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HSBC India Client Indicted for Filing False Tax Returns and Failing to Report Foreign Bank Account

Dr. Arvind Ahuja of Greendale, Wis., was indicted today by a federal grand jury in Milwaukee on four counts of willfully filing materially false tax returns and four counts of failing to file Reports of Foreign Bank and Financial Accounts.



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Owner of Miami Company Sentenced to 63 Months in Prison for Scheme to Defraud the U.S. Export-Import Bank

The owner of an investment planning company in Miami was sentenced today to 63 months in prison for his role in a scheme to defraud the Export-Import Bank of the United States (Ex-Im Bank) of $5.2 million.



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Swiss International Bank's Former Head of North America Offshore Banking, Others Charged with Conspiracy

Markus Walder, former head of North America Offshore Banking at an international bank headquartered in Zurich; Susanne D. Rüegg Meier, a former manager with the international bank; Andreas Bachmann, a former banker at a subsidiary of the international bank; and Josef Dörig, the founder of a Swiss trust company, have been charged with conspiring with other Swiss bankers to defraud the United States.



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Former UBS Banker Charged with Helping U.S. Taxpayers Use Secret Swiss Bank Accounts to Evade U.S. Taxes

Martin Lack, a former UBS AG banker who is currently an independent asset manager, has been charged with conspiracy to defraud the United States.



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Las Vegas Real Estate Agent Pleads Guilty to Tax Fraud and Bankruptcy Fraud Charges

German A. Posada of Las Vegas pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge Philip M. Pro to charges of filing a false 2004 individual income tax return and making a false statement in a bankruptcy proceeding.



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Ohio Homebuilder Sentenced to 22 Years in Prison for Tax Fraud, Bank Fraud, Money Laundering and Obstruction of Justice Schemes

Thomas E. Parenteau of Hilliard, Ohio, was sentenced today to 22 years in prison for conspiring with his wife, his mistress and their accountant, to commit tax fraud and money laundering.



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Texas Resident Sentenced to 24 Months in Prison for Scheme to Defraud the U.S. Export-Import Bank

Gilberto Baez-Garcia, 35, was also sentenced by Judge Kathleen Cardone in U.S. District Court in El Paso to five years of supervised release and was ordered to pay $ 3,614,594 in restitution and $ 3,614,977 in forfeiture.



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Las Vegas Attorney Pleads Guilty to Charges Relating to Scheme to Fraudulently Control Condominium Homeowners’ Associations and Scheme to Commit Bank Fraud

David Amesbury, 57, pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge James C. Mahan in the District of Nevada to one count of conspiracy to commit mail and wire fraud, and one count of conspiracy to commit bank fraud.



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Owner of Miami Company Sentenced to 46 Months in Prison for Scheme to Defraud the U.S. Export-Import Bank

Guillermo O. Mondino, 48, was sentenced by Judge Ricardo M. Urbina in U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C.



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Justice Department Reaches Agreement with First Niagara Bank N.A. and HSBC Bank USA N.A. on Divestitures

First Niagara Bank N.A. and HSBC Bank USA N.A. agreed to sell 26 branch offices in the Buffalo, N.Y., area with approximately $1.6 billion in deposits, to resolve the Justice Department's antitrust concerns from the sale of HSBC’s branch network in upstate New York to First Niagara.



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Department of Justice Announces Compensation for Servicemembers as Part of Settlement with Bank of America

The Justice Department announced today that, as part of its settlement with BAC Home Loans Servicing LP, a subsidiary of Bank of America Corporation, servicemembers whose homes were unlawfully foreclosed upon will each receive a minimum $116,785 plus compensation for any equity lost to compensate them for the bank’s alleged violation of the Servicemember Civil Relief Act.



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HSBC India Client Indicted for Tax Evasion and Failing to Report Foreign Bank Accounts

A federal grand jury in San Jose, Calif., Wednesday indicted Ashvin Desai of San Jose on three counts of tax evasion, two counts of willfully aiding the preparation of materially false tax returns and three counts of failing to file Reports of Foreign Bank and Financial Accounts.



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Client of UBS and Swiss Cantonal Bank Indicted for Conspiracy to Defraud the IRS

A federal grand jury in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., has returned an indictment charging Amir Zavieh of San Francisco with conspiring to defraud the Internal Revenue Service.



