(Washington, DC) Investigators at the District of Columbia Department of Insurance, Securities and Banking (DISB) have been actively involved in fraud investigations that have led to criminal convictions in the District of Columbia and Baltimore, Maryland.

DISB has been involved in the cases of Markus Dukes, co-founder of the Financial Warfare Club, Inc., who was sentenced to 10 years in prison for defrauding investors in the District of Columbia and Maryland; and Michelle Smith, assistant terminal manager, Transportation Division, DC Public Schools, who was charged with attempted second- degree insurance fraud.

"I am pleased with the investigative work our Enforcement bureau has done, which has led to these convictions," said DISB Acting Commissioner Thomas E. Hampton. "The work being performed by our agency assists in the deterrence of fraudulent activities in the financial services industries. DISB will make people who commit fraud accountable for their actions."

Dukes, who attempted to misrepresent and omit facts made to numerous African-American Pentecostal churches promoting membership in the Financial Warfare Club, received the 10-year sentence on November 21, and was ordered to pay more than $1.3 million dollars in restitution. His prison sentence will be followed by three years of supervised probation in connection with his conviction by a federal jury on June 8, 2005, on four counts of mail fraud, seven counts of interstate transportation of money obtained by fraud and one count of money laundering.