New York
Harvard Business School graduate arrested on charges he cheated fellow alums out of over $4 million
NEW YORK (AP) — A Harvard Business School graduate was arrested Thursday on fraud charges alleging he swindled fellow alumni of the prestigious school out of over $4 million in a Ponzi scheme, even assuring one investor they would soon “brag” about their “crazy gains” at the school’s reunion.
Vladimir Artamonov, 46, was taken into custody in Elkridge, Maryland, where he lived, and was charged with securities, wire and investment adviser fraud for allegedly carrying out the scheme from September 2021 through February 2024.
An indictment unsealed in Manhattan federal court said Artamonov promised big returns and little risk to dupe former classmates and other alumni into investing with him, telling one investor: “It will be your best investment. The insight is air tight.”
Messages for comment left with Harvard and a lawyer for Artamonov were not immediately returned. Artamonov, appearing before a magistrate judge in federal court in Maryland, was released on $300,000 bail with instructions to have no contact with victims or potential trial witnesses.
The allegations against Artamonov were first revealed in late February 2024 by New York Attorney General Letitia James, who said in a news release then that her office learned about the fraud after one of several dozen investors ended his own life after learning he had lost $100,000.
“Even sophisticated investors can be conned by fraudsters, especially when personal relationships and networks are used to build a false sense of trust,” James said.
She said Artamonov “used his alumnus status from Harvard Business School to prey on his classmates and others while seeming legitimate and dependable.”
Artamonov, a 2003 Harvard graduate with a master’s in business administration, used the school’s alumni network to identify investors, authorities said.
The indictment said he promised investors that he could identify securities on the verge of making large gains by spotting public insurance company filings by affiliates of Berkshire Hathaway Inc. prior to public filings made to the Securities and Exchange Commission that are more closely followed by investors.
Instead of following that plan, Artamonov put investor money into risky short-term options, losing millions of dollars, often within days of receiving the money from investors, the indictment said.
It said he repeatedly assured investors that big profits were on the horizon and even promised one investor that it was “almost certain we will make a ton of money” soon and that they would “brag” about their “crazy gains” at the Harvard Business School reunion.
Investors eventually demanded their money back, causing Artamonov to return less than $400,000 by paying original investors with money from new investors or by declining to reimburse them at all, the indictment said.
It said Artamonov lost most of the money or spent tens of thousands of dollars on items such as lodging, food and alcohol, and transportation.
Christopher G. Raia, head of New York’s FBI office, said in a news release that Artamonov “exploited the prestige of a well-respected university and investment company to unlawfully procure investments, which he used to pay for personal expenses.”
U.S. Attorney Jay Clayton said Artamonov “betrayed investors, including friends and former Ivy League classmates.”
New Jersey
Gary Busey gets probation for sexual offense at 2022 horror convention
CHERRY HILL, N.J. (AP) — Actor Gary Busey has been sentenced to two years probation for a sexual offense stemming from an appearance at a 2022 horror convention in New Jersey, according to court records.
The sentence was handed down Thursday during a virtual hearing in state court in Camden. Busey did not speak during the hearing.
The 81-year-old “Buddy Holly” star had pleaded guilty in July to a single count of criminal sexual contact for touching a woman’s buttocks “over clothing during an 8-10 second photo op.” The actor had been accused of inappropriately touching at least three women at the Monster-Mania Convention at the Doubletree Hotel in Cherry Hill, a South Jersey town and suburb of Philadelphia.
Organizers of the event acknowledged at the time that an unnamed celebrity guest was “removed from the convention and instructed not to return” and that affected attendees were encouraged to contact police.
Busey had been scheduled as a featured guest for all three days of the event. He was initially charged with two counts of fourth-degree criminal sexual contact, one count of attempted criminal sexual contact and one count of harassment.
Busey is widely known as a character actor, largely in supporting roles, though he came to attention and was nominated for an Oscar for best actor for playing the title role in the 1978 film “The Buddy Holly Story.”
New York
Assault charges dismissed against NYC man who said he was beaten by Egyptian officials
NEW YORK (AP) — Prosecutors have dropped assault charges against a protester who said he was dragged off a Manhattan street by Egyptian government officials, beaten and whipped with a metal chain and then wrongly arrested by New York City police.
