Bridgewater Financial Advisor Sentenced to 27 Months

Bridgewater resident Ralph Saviano, 72, was sentenced Wednesday to 27 months in prison, following his guilty plea to mail fraud charges, U.S. Attorney Paul J. Fishman announced.

In June, Saviano, an investment advisor with nearly 40 years experience in the area, had entered a guilty plea to charges he stole $138,000 from two elderly clients through his financial advisory company to fund a lifestyle Fishman called “lavish.” Fishman said the clients were told the funds were invested in “conservative securities and Saviano’s business.”

At the plea hearing on June 5, U.S. District Judge Freda L. Wolfson, in Trenton federal court, entered a consent judgment and order of forfeiture in the amount of $699,926.51, which constitutes the proceeds Saviano obtained from his known investor victims as a result of his offense.

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Bridgewater Financial Advisor Sentenced to 27 Months

Suspended Florence lawyer indicted on federal charges

The United States Attorney for the District of South Carolina announced Wednesday that William Rivers, III of Florence has been charged in a three count indictment with Mail Fraud.

The indictment says between October 2006 to November 2012 Rivers and his late law partner John Schurlknight failed to tell clients when their cases had been settled and failed to pay the clients’ medical providers, but instead forged clients’ signatures on releases and kept all of the money received in the clients’ settlement.

Rivers and Schurlknight were partners at the Schurlknight and Rivers Law Firm in Florence, which is no longer in operation.

Rivers was suspended from practicing law by the South Carolina Supreme Court last December following complaints filed by former clients about missing money.

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Suspended Florence lawyer indicted on federal charges

New Jersey Man Pleads Guilty to Bilking Elderly Woman Out of $279K While She was Hospitalized for Cancer

A former Hudson County resident admitted today that he defrauded an elderly woman of approximately $279,000 while she was hospitalized for cancer treatment, U.S. Attorney Paul J. Fishman announced.

Ralph Cozzino, 43, of North Bergen, pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge Robert B. Kugler in Camden federal court to mail fraud.

According to the documents filed in this case and statements made in court: Cozzino admitted to stealing stock certificates from the elderly victim’s apartment.

Cozzino then presented the stolen stock certificates to the victim’s stock transfer agent, along with a fraudulent power of attorney bearing the victim’s name, address, Social Security number and forged signature, which purported to grant him control over the victim’s financial affairs,including the power to redeem and/or sell stock.

Cozzino instructed the stock transfer agent to transfer ownership of the stolen stocks into Cozzino’s name and to liquidate certain shares of stock for his benefit.

He caused the stock transfer agent to send him the proceeds of the liquidated shares, which he deposited into bank accounts that he controlled and spent the funds on various personal expenditures, including a 2006 Nissan, Lasik eye surgery, as well as a down payment, closing costs, and furniture for a new house.

From April 2006 until October 2007, Cozzino liquidated, and converted to his own use, approximately $279,000 in stolen shares belonging to the victim.

The mail fraud count to which Cozzino pleaded guilty carries a maximum potential penalty of 20 years in prison and a fine of $250,000. Sentencing is scheduled for Aug. 14, 2013.

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North Bergan Man Pleads Guilty to Bilking Elderly Woman Out of $279K

Former Oklahoma DHS Worker Charged With Mail Fraud

A DHS worker kept hidden from the federal government that a disabled adult had died so she could get his monthly benefits checks and use the funds “for her personal benefit,” prosecutors allege.

Katharine A. Daugherty, 57, of Bethany, is charged in Oklahoma City federal court with wire fraud.

Because of the scheme, the U.S. Labor Department was cheated out of more than $27,000, prosecutors allege.

Daugherty retired from the Oklahoma Department of Human Services in August 2011 after learning she was under investigation. She was an adult protective services specialist IV.

Her attorney, Irven Box, said she has accepted responsibility for her actions and intends to plead guilty to the felony charge. A hearing is set for Wednesday.

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Former Oklahoma DHS worker charged with wire fraud