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Unemployment insurance fraud is growing in Illinois. Here’s what you need to know
State and federal officials are encouraging Illinoisans to stay vigilant as reports of unemployment insurance fraud swell. From the onset of coronavirus pandemic, fraudulent claims have been an issue as a record number of Illinois residents file for benefits and Congress provides additional jobless aid. Illinois has stopped more than 350,000 fraudulent claims since March 1, according to the state’s Department of Employment Security. Reports of fraud have been so widespread — often inundating local police departments — that the FBI, IRS and several state agencies launched a task force to tackle...
Chicago Tribune
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Pro-Trump Miamians gather in support of the outgoing president days before inauguration
MIAMI — As state capitols and cities across the country prepare for potential violence over the weekend in the wake of the attack on the U.S. Capitol fueled by President Donald Trump’s baseless claims of election fraud, planned rallies of supporters at the Freedom Tower in downtown Miami and La Carreta restaurant on Bird Road proved peaceful. And also small. About a dozen people waved flags along Biscayne Boulevard at noon and repeated allegations of election tampering that have been rejected by a string of state and federal courts and also dismissed by all but the most fervent followers of th...
Miami Herald
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First it was ‘fraud,’ then they just didn’t like the rules: How Pa. Republicans justified overturning an election
PHILADELPHIA — As Joe Biden took the lead in vote counting and then won Pennsylvania, some of the state’s top Republicans added their voices to President Donald Trump’s baseless claims that the election was stolen and rife with fraud. U.S. Rep. Scott Perry joined a “Stop the Steal” rally in Harrisburg and later went on Fox Business Network to blast Pennsylvania’s election as a “horrific embarrassment.” “They say, ‘Oh, you know, 100,000 votes just showed up, and oh by the way, they all just happen to be for Joe Biden,” he said in one interview on Nov. 6. “We had dead people voting. We had a lot...
The Philadelphia Inquirer
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Lies sent Trump supporters to Washington. Can Big Tech bans stop the misinformation?
PHILADELPHIA — Lisa Mickles sat on a bus heading from Harrisburg to Washington, D.C., last week and pulled up her phone to check the latest on Parler, a social media network favored by Trump supporters that is replete with conspiracy theories and misinformation. “Did you see about this Italy thing?” she asked. “They found somebody in Italy that started changing the votes. It’s the first time they have proof. I didn’t get a chance to really listen, but it seems pretty messed up.” No one in Italy changed votes. There is no evidence of widespread fraud or any kind of rigging in the presidential e...
The Philadelphia Inquirer
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Boeing's drone unit to pay $25 million to settle fraud charge that was sparked by whistleblower complaint
SEATTLE — Boeing’s drone subsidiary, Insitu, will pay $25 million to settle a federal lawsuit accusing it of fraudulently overcharging the government on no-bid military contracts by billing for new parts but using recycled ones. The whistleblower who brought the original case, D R O’Hara, who was fired by Boeing, will get $4.625 million as a share of that penalty for uncovering the fraud. Insitu will also have to pay O’Hara’s legal expenses. The Department of Justice accused Insitu of “knowingly submitting materially false cost and pricing data” for contracts to supply surveillance drones to b...
The Seattle Times
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Impressions: Why Stadia is a good enough platform for ‘Cyberpunk 2077’
The most consequential choice of “Cyberpunk 2077” comes before players even start the game. It centers on picking the right platform. As the launch feedback has shown, the much-hyped title from CD Projekt Red runs poorly on the Xbox One and PlayStation 4 family of consoles. “Cyberpunk 2077” is playable on the Xbox Series X 5/8 S and PlayStation 5, but those machines are running software built for the older machines via backward compatibility. Players won’t see how the latest consoles handle the game until later. That leaves gamers with two options. They can pick it up for PC, but they’ll need ...
The Mercury News
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Chicago rapper G Herbo mocks pending federal fraud charges in bold new video: ‘In my city I’m a god’
CHICAGO – Chicagoans are used to seeing someone facing a federal indictment play it safe in the public arena, usually addressing the charges with a terse no comment or a bland, attorney-vetted statement. Not G Herbo. On Friday, the Chicago-born rapper, whose real name is Herbert Wright III, came out with metaphoric guns blazing, using a new song and video to mock the federal wire fraud conspiracy indictment filed against him in Massachusetts and tout his rise from troubled South Side streets to international acclaim “Ask about me, I ain’t never been a fraud,” he said in the two-minute video ti...
Chicago Tribune
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Feds step up efforts to target Venezuelans accused of money laundering in Miami
MIAMI — Federal authorities are stepping up their efforts to seize millions of dollars deposited in Miami bank accounts that they say were used to pay kickbacks to Venezuelan government officials for inflated contracts with the national oil company, PDVSA.The latest target: Natalino D’Amato, a contractor accused of selling $160 million worth of equipment to subsidiaries of the Venezuelan oil monopoly, transferring that money to Miami bank accounts and then paying bribes to government officials to secure the PDVSA deals, according to an indictment. Of that total, U.S. authorities have moved to ...
Miami Herald
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Bank of America exec arrested for bribery. Feds say banker ran kickback scheme.
A former New York-based Bank of America executive received tens of thousands of dollars at a time in cash bribes, federal prosecutors say, in exchange for fraudulently helping a New Jersey firm get a line of credit at the bank.Kurt Phelps, the executive, was arrested Oct. 29 and charged with bank bribery and conspiracy to commit bank fraud. Phelps’ arrest is a rare instance of an executive at a major U.S. bank arrested for their conduct as a banker.Federal prosecutors accused Phelps of a bribery scheme in which he coached Starnet Business Solutions, a Mahwah, N.J. print shop, to falsify financ...
The Charlotte Observer
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Editorial: Evidence of fraud in a Florida election. Where's the outrage?
The walls of the Florida Capitol in Tallahassee are lined with nuanced portraits of leaders who left a lasting legacy. Jeb Bush, the “e-governor,” is depicted with his BlackBerry alongside. And Dempsey Barron, the Panhandle rancher who dominated the Senate for two decades, is shown on his horse.Considering how secret money and shady candidates continue to corrupt our politics, the Capitol should also find wall space for Alex Rodriguez, a 55-year-old South Florida mechanic who ran for the Florida Senate in November and lost.Alex who? That’s the point. Until now, no one knew this unknown candida...
Sun Sentinel
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