Yasin El Sammak, 22, and his 15-year-old brother had faced assault and strangulation charges following the altercation, which unfolded last month during a small pro-Palestinian protest outside an Egyptian diplomatic building.
Those charges against El Sammak were dismissed Wednesday by prosecutors in the Manhattan district attorney’s office, who said the evidence did not support the police department’s contention that he was the aggressor in the incident. His younger brother’s charges were previously sealed in family court.
“I’m relieved the truth came out and my charges have been dropped,” El Sammak told The Associated Press. “At the same, I’m deeply disappointed in the betrayal of the NYPD and how long it took for something that was so clear to everyone — my innocence — to be made official.”
Video recordings taken by El Sammak and another activist at the scene appeared to support the brothers’ account that they were the victims, rather than the perpetrators, of the attack.
Footage showed Egyptian government officials angrily confronting the pair on a sidewalk, then hauling them behind the glass doors of the building. Once inside, the officials could be seen pummeling the brothers and repeatedly striking them with a metal chain.
El Sammak said they also used his keffiyeh — a Palestinian head scarf — to choke him “to the point that I was being suffocated,” leaving him with deep bruises around his neck.
Police arrived quickly to break up the confrontation. But as the brothers tried to explain what happened, the NYPD officers “ignored us,” El Sammak said, instead heeding the Egyptian officials’ request to have them arrested.
The NYPD later said it was El Sammak who used the chain on one of the officials, leaving him with “swelling and substantial pain to his hands.” El Sammak has vehemently denied that allegation.
The department also initially declined to accept a police report from El Sammak’s lawyer, arguing the charges were outside of their jurisdiction. They later accepted the report, but have not made any additional arrests.
An emailed inquiry to the Permanent Mission of Egypt to the United Nations, where the episode occurred, was not returned.
Under international law, diplomatic officials receive immunity from certain criminal prosecutions. A spokesperson for the police department did not say whether those protections factored into the decision not to charge the Egyptian officials.
The dismissal of charges comes just days ahead of the start of the United Nations General Assembly in New York.
It follows a wave of protests at Egyptian diplomatic buildings in Europe and elsewhere to demand the country allow humanitarian aid through the border crossing with the southern Gaza city of Rafah. Egyptian officials have denied blocking aid and sharply condemned the demonstrations.
Florida
Judge clears officer in shooting of UPS driver taken hostage citing ‘stand your ground’
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (AP) — A South Florida judge on Thursday cleared a police officer of wrongdoing in the shooting death of a UPS driver who had been taken hostage during a 2019 robbery.
Broward Circuit Judge Ernest Kollra ruled that Jose Mateo, who had been charged with manslaughter in the death of UPS driver Frank Ordonez, could not be prosecuted because Florida’s so-called “stand your ground” law justified the shooting, the South Florida SunSentinel reported.
The Broward State Attorney’s Office said they will appeal the ruling.
“It is our belief that Stand Your Ground immunity does not apply in matters involving innocent bystanders, like Frank Ordonez and Richard Cutshaw, who presented no danger to officers. In this incident, two innocent men were killed and the lives of numerous other innocent bystanders were endangered,” the state attorney’s statement said.
Cutshaw was also killed in a barrage of gunfire that afternoon.
Ordonez, 27, had been delivering packages in Miami-Dade County on Dec. 5, 2019, when police said two would-be jewelry store robbers abducted him and forced him to drive from the scene. A rush-hour police chase ended at a busy intersection in neighboring Broward County.
Prosecutors said Mateo fired the shots that killed Ordonez. The two robbers and a passerby were also killed in a hail of gunfire at an intersection in Miramar, Florida.
Body-worn camera footage that was played in court showed Mateo’s pursuit of the UPS truck that afternoon. His partner could be seen in the passenger seat with a long gun drawn, Miami television station WPLG reported.
The video also showed when Mateo approached the UPS truck. He emptied the magazine of his firearm, reloaded and then pulled Ordonez from the vehicle, WPLG reported.
The judge ruled the officer had reason to believe deadly force was necessary to end the confrontation, the SunSentinel reported.
Mateo is currently suspended from the his job. The cases against the three other officers charged with manslaughter will continue moving forward, the state attorney’s office said.
The Broward State Attorney’s Office is reviewing the judge’s ruling.
