Scam

A real estate development consultant has pleaded guilty to a federal racketeering charge for his role in a pay-to-play scheme at City Hall allegedly tied to now-suspended Councilman Jose Huizar’s approval of large building projects in downtown Los Angeles. George Chiang, 41, of Granada Hills pleaded guilty via videoconference Friday to one federal count of conspiring to violate the Racketeer…

A couple helped run an international romance scam that used bogus profiles on dating websites to woo dozens of victims into giving up more than $6 million, federal prosecutors said. Martins Friday Inalegwu and Steincy Mathieu, both of Maple Shade, New Jersey, were charged Tuesday with conspiracy to commit wire and mail fraud. Inalegwu, 31, made his initial court appearance…

A Southern California woman was arrested Friday on charges of swindling investors, mainly from China, out of $21.6 million in a phony condominium and hotel complex project. Ruixue “Serena” Shi, 36, of Arcadia, was taken into custody by FBI agents on a criminal complaint charging her with wire fraud, a statement from the U.S. attorney’s office said. It wasn’t...

 A man accused of romancing “black-ish” star Jenifer Lewis and three other women to con them out of money for his phony businesses agreed Friday to plead guilty to a federal charge of wire fraud, prosecutors said. Antonio Wilson, 57, of Santa Monica, acknowledged conning the women in the plea agreement filed in federal court in Los Angeles, the...

A convicted con man who co-founded a Southern California church months after leaving prison has agreed to plead guilty to running a church-based investment scheme that bilked people out of $33 million, federal prosecutors announced Friday. Kent Whitney, 38, of Newport Beach, agreed Wednesday to plead guilty to mail fraud and filing a false income tax return. He could face…

A British man accused of smuggling a phony coronavirus cure into the United States was charged Wednesday with a federal crime, prosecutors said. Frank Richard Ludlow, 59, of West Sussex was charged in Los Angeles federal court with introducing misbranded drugs into interstate commerce and could face up to three years in federal prison if convicted, according to the U.S….

A man who claimed in a strange series of YouTube and Instagram videos that he had created a miracle cure for the novel coronavirus and needed financing to mass produce an unproven pill was arrested Wednesday by the FBI. Keith Lawrence Middlebrook, 53, was arrested Wednesday while delivering the pills to an undercover FBI agent posing as an investor, according…

A California man was arrested after posting a series of bizarre videos in which he claimed to have a cure for COVID–19. Video broadcast Thursday March 26, 2020 on Today in LA.

Three Riverside County sheriff’s deputies and a tow truck operator allegedly conspired to steer business to the latter in exchange for favors benefiting the lawmen, all of whom are charged with felonies under an indictment unsealed Thursday. Former Deputy Kevin Carpenter, sheriff’s Sgt. Robert Christolon and Lt. Samuel Flores were indicted alongside Temecula-based TJ’s Towing proprietor Cody Close for...

A Los Angeles man is expected to plead guilty Monday to a federal charge for targeting Latina grandmothers throughout the Southland in a scam involving a fake winning lottery ticket. Tito Lozada, 50, faces sentencing May 11 on a single count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud, which carries a sentence of up to 20 years behind bars. Two of…