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Mideast countries that are already struggling fear price hikes after Russia exits grain deal
Mideast countries that are already struggling fear price hikes after Russia exits grain deal
Egypt and other lower-income Middle Eastern countries like Lebanon and Pakistan are worried about what comes next after Russia pulled out of a crucial wartime grain deal
2023-08-02 13:16
Trudeau’s Oil Pipeline Averts Delay After Regulator Approved Route Change
Trudeau’s Oil Pipeline Averts Delay After Regulator Approved Route Change
An expansion of Canada’s only oil pipeline connecting Alberta to the Pacific coast won regulator approval to alter
2023-09-26 05:50
California man admits to hiding mother’s death and collecting $830k in benefits
California man admits to hiding mother’s death and collecting $830k in benefits
A California man pleaded guilty last week to hiding his mother’s death from the federal authorities for over 30 years, collecting more than $800,000 in benefits under her name. Donald Felix Zampach, 65, pleaded guilty to one count of money laundering and one count of Social Security fraud, according to the Justice Department. “This crime is believed to be the longest-running and largest fraud of its kind in this district,” US Attorney Randy Grossman said in a statement. “This defendant didn’t just passively collect checks mailed to his deceased mother. This was an elaborate fraud spanning more than three decades that required aggressive action and deceit to maintain the ruse.” All told, beginning in 1990, the Poway man collected $830,238. He could face up to 25 years in prison, though US sentencing guidelines suggest it will more likely be a sentence of 30 to 37 months. “He is overwhelmed with regret,” Knut Johnson, Zampach’s lawyer, told The New York Times. As part of his plea deal, Zampach will forfeit the benefit, pay restitution to various lenders, and turn over the home he took possession of in his mother’s name. The benefits scheme was an elaborate one, according to the DoJ. When Zampach’s mother was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer, she left the US and returned to her native Japan, where she died in 1990 at age 61. Her son notified the US embassy in Tokyo of the death, but admitted to leaving blank a box for her Social Security number to avoid the government being aware of her passing, and he repeated this omission on forms for burial permits. Zampach kept up this ruse until September 2022, collecting his mother’s Social Security checks and payments from the Defense Finance Accounting Service, which pays survivors of military veterans. An audit of those over age 90 who hadn’t used their Medicare benefits helped reveal the California man’s scheme. This sort of fraud has happened in the past. In 2018, a Mexican man pleaded guilty to defrauding the government for even longer, spending 37 years collecting nearly $361,000 in government benefits after assuming the identity of a US citizen, according to The San Diego Union Tribune. In 2015, Dutch police learned that a man kept his dead mother’s body hidden for over two years and continued collecting her pension and social assistance payments. He was later caught and forced to repay 40,000 euros, according to 1 Limburg. Read More Real Housewives star Phaedra Parks reveals why she gave her son $150,000 for his 13th birthday Mastercard helping banks predict scams before money leaves customers’ accounts Vermont will pay $16.5M to settle lawsuits by foreign investors in fraudulent ski developments
2023-07-07 03:27
Asking prices for UK homes slip as BoE's rates rises bite, survey
Asking prices for UK homes slip as BoE's rates rises bite, survey
LONDON Asking prices for residential homes in Britain fell in July as rising mortgage costs and increasing buyer
2023-07-17 07:20
Mexico says Tesla factory still coming, vows infrastructure spending
Mexico says Tesla factory still coming, vows infrastructure spending
By Daina Beth Solomon MEXICO CITY (Reuters) -Mexico's Nuevo Leon state said on Thursday that Tesla was still planning to
2023-10-20 07:58
California targets smash-and-grabs with $267 million program aimed at 'brazen' store thefts
California targets smash-and-grabs with $267 million program aimed at 'brazen' store thefts
California will spend $267 million to combat smash-and-grab robberies that have plagued businesses and luxury stores in the state
2023-09-16 06:18
Is lab-grown meat kosher or halal? Can religious vegetarians eat it? It's complicated
Is lab-grown meat kosher or halal? Can religious vegetarians eat it? It's complicated
The USDA gave two brands, Good Meat and Upside Foods, the green light last week to start producing and selling lab-grown, or cultivated, chicken in the United States. But is that kosher, literally?
2023-06-27 18:46
Orsted Drops US Wind Projects, Taking $4 Billion Impairment Hit
Orsted Drops US Wind Projects, Taking $4 Billion Impairment Hit
Orsted A/S dropped the development of two US wind projects, recording impairment charges significantly above its previous predictions
2023-11-01 15:26
Biden’s Middle East Mission Unraveling After Deadly Hospital Blast
Biden’s Middle East Mission Unraveling After Deadly Hospital Blast
President Joe Biden’s dramatic war-time visit to Israel and Jordan began to unravel even before he left the
2023-10-18 08:24
Oil prices set for sixth weekly gain as producers pledge output cuts
Oil prices set for sixth weekly gain as producers pledge output cuts
Oil prices rose for a second day on Friday, set for their sixth week of gains, after Saudi
2023-08-04 08:55
PBOC Adviser Says China Urgently Needs to Boost Consumption
PBOC Adviser Says China Urgently Needs to Boost Consumption
An adviser to China’s central bank says the top priority of policymakers needs to be stimulating household consumption,
2023-08-15 08:48
Stocks Set for Cautious Open; Yen Advances on Ueda: Markets Wrap
Stocks Set for Cautious Open; Yen Advances on Ueda: Markets Wrap
Asian equities may struggle to find traction Monday in a cautious open to trading around the region, while
2023-09-11 07:20