Convicted “grandma-on-the-run” faces 75 years for $3 BILLION scam
May 29th, 2008 · 1 Comment
The Sonoran News called Becky Parrett’s Desert Mountain Art Gallery a touch of class to downtown Carefree, AZ. “People who love fine art will appreciate having pieces like this in a gallery,” said Parrett. ( Sonoran News, June 1, 2005)
Becky Parrett making headlines again, April, 2008.
Attorney Greg Peterson is concerned for the safety of his “missing” client, Rebecca “Becky” Parrett.
“My desire is to make sure that she’s safe,” Peterson said. He admits his client was “very disappointed” about her conviction for 9-counts of conspiracy, securities fraud, wire fraud and money laundering - which could send her to prison for 75 years - but said, “I believe that Becky understands her obligations to the court and she will fulfill those obligations.”
It doesn’t appear, though, that Becky is going to fulfill her obligations soon. She managed to pick up two months worth of prescription drugs before “disappearing“.
Becky’s son, Rob Parrett, says his mother told him she “wasn’t going to jail for something she didn’t do” and had said she would head for Costa Rica.
59 year-old Parrett is used to fame and recognition.
Named first on Franklin Heights High School’s list of distinguished alumni, Becky along with her ex-husband, Donald H. Ayers, co-founded the largest and fastest growing healthcare financial services organization in the country. National Century Financial Enterprises employed 300 and had more than $3 billion in assets National Century Financial Enterprises’ receivables-backed paper was rated AAA by Moody’s.
Born in West Virginia to parents who barely had a high school education, Parrett took a cushy executive lifestyle like a duck to water. She lived lavishly. Her 4,725-square-foot Arizona home with its five-car garage and indoor pool, features an exclusive art collection hanging over marbled floors. The main quarters, guest house and stable are a mix of the Southwest and expensive elegance.The $6 million valued estate which overlooks a mountain ridge, is appropriately named “Blaze of Glory Ranch”.
Parrett also owns an $89,000 home on the West Side of Columbus, where her mother lives. She owns a $700,000 Fountain Hills, Ariz., home that her only child, Rob Parrett, used for many years. She set up a trust fund in her son’s name to help him pay bills.
Parrett also helped the less fortunate. She ran a nonprofit agency called Be Our Best Inc. that caters to children and animals. She donated to the West Valley Children’s Crisis Center, in Glendale, Ariz., which cares for children in protective custody. She was on the advisory board of a new Scottsdale Health Care facility planned for North Scottsdale, and served on the board of the Foothills Community Foundation. From her spectacular Blaze of Glory Ranch Becky hosted upscale fundraisers for animal-rescue groups.
Since March, Parrett has become more famous that ever…on America’s Most Wanted.
Despite being found guilty for her participation in what federal prosecutors called ”the largest corporate fraud case involving a privately held company, ever”, an Ohio federal judge overrode prosecutorial protests and allowed the white-collar criminal to return home to settle her affairs pending sentencing. She was released on her own recognizance, but ordered to wear an electronic monitoring device.
Only, Rebecca Parrett didn’t show up for a scheduled appointment to be fitted with the ankle bracelet.
The last person known to have seen Parrett (on March 16) was her sixth husband Gary Green, who claims he was in a motorcycle accident that day and “can’t remember a thing”.
THE SCAM
By the end of 2001, National Century Financial Enterprises was desperately trying to get receivables to put on the books. Any receivables.
From the NCFE Website:
Other companies are afraid of 180 - day - old receivables.
We have a name for them -
(lightweights.)
“Other companies will not commit to buying your receivables.
We have a name for them-
(wishy-washy)
“Other companies give you an 85% advance rate on your receivables.
We have a name for them-
(stingy)
N.C.F.E. was the nation’s largest purchaser of hospital, physician and other health-care receivables. It served as a middleman between insurance companies and health-care providers around the country, including 60 hospitals, nursing homes and others.
