Stafford Man Accused of Scheming Against Fellow Veterans Enters Guilty Plea

STAFFORD, CT — A Stafford man has entered a guilty plea for what prosecutors said was a financial scheme to deceive veterans and circumvent accounting laws.

Deirdre M. Daly, United States attorney for the District of Connecticut, announced Monday that John J. Simon Jr., also known as “Buzzy Simon,” 69, of Stafford Springs, pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge Michael P. Shea in Hartford to one count of mail fraud and one count of structuring currency transactions.

According to court documents and statements made in court, from March 2009 to August 2010, Simon, a Vietnam War veteran, engaged in a scheme to defraud four military veterans by representing that, in exchange for money, he could assist them in obtaining increased benefits from the federal Department of Veterans Affairs.

The veterans suffered from service-related disabilities and/or are chronically ill, according to court documents.

Simon falsely represented that the money the veterans provided to him would be used to pay for the services of an attorney or other expenses, according to court documents. With respect to one veteran, Simon also falsely told him that he would assist the veteran in obtaining Social Security benefits, Daly said.

Simon did not initiate any claims for the four veterans and he did not incur any legal or other expenses on behalf of the veterans, Daly said. Rather, he kept the money for his "personal use," she added.

As part of the plea deal, Simon has admitted that he defrauded 11 other military veterans and one non-veteran by representing that he could obtain new or increased benefits from the VA or Social Security Administration, Daly said.

In total, Simon defrauded 16 victims of approximately $525,431, Daly said.

Simon also structured approximately $36,000 in cash deposits into his bank account from October 2009 to June 2010, Daly said. The funds were payments he had received from the fraud scheme, she said.

At the time, Simon knew that the bank was required to issue a report for a currency transaction in excess of $10,000, and that by conducting his financial transactions in amounts less than $10,000.01, he intended to evade the transaction reporting requirements, Daly said.

Federal law requires all financial institutions to file a Currency Transaction Report for currency transactions that exceed $10,000. To evade the filing of a CTR, individuals will often structure their currency transactions so that no single transaction exceeds $10,000.

Daly said structuring involves the repeated depositing or withdrawal of amounts of cash less than the $10,000 limit, or the splitting of a cash transaction that exceeds $10,000 into smaller cash transactions in an effort to avoid the reporting requirements.

"Even if the deposited funds are derived from a legitimate means, financial transactions conducted in this manner are still in violation of federal criminal law," Daly said

SIMON was arrested on a criminal complaint on May 15, 2013.

Judge Shea scheduled sentencing for Jan. 10, 2017, at which time Simon faces a maximum term of imprisonment of 30 years, Daly said.

Simon has agreed that $210,085.58 that the IRS seized from his bank account in October 2010 will be used to pay restitution to the victims of his criminal conduct, Daly said.

Simon was released on an undisclosed bond pending sentencing, according to Daly.

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