Fraudster of the Week -- Randall Rye, The "Mini-Madoff"
Posted 07/28/17
By the C|C Whistleblower Lawyer Team
On Wednesday, a Chicago judge sentenced 26-year-old Randall Rye to nearly six years in prison for what federal prosecutors have called a “mini-Bernie Madoff scam.” Rye, the founder of Faster Than Light Trading LLC, pled guilty in April to one count of wire fraud and admitted to bilking around 20 investors of more than $1.7 million with a fake proprietary trading scheme. He...
This week, a judge sentenced two biodiesel executives to several years in prison for defrauding the federal government’s renewable fuel support and tax credit programs. Fred Witmer and Gary Jury are the co-owners of Indiana-based Triton Energy LLC, a company that purported to produce and sell biofuel for use in transportation. Instead, the two men used Triton to orchestrate a scheme to fraudulently produce...
By the C|C Whistleblower Lawyer Team
This week's Department of Justice "Catch of the Week" goes to Foundations Health Solutions Inc., Olympia Therapy Inc. and Tridia Hospice Care Inc. On Monday, these Ohio-based companies, comprising one of the largest nursing home operations in the state, and their executives Brian Colleran and Daniel Parker, agreed to pay roughly $19.5 million to resolve allegations that they...
By the C|C Whistleblower Lawyer Team
Last week, federal authorities announced that Dr. Rassan M. Tarabein, a neurologist who operates the Eastern Shore Neurology and Pain Center in Daphne, Alabama, had been arrested on myriad federal and state charges relating to health care fraud. A federal grand jury recently returned a 22-count superseding indictment against Tarabein, charging him with health care fraud,...
By the C|C Whistleblower Lawyer Team
On Wednesday, opening statements were delivered in the trial of Martin Shkreli, the “pharma bro” who is best known for his fiftyfold price increase of the lifesaving HIV/AIDS drug Daraprim while CEO of Turing Pharmaceuticals. Shkreli is being tried, however, on several counts of securities and wire fraud dating from his time running the hedge funds MSMB Capital and MSMB...
By the C|C Whistleblower Lawyer Team
On Monday, Danielle Faux, a physical therapist from Connecticut, was sentenced to two years of probation, the first six months of which must be spent in home confinement, for obstruction and tax fraud offenses. Faux—whose name is French for “false”—separately settled a related civil matter in which she agreed to pay $50,000 to resolve allegations that she falsely...
By the C|C Whistleblower Lawyer Team
On Tuesday, a federal grand jury in San Antonio returned two indictments against state senator Carlos Uresti in connection with two schemes—one involving alleged kickbacks for a medical services contract at a county jail, and a second dealing with an alleged Ponzi scheme that marketed sand used for hydraulic fracking. He now faces more than a dozen criminal charges and,...
By the C|C Whistleblower Lawyer Team
This week's Department of Justice "Catch of the Week" goes to two Southwest Missouri hospitals who yesterday agreed to pay $34 million to settle charges they violated the 
By the C|C Whistleblower Lawyer Team
Last Friday, a federal judge sentenced former Chicago Public Schools CEO Barbara Byrd-Bennett to more than four years in prison for her role in steering $23 million in city contracts in exchange for kickbacks. Byrd-Bennett—who earned a $250,000 annual salary and had multiple pensions from previous jobs—received more than $2 million for her role in the...
By the C|C Whistleblower Lawyer Team
This week's Department of Justice "Catch of the Week" goes to Import Merchandising Concepts L.P. On Monday, the Texas-based importer (and two affiliated individuals) agreed to pay $275,000 to settle charges of violating the