ReportWire

Tag: Burglary/Theft

  • Opinion | Ukraine Corruption and U.S. Interests

    Another corruption scandal is roiling Ukraine, and there’s no denying corruption exists there as it does in most of the former Soviet states. The question is whether this should override U.S. strategic interests in supporting Ukraine, especially if there are reasonable safeguards against the theft of U.S. assistance.

    President Volodymr Zelensky’s chief of staff, Andriy Yermak, resigned Friday after corruption authorities conducted a search at his home.. He said in a Telegram post he is cooperating with investigators, but his resignation comes as the Kremlin and Trump Administration are raising the pressure on Ukraine to cede territory to Russia. Mr. Yermak has been Ukraine’s toughest negotiator in peace talks, holding out against bad ideas.

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    The Editorial Board

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  • France Detains Last Suspected Louvre Thief

    PARIS—French authorities said they’ve detained four more people in connection to the Louvre heist, including a man suspected of being the only thief to remain at large after purloining the nation’s crown jewels.

    Paris Prosecutor Laure Beccuau said two men, ages 38 and 39, and two women, 31 and 40, have been taken into custody for questioning. Beccuau said all four detainees came from the Paris region, without disclosing further details.

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    Noemie Bisserbe

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  • Why It’s Easier to Rob a Museum Than a Jewelry Store in France

    Barely 24 hours had passed since thieves had broken into the Louvre Museum and stolen France’s crown jewels when the mayor of Langres, a walled medieval town in Eastern France, received a troubling phone call. 

    The director of the town’s museum was on the line to report that it too had been robbed. Thieves had penetrated the Maison des Lumières Denis Diderot overnight and gone straight for a display case housing its collection of historic gold and silver coins. 

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    Noemie Bisserbe

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  • Louvre Skimped on Security to Spend on Art in Years Before Heist, Says Auditor

    PARIS—France’s state auditor issued a searing assessment of the Louvre Museum’s finances on Thursday, alleging its management prioritized the acquisition of new artworks over the maintenance and security of its existing collection.

    The auditor released its 153-page report after a team of thieves used low-tech methods to break into the museum last month and steal France’s crown jewels, drawing attention to the Louvre’s porous security.

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    Noemie Bisserbe

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  • Inside the Low-Tech Heist That Penetrated the Louvre

    PARIS—The thieves had prepared a jerry can of gasoline to quickly set fire to the truck-mounted lift and other equipment they had just used to penetrate the Louvre Museum and steal France’s crown jewels.

    A blaze might have destroyed evidence linking them to the crime. But the clock was ticking. Security forces were closing in. So the thieves made a critical decision: They left the truck intact and jumped on their scooters to make a getaway along the Seine River.

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    Stacy Meichtry

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  • Heist at Louvre Leaves Museum Missing Priceless Jewels

    PARIS—Tourists were streaming into the world’s most visited museum on Sunday morning when a group of thieves burst in through a window of a gilded gallery on the second floor—and made off with a set of priceless royal jewels.

    Over the course of only seven minutes, three or four individuals used a truck-mounted elevator to reach a balcony outside the Galerie d’Apollon, which houses France’s crown jewels, French officials said. There, the thieves used an angle grinder to cut a hole in a window to get inside, they added.

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    Sam Schechner

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  • Retailers talk a lot about rising theft. But a retail industry report finds a key metric for it hasn’t increased that much.

    Retailers talk a lot about rising theft. But a retail industry report finds a key metric for it hasn’t increased that much.

    Retail executives over the past year have talked a lot about “shrink” — or the losses they take due to theft, fraud or employee error — amid a flood of headlines about sometimes violent organized thefts at stores. But results from a retail-industry survey released Tuesday found the metric rose only modestly last year.

    The report from the National Retail Federation, a retail industry group, found that the average shrink rate in 2022 crept higher to 1.6% from 1.4% in the prior year, when calculated as a share of sales. The figure from 2022 is in line with those seen in 2020 and 2019.