Harvard Business School graduate arrested on charges he cheated fellow alums out of over $4 million
NEW YORK (AP) — A Harvard Business School graduate was arrested Thursday on fraud charges alleging he swindled fellow alumni of the prestigious school out of over $4 million in a Ponzi scheme, even assuring one investor they would soon “brag” about their “crazy gains” at the school’s reunion.
Vladimir Artamonov, 46, was taken into custody in Elkridge, Maryland, where he lived, and was charged with securities, wire and investment adviser fraud for allegedly carrying out the scheme from September 2021 through February 2024.
An indictment unsealed in Manhattan federal court said Artamonov promised big returns and little risk to dupe former classmates and other alumni into investing with him, telling one investor: “It will be your best investment. The insight is air tight.”
Messages for comment left with Harvard and a lawyer for Artamonov were not immediately returned. Artamonov, appearing before a magistrate judge in federal court in Maryland, was released on $300,000 bail with instructions to have no contact with victims or potential trial witnesses.
The allegations against Artamonov were first revealed in late February 2024 by New York Attorney General Letitia James, who said in a news release then that her office learned about the fraud after one of several dozen investors ended his own life after learning he had lost $100,000.
“Even sophisticated investors can be conned by fraudsters, especially when personal relationships and networks are used to build a false sense of trust,” James said.
She said Artamonov “used his alumnus status from Harvard Business School to prey on his classmates and others while seeming legitimate and dependable.”
Artamonov, a 2003 Harvard graduate with a master’s in business administration, used the school’s alumni network to identify investors, authorities said.
The indictment said he promised investors that he could identify securities on the verge of making large gains by spotting public insurance company filings by affiliates of Berkshire Hathaway Inc. prior to public filings made to the Securities and Exchange Commission that are more closely followed by investors.
Instead of following that plan, Artamonov put investor money into risky short-term options, losing millions of dollars, often within days of receiving the money from investors, the indictment said.
It said he repeatedly assured investors that big profits were on the horizon and even promised one investor that it was “almost certain we will make a ton of money” soon and that they would “brag” about their “crazy gains” at the Harvard Business School reunion.
Investors eventually demanded their money back, causing Artamonov to return less than $400,000 by paying original investors with money from new investors or by declining to reimburse them at all, the indictment said.
It said Artamonov lost most of the money or spent tens of thousands of dollars on items such as lodging, food and alcohol, and transportation.
Christopher G. Raia, head of New York’s FBI office, said in a news release that Artamonov “exploited the prestige of a well-respected university and investment company to unlawfully procure investments, which he used to pay for personal expenses.”
U.S. Attorney Jay Clayton said Artamonov “betrayed investors, including friends and former Ivy League classmates.”
New Jersey
Gary Busey gets probation for sexual offense at 2022 horror convention
CHERRY HILL, N.J. (AP) — Actor Gary Busey has been sentenced to two years probation for a sexual offense stemming from an appearance at a 2022 horror convention in New Jersey, according to court records.
The sentence was handed down Thursday during a virtual hearing in state court in Camden. Busey did not speak during the hearing.
The 81-year-old “Buddy Holly” star had pleaded guilty in July to a single count of criminal sexual contact for touching a woman’s buttocks “over clothing during an 8-10 second photo op.” The actor had been accused of inappropriately touching at least three women at the Monster-Mania Convention at the Doubletree Hotel in Cherry Hill, a South Jersey town and suburb of Philadelphia.
Organizers of the event acknowledged at the time that an unnamed celebrity guest was “removed from the convention and instructed not to return” and that affected attendees were encouraged to contact police.
Busey had been scheduled as a featured guest for all three days of the event. He was initially charged with two counts of fourth-degree criminal sexual contact, one count of attempted criminal sexual contact and one count of harassment.
Busey is widely known as a character actor, largely in supporting roles, though he came to attention and was nominated for an Oscar for best actor for playing the title role in the 1978 film “The Buddy Holly Story.”
New York
Assault charges dismissed against NYC man who said he was beaten by Egyptian officials
NEW YORK (AP) — Prosecutors have dropped assault charges against a protester who said he was dragged off a Manhattan street by Egyptian government officials, beaten and whipped with a metal chain and then wrongly arrested by New York City police.
