Ingrid Lederhaas-Okun, Former Vice President of High-End Jewelry Company, Arrested and Charged with Stealing More Than $1 Million in Jewelry

Preet Bharara, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, and George Venizelos, the Assistant Director in Charge of the New York Office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), announced the arrest of Ingrid Lederhaas-Okun, a former vice president of Product Development at a high-end jewelry company, for stealing more than $1.3 million worth of jewelry from her former employer. Lederhaas-Okun was arrested this morning at her residence in Darien, Connecticut, and will be presented in Manhattan federal court later today before U.S. Magistrate Judge James C. Francis.

Manhattan U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara said, “As alleged, Ingrid Lederhaas-Okun went from a vice president at a high-end jewelry company to jewel thief. She abused her access to valuable jewelry in order to steal and then resell over one million dollars’ worth of items that she falsely represented as her own, as the complaint describes. Her arrest shows that no matter how privileged their position in a company, employees who steal will face the full consequences of the law.”

FBI Assistant Director in Charge George Venizelos said, “As alleged, Ingrid Lederhaas-Okun took advantage of the access her employment afforded her to expensive jewelry. She allegedly stole numerous items, sold them for over a million dollars, then engaged in a series of lies in an attempt to cover up the theft. A privileged position in a prestigious company does not insulate a thief from arrest and prosecution.”

According to the allegations in the complaint unsealed in Manhattan federal court:

From at least January 2011 until February 2013, Lederhaas-Okun worked as a vice president of Product Development at the midtown Manhattan headquarters of one of the world’s premier high-end jewelers (the “jewelry company”). Her duties and responsibilities included ensuring that product designs could be manufactured and, to that end, she had authority to check out jewelry belonging to the jewelry company for work-related reasons, such as to provide the jewelry to potential manufacturers to determine the cost of production.

Between November 2012 and February 2013, Lederhaas-Okun abused her position and authority at the jewelry company to check out more than 165 pieces of jewelry with a retail value of over $1.2 million, including numerous diamond bracelets, platinum or gold diamond drop and hoop earrings, platinum diamond rings, and platinum and diamond pendants. She then sold some, if not all, of this jewelry for $1.3 million to another company, a leading international buyer and reseller of jewelry with an office in midtown Manhattan (the “jewelry reseller”). The jewelry reseller paid for the merchandise that Lederhaas-Okun had stolen either by paying her or her husband in transactions arranged either by Lederhaas-Okun or a friend working on her behalf.

In addition to this jewelry, in November 2012, following an announcement by the jewelry company that it was going to undertake a full physical inventory review, Lederhaas-Okun also reported that approximately $1.5 million worth of jewelry that she had checked out would have to be written off. However, none of that jewelry was ever returned to the jewelry company, contrary to the usual practice of accounting for inventory, such as damaged jewelry, that would have to be written off because it had been rendered unusable in some way.

To conceal her theft, Lederhaas-Okun made repeated false statements to the jewelry company. For example, after her termination in February 2013, she told the jewelry company that she had only recently checked out the missing jewelry in anticipation of creating a PowerPoint presentation for her supervisor and that a draft of the presentation could be found on her office computer. However, the missing pieces of jewelry had been checked out months earlier, her supervisor was unaware of any such presentation being worked on by Lederhaas-Okun, and there was no draft presentation on her computer. In addition, Lederhaas-Okun claimed the jewelry in question could be found in a white envelope in her office, but a search of her office shortly after her departure did not yield any white envelope.

Lederhaas-Okun, 46, of Darien, Connecticut, is charged with one count of wire fraud, which carries a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison; and one count of interstate transportation of stolen property, which carries a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison.

Mr. Bharara praised the investigative work of the FBI. Mr. Bharara also noted the investigation is ongoing.

The prosecution of this case is being handled by the Office’s Complex Frauds Unit. Assistant United States Attorney Rosemary Nidiry is in charge of the prosecution.

The charges contained in the complaint are merely accusations, and the defendant is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.

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Jeffrey Liskov Charged in Fraud Scheme That Caused More Than $3 Million in Losses

A Plymouth man was charged yesterday in connection with an investment fraud that caused retired clients more than $3 million in losses.

Jeffrey A. Liskov, 42, was charged in an information with investment adviser fraud.

