Tag: fraud

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Leonardo DiCaprio, the Malaysian Money Scandal and His “Unusual” Foundation

Golden Globes Nominations

By Gary Baum

7:25am PT | August 17, 2016

According to the Justice Department, certain donations to the Oscar winner’s charity came directly from a multibillion-dollar embezzlement drama in Southeast Asia.

On the evening of July 20, under a tent at a vineyard in St. Tropez brimming to his specifications with booze, billionaires and babes, Leonardo DiCaprio was preparing to host one of the glitziest charitable events of the year: the third annual fundraiser for his Leonardo DiCaprio Foundation. Earlier that same day, under far less glamorous auspices half a world away, the U.S. Department of Justice was filing a complaint with the U.S. District Court in downtown Los Angeles that suggested the recent Oscar winner is a bit player in the planet’s largest embezzlement case, totaling more than $3 billion siphoned from a Malaysian sovereign wealth fund called 1MDB.

https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/features/leonardo-dicaprio-malaysian-money-scandal-920199

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Ridgewood Elected officials may not use their positions to further political agendas or tax money to fund them.

pro garage signs 2

Stellar research. This item has been sent to all council members with a demand for restitution, the identity of the staff member who signed off on reimbursement, and the question: FRAUD?

In fact, fraud was committed twice: not only on taxpayers, but also on the videographer, reportedly a Hillmann family member, who was gypped out of his full fee on the pretention that the client was a village business and C. of C. member. Even if he was in on the “joke,” it’s wrong.

I suggest a letter on legal letterhead from the village attorney to Ms. Hauck: “It has come to our attention….we have obtained documentation, to wit…please make out your check, including $X in interest, to…and since you have committed fraud, please do not attend the September or subsequent meetings of the Parks, Recreation and Conservation Board, except perhaps as an observer sitting over in the corner. To protect the village from possible legal action based on your fraudulent behavior as a council member, we must remove you from this and any future positions of responsibility within the village. Not-love, etc. etc.”

Elected officials may not use their positions to further political agendas or tax money to fund them.

If nothing is done, residents may ask WHY at future council meetings.

An easy way to send a single email message to all council members may be reached through this link, which is updated after every council election:

https://www.preservegraydon.org/write-council

You can remove the cc: before sending, if desired.

A similar group email form posted on the council page of the village website has been suggested and approved (weeks ago), but not implemented (surprise).

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Anti-Clinton Groups Take to the Streets in Philadelphia

hillary-clinton-what-difference-does-it-make

 

The uproar from supporters of Senator Bernie Sanders (D-VT) continued on Tuesdayas demonstrators took to the streets in Center City. Though the crowds had thinned after Monday’s mob outside of City Hall, the heat was still scorching and some protestors were still holding out for Sanders delegates at the Democratic National Convention to walk out in support of Green Party candidate Jill Stein rather than vote for Hillary Clinton. JT Aregood, PolitickerNJ Read more

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BREAKING : Ridgewood Blog Discovers Impostor Attempting to Post as Council Candidate Ramon Hache

Ramon Hache ridgewood NJ

May 8,2016
the staff of the Ridgewood blog

Ridgewood NJ, here we go again the Ridgewood blog has discovered an impostor attempting to tilt the Village Council election results by posing the Village Council Candidate Ramon Hache . The blog comment scanner picked up the fraud .The Ramon Hache campaign immediately disavowed the email address and  the comments made .

After last year when an “anonymous” email was used to interfere with the election process and attempt to sabotage Mike Sendon’s job and and his candidacy the voting public is notable touchy about these types of deceptive tactics .

The nature of the comment was to look like Ramon was changing his position on Valley Hospital expansion.

Why you should vote next week for Ridgewood Council
2016/05/06 at 8:37 pm
Ramonhache@google.com
173.3.54.254

No vote for Valley and it becomes Death Valley. Sorry but the
crumbling infrastructure of that facility needs a major revamp to come
close to being the reliable health center it once was. Population has
doubled, medicine has changed and improved and it no longer meets the
standards of a viable facility.

