Information for Victims in Large Cases
US v. Matthew Wade Beasley
LAS VEGAS – A Las Vegas attorney made his initial appearance on March 31, 2023, before U.S. Magistrate Judge Elayna J. Youchah for allegedly orchestrating a Ponzi scheme causing more than 1,000 victim-investors to part with more than $460 million. A federal grand jury returned the indictment on March 29, 2023, charging Matthew Wade Beasley (50) with five counts of wire fraud and three counts of money laundering. A detention hearing was scheduled for April 7, 2023, before U.S. Magistrate Judge Cam Ferenbach. A jury trial was scheduled for June 6, 2023, before U.S. District Judge Jennifer A. Dorsey. According to allegations contained in the indictment, from about 2017 to March 2022, Beasley falsely represented to another person that he could find plaintiffs in personal injury lawsuits who wanted to borrow money against their pending settlements and would pay high interest rates to do so. He created fake contracts to lend money to purported personal injury plaintiffs. Beasley caused others to find investors to invest in these fake contracts. The indictment further alleges that, Beasley caused victim investors to wire transfer their investments to Beasley’s IOLTA account, which is a bank account set up by an attorney to hold client monies. He used the money from the scheme to buy luxury homes, cars, and recreational vehicles.
U.S. v. John Edwards, et al.
The superseding criminal indictment in the Edwards case charged a more clearly defined group of defendants: specific insiders who engaged in fraud through shell companies. Specifically, between approximately May 1997 and April 2008, the defendants used various shell companies – including Pinnacle Business Management, Inc. (May 1997 to December 2003); CMKM Diamonds, Inc. (November 2002 to October 2005); St. George Metals, Inc. (July 2004 to July 2005); and Global Diamond Exchange, Inc. (November 2005 to April 2008) – to defraud purchasers of stock in those companies. The defendants secretly authorized increases in the number of available shares and falsely represented or hid the true number of shares from investors. At the same time, the conspirators issued billions of shares to themselves through affiliates. By falsely claiming that these shares had not been issued to company affiliates, the conspirators were able to sell these shares without restrictions imposed by law. By issuing false and misleading press releases regarding the companies’ business activities, the defendants were able to drive up demand for the companies’ stock while selling their shares at a profit.
Five defendants have been convicted in this case, including Jeffrey Turino (conspiracy to commit securities fraud), and Melissa Spooner, Ginger Gutierrez, James Kinney and Jeffrey Mitchell (conspiracy to sell unregistered securities). These defendants received sentences of imprisonment and probation and terms of supervised release following service of sentence during which defendants are supervised by a U.S. Probation Officer.
US v. Mario Castro, et al
The indictment charges Mario Castro, 51, Jose Salud Castro, 70, Salvador Castro, 53, Miguel Castro, 55, Jose Luis Mendez, 45, and Andrea Burrow, 49, with mail fraud and conspiracy to commit mail fraud. According to the indictment, the defendants ran a fraudulent prize-notification scheme that tricked hundreds of thousands of consumers, many of whom were elderly and vulnerable, into paying a $20 or $30 fee to claim a large cash prize. None of the victims who submitted fees ever received a large cash prize, the indictment alleges.
Rosanne Day, et al
The indictment alleges that PacNet, under the defendants' direction, was the payment processor of choice for companies that mailed large volumes of fraudulent notifications designed to mislead victims into falsely believing they would receive a large amount of money, a valuable prize, or specialized psychic services upon payment of a fee. From 1994 until September 22, 2016, PacNet served as the middleman between banks and the fraudulent mailers - aggregating the checks, cash, and credit card payments collected by its clients, depositing the payments into PacNet-controlled bank accounts, and then distributing the funds as directed by the clients, according to the indictment. The notifications that induced the payments processed by PacNet were false - the victims who submitted the fees did not receive a large amount of money, a valuable prize, or specialized psychic services, according to the indictment. Many alleged victims were elderly or otherwise vulnerable, according to the indictment.
United States vs. Edgar Del Rio and Patti A. Kern
The information allege that Patti Kern and Edgar Del Rio conspired to defraud more than $1.5 million from senior citizens using a prize promotion scam. Between May 2011 and February 2018, Kern and others carried-out a direct-mail prize scam targeting seniors. The mailings were made to appear as if they came from sophisticated companies and misled victims to believe they would receive large sums of money, if they paid a relatively small fee, typically $20.00. None of the victims who sent a fee in response to the mailing ever received a large cash prize.
U.S. v. Svyatoslav Bondarenko, et al
Infraud Organization was created in October 2010 to promote and grow interest as the premier destination for purchasing retail items with counterfeit or stolen credit card information. Under the slogan, “In Fraud We Trust,” the organization directed traffic and potential purchasers to the automated vending sites of its members, which served as online conduits to traffic in stolen means of identification, stolen financial and banking information, malware, and other illicit goods. It also provided an escrow service to facilitate illicit digital currency transactions among its members and employed screening protocols that purported to ensure only high quality vendors of stolen cards, personally identifiable information, and other contraband were permitted to advertise to members.