District Not Recorded
The source did not name an office we could identify. These records remain unassigned rather than guessed.
Federal Court Permanently Bars San Antonio Tax Preparer from Preparing Tax Returns for OthersRead the Press Release
A federal court in San Antonio has permanently barred a Texas man and his business, Cardenas Income Tax Service, from preparing federal tax returns for others, the Justice Department announced today.
The civil injunction order, to which John Andrew Cardenas consented, was signed by Judge Orlando L. Garcia of the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas.
The complaint alleged that Cardenas individually and through Cardenas Income Tax Service, which had offices in Uvalde, Crystal City, Kingsville and Corpus Christi, Texas, prepared federal tax returns for customers using fraudulent Schedule C businesses on the return to inappropriately reduce customers’ federal tax liabilities. The suit alleges that the harm caused to the U.S. Treasury may exceed $900,000. Cardenas, who previously pleaded guilty to one count of aiding and abetting the preparation of a false and fraudulent tax return, agreed to the permanent injunction and admitted the allegations in the government’s complaint.
Return preparer fraud is one of the Internal Revenue Service’s (IRS) Dirty Dozen Tax Scams for 2014. The IRS has some tips on their website for choosing a tax preparer. In the past decade, the Tax Division has obtained injunctions against hundreds of unscrupulous tax preparers. Information about these cases is available on the Justice Department website. An alphabetical listing of persons enjoined from preparing returns and promoting tax schemes can be found on this page. If you believe that one of the enjoined persons or businesses may be violating an injunction, please contact the Tax Division with details.
Related Materials:
United States v. John Andrew Cardenas, etc.
Agreed Stipulated Judgment of Permanent Injunction Against John Andrew CardenasPresident of Houston Hospital and Three Others Convicted in $158 Million Medicare Fraud SchemeRead the Press Release
A federal jury in Houston today convicted the president of Riverside General Hospital (Riverside), his son, and two others for their participation in a $158 million Medicare fraud scheme involving false claims for mental health treatment. Ten defendants have now been convicted in connection with the Riverside fraud scheme.
Assistant Attorney General Leslie R. Caldwell of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division, U.S. Attorney Kenneth Magidson of the Southern District of Texas, Special Agent in Charge Perrye K. Turner of the FBI’s Houston Field Office, Special Agent in Charge Lucy R. Cruz of the Internal Revenue Service – Criminal Investigation’s (IRS-CI) Houston Field Office and the Texas Attorney General’s Medicaid Fraud Control Unit (MFCU) made the announcement. U.S. District Judge Lee H. Rosenthal of the Southern District of Texas presided over the trial.
“The former president of Riverside hospital, his son, and their co-conspirators systematically defrauded Medicare, treating mentally ill and disabled Americans like chits to be traded and cashed out to pad their own pockets,” said Assistant Attorney General Caldwell. “For over six years, the Gibsons and their co-conspirators stuck taxpayers with millions in hospital bills, purportedly for intensive psychiatric treatment. But the ‘treatment’ was a sham – some patients just watched television all day, others had dementia and couldn’t understand the therapy they supposedly received, and other patients never even went to the hospital at all. Today’s verdict sends another powerful message that the department will hold accountable anyone who seeks personal profits at the expense of America’s most vulnerable citizens.”
Earnest Gibson III, 70, the former president of Riverside, Earnest Gibson IV, 37, the operator of one of Riverside’s satellite locations, and Regina Askew, 49, a group home owner, were each convicted of conspiracy to commit health care fraud and conspiracy to pay kickbacks, as well as related counts of paying and receiving illegal kickbacks. Robert Crane, 58, a patient recruiter, was convicted of conspiracy to pay and receive kickbacks. Gibson III and Gibson IV were also convicted of conspiracy to commit money laundering. Gibson III was acquitted of two substantive counts of paying and receiving illegal kickbacks.
According to evidence presented at trial, Gibson III, Gibson IV, and Askew operated a scheme to defraud Medicare beginning in 2005 and continuing until June 2012. The defendants caused the submission of false and fraudulent claims for partial hospitalization program (PHP) services to Medicare through the hospital. A PHP is a form of intensive outpatient treatment for severe mental illness.
Specifically, evidence at trial demonstrated that the Medicare beneficiaries for whom Riverside and its satellite locations billed Medicare for PHP services did not qualify for or need PHP services. Moreover, the Medicare beneficiaries rarely saw a psychiatrist and did not receive intensive psychiatric treatment. In fact, some of the Medicare beneficiaries were suffering from Alzheimer’s and could not actively participate in any treatment even if they actually qualified to receive PHP services. Nevertheless, Gibson III, Gibson IV and Askew submitted claims for reimbursement to Medicare claiming that PHP services were provided to the Medicare beneficiaries.
Evidence presented at trial also showed that Earnest Gibson III paid kickbacks to patient recruiters and to owners and operators of group care homes, including Askew, in exchange for those individuals delivering ineligible Medicare beneficiaries to the hospital’s PHPs. Gibson IV also paid patient recruiters, including Crane and others, in exchange for those individuals delivering ineligible Medicare beneficiaries to the specific PHP operated by Gibson IV.
Approximately $158 million in claims to Medicare were submitted for PHP services purportedly provided by the hospital to the recruited beneficiaries, when in fact, the PHP services were medically unnecessary or never provided. The proceeds from the health care fraud were used to promote the fraud scheme by paying kickbacks to patient recruiters and group home owners in exchange for their sending Medicare beneficiaries to the hospital’s PHPs.
Gibson III, Gibson IV, Askew and Crane are scheduled to be sentenced on Feb. 17, 2015.
Others involved in the fraudulent scheme have already pleaded guilty and are awaiting sentencing. Mohammad Khan, an assistant administrator at the hospital, who managed many of the hospital’s PHPs, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit health care fraud, conspiracy to defraud the United States and to pay illegal kickbacks, and five counts of paying illegal kickbacks. William Bullock, an operator of a Riverside satellite location, as well as Leslie Clark, Robert Ferguson, Waddie McDuffie, and Sharonda Holmes, who were all involved in paying or receiving kickbacks, have also pleaded guilty to their roles in the scheme.
The case was investigated by the FBI, IRS-CI, and Texas MFCU, with assistance from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Office of Inspector General’s (HHS-OIG) Dallas Regional Office, the Railroad Retirement Board, Office of Inspector General’s Chicago Field Office and the Office of Personnel Management’s Office of Inspector General, and was brought as part of the Medicare Fraud Strike Force, under the supervision of the Criminal Division’s Fraud Section and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Texas. The case is being prosecuted by Assistant Chiefs Laura M.K. Cordova and Jennifer L. Saulino and Trial Attorney Ashlee C. McFarlane of the Criminal Division’s Fraud Section.
Since its inception in March 2007, the Medicare Fraud Strike Force, now operating in nine cities across the country, has charged nearly 2,000 defendants who have collectively billed the Medicare program for more than $6 billion. In addition, the HHS Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, working in conjunction with the HHS-OIG, are taking steps to increase accountability and decrease the presence of fraudulent providers.
To learn more about the Health Care Fraud Prevention and Enforcement Action Team (HEAT), go to www.stopmedicarefraud.gov.
Owner of Texas Perfume Business Indicted for Violating Cash Reporting Requirements Involving More Than $1.6 millionRead the Press Release
The owner and president of a wholesale and retail perfume store in Laredo, Texas, was indicted by a federal grand jury today on 44 counts of causing his business to fail to report cash transactions of more than $10,000.
Assistant Attorney General Leslie R. Caldwell of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division and U.S. Attorney Kenneth Magidson of the Southern District of Texas made the announcement.
The indictment alleges that Virender Sharma, 59, of Laredo, Texas, was the owner and president of T.M. Perfumes, and was responsible for complying with the cash reporting requirements for the company. Despite knowing of his filing obligations since 2006, Sharma allegedly caused the business to fail to report at least 44 cash transactions exceeding $10,000 between June 2009 and July 2010, which totaled more than $1.6 million.
The charges contained in an indictment are merely accusations, and a defendant is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.
The case was investigated by the Internal Revenue Service – Criminal Investigation and the Drug Enforcement Administration. The case is being prosecuted by Trial Attorney Keith Liddle of the Criminal Division’s Asset Forfeiture and Money Laundering Section and Assistant U.S. Attorney Ted Imperato of the Southern District of Texas.
New Hampshire Man Pleads Guilty to Filing False Tax ReturnRead the Press Release
A Hampton, New Hampshire, man pleaded guilty today in the U.S. District Court for the District of New Hampshire to filing a false federal income tax return for tax year 2009, the Justice Department and Internal Revenue Service (IRS) announced.
According to court documents, Menashe Cohen, an oriental carpet dealer, and his sister maintained an undeclared bank account at UBS in Switzerland that had a balance of approximately $1.3 million. Cohen also maintained bank accounts in Israel and in Jersey, a British Crown dependency located in the Channel Islands off the coast of Normandy, France. Although Cohen’s return for tax year 2009 reported that he had a financial interest in a bank account in Jersey, the return failed to report that he had financial interests in the accounts located in Switzerland and Israel. In addition, Cohen’s return only reported $350 in interest income, when in fact he had received approximately $66,500 in interest income during 2009.
In total, for tax years 2006 through 2009, Cohen failed to report approximately $170,000 in income earned from offshore bank accounts. In addition, Cohen filed a false and fraudulent Report of Foreign Bank and Financial Accounts (FBAR) for 2009, wherein Cohen reported he had bank accounts in Israel and Jersey on the FBAR, but failed to report his financial interest in the UBS account in Switzerland.
According to the law, U.S. citizens and residents who have an interest in, or signature or other authority over, a financial account in a foreign country with assets in excess of $10,000 are required to disclose the existence of such account on Schedule B, Part III, of their individual income tax returns (Forms 1040). Additionally, U.S. citizens and residents must file a FBAR with the U.S. Treasury disclosing any financial account in a foreign country with assets in excess of $10,000 in which they have a financial interest or signature or other authority.
Cohen faces a statutory potential maximum sentence of three years in prison and a maximum fine of $250,000 at his Jan. 26, 2015, sentencing. In addition, Cohen has agreed to resolve his civil liability for failing to report his financial interest in the UBS account on a FBAR by paying a 50 percent civil penalty to the IRS based on the high balance of his one-half interest in the account.
This case was investigated by special agents of IRS-Criminal Investigation and is being prosecuted by Senior Litigation Counsel John E. Sullivan of the department’s Tax Division and Assistant U.S. Attorney Robert M. Kinsella for the District of New Hampshire.
Additional information about the Tax Division and its enforcement efforts may be found at www.justice.gov/tax/.
Michigan Luxury Car Mechanic Indicted for Tax FraudRead the Press Release
A mechanic who specializes in repairing exotic foreign cars and other high-end luxury vehicles was arrested on Friday after being indicted on tax charges by a grand jury in Detroit, the Justice Department announced.
Terry Myr, a resident of Smith’s Creek, Michigan, was charged with tax evasion and failure to file tax returns. If convicted, Myr faces a maximum sentence of nine years in prison and a $650,000 fine.
According to the indictment, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) assessed Myr approximately $195,000 in taxes, interest and penalties for his failure to report all of his income for the years 2000 through 2003. To avoid the IRS collecting this money, Myr transferred property that he owned to a third party, used nominee companies to conceal his income and assets, and otherwise dealt in cash. The indictment alleges that Myr failed to file tax returns from 2002 through 2010.
The case was investigated by special agents of the IRS – Criminal Investigation. Trial Attorneys Tiwana Wright and Kenneth Vert from the Justice Department’s Tax Division are prosecuting the case.
An indictment merely alleges that a crime has been committed, and the defendant is presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.
Additional information about the Tax Division and its enforcement efforts may be found on the division website.
Un Jurado Condena a un Hombre Peruano por Defraudar y Extorsionar a Clientes de Habla Hispana por Medio de Centros de Llamadas FraudulentosRead the Press Release
Un jurado en Miami condenó a un hombre de Lima, Perú, por 26 cargos de delitos mayores de conspiración, fraude e intento de extorsión, cometidos a partir de sus centros de llamadas en Perú, que mintieron y amenazaron a víctimas de habla hispana para que pagaran arreglos fraudulentos, anunció hoy el Departamento de Justicia.
Juan Alejandro Rodríguez Cuya, 35, fue condenado por un jurado después de menos de dos horas de deliberación después de un juicio de dos semanas de duración ante la Jueza Federal de Distrito Patricia A. Seitz en el tribunal federal de Miami. A mitad del enjuiciamiento, su codemandada en el juicio, María Luzula, 52, de Miami, se declaró culpable de todos los cargos contra su persona. Luzula es la madre de Cuya.
