'Drug lord' gets bail

'Drug lord' gets bail: "ALLEGED drug lord Hakan Ayik - one of Australia's most wanted men - has been granted bail by a Turkish Cyprus court despite fleeing capture there before.

Ayik is alleged to be the co-ordinator of a drugs syndicate stretching across several countries and involving the Comanchero bikie gang, corrupt port officials and Chinese Triads.

After leaving Australia earlier this year, Ayik, a dual Turkish and Australian citizen, learnt he was at risk of arrest if he returned, so settled on the Turkish side of Cyprus. That sparked a five-month game of cat-and-mouse, until his capture last week."

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Dubai Police bust international drug gang - Emirates24|7

Dubai Police bust international drug gang - Emirates24|7: "Dubai Police bust an international drug smuggling gang of five people and confiscated about 60 kilograms of drugs worth Dh600,000.

The general department of Anti-Narcotics, Dubai Police, arrested two members of the gang, both GCC nationals, and alerted Interpol to arrest the others, believed to be Asians.

Major-General Abdul Jalil Mahdhi Al Asmawi, Director-General, Department of Anti-Narcotics, said during a press conference held on Monday that the operation is dubbed 'the eagerness of poet'.

Al Asmawi said one of the gang members is a poet and added that the arrest of two is a major blow to drug dealers and traffickers not only in the UAE but also in the region. It was the excellent teamwork by Dubai Police and Anti-Narcotics Department that led to the successful capture of the two peddlers.

He said the department received an information about a GCC national with a criminal past who was into drugs and was peddling drugs in the emirate."

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Christopher 'Dudus' Coke was widely regarded as the most powerful man in Jamaica.

What happened next? Jamaican crime and corruption | Life and style | The Guardian: "Just a few months ago, Christopher 'Dudus' Coke was widely regarded as the most powerful man in Jamaica. The leader of the Shower Posse gang, he was said to own whole neighbourhoods, politicians and perhaps even their parties through his extensive crime organisation built around drug trafficking. So when the government moved to extradite him to the US in May, after sitting on a warrant for eight months, perhaps no one was more surprised than Coke.

His gang put up a furious fight, turning the Tivoli Gardens neighbourhood of Kingston – the constituency of the prime minister, Bruce Golding – into a war zone as they battled the police and army. More than 70 people were killed and thousands fled their homes, the security forces accused of indiscriminate killings."

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Chelsea Accountant Allegedly Stole $1.5 Million From 'Law and Order' Actress - DNAinfo.com

Chelsea Accountant Allegedly Stole $1.5 Million From 'Law and Order' Actress - DNAinfo.com: "An accountant who allegedly invested in 'Spring Awakening' and the 'Legally Blonde' musical with stolen funds was indicted on charges he allegedly stole almost $1.5 million from a 'Law and Order' actress who was his client, prosecutors said Thursday.

Joseph Cilibrasi, 50, routinely stole from Tamara Tunie, prosecutors said, who plays a medical examiner on the hit 'Law and Order: SVU' series and has been on the show for a decade.

While working as the actress' business manager since the early 1990s, Cilibrasi was responsible for preparing her tax returns and paying her professional and personal bills, according to the Manhattan District Attorney's Office.

But he began defrauding her in 2003 by falsely endorsing checks from her accounts to his own, prosecutors said. He allegedly converted about $400,000 of the sum he stole from her into cash, which he used to invest in various projects.


Accountant Joseph Cilibrasi, 50, was indicted on charges he stole nearly $1.5 million from 'Law and Order: SVU' actress Tamara Tunie. (Facebook)
He also opened credit accounts in her name and gave himself authority to use her cards. He even falsely claimed he was her husband in order to gain access, prosecutors said."

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Ohio fraud fugitive ordered to serve 25 years - BusinessWeek

Ohio fraud fugitive ordered to serve 25 years - BusinessWeek: "federal judge in Ohio has ordered a woman to start serving a 25-year prison sentence interrupted after she fled the country following her corporate fraud conviction.