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Wachovia Bank N.A. Admits to Anticompetitive Conduct by Former Employees in the Municipal Bond Investments Market and Agrees to Pay $148 Million to Federal and State Agencies

Wachovia Bank N.A., which is now known as Wells Fargo Bank N.A., has entered into an agreement with the Department of Justice to resolve the company’s role in anticompetitive activity in the municipal bond investments market and has agreed to pay a total of $148 million in restitution, penalties and disgorgement to federal and state agencies.



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Austin, Texas, Man Pleads Guilty to Bankruptcy Fraud and Identity Theft in Connection with Nationwide Foreclosure-rescue Scheme

Frederic Alan Gladle, 53, was charged on Dec. 9, 2011, in U.S. District Court in Los Angeles with one count of bankruptcy fraud and one count of aggravated identity theft.



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Former Executive of Miami-Based Ocean Bank Pleads Guilty to Participating in Bribery Scheme and to Filing False Tax Returns

A former executive of Miami-based Ocean Bank pleaded guilty today in U.S. District Court in Miami to participating in a scheme to accept bribes and to failing to report the income on federal income tax returns.



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UBS Clients and Tax Attorney Indicted in Phoenix for Hiding Assets in Secret Foreign Bank Accounts

Phoenix-area businessmen Stephen M. Kerr and Michael Quiel and former San Diego attorney Christopher M. Rusch were charged in Phoenix with conspiracy to defraud the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) for concealing millions of dollars in assets in numerous secret Swiss bank accounts held at UBS and elsewhere, the Justice Department and Internal Revenue Service (IRS) announced.



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Utah Man Charged with Tax Fraud and Bank Structuring

federal grand jury in Salt Lake City has returned an indictment charging Michael Lavery with one count of presenting a false claim to the United States and one count of structuring a currency transaction to avoid the reporting requirements, the Justice Department and Internal Revenue Service (IRS) announced.



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Swiss Bank Indicted on U.S. Tax Charges

Wegelin & Co., a Swiss private bank, was indicted today for conspiring with U.S. taxpayers and others to hide more than $1.2 billion in secret accounts and the income these accounts generated from the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), the Justice Department announced today.



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Former Mississippi Office Manager Sentenced to 89 Months in Prison for Bank Fraud and Aggravated Identity Theft

Cynthia Cooley, of Hattiesburg, Miss., was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Keith Starrett in the Southern District of Mississippi.



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Justice Department Alleges GFI Mortgage Bankers Engaged in Illegal Lending Discrimination

The Department of Justice and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York filed a lawsuit alleging that GFI Mortgage Bankers Inc., a mortgage banker with operations in seven states, violated federal fair lending laws by charging African-American and Hispanic borrowers higher interest rates and fees on home mortgage loans because of their race or national origin, not based on their creditworthiness.



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Former Executive of Miami-Based Ocean Bank Sentenced to Serve 37 Months in Prison for Participating in Bribery Scheme and Filing False Tax Returns

A former executive of Ocean Bank, a financial institution headquartered in Miami, was sentenced today for participating in a scheme to accept bribes and for failing to report income on federal income tax returns



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Las Vegas Real Estate Agent Sentenced to 18 Months in Prison for Tax and Bankruptcy Fraud

German A. Posada was sentenced to 18 months in prison following a guilty plea to charges of filing a false 2004 individual income tax return and making a false statement in a bankruptcy proceeding, the Justice Department and the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) announced today.



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Austin, Texas, Man Sentenced to 61 Months in Federal Prison for Bankruptcy Fraud and Identity Theft in Connection with Nationwide Foreclosure-rescue Scheme

Frederic Alan Gladle, 53, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Lee Yeakel.



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Bay Area Woman Indicted in San Francisco for Tax Evasion and Bank Fraud

A federal grand jury in San Francisco has returned an indictment charging Crystal Ann Poole with evading income taxes for over eight years and for defrauding a federally insured bank in Mississippi, the Justice Department and Internal Revenue Service (IRS) announced today.



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South Florida Retired Businessman Pleads Guilty to Failing to Disclose Assets Held in Swiss Banks

Wolfgang Roessel of Ft. Lauderdale, Fla., pleaded guilty today in the U.S. District Court in the Southern District of Florida to filing a false tax return for 2007, the Justice Department and Internal Revenue Service (IRS) announced.



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Texas Resident Sentenced to 15 Months in Prison for Scheme to Defraud the U.S. Export-import Bank

Hector Cuevas, 42, was also sentenced by Judge Kathleen Cardone in U.S. District Court in El Paso to three years of supervised release and was ordered to pay $553,148 in restitution and $690,624 in forfeiture.



