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Tag: Michael W. Kwasnik

  • DEVELOPING STORY: Standoff Ensues In Alabama After School-Bus Driver Shot And Killed; Suspect Reportedly Holed Up In Private ‘Bunker’ After Taking 6-Year-Old — And Drama Plays Out During Senate Hearing

    recommendedreading1DEVELOPING STORY: A standoff with police is occurring in southeastern Alabama, amid reports that a school-bus driver was shot and killed yesterday after he refused to submit to the demands of an armed man who wanted to remove two children from the bus. The suspected shooter then allegedly fled with a six-year-old and now is holed up with the child in his private “bunker” in Dale County

    The drama is unfolding in the town of Midland. The Dothan Eagle newspaper has identified the suspect as 67-year-old Jimmy Lee Dykes.

    FoxNews.com is reporting that Dykes was scheduled to be in court today on a previous charge of menacing. Local authorities have identified the bus driver as Charles Albert Poland Jr., a 66-year-old employee of the Dale County Board of Education.

    The Senate Judiciary Committee is conducting a hearing today on gun violence in the United States. (NOTE: if you visit the Senate page at the time of this post, you’ll see a link to a live webcast.)

    The Dothan region is known to have had brushes with purported “sovereign citizens.” Whether Dykes holds “sovereign” beliefs is unclear.

    But a neighbor told the Dothan Eagle that Dykes “is the type that thinks the government’s out to get him.”

    In February 2012, James Timothy Turner, a purported “sovereign” and the purported  “President” of the “Republic for the united States of America,” named the Dothan Eagle a defendant in a lawsuit, apparently because he was displeased with the paper’s coverage.

    In September 2012, Turner was indicted on tax charges amid U.S. Justice Department claims he “conducted seminars at which he taught attendees how to file retaliatory liens against government officials and to defraud the IRS by preparing and submitting fictitious bonds to the United States government in payment of federal taxes.”

    In November 2011, Pennsylvania attorney and accused New Jersey thief and Ponzi schemer Michael W. Kwasnik was arrested in Dothan. Police said he was found in possession of “items essential for out of country travel such as passports and maps.”

  • UPDATE: Philadelphia Attorney Alleged To Be New Jersey Ponzi Schemer And Thief Arrested In Alabama With ‘Passports And Maps’

    Booking photo: Michael W. Kwasnik. Courtesy of Dothan, Ala., Police Department.

    UPDATE: Police officers in Dothan, Ala., arrested Philadelphia lawyer and accused New Jersey thief and Ponzi schemer Michael W. Kwasnik yesterday at the Greyhound bus station in Dothan, according to a statement issued by Dothan police Chief Gregory J. Benton.

    Kwasnik was found in possession of “items essential for out of country travel such as passports and maps,” Dothan police said.

    Police said Kwasnik came to their attention at the bus station after officers received an “anonymous tip” that two persons “may be attempting to transport narcotics.”

    When officers arrived, they found no narcotics — but discovered Kwasnik was wanted in New Jersey on charges filed earlier this week.

    Kwasnik is being held for New Jersey authorities, Dothan police said, noting that Kwasnik “stated he had no intentions of fleeing and desired to return home to face charges of which he maintains innocence.”

    Profile booking photo: Michael W. Kwasnik. Courtesy of Dothan, Ala., Police Department.

    Kwasnik will be held in Alabama until “extradition is arranged as a Fugitive from Justice,” Dothan police said. He was charged criminally and sued civilly earlier this week by New Jersey Attorney General Paula T. Dow.

    Kwasnik was accused criminally of stealing more than $1 million from an elderly woman for whom he was performing trust services.

    Separately, he was sued civilly amid charges he was part of an $8.5 million Ponzi scheme that targeted senior citizens.

    Stephen J. Taylor, New Jersey’s director of criminal justice, said Monday that Kwasnik was a “cheat and a thief who betrayed his oath as an attorney to uphold the law. We are continuing to investigate his various financial schemes, and we urge anyone with relevant information to contact us.”

    Dothan police did just that after finding Kwasnik in the Alabama city.

    See earlier story.

  • ALARMING: NEW JERSEY ATTORNEY GENERAL: Lawyer Stole More Than $1 Million From ‘Elderly’ Woman — And Also Was Part Of Ponzi And Fraud Scheme With His 70-Year-Old Father, Another Man, 83, And 2 Recidivist Hucksters; Michael W. Kwasnik, 42, Charged Criminally, Sued Civilly

    Michael W. Kwasnik: Philadelphia attorney accused of stealing from elderly client and benefiting with his 70-year-old father and others from a Ponzi and fraud scheme that bilked about $8.5 million.

    A Philadelphia attorney with an office in New Jersey stole more than $1 million from an “elderly” client and also was part of a Ponzi scheme that targeted retirees, New Jersey Attorney General Paula T. Dow said.

    For stealing from his client, attorney Michael W. Kwasnik, 42, was indicted for theft by failure to make required disposition of property received, misapplication of entrusted property, theft by unlawful taking and financial facilitation of criminal activity. The facilitation charge is a money-laundering offense.

    Building on an earlier civil case, New Jersey regulators and Dow’s office now say Kwasnik and four others were part of a separate Ponzi scheme that gathered about $8.5 million.

    In the criminal case, Kwasnik is alleged to have used his purported legal talent for estate planning to bilk the elderly client and the estate of her deceased sister.

    “We charge in our criminal case that Kwasnik exploited an elderly client, misappropriating more than $1 million she intended to give to her children,” said Dow. “Just as we allege in our lawsuit that Kwasnik preyed on elderly investors, we charge in the indictment that he took advantage of the frailty of this client and the trust she placed in him in order to deceive and steal. We will aggressively prosecute criminals who prey on this vulnerable segment of our population.”

    Stephen J. Taylor, New Jersey’s director of criminal justice, used even starker language.

    Kwasnik, Taylor said, is a “cheat and a thief who betrayed his oath as an attorney to uphold the law. We are continuing to investigate his various financial schemes, and we urge anyone with relevant information to contact us.”

    Among the allegations against Kwasnik was that he neither held nor invested his elderly client’s trust funds. Instead, he “withdrew the funds from that account within a few months, stealing more than $1 million.”

    Kwasnik “misappropriated the funds for his own benefit and for other purposes unrelated to the administration of the estate, including paying other clients and paying the operating expenses of his law firm,” prosecutors charged.

    On the civil side of things, the state initially sued entities known as Liberty State Financial Holdings Corp. and Liberty State Benefits of Pennsylvania Inc. in March.

    Authorities now say Kwasnik and his 70-year-old father, William Kwasnik of Marlton, N.J., were siphoning proceeds from the sale of  unregistered securities as part of a Ponzi scheme involving the firms.

    William P. Leonard, 83, of Cherry Hill, N.J., also was named a civil defendant, as were Joseph Anthony Schifano, 45, of Brick, N.J., and Daniel Francis McCorry, 55, of Ventnor, N.J. Schifano and McCorry were described by the state as recidivist hucksters enjoined in 2005 from breaking securities laws.

    The $8.5 million scam drew at least 73 investors, “many of whom were elderly and retired,” prosecutors said.

    “We allege that these investors sought secure investments but instead, fell victims to a scam by individuals looking to unjustly enrich themselves,” Dow said.