Tagged: fraud

Fifteen people have been charged with fraud for allegedly filing bogus claims for help after the 2010 BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.

The U.S. Attorney's Office said Thursday the phony claims were worth more than $300,000 combined.

Fourteen defendants were charged in bills of information, generally an indication that they have signed plea deals. A grand jury indicted one of them.

A home inspector has been sentenced to six years and six months in federal prison for tax fraud.

A federal judge Monday also sentenced Jack Ray Carr, of Baton Rouge, to one year of supervised release following his release.

Carr was convicted last June. Trial testimony showed that Carr threatened violence against a federal agent, filed false documents and tax returns with the IRS and tried to pay his tax debt with fraudulent bonds, fake money orders and a fake check.

The owner of a Covington development and construction company has been charged with fraudulently obtaining a multimillion-dollar bank loan.

Raymond Grow II, owner and operator of Masters Built Construction LLC, was charged Wednesday in federal court with one count of making a false statement to a bank.

A court filing says Grow's company obtained a $3.4 million loan from First American Bank to pay for building a subdivision on a 22-acre parcel of property in Ponchatoula.

A Metairie man has been sentenced to 30 months in federal prison for defrauding hundreds of investors in a Texas real-estate deal out of millions of dollars.

U.S. District Judge Lance Africk also on Thursday ordered Michael B. Smuck to pay more than $789,000 in restitution that he still owes investors. Prosecutors say Smuck already has paid nearly $3 million to one group of investors he bilked.

Smuck, who pleaded guilty in May 2010 to one count of mail fraud, solicited investments in acquiring a Houston apartment complex called Briar Meadows.

A woman who worked as a patient recruiter for several Louisiana medical equipment companies has been sentenced to 18 months in prison for her role in a Medicare fraud scheme.

U.S. District Judge James Brady in Baton Rouge also on Tuesday ordered 47-year-old Karen Rayburn to pay nearly $3.2 million in restitution.

Rayburn, of Baton Rouge, pleaded guilty in January to one count of conspiracy to commit health care fraud.