Tag Archives: scams

Vice News reports: An evangelical pastor who briefly shot to fame in 2015 for recording a rap song in support of Sen. Ted Cruz is now selling industrial-strength bleach tablets to parents and has admitted that many of his customers are using the product to treat autism in their children. Joe Salant, who grew up in an affluent New Jersey …

Newsweek reports: Mike Lindell has unveiled his new plan to ensure future election security: a drone that flies around polling places to assure that machines are not connected to the internet. He made the announcement this afternoon on the final day of his two-day Election Crime Bureau Summit. “What if I told you that there’s a device that’s been made …

Posted today to YouTube’s corporate blog: In the years since we began our efforts to make YouTube a destination for high-quality health content, we’ve learned critical lessons about developing Community Guidelines in line with local and global health authority guidance on topics that pose serious real-world risks, such as misinformation on COVID-19, vaccines, reproductive health, harmful substances, and more. We’re …

The Cleveland Plain Dealer reports: A political consultant who acted as U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene’s 2020 campaign manager and two others have agreed to pay more than $50,000 in restitution and penalties for their roles in operating a phony East Palestine charity in the aftermath of a widely-publicized train derailment. Under a settlement announced Thursday by Ohio Attorney General …

Reuters reports: A U.S judge on Friday revoked Sam Bankman-Fried’s bail, after finding probable cause that the indicted founder of the bankrupt FTX cryptocurrency exchange tampered with witnesses at least twice. U.S. District Judge Lewis Kaplan announced the decision at a hearing in federal court in Manhattan, less than two months before the scheduled October fraud trial. He rejected a …

The New York Times reports: A Colorado man convicted last year of conspiring to defraud people who donated money to build the kind of border wall championed by Donald J. Trump was sentenced Tuesday to five years and three months in prison. The defendant, Timothy Shea, began working with a disabled veteran named Brian Kolfage. In early 2019 Stephen K. …

Florida Politics reports: The DeSantis campaign is marketing official “Team DeSantis” membership cards. They’re sleekly designed, black and show anyone who asks that cardholders are on board with what the candidate calls the “Great American Comeback.” DeSantis has a lot of deep-pocketed backers, but the membership card is targeting those of more modest means. “By donating $47 or more today, …

CNBC reports: Sam Bankman-Fried’s younger brother, who was a top lobbyist for failed crypto exchange FTX, considered purchasing the island nation of Nauru in the Pacific to create a fortified apocalypse bunker state, a lawsuit filed in Delaware bankruptcy court shows. Gabe Bankman-Fried was looking at buying Nauru in the “event where 50%-99.99% of people die” to protect his philanthropic …

Miami’s ABC affiliate reports: A Florida man and his three sons were convicted on federal fraud charges Wednesday for marketing a poisonous bleach concoction as a cure for 95% of the world’s diseases, including COVID-19. Mark Grenon, 65, and his sons, 37-year-old Jonathan, 35-year-old Joseph and 29-year-old Jordan, were all charged with conspiring to defraud the U.S. and deliver misbranded …

Politico reports: U.S. authorities on Thursday arrested Alex Mashinsky, the former CEO of failed crypto lending platform Celsius Network, on fraud charges while regulators levied a host of allegations of their own against him and other executives. In the latest sign that the federal crackdown on crypto is still unfolding, prosecutors alleged in a criminal complaint filed in the Southern …

The Associated Press reports: Bank of America must pay more than $100 million to customers for doubling up on some fees, withholding reward bonuses and opening accounts without customer consent. Bank of America will pay $90 million in penalties to its organization and $60 million in penalties to the OCC, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau said Tuesday. The Office of …

From the Justice Department: The Justice Department, together with federal and state law enforcement partners, announced today a strategically coordinated, two-week nationwide law enforcement action that resulted in criminal charges against 78 defendants for their alleged participation in health care fraud and opioid abuse schemes that included over $2.5 billion in alleged fraud. The defendants allegedly defrauded programs entrusted for …

From the Justice Department: A federal jury in the Eastern District of New York convicted a Canadian man today for perpetrating a decades-long mass-mailing fraud scheme that stole more than $175 million from victims in the United States. According to court documents and evidence presented at trial, Patrice Runner, 57, a Canadian and French citizen, operated a mass-mailing fraud scheme …

The Albany Times-Union reports: Two men currently staying at a homeless shelter in Poughkeepsie said they were among a group of 15 recruited a few days ago to portray homeless veterans displaced from upstate hotels by incoming migrants. In interviews, the men said two people came to the shelter saying they had work for 15 men between the ages of …

The Christian Post reports: Christopher Burns, a former youth pastor at Perimeter Church in Georgia turned financial advisor, is now on the FBI’s Most Wanted list for allegedly defrauding dozens of investors of millions of dollars, which he splurged on a lavish lifestyle and an obsession with Disney World. Burns, who was last seen by his ex-wife and children on …

Semafor reports: Two former associates of ex-White House advisor Steve Bannon will be going to prison for defrauding donors in a campaign that purported to build Trump’s southern border wall.  Air Force veteran Brian Kolfage, 41, was sentenced to more than four years in prison, and Andrew Badolato, 58, to three years. Both pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit wire …

Orlando’s NBC affiliate reports: The longtime principal of a charter school in southeast Volusia County resigned under fire Tuesday night after it was discovered she wrote a $100,000 check out of the school’s account to an Internet scammer posing as Elon Musk. Jan McGee claims she was scammed online by a fake Elon Musk after spending months talking to this …

The Kansas City Star reports: Following claims from a Missouri pastor that prayer regrew a woman’s amputated toes, a new website is asking for proof. Without showing photo or video evidence, James River Church pastor John Lindell told his congregation a “creative miracle” took place involving a woman named Krissy Thompson. Video from the conference has been removed from the …

Nashville’s CBS affiliate reports: What did Tennessee Congressman Andy Ogles do with tens of thousands of dollars meant for a children’s burial garden? It’s a story that goes far beyond questions about Ogles’ inflated resume. It’s a story that stems from a personal tragedy — the stillborn death of a child whose photo Ogles sometimes posts on his political social …

The Christian Post reports: Controversial televangelist and prosperity preacher Peter Popoff, who amassed millions of dollars through his ministry hawking “debt cancelation” and healing “miracle water” advertised as a “powerful biblical point of contact,” is now selling his California mansion for $8.1 million. “Situated on 2.27 acres of stunning manicured grounds offering privacy plus stunning mountain & city light views,” …