Law Enforcement | WPN World People News

Preet Bharara, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, announced that DOUG WHITMAN, a portfolio manager at Whitman Capital, LLC, was found guilty today by a jury in Manhattan federal court of conspiracy and securities fraud crimes stemming from his involvement in two insider trading schemes that earned his firm more than $900,000 in illegal profits.

A federal jury in Brooklyn today returned guilty verdicts against Pino Baldassarre, the former president of Dolphin Digital Media, Inc. (“Dolphin”) and Robert Mouallem, a stockbroker, on conspiracy, securities fraud, and commercial bribery charges. These charges arose from the defendants’ scheme to sell their shares of Dolphin at inflated prices by bribing stockbrokers. When sentenced by United States District Judge Jack B. Weinstein, the defendants face a maximum sentence of 25 years’ imprisonment on the most serious charge.

A tax return preparer from Macon, Ga., pleaded guilty Thursday to filing a false claim for tax refund, theft of government money and aggravated identity theft, the Justice Department and the Internal Revenue (IRS) announced.

Mohammad Saaili Shibin, a/k/a “Khalif Ahmed Shibin,” a/k/a “Shibin,” the man convicted as the person in Somalia responsible for negotiating the ransom of an American yacht, the S/V Quest, and the Marida Marguerite, a German-owned vessel, was sentenced to 10 concurrent life sentences for piracy, two consecutive life sentences for the use of a rocket-propelled grenade/automatic weapons during crimes of violence, 10 years consecutive on six counts charging discharge of a firearm during a crime of violence, and two 20-year sentences for the remaining counts of discharge of a firearm during a crime of violence. Shibin is also required to pay restitution in the amount of approximately $5,408,000.

Deanna Mickle, 42, of Florence, Mississippi, was sentenced in U.S. District Court today to serve 27 months in federal prison followed by five years of supervised release for bank fraud, U.S. Attorney Gregory K. Davis and FBI Special Agent in Charge Daniel McMullen announced. U.S. District Judge Tom S. Lee also ordered Mickle to pay restitution in the amount of $384,995.45 to her former employer, Barlow Eddy Jenkins.

Two North Carolina men have been sentenced to federal prison sentences for attempting to export arms and ammunition to Mexico, following an investigation by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) and the Jackson County Interdiction Team.

Gino Carlucci was sentenced to 188 months in prison for his role in conspiracies to commit money laundering and to defraud the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), and for filing a false income tax return, the Justice Department and the IRS announced today. On July 25, 2011, a federal jury in Phoenix convicted Carlucci of both conspiracies and the tax crime after an eight-day trial.

William P. Mack, age 63, a resident of Jefferson Parish, Louisiana, pled guilty today before U.S. District Judge Nannette Jolivette Brown to one count of conspiracy to commit bribery concerning programs receiving federal funds, announced U.S. Attorney Jim Letten.

A federal grand jury in Montgomery, Ala., returned a superseding indictment charging Antoinette Djonret, Angelique Djonret, Tabitha Stinson, Melba Wilson, Chantresa Hayes and Corey Means with conspiring to file false tax returns using stolen identities, the Justice Department and the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) announced today.

A Florida man was convicted today on federal charges of selling and possessing paintings stolen from a Los Angeles art gallery, tax evasion on more than $1.4 million in income, and structuring financial transactions of $226,000 to avoid federal reporting requirements while released on bond.