Cuya y Luzula ambos enfrentan un máximo legal de 20 años en prisión por cada cargo. Ambos demandados deben permanecer detenidos hasta que se dicten sus sentencias el 22 de enero de 2015 y el 18 de diciembre, respectivamente.
"Los demandados se aprovecharon de la comunidad de habla hispana específicamente – y el daño causado a las víctimas individuales por el fraude cometido es desgarrador", señaló la Secretaria de Justicia Auxiliar Interina Joyce R. Branda de la División Civil del Departamento de Justicia. "El Departamento de Justicia se compromete a enjuiciar a quienes defrauden a los consumidores para su propio lucro personal".
De acuerdo con las pruebas presentadas en el juicio, los empleados de los demandados en Perú utilizaron llamadas telefónicas para amenazar a víctimas de habla hispana en los Estados Unidos. Los llamantes peruanos falsamente acusaron a las víctimas de haberse negado al envío de ciertos productos y alegaron que las víctimas debían miles de dólares en multas y que serían enjuiciadas. En realidad, las víctimas nunca habían pedido estos productos y no se les había enviado nada.
Pruebas adicionales en el juicio establecieron que los empleados de Luzula y Cuya alegaron que los consumidores podían resolver las multas si pagaban de inmediato un "cargo de resolución". Se les dijo a los clientes que disputaron estos cargos de resolución que, si no pagaban, podrían ser arrestados, deportados o su propiedad podría ser confiscada. Miles de víctimas sucumbieron ante estas amenazas y pagaron cargos que no debían. Una sala telefónica en Miami cobró los cargos.
Las víctimas que atestiguaron en el enjuiciamiento mencionaron el nivel de ansiedad que las llamadas les provocaron. Las víctimas tenían tanto miedo de las amenazas que pagaron cargos a los que ni siquiera podían hacer frente.
La Secretaria de Justicia Auxiliar Interina Branda elogió al Servicio de Inspección Postal de EE.UU. por su labor de investigación y agradeció a la Fiscalía Federal para el Distrito Sur de Florida por sus aportes al caso. El caso penal fue enjuiciado por el Abogado Litigante Phil Toomajian y el Director Auxiliar Richard Goldberg de la Oficina de Protección del Consumidor de la División Civil.
Two Connecticut Men Plead Guilty to Bribery Scheme Involving FBI Agent in New YorkRead the Press Release
Two Connecticut men pleaded guilty today to bribery charges, admitting that they participated in a scheme to obtain confidential, internal law enforcement documents and information from a former FBI Special Agent in White Plains, New York.
Assistant Attorney General Leslie R. Caldwell of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division, U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara of the Southern District of New York, and Justice Department Inspector General Michael D. Horowitz made the announcement.
Johannes Thaler, 51, of Fairfield County, Connecticut, and Rizve Ahmed, aka “Caesar,” 35, of Danbury, Connecticut, pleaded guilty today in White Plains, New York, federal court to bribery and conspiracy to commit honest services and wire fraud before U.S. District Judge Vincent L. Briccetti of the Southern District of New York. Both Thaler and Ahmed admitted to participating in a bribery scheme with Robert Lustyik, a former FBI Special Agent in White Plains who worked on the counterintelligence squad.
In pleading guilty, Thaler and Ahmed admitted that between September 2011 and March 2012, Thaler and Lustyik solicited bribes from Ahmed, in exchange for Lustyik’s agreement to provide internal, confidential documents and other confidential information to which Lustyik had access by virtue of his position as an FBI Special Agent. Thaler was Lustyik’s friend, and Ahmed, a native of Bangladesh, was an acquaintance of Thaler. Ahmed sought confidential law enforcement information, including a Suspicious Activity Report, pertaining to a Bangladeshi political figure who was affiliated with a political party opposing Ahmed’s views. Thaler and Ahmed admitted that Ahmed requested the confidential information to help Ahmed locate and harm his intended victim and others associated with the victim. Ahmed also sought assistance in having criminal charges against a different Bangladeshi political figure dismissed.
Thaler and Ahmed admitted that they exchanged various text messages in furtherance of the scheme, including text messages about a “contract” that would require Ahmed to pay a $40,000 “retainer” and $30,000 “monthly.” In return, Lustyik and Thaler agreed to “give [Ahmed] everything [they] ha[d] plus set up [the victim] and get the inside from the party.”
Thaler and Lustyik also exchanged text messages about how to pressure Ahmed to pay them additional money in exchange for confidential information. For example, in text messages, Lustyik told Thaler, “we need to push [Ahmed] for this meeting and get that 40 gs quick . . . . I will talk us into getting the cash . . . . I will work my magic . . . . We r sooooooo close.” Thaler responded, “I know. It’s all right there in front of us. Pretty soon we’ll be having lunch in our oceanfront restaurant . . . .”
Additionally, in late January 2012, Lustyik learned that Ahmed was considering using a different source to obtain confidential information. As a result, Lustyik sent a text message to Thaler stating, “I want to kill [Ahmed] . . . . I hung my ass out the window n we got nothing? . . . . Tell [Ahmed], I’ve got [the victim’s] number and I’m pissed. . . . I will put a wire on n get [Ahmed and his associates] to admit they want [a Bangladeshi political figure] offed n we sell it to the victim].” Lustyik further stated, “So bottom line. I need ten gs asap. We gotta squeeze C.”
Sentencing hearings for Thaler and Ahmed are scheduled for Jan. 23, 2015.
Lustyik is scheduled for trial on Nov. 17, 2014. The charges contained in an indictment are merely accusations, and the defendant is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.
This case was investigated by the Department of Justice’s Office of the Inspector General and is being prosecuted by Trial Attorney Emily Rae Woods of the Justice Department’s Public Integrity Section and Assistant U.S. Attorney Benjamin Allee of the White Plains Division of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York.
Operators of Houston Area Diagnostic Centers Agree to Pay $2.6 Million to Settle Alleged False Claims Act ViolationsRead the Press Release
Two groups of Houston-based diagnostic centers have agreed to pay the United States a total of more than $2.6 million to settle allegations that they violated the False Claims Act, announced Acting Assistant Attorney General Joyce R. Branda for the Department of Justice’s Civil Division and U.S. Attorney Kenneth Magidson for the Southern District of Texas. The settlements were finalized without an admission of liability and without commencement of litigation.
One group of centers, which operates under the name One Step Diagnostic and is owned and controlled by Fuad Rehman Cochinwala, has agreed to pay $1.2 million. The payment is being made to settle allegations that it violated the Stark Statute and the False Claims Act by entering into sham consulting and medical director agreements with physicians who referred patients to One Step Diagnostic Centers.
The other group of centers, which is owned and controlled by Rahul Dhawan, has agreed to pay $1,457,686. This group consists of Complete Imaging Solutions LLC doing business as Houston Diagnostics, Deerbrook Diagnostics & Imaging Center LLC, Elite Diagnostic Inc., Galleria MRI & Diagnostic LLC, Spring Imaging Center Inc. and West Houston MRI & Diagnostics LLC. The United States alleged that these centers engaged in improper financial relationships with referring physicians and improperly billed Medicare using the provider number of a physician who had not authorized them to do so and had not been involved in the provision of the services being billed.
“The Department of Justice has longstanding concerns about improper financial relationships between health care providers and their referral sources, because such relationships can alter a physician's judgment about the patient's true health care needs and drive up health care costs for everyone,” said Acting Assistant Attorney General Branda. “In addition to yielding a recovery for taxpayers, this settlement should deter similar conduct in the future and help make health care more affordable.”
“These settlements totaling more than $2.6 million represent the continuing commitment of our office in combatting health care fraud,” said U.S. Attorney Magidson. “The U.S. takes these accusations seriously. Working within the whistleblower laws, we will continue to bring these cases to public view where tax payer money is being used improperly.”
The settlements announced today arose from a lawsuit filed by three whistleblowers under the qui tam provisions of the False Claims Act. Under that act, private citizens can bring suit on behalf of the government for false claims and share in any recovery.
This settlement illustrates the government’s emphasis on combating health care fraud and marks another achievement for the Health Care Fraud Prevention and Enforcement Action Team (HEAT) initiative, which was announced in May 2009 by the Attorney General and the Secretary of Health and Human Services. The partnership between the two departments has focused efforts to reduce and prevent Medicare and Medicaid financial fraud through enhanced cooperation. One of the most powerful tools in this effort is the False Claims Act. Since January 2009, the Justice Department has recovered a total of more than $22.5 billion through False Claims Act cases, with more than $14.3 billion of that amount recovered in cases involving fraud against federal health care programs.
The case, United States ex rel. Holderith, et al. v. One Step Diagnostic, Inc., et al., Case No. 12-CV-2988 (S.D. Tex.), was handled by the Justice Department’s Civil Division, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Texas and Department of Health and Human Services - Office of Inspector General. The claims settled by this agreement are allegations only, and there has been no determination of liability.
Justice Department Sues Wisconsin Mobile Home Park for Discriminating Against Families with ChildrenRead the Press Release
The Justice Department announced today that it has filed a lawsuit against the owners and operators of the Twin Oaks Mobile Home Park, a 230-lot mobile home park, in Whitewater, Wisconsin, for refusing to allow families with children to live in certain areas of the park, in violation of the Fair Housing Act.
The lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court in Madison, Wisconsin, alleges that the owner of Twin Oaks, Twin Oaks Mobile Home Park, Inc. and its managers—Merrill Eugene Gutzmer and Dennis Hansen—violated the Fair Housing Act by maintaining and enforcing a policy of not allowing families with children to reside in an area that includes approximately 60 of the 230 lots within the park. The park does not limit residency to older persons. The complaint further alleges that, under the policy described above, the defendants refused to approve the application for residency of a single woman who planned to purchase the home of a former resident and live there with her then two-year-old child. The single woman and the mobile home owner who was trying to sell her mobile home subsequently filed a complaint with the Department of Housing and Urban Development (“HUD”). After conducting an investigation, HUD found that the defendants had violated the Fair Housing Act, and referred the matter to the Department of Justice.
“For over twenty-five years, the Fair Housing Act has prohibited housing providers from refusing to rent or sell housing to families with children,” said Acting Assistant Attorney General Molly Moran for the Civil Rights Division. “Many parents are already struggling to find affordable housing for their families, and they should not also have to face discrimination because they have children.”
“This office is committed to ensuring that all residents in this district, including families with children, are afforded equal opportunity to rent and live where they choose under the Fair Housing Act,” said U.S. Attorney John W. Vaudreuil for the Western District of Wisconsin. “Discrimination based on familial status will not be tolerated in this district.”
“HUD and the Department of Justice will continue to enforce the Fair Housing Act to ensure that the housing options of families are not illegally limited because they have children,” said HUD Assistant Secretary Gustavo Velasquez for Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity.
The suit seeks a court order requiring the defendants to bring their policies and practices into compliance with the Fair Housing Act, as well as monetary damages for persons harmed and civil penalties to the United States. Anyone with information about potential discrimination against families with children at Twin Oaks should call the Justice Department at 1-800-896-7743, mailbox #9997, or call the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Wisconsin, at (608) 264-5158.
The federal Fair Housing Act prohibits discrimination in housing based on race, color, religion, national origin, sex, familial status, and disability. Among other things, the Fair Housing Act makes it illegal to refuse to rent housing and to discriminate in the terms or conditions of housing rentals because of familial status, except in specified categories of housing that are reserved for older persons. More information about the Civil Rights Division and the laws it enforces is available at www.usdoj.gov/crt.
Individuals who believe that they may have been victims of housing discrimination can call the Justice Department at 1-800-896-7743, email the Justice Department at [email protected], or contact the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development at 1-800-669-9777 or through www.hud.gov.
The complaint is an allegation of unlawful conduct. The allegations in the complaint must still be proven in federal court.
Jury Convicts Peruvian Man of Defrauding and Extorting Spanish-Speaking Customers through Fraudulent Call CentersRead the Press Release
A jury in Miami convicted a Lima, Peru, man on 26 felony charges of conspiracy, fraud and attempted extortion arising from his operating call centers in Peru that lied to and threatened Spanish-speaking victims into paying fraudulent settlements, the Department of Justice announced today.
Juan Alejandro Rodriguez Cuya, 35, was convicted by a jury after less than two hours of deliberation following a two-week trial before U.S. District Court Judge Patricia A. Seitz in Miami federal court. His co-defendant at trial, Maria Luzula, 52, of Miami, pleaded guilty to all of the charges against her midway through the trial. Luzula is Cuya’s mother.
Cuya and Luzula both face a statutory maximum of 20 years in prison on each count. Both defendants remain in custody pending their sentencing on Jan. 22, 2015, and Dec. 18, respectively.
“The defendants targeted and preyed upon the Spanish-speaking community – and the evidence of the harm that their fraud caused on individual victims is heart-wrenching,” said Acting Assistant Attorney General Joyce R. Branda of the Justice Department’s Civil Division. “The Justice Department is committed to prosecuting those who defraud consumers for their own personal gain.”