It is alleged that from November 2008 through August 2010, Liskov defrauded retired advisory clients. In 2008, despite sustaining large personal losses in risky, highly volatile foreign currency exchange trading, Liskov is alleged to have begun advising retired clients with conservative investment goals to allow him to engage in such trading with a portion of their retirement money. Liskov received significant performance fees for conducting this volatile trading on behalf of clients based on short-term gains, without regard to the long-term performance of his trading in the clients’ accounts.

In late 2009, after sustaining large trading losses for long-time clients, Liskov started liquidating securities in the brokerage accounts of these clients and investing the proceeds in foreign currency exchange trading without the clients’ knowledge or authorization. In order to fund these investments behind his clients’ backs, Liskov used white-out correction fluid and other methods to create fraudulent documents that allowed him to open new foreign currency exchange trading accounts and/or to transfer funds from client brokerage accounts to foreign currency exchange trading accounts. This allowed Liskov to secretly engage in additional foreign currency exchange trading on behalf of long-time clients for whom he had already lost significant amounts of money—additional trading from which, in some instances, Liskov was able to pocket large performance fees. The trading Liskov engaged in with the funds from this fraud caused over $3 million in losses to the long-time clients but garnered Liskov over $200,000 in performance fees.

The statutory maximum offense for investment adviser fraud is five years in prison, followed by three years of supervised release, a $250,000 fine, and restitution.

United States Attorney Carmen M. Ortiz and Richard DesLauriers, Special Agent in Charge of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Boston Field Division, made the announcement today. U.S. Attorney Ortiz expressed appreciation for the significant assistance her office received from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and also acknowledged the cooperation of the United States Commodity Futures Trading Commission. The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Ryan M. DiSantis of Ortiz’s Economic Crimes Unit.

The details contained in the information are allegations. The defendant is presumed to be innocent unless and until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.

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Muhammad (M.J.) Shaheed Sentenced to 21 Months in Prison for Participation in Securities Kickback Scheme

A Cleveland man was sentenced in federal court yesterday for using kickbacks in order to trigger investments in a thinly-traded stock.

Muhammad (M.J.) Shaheed, 45, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Douglas P. Woodlock to 21 months in prison, to be followed by two years of supervised release and forfeiture of $30,000. In February 2013, Shaheed pleaded guilty to mail and wire fraud arising out his participation in an undercover FBI operation. Shaheed admitted to paying secret kickbacks to an investment fund representative in exchange for having the investment fund buy stock in a publicly traded company, Augrid Global Holdings Corporation, of which Shaheed was chief executive officer. The kickbacks were concealed through the use of sham consulting agreements and other fraudulent documents. What Shaheed did not know was that the purported investment fund representative was actually an undercover agent.

The conviction and sentence followed a year-long investigation focusing on preventing fraud in the micro-cap stock markets. Microcap companies are small, publicly traded companies whose stock often trades at pennies a share. Fraud in the microcap markets is of increasing concern to regulators as such markets have proven to be fertile grounds for fraud and abuse. This is, in part, because accurate information about microcap stocks may be difficult for the average investor to find, since many microcap companies do not file financial reports with the SEC.

Shaheed is one of 15 defendants charged criminally with having participated in the undercover operation. Nine of those charged have now pleaded guilty, and two were convicted after a jury trial.

The Securities and Exchange Commission, which conducted a parallel civil investigation alongside the FBI undercover operation, cooperated with criminal authorities throughout the course of the investigation and prosecution.

U.S. Attorney Carmen M. Ortiz and Richard DesLauriers, Special Agent in Charge of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Boston Field Division, made the announcement today. The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Sarah E. Walters and Vassili Thomadakis of Ortiz’s Economic Crimes Unit.

This case was brought in coordination with President Barack Obama’s Financial Fraud Enforcement Task Force. President Obama 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. For more information about the task force visit www.stopfraud.gov.

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David Albright of the Institute of Science and International Security Provides an Update on Iran's Nuclear Weapons Program on Crime Beat Radio

On July 4th, in a command appearance, David Albright of the Institute of Science and International Security discusses Iran’s suspected nuclear weapons program.

Crime Beat is a weekly hour-long radio program that airs every Thursday at 8 p.m. EST. Crime Beat presents fascinating topics that bring listeners closer to the dynamic underbelly of the world of crime. Guests have included ex-mobsters, undercover law enforcement agents, sports officials, informants, prisoners, drug dealers and investigative journalists, who have provided insights and fresh information about the world’s most fascinating subject: crime.