Why you should vote next week for Ridgewood Council
2016/05/06 at 8:37 pm

173.3.54.254

If there are not adequate changes to Valley hospital it will become
Pascack valley: EXTINCT! I personally like having a reliable health
care facility minutes from home. Valley is not and cannot be a valued
facility using a 1960s infrastructure.

Funny how several individuals on the “It takes a village” Facebook page “spent most of a Saturday evening complaining of censorship on this blog for not posting every comment no matter how false ,stupid, racist or bigoted .

“The lady doth protest too much, methinks” ,Spending an entire Saturday night till 1 am repetitively restating the same nonsense makes you look very guilty.  Too frequent and vehement attempts to convince others of some matter of which the opposite is true, thereby making themselves appear defensive, insincere and in the the Village is the hall mark of wrong doers like the “meter thieves”.

So here is a quick review on how comments get approved on this blog . First unlike the Village Council majority we do not publish threats . We do not publish racist or bigoted language . In general we try to minimize the name calling but there is some wiggle room on this one . If your willing to call people names be willing to be called names , alot of people have trouble with this one . Some times a rephrasing of a comment is all that’s needed to get it published . There is a lower standard for attacking public figures and politicians than there is for ordinary citizens. And remember even in Ridgewood there are a few “crazies” out there.

Open Forums depend on a certain level of honesty of their posters so “Trolling” is strictly forbidden .

In Internet slang, a troll (/ˈtroʊl/, /ˈtrɒl/) is a person who sows discord on the Internet by starting arguments or upsetting people, by posting inflammatory, extraneous, or off-topic messages in an online community (such as a newsgroup, forum, chat room, or blog) with the deliberate intent of provoking readers into an emotional response or of otherwise disrupting normal on-topic discussion,often for their own amusement.

If you IP gets branded as a TROLL most of your comments will go directly to spam and we will never see them .

Repeat commentators are another issue , this is where a comment gets repeated for every post whether its relevant or not . The system will block these comments and they will end up in the spam folder as well.

Other issues ; often comments on police business are delayed. Sometimes a comment can  inadvertently disclose police business  and these are also held up for the sake of the officers safety and to not tip off the perpetrators .

Posting comments with links are also delayed , the links must be checked for viruses.

Sometimes comments are approved out of order , nothing diabolical just difficulty reading them on a mobile device.

The blog generally does not post comments on peoples personal life ,such as allegations of adulterous relationships, underage lovers ,drug or alcohol binges , teen issues and so on . Like everything there are odd exceptions.

Anonymity is an option and is and will remain available for readers protection.

And finally for editorial purposes sometimes comments are held because we think they will make a interesting posts ie Rurik Halaby’s insane diatribes.

The Ridgewood blog is an organic news source . News items are sprinkled among reader opinions continually generating more opinions and discussion . Like it or not the Readers are the blog and the editors operate more like a referees. Sometimes we weigh in too much and sometimes too little ,it not an exact science and it takes a lot of effort to balance freedom of expression with over the top name calling. Frankly we think its gotten better and better over the years with broader discussions and greater participation.

Thank you all for your support !

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Report: Two companies have ‘effectively monopolized’ online sale of tax liens in N.J.

CORRUPTION

 

Two companies sanctioned by state officials to operate under their own rules have come to dominate a growing and lucrative industry in New Jersey, collecting nearly $1 million in fees last year after arranging online auctions for municipalities selling off their residents’ tax liens, according to a report released Tuesday. Salvador Rizzo, The Record Read more

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North Haledon resident escapes Craigslist Ridgewood Rental Scam

phone-scam

March 29,2016
the staff of the Ridgewood

Ridgewood NJ, the Ridgewood Police report that on March 23 at 1pm, a North Haledon resident reported that she had been looking to rent an apartment in Ridgewood and located one using Craigslist.