According to evidence presented at trial, the defendants’ employees in Peru used Internet-based telephone calls to threaten Spanish-speaking victims in the United States. The Peruvian callers falsely accused the victims of having refused delivery of certain products and claimed that the victims owed thousands of dollars in fines and that lawsuits would be brought against them. In reality, the victims had never ordered these products and nothing had been delivered.
Additional evidence at trial established that Luzula’s and Cuya’s employees claimed that the consumers could resolve the fines if they immediately paid a “settlement fee.” Consumers who contested these settlement fees were told that failure to pay could lead to arrest, deportation or forfeiture of property. Thousands of victims succumbed to these threats and paid fees that they did not owe. A phone room in Miami collected the fees.
Victims who testified at trial spoke of how anxious the calls made them. The victims were so afraid of the threats that they paid fees they simply could not afford.
Acting Assistant Attorney General Branda commended the U.S. Postal Inspection Service for their investigative efforts and thanked the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Florida for their contributions to the case. The case was prosecuted by Trial Attorney Phil Toomajian and Assistant Director Richard Goldberg of the Civil Division’s Consumer Protection Branch.
After Supreme Court Declines to Hear Same-Sex Marriage Cases, Attorney General Holder Announces Federal Government to Recognize Couples in Seven New StatesRead the Press Release
Attorney General Eric Holder announced today that the federal government will recognize same-sex marriages taking place in the states affected by the Supreme Court’s recent decision to decline to review rulings from three federal appeals courts that had struck down bans on same-sex marriage. The Attorney General added that the Department of Justice will work with agencies across the administration to ensure that all applicable federal benefits are extended to those couples as soon as possible.
“We will not delay in fulfilling our responsibility to afford every eligible couple, whether same-sex or opposite-sex, the full rights and responsibilities to which they are entitled. With their long-awaited unions, we are slowly drawing closer to full equality for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender Americans nationwide,” Attorney General Holder said.
The complete text of the Attorney General’s video message is below:
“Last week, the Supreme Court declined to review rulings from three federal appeals courts that had struck down bans on same-sex marriage in five states across the country. Going forward, marriage equality will be the law in those states.
“The practical consequences of the Court’s decision are profound for families throughout the nation. Within hours of the decision, same-sex couples in Indiana, Oklahoma, Utah, Virginia, and Wisconsin were able to have their unions recognized in the states where they live—to stand with their partners, and with their children, as loving and committed families with the full protection of the law.
“I am pleased to announce that the federal government will recognize the same-sex marriages now taking place in the affected states, and I have directed lawyers here at the Department of Justice to work with our colleagues at agencies across the Administration to ensure that all applicable federal benefits are extended to those couples as soon as possible. We will not delay in fulfilling our responsibility to afford every eligible couple, whether same-sex or opposite-sex, the full rights and responsibilities to which they are entitled.
“With their long-awaited unions, we are slowly drawing closer to full equality for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender Americans nationwide. By letting the lower-court decisions stand, the Supreme Court expanded the number of states allowing same-sex marriage from 19 to 24, along with the District of Columbia. Just one day after the Supreme Court’s action, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit joined the other courts that have invalidated bans, extending marriage rights even further. In the past eight days, at least half a dozen additional states have recognized marriage equality. And even more states covered by the lower-court rulings will almost certainly be joining them in short order.
“The steady progress toward LGBT equality we’ve seen – and celebrated – is important and historic. But there remain too many places in this country where men and women cannot visit their partners in the hospital, or be recognized as the rightful parents of their own adopted children; where people can be discriminated against just because they are gay. Challenges to marriage restrictions are still being actively litigated in courts across the country. And while federal appeals courts have so far been unanimous in finding that bans on same-sex marriage are unconstitutional, if a disagreement does arise, the Supreme Court may address the question head-on. If that happens, the Justice Department is prepared to file a brief consistent with its past support for marriage equality.
“In the meantime, we will continue to extend federal benefits to same-sex couples to the fullest extent allowed by federal law. And we will continue to work—to the very best of our ability—to bring about a more equal future for all Americans nationwide.”
The full video of the Attorney General’s message is available at http://www.justice.gov/agwa.php.
United States Files Complaint in False Claims Act Lawsuit Alleging Defense Contractors Knowingly Overcharged the Navy on Aircraft Maintenance ContractRead the Press Release
The Department of Justice announced today that it has filed its complaint in intervention in a case against defendants Sikorsky Aircraft Corporation and two of its subsidiaries, Sikorsky Support Services Inc. and Derco Aerospace Inc., for violating the False Claims Act. Sikorsky Aircraft Corporation is a wholly owned subsidiary of United Technologies Corporation, with headquarters in Stratford, Connecticut.
The government’s complaint alleges that Sikorsky Aircraft Corporation approved an illegal cost-plus-a-percentage-of-cost subcontract between Sikorsky Support Services Inc., and Derco Aerospace. A cost-plus-a-percentage-of-cost contract is one where the cost of performance is unknown in advance and compensation is determined based on the cost of performance plus an agreed-to percentage of such costs. Such contracts are prohibited because they give contractors no incentive to control the cost of performance. The complaint further alleges the defendants used this illegal subcontract to overcharge the Navy on parts and materials that were used to maintain Navy aircraft.
“Those who contract with the federal government and accept taxpayer dollars, must follow the rules,” said Acting Assistant Attorney General Joyce R. Branda for the Justice Department’s Civil Division. “Today’s complaint demonstrates, once again, that the Department of Justice will not tolerate contractors who engage in schemes to defraud the armed forces or any other agency of the United States.”
“The claims in the civil complaint that we have filed reflect our focused and purposeful investigative work in identifying and seeking remedies for false claims in government contracting,” said U.S. Attorney James L. Santelle for the Eastern District of Wisconsin. “Under the authority of the False Claims Act, we pursue fraud of this sort to ensure that taxpayer dollars are spent lawfully and that overcharges and other types of contracting misconduct are addressed.”
The complaint was filed in a case brought under the qui tam provisions of the False Claims Act by Mary J. Patzer, a former employee of Derco. Under the False Claims Act, a private citizen, called a “relator,” may bring suit on behalf of the United States and share in any recovery. The government may intervene in the case, as the government has done here. The False Claims Act allows the government to recover treble damages and penalties from those who violate it.
The case is being handled jointly by the Civil Division and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Wisconsin.
The case is captioned United States ex rel. Patzer v. United Technologies Corporation, et al., No. 11-C-560 (E.D. Wis.). The claims made in the complaint are allegations only, and there has been no determination of liability.
Two Former Rabobank Traders Indicted for Alleged Manipulation of U.S. Dollar, Yen Libor Interest RatesRead the Press Release
Two former Coöperatieve Centrale Raiffeisen-Boerenleenbank B.A. (Rabobank) derivative traders – including the bank’s former Global Head of Liquidity & Finance in London – have been charged in a superseding indictment for their alleged roles in a scheme to manipulate the U.S. Dollar (USD) and Yen London InterBank Offered Rate (LIBOR), a benchmark interest rate to which trillions of dollars in interest rate contracts were tied, the Justice Department announced today. Six former Rabobank employees have now been charged in the Rabobank LIBOR investigation.
Assistant Attorney General Leslie R. Caldwell of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division, Deputy Assistant Attorney General Brent Snyder of the Justice Department’s Antitrust Division and Assistant Director in Charge Andrew G. McCabe of the FBI’s Washington Field Office made the announcement.
Earlier today, a federal grand jury in the Southern District of New York returned a superseding indictment charging Anthony Allen, 43, of Hertsfordshire, England; and Anthony Conti, 45, of Essex, England, with conspiracy to commit wire fraud and bank fraud and with substantive counts of wire fraud for their participation in a scheme to manipulate the USD and Yen LIBOR rate in a manner that benefitted their own or Rabobank’s financial positions in derivatives that were linked to those benchmarks.
The indictment also charges Tetsuya Motomura, 42, of Tokyo, Japan, and Paul Thompson, 48, of Dalkeith, Australia, who were charged in a prior indictment with Paul Robson, a former Rabobank LIBOR submitter. In addition to adding as defendants Allen and Conti, the superseding indictment alleges a broader conspiracy to manipulate both the USD LIBOR and the Yen LIBOR.
Robson and Takayuki Yagami, a former Rabobank derivatives trader, each pleaded guilty earlier this year to one count of conspiracy in connection with their roles in the scheme.
“Today, we have charged two more members of the financial industry with influencing Dollar LIBOR and Yen LIBOR to gain an illegal advantage in the market, unfairly benefitting their own trading positions in financial derivatives,” said Assistant Attorney General Caldwell. “LIBOR is a key benchmark interest rate that is relied upon to be free of bias and self-dealing, but the conduct of these traders was as galling as it was greedy. Today’s charges are just the latest installment in the Justice Department’s industry-wide investigation of financial institutions and individuals who manipulated global financial rates.”
“With today’s charges against Messrs. Allen and Conti, we continue to reinforce our message to the financial community that we will not allow the individuals who perpetrate these crimes to hide behind corporate walls,” said Deputy Assistant Attorney General Snyder. “This superseding indictment, with its charges against Mr. Allen, makes an especially strong statement to managers in financial institutions who devise schemes to undermine fair and open markets but leave the implementation – and often the blame – with their subordinates.”
“With today’s indictments the FBI’s investigation into Rabobank’s manipulation of LIBOR benchmark rates expands in scope to include the U.S. Dollar,” said Assistant Director in Charge McCabe. “I would like to thank the special agents, forensic accountants, and analysts, as well as the prosecutors who have worked to identify and stop those who hide behind complex corporate and securities fraud schemes.”
According to the superseding indictment, at the time relevant to the charges, LIBOR was an average interest rate, calculated based on submissions from leading banks around the world, reflecting the rates those banks believed they would be charged if borrowing from other banks. LIBOR was published by the British Bankers’ Association (BBA), a trade association based in London. LIBOR was calculated for 10 currencies at 15 borrowing periods, known as maturities, ranging from overnight to one year. The published LIBOR “fix” for U.S. Dollar and Yen currency for a specific maturity was the result of a calculation based upon submissions from a panel of 16 banks, including Rabobank.
LIBOR serves as the primary benchmark for short-term interest rates globally and is used as a reference rate for many interest rate contracts, mortgages, credit cards, student loans and other consumer lending products.
Rabobank entered into a deferred prosecution agreement with the Department of Justice on Oct. 29, 2013, and agreed to pay a $325 million penalty to resolve violations arising from Rabobank’s LIBOR submissions.
According to allegations in the superseding indictment, Allen, who was Rabobank’s Global Head of Liquidity & Finance and the manager of the company’s money market desk in London, put in place a system in which Rabobank employees who traded in derivative products linked to USD and Yen LIBOR regularly communicated their trading positions to Rabobank’s LIBOR submitters, who submitted Rabobank’s LIBOR contributions to the BBA. Motomura, Thompson, Yagami and other traders entered into derivative contracts containing USD or Yen LIBOR as a price component and they asked Conti, Robson, Allen and others to submit LIBOR contributions consistent with the traders’ or the bank’s financial interests, to benefit the traders’ or the banks’ trading positions. Conti, who was based in London and Utrecht, Netherlands, served as Rabobank’s primary USD LIBOR submitter and at times acted as Rabobank’s back-up Yen LIBOR submitter. Robson, who was based in London, served as Rabobank’s primary submitter of Yen LIBOR. Allen, in addition to supervising the desk in London and money market trading worldwide, occasionally acted as Rabobank’s backup USD and Yen LIBOR submitter. Allen also served on a BBA Steering Committee that provided the BBA with advice on the calculation of LIBOR as well as recommendations concerning which financial institutions should sit on the LIBOR contributor panel.
The charges in the superseding indictment are merely accusations, and the defendants are presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.
The investigation is being conducted by special agents, forensic accountants and intelligence analysts in the FBI’s Washington Field Office. The prosecution is being handled by Senior Litigation Counsel Carol L. Sipperly and Trial Attorney Brian R. Young of the Criminal Division’s Fraud Section and Trial Attorney Michael T. Koenig of the Antitrust Division. The Criminal Division’s Office of International Affairs has provided assistance in this matter.
The Justice Department expresses its appreciation for the assistance provided by various enforcement agencies in the United States and abroad. The Commodity Futures Trading Commission’s Division of Enforcement referred this matter to the department and, along with the U.K. Financial Conduct Authority, has played a major role in the LIBOR investigation. The Securities and Exchange Commission also has played a significant role in the LIBOR series of investigations, and the department expresses its appreciation to the United Kingdom’s Serious Fraud Office for its assistance and ongoing cooperation. The department has worked closely with the Dutch Public Prosecution Service and the Dutch Central Bank in the investigation of Rabobank. Various agencies and enforcement authorities from other nations are also participating in different aspects of the broader investigation relating to LIBOR and other benchmark rates, and the department is grateful for their cooperation and assistance.
