Articles Posted in Fraud, Embezzlement & White Collar Crimes

Original Case Details

Former Macomb County Prosecutor Eric Smith’s fall from grace continues. Smith resigned from his post as Macomb County Prosecutor six months ago amid 10 state felony corruption charges. He is the highest-ranking Macomb County official to have been involved in the criminal crackdown on corruption that has been the story of the county this past year. 22 different people have been convicted since 2016 for their varying roles in local corruption. On the state level, Smith is charged with conducting a criminal enterprise, five separate counts of embezzlement by a public official, tampering with evidence, conspiracy to commit forgery, accessory to a crime after the fact, and public office misconduct. Smith’s home was also raided by federal investigators in connection with Smith’s suspected illegal use of campaign funds. He is alleged to have tried two subordinate assistant prosecutors and a friend to lie to a federal grand jury and investigators from the FBI about fraud schemes he allegedly used to illegally take $75,000 from his political election fund and convert it for his own personal use. This allegation has led to a federal criminal charge, which Smith has agreed to pled guilty to.

Former Macomb Prosecutor Pleads to Federal Charge

Original Case Details

A city clerk who served the city of Southfield faces felony charges for allegedly altering voter file records during the 2018 elections. The clerk, Sherikia Hawkins is accused of altering 193 voter records that were under her control as a city clerk. The Oakland County Clerk’s Office noticed the irregularities during the 14-day canvass period that followed the 2018 election. Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson has stressed that all the votes that were made were actually counted, and that Hawkins’ alleged activity did not affect the outcome of the election in any way. When an absentee ballot makes it to the clerk’s office, it is supposed to be logged into the qualified voter file. The clerk is then supposed to check to make sure the entries made are valid and correct. Oakland County Elections Director Joseph Rozell noticed that ballot summary sheets were blank and contacted Hawkins to ask why. After speaking with her, it was his belief that Hawkins switched the original reports with altered reports. Records allegedly indicate that Hawkins’ username and computer were the source of the alterations to the records. Hawkins is the first African American to be elected as Southfield city clerk.

Criminal Charges Involved

Original Case Details

An alleged fraud scheme between three people has led to criminal charges for the theft of nearly $500,000 from both a federal veteran’s program and from the state of Michigan itself. It is alleged that over the course of six years, these individuals created fake names and either obtained or created fake documents, such as birth certificates, to make it look like they were to inherit money from various people who had died. It is alleged that the individuals stole more than $40,000 from the Michigan Department of Treasury and nearly $450,000 from the United States Department of Veterans Affairs. The defendants have been arraigned on their charges in the 18th District Court in Wayne County.

Criminal Charges Involved

Original Case Details

A figure who has been at the center of an alleged extortion scheme alleging public corruption has pled guilty. Dino Bucci, long known as a “bag man” for the now-indicted Macomb County Public Works commissioner Anthony Marrocco made his guilty plea in United States District Court, via videoconference in front of Judge Robert H. Cleland (the courthouse is closed due to the pandemic). Bucci pled guilty to both extortion and theft conspiracy charges. He admitted to extorting money from engineering firms and construction developers by pressuring them to buy Anthony Marrocco political fundraiser tickets. Bucci was allegedly directed by Marrocco to let these people know that if they did not purchase the tickets, they would face “economic consequences.” He also admitted to being part of another scheme, this one being a kickback scheme to steal $96,000 from Macomb Township. Bucci faces up to ten years in prison and up to a $250,000 fine. Federal prosecutors have indicated that they will be seeking a lesser sentence for Bucci from Judge Cleland due to Bucci’s health issues. Before he is sentenced, Bucci is required to report to the probation department for a pre-sentence interview. Here, a presentence report will be generated and submitted to Judge Cleland for Bucci’s sentencing.

Macomb County Corruption Fallout

Original Case Details

The FBI has long targeted the United Auto Workers (UAW) with an investigation that has spanned years and resulted in over a dozen federal criminal indictments and convictions. While the UAW has been on the defensive with a litany of these charges targeting them, General Motors has been thought to be a target of the FBI’s investigation as well. GM has now been given the official word from the FBI that they are not a target of their ongoing investigation. This type of notification is rarely made, as the FBI is not under any requirement to tell anyone about the status or even existence of an ongoing investigation. Fiat-Chrysler on the other hand, has been on the receiving end of multiple criminal charges as the FBI has targeted them as co-conspirators with the UAW for bribery and kickback schemes. The UAW has separately been dealing with the FBI in an effort to show that those who were involved in any corruption were acting on their own and not in concert with the UAW as an organization.

Criminal Charges Involved

A 24-year-old Muskegon, MI man is now facing federal charges for offering to sell N95 masks that either were not authentic or never sent at all. An N95 respirator mask is a mask that covers the users nose and mouth and filters at least 95% of airborne particles. It is the medical standard when it comes to face masks. He is accused of scamming people online who were looking to buy the protective face masks during the current COVID-19 pandemic. He has been charged with federal mail fraud by the United States government in the Northern District Court of California. The Michigan State Attorney General has also recently announced an investigation into the man and his company EM General for price-gouging, and misleading customers into purchases that were never going to be filled nor refunded.

Original Case Details

The federal complaint which is the basis for the federal mail fraud charge alleges that customers of EM General paid as much as $40 per mask, but many never received them. Others who bought masks were sent cheaply made knockoffs that did not comply with the standards of real N95 masks. The man is also accused of attempting to make EM General appear more legitimate by using stock photos of people from the internet to make a page of the “employees” of EM General. He is also accused of naming a fake CEO for his “company.” Customers of EM General included paramedics and other hospital workers who were trying to do their best to protect themselves during this pandemic, but ultimately most never received their masks. In response to complaints from customers, EM General claimed that the delay in shipping was due to the masks being shipped from Turkey. It is not clear how many alleged victims there are in this case as the complaint simply states that EM General scammed “several” people into buying N95 face masks that they never received. This case is still being investigated jointly by FBI and federal postal inspection services in both San Francisco and Detroit.

Original Case Details

The married owners of a farm in southwest Michigan were charged with a litany of charges related to a 2012 bankruptcy filing. The husband was indicted by a grand jury with conspiracy to commit bank fraud, bank fraud, two counts of false statements on loan and credit applications, conspiracy to defraud the United States, and three different counts of bankruptcy fraud. It is alleged that the husband fraudulently received a $68 million loan from Wells Fargo Bank by falsely claiming the amount of his land, his assets, and inventory among other things. It is alleged he also filed false insurance claims to obtain payments which were actually used to pay for his farming operations and overhead.

The husband made a deal with the U.S Attorney’s Office back in April 2019. His deal included a maximum of five years in federal prison. He pled guilty to conspiracy to commit bank fraud and conspiracy to commit crop insurance fraud. The judge ruled that the agreement was not consistent with how the sentencing guidelines should be applied in regard to the case. The judge ruled that the correct sentencing guidelines range was between 12.5 to 15 years in prison. This ruling obviously did not line up with the original five year maximum in the agreement. The judge allowed for time to either come up with a new plea agreement or withdraw the plea altogether. The wife had been charged with separate related offenses back in 2015 and sentenced to 20 months in prison on her own plea agreement. That plea was also withdrawn because her plea agreement was ruled to be contingent on the husband going through with his plea agreement.