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Jose Gustavo Orellana-Torres, AKA “Diablito,” Former Leader of MS-13 Street Gang, Sentenced to Prison

On Friday, United States District Judge Joseph F. Bianco sentenced Jose Gustavo Orellana-Torres, also known as “Diablito,” the former leader of the Coronados clique of La Mara Salvatrucha, also known as the MS-13 street gang, to 365 months’ imprisonment following his September 25, 2012 guilty plea to racketeering, including predicate acts relating to the May 26, 2009 murder of Dexter Acheampong in Central Islip, New York, and the July 5, 2009 attempted murder of a suspected rival gang member in Roosevelt, New York.

The sentence was announced by Loretta E. Lynch, United States Attorney for the Eastern District of New York; George Venizelos, Assistant Director in Charge, Federal Bureau of Investigation, New York Field Office; and Thomas V. Dale, Commissioner of the Nassau County Police Department.

According to his plea allocution and documents previously filed in the case, on May 26, 2009, Orellana-Torres attended a Coronados clique meeting in Brentwood, New York, and the MS-13 members agreed to “put in work” for the gang by killing rival gang members. Orellana-Torres and several other MS-13 members drove around Brentwood and Central Islip looking for rival gang members, and Orellana-Torres was armed with a .38 caliber revolver. While in the vicinity of East Maple Street in Central Islip, the MS-13 members observed Dexter Acheampong, whom they did not know but believed, based on the color of his skin and the neighborhood he was walking in, to be a member of the Bloods street gang. In fact, Mr. Acheampong did not belong to any street gang. Orellana-Torres stepped out of the car and fired four shots at Mr. Acheampong with the .38 caliber revolver, striking the victim twice in the back as he tried to escape. Mr. Acheampong was found dead in the driveway of a home on East Maple Street the next morning.

Just over a month later, on July 4-5, 2009, Orellana-Torres attended another MS-13 meeting, this time in Roosevelt, New York. The MS-13 members again discussed killing rival gang members. Orellana-Torres, who possessed the same .38 caliber revolver that night, and other MS-13 members drove around Roosevelt, New York, looking for rival gang members. The MS-13 members observed a man, whose identity is known to the government but is not being disclosed in order to protect his safety, whom they believed to be a rival gang member. One of the other MS-13 members fired several shots at the man, striking him once in the hand.

“The MS-13 street gang has become infamous for its senseless and depraved acts of violence, but even for the MS-13, these vicious crimes demonstrated exceptional depravity. Orellana-Torres and his co-conspirators targeted Dexter Acheampong and another young man, whom they did not even know, because they believed them to be rival gang members,” stated United States Attorney Lynch. “This sentence should make clear that gang members will pay a heavy price for such cold, calculated acts of violence.”

FBI Assistant Director in Charge Venizelos stated, “We cannot overstate our commitment to investigating MS-13 and other gangs on Long Island. As the case of Orellana-Torres shows, MS-13 is not about ethnic pride, it is a violent, murderous horde. It is hard to imagine a more wanton disregard for human life than shooting a person in the back because the color of his skin makes you think he may be a rival gang member.”

Orellana-Torres’s conviction is the latest in a series of federal prosecutions by this office targeting New York members of the MS-13, a violent international street gang comprised primarily of immigrants from El Salvador, Honduras, and Guatemala. With numerous branches, or “cliques,” the MS-13 is the largest street gang on Long Island. Since 2002, more than 200 MS-13 members, including more than two dozen clique leaders, have been convicted on federal felony charges in the Eastern District of New York. More than 100 of those MS-13 members have been convicted on federal racketeering charges. Since 2010 alone, this office has convicted more than 30 members of the MS-13 on charges relating to their participation in one or more murders. These prosecutions are the product of investigations led by the FBI’s Long Island Gang Task Force, comprising agents and officers of the FBI, Nassau County Police Department, Nassau County Sheriff’s Department, Suffolk County Probation, Suffolk County Sheriff’s Department, and the Rockville Centre Police Department.

The government’s case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorneys John J. Durham, Raymond A. Tierney, and Carrie N. Capwell.

Defendant:
Jose Gustavo Orellana-Torres, aka Diablito
Age: 28

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