Pump & Dump

The venue took the deposit. The vendors were never paid. The bride paid twice.

Jason Lottman pleaded guilty to wire fraud on July 6, 2026, after running a wedding venue that took full payment for weddings it never intended to deliver. The couples paid vendors twice. Some never walked down the aisle at all.

Latest
Ponzi / Pyramid

The self-checkout was the counter. The refund desk was the register.

Darwin Alberto Corea Calderon was sentenced this week for a three-year scheme that drained more than $464,000 from Home Depot stores across the Carolinas. The mechanism was smaller than a Ponzi and older than the self-checkout aisle.

Ponzi / Pyramid

The officer wrote the report. The report was the fraud.

Former Anne Arundel County officer Jaron Earl Taylor was sentenced July 10 for helping run a ring of police officers who staged car thefts and wrote the police reports that made the claims stick. The badge was the machine.

Ponzi / Pyramid

The contractor kept coming back after the house was sold

A Naples man was sentenced to four years for draining $1.26 million from an elderly Hurricane Ian victim through a contractor scheme that kept running after her husband died, after she sold the house, after she moved into assisted living.

Pump & Dump

The treasurer had the only key. He used it eighty-four times.

Dodge County Sheriff Dustin Weitzel spent four years quietly moving money out of the Fraternal Order of Police account he was supposed to guard. He almost paid it all back. Almost is the story.

The Daily Brief

He spun tale after tale for fifteen years. The wire transfers told a quieter one.

Ray Delgado · 6d ago

The CEO who chased his losses with a clinic's checkbook

Elena Ruiz · 6d ago

The voice on the phone was her grandson. The car at the curb was a stranger.

Elena Ruiz · 6d ago

The officer wrote the report. The report was the crime.

Elena Ruiz · 6d ago

The realtor on the phone was an inmate with a contraband cell

Elena Ruiz · 6d ago

The man she loved had gold in a vault. The vault was a phone in Ghana.

Mark Tell · 6d ago

The label said OEM. The part inside the crate did not.

Mark Tell · 6d ago

The package weighed four pounds. Inside was everything she had left.

Elena Ruiz · 6d ago

The Golden Bar Foundation promised risk-free. The Dodge Viper was the tell.

Elena Ruiz · 6d ago

The phone rang at 7:14 a.m. and the grandson's voice was wrong

Mark Tell · Jul 4

The inspector signed his own invoices and called it repair work.

Mark Tell · Jul 3

The Ferrari was leased with money meant for employees who never existed

Mark Tell · Jun 30

The bonus pool was a stock that did not exist. The sale was a ghost. The conspiracy was real.

Mark Tell · Jun 26

The check went to Brooklyn. The voice on the phone was in Jamaica. The money was already gone.

Ray Delgado · Jun 26
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