This prosecution is part of efforts underway by President Barack Obama’s Financial Fraud Enforcement Task Force. President Obama established the interagency Financial Fraud Enforcement Task Force to wage an aggressive, coordinated and proactive effort to investigate and prosecute financial crimes. The task force includes representatives from a broad range of federal agencies, regulatory authorities, inspectors general and state and local law enforcement who, working together, bring to bear a powerful array of criminal and civil enforcement resources. The task force is working to improve efforts across the federal executive branch, and with state and local partners, to investigate and prosecute significant financial crimes, ensure just and effective punishment for those who perpetrate financial crimes, combat discrimination in the lending and financial markets and recover proceeds for victims of financial crimes. For more information about the task force visit: www.stopfraud.com.
Ten Additional Alleged Members of the Almighty Imperial Gangsters Nation Gang IndictedRead the Press Release
Ten alleged members of the violent Almighty Imperial Gangsters Nation gang have been indicted by a federal grand jury in the Southern District of Florida for their roles in various murders in Miami, Chicago, and East Chicago. Fifteen alleged members of the gang have now been charged by the Justice Department in this case.
Assistant Attorney General Leslie R. Caldwell of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division, U.S. Attorney Wifredo A. Ferrer of the Southern District of Florida, Special Agent in Charge Robert J. Holley of the FBI’s Chicago Field Office, and Special Agent in Charge George L. Piro of the FBI’s Miami Field Office made the announcement.
The second superseding indictment returned by a federal grand jury on Oct. 9, 2014, and unsealed today, charges Robert Martinez, aka “Trap,” 20, of Miami, along with Rogelio Perez, aka “Popeye,” 40, Eddie Camacho, aka “NeNe,” 35, Miguel Pedraza, aka “Fuzzy,” 33, Ryan Perez, aka “Lil Dk,” 32, Carlos Mena, aka “Rollo,” 33, Carlos Gomez, aka “Lokes,” 35, and Guillermo Sinisterra, aka “Memo,” 26, all of Chicago, with conspiracy to participate in racketeering activity, including murder. Piero Benitez, aka “Bam Bam,” 27, of Skokie, Illinois, was charged with murder in aid of racketeering, and Santiago Salcedo, aka “Chino,” 25, of Miami, was charged with conspiracy to commit murder in aid of racketeering. Alleged fellow gang members Jose Herrera, aka “Spyro,” 27, Leonel Carrera, aka “Leo,” 25, Victor Lopez, aka “Magic,” Ramon Madruga, aka “Porky” 28, and Alex Enrique Somarriba, aka “A-Rock,” 28, all of Chicago, were previously charged in the superseding indictment unsealed in this case on Aug. 4, 2014, and remain charged in the second superseding indictment.
According to the second superseding indictment, all fifteen defendants are members of the Almighty Imperial Gangsters Nation, which is a nationally-known organized street gang that originated in the near northwest side of Chicago and spread to other regions of the United States, including South Florida. Members and associates of the Almighty Imperial Gangsters Nation allegedly engaged in acts of violence, including murder, attempted murder, battery, aggravated battery, and aggravated assault, as well as narcotics distribution and other criminal activities. Specifically, the indictment charges that the gang is responsible for twelve murders in Miami, Chicago and East Chicago, Indiana between 1985 and 2011, including the murder of a state prosecution witness whose cooperation with law enforcement ultimately led to the conviction of the gang’s South Florida leader, Victor Lopez, on cocaine distribution charges.
The charges contained in the indictment are merely accusations, and the defendants are presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.
This case is being investigated by the FBI field offices in Chicago, Miami, and Merrillville, Indiana, and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives field office in Merrillville, Indiana, along with the Miami-Dade Police Department, the City of Miami Police Department, the Chicago Police Department, the Franklin Park, Illinois, Police Department, and the East Chicago, Indiana Police Department. The Florida Department of Corrections and the Broward County Sheriff’s Office also assisted with this case.
The case is being prosecuted by Joseph A. Cooley and Rebecca A. Staton of the Criminal Division’s Organized Crime and Gang Section, as well as the Forfeiture Section of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Florida, with the assistance of the U.S. Attorneys’ Offices for the Northern District of Indiana and the Northern District of Illinois, as well as the State Attorneys’ Offices for Miami-Dade and Broward Counties in Florida and Cook County in Illinois.
Romanian Man Sentenced for Role in International Fraud Scheme Involving Online Marketplace WebsitesRead the Press Release
A Romanian man was sentenced today to 24 months in prison for his role in receiving and sending overseas approximately $320,000 in illicit proceeds derived from an international fraud scheme involving online marketplace websites.
Assistant Attorney General Leslie R. Caldwell of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division and U.S. Attorney David Rivera of the Middle District of Tennessee made the announcement. U.S. District Judge Aleta A. Trauger of the Middle District of Tennessee imposed the sentence.
Alexandru Stanciu, 36, of Bucharest, Romania, was indicted by a federal grand jury in August 2013 and pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit bank and wire fraud in February 2014. In addition to his prison term, Stanciu was ordered to pay $305,106 in restitution.
According to statements at his plea hearing, Stanciu’s co-conspirators fraudulently listed vehicles for sale at online marketplaces such as eBay. When victims expressed interest in purchasing the vehicles, co-conspirators responded with emails directing the victims to wire payments to specified bank accounts. These bank accounts were opened by Stanciu, using false identities and fraudulent documents, including counterfeit passports, between December 2011 and July 2013. In total, 17 victims sent approximately $321,389 to accounts opened by Stanciu. Stanciu subsequently sent the bulk of the money to co-conspirators located overseas.
The case is being investigated by the FBI and the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation and prosecuted by Senior Counsel Mysti Degani of the Criminal Division’s Computer Crime and Intellectual Property Section and Assistant U.S. Attorney Byron M. Jones of the Middle District of Tennessee.
Raleigh Man Pleads Guilty to Conspiring to Provide Material Support for TerrorismRead the Press Release
Akba Jihad Jordan, 22, of Raleigh, North Carolina, pleaded guilty before United States Magistrate Judge Robert B. Jones to conspiracy to provide material support to terrorists. Jordan and co-defendant Avin Marsalis Brown, 21, also of Raleigh, were arrested on March 19, 2014, and charged initially in a criminal complaint. On April 1, 2014, a federal grand jury returned an indictment charging Jordan and Brown with conspiring to provide material support to terrorists.
United States Attorney Thomas G. Walker stated, “This investigation is a sober reminder that we must remain vigilant in our efforts to prosecute extremists who conspire to provide material support to foreign terrorist organizations.”
“Akba Jordan turned his back on his own country and was willing to fight side by side with terrorist groups in Yemen and Syria who wish to do us harm,” said John Strong, Special Agent in Charge of the FBI in North Carolina. “American citizens who offer support to terrorist organizations pose a grave threat to our national security and will face serious consequences for their actions.”
As set forth in the affidavit supporting the complaint, Brown initiated contact online with an undercover employee of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). Brown requested assistance in traveling overseas for “fisabilillah” – a phrase commonly utilized by Islamic Extremists to refer to joining extremist groups in violence overseas. Subsequently, both Brown and Jordan engaged in numerous discussions with an FBI confidential source in which they expressed a desire to travel overseas to join certain groups in fighting the “kuffar” (non-Muslims) and “munafiq” (Muslims considered to be hypocrites), primarily in either Syria or Yemen. These groups included al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), the Islamic State of Iraq and Sham (ISIS), and jabhat al-Nusrah (JAN). They also talked frequently about weapons and the use of weapons in fighting the kuffar, both overseas and in the United States. Jordan specifically discussed with Brown the weapons he had in his possession, including an AK-47, and described how he would not hesitate to use them. The affidavit describes a meeting at Jordan’s apartment on Dec. 30, 2013, during which Jordan showed Brown how to break down the AK-47.
On March 19, 2014, Brown was arrested at Raleigh Durham International Airport prior to boarding a flight with a final destination in Turkey. Brown stated in an interview that he intended to travel from Turkey into Syria. Once overseas, Brown intended to meet with a member of ISIS whom he had befriended online. Once established, and after Jordan had obtained his own passport and enough funds to purchase a ticket, Brown could then assist Jordan in entering Syria from Turkey to additionally join Brown.
Jordan, who had not yet obtained a passport, was also arrested on March 19. Jordan admitted that he had made an appointment to obtain a passport so that so that he could go to Syria and fight. A search warrant executed that day at Jordan’s apartment recovered the AK-47 and several other weapons. On Aug.12, 2014, Brown pleaded guilty to the indictment. His sentencing is currently set for Nov. 6, 2014.
Investigation of this case was conducted by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Charlotte Division, Resident Agency Joint Terrorism Task Force (JTTF). The Raleigh JTTF consists of the following agencies: FBI, DHS-H.S.I., Raleigh Police Department, Durham Police Department, Cary Police Department, NC State Bureau of Investigation, and the NC State Highway Patrol. The prosecution is being handled by Assistant United States Attorney Jason Kellhofer and Trial Attorney Michael Dittoe of the Counterterrorism Section in the Justice Department’s National Security Division.
News releases are available on the U.S. Attorney’s web page at www.usdoj.gov/usao/nce within 48 hours of release.
Omar Gonzalez Indicted on Additional Charges Stemming from Recent Intrusion on White House GroundsRead the Press Release
Grand Jury Returns Superseding Indictment as Investigation Continues
A federal grand jury in the District of Columbia returned a superseding indictment today charging Omar Gonzalez with three additional offenses stemming from a recent incident in which he ran into the White House while armed with a folding knife.
The superseding indictment was announced by U.S. Attorney Ronald C. Machen Jr. and Special Agent in Charge Kathy A. Michalko of the U.S. Secret Service Washington Field Office.
Gonzalez, 42, formerly of Copperas Cove, Texas, initially was indicted on Sept. 30, 2014, in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. He was charged at that time with unlawfully entering a restricted building or grounds while carrying a deadly or dangerous weapon, a federal offense; carrying a dangerous weapon outside a home or place of business, a District of Columbia offense; and unlawful possession of ammunition, also a D.C. offense.
The superseding indictment includes those three charges. It also adds two federal counts of assaulting, resisting, or impeding certain officers or employees, and one District of Columbia count of unlawful possession of a large capacity ammunition feeding device.
According to the government’s evidence, on Sept. 19, 2014, at about 7:19 p.m., Gonzalez climbed over the north fence of the White House. An officer with the U.S. Secret Service ran toward him and yelled at him to stop. Gonzalez, however, ran toward the White House. Moments later, he went through the north doors and entered the building.
He was apprehended inside the White House after he allegedly assaulted, resisted or impeded two U.S. Secret Service officers, the basis for the new federal charges filed today. Gonzalez was searched and a black folding knife was discovered in his right front pants pocket. The knife had a serrated blade that was three and one-half inches long.
After Gonzalez’s arrest, he gave oral consent to search his vehicle, which was located on Constitution Avenue NW. The vehicle contained hundreds of rounds of ammunition, both in boxes and in magazines, two hatchets and a machete. The newly-filed District of Columbia charge involves the recovery of gun magazines that held more than 10 rounds.
Gonzalez is scheduled to appear in court on Oct. 21, 2014. He has been in custody since his arrest on Sept. 19, 2014.
An indictment is merely a formal charge that a defendant has committed a violation of criminal laws and every defendant is presumed innocent until, and unless, proven guilty.
This case is being investigated by the U.S. Secret Service. It is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys David Mudd and Thomas A. Gillice, of the National Security Section of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia.
Offshore Oil Platform Owner to Improve Safety and Operations in Gulf of Mexico Following Unauthorized Oil DischargesRead the Press Release
Under a settlement agreement with the United States, ATP Infrastructure Partners LP (ATP-IP) will pay a $1 million civil penalty and perform corrective measures to resolve claims by the U.S. under the Clean Water Act and the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act (OCSLA) of unauthorized discharges of oil and chemicals from an oil platform into the Gulf of Mexico, announced the Department of Justice, the Department of the Interior’s Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement (BSEE) and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). This is the first joint judicial enforcement action involving BSEE and EPA claims in response to alleged violations of both the Clean Water Act and OCSLA.
The United States’ complaint, which was filed in February 2013 in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana, alleges that oil and an unauthorized chemical dispersant were discharged into the Gulf of Mexico from ATP-IP’s oil and gas production platform known as the ATP Innovator. A BSEE inspection of the ATP Innovator in 2012 revealed alleged unlawful discharges of oil and a piping configuration that routed an unpermitted chemical dispersant into the facility’s wastewater discharge pipe to mask excess oil being discharged into the ocean. At the time of the discovery, ATP Oil & Gas Corporation (ATP) was the operator of the facility, and ATP-IP was, and remains, the owner. The ATP Innovator was operating in the Mississippi Canyon, approximately 45 nautical miles offshore of southeastern Louisiana. Earlier this year, the ATP Innovator was removed from the deepwater production site and towed to port in Corpus Christi.