To avoid waiting months to be paid, those health-care providers sold their receivables for 97 cents on the dollar to N.C.F.E. National Century Financial Enterprises then collected payment from the patients’ insurance carriers, Medicare or Medicaid.
To get cash to advance to health-care providers, National Century sold bonds to investors — including some big pension funds, which were among those hit hardest by National Century’s collapse.
The pension fund for New York City police, firefighters and other workers began investing in National Century in 2000. The company’s bonds were attractive because of their life span — usually three years — and high bond rating, said New York lawyer Steve Fineman.
Fitch Investor Services and Standard & Poor’s gave National Century the highest rating — AAA.
“It showed it was a conservative investment,” Fineman said.
Between May 1998 and May 2001, the company sold $4.4 billion worth of notes to investors, pledging to use the capital to buy accounts receivable from hospitals and other healthcare providers. Instead, authorities say N.C.F.E. executives advanced money to companies owned by the executives themselves — without requiring the accounts receivable as collateral. Which amounted to the company having millions in unsecured loans. In 2001 and 2002, National Century advanced $700 million in loans to companies without purchasing the accounts receivable.
The executives then lied to investors and rating agencies in order to cover up their actions.
As reserves weakened, investors and Securities Exchange Commission officials were given false financial reports that said National Century’s two subsidiaries, NPF VI and NPF XII, were healthy. But money was being shifted between the two to make it appear they had adequate money in reserve, the indictment says.
The company declared bankruptcy in 2002 and shut down shortly after.
Officials brought in to salvage the Dublin, Ohio, company said they found National Century Financial Enterprises only had collateral for about $900 million of $3 billion in outstanding bonds.
New details also are emerging about the lavish salaries and perks the National Century principals gave themselves, including frequent use of the company jet, consulting fees and retirement income. Over 2001 alone, Rebecca Parrett and partners Donald H. Ayers and Lance K. Poulsen received about $5.5 million in compensation. In addition, Ayers and Parrett, who retired in the middle of 2001, gave themselves $7.55 million in loans in August 2001, one official said, and they later arranged for the company to forgive repayment.
Assistant U.S. attorneys say that the company’s collapse resulted from criminal decisions, not a failed business plan.
“Few men have the virtue to withstand the highest bidder.” said George Washington, first president of the United States. Rebecca Parrett was no exception. Despite her opportunities, it was greed, no, actually greed gone wild that brought her down.
Anyone with any information about Rebecca Parrett, please call AMW’s confidential hotline: 1 - 800- CRIME - TV.
Friday, May 30, 2008
Tuesday, May 20, 2008
AMERICA's MOST WANTED? Think we need to dig deeper.....
This is not the FULL STORY EITHER!!!!
http://www.amw.com/fugitives/case.cfm?id=55267
Investors Bilked Out Of Billions In Corporate Collapse
Rebecca Parrett is a mother and grandmother. She has homes in both Arizona and Ohio.
View Larger From 1992 to 2002, federal authorities say that the executives of National Century Financial Enterprises played an elaborate shell game with billions of dollars of other people's money.
Cops say National Century built their business plan around a need in the health care financial community: using investors' capital, NCFE bought accounts receivables from hospitals and medical services firms for less than their collection value. This gave the medical community immediate cash flow and allowed for hospitals and such to continue to operate profitably without waiting for insurance claim settlements.
Then, NCFE made a profit when the insurance claim came in. At that time, NCFE divided the surplus between the investors and their company.
Prosecutors say it's a good business plan, but NCFE executives didn't follow it. They say they combined the theories of a Ponzi scheme, fraud, reporting false profits to the SEC and other watchdogs, and plain old embezzlement to keep the company and its executives afloat for ten years.
In 2002, an anonymous whistleblower contacted a bond rating firm to warn them of the company's precarious financial situation, and it resulted in a downgraded rating on the investment. Eventually, it caught the attention of the federal government, and in November 2002, the FBI raided the NCFE offices in suburban Dublin, Ohio. Two days, later the company filed for bankruptcy protection.