A jury convicted 62-year-old Rebecca Parrett in 2008 for her role in a $1.9 billion health care financing fraud at National Century Financial Enterprises. She was arrested in Mexico in October.

U.S. District Court Judge Algenon Marbley told Parrett she broke her word by fleeing and cost the government thousands of hours of investigative time.

Parrett told Marbley she went to Mexico intending to die there but changed her mind after seeing a doctor who helped her recover from several illnesses.

She says she may have made bad decisions but is innocent of the corporate fraud charges."

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TV Apprentice hopeful Christopher Farrell pleads guilty to fraud - mirror.co.uk

TV Apprentice hopeful Christopher Farrell pleads guilty to fraud - mirror.co.uk: "CONTESTANT on this year’s Apprentice admitted fraud charges yesterday.

Former Royal Marine Christopher Farrell, 29, falsified mortgage applications to banks and building societies by inflating his clients’ salaries and inventing jobs for them.

The broker – seen being fired by Lord Sugar in Week 8 of the BBC1 show in November – was “desperate” to obtain mortgages for clients so he could meet his monthly £5,000 target and get a bonus.

His clients were completely unaware of the scam.

Farrell was caught after investigations by Santander Bank found he had altered official documents.

He was arrested in August – shortly before the latest series of the pre-recorded Apprentice began.

When fired following a task to sell crisps in Germany, Lord Sugar described Farrell as a “nice guy” who lacked a “ruthless streak”."

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Fujian gang leader Liu Xiaohua gets death for fatal gunfight in Shanghai - What's On Xiamen

Fujian gang leader Liu Xiaohua gets death for fatal gunfight in Shanghai - What's On Xiamen: "THREE gang members were sentenced to death Friday for their roles in a fatal Shanghai gunfight stirred up by a female drug dealer in May 2009.

Shanghai No. 2 Intermediate People's Court sentenced a total of 11 members from two gangs.

Two gang members were killed and two others were injured in the gunfight in Putuo District.

Liu Xiaohua, boss of the Fujian Province gang, was sentenced to death for leading the criminal gang and a series of other crimes. Two gangsters who shot two people dead were also sentenced to death.

Dong Shuang, the 21-year-old female drug dealer who caused the fight, was sentenced to 15 years in jail for dealing drugs.

Other gang members were sentenced from two years to life imprisonment, according to the court."

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Police in three countries take on 'Frankfurt Mafia' drug ring | Europe | Deutsche Welle | 24.12.2010

Police in three countries take on 'Frankfurt Mafia' drug ring | Europe | Deutsche Welle | 24.12.2010: "joint operation involving Austrian, German and Macedonian police this week broke up a major drug ring in Central and Eastern Europe, resulting in dozens of arrests.

Authorities in Vienna on Thursday said police in Austria and Macedonia had conducted coordinated raids on Wednesday and arrested 29 people suspected of being gang ring-leaders. They said that since their coordinated effort began in 2007, police have made more than 300 arrests in Germany and 69 in Austria.

Officials said the gang is based in Macedonia and quickly took over the heroin trade in Frankfurt and Vienna by violently forcing out rival gangs. The ring has been dubbed the Frankfurt Mafia and is especially active in the German banking center and in the Austrian capital.

The cities are at the end of what the United Nations has called the 'Balkan Route,' along which heroin from Afghanistan is smuggled into Western Europe via Bulgaria, Macedonia, Serbia and other Balkan countries before ending up on the streets of Western Europe's major cities."

