Teh One Who Knocks
12-19-2013, 12:10 PM
By John Marzulli / NEW YORK DAILY NEWS
http://i.imgur.com/36Le0Ba.png
He’s guilty, Jim.
An accused fraudster is expected to plead guilty to charges of fleecing an investor with a health care device that purported to function like Dr. Leonard McCoy’s tricorder on “Star Trek,” the Daily News has learned.
Howard Leventhal has agreed to waive his indictment on charges that he defrauded a Florida financial group out of $800,000 in the science-fictional scheme, according to papers filed in Brooklyn Federal Court. Leventhal was also charged with impersonating Canadian government officials.
http://i.imgur.com/JOwpmD2.png
Prosecutors wrapped up the case at warp speed after Leventhal was busted in his home state of Illinois in October.
Leventhal, 56, claimed the electronic tablet device could “instantly and effectively” deliver patient data to doctors and health care providers, according to the criminal complaint.
http://i.imgur.com/pMF09My.png
He also represented that it was “designed as a platform to maximize the patient benefits through broadband-augmented in-home telemedicine,” whatever that means.
He even called the device the McCoy Home Health Tablet, after the “Star Trek” character played by DeForest Kelley.
“He’s dead, Jim,” the fictional Dr. McCoy would often grimly inform Starship Enterprise Captain James Kirk after scanning a patient with a fictional gadget called a tricorder. In the show, the tricorder stored records and could make an instantaneous diagnosis.
Federal agents observed Leventhal carrying a tablet computer but do not believe a functioning device ever existed.
http://i.imgur.com/9Bpzo8m.png
Leventhal is scheduled to sign a plea agreement Monday before U.S. District Judge Brian Cogan admitting that he committed mail fraud, which carries a jail term of at least two years. He is free on $200,000 bail.
If he had gone to trial and been convicted, Leventhal could have been sentenced to up to 20 years in prison.
Brooklyn U.S. Attorney Loretta Lynch may have revealed her inner Trekkie at the time of the arrest, zapping Leventhal for creating an “alternate reality” by fabricating documents showing Canada’s Department of Health had a $10 million contract with another enterprise operated by the defendant.
http://i.imgur.com/91pUhSB.png
Authorities said after Leventhal ripped off Paragon Financial Group Inc. of Fort Lauderdale, he was pursuing a new investor who turned out to be an undercover federal agent.
Leventhal, who filed for bankruptcy in 2010 listing more than $1 million in debts, could not be reached for comment.
The defendant’s lawyer Steven Yurowitz and the Brooklyn U.S. Attorney’s Office declined to comment.
http://i.imgur.com/36Le0Ba.png
He’s guilty, Jim.
An accused fraudster is expected to plead guilty to charges of fleecing an investor with a health care device that purported to function like Dr. Leonard McCoy’s tricorder on “Star Trek,” the Daily News has learned.
Howard Leventhal has agreed to waive his indictment on charges that he defrauded a Florida financial group out of $800,000 in the science-fictional scheme, according to papers filed in Brooklyn Federal Court. Leventhal was also charged with impersonating Canadian government officials.
http://i.imgur.com/JOwpmD2.png
Prosecutors wrapped up the case at warp speed after Leventhal was busted in his home state of Illinois in October.
Leventhal, 56, claimed the electronic tablet device could “instantly and effectively” deliver patient data to doctors and health care providers, according to the criminal complaint.
http://i.imgur.com/pMF09My.png
He also represented that it was “designed as a platform to maximize the patient benefits through broadband-augmented in-home telemedicine,” whatever that means.
He even called the device the McCoy Home Health Tablet, after the “Star Trek” character played by DeForest Kelley.
“He’s dead, Jim,” the fictional Dr. McCoy would often grimly inform Starship Enterprise Captain James Kirk after scanning a patient with a fictional gadget called a tricorder. In the show, the tricorder stored records and could make an instantaneous diagnosis.
Federal agents observed Leventhal carrying a tablet computer but do not believe a functioning device ever existed.
http://i.imgur.com/9Bpzo8m.png
Leventhal is scheduled to sign a plea agreement Monday before U.S. District Judge Brian Cogan admitting that he committed mail fraud, which carries a jail term of at least two years. He is free on $200,000 bail.
If he had gone to trial and been convicted, Leventhal could have been sentenced to up to 20 years in prison.
Brooklyn U.S. Attorney Loretta Lynch may have revealed her inner Trekkie at the time of the arrest, zapping Leventhal for creating an “alternate reality” by fabricating documents showing Canada’s Department of Health had a $10 million contract with another enterprise operated by the defendant.
http://i.imgur.com/91pUhSB.png
Authorities said after Leventhal ripped off Paragon Financial Group Inc. of Fort Lauderdale, he was pursuing a new investor who turned out to be an undercover federal agent.
Leventhal, who filed for bankruptcy in 2010 listing more than $1 million in debts, could not be reached for comment.
The defendant’s lawyer Steven Yurowitz and the Brooklyn U.S. Attorney’s Office declined to comment.