A supposed mega-millionaire hotshot who appeared on the Bravo television series “The Millionaire Matchmaker” has been exposed as a Tampa, Fla.-based scam artist after federal prosecutors blew the whistle on him as a fraudster, leading him to plead guilty in court this week.

Michael Anthony Prozer III, who appeared on season two of the hit Bravo series that matches single wealthy people with potential spouses, pled guilty to conspiracy to commit mail, wire and bank fraud Tuesday, according to a written statement from U.S. Attorney Robert E. O’Neill.

http://liarcatchers.com/fraud_investigation.html

Claiming to own a mansion, private jet and have enough money to buy love, or at least compete for it on national TV, Prozer, a father of two young boys, seemed to be a man who had everything except a woman to complete his lavish lifestyle.

Prozer told television audiences that he was the millionaire CEO of Xchangeagent Inc., an online payment service for people in South America. The lie he has been living for years completely unraveled Tuesday when he pled guilty to charges relating to a scheme to defraud Park Avenue Bank in Valdosta, Ga.
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Xchangeagent Inc. recruited a financial specialist to aide in a scheme to defraud the bank by obtaining a short-term business loan purportedly secured by non-existent collateral, according to the Tamp Bay Business Journal.

“[Prozer] was able to bribe [the financial specialist] to demonstrate he had millions of dollars deposited in the bank. Criminal Defense Attorney Dana Cole told ABC News. That’s what makes him convincing, is that he can tell the world, ‘Hey you know the bank says I’m a multi-millionaire, so I must be,'” said criminal defense attorney Dana Cole, who has no connection to the case.

The duo produced fraudulent bank statements and documents in order to convince officials at Park Avenue Bank that Prozer had $21 million in deposits at a bank in Maryland. The scheme lost the Georgia bank about $3 million.

Now, three years after the reality-TV show that gave him national recognition, Prozer is behind bars facing a multi-year sentence in federal prison.

“Like many con men, the lie eventually unravels,” Cole said. “People realize there’s nothing there at the end of the day. And that’s how you get found out, the money doesn’t materialize, so lawsuits then turn into criminal investigations and those then turn into indictments.”

The guilty plea came as a shock to court watchers, who were expecting a trial to begin. A jury had even had been selected.

“I think he figured that the government had the goods on him, his frauds had been exposed,” Cole said, “and it was time to cut his losses and enter an early guilty plea.”

ALBANY, NY (04/10/2012)(readMedia)– The New York State Department of Taxation and Finance announced that two individuals in Westchester County have been arrested on tax-related charges. The arrests are part of ongoing statewide enforcement initiatives targeting those who evade their tax obligations.

Paul Sirignano – 59, an attorney residing in Chappaqua, was charged with Repeated Failure to File personal income tax returns, a class E felony, as well as Criminal Tax Fraud in the Third Degree, a class D felony, and Criminal Tax Fraud in the Fourth Degree, a class E felony. Sirignano failed to file his New York State personal income tax returns for tax years 2008 through 2010, and his tax liability for this period is over $28,000. Sirignano’s case was adjourned until April 26, 2012. He faces up to four years in State prison.

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Martin Gamliel, 65, an attorney residing in Yonkers, is charged with one count of Criminal Tax Fraud in the Fourth Degree, a class E felony, for failing to file his New York State personal income tax return for tax year 2009. As a result of this investigation, Gamliel filed a delinquent tax return. It was determined he has an outstanding tax liability over $5,400 for tax year 2009. According to a felony complaint filed in Westchester County Court, Gamliel also has over $390,000 in outstanding tax liabilities for tax years 1991 through 2007. Gamliel is scheduled to be in Westchester County Court on May 14, 2012. He faces up to four years in State prison if convicted.

All defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty.

A state agency might have jeopardized food-stamp fraud investigations by accidentally giving confidential information to a media outlet.

The Ohio Department of Public Safety turned over information about cases it thought had been closed though some are active, spokesman Joe Andrews said when contacted by The Dispatch.

