The Maryland A.G.’s Consumer Protection Division obtained a Final Order against Korey Homes Building Group, LLC and Kenneth W. Smith and Korey Wayne Smith, a father and son who jointly owned the company until the father, Kenneth W. Smith, left the company. The Final Order found that they violated the Consumer Protection Act when they improperly took money from consumers for home building services Korey Homes Building Group failed to provide and misappropriated consumer money through a Ponzi-like scheme. Source: Maryland Attorney General 

Defendant admitted to fraudulently posing as nurse at more than 40 Maryland facilities. Source: US Attorney, District of Maryland

A Spotlight on Maryland investigation found that state and local agencies have repeatedly failed to shut down dozens of known unlicensed facilities, allowing an underground industry to flourish in Baltimore’s neighborhoods. Hundreds of emergency calls, thousands of documents, and interviews with lawyers, families, caregivers, and business owners reveal a grim pattern: people in their final years left to die in squalor while government agencies look away again and again. Source: Spotlight on Maryland, WJLA.com/news 

Reaves admitted that he fraudulently induced his employer into sending $700,000 through a sham invoicing scheme between May 2020 and April 2022.  Reaves used shell companies he owned and controlled — a fact he concealed — to fraudulently bill his employer for ostensible marketing services.

Partway through the scheme, Reaves’s associate returned virtually all the then-stolen money back to the company. In response, Reaves concocted a plausible cover story with his employer but continued the scheme with a different shell company and associate. Source: US Attorney, District of Maryland

State Sen. Dalya Attar, her brother and a Baltimore Police officer face federal extortion and conspiracy charges as part of an alleged effort in which they tried to blackmail a political consultant from speaking out against Attar in the run-up to the 2022 election, according to a recently unsealed federal indictment.  Source: thebanner.com and cbsnews.com 

Maryland awarded more than $6 million taxpayer dollars to a nonprofit that has not filed a record of its spending since 2022, raising concerns with transparency experts who say government officials need to explain if the organization is qualified for public funds. The decision highlights a larger accountability gap… We Our Us’ last available tax form from 2022 shows the organization had $328,000 in revenue, zero paid employees and a part-time volunteer board. More than 60% of its listed spending was listed under “other,” with no further explanation as to what the money went to.  Source: WJLA.com

Besides the 81 Baltimore City nonprofits labeled “delinquent” by a state database, data analyzed by the Baltimore sun shows that exactly 500 nonprofit groups elsewhere in Maryland also are not in good financial standing. Source: Baltimore Sun

A software error caused 293 former state workers to receive twice their buyout payments, WJZ Investigates has learned. Maryland officials are advising those who received the excess funds not to touch the extra money in their accounts, which will be taken back automatically. Source: cbsnews.com

In a case brought by his office’s Securities Division and the Commodities Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California has entered a final judgment imposing approximately $25.6 million in restitution and an equal civil monetary penalty against Safeguard Metals LLC and its owner, Jeffrey Ikahn, for operating a fraudulent scheme targeting elderly and retirement-aged individuals.

The judgment stems from a fraudulent scheme conducted by the defendants from October 2017 through at least July 2021. According to the court’s findings, the defendants solicited approximately $68 million, the majority of which was retirement savings, from at least 450 persons for the purpose of purchasing precious metals, primarily consisting of silver coins. Six Maryland victims lost approximately $350,000. The court found that defendants systematically and widely disseminated false and misleading information, failed to communicate material facts to customers, and fraudulently overcharged Safeguard Metals’ customers for the precious metals they sold. Source: Maryland Attorney General's Office

State auditors referred an investigation of questionable credit card use by a State Department of Assessments and Taxation worker to the criminal division of the attorney general's office…The Office of Legislative Audits report released last week said its investigation was sparked by a tip to its fraud, waste and abuse hotline. Source: MarylandMatters.com