Virginia
Six plead guilty to $1.5 million Virginia furniture store hack
RICHMOND, Va. (WRIC) — Six males plead responsible within the Richmond Federal District Court docket to a $1.5 million fraud that concerned identification theft, a series of fictitious furnishings shops and a phishing hack of servers, situated in Virginia, that contained delicate monetary information.
In line with an announcement of details — confirmed by all six defendants as a situation of their plea agreements — over a 5 12 months interval from April 2017 to January of this 12 months, the defendants posed as prospects at numerous furnishings shops, compromised the data of different furnishings shops, and in the end defrauded the shops and monetary establishments of just about $1.5 million.
The six males — Mahmoud Aljibawi, Wael Jibawi, Yanal Khrisat, Mohammad Jibawi, Jamel Eljebawe and Alaelddin Aljibawi — confronted 18 counts starting from identification theft to pc fraud, and have been ordered to pay $1,487,957.86 in restitution.
Taking part in Each Sides
The important thing to the lads’s fraud was the existence of “lease-to-own” financing, a mannequin usually utilized by furnishings and equipment shops, the place an middleman finance firm pays for the products up entrance, then collects funds, with curiosity, from the client over the next months and years.
Under is an illustrated instance utilizing one of many defrauded corporations, West Creek Monetary.
That’s how the method usually works, however the six defendants used a fancy sleight of hand to take the cash and run.
They ran 25 furnishings shops — a few of which have been reputable shops and a few of which by no means existed in any respect — and used them to use to financing corporations, just like the Richmond-based West Creek, for partnership to supply client credit score to their prospects.
As soon as they have been accepted to supply “lease-to-own” agreements to paying prospects, they started to submit bank card and lease purposes to the businesses utilizing a mix of stolen identities and fabricated data.
After the purposes have been improved, the corporate’s “prospects” started to buy hundreds of {dollars} of furnishings, which the shops then assured the businesses had been efficiently delivered.
The businesses dutifully paid the shops up entrance for the products, solely to lose all of it when the “prospects” did not pay what they owed.
Increasing the Operation
They didn’t cease there. As soon as that they had an account with West Creek, they referred to as the corporate’s assist hotline posing as staff of a retailer referred to as “Bernie and Phyl’s,” an present buyer of West Creek’s primarily based in Massachusetts.
They managed to persuade West Creek to allow them to arrange a web based cost account for the shop, then promptly rerouted funds destined for the shops to their very own financial institution accounts.
Then, utilizing a software referred to as a VPN to cover their identities, they accessed West Creek’s servers in Northern Virginia, submitting a number of pretend lease agreements and siphoning that cash as effectively.
Whereas all of this fraud occurred in Virginia — dedicated in opposition to a Virginia firm and on Virginia-based servers — the six defendants have been all 700 miles away, in Chicago, In poor health.
Over the subsequent 5 years, and utilizing all 25 of their corporations, the lads would go to defraud Okinus, Greenwave Finance, Synchrony Financial institution and Wells Fargo, raking in an estimated $1.5 million.
Synchrony Financial institution, which provides bank cards for retail shops, misplaced over $500,000 over the course of six months in 2018.
100 thirty-three Synchrony playing cards have been used at simply one of many males’s companies. The financial institution solely realized the purchases have been fraudulent when the playing cards’ homeowners — some from as distant as California and Florida — referred to as to complain.
The defendants plead responsible to the next costs, and have been ordered to pay restitution within the following quantities:
- Mahmoud Aljibawi – 2 counts wire fraud, 1 rely pc fraud, 1 rely utilizing a fictitious identify – $514,744.80
- Wael Jibawi – 2 counts wire fraud, 1 rely pc fraud, 1 rely utilizing a fictitious identify – $189,935
- Yanal Khrisat – 2 counts wire fraud, 1 rely pc fraud, 1 rely utilizing a fictitious identify – $56,500.33
- Mohammad Jibawi – 2 counts wire fraud, 1 rely pc fraud, 1 rely utilizing a fictitious identify – $297,713.73
- Jamel Eljebawe – 2 counts wire fraud, 1 rely utilizing a fictitious identify – $122,260
- Alaelddin Aljibawi – 2 counts wire fraud, 1 rely utilizing a fictitious identify – $306,804
Florida State has had some pretty easy games since playing the Alabama Crimson Tide. That all changes when FSU hits the road to take on the Virginia Cavaliers in Week 5.
