Fraud in the News

One vegan's cheesy mistake

According to the May 13 New York Post article, Vegan restaurateur ordered Dominos before $2M bust, by Emily Saul, Carlos Greer and Beckie Strum, authorities allege that the owner of an upscale vegan eatery stole about $2 million from the company to splurge on Rolex watches, lavish European vacations and trips to casinos.

According to the article, the owner — avowed vegan Sarma Melngailis, 43 — was caught when she ordered a cheesy Dominos pizza to her hotel while on the run in Tennessee with her husband, Anthony Strangis, 35. They were awaiting extradition to New York where they’re charged with grand larceny, tax fraud and scheming to defraud for not paying ex-employees.

Former FIFA head sued for millions

Jack Warner, once one of the most powerful men in global soccer, is being sued for more than $50 million by the sport’s regional body in North and Central America, according to the May 20 Bloomberg article, Onetime Soccer Kingpin Jack Warner Faces $50 Million Fraud Suit, by Tariq Panja. Warner led the Confederation of North, Central American and Caribbean Association Football, the 41-nation group known as Concacaf, for 20 years.

According to the article, the new suit centers around a lavish soccer facility that was built in Trinidad with millions of dollars in funding from FIFA, of which Warner served as a member of the executive committee. After Warner resigned his Concacaf leadership in 2011, the organization discovered that the facility had been built on land that belonged to Warner and its ownership has been in dispute ever since. The suit alleges that Warner fraudulently secured FIFA and Concacaf funding to develop the property. The site now includes a hotel and banqueting facilities.

Also see, A passion for fighting corruption: An interview with Alexandra Wrage.

'I didn't make that withdrawal'

According to The Mainichi article, Mass ATM thefts were focused in Tokyo area as vulnerabilities exploited, on May 22, police suspect that a total of 1.4 billion yen ($12.7 million) in cash was withdrawn from 1,400 ATMs in convenience stores across Japan using counterfeit credit cards containing account information leaked from a South African bank.

According to the article, the theft at the ATMs took place in the morning of May 15 in Tokyo and 16 prefectures across the country. In each of the approximately 14,000 transactions, the maximum amount of 100,000 yen was withdrawn from seven bank ATMs using fake credit cards.

The article states that Japanese police will work with South African authorities through the International Criminal Police Organization to look into the theft, including how credit card information was leaked.