Tag: fraud

Boonsboro, MD: Black Lives Matter and Leftists’ Dirty Tricks

~ Ann Corcoran ~ 1 Comment
Earlier this year Dan’s Restaurant and Taphouse became the central organizing location for Black Lives Matter in Washington County, Maryland.

Update below!

Boonsboro, Maryland is a small rural town in conservative Western Maryland. It is near where I live and for the last 35 years I’ve visited friends there, gone to doctor’s appointments there and shopped in its small shopping plaza. It is a town where one could live a peaceful life—until now.

….Until a few obviously Leftwing activists associated with internationally famous and now wealthy author Nora Roberts (whose birth name was Eleanor Marie Robertson), began a campaign in support of Black Lives Matter.

Charlotte Aufdem-Brinke told interviewer Bernadette Wagner that she wanted to see “progressive change come to Washington County” saying she was modeling for her children. Watch the whole interview beginning at the 22:40 mark here: https://primetime4women.com/show-10-in-season-2-with-marie-hawse-and-charlotte-aufdem-brinke/

In June, after George Floyd’s death in Minnesota, Roberts’ daughter-in-law, a co-owner of Dan’s  Restaurant & Taphouse, Charlotte Aufdem-Brinke and the restaurant became the central location for Black Lives Matter organizing.

(Aufdem-Brinke is Nora Roberts’ first married name. Charlotte’s present marital status to her son Dan is not clear and doesn’t matter.)

Fine and dandy, Ms. Aufdem-Brinke is free to voice her opinions, organize for Progressive causes, and model her political views for her children.

However, it is what happened next that has many in the community outraged.

She apparently was a lead organizer behind a billboard that was placed prominently in town funded via a GoFundMe account where Aufdem-Brinke is the first donor listed ($500).

(The image below is the ‘corrected’ second billboard as the first one credited “the people of Boonsboro” for paying for the billboard.)

 

If you want to read the Battle of the Billboards by controversial local agitator Ryan Miner, see it here  but just know that he calls local, long-time residents of the community “hayseeds,” and “Boonsboro’s finest happy-go-lucky hubcap shiners.”

Calling names is a universal trait it seems for Progressives pushing their agenda.

By the way, Miner was not always on the Left, but that is a story for another time.

This is what you really need to know—Progressive Dems cheat (duh!)!

Del. Parrott is a decent and honorable man, no wonder he would be surprised someone would play this dirty.

Aufdem-Brinke and fellow Progressives can put up all the billboards they desire, but somehow these Leftists who “model for their kids whose hearts are so pure” can’t seem to not cheat  as we learned in October when it was discovered that someone affiliated with Black Lives Matter and Nora Roberts’ daughter-in-law, listed well-known local conservative Republicans as donors to the billboard fundraising campaign including 2020 Republican Congressional candidate Neil Parrott founder of the Hagerstown Tea Party.

From the Herald Mail less than two weeks before the November election:

Several Washington County Republicans’ names falsely listed as supporting BLM fundraiser

Several prominent Washington County Republicans say they have been falsely associated with donating to a Black Lives Matter fundraiser.

Washington County Republican Chair Jerry DeWolf sent an email Thursday morning to Washington County Sheriff Doug Mullendore stating he and several others were fraudulently listed as donors on a GoFundMe fundraiser to put up a Black Live Matter billboard near Boonsboro. He requested the sheriff’s office begin an investigation into the fundraiser organizers and “others who may have participated in this fraud.”

The email also was sent to The Herald-Mail, Maryland Republican Party Chair Dirk Haire and Maryland Republican Party Executive Director Corine Frank.

In DeWolf’s email, he said he assumed the act was a “politically motivated attack designed to harass and intimidate,” and he would “personally be interested in pressing the maximum charges available should (the sheriff’s) office find it warranted to do so.”

Of course, the sheriff found nothing criminal. Didn’t this raise identity fraud legal questions?  (We have a weak sheriff here in Washington County.)

Del. Neil Parrott, R-Washington, who is a candidate to represent Maryland’s 6th Congressional District in the U.S. House, was listed as donating $50. He said Friday the donation was not made by him. He said he was made aware of the donation in his name and was surprised that someone would do that.

We must get it through our heads that playing dirty, cheating and lying is how the Left plays this game!  The stolen 2020 Presidential election is a prime example of how far they will go.

