Colorado Springs Criminal Law Blog

A man from Weld County, Colorado, was recently sentenced to 32 years in prison for an investment scheme and was directed to pay $5 million to the investors he defrauded, according to an article from The Tribune.

The man was indicted in 2009 on charges that he accepted more than $10 million from investors in three Colorado counties and residents in 15 other states as part of a Ponzi (also known as a pyramid) scheme. A Colorado ponzi scheme brings in investors and pays the original investors with money obtained from later investors. It typically fails because it runs out of new investors. Investors in this man’s scheme lost between $50,000 and $1 million each.

Apparently, the convicted man started his scheme in June 2005. He kept most of the money he received, although he lost $1.5 million to gambling. He told investors he was investing in an electronics business. Prosecutors say he lied about an agreement with an electronics distributor, potential returns and the risk involved. A man from Massachusetts was also arrested in the case. He acted as a representative of the company and helped to locate investors. He pleaded guilty to securities fraud and was sentenced to four years of probation and was ordered to return the funds.

A white-collar crime conviction can change a person’s life forever. If you have been charged with a Colorado white-collar crime, you need to contact a dedicated and experienced Colorado Springs defense attorney as soon as possible. Timothy Bussey has extensive experience defending those charged with a wide range of criminal offenses in Colorado, including white-collar crimes. For a free consultation, call The Bussey Law Firm, P.C. today at 719-475-2555 to learn more about how we can defend your rights and build a strong case on your behalf.

According to an article by the Denver Post, a man from Colorado Springs was accused of attempting to destroy Transportation Security Administration (TSA) computers that allow airport security to locate possible terrorists prior to boarding an aircraft.

The man allegedly loaded a virus into the system’s database at the TSA’s Colorado Springs Operations Center, which is linked to the Terrorist Screening Database and the U.S. Marshal’s service Warrant Information Network. The virus was designed to infiltrate the system on a specific date with the intention of corrupting information and destroying the database completely. Fortunately, TSA technicians tracked the virus and were able to contain it before any damage was done.

The indictment, imposed by the Denver federal grand jury, gave no reason as to why the former TSA employee would want to sabotage the system and threaten national security. If convicted, the former TSA employee faces a sentence of up to ten years in prison and a $250,000 fine for both attempts to compromise the database. His trial is currently scheduled for May 17, 2010.

White-collar crime is a serious offense given the severity of the consequences if an individual is convicted. If you have been charged with a white-collar crime, you should seek an experienced and aggressive criminal defense attorney as soon as possible. Colorado Springs white collar crime defense attorney Timothy Bussey has years of experience defending the rights of and building strong defenses for people accused of criminal offenses, including white-collar crimes. Contact the Bussey Law Firm, P.C. today at (719) 475-2555 for a free consultation of your case.

Source: http://www.denverpost.com/ci_14648083

According to the Denver Business Journal, a Nigerian national has been deemed the ringleader in a multimillion-dollar mortgage fraud scheme. The 45-year-old was sentenced to 30 years in prison for the scheme, and will be deported back to Nigeria once his prison sentence is completed. The man was convicted on a total of four felony counts, and, along with nine others, was deemed responsible for, according to Attorney General John Suthers, “one of the most expansive and heinous mortgage fraud rings [ever] seen in Colorado.”

Charges involved in this case ranged from forgery to theft and computer crime. A total of 34 real estate deals were connected to these crimes with false invoices, the establishment of shell corporations, and a host of inaccurate information being exchanged with mortgage lenders (in order to acquire larger mortgages) all being utilized in the deception. These infractions, while not violent, are still criminal acts, and are often labeled as white-collar crimes. Typically, the theft or unlawful obtaining of information is deemed as a white-collar infraction, and such charges can be just as harsh as those associated with violent crimes. Particularly since white-collar crimes tend to be committed in tandem with one another, linking multiple charges together can result in harsher, compounded sentences.

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