$41 million stock fraud scheme in Tulsa, Deep Rock Oil & Gas and Global Beverage Solutions

Indictment unsealed Tuesday in federal court charged five men from Oklahoma, Texas, Kentucky and the Bahamas in connection with what prosecutors said was a $41 million stock fraud scheme.The 24-count indictment returned by a grand jury alleged that between April 2004 and December 2005, the five men devised and engaged in a so-called "pump and dump" scheme in which they manipulated three publicly traded "penny stocks," which are common stocks that trade for less than $5 per share in the over-the-counter market, instead of on national exchanges.Charged in the indictment were 47-year-old attorney G. David Gordon of Tulsa; 61-year-old Richard Clark of Tulsa; 50-year-old attorney James Reskin of Louisville, Ky.; 41-year-old Dean Sheptycki, a resident of the Bahamas; and 35-year-old Dallas-area resident Joshua Wayne Lankford.
All but Lankford were arrested Tuesday. Gordon and Clark were to make initial court appearances in Tulsa, while Reskin was set to do the same in Louisville. U.S. Attorney David E. O'Meilia said Sheptycki was arrested by Bahamian authorities and is awaiting extradition to the U.S.Lankford is considered a fugitive, O'Meilia said.
Court documents regarding the case had not been electronically filed as of early Tuesday night and it was not known if any of those charged had lawyers.Also Tuesday, in a related action, the Securities and Exchange Commission filed a civil enforcement action in federal court in Tulsa against Gordon, Lankford and Sheptycki.
The companies whose stocks were manipulated included two in Tulsa, Deep Rock Oil & Gas and Global Beverage Solutions, formerly known as Pacific Peak Investments. The third, National Storm Management Group, Inc., has its headquarters in Glen Ellyn, Ill.The indictment charges all five men with one count of conspiracy to commit securities fraud, wire fraud and money laundering; nine counts of wire fraud; five counts of security fraud; and six counts of money laundering in connection with the manipulation of the three penny stocks.Gordon also is charged with one count of making a false statement in a matter within the jurisdiction of the SEC regarding the scheme to defraud.

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Bollywood promoter Vijay K. Taneja, 48, of Fairfax, Va., ordered to pay $33 million in restitution to the four banks he swindled in a mortgage fraud

Bollywood promoter and film producer from northern Virginia was sentenced to seven years in prison Friday for one of the largest bank fraud scams in the state's history.Vijay K. Taneja, 48, of Fairfax, Va., was also ordered to pay $33 million in restitution to the four banks he swindled in a complicated mortgage fraud scheme.
Taneja pleaded guilty in November in U.S. District Court in Alexandria to conspiracy to commit money laundering.While U.S. District Court Judge Claude Hilton could have imposed a higher sentence, he accepted the recommended .Prosecutor Stephen Learned said Taneja's fraud — in which four banks lost a combined $33 million — was the largest bank fraud scheme prosecuted at the courthouse in at least 20 years."It's a very significant sentence," Learned said of the seven years.Taneja owned his own mortgage loan business since 1990, focusing on the South Asian community. He was better known in northern Virginia's large Indian community, though, as a concert promoter and producer of Bollywood films. He also donated large amounts to Hindu temples in the region.Two films he produced in 2006 and 2007 — "Humko Tumse Pyaar Hai" and "Aap Kaa Surroor: The Moviee - The Real Luv Story" — were major Bollywood releases that featured established stars including Arjun Rampal, Bobby Deol, Himesh Reshammiya and Malika Sherawat, said Priya Jaikumar, an associate professor at the University of Southern California's School of Cinematic Arts.A civil suit filed against Taneja alleges the fraud was motivated in part by a desire to raise money for the production of "Aap Kaa Surroor," which carried a budget of $16.5 million — very large by Bollywood standards.At his sentencing hearing, Taneja apologized for his actions "and the embarrassment to my family and the aggravation to my victims."
Though the details were complicated, Taneja defrauded the banks in large part by creating fictitious loans and mortgages, and then selling them to investors. In other cases, he sold legitimate mortgages to multiple banks.Court records from parallel proceedings in bankruptcy court include letters from distressed and confused homeowners who refinanced their mortgages through Taneja and within a few months received demands from multiple banks demanding payment.Shahla Ahmedova of Reston said her credit rating has been damaged and credit cards have been canceled because Taneja sold her mortgage to three different banks, all of whom wanted to be paid."I don't know what I'm going to do," said Ahmedova, who has been trying for months to clear up the situation and worries that one of the banks will try to foreclose.She said the seven-year term was too lenient.H. Jason Gold, a lawyer appointed as the trustee in Taneja's bankruptcy case, said dozens of individuals suffered financial losses. In some cases, victims appear to have unwittingly signed promissory notes that were included in the reams of paperwork that accompany mortgage closings, for example."There are dozens and dozens of people that were defrauded or lost money," Gold said. "It's the little people who in reality get hurt the most."The scheme ran from 2001 through June, when Taneja's company, Financial Mortgage, Inc., filed for bankruptcy.Taneja's defense lawyer, Robert Trout, said Taneja never intended to harm anyone and always intended to pay the money back. He called Taneja's actions "a misguided effort for bridge financing."The scheme collapsed when "the balls could no longer be juggled," Trout told the judge.
While Taneja owes $33 million in restitution, the four banks that were defrauded — Franklin bank, First Tennessee Bank, Wells Fargo bank and a J.P. Morgan Chase and Co. subsidiary called EMC Mortgage Co. — are unlikely to collect anything more than a small fraction of their losses. Taneja is in bankruptcy and Hilton's restitution order requires Taneja to make payments of $300 a month after he is released from prison.

