Los Angeles Criminal Defense Lawyer Blog

The owner of a swank Beverly Hills skin care studio to Hollywood stars was recently sentenced to probation, home confinement and community service for scamming customers out of thousands of dollars in fraudulent credit card charges, The Los Angeles Times reports.

Los Angeles fraud defense attorneys have years of experience representing people charged with fraud and other types of crimes typically heralded as being "white collar" crimes. This means crimes involving money and theft in Los Angeles rather than crimes of violence.

In this case, the salon owner, 52, was accused of racking up about $68,000 in unauthorized charges on a credit card belonging to a high-end jewelry designer.

The designer told investigators that several other high-profile victims said unauthorized charges began popping up on their credit card statements after they made payments at the salon studio.

After an investigation by federal authorities, it was revealed that American Express found more than $214,000 in fraudulent charges made by the salon over a five-month period in 2009. Those were charges just to one actor on two credit cards.

Charged in federal court rather than state court, the salon owner was sentenced to five years of probation, including nine months of home confinement and 3,000 hours of community service.

According to 2009 statistics compiled by the FBI, there were more than 615,000 reported cases of larceny theft that year. While that can account for petty thefts, it also includes theft of money from cases such as credit card theft.

With the advent of the internet and the ability for people to scam credit cards through phishing machinery and other devices to steal credit card information, the crime has become more prevalent in our society.

And while companies lose money when it gets stolen, they also lose money in hidden costs and fees from trying to deal with the negative publicity and refunding customers. It's a big hassle and when money's involved, companies usually press police to better enforce the law.

Sometimes, innocent people are ensnared in the long arm of the law and need aggressive defense attorneys to have their backs. That's where we come in. Our firm handles all areas of criminal defense in Los Angeles and Southern California.

We will diligently look over all aspects of your case, study the police reports and statements, challenge search warrants and what evidence the state or government believes it has against our clients. Because being thrown into the criminal justice system requires an advocate who has been there for countless other citizens charged with a crime.

These crimes are sophisticated and must be defended by a law firm that has handled these types of cases before. If you or a loved one is charged with a white collar crime, not only your freedom, but your finances could be on the line because prosecutors often try to get restitution or forfeiture of assets in financial crimes. So, fight every aspect of the case.