Three artifacts were been handed over to Italy by American officials in early November 2018. The items had been tracked to an auction house in New York City.

The clampdown on ‘cultural crimes’ happened after several repatriations of Italian art and antiquities stolen abroad and recovered when each was put up for auction.

The ancient items included:

• A wine carafe,
• A decanter for valuable oils, and
• A soup tureen

The trio had been illegally removed from an archaeological site in Italy, smuggled into America and had been listed with a New York auction house.

“Italy is introducing new laws so there are stiffer penalties applied to crimes regarding cultural heritage,” said Arkady Bukh, a prominent criminal defense attorney in New York.

While the items were handed over to Italy during a ceremony inside the Italian Embassy, other items have come to light.

The idea of Christianity and capitalism has been around since at least before Jesus tossed the money changers out of the Temple.

Museum of the Bible

Washington’s museum, The Museum of the Bible, is another agency which has run afoul of antiquities laws.

The company behind the museum, Hobby Lobby, was forced to return over 3,800 ancient Iraqi artifacts — the newest items in the museum’s collection.

The Green family, evangelical Christians, own Hobby Lobby. The craft and hobby company has more than 15,000 full-time workers in over 40 states.

In July 2017, the U.S. Attorney’s office for New York’s Eastern District filed a civil complaint against the company. The collection was intended to become the core of the “Museum of the Bible” which opened in Washington in November 2017.

Through a long string of thieves and profiteers, Hobby Lobby was able to get its hands on 4,000-year-old Iraqi artifacts. Steve Green traveled to the UAE to inspect the goodies and approve the purchase of more than $1.6 million. A dealer’s warning about the looting of the items was ignored. The company falsely labeled the shipping crates as “tile samples”.

The haul included ancient cuneiform tablets and cylinder seals. Many of the items came from the prehistoric city of Irisagrig in the time period known as the Ur III and Old Babylonian periods.

“State Attorneys throughout America have played a very significant part in having U.S. courts recognize the unique value of cultural objects,” said Bukh.

The Takeaway

Green, the lead funder of Washington DC’s Museum of the Bible, said his corporation had made ‘regrettable mistakes” and added, “we should have exercised more oversight.”

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Anyone who plans on breaking the law in New York? Make sure you get caught by New York’s law enforcement and not the federal authorities. While the city and state make shake you down for money before sending you on your way, the ‘federales’ put people behind bars.

Look at the case of former Congressman Michael Grimm and compare it with the people who were arrested in New York City for not paying sales tax.

Michael Grimm

Grimm was an elected official. He represented New York 13th and 11th congressional district and was the only Republican to represent a large portion of New York City. That seemed to give him a special spot inside the legal system. The laws of America are supposed to be applied even-handed, across the board. While some believe an angel gets its wings each time a politician goes to jail and that may be the case with Grimm, a well-regarded Republican from Staten Island.

Grimm liked to play games with sales and payroll taxes from his restaurant — Healthalicious.

In April 2014, the case’s information was finally made public. The Brooklyn US Attorney’s Office released sentencing documents which resulted from a plea agreement between Grimm and the government.

According to the court record, Grimm ran schemes to under-report the real amount of the eateries’ earnings and the wages he paid his workers. The result was fraudulently lowering the taxes due and the value of workers’ compensation premiums the restaurant owed.

The indicted included 22-counts which pointed to Grimm concealing over $900,000 in receipts. The federal and state tax authorities were not too pleased when Grimm scammed the old-fashioned way — by manipulating the books and putting cash into his pockets.

Grimm, who had once been an FBI agent was mad, and the feds wanted him to make restitution and spend up to 30 months in jail.

Grimm was released on May 20, 2016, having served just seven months.

High-Tech Version of Grimm’s Scam

Several Cyrus Vance, Manhattan’s district attorney, charged eight people for a high-tech version of Grimm’s con.

Instead of merely pocketing cash and slicing off profits seven people in the group used high-tech cash registers, called zappers. The 8th individual sold the equipment to the seven businessmen.

Each of the merchants pleaded guilty and admitted to underreporting over two-million in sales tax. In one instance, one month of record sales was reduced by more than $100,000.

What punishment did the restaurant owners get? Vance’s people never said, but it wasn’t jail.

