$200m Fraud Scheme Trial Begins in Indiana

An Indianapolis businessman’s trial on charges that he bilked investors out of more than $200 million opened Monday with his attorney telling jurors that prosecutors were misrepresenting his attempts to save the company.

Federal prosecutors say Tim Durham, his business partner and his accountant used a Ponzi scheme to bilk about 5,000 mostly elderly investors at the Akron, Ohio-based Fair Finance Co.

Defense attorney John Tompkins said in his opening statement that Durham was trying to keep the company alive after the 2008 financial crisis.

“There is no massive scheme,” Tompkins said. “There is a reaction to a panicked situation.”

Prosecutor Henry Van Dyck said jurors would hear phone recordings of Durham and the others discussing the scheme in late 2009.

Van Dyck said Durham lied to investigators and squandered money on a lavish lifestyle and failed businesses.

“To this day, the defendants have paid back none of that money. None,” Van Dyck said.

Full Article and Source:
$200M Investment Fraud Trial Begins in Indiana

Letter to the Editor: Advocate for the Elderly Under Long Term Care

To the Editor:

As you read this letter, there are countless thousands of vulnerable elderly people across this country who are being abused, neglected and financially exploited. These are crimes that are, by all accounts, severely under-reported and get far too little attention in our youth-focused society.

As New Jersey’s long-term care ombudsman, I oversee a resident-focused advocacy program that seeks to protect the health, safety, welfare, and civil and human rights of older individuals who live in long-term care facilities, like nursing homes and assisted living facilities.

While awareness of an issue is important, in my view, action is even more important.

Right here in Gloucester County, we have nine nursing homes but only six volunteers.

The need is clearly there — will you answer the call?

Full Letter and Source:
Advocate for the Elderly Under Long Term Care

IN: Judge Rejects Plea Agreement With Guardian Theft Suspect

A judge Wednesday rejected a plea agreement that called for no jail for a caregiver who admitted to stealing more than $60,000 from her elderly and disabled clients.

LaPorte Circuit Court Judge Tom Alevizos added a verbal tirade, saying he also felt bribed from an offer by the defendant’s relative to pay back the victims if no jail time was given.

“I feel like I have been akin to blackmail on this. I’ve never seen anything as despicable as this. I’m supposed to sit here and take this? It’s not going to happen,” Alevizos angrily said.

He then ordered the case rescheduled for trial Jan. 7.

In May, Tari Britton, 51, of Mill Creek agreed to plead guilty to two counts of Class D felony theft and in return would serve one year on home detention and pay about $64,000 in restitution to the victims.

The judge after reviewing the terms decided to reject the plea agreement because it called for no actual time behind bars or work release.

Alevizos dramatically read written statements from some of the victims that included, “She was supposed to be a friend, not a traitor. She was supposed to help us, not hurt us. I feel betrayed.”

Britton was working for Parents and Friends, a not-for-profit organization that provides services to disabled and mentally handicapped who might not have a direct family member or anyone else to assist with their care.

According to court documents, Britton had access to clients’ accounts because her duties under a guardianship program included taking care of their finances.

Full Article and Source:
Judge Rejects Plea Agreement With Theft Suspect

Seniors Flash Mob to Mark Elder Abuse Awareness Day

Source:
Video: Seniors Flash Mob West Roxbury Store to Mark World Elder Abuse Awareness Day

IL: Egyption Regional Human Rights Authority

On May 22, the Egyptian Regional Human Rights Authority met for its regular meeting, this time at the Depot in Anna.

This rather unassuming group of nine private citizens and health care professionals meets six times a year to discuss their investigations of disabled individuals’ complaints of rights violations by service-providing agencies.

The Human Rights Authority is one program under the Illinois Guardianship and Advocacy Commission, a state agency that promotes the rights of persons with disabilities.

“(A service provider) can be anything from a special education program to a group home to a hospital psychiatric unit; any place where individuals with disabilities might receive disability-related services,” said HRA Director Teresa Parks.

The Egyptian regional authority, which encompasses Southern Illinois, is one of nine regions across the state.

The local panels, which review and investigate complaints, are usually made up of three service providers and six citizens.

The Egyptian Regional Authority service providers include Sharon Mumford, J.R. Livesay and Mary McMahan, as well as Alphonso Farmer, Kathy Rambeau, Clarence E. Russell, Phyllis Brown, Pam O’Connor and Sue Taylor Barfield.

“The bulk of the review, the majority of the membership, is made up of consumers, family members and concerned citizens,” Parks said. “So it’s consumer and family member driven.”

Parks said they are regularly looking for local volunteers to serve on the panel.

Full Article and Source:
Citizens Evaluate Help Disabled Through Local Human Rights Authority

Linda Kincaid Reports: Wildwood Canyon Villa Director Admits Isolation and Elder Abuse of Resident

Wildwood Canyon Villa in Yucaipa, California isolated 86-year-old resident Jean Swope for fifteen months in 2010 and 2011, according to court records. In September 2011, the court issued a restraining order against unlawful isolation.

Executive Director Lynnette Alvarado returned to her policy of isolation in March 2012. In May 2012, Alvarado was deposed concerning elder abuse at Wildwood.

September 27, 2010: Department of Social Services cited Wildwood for violating Swope’s right to visitation.

