Business

Fraudster Sentenced For Creating Fake Stocks For Tax Dollars

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Ethan Barton Editor in Chief
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A Fresno, Calif. man was sentenced to five years and five months in prison and was ordered to pay nearly $1.3 million in restitution for creating fake stocks to con the government, a watchdog announced Monday.

Senior U.S. District Judge Anthony W. Ishii sentenced former Tripartite Escrow Corp. CEO Abel Martin Carreon, 57, for one count of mail fraud and one count of aggravated identity theft.

“According to court documents, between April 2005 and May 2011, Carreon carried out a scheme to defraud the United States and private companies seeking to perform contracted work for the United States,” a Department of Justice statement said.

Potential contractors paid Carreon through Tripartite to provide collateral through surety bonds required by some government contracts.

The purpose of such bonds is to repay the government in case a contractor defaults. The collateral must be at least equal to the value of the bond.

Carreon’s bond packages, however, “contained false statements and fraudulent documents” from April 2005 to May 2011, according to the Justice Department statement. The former CEO put up stocks as collateral that were fake, were worth significantly less than he said, or were pledged for multiple bonds.

He also forged notary stamps and signatures on the bond documents.

The government and contractors ultimately paid Carreon an estimated $1,250,000 for the fraudulent bonds.

The investigation was a joint effort between several government entities, including multiple inspectors general and several departments of Justice and Defense components.

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