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Long Island Mother-Daughter Allegedly Conned $850K In Credit Card Scam To Finance Luxe Lifestyle, Indicted

<p>A <a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;dev&period;theshaderoom&period;com&sol;danileigh-fabolous-linked-up-late-at-night-sparked-these-fan-reactions&sol;" target&equals;"&lowbar;blank" rel&equals;"noopener">Long Island mother<&sol;a> and daughter duo conned nearly &dollar;1 million from over a dozen different credit card companies for more than a decade&comma; funding a lavish lifestyle of designer clothing and jet-setting vacations across the globe according to authorities&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Karan Geist&comma; 61&comma; and her daughter Alyssa Geist&comma; 33&comma; pleaded not guilty on Friday to a series of charges including fraud and grand larceny&comma; according to an indictment obtained by the <a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;nypost&period;com&sol;2022&sol;08&sol;29&sol;ny-mother-and-daughter-ran-credit-card-charge-scam-to-fund-lavish-lifestyle-indictment&sol;" target&equals;"&lowbar;blank" rel&equals;"noopener"><strong>New York Post<&sol;strong><&sol;a>&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Prosecutors at Manhattan Supreme Court claim that between 2008 and 2021&comma; Karan falsely disputed &dollar;850&comma;000 in charges from at least 14 different banks and credit card companies&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<blockquote><p>&OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;This is a 13-year scheme that involved thousands of credit card transactions whereby Karan falsely reported — even though she incurred legitimate charges — as fraudulent&comma;” said Assistant District Attorney Catherine McCaw during the hearing&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&nbsp&semi;<&sol;p><&sol;blockquote>&NewLine;<h3 style&equals;"text-align&colon; center&semi;">Charges &&num;8220&semi;Ranged From Luxurious To Mundane&comma;&&num;8221&semi; Prosecutors Allege<&sol;h3>&NewLine;<p>Assistant District Attorney Catherine McCaw told Justice Laura Ward that the purchases &&num;8220&semi;ranged in nature from the luxurious to the mundane&comma;&&num;8221&semi; and funded trips to &&num;8220&semi;exotic destinations including Paris&comma; Milan&comma; Norway&comma; Costa Rica&comma; Hawaii and a number of other places&period;&&num;8221&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><amp-twitter data-tweetid&equals;"1564330371160092672" layout&equals;"responsive" width&equals;"600" height&equals;"480"><&sol;amp-twitter><&sol;p>&NewLine;<blockquote><p>&OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;These purchases ranged in nature from the luxurious to the mundane&comma;” according to District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s office&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;On numerous occasions&comma; Karan booked travel both for foreign and domestic to exotic destinations including Paris&comma; Milan&comma; Norway&comma; Costa Rica&comma; Hawaii and a number of other places&period;&&num;8221&semi;<&sol;p><&sol;blockquote>&NewLine;<p>The pair also went on shopping sprees at luxury outfitters Bloomingdale&&num;8217&semi;s and Bergdorf Goodman&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<h3 style&equals;"text-align&colon; center&semi;">Duo Falsely Reported Charges As Fraudulent&comma; Allegedly<&sol;h3>&NewLine;<p>The Post reports that Karan&comma; a former paraprofessional at a middle school on Long Island&comma; received credit on her balances after falsely reporting fraudulent charges to banks and credit card companies&comma; including &dollar;205&comma;000 on her American Express cards and &dollar;155&comma;000 from Chase Bank&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<blockquote><p>&OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;She booked tickets in her own name&comma; car rentals in her family member’s name&comma; hotel stays in her own name&comma; and other luxurious purchases like watches and handbags while she was traveling&comma;” McCaw said&period;<&sol;p><&sol;blockquote>&NewLine;<p>She reportedly even disputed small charges&comma; such as purchases at the Dollar Store and veterinary bills for her dogs Daisy and Louis&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Karan&comma; who lost her job in November 2016 per New York Board of Education records&comma; eventually brought her daughter into the fraud scheme&comma; who prosecutors claim took part in for about six months&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<figure id&equals;"attachment&lowbar;97352" aria-describedby&equals;"caption-attachment-97352" style&equals;"width&colon; 1140px" class&equals;"wp-caption alignnone"><img class&equals;"size-full wp-image-97352" src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;dev&period;theshaderoom&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2022&sol;08&sol;GettyImages-462471466-scaled&period;jpg" alt&equals;"" width&equals;"1140" height&equals;"760" &sol;><figcaption id&equals;"caption-attachment-97352" class&equals;"wp-caption-text">&lpar;Photo by Thomas Trutschel&sol;Photothek via Getty Images&rpar;<&sol;figcaption><&sol;figure>&NewLine;<h3 style&equals;"text-align&colon; center&semi;">Police Find Over 100 Credit Cards&comma; Receipts For &&num;8220&semi;Fraudulent&&num;8221&semi; Transactions During Raid<&sol;h3>&NewLine;<p>In 2016&comma; Barclays Bank obtained surveillance video of the two purchasing items at a Chanel store after they reported it as a fraudulent charge&comma; according to the Post&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Meanwhile&comma; prosecutors said that Alyssa allegedly charged &dollar;1&comma;400 to one of her mother&&num;8217&semi;s credit cards in July 2017&comma; and disputed the charge for a full refund per her mom&&num;8217&semi;s instructions&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>A month later in August 2017&comma; Alyssa reportedly texted her mother about how to go about falsely disputing the charges as fraudulent&period; According to Alyssa&&num;8217&semi;s Zeta Sigma Phi sorority bio&comma; she has &&num;8220&semi;a shopping addiction&sol;semi problem&period;&&num;8221&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Last year&comma; authorities raided Karan&&num;8217&semi;s Huntington home and located over 100 credit cards used in the purchases alongside receipts for transactions that she had later reported as fraud&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>During Friday&&num;8217&semi;s hearing&comma; the pair were forced to give up their passports as a part of their supervised release&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<h3 style&equals;"text-align&colon; center&semi;">Neither Mother Nor Daughter Offer Any Comment On &dollar;850&comma;000 Fraud Scheme<&sol;h3>&NewLine;<p>Neither Karan or Alyssa offered any comment when asked by the Post for comment as they left court&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<blockquote><p>&OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;My only comment &lbrack;is&rsqb; she is not guilty&period; She is completely innocent here and it will come out in the end&comma;” said Alyssa’s attorney James Pascarella&period;<&sol;p><&sol;blockquote>&NewLine;<p>A lawyer for Karan did not immediately return a request for comment&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The mother-daughter duo are due back in court September 14&comma; according to the Post&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine; <div class&equals;"wpra-reactions-wrap wpra-plugin-container" style&equals;"justify-content&colon; center&semi;&semi;"> <div class&equals;"wpra-reactions-container" data-ver&equals;"1&period;3&period;10" data-post&lowbar;id&equals;"97338" data-show&lowbar;count&equals;"true" data-enable&lowbar;share&equals;"onclick" data-behavior&equals;"regular" data-animation&equals;"true" data-share&lowbar;url&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;dev&period;theshaderoom&period;com&sol;long-island-mother-daughter-duo-conned-850k-in-credit-card-to-finance-designer-clothing-globetrotting-trips&sol;" data-secure&equals;"6042cd2d6f"> <div class&equals;"wpra-call-to-action" style&equals;"color&colon; 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Matthew McNulty

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