Others listed as donors have confirmed the legitimacy of their donations, such as Charlotte Aufdem-Brinke, co-owner of Dan’s Restaurant & Taphouse. Aufdem-Brinke, who was the first donor listed, said Thursday that the donation for $500 was legitimate.***

Aufdem-Brinke said she liked the fundraiser’s message, saying it aligned with the Taphouse’s stance on inclusivity and ending a “hateful mindset.”

More here.

Message to local readers:  No “hayseeds,” as Aufdem-Brinke’s pal Ryan Miner calls you, should spend a single dime at Dan’s Restaurant & Taphouse in Boonsboro, Maryland. 

Message to national readers:  GoFundMe can easily be manipulated by devious Dems who appear to have no moral compass and who obviously believe that the ends justify the means.

***See the GoFundMe account for the Boonsboro Black Lives Matter billboard and see who the legitimate donors are (after the Republicans were able to remove their names).  How many are actually from Boonsboro?

I’ve created a whole new category here at Frauds & Crooks that I am calling Leftists’ Dirty Tricks.  It appears I will need it going forward.

Update!

Is this what the good folks of Boonsboro are supporting.  This happened in Washington DC yesterday:

Nigerian Fraud Ring at Work Ripping Off America Again

~ Ann Corcoran ~ 2 Comments

As our Chinese virus-generated economic collapse continues, helping to move that process along, the Secret Service is investigating a complex Nigerian fraud scheme to rip us off using the unemployment assistance meant for Americans who have lost their jobs.

Several states have been hit so far by the “sophisticated” attack, but authorities believe the hit will become more widespread.

Nigerian fraudsters have played a major role on the pages of ‘Frauds and Crooks.’  See my Nigeria tag!

From the New York Times:

Feds Suspect Vast Fraud Network Is Targeting U.S. Unemployment Systems

 

SEATTLE — A group of international fraudsters appears to have mounted an immense, sophisticated attack on U.S. unemployment systems, creating a network that has already siphoned millions of dollars in payments that were intended to avert an economic collapse, according to federal authorities.

The attackers have used detailed information about U.S. citizens, such as social security numbers that may have been obtained from cyber hacks of years past, to file claims on behalf of people who have not been laid off, officials said. The attack has exploited state unemployment systems at a time when they are straining to process a crush of claims from an employment crisis unmatched since the Great Depression.

Suzi LeVine

With many states rushing to pay claims, payments have gone straight to direct-deposit accounts. In Washington State, the agency tasked with managing unemployment claims there began realizing the extent of the problem in recent days when still-employed people called to question why they had received confirmation paperwork in the mail.

“This is a gut punch,” said Suzi LeVine, the commissioner of Washington State’s Employment Security Department.

In a memo obtained by The New York Times, investigators from the U.S. Secret Service said they had information suggesting that the scheme was coming from a well-organized Nigerian fraud ring and could result in “potential losses in the hundreds of millions of dollars.” Roy Dotson, a special agent who specializes in financial fraud at the Secret Service, said in an interview investigators were still working to pinpoint who was involved and exactly where they were.

[….]

Mr. Dotson said it appeared the fraud was being aided by a substantial number of “mules” — people, often in the United States, who were used as intermediaries for money laundering after making connections with fraudsters online. He warned people to be wary of quick-money job offers or other suspicious financial arrangements.

The Secret Service memo said Washington State had emerged as the primary target thus far, but there was also evidence of attacks in Florida, Massachusetts, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Rhode Island and Wyoming. The agency warned that every state was vulnerable and could be targeted, noting that the attackers appeared to have extensive records of personally identifiable information, or P.I.I.

[….]

Ms. LeVine said she did not want to put a number on the losses so far in Washington State but believed it was in the millions of dollars.

More here.

One more reason that the Trump Administration should be praised for making it harder for Nigerians to get into the US!

Stopping Fraud Against Seniors a Top Priority for the Attorney General

~ Ann Corcoran
Keep this number handy!

AG Bill Barr and FBI Director Christopher Wray announced this week that an unprecedented number of cases of fraud against senior Americans have been charged or prosecuted and announced a hotline where you can report suspected fraud and help them catch more of the crooks, often foreign crooks, stealing from older Americans.

From CBS News  (good for them because I have seen very little elsewhere about this story from Tuesday):

Barr announces more than 400 charged for defrauding seniors over past year

Washington — More than 400 people have been charged with defrauding seniors out of more than $1 billion over the past year, the Justice Department revealed Tuesday. Attorney General William Barr announced the charges in Tampa on Tuesday at the Sun City Center Community Hall for seniors.

