Texas: 24 years in prison for Dallas man over Ponzi scam
DALLAS (AP) — A judge has ordered 24 years in prison for a Dallas-area man who pleaded guilty over a $3 million Ponzi scheme.
Thomas Lester Irby II of Frisco last week pleaded guilty to money laundering, theft and securities fraud.
The 41-year-old ex-financier was sentenced Monday. Irby could have received life in prison.
Irby owned Plano-based Titan Wealth Management.
Texas: Ex-worker wins verdict against El Paso Electric
EL PASO, Texas (AP) — A jury has awarded $5.8 million to a white former employee of El Paso Electric in a discrimination lawsuit after a dispute with a supervisor who is Hispanic.
Company attorney Mary Kipp on Monday denied any discrimination and says El Paso Electric will appeal.
Jurors in El Paso on Friday ruled in favor of Mark Duncan.
The El Paso Times reports Duncan was a benefits supervisor until late 2007. Duncan alleged he was fired after his life was threatened during an altercation with a human resources manager, who’s Hispanic.
Duncan attorney John Wenke says the company feared the manager would file a discrimination lawsuit if dismissed, so the company fired both workers.
Kipp says the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission found no evidence of discrimination against either employee.
Alaska: BP pleads not guilty to probation violation
ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) — Oil giant BP is fighting charges that it violated probation for a 2006 oil spill on Alaska’s North Slope by allowing another large spill in the area in 2009.
The Anchorage Daily News says BP pleaded not guilty Monday to probation violations related to a criminal conviction for the 2006 North Slope oil spill. The company has been on probation since it pleaded guilty to violating the federal Clean Water Act for that spill.
Federal prosecutors say BP violated probation when it spilled about 13,000 gallons of oil onto the tundra at the Lisburne oil field three years later.
BP Alaska spokesman Steve Rinehart said the company has met all the terms of its 2007 plea agreement and does not need to remain on probation.
In the meantime, the company agreed to abide by the terms of its probation while the case proceeds in federal court. Probation had been set to expire Nov. 28.
If BP is found guilty of violating its probation, it could face five additional years of probation and a $12 million fine, assistant U.S. attorney Aunnie Steward told a federal magistrate judge in Anchorage.
In 2006, more than 200,000 gallons of oil leaked onto the tundra in what turned out to be the largest-ever oil spill on the North Slope. The spill was blamed on neglect and a corroded pipe.
BP’s 2007 plea agreement included three years of probation and $20 million in fines and restitution.
While smaller, the 2009 spill in the Lisburne field was also one of the North Slope’s largest spills. The company’s probation officer, Mary Frances Barnes, filed a petition to revoke probation in November. She said BP violated its probation when it failed to take action on warning signs that the Lisburne pipeline was compromised months before it leaked.
Rinehart said the 2009 spill should be viewed in the context of the significant improvements the company has undergone to make the Prudhoe Bay operation safer.
A decision on whether BP will remain on probation is up to U.S. District Judge Ralph Beistline. He has not yet scheduled a hearing.
Pennsylvania: Police: Flier wrongly accuses man in deaths
PHILADELPHIA (AP) — A Philadelphia man fearing vigilantes had to call police for help after someone posted his picture on fliers falsely naming him as the suspect in a string of strangling deaths.
Philadelphia police say someone distributed fliers bearing the man’s name, address and photo in the city’s Kensington neighborhood, where a series of killings and sex assaults have residents on edge.
The flier found its way to Facebook, where it was posted on a group called “Catch the Kensington Strangler, before he catches someone you love.”
Police say whoever distributed the fliers could face charges.
Missouri: Man sentenced in Ohio drifter’s death
COLUMBIA, Mo. (AP) — One of five members of a Missouri family charged in the death of an Ohio drifter found frozen in a refrigerated trailer has been sentenced to life in prison.
Chad Michael Harvey tearfully apologized Monday to relatives of 20-year-old James William Boyd McNeely before a judge imposed the sentence. The 20-year-old Harvey had pleaded guilty to second-degree murder, among other charges.
Harvey’s father, stepmother and two younger brothers also are charged with murder.
McNeely’s body was discovered last December in the refrigerated compartment of a tractor-trailer owned by Harvey’s father, C.J. Harvey.
C.J. Harvey has said he became embroiled in a drug scheme with McNeely after his family fell on hard times. But he says it was an alleged attack on his wife and sons that led to McNeely’s death.
Nebraska: Ex-adviser to athletes sentenced in $3M fraud case
OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — A former financial adviser to Michael Vick and several other NFL players has been sentenced to more than five years in prison for stealing more than $3 million from the players in a Ponzi scheme.
U.S. Attorney Deborah Gilg said Mary Wong of Omaha was sentenced Monday to 63 months in prison for securities fraud. Wong pleaded guilty in September.
Wong also was ordered to pay more than $3 million in restitution and serve 3 years supervised released.
Prosecutors say Wong worked out of her Omaha home and purported to sell investments in luxury properties in Arizona, Tennessee and Michigan along with private jets and other investments. Prosecutors say many investments never existed. Instead, they say, Wong used the money to support her other businesses and a lavish lifestyle.
