San Jose Criminal Defense Lawyer Blog

Vincent Cardinalli, owner and operator of a San Jose area towing company, is currently in police custody on dozens of charges of fraud in what the District Attorney is calling a "tow and sue scam," the Gilroy Dispatch reports. It is alleged that Cardinalli and members of his family would fraudlently tow away vehicles, store them and then eventually sell the cars. The family would then sue the owner for storage and lien sale fees in small claims court. The family is being charged with conspiracy, fraud, forgery among dozens of other felonies.

The fact that is raising eyebrows is a default judgment awarded to Cardinalli in the amount of $4.5 million while he sits in custody awaiting trial. About three years ago Cardinalli offered his services as an expert in small claims court, to a local store owner named Maria. One of Maria's customer provided a bounced check and Cardinalli offered to assist making a claim against that customer in court. Maria signed an agreement giving half of the settlement to Cardinalli. However, when Maria learned of Cardinalli's criminal dealings she reneged on the contract.

In response, and while in custody awaiting trial on his felony matters, Cardinalli filed suit against the store owner for breach of contract. When Maria failed to respond the court entered a default judgment in the staggering amount of $4.5 million! What have experts at a loss is how a court could allow such a default judgment in a law suit brought by an inmate, acting on his own behalf and against a witness in his own criminal matter? Maria testified at Cardinalli's preliminary examination in November and is prepared to testify at trial.

Another judge has since allowed Maria to petition the court and respond to Cardinalli's suit.

Cardinalli has now been declared a vexatious litigant and is also being charged with practicing law without a license.

Source: Gilroy Dispatch

U.S. District Court Jeremy Fogel sentenced former and now disgraced Fry's executive to six years in the Federal penitentiary. Omar Siddiqui was convicted of stealing $65 million from the Bay Area super-store, which he admitted using for his uncontrollable gambling addiction and casino kickbacks. Siddiqui was arrested by Federal agents back in 2008 after the IRS investigated what at first appeared to be abnormalities in Siddiqui's accounting.

At the sentencing hearing a representative of Fry's asked the court not to show leniency because Siddiqui caused financial harm to the company, which also sustained a loss of public trust. Judge Fogel refused to accept Siddiqui's addiction as an excuse when sentencing him to the already agreed to plea deal. Siddiqui had hoped for a term of three years.

The judge also ordered restitution be made to the company in the amount of $65 million, although Fry's claims that Siddiqui stole $87 million. Siddiqui filed for bankruptcy back in July, claiming a total debt of $137 million.

Federal authorities escorted the former executive from the San Jose courthouse and to Federal prison.

Source: San Jose Mercury News

Bay Area and San Jose Lucky stores have become the target of credit card identity theft, the Mercury reports. More than 300 patrons of the popular grocery store have reported unauthorized debits from their credit cards immediately after making purchases from Lucky. The chain store admits that on November 11, 2011 a store employee noticed some sort of tampering with the self-checkout scanning machines. This was followed by complaints of unauthorized activity on customers credit cards. In some cases hundred of dollars were taken from individual accounts.

Save Mart, the parent company of Lucky, announced that its Bay Area stores have been the target of virtual identity theft and that 23 stores have been found with at least one tampered self-checkout machine. It is being reported that the checkout machines contain a "sniffer" device, or on-board computer, that relays a customer's credit card information from the machine onto a new card well outside the store. The thief can then simple take his card with the victim's credit card information on it to an ATM machine and withdraw money.

Save Mart is urging its customers who use the self-checkout machine to check their bank records and if necessary close their accounts. It is not certain if the thefts have ceased or if more people will report being victimized by the scam.

Local Bay Area police say this may be the largest credit card scam in history. However, no suspects have been identified.

Source: San Jose Mercury News