The United States filed suit against ATP and ATP-IP seeking Clean Water Act penalties and corrective measures under the Clean Water Act and OCSLA. ATP-IP’s motion to dismiss the claims against it and a related motion for appeal were both denied by the court in 2013. In addition to the penalty and corrective measures, ATP-IP will conduct enhanced reporting to address safety and environmental concerns. The Clean Water Act and OCSLA claims against ATP are not part of this settlement with ATP-IP and remain pending before the district court for future resolution.
“The Justice Department is committed to protecting public health and marine ecosystems like the Gulf from unlawful and unsafe practices,” said Sam Hirsch, Acting Assistant Attorney General for the Justice Department’s Environment and Natural Resources Division. “This joint enforcement action demonstrates our resolve to hold non-operating owners of oil production facilities and their operators accountable for unlawful discharges from their facilities, and will result in important steps to help prevent future unlawful discharges of oil and chemicals from the ATP facility.”
“Our mission is to ensure offshore operations are conducted safely and in accordance with federal regulations to protect workers and the environment,” said BSEE Director Brian Salerno. “When violations occur, we will exercise our full authority, and leverage the authorities of our sister agencies, to hold companies accountable. We appreciate the EPA’s and the Justice Department’s assistance in bringing these claims to resolution.”
“EPA and its federal partners are committed to ensuring that offshore energy production is done safely and responsibly,” said Cynthia Giles, Assistant Administrator for EPA’s Office of Enforcement and Compliance Assurance. “Discharging oil illegally can foul water, harm wildlife and is unfair to companies that follow the law. It is our obligation to protect local communities and companies playing by the rules.”
Under the Clean Water Act it is illegal to discharge oil or hazardous substances into or upon waters of the contiguous zone or in connection with activities under OCSLA in quantities that may be harmful to the environment or public health or welfare. The penalty paid for these violations will be deposited in the federal Oil Spill Liability Trust Fund managed by the National Pollution Fund Center. The Oil Spill Liability Trust Fund is used to pay for federal response activities and to compensate for damages when there is a discharge or substantial threat of discharge of oil or hazardous substances.
Although ATP-IP took the Innovator out of operation earlier this year, it must perform corrective measures to ensure safe and lawful future operations. In particular, ATP-IP must remove and seal the connection on the wastewater discharge outfall pipe that was used to inject chemical dispersants, thereby permanently eliminating the access point for improperly injecting dispersants into the wastewater discharge pipe. Additionally, prior to any future use of the ATP Innovator for exploration, development, or production activities in U.S. waters, ATP-IP will have to certify to EPA, BSEE and DOJ that:
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the facility has sufficient wastewater treatment equipment and operational plans to meet and maintain Clean Water Act permit discharge limits and prevent unlawful discharge of pollutants to offshore waters at all times;
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the facility’s surface production-safety systems will be maintained in a manner that provides for protection of the environment under BSEE regulations; and
- all facility operations will be performed in a safe and workmanlike manner in accordance with BSEE regulations.
As a further safeguard, ATP-IP will be required to have the ATP Innovator’s wastewater treatment operations and surface production-safety systems independently audited for Clean Water Act and OCSLA compliance if the facility is used or leased in the future by ATP-IP or a related entity.
The proposed consent decree, lodged in the Eastern District of Louisiana, is subject to a 30-day public comment period and court review and approval. A copy of the consent decree is available on the Department of Justice website at www.justice.gov/enrd/Consent_Decrees.html
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Justice Department Settles Immigration-Related Discrimination Claim Against a Georgia Construction CompanyRead the Press Release
The Justice Department announced today that it reached an agreement with Constructor Services Inc. (CSI), a construction company headquartered in the Atlanta, Georgia metropolitan area. The agreement resolves a claim that the company engaged in discriminatory documentary practices during the employment eligibility verification process in violation of the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA).
The department’s investigation found that CSI required non-U.S. citizens, but not similarly-situated U.S. citizens, to produce specific documentary proof of their immigration status for the purpose of verifying their employment eligibility. The INA’s anti-discrimination provision prohibits employers from making additional and unauthorized documentary demands based on citizenship status or national origin when verifying or re-verifying an employee’s employment eligibility.
“Employers must make sure that they are not erecting unlawful discriminatory barriers in their employment eligibility verification policies and practices,” said Acting Assistant Attorney General Molly Moran for the Civil Rights Division. “The division is committed to identifying and tearing down these illegal barriers.”
Under the settlement agreement, CSI will pay $18,000 in civil penalties to the United States, undergo training on the anti-discrimination provision of the INA, revise its employment eligibility reverification policies, and be subject to monitoring of its employment eligibility verification practices for twenty-four months.
The Office of Special Counsel for Immigration-Related Unfair Employment Practices (OSC) within the Justice Department is responsible for enforcing the anti-discrimination provision of the INA. Among other things, the statute prohibits citizenship status and national origin discrimination in hiring, firing, or recruitment or referral for a fee; unfair documentary practices; retaliation and intimidation.
For more information about protections against employment discrimination under immigration laws, call OSC’s worker hotline at 1-800-255-7688 (1-800-237-2515, TTY for hearing impaired); call OSC’s employer hotline at 1-800-255-8155 (1-800-237-2515, TTY for hearing impaired); sign up for a free webinar at www.justice.gov/crt/about/osc/webinars.php, email [email protected]; or visit OSC’s website at www.justice.gov/crt/about/osc.
Applicants or employees who believe they were subjected to: different documentary requirements based on their citizenship status, immigration status, or national origin; or discrimination based on their citizenship status, immigration status or national origin in hiring, firing, or recruitment or referral for a fee, should contact OSC’s worker hotline for assistance.
Former Executive of Japanese Automotive Parts Manufacturer Indicted for Role in Conspiracy to Fix PricesRead the Press Release
A Cincinnati federal grand jury returned a one-count indictment against a former executive of a Japanese manufacturer of automotive parts for his participation in a conspiracy to allocate markets and fix prices of pinion-assist type electric powered steering assemblies, the Department of Justice announced today.
The indictment, filed yesterday in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Ohio charges Akira Wada, a former executive of Showa Corporation, with participating in a conspiracy to suppress and eliminate competition in the automotive parts industry by agreeing to allocate markets, and to fix, stabilize, and maintain the prices of pinion-assist type electric powered steering assemblies sold to Honda in the United States and elsewhere. Wada was the Manager and then General Manager of Sales Department 1 at Showa from at least as early as 2003 until at least June 2009. In 2013 Wada became a Director and Operating Officer of Showa.
“Yesterday’s indictment again demonstrates that antitrust violations are not just corporate offenses but also crimes by individuals,” said Bill Baer, Assistant Attorney General for the Antitrust Division. “The division will continue to vigorously prosecute executives who circumvent the law in order to maximize profits by harming consumers.”
The indictment alleges, among other things, that from at least as early as 2007 and continuing until at least September 2012, Wada and his co-conspirators participated in meetings, conversations, and communications to discuss the market allocation scheme and price quotations to be submitted to Honda in the United States and elsewhere. It alleges that Wada and his co-conspirators submitted price quotations in accordance with the agreements reached at these meetings. Wada also directed, authorized, or consented to the participation of subordinate employees in the price fixing conspiracy.
Showa is a Japanese company with its principal place of business in Saitama, Japan. Showa was engaged in the business of manufacturing and selling pinion-assist type electric powered steering. On June 10, 2014, Showa pleaded guilty and agreed to pay a $19.9 million criminal fine for its role in the conspiracy.
Including Wada, 44 individuals have been charged in the government’s ongoing investigation into market allocation, price fixing and bid rigging in the auto parts industry. Twenty-six of these individuals have pleaded guilty and have been sentenced to serve prison terms ranging from a year and one day to two years. Additionally, 29 companies have pleaded guilty or agreed to plead guilty and have agreed to pay a total of nearly $2.4 billion in fines.
Wada is charged with market allocation and price fixing in violation of the Sherman Act, which carries a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison and a $1 million criminal fine for individuals. The maximum fine for an individual may be increased to twice the gain derived from the crime or twice the loss suffered by the victims of the crime, if either of those amounts is greater than the statutory maximum fine.
Yesterday's indictment is the result of an ongoing federal antitrust investigation into market allocation, price fixing, bid rigging, and other anticompetitive conduct in the automotive parts industry, which is being conducted by four of the Antitrust Division’s criminal enforcement sections and the FBI. Today’s charge was brought by the Antitrust Division’s Chicago Office and the FBI’s Cincinnati Field Office. Anyone with information on price fixing, bid rigging and other anticompetitive conduct related to other products in the automotive parts industry should contact the Antitrust Division’s Citizen Complaint Center at 1-888-647-3258, visit www.justice.gov/atr/contact/newcase.html, or call the FBI’s Cincinnati Field Office at 513-421-4310.
Attorney General Holder Statement on Announcement that Deputy Attorney General James M. Cole Will Depart the Justice DepartmentRead the Press Release
Attorney General Eric Holder released the following statement Thursday after Deputy Attorney General James M. Cole announced his plans to depart the Justice Department in the coming months:
“Over the past four years, Jim Cole has been my indispensable partner in leading the U.S. Department of Justice and extending the promise of equality under the law for everyone in this country. Jim's leadership and ingenuity have been critical in attaining historic results on behalf of the American people. During times of great challenge and unprecedented resource constraints, I have relied upon Jim to ensure that the Justice Department operates as effectively and efficiently as possible. His guidance and wise counsel have made him an irreplaceable advisor, a proven and trusted leader, and a champion for the cause of justice. I have been proud to count him as a colleague and a friend for nearly four decades. I thank him for his tireless work and faithful service over the years. And although he will be dearly missed by dedicated public servants at every level of the Justice Department, I’m happy that we’ll be able to work together in the coming months.”
Attorney General Holder Announces Lisa Foster to Serve as Director of the Access to Justice InitiativeRead the Press Release
Attorney General Eric Holder announced on Thursday Lisa Foster as the Director of the Access to Justice Initiative (ATJ). Founded in 2010 by Attorney General Holder, ATJ seeks to address the access-to-justice crisis in the criminal and civil justice system by working within the department, across federal agencies, and with state, local and tribal justice system stakeholders to increase access to counsel and legal assistance and to improve the systems that serve people who are unable to afford lawyers. By supporting the right to counsel in state and local courts, educating the defender community, supporting defender services in tribal courts, strengthening the juvenile justice system, and enhancing federal programs though civil legal aid, ATJ staff work to help the justice system efficiently deliver outcomes that are fair and accessible to all, irrespective of wealth and status.
“Lisa is a staunch defender of due process, a champion of the rights of all Americans, and a passionate advocate for equal justice under law,” said Attorney General Eric Holder. “Throughout her impressive career – from her earliest days in public interest law, to her work as a legal aid provider and her distinguished service on the bench – she has consistently demonstrated superior judgment, impeccable integrity, and a steadfast commitment to the high ideals that the Access to Justice Initiative is charged with protecting. I have no doubt that, under Lisa’s leadership, this important initiative will continue to expand its groundbreaking work to build the more effective justice system – and the more just society – that all Americans deserve.”
Prior to joining the department, Foster served for ten years as a California Superior Court Judge in San Diego presiding over criminal, civil and family law departments. Foster began her legal career as a Staff Attorney at the Center for Law in the Public Interest in Los Angeles and later joined the Legal Aid Foundation of Los Angeles. Following her service at the Legal Aid Foundation of Los Angeles, Foster served as the Executive Director of California Common Cause before becoming an Adjunct Professor at the University of San Diego Law School and later joining the law firm of Phillips & Cohen as Of Counsel. For the past year, Foster was a judicial fellow in the Office of Senator Edward J. Markey where she advised Senator Markey on a variety of issues including judicial nominees, patent legislation, regulatory reform and international law and policy. She received a B.A. in American Studies from Stanford University and J.D., magna cum laude, from Harvard Law School.
“The Access to Justice Initiative does critical work to increase access to counsel and legal assistance for all,” said Acting Associate Attorney General Stuart F. Delery. “We are privileged to have a person like Lisa, who has dedicated her career to supporting a justice system that is fair and accessible to everyone, guiding this important effort. I am confident that, with Lisa’s leadership, the initiative will continue to build on the outstanding work done by Deborah Leff, Karen Lash, and the dedicated team working with them.”