The woman began to get suspicious when the contact person for the apartment began telling her that it would cost more than what was in the ad, that she could not see the apartment until after the security deposit and two months of rent was paid and asked her to wire the money to the contact person. According to Zillow Generally requests to wire funds are “Red Flags” that this is a scam.Fortunately the complainant realized this was likely a scam and did not wire any money or complete the transaction for the rental of the apartment. The Ridgewood Police would like to remind all residents to be wary of on-line or phone scams, especially those.

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NJ Transit shields probe’s findings; agency won’t say if Sandy program had fraud, waste

lasttraintoclarksville_theridgewoodblog

BY CHRISTOPHER MAAG
STAFF WRITER |
THE RECORD

Independent investigators found problems with how NJ Transit runs a $100 million program to improve weather resilience after Superstorm Sandy, problems that could lead to waste, fraud and abuse, according to the state treasurer’s office.

But what those problems are — and how NJ Transit should fix them — remain unknown because the agency has declined to make the findings public, violating a state law intended to ensure transparency, say legislators.

“It certainly violates the law,” John Wisniewski, chairman of the Assembly’s transportation committee and a co-sponsor of the law, said when he learned of NJ Transit’s decision not to release the records. “It’s more than just wrong. It’s outrageous. You can’t help but wonder: What are they hiding?”

https://www.northjersey.com/news/nj-transit-shields-probe-s-findings-agency-won-t-say-if-sandy-program-had-fraud-waste-1.1511264

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Ridgewood Police and Rep. Scott Garrett Remind Everyone Calls Demanding Payment from the IRS are a FRAUD

irs
January 27,2016
the staff of the Rkidgewood blog
Ridgewood Nj, Congressmen Scott Garrett confirmed his offices have received some calls about this IRS fraud. Please spread this information from the U.S. Department of the Treasury to friends and family so they know to be on the lookout for these phony phone calls.
Sources tell the Ridgewood blog that scammers feel people are more vulnerable near tax time . 

The IRS generally contacts people, first, by mail – not by phone – about unpaid taxes. The IRS will not ask for payment using a prepaid debit card, a money order.

“The IRS is Calling Me? Can This Be For Real?” (TIGTA PSA English) 60 seconds

Fraud is real. Just hang up on Fraud. The Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration is warning taxpayers to be on high alert for scammers who impersonate IRS employees in aggressive phone calls that demand money. Don’t believe them; just hang up! For more information and to report a contact, visit us at www.tigta.gov.

https://youtu.be/K_ewrxB4J54

Ridgewood Police :

Several residents reported having received a phone call from a man identifying himself as Dennis Gary with the treasury department, The caller requests that you call him back to avoid an enforcement action from the IRS. This is a scam do not call the number back. One of several numbers tied to the scam is 303-479-3380.

The IRS does not:

1 Call you to demand immediate payment. They will not call about taxes you owe without first mailing you a bill.

2 Demand that you pay taxes without giving you the chance to question or appeal the amount they say you owe.

3 Require you to use a certain payment method for your taxes, such as a prepaid debit card.

4 Ask for credit or debit card numbers over the phone.

5 Threaten to bring in local police or other law-enforcement to have you arrested for not paying.

If you get a phone call from someone claiming to be from the IRS and asking for money, here’s what to do:

• If you know you owe taxes or think you might owe, call the IRS at 800-829-1040 to talk about payment options. You also may be able to set up a payment plan online at IRS.gov.

• If you know you don’t owe taxes or have no reason to believe that you do, report the incident to TIGTA at 1.800.366.4484 or at www.tigta.gov.

• If phone scammers target you, also contact the Federal Trade Commission at FTC.gov. Use their “FTC Complaint Assistant” to report the scam. Please add “IRS Telephone Scam” to the comments of your complaint.

