Steve Comisar | |
|---|---|
 Comisar in 2020 | |
| Born | Steven Robert Comisar December 30, 1961 |
| Other names | Brett Champion |
| Occupation | Con man |
Steven Robert Comisar (born December 30, 1961) is an American convicted con man and extortionist. [1] Comisar was in federal prison and was released April 27, 2018. [2]
Comisar grew up in Beverly Hills, California. As a young man he sold a "solar powered clothes dryer" in national magazines for $49.95. Buyers received a length of clothesline. [3] Comisar has been arrested and convicted of numerous crimes. [2] [4] [5] Comisar was convicted of a variety of frauds in 1983, 1990, 1994 and 1999. All these trials took place in Federal court in Los Angeles. [6] In 1999, Comisar was arrested for swindling investors in a fake television quiz show involving Joe Namath. He was sentenced to thirty-three months in jail.
Comisar used the working name Brett Champion during the period when he said he had retired from his career as a con man and posed as a fraud prevention expert and consultant, using it on Dateline NBC , [1] [7] The View , Sally Leeza Crook & Chase and in various other television appearances, and when he wrote the book America's Guide to Fraud Prevention. [7] [8] [9] Comisar is now prohibited from using this alias or from referring to himself as a consumer fraud expert. His book is considered a "piece of fraud history" by the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners and is on display in their fraud museum. [10] [11]
Kevin David Mitnick was an American computer security consultant, author, and convicted hacker. He is best known for his high-profile 1995 arrest and five years in prison for various computer and communications-related crimes. Mitnick's pursuit, arrest, trial, and sentence along with the associated journalism, books, and films were all controversial. After his release from prison, he ran his own security firm, Mitnick Security Consulting, LLC, and was also involved with other computer security businesses.
Barry Jay Minkow is a former American businessman, pastor, and convicted felon. While still in high school, Minkow founded ZZZZ Best, which appeared to be an immensely successful carpet-cleaning and restoration company. However, it was actually a front to attract investment for a massive Ponzi scheme. ZZZZ Best collapsed in 1987, costing investors and lenders $100 million in one of the largest investment frauds ever perpetrated by a single person, as well as one of the largest accounting frauds in history. The scheme is often used as a case study of accounting fraud.
The Federal Correctional Institution, Terminal Island is a low-security United States federal prison for male inmates in Los Angeles, California. It is operated by the Federal Bureau of Prisons, a division of the United States Department of Justice.
A clothes line, also spelt clothesline and also known as a washing line, is a device for hanging clothes on for the purpose of drying them. It is any type of rope, cord, or twine that has been stretched between two points, outside or indoors, above the level of the ground. Clothing that has recently been washed is hung along the line to dry, using clothes pegs or clothespins. Washing lines are attached either from a post or a wall, and are frequently located in back gardens, or on balconies. Longer washing lines often have props holding up sections in the middle due to the weight of the usually wet clothing.
The Montana Freemen were an anti-government militant Christian Patriot group based outside the town of Jordan, Montana, United States. The members of the group referred to their land as "Justus Township" and had declared their leaders and followers "sovereign citizens" no longer under the authority of any outside government. They became the center of public attention in 1996 when they engaged in a prolonged armed standoff with agents of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI).
The Certified Fraud Examiner (CFE) is a credential awarded by the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners (ACFE) since 1989. The ACFE association is a provider of anti-fraud training and education. Founded in 1988 by Dr. Joseph T Wells. The ACFE established and administers the Certified Fraud Examiner (CFE) credential.
The Association of Certified Fraud Examiners (ACFE) is a professional organization of fraud examiners. Its activities include producing fraud information, training and tools. Based in Austin, Texas, the ACFE was founded in 1988 by Joseph T. Wells. The ACFE grants the professional designation of Certified Fraud Examiner.
The Abergil Organization is an Israeli organized crime syndicate that has been active since the late 20th and early 21st centuries. The organization was founded by brothers Yaakov and Avi Abergil in the city of Ramat Gan, Israel, in the 1990s. The Abergil Organization is involved in a wide range of criminal activities, including drug trafficking, money laundering, and extortion.
Michael Anthony Rizzitello, also known as "Mike Rizzi", was a high ranking Italian American mobster in the Los Angeles crime family. Rizzitello's criminal record stretched back to 1947. He was also featured in several biography novels by mobsters-turned-informants Jimmy Fratianno, Anthony Fiato, and Kenny Gallo (Breakshot).
Sextortion employs non-physical forms of coercion to extort sexual favors from the victim. Sextortion refers to the broad category of sexual exploitation in which abuse of power is the means of coercion, as well as to the category of sexual exploitation in which threatened release of sexual images or information is the means of coercion.
Armenian Power 13, also known as AP, the Armenian Mob, or Armenian Mafia is an Armenian criminal organization and street gang founded and currently based in Los Angeles County, California. They are involved in drug trafficking, murder, assault, fraud, identity theft, illegal gambling, kidnapping, racketeering, robbery and extortion. They are believed to have around 200 members and hundreds of associates, according to the U.S. attorney’s office. They are also well known for their connections with the Mexican Mafia.
Samuel "Mouli" Cohen is an Israeli-American entrepreneur, venture capitalist, and convicted fraudster who claimed to have held the positions of president, chairman, and CEO of several public and private video game companies which, according to Cohen, "have generated over $3 Billion in shareholder value". The companies Cohen has been involved in since the 1980s include: Playnet Technologies, Voltage Capital, LAMIA, Aristo International and Ecast. In April 2012, Cohen was sentenced to 22 years in federal prison for a conviction on 15 counts of wire fraud, 11 counts of money laundering and three counts of tax evasion. He is currently serving a 22-year prison sentence at Terminal Island Federal Correctional Institution.
Mark Basseley Youssef, formerly known as Nakoula Basseley Nakoula, is an Egyptian-American writer, producer, and promoter of Innocence of Muslims, a film which was critical of Islam and the Islamic prophet Muhammad.
Michael John Avenatti is an American former attorney and convicted felon, currently incarcerated in federal prison at FCI Terminal Island. He is best known for his legal representation of adult film actress Stormy Daniels in lawsuits against then U.S. President Donald Trump, and his multiple convictions for attempting to extort sports apparel company Nike and defrauding and embezzling settlement money from a series of other clients. Avenatti has appeared extensively on television and in print as a legal and political commentator, and as a representative for prominent clients.
Bob Nygaard is an American private investigator (PI) specializing in the investigation of confidence crimes, most notably psychic fraud. He has been instrumental in the arrest and conviction of numerous psychics, helping their victims obtain justice including financial restitution amounting to millions of dollars. He has consulted for ABC News and 20/20 as a specialist in psychic fraud. Nygaard previously was a member of the New York City Transit Police and Nassau County Police Department, retiring from service in 2008.
David Peter Bloom is a twice convicted American fraudster who defrauded investors of almost $15 million in the 1980s.
Awhile back the brilliant scam artist, Steve Comisar, cleverly exploited the efficiency of line drying laundry by advertising a "Solar Powered Clothes Dryer" for only $49.95. When the suckers, er, customers, opened the eagerly awaited packages, they discovered that the "Scientifically proven, space-age clothes dryer" was a piece of clothesline. I'm sure quite a few of them were amused. The equipment necessary for line drying clothes is usually inexpensive, ...