Last month, as part of ATJ’s work with the Civil Rights Division, the department filed a statement of interest with the Supreme Court of the State of New York, Albany County, in Hurrell-Harring v. State of New York. In this class action litigation, the plaintiffs allege that, due to systemic failures in four New York counties, indigent criminal defendants have been constructively denied the right to counsel. And in April, ATJ launched the Legal Aid Interagency Roundtable Toolkit. This online resource located on ATJ’s website is the product of collaboration with the White House Domestic Policy Council and 18 federal agencies dedicated to examining current programs and practices in order to create better outcomes.
To learn more about the Access to Justice Initiative, visit http://www.justice.gov/atj/.
Sinaloa Cartel Member Found Guilty of Drug Trafficking Conspiracy -- Four Others Plead GuiltyRead the Press Release
CONCORD – Rafael Humberto Celaya Valenzuela, 41, formerly of Sonora, Mexico, was convicted following a jury trial of conspiracy to distribute controlled substances, including cocaine, heroin and methamphetamine, announced United States Attorney John P. Kacavas.
Celaya Valenzuela and his co-conspirators were members of the Sinaloa drug cartel, led by represented the Sinaloa Cartel, led by the notorious drug lord Joaquin Guzman-Loera, also known as “Chapo.” The cartel was seeking new cocaine distribution routes from South America to Europe, Canada and the United States. Beginning in early 2010 and continuing through August 2012, undercover FBI agents posing as members of a European organized crime syndicate met with the cartel representatives. Many of the meetings were audio and video recorded and portions of those recordings were played for the jury. The recordings showed Celaya Valenzuela and several co-conspirators attending meetings in Miami, Boston, Madrid, Spain, and in Portsmouth and New Castle, New Hampshire.
Celaya Valenzuela held himself out as an attorney and financial planner working on behalf of Chapo and the cartel. Manuel Gutierrez Guzman, a co-conspirator and first cousin of Chapo, held himself out as his cousin’s representative in the negotiations. The cartel representatives offered to deliver thousands of kilograms of cocaine by containerized cargo vessels to various ports on the northeastern seaboard of the United States and in Europe. They further represented that the cocaine would come from any number of source countries, including Bolivia, Panama, Belize and Colómbia. The deal was consummated by a face-to-face meeting with Chapo and several telephone calls in which he himself discussed details of the intended shipments.
On July 27, 2012, the conspirators delivered 346 kilograms of cocaine, more than 750 pounds worth millions of dollars, to a port in Algeciras, Spain. The cocaine was shipped via cargo container in boxes that purportedly held glassware. The FBI seized the cocaine, and Celaya Valenzuela, Gutierrez Guzman, Samuel Zazueta Valenzuela and Jesus Palazuelos Soto were arrested by Spanish law enforcement in Madrid on Aug. 7, 2012. The defendants were then extradited to New Hampshire.
Manuel Gutierrez Guzman, Samuel Zazueta Valenzuela and Jesus Palazuelos Soto pleaded guilty before trial. A sentencing hearing for Soto is scheduled for Dec. 22, 2014. Sentencing hearings for Manuel Gutierrez Guzman and Samuel Zazueta Valenzuela are scheduled for Jan. 15, 2015. Celaya Valenzuela’s sentencing is scheduled for Jan. 22, 2015. All the defendants face a mandatory minimum sentence of 10 years and a maximum sentence of life imprisonment.
The cartel’s leader, Joaquin “Chapo” Guzman-Loera, was arrested by Mexican authorities in February 2014. He is under indictment in multiple jurisdictions in the United States, including the District of New Hampshire.
“Today’s guilty verdict, together with the guilty pleas of the defendant’s co-conspirators, demonstrates the Department of Justice’s commitment to disrupting and dismantling international drug trafficking organizations wherever they seek to peddle their poison,” said U.S. Attorney Kacavas. “Whether along our southwest border, in major American cities, or in bucolic New Hampshire, we will use every law enforcement and prosecutorial tool at our disposal to bring international drug traffickers to justice. I want to thank our federal law enforcement partners, especially the FBI agents who went undercover at significant risk to their personal safety, and the Spanish National Police for their assistance in foiling this far-reaching scheme.”
The case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and the Justice Department’s Office of International Affairs provided assistance with the extradition. The case was prosecuted by First Assistant United States Attorney Don Feith.
Former Miami-Dade County Employee Pleads Guilty to Tax EvasionRead the Press Release
A Coral Gables, Florida resident and former Miami-Dade County General Services Administration (GSA) employee pleaded guilty to a one-count information charging him with tax evasion, the Justice Department and Internal Revenue Service (IRS) announced today.
Jesus Pons pleaded guilty in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida. According to the information, Pons was a computer services manager at the GSA of Miami-Dade County responsible for managing and allocating resources to information technology projects for Miami-Dade County. According to court filings, he was also responsible for supervising and managing tasks performed by county vendors. From 2007 to 2011, Pons received money in the form of illegal kickback payments from county vendors Data Industries and Paradyne Consulting Services (Paradyne). In exchange for these illegal kickbacks, Pons approved payments from Miami-Data County to Data Industries and Paradyne for consulting work that was never done. According to the plea agreement, Pons did not report the illegal kickbacks on his tax returns. From 2007 through 2011, Pons earned income from the scheme in the amount of $1,666,998 that he did not report to the IRS, causing a tax loss of $556,254.
Pons faces up to a statutory maximum sentence of five years in prison at his sentencing on Dec. 17.
This case was investigated by IRS-Criminal Investigation. It is being prosecuted by Trial Attorneys Jeffrey McLellan and Erin Pulice of the Tax Division.
Additional information about the Tax Division and its enforcement efforts may be found on the division website.
Attorney General Holder Recognizes Department Employees and Others for Their Service at Annual Awards CeremonyRead the Press Release
Attorney General Eric Holder recognizes 278 department employees for their distinguished public service today at the 62nd Annual Attorney General’s Awards Ceremony. Ten other individuals outside of the department are also honored for their work. Held at DAR Constitution Hall, this annual ceremony recognizes both department employees and others for their outstanding dedication to carrying out the Department of Justice’s missions.
“With this important event, we come together to honor some of our nation’s most distinguished, dedicated, and deserving public servants,” said Attorney General Holder. “The hard work and impressive achievements of these 278 award recipients have inspired their colleagues at every level of the U.S. Department of Justice – including me. Their leadership has been indispensable in defining the past year as one of historic accomplishment in the face of nearly unprecedented challenge.”
Attorney General Holder and Deputy Attorney General James M. Cole present the Attorney General’s Award for Exceptional Service – the department’s highest award for employee performance – to the team responsible for outstanding achievement in U.S. v. Windsor implementation.
The task of the Windsor Implementation Team was to make real the promise of the U.S. v. Windsor decision striking down Section 3 of the Defense of Marriage Act. As the U.S. Supreme Court noted, the purpose and effect of Section 3 was to discriminate against same-sex couples in the more than 1,000 federal laws in which marital status is a relevant consideration. Bringing to bear expertise from across the department, the Windsor team coordinated with agencies across the government to identify these laws, as well as other federal rules and policies affected by Section 3, and issue new policies and guidance to expunge the discrimination Section 3 had required. In doing so, the team ensured that committed and loving couples throughout the country, and their families, would receive equal treatment by the government regardless of their sexual orientation.
The recipients of the Attorney General’s Award for Exceptional Service include, from the Civil Division, Chief of Staff and Counselor to the Assistant Attorney General Jonathan F. Olin; Senior Counsel to the Assistant Attorney General Natalia T. Sorgente; Counsels to the Assistant Attorney General James A. Cadogan, James C. Cox, Helen L. Gilbert and Joshua I. Wilkenfeld; Special Assistant for Policy in the Office of the Assistant Attorney General Kerry A. Bollerman; Federal Programs Branch Assistant Branch Director Arthur R. Goldberg; Federal Programs Branch Trial Attorneys Jennie L. Kneedler, Jean Lin and Eric R. Womack; and Appellate Staff Attorneys Adam C. Jed, Jeffrey E. Sandberg and Abby C. Wright; from the Civil Rights Division, Deputy Assistant Attorney General Pamela Karlan; Office of the Assistant Attorney General Acting Chief of Staff and Senior Counselor Emily M. Loeb; Policy and Strategy Section Legislative and Policy Counsel Varda Hussain; and Appellate Section Trial Attorney Holly A. Thomas; from the Executive Office for U.S. Attorneys, Office of Legal and Victim Programs Attorney-Advisor Jason F. Cunningham; from the Office of the Attorney General, Deputy Chief of Staff and Counselor to the Attorney General Jenny R. Mosier; from the Office of the Deputy Attorney General, Associate Deputy Attorney General Robin E. Jacobsohn and Counsel to the Deputy Attorney General Geoffrey A. Starks; from the Office of the Associate Attorney General, Counsel to the Associate Attorney General Stacey K. Grigsby; from the Office of Legal Counsel, Office of the Assistant Attorney General, Deputy Assistant Attorneys General Benjamin C. Mizer and Leondra Kruger; from the Office of Legal Policy, Chief of Staff Steven Siger; from the Office of Justice Programs, Office of the Assistant Attorney General Senior Adviser Theron P. Pride Jr.; from the Office of the Solicitor General, Assistant to the Solicitor General Eric J. Feigin; and from the Tax Division, Appellate Section Attorney Ivan C. Dale.
The Attorney General’s Award for Exceptional Heroism is given to recognize an extraordinary act of courage and voluntary risk of life during the performance of official duties. This year’s award is presented for courageous acts during the rescue of a young hostage.
On Jan. 29, 2013, Jimmy Lee Dykes boarded a school bus in rural Midland City, Alabama, killed the driver, and took five-year-old Ethan Gilman hostage in a fortified underground bunker. Armed with multiple weapons and improvised explosive devices (IED), Dykes grew increasingly unstable over the six-day standoff, leading to an assessment that the kidnapped child would ultimately die unless a rescue was attempted. On Feb. 4, 2013, at grave personal risk and without regard for their own safety, five members of the FBI Hostage Rescue Team made entry into the bunker, which Dyke’s had previously indicated was a “funnel of death.” The initial breach was violent, but successfully cleared the bunker hatch for the five-man entry team. The team immediately encountered additional obstacles placed lower in the opening by Dykes. As the entry slowed, Dykes retrieved his handgun and engaged the team from less than five feet away while in a position of cover, and with Ethan as a shield. During the initial assault, Dykes detonated an external IED, and was believed to be in the process of attempting to detonate a second IED inside the bunker. At grave personal risk and without regard for their own safety, the members of the team moved from a position of cover, exposing themselves to gunfire, in order to clear the obstruction for entry. Without hesitation, the team entered into the darkened, smoke-filled hole. Once inside, they swiftly sorted through a confused situation, identified Ethan and immediately evacuated him from the bunker and the remaining IED threat. The exceptional courage and extraordinary decisiveness of the recipients ultimately prevailed, resulting in the death of Dykes and the rescue of Ethan unharmed.
The recipients of the Attorney General’s Award for Exceptional Heroism include, from the FBI’s Salt Lake City Field Office, Supervisory Special Agents Christopher K. Curren, Neil Whitfield Darnell, William T. Francis Jr., Ryan J. Short and Kyle R. Vowinkel; Critical Incident Response Group Special Agents Brocklyn D. Bahe, Christopher S. Baylor, Benjamin M. Binger, Christian Galeski, J. Michael Montoya, Kevin P. Murray, Matthew Nagle and Stanley M. Wadas; and Special Agent Rodney O. Draper.
The Edward H. Levi Award for Outstanding Professionalism and Exemplary Integrity is presented to pay tribute to the memory and achievements of former Attorney General Edward H. Levi, whose career as an attorney, law professor, dean and public servant exemplified these qualities in the best traditions of the department. This year’s award is presented to Deputy Assistant Attorney General and Counselor for International Affairs in the Criminal Division’s Office of the Assistant Attorney General Bruce C. Swartz for exemplary service to the Criminal Division and the department.
Mr. Swartz is a person of utmost integrity, who has demonstrated his exceptional strength of character and expertise in over 12 years as Deputy Assistant Attorney General in the Criminal Division and, more recently, as the department’s Counselor for International Affairs. He supervises three Criminal Division offices, each of which plays a critical role in international law enforcement. In addition to guiding these offices as they navigate some of the most sensitive international legal issues that the department handles, Mr. Swartz provides essential advice to the Attorney General, the Deputy Attorney General and other department leaders concerning the intersection of U.S. and international interests in areas of criminal law enforcement, national security and intelligence matters. He is the consummate professional and an exemplary public servant.
The Mary C. Lawton Lifetime Service Award recognizes employees who have served at least 20 years in the department and have demonstrated high standards of excellence and dedication throughout their careers. This award is presented only in exceptional circumstances to those individuals of special merit and is not awarded to express general appreciation for tenure alone. One Mary C. Lawton Award is presented this year.
This year’s award is presented to T. Christian Herren Jr.¸ Chief of the Civil Rights Division’s Voting Section for exceptional contributions and leadership to the Civil Rights Division and the department.