“We may have given out some information that we probably shouldn’t have,” he said. “However, those records have not been released to the public, and no case has been compromised.”

http://liarcatchers.com/fraud_investigation.html

The Scripps Howard News Service, which in recent months exposed nationwide problems with banned food-stamp vendors being allowed to once again accept food stamps in their stores, asked for information compiled by the Ohio Investigative Unit. The agency, a part of the Public-Safety Department, works in conjunction with the federal government on food-stamp crimes.

Public-safety officials released a spreadsheet of three years’ worth of cases — about 90 total — to the Washington, D.C.-based news agency, which has affiliated newspapers and TV stations across the country.

Andrews said it is believed that the number of active cases in the pool of 90 is not large. The reporter understands he received some information by mistake, Andrews said.

A number of food-stamp criminal cases involve trafficking — the buying and selling of food-stamp benefits for cash, cigarettes, alcohol and other items.

Sometimes, even smart guys get taken.

That’s what the Edina law firm of Milavetz, Gallop & Milavetz (MGM) says happened after it received an e-mail from someone claiming to be a 40-year-old Korean woman who’d been hurt in Minnesota, and who needed help securing a $400,000 legal settlement.

Unbeknownst to Milavetz, the government had begun a secret investigation a year earlier of Nigerian collection scams that target U.S. lawyers in a strikingly similar pattern.

http://liarcatchers.com/fraud_investigation.html

That investigation led to a federal indictment in Harrisburg, Pa., of a Nigerian man and a Canadian resident. Much of the case is under seal, but the government alleges that they were part of a far-flung international conspiracy that has cost 80 victims — lawyers and law firms — at least $32 million, and that failed in attempts to extract more than $100 million from about 300 other targets.

Robert Milavetz says his firm was a victim of that scheme three years ago. Now, in a 50-page lawsuit filed Friday in U.S. District Court in St. Paul, Milavetz argues that Wells Fargo Bank should cover the law firm’s losses.

According to Milavetz, the bank had ample warning that a Nigerian fraud ring was targeting U.S. lawyers. And yet despite special precautions requested by the law firm on its escrow account, the bank allegedly ignored red flags and allowed the money to be wired to a Hong Kong bank, where it disappeared. The bank then charged the law firm for the missing funds.

“The most obvious red flag may have been that the branch address written on the purported official check … was misspelled,” the suit says.

Wells Fargo issued a brief statement on the lawsuit Monday. “We believe the allegations have no merit. We will vigorously defend, and expect to prevail,” it said.

Milavetz alleges that Wells Fargo had a potential conflict of interest because of a federal program that offered rewards of up to $150,000 to individuals, including bank employees, who provide actionable information to the government about money laundering or terrorism financing.

Scamming law firms

Here’s how the scheme works, according to the federal indictment in Pennsylvania: A co-conspirator contacts a law firm, usually by e-mail, seeking help to collect a legal settlement or payments from a divorce or real estate transaction. Another co-conspirator poses as a representative of the party who owes the money and then delivers a counterfeit check. After the check supposedly clears, the money is wired to a bank, usually in Asia, from which it disappears.

That’s precisely what Milavetz says happened to his firm. The suit says the check his firm received was allegedly drawn on Citibank and had the same account number and telephone number as at least three other law firms victimized in the alleged scam.

Wells Fargo flagged the $400,000 check as possibly fraudulent “at least three days prior to the wire transfer,” the Milavetz suit says, yet bank employees told the law firm that the check had “cleared” and then failed to inform the firm to the contrary until about a week after it had wired away the money.

Milavetz alleges that the bank relied on a computer program to determine whether to “clear” the check, but the suit alleges that the concept is meaningless because the bank has a policy allowing it to reverse its decision after the funds go missing.

“Wells Fargo’s policy is, that there is no defined ‘end point’ at which the bank considers a check to be finally settled,” the suit says.

Milavetz alleges that Wells Fargo, its officers and employees knowingly engaged in the transaction knowing that it involved criminal activity, or were willfully blind to the facts and the law.

The suit seeks to have a judge reverse the $396,500 charge to the law firm’s trust account.