Sojin Lim Pleads Guilty to #BankFraud, #MoneyLaundering

Sojin Lim, 60, of East Greenwich, Rhode Island, chief executive officer and vice president of General Technologies Corporation, d/b/a CompUtopia, pled guilty in U.S. District Court in Providence on October 15, 2103, to one count each of bank fraud and money laundering, having defrauded the Rockland Trust Company of more than $5 million, announced United States Attorney Peter F. Neronha; John G. Collins, Acting Special Agent in Charge of the Boston Office of the Internal Revenue Service-Criminal Investigation; Vincent B. Lisi, Special Agent in Charge of the Boston Field office of the FBI; and Colonel Steven G. O’Donnell, Superintendent of the Rhode Island State Police.

Appearing before U.S. District Court Judge John J. McConnell, Jr., Lim admitted that she devised a scheme to defraud Rockland Trust Company in order to satisfy a demand for repayment of a $5 million line of credit with Citizens Bank. Lim admitted to the court that she falsified bank documents and overstated company revenues in order to secure funding from Rockland Trust to finance repayment of the line of credit.

According to information presented to the court, in the spring of 2011, Lim and CompUtopia were informed that their line of credit would no longer be carried by Citizens Bank and that CompUtopia was required to seek funding elsewhere. Lim admitted to the court that she devised a scheme to obtain the funding from Rockland Trust Company by providing false, fraudulent, and fictitious information and documentation. Lim falsely stated CompUtopia’s accounts receivables as $7,066,268.04, when in fact CompUtopia’s accounts receivables were substantially less. In June 2011, based on the information and documents provided to Rockland Trust Company, the bank deposited $4,878,378.85 in an account that benefited CompUtopia. In April 2012, the Rockland Trust Company loan was increased to $5,350,000.

According to information presented to the court, in late June 2011, Lim paid Citizens Bank $5,342,997.72 from funds provided by Rockland Trust and from a $464,610.37 loan taken against personal assets. CompUtopia filed for receivership in June 2012.

At sentencing on January 14, 2014, Lim faces statutory penalties of up to 30 years in federal prison, a fine of $250,000, and five years’ supervised release for bank fraud; and up to 10 years in federal prison, a fine of $250,000, and three years’ supervised release for money laundering.

The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys John P. McAdams and Sandra R. Hebert.

The matter was investigated by Internal Revenue Service Criminal Investigation, the FBI, and Rhode Island State Police.

This law enforcement action is part of President Barack Obama’s Financial Fraud Enforcement Task Force. The President established the interagency Financial Fraud Enforcement Task Force to wage an aggressive, coordinated, and proactive effort to investigate and prosecute financial crimes. The task force includes representatives from a broad range of federal agencies, regulatory authorities, inspectors general, and state and local law enforcement who, working together, bring to bear a powerful array of criminal and civil enforcement resources. The task force is working to improve efforts across the federal executive branch and, with state and local partners, to investigate and prosecute significant financial crimes, ensure just and effective punishment for those who perpetrate financial crimes, combat discrimination in the lending and financial markets, and recover proceeds for victims of financial crimes.

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Euripedes "Caca" Caguana Charged with Federal Murder-for-Hire

A Chicago man was charged today with federal murder-for-hire after he was arrested yesterday without incident by FBI agents and Chicago police officers. The defendant, Euripedes Caguana, also known as “Caca,” 59, of Chicago, allegedly wanted to have killed two individuals he believed were scheduled to testify against his son, who is awaiting trial on murder and related charges in Cook County Circuit Court.

Caguana appeared this morning in U.S. District Court and remains in federal custody pending a detention hearing at 11:30 a.m. next Wednesday before U.S. Magistrate Judge Jeffrey Cole.

According to the charges, a cooperating individual told law enforcement that Caguana had called him seeking to have two individuals killed to prevent them from testifying against his son. During the next couple of days, the cooperating individual and an undercover officer, posing as a hitman, engaged in a series of recorded conversations and meetings in which Caguana allegedly provided the cooperating individual with $500 to purchase a gun and offered to pay up to $7,500 to have the two individuals killed.

Murder-for-hire carries a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine. If convicted, the court must determine a reasonable sentence to impose under federal statutes and the advisory United States Sentencing Guidelines.

The arrest and charges were announced by Gary S. Shapiro, United States Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois; Robert J. Shields, Jr., Acting Special Agent in Charge of the Chicago Office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation; and Chicago Police Superintendent Garry F. McCarthy.

The government is being represented by Assistant U.S. Attorney Peter S. Salib.

A criminal complaint contains only charges and is not evidence of guilt. The defendant is presumed innocent and is entitled to a fair trial at which the government has the burden of proving guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.

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Discovery Orders Script for Series on 5 Founding Mafia Families of New York #FiveFamilies

Discovery has ordered its next scripted project, a series about the founding families of the Mafia.

