MARYLAND NEWS

A Baltimore resident who claims her electric supply was switched without her consent, leading to higher costs, can’t sue the provider because she consented to arbitration through silence, a Maryland federal court said Friday. Source: Law360

A citizen of Germany residing in Washington, D.C., pleaded guilty today in Maryland to federal charges of obstruction of a federal audit and causing a financial institution to fail to file a suspicious activity report, related to more than $1.2 million in U.S. State Department grant funds awarded to a corporation that he controlled.  Source: US Attorney, District of Maryland

According to CARFAX statistics, there was a 13 percent annual increase in odometer fraud in Maryland.Source:  WMAR-2

The FBI said three people got or tried to get investors to give them a total of more than $28 million, which the trio said would be invested in cryptocurrency and foreign exchange markets. Instead the three are accused of using the money for persoal expenses and to repay other investors. Source: WJZ-CBS Baltimore. The FBI is asking victims and others with knowledge of the "1st Million" investigation to contact the FBI. Source: FBI.gov

Rosly Wedington, 51, is scheduled to be sentenced Jan. 8 after pleading guilty to tax fraud in 2019 for crimes related to a nonprofit job training center where former Baltimore Mayor Catherine Pugh served on the board of directors, according to a sentencing memorandum...Prosecutors referred in their memo to Wedington as a “rare fraud recidivist,” noting she was convicted in 2004 for stealing $852,000 from a beloved Park Heights dentist while working as his secretary. Source: Baltimore Sun

The Attorney General’s office has been alerted to illegal, unlicensed pop-up COVID-19 testing sites operating in Baltimore City. Individuals are setting up “Free COVID-19 Testing” tables at random locations...Unauthorized pop-up testing sites could be a scheme for identity thieves to harvest sensitive, personal information from consumers….The Attorney General is encouraging consumers to visit covidtest.maryland.gov for a list of more than 240 approved COVID-19 testing sites in Maryland. Source: Maryland Attorney General

Used Similar Names, Trademarked Logos, and Graphics of Actual Companies to Create Fraudulent Websites to Obtain  Personal Information of Victims. Source: U.S. Attorney, District of Maryland

An 82-year old Annapolis former employee of the Archives and Records Administration (NARA) had job responsibilities that included pulling archival aerial photographs of Allied bombing runs in World War II, digitize them, and make them available to researchers. Starting in 2008, and without the knowledge or approval of the federal agency, the employee was hired and paid by a German company to do this very same work while he was employed at the federal agency. Source: U.S. Attorney, District of Maryland

Coalition of 38 Attorneys General Allege Google Illegally Maintained a Monopoly, Created Insurmountable Barriers to Entry for Competitors. The states allege that Google illegally maintains its monopoly over general search engines and related advertising markets through a series of anticompetitive exclusionary contracts and conduct. As a result, Google has deprived consumers of competition that could lead to more choice, innovation, and better privacy protections. Google has exploited its market position to accumulate and leverage data to the detriment of consumers. Source: Maryland Attorney General

The State of Maryland today announced that it has uncovered an unemployment insurance fraud scheme targeting high-ranking state government officials, including Governor Larry Hogan, Lt. Governor Boyd K. Rutherford, Labor Secretary Tiffany Robinson, and several other members of the governor’s cabinet. Source: Office of the Maryland Governor