Information for Victims in Large Cases

On May 3, 2023 an indictment was unsealed charging the conspirators of a nation-wide foreclosure rescue scheme. The defendants marketed themselves as a “law firm” whose “attorneys” could help distressed homeowners remain in their homes. These firms operated through various names: Synergy Law LLC (October 2016 – August 2019); Themis Law LLC (June 2019 – present), and Babbs Law Firm (June 2019 – May 2022). 

The indictment alleges that the defendants promoted their “law firm” to homeowners nationwide with mass marketing techniques—websites, advertisements, and call centers. They had the victims sign retainer agreements that required the payment of fixed legal fees every month.  The “law firm” then provided no legal services to the victims and, in numerous instances, the victims were forced into bankruptcy or lost their homes to foreclosure. Many victims have reported that they never spoke to a lawyer.  As of May 3, 2023, the case is pending.

LAS VEGAS – A Las Vegas attorney made his initial appearance on March 31, 2023, before U.S. Magistrate Judge Elayna J. Youchah for allegedly orchestrating a Ponzi scheme causing more than 1,000 victim-investors to part with more than $460 million. A federal grand jury returned the indictment on March 29, 2023, charging Matthew Wade Beasley (50) with five counts of wire fraud and three counts of money laundering. A detention hearing was scheduled for April 7, 2023, before U.S. Magistrate Judge Cam Ferenbach. A jury trial was scheduled for June 6, 2023, before U.S. District Judge Jennifer A. Dorsey. According to allegations contained in the indictment, from about 2017 to March 2022, Beasley falsely represented to another person that he could find plaintiffs in personal injury lawsuits who wanted to borrow money against their pending settlements and would pay high interest rates to do so. He created fake contracts to lend money to purported personal injury plaintiffs. Beasley caused others to find investors to invest in these fake contracts. The indictment further alleges that, Beasley caused victim investors to wire transfer their investments to Beasley’s IOLTA account, which is a bank account set up by an attorney to hold client monies. He used the money from the scheme to buy luxury homes, cars, and recreational vehicles.

Virk and his co-conspirators engaged in a scheme to defraud by making false representations to consumers through “pop-up” warnings on their computers. The warnings falsely claimed to detect computer viruses or other security issues and instructed consumers to call a telephone number to fix the purported computer problems. The calls were routed to a call center in the Republic of India, where NTS IT Care, Inc. and NTS Global Services Pvt. Ltd. “sales representatives” used high-pressure tactics to deceive consumers into purchasing fictitious computer support services. Through these deceptive tactics, “sales representatives” convinced consumers to purchase fake and expensive “technical support” packages.

Press Release

Kerry Inc. Pleads Guilty in Connection with Insanitary Plant Conditions Linked to 2018 Salmonella Poisoning Outbreak

The US Attorney's Office for the Northern District of Ohio alleges that between January 1, 2014 – July 19, 2019 Defendants obtained millions of shares in certain public companies at little or no cost and then profited by selling those shares to investors at fraudulent and artificially inflated prices without disclosing their control of those shares or relationship with the companies. 

From at least January 2015 through the present, V. C., S. P., and O. G. conspired with each other and others to operate websites, including SSNDOB.WS and SSNDOB.CLUB (collectively, “SSNDOBCLUB”), that sold personally identifiable information of U.S. residents (“PII”), including names, social security numbers, and addresses. In the United States, such PII can be used to open credit cards or bank accounts in those individuals’ names, file false and fraudulent U.S. tax returns in those names, and file false and fraudulent claims for unemployment benefits in those names, among other crimes. The U.S. investigation has determined that since 2017, both websites have listed the PII for approximately 24,000,000 U.S. individuals and generated more than 19,000,000 USD in sales.

Raccoon Infostealer is malicious software that infects computers and steals personal information, including email addresses, identification numbers, bank account information, and cryptocurrency information.  Criminal actors can use the stolen information to commit identity theft, financial fraud, or other crimes.  Raccoon Infostealer infected computers in many countries from 2018 through early 2022.  Mark Sokolovsky is alleged to be one of the key administrators behind the Raccoon Infostealer.  He has been charged with conspiracy to violate the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act, money laundering, wire fraud, and aggravated identity theft.  For more information and resources on Raccoon Infostealer, including a site that can tell you whether your email address may have been stolen, please visit the links below.

Press Release

Former Kerry, Inc. Manager Ravi Chermala Pleads Guilty in Connection with Insanitary Plant Conditions Linked to 2018 Salmonella Poisoning Outbreak

Malekzadeh started his business in 2013 by purchasing limited edition and collectible sneakers to resell online. Beginning as early as January 2020, Zadeh Kicks began offering preorders of sneakers before their public release dates, allowing Malekzadeh to collect money upfront before fulfilling orders. Malekzadeh advertised, sold, and collected payments from customers for preorders knowing he could not satisfy all orders placed.  By April 2022, Malekzadeh owed customers more than $70 million in undelivered sneakers and unknown additional millions held by customers in worthless company gift cards. In her role as Zadeh Kicks chief financial officer, Mockerman conspired with Malekzadeh to provide false and altered financial information to numerous financial institutions—including providing altered bank statements—on more than 15 bank loan applications. Together, Mockerman and Malekzadeh received more than $15 million in loans from these applications.

The defendants have been charged with a years-long Conspiracy to Commit Bank Fraud and Wire Fraud, Bank Fraud, Wire Fraud, Aggravated Identity Theft, and Conspiracy to Commit Money Laundering.  The indictment charges them with fraudulently obtaining a total of at least $500,000 from Alaska USA and other federally insured banking institutions. The defendants additionally stole checks and used banking information from countless other victims to further the scheme.  

From 2013 through 2022, the defendant, Onur Aksoy, ran a massive operation, broadly named “Pro Network,” to traffic in counterfeit and fraudulent Cisco networking devices.  Aksoy and his coconspirators then resold these devices in the United States and around the world, falsely representing them as new, genuine, and high-quality Cisco products.  Aksoy trafficked in and resold tens of thousands of such counterfeit and fraudulent devices, which carried an estimated retail value of more than one billion dollars.

Failure by former Uber CSO, Joseph Sullivan, to disclose 2016 breach to affected UBER drivers.  Hackers revealed that they had accessed and downloaded an Uber database containing the personally identifying information “PII” of approx. 600,000 drivers.