Crimes Against Revenue Program

CARP, Crimes Against Revenue Program, was begun in 2004. A person caught cheating the city and state out of money has to reimburse the stolen money as well as pay a healthy fine.

While Vance’s office would comment on the financial penalties, the plea agreements were sealed. Possibly someone was paid off.

Under New York’s law, the DA’s office gets a piece of the action in a case involving zappers. Every district attorney in the state is motivated to find cheaters because of the cash they stand to get.

Shakedown?

It may be too mean to call this an old-fashioned shakedown, but that’s what it is. No one usually cares how hard white-collar criminals are shaken.

CARP benefits the crooks as well as the DAs. The fines are typically levied against the corporation, so when all is said and done no individual’s reputation gets sullied.

So why doesn’t New York pursue charges? State law is often hazy on crimes resulting from the latest technology and state legislators are busy committing their own crimes. They have little time to be concerned about making the law catch up with technology.

The Takeaway

Everything considered the 7 restaurant owner and one salesman got a better deal than what Grimm got.  

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Federal prosecutors allege U. S. Representative Chris Collins got busy with insider trading. Collins will go to court for some type of resolution, but in the meantime his indictment peels back the curtain on what a lousy job Congress has done to guard against such crimes.

Collins, a New York Republican, allegedly shared insider information about a publicly traded stock’s value. But that isn’t all which concerns others. Collins is also a director of Innate Immunotherapeutic, a pharmaceutical company also subject to oversight by the Congressional committee on which Collins sets.

Collins isn’t the first person to be suspected of insider trading — just the latest. Four others who have been busted include Jeff Skilling, R. Foster Williams, Martha Stewart, and Ivan Boesky.

“Tiptoeing on a narrow ledge past insider trading rules may be deft and clever,” says Arkady Bukh, a New York criminal defense attorney who has successfully defended dozens of accused insider traders. “But it doesn’t make it right.”

What Is Insider Trading?

An ‘insider’ is any person who holds:

1. Access to valuable non-public information about a corporation, or
2. Ownership of a stock equaling over 10 percent of a firm’s equity.

A common myth is all insider trading is illegal. There are two ways insider trading can happen. One is illegal, the other isn’t.

Legal Insider Trading

Insiders are legally allowed to trade shares of the firm that employment. The transactions must be registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) are done with advance filings.

Illegal Insider Trading

The more notorious form of insider trading is the unlawful use of non-public material information for profit. This sort of trading can be done by anyone including company executives and their relatives and friends — or just an ordinary person on the street.

The SEC monitors illegal insider trading by watching the trading volumes of any particular stock. Volumes typically increase following new for the public, but when no news is issued to the public, it can be a warning flag. When that happens, the SEC investigates to find who is responsible and whether it was legal.

Proof

Proving a person has been responsible for insider trading can be difficult as traders often hide behind nominees, offshore companies and similar proxies. The SEC prosecutes more than a case a week and many are settled out of court.

Although the SEC does not have criminal enforcement powers, the agency does refer serious cases to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for possible prosecution.

Punishment

Several factors determine the punishment for insider trading. There are three criteria and depending on the jurisdiction, there may be civil or criminal penalties — or both. The three main criteria are:

• Scope
• Gain, and
• Evidence

Scope

How many people were impacted by the inside trading?

Gain

How much did the inside trade make from the transaction?

Evidence

Anyone charged is innocent until proven guilty. The burden of proof falls on the prosecution and if the case lacks a ‘smoking gun,’ the prosecutor finds it harder to prove guilt.

Rules and Regulations

Insider trading statutes are founded on American common law restrictions against fraud. The U.S. Supreme Court decided in 1909, that a company director who purchased a company’s stock when he knew the stock’s price would increase perpetrated a fraud by buying the stock but not revealing his privileged information.

The Securities Exchange Act of 1934

Prohibitions of fraud when it comes to stock and securities sales were strengthened the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. Section 16(b) prohibits short-swing profits made by company directors or officers and stockholders who own over 10% of a firm’s shares. Most of the development of insider trading prohibitions has come from court decisions.

The Takeaway

Once begun, insider trading doesn’t stop. The greed which nourishes the crime keeps growing until the branches become too heavy and the tree falls over. That’s when the SEC steps in and scrapes up the pieces. Anyone accused of insider trading should contact an experienced attorney immediately.

