Weekly Edition

Federal inmate charged in alleged Holocaust scam

The government says an inmate at the Federal Correctional Institute in Petersburg has been charged with running an elaborate scheme to cash in bank accounts intended for the families of Holocaust victims.

The accused, 49-year-old John Kenneth Leighnor Jr., was indicted last week on three counts of mail fraud and eight counts of aggravated identity theft.

According to a news release from the U.S. attorney’s office, Leighnor used obituaries and dormant Swiss bank accounts to find Holocaust victims.

Prosecutors said he would then falsely represent himself as a descendant of a Holocaust victim and seek claims on bank accounts abandoned by victims of the Nazis.

If convicted on all the charges, Leighnor could be sentenced to 76 years in prison and fined $2.75 million.

© Copyright 2008, by Virginia Lawyers Media, all rights reserved