Job Agency Figure’s Probation Revoked : Marks Violated Terms in Earlier Fraud Conviction, Judge Rules

A federal judge Monday ordered Michael B. Marks, owner of an overseas employment agency accused of bilking 70,000 job seekers out of more than $25 million before it was shut down earlier this year, to complete a five-year prison term for a previous fraud conviction.

“Greed got him here in the first place and greed is going to keep him here,” said Chief Judge Manuel L. Real of the U.S. District Court in Los Angeles, concluding a three-day hearing on charges that Marks had violated the terms of his probation in an unrelated case.

In revoking Marks’ probation, Real ruled that he had engaged in theft and fraud in the operation of Overseas Unlimited Agency, the Wilshire Boulevard business he owned for four years before its closing in June on orders from the Federal Trade Commission.

Warned by Asst. U.S. Atty. David A. Katz that Marks might flee the country if given time to put his affairs in order, Real ordered the 48-year-old Canyon Country resident into immediate custody, an unusual step in a white-collar crime case. Katz said Marks had claimed a net worth last year of $14 million and had told associates he had overseas bank accounts.

In its first move to shut down an overseas jobs agency, the FTC had charged that Overseas Unlimited helped few of its clients find jobs abroad, despite charging fees of as much as $550 to match them with prospective employers.

State investigators said no more than 50 clients got jobs in four years. The firm was under investigation by state or federal agencies almost the entire time Marks owned it.

In seeking Marks’ incarceration, federal probation officers charged that Marks fabricated the existence of an international construction company and then matched Overseas Unlimited clients with phony jobs at the sham company.

Witnesses testified that Marks set up phone answering and mail service for the non-existent company and was seen in his office preparing letters to clients on the bogus firm’s stationery.

Marks claimed that the non-existent firm was a hoax perpetrated by his rivals at another overseas job agency in Los Angeles.

Even after Real said he found that testimony “incredible,” Marks pleaded for leniency and insisted he had done no wrong.

“You said I haven’t gotten over my greed. I think I have,” Marks told the judge. “I swore I would never commit another crime, and I haven’t committed another crime.”

Marks was placed on probation in January, 1987, for his role in a $3-million fraudulent scheme, directed by his brother, to sell photocopier supplies by phone. His attorney, Joel Levine, said Real’s ruling would be appealed.