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Silver was convicted in May 2018 — for the second time — of selling his office for $4 million in kickbacks and another $1 million in profits for himself.

At sentencing, Silver tried to put on a brave front about spending  time in prison and didn’t seem to care where they sent him. His personal reputation was a bigger concern.

“I fear I will continue to be ridiculed and disdained,” was all Silver claimed frightened him.

Determining The Institution

The American criminal justice system looks at several factors when deciding which facility a white-collar criminal will be sent to. The governing factors include:

• Nature of the crime, as in how much money was involved, how many people were affected.
• Previous felony conviction(s)
• United States Sentencing Commission
• Typically a sentence of less than 10yrs with no priors, a person would be sent to a FPC (Federal Prison Camp). Here are a few notable white collar felons currently locked up at various facilities.

• Bernard Madoff received 150 yrs for his billion dollar ponzi scheme. He is at the in FCI Butner Medium II in N.C.
• Allen Stanford – 110 years for Fraud (one of the few that have been sent to a USP (United States Penitentiary). He is at USP Coleman II – in FL
• Bernard Ebbers – 25 years, Securities Fraud, he is at FCI Oakdale I – LA.
• Jeffrey Skilling – 14 years (originally 24 yrs) for his part in the Enron scandal. He is at FPC Montgomery AL.

There Aren’t Any “White Collar.” Prisons

“White Collar prisons” is  a term folks sometime use to describe a facility someone who has been convicted of a “white collar crime”.

Most all white collar crimes are federal. Some examples are:

• Antitrust Violations,
• Bankruptcy Fraud,
• Bribery,
• Computer And Internet Fraud,
• Counterfeiting,
• Credit Card Fraud,
• Economic Espionage And Trade Secret Theft,
• Embezzlement,
• Environmental Law Violations,
• Financial Institution Fraud,
• Government Fraud, Healthcare Fraud,
• Insider Trading,
• Insurance Fraud,
• Intellectual Property Theft/Piracy,
• Kickbacks,
• Mail Fraud,
• Money Laundering,
• Securities Fraud,
• Tax Evasion,
• Phone And Telemarketing Fraud, And
• Public Corruption.

Cumberland Is An Example

The Federal Correctional Institution in Cumberland, Maryland houses both medium and minimum security inmates. The visiting room is spotless and looks more like a corporate cafeteria with unbarred windows and inmate-made quilts decorating the walls.

Prisoners wear the uniform of the day which consists of forest-green cargo pants, long-sleeve, button down shirts and work boots. One inmate, former NYPD Commissioner Bernard Kerik, used to run the worst jail in America and was appointed by George W. To head the Department of Homeland Security until it hit the fan.

Kerik As A Sample Prisoner At A Sample Prison

Kerik’s sins are legendary and includes a 16-count indictment for lying to the IRS and The White House. The former top-cop also was indicted for accepting renovations to his home from contractors who sought work in New York. Kerik was sentenced to four years when he pleaded guilty to eight charges.

Kerik used his time to working out. Halfway through his stay in Cumberland, he looked like a bull and was 50-pounds lighter than his pre-incarcerated weight of 260 pounds. At Cumberland there wasn’t a golf course or tennis courts, but Kerik did enjoy the basketball and baseball games and made use of the workout area.

Every time another bigwig goes ‘up the river,’ people want to know what is life really like on the inside for white-collar criminals.

When details of life in the camps began to trickle out, they never seemed terrifying.

Mickey Sherman, convicted for tax evasion, claimed the most dramatic part of being in the Federal Correctional Institution, Otisville, New York , were the arguments which took place when inmates argued over who got kicked off American Idol.

Martha Stewart spent five months in the women’s prison in   Federal Prison Camp, Alderson [West Virginia] where she taught yoga and crafted a ceramic nativity scene. The minimum-security facility came with cottages and tree-lined streets. It wasn’t nicknamed “Camp Cupcake” for nothing.

But times change.

No Club Fed

Despite high-profile cases like Bernie Kerik, Bernie Madoff, Dennis Kozlowski, Martha Stewart — or any of the Wall Street suits busted during the recession. The questions persis. What are  the country club prisons like?

Decades ago tennis courts could be found in Federal Prison Camps. Most people became familiar with the term Club Fed — inspired by Federal Prison Camp Eglin. The stories, then, were true, but sentencing guidelines and conditions for white-collar crimes have gotten worse.