. Remember, the IRS currently does not use unsolicited email, text messages or any social media to discuss your personal tax issues. For more information on reporting tax scams, go to www.irs.gov and type “scam” in the search box.

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New allegations are leveled against Glen Rock man who has admitted bilking investors

glen_rock_theridgewoodblog

JANUARY 26, 2016, 11:51 AM    LAST UPDATED: TUESDAY, JANUARY 26, 2016, 4:08 PM
BY PETER J. SAMPSON
STAFF WRITER |
THE RECORD

A Glen Rock man who is awaiting sentencing for bilking upwards of $3 million from more than a dozen investors is at it again, federal authorities allege, using a phony alias to scam new victims.

The new allegations against Paul Mancuso, 49, were leveled in a letter that a federal prosecutor sent last week to U.S. District Judge William J. Martini in Newark requesting that his $250,000 bail be revoked and that he be detained pending sentencing.

“Despite having pled guilty [in September] to defrauding numerous victims over a three-year period of more than $3 million, Mancuso is continuing to hold himself out as a real estate entrepreneur — using a phony alias —  in a brazen attempt to lure additional victims into fraudulent real estate transactions,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Anthony J. Mahajan wrote in his letter to the judge.

https://www.northjersey.com/news/new-allegations-are-leveled-against-glen-rock-man-who-has-admitted-bilking-investors-1.1499164

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A Case of Fraud ?: Bergen County GOP chief demands sheriff give back funds ,

Bergen County Sheriff Michael Saudino

Police Merger 

FRAUD

this may even cast the election results in doubt 

JANUARY 19, 2016    LAST UPDATED: TUESDAY, JANUARY 19, 2016, 1:21 AM
BY JEAN RIMBACH
STAFF WRITER |
THE RECORD

n the wake of his switch to the Democratic Party, Bergen County Sheriff Michael Saudino has been accused of fraud by county Republican Chairman Bob Yudin, who labeled him a traitor and said he should return thousands of dollars raised recently under the guise that he was a member of the GOP.

“Mr. Saudino perpetrated what basically amounts to fraud among Republican donors here in Bergen County,” said Yudin. “Recently, Mr. Saudino raised tens of thousands of dollars from Republican residents under the ruse he was one of them. I call on Mr. Saudino to return this ill-gotten money immediately.”

Yudin noted that Saudino held a comedy night in November that drew nearly 1,000 people; a flier for that event said tickets were $125. But the county chairman said he’s referring to any money raised recently by the onetime Republican.

“He should return those monies, because they were secured under false pretenses,” Yudin said. “If these people had known he was going to be a Democrat, that he was going to be running on the ticket of Clinton or Bernie Sanders, that he was going to be in the same party as Barack Obama, most of them wouldn’t have given him a penny.”

https://www.northjersey.com/news/gop-chief-demands-sheriff-give-back-funds-1.1494611

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Medical records worth more on black market than credit card numbers

Hacker_theridgewoodblog

“As attackers discover new methods to make money, the healthcare industry is becoming a much riper target because of the ability to sell large batches of personal data for profit,” said Dave Kennedy, an expert on healthcare security and CEO of TrustedSEC LLC. “Hospitals have low security, so it’s relatively easy for these hackers to get a large amount of personal data for medical fraud.”

“One method that can help stop electronic medical records theft is to seek out a physician that uses paper records. Orient suggests asking health care providers which system is used before agreeing to treatment.”

Medical records worth more on black market than credit card numbers

By soaznewsx on December 7, 2015

By Harry Alexander / SoAzNewsX

For many years the public has been warned about credit card and identity theft. The public has also been deluged with advertising from companies that pledge they can keep your personal information safe from hackers.

Indeed, while credit card number theft and identity theft is important, there is another type of personal identity theft that seems to go unreported in the mainstream media.

Medical records theft and Medicare fraud.

