Couple who duped relatives by claiming Army ties to Cheney nabbed near Seattle

[Kadie]

Couple who duped relatives by claiming Army ties to Cheney nabbed near Seattle


By Associated PressSEATTLE (AP) - A Colorado couple will be returned to Buffalo, N.Y., to face federal charges that they duped their relatives out of hundreds of thousands of dollars by claiming, among other things, that the husband had worked for Vice President Dick Cheney and former New York Gov. George Pataki.

William and Lisa Harris, formerly of Golden, Colo., told Lisa's aunts, uncles and another man that William's connection to Cheney provided him the opportunity to invest in a spinoff of Halliburton Co., Cheney's former employer, according to an affidavit for probable cause filed in the case. There was no such spinoff, and William Harris is accused of using the money to support his gambling habit.

snip...
Benedetto said Harris would sometimes pretend to take phone calls from Pataki, and while the family normally would not have trusted someone like him, his niece vouched for him: "He walked the lie very straight, and she verified it."

snip...
They ran five separate but related schemes from late 2004 to mid-2006 targeting the Benedetto-McMahon family in Jamestown, N.Y., FBI Special Agent Peter Langrish wrote in a probable cause affidavit filed June 13. In one, William Harris allegedly told Richard Benedetto that he could have his son and two nephews who were in the military moved from high-risk to safer assignments, but it would take $60,000 in bribes to U.S. senators. Benedetto paid $20,000, and Harris promised to cover the rest.

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Benedetto estimated that the family gave the Harrises more than $350,000, including equity in a Colorado house signed over by his brother, Lisa's father. William Harris claimed variously to have impressed Cheney while serving in the Army's Delta Force or as a Navy Seal, and to have gone on to handle financial matters for Cheney before later doing security for Pataki, charging papers said.

more...
http://www.komotv.com/news/local/8100457.html

[WatchWhatISay]

1. Humanity is bleeding out

Many are already lost

[mitchum]

2. A classic con in that the unscrupulous were hustled...

c'mon, they thought they were investing in a spinoff of Halliburton. Seems they weren't troubled much by blood money and theft.

[uppityperson]

3. I don't know what to say but wanted to kick to see if anyone else had a comment.

Scamming due to Cheney, Halliburton, etc, okay. Just odd.

[TahitiNut]

4. Like I'd give a dime to ANYONE who claimed to be associated with criminals???

Wow ... talk about bait that's perfectly designed for corrupt fools. That's what I call "social engineering"!

$60,000 to bribe Senators? Arrest the "victims" too - and call it a sting.