CashLink Defendant Leonard Needelman Sentenced
In Southern Florida, Leonard Needelman was sentenced "to a term of 97 months' imprisonment, 3 years of supervised release, and $ $16,987,050.88 in restitution."
Needelman was the force behind Cashlink, an cashless ATM business opportunity scam.
"According to court records, Needelman and others engaged in the fraudulent sale of business opportunities through Cash Link Systems, Inc. Cash Link purported to sell cash-less ATMs to the public, along with assistance in establishing, maintaining, and operating a cash-less ATM business. Potential purchasers were told that after being placed in the locations Cash Link provided, the cash-less ATMs would be used by members of the public, who would swipe their debit cards and receive a receipt. The receipt, in turn, would be taken to the location's cash register for cash or store credit. According to Needelman and his co-conspirators, a business opportunity purchaser would earn substantial profits from the ATM fees generated when members of the public used the purchaser's cash-less ATMs" (my emphasis)
What is interesting about this, is that there is a real market for script, the US Army is the prime example of a huge script market. For example, the recent EagleCash program has been been expanded.
"The U.S. Department of the Treasury has announced the successful installation of EagleCash at 12 U.S. Army bases in Iraq and Kuwait. EagleCash, the stored-value card program launched in partnership with the Department of the Army, safeguards and simplifies U.S. soldiers' cash management while stationed abroad."
Business opportunity con criminals usually have a terrific business story to tell, but there is no operational detail or expertise which backs up the story. Prospective purchasers are entranced by the story, confusing the terrific story with a terrific opportunity. The colour of the story is so overwhelming that the difficult operational details are all but ignored by the purchaser.
