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The feds say Dr. Angelo Chirban and his ex-wife used money they scammed from the state health care program to buy an Arabian horse like the one pictured above.

​A federal grand jury returned an indictment this morning alleging that a Queen Creek pain management doctor billed the state health care program for patients he never actually saw. The scammed money, the feds say, was used to buy several pricey items, including an Arabian horse.

The indictment also alleges that the doctor's ex-wife used his name to write thousands of prescriptions for various narcotic pain medications.

According to the 130-count indictment, between 2008 and 2010, Marilyn Chirban, the ex-wife of Dr. Angelo Chirban, was working as an administrator in his office. With no medical training, Marilyn Chirban would write patients prescriptions for drugs like methadone, Oxycodone, Morphine, Hydrocodone, and other pain medications. She would sign the scripts with her then-husband's name.

Dr. Chirban, the indictment alleges, knew what his wife was doing, and even helped her do it by leaving prescription pads unsecured at their home and his office. 

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Pitchman Donald Lapre was found dead his prison cell yesterday morning.

​Alleged Phoenix scammer Donald Lapre, the owner of the company The Best Vitamin in the World, was found dead in his prison cell in Florence yesterday morning in what authorities say was an apparent suicide.

Lapre, who was indicted in June for fraud, was found unresponsive in his cell in a federal-contract facility in Florence about 8:30 a.m., according to U.S Marshals.

Prison staff tried to revive Lapre until Florence police and paramedics showed up, but he ultimately died.

It's unclear how Lapre killed himself -- supervisory deputy U.S. Marshal Matt Hershey tells New Times the death is still under investigation. However, he says, suicide is suspected.

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Wayne Pratt, a Chandler resident and former chief financial officer for failed Tempe TV maker Syntax-Brillian, was among the execs accused of fraud in a new complaint by the Securities and Exchange Commission.

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The executives who ran former Tempe-based TV maker Syntax-Brillian have been accused of defrauding investors in a complex scheme that used bogus sales figures to inflate stock prices.

James Li, Thomas Chow, Wayne Pratt habitually misled and lied to investors and regulators between 2006 and 2006, says a federal complaint filed yesterday by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

In 2007, Syntax-Brillian was considered a rising underdog, selling its Olevia brand high-def TV in a market dominated by much bigger companies. Its marketing partnership with ESPN brought major recognition, but two years later the company foundered amid rumors of possible fraud.

The scope of the deception is now being made clear by the SEC.

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Donald Lapre is back in custody.

​Alleged Phoenix scammer Donald Lapre, who skipped his court date on Wednesday, was apprehended last night in Tempe.

United States marshals busted Lapre in the area of Warner Road and Priest Drive in Tempe. 

Lapre, the owner of the company The Best Vitamin in the World, was indicted last week for allegedly swindling thousands of people out of more than $50 million by having them buy his essentially "worthless" franchises.

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Donald Lapre skipped court today.

​Alleged Phoenix scammer Donald Lapre, owner of the company The Best Vitamin in the World, was indicted last week for allegedly swindling thousands of people out of more than $50 million by having them buy his essentially "worthless" franchises.

His arraignment was scheduled for yesterday, but Lapre never showed up, according to court officials.

See New Times' story on Lapre here.

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ripoffreport.com

Donald Lapre may have scammed you out of some money.

Alleged Phoenix scammer Donald Lapre, owner of the company The Best Vitamin in the World, has been indicted for allegedly swindling thousands of people out of more than $50 million by having them buy his essentially "worthless" franchises.  

In a 41-count indictment returned last week, the U.S. Department of Justice alleges that Lapre's company sold useless, Internet-based businesses to more than 220,000 victims.

According to the feds, Lapre used nationally televised infomercials to rake in money from unsuspecting people looking to buy the product, join the company, or start a vitamin business of their own.

The charges against him include mail fraud, conspiracy, wire fraud, promotional money-laundering, and transactional money-laundering.

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www.warriorforumsucks.com

​If you're in the market to lease a rental home, a good rule of thumb is to make sure the person from whom your renting actually owns the house.

This bit of advice is compliments of the Phoenix Police Department, which is warning the public about a scam where people are renting out foreclosed homes they don't even own.

The scam's actually pretty ingenious -- for criminals, anyway.

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www.wn.com

It's for a good cause.

​If you're looking to help the victims of the wildfires currently raging in eastern Arizona, please send a personal check made out to the "Phoenix New Times editorial staff" to the New Times building at 1201 East Jefferson Street in Phoenix, 85034. Every little bit helps, and we'll definitely be sure to use the cash to throw an awesome party get the money to those in need.

Just don't tell Arizona Attorney General Tom Horne, who issued a warning this morning against people who are exploiting fire victims to scam cash from people who want to help out.

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http://www.flickr.com/photos/pagedooley/416922918/

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A time-honored tradition in Arizona is to use the state as a base for crimes committed elsewhere in the country.

That's just what John Wanek did: The Phoenix-based developer, owner of Ventana Companies, 3100 North Third Avenue, #201, falsified his financial status, took out tens of millions of dollars in loans, then bought apartment complexes in Ohio with the money. The properties ended up foreclosed, and nearly everyone associated with the deals apparently lost big-time cash.

Common Pleas Judge Julie M. Lynch sentenced Wanek to nine years in prison yesterday, but said even that "wasn't enough."

Even now, you're looking smug as a bug. It makes me sick, frankly," Lynch told Wanek during the sentencing hearing, according to the Columbus Dispatch.

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Wikimedia Commons

There's not a hitman in the bush, after all.

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Turns out that someone didn't pay a hitman to kill us -- after all.

This morning, we received an e-mail at work titled, "Do or Die, Urgent Reply" from one "Hitman Sapp." Sapp wrote that he'd been following us for some time, and that he'd been paid by someone we knew to "terminate" us.

But he said if we paid him $15,000, he'd spare our life and give us video evidence that we could use to prosecute his "employer." He warned not to contact the police, or he would come after our family.

Yikes, we thought, this Hitman Sapp's cold.

The full text of the e-mail's after the jump.

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