The FBI compares it to the more notorious collapses of publicly-held companies Enron and Worldcom.
Victims Widespread And Many
Parrett has a tattoo of a parrot on her upper left shoulder.
View Larger When salvage accountants came in to recover the company from what agents call "a collapsing house of cards," they only found around $900 million in assets but more than $3 billion in outstanding bonds.
The collapse of National Century Financial Enterprises meant 350 employees lost their jobs. It also meant that the 275 health care companies that they bought accounts receivables from also collapsed: those clients included hospitals and medical practices. For example, two hospitals in Washington, D.C. -- Greater Southeast Community Hospital and the Hadley Memorial Hospital -- were forced to declare bankruptcy in the fallout.
Some of the investors in NCFE who lost their money included a fund manager who handled the assets used for the pensions of New York City firefighters and police officers. The collapse of the company in 2002 crippled the pension funds just one year after the 9/11 attacks.
The FBI calls the NCFE collapse "the largest corporate fraud case involving a privately held company," and compares it to the more notorious collapses of the publicly-held companies Enron and Worldcom.
Other investors in NCFE included the state of Arizona and several cities.
Investigators say that NCFE executives knowingly deceived their investors with doctored reports and false assurances of incoming money.
A jury agreed. In March 2008, five of the NCFE executives were convicted on multiple fraud charges.
Marshals: Greedy Fraudster On The Run
Marshals say that Parrett is a woman of means and resources and could be anywhere.
View Larger After their convictions, an Ohio federal judge allowed the white-collar criminals to return to their homes to settle their affairs pending sentencing. They were released on their own recognizance, but ordered to wear an electronic monitoring device.
U.S. Marshals say one of the convicted executives, NCFE founder Rebecca Parrett, didn't show up for a scheduled appointment to be fitted with an ankle bracelet. Instead, they say she bolted, fleeing from her potential sentence of 75 years and a $2.5 million fine.
Parrett is a mother and grandmother, and she has residences in both Arizona and Ohio. Marshals say she is a woman of means because of her involvement with the criminal financing at NCFE.
In April 2008, Parrett's co-defendants in the case were re-arrested when the government uncovered what agents say was a plot to escape. Another executive still facing trial in the corruption and fraud allegedly told another inmate in his jail block that the NCFE executives were planning to abscond.
After their indictments, the government seized all of their passports, but the inmate told authorities he heard that they had figured out a way to get out of the country without them. He claimed that he was told that the white-collar criminals would take cruise ships to the Caribbean Islands and rendezvous in Aruba.
The scheme seemed plausible enough that the judge order three of the executives held until their sentencing.
Authorities still have not located Parrett, but U.S. Marshals are on the case. They are looking for any and all tips on her whereabouts.
Information valid as of last update.
Pretrial Release Violation, Phoenix, AZ; Mar 28, 2008
http://www.amw.com/fugitives/case.cfm?id=55267
Investors Bilked Out Of Billions In Corporate Collapse
Rebecca Parrett is a mother and grandmother. She has homes in both Arizona and Ohio.
View Larger From 1992 to 2002, federal authorities say that the executives of National Century Financial Enterprises played an elaborate shell game with billions of dollars of other people's money.
Cops say National Century built their business plan around a need in the health care financial community: using investors' capital, NCFE bought accounts receivables from hospitals and medical services firms for less than their collection value. This gave the medical community immediate cash flow and allowed for hospitals and such to continue to operate profitably without waiting for insurance claim settlements.
Then, NCFE made a profit when the insurance claim came in. At that time, NCFE divided the surplus between the investors and their company.
Prosecutors say it's a good business plan, but NCFE executives didn't follow it. They say they combined the theories of a Ponzi scheme, fraud, reporting false profits to the SEC and other watchdogs, and plain old embezzlement to keep the company and its executives afloat for ten years.