Mr. Herren’s oversight and direction have guided the heavy and highly complex litigation, appellate and administrative review docket carried by the Civil Rights Division Voting Section, while managing resources wisely and efficiently, and raising the productivity and professionalism standards of staff. Throughout his 20 years of service to the Voting Section, Mr. Herren has significantly contributed to the development of the jurisprudence of voting rights law through his appellate work on matters before the U.S. Supreme Court or the courts of appeal, or his trial work in the district courts throughout the nation. His institutional knowledge of the section’s work and voting law in general, coupled with a critical review of existing practices and a willingness to innovate and strategize, has enabled him to maximize the Voting Section’s enforcement efforts. He is highly respected within the division, the department, and by elections officials and civil rights practitioners nationwide. Mr. Herren’s lifetime of dedication to the Voting Section exemplifies his strong commitment to not only voting rights, but to civil rights in general and overall public service.
The William French Smith Award for Outstanding Contributions to Cooperative Law Enforcement is an honorary award granted to recognize state and local law enforcement officials who have made significant contributions to cooperative law enforcement endeavors. This year’s award is presented to the Broward County, Florida, Sheriff’s Office Task Force Officer William Schwartz.
Prescription drug abuse is a serious problem throughout the nation. Detective Schwartz has been a true crusader in our country’s battle against prescription drug abuse and has led the Drug Enforcement Administration’s (DEA) Miami Field Division’s (MFD) Tactical Diversion Squad (TDS) program with an end result that has made a substantial impact on the illegal distribution of pharmaceuticals throughout the state of Florida. Through his outstanding investigative work on high impact pharmaceutical investigations, he has been instrumental in the success of the DEA MFD TDS goals and objectives. Detective Schwartz has educated hundreds of federal and state attorneys and law enforcement officers to investigate and successfully prosecute those responsible for the illegal diversion of pharmaceutical drugs. His outstanding accomplishments have significantly contributed to preventing the illegal diversion of pharmaceutical drugs and reducing prescription drug abuse which is vital to the health and welfare of the American people.
The Attorney General’s Award for Meritorious Public Service is the top public service award granted by the department, and is designed to recognize the most significant contributions of citizens and organizations that have assisted the Department of Justice in the accomplishment of its mission and objectives. This year’s award is presented to Helen Miner, a volunteer with the Federal Bureau of Prisons at the Federal Correctional Institution in El Reno, Oklahoma, for her outstanding dedication to FCI El Reno and the inmate population. Ms. Miner is honored for her outstanding dedication to the rehabilitation and improvement of the incarcerated as they prepare to reenter back into society. Her dedication as a volunteer at FCI El Reno for 44 years has greatly infused the incarcerated men at FCI El Reno by giving inmates hope and skills that will extend beyond their incarceration. Ms. Miner demonstrates confidence and respect, while promoting self-confidence, self-improvement and self-worth within the inmate population. Her commitment and contributions to FCI El Reno have been invaluable.
The Attorney General’s Award for Distinguished Service is the Justice Department’s second highest award for employee performance. The recipients of this award exemplify the highest commitment to the department’s mission. Ten Distinguished Service Awards were presented this year to individuals or teams of people.
The first Distinguished Service Award is presented to members of the investigative and litigation team responsible for exemplary performance in the prosecution of conspiracies in the automobile parts industry. This team, honored for its leadership, dedication and tireless investigation of global anticompetitive cartels, is responsible for the historic prosecution of over a dozen price-fixing, bid-rigging and market-allocation conspiracies in the automobile parts industry. This four-year investigation was unprecedented in both its scope and the volume of commerce affected by the illegal conduct. Due to the team’s efforts, 26 companies have agreed to pay fines totaling $2.3 billion and 20 individuals have been sentenced to serve jail sentences. The conspiracies uncovered by the investigation affected more than 25 million cars purchased by American consumers and over $5 billion in automotive parts sold to U.S. car manufacturers and automobile plants in 14 states. As a result of the extraordinary efforts of the team, competition was restored to the auto parts industry, and the companies and individuals responsible were held accountable for their illegal conduct.
Award recipients include, from the Antitrust Division, Chief Lisa M. Phelan; Assistant Chief Kathryn M. Hellings; Trial Attorneys Shane Cralle, Paul Gallagher, Kenneth W. Gaul, Mark C. Grundvig, Jason Jones and Eric Meiring; Washington Criminal I Section Secretary Priscilla Scruggs; Paralegal Unit Paralegal Specialist Meghan Ballard; and Office of Operations Trial Attorney Portia Brown; from the FBI’s Washington Field Office, Special Agents Kristina Honeycutt and Faustine M. Smith-Neil; and from the FBI’s Detroit Field Office, Special Agent Douglas R. Wood Jr.
The second Distinguished Service Award is presented for distinguished service by the team that engaged in groundbreaking work to address constitutional violations in the operation of the juvenile court in Shelby County, Tennessee. For the first time since the law was enacted almost 20 years ago, the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act was used to investigate a juvenile court. The investigation uncovered that children were not: provided timely and adequate notice of the charges against them; protected against self-incrimination; provided timely probable cause hearings; provided meaningful assistance of counsel; and provided adequate protections before being transferred to adult court. The investigation also revealed that black children received disproportionately harsh treatment in the different stages of the delinquency process. The team negotiated a landmark settlement that is being implemented and promises to transform the juvenile court in Shelby County into a model for the nation. In the short time since the settlement was entered, Shelby County has already funded and inaugurated a juvenile public defender system. In that same time, the rate of admissions to pre-trial detention has drastically dropped, and initial data suggests that black children are already being treated more fairly at all stages of the delinquency process.
Award recipients include, from the Civil Rights Division’s Special Litigation Section, Deputy Chief Judith C. Preston, Special Litigation Counsel Winsome G. Gayle and Trial Attorney Anika N. Gzifa.
The third Distinguished Service Award is presented for groundbreaking and highly successful work as part of the investigation into manipulation of the London InterBank Offered Rate (LIBOR), a leading benchmark interest rate that is tied to student loans, mortgages and financial instruments used around the world, as well as other leading benchmark interest rates, including the Euro Interbank Offered Rate (Euribor). Between June 2012 and October 2013, members of the LIBOR team resolved cases with four of the world’s largest financial institutions: Barclays Bank PLC (Barclays), UBS AG (UBS), The Royal Bank of Scotland PLC (RBS), and Coöperatieve Centrale Raiffeisen-Boerenleenbank B.A. (Rabobank). At all four institutions, certain derivatives traders requested that certain rate submitters submit LIBOR and/or Euribor contributions that would benefit the traders’ positions, rather than rates that complied with the definitions of LIBOR and Euribor. In addition, at Barclays and UBS, management directed that LIBOR submissions be lowered in order to reduce the reputational risk associated with proper, higher LIBOR submissions. To date, the criminal penalties assessed by the department and resulting from the LIBOR team’s actions exceed $1.1 billion.
Award recipients include, from the Criminal Division’s Fraud Section, Acting Deputy Chief of Staff and Counselor to the Assistant Attorney General for the Criminal Division Rebecca A. Rohr; Acting Fraud Section Chief William J. Stellmach; Deputy Fraud Section Chiefs Daniel Braun and Patrick F. Stokes; Assistant Fraud Section Chief Sandra Moser; and Trial Attorneys Alexander H. Berlin and Gary Winters; from the Antitrust Division, Assistant Chief Elizabeth B. Prewitt; Trial Attorneys Ludovic C. Ghesquiere, Richard A. Powers and Daniel M. Tracer; New York Office Legal Administrative Officer Caitlin E. Morrison; Chicago Office Trial Attorney Eric L. Schleef; and Litigation I Section Trial Attorney Michael T. Koenig; from the FBI’s Washington Field Office, Special Agents Patrick M. Boone, Michael P. Kelly, Michael J. McGillicuddy, Kendra S. McLamb and Jeffrey Weeks; and Forensic Accountant Kyle D. Dornbos.
The fourth Distinguished Service Award is presented to the team whose outstanding contribution led to the successful arrest and prosecution of James “Whitey” Bulger and his longtime girlfriend, Catherine E. Greig. Bulger, one of the country’s most notorious criminals, had eluded capture for his crimes for over 16 years, helped in no small part by Greig. In June 2011, federal law enforcement officials developed a public campaign that focused on Greig rather than Bulger. The campaign worked, and Bulger and Greig were located in a Santa Monica, California, apartment along with over $800,000 in cash and 30 firearms. Bulger and Greig were then successfully prosecuted, and Greig received one of the highest sentences for harboring a fugitive ever imposed in the United States. After a 10-week trial, Bulger was convicted of multiple offenses and in November 2013, he was sentenced to serve consecutive life terms in prison. Bulger’s trial was a monumental undertaking, involving evidence spanning more than 20 years of criminal conduct, including 19 charged murders. Over the course of the 10-week trial, the government called almost 70 witnesses, many of whom were hostile, advanced in age and murderers themselves. Following trial, the team also resolved several difficult and novel victim-related forfeiture issues.
Award recipients include, from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Massachusetts, Assistant U.S. Attorneys Zachary R. Hafer, Mary B. Murrane and Fred M. Wyshak Jr.; and Paralegal Specialist Theresa M. Fahey; from the DEA’s New England Division, Supervisory Special Agent Daniel M. Doherty; from the FBI’s Boston Field Office, Supervisory Special Agent Richard E. Teahan; Special Agents Michael J. Carazza and Gregory J. Comcowich; and Public Affairs Specialist Katherine A. Gulotta; from the FBI’s Los Angeles Field Office, Special Agent Scott F. Garriola; from the Office of the Inspector General Investigations Division, Senior Special Agent James J. Marra; from the U.S. Marshals Service, Asset Forfeiture Division Assistant Chief Inspector Thomas J. Abernathy III and District of Massachusetts Deputy U.S. Marshal Neil R. Sullivan; from the U.S. Department of the Treasury, Internal Revenue Service-Criminal Investigation Division Special Agent Sandra J. Lemanski; and from the Massachusetts State Police, Detective Lieutenant Stephen P. Johnson.
The fifth Distinguished Service Award is presented for the successful settlement negotiations and the predicate fraud investigations conducted by the recipients which led to the largest settlement with a single entity in American history – $13 billion – and the largest Financial Institutions Reform, Recovery, and Enforcement Act penalty ever recovered by the department - $2 billion. The tireless efforts of the recipients advanced core missions of the department by holding wrongdoers accountable for reckless and abusive conduct that contributed to the financial crisis, as well as providing substantial compensation for federal entities supported by American taxpayers and critical assistance to neighborhoods impacted by the mortgage meltdown.
Award recipients include, from the Office of the Associate Attorney General, Principal Deputy Associate Attorney General Elizabeth Taylor; Chief of Staff Brian Martinez; and Director of the RMBS Working Group Geoffrey Graber; from the Civil Division, Director of E-Discovery, FOIA and Records Allison C. Stanton; Office of the Assistant Attorney General Counsel Melanie T. Singh; Consumer Protection Branch Trial Attorney David A. Frank; and Fraud Section Trial Attorney Carol Lynn Wallack; from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, Assistant U.S. Attorneys David A. Degnan and Viveca D. Parker; and from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of California, Assistant U.S. Attorneys Richard Elias, Colleen M. Kennedy, David T. Shelledy and Kelli L. Taylor.
The sixth Distinguished Service Award is presented to the Fire Department of New York (FDNY) Trial Team for exemplary performance in litigating the U.S. v. City of New York discrimination case. In this long-standing Title VII case, the district court found that the city of New York engaged in a pattern or practice of discrimination against black and Hispanic applicants for entry-level firefighter positions. Specifically, the district court found that the city violated Title VII by using written examinations that had a disparate impact on black and Hispanic applicants, and did not test the relevant skills needed to perform the firefighter job. At the time the city administered the first challenged examination, the uniformed members of the FDNY were only 2.9 percent black and 2.8 percent Hispanic. This extremely low level of minority representation in the FDNY was essentially the same as in the early 1970s, when the city was also sued for racially discriminatory hiring practices in its fire department. As a result of the liability finding and the United States’ continued litigation of remedies, current and future applicants to the FDNY have the opportunity to compete for employment on a fair and lawful basis for the first time in decades based on a new examination developed under the supervision of the district court and in conjunction with the recipients. In addition, the city has agreed in principle to pay up to $98 million in back-pay to victims of the city’s discrimination, and the court ordered the city to give 293 victims priority employment as a firefighter. This is the largest affirmative recovery ever obtained by the Civil Rights Division in a Title VII case.