When Kozlowski  went to the Downstate Correctional Facility, just outside of New York City, the former Tyco executive didn’t go outside for over eight months. After being transferred to Mid-State, Kozlowski passed the time doing laundry, reading books and taught himself to paint. “Koz” looked forward to getting out and “doing what free people do.” Close a bathroom door, go to the store, drive a car and even open a door were simple pleasures he missed.

White-collar prisons are not filled with, wait for it, white-collar prisoners. In many white-collar facilities the majority of inmates are drug dealers who are serving less than 10-years.

Better Treatment?

The great myth is the famous get better treatment. The truth is different. The higher the profile a person  the fewer perks they receive. When Kerik was sentenced there were multiple minimum-security prison within a hour’s drive of his New Jersey home. Instead, he was shipped to western Maryland and his wife and children traveled 10-hours, round trip, to see him.

Jack Abramoff’s mother died while he was locked up and authorities refused to let him out to go to her funeral. “I didn’t see anyone else denied the opportunity to go to a parent’s funeral,” Abramoff said. “I was there long enough that I saw many people go to funerals — including some vicious guys.”

The Takeaway

For white-collar criminals, isolation from family takes a toll. You can’t show your children love and support or provide guidance in absentia.

“No one can fathom the pain, the heartache which the system causes parents and kids. Nobody gets it. Nobody understands,” said one former inmate.

Kerik said, “I realize being sentenced in America’s criminal justice system is a life sentence. It’s not about the time you are sentenced for. You receive a punishment of imprisonment and then a lifelong sentence of collateral punishment.”

None of that sounds like Club Fed.

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Lithuanian cyber thief  Evaldas Rimasauskas allegedly ripped off Facebook and Google for a cool $100 million scam using a phishing plot. Rimasauskas will be extradited to America to stand trial. 

The same scheme which caught Rimasauskas has caught up with a New York personal trainer. Shannon Pettinger, 43, was arrested and accused of grand larceny for her part in the phishing scam which targeted businesses as well. 

Phishing is gaining in notoriety and connections  through Internet come-ons found on Google, Facebook and other social media sites. It’s appealing to anyone greedy and interested in making some quick cash.

The branch of the scheme which caught Pettinger is called “The Business Email Compromise” by the FBI and is growing more common. Between 2013 and 2016 over 40,000 such crimes walked away with $5 billion. 

Between May and December 2016, American companies alone lost more than $345 million. 

The New York Police Department has documented more than 74 scams in the metro but believes the number is likely to go higher. 

“Companies don’t want to appear vulnerable,” said Greg Besson with the city’s Financial Crimes Task Force. “Businesses don’t enjoy  front-page stories saying don’t “put your cash here.” 

Orson Munn, CEO of the ad firm Munn Rabot did go straight to the police when he learned someone sent an email to an employee directing them to wire $50,000 to a Citizens Bank account for Shays Way, a shell company. 

Although Munn was asked by law enforcement not to discuss the details, Munn did say, “I need fairness to be followed.”

In Pettinger’s case, Isaac Branch, also with the FCTF said he essentially “followed the money,” recognized Pettinger and took the bank’s video footage of her taking money from the account. 

Petting appeared to be connected to a bigger plan and  attempted to wire money to a Chinese account over $49,000. 

Now, free on bail, Pettinger isn’t talking and hung up on a journalist who called her at her home. 

While it’s not clear how Pettinger got involved in the scam, the FBI says she is a small player in a larger scam. 

Often someone responds to an email for a money-making opportunity — such as working from home — and ends up with an assignment that gives them a piece of the amount stolen.

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Fun and games for Martin Shkreli are over. It’s impossible to say what may happen to Shkreli but everyone knows it won’t be fun. 

The smug 34-year-old who jacked-up AIDS medicine, stole from investors and called Washington DC lawmakers “imbeciles” will be spending his days sharing his new residence with vermin, limited computer access, and no social media. 

Inmate #87850-053 is unknown. The name behind the number is well-known and possibly the most hated man in America. 

Shkreli bragged once instead of going to a real jail he would enjoy “Club Fed” where he could wear white tennis short, sip ice tea and spend his evenings relaxing in front of a flatscreen television. The reality is different. 

“It’s a rough area,” said Arkady Bukh, a white-collar attorney in New York. 

