Karen Elaine Hanover, Convicted FBI “Spoofer,” Fights Back

This post has been updated at the end of the next page to reflect the original federal prosecutor's side of the story. Read more about him here: “Andrew Stolper, Former Federal Prosecutor, Fends Off Critics of His Litigation-Finance Firm.”

A federal grand jury in December indicted Seal Beach real estate saleswoman Karen Elaine Hanover on mail fraud charges for an alleged commercial property investment scam that conned 50 marks out of nearly $2 million.

The 46-year-old began 2012 with a six-month jail sentence and $5,000 in fines for using “spoofing” technology to impersonate FBI agents in calls to her alleged marks.

Both cases were previously reported here and, at least when it comes to the spoofing conviction, incorrectly, according to Hanover.

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In an email to the Weekly, Hanover writes that she was acquitted of obstruction of justice in relation to the government claim that as an FBI agent she intimidated witnesses in the investigation of her. That reporting was based on information on the conviction from the U.S. Attorney's office in Los Angeles as well as previous press statements.

The last paragraph of the Department of Justice release on Hanover's conviction reads: “Previously in this investigation, Hanover was found guilty in October 2011 of impersonating an FBI agent to contact victims of the alleged real estate fraud scheme.” The Weekly has repeatedly reached out for clarification from the U.S. Attorney's media liaison, Thom Mrozek, who first replied “we'll get this sorted out” but has not returned repeated messages since.

Meanwhile, Hanover has her own blog to counter what she claims to be wrongful prosecution and misinformation spread by the feds. In one post she points out one of her prosecutors is Andrew Stolper, whose misdeeds the Weekly just outlined:

William Ruehle, Ex-Broadcom CFO, Shares His Amazing Government Persecution Story at UCI

One Hanover blog relates to her claim that she and an associate were the first ones in this saga to be spoofed by someone posing as an FBI agent. Spoofing refers to online services that allow callers to disguise a phone number and create a fake caller ID. Hanover claims she and associate Jill Duggan received calls for months that appeared to be from the FBI but when she called back the Bureau informed they did not place the calls. Hanover's defense is she then spoofed those she believed had spoofed her.

Faced with call-log evidence that indicated most people just hung up on Hanover's spoof calls and thus could not have been on the line long enough to be intimidated, the judge tossed the obstruction of justice counts but convicted her since she did admit to making the calls, she writes. She claims to have spent 90 days in jail for this.

“The moral of the story is this: If you act impulsively and get down in the mud you're going to get dirty,” she blogs. “BIG lesson learned…”

See also:
Karen Elaine Hanover, Once Looking at 40 Years in Spoofing Case, Gets 6 Months in Jail
Karen Elaine Hanover, Already Convicted for Posing as FBI Agent, Indicted for Mail Fraud

UPDATE: Andrew Stolper, who left the U.S. Attorney's office earlier this year, provided the Weekly several documents that counter some of Hanover's characterizations of the adjudicated spoofing case, the pending fraud trial and her claims of misconduct by the prosecutor.

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