Investor Fraud Summit - Walnut Creek Police Detectives Are Visibly Absent

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Investor Fraud Summit

On October, 9, 2012, United States Attorney Melinda Haag along with the United States Attorneys for the Eastern, Central and Southern Districts of California; Western District of Washington; Alaska; and Oregon; in addition to representatives from the U.S. Department of Justice, FBI, and the Securities and Exchange Commission hosted an Investor Fraud Summit at the Rossmoor retirement community in Walnut Creek California.

Investor fraud is a serious national problem. The FBI reports that our country’s recent financial crisis has resulted in an unprecedented rise in investment fraud schemes, involving thousands of victims and staggering losses. The Western United States is no exception. In an effort to raise public awareness about this crime, the Department of Justice is hosting a series of investment fraud summits in select cities across the United Sates. Because of the volume, nature, and size of investment fraud schemes prosecuted by the United States Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of California, the Northern District of California was selected to host one of these summits. The agenda for the October 9 Summit included the following presentations and panels:

Welcome Remarks
Melinda Haag, United States Attorney, Northern District of California Marc Fagel, Regional Director, Securities and Exchange Commission, San Francisco Donald Liddle, Rossmoor President
It Happens Everywhere: Investor Fraud from a National Perspective
Moderated by Ben Wagner – United States Attorney, Eastern District of California
It Could Happen to You: Stories of Recent Federal Prosecutions in California
Moderated by S. Amanda Marshall, United States Attorney, District of Oregon
Red Flags and Warning Signs – How to Avoid Being Victimized
Moderated by Andre Birotte, United States Attorney, Central District of California
In Conversation: Victims of Investor Fraud Scheme Share Their Story
Moderated by Brian Stretch, First Assistant United States Attorney, Northern District of California.
Closing Remarks
Karen Loeffler, United States Attorney, District of Alaska Jenny Durkan, United States Attorney, Western District of Washington Laura Duffy, United States Attorney, Southern District of California

Other participants in the Summit included:

Denis McInerney, Chief, Fraud Section, U.S. Department of Justice Criminal Division
Christian Parker, Supervisory Special Agent, FBI Headquarters, Washington, D.C.
Marc Fagel, San Francisco Regional Director, Securities and Exchange Commission
Nicholas Colucci, Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN), Washington, D.C.
Doug Sprague, Chief, Economic Crimes and Securities Fraud Section, USAO, NDCA
John Owens, former Criminal Division Chief, US Attorney’s USAO SDCA
Jina Choi, Assistant Regional Director of Enforcement, SEC, San Francisco
Sandy Samuels, Executive Director, Bet Tzedek, Los Angeles
Nicole Jones, Counsel for Information and Network Security, Google
Mike West, Executive Producer of American Greed, CNBC

This Summit was part of the ongoing efforts of the Financial Fraud Enforcement Task Force which was created in 2009 to wage an aggressive, coordinated and proactive effort to investigate and prosecute financial crimes. For more information on the task force, visit www.stopfraud.gov.

Attorney General Eric Holder announced the Investor Fraud summits during a speech he made at the AARP Life at 50+ conference in New Orleans on Sept. 22, 2012.

The Department of Justice and the United States Attorneys are holding six regional Investor Fraud Summits to Educate Consumers throughout the United States. For more information about the Investor Fraud Summits, visit: http://blogs.justice.gov/main/archives/2511.

Additional Resources

Photos from Investor Fraud Summit in Walnut Creek California

CNET Commander Sentenced To 14 Years For Drug, Robbery, And Civil Rights Violations

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Former CNET Commander Sentenced To 14 Years For Drug, Robbery, And Civil Rights Violations
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASEMay 22, 2013
Norman Wielsch, the former Commander of the Central Contra Costa County Narcotics Enforcement Team and a Special Agent Supervisor of the California Department of Justice, was sentenced to 168 months in federal court in Oakland, yesterday, United States Attorney Melinda Haag announced.

On December 5, 2012 Wielsch pleaded guilty to five felony counts – one count of conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute marijuana and 50 grams or more of methamphetamine, one count of theft from programs receiving federal funds, two counts of civil rights conspiracy, and one count of Hobbs Act robbery.

In pleading guilty to the charges, Wielsch, 52, admitted stealing from evidence facilities $30,000 to $70,000 worth of marijuana and methamphetamine that had been seized during legitimate CNET raids. Specifically, Wielsch admitted that he stole at least twenty pounds of marijuana and more than 400 grams of high-purity methamphetamine (“ice”) between November 2010 and February 2011. He further admitted conspiring to distribute these drugs with his codefendant, private investigator and former Antioch police officer Christopher Butler, 51.

In pleading to the civil rights conspiracies, Wielsch admitted that he and Butler participated together in a phony “sting” operation in which they falsely detained a young man under the guise of a legitimate law enforcement operation, conducted warrantless searches, and kept narcotics that were taken during the “sting.” Wielsch also admitted that he and Butler staged what purported to be legitimate sting operations against prostitutes, but instead of seizing evidence and citing the prostitutes, they unlawfully took the prostitutes’ money and property for themselves. Wielsch acknowledged that they took more than $10,000 from individuals in the course of their prostitution robberies.

The sentence imposed by U.S. District Court Judge Saundra Brown Armstrong also included a $150,000 fine and five year period of supervised release. Wielsch has been in custody since he was remanded at the time of his guilty plea.

Wielsch and Butler were indicted by a federal Grand Jury on August 9, 2011. Butler pleaded guilty on May 4, 2012, to a Superseding Information charging the same narcotics conspiracy, theft from programs receiving federal funds, two civil rights conspiracies, and robbery counts to which Wielsch pleaded guilty, as well as extortion under color of official right and illegal wiretapping. On September 25, 2012, Butler was sentenced to 96 months imprisonment and a $20,000 fine, receiving a sentencing reduction for his cooperation with law enforcement in this and other investigations.

Hartley M. K. West is the Assistant U.S. Attorney who is prosecuting the case with the assistance of Alycee Lane. The prosecution is the result of a lengthy investigation by the FBI with the assistance of the Contra Costa County District Attorney’s Office.

CNET Scandal