Tag: scam
A church needed money, so members held homeless people captive and forced them to beg, prosecutors say
Twelve leaders of a California-based church were charged with luring in dozens of mostly homeless people, locking them in group homes and forcing them to panhandle up to nine hours a day, six days a week, federal prosecutors said Tuesday.
Twelve defendants, including former pastor of Imperial Valley Ministries Victor Gonzalez, were charged with conspiracy, forced labor, document servitude and benefits fraud, according to an indictment unsealed Tuesday.
The nondenominational church, which has been around since the 1970s, is headquartered in El Centro, California, and has approximately 30 affiliate churches throughout the USA and Mexico. The programs were meant to “restore” people struggling with drug addiction in faith-based rehabilitation group homes. Participants were enticed with offers of free food, shelter and the resources to eventually return home.
The alleged criminal activity began in 2013 around the time that Gonzalez became pastor, according to the indictment. Gonzalez allegedly told members that the church needed money and instructed them not to let participants leave.
Prosecutors said church members locked victims inside group homes with deadbolts and kept them hostage by taking their identification documents such as driver’s licenses, passports, immigration papers, money and personal items. At some homes, the windows were nailed shut.
“The indictment alleges an appalling abuse of power by church officials who preyed on vulnerable homeless people with promises of a warm bed and meals,” U.S. Attorney Robert Brewer said in a statement. “These victims were held captive, stripped of their humble financial means, their identification, their freedom and their dignity.”
Church leaders allegedly stole their food stamp and welfare benefits and coerced them into panhandling, the proceeds from which all going back to the church. In some cases, church officials allegedly told victims that their children would be taken away if they left or that their loved ones had rejected them and only God loved them.
The indictment alleges church leaders required their victims to follow a strict set of rules, prohibited them from going unaccompanied, reading books other than the Bible or discussing “things of the world.” If the rules were broken, the indictment says, there would be “discipline,” which allegedly included withholding of food.
Two people got out: a woman with diabetes who was allegedly refused medicine for her low blood sugar and a 17-year-old who broke a window and called the police from a neighboring property.
Officials said all known victims have been freed. The charges of forced labor, document servitude and violating the Food Stamp Act have a maximum penalty of up to 20 years in prison and a $250,000 fine.
“This is the most significant labor trafficking prosecution in this district in many years,” Brewer said. “These cases are few and far between because many victims live in captivity and fear, powerless to report the crimes against them. My office wants victims to know that we are here to help you.”
STEVE HARVEY SUED FOR ALLEGED FRAUD INVOLVING CHARITY Blames Oprah, Tyler Perry for Bad Financial Advice
STEVE HARVEY SUED FOR ALLEGED FRAUD INVOLVING CHARITY: Blames Oprah and Tyler Perry for Bad Financial Advice
Steve Harvey is being sued by someone who claims he was hired by the TV mogul to raise $20 million for the Steve and Marjorie Foundation as well as other ventures and got royally stiffed.
Vincent Dimmock claims he struck a deal with Harvey in April to raise the $20 mil, and in return he says he was promised 12.5% of everything he brought in. Dimmock says in the lawsuit he had access to high-level execs, A-list entertainers and political figures including a former President, and he got pledges for $20 mil.
According to the suit, Dimmock delivered on the first million but Harvey refused to pay him his commission.
Dimmock claims Harvey never intended to pay him and then goes on to make various allegations.
Dimmock says he introduced Harvey to an investor in May, and during their meeting he allegedly disparaged women, blamed Oprah Winfrey and Tyler Perry for giving him bad financial advice and also blamed Barack Obama for Harvey’s “disastrous meeting with Donald Trump.”
He says Harvey and his foundation were in bad financial shape because of a series of P.R. gaffes, including mocking Asian men and meeting with Trump.
We reached out to Harvey’s agent, Todd Frank, who tells TMZ, “It sounds fake. Steve is the most loyal guy in the world. I’ve never been stiffed on a commission from Steve Harvey in 21 years.”
Article via: http://www.tmz.com/2017/12/07/steve-harvey-sued-charity-fraud-oprah-tyler-perry/
Woman thought she was buying an iPhone 6, got a box of potatoes instead
A woman claims to have been ‘tricked’ after buying an iPhone 6 in a Black Friday deal and somehow getting a box of potatoes instead.
In a viral video originally posted on LiveLeak, the unknown woman says she saw a black truck with balloons and Black Friday posters driving around her neighborhood in Milwaukee.
She says the vehicle was filled with gadgets, clothes and accessories, and she thought she’d struck a bargain when the driver agreed to sell her the phone for just $100 – around £80. But when she got home, she says she was horrified to find she’d been swindled and the box was actually filled with 11 chopped pieces of potato.“They have everything you could name: clothes, shoes, watches, purse, bundles of hair, DVDs, CDs – everything – phones, laptops,” she says on the video, which has been viewed more than 60,000 times.
“So I ask the guy about the iPhone 6 and he’s like, ‘Ah yeah, today, I will give it to you for $100.’
“He hands me an iPhone 6, I’m playing with it, turning it around, checking it.
“I ask him to call the phone and he showed me the number and I’m like, ‘Cool, it’s legit. It’s ringing. It’s working. I want it.’
“Right? Wrong. He turns around and puts the phone in the box with a piece of paper, he hands it to me, I hand him the money, I get in my car and drive home.
“I sit at my kitchen table about to play with the phone… The box is heavy, and I get home, and this n****r sold me a box of potatoes!”
And to add apparent insult to apparent injury, the scammer packed an Android charger in the box with the potatoes.
“What the heck am I supposed to do with this?” the woman yelled on the video.
“I am so hurt right now imma have to go to jail, imma go outside and imma find these old n*****s. What am I supposed to do with – oh you almost made me cuss.”
It is unknown what device the woman used to film the evidence of her apparent scam before it was uploaded to LiveLeak.
UK consumer watchdog Which? said to get the best deals on Black Friday, shoppers had to prepare thoroughly, research products beforehand and be wary of unusual brands.