Hearing for couple accused in adoption fraud case delayed
Detroit News, The (MI)
Norman Sinclair
SHELBY TOWNSHIP - A preliminary examination for an area couple charged with bilking childless couples in an adoption scam was adjourned this week in 41A District Court until July 23.
Simone Boraggina, 40, of Macomb Township and Joeseph Beauvais, 44, of Novi, are each charged with one count of racketeering and one count of tax fraud in connection with a scheme in which they claimed their Waiting Angels Adoption Agency had a pipeline to babies from Guatemala.
The case was brought last month by Michigan Attorney General Mike Cox. Cox said the couple had taken hundreds of thousands of dollars from nearly a dozen couples without delivering babies
Couples wired money into a Waiting Angels business account at Huntington Bank where Cox said records showed that
Beauvais cashed out $535,741 in 2005-06. Last month investigators searched three safety deposit boxes in Boraggina's name and her home and
seized $523,669 in cash.
Personal bond of $250,000 was continued for each and they remain on electronic tethers.