MARYLAND NEWS

Block, Inc., the parent company of Cash App, has agreed to pay $80 million in a settlement with Maryland and 47 other states over violations of bank secrecy and anti-money laundering laws, according to Maryland Department of Labor's Office of Financial Regulation. Maryland will receive approximately $1.6 million from the settlement. Source: WJZ, CBS News Baltimore

Members of the Maryland Legislature are allocated funds to award legislative scholarships to students attending Maryland colleges or for Maryland students attending colleges outside of Maryland that offer programs unavailable at any Maryland institution. According to the charging document, the former legislative aide worked for a Maryland State Senator and used her position to allocate $20,000 of scholarship funds from the Senator’s Office to her own educational institution without the knowledge or consent of the Senator. She continued to access the Senator’s email address after she no longer worked in the Senator’s Office to ensure she continued to receive the scholarship funds. Source: Maryland State Prosecutor

Defendant allegedly failed to report millions in poker winnings and falsely omitted more than $14 Million in debts to obtain loan.  Source: US Attorney, District of Maryland

Source: WMAR2news.com

Baltimore County officials were fooled three times by a roofing contractor accused of fraud despite warning signs, according to a new inspector general’s report.

The county’s system of checks and balances failed because county officials awarded a second contract to the Baltimore-based company that was found to have committed fraud and perjury in Baltimore City and was under investigation on fraud allegations by the Baltimore County Inspector General. Source: WBAL.com

The new top executive of the New Jersey agency dedicated to rooting out corruption and fraud claims principal residency in two states while working a second full-time job in Washington, D.C.

The chief executive officer of the State Commission of Investigation on Monday, listed a recently-purchased Maryland home as her principal residence and voted in Tinton Falls, records show. She is also scheduled to teach four classes three days per week at Howard University this semester.

Source: Mike Davis and Michael L. Diamond, Asbury Park Press via MSN.com

When suspicious text messages started popping up on the phones of students working for the University of Maryland's Justice for Fraud Victims project, they knew something wasn't right. These weren't your typical spam texts. They were sophisticated job offers, supposedly based on "recommended resumes" that none of the students had ever submitted.

But these weren't typical students either. As volunteer fraud investigators working with real victims, they'd developed a keen eye for deception.

"The timing was almost uncanny," says Samuel Handwerger, CPA, accounting lecturer and faculty advisor for the project at Maryland's Robert Smith School of Business. "Our students were receiving these suspicious job offers right as the Federal Trade Commission was uncovering a massive surge in similar scams nationwide."

Working with university faculty and law enforcement, they're now helping spread awareness across campus and into the broader community about these evolving threats.

Source: https://www.rhsmith.umd.edu

According to the guilty plea, between January 2020 and November 2023, the 41-year old Ellicott City woman defrauded a real estate agency that she worked for by transferring more than $1 million of company funds through wire transfers, Zelle payments, checks, and ACH to her personal bank accounts. Tinker fraudulently embezzled funds from the real estate agency’s accounts – including its escrow, operating, and commission accounts. The defendant used the funds that she stole from her employer to pay for luxury goods and personal expenditures such as vacations, Taylor Swift tickets, and five different vehicles. Source: Baltimore Sun via msn.com and US Attorney District of Maryland

The county’s secret $83,675 payment to a retired county firefighter, who happened to be the older brother of one of then Baltimore County Executive’s high school buddies. The payment during the tenure of County Executive Johnny Olszewski Jr. was found to be “proper,” according to a news release from Baltimore County Inspector General.

Source:  Baltimore Brew and Baltimore County OIG

His lawyer says he will appeal state architect board's ruling. Source https://www.thebaltimorebanner.com/