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Woman’s Caregiver Charged With Forgery
This case is unbelievably common. A woman’s caregiver who took care of her for the last two years of her life decided that after the woman passed away she could just steal all her material possessions, including a very sexy 1965 Mustang.
As a previous owner of a red ’65 Ford Mustang convertible, I can tell you how attractive this car makes you feel when you drive it. But, does that really give her an excuse to commit forgery, write checks on a dead woman’s bank account and make a fake will?
The reason I want you to look at this story is that it is incredibly common for whoever is around an older person when he dies to feel ethically obligated to take all his stuff, because many people such as caregivers and the one brother that spends the last ten years of life really feels entitled to have everything.
Forgeries incredibly common, and if I were a police inspector I would always look at the caregiver first and whoever was around during the last few years in that person’s life. They are normally the suspects of the crime, and these are not sophisticated forgeries. These are very simple cases that you as a forensic document examiner will be able to help solve and get the estate back into the hands of the people that deserve it.
LAS CRUCES, N.M. — A dead woman’s caregiver was charged with forgery after Las Cruces police said she named herself to inherit a home, car, and money.
Las Cruces police detectives said in the months prior to the Aug. 2 death of Mary Fix, Maria E. Hobbs created a last will and testament naming herself as the recipient of the woman’s residence, a 1965 Ford Mustang, and the funds from the woman’s bank account.
Hobbs worked for Adult Protective Services, a division of New Mexico’s Aging and Long Term Services Department, and took care of Fix, who was suffering from advanced dementia, police said.
Detectives discovered on the day Fix died, Hobbs took a $300 check from the woman and deposited it into her own checking account. The memo on the check, apparently written by Hobbs, stated the check was for “Mary’s car title and registration.”
Detectives also learned that Hobbs forged and deposited a $70,000 check, dated June 15, from Fix into her account on Sept. 7. A $35,000 check that was dated July 8 was deposited into Hobbs’ account on Sept. 9. That same day, Sept. 9, Hobbs wrote out a personal check in the amount of $48,548 to purchase a mobile home from Palm Harbor Homes, detectives said.
Detectives learned that Fix established a living trust in 2004 naming Washburn University as the beneficiary of her estate upon her death. LCPD began investigating the case when a financial adviser with Prudential Financial Group contacted police after attempting to execute Fix’s trust.
Hobbs was charged with eight counts of forgery including two second-degree felony counts, five fourth-degree felonies, and one third-degree felony.
She was arrested Thursday by the U.S. Marshall’s Service and is being held at the Dona Ana County Detention Center with bond set at $55,000.
More News and articles @ http://www.kfoxtv.com/index.html
Judge slams mortgage company fraudulent note practice
This is really big news if you’re involved in the mortgage crisis in the United States. And even if you’re not in the United States, you have to understand that the entire world economy crashed.
And part of the reason was excessive loans to people who couldn’t afford homes throughout the United States and North America. And that the same philosophy trickled down into what they called secondary mortgages and financial crisis.
A company called MERS, and it still exists, was in the news because of a judge in Florida.
How is forgery involved in this? Great question, so much of the real estate in America is currently in a state of foreclosure or pre‑foreclosure because of the loans that were granted in the last five to ten years that homeowners can’t afford.
Instead of getting proper paperwork to foreclose on these loans, the banks and the companies hired to assemble the foreclosures simply made up signatures. They mocked up documents and they actually forged people’s names that no longer worked there, and they forged notaries’ names that no longer worked at the companies in order to get the documentation needed to file the foreclosure notice.
If you are a handwriting expert or you are a document examiner, this is a great opportunity for you to get paid to help somebody save their home by entering into the discussion of whether or not the paperwork in the mortgage foreclosure is correct or it’s fraudulent. This has been a very, very popular type of case that we’ve had in our office here in Los Angeles.
All of our associates around the United States have also had paperwork like this, because fraud and forgery are so rampant in the real estate industry. And it’s not just the last five years, but specifically in the foreclosure area you can help save somebody’s home if indeed they made a mistake.
This article is about MERS, but if you’re going to get into the real estate business, you need to understand about the mortgage and mortgage loans and how to speak to attorneys who are dealing with this sort of thing. It’s an important article and I hope you keep up with it.
Merscorp Inc., operator of the electronic-registration system that contains about half of all U.S. home mortgages, has no right to transfer the mortgages under its membership rules, a judge said.
U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Robert E. Grossman in Central Islip, New York, in a decision he said he knew would have a “significant impact,” wrote that the membership rules of the company’s Mortgage Electronic Registration Systems, or MERS, don’t make it an agent of the banks that own the mortgages.
“MERS’s theory that it can act as a ‘common agent’ for undisclosed principals is not supported by the law,” Grossman wrote in a Feb. 10 opinion. “MERS did not have authority, as ‘nominee’ or agent, to assign the mortgage absent a showing that it was given specific written directions by its principal.”
Merscorp was created in 1995 to improve servicing after county offices couldn’t deal with the flood of mortgage transfers, Karmela Lejarde, a spokeswoman for MERS, said in an interview last year. The company tracks servicing rights and ownership interests in mortgage loans on its electronic registry, allowing banks to buy and sell the loans without having to record the transfer with the county. It played a major role in Wall Street’s ability to quickly bundle mortgages together in securitized trusts.