Yasin El Sammak, 22, and his 15-year-old brother had faced assault and strangulation charges following the altercation, which unfolded last month during a small pro-Palestinian protest outside an Egyptian diplomatic building.
Those charges against El Sammak were dismissed Wednesday by prosecutors in the Manhattan district attorney’s office, who said the evidence did not support the police department’s contention that he was the aggressor in the incident. His younger brother’s charges were previously sealed in family court.
“I’m relieved the truth came out and my charges have been dropped,” El Sammak told The Associated Press. “At the same, I’m deeply disappointed in the betrayal of the NYPD and how long it took for something that was so clear to everyone — my innocence — to be made official.”
Video recordings taken by El Sammak and another activist at the scene appeared to support the brothers’ account that they were the victims, rather than the perpetrators, of the attack.
Footage showed Egyptian government officials angrily confronting the pair on a sidewalk, then hauling them behind the glass doors of the building. Once inside, the officials could be seen pummeling the brothers and repeatedly striking them with a metal chain.
El Sammak said they also used his keffiyeh — a Palestinian head scarf — to choke him “to the point that I was being suffocated,” leaving him with deep bruises around his neck.
Police arrived quickly to break up the confrontation. But as the brothers tried to explain what happened, the NYPD officers “ignored us,” El Sammak said, instead heeding the Egyptian officials’ request to have them arrested.
The NYPD later said it was El Sammak who used the chain on one of the officials, leaving him with “swelling and substantial pain to his hands.” El Sammak has vehemently denied that allegation.
The department also initially declined to accept a police report from El Sammak’s lawyer, arguing the charges were outside of their jurisdiction. They later accepted the report, but have not made any additional arrests.
An emailed inquiry to the Permanent Mission of Egypt to the United Nations, where the episode occurred, was not returned.
Under international law, diplomatic officials receive immunity from certain criminal prosecutions. A spokesperson for the police department did not say whether those protections factored into the decision not to charge the Egyptian officials.
The dismissal of charges comes just days ahead of the start of the United Nations General Assembly in New York.
It follows a wave of protests at Egyptian diplomatic buildings in Europe and elsewhere to demand the country allow humanitarian aid through the border crossing with the southern Gaza city of Rafah. Egyptian officials have denied blocking aid and sharply condemned the demonstrations.
Florida
Judge clears officer in shooting of UPS driver taken hostage citing ‘stand your ground’
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (AP) — A South Florida judge on Thursday cleared a police officer of wrongdoing in the shooting death of a UPS driver who had been taken hostage during a 2019 robbery.
Broward Circuit Judge Ernest Kollra ruled that Jose Mateo, who had been charged with manslaughter in the death of UPS driver Frank Ordonez, could not be prosecuted because Florida’s so-called “stand your ground” law justified the shooting, the South Florida SunSentinel reported.
The Broward State Attorney’s Office said they will appeal the ruling.
“It is our belief that Stand Your Ground immunity does not apply in matters involving innocent bystanders, like Frank Ordonez and Richard Cutshaw, who presented no danger to officers. In this incident, two innocent men were killed and the lives of numerous other innocent bystanders were endangered,” the state attorney’s statement said.
Cutshaw was also killed in a barrage of gunfire that afternoon.
Ordonez, 27, had been delivering packages in Miami-Dade County on Dec. 5, 2019, when police said two would-be jewelry store robbers abducted him and forced him to drive from the scene. A rush-hour police chase ended at a busy intersection in neighboring Broward County.
Prosecutors said Mateo fired the shots that killed Ordonez. The two robbers and a passerby were also killed in a hail of gunfire at an intersection in Miramar, Florida.
Body-worn camera footage that was played in court showed Mateo’s pursuit of the UPS truck that afternoon. His partner could be seen in the passenger seat with a long gun drawn, Miami television station WPLG reported.
The video also showed when Mateo approached the UPS truck. He emptied the magazine of his firearm, reloaded and then pulled Ordonez from the vehicle, WPLG reported.
The judge ruled the officer had reason to believe deadly force was necessary to end the confrontation, the SunSentinel reported.
Mateo is currently suspended from the his job. The cases against the three other officers charged with manslaughter will continue moving forward, the state attorney’s office said.
The Broward State Attorney’s Office is reviewing the judge’s ruling.
