Meanwhile, he also faces sentencing for income tax evasion in a different matter. Stenstrom could get five years in prison and a $250,000 fine, or both, on that offense. He has agreed to pay $1.9 million in restitution to the Internal Revenue Service.Nebraska Examiner is part of States Newsroom, a network of news bureaus supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Nebraska Examiner maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Cate Folsom for questions: [email protected]. Follow Nebraska Examiner on Facebook and Twitter.Our stories may be republished online or in print under Creative Commons license CC BY-NC-ND 4.0. We ask that you edit only for style or to shorten, provide proper attribution and link to our web site.As part of his sentence, he also agreed to forfeit his interest in a 2020 McLaren 600LT Spider, multiple trucks, various items of jewelry, a residence in Arizona, multiple properties in Nebraska, currency and multiple life insurance policies worth in excess of $2 million.
Jeffrey Stenstrom, 42, of Omaha, pleaded guilty Wednesday to a federal charge of conspiracy to commit money laundering. He faces up to 20 years in prison, a fine of $500,000 or twice the amount of the laundered funds, or both, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Omaha.Senior Reporter Paul Hammel has covered the Nebraska state government and the state for decades. Previously with the Omaha World-Herald, Lincoln Journal Star and Omaha Sun, he is a member of the Omaha Press Club’s Hall of Fame. He grows hops, brews homemade beer, plays bass guitar and basically loves traveling the state. A native of Ralston, Nebraska, he is vice president of the John G. Neihardt Foundation.
LINCOLN — An Omaha man has agreed to surrender his McLaren sports car and pay $5 million in restitution as part of a plea agreement for a federal money laundering charge.Nebraskans want accountability from their elected officials and government. They want to know whether their tax dollars are being well-spent, whether state agencies and local governments are responsive to the people and whether officials, programs and policies are working for the common good. The Nebraska Examiner is a nonprofit, independent news source committed to providing news, scoops and reports important to our state.
U.S. Magistrate Judge Michael D. Nelson ordered a pre-sentence investigation and set Stenstrom’s sentencing hearing in front of Chief U.S. District Court Judge Robert F. Rossiter Jr. at 1:30 p.m. June 2.
OMAHA, Neb. — An Omaha man has pleaded guilty to money laundering and agreed to forfeit a quarter-million-dollar sports car, trucks, cars and cash in connection with a $5 million embezzlement case.Stenstrom is also awaiting sentencing for Income Tax Evasion in a different matter where he faces a maximum possible punishment of 5 years’ imprisonment, a $250,000 fine, or both. In that matter Stenstrom agreed to pay $1,954,505.10 in restitution to the Internal Revenue Service.As part of his sentence, Stenstrom has agreed to pay more than $5.1 million in restitution to darland Properties LLC, and agreed to forfeit his interest in a 2020 McLaren 600LT Spider, multiple trucks, various items of jewelry, a residence in Arizona, multiple properties in Nebraska and multiple life insurance policies worth more than $2 million.A Fremont man and his partner stole upward of $6 million from customers and subcontractors of an Omaha property management company, federal prosecutors allege.
In the meantime, agents have filed a lawsuit seeking to either freeze or seize a dizzying amount of assets that Brett Cook and Stenstrom purchased over the past four years.
“I can say that Brian became involved with his brother Brett in 2019 at his brother’s request,” Mock said. “His involvement in the company was a part-time endeavor. Whatever nefarious dealings that Brett may have had with Jeff Stenstrom, Brian has no knowledge of and wouldn’t have agreed to it.”On top of that, Brett Cook required customers to pay a fee “for negotiations with insurance companies and by requiring kickbacks.” That resulted in customers losing an additional $1.1 million.
Brian Cook’s attorney, Clarence Mock, said he has seen no evidence that Brian Cook had any knowledge of any fraud alleged to have been committed by his brother. Brian Cook merely agreed to do payroll and billing for a side company that Brett Cook set up in 2019 to do contracting work, Mock said. Brett Cook’s side company was set up to take over for subcontracting work after Stenstrom began to shut down his business, Stenstrom Services.
To try to generate more money for himself and his partner Stenstrom, Brett Cook would steer customers and contractors to Stenstrom, and later to his own shadow company, Midwest Property Maintenance Services, to provide maintenance, repair and renovation work.“On May 4, Saunders County sheriff’s officials found Cook deceased,” according to a civil complaint filed this week in U.S. District Court in Omaha. “He had been shot once in the torso and once in the head. Cook’s death was ruled a suicide.”