MERS was still reviewing Grossman’s decision and didn’t have an immediate comment, Lejarde said in an e-mail Feb. 11. Lejarde didn’t immediately respond to an e-mail seeking comment today.
Proper Status
“‘Don’t come around here no more,’ is basically the message to MERS,” said April Charney, a senior attorney with Jacksonville Area Legal Aid in Jacksonville, Florida. “The judge basically deconstructed MERS and said there’s no possible way in any case you can come in and show you have this appropriate proper status to transfer the note.”
“MERS and its partners made the decision to create and operate under a business model that was designed in large part to avoid the requirements of the traditional mortgage-recording process,” Grossman wrote. “The court does not accept the argument that because MERS may be involved with 50 percent of all residential mortgages in the country, that is reason enough for this court to turn a blind eye to the fact that this process does not comply with the law.”
Automatic Shield
In the case Grossman ruled on, Credit Suisse Group AG’s Select Portfolio Servicing, a mortgage servicer, sought to bypass the automatic shield against legal claims triggered by Ferrel L. Agard’s filing for personal bankruptcy in September.
Select Portfolio wanted permission to foreclose on Agard’s home in Westbury, New York, on behalf of U.S. Bancorp’s U.S. Bank unit, the trustee for the mortgage-backed trust the home loan was in. The house is worth about $350,000 and the mortgage amount was $536,921, according to the decision.
Grossman ruled in favor of Select Portfolio because he couldn’t overrule a November 2008 foreclosure judgment the servicer won in state court, he said. Without that state-court ruling, Select Portfolio wouldn’t have had the right to bring its motion, Grossman said.
He then addressed whether a mortgage transfer by MERS is valid, because “MERS’s role in the ownership and transfer of real-property notes and mortgages is at issue in dozens of cases before this court,” including those where “there have been no prior dispositive state-court decisions,” he wrote.
Original Lender
Select Portfolio argued in part that MERS’s February 2008 assignment of the mortgage to U.S. Bank was valid because Agard agreed that MERS would hold title to it for the original lender,Bank of America Corp.’s First Franklin, and for whichever banks it was further assigned to. First Franklin transferred the promissory note the mortgage secured to Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc.’s Aurora Bank and Aurora to U.S. Bank, according to the decision.
“An adverse ruling regarding MERS’s authority to assign mortgages or act on behalf of its member/lenders could have a significant impact on MERS and upon the lenders which do business with MERS throughout the United States,” Grossman wrote. “It is up to the legislative branch, if it chooses, to amend the current statutes to confer upon MERS the requisite authority to assign mortgages under its current business practices.”
MERS intervened in the case and argued that Agard’s mortgage, the terms of its membership agreement and New York state law gave it the authority to assign the mortgage. MERS says it holds title to mortgages for its members as both “nominee” and “mortgagee of record.”
Select Portfolio
Grossman said Select Portfolio had to show that U.S. Bank owned both the note and the mortgage, and there was no evidence that it held the note. The judge disagreed with Select Portfolio’s argument that U.S. Bank held the note because the note “follows” the mortgage, which it said U.S. Bank owned.
“By MERS’s own account, the note in this case was transferred among its members, while the mortgage remained in MERS’s name,” Grossman wrote. “MERS admits that the very foundation of its business model as described herein requires that the note and mortgage travel on divergent paths.”
The judge said that the membership agreement wasn’t enough to assign the mortgage and that to do so the lender would have to give power of attorney or similar authority to MERS.
MERS’s membership rules don’t create “an agency or nominee relationship” and don’t clearly grant MERS authority to take any action with respect to mortgages, including transferring them, Grossman wrote. Because the interests at issue concern “real property” — land and buildings — under state law, any transfer has to be in writing, which isn’t done under the MERS system, he said.
‘Nominee’ Status
“Without more, this court finds that MERS’s ‘nominee’ status and the rights bestowed upon MERS within the mortgage itself, are insufficient to empower MERS to effectuate a valid assignment of mortgage,” the judge wrote. “MERS’s position that it can be both the mortgagee and an agent of the mortgagee is absurd, at best.”
Grossman said parties coming to him to seek to lift the automatic ban on legal claims in cases involving MERS will have to show they own both the mortgage and the note.
The case is In re Agard, 10-77338, U.S. Bankruptcy Court, Eastern District of New York Central Islip).
To contact the reporter on this story: Thom Weidlich in Brooklyn, New York, federal court attweidlich@bloomberg.net.
More on this @ http://www.bloomberg.com
In Nigeria, why divorce? Army condones forgery to end marriage
Why hire an expensive divorce attorney if you are working for the Nigerian Army, just forge your own divorce papers, submit them to the Army, move out of your house and kick your wife and family to the curb.
If this sounds harsh, well it is. This recent story is about a Nigerian Army Major alleged forged his divorce papers so he could leave his wife and take up with another woman.
It’s a long article but the bottom line is this. If you have enough clout you can simply forge paperwork and your employer in this case the Nigerian Army, will simply look the other way and say “ahh, so what. He didn’t like his wife; he left her, kicked his kids out on the street, but he should get the house.” It’s a long drawn out story in a country where the law is not as just as it should be.
On a signed note I have been contacted numerous times from people in African countries to fly over to Africa to testify in a Nigerian court and other courts which quite frankly scare me.
