con man

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Prosecutors: Con Man Tried to Scam George Santos

Prosecutors say Hector Medina offered several targets his services to make criminal charges vanish

(Newser) - A Texas man already convicted of fraud who was searching the internet for easy marks settled on, among other celebrities, George Santos, federal prosecutors say. The pitch was that Hector Medina Jr. could make evidence against them disappear, along with whatever criminal charges they faced. In exchange, Medina would be...

FBI: A 24-Year-Old Made Millions With His Ferrari Scam

Daniel Lesin allegedly sold allocations he didn't have

(Newser) - "Daniel Lesin was simply trying to fake his way upwards and did so fairly convincingly for five or six years." It's a great line from Stef Schrader's lengthy piece for the Drive on Lesin, a New Jersey 24-year-old who presented himself as someone who was already...

His Offer to Pay Off Women's Debt Was Too Good to Be True

Brian Wedgeworth pleads guilty to scamming women of more than $1M

(Newser) - A single surgeon who went to Harvard Medical School and was looking for love. Brian Wedgeworth sounded like a catch. The Florida man was anything but. Wedgeworth, 46, on Thursday pleaded guilty in Tallahassee's federal court to wire fraud, mail fraud, aggravated identity theft, and money laundering and could...

He Wooed Women in NYC. Many Say It Cost Them
Women Fell Hard for Him.
Many Say It Cost Them
longform
May 15, 2022 6:30 AM CDT

Women Fell Hard for Him. Many Say It Cost Them

The 'New Yorker' digs into an alleged serial con man

(Newser) - Lauren Markham has known her friend Julia for more than two decades, giving her a front-row seat to the dealings of a suave New Yorker with a great head of hair who wooed women—Julia's mother among them—and then allegedly slowly sapped money from them. In a lengthy...

They Worked for a Slick Design Agency. Or So They Thought

The BBC looks at the 'elaborate con' that was Madbird

(Newser) - That their boss, Madbird founder Ali Ayad, sometimes signed his name Alex Ayd or Ali Ayyad could have been a red flag. That he required employees to work on commission-only for the London-based design agency for the first six months might have been another. But as the BBC reports in...

It's a Con Artist Tale Tailor-Made for Hollywood
'Con Queen of Hollywood'
Suspect Is Arrested
in case you missed it
Dec 6, 2020 1:04 PM CST

'Con Queen of Hollywood' Suspect Is Arrested

FBI says con man impersonated female studio execs, duped wannabe stars of cash

(Newser) - Hollywood loves a good con artist story, but this one might hit a little too close to home. In this case, the victims were aspiring stars who were allegedly duped by a man impersonating top female Hollywood execs over the phone. The FBI has just announced the arrest of a...

He Believed Her Story About the Rich Relative—for 4 Years
He Believed Her Story About
the Rich Relative—for 4 Years
in case you missed it
Feb 23, 2020 1:00 PM CST

He Believed Her Story About the Rich Relative—for 4 Years

Mair Smyth's con was a long one

(Newser) - To American Ninja Warrior producer Johnathan Walton, Mair Smyth seemed to be what she said she was. She would show him texts sent by friends Ashley Judd and Jennifer Aniston. She opened up about her Irish family, and the great-uncle whose recent death meant she'd be getting a slice...

He Put Up Fake Border Signs. Then He Took Them to 'Finland'

Con man arrested for swindling migrants, dumping them in Russian forest instead of the EU

(Newser) - They thought they'd found a new life in Finland—but they were really just wandering in circles in a Russian forest. The BBC reports four men from South Asia forked over more than $11,000 each to a man they thought was going to provide them safe passage to...

80 Charged in Massive Love Scam Run Out of LA

Man named Valentine, another Nigerian citizen are accused masterminds of scheme out of California

(Newser) - The feds say elderly women and businesses were the perpetrators' targets, and that they managed to squeeze at least $6 million out of their victims in what prosecutors are calling "one of the largest cases of its kind in US history." CNN reports on the arrests Thursday of...

