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Tag: Employee Benefits Security Administration

  • 76-Year-Old Texas Scammer Who Ran Ponzi Scheme While Awaiting Trial In Earlier Fraud Case Sentenced To 10 Years In Federal Prison

    First, Robert Hague-Rogers, 76, of Frisco, Texas, stole funds from pension plans, prosecutors said.

    Hague-Rogers operated Dallas-based HR Financial Services and HR Sales and Marketing, both of which were in the insurance business, prosecutors said. In February 2011, he was indicted on charges of directing “money transfers and cash withdrawals from and between himself and the benefit plan for his and his family’s personal benefit,” prosecutors said.

    He also “directed the preparation of documents purportedly legitimizing the transfers of such funds,” prosecutors said.

    While Hague-Rogers was on pretrial release two months after his indictment, investigators discovered he had hatched a Ponzi scheme in which “unauthorized loans” were taken against employer-sponsored health plans, prosecutors said.

    The money in the follow-up scam was used “to repay investors holding promissory notes with interest as high as 15%,” prosecutors said.  “[Hague-Rogers] would then move funds between the various plans and investors’ accounts, while paying himself and his family for personal expenses such as mortgages, life insurance policies and property taxes.”

    By April 18, 2011, the government had gained an asset freeze against Hague-Rogers. Three months later — in July 2011 — a federal grand jury returned a superseding indictment that charged him with wire fraud and healthcare fraud. In April 2012, he pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit theft or embezzlement from an employee benefit plan and one count of conspiracy to commit healthcare fraud, prosecutors said.

    U.S. District Judge Sam A. Lindsay now has sentenced Hague-Rogers to 10 years in federal prison and to forfeit more than $9.3 million.

    “I hope that this sentencing sends a clear message to all who hold an office of trust, or operate or administer employee benefit plans, that the Department of Labor is committed to vigorously pursuing those who abuse their positions and use trust funds for personal gain,” said Mark Alder, director of the Employee Benefits Security Administration’s Dallas Regional Office.

    The criminal case was brought by prosecutors in the office of U.S. Attorney Sarah R. Saldaña of the Northern District of Texas.

    “This sentence should serve as an example of the consequences one will pay when people abuse the trust that has been placed in them and embezzle funds entrusted to their care,” said Saldaña.

     

  • FLORIDA — AGAIN: Miami Attorney Awaiting Sentencing In Ponzi Scheme Charged With Stealing From Employee Benefit Plan

    A Miami attorney awaiting sentencing in a Ponzi scheme case now has been accused of stealing from an employee benefit plan, federal prosecutors in the Southern District of Florida said.

    Lorn Leitman, 61, was charged with stealing from the South Florida Emergency Physicians P.A. Profit Sharing Plan. He faces up to 20 years in federal prison after pleading guilty to a mail-fraud offense in the Ponzi case, and now faces up to another five years on the theft charge, prosecutors said.

    The Ponzi scheme operated for 10 years, prosecutors said. The sentencing phase of the Ponzi case against Leitman was under way Monday when the new indictment on the theft charge was announced. The sentencing phase in the Ponzi case is scheduled to resume July 6.

    Leitman was indicted on the theft charge after an investigation by the U.S. Department of Labor.

    “This case reaffirms the Labor Department’s commitment to protect workers’ benefits by identifying criminal activity wherever and whenever it occurs,” said Isabel Colon, acting regional director of agency’s Employee Benefits Security Administration Atlanta Regional Office and the Miami District Office.

    In addition to being an attorney, Leitman also is a CPA, prosecutors said. The Florida Bar previously sanctioned Leitman for misconduct in a case in which it was alleged members of the military were targeted in a loan scheme that charged usurious interest rates.

    In 2007, the Florida Supreme Court ordered Leitman to attend Ethics School.