Tag: fraud

  In the federal case of the United States versus Theresa Kottwitz, the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that the trial judge erred when he refused to give a jury instruction on Kottwitz' good-faith reliance on the advice of her accountant in a tax fraud prosecution. The Court of Appeals stated that a criminal […]

In the case of Ernest Henry Vroom versus the State of Florida, Mr. Vroom was convicted of the crime of grand theft based on the following facts: "Vroom was the principal in a business known as Funding American Mortgage Corporation (FAMC). FAMC was licensed by the State of Florida as a mortgage lender . . […]

        Florida statute section 948.08 and section 948.16 pertain to what are called "pretrial intervention programs."  If someone has been charged with a crime in Florida and he is permitted to enter a pretrial intervention program (or "PTI"), the charge against that person is eventually dropped if the individual successfully completes the program.         Florida statute section […]

FORT PIERCE — A jury deliberated for more than four hours Wednesday and will return today to mull the fate of two men accused of orchestrating a complex scheme that prosecutors say defrauded elderly investors out of millions of dollars. The jurors will meet at the federal courthouse at 9:30 a.m. to resume deliberations in […]

FORT PIERCE ˜ Leonard Bogdan was either the head of a complicated scheme to fleece investors out of millions or a poor manager who tried but couldn't revive a failing business venture. Those two very different versions of Bogdan were presented to jurors during opening statements Tuesday as his federal fraud trial began. Bogdan, 55, […]