A teacher who faked two pregnancies and wore a “fake bump” to school in a fraud that cost the State almost €60,000 has received a suspended sentence for what a judge called “an extraordinary case” after spending the last four months in custody.
Eimear Carroll, aged 43, of Hillside, Seffin, Birr, Co Offaly, had pleaded guilty to fraudulently claiming maternity-related payments from the Department of Education and the Department of Social Protection for two pregnancies which never occurred as well as creating false documents.
At a sitting of Tullamore Circuit Criminal Court, Judge Keenan Johnson sentenced Carroll to five years in prison but suspended the term after taking into account that she had chosen to remain in custody in relation to the charges since 1 February this year.
While describing it as quite an extraordinary case, Judge Johnson remarked that it was “a fraud that would…
CLICK HERE to read the FULL Teacher who wore fake bump in maternity fraud avoids jail – RTE article.
THE HASHFLARE “CLOUD MINING” PONZI SCHEME (GLOBAL/ESTONIA)
Date: February 13, 2025 (Guilty Pleas) Perpetrators: Sergei Potapenko and Ivan Turogin
Case Description: This $577 million cryptocurrency fraud remains one of the largest digital asset scams in history, with major legal developments concluding in 2025. Potapenko and Turogin operated “Hashflare,” which they marketed as a massive cryptocurrency mining operation. Hundreds of thousands of victims worldwide purchased “mining contracts,” believing they were renting hash power to mine Bitcoin. In reality, the duo was running a sophisticated Ponzi scheme.
They created fake customer dashboards that showed “real-time” mining profits, but the money being paid out was simply the capital of newer investors. They laundered the proceeds through shell companies to purchase luxury real estate and a fleet of high-end vehicles. After a massive international investigation involving the FBI and Estonian authorities, the pair agreed to forfeit over $400 million in assets. This case underscores the “Cyber-enabled Fraud” warning issued by the FATF in early 2026: as technology evolves, the scale of fraud moves from local millions to global billions in the blink of an eye.
Link to Original: ACFE – High Profile Fraud of 2025