Blog posts with "money laundering"

Attorney Anthony Livoti, Jr. of Ft. Lauderdale was recently convicted by a Miami federal jury “of conspiracy to commit wire and mail fraud, conspiracy to commit money laundering, and mail fraud” as “the result of Livoti’s participation in a scheme to defraud approximately 30,000 victims who invested in the viatical and life settlement company Mutual Benefits Corp. (MBC). “For nearly ten years, Anthony Livoti, Jr. used the prestige of his law license to further this massive, multi-mi...

Disbarred-attorney Linda Vasquez and her former husband, Ross Littlefield, have been sentenced to federal prison for money laundering after admitting in a guilty plea to "defrauding 'vulnerable clients' to fund their other businesses, buy real estate, make car payments and finance an extravagant lifestyle," as reported by the Orlando Sentinel. Linda Vasquez (formerly known as Linda Littlefield) was only recently released from two years of incarceration in state prison for the former couple...

  "Preemptive counterattack" is taking on a whole new meaning. Though the US military has long maintained a policy of securing its networks and reserving a right to attack those who attack its networks, the issues of going on the offensive is now being discussed. This is not a new issue, but it has come to light recently due to increasing attacks on US networks and changes in the legal and political spheres. Critics are already pointing to the fact that these types of attacks often cause uni...

  Here is a recent article about the current investigation into the massacre of 72 migrants by the Zetas Cartel along the Mexican American border that was touched on in my prior posts. Take a look.  

  As a sad update to my prior post, the missing lead investigator in the case of a recent mass murder along the Mexican American border was found dead according to recent reports. His name does not yet seem to have been released. More details are available from the Guardian.  

Not that this should be a total shock, but our banking system has played a large role in the livelihood of the violent drug cartels that are wreaking havoc along our border. Several banks, including Wachovia, Bank of America, and Wells Fargo have been implicated. Wachovia alone has admitted to mishandling $378.7 billion in illicit funds from 2004-2007, that's one third of Mexico's current GDP! For a good write up on the subject, check out Bloomberg. And as a footnote, the lead investigator of...

In an interesting New York Times article, the author examines the basic functions of Russian cyber criminal networks and why they often go unpunished. Here are a few quotes:  Law enforcement groups in Russia have been reluctant to pursue these talented authors of Internet fraud, for reasons, security experts say, of incompetence, corruption or national pride. Underscoring the nationalistic tone of much of Russian computer crime, one site [hacker site that exchanged credit card numbers to ai...

  In an exciting story pulled from the leaves of a crime thriller paperback, we have news from Las Vegas, by way of Macau. From the city that pioneered the casino, violent organized criminals strike again. This time hailing from the east.   Macau, an island off the cost of Hong Kong, is a vibrant city of industry and entertainment. Five men were convicted of crimes in a Hong Kong court last year stemming from a plot to punish, and kill, a dealer from the Sands Macau casino. The perpetrators...

In a great article by Ben Bain at GCN, he stresses the need for an improved educational system to better prepare students for future cyber-security threats. Here is the article: "Strengthening education in science, technology, engineering and math is crucial to U.S. cybersecurity efforts, a senior Homeland Security Department official said today. Richard Marshall, director of global cybersecurity management in the Homeland Security Department’s National Cybersecurity Division, said improvi...

In an interesting development to the Mariposa Botnet take-down I reported earlier on, a large batch of cell-phones were apparently shipped by Vodafone containing the trojan powering the Mariposa Botnet. Here is the story from the Register: "Vodafone Spain has accepted that 3,000 customers were potentially exposed to malware after Mariposa botnet agents strayed onto the HTC Magic smartphone. The admission to Spanish media on Thursday follows a meeting between the mobile phone giant's Iberian...