In 2002, an anonymous whistleblower contacted a bond rating firm to warn them of the company's precarious financial situation, and it resulted in a downgraded rating on the investment. Eventually, it caught the attention of the federal government, and in November 2002, the FBI raided the NCFE offices in suburban Dublin, Ohio. Two days, later the company filed for bankruptcy protection.
The FBI compares it to the more notorious collapses of publicly-held companies Enron and Worldcom.
Victims Widespread And Many
Parrett has a tattoo of a parrot on her upper left shoulder.
View Larger When salvage accountants came in to recover the company from what agents call "a collapsing house of cards," they only found around $900 million in assets but more than $3 billion in outstanding bonds.
The collapse of National Century Financial Enterprises meant 350 employees lost their jobs. It also meant that the 275 health care companies that they bought accounts receivables from also collapsed: those clients included hospitals and medical practices. For example, two hospitals in Washington, D.C. -- Greater Southeast Community Hospital and the Hadley Memorial Hospital -- were forced to declare bankruptcy in the fallout.
Some of the investors in NCFE who lost their money included a fund manager who handled the assets used for the pensions of New York City firefighters and police officers. The collapse of the company in 2002 crippled the pension funds just one year after the 9/11 attacks.
The FBI calls the NCFE collapse "the largest corporate fraud case involving a privately held company," and compares it to the more notorious collapses of the publicly-held companies Enron and Worldcom.
Other investors in NCFE included the state of Arizona and several cities.
Investigators say that NCFE executives knowingly deceived their investors with doctored reports and false assurances of incoming money.
A jury agreed. In March 2008, five of the NCFE executives were convicted on multiple fraud charges.
Marshals: Greedy Fraudster On The Run
Marshals say that Parrett is a woman of means and resources and could be anywhere.
View Larger After their convictions, an Ohio federal judge allowed the white-collar criminals to return to their homes to settle their affairs pending sentencing. They were released on their own recognizance, but ordered to wear an electronic monitoring device.
U.S. Marshals say one of the convicted executives, NCFE founder Rebecca Parrett, didn't show up for a scheduled appointment to be fitted with an ankle bracelet. Instead, they say she bolted, fleeing from her potential sentence of 75 years and a $2.5 million fine.
Parrett is a mother and grandmother, and she has residences in both Arizona and Ohio. Marshals say she is a woman of means because of her involvement with the criminal financing at NCFE.
In April 2008, Parrett's co-defendants in the case were re-arrested when the government uncovered what agents say was a plot to escape. Another executive still facing trial in the corruption and fraud allegedly told another inmate in his jail block that the NCFE executives were planning to abscond.
After their indictments, the government seized all of their passports, but the inmate told authorities he heard that they had figured out a way to get out of the country without them. He claimed that he was told that the white-collar criminals would take cruise ships to the Caribbean Islands and rendezvous in Aruba.
The scheme seemed plausible enough that the judge order three of the executives held until their sentencing.
Authorities still have not located Parrett, but U.S. Marshals are on the case. They are looking for any and all tips on her whereabouts.
Information valid as of last update.
Pretrial Release Violation, Phoenix, AZ; Mar 28, 2008
Monday, May 19, 2008
On the RUN.......LETS NOT FORGET ABOUT THE REAL CULPRIT.......
and I am not referring to Poulsen!!!!
Associated Press - May 18, 2008 11:45 AM ET
COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) - The son of a former executive of a failed health care financing company who disappeared after being convicted in a $1.9 billion fraud trial claims his mother said that she would flee to Costa Rica if found guilty in the case.
Fifty-9-year-old Rebecca Parrett was convicted by a federal jury in Columbus on March 13th in a case likened by authorities to a privately held-company version of the Enron or WorldCom scandals.