    Still, the losses amounted to billions of dollars — $112.1 billion, up from $93.9 billion in 2021 — according to the report. And the report said that retailers were increasingly concerned about the violence of those crimes.

    “Far beyond the financial impact of these crimes, the violence and concerns over safety continue to be the priority for all retailers, regardless of size or category,” David Johnston, the NRF’s vice president for asset protection and retail operations, said in a statement.

    The NRF, working with the Loss Prevention Research Council — a research group founded by some of the nation’s biggest retailers — surveyed people in the industry who work in loss-prevention and asset protection. The report contained responses or information from 177 retail brands. The survey was distributed in May, June and July.

    The report was published the same day that Target Corp.
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    said it would close nine stores across four states next month, citing theft and dangers to employees.

    “In this case, we cannot continue operating these stores because theft and organized retail crime are threatening the safety of our team and guests, and contributing to unsustainable business performance,” Target said in a statement.

    The chain joins other retailers sounding the alarm about retail theft and closing stores, amid what executives have described as a spike in organized retail theft, or theft with the intent of reselling the goods. However, executives’ takes on earnings calls have differed slightly, and retailers are contending with other issues — like the fallout from inflation — that have hit financials.

    Also see: Costco CFO says inventory ‘in good shape,’ thefts have not ‘dramatically’ increased as earnings top estimates

    The fight over theft has played out, perhaps predictably, on partisan lines, with some blaming what they say are lax crime policies in large cities. But other analysts point to changes in the flow of foot traffic through population centers since the pandemic, and say the data is often too squishy and subjective to make any hard calls about the state of crime — and whether it’s rising or falling, particularly at retailers — in a particular area.

    More than two-thirds of the retailers surveyed by the NRF “said they were seeing even more violence and aggression” from organized retail theft compared with a year ago. Twenty-eight percent reported being “forced” to close a specific store location, the report said, while 45% said they cut operating hours, and 30% said they reduced or changed an in-store product selection as a result of retail crime.

    “The types of products shoplifters are targeting may not be based solely on price point,” the National Retail Federation said.

    “Products can range from high-price, high-fashion items to everyday products that have a fast resale capability,” the group said. “While ORC groups have traditionally targeted specific items or types of goods, that list has expanded to new categories like outerwear, batteries, energy drinks, designer footwear and kitchen accessories.”

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  • Paid off your mortgage? Be careful — you’re at risk of title theft.

    Paid off your mortgage? Be careful — you’re at risk of title theft.

    Homeowners may be thrilled when they finally pay off their mortgage, but the accomplishment comes with risks. 

    Retirement Tip of the Week: Be vigilant in protecting your identity and assets, and be aware of how you could fall victim to various scams or theft associated with your home.

    With title theft, thieves transfer a house deed from the rightful owner to another person’s name by using the owner’s personal information. Title theft could also take the form of using equity in a home, such as by opening a home equity line of credit, known as a HELOC, according to Quicken Loans. When a house is unoccupied, thieves could go so far as to sell or rent out the property. 

    Title theft isn’t particularly common, but it does happen, and it’s another reason people should protect their identity and other sensitive information. Older Americans could be at higher risk, especially if they have a lot of equity in their home. About 11,500 people reported losing more than $350 million to real-estate scams in 2021, although that figure includes fraud pertaining to real-estate advertisements and rental agreements, according to the FBI. 

    Homeowners should keep on top of their documents and may even want to occasionally confirm their information with their county deeds office, the FBI said. Any mail from a mortgage lender should be checked to make sure it doesn’t pertain to your specific property.

    If you are a victim of title theft, open an identity-theft case with the Federal Trade Commission, alert creditors about the fraud and look over your title insurance, which protects homeowners’ rights and which mortgage companies often require home buyers to have, Quicken Loans said. 

    There are companies that offer title-protection services, although critics say it’s not the same as title insurance and only alerts a homeowner of a problem after it has occurred. 

