandon “Dutch” Mendenhall of Brandon, Florida, and Amy Marie Smith Vaughn of New Port Richey each face…
Scammers posing as police officers, federal agents and immigration officials took more than $140 million from Americans who were told they faced arrest, prosecution or deportation unless they paid immediately, the FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center said in a September 17 alert. Those 1,809 extradition-and-passport-threat complaints made up the single costliest script inside a broader…
The Federal Reserve issued consent prohibition orders against three former bank employees on September 18, permanently barring each from working in the banking industry again without the Board’s written consent. Charles Alan Wright, a former Northstar Bank employee, was banned over misappropriation of customer funds. Stephanie K. Hudders, formerly of American Express, was banned over…
A Providence, Rhode Island, immigration lawyer pleaded guilty on September 22 to wire fraud and tax evasion after admitting he collected roughly $98,000 from clients for legal filings and services he never actually completed. Joseph Molina-Flynn also admitted giving some clients false information about where their immigration cases stood, according to the IRS. He separately…
A Reno, Nevada, woman has been indicted on a charge of theft of government money after investigators say she failed to report her uncle’s death, letting his Social Security benefits keep depositing for a year and a half. The Social Security Administration’s Office of the Inspector General says Sherry Kim Picetti allowed roughly $102,728 to…
A Dothan, Alabama tax preparer has been sentenced to nearly five years in federal prison after prosecutors say she kept filing fraudulent returns even after she was indicted and released on bond with conditions barring new crimes. Carlotta Elaine Lampley was sentenced September 10, 2026, to 57 months in prison, a term that reflects not…
A federal judge in Los Angeles has sentenced an Irvine, California woman to 18 months in prison for failing to report $2.6 million she received from a man prosecutors describe as a cryptocurrency fraudster. Iris Rabaya Au was sentenced September 21, 2026, after admitting she filed tax returns that captured only a small fraction of…
A South Dakota federal judge has sentenced a Sioux Falls tax preparer to more than two and a half years in prison for a fraud scheme investigators say ran through his own business and touched hundreds of other people’s returns. Amon Eustache Aboua, who operated ACU Tax Services, was sentenced September 21, 2026, to 33…
A Grand Prairie bookkeeper who managed an elderly couple’s finances for years is now facing federal charges that accuse her of quietly draining more than a million dollars from their accounts. Nancy Black, 69, was indicted by a federal grand jury on ten counts of bank fraud and two counts of aggravated identity theft, according…
The Department of Housing and Urban Development says its count of fraud tied to Los Angeles homelessness programs has climbed to $130 million, and three people now face federal charges over one slice of that total. HUD Secretary Scott Turner announced the tally alongside word that federal prosecutors charged three individuals with stealing $14 million…