A judge had allowed Parrett and the four other former executives of suburban Columbus-based National Century Financial Enterprises convicted in the case to remain free pending sentencing.
Parrett was last seen March 16th. She faced up to 20 years in prison.
Her son, Rob Parrett, told the Columbus Dispatch that his mother said in 2006 that she would flee if convicted. He says it's possible she left the country.
Information from: The Columbus Dispatch, http://www.dispatch.com
Copyright 2008 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Associated Press - May 18, 2008 11:45 AM ET
COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) - The son of a former executive of a failed health care financing company who disappeared after being convicted in a $1.9 billion fraud trial claims his mother said that she would flee to Costa Rica if found guilty in the case.
Fifty-9-year-old Rebecca Parrett was convicted by a federal jury in Columbus on March 13th in a case likened by authorities to a privately held-company version of the Enron or WorldCom scandals.
A judge had allowed Parrett and the four other former executives of suburban Columbus-based National Century Financial Enterprises convicted in the case to remain free pending sentencing.
Parrett was last seen March 16th. She faced up to 20 years in prison.
Her son, Rob Parrett, told the Columbus Dispatch that his mother said in 2006 that she would flee if convicted. He says it's possible she left the country.
Information from: The Columbus Dispatch, http://www.dispatch.com
Copyright 2008 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Wednesday, May 14, 2008
America’s Most Wanted’
Local fugitive makes ‘America’s Most Wanted’
Rebecca Parrett, a former Dublin executive, has the distinct honor of making it on the television show “America’s Most Wanted” fugitive list. Pratt was convicted in March of securities fraud after the collapse of the National Century Financial Enterprises. Officials say she may be hiding in Arizona, and that there is a reward for information that leads to her arrest.
Rebecca Parrett, a former Dublin executive, has the distinct honor of making it on the television show “America’s Most Wanted” fugitive list. Pratt was convicted in March of securities fraud after the collapse of the National Century Financial Enterprises. Officials say she may be hiding in Arizona, and that there is a reward for information that leads to her arrest.
Hmm.......Who else is scheduled for trial in October?
Lance Poulsen wants his August trial on charges accusing him of bilking investors of $1.9 billion moved to October....
Hmm.......Who else is scheduled for trial in October?
COLUMBUS, Ohio (Map, News) - A former health care financing company executive wants his corporate fraud trial delayed two months, saying he's having trouble preparing his case.
Lance Poulsen wants his August trial on charges accusing him of bilking investors of $1.9 billion moved to October to give him and his attorneys more time to get ready.
Poulsen's attorneys say in a federal court filing in Columbus that they have millions of documents to review and are worried about evidence the government may not have produced yet.
They also say it's difficult to meet with Poulsen, who's housed in a southern Ohio jail a 12-hour drive from their offices in North Carolina.
The attorneys say they are a small law firm without the resources of a major national company.
Copyright 2008 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Hmm.......Who else is scheduled for trial in October?
COLUMBUS, Ohio (Map, News) - A former health care financing company executive wants his corporate fraud trial delayed two months, saying he's having trouble preparing his case.
Lance Poulsen wants his August trial on charges accusing him of bilking investors of $1.9 billion moved to October to give him and his attorneys more time to get ready.
Poulsen's attorneys say in a federal court filing in Columbus that they have millions of documents to review and are worried about evidence the government may not have produced yet.
They also say it's difficult to meet with Poulsen, who's housed in a southern Ohio jail a 12-hour drive from their offices in North Carolina.
The attorneys say they are a small law firm without the resources of a major national company.
Copyright 2008 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Thursday, May 1, 2008
U.S. government withheld Securities and Exchange Commission documents ....
I have said all along this is so much bigger than the picture the government wants you to believe........
REPORTERS NEED TO DIG DEEP HERE!!!!!
