All posts tagged: fraud

Investors sue Selena Gomez alleging fraud tied to her mental health startup

Investors sue Selena Gomez alleging fraud tied to her mental health startup

Published by skeptic

Singer and actress Selena Gomez and her mother are being sued over their mental health startup, Wondermind. The plaintiffs in the lawsuit say they invested nearly $1.2 million in the startup, and are accusing Gomez of securities fraud and breach of contract. They allege that the startup failed to deliver on its commitments without informing investors, and Gomez failed to market the startup after promising to do so. The news was first reported by Forbes. Wondermind launched in 2021 and aimed to offer daily mental health resources to users. The lawsuit alleges that investors were unaware of the company’s troubles until a September 2025 story from The Cut uncovered them. “Gomez purported to sign a contract obligating her to perform and then ignored it,” the complaint reads. “The partnerships did not exist. The initiatives never materialized. The app was never built. And for three years, while the Company quietly collapsed around them, not one of its founders, officers, or directors said a word to the investors whose money was funding the collapse.” The investors allege …

Trump pulls stunning election fraud claim out of his pocket in new interview: ‘They rigged him out of it’

Trump pulls stunning election fraud claim out of his pocket in new interview: ‘They rigged him out of it’

Published by Sam Flores

President Donald Trump is claiming another election was “rigged” against a Republican candidate, this time pointing to former Rep. Mike Rogers‘ narrow loss in the 2024 Michigan Senate race. Trump made the claim during a new interview with Jake Sherman of Punchbowl News while discussing the Republican Party’s prospects heading into the 2026 midterm elections. When Sherman said that Rogers lost his 2024 Senate bid while Trump was also on the ballot in Michigan, Trump said, “But I happen to think he won.” “Ok, well–” Sherman interjected. “No, no. I think it was a rigged deal,” Trump interrupted. “I think they rigged him out of it. President Donald Trump claimed in an interview Friday that the Michigan Senate race was ‘rigged’ against former Rep. Mike Rogers (R-MI) (Punchbowl News/YouTube) “But he’s a very good candidate,” Trump said in the interviewed published late Friday. “I think he should do well if we believe in polls. I actually sort of believe in polls.” The Independent has contacted Rogers’ representative for comment. Rogers, a former Michigan congressman, narrowly …

Brazil tightens crypto transfers to curb fraud

Brazil tightens crypto transfers to curb fraud

Published by Sam Flores

SAO PAULO, Aug 7 : Brazil’s central bank said on Friday that some cryptocurrency transfers will have to be delayed by up to 24 hours under new anti-fraud rules. • The central bank said the move reflects the growing use of virtual assets, including stablecoins, to quickly move money obtained through financial scams. • The rule, which takes effect next year, applies to transfers over $10,000 sent to foreign virtual-asset firms or to self-custody wallets. • The threshold can be measured per transaction or by a customer’s total transfers in a single day. • The central bank said the delay could also apply to other transactions that require closer scrutiny under risk-management policies. • It added that the measure is not an asset freeze and does not permanently block transfers. Source link

In ancient Rome, tax fraud was punishable by death

In ancient Rome, tax fraud was punishable by death

Published by Jenni Sidey

Get the Popular Science daily newsletter💡 Breakthroughs, discoveries, and DIY tips sent six days a week. By signing up, you confirm you are 16+, will receive newsletters and promotional content and agree to our Terms of Use and acknowledge the data practices in our Privacy Policy. You may unsubscribe at any time. Archaeologists in western Turkey recently discovered a detailed account of 1,600-year-old tax fraud so brazen that ancient Rome made it a deadly offense. Initially believed to be funerary ode inscriptions, the Late Antiquity stone tablets actually provide vital missing information in a notably widespread corruption case that spanned more than a decade—and even implicated the estate of Emperor Valentinian III’s daughter, Placidia. The artifacts found at the ruins of Stratonikeia in western Turkey relate to a financial case documented on similar stones studied by researchers since the 18th century. Around 465 CE, Roman officials began receiving complaints about tax officials operating in western Asia Minor who were reportedly issuing payment receipts without actually recording the specific totals. They then related lower numbers to …

Man kept mother’s body in freezer and continued to collect her benefit | UK | News

Man kept mother’s body in freezer and continued to collect her benefit | UK | News

Published by Sam Flores

Arrest footage of Christopher Phillips after woman found in freezer. A man has been jailed after keeping his dead mother’s body in a freezer for nearly three years while continuing to collect more than £78,000 in her benefits. Christopher Phillips, 60, previously admitted preventing the lawful and decent burial of Silvia Phillips, 89, at their home in Porthcawl. He also pleaded guilty to two counts of fraud by failing to notify the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP), as well as Bridgend County Borough Council, that his mother had died. At Merthyr Tydfil Crown Court on Monday, Judge Tracey Lloyd-Clarke, the Recorder of Cardiff, sentenced Phillips to two years and four months’ imprisonment. Phillips received a total of £78,190.92 in state pension, pension credit, attendance allowance, winter fuel payments, cost-of-living payments and housing benefit, which would have stopped had Ms Phillips’ death been reported. Judge Lloyd-Clarke said: “You continued to collect her prescriptions and misled medical professionals about her whereabouts, lying when enquiries were made about your mother, repeatedly telling medical staff that she did …

Mastercard spent decades training its fraud system to see bots as thieves. Now bots are the ones doing the buying.

