Pennsylvania Attorney Indicted for Role in $2.7 Million Ponzi Scheme

An Allentown, Pennsylvania, attorney has been charged for his role in a $2.7 million investment fraud scheme that victimized his law clients, according to a superseding indictment that was unsealed Monday.

Assistant Attorney General Brian A. Benczkowski of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division, U.S. Attorney William M. McSwain of the Eastern District of Pennsylvania and Special Agent in Charge Michael J. Driscoll of the FBI’s Philadelphia Field Office made the announcement.

Todd H. Lahr, 60, of Nazareth, Pennsylvania, was indicted by a federal grand jury in the Eastern District of Pennsylvania on one count of conspiracy to commit securities fraud and wire fraud, two counts of securities fraud, and four counts of wire fraud.

According to the superseding indictment, from 2012 through 2019, Lahr conspired with others to perpetrate a securities fraud scheme targeting his own law clients, which involved the fraudulent sale of the securities of two entities, THL Holdings LLC and Ferran Global Holdings Inc. Lahr used investor funds to finance his own lifestyle, paying his home mortgage, his child’s school tuition, utility bills and other personal debts. He allegedly perpetuated the scheme by using money that he received from new investors to pay money owed to other investors in the scheme.

Total investor losses are estimated to be over $2.7 million, according to the indictment.

https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/pennsylvania-attorney-indicted-role-27-million-ponzi-scheme

SEC Awards Over $1.6 Million to Whistleblower

Washington D.C., March 23, 2020

The Securities and Exchange Commission today announced an award of more than $1.6 million to a whistleblower whose information tipped the agency to securities law violations and helped form part of the basis for charges brought in a successful enforcement action. In addition to the tip, the whistleblower provided helpful assistance early in the investigation, preserving Commission time and resources.

“The violations would have been difficult to detect without the whistleblower’s information and assistance,” said Jane Norberg, Chief of the SEC’s Office of the Whistleblower. “This matter highlights the importance of the SEC’s whistleblower program to the agency’s enforcement efforts and to its ability to maximize staff resources.”

The SEC has awarded approximately $395 million to 74 individuals since issuing its first award in 2012. All payments are made out of an investor protection fund established by Congress that is financed entirely through monetary sanctions paid to the SEC by securities law violators. No money has been taken or withheld from harmed investors to pay whistleblower awards. Whistleblowers may be eligible for an award when they voluntarily provide the SEC with original, timely, and credible information that leads to a successful enforcement action. Whistleblower awards can range from 10 percent to 30 percent of the money collected when the monetary sanctions exceed $1 million.

As set forth in the Dodd-Frank Act, the SEC protects the confidentiality of whistleblowers and does not disclose information that could reveal a whistleblower’s identity.

https://www.sec.gov/news/press-release/2020-69

Spanish soldiers fighting coronavirus find nursing homes full of 'dead and abandoned' elderly

Spanish law enforcement officials said that an investigation would be launched Monday after Spanish soldiers reportedly found elderly citizens dead from coronavirus abandoned in nursing homes.

The BBC reported that Spain's defense ministry announced the launch of an investigation after elderly Spanish residents were found in some retirement homes abandoned by care staff.

"We will be be totally relentless and assertive over this," Defense Minister Margarita Robles said on Monday, according to Turkish state-run news organization Anadolu Agency.

"We have a clear message: the law will fall on all those who don’t comply with their obligations in these residences," she added.

Nearly 40,000 cases of the coronavirus have been confirmed in Spain as the country tracks only behind Italy among the hardest-hit countries in Europe. The country's death toll is now at almost 2,700.

The country's deputy prime minister is currently hospitalized awaiting treatment for a respiratory infection and has been tested for coronavirus, though the results of that test have not yet been returned, a government spokesperson told Business Insider.

"The deputy Prime Minister went to a hospital yesterday afternoon and after medical tests were carried out doctors decided she had to remain there to receive treatment for a respiratory infection," said the spokesperson.

https://thehill.com/policy/international/489223-spanish-soldiers-fighting-coronavirus-find-nursing-homes-full-of-dead

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