MARYLAND NEWS

Baltimore City Community College audit found that $264,000 in financial aid was awarded to 145 potentially fictitious “ghost students,” while other failures involved payroll, procurement and unused equipment, as noted by Baltimore Chronicle. Source: https://baltimorechronicle.com/baltimore/bccc-audit-ghost-students-financial-aid-payroll-failures-2026

See the Maryland Office of Legislative Audits report at https://ola.maryland.gov/

Former Baltimore County Inspector General Kelly Madigan sued a former county employee in 2024 because she believed he abused his power while trying to curtail her own, according to court documents unsealed last week. Source: thebanner.com

A federal jury delivered a verdict that is sending a Maryland man to prison stemming from a wire-fraud scam.

According to evidence presented at trial, Patrick Britton-Harr, 43, of Annapolis, owned and controlled AeroVanti, Inc. and its affiliated entities. Through AeroVanti, a private air club offering members access to private jets, Britton-Harr set up a limited-time opportunity that invited “Top Gun” members to pay $150,000 upfront to help the company buy a plane in exchange for a block of discounted flight hours. He promised to use their money to purchase specific aircraft, and he pledged to protect their money by delivering the aircraft titles to escrow. The Top Gun members collectively paid approximately $15 million in upfront payments to purchase five aircraft.

But instead of buying the aircraft, Britton-Harr misappropriated members’ money for his own personal benefit. This included purchasing yachts and jewelry, paying for his living expenses, and renting a $10,000 per month home near Tampa, Florida. Source: https://www.justice.gov/usao-md/ 

A former U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) employee pled guilty in federal court to charges stemming from a Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act scheme that enabled him to illegally obtain more than $176,000. The 55-year-old Waldorf, MD, man pled guilty to wire-fraud charges in connection with the scheme. 

According to the guilty plea, beginning in April 2020, and continuing until November 2021, The Waldorf resident knowingly and willfully engaged in a scheme to defraud the SBA. He admitted he submitted, or caused the submission of, multiple fraudulent PPP and EIDL applications. Additionally, through this scheme, he caused the deposits of EIDL and PPP benefits into bank accounts he controlled. 

In furthering the fraud scheme, he used fabricated documents in support of his fraudulent PPP and EIDL applications.  He submitted at least five false loan applications to obtain EIDL and PPP benefits, along with loan forgiveness, including fraudulent IRS Schedule C Forms and false attestations regarding the existence of sole proprietorships. 

None of the businesses he listed on the applications had significant employees, office space, revenues, costs of goods sold, or business operations. He admitted he used the PPP and EIDL proceeds for improper personal purposes, such as car and housing payments, along with grocery costs. 

He faces a maximum sentence of 20 years in federal prison for wire fraud. Source: https://www.justice.gov/usao-md/

According to court documents, beginning in 2020, and continuing into November 2023, a 4-year-old Bladensburg man conspired with multiple individuals to launder proceeds of a large-scale wire fraud in connection with Economic Injury Disaster Loans (EIDL). The co-conspirators engaged in various financial transactions to conceal the nature, location, source, ownership, and control of the wire-fraud proceeds, while carrying out the conspiracy. Source: https://www.justice.gov/usao-md

The ruling comes on the heels of an earlier decision by Baltimore Circuit Court Judge Pamela J. White that denied the city’s motion to disqualify the inspector general’s outside counsel.. The judge wrote that “conflicts of interest” may arise between the interests of MONSE and the IG, “thus preventing the city solicitor’s professionally independent and diligent representation of each unit” as required under the Maryland Attorneys’ Rules of Professional Conduct. Source: https://baltimorebrew.com 

Charged with Unfair, Abusive, and Deceptive Trade Practices and Making Illegal and Usurious Loans to Maryland Homeowners Through Predatory “Homeowner Benefit Agreements”. Source: https://oag.maryland.gov

On May 28 a Montgomery County, MD, Circuit Court judge sentenced defendant Sari Kurland, a.k.a. Sari Bloch, 65, of Rockville, to 80 years in prison, suspending all but 13 years to serve, and five years of supervised probation upon release. As a condition of probation, Kurland is ordered to pay restitution in the amount of $4,216,656.50.

On January 9, 2026, Kurland pleaded guilty to one count of theft scheme over $100,000 and fifteen counts of misappropriation by a fiduciary. Kurland was an attorney with an active law license in the state of Maryland through January 26, 2024, and maintained an office in Rockville. An investigation by the State’s Attorney’s Office determined that between May 2022 and September 2024, Kurland perpetrated three fraudulent schemes involving theft and misappropriation of funds. In the three schemes, there were 21 victims, totaling a loss of about $4.2 million. Source: https://www.montgomerycountymd.gov/states-attorneys-office/news

The County Council approved a bill in 2024 giving the inspector “the right to obtain full and unrestricted access to all records and files.”

County attorneys advised on May 13 in an internal memo obtained by the Baltimore Banner inspectors are still subject to federal and state law…(C)ounty attorneys cited a ruling made 25 years ago…Madigan, who is a former state prosecutor, disputes the county’s interpretation. Source: Baltimore Banner

In 2018, then-mayor Catherine Pugh named Isabel Cummings as Baltimore’s inspector general. Eight years later, under a new mayor, there is too much tension between the mayor’s office and the inspector general, who is trying to do her job on behalf of the people of Baltimore.  Source: Editorial Advisory Board, Maryland Daily Record