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Police in three countries take on 'Frankfurt Mafia' drug ring | Europe | Deutsche Welle | 24.12.2010

Police in three countries take on 'Frankfurt Mafia' drug ring | Europe | Deutsche Welle | 24.12.2010

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Mexican Killers Often Use US Guns | Americas | English

VOA | Officials: Mexican Killers Often Use US Guns | Americas | English: "In Mexico, violence related to drug smuggling has claimed around 30,000 lives in recent years and many Mexicans are wondering if President Felipe Calderon's war on the criminal gangs is succeeding.
The United States is assisting Mexico in its war on the drug cartels, but demand for illicit drugs in the United States is largely to blame for the problem.
In a secure building inside the Mexican Ministry of Defense compound in Mexico City, displays of items seized in raids tell the story of drug trafficking.

On display are samples of marijuana, cocaine, heroin and other drugs-- we cannot show the face of the army tour guide for security reasons.

The most impressive collection in the 'narco-museum' contains guns seized by the military."

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Brazil busts gang of cops, councillors

Brazil busts gang of cops, councillors: "Brazilian police have busted a feared criminal gang that killed at least 50 people and counted more than a dozen officers and some municipal councillors in its ranks, officials said yesterday.

Twenty-five members of the 34-strong gang were arrested Tuesday on warrants based on wiretaps that found the organization sold weapons to drug dealers in a nest of Rio slums that was cleared by police and soldiers last month.

The two local councillors of the Duque de Caxias neighbourhood were suspected of running the para-police outfit, while the 13 policemen arrested were part of its 'muscle' thought to have carried out hits.

The gang was one of several including police officers that operate in Rio's notoriously violent and lawless slums. They started activities in late 2006 as militias that forced out local gangs and took over to run extortion rackets."

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Medich bailed in 'not strong' murder case

Medich bailed in 'not strong' murder case: "prosecution case against murder-accused Ron Medich is 'not strong' according to a Supreme Court justice who granted the Sydney property tycoon $1 million bail.
The 62-year-old is charged with murdering and soliciting the murder of businessman Michael McGurk, who was shot dead outside his Cremorne home on Sydney's lower north shore in September 2009.
Prosecutors allege Medich paid $300,000 for the hit on Mr McGurk, by whom he was owed millions of dollars in outstanding loans.
Advertisement: Story continues below Medich denies the charges and his barrister Winston Terracini SC said the case was 'tenuous' and relied on the testimony of co-accused.
'I conclude that the crown case is not strong, but it is not so weak that it could be said that it will inevitably fail,' Justice Derek Price said on Friday."

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Fined record $47 million for fraud

Burnaby NewsLeader - Fined record $47 million for fraud: "Surrey resident who stole nearly $16 million from investors by promising them a 60 per cent profit has been fined the full amount he stole plus a $31 million penalty.
At $47 million, the total penalty is the largest ever assessed by the BCSC.
Con artist Sung Wan (Sean) Kim is unlikely to ever pay any part of it.
Kim reportedly fled back to his native Korea after the B.C. Securities Commission (BCSC) issued a temporary ban against him in 2009.
Kim preyed upon well-off members of a Korean church in Burnaby, using fake letters and legal documents to convince 36 people to invest $15.7 million in his company, Cirplus Futures Inc.
His clients thought their money was being invested in U.S. treasury bills, stock market options and futures contracts that would produce a guaranteed five-per-cent monthly profit.
Instead, the money went straight into Kim's personal account."

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Former MP facing fraud charges - crime - national | Stuff.co.nz

Former MP facing fraud charges - crime - national Stuff.co.nz: "former MP facing fraud charges involving nearly $2 million will find out next week whether he can keep secret his identity.
The man is one of four people due to stand trial next year.
In Auckland District Court court today a judge reserved his decision on an application on behalf of the ex-MP for continued name suppression until next week.
The Serious Fraud Office alleged the four were involved in a $1.8m swindle of Auckland sports clubs, a children's charity and various companies set up around gaming machines between 2003 and 2005."