I am also helping people get justice but I am not for flying to a third world country with a questionable justice system and ending up in an African prison because somebody in power didn’t like my opinion. No thanks. I’ll stick to the Western European court systems where at least there is some semblance and reasonableness and fairness. Enjoy the article.
The forgery of court document is a criminal offence which carries a seven-year jail term. But the Nigerian Army does not seem to consider the offence such a big deal. When told how Paul Egbo, a Major in the army’s medical corps, allegedly forged divorce papers to enable him leave his wife and take up with another woman, a female army officer, an official letter from the Chief of Army staff said the offence is of no concern to the army.
In May 2006, Mr Egbo, a native of Delta State, while serving in Maiduguri, Borno State, decided he wanted out of his 12-year marriage to Uche Egbo. He called Mrs. Egbo, a house wife and mother of their three children living in their home at the Ojo military cantonment in Lagos State, and told her that the marriage is over because God had told him to marry another woman.
He then changed his salary account from which Mrs. Egbo and the children take money for their monthly upkeep. Mrs. Egbo remembers that for the next eighteen months, up till September 23, 2007, her husband and father of their children only came home once; and that was to pack his belongings.
“He came from Maiduguri to pack his things. I told him that if he takes everything how does he want us to cope, that why has he abandoned his family, that he should make arrangement for his children’s upkeep,” Mrs Egbo said, “Instead he accused me of being a criminal and got me arrested. I was taken to the guardroom and would have remained there if not for an officer who intervened. But he took everything and left us with nothing.”
Mrs. Egbo’s ordeal was not over. On May 20, 2008, Military Police personnel came to her home and handed her a Lagos State High Court order dated December 31, 2007, which declared her marriage to Mr. Egbo dissolved. On the orders of her husband, they had come to evict her with immediate effect from the house.
“It was only because the cantonment commandant, Lieutenant Colonel Apere, intervened that I was spared. He instructed Paul to come and sort things out himself because the army gave the house to him and not me,” said Mrs. Egbo, who hails from Anambra State.
Being the only child of an elderly pensioner mother, Mrs. Egbo was totally dependent on her husband. Now abandoned, she became a wreck. Unable to bear the psychological trauma any longer, she moved out of the barracks in September 2008 and began squatting with some acquaintances.
To put food on the table, she started doing menial jobs. She could not pay her children’s school fees, and they had to miss one year of school. She and her three children practically lived off handouts from sympathizers.
A case of forgery
It was in this condition that Kayode Ogunjobi, a lawyer, met Mrs. Egbo. Filled with compassion, he took up her case free of charge and ran a check on the decree nisi and the decree absolute allegedly issued by the court dissolving the marriage. The response from the Lagos State judiciary in a letter dated July 17, 2008 revealed that Mr. Egbo’s documents were fake.
“We have checked our records and we report that the document did not emanate from the High Court of Lagos State as Suit No. HD/241/2007 does not exist in our records,” wrote Mariam Emeya, then a Chief Magistrate. “Furthermore it is very obvious that the document is fake as Mr. A. Ola Dada, the ACR (Assistant Chief Registrar) Litigation who purportedly signed the letter in 2007 retired in 2005.”
Mrs. Emeya, who at the time was also the deputy chief registrar of administration in the Lagos State High Court, further observed that a decree nisi only becomes absolute after three months but Mr. Egbo’s decree absolute terminated his marriage after two months.
“In the final analysis, there is no indication of the court or judge who purportedly dissolved the said marriage. It is therefore clear that the document is fake,” concluded Mrs. Emeya.
The army didn’t care
In December 2008, Mr. Ogunjobi, through Rouq & Company Solicitors and Advocates, petitioned the Office of the Chief of Army Staff, then headed by Abdulrahaman Dambazau, a lieutenant general; and Mike Okiro, the then Inspector-General of Police. While the Police never responded, the Army through its Special Investigation Bureau (SIB) in Apapa, Lagos State, between August and September 2009, investigated Mr. Egbo’s forgery case and the abandoning of his family responsibilities.
“We were invited by the SIB and we went. The investigation was concluded and the report forwarded. They said they were sending recommendations to Defence Headquarters, and that it is an internal thing, so they will get back to us when they need us. And that is the last we have heard from them, till now,” Mr. Ogunjobi said.
By June 2010, the army had still not responded and Mr. Egbo had not rendered any financial help to his family in years. During this time, Mrs. Egbo said her husband had married another woman, a female army captain she identified as Rachael Gashua, serving in the army’s Military Police Corps in Maiduguri.
After her children were sent away from school just before their promotion exams for non-payment of school fees, Mrs. Egbo approached Project Alert, a non-governmental organisation promoting women rights. They assisted her with N35,000; and together with the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) petitioned the present Chief of Army Staff, Onyeabo Ihejirika, over Mr. Egbo’s forgery of judicial documents and abandonment of family.
But Mr. Ihejirika’s response to the Commission was that the army would not entertain the matter. Through his staff, one Lieutenant Colonel A. A. Ali, via a letter received by the NHRC on November 22, 2010, the army chief further recommended that if Mrs. Egbo felt so aggrieved, she could lay her complaints at the law courts.
