Bank Fraud

MASSACHUSETTS sued five major banks yesterday over deceptive foreclosure practices such as the "robo-signing" of documents, potentially undermining negotiations between lenders and state prosecutors across the nation over the same issue. The lawsuit named Bank of America Corp., JPMorgan Chase & Co., Wells Fargo & Co., Citigroup Inc., and GMAC. It was filed in Massachusetts by Attorney General Martha Coakley. "We have two clear goals with this lawsuit - one is to provide for real accountability for the role the banks have played in unlawful and illegal foreclosures, and secondly to provide for real and enforceable relief for the harm that the misconduct has caused," she said.

PHILADELPHIA 12 years for fraud Vaughn Pierce, 32, has been sentenced to more than 12 years in a federal prison for a scheme in which he passed bad checks, a similar bank fraud committed while he was awaiting sentencing in the first case and for violating supervised release from a 2006 conviction. Authorities said that Pierce pleaded guilty in November 2009 to conspiracy, bank fraud and identity theft for a scheme in which he and cohorts bilked a number of financial institutions of more than $82,000.

LeRoy Schweitzer, 73, the former head of the Montana Freemen, an antigovernment separatist group that held the FBI at bay for 81 days in 1996, was found dead in his cell Tuesday at the federal Supermax prison in southern Colorado. He appears to have died of natural causes, but an autopsy will be performed. Schweitzer was a founder and leader of the small, heavily armed Freemen group. His arrest in 1996 prompted 16 group members to barricade themselves in a 960-acre ranch compound in Jordan, Mont., for 81 days.

A Philadelphia man was convicted Monday of organizing an identify theft ring that stole up to $3 million, in part by persuading female bank tellers to slip him customer account information. Miguel Bell, 36, was convicted in U.S. District Court of bank fraud and identify theft. He had affairs with "many" female tellers as part of a scam that typically used the information to generate bogus checks, according to prosecutors. He will be sentenced in September. A total of 24 people have been charged in connection with the thefts.

Bonnie Sweeten, the Bucks County woman who authorities say stole more than $700,000 and tried to evade arrest by claiming she was kidnapped by two black men, was back in court Wednesday trying to get released from jail while she awaits trial. Sweeten asked U.S. District Judge William H. Yohn Jr. to overturn a lower court decision on June 30 ordering her held without bail until her trial on multiple fraud charges. At that hearing, U.S. Magistrate Judge Linda Caracappa said Sweeten's involvement of two of her daughters in her alleged criminal activities, combined with her flight to Florida using fake identification, argued against bail.

A former bank employee was sentenced to 30 months in federal prison for stealing the account information of at least seven customers and providing it to members of an identity-theft ring, authorities said. Regina Tolliver, 39, of Philadelphia, worked at the King of Prussia branch of Citizens Bank. Between February and November 2007, Tolliver gathered customers' personal information, which was used to create fake driver's licenses. "Check runners" then posed as the customers and cashed fraudulent checks made out to the victims of the identity theft.

A former bank employee was sentenced to 30 months in federal prison for stealing the account information of at least seven customers and providing it to members of an identity theft ring, authorities said. Regina Tolliver, 39, of Philadelphia, worked at the King of Prussia branch of Citizens Bank. Between February and November 2007 Tolliver gathered customers' personal information which was used to create fake drive's licenses. "Check runners" then posed as the customers and cashed fraudulent checks made out to the victims of the identity theft.

Man found dead in N. Phila. A man in his 20s was found fatally shot in a vacant lot on 18th Street near Dauphin in North Philadelphia about 7 last night. Police said the victim, whose name was not released, was pronounced dead at the scene. Investigators had no motive for the slaying or description of the shooter. Tipsters can contact the Homicide Unit at 215-686-3334 or -3335. Four shot after argument Four men were shot after an argument in Frankford last night.

The Bucks County woman who authorities say stole more than $700,000 and then fabricated a kidnapping was ordered held without bail Thursday on federal charges. Bonnie Sweeten, 39, last week finished a 10-month prison sentence on state charges related to identity theft in the staged abduction in August. The FBI arrested her last Friday after her release from the Bucks County jail. U.S. Magistrate Judge Linda Caracappa said Sweeten's involving her daughters in two schemes, combined with her flight to Florida when the alleged embezzlements were about to be discovered, argued against letting her free on bail.

The Bucks County woman who authorities say stole more than $700,000 and then fabricated a kidnapping by two black men was ordered held without bail today on federal charges. Bonnie Sweeten, 39, finished her first prison stint last week on state charges related to identity theft. She was rearrested by the FBI on June 26 following her release from Bucks County prison where she had served a 10 month sentence. U.S. Magistrate Judge Linda Caracappa said Sweeten's involvement of her daughters in two schemes, combined with her record of fleeing to Florida when her embezzlement was about to be discovered, argued against letting her free on bail.