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Richard Young,and William Willard are charged in a Dec. 3 indictment with one count of conspiracy to commit mail and wire fraud

Richard Young, 49, of Lewistown, Mont., and William Willard, 65, of Bozeman, Mont., are charged in a Dec. 3 indictment with one count of conspiracy to commit mail and wire fraud, five counts of mail fraud, five counts of wire fraud, 11 counts of money laundering, 11 counts of engaging in money transactions with property derived from criminal activity and criminal forfeiture.

The men operated the companies of Global One Group, LLC, Malee Enterprises, Inc., and Badie Inc. Young is listed in corporate records as the founder, president, chief executive officer and manager of Global One. Willard is a co-founder and Member of Global One.

The indictment alleges that between April 2006 and October 2007, Young and Willard received about $900,000 from investors as a result of their false representations.According to the indictment, Young and Willard told investors they would be provided with educational opportunities regarding trading techniques on the foreign currency exchange market. The pair charged investors a $500 annual membership fee, which included access Global One’s Web site, conference calls and Web-based seminars, the indictment stated. Global One’s Web site now advertises a $2,500 membership fee and a $1,000 renewal fee.In these conference calls and seminars, Young and Willard claimed that Young had made 8,000 successful trades in a year on the foreign exchange market without one loss. Young and Willard told investors Global One could earn a substantial rate of return on their investments through a software trading program called Global Trac.Global One allegedly received money from investors in the form of loans and instructed investors to open accounts with Global One brokers. Young and Willard obtained powers of attorney from investors, allowing them to make trades on behalf of investors.The indictments allege that Global One didn’t have the “Global Trac” software it advertised.In addition, Young and Willard didn’t intend to fulfill the substantial rate of return on loans provided to them by their investors and used the funds for their own personal use by transferring money from the Global One bank accounts in Reno and Las Vegas to the bank accounts of Maelee Enterprises, Inc., and Badie, Inc. -- companies owned by Young and Willard, respectively.The men are scheduled to appear before U.S. Magistrate Judge Valerie P. Cooke in Reno on Jan. 22 for an initial appearance and arraignment. If convicted, they face up to 30 years in prison and a $1 million fine on the conspiracy count and on each mail fraud and wire fraud count, up to 20 years in prison and a $500,000 fine on each money laundering count, and up to 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine on each count of engaging in money transactions in property derived from unlawful activity.

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