    “Do you need this service to protect your home from property thieves? The answer is no,” the Maryland Attorney General’s office said in a consumer alert about title-protection services. “Title fraud is very rare, and hardly ever successful. If someone ever tries to transfer your deed without your permission or knowledge, like these title lock companies suggest could happen, the transfer is fraudulent and void from the outset.” 

    Instead, homeowners should monitor their identity and keep an eye on their credit scores, the office said.

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  • Trouble in paradise: Shock guilty plea roils case of yoga gurus charged with stealing millions from bipolar Malibu doctor

    Trouble in paradise: Shock guilty plea roils case of yoga gurus charged with stealing millions from bipolar Malibu doctor

    Their shared hippie spirit brought them together over a vegan potluck dinner, but the prospect of  years in federal prison for allegedly stealing millions from a mentally-ill Malibu doctor, has driven a wedge between them. 

    A federal fraud prosecution against a pair of yoga gurus accused of siphoning cash from Dr. Mark Sawusch’s $60 million fortune took a significant turn at the end of August when one pleaded guilty and agreed to testify against the other, her ex-boyfriend, according to court documents and people familiar with the matter.

    Anna Moore’s guilty plea before a federal judge in Los Angeles on Aug. 28 represents a serious legal challenge to her longtime partner, Anthony Flores, who faces decades behind bars if convicted in the case. Flores pleaded not guilty after his arrest in January. 

    Details of Moore’s agreement with federal prosecutors remain under seal, but people familiar with the matter say her ultimate sentence in the case will largely be determined after her level of cooperation is evaluated. A sentencing hearing for Moore was set for Nov. 6. 

    “We are aware of Ms. Moore’s decision to plead guilty. Obviously this changes Mr. Flores’ legal situation in the case, and we are currently reviewing our options,” Flores’ attorney Ambrosio Rodriguez said.         

    Messages left with Moore’s attorney weren’t immediately returned. A spokesman for the U.S attorney’s office for the central district of California declined to comment.

    The tragic end to Sawusch’s life began on June 23, 2017, when the brilliant, but troubled, ophthalmologist met Flores and Moore in a chance encounter at a vegan ice cream parlor in Venice Beach, Calif.

    Flores, who went by Anton David, was a guru-esque figure with long, flowing hair and a beard. He worked as a hair stylist on film shoots. Moore, a pixie-like blond, was an actress and singer. The couple had met years earlier at a vegan potluck dinner and had fallen in love over what they described as a shared hippie spirit. Together, they ran a yoga center in Fresno, Calif., while going back-and-forth to L.A.  

    Their spiritual vibe cast a spell on Sawusch, who had just days earlier been released from a mental health facility, where he had been committed after suffering a breakdown, court filings said. Within a week, Flores and Moore had moved into Sawusch’s multi-million dollar beachfront home in Malibu, Calif., federal prosecutors said. 

    Over the next year, the pair gained increasingly firm control over the doctor’s life and finances, with Flores establishing power of attorney over Sawusch’s vast fortune while plying him with a steady diet of marijuana and LSD as he also underwent experimental ketamine treatments for his bipolar disorder that left him addled, investigators said. 

    Sawusch later died in May 2018 of a lethal mixture of ketamine and alcohol, according to a coroner’s report. The Los Angeles County medical examiner’s office ruled the death an accident.

    In her guilty plea, Moore said she was not immediately aware of the scope of Flores’ alleged efforts to steal the doctor’s money, but admitted that following Sawusch’s death she participated in a later effort in probate court to keep the stolen money. Prosecutors have alleged that this was a separate fraud.

    When Sawusch’s family sought to take control of his estate, they discovered that almost $3 million had been transferred from his accounts to ones controlled by Flores in the days before and after the doctor’s death, federal prosecutors said.   

