Michael M. Lippman, former Counsel to the Bronx Public Administrator, was arrested and charged with multiple counts of grand larceny, scheme to Defraud, Offering a False Instrument for Filing and Falsifying Business Records for conspiring and defrauding the Public Administrator’s office of more than $300,000 in excessive legal fees.

Between 2002 and 2010, Lippman allegedly conspired to defraud the Bronx Public Administrator’s Office by abusing his authority as administrator for five estates in New York City. Lippman purportedly charged advance fees totaling of more than $300,000 for work he never performed and did so without the court’s approval.

If convicted, Lippman can face a maximum penalty of more than 22 years in prison.

Ellen Lee, an expediter operating a liquor license corporation in Flushing, New York, pleaded guilty to one count of offering a false instrument for filing in the first degree, for filing forged and false applications with the New York State Liquor Authority (SLA).

Lee allegedly filed more than 170 fraudulent applications directly to the SLA’s offices in New York City by providing phony “Proof of Citizenship Affirmation,” forged attorney signatures and/or other inaccuracies.

If convicted, Lee faces a maximum penalty of 4 years of imprisonment.

Helmer Toro, the owner of H&H Bagels in New York City, pleads guilty to grand larceny, offering a false instrument for filing, and for violating Labor Law for unemployment insurance tax manipulation. Toro admitted to failing to pay for more than $369,000 in taxes that were withheld from his employees’ payroll.

Investigation revealed that Toro filed New York City and New York State withholding tax returns under 6 shell companies to obtain a lower unemployment insurance tax rate. Toro admitted to lower his unemployment insurance tax rate by transferring his employees from one shell company to the next.

If convicted, Toro faces a penalty of 50 weekends in prison and a fine of $500,000.

Bernard Feraca, the Administrative Construction Project Manager with the New York City Department of Sanitation, was arrested and charged with criminal possession of a forged instrument and offering a false instrument for filing, for submitting a fraudulent college diploma to secure his employment with the New York City Department of Sanitation.

On January 22, 2010, Feraca allegedly submitted to the New York City Department of Sanitation’s Human Resource Department a photocopy of a phony Bachelor of Science Degree from the University of Miami that was supposedly issued in 1977. The defendant also purportedly submitted a fraudulent resume, stating that he has received a Bachelor of Science Degree in Civil Engineering from the University of Miami.

But investigations revealed that Feraca never attended the University of Miami or received a Bachelor of Science Degree.

Feraca is currently suspended from his position without pay. If convicted, Feraca faces a maximum penalty of 19 years in prison.

Jules Robbins, Ernest Vogliano, and Federico Hernandez were arrested and variously charged with Offering a False Instrument for Filing and False Returns; Personal Income and Earning Taxes, for setting up and using sham companies to conceal the ownership of multiple Swiss bank accounts.

Investigation on these three defendants was a result of UBS’s filing for a $780 million deferred prosecution agreement with the United States Government in February 2009. The agreement revealed that UBS would provide the Government the identities of UBS customers who concealed their Swiss-based assets and personal income from the Internal Revenue Service (IRS).

In the matter of 5-7 years, Robbins, Vogliano and Hernandez concealed millions in assets by setting and using international sham companies with the assistance of a Swiss attorney to set up fraudulent accounts with UBS.

If convicted, the three defendants face a maximum of 16 years in prison.

Richard Gottfried, former Court Mitigation Specialist and member of the New York City Assigned Counsel Plan (ACP), pleads guilty to Grand Larceny in the 2^nd Degree and Offering a False Instrument for Filing in the 1^st Degree, for overbilling ACP for services he never provided and omitting certain background information on his appointment application with the Expert Roster.

Gottfried’s guilty plea reveals that from July 2004 to September 2005, Gottfried received approximately $160,000 from the City of New York from vouchers he submitted for work as a Mitigation Specialist. Gottfried admitted to substantially overstating the work he did or didn’t do to the ACP for maximum payment.

Gottfried now faces the maximum penalty for Class C and E Felony charges, if convicted.

