{"id":13685,"date":"2015-07-16T13:31:10","date_gmt":"2015-07-16T20:31:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?p=13685"},"modified":"2015-07-16T13:31:10","modified_gmt":"2015-07-16T20:31:10","slug":"trio-who-scammed-at-least-20-victims-of-more-than-2-million-indicted","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?p=13685","title":{"rendered":"Trio Who Scammed at Least 20 Victims of More Than $2 Million Indicted"},"content":{"rendered":"

RIVERSIDE, CALIF.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\n
\"Federal<\/a>
Riverside Federal Courthouse<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

A federal grand jury indicted three people, including a\u00a0Coachella Valley man who allegedly posed as a war hero and a successful attorney, for their roles in a variety of fraudulent schemes that victimized at least 20 investors and caused losses of more than $2 million, authorities announced today.<\/p>\n

The 24-count indictment alleges that they lied to investors in a series of schemes, and then used investor money for personal expenses rather than investing the funds as promised.<\/p>\n

\"Justice-Depart\"<\/a>The defendants named in the indictment are the following people:<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u2022 Jerome Whittington,<\/strong> 65, of La Quinta, California, who was initially charged in June 2014 in this case, and who is charged in a separate case with posing as a former federal prosecutor in a case involving a former DEA agent.<\/p>\n

\u2022 Patricia Torres Zavala,<\/strong> 42, of Benicia, California, who was arrested on Tuesday in Northern California.<\/p>\n

\u2022 Kathleen Moore,<\/strong> 68, of Olympia, Washington, who has agreed to surrender to federal authorities on August 5.<\/p>\n

The indictment alleges that Whittington and his two codefendants made false statements and misrepresentations to induce victims to invest money in various business ventures and real estate purchases.<\/p>\n

Also Whittington falsely claimed to be a wealthy real estate investor, a Purple Heart recipient and an attorney to gain the admiration of victims and add legitimacy to the scheme. \u00a0In one instance, Whittington told a victim he owned a private jet and movie company as he solicited an investment in a company known as \u201cSesma<\/strong>.\u201d<\/p>\n

Whittington claimed Sesma had developed an Internet browser that was being used in China, and while Whittington told the victim his investment would be used to purchase stock in Sesma, he instead used the money for personal expenses.<\/p>\n

In another scheme, Zavala, a former Bank of America employee<\/strong>, purported to be a short-sales expert working with Whittington in order to help victims obtain real estate properties at very low rates, according to the indictment.<\/p>\n

Zavala, who allegedly used her position at the bank to coerce victims to send money, was paid by Whittington from the fraud.<\/p>\n

Moore purported to be Whittington\u2019s accountant and, in that capacity, handled all finances and received money from various victims. The indictment alleges that Moore promised investors returns of up to $25 for every $2 invested in Sesma.<\/p>\n

If convicted of the charges, Whittington faces up to 480 years in federal prison; Moore faces up to 240 years, and Torres faces up to 200 years.<\/p>\n

The government will also seek forfeiture of real estate and money derived from the scheme if the defendants are convicted, officials said.<\/p>\n

An indictment contains allegations that a defendant has committed a crime. Every defendant is presumed to be innocent until proven guilty in court.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

RIVERSIDE, CALIF. A federal grand jury indicted three people, including a\u00a0Coachella Valley man who allegedly posed as a war hero and a successful attorney, for their roles in a variety of fraudulent…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":7271,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16,3],"tags":[1471],"class_list":["post-13685","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-home-main-slider","category-u-s-department-of-justice","tag-investor-schemes"],"yoast_head":"\nTrio Who Scammed at Least 20 Victims of More Than $2 Million Indicted<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"RIVERSIDE, CALIF. 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