September 28, 2010 Tenant Services Notes: “The executive director stated that [Swope’s] family [sister and nieces] are not allowed in the building until further notice.”

Full Article and Source:
Wildwood Canyon Villa Director Admits Isolation and Elder Abuse of Resident

Two Questioned in L’Oreal Heiress Abuse Probe

French police Monday detained L’Oreal heiress Liliane Bettencourt’s ex-lawyer and a businessman for questioning in a probe into allegations of abuse of power, a source close to the matter said.

Police are investigating whether the lawyer, Pascal Wilhelm, and reality TV entrepreneur Stephane Courbit took advantage of the 89-year-old heiress, who last year was placed under guardianship, to secure an investment in Courbit’s LOV Group.

Bettencourt’s former nurse, Alain Thurin, was also detained for questioning, the source said.

The 143-million-euro ($180-million) investment saw Bettencourt buy 20 percent of the group in May 2011, a few months before courts placed her under family guardianship because of her declining mental health.

Wilhelm, who is also Courbit’s lawyer, is alleged to have arranged the transaction for the businessman — an entertainment magnate who launched reality television in France with a local version of the programme “Big Brother”.

Courbit recently told Le Monde newspaper that he was aware of the investment but had not spoken with Bettencourt about it.

Bettencourt, France’s richest woman, was placed under guardianship in October, ending a long legal battle over her vast fortune, estimated to be worth more than 16 billion euros.

Her family, including estranged daughter Francoise Bettencourt-Meyers, had long accused advisors of taking advantage of the heiress.

Full Article and Source:
French Police Detain Two Over L’Oreal Heiress ‘Abuse’

See Also:
L’Oreal Heiress Loses Attempt to Free Herself from Her Daughter’s Guardianship

After Fisticuffs, Attorney in Contentious CT Probate Resigns

The Newington Probate Court accepted the resignation of Town Attorney Peter Boorman as conservator in a bitter probate case.

Boorman’s resignation followed a fight between him and his client’s grandson.

Probate Judge Robert Randich made his decision after 90 minutes of testimony that included a blow-by-blow account of the May 22 fisticuffs between Boorman and Joseph Geremia.

Randich ruled that Boorman was not at fault for the melee, but agreed to accept his resignation.

“I think Mr. Boorman had been doing it and doing it well,” Randich said of his work on the difficult case. “I think the well has been poisoned from which the good will needs to come.”

Randich appointed Boorman conservator at the time Boorman was vice chairman of the Newington Democratic Town Committee and Randich a member. Boorman left the town committee earlier this year, he said.

On May 22, Wallingford police arrested Boorman, 58, of Newington, and Joseph Geremia, 39, of Rocky Hill after a fight at the home of Geremia’s parents, Douglas and Linda. Boorman went to the house after Randich issued an oral order to collect almost $9,000 in cash and deposit it in the trust account of 96-year-old Margaret Geremia, for whom Boorman serves as conservator.

The fight happened about an hour after a contentious hearing during which Boorman sought authority to request a criminal investigation of $15,000 in expenditures he says that Douglas and Linda Geremia have failed to explain.

Boorman and Geremia were each charged with second-degree breach of peace. State prosecutors decided last week not to prosecute the charges.

Full Article and Source:
Newington Town Attorney’s Resignation Accepted In Contentious Probate Case

See Also:
State Won’t Prosecute CT Attorney/Conservator Involved in Altercation

$900K Settlement for Death at Washington State Adult-Family Home

For 22 days, caregivers at a Kirkland adult-family home guarded a secret.

An elderly woman at Houghton Lakeview suffered from pressure sores that had burrowed to the bone. No one called her family. No one alerted a doctor.

The state of Washington harbored a secret, too.

Investigators had cited Houghton Lakeview 33 times for inadequate care and substandard conditions. Two caregivers were convicted felons, barred from such work. Two others had forged nursing credentials. The public was never warned — nor were the residents in the home.

By the time the woman was rushed to the emergency room, it was too late. Jean Rudolph, 87, a retired nursing educator who had Alzheimer’s disease, died in 2008 from untreated pressure sores.

The state Department of Social and Health Services (DSHS) and the owner’s insurance company agreed to a $900,000 settlement this week with the Rudolph family.

This rare settlement reveals a state regulatory system torn between dual roles: booster of the industry as a way to control costs, as well as enforcer of its failings. With rising numbers of low-income seniors in need of long-term care, Washington and dozens of states are banking on these residential facilities as alternatives to more costly nursing homes.

The risk to the public, says attorney Tony Shapiro, who represented the Rudolph family, occurs when state agencies like DSHS form a “bunker mentality” and excuse violators to preserve existing adult homes.

Full Article and Source:
$900,000 for Death at Kirkland Adult-Family Home

Dispute Over Thomas Kinkade’s Will Heads to Court

Thomas Kinkade’s widow and girlfriend have taken their dispute over the late painter’s estate to court.

Amy Pinto-Walsh was living with Kinkade and found his body when he overdosed on alcohol and Valium in April. She asked a Northern California judge to allow arguments over the artist’s contested will to be heard in open probate court.

Lawyers for Kinkade’s wife of 30 years, Nanette Kinkade, want the terms to be decided in secret binding arbitration.

Full Article, Video, and Source:
Dispute Over Thomas Kinkade’s Will Heads to Court