Many fraud crimes in New York are prosecuted under New York Penal Law Section 175.30 or .35, Offering a False Instrument for Filing. One commits a crime under this statute when submitting, with intent to defraud, to any governmental office any document  that contains false information. One simple example of offering a false instrument for filing is submitting false application  for Medicaid  or another public  benefits program.  New York city criminal courts hear hundreds of such cases every year. These crimes are also prosecuted as Grand Larceny and Welfare Fraud. Offering a False Instrument for Filing in the second degree is a class A Misdemeanor or Offering a False Instrument for Filing in the first degree is a class E Felony punishable by up to 4 years in prison.

On March 12, 2010, Richard Depamphilis and Vicki Nanninga, a New York Police Department Detective and an owner of Stone Horse Inn, a retirement home for horses in Pennsylvania, respectively, were arraigned in Manhattan Criminal Court and pled guilty to Offering a False Instrument for Filing in the 2^nd Degree.

Depamphilis admitted to steering a $2 million contract, to board retired NYPD horses to Nanninga in December 2006. Nanninga admitted that she submitted a false application stating that Stone Horse Inn had 35 acres of pasture when in reality it only had 19 acres of land.

Both defendants will receive a Conditional Discharge and expected to pay a $25,000 over 5 years to the New York Police Department.

On March 9, 2010, three people were indicted for scamming the New York City Transit Authority of more than $150,000 in two separate schemes.

The three defendants are Jacqueline Jackson, head of the New York Transit Authority’s Law Department’s Legal Support Unit within the Torts Division, Joyce Ilarraza, owner AJI Records Retrieval, and John E. Headley owner of Advance IME Co. and former prosecutor.

From 2005 to 2009, Jackson approved over billed invoices submitted to the NYCTA by AJI Records Retrieval. Headley and Ilarraza later allegedly receive half of AJI’s proceeds. All three defendants also worked together in furthering the criminal conspiracy to scam NYCTA.

From 2007 to 2008, Jackson allegedly directed business to Advance IME and approved inflated invoices the company submitted in exchange for paying Jackson’s personal expenses such as utility bills.

The defendants are charged with Grand Larceny in the 2^nd Degree, Falsifying Business Records in the 1^st Degree and Offering a False Instrument for Filing in the 1^st Degree, punishable by a total of 30 years in prison.

11 Chinese immigrant street vendors were arrested for selling counterfeit goods, Medicaid fraud, and tax fraud. The defendants, who operated cash businesses, allegedly stole nearly $150,000 from the New York City Human Resources Administration (HRA) when they lied about their finances on their Medicaid applications. Four of the defendants were also charged with filing false tax returns for over 3 years.

According to the HRA, all 11 defendants had been receiving Medicaid benefits while owning multiple expensive homes, luxury vehicles, and multiple bank accounts. Amongst these defendants some have deliberately lied about their income on taxes and instead reported incomes low enough to receive such benefits.

New York City pays for Medicaid and Health Care Plus programs for people with low-income and few assets. To qualify for Medicaid in New York City, a single adult’s income is limited to $10,830 and and his financial assets should be worth less than $13,800.  A couple with two children must have income under $33,075 and assets worth less than $26,130.

Many individuals investigated for Medicaid fraud produce tax returns in the course of investigation that show very low incomes. In many case that triggers an inquiry into the validity of the numbers and cases are referred to the IRS and the NYS Department of Taxation. Deliberately concealing income for the purpose of evading paying taxes is not only a federal crime but also a state crime.

Defendants Yun Sue Huang and Cun Liang Lin were charged with, one count of grand larceny in the Second Degree, one count of welfare fraud and 7 counts of offering a false instrument for filing.

Defendants Xing Yun Hu, Choi Mui Ha, Yun Liu Jin, Chun Fei Chen, Sheng Li Weng, Xiulian Wang were charged with one count of grand larceny, one count of welfare fraud, and one count of offering a false instrument for filing.

Defendants Yun Ling Huang and Ling Di Gao were charged with one count of grand larceny one count of welfare fraud, and 10 count of offering a false instrument for filing.

Defendant Wei Bi Zou were charged with one count of grand larceny one count of welfare fraud, and 7 count of offering a false instrument for filing.