Defendant in $670M scam enters guilty plea in Va.
Headline Legal News
A man who cooked the books for a $670 million insurance industry scam pleaded guilty Monday to charges he helped mislead thousands of investors worldwide.
Jorge Luis Castillo, 56, Hackettstown, N.J., entered pleas in U.S. District Court to conspiring to commit mail and wire fraud in U.S. District Court. He is scheduled for sentencing May 22 and could receive up to 20 years in prison and fined up to $250,000.
Castillo, who originally was scheduled for trial in 2012, will assist the government's prosecution of Minor Vargas Calvo, 60, the president and majority owner of Provident Capital Indemnity Ltd., a Costa Rican company. He is scheduled for trial in February. He has pleaded not guilty to similar charges.
The government called Castillo a "gatekeeper" for Provident. As a certified public accountant, he cast himself as an "outside auditor" and falsely reported a rosy financial picture for the company, which had a global client base.
"This is truly an international fraud in scope," U.S. Attorney Neil H. MacBride said in a conference call after Castillo entered his plea. "As a result of Mr. Castillo's crimes, a lot of people lost life savings to life settlement companies because of the worthless guarantees that Mr. Castillo helped create.
Related listings
-
Federal court issues new political maps for Texas
Headline Legal News 11/18/2011A federal court on Thursday issued temporary political maps for the 2012 election in Texas that some say will give Democrats a greater chance of winning seats in the Legislature. The maps, which still must be given final court approval, will remain i...
-
Missouri Supreme Court upholds strip club restrictions
Headline Legal News 11/17/2011The Missouri Supreme Court has upheld a 2010 state law imposing restrictions on strip clubs and other sexually oriented businesses. In a unanimous decision Tuesday, the court rejected claims from the adult entertainment industry that the law infringe...
-
Company pleads guilty to dumping wastewater in Harvey Canal
Headline Legal News 11/14/2011A Louisiana company has pleaded guilty to a charge it illegally discharged more than 1 million gallons of oily wastewater into the Harvey Canal. Oakmont Environmental Inc. of Harvey faces a $500,000 fine following its guilty plea Wednesday to violati...
Chicago Business Fraud Attorney
Business Fraud can take many forms. In the broadest terms, a fraud occurs when someone intentionally deceives others for personal gain. Many times business fraud is harmful and recovery is necessary. Losing your personal or business’s assets can devastate your entire life. Contact Roth Law Groupto receive help on restoring your business to normalcy before you were victimized with fraud. Business fraud cases can involve multiple people and complicated schemes aimed at deceiving the public, auditors, investigators, or others. Whether you are dealing with corporate fraud or commercial fraud, we can step in and fight back to receive compensation that you deserve.
At Roth Law Group we are devoted to prosecuting and defending the legal rights of individuals and small businesses, as either plaintiff or defendant. Proving fraud can be extremely difficult. To have a successful business fraud case, one must prove that the defendant purposefully set out to defraud the victim. Fraud cases are being investigated more aggressively than ever. With increasing federal regulation and scrutiny of corporate practises, many individuals and businesses find themselves the subject of business fraud investigations.