The Crime Report (https://thecrimereport.org/category/white-collar-crime/)
Federal prosecutors in New York City say Michael Avenatti used a doctored document to divert $300,000 that porn star Stormy Daniels was supposed to get from a book deal, then used the money for personal and business expenses. Avenatti denied the allegations.
“Desperate Housewives” actress Felicity Huffman became the highest-profile defendant to admit to crimes in the college admissions scandal. A water systems executive may get more prison time.
Some plea deals will include time behind bars ranging from 12 to 18 months. More than half of the 33 parents charged so far may not admit guilt and fight to clear their names.
Two clinics were operated by individuals who had been convicted of Medicare fraud. One clinic operator maintained that his 25-year-old conviction should not “affect anybody’s feeling of my integrity today.”
Fifty people already have been charged in the scheme to help parents buy their way into prestigious colleges. Consultant Rick Singer, who has pleaded guilty, said he did 761 “side deals.”
Children of some parents charged in the national college-admissions scam case have received letters telling them they could be targets of the probe. Actress Lori Loughlin and her husband pleaded not guilty.
The scheme spanned continents and ensnared hundreds of thousands of unsuspecting elderly and disabled patients. In one of the largest health care frauds in U.S. history, doctors prescribed back, shoulder, wrist and knee braces that allegedly were not needed.
Actress Felicity Huffman of “Desperate Housewives” and a former Texas college tennis coach and a college coach are among those saying they will admit roles in the college-admissions cheating scandal. It is the likely first step toward at least some of the parents serving prison time for attempting to secure spots for their children at elite colleges.
Former Baltimore police commissioner Darryl De Sousa was sentenced to 10 months in prison for failing to file federal tax returns for three years. His plea deal indicated his tax-related crimes stretched over nearly two decades.
Rudy Meredith, a former soccer coach at Yale University, was expected to plead guilty Thursday in Boston to fraud-related charges after authorities say he solicited more than $1 million in bribes from wealthy parents seeking to gain admission for their children into the school.