Several months after her conviction following a 14-day trial before the Federal Court in New York City, Dalia Preldakaj, a paralegal from an immigration law firm was sentenced to 78 months in prison for one count of conspiracy to commit immigration application fraud, immigration application fraud, and false statements.

Between 2000 and 2008, Preldakaj and codefendant Salvador Collazo, an immigration attorney and employer to Preldakaj, ran an immigration fraud mill in New York City. Investigations revealed that Collazo and Preldakaj prepared hundreds of fraudulent applications for amnesty and other immigration benefits for unqualified clients.

Preldakaj allegedly overcharged clients thousands of dollars by falsely stating that such costs are fees charged by the United States Customs and Immigration Services (USCIS). In efforts to conceal the proceeds, Preldakaj allegedly deposited the money into several bank accounts she controlled.

A few months after pleading guilty to one count of money laundering and to operating an unlicensed money transferring business, Schmuel Cohen of New York City was sentenced to 18 months in prison.

It was alleged that between June 2007 and July 2009, Cohen operated an unlicensed money transmitting business through multiple branches in Brooklyn, New York with several foreign individuals residing in Israel. Cohen and his co-conspirators Yeshaye Ehrental and Akiva Aryeh Weiss transferred more than $400,000 in cash to Ben Haim.

Approximately one year following his arrest for allegedly participating in a $600,000 mortgage fraud scheme, Joe D. Green was sentenced to 10 years in federal prison. In September 2006, Green allegedly helped his codefendants apply for and obtain two mortgages totaling $600,000 supposedly to finance the purchase of the home from a co-conspirator who had purportedly acquired it from the deceased homeowner. But the mortgage applications in which Green and codefendant and former New York City police officer Oneika Carthon inflated their income and assets. Green also purportedly forged a fake stipulation upon the closing.

Jennifer Steplight, a former employee of the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) within the New York area, was charged with one count of embezzlement by a government employee and one count of false statement for allegedly stealing four laptops from TSA’s lost and found facility and attempted to fabricate fraudulent documents to prove her ownership.

Between December 2009 and January 2010, Steplight allegedly abused her position as an employee for the TSA and stole four laptop computers from the lost and found facility. She has also purportedly entered false information into TSA claim forms and inventory records to conceal her theft of the four laptops.

If convicted, Steplight faces a maximum penalty of 6 years in prison and a fine of $ 350,000.

Approximately 1 year after pleading guilty of one count of tax evasion, Jack Melman, the owner of several New York City and New Jersey based medical supply companies, was sentenced to 1 year and 1 day in prison.

Melman was charged for tax evasion in 2001. Investigation alleged Melman, who was at the time co-owner of multiple medical supply companies throughout New York and New Jersey, attempted to conceal some of his income through another co-conspirator.

In 2001, Melman issued checks from his corporate accounts to another co-conspirator’s company. The co-conspirator would then allegedly transfer the funds into Melman’s personal account. Melman would also convert the corporate checks into cash in efforts to conceal this income.

John Pietsch, the former Director of Construction for PC Richard & Son Corporation, pleaded guilty to one count of traveling and causing the travel in interstate commerce to promote and facilitate commercial bribery. It was alleged that Pietsch accepted approximately $80,000 in bribes from co-defendant David Slabon, the president of Designline Construction Services in order to favor contracts to Designline.

Pietsch admitted that in 2008 he agreed to accept cash payments totaling to $80,000 from David Slabon in exchange for steering P.C. Richard to award construction contracts to Designline. Slabon has also allegedly been purposely submitting inflated invoices which caused PC Richard & Son to overpay Designline approximately $2.5 million.

If convicted, Pietsch faces a maximum sentence of 5 years in prison and fine of $250,000.

La’Vada D. Cruse, a woman from the New York area, was arrested and charged with mail fraud and aggravated identity theft, for operating a scheme to defraud banks and other financial institutions of approximately $200,000 by submitting fraudulent college student loan applications.

Between December 2003 and 2007, Cruse allegedly obtained the personal information of several individuals. Using this information, Cruse purportedly applied for 92 student loans in both her name and in the names of those individuals without permission. Out of the 92 student loan applications, Cruse was granted 17 student loans totaling $192,000.

According to her falsified applications, Cruse stated that she was a full-time student within the New York area, when in fact she is not. She had also purportedly forged fraudulent documents such as phony employment letters, pay stubs, tax forms etc. to support the loan applications.

If convicted, Cruse faces a maximum penalty of more than 30 years in federal prison.

Several months after his initial arrest on February 6, 2010, Kemmet Meeks, a resident from the New York area pleaded guilty two counts of bank robbery.  Meeks admitted to robbing a Wachovia Bank of approximately $28,000 on November 3, 2009 and a TD Bank of approximately $13,000 on January 30, 2010.

In both robberies, Meeks allegedly drove a stolen van with co-defendant Eugene Jones and brandished a 9mm handgun before the bank tellers. After the robberies, Meeks and Jones purportedly threw away their ski masks and handguns before droving off with the loot.

If convicted, Meeks faces a maximum penalty of 40 years in prison and a fine of $500,000.

The case against Jones is still pending.

Paul Greenwood, the general partner of WG Trading Co., pleaded guilty to six counts of conspiracy, securities fraud, commodities fraud, wire fraud, and money laundering in New York City federal court for allegedly defrauding investors an approximate total of $544 million.  As part of his plea bargain, Greenwood agreed to cooperate with federal authorities against his partner Steven Walsh and to forfeit at least $331 million.

Between 1996 and February 2009, Greenwood and Walsh allegedly conspired and carried out a scheme to defraud institutional investors hundreds of millions of dollars through an “index arbitrage fund” which promised them high interest returns. It was alleged that both conspirators used most of the investments to fund their personal expenses.

Greenwood also purportedly attempted to help conceal trading losses and the conspirators’ misappropriation of investor funds by executing fraudulent promissory notes in favor of WG Investors.

If convicted on all six counts, Greenwood faces a maximum penalty of 85 years in prison and a fine of $16 million.

Daniel Carlo, owner and operator of a construction company named “Cartar” in New Jersey, pleaded guilty to tax evasion and consecutively sentenced to one year in federal prison for such charges.

In April 2006, Carlo purposely excluded $242,764 of taxable income from his 2005 U.S. Individual Income Tax Return Form 1040. Carlo admitted to hiding most of his unreported income by depositing client receipts into bank accounts held by his wife and daughter.

Carlo was also sentenced to 2 years of supervised release after his release.