Tag: financial crimes
SBA Scam Lands Cali Con Man in Federal Lockup
⏱ 2 min read Frank Hamilton, 55, of Simi Valley, California, is facing 5 1/2 years in federal prison after admitting he masterminded a scheme to fleece banks and the Small Business Administration out of over $6 million. Judge Wendy Beetlestone delivered the 66-month sentence yesterday in Philadelphia, and ordered Hamilton to repay the full…
SoCal Con Man Caged in $6M SBA Scam
⏱ 2 min read Frank Hamilton, 55, of Simi Valley, California, is trading sunshine for shadows after getting 66 months in federal prison yesterday. The career con man ran a multi-million dollar scheme to rip off the Small Business Administration, raking in over $6 million in fraudulent loans both before and during the pandemic. Judge…
Coloring Book Crooks: Medicare Fleece
⏱ 2 min read Irina Segal and her company, Segal Arts, LLC, are paying up $200,000 after a federal probe revealed they were billing Medicare for one-on-one occupational therapy that never happened. The scheme, which unfolded across assisted living facilities and adult day care centers in Pennsylvania and New Jersey, essentially swapped medical rehabilitation for…
Coloring Scam: Medicare Ripped Off
⏱ 2 min read Irina Segal, the owner of Segal Arts, LLC, in Bucks County, Pennsylvania, just got a slap on the wrist for a cold-blooded scheme to bilk Medicare out of $200,000. Segal billed the federal health program for individualized occupational therapy sessions for elderly patients in Pennsylvania and New Jersey assisted living facilities…
Finger Painting Fleece: Medicare Bilked
⏱ 2 min read Irina Segal, the owner of Segal Arts, LLC in Bucks County, Pennsylvania, just got burned for turning arts and crafts hour into a Medicare money-grab. The feds say she was billing the program for individualized occupational therapy… when she was actually leading group sessions – think coloring books, not physical rehabilitation…
Old Vet Scams Military, Faces Decades
⏱ 3 min read Donald Smith, 75, a Pittsburgh defense contractor, is staring down serious prison time after a federal jury found him guilty of fleecing the U.S. military. Smith bilked the Defense Logistics Agency (DLA) out of over a million bucks, delivering either shoddy goods or nothing at all, then tried to cover it…
Incline Cash Grab: Lawyer Accused of $1.3M Theft
⏱ 3 min read Pittsburgh lawyer Christopher Furman, 53, is staring down the barrel of federal charges after allegedly ripping off the Society for the Preservation of the Duquesne Heights Incline to the tune of $1,379,300. The scheme ran from October 2024 to September 2025, and the money wasn’t going to keep the historic funicular…
Fake Robbery, Real Theft: 8 Months in Fed Pen
⏱ 2 min read Nicole Hilstolsky, 48, of Swoyersville, Pennsylvania, is trading her freedom for eight months in a federal lockup. The reason? A bogus armed robbery she staged back in October 2018 to mask her theft of $16,247 from the WOD Federal Credit Union. Senior U.S. District Judge Robert D. Mariani dropped the hammer…
Tax Collector Ripped Off PA Town
⏱ 2 min read Karen McGinnis, 46, of Mountain Top, Pennsylvania, is going to federal prison for turning her role as Fairview Township’s tax collector into a personal piggy bank. Between March 2023 and January 2025, McGinnis siphoned off over $400,000 in property tax payments meant for the township, Luzerne County, and the Crestwood School…
Incline Cash Grab: Lawyer Blew $1.3M
⏱ 3 min read Pittsburgh lawyer Christopher Furman, 53, is facing serious federal charges after allegedly hijacking over $1.3 million from the non-profit that keeps the historic Duquesne Incline chugging. Between October 2024 and September 2025, prosecutors say Furman, as President of the Society for the Preservation of the Duquesne Heights Incline, systematically siphoned funds…