The Five Families will be a dramatic re-telling of the famed five Mafia families in New York. The series will be based off of historical events and will be the first to use the real figures and actual events of those families.

The series comes from Goodfellas' Irwin Winkler and Nicholas Pileggi.

Discovery will produce The Five Families as a global event to debut on one or more of its U.S. or international networks. It joins the miniseries Klondike on its scripted roster.

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The Interloper: Lee Harvey Oswald Inside the Soviet Union

Lee Harvey Oswald’s assassination of President Kennedy in 1963 remains one of the most horrifying and hotly debated crimes in American history. Just as perplexing as the assassination is the assassin himself; the 24-year-old Oswald’s hazy background and motivations—and his subsequent murder at the hands of Jack Ruby—make him an intriguing yet frustratingly enigmatic figure. Because Oswald briefly defected to the Soviet Union, some historians allege he was a Soviet agent. But as Peter Savodnik shows in The Interloper, Oswald’s time in the U.S.S.R. reveals a stranger, more chilling story.

Oswald ventured to Russia at the age of 19, after a failed stint in the U.S. Marine Corps and a childhood spent shuffling from address to address with his unstable, needy mother. Like many of his generation, Oswald struggled for a sense of belonging in postwar American society, which could be materialistic, atomized, and alienating. The Soviet Union, with its promise of collectivism and camaraderie, seemed to offer an alternative. While traveling in Europe, Oswald slipped across the Soviet border, soon settling in Minsk where he worked at a radio and television factory. But Oswald quickly became just as disillusioned with his adopted country as he had been with the United States. He spoke very little Russian, had difficulty adapting to the culture of his new home, and found few trustworthy friends; indeed most, it became clear, were informing on him to the KGB. After nearly three years, Oswald returned to America feeling utterly defeated and more alone than ever—and as Savodnik shows, he began to look for an outlet for his frustration and rage.

Drawing on groundbreaking research, including interviews with Oswald’s friends and acquaintances in Russia and the United States, The Interloper brilliantly evokes the shattered psyche not just of Oswald himself, but also of the era he so tragically defined.

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A Call for Photos of Vietnam Veterans Lost in the War - Submit Photos for Inclusion in Education Center at The Wall in Washington, DC

The Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund has coordinated with local organizations and volunteers nationwide in a call for photographs and back stories of the servicemen and women who gave their lives in the Vietnam War. The photos and stories will be displayed at The Education Center at The Wall in Washington, D.C.  VVMF is also calling on the generous support of Americans to help raise the funds to build this facility.

In 2003, legislation passed that authorized the construction of the Educational Center at The Wall by the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund. Plans for the exhibitions at the center include the display of pictures and stories of those who made the ultimate sacrifice in Vietnam, some of the 400,000 items left at The Wall and a celebration of American service from Bunker Hill to Baghdad.

Out of the 58,286 men and women who did not return from the Vietnam War there are still over 26,000 Vietnam veterans listed on The Wall who need corresponding photographs and stories. We are losing Vietnam veterans at an alarmingly fast rate. Each day we lose about 390 to illness and age. Their stories are in danger of being lost forever if we don't take action now to ensure they become a part of our collective national memory. Tens of thousands gave their lives during the many years of conflict and their names are etched into the black granite. But as they are on the memorial, they are more than names and so we must do our part to remember them.

The call for photos is part of the Faces Never Forgotten campaign, encouraging friends and families of veterans, as well as every citizen, to ensure that the memories and stories of those inscribed on The Wall are never forgotten.  VVMF hopes to give every service member the honor of being fully remembered as a person and not just a name.

"To complete the mission and begin construction of the Education Center, we will continue to depend on the dedication and generosity of those individuals, organizations and communities that make it their goal to honor those who made the ultimate sacrifice and contribute in their honor," says Jan C. Scruggs, President and Founder of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund. The cost of construction for the Education Center is $115 million, of which $26.9 million has been raised to date. Like the Vietnam Veterans Memorial, the Education Center at The Wall will be completely funded through private donations.

Established in 1979, the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund is dedicated to preserving the legacy of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, D.C., promoting healing and educating about the impact of the Vietnam War.

The Education Center at The Wall will be a place on our National Mall where our military heroes' stories and sacrifice will never be forgotten. With plans to begin construction in 2016, the Center is a technologically-innovative learning facility to be built on the grounds of the Vietnam Veterans and Lincoln Memorials. Visitors will better understand the profound impact that the Vietnam War and other wars had on their friends and family members, their hometowns and the nation. The Center will feature the faces and stories of the more than 58,000 men and women on The Wall, honoring those who fell in Vietnam, those who fought and returned, as well as the friends and families of all who served. The Center will also celebrate the legacy of service that links the heroes of America's past to those still serving today.

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