Wednesday, April 30, 2008 - 5:22 PM EDT
New evidence should lead to new trial, convicted National Century exec says
Business First of Columbus - by Kevin Kemper
A Columbus-area executive convicted of involvement in an alleged $3 billion fraud is asking he get set free or at least be given a new trial based on evidence he says federal prosecutors withheld.
James Dierker, a former marketing executive found guilty of wire fraud in March, filed a motion Tuesday for acquittal and new trial based on what he says is newly discovered evidence.
The 40-year-old Dierker and four others were found guilty in March on charges of conspiracy, fraud and money laundering for their roles in a fraud that plunged Dublin-based National Century Financial Enterprises Inc. into bankruptcy, resulting in as much as $3 billion in missing investor funds.
Dierker denied the charges and testified in trial that he knew nothing of any fraud. He is currently under house arrest and faces up to 65 years in prison.
In his latest court filing, Dierker alleges the U.S. government withheld Securities and Exchange Commission documents from his attorneys that would have bolstered his defense.
The motion alleges the SEC discovered that National Century's auditing firm PriceWaterhouseCoopers LLP, and its predecessor Coopers & Lybrand LLP, failed to conduct a 1998 audit of National Century's books according to Generally Accepted Accounting Principles and Generally Accepted Auditing Standards.
The filing goes on to allege the SEC found that auditing firm Deloitte & Touche, the successor to PriceWaterhouseCoopers, failed to properly evaluate financial red flags in National Century's 1999 books.
Believing the opinions of outside auditors, Dierker thought National Century operated above board, the motion says.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Douglas Squires declined to comment on the motion. The government has 20 days from the date of Dierker's motion to file a response.
National Century was once the nation's largest financier of health-care providers. It specialized in buying their receivables at a discount for quick cash, then packaging the receivables as asset-backed bonds to sell to investors.
National Century collapsed into bankruptcy in 2002, forcing other medical businesses to fail and prompting the U.S. Department of Justice to begin looking into the company's failure.
REPORTERS NEED TO DIG DEEP HERE!!!!!
Wednesday, April 30, 2008 - 5:22 PM EDT
New evidence should lead to new trial, convicted National Century exec says
Business First of Columbus - by Kevin Kemper
A Columbus-area executive convicted of involvement in an alleged $3 billion fraud is asking he get set free or at least be given a new trial based on evidence he says federal prosecutors withheld.
James Dierker, a former marketing executive found guilty of wire fraud in March, filed a motion Tuesday for acquittal and new trial based on what he says is newly discovered evidence.
The 40-year-old Dierker and four others were found guilty in March on charges of conspiracy, fraud and money laundering for their roles in a fraud that plunged Dublin-based National Century Financial Enterprises Inc. into bankruptcy, resulting in as much as $3 billion in missing investor funds.
Dierker denied the charges and testified in trial that he knew nothing of any fraud. He is currently under house arrest and faces up to 65 years in prison.
In his latest court filing, Dierker alleges the U.S. government withheld Securities and Exchange Commission documents from his attorneys that would have bolstered his defense.
The motion alleges the SEC discovered that National Century's auditing firm PriceWaterhouseCoopers LLP, and its predecessor Coopers & Lybrand LLP, failed to conduct a 1998 audit of National Century's books according to Generally Accepted Accounting Principles and Generally Accepted Auditing Standards.
The filing goes on to allege the SEC found that auditing firm Deloitte & Touche, the successor to PriceWaterhouseCoopers, failed to properly evaluate financial red flags in National Century's 1999 books.
Believing the opinions of outside auditors, Dierker thought National Century operated above board, the motion says.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Douglas Squires declined to comment on the motion. The government has 20 days from the date of Dierker's motion to file a response.
National Century was once the nation's largest financier of health-care providers. It specialized in buying their receivables at a discount for quick cash, then packaging the receivables as asset-backed bonds to sell to investors.
National Century collapsed into bankruptcy in 2002, forcing other medical businesses to fail and prompting the U.S. Department of Justice to begin looking into the company's failure.
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