Brooklyn Metropolitan Detention center is a federal jail holding about 2,000 inmates. Shkreli will be a resident until he is sentenced January 16. 

Shkreli was found guilty in August of fraud and conspiracy for lying to investors in a variety of hedge funds he managed. 

Shkreli had been free while waiting for sentencing. When Shkreli posted on social media he would pay $5000 for a single hair from Hillary Clinton, a judge revoked his $5 million bail and sent him to jail.  

Shkreli will likely mix with the other prisoners which includes gang members, drug dealers, bank robbers and other persons convicted financial crimes. 

Shkreli first became infamous in 2015 when he raised the cost of a tablet taken by AIDS sufferers from $13.50 to $750. With a grandiose character and sustained use of social networks, Shkreli has stayed in the limelight. That beacon of fame may be decreasing. Shkreli faces up to twenty-years behind bars.

Some observers believe Shkreli is not likely to get the greatest sentence. Others say the same behavior which led to bail revocation may keep him from getting a lighter sentence.  

“The judge has seen Shkreli’s behavior as violent,” said Sarah Walters, a white-collar defense lawyer in Boston. 

Larry Levine, the founder of Wall Street Prison Consultants, is a jail specialist who spent ten years across 11 federal facilities for racketeering, drug trafficking, and securities fraud. Now, Levine instructs prison-bound clients on how to survive incarceration. 

Levine says Shkreli will have his work cut out for him. 

“He’ll have to walk a fine line in dealing with inmates,” said Levine. “Shkreli will need to refrain from being arrogant and show respect.”

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What would you do if you stole millions — and got away with it on one condition: You never leave your home country again.

Many cyber thieves have done just that. Stolen millions and despite being known to law enforcement authorities in America, there’s no action the authorities can take as the suspects are in Russia.

A few cyber hackers, with more money than sense, don’t lay low. One even bought a lemon-yellow Dodge Charger and had his picture taken close to the Kremlin.

Needless to say that image caught the attention of American authorities and they kept their eye on him. When he went on vacation to the Maldives America knew and had him picked up.

Some days it just doesn’t pay to get out of bed — or leave the country.

While American President Donald Trump dismisses suggestions that Moscow interfered in the recent election as “fake news,” the FBI and Congress have launched investigations into Russia’s possible role in Trump’s surprise election.

The impetus of the American campaign cycle has left Russian hackers with a problem. If they leave Russia, where there is no extradition treaty with America or one of Russia’s allies, they can get picked up and shipped to America.

Arkady Bukh, a criminal defense attorney in America, says, “They (the high-profile hackers) can’t travel. They understand the danger.” Bukh has defended multiple Russians accused of being cybercriminals.

Despite the threat,  hackers enjoy vacationing abroad — and often regret their travel plans. Maxim Senakh, 41, admitted guilt in a Minneapolis courtroom to managing a large robotic meshwork that sent millions of emails daily that allegedly made him millions in proceeds.

Senakh didn’t raise his hand and volunteer to come to America. He was vacationing at his sister’s home in Finland when the Finnish placed him on a plane bound for America. The capture was at in response to an American extradition application.

“He challenged it, the Russians opposed it, and Moscow put political force on Finland,” said prosecutor Kevin S. Ueland.

In March, 2017 Senakh struck a deal that will keep him in prison for up to five years.

Another Russian, Mark Vartanyan, pled guilty to electronic fraud in an Atlanta courthouse after making an agreement with the prosecution to provide cooperation that limited his prison sentence to five years or less. Vartanyan was sent to America by Norway in December.

“This is 21st-century theft. There’s no difference than if someone pulled a truck up to your home and emptied it,” said David Hickton, a former US attorney in Pennsylvania.

Hickton admitted that successful prosecutions of cyber criminals are challenging.

“These cyber investigations are complicated. We’re talking about disappearing evidence, borderless crimes and defendants who hide behind the borders of nations which don’t have extradition treaties with America,” Hickton said.

Cyber thieves and convicted hackers can’t be pigeonholed. Some are smart and remain low-key. Others flash their money and the lifestyles their wealth supports.

“Not all of them are rich,” Bukh said. “Many are involved in computer intrusion, and that doesn’t pay as well.”

Bukh recalled one client Aleksandr Panin who, in 2013, was put on a plane to Atlanta by authorities in the Dominican Republic. Panin was tried and convicted in an Atlanta courtroom.

