Former Baby’s on Broadway Owner Sentenced to 15 Months for $9M Federal Bank Fraud Scheme

(KNSI) – The former owner of Baby’s on Broadway in St. Cloud and Little Falls has been sentenced to 15 months in federal prison for masterminding a $9 million bank fraud scheme.

Prosecutors say Adelle Starin operated the store, selling baby products and toys. The 41-year-old Sartell woman submitted false claims for reimbursement to the U.S. Department of Defense’s healthcare program, TRICARE, which initially paid out the claims. When TRICARE began rejecting her claims, Starin created a fictitious company called Sunshine Medical LLC. She falsely represented to two lenders, Liquid Capital Enterprises Corp. and Slope Tech Inc., saying she needed financing to buy supplies for her store from a place called Sunshine Medical, which was a shell company. To collect the cash, Starin created fake invoices from Sunshine Medical and sent them via interstate wire transfers.

In December, Starin pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court to one count of wire fraud. In addition to the prison sentence, she must also serve three years of supervised release and pay $2.35 million in restitution.

Her attorney, Brett Kelly, sent KNSI News an email stating:

“Roughly a year ago, Ms. Starin decided to turn herself into the federal government and self-report her criminal conduct. That is an exceptionally rare occurrence, which both the court and the government appropriately recognized. The parties agreed that the two victims, Liquid Capital and Slope Tech, lost a total of $2.3 million from the fraud. Ms. Starin paid those lenders over $7 million during the same period. She did not enrich herself in this scheme. The money went back into the operating costs of the business. Ms. Starin also agreed to pay roughly $48,000 in restitution to TRICARE for durable medical equipment, independently prescribed by doctors, that was later deemed ineligible for reimbursement.”

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