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10/20/03
On October
10, an individual in California joined his co-conspirators
and pled guilty to a costly and classic "bust out"
scheme... that even victimized his own family.
Back
in 1998, Valery Vasserman acquired a general merchandise company
from his daughter in law, giving her a promissory note for
it. The company remained dormant for about a year and a half,
then Vasserman named himself president and began to seek massive
amounts of credit in its name from credit card companies,
banks, and high-end retail stores, falsifying much of the
information on the applications. Because the company had had
a good credit rating,
he got what he asked for.
And
then some. Rolex and Tag Heuer watches. Stereo equipment.
Diamonds. Designer clothing. Loans. You name it. To the tune
of $4.5 million.
What
happened when the bills caught up with him? "Bust out"!
He immediately declared bankruptcy for himself and the company
to avoid paying the outstanding debts.
Following
an investigation of the FBI Los Angeles field office, the
Los Angeles Police Department, and the Los Angeles Sheriff's
Department, Vasserman pled guilty to 10 felony counts, including
conspiracy, mail fraud, and wire fraud. His plea joined the
guilty pleas of his wife and two other co-conspirators in
that and several other "bust out" schemes... that,
together, totted to an $11 million loss.
Who
did Vasserman victimize? Some 200 individual and business
victims in the U.S. and Canada -- from small businesses, to
large department stores, to national banks. Not to mention
Vasserman's daughter in law, innocent of the scheme, who never
got a penny on the promissory note.
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