Award recipients include, from the Civil Rights Division’s Employment Litigation Section, Deputy Chief Meredith L. Burrell; Special Litigation Counsels Eric K. Bachman and Sharon A. Seeley; Supervisory Civil Rights Analyst Cynthia M. Jones; Trial Attorneys Clare F. Geller, Kathryn E. Ladewski, Barbara A. Schwabauer, Jennifer M. Swedish, Allan K. Townsend and Carolyn P. Weiss; and Paralegal Specialists Adrienne D. Harrell and Tamera N.C. Overton; from the Criminal Section, Trial Attorney David N. Reese; from the Appellate Section, Deputy Chief Dennis J. Dimsey and Trial Attorney Lisa J. Stark; and from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of New York, Senior Trial Counsel Elliot M. Schachner.
The seventh Distinguished Service Award is presented to the teams involved in the successful investigation and prosecution of the violent transnational criminal organization Barrio Azteca. This complex racketeering case targeted an organization responsible for the U.S. Consulate murders in Juarez, Mexico, and countless shootings, assaults, and other acts of violence, as well as narcotics trafficking and money laundering. The team eventually charged 35 members and associates, and sustained convictions on all who were found or brought into the United States, with the most violent members, including those responsible for the consulate murders, being sentenced to serve life sentences in prison.
Award recipients include, from the Criminal Division, Human Rights and Special Prosecutions Section Trial Attorney Brian D. Skaret; from the DEA, U.S. Consulate General Special Agents James D. Armstrong and Javier Barraza; from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of Alabama, Assistant U.S. Attorney Christopher A. Snyder; from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Texas, Assistant U.S. Attorney John Gibson; from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Texas, Assistant U.S. Attorney George Leal; from the FBI’s Tampa Field Office Special Agent Carlos M. Hernandez; from the FBI’s El Paso Field Office, Supervisory Special Agent Rodolfo Ortega Jr. and Special Agents Samantha A. Mikeska, Lorenzo Perez Jr. and Alyson Samuels; from the FBI’s Miami Field Office, Supervisory Special Agents Edgar Cruz and Alfred A. Watson, and Special Agent Charles M. Bryden; from the FBI’s Albuquerque Field Office Supervisory Special Agent Rene F. Medina and Special Agent Gregory Watterson; and from the U.S. Marshals Service’s Investigative Operations Division, Chief Inspector M. Brian Maxwell.
The eighth Distinguished Service Award is presented to the team who performed distinguished work on complex legal issues arising from the 17-day federal government shutdown that occurred in October 2013 as the Executive Branch faced novel questions arising from a possible default on its fiscal obligations in the midst of a government-wide shutdown. Teams of attorneys from the Office of Legal Counsel and the Civil Division’s Federal Programs and Commercial Litigation Branches were on the front lines in addressing all of these complicated legal questions. The team advised the White House, the U.S. Department of the Treasury, the Attorney General and various other agencies, while also fending off lawsuits challenging agencies’ actions (or inaction) during the shutdown. In a historic time of great national significance, and under extraordinary deadlines, the team’s work was thorough and careful; covered a wide range of statutory, regulatory and constitutional issues affecting every agency in the Executive Branch; and combined the highest standards of craft with the imagination and creativity demanded by the unprecedented nature of the shutdown and debt limit conflict.
Award recipients include, from the Office of Legal Counsel, Deputy Assistant Attorney General Daniel L. Koffsky; Senior Counsel Matthew D. Roberts; and Attorney-Advisers Jaynie Lilley, Thomas G. Pulham and Nitin Shah; from the Civil Division’s Commercial Litigation Branch, Assistant Branch Director Susan K. Rudy; Federal Programs Branch Trial Attorneys Kathryn C. Davis, Lesley R. Farby, Adam D. Kirschner and Daniel S.G. Schwei; and Senior Trial Counsel Ellen M. Lynch.
The ninth Distinguished Service Award is presented to the Office for Victims of Crime Antiterrorism and Emergency Assistance Program (AEAP) Team for its effective, reliable and compassionate response to victims of terrorism and mass violence. Due to the far-reaching scope and horrific nature of crimes of mass violence, communities are usually unprepared, financially or emotionally, to respond to the needs of victims and survivors. The AEAP Team has provided these communities with invaluable support in both the short and long term, from emergency crisis response to enabling victims and their families to participate in criminal justice proceedings years later. The AEAP Team has gone far beyond the role of simply awarding funding, and has taken a farsighted and proactive role to assist victims and their states and communities.
Award recipients include, from the Office of Justice Programs’ Office for Victims of Crime, Director Joye E. Frost; Deputy Director J. Robert Cantrall; and Program Manager Eugenia Pedley.
The 10th and final Distinguished Service Award is presented to Tax Division Office of the Assistant Attorney General Counsel to the Assistant Attorney General Kathleen E. Lyon for her extraordinary work in drafting the Program for Non-Prosecution Agreement or Non-Target Letters for Swiss Banks (Swiss Bank Program). The department has had ongoing investigations into the use of foreign bank accounts to evade U.S. taxes, and the Swiss Bank Program was designed to encourage Swiss banks not already under investigation to cooperate with the department’s efforts. Ms. Lyon was instrumental in drafting the terms of the Swiss Bank Program.
The Attorney General’s Award for Excellence in Law Enforcement recognizes outstanding professional achievements by law enforcement officers of the Department of Justice. Two Excellence in Law Enforcement Awards are presented this year.
The first Attorney General’s Award for Excellence in Law Enforcement is presented to the members of Operation Main Hub, a multi-agency investigation into neighborhood gangs and drug trafficking organizations initiated in 2009. The FBI focused on the Turabo Heights Public Housing Projects (PHP) and the Barriada Morales while the DEA investigated the Gautier Benitez and Brisas del Turabo PHPs. The investigation revealed that neighborhood based gangs and drug trafficking organizations (DTOs) in these areas were directly involved in several shootings to protect their territory, and were responsible for distributing powder cocaine, crack cocaine, heroin, marijuana and prescription pills, resulting in millions of dollars of illicit revenue. Within Barriada Morales, the investigation targeted drug points near elementary schools and head start programs, and included multiple controlled drug buys, controlled firearms purchases, and firearms seizures from the gangs, along with extensive surveillance and law enforcement interventions. Agents utilized advanced investigative techniques and obtained numerous pen registers and six Title III wire intercepts. The FBI’s San Juan, Puerto Rico, Division was assisted by approximately 350 other law enforcement agents, including agents from the FBI, DEA, Homeland Security Investigations, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, and local law enforcement agencies. As a result, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Puerto Rico agreed to indict 79 individuals in the Turabo Heights PHP and 126 individuals in the Barriada Morales DTO. Additionally, the DEA indicted 60 individuals between the Gautier Benitez and Brisas del Turabo PHPs. With over 350 tactical operators flown to the island, the arrests within the Barriada Morales became the largest single day tactical operation in FBI history. These arrests significantly disrupted the narcotics distribution network within Caguas, Puerto Rico, and caused a noticeable decrease in violence, especially within the Turabo Heights PHP.
Award recipients include, from the FBI’s Chicago Field Office, John A. Morales, and from the FBI’s San Juan Field Office, Special Agents Cristina R. Bretsch, Michael A. Dubravetz Jr. and Allen P. Pack; from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives’ Miami Field Division, Puerto Rico III Field Office Special Agent Carlos M. Gonzalez; from the DEA’s Caribbean Division, Special Agents Rafael A. Santiago, Joseph R. Slesar and Stavros Stefanidis; from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Puerto Rico, Assistant U.S. Attorneys Jennifer Y. Hernandez-Vega, Alberto R. Lopez and Teresa Sofia Zapata; from the Police of Puerto Rico, Agents Jose A. Velazquez-Garcia; Pablo A. Irizarry-Ayala and Jesus Marrero-Cruz; and from the San Juan Municipal Police, Agent Michelle C. Cheveres-Contes.
The second Attorney General’s Award for Excellence in Law Enforcement is presented for outstanding performance in the recovery of missing children.
Award recipients include, from the U.S. Marshals Service’s Investigative Operations Division, Chief Inspector Denis Donovan IV and Senior Inspector Frank T. Conner. The investigators of the U.S. Marshals Service (USMS) Sex Offender Investigations Branch target missing child cases when a felony warrant is outstanding for the abductor or companion of an abducted, missing or endangered child. This missing child initiative teams fugitive hunters from the Sex Offender Investigations Branch with the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children’s (NCMEC) resources as the nation’s clearinghouse for missing children. This mandate began as a joint effort between the USMS and NCMEC to identify outstanding warrants associated with missing child cases. On Jan. 10, 2014, the USMS and NCMEC reached their milestone 500th child recovery for the Sex Offender Investigations Branch missing child initiative. More than 10 years after the start of the operation, the missing child initiative continues to grow and make a positive impact in communities across the nation.
The Attorney General’s Award tor Exceptional Service in Indian Country recognizes extraordinary efforts by department employees that demonstrate the department’s commitment to fight crime in Indian Country. This year’s award is presented to Assistant U.S. Attorney Glynette R. Carson McNabb for the District of New Mexico for her exceptional service and outstanding contributions to public safety in Indian Country over the course of 14 years as an Assistant U.S. Attorney. Since June 2010, Ms. McNabb has served as the supervisor for the District of New Mexico’s Indian Country Crimes Section and Tribal Liaison for the 22 tribes in New Mexico. Her dedication to improving public safety and the quality of life in tribal communities not only in New Mexico but throughout the country, has substantially contributed to the department’s commitment to fight crime in Indian Country.
The Attorney General’s Award for Excellence in Management recognizes outstanding administrative or managerial achievements which have significantly improved operations, productivity, or reduced costs. Two Excellence in Management Awards are presented this year.
Award recipients include, from the U.S. Marshals Service’s Office of General Counsel, Principal Deputy General Counsel Lisa M. Dickinson for her exemplary leadership in management at the U.S. Marshals Service; and from the Civil Division’s Office of Management Programs, Executive Officer and Director Kenneth L. Zwick for his exemplary leadership in management of the Civil Division.
Ms. Dickinson has dedicated 20 years of professionalism and integrity to the U.S. Marshals Service (USMS). Her efforts to support and improve the USMS and its employees, while serving in myriad capacities within the organization, exemplify the best traditions of the department. She is not only highly regarded for her expert legal counsel, but also is respected for her stellar historical knowledge of the USMS and known for always willing to share her insight and knowledge. In her current position as the Principal Deputy General Counsel overseeing operations of the Office of General Counsel, Ms. Dickinson continues to provide legal advice and guidance, coordinate litigation matters with U.S. Attorney's Offices and respond to inquiries from other federal agencies and members of the public. Throughout her career, she has been called upon numerous times to serve dual roles for the USMS. From 2004 to 2006, she served as the Acting Executive Assistant to the director, while at the same time serving as the Equal Employment Opportunity Officer. From 2006 to 2008, she served as the Senior Counsel to the director, providing advice and guidance on diverse issues and matters. In 2012, while providing counsel in the Office of General Counsel, she also served as the Acting Assistant Director for the Human Resources Division, and from June 2013 through March 2014, she served as the Associate Director for Administration. In every position throughout her career, Ms. Dickinson has inspired co-workers and subordinates with her dedication and knowledge of the USMS, and its historic role in protecting our judiciary for the nation.
Mr. Zwick is recognized for his sustained leadership in guiding the business operations of the department’s component. In his tenure with the department, Mr. Zwick has responded with speed and effectiveness to repeated challenges of extraordinary complexity, including the creation of an administrative infrastructure to support the September 11th Victim Compensation Fund. He has also expertly transformed the daily operations of the Civil Division’s litigation support and human resources efforts, saving the department millions of dollars and dramatically improving efficiency. Mr. Zwick has consistently provided outstanding contributions to the department under challenging conditions, and his exceptional leadership has markedly improved the department’s operations.
The Attorney General’s Award for Excellence in Information Technology recognizes outstanding achievements in applying information technology to improve operations and productivity, reduce or avoid costs, and solve problems. Two Excellence in Information Technology Awards are presented this year.
The first Attorney General’s Award for Excellence in Information Technology recipient is Director Richard W. Tayman from the Environment and Natural Resources Division’s Office of Information Technology for Superior Program Management of ENRD Information Technology Systems.
Mr. Tayman is a true technology innovator who is extremely well respected throughout the department. While he has taken care of the Environment and Natural Resources Division’s (ENRD) automated information technology systems for over 25 years, Mr. Tayman is also regularly called upon to provide expert guidance for the development and deployment of major enterprise-wide department’s IT systems. Just as the department turns to him for advice, insight and guidance, so do some of the world’s largest information technology equipment vendors and service providers. As a result, ENRD and the department often see incredibly satisfying price tags on the products and services it procures, and technology solutions are often provided with extra care and concern when Mr. Tayman is involved in such acquisitions.
The second recipients of the Attorney General’s Award for Excellence in Information Technology are Supervisory IT Specialist Ray M. Jagels and IT Specialist Douglