• 25
  • January
    2012

The goals of a criminal defense attorney defending a client accused of a white collar crime include keeping the client's freedom intact, minimizing charges and potential fines, and protecting the client's rights at all times.

A New York man charged yesterday in federal court with fraud is likely to need the services of just such an attorney today.

He was charged in a federal courtroom with one count of mail fraud and one count of wire fraud.

Law enforcement officials allege that the man ran a company that claimed to provide pet owners with a lost pet service. Owners could subscribe to the service and get a pet ID with a toll-free phone number to the service which would help those who found pets return them to those who lost the pets.

Officials say the man then took the idea of the lost pet service and sold distributorships to investors for sums ranging from $5,000 to $50,000.

They claim he did this from June of 2007 through January of 2010. They say he was on supervised release during that time for a conviction in a 1990s TV commercial fraud case.

In that case, prosecutors said he fraudulently received $50 million from approximately 1,750 investors.

In the charges filed yesterday, he's accused of using a false name and making false claims in print advertisements and online ads.

He's accused of taking $500,000 from people who bought distributorships. They got nothing in return for their cash, investigators say.

If convicted, he faces up to 20 years behind bars on each count.

Source: Forbes.com: "Petscam.com : Convicted Felon Out On Supervised Release Arrested In Lost Pet Fraud," Bill Singer, Jan. 25, 2012