“The issues raised are purely domestic in nature and should be settle between the spouses. On the other hand, if she feels strongly about the alleged ill treatment by her husband, she may take up a legal action against him. The Nigeria Army does not have the capacity to impose a wife on a personnel,” read the letter signed by Mr. Ali “for Chief of Army Staff”.
Mr. Egbo could not be reached on his mobile telephone. When contacted, his lawyer, Jonah Daniel of KC Okolodia & Co, said the media does not have any merit in reporting the case.
“I don’t think it is safe for your paper to publish this story. Paul’s wife has reported to the Nigerian army and it’s being investigated,” Mr. Daniel said. “Also the Human Rights Commission is investigating. This matter is under investigation, so I don’t know what you want me to say.”
But when asked if he procured the fake divorce documents for Mr. Egbo, he replied: “I can’t answer that question. I won’t be part of a campaign of calumny”.
The waiting game
The head of the Directorate of Army Public Relations, Chris Olukolade, a brigadier-general, when contacted, requested that he should be left out of the matter.
Kayode Ogunsanya, a lieutenant colonel and the spokesperson for the Army’s 81 Division, which oversees Bonny Cantonment, where Mr. Egbo is said to be currently serving, promised to contact him and then get back to NEXT. Two weeks have gone by and he is yet to respond. With tears in her eyes Mrs. Egbo said all she wants is for the father of her children to live up to his parental duties. As she wakes up early every day to prepare the food she sells on a roadside, she worries about raising enough money to pay her children’s school fees, as schools resume February.
“For five years I have been struggling on my own. I have made up my mind to move on. I am not out for revenge but if Paul wants to divorce, he should do it the right way. He should also have compassion on his children and cater for them and not leave them to suffer this way,” Mrs Egbo said.
More news and articles @ http://234next.com
Judge rules that Feng Shui Master forged Nina Wang’s will
I just love when forgeries make the headlines. This case happened in China and if you’re living in Asia, this is a huge case for you. But here in America, we didn’t hear much about it.
A woman named Nina Wang passed away leaving $13 billion at stake from a forged will. According to the court records, guess who forged it? Her feng shui master.
In Asia, having a Feng Shui master can be fairly common. However, Ms. Wang was having an affair with hers. But would you really leave him $13 billion with a will written in English when in fact your native language is Mandarin? I’m sure there were many Asian handwriting experts involved in this case as the court deemed the will a forgery.
As an aspiring handwriting expert, you should realize that this is exactly the kind of case that can put your career on the map and on auto pilot. Even if you are not hired for the case and given the chance to comment, newspapers and TV shows will put you on the air to discuss it. If you talk about any high profile murder or any famous person that is involved in a murder or a criminal act or in this case, forgery, you can comment on it and be the talking head even if you’re not hired by the plaintiff or the defense.
I wasn’t commenting on this case because this one was mainly in Asia. But if you recall back when JonBenet Ramsey was murdered, I was given the opportunity to comment on the handwritten note that was found.
On a legal note, wills differ from every state and country. There’s something called a holographic will which means that the will was written entirely in a person’s own handwriting, and signed. If somebody types a will and that person signs it, then it’s not a holographic will and so you should consult an attorney or check the laws before you really get involved with a will and testament. Your job as a handwriting expert is to confirm or deny the identity of the person that reportedly offered the will.
In this case, there is $13 billion at stake and I think the forgerer, the feng shui master, Tony Chan is going to jail for forgery because the court finds him guilty. The kicker is she actually did leave him $10 million, but since he didn’t want just $10 million, he chose to forge the will. Now he will be spending time in prison and at the same time forfeited the $10 million that his lover gave to him. Enjoy the article.
The Nina Wang case captivated Asia in much the same way the Brooke Astor case made headlines in New York last year. Only instead of questions surrounding whether a multi-millionaire’s will was invalid, the Nina Wang case involved whether Tony Chan Chun-chuen forged the will of Asia’s richest woman, to the tune of about thirteen billion dollars, according to some estimates. She died at age 69 in 2007.
The case raged for months, and The Probate Lawyer Blog featured several articles about it. The Hong Kong judge carefully deliberated since closing arguments took place in late September. Earlier today, the High Court released the 326-page ruling that declared Wang’s 2006 will to be a forgery.
Tony Chan contended that Wang had left him her fortune because, rather than being a mere feng shui adviser for her, he was also her secret lover. Of course, he was married during the affair. And he was 20 years younger than she was.
Lawyers for the Wang family and charities (the vast majority of her fortune from the prior will, in 2002, was earmarked for charity), said Chan forged the new will. They also claimed, alternatively, that Chan had tricked her into signing it by declaring it to be a “feng shui will” that he was supposed to destroy as part of a ceremony to help extend her life.
Here are the highlights:
Nina Wang did have an intimate relationship with Tony Chan, but she wanted to keep it a secret. Despite giving him lavish gifts and payments of money, she didn’t want to give him her entire fortune.
Rather, she held true to her wishes in the 2002 will, leaving most of her wealth to charity.
Wang did, in fact, sign a new document in 2006. But it wasn’t the will Tony Chan said it was. No — that one was forged . . . through a “highly skilled simulation”. Instead, Wang signed a Specific Bequest Will leaving Chan $10 million (poor guy).
