Financial Crimes Task Force

Financial crimes come in all shapes and sizes. At bottom, they all involve lying or deception in order to obtain money. With the advent of the internet, some schemes are mass-marketed. Mass-marketing fraud schemes generally fall into three main categories: (1) advance-fee fraud schemes; (2) bank and financial account schemes; and (3) investment opportunities. Other financial crimes include creating or altering checks or financial instruments and passing these checks. Mortgage fraud usually involves purchasing real estate or obtaining mortgages by providing false information.

• Louis H. Rivas was convicted in Chattanooga of wire fraud, conducting illegal financial transactions in violation of the Racketeering statutes, and bankruptcy fraud. Rivas operated a multi-state “ponzi” scheme that resulted in more than $18 million in losses to his victims. He was sentenced to 240 months in federal prison.
• Dennis R. Bolze, of Gatlinburg, was convicted in Knoxville of several counts of wire fraud and money laundering for his involvement in a scheme to defraud investors of their money. Bolze posed as an investment professional who represented that was achieving large returns for his customers. In fact, he was operating an elaborate “ponzi” scheme that resulted in a loss to his victims of more than $13 million. He was sentenced to 327 months in federal prison.

To find out more about financial fraud schemes and how to protect yourself against them visit http://www.justice.gov/criminal/fraud/internet.