He Thought He'd Die, So He Began a Con. He Didn't Die
He Thought He'd Die, So He
Began a Con. He Didn't Die
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT
May 26, 2019 2:03 PM CDT

He Thought He'd Die, So He Began a Con. He Didn't Die

Mark Olmsted, who was HIV-positive, assumed identity of his dead brother Luke

(Newser) - It seemed like it would be quite a way to go after getting diagnosed with a likely fatal illness: become a con man and live your remaining days out like a king. Except, as Nathaniel Penn notes in a fascinating profile for GQ : "What the hell happens if you...

How a Fact-Checking Journalist Nearly Married a Con Man

Abby Ellin runs an excerpt of her new book in 'Marie Claire'

(Newser) - In August 2010, Abby Ellin and her fiance moved into a one-bedroom rental at the Watergate in Washington, DC. It's a location infamous for being "ground zero for deception," and it's an almost poetic detail in Ellin's story of falling for a con man. Ellin...

She Was Divorced, He Was a Catch. Then She Looked in His Wallet

The Atlantic has the story of a con man named Derek Alldred (or Richie Peterson)

(Newser) - Several months into their relationship, Missi Brandt decided to peek in her boyfriend's wallet. On the one hand, Richie Peterson was a godsend: An Afghanistan veteran wrapping up his political science doctorate at the University of Minnesota who was also divorced with kids, had a motorboat, and covered her...

Serial Con Man's Unusual Sentencing Request Granted

Jimmy Sabatino, who ran $10M fraud job from prison, will have almost zero contact with anyone

(Newser) - In what the Sun Sentinel calls an "extremely unusual" case out of Florida, a judge has granted an inmate accused of running a multimillion-dollar fraud job out of his jail cell his sentencing request: to keep him away from nearly every person on Earth so he won't be...

He Called Himself 'Mr. Breeze.' He Was Really a 'Con Man'

Brendan Borrell profiles Jeff Caldwell in 'Outside'

(Newser) - In the thru-hiking community, he called himself Mr. Breeze. On dating website Plenty of Fish, he was "lovetohike1972." But to those who've encountered Jeff Caldwell over the past two decades, he's perhaps best known as a con man who gains a person's trust only to...

Terrified, She Left. So He Went After Her Daughter

But Terra Newell fought back against John Meehan

(Newser) - Someone always gets it in the end, and in the case of John Meehan—or "Dirty John," the nickname that doubled as the title for the Los Angeles Times' six-part series on the con man —it was him. He had had something else in mind, though. Some...

It's Not Easy Leaving a Man Even Strangers Are Terrified Of

Part 5 in the 'Dirty John' series from the 'Los Angeles Times'

(Newser) - "Scariest man I've met in my 70 years," attorney John Dzialo tells the Los Angeles Times in Part 5 of its six-part series on "Dirty John" Meehan, a conman who married a California woman desperate to find love . Dzialo was hired—and quickly fired—by Meehan...

She Learned Her Husband Was 'Dirty John'—and Went Back

Part 4 of the 'Dirty John' series in the 'LAT'

(Newser) - The Los Angeles Times on Thursday dropped Part 4 of six in its "Dirty John" series, and the title is "Forgiveness." If you've been following along , go ahead and read deep into that word. It's true: After uncovering more than 300 pages that documented her...

Married for a Decade. Then She Met the Real 'Dirty John'

Conman called 'the most devious, dangerous, deceptive person I ever met'

(Newser) - John Meehan became "Dirty John"—occasionally "Filthy John"—in law school. The nickname was bestowed by his classmates for the sheer number of women he would bring home, but it seemed to cover a lot of his unseemly behavior, Christopher Goffard writes in the third installment...

He Was the Man of Her Dreams. Then the Red Flags Piled Up

The 'Los Angeles Times' presents 'Dirty John' in 6 parts

(Newser) - At 59, Debra Newell had found professional—but not romantic—success. Divorced four times, the Irvine, Calif., interior designer hadn't totally given up on love, and then it found her in a whirlwind. She met John Meehan via an online dating site in October 2014, and he seemed too...

'Legendary' Con Artist Accused of New Scam ... From Prison

Authorities say Jimmy Sabatino conned stores out of luxury goods over the phone

(Newser) - Prison appears to be doing nothing to change serial con man Jimmy Sabatino. The Miami Herald reports the "legendary" con artist pleaded guilty Friday to running a lucrative scam out of his cell at a federal facility in Florida. Authorities say Sabatino bought cellphones from corrections officers then used...

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