Man builds himself ‘mansion' with millions he stole from victim, AL officials say
An Alabama man was found guilty of stealing $8.4 million from an older adult over two years through a Ponzi scheme, officials said.
James 'Jimmy' Bulger, 60, was convicted of first-degree theft by deception, aggravated theft by deception and first-degree financial exploitation of the elderly, Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall said in a June 20 news release.
'This wasn't a lapse in judgment, it was a calculated, predatory scheme that stole nearly $9 million from an elderly man who trusted him,' Marshall said in the release.
Bulger convinced the man he had profits to reinvest, but really Bulger was stealing that money to 'fund an extravagant lifestyle' for himself, according to officials.
He bought luxury cars, designer goods and built an 8,000-square-foot 'mansion,' officials said.
Then, after he was indicted, he tried to pay the victim $1 million to drop the charges, officials said.
Bulger is being held on a $1.5 million bond at the Montgomery County jail, according to records.
He is set to be sentenced July 21, AL.com reported.
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Miami Herald
11 hours ago
- Miami Herald
Man builds himself ‘mansion' with millions he stole from victim, AL officials say
An Alabama man was found guilty of stealing $8.4 million from an older adult over two years through a Ponzi scheme, officials said. James 'Jimmy' Bulger, 60, was convicted of first-degree theft by deception, aggravated theft by deception and first-degree financial exploitation of the elderly, Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall said in a June 20 news release. 'This wasn't a lapse in judgment, it was a calculated, predatory scheme that stole nearly $9 million from an elderly man who trusted him,' Marshall said in the release. Bulger convinced the man he had profits to reinvest, but really Bulger was stealing that money to 'fund an extravagant lifestyle' for himself, according to officials. He bought luxury cars, designer goods and built an 8,000-square-foot 'mansion,' officials said. Then, after he was indicted, he tried to pay the victim $1 million to drop the charges, officials said. Bulger is being held on a $1.5 million bond at the Montgomery County jail, according to records. He is set to be sentenced July 21, reported.
Yahoo
14 hours ago
- Yahoo
Fraudulent City boss ordered to pay back £64 million
A City boss compared to the The Wolf Of Wall Street has been ordered to pay back £64 million over his role in a multi-million pound Ponzi-style investment scam, prosecutors said. Anthony Constantinou remains on the run after he fled the UK during his fraud trial at London's Southwark Crown Court in June 2023. Hundreds of investors were duped out of a total of £70 million between 2013 and 2015 while he ran Capital World Markets (CWM). A spokesman for City of London Police said a confiscation order was made against him on Thursday for the sum of £64 million, which is payable within three months. The default period of imprisonment was set at 14 years. Police released photographs of some of the luxury vehicles Constantinou spent his fraudulent money on, including a Porsche, Range Rover and luxury motorbike. They previously said he was thought to be in Turkey or Dubai after being stopped in Bulgaria with a fake Spanish passport. CWM had high-profile sponsorship deals with the Honda Moto GP, Chelsea Football Club, Wigan Warriors rugby league club, Cyclone Boxing Promotions and the London Boat Show. The seven-week trial heard how Constantinou spent £2.5 million of investors' money on his 'no expense spared' wedding on the Greek island of Santorini in September 2014, while his son's first birthday party a few days earlier cost more than £70,000. More than £470,000 was paid for private jet hire to fly him and his associates to Moto GP races across Europe as well as a return flight to Nice for a 150,000-euro five-day yacht cruise around the Mediterranean to Monaco. The firm paid £200,000 a quarter to rent 'plush' offices in the City's Heron Tower, while nearly £600,000 was spent on just six months' rent of his large home in Hampstead, north-west London, where his luxury cars were parked in the drive. Promised returns of 60% per year on risk-free foreign exchange (FX) markets, a total of 312 investors trusted their money to CWM. Some were professionals but most were individuals who handed over their life savings or pension pots, with a large number of Gurkhas paying into the scheme, said prosecutor David Durose KC. Constantinou denied wrongdoing but was found guilty of one count of fraud, two counts of fraudulent trading and four counts of money laundering and sentenced to 14 years in prison in his absence. Adrian Foster, of the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS), said: 'This was a callous scam targeting members of the public. Many people lost their hard-earned money because of Constantinou's greed and false promises in this fake investment scheme. 'We continue to pursue the proceeds of crime robustly with the City of London Police, where we identify available assets to disrupt and deter large-scale frauds like this case. 'In the last five years, over £478 million has been recovered from CPS obtained confiscation orders, ensuring that thousands of convicted criminals cannot profit from their offending. £95 million of that amount has been returned to victims of crime, by way of compensation.' Constantinou was previously jailed for a year at the Old Bailey in 2016 after being found guilty of sexually assaulting two women during after-work drinks. One of the victims described how the parties were just like the raucous scenes depicted in Martin Scorsese's The Wolf Of Wall Street, starring Leonardo DiCaprio as rogue New York trader Jordan Belfort.