Dr. Jane Orient, the Executive Director of the American Assoication of Physicians and Surgeons, said on the Dec. 5 Inside Track radio program that medical records theft is rampant. One of the topics was electronic medical records.

“Anybody who does healthcare treatment, operations, or claims payment has legitimate access to those records,” she said. And, those are the records that can be hacked or even stolen by medical personnel wanting to make some money on the side, she said.

“Once it’s out there, it’s gone,” Orient said.

https://soaznewsx.com/medical-records-worth-more-on-black-market-than-credit-card-numbers/?utm_source=Monday%2C+Dec.+7%2C+2015+Edition&utm_campaign=12%2F07%2F2015&utm_medium=email

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IRS Scammers Caught !

IRS Scam

Quick thinking on the part of an observant bank teller and an immediate response by Ridgewood PD Patrol Officer Paul Dinice saved a local resident from becoming a victim of the increasingly pervasive “IRS Scam.” photo by Boyd Loving 

N.J. pair accused of bilking more than $150K from at least 70 people in 32 state-IRS scheme
SEPTEMBER 15, 2015, 7:59 PM    LAST UPDATED: WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 16, 2015, 12:12 PM
BY JIM NORMAN
STAFF WRITER |
THE RECORD

LEONIA – A man and a woman living in Middlesex County were arrested and charged with bilking at least 70 people in 32 states out of more than $150,000 by persuading them that they owed back taxes to the Internal Revenue Service and would be arrested if they did not pay up immediately, authorities said Tuesday.

Leonia Police Chief Thomas P. Rowe said a man identified as Akash Satish Patel, 32, and a woman identified as Nikita Natvarlal Patel, 25, were arrested in Union as they arrived at a CVS store to claim the proceeds of a MoneyGram sent to them by one of their victims.

Rowe said the pair were not related, although they have the same last name and they both reside at the same address in Iselin, in Middlesex County.

https://www.northjersey.com/news/n-j-pair-accused-of-bilking-more-than-150k-from-at-least-70-people-in-32-state-irs-scheme-1.1410485

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Nobel panel saw Obama peace prize as ‘mistake,’ new book claims

Obama-pictured-as-king

By Meghan Bartlett – The Washington Times – Wednesday, September 16, 2015

The former director of Norway’s Nobel Institute revealed this week that he regrets the committee’s decision to give the 2009 Nobel Peace award to President Obama.

Geil Lundestad, director at the institute for 25 years, said in his just-published memoir that he and the committee had unanimously decided to grant the award to Mr. Obama just after his election in 2009 more in hopes of aiding the American president to achieve his goals on nuclear disarmament, rather than in recognition of what Mr. Obama had already accomplished.

Looking back over Mr. Obama’s presidency, Mr. Lundestad said, granting him the award did not fulfill the committee’s expectations.

https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2015/sep/16/nobel-panel-saw-obama-peace-prize-mistake-new-book/

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Another Ridgewood Resident Targeted IRS Payment Scheme

phone-scam
August 21,2015
the staff of the Ridgewood blog

Ridgewood NJ, the Ridgewood Police report that on Wednesday, August 19, 2015 an East side resident reported receiving a suspicious telephone call from a person claiming to be from the United States Internal Revenue Service who said that he/she owed back taxes. The caller requested the resident deposit the money in a Wells Fargo Bank account that they provided an account number for or risk arrest by the police.

While threatening with arrest, the caller also claimed to be from the Ridgewood Police Department. The caller was able to mimic real phone numbers for both the IRS and the Ridgewood Police Department. Fortunately the caller was suspicious and determined that the call was fraudulent.
These types of scams are on the rise and frequently target the elderly. Please be suspicious of calls or internet contacts requesting money and lookout for friends or neighbors who may be targeted by similar scams. Neither the IRS nor the Ridgewood Police Department would be contacting you by phone to request money.All defendants are considered to be innocent until found guilty by a court of law.