Cell phone cameras are everywhere.
No wonder policemen not wanting scrutiny oppose allowing people to use them while they are on duty.
Consider the following photo of a Fox River Grove village pickup truck a Friend of McHenry County Blog was following in Libertyville recently:
The plate, starting with an "M," "is a municipal one. The full plate is M149474. Click to enlarge.
Chicago Tribune article 2-5-11. Click to enlarge.
The Feds have gotten a suburban sex club operator the same way they got Al Capone.
On tax charges.
Here’s the press release.
OWNER OF SUBURBAN ADULT ENTERTAINMENT CLUBS SENTENCED TO 12 MONTHS IN JAIL AND SIX MONTHS HOME CONFINEMENT FOR FEDERAL TAX OFFENSES
CHICAGO — A Libertyville man who diverted more than $12 million in cash from three adult entertainment clubs he owned and operated in Chicago suburbs was sentenced to serve 18 months in confinement for obstructing the Internal Revenue Service and filing a false individual income tax return to impede the collection of federal taxes, Patrick J. Fitzgerald, United States Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois, and Alvin Patton, Special Agent in Charge of the Internal Revenue Service Criminal Investigation Division in Chicago, announced today.
The defendant, Michael G. Wellek, was charged in a two-count criminal information filed in U.S. District Court in October, 2010, and pled guilty last fall to one count of obstructing the IRS in the collection of taxes and one count of filing a false federal income tax return for 2000.
From the Harvey "gentlemen's" club web site.
Wellek was the owner and operator of three “gentleman’s” clubs:
In May 2003, IRS agents seized approximately $12 million in cash from a warehouse in Elk Grove Village where Wellek conducted business.
The cash was stored in bags marked with a date and location indicating from which adult club the cash was earned. Operating the businesses as sole proprietorships, Wellek was required to report their gross income and expenses on self-employment schedules attached to his federal income tax returns, and include their net income in calculating his annual individual gross income, taxable income and income tax.
According to the charges, from 1989 through 1999, Wellek did not file any personal income tax returns despite operating profitable businesses that generated substantial taxable income.
Between February 2000 and May 2003, Wellek endeavored to obstruct and impede the IRS in collecting taxes on his business income. Specifically, between February 2000 and October 2002, Wellek engaged in a pattern of false and misleading conduct, including making false representations about his assets and income, to obstruct and impede an IRS audit for the tax years 1989 through 1999.
Wellek was ordered to begin serving the sentence on June, 1, by District Judge Joan H. Lefkow. Under the terms of the sentence, Wellek will serve 12 months in the custody of the Bureau of Prisons, followed by 6 months home confinement in combination with one year of supervised release. Judge Lefkow also ordered Wellek to pay a fine of $75,000 and perform 200 hours of community service. Taxes owed to the United States Government have been paid.
Judge Lefkow noted the importance of deterring other people from committing tax offenses in imposing the sentence.
The government was represented by Assistant U.S. Attorney Patrick King.
= = = = =
The Tribune reports Wallek is cooperating with authorities.
Here are the details from the U.S. Attorney’s Office:
LIBERTYVILLE MAN SENTENCED TO FIVE YEARS IN PRISON FOR CHEATING
SOME 100 VICTIMS OF MORE THAN $9 MILLION IN “PONZI” SCHEME
CHICAGO — A Libertyville man was sentenced today to five years in federal prison for defrauding approximately 100 victims of more than $9 million in a “Ponzi-type” fraud scheme.
The defendant, Forrest David Laidley, owned and operated Forrest Properties, Inc., which engaged in real estate development in the northern suburbs.
Laidley obtained well in excess of $10 million from investors and financial institutions by offering and selling limited partnership interests in a commercial development and short-term, high-interest, guaranteed promissory notes to the public.
Laidley, 66, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Blanche Manning, who said she will also impose restitution in an amount to be determined at future court proceedings. Judge Manning ordered Laidley to begin serving his sentence on Jan. 14, 2011.
Laidley pleaded guilty in February to one count of bank fraud and one count of mail fraud affecting a financial institution after he was indicted in July 2009. The sentence was announced by Patrick J. Fitzgerald, United States Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois, and Robert D. Grant, Special Agent-in-Charge of the Chicago Office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation. The Lake County State’s Attorney’s Office also assisted in the investigation.
The court record showed that Laidley, through Forrest Properties, fraudulently obtained funds from investors and financial institutions by misrepresenting
Laidley commingled the fraudulently obtained funds and at times misappropriated them to make Ponzi-type payments to investors, to repay delinquent loans including bank loans, to benefit unrelated real estate development projects and to benefit himself.
The government presented evidence at sentencing that victims were defrauded of a total of approximately $9 million.
Of that amount, about $7 million was lost by investors in the promissory notes, while approximately 40 investors in a shopping center development were defrauded of about $2 million when Laidley sold their limited partnership assets without their knowledge.
The prosecution was conducted under the auspices of the Financial Fraud Enforcement Task Force, which includes representatives from a broad range of federal agencies, regulatory authorities, inspectors general, and state and local law enforcement who, working together, bring to bear a powerful array of criminal and civil enforcement resources. The task force is working to improve efforts across the federal executive branch, and with state and local partners, to investigate and prosecute significant financial crimes, ensure just and effective punishment for those who perpetrate financial crimes, combat discrimination in the lending and financial markets, and recover proceeds for victims of financial crimes. For more information on the task force, visit: www.StopFraud.gov.
The government is being represented by Assistant United States Attorneys Edward G. Kohler and Shoshana Gillers.
The headline of this TribLocal article about Libertyville’s sportsplex caught my eye.
Some might be interested in the story, including the relationship of its new $96,000 a year manager Connie Kowal to Village Clerk Sally Kowal.
The article points out the husband’s qualifications in promoting things sport.
Lakewood’s proposed McHenry County SportsPlex will not be financed with public money, although sewer connections will be the taxpayers’ responsibility.
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