Lawyer extradited from Nicaragua is accused of role in $137M fraud scheme
An American lawyer has been deported from Nicaragua after authorities say he tried to get a passport there using a fake birth certificate and is being extradited to Florida, where he will face federal prosecution for his alleged role in a $137 million stock-investment fraud scheme.
Lawrence Hartman is accused of participating with half-a-dozen others in a Tampa-based scheme in which participants stole the identities of publicly traded companies and issued bogus stock in their names, the Associated Press reports.
He is also known as Lawrence Scott Hartman Grosser, according to the Nicaragua Dispatch.
Two Texas lawyers were previously convicted and sentenced in the case.
See also
ABAJournal.com (2012): “Lawyer Gets 18 Months in Claimed Scheme to Steal and Sell Corporate Identities”
Tampa Bay Times (2012): “Texas woman gets a year in federal prison for role in Pinellas-based money laundering scheme”
Tampa Bay Times (2009): “Three attorneys named in $100M scam based in bay area”