Mastercard spent decades training its fraud system to see bots as thieves. Now bots are the ones doing the buying.

Published by skeptic

Every time a Mastercard gets tapped, the network has less than a tenth of a second to judge how likely the purchase is to be fraudulent. It made that call across 175 billion transactions last year. Now the buyer on the other side of that judgment is starting to change, and Greg Ulrich, the company’s chief AI and data officer, spelled out the consequence for the VB Transform 2026 audience in Menlo Park on July 14. “We’ve built a bunch of risk rules over time that were intended to stop a bot from transacting,” Ulrich said. “Now we need to enable the bot to transact, so that requires a change to our risk framework and our risk rules.” Ulrich joined Mastercard eleven years ago when an analytics company he worked at was acquired, and said trust struck him from day one on the job. “It’s what enables a merchant that’s never met you to accept payment and ensure that they’re going to get paid. It’s what enables you as a consumer to transact and ensure …

Former Golden Globes Owners Sue Penske Media Alleging Fraud in Acquisition of Awards Show

Former Golden Globes Owners Sue Penske Media Alleging Fraud in Acquisition of Awards Show

Published by Sam Flores

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Members of the Hollywood Foreign Press, which founded and for decades owned the Golden Globe Awards, have sued Penske Media Corporation and others, alleging they engaged in fraud to acquire the valuable awards show in an attempt to create an entertainment industry monopoly. The lawsuit filed in federal court in California on Tuesday alleges that Penske Media and owner Jay Penske colluded with holding company Eldridge Industries and its CEO Todd Boehly to fuel a backlash and boycott against the Globes to devalue it and acquire it, and to deceive the HFPA about a sale they were pressured into accepting. “This case arises from a clandestine scheme to fraudulently acquire the prestigious and valuable 80-year-old Golden Globe Awards,” the lawsuit says, “and exert monopolistic control over the Hollywood trades, awards, and advertising markets, all in violation of state and federal unfair competition and antitrust laws.” It alleges Boehly and Eldridge hid the involvement of Penske in the 2023 deal from the HFPA board, which never would have approved it if they …

Artworks by Basquiat, George Condo, caught in Vancouver fraud lawsuit

Artworks by Basquiat, George Condo, caught in Vancouver fraud lawsuit

Published by Jenni Sidey

There is a new development in an ongoing fraud lawsuit against the leader of the collapsed Vancouver-based developer Coromandel Properties, whose chief executive allegedly misappropriated funds to acquire an art collection, reports The Vancouver Sun. In 2023, Junchao Mo, a Chinese seed investor and part-owner of Coromandel Properties, and his two sons, Zhao Ming “Robert” Mo and Zi Hao “Calvin” Mo, filed a lawsuit now headed to the Supreme Court of British Columbia against Jerry Zhong, the company’s chief executive and co-owner. They allege that Zhong deceived them into investing over $100 million in the company’s Vancouver-area real estate projects, and deliberately misused those funds to purchase property, feed his own slush fund, and, among other expenditures, acquire 14 artworks worth about $4.9 million. Related Articles The plaintiffs argue that the art acquisitions were then used to secure a loan of up to $2.4 million, while Coromandel Properties, now indebted by some $497 million, was already in financial hot water. Zhong “misappropriated the line of credit funds for his own use,” according to court documents, …

Ken Paxton has long crusaded against voter fraud. His Senate rival now accuses him of committing it.

Ken Paxton has long crusaded against voter fraud. His Senate rival now accuses him of committing it.

Published by Sam Flores

The Democratic candidate for U.S. Senate in Texas is trying to turn a key talking point of his Republican opponent against him — alleging Attorney General Ken Paxton is guilty of the same type of voter fraud he has spent years trying to eliminate. “As our state’s attorney general, Ken Paxton has gone on a voter fraud witch hunt,” state Rep. James Talarico, who is challenging Paxton in the race to replace U.S. Sen. John Cornyn, said during a campaign event in Houston. “Turns out, he was committing voter fraud the whole time, voting illegally in six elections in a row from the wrong address.” Talarico’s comments come after ProPublica and The Texas Tribune revealed that Paxton moved out of the home he shared with his wife, state Sen. Angela Paxton, in 2024 but continued to vote using that address, including during the March Republican primary in which he beat Cornyn. Three election experts told the news organizations that Paxton may have broken state law.  Last week, the Collin County Democratic Party filed a complaint …

Deep State In “Fight To The Death” To Defend Voter Fraud

Deep State In “Fight To The Death” To Defend Voter Fraud

Published by Jenni Sidey

Via Greg Hunter’s USAWatchdog.com, Journalist Alex Newman is an expert on the so-called Deep State.  He is the author of the longtime popular book “Deep State” and, most recently, “Deep State 2.0.”  The Deep State is not a conspiracy theory.  It is a conspiracy fact.  This year, the Deep State will be going to war with the Trump Administration to hold onto the voter fraud that has won them elections for many years.  Without voter fraud, Deep State Democrats lose and lose big in the midterms.  They are fighting every way they can to keep the cheating going.   The Trump Administration is threatening fines and jail time if the Dems in Blue States “Refuse to Cooperate to Secure Elections.”  It is so bad that Harvard PhD and political expert Dr. Jerome Corsi says President Trump must “Stop Voter Fraud or Lose the Republic.”  The fight is going to get much more intense and violent before the midterm elections in November.  Alex Newman says: “Voter integrity is one of the arenas where this fight to the death is taking place.  We are going …