During this past winter, which was mild, prosecutors say, the Cooks billed eight Darland customers $194,000 for snow removal — eight times what the bill should have been ($24,000).In one case, Darland had paid a subcontractor $121,000 for material to repave a parking lot. Brett Cook called the subcontractor and told him to reimburse Midwest Property — not Darland — for the materials. Darland Properties, an Omaha-based company, has filed a court action against Brett Cook’s estate, saying they have “claims for fraud … against the (deceased) and the Estate.” In November 2019, Brett Cook and Stenstrom stopped using Stenstrom Services to help out with properties. Instead, Cook and his brother formed Midwest Property Maintenance — which the feds say was a new name for the same game.Prosecutors say the government is also entitled to the $74,000 in cash it found at Cook’s residence in the Woodcliff Lakes area south of Fremont, along with another $75,000 in a bank account.
The two would charge customers for work that was never performed or double-bill them for work that was performed. Brett Cook also would insist that certain subcontractors pay him commissions for steering work to them — kickbacks that he wasn’t entitled to, the feds say.
Stenstrom Services “performed no skilled labor, had no employees and all regular laborers were unskilled,” prosecutors wrote in the civil lawsuit. “Most of the work SSI performed on behalf of (Darland) was subcontracted.The feds say both Stenstrom Services and the replacement company, Midwest Property Maintenance Solutions, billed clients for work they never did, overbilled clients for work that was performed and submitted inflated invoices to obtain insurance proceeds.
Now, federal authorities are investigating Cook’s former domestic partner and business partner, Jeff Stenstrom, and his brother, Brian Cook, according to a press release this week from the U.S. Attorney’s Office. Court records show Stenstrom also is awaiting sentencing for federal income tax evasion after prosecutors allege he failed to file tax returns over several years and failed to claim about $2 million in income that his company received from Cook.Federal agents raided the home of a Darland Properties vice president in May, seizing expensive jewelry and more than $74,000 cash, almost all of it in $100 bills.
“Acting on his own accord without the knowledge of or direction from Darland Properties, Mr. Cook directly received a financial benefit from fraudulently obtained proceeds and concealed his unlawful activity from Darland Properties and its clients,” the company said.If the cars weren’t enough, federal officials say, Cook and Stenstrom purchased a gallery worth of expensive jewelry, including: a $54,000 Rolex Daytona watch; a $52,000 18-karat adjustable chain and four hearts solitaire pendant; a $34,400 Rolex Oyster Perpetual Daytona White Mop8 watch; a $28,300 Hublot Bing Bang watch; a $19,000 DIA 18-inch necklace; an $8,300 Zenith El Primero watch; four Rolex Oyster perpetual watches that ranged in price from $6,000 to $18,000 each; a $13,800 hockey player pendant and a $10,000 18 karat yellow gold hockey goalie pendant; a $14,500 18-karat diamond ring with sapphires; a $13,800 18-karat white gold bull rider pendant; a $3,500 18-karat white gold lady’s ring with sapphires and diamonds; a $2,000 Astron SS brace watch; an $8,700 Breitling Navitimer watch; and a $4,800 Breitling Aviator 8 Curtiss Warhawk watch.
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An Omaha, Nebraska, man pled guilty to money laundering in a more than $5.1 million scheme involving his remodeling and repair company billing clients for work that hadn’t started, overbilling other clients for work that was done and sending false insurance invoices, the U.S. Department of Justice announced.
Stenstrom will also forfeit multiple properties in Nebraska, a residence in Arizona, multiple vehicles, including a 2020 McLaren 600 LT Spider, jewelry and multiple life insurances policies worth over $2 million, the release said.
Stenstrom also has a pending sentencing for income tax evasion in which he faces up to five years in prison and/or a $250,000 fine and will pay just under $2 million in restitution to the IRS, according to the release. Stenstrom and his partner, Brett A. Cook, embezzled upward of $5.1 million from Omaha property management company Darland Properties LLC, which Cook was vice president of, according to Stenstrom’s plea deal. Stenstrom and Cook obtained the money by overbilling for contracting work, billing for work that was not performed and obtaining insurance proceeds from the fraudulent invoices. Under the plea agreement, Stenstrom faces up to 20 years in prison and a fine of $500,000, twice the amount of the laundered funds or both. Stenstrom has also agreed to pay restitution of no less than $5.1 million to Darland Properties, according to the release.