    Sawusch’s family launched a civil lawsuit against the yogi couple and convinced a California state judge to issue a restraining order freezing Flores’ and Moores’ accounts, and order they return the money. Instead, federal prosecutors say, the two engaged in a second fraud by making false claims in probate court that Sawusch had verbally told them he would give them a third of his fortune plus his Malibu beach house.

    The couple claimed that the doctor had given them the money in return for them taking care of him and as part of an effort to protect his fortune from his family, from whom he was estranged. The family said those claims were untrue and that the pair had kept Sawusch isolated from his friends and family.  

    Eventually, the couple returned around $2 million of the doctor’s money, but around $1 million remained unaccounted for, according to federal prosecutors.  

    Flores and Moore broke up during the pandemic after nearly a decade together. Moore moved to Mexico while Flores remained in Fresno, where he was arrested in late January. Moore was arrested at George Bush Intercontinental Airport in Houston upon her return to the U.S. around the same time. Both have been held without bail since.  

    Read the series:

    Part 1: Death and deceit in Malibu: How yogi couple befriended and stole millions from vulnerable rich doctor

    Part 2: Rich Malibu doctor’s final days defined by fight between family and suspect yogis over declining mental health

    Part 3: A star-crossed trade: Yogis offered friendship to a rich Malibu doctor in exchange for a third of his $60 million fortune

    Part 4: Money, mania and LSD: A Malibu doctor’s tragic final weeks under yoga gurus’ sway

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  • ‘This is a game changer’: Ahead of Amazon Prime Day, a new law makes it harder for online sellers to hawk fake or stolen products

    ‘This is a game changer’: Ahead of Amazon Prime Day, a new law makes it harder for online sellers to hawk fake or stolen products

    Shopping online has just gotten safer.

    The INFORM Consumers Act, which went into effect Tuesday, aims to limit the sales of stolen and counterfeit products on e-commerce platforms. 

    The measure, which requires e-commerce sites to verify and disclose information about their high-volume third-party sellers, was passed into law following a lobbying campaign to address counterfeit products after being left out of the bipartisan Chips and Science Act last year.

    All online marketplaces, including eBay, Etsy, Poshmark and Amazon’s third-party sales platform, will now be required to collect information from high-volume sellers, defined as those selling 200 items or more totaling at least $5,000 over the previous 12 months. These third-party sellers must submit information such as a government-issued ID, a bank-account number, a working email address and phone number, and a taxpayer identification number. 

    Customers will also be able to find the verified contact information for bigger third-party sellers — those with sales of over $20,000 a year — and to get in touch with them outside of the e-commerce platform. In the past, consumers often had to engage within the platform operator in order to communicate with a seller. 

    Those bigger sellers will also have their full names and physical addresses listed on their product pages in addition to their contact information, according to the Federal Trade Commission’s business guide. 

    “This is a game changer,” said Teresa Murray, director of the consumer watchdog office at U.S. PIRG, a nonprofit that lobbies on behalf of the public interest. “For bad guys, stealing items has generally been the difficult part. Selling things online once you’ve stolen them is easy. We hope that with the INFORM Act, it’s not nearly as easy in the future.”

    “‘The only people opposing this may be thieves.’”


    — Teresa Murray, U.S. PIRG

    The act goes into effect just weeks before Amazon Prime Day, when the world’s biggest e-commerce site rolls out discounts for Prime members. This year, Prime Day will be held over two days, on July 11 and 12.

    Picks: Amazon Prime Day is July 11-12. You’ll need the $139-a-year Prime membership to access the deals, but is it actually worth it?

    Also see: Amazon sued by FTC, which alleges people were ‘tricked and trapped’ into Prime subscriptions

    Several e-commerce platforms, including Amazon and eBay, supported the INFORM Consumers Act. TechNet, a national network of technology CEOs and senior executives representing what it calls the innovation economy, wrote to leaders in Congress last December, saying the law would improve consumer safety and increase transparency. 