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ING Bank N.V. Agrees to Forfeit $619 Million for Illegal Transactions with Cuban and Iranian Entities

ING Bank N.V., a financial institution headquartered in Amsterdam, has agreed to forfeit $619 million to the Justice Department and the New York County District Attorney’s Office for conspiring to violate the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) and the Trading with the Enemy Act (TWEA) and for violating New York state laws by illegally moving billions of dollars through the U.S. financial system on behalf of sanctioned Cuban and Iranian entities.



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Three Tax Return Preparers Charged with Helping Clients Evade Taxes by Hiding Millions in Secret Accounts at Two Israeli Banks

David Kalai, Nadav Kalai and David Almog were indicted by a federal grand jury in the Central District of California and charged with conspiring to defraud the United States, the Justice Department and Internal Revenue Service (IRS) announced today. The superseding indictment, which was returned late yesterday, was unsealed following the defendants’ arrests.



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Barclays Bank PLC Admits Misconduct Related to Submissions for the London Interbank Offered Rate and the Euro Interbank Offered Rate and Agrees to Pay $160 Million Penalty

Barclays Bank PLC, a financial institution headquartered in London, has entered into an agreement with the Department of Justice to pay a $160 million penalty to resolve violations arising from Barclays’s submissions for the London InterBank Offered Rate (LIBOR) and the Euro Interbank Offered Rate (EURIBOR), which are benchmark interest rates used in financial markets around the world.



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Wisconsin Neurosurgeon Convicted of Filing False Tax Return and Failing to File Report of Foreign Bank Accounts

A jury convicted Arvind Ahuja yesterday on federal tax charges stemming from his failure to disclose offshore bank accounts maintained in India and the Bailiwick of Jersey, the Justice Department and Internal Revenue Service (IRS) announced. Trial began on Aug. 15, 2012 before U.S. District Judge Charles N. Clevert, Jr., in Milwaukee. Ahuja, a prominent neurosurgeon in Milwaukee, was convicted of one count of filing a false 2009 individual income tax return and one count of failing to file a Report of Foreign Bank and Financial Accounts (FBAR).



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Justice Department Reaches Lending Discrimination Settlement with GFI Mortgage Bankers Inc.

GFI Mortgage Bankers Inc., a large independent home mortgage firm that concentrates on the New York, New Jersey, and Florida markets, will pay $3.555 million to resolve a lending discrimination lawsuit filed by the Department of Justice and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York. The lawsuit alleges that GFI engaged in a pattern or practice of discrimination by pricing residential mortgage loans for qualified African-American and Hispanic borrowers higher than for similarly-qualified non-Hispanic white borrowers between 2005 and 2009.



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Justice Department Reaches Settlement with Luther Burbank Savings to Resolve Allegations of Lending Discrimination in California

The Justice Department announced today that Luther Burbank Savings will invest $2 million in California communities and take other steps as part of a settlement to resolve allegations that it engaged in a pattern or practice of discrimination on the basis of race and national origin.



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Justice Department Reaches Settlement with Bank of America to Resolve Allegations of Discrimination Against Recipients of Disability Income

Bank of America N.A. has agreed to maintain revised policies, conduct employee training and pay compensation to victims to resolve allegations that it engaged in a pattern or practice of discrimination on the basis of disability and receipt of public assistance in violation of the Fair Housing Act (FHA) and the Equal Credit Opportunity Act (ECOA).



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Former Officers of American Mortgage Specialists Inc. Plead Guilty in North Dakota to Conspiracy in $27 Million Fraud Against Bnc National Bank

Two former officers of Arizona-based residential mortgage loan originator American Mortgage Specialists Inc. (AMS) pleaded guilty today for their roles in a $27 million scheme to defraud North Dakota-based BNC National Bank.



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Mexican Pecan Company Owner Sentenced to 48 Months in Prison for Scheme to Defraud the U.S. Export-Import Bank

Leopoldo Valencia-Urrea, 50, was sentenced by Judge Kathleen Cardone in U.S. District Court in El Paso, Texas.



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California Jewelry Store Owner Convicted of Conspiracy to Defraud the United States and Conspiracy to Launder the Proceeds of Bank Fraud

A federal jury sitting in Santa Ana, Calif., on Wednesday, Nov. 21, 2012, convicted Safieh Fard of one count of conspiracy to defraud the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) and one count of conspiracy to launder the proceeds of bank fraud obtained after submitting fraudulent mortgage applications, the Justice Department and IRS Criminal Investigation announced. Fard’s co-conspirators, her sister Sedigheh Bahramian, and two of her sons, Mohsen Kikalaye and Ahmad Kikalaye, pleaded guilty to related counts of bank fraud in 2010.



