Tag Archives for crime.
A manager at MGM’s Aria hotel in Las Vegas has been arrested and charged with generating $770,000 in reservation refunds – that he put on his own personal credit card.
The 10 year operations manager with MGM Resorts spent the money “at Louis Vuitton and Versace, flying on private jets, doing spa visits, going to shows and even purchasing a home.”
Many of the crimes here just happened to occur at hotels, or happened because of the specific things guests chose to do while at hotels. As long as you don’t engage in exceptionally risky behavior, they probably won’t happen to you.
Legionnaires disease, of course, is another story entirely. And always sweep your room for hidden cameras if you’re someone that’ll mind being videotaped naked.
Watch your stuff! Airports have more surveillance than just about any other place in the country. There are numerous law enforcement agencies on site, from the TSA to Customs and Border Patrol to the DEA. There are cameras everywhere. Yet passenger belongings are being stolen all the time, and almost no one gets caught.
The problem with living outside the law is you lose its protection. And the more people who are involved in your activities, the greater the risk of getting caught. Asking hotel employees to assist in crimes may seem logical, it is supposed to be a service industry after all. And what happens in Vegas doesn’t truly stay there – that level of discretion is a myth. At least unless you tip really well.
Six men were charged with “stealing millions of airline frequent flier miles” in the Northern District of Texas. While the Department of Justice doesn’t say this, the court in which charges are being brought includes Dallas and almost certainly means they’re prosecuting a theft of American AAdvantage miles.
The lead defendant was arrested in Poland in May and extradited, arriving in FBI custody on Friday after weekend travel from Warsaw to Dallas. I’ve been involved in several criminal trials involving miles and points as an expert witness. This is the first one I’m aware of that involved an international arrest and extradition.
I just an an really interesting piece to be published in the Georgetown Law Journal (shocking itself, it’s also a good read) that argues there’s a 50 square mile area in the U.S. where felonies can’t be prosecuted: the portion of Yellowstone National Park which is in the state of Idaho. The Constitution’s 6th Amendment requires that juries be picked from the same district and state in which a crime is committed. Federal law sets the district governing all of Yellowstone as Wyoming — logical, as the park is 91% in the state of Wyoming. The districts of Montana and Idaho exclude the park.So juries must be chosen from the District of Wyoming to prosecute crimes committed in the park. However, if the crime is committed in that part of the park that is in…
Gary Leff is one of the foremost experts in the field of miles, points, and frequent business travel -- a topic he has covered since 2002.
Co-founder of frequent flyer community InsideFlyer.com, emcee of the Freddie Awards, and named one of the "World's Top Travel Experts" by Conde' Nast Traveler (2010-Present) Gary has been a guest on most major news media, profiled in several top print publications, and published broadly on the topic of consumer loyalty. More About Gary »