    In a statement provided to MarketWatch, eBay
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    said it “fully supports transparency and is committed to a safe selling and buying experience for our customers. We were proud to support” the law “to protect consumers from bad actors who seek to misuse online marketplaces, while also ensuring important protections for sellers. We are fully prepared to comply with the new law.”

    Etsy
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    said it “has long been supportive of the INFORM Act passing into law, as a balanced and thoughtful approach to make the ecommerce landscape safer for both consumers and sellers.” In a statement provided to MarketWatch, the company said, “We are taking appropriate steps to comply with the INFORM Act requirements.”

    Amazon
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    and Poshmark, owned by South Korea–based Naver Corp.
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    did not immediately respond to MarketWatch requests for comment.

    Some analysts, however, said the new law lacks stronger protections that were included the SHOP SAFE Act, an earlier bill that did not get passed by Congress. The INFORM Act, they noted, does not hold online platforms liable when a third party sells harmful counterfeit products or when the platform has not followed certain best practices. 

    “Notably, the legislation is supported by Amazon and other marketplaces as it’s seen as a watered-down bill that would head off more stringent legislation like the SHOP SAFE Act,” Ben Koltun, director of research at Beacon Policy Advisors, wrote in a note last year.

    So how can consumers spot counterfeit or stolen items? A guide from PIRG has tips, such as keeping an eye out for products with suspiciously low prices or featuring misspellings or mislabeling or low-quality, photoshopped photos in their listings.

    PIRG also cautions consumers about purchasing medications online. Always check the legitimacy of online pharmacies, it says. 

    “Many online marketplaces haven’t been doing enough to protect consumers from sellers who appear to be peddling stolen or counterfeit goods,” Murray said. “The only people opposing this [new law] may be thieves.”

    Victor Reklaitis contributed.

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  • Supposed $477 million FTX ‘hack’ was actually a Bahamian government asset seizure

    Supposed $477 million FTX ‘hack’ was actually a Bahamian government asset seizure

    Remember that hack of nearly half a  billion dollars in cryptocurrency from bankrupt FTX last weekend? Turns out it was actually a government asset seizure.

    The Securities Commission of the Bahamas has now acknowledged that it was behind the removal of $477 million in crypto assets from the bankrupt exchange on Nov. 12.

    “The Securities Commission of the Bahamas, in the exercise of its powers as regulator acting under the authority of an order made by the Supreme Court of the Bahamas, took the action of directing the transfer of all the digital assets of FTX Digital Markets Ltd. to a digital wallet controlled by the commission, for safekeeping,” the agency said in a statement.

    The transfer occurred the day after FTX had filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in Delaware and immediately sparked concerns of a major hack. The company announced that day that “unauthorized access to certain assets has occurred” and that they were coordinating with law enforcement on the matter.”

    On Thursday, the U.S.-based bankruptcy administrators led by John Ray, III, who have taken control of FTX, said in court filings that they had “credible evidence” that officials in the Bahamas had directed FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried to access FTX’s systems after the Chapter 11 filing, “for the purpose of obtaining digital assets of the debtors.”

    The seizure of assets came amid an emerging fight for control over the direction of the bankruptcy proceeding, with officials in the Bahamas filing a separate Chapter 15 bankruptcy petition in federal court in New York on Nov. 15.

    That filing was on behalf of FTX Digital Markets Ltd., a subsidiary that managed significant aspects of the company’s operations from its headquarters in the Caribbean island nation. 

    A Chapter 15 filing is used typically in cases involving companies with debtors in multiple countries.

    In its statement, the Bahamian Securities Commission said it believed FTX Digital Markets was not part of the Delaware bankruptcy proceeding.

    The administrators of the Delaware bankruptcy have asked the judge in their case to combine the cases, saying that it was duplicative and confusing to keep them separate. The judge scheduled a hearing on the matter for Monday.

    The administrators of the Delaware case have accused Bankman-Fried of attempting to undermine their efforts to sort out the mess he left behind by pushing the second bankruptcy case brought by Bahamian officials. 

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