Not only will the Seminoles be away from Doak Campbell Stadium for the first time this season, but it’s a night game on a short week as they will play on Friday. On top of that, Virginia comes in with one of the top offenses in the nation which will be a big test for Florida State’s defense that’s only allowing 10 points per game.
If FSU wants to get where they ultimately want to go, these are the types of games they have to win. Here are five reasons why they could struggle to get to 4-0.
Conference road games are tough
As well as Florida State is playing, none of their opponents so far were conference opponents. No matter who the program is, it’s always tougher to win in your conference, especially on the road. A turnover here and a big play there by the other team could start a chain of events that leads to trouble.
Florida State’s defense will face it’s biggest test so far
FSU has only yielded 10 points per game this season. However, they haven’t faced an offense like Virginia which has several running backs averaging over six yards per carry and a trio of capable wide receivers, which has led to them scoring over 44 points per game. Defensively, Florida State will need to play its best game of the season.
FSU’s offense could have a bad day
Florida State has lit teams up for 58 points per game. It’s been a cakewalk basically, but a some point, every offense, no matter how good it is, has an off night. A few bad drives could put Virginia’s high-powered offense in great positions to score and put the pressure on Florida State, and pressure burst pipes sometimes.
Turnovers can ignite a downward spiral
The Seminoles have only turned the ball over three times this season. Road games can get funky in a hurry if a turnover or two happens early. Florida State needs to protect the football to avoid making an already tough game even tougher.
Getting off to a slow start
This point is closely related to the previous four. If Florida State gets off to a slow start it will make the game tougher, their defense could struggle, their offense may not click on all cylinders, and that may lead to turnovers. Especially since this game is on the road, the Seminoles need to get off to a fast start.
Contact/Follow us @FSUWire on X (formerly Twitter) and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Florida State news, notes and opinions. You can also follow Matthew on X @StarConscience
RICHMOND, Va. (WDBJ) – The housing market in Virginia held steady as home sales remain stagnant from last year despite increased prices and an inventory increase, according to a sales report for August released by Virginia REALTORS®.
Throughout the state, median sales price for a home in August reached $430,000, a 3.6% increase from the year before. Flat sales and higher price points pushed the sold dollar volume to $5.1 billion, up 4.4% year-over-year, according to the organization.
According to the organization, there were 24,606 active listings across the state by the end of August, a 26.2% rise from 2024. 13,000 new properties were listed in the month alone.
“Inventory growth has been one of the big stories of 2025,” says Virginia REALTORS® Chief Economist Ryan Price.
“With listings up more than 26% from last year, buyers across the commonwealth are seeing more options than they’ve had in a long time. While supply is improving, demand continues to be tempered by economic uncertainty.”
The organization mentions that properties are taking longer to sell, staying on the market for a median 17 days (five days longer than 2024). Since 2019, it has been the slowest pace in the month of August. Pending sales, however it showed a decent increase of 3.4% year-over-year.
Despite a downward trend for mortgage rates, there was a slight increase in the rate. The average 30-year fixed mortgage rate dropped just past 6.25% in the middle of September.
The president of the organization, Lorraine Arora, describes the drop in mortgage rates as a “positive sign” for buyers and sellers and if the trend continues, stronger sales could close out 2025.
About Virginia REALTORS®
Virginia REALTORS® (previously known as the Virginia Association of REALTORS®) is the largest trade association in Virginia, representing nearly 34,000 REALTORS® engaged in the residential and commercial real estate business. Virginia REALTORS® serves as an advocate for homeownership and represents the interests of property owners in the Commonwealth of Virginia. For more information, visit www.virginiarealtors.org or follow Virginia REALTORS® on Facebook and LinkedIn.
NOTE: The term REALTOR® is a registered collective membership mark that identifies a real estate professional who is a member of the National Association of REALTORS® and subscribes to its strict Code of Ethics.
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