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Former American International Group CEO Maurice "Hank" Greenberg must stand trial for allegedly orchestrating sham transactions at the insurer, New York's top court ruled yesterday, as the long-time financial industry titan failed in his 11-year-old quest to escape civil fraud charges, Reuters reported. The New York Court of Appeals also ruled that the state could seek to recoup from Greenberg and co-defendant Howard Smith, AIG's former chief financial officer, tens of millions of dollars in bonuses and interest covering the 2000-2005 period when the alleged fraud occurred. More than $55 million may be at stake. In addition, the court said the state could seek to ban Greenberg and Smith from the securities industry and from serving as officers or directors of public companies. Read more. 

For a further analysis of commercial fraud, make sure to pick up a copy of ABI’s Fraud and Forensics: Piercing Through the Deception in a Commercial Fraud Case. 

A Topeka, Kansas, real estate developer has been indicted by federal grand jurors on 103 counts of bankruptcy fraud, the Associated Press reported yesterday. Kent Lindemuth filed for chapter 11 protection in November 2012, claiming he had more than $3.5 million of debt. Lindemuth is accused in Wednesday's indictment of buying more than 100 firearms valued at more than $80,000 from August 2013 to late 2014. Lindemuth didn't tell his creditors or the bankruptcy trustee about the firearms or the money used to buy them. Read more. 

For a further analysis of commercial fraud, make sure to pick up a copy of ABI’s Fraud and Forensics: Piercing Through the Deception in a Commercial Fraud Case. 

The owners of the New York Mets baseball team have reached a revised agreement with the trustee seeking to recoup money for the victims of Bernard Madoff's fraud that gives them more time to pay up to $61 million, Reuters reported yesterday. The deal came four years after a group including brothers-in-law Fred Wilpon and Saul Katz, the owners of the Mets, reached a settlement to pay a maximum of $162 million as a trial in federal court in Manhattan was set to start in a lawsuit by trustee Irving Picard. The lawsuit had accused the group of turning a blind eye to the fraud by Madoff, whose Ponzi scheme was uncovered in December 2008, a claim they denied. Wilpon and Katz had invested with Madoff for roughly 25 years. Now 78, Madoff pleaded guilty to fraud in March 2009 and is serving a 150-year prison term. Picard has recovered or reached agreements to recover roughly $11.14 billion, more than three-fifths of the $17.5 billion of principal he has said customers of Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securities LLC lost. Read more. 

For a further analysis of commercial fraud, make sure to pick up a copy of ABI’s Fraud and Forensics: Piercing Through the Deception in a Commercial Fraud Case. 

Investment victims swindled by Bernard Madoff could soon receive their share of a new $247 million repayment to help cover losses from the historic fraud, USA Today reported today. More than seven years after the Ponzi scheme mastermind's massive scam collapsed, court-appointed trustee Irving Picard yesterday filed a motion seeking U.S. Bankruptcy Court approval for the new disbursement. If the court grants approval at a scheduled June 15th hearing, the trustee would allocate roughly $171 million for immediate distribution to 972 accounts held by former Madoff investment clients. Approximately $76 million would be held in reserve for additional claims affected by pending litigation. Total repayments to Madoff clients whose claims have been allowed would rise to approximately $9.45 billion under the new distribution plan. Read more. 

For a further analysis of commercial fraud, make sure to pick up a copy of ABI’s Fraud and Forensics: Piercing Through the Deception in a Commercial Fraud Case. 

The silver that Jeffrey Mark McMeel bought from Northwest Territorial Mint never arrived to his home in Washington, but the unorthodox method he chose to protect his investment has him facing sanctions in a Seattle courtroom on Friday, the Wall Street Journal reported today. Since Northwest Territorial Mint filed for bankruptcy on April 1, McMeel filed a set of disconnected documents not based on traditional law but on his own, improvised legal theories. Some of his filings to U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Seattle try to guide the financial investigation that is well underway at the one of the country’s largest private mints, which has stranded more than 3,000 customers. One excerpt from his filings attempts to prove the validity of his purchase; other documents include grainy copies of archived historical documents. But what got him in trouble was when McMeel appeared to identify himself as a special agent for several state and federal agencies, including the Justice Department’s U.S. Trustee Program. “He is not, nor has he ever been” a Justice Department official, the agency’s lawyers said in response.

The FBI arrested eight people on Tuesday, charging them with allegedly concealing more than $3 million in assets from federal bankruptcy court in Miami, the Miami Herald reported yesterday. The five cases allege the eight people hid assets or illegally transferred them out of their name before filing chapter 7 bankruptcies. In so doing, the indictment alleges, they shielded assets from creditors and avoided repaying outstanding debts. According to allegations in the indictment, Yechezkel and Tamar Nissenbaum are among those indicted as they liquidated a certificate of deposit worth approximately $141,829 in 2010, and then filed a joint petition for chapter 7 bankruptcy in 2011. When asked about the accuracy of her disclosures in the bankruptcy petition, Yachezkel Nissenbaum “made false representations,” according to a press release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office.

The government fund to repay Bernard Madoff’s fraud victims is preparing to recommend approval of more than 25,000 claims covering almost $4 billion in losses, but the Justice Department didn’t say how much it would pay or when checks might go out, Bloomberg News reported yesterday. Thousands of victims who lost $17.5 billion in principal have been trying to tap the $4 billion fund since it was set up three years ago, though no payments have been made. By comparison, the trustee unwinding Madoff’s fraud and repaying victims in bankruptcy court has paid out about $9 billion since Madoff’s arrest in December 2008. The two funds are administered separately under different U.S. laws. “I would love to see every eligible Madoff victim receive a cash recovery,” Richard Breeden, the administrator of the Justice Department fund, said in an update on his website. “However, we can’t complete the process and actually pay claims until we resolve the incomplete claims one way or the other.” Breeden said the fund is set to recommend denial of 7,540 claims covering about $25.7 billion in losses that don’t satisfy the requirements of the plan. There are also about 30,750 incomplete or deficient claims covering about $27 billion in losses from Madoff’s Ponzi scheme, he said. Read more.

For a further analysis of commercial fraud, make sure to pick up a copy of ABI’s Fraud and Forensics: Piercing Through the Deception in a Commercial Fraud Case.