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Primary Global Research caught in federal probe

Primary Global Research caught in federal probe: "Primary Global Research, the Mountain View 'expert network' company, which already is caught up in a nationwide insider trading investigation.
One of the firm's top sales executives was arrested Thursday by the FBI on wire fraud and conspiracy charges.
Three of its former 'consultants' were also arrested.
A fourth former consultant, it was announced, has pleaded guilty to similar charges.
Following last month's arrest of its 'Taiwan liaison,' the firm appears to be firmly in the cross-hairs of a federal investigation that reaches from Wall Street to Silicon Valley.
They are part of 'a corrupt network of insiders at some of the world's leading technology companies (who) served as so-called 'consultants' who sold out their employers by stealing and then peddling their valuable inside information,' said Preet Bahara, U.S. attorney in New York, who is heading the investigation.
Bahara was referring, in part, to Sunnyvale's Advanced Micro Devices and Cupertino's Apple, whose inside information was cited in the latest charges.
In a statement, he thanked Apple and AMD 'for their assistance in the investigation"

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Joel Bondy, N.Y.C. Payroll Office Chief, Is Suspended - NYTimes.com

Joel Bondy, N.Y.C. Payroll Office Chief, Is Suspended - NYTimes.com: "The official in charge of the New York City agency at the heart of an alleged $80 million information technology fraud scheme was suspended on Thursday without pay by Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg and Comptroller John C. Liu.
The official, Joel Bondy, was chosen by Mr. Bloomberg to be the executive director of the Office of Payroll Administration in April 2004. But the payroll agency has been repeatedly criticized for its handling of the CityTime project, an automated system devised to streamline employee timekeeping, which has been dogged by delays and enormous cost overruns.
On Wednesday, federal prosecutors accused several CityTime consultants — at least one of them a longtime associate of Mr. Bondy — of being involved in a scheme that manipulated the city into steering expensive contracts to businesses that they controlled, and of redirecting some of that money for their own enrichment.
The investigation is still continuing, city officials said, and could lead to more arrests. But the scandal has become one of the most serious that the Bloomberg administration has faced. And by casting a pall over an initiative that the mayor had championed as a hallmark of efficient, computerized management, the case does little to help the opinion of the administration’s outsourcing practices."

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Starr's lawyer charged with money laundering | Reuters

Starr's lawyer charged with money laundering Reuters: "Lawyer Jonathan Star Bristol allegedly used attorney escrow accounts to launder more than $20 million that Starr took from advisory clients, prosecutors in the Southern District of New York said in a 15-page indictment charging Bristol with one count of money laundering.
Bristol 'repeatedly used the escrow accounts to help Kenneth Starr conceal that he was stealing client monies to fund the operating expenses of Starr & Company LLC,' prosecutors alleged in the indictment.
Starr, whose celebrity clients included director Martin Scorsese and singer Carly Simon, pleaded guilty in September to wire fraud, money laundering and investment adviser fraud in Manhattan federal court.
The Securities and Exchange Commission's court filing describes Bristol, age 55, as a resident of Chatham, New Jersey, who from November 2008 through June 2010 was a partner with a prominent international law firm. Neither the SEC complaint nor the indictment identifies the law firm."

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Eight arrested over suspected links to youth wing of ETA - Telegraph

Eight arrested over suspected links to youth wing of ETA - Telegraph: "200 national police officers took part in raids in the northern Spanish cities of Bilbao, Pamplona and Vitoria resulting in the arrests of six suspected leaders of the banned youth organisation SEGI.
They also detained two lawyers from the same practice – one in the Canary Island of Lanzarote and the other in Aranjuez, a town south of Madrid – who investigators said had “advised jailed SEGI leaders on measures to impede the investigation and avoid prosecution.”
It is the third such operation against SEGI in little more than a year, the Interior ministry confirmed. SEGI was banned in 2007 for its role as a recruitment ground for future ETA members. It has been linked with low level street violence and vandalism against government buildings, banks and political party offices.
ETA, which is blamed for the deaths of 827 people in a four decade campaign for an independent Basque homeland encompassing parts of northeastern Spain and southwestern France, declared a ceasefire in September."

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