Barr explained why this issue has personal meaning for him. “I myself was used as a lure in a scam,” the attorney general told retirees. Before he became the nation’s 85th attorney general, the 1991 official photograph of Barr from his first stint in in the job in George H.W. Bush’s administration was used by scammers offering phony federal grants in exchange for money. “It was really heart-wrenching. People called in desperate hope that this was real,” Barr explained. “That crystalized the issue for me, and when I got to the department I wanted to make sure that this was one of our highest priorities to go after this.”

Fraud ring busted in 2019. https://qz.com/africa/1693540/fbi-bust-of-nigerian-email-fraud-shows-evolving-scam-tactics/

[….]

Barr has made elder fraud one of his top priorities as attorney general, and Tuesday’s announcement nearly doubles last year’s prosecutions.

Every U.S. attorney’s office across the country participated in either prosecuting or conducting proactive community outreach as part of the department’s sweep.

[….]

Scams targeting the elderly are usually foreign-based, like the “Nigerian prince” scheme or robocalls involving the impersonation of a U.S. government official who demands money from targets.

“The charges announced today demonstrate the great success of the Transnational Elder Fraud Strike Force to identify and stop those who are targeting our senior communities from overseas,” said FBI Director Christopher Wray in a statement. “We’re committed to continuing our efforts to keep our elderly citizens safe, whether they’re being targeted door-to-door, over the phone, or online.”

More here.

And, see the FBI Press Release on the announcement which includes a link to an interactive US map so you can see where some of the 400 cases are being prosecuted.

As I have said on innumerable occasions the President should be highlighting this fraud-busting work of his Justice Department, like this Transnational Elder Fraud Strike Force , at every one of his rallies.

 

Note to PayPal donors!  I want to thank all of you who send me donations for my work via PayPal. I very much appreciate your thoughtfulness. However, PayPal is making changes to their terms of service and I’ve decided to opt-out beginning on March 10, 2020.

Michigan Mayor Indicted! Committed Bribery and Wire Fraud, Say the Feds

~ Ann Corcoran

“Public corruption at any level undermines the community’s faith in their elected officials and does long-term damage to government institutions.”

(Steven D’Antuono, Special Agent in Charge of the Detroit Field Office of the FBI)

 

The Mayor, along with his pals, allegedly used his elected office and campaign funds to enrich himself.

From the US Justice Department just before Christmas:

MAYOR OF TAYLOR AND TWO OTHERS INDICTED FOR BRIBERY AND FRAUD

A thirty-three count Indictment unsealed today charges City of Taylor Mayor Richard “Rick” Sollars, businessman Shady Awad, and Taylor Community Development Manager Jeffrey Baum with conspiracy to commit bribery in a scheme spanning from 2015 to 2019, United States Attorney Matthew Schneider announced. The Indictment also charges Sollars and Awad with seven counts of bribery each, and charges Sollars and Baum with 18 counts of Wire Fraud.

According to the Indictment, Sollars helped Awad’s real estate development company Realty Transition LLC obtain scores of tax-foreclosed properties owned by the City of Taylor. In return, Awad lavished Sollars with thousands of dollars in cash and over $30,000 in renovations to Sollars’s home, over $11,000 in renovations to Sollars’s lake house, and over $12,000 in new household appliances.

Alleged co-conspirator Shady Awad chit-chatting with Democrat Mayor Sollars. https://www.detroitnews.com/story/news/local/wayne-county/2019/12/19/feds-indict-taylor-mayor-sollars-bribery-scandal/2698426001/

 

The appliances included a refrigerator, stove, microwave, dishwasher, a $1,600 cigar humidor, a vacuum cleaner, and a clothes washer and dryer. The free renovations provided to Sollars by Awad include hardwood floors on every level of Sollars’s Taylor residence, hardwood floors at the lake house, a garage door, a new front door, cabinets, and a refurbished lake house deck.

The Indictment also alleges that Jeffrey Baum received bribes from Awad and another developer, in exchange for Baum’s help in obtaining tax-foreclosed properties from the City.

Sollar’s vacation home!

Text messages between Sollars, Awad, and Baum cited throughout the Indictment document the bribe scheme. In one text, Awad states as follows: “My relationship with Rick is worth $1 million so whatever it takes I’ll pay for it” in telling a contractor to do free work on Sollars’s lake house.

