Retired agent Al Scudieri and former Assistant United States attorney (AUSA) Judy Hoyer review the Allen Wolfson case, initiated as an FBI investigation of a $600,000 Tampa bankruptcy fraud that should have taken only months to resolve. Three years later, the case had led to the discovery of two nationwide Ponzi schemes and the failure of the Metropolitan Bank and Trust Company of Tampa, with about $322 million in assets. It also uncovered a nexus to an Oklahoma bank failure investigation.
Al investigated the cases reviewed in this episode with retired agent and accountant Ron Jordan. The occurred in the early 1980s, a prolific era for investment and bank fraud schemes throughout the U.S.
These and many other cases he investigated during his FBI career are featured in Al Scudieri’s new memoir. He is the author of A Fortunate Fed: Behind the Scenes in the life of an FBI agent. Visit his website, authoralscudieri.com to learn more about Al and his new book.
“The case really starts with Allen Wolfson, who left New York City in the early 1970s, came to Tampa, went to college here, got a degree in business at the University of South Florida, and then, um, set up shop as an investment counselor and a land developer and got in trouble with something called The Key Bank. We wouldn’t be talking about this case if it didn’t lead us to unraveling a whole network of multimillion-dollar fraud schemes that impacted thousands of victims and caused a loss of millions of dollars.”—Retired Agent Al Scudieri
“Tampa was like the Wild West when it came to financial fraud. I put Alan in prison once, and my late husband put him in prison twice. But, you know, like that bad penny, he kept turning up.”—Former AUSA Judy Hoyer
Special Agent (Retired)
Alfred Scudieri
Al served in the FBI for thirty-years, five as a night-shift clerk and 25 as an agent. He served in the New York, Birmingham, Washington D.C., San Juan, and Tampa FBI offices.
In Tampa, he supervised investigations involving public corruption matters, investment fraud, healthcare fraud, Defense Department fraud, and bank failures.
Many of his cases were featured in The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, Forbes Magazine, and on the “60 Minutes” television news program. He also served on the San Juan and Tampa SWAT teams for over twenty years. After retiring from the FBI, Al was the chief investigator for law firms in Tampa and Atlanta, where he investigated Medicare fraud cases. He also worked as a contractor for the investigative unit of ABC TV’s “World News Tonight.” Al is a past-president of the Society of Former Special Agents of the FBI.
Judy Hoyer served 17 years as a criminal prosecutor at the state and federal levels, concentrating on fraud cases.
In 1993, she and her husband Chris, along with the outgoing State Attorney Bill James, started a law firm, James Hoyer, in Tampa. They concentrated on representing victims and whistleblowers of fraud and hired retired federal agents, primarily from the FBI, to investigate their clients’ claims. The firm is now headed by their daughter and is known as The Hoyer Law Group.
The firm was recognized by a branch of the ABA as Whistleblower Law Firm of the Year, and its client was given special recognition for her bravery in fighting the injustice of being fired for attempting to stop a major fraud.
Judy and Chris purchased a summer home in Flat Rock, North Carolina. Following Chris’s death, she returned to Tampa to be closer to her children, but that lasted only a year due to the extremely hot weather. In June 2024, Judy moved back to Flat Rock, where she does volunteer work for several non-profits and charities.
The following are links and images regarding the Allen Wolfson bankruptcy fraud and other financial crime investigations:
New York Times – 2/13/1982: DEBTS LEAD TO A BANK TAKEOVER
UPI – 1/28/1983: Financier Allen Z. Wolfson and a former associate were sentenced to five years
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