“He couldn’t afford a car even with causing a billion dollars in business losses. He’s near a mad scientist geek,” Bukh said.

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Jane Park of New York City won big in the EuroMillions, Britain’s national lottery. Hours later, she was the quarry of blackmailers.

When she shared the new but refused to share the money, someone hacked her Snapchat account and posted a personal, and revealing, image of Park, 21. The posters demanded cash to return control of her account.

Park took home about $1 million but now claims the win “ruined her life.” After becoming the UK’s youngest winner, Park went through her cash on two properties and $60,000 worth of cars. Now she’s sold her furniture and her three-bedroom house and moved back with mom because she feels “lonely.”

In February, Park considered suing lottery bosses Camelot for permitting her to win such a huge amount since she was youthful and naive.

Computer Fraud and Abuse Act Reform

Things might have gone differently if Park lived in America.

America’s Computer Fraud and Abuse Act Reform, or CFAA, makes it illegal to deliberately enter a computer without authorization. The law doesn’t explain what “without authorization” means.

Creative prosecutors take advantage of this confusion to level criminal charges that aren’t about computer hacking but target other behavior. For example, in U.S. v Drew and U.S. v Nosal, Federal prosecutors claimed violating a private agreement amounts to a CFAA violation. Compounding the problem is the disproportionately harsh penalty. Even first-time offenders accessing a computer without “authorization” can spend up to five years in prison and ten years for each repeat offense. If other parts of the CFAA  are violated, the offender is looking at 10-years, 20-years or even life in prison.

Privacy is confusing in the USA. Many citizens still believe in outdated privacy myths and aren’t sure how to protect personal information. Most also don’t know which laws protect privacy and online security.

Pew Research Center found that American citizens lack confidence in everyday communications’ security and the organizations controlling them. Sixty-eight percent of American Internet users believe present laws aren’t good enough. As a result, individuals break the law daily as they try to protect their privacy through methods such as altering their IP address or use a VPN or Virtual Private Network.

Change Your IP: Go to Jail

The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) proposes changes to the law to prevent prison time for “tinkerers, security researchers, and privacy seekers.” The EFF appears trying to make sure the punishment fits the crime.

One group, the EFF hopes to protect are users who take steps to change their IP address and comparable identifiers for the purpose of protecting their privacy.

At present, anyone seeking to change their MAC address or IP address is facing a lengthy prison stay — without access to the Internet.

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The matchless background and distinguished legal forte of New York’s marquee defense attorney, Arkady Bukh, has sheared decades from the sentence  Dmitry Belorossov initially faced. Belorossov, 22, had been accused of operating Citadel, a botnet, and helping develop improvements to the malware which led to over $500 million in losses. Instead of leaving prison as a very old man, Belorossov will be free within a year.

Dmitry Belorossov, of St Petersburg, has been sentenced to four and a half years in an American prison. Prosecutors had accused Belorossov of using sophisticated malware, Citadel, to steal banking information from thousands of computers.

The sentencing follows Belorossov’s guilty plea, in July, 2014, to one count of conspiring to commit computer fraud. Belorossov was accused of playing a small part in a $500 million global cybercrime scheme that infected over 11 million computers globally.

Belorossov was extradited from Spain in 2014. The ongoing extradition of foreigners, accused of criminal activity, to America has created a debate between the US and Russia. The debate has sometimes grown heated, fueled in part by Russia’s refusal to hand over Edward Snowden.

Snowden Connection?

The subject of extradition has always been an issue between America and Russia. It has become a thornier issue since Edward Snowden was allowed to remain in Moscow. While American President Obama has continued to call for Snowden’s return, Russia has used the situation to highlight many extradition requests of its own that American administration officials have ignored.

The fact that Russia and America do not have an extradition treaty was driven home when Russia claimed it could not hand Snowden over when he was in the transit zone of a Moscow airport.

Citadel

Citadel, which first appeared in 2011, was initially designed to capture banking and credit card information from computers. The malware also had the ability to block antivirus software.

A 27-year old Russian, identified only as “Mark“, was arrested in Fredrikstad, Norway at the request of America’s Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). The Norwegian newspaper, VG, notes that Mark has been held under house arrest while the FBI attempts to work out his extradition to America. Mark’s extradition is being fought by Russia, who says the evidence against Mark is almost non-existent.

