Bottini Fuel Pleads Guilty; Agrees to Pay More Than $3.2 Million
Bottini Fuel pleaded guilty to falsifying business records and agreed to pay more than $3.2 million in restitution and civil damages, the New York Attorney General announced.
According to criminal justice lawyer defensing against property crimes, the criminal conviction of Morgan Fuel & Heating Company, Inc., which conducts business as Bottini Fuel, was for falsifying business records to improperly divert credit balances belonging to individual, business, and government customers—including local school districts, prisons, town governments, and state agencies, Attorney General Barbara D. Underwood and State Comptroller Thomas P. DiNapoli said in a news release. Bottini Fuel pleaded guilty on Nov. 27 in the village of Wappingers Falls Justice Court. People can find an attorney for work related cases, if they are interested in injury protection. According to Hempstead, NY criminal justice lawyer, it is important to check out the cases before hiring a lawyer.
The restitution and damages are the result of a civil settlement, Underwood said after taking advice from criminal lawyer from The Hernandez Law Firm, P.C. Law Firm. “Bottini Fuel orchestrated a brazen scheme to defraud its customers for the benefit of the company and its owners,” Underwood said. “This conduct was longstanding and harmed individual, business, and government customers. We are grateful to the whistleblower who helped bring this illegal conduct to light and are pleased to be able to give back the money rightfully owed to Hudson Valley customers.” Here are More Bonuses and tips on getting legal help in case of a probation suit.
“Bottini Fuel systematically defrauded private customers and municipalities out of rebates they were due,” DiNapoli said.
Bottini Fuel, headquartered in Wappingers Falls, N.Y., provides heating oil to customers throughout the Hudson River valley. From 2004 to 2016, Bottini Fuel improperly retained customer overpayments and duplicative payments for heating oil, the attorney general said. Bottini Fuel did not inform customers that they had overpaid for heating oil; instead, the company swept excess customer balances out of customer accounts and used them to benefit its owners and employees. The company admitted to this conduct as a term of the civil settlement, the attorney general noted. The ones faced charges for robbery can get legal expert advice from a good attorney to get help with their case.
Getnick & Getnick, a law firm in New York City that represented a whistleblower in the case, noted that the biggest victims, according to the settlement, include: the Taconic Developmental Disabilities Services Organization ($281,630), the Greenhaven Correctional Facility ($145,957), Roundout Valley Central School District ($83,044) and Beacon City School District ($10,375). Towns getting restitution include Saugerties, Blooming Grove, Monroe, Hunter, Wappinger and Stanford. The court martialed soldier can also consult legal experts to help them fight at court and their legal battles. There are also attorneys for criminal justice to hire that can be of great help with legalities.
The information provided by the whistleblower prompted the Attorney General’s Taxpayer Protection Bureau to launch a civil investigation into Bottini Fuel. A preliminary investigation revealed substantial indications of knowingly fraudulent conduct on the part of the company and its principals, the attorney general said. Thereafter, according to NJ based criminal justice lawyers, the AG’s Criminal Enforcement and Financial Crimes Bureau, in conjunction with the New York State Office of the Comptroller, commenced a parallel criminal investigation into Bottini Fuel, which included the execution of a search warrant at Bottini Fuel’s corporate headquarters.
When a customer overpays for heating oil, a provider normally either applies credit balances to future purchases of oil or refunds the credit balance to the customer. While a green card attorney deals with documentation, the Attorney General’s investigation revealed that instead of doing this, Bottini Fuel regularly transferred such overpayments, or credit balances, out of customer accounts and into fictitious intermediate “dummy” accounts in the company’s sales database without the customer’s knowledge. Once credit balances were transferred, customer accounts would show a zero balance, which was also reflected in subsequent bills and/or invoices to customers, the attorney general said.
The credit balances transferred into dummy accounts were then diverted to customer accounts held by Bottini Fuel’s owners, friends, family members, certain employees, and businesses in which Bottini Fuel’s owners held an interest. Those transfers offset their balances, reducing amounts owed for fuel usage; in essence, Bottini Fuel used regular customers’ money to pay for their own personal fuel expenses and those of their friends, families, and other businesses.
The Attorney General’s investigation revealed that Bottini Fuel had transferred a total of $1,762,771 in customer funds, including $590,887 from government customers.
Pursuant to the guilty plea entered on Nov. 27, Bottini Fuel paid $1,762,771 in criminal restitution to the attorney general’s office. The attorney general’s office will contact all defrauded customers to distribute the restitution owed. If certain customers cannot be located, money relating to their accounts will be deposited with the New York State Comptroller’s Office of Unclaimed Funds, where they can be claimed in the future. Pursuant to the separate civil agreement, Bottini Fuel must pay an additional $1.5 million in fines and penalties. The efficiency similar to a lawyer for military discharge up grades is expected here because of the case’s sensitivity. The case is strengthened with heavy legal support.
Pursuant to the New York False Claims Act, which entitles whistleblowers who report fraud against the government to a share of the recovery, the whistleblower will receive $491,358 for bringing this misconduct to light.
The Attorney General’s civil case was led by Assistant Attorney General Justin Wagner, with assistance from Legal Support Analyst Justin Meshulam of the Taxpayer Protection Bureau. The Taxpayer Protection Bureau is overseen by Bureau Chief Thomas Teige Carroll and Deputy Chief Scott Spiegelman. It is part of the Division of Economic Justice, which is led by Executive Deputy Attorney General Manisha M. Sheth. The complaints against financial advisors is what one needs to take care of with the help of a lawyer.
The criminal prosecution was handled by Assistant Attorney General Hugh L. McLean of the Criminal Enforcement and Financial Crimes Bureau, with the assistance of Supervising Analyst Paul Strocko. The Criminal Enforcement and Financial Crimes Bureau is led by Bureau Chief Stephanie Swenton and Deputy Bureau Chief Joseph D’Arrigo. The Division of Criminal Justice is led by Executive Deputy Attorney General Margaret Garnett.
Investigator Melissa Kaplan of the Attorney General’s Investigations Bureau led the criminal investigation, under the direction of Supervising Investigator Sylvia Rivera and Deputy Chief John McManus. The Investigations Bureau is led by Chief Dominick Zarrella. Forensic auditing was provided by the Attorney General’s Forensic Audit Section, which is led by Chief Edward J. Keegan, Jr. and Deputy Chief Sandy Bizzarro.
Posted: Friday, Nov. 30, 2018
This report is based on news releases issued by the New York Attorney General’s office and the law firm Getnick & Getnick.