Woman admits $2.1 million check fraud
PROVIDENCE – Camille Chorney of Newport admitted in U.S. District Court, Providence, to having written worthless checks valued at $2,186,000 for a brokerage account she had opened. The checks were drawn against a closed bank account. U.S. Attorney Margaret C. Curran said Chorney pleaded guilty to mail fraud before U.S. District Judge Ernest C. Torres. Chorney, 44, of 13 Dearborn St., Newport, is free on unsecured bond pending sentencing June 18. According to Assistant U.S Attorney Alicia M. Milligan Chorney opened a cash management account at Merrill Lynch with a $10,000 cashier’s check after telling a Merrill Lynch consultant that she was about to receive $1,000,000. She then began drawing against the Merrill Lynch account and deposited a series of checks ranging from $36,000 to $850,000 drawn against a Fleet Bank account in her name that had been closed the previous year. Each of these was rejected, but her withdrawals from the ML account continued, reaching $26,803 in overdrafts. The case was investigated by both the U.S. Secret Service and the U.S. Postal Inspection Service.
State moves to protect Newport harbor interests
PROVIDENCE – Rhode Island Attorney Sheldon Whitehouse has asked the U..S. District Court for an order creating a protective zone around a group of about 10 sailing vessels that were sunk by the British in 1778 to blockade Newport Harbor. There is some speculation that one of those vessels is the former HMS Endeavour, the ship used by Capt. James Cook during his journey across the Pacific to Australia. The ship was sold off some time after Cook’s death in Hawaii, but later sailed to Newport. The area in question is about seven miles square, according to the attorney general’s office, and is in Newport’s outer harbor in the area of the Naval War College, Brenton Cove and the Pell Bridge. U.S District Court acts as an Admiralty Court in such matters. Meanwhile the Rhode Island Historical Preservation and Heritage Commission is exploring and examining the site to determine specifically what ships are sunk there and any other pertinent information.
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Ronald R. Turgeon
Newport Tourism Committee names Turgeon chairman
WARWICK – The Rhode Island Hospitality and Tourism Association has formed a Newport Regional Council Committee to consider issues related to the tourism/hospitality industry in that area. Ronald R. Turgeon is the chairman of the committee. He is a restaurant consultant with extensive experience in the food service business and was appointed by the Newport City Council to the International Hospitality Commission.
Federal Reserve restaurant to reopen
PROVIDENCE – The Federal Reserve restaurant, much heralded at its opening two years ago as a sign that the so-called Providence renaissance had reached the downtown commercial area, but closed since last May, will reopen this spring for special functions. Although the official opening is not until May 1, according to Bob Burke, a co-owner of the facility, the United Way has scheduled its annual meeting there on April 5. The 300-seat restaurant was converted from the main floor of an opulently furnished bank that was closed by Gov. Bruce Sundlun in 1991during the state banking crisis. Its size proved to be a handicap for daily operations, however. Burke and his wife Ann own and operate the successful and much smaller Pot au Feu restaurant in downtown Providence. To operate the latest version of the Federal Reserve restaurant, they have added a partner, Dennis Glass, chairman of Meridian Printing Co. in East Greenwich.
Head of marketing for Hasbro resigns
PAWTUCKET – Adam Klein, president of global marketing and strategy for Hasbro, Inc. has resigned. Klein, who was hired three years ago by Hasbro to help shape the company’s strategy, did not disclose his future plans. Prior to his hiring by Hasbro he had been a consultant for 18 years and also taught at Harvard Business School. A Hasbro spokesman said Klein would not be replaced and that his job had been eliminated.
Warren company gets bridge repair contract
WARREN – Harbor Marine Corp. of this town has obtained a $178,000 contact from the U.S. Corps of Engineers to repair the Bourne Bridge over the Cape Cod Canal. The project that is scheduled to start April 5 involves replacing an expansion joint. The work is expected to last up to six weeks and will result in traffic over the bridge being reduced to one lane each way during construction, according to the Providence Journal.
Seafood broker admits income tax fraud
PROVIDENCE – Stephen R. Babigian has pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court to a charge of filing a false income tax return. Babigian, 50, who lives in Ft. Myers, Fla., is scheduled for sentencing before Judge Ronald R. Lagueux on June 11. Meanwhile, he is free on unsecured bond. According to U.S. Attorney Margaret E. Curran, Babigian admitted declaring as business expenses such personal expenses as a payment on his son’s college tuition, costs related to a 48-foot pleasure boat, a condominium in Florida, and the purchase of an Isuzu Rodeo. These actions, he admitted, cost the IRS $72,000 in revenue.
