Posted in: Comics | Tagged: idw, IDW Media Holdings, joseph menaged, stephen brown, yomtov scott menaged

Former IDW Board Member Stephen Brown Indicted for Bank Fraud With Reality TV Star's Dad [Updated]

UPDATE: In response to this article, IDW has informed Bleeding Cool that Stephen Brown resigned as Vice Chairman of the Board of Directors of IDW in April, after the initial civil suit in New York and around the same time as the charges were filed in the federal case, and has had no association with the company since then. No public announcement of Brown's resignation was made at that time or since. Read more here.

Original article follows:

Stephen Brown, Vice Chairman of the Board of Directors of IDW Media Holdings, has been indicted for charges unrelated to ones previously detailed from a civil suit by the Attorney General of New York for his involvement in the credit card transaction startup Cardis. The new criminal indictment, as detailed in a report from Debanked, is a federal charge stemming from Brown's services as an accountant for Joseph Menaged, father of disgraced reality TV star Yomtov Scott Menaged.

The younger Menaged pled guilty in 2017 to "conspiracy to commit bank fraud, aggravated identity theft and money-laundering conspiracy, admitted to submitting false credit applications using the identities of dead people and embezzling millions of dollars from a lending firm as part of a real-estate scam" worth over $700 million, according to a report from the Miami Herald. Some of that money was transferred to Joseph Menaged, who allegedly attempted to launder it through the real estate deals.

The two are charged with 7 counts of bank fraud and conspiracy to commit bank fraud in multiple New York and Miami real estate deals, as the court filing below details. Brown, in particular, is charged with falsifying documents for Menaged in order to obtain financing from banks and legitimize the money given to Joseph Menaged by Scott Menaged.

According to the report by Debanked, who also obtained and published the original court filing from April, Brown is free on bail until a February trial in the Arizona United States District Court. Brown has reportedly lobbied to be allowed to travel within the United States during that time so that he can continue to perform accounting duties for other clients.

Brown was added to the IDWM Board of Directors in 2017, at which time a press release noted:

Mr. Brown does not have any Legal/Disciplinary History, Related Party Transactions or Family Relationships with respect to IDW that require disclosure pursuant to Item 11 of Section One of the OTC Markets Alternative Reporting Standard's Disclosure Guidelines for OTCQX companies. Mr. Brown does not beneficially own any equity securities of IDW, and will receive $12,000 per year as compensation for his services as an outside director.

At press time, IDW could not be reached for comment.

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