This is America, where everyone has a job and everyone has a dream. The idea is to work the job until you can make the dream come true. That happened for one Illinois woman, but federal prosecutors say that the money she used to fund her dream was embezzled from…
Chicago rapper G Herbo has been charged in Massachusetts for using stolen identities to make illegal purchases. Purchases included trips on personal jets and designer puppies, according to the complaint. While rappers are not known for their white-collar prosecutions, identity theft is a major business in the criminal underworld. The…
Crystal Lundberg told a federal judge that getting charged with wire fraud had changed her life for the better. She said that she found legitimate employment and was growing as a person. But federal authorities have charged Lundberg in another scheme to defraud. This time, the victim was the federal…
A former Chicago public school staffer has pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI concerning the divulging of information related to a custodial contract to one of the bidders. Pedro Soto is accused of leaking bid information to one of the bidders and then lying about the fact to the…
A Chicago rabbi is facing federal charges alleging that he defrauded at least 75 people out of a reported $23 million. One of the people, federal officials noted, was a survivor of the holocaust. The fraud involved the purchasing of nursing homes and assisted living facilities. Zvi Feiner will face…
The man whose videotaped murder of a defenseless detainee resulted in several months’ worth of protests is now facing felony tax evasion charges. Chauvin will now face charges of second-degree murder and multiple felony counts of tax evasion. Chauvin and his wife are accused of hiding income streams on…
Rahul Shah became the first person in the Chicago area with the dubious distinction of defrauding the federal government for coronavirus relief funds. Shah applied for a $441,000 federal loan earmarked for small business relief during the coronavirus pandemic. When confronted concerning the suspicious forms used to apply for…
Yesse Yehuda, the politically-connected head of the FORUM non-profit, has been charged by federal authorities for misappropriating $200,000 in funds earmarked to develop south suburban properties and fund a workplace training program. Yehuda has been charged with eight counts of bank fraud and seven counts of wire fraud. Where Did…
Barbara Byrd-Bennett, the former Chicago Public School Chief who pleaded guilty to corruption and fraud charges and was sent to federal prison Camp Alderson in West Virginia, has recently been moved to a new facility. The 70-year-old Byrd-Bennett was sent to a residential reentry management facility that oversees halfway houses…
A Chicago pastor has been charged with fraud after bilking funds earmarked for needy children to purchase a Bentley. Federal authorities allege that Rev. Clarence Smith Jr. stole thousands of dollars from a federal program that helped feed children whose parents could not afford to feed them. Authorities say that…