The Judge didn’t find Chan believable — pointing to his criminal past, among other reasons. Chan lied and withheld relevant information from the Court, the Judge said. And, the 2006 will was written in English, not Chinese like the 2002 will.
The judge also said he didn’t believe Chan’s wife either, who also offered testimony to support the validity of the 2006 will.
Chan’s lawyer already promised an appeal. But, Chan has other concerns in the meantime. Chan may be referred for criminal prosecution based on the finding of forgery. And he won’t even have the $10 million from the “Specific Bequest Will”. That partial will wasn’t located and Chan didn’t offer it for admission to the Court. So he may not even get that amount.
The real irony here is that Chan’s path is eerily similar to Nina Wang’s. Her husband was kidnapped in 1990 and was never found. (In fact, that’s how she met Chan — he was supposed to help locate her husband). After Wang’s husband was declared dead, the father-in-law challenged the will that left Nina Wang with everything.
And, just like in this case, the will was found to be a forgery and Nina Wang was charged criminally.
But, Nina Wang ultimately won on appeal and was exonerated. She inherited her husband’s fortune, despite originally losing her case. Will her feng shui master/former lover be as lucky on appeal?
Feb 4, 2010 Update — Tony Chan has been arrested because of the ruling.
Posted by: Author and probate attorney Andrew W. Mayoras, co-author of Trial & Heirs: Famous Fortune Fights! and co-founder and shareholder of The Center for Probate Litigation and The Center for Elder Law in metro-Detroit, Michigan, which concentrate in probate litigation, estate planning, and elder law. You can email him at awmayoras @ brmmlaw.com.
More of this Stories, News and Articles @ http://www.probatelawyerblog.com
Parent of Cricket Champ Faces Forgery Charges
I just love the story when forgery appears in one of the world’s biggest sports and in the country of India, so don’t think forgery is just an American crime. In fact, since we started the national school we have had students in India and they submit work in Hindi, in all kinds of alphabets that I don’t understand personally, but the science behind forgery and forensic document examination does work in every language.
But what’s great about this story is one of the largest sports in the world is called cricket. It’s not very familiar to our American readers but anyone in England, Australia, India and around the world will understand it. And anyone who ever has a child that plays sports would understand the motivation for trying to get his child to get on a top winning team.
So what’s interesting about this story is one of the Goa Cricket Association’s vice presidents, he actually is accused of forging his own son’s birth certificate so that his son can play in the championship game and that’s because his son was a little bit too old to play with the kids his age. So you think it just happens in fraud and for $15 million in a court or a Ponzi scheme.
Nope. It happens so your kid can play sports and win. Enjoy this article.
Panaji: The Indian Cricket Board was on Saturday accused of turning a blind eye towards the alleged forgery of the birth certificate of his son by Goa Cricket Association’s (GCA) former vice President, Dayanand Narvekar.
Shekhar Salkar, a former GCA executive member who has filed a police complaint against Narvekar and his family members, said the BCCI had discovered the forgery two years back, but did not take appropriate action.
Based on Salkar’s complaint, the police on Friday filed an FIR against Narvekar, his wife Sushma, son Ganeshraj and two others. They have been booked for cheating, forgery and criminal conspiracy.
According to the complaint, Narvekar, an ex-Goa minister, allegedly forged the birth certificate of his son Ganeshraj to facilitate his participation in an under-15 cricket tournament.
“When BCCI realized that Narvekar had let his son Ganeshraj play for the third time in the U-15 category, the Board wrote to GCA. But he was fined a mere Rs 5,000 and let off,” Salkar claimed.
Salkar said the apex cricket body in the country had failed in its duty by not taking action against Narvekar for such “gross misconduct and fraud”.
The BCCI, in a letter dated April 25, 2008, signed by Chief Administrative Officer R S Shetty, and had expressed surprise about how Ganeshraj was allowed to play in the under-15 tournament in the 2007-08 seasons under the name Anish N.
“This is a clear violation of BCCI rules and calls for punitive action,” Shetty had said in the letter, according to Salkar.
Salkar on Saturday demanded that Narvekar step down as the GCA president. “Police should immediately arrest Narvekar as offences against him are of serious nature.”
As per the complaint, Ganeshraj, after playing for two seasons – 2005-06 and 2006-07 – for the South Zone under-15 team, was allowed to play for the third time by changing his name.
It said that Ganeshraj’s name was changed to Anish, his pet name, and a fake birth certificate was submitted to ensure his participation in the tournament.
The complainant has also attached documents, obtained under Right to Information Act, showing that Ganeshraj had two different birth certificates.
As per GCA record, his birth date is September 1, 1993, while the certificate procured from the local municipality shows his birthday as February 28, 1993.
The complaint also stated that Ganeshraj has given another birth certificate claiming his birth date as February 28, 1992 to get admission in a school.
When contacted, BCCI CAO Shetty declined to comment.
More News and Article @ http://cricketnext.in.com
Widow of film tycoon in court for forgery
Whether you are working in the USA or South Africa, dying without a will brings out all the forgers in the family.
Widow Debra Terry appeared in the Cape Town Regional Court on Thursday for the first time in connection with the forged will of her late husband, which left local film production giant and Intellvision owner Bruce Anderson-Terry’s entire estate to her.
With the testimony of handwriting experts, Cape Deputy Judge President Jeanette Traverso declared in 2003 that the signatures of both Bruce and now deceased witness Ricky Cox had been forged on a will that itself was questionably authentic.