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Former Director of Accounting and Outside Auditor of American Mortgage Specialists Inc. Plead Guilty to Roles in Fraud Against BNC National Bank

The former director of accounting and the former outside auditor of Arizona-based residential mortgage loan originator American Mortgage Specialists Inc. pleaded guilty in Arizona to conspiracy to defraud BNC National Bank and obstruction of justice, respectively.



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South Florida Woman Pleads Guilty to Failing to Disclose Income from Swiss Bank Accounts and Agrees to $21 Million Penalty

Mary Estelle Curran of Palm Beach, Fla., pleaded guilty today in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida to filing false tax returns for tax years 2006 and 2007.



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Justice Department Reaches Settlement with Community State Bank Regarding Alleged Lending Discrimination in Michigan

Community State Bank of St. Charles, Mich., will open a loan production office in an African-American neighborhood in Saginaw, Mich., invest $165,000 in majority African-American areas in and around Saginaw and take other steps as part of a settlement to resolve allegations that it engaged in a pattern or practice of discrimination on the basis of race.



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Assistant Attorney General Ignacia S. Moreno Delivers Remarks at the Georgetown/OAS/World Bank Roundtable

The Environment Division’s enforcement efforts over the years have achieved dramatic reductions in emissions and discharges of harmful pollutants to the Nation’s air, land and water.




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Pittsburgh-based Bank to Pay U.S. for Failing to Engage in Prudent Underwriting Practices on SBA Loan Guarantees

PNC Bank N.A. has agreed to pay the United States $7.1 million to settle claims under the False Claims Act that it failed to engage in prudent underwriting practices in connection with the issuance of loans guaranteed by the Small Business Administration (SBA).



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Financial Consultant Extradited to the United States for Alleged Scheme to Defraud the U.S. Export-import Bank

Manuel Ernesto Ortiz-Barraza, an independent financial consultant, was extradited to the United States today for his alleged role in a scheme to defraud the Export-Import Bank of the United States (Ex-Im Bank) of over $2.5 million.



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California Man Pleads Guilty to Failure to Report Foreign Bank Accounts at UBS

Christopher B. Berg of Portola Valley, Calif., entered a plea of guilty today before the U.S. District Court in San Jose, Calif., to an information charging him with willful failure to file the required report of foreign bank account (FBAR) for an account he controlled at UBS in Switzerland in the year 2005.



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Justice Department Reaches Settlement with Texas Champion Bank to Resolve Allegations of Lending Discrimination

The Justice Department announced today that Texas Champion Bank of Alice, Texas, will establish uniform pricing policies, conduct employee training and pay $700,000 as part of a settlement to resolve allegations that it engaged in a pattern or practice of discrimination on the basis of national origin.



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Former Jefferson Parish, Louisiana, Sheriff’s Deputy Indicted for Civil Rights, Bank Fraud, Computer Fraud, Aggravated Identity Theft and Obstruction of Justice Violations

An indictment against former Jefferson Parish, La., Sheriff’s Deputy Mark Hebert, 48, was announced today by Roy L. Austin Jr., Deputy Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Rights Division; Dana J. Boente, Acting U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Louisiana; Michael J. Anderson, Special Agent in Charge of the FBI New Orleans Field Office; and Sheriff Newell Normand from the Jefferson Parish Sheriff’s Office.



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Arizona Businessmen and California Attorney Convicted for Hiding Millions in Secret Foreign Bank Accounts at UBS AG and Pictet & Cie

A jury convicted Stephen M. Kerr and Michael Quiel yesterday on federal tax charges stemming from their failure to disclose secret offshore bank accounts in Switzerland.



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California Businesswoman Agrees to Plead Guilty to Conspiracy to Conceal Israeli Bank Accounts

Guity Kashfi of Los Angeles, was charged today in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California with conspiracy to defraud the United States.



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Former Investment Banker and His Associate Plead Guilty in San Francisco to Insider Trading Scheme

A former San Francisco investment banker and his college friend both pleaded guilty today for their roles in an insider trading scheme involving two impending corporate mergers.



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Court Authorizes Service of John Doe Summons Seeking the Identities of U.S. Taxpayers with Offshore Accounts at Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce’s FirstCaribbean International Bank

The Justice Department announced that late yesterday a federal court in San Francisco entered an order authorizing the Internal Revenue Service to serve a John Doe summons seeking information about U.S. taxpayers who may hold offshore accounts at Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce FirstCaribbean International Bank.



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