Jose A. Gonzalez, Special Agent in Charge, Internal Revenue Service, Criminal Investigation Division (IRS-CID), announce that Howard Kusnick, 59, of Tamarac, was sentenced by Judge Kenneth A. Marra this morning to 24 months in prison, to be followed by a 2-year term of supervised release.
Kusnick pled guilty to Conspiracy to Commit Wire Fraud, in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Section 371, on June 14, 2011.
Miami-area resident Farah Maria Perez, a registered nurse, pleaded guilty today for her participation in a $25 million Medicare fraud scheme involving false billings for home health services, announced the Department of Justice, the FBI and the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).
Perez, 40, pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge Joan A. Lenard in Miami to one count of conspiracy to commit health care fraud. She was originally charged in a February 2011 indictment.
According to plea documents, Perez worked for Florida Home Health Care Providers Inc.
Michael J. McNerney, a founding partner of the Ft. Lauderdale law firm formerly known as Brinkley, McNerney, Morgan, Solomon & Tatum, LLP, was sentenced earlier today by U.S. District Judge Adalberto Jordan to 60 months in prison, to be followed by 3 years of supervised release, for his role in a scheme to defraud investors in the Mutual Benefits Corporation (“MBC”)
José A. Gonzalez, Special Agent in Charge, Internal Revenue Service, Criminal Investigation Division (IRS-CID), announce today’s sentencing of Stephen Caputi, 54. U.S. District Judge William J. Zloch sentenced Caputi to 60 months in prison, to be followed a three years of supervised release. The court also ordered Caputi to pay $28,130,073.40 in restitution.
On June 15, 2011, Caputi pled guilty to conspiracy to commit wire fraud in connection with his involvement in a fraudulent investment scheme (the scheme) regarding the sale of purported confidential settlement agreements in sexual harassment and/or whistle blower cases purportedly being handled by attorneys at Rothstein,
"With his reputation destroyed, his career ruined and his finances devastated, Howard Kusnick now faces federal prison. And yet for him, these matters are not the worst of it," Coffey wrote. "More than even these things, he now lives with a profound sense that he has betrayed the profession and professional ideals he embraced for more than 30 years, resulting in significant harm to innocent victims."
Kusnick was the second of four Rothstein associates to learn his fate in recent weeks. Nightclub impresario Stephen Caputi, 54, of Lauderhill, Rothstein's partner in Café Iguana in Plantation, was sentenced last month to five years in prison. He admitted to impersonating bank officers to help dupe Rothstein investors.
Florida Supreme Court disciplines 4 Broward lawyers - Rothstein and Mutual Benefits figures stripped of right to practice law
Howard Kusnick, a former partner of Scott Rothstein, was formally disbarred after pleading guilty to conspiracy to commit wire fraud. He is awaiting sentencing on the federal charge.
Michael McNerney had his license suspended indefinitely after he admitted to taking part in the Mutual Benefits Ponzi scheme that defrauded investors of more than $800 million. He was sentenced Friday to a five-year federal prison term.
Peter Mayas, a Miramar lawyer, was given a 90-day suspension for allegedly allowing employees who were not lawyers to handle legal work, and for failing to maintain adequate records.
pleading in the alternative.
Here's Judge Altonaga having to -- once again -- explain how this whole pleading thing works:Under the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, a Plaintiff may plead claims in the alternative. See FED. R. CIV. P. 8(d);3 United Techs. Corp. v. Mazer, 556 F.3d 1260, 1273 (11th Cir. 2009) (“Rule 8(d) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure expressly permits the pleading of both alternative and inconsistent claims.”). A party need not use any special words to properly plead in the alternative; it only must be “‘reasonably inferred that this is what [it was] doing.’” G-I Holdings, Inc. v. Baron & Budd, 238 F. Supp. 2d 521, 536 (S.D.N.Y. 2002) (alteration in original) (quoting Holman v. Indiana, 211 F.3d 399, 407 (7th Cir. 2000)). Breach-of-contract and declaratory-relief claims may be pleaded alternatively. See Great Am. Ins. Co. v. Sch. Bd. of Broward Cnty., Fla., No. 09-61636-CIV, 2010 WL 4366865, at *24 (S.D. Fla. July 30, 2010); In re Andrew Velez Const., Inc., 373 B.R. 262, 275 (Bankr. S.D.N.Y. 2007). If any inconsistencies exist, they can be dealt with at summary judgment or through jury instructions. See Formula LLC v. RSUI Indem. Co., No. 09-60592-CIV, 2009 WL 2342455, at *3 (S.D. Fla. July 28, 2009). Seriously?