The Indictment also charges Sollars and Baum with 18 counts of Wire Fraud, alleging that Sollars and Baum defrauded donors to Sollars’s campaign fund in three ways. First, Sollars would take checks from his campaign account and write them payable to a particular market, purporting to pay for catering for one of Sollars’s events. Instead, the market owner would cash the campaign checks and give the cash back to Sollars, with no catering provided. Second, Sollars and Baum would direct Sollars’s supporters to write checks directly to the market for events that never occurred. Sollars would get cash and scratch-off lottery tickets from the market owner. Third, Sollars and Baum would solicit and accept thousands of dollars in cash contributions to Sollars’s campaign. Instead of depositing the funds into his campaign account, Sollars would simply keep the cash and use it for personal expenses.

The Indictment also seeks forfeiture of $205,993 in cash seized from Sollars’s home on February 10, 2019.

FBI provides readers with contact information if you suspect fraud or corruption with your local elected officials!

“Any time an allegation of corruption is brought to our attention, the FBI’s Detroit Area Public Corruption Task Force will investigate it thoroughly. Public corruption at any level undermines the community’s faith in their elected officials and does long-term damage to government institutions,” said SAC D’Antuono. “With that in mind, we encourage anyone who believes they have information about corruption to contact the FBI at 313-965-4545 or tips.fbi.gov.”

More details here.

I know I haven’t done a scientific analysis, but heck it sure seems that a very high percentage of my ‘Frauds and Crooks’ stories originate in Michigan!

 

For new readers:  If you are interested in the issue of Refugee Resettlement (Michigan is a leading state that ‘welcomes’ more impoverished people), visit my other blog Refugee Resettlement Watch where I have been spending a lot of time in recent weeks.

Illinois: Edgar County Watchdogs Show How it Should be Done!

~ Ann Corcoran

A couple of days ago, I told you that you must become community organizers and fight to save your towns and cities. By re-electing Donald Trump you buy four more years to get to work!

Reader Judy came across an inspirational story that, although five years old, tells us what is possible when just a few people get together, investigate, and then hold elected officials accountable.

From Take Back Our Power:

Entire county board arrested following citizens arrest by 2 military veterans

 

Clark County, Illinois — Sometimes citizens can be so frustrated with county board members they wish someone could just place them under arrest. Well, that is exactly what citizens in Clark County, Illinois did.

Illinois’ number one manufactured product is corruption. More than 95 percent of the Illinois legislature is safe in gerrymandered districts. The incumbent governor has three current federal investigations of his administration, but the Attorney General/state’s attorney class can’t find public vice anywhere.

Residents that voted in the recent election said they are hoping officials have learned from the past mistakes of others.

So what can the law abiding citizen do? The answer is coming from some regular guys in southern Illinois who decided to hold public officials accountable. They call themselves the “Watchdogs.”

Kirk Allen and John Kraft — two military veterans — live in Edgar County which just might be the most corrupt county in the country. For a couple of watchdogs, it’s a target rich environment.

In an effort to take back their government from self-serving politicians and bureaucrats, Kraft and Allen established a group called the Edgar County Watchdogs. Through a combination of public pressure, Freedom of Information filings, lawsuits, and media exposure, they have created a system that deeply threatens Illinois’ corrupt, entrenched political establishment. They operate a blog called Illinois Leaks that exposes corruption at the state and local levels. The blog is so popular that, it is trusted more than the local paper.

Considering the fact that, according to Forbes, their home county’s government has racked up over $79 million in debt all on its own while serving only 18,000 residents, Kraft and Allen have their work cut out for them.

By relentlessly pursuing justice for even the smallest infractions by bureaucrats and politicians, the Edgar County Watchdogs have driven 102 public officials to resign from their posts, including 33 officials in Edgar County alone.

The pair busted the mayor of Redmond for attempting to hold office while living out of town. They represented themselves in court and beat Illinois Assistant Attorney General Emma Steimel in a lawsuit seeking access to state e-mails. Officials who have resigned due to the Watchdogs’ efforts include a property tax assessor, the Edgar County board chairman, an entire airport board and its manager, the attorney for Kansas Township’s fire department, Shiloh’s superintendent of schools, and Effingham’s health department administrator, among others. After they exposed corrupt, illegal, and self-serving spending habits by the Ford-Iroquois County health department, the entire bureaucracy was dissolved. In some cases, federal agents have even stepped in to investigate and issue subpoenas to local officials after receiving tips from Kraft and Allen.

Read more here.

Since the story is old, I checked to see if their blog is still up and running and it is, see it here.

Their facebook page is up-to-date.

There is no reason that you can’t do this where you live!

If you aren’t visiting the newly reconstructed Refugee Resettlement Watch yet, check out two posts there today.  RRW was informing now Trump chief immigration expert Stephen Miller in the run-up to the 2016 election, here.

And see how the great replacement is changing the electoral map from Virginia to Montana.