New York Post
2 days ago
- New York Post
Defunct NYC wine shop Sherry-Lehmann sues ex-owners, Pulitzer-winning NYT journalist over ‘press smear campaign'
Defunct New York City wine shop Sherry-Lehmann has filed a bizarre lawsuit that blames its spectacular implosion two years ago on its former owners — as well as a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist. The ill-fated vintner's current proprietors — who shuttered the posh Park Avenue store in March 2023 amid mounting customer complaints over missing wine orders — claim New York Times columnist James B. Stewart conspired with Sherry-Lehmann's former owners to create a 'press smear campaign' against the shop for their 'financial benefit and personal gain.' The suit claims the 73-year-old scribe — best known for his 1991 book 'Den of Thieves' about the Michael Milken insider trading scandal — also egged on law enforcement to raid Sherry-Lehmann, allegedly telling the US attorney for the Southern District of New York that the wine shop 'was the greatest Ponzi scheme of all time.' 6 James B. Stewart is a Pulitzer-winning journalist for The New York times. Getty Images The suit goes on to make the claim that Stewart and three of the shop's former owners 'orchestrated' a series of 'false articles' in other publications — including the New York Post — that allegedly misrepresented Sherry-Lehmann to the public and to law enforcement. That, Sherry-Lehmann's owners alleged, amounts to a violation of the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act, according to the May 27 suit filed in Manhattan federal court. A spokesperson for The New York Times denied the RICO allegations, saying in a statement, 'There is no merit to the claims and we plan to defend against the suit vigorously.' In response to the allegations concerning The New York Post, a spokeswoman said in a statement, 'These allegations are absurd, and show a complete lack of understanding of how journalism works.' 6 Shyda Gilmer is a co-owner of Sherry-Lehmann. New York Post Sherry-Lehmann's complaint alleges that Peter Hellman, a reporter for the trade publication Wine Spectator, collaborated with Stewart 'in researching and writing their articles for Wine Spectator and The New York Times, with Hellman claiming to a representative for Sherry-Lehmann that he was the 'gumshoe reporter' for Stewart's article.' The suit also claims that Hellman tried to 'impersonate an HVAC repairman' to enter Sherry-Lehmann's temperature controlled Wine Caves facility in Pearl River, NY 'before he was escorted from the premises.' The complaint likewise alleges that Stewart allegedly 'impersonated a customer of Wine Caves (which Stewart never was)' to gather information for his article and that he allegedly told a Sherry-Lehman rep that 'this will win a Pulitzer Prize.' 6 A lawsuit filed on behalf of Kris Green (on the left) and Shyda Gilmer names New York Times columnist James B. Stewart as a Gotham Magazine Stewart has already won a Pulitzer — in 1987 for his coverage of the stock market crash when he was a writer for The Wall Street Journal. A source familiar with the lawsuit told The Post that Stewart and Hellman have never met. Stewart declined to comment. Hellman and Wine Spectator also declined to comment, citing 'pending litigation.' The lawsuit, filed on behalf of owners Kris Green and Shyda Gilmer, claims they missed out on a $20 million 'merger' offer from 'one of the largest vineyard owners in France' because of the negative press and that the former owners wanted to deep six the deal to sell the business, according to the complaint. 6 FBI agents raided the Park Avenue store in July 2023. James Keivom Gilmer and Green also claim the company was in the red long before they took over and blame the previous ownership's management for its woes. 'The co-conspirators…have engaged in a strategic, well-coordinated collaboration… to spread damaging false information about Sherry-Lehmann … with the sole intention of sabotaging its reputation and destroying its operations so they might profit,' according to the complaint. The suit singles out Stewart for a May 25, 2023, exposé in the Gray Lady entitled 'An Iconic Wine Store and the Mystery of the Missing Bottles' which reported that some of the wine belonging to storage customers was illegally sold to others. Sherry-Lehman denied this in its complaint. Sherry-Lehmann had been shuttered two months earlier after the State Liquor Authority issued a cease and desist order because the business had failed to renew its liquor license. 6 Sherry-Lehmann's landlord, Glorious Sun, is suing previous owners of the store for unpaid rent. James Keivom The nearly century-old, debt-ridden wine shop failed to pay its landlord, vendors and state taxes while also reportedly stiffing its customers out of wine they had paid for. A separate wine storage business – Wine Caves – went dark on customers who tried in vain get their booze back, as The Post reported. At the same time, the previous owners were dishing on Sherry-Lehmann's current owners, according to the lawsuit, because they wanted to be absolved of potential liability from the landlord who is owed millions of dollars. The previous owners, Michael Aaron, whose family founded Sherry-Lehman, Michael Yurch and Chris Adams are being sued in a separate lawsuit filed last year by Sherry-Lehmann's landlord Glorious Sun, which claims they are liable for the unpaid rent. Aaron, Adams and Yurch declined to comment on either of the lawsuits. 6 The store closed temporarily in March 2023 and never reopened. New York Post/Lisa Fickenscher The previous owners argue that they long ago severed ties with the business and have no stake in it, according to court documents. The final nail in the coffin for the business were multiple raids by the FBI, NYPD and US Postal Inspection Service on its store and wine storage facility in Pearl River, NY in July 2023. The 'unnecessary raids' in 2023 and as recently as 2024 resulted in canceled orders from customers, and potential acquirers, according to the complaint. But notably, there have been 'no indictments or arrests' as a result of these investigations, the suit claims. 'After withstanding [a] highly damaged reputation for over two years,' the lawsuit states, '[Sherry-Lehmann] can now finally come forward to tell the real story and to seek a remedy against all co-conspirators who profited from their misconduct, while fleecing Sherry-Lehmann in the process.' A US Postal Inspection Service spokesperson told The Post that its investigation of Sherry-Lehmann is 'active and ongoing.'
