Scottsdale man indicted after search warrants served on his Phoenix business

PHOENIX - Attorney General Terry Goddard announced Tuesday that a Scottsdale man has been indicted on several charges stemming from warrants served on his Valley business recently.

Leslie Spencer Mersky, 64, has been indicted on charges of fraudulent schemes and artifices, forgery, theft and aggravated identity theft.

According to the Attorney General's Office, Mersky is the owner of Bankcard Empire of Phoenix, which sells business opportunity packages. The packages often required a large upfront fee over the Internet.

Goddard says Mersky is accused of making fraudulent charges to the credit card accounts of purchasers of Bankcard Empire's work-at-home business opportunities sold over the Internet. He allegedly told his employees to cut and paste the signatures of purchasers of Bankcard's products into unauthorized credit card payment authorizations.

Bankcard Empire was the target of a search warrant executed two months ago and has been the subject of many consumer complaints about its business practices.

The U.S. Postal Service, Tempe Police, Phoenix Police, the Arizona Corporation Commission and the Arizona Attorney General's Office were involved in the investigation.