Fraud SCAMS AND SHAMS DISGRACELAND HOT PROPERTY
Award-winning adviser’s £3-million scam
UK FINANCIAL ADVISER Alok Dhanda is being jailed for more than five years for conning 41 clients out of £2.9 million (about $5.2 million) by telling them he invested their funds in property in India. (He didn’t.) The 53-year-old from Newcastle was given a regional award in 2006 by New Model Adviser magazine, which at the time described him as “the consummate professional who leaves nothing to chance.” In a profile in the April 2006 issue, Dhanda said, “People are like sheep — if there is a quick buck to be made then they will follow. It’s greed and that is the root of all evil.” — TS
Accountant stole from Paul Simon, then sued him
EX-ACCOUNTANT TO THE STARS, KENNETH STARR, 71, is in the midst of serving seven-and-a- half years in a New York federal prison for scamming clients — including celebrities Natalie Portman, Sylvester Stallone, Martin Scorsese and Paul Simon — out of US$30 million between 2008 and 2010. But that didn’t stop Starr’s bankruptcy trustee from taking legal action against Simon late last year, in an attempt to recover US$17,000 in upaid money management fees from the famed singer-songwriter. The trustee, who is responsible for collecting Starr’s remaining assets to pay off his creditors, dropped the suit three weeks later. — Tamar Satov
HIDDEN ASSETS Accountant stole US$1.8 million in school lunch money
CALIFORNIA SCHOOL DISTRICT ACCOUNTANT Judith Oakes, 50, has pleaded guilty to embez- zling nearly US$2 million over an eight-year period from the nutrition services department where she worked. According to security camera footage, she made off with the school’s lunch money by stuffing it into her bra. She was sentenced to five years in jail and is required to repay the US$1,845,137.81 that she stole from 2005 to 2013. “Hopefully this sends a strong message that our public servants will be held accountable for their actions when they decide to abuse the public trust,” said the prosecutor. — TS
50 | CPA MAGAZINE | MARCH 2015 CROSS TO BEAR Fund manager
bought US$75 million in stuffies
THE FORMER CFO of a Connecticut investment firm, Paul Greenwood, 67, was sentenced to 10 years in prison for scamming clients out of millions of dollars, which he used to buy a stake in the New York Islanders hockey team, operate a horse farm and purchase hundreds of antique teddy bears. Greenwood and his partner, Stephen Walsh, who was given a 20-year prison sentence a month earlier, misappro- priated US$131 million in investor funds through their WG Trading Co., essentially a Ponzi scheme, from 1996 to 2009. Greenwood, who must forfeit at least US$83.5 million, says he spent more than US$75 million of the ill-gotten funds to buy museum-quality stuffed toys. — TS
Top photo: Henry Leutwyler/Contour/Getty Images
Bottom photo: Will Lester/Los Angeles News Group
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68