American specialists consider Mark as the software developer behind Citadel.

Citadel has evolved since it was initially found in the cyber badlands. Through evolution, Citadel has become a massively distributed malware that experts believe has compromised millions of computers globally.

When Citadel installs on a computer, it opens channels of communication with command-and-control (C&C) servers. The malware receives a configuration file with operating instructions.

These software instructions tell the infected computer that targets to seek, the type of information to capture and which functions to enable. As long as the malware is interacting with the C&C, the configuration file can be updated with data about new targets and destinations.

IBM research has found that an average of 1 in 500 computers, globally, is infected with Citadel, or another version of APT malware at any point in time. Since Citadel has already infected millions of machines, it is simple for cyber-attacks to take advantage of the malware in new cyber schemes. All violators need to do is implement a new configuration file and anticipate infected machines to access the targets.

Citadel is highly evasive and bypasses the most rigorous threat detection security system.  Citadel may lay idle on a user’s computer for years until it is triggered by a user action. This hibernation means that many users, and organizations, do not know their machines have been infected.

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Three Notorious (Recent) Cases of Wire Fraud

Wire fraud is the act of fraud used in electronic communication. That’s simple. Easy to understand.

The American Supreme Court mucked things up — for the laymen — when they “several times observed the wire fraud statute has a long arm.,” Pasquantino v. United States.

Despite the Court’s statement, the truth is the wire fraud statute has been used in a broad range of activities in addition to having been applied in linking to other criminal statutes.

To put the code, 18 USC Section 1343 simply:

Wire crime-fraud is a crime for a person who has devised or intends to design a scheme to:

Defraud

• Obtain money using false pretenses
• Transmit by wire, radio or television communication any writings, signals, pictures or sounds for the purpose of executing a fraudulent scheme.
• To put it even simpler, wire fraud consists of coming up with a scheme to defraud and then using the country’s telecommunications networks to carry that plan out.
• A violation can be punished by a fine, imprisonment of not over twenty years or both.

Willie D

William “Willie D” Dennis, was sentenced to a year and a day on wire fraud charges.

According to the press release from the U.S. Attorney, Dennis was selling iPhones — and other electronics on eBay to overseas customers. When the money was sent to Dennis’ bank account through electronic transfers, Dennis would then provide the customer with a fake shipment tracking number and wouldn’t ship the phone.

Dennis, who gained fame as part of the Geto Boys recently spoke to a Houston TV station and tried to explain the issue.

“Someone did me wrong; someone stole my phone, so I did the same to someone else. I got the cash and didn’t send the orders. I felt vindicated in doing it at the time. Of course, I realize now I was wrong.”

Three Guys and a Hotel in Boston

A federal grand jury indicted three men Thursday on charges they attempted to hide a mob associate’s ownership in land near Boston where Wynn Resorts has planned to build a $1.5 billion casino.

So what got Charles Lightbody, Dustin DeNunzio and Anthony Gattineri in trouble? Prosecutors claim the three lied and forged documents to hide the fact that Lightbody, a well-known Mafia associate, was part owner of the undeveloped property in Everette — just north of Boston.

Arrested and charged with wire fraud, they were looking at up to 20 years in prison according to the Carmen Ortiz, U.S. Attorney. When it was over, all three were acquitted.

Real Housewife Star

When Teresa Giudice reported for her 15-month prison sentence, being a “Real Housewife” didn’t mean much.

Often a stigma is attached to prison terms by celebrities for committing white-collar crimes. Many people believe a celebrity spends their incarceration in “Club Fed.”

For Giudice, sentenced for her part in mail and wire fraud crimes, the general population made up her bunkmates. No tennis courts and golf courses for her.

Not only was Giudice stripped of her furs and jewelry, but she also gave up her $650,000 seasonal paycheck on the show. She was paid the whopping total of 40-cents an hour for working at various jobs while behind bars.

Teresa and her husband Joe pleaded guilty to bankruptcy fraud and conspiracy to commit wire fraud.  The pair hid assets and income when they filed for bankruptcy in 2009. They didn’t stop there. They also created fake W2s and tax returns so they could get millions in mortgages and constructions financing.

Teresa was released after serving 11-months in prison. Now, Joe is chipping away at his 41-month sentence.He faces deportation when he’s released.

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