Somebody made her write this one more time?
Like Droz says to Gutter in PCU, "don't be that guy."
From an unmarked Fort Lauderdale storefront sandwiched between a men's bath house and a dry cleaner, a timeshare resale company raked in money — an estimated $5 million in less than a year.
Founded by two convicted felons who went by "Posh" and "Joey," Timeshare Mega Media and Marketing Group capitalized on cash-strapped people in Florida and beyond, playing on their hopes of unloading their costly vacation rentals, according to federal authorities.
The Federal Trade Commission said in court documents that several key players with Timeshare Mega Media have extensive criminal records, including the two alleged "masterminds"—Pasquale "Posh" Pappalardo and Joseph "Joey" Crapella.
Dancing with what stars?
What am I missing, or should I say, what are ABC and its parent company Disney missing?
Is not "Dancing with the Stars" meant to be just that? How does having a baby out of wedlock (Bristol Palin) or being a transgender individual (Chaz Bono) qualify as "star" status?
Next season, I am expecting to see Bernie Madoff, Scott Rothstein and Nevin Shapiro on the cast. Aren't they also stars?
Judge: Florida's drug possession law is constitutional; rejects 'guilty mind' argument
WEST PALM BEACH — Palm Beach County Circuit Judge John Kastrenakes has rejected arguments that the state's drug possession law is unconstitutional.
In a 16-page opinion his office released today, Kastrenakes blasted rulings by a federal judge and Miami-Dade Circuit Court judge, who this summer found that the nine-year-old law violated 14th amendment guarantees of due process. Decisions by U.S. District Judge Mary Scriven and Circuit Judge Milton Hirsch, Kastrenakes said, were "fatally flawed."
In other Rothstein-related news Tuesday, Stettin filed an adversary suit against Regent Capital Partners, hedge fund manager Murray Huberfeld and his wife, Laura, and a host of other Rothstein investors. Although the suit does not specify how much it is seeking to recover for victims, it alleges that, in a side deal, Regent invested $11 million with Rothstein's Ponzi and was to be repaid $22 million, for an annual interest rate of 437
The final judgment against Wak Boys, one of the top 20 investors in Scott Rothstein's $1.2 billion Ponzi scheme, signed by U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Raymond Ray in Fort Lauderdale, could be uncollectable.
The assets include business and financial interests
stemming from several multi-million dollar financial crimes
perpetrated by Madoff, investment lawyer Scott Rothstein,
banker and political fundraiser Hassan Nemazee and organized
crime figure James Galante.
What If the Secret to Success Is Failure?
he noticed something curious: the students who persisted in college were not necessarily the ones who had excelled academically at KIPP; they were the ones with exceptional character strengths, like optimism and persistence and social intelligence.
CNN finds a real expert on sex scandals: Kendall Coffey
That was precisely Coffey's undoing in 1996. Ejected from the club after his failed attempt to kiss the stripper ended with him biting her instead, he used a credit card to pay the $900 bill. Later he sent his father to the bar to buy the credit-card slip back at a premium price of $1,200, which tipped the irate stripper and her even-more-irate husband off that they'd been dealing with someone anxious to conceal his identity. Their complaints eventually attracted an investigators from the office of the U.S. Justice Department's inspector general, and Coffey was soon toast.
One other thing Coffey said on CNN that Spitzer might want to heed: "This is not survivable."
Heights of Audacity.....Officially Reached!!
D'ALEMBERTE KLOCK
Anyone remember when Talbot "Sandy" D'Alemberte gave a roundhouse punch to ole' Joe Klock on the 41st floor of the Southeast Financial Center?
No, me neither.