The will would have distributed Bruce’s assets – valued at between R10-million and R20-million, including a Ferrari, a yacht and a large family home – only after Debra’s death, and then they would have been divided equally among the four children, including Debra’s son and daughter from a previous marriage.
Following the court case in which Traverso ruled that Bruce had died without a will, the estate was divided between Debra, Brett (Bruce’s son from his first marriage) and half-sister Kim.
Bruce’s stepchildren did not inherit anything.
Thursday’s court appearance was the result of an investigation into the forgery, ordered by Traverso three years ago for a possible criminal prosecution.
Magistrate Vic Gibson ordered that Debra – wearing a black leather jacket and high heels with her auburn hair cut into a short bob with chunky blond streaks – appear again on July 21 when a court date would be arranged.
Gibson said the time would allow for Debra’s defence to gather “further particulars”.
Public prosecutor Jannie Knipe said yesterday that Debra had not yet been charged, but she knew the allegations against her.
According to the charge sheet, a main charge of fraud is listed along with a first alternative charge of forgery and uttering and a second alternative charge of contravening the Administration of Estates Act.
“… the accused when she gave out and pretended … knew that in truth and in fact that the document described as the ‘Last will and testament of Bruce Anderson-Terry and Debra Helen Anderson-Terry’ was in fact not signed at Claremont on 24 February 1999 by the late Bruce Anderson-Terry and the accused as their last will and testament,” the main charge states.
Under forgery and uttering, the charge sheet states that the accused “… unlawfully, falsely, with the intent to defraud and to the prejudice or potential prejudice of Brett Bruce Anderson-Terry, drafted a false document described as the ‘Last will and testament of Bruce Anderson-Terry and Debra Helen Anderson- Terry’.”
Bruce died, aged 52, in a car accident five years ago this month.
Well known as a major player in the local movie-making fraternity, his film facilities company, Intellvision, was housed in a gracious old Cape homestead in Mowbray.
Read more news here:http://www.iol.co.za
Miss. Woman Sought by Del. Police on Burglary, Forgery Charges
Here is a case that appeared in the WBOC-TV 16. If you’re going to break into somebody’s house, steal three checks, then to pass them to the bank, here’s a tip: Don’t use your own driver’s license and Social Security card to prove your I.D.
LONG NECK, Del.- Delaware State Police are looking for a Mississippi woman wanted in connection with the burglary that occurred at a home in Long Neck.
Active arrest warrants are on file for Jennifer Lynn Robbins of Columbia, Miss., who when caught will be charged with second-degree burglary, identity theft, three counts of theft under $1,500 where a victim is 62 years of age or older, attempted theft under $1,500, and two counts of second-degree forgery.
Police say that on Oct. 28, troopers investigated a burglary that occurred on Joann Drive in the Mariner’s Cove development of Long Neck. The burglary is believed to have occurred between Oct. 27 and Oct. 28.
According to police, an investigation revealed that Robbins entered the victim’s home and stole three bank checks.
Troopers say they later discovered that Robbins cashed one of the checks in the amount of $325 at the Smyrna branch of Wilmington Trust. Police say Robbins then unsuccessfully attempted to cash a second check in the amount of $955 at both the Harrington and Milford branches of Wilmington Trust.
According to investigators, Robbins used her Mississippi driver’s license and Social Security card when attempting to cash the checks. This information assisted police in identifying Robbins as the suspect.
Police are asking anyone who knows the whereabouts of Robbins to call investigators at (302)856-5850, ext. 221 or Crime Stoppers at 1-800-TIP-3333. Tips may also be submitted online at www.tipsubmit.com.
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Jury finds Finch guilty of forging receipts during county audit
Here is what happens when the director of community service is set loose with a county credit card. She spends the money and fabricates $2,000 worth of FEDX receipts. Hmm. What did she buy at Fed X… or rather, what did she really buy with the $2,000.
A Knox County jury found Cynthia Finch guilty of 2 counts of forgery Wednesday afternoon after four hours of deliberations.
The former Knox County Community Services Director was accused of falsifying receipts for purchases made on her county credit card, known as a P-card.
Prosecutors also charged Finch with fabricating evidence, a allegation jurors found Finch not guilty of.
Tuesday, in testimony not heard by jurors, Finch’s former executive assistant, Requitta Bone told the court Finch would write county functions as explanations for charges that were associated with a sorority. Bone’s testimony was off court record and ultimately, she was never called by prosecutors to speak in front of jurors.
Wednesday, prosecutors downplayed Bone’s significance as it related to their case in the fabricating evidence claim.
“Whenever you are doing a case you just view all the evidence and view what you need to present it in,” Bill Bright, a prosecutor from the Tennessee District Attorney’s office said. “I wouldn’t signal out any one witness that was called or not called to the stand as crucial for any count.”
Finch faces a maximum of 8 years behind bars according to state statute for level D and level E felonies. The judge will likely sentence her in March. The former Knox County Community Services Director has no criminal history. It is possible she will not receive jail time and could be offered diversion, that decision is up to judge Jon Kerry Blackwood.
“He could decide to impose some term of incarceration, he also could impose probation, he also has something available to him calling pretrial diversion so there’s a whole range of things that could happen,” Mike Meyer, a prosecutor from the Tennessee District Attorney General’s office said.
Neither of the prosecutors said they could comment on what sentence they would ask the judge to impose on Finch.
Shortly after the verdict was read, Finch left the courtroom with several supporters and one of her attorneys at her side. She walked quietly as reporters asked her questions, other than to say, “God is good, God is good” before entering an elevator.
Commissioners React
A pair of Knox County Commissioners in 2007, Paul Pinkston and Lee Tramel played significant roles in initiating the purchasing card audit that ultimately led to the charges Finch faced and was convicted of.
Pinkston spent hours digging through financial records and ultimately was the one who brought many of the concerns to the public and commission. Wednesday afternoon, Pinkston said it was somewhat vindicating to see justice and something come of the case but he would not go so far as to say he felt jail time was appropriate for Finch.
Lee Tramel was another commissioner who played a big role as the commissioner who suggested they instruct the Knox County Auditor to conduct the p-card audit.
Both men say they don’t think Finch was the only one that abused the system but Tramel says while others paid back any misguided expenses, Finch chose not to.
Still, it’s hard for either to consider the convictions a “win” for taxpayers, the county, or anyone involved.
“You know it’s not a victory, you know, by any stretch for Knox County or anyone else. Nobody wants to see anybody go through this. Things happened that were wrong and I think now we know exactly what happened and what has been done and it was just as was reported by the County Auditor,” Tramel said.
Previous story
The case against Cynthia Finch, Knox County’s former Community Services Director is now in the hands of a jury.
Prosecutors wrapped up their case mid-day Tuesday with UPS Store manager, Nathan Mishu.
Mishu testified that Finch came into his store and asked if there was anything he could do to help her get some receipts from Kinko’s. He said the only thing he could do was take the logo off their website and tape it to the top of UPS Store invoices.
“I took the receipt and went to the website and put it over where the UPS logo should be,” Mishu told the court. “Sometimes when you help somebody you feel so stupid and you don’t know what you got into.”
The defense team then grilled Mishu about exact dates and the timeline of everything that happened.
Mishu started to contradict some of his statements regarding the exact date Finch visited his store when questioned by Bob Jolley, Finch’s defense attorney. Mishu said he couldn’t pinpoint the date but remembered Finch coming in and then faxing copies of the doctored receipts to a ‘215’ fax number that fits Knox County’s City/County Building.
The biggest confrontation of the day came as prosecutors tried to call Requitta Bone, a former mayor’s office staffer and Finch’s executive assistant to the stand.
Jolley argued Bone should not be allowed to testify as many of the documents she would speak to were not included clearly in evidence before the trial. Prosecutors denied that charge and insisted her testimony was relevant.
Ultimately, Judge John Blackwood told the attorneys to bring Bone in to testify with the jury outside the room. He would then hear what she had to say and would determine it’s relevance in the case.
Bone testified with no jury in the room that she would run errands of sorts for Finch, shipping and purchasing things with the county purchasing card both for county business and their sorority.
“I was told the Mayor was ok with us doing sorority work during county time,” Bone said. “Any purchases I made with the p-card, I was given permission to make them by my supervisor (Finch).”
For whatever reason, prosecutors chose not to call Bone to the stand in front of a jury. They told 10News “we simply didn’t call her”.
During her testimony Tuesday, Bone presented Judge Blackwood with a copy of a receipt the former assistant said was associated with t-shirts for Finch’s sister’s organization, TennCorp.
The receipt had a handwritten note allegedly from Finch that described a t-shirt purchase was for a “senior summit”, an explanation of a county function that would justify the purchase.
However, the same document in the case file, gathered from the auditor does not have the handwriting on it. It is believed the handwritten note came after the document was submitted to the county.
Bone resigned from county government following her own troubles with p-cards, including a trip to Disney World paid for with the card.
Additionally, several Finch supporters served as character witnesses, testifying Finch is an honest, hard-working, and trustworthy member of the community.
The jury is expected back in the courtroom tomorrow morning and will then retreat to a private room to begin their deliberations.
Previous Report
Facing a trio of counts and possibly jail time, Cynthia Finch’s defense team pulled out a case arguing everything from race to a spat between the Knox County Auditor and Mayor’s Office are to blame for her legal situation.
Prosecutors meanwhile are relying on a dozen forged receipts from FedEx-Kinko’s that someone turned into auditors bearing Finch’s signature.
The trial for former Knox County Community Services Director, Finch, started Monday in Knox County Criminal Court. In the midst of a 2007 audit of county purchasing cards, Finch is accused of making up receipts and turning in about $2200 worth of false purchases.
Attorneys for both sides gave opening statements after a jury selection that lasted about two hours. 8 women and 4 men will serve on the board that ultimately will determine if Finch is guilty.
“One one person when unable to produce receipts decided to make them up,” Prosecutor Michael Meyer said. “We believe our case will show she chose to go out and have somebody else create false receipts.”
For the first time, Finch’s side of the story came to light inside a Knox County courtroom. Her defense team argued she was singled out in part because of race and in part because of a spat between the County Mayor’s office and Knox County Auditor Richard Walls.
“Ms. Finch did not forge those receipts,” Defense Attorney Bob Jolley told the jury. “You will hear names like Mike Ragsdale, Dwight Van de Vate, and Mike Arms, but the only person who is charged, is Cynthia Finch.”
The state called Walls to the stand as its first witness. The auditor testified that there was something that just didn’t seem right about the receipts Finch turned in detailing the purchases made at FedEx-Kinko’s (now FedEx Office).
Finch’s defense team pushed to prove the chain of custody was shoddy at best when it came to who controlled the documents that made up the audit.
“But you don’t know who brought you the receipts, do you?” Jolley asked.
“No sir, I don’t know who delivered it,” Walls testified.
A district manager for the office store testified she could tell right away the invoices turned in as receipts were not standard issue from the company. The logo on the hard copy paper wasn’t consistent with what the company used.
“Anytime we use that beacon it’s on top, between the ‘o’ and the ‘s’ (in ‘Kinko’s’). It appears to be off our website,” Cindy Katlin, of FedEx Office said.
Katlin testified 12 invoices turned in as proof of purchases bearing Finch’s name were likely fake.
Jolley continuously asked witnesses if there was anyway to prove that Finch abused her county purchasing card by buying items that were for personal use. None of the witnesses could provide evidence she did so. Jolley has previously told the courtroom that Knox County declining to seek damages against Finch should serve as further proof Finch did not commit fraud.
Finch’s trial is expected to last at least until Tuesday afternoon and likely will go into Wednesday. Tuesday, an employee who dealt first hand with creating the false receipts at FedEx-Kinko’s is expected to testify. Former Mayor’s office staffer Requitta Bone is also expected to testify at some point during Finch’s trial.
Previous Story
The jury has been seated for the forgery trial of Knox County’s former Community Service’s Director, Cynthia Fincn, and opening statements have begun.
The jury consists of 4 men and 8 women, but none of them are African American. There were 38 jurors called for this case, and only one of them was African American. That woman was dismissed because she belonged to the same sorority as Finch.
The jurors were questioned about their personal credit card use, whether they kept receipts for their purchases, and whether they belonged to a fraternity or sorority. They were also asked about their familiarity with purchasing cards and the audit process.
Finch’s defense attorney, Bob Jolley, is already making some allegations that race is a factor in the case
“Ms. Finch is different from us, isn’t she? That’s right. She’s black,” said Jolley.
Jolley also pointed out that Finch was a high-ranking black official and because of that, she shouldn’t have been singled out and shouldn’t be facing these charges.
Previous story
Knox County’s Former Community Services Director Cynthia Finch will face a jury of twelve as she stands trial accused of forging receipts in the midst of a county audit into purchasing cards.
Jury selection began Monday morning. There are thirty-eight potential jurors.
The judge denied the defense’s second motion for a continuance. They wanted more time now that Requitta Bone was added to the witness list. Requitta Bone was Finch’s assistant.
Finch faces two counts of forgery and one count of fabricating evidence. She is accused of falsely reporting more than $2,000 worth of purchases from FedEx/Kinkos.
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Lincoln police: Woman forged son’s signature, got $200K in loans
I came across this article and thought you would find it interesting to see how much forgery is going on around the United States.This woman was the wife of a popular radio host… forgery isn’t just a crime of poor people writing fake checks at the grocery store. This was an elaborate scam.
The Lincoln woman is accused of pocketing $211,583 in student loans in her son’s name and stealing more than $40,000 from her parents, police say. Christine Voges-Bishop, 47, 3441 Canyon Road, allegedly forged her son’s and father’s names on applications for more than three dozen student loans between 2004 and 2007, according to a probable cause affidavit filed in Lancaster County Court on Thursday.
Police allege Voges-Bishop also stole or fraudulently obtained $47,829.82 using her parents’ credit cards and forged checks, as well as credit accounts she opened in her son’s and mother’s names. Voges-Bishop was booked into Lancaster County Jail on Thursday and released Friday after paying a $500 bond. She’s set to be arraigned Monday and charged with as many as 63 counts of Class III felony forgery, as well as two counts of identity theft, one theft by deception and six counts of Class IV felony forgery.
Voges-Bishop, who is married to KLIN morning show host and program director John Bishop, told police her husband was not aware of the incidents. John Bishop has not been implicated, police said Friday. In December, Voges-Bishop’s parents discovered several unauthorized withdrawals from their Security First checking account, which Voges-Bishop made by adding herself as a user on their online account, the affidavit alleges. After calling police, Voges-Bishop’s father discovered 43 student loans taken out at Sallie Mae and American Education Services, for which he was listed as a co-signer and Voges-Bishop’s son as the borrower.
Investigator Mayde McGuire of the Lincoln Police Department’s Technical Investigations Unit called Voges-Bishop and determined she had forged her son’s and father’s signatures on the loan applications, the affidavit says. During the investigation, police also found Voges-Bishop allegedly forged $4,900 in Security First checks while her parents were on vacation in summer 2009, and $35,000 in Chase and Bank of America checks in 2006 and 2007, according to McGuire’s affidavit. Voges-Bishop also opened two CitiBank accounts, one in her son’s name and the other in her mom’s, McGuire alleges. Charges on those two accounts totaled $8,629.82, according to the affidavit. The account under her son’s name had been sent to collections, and a civil suit was filed against him in Lancaster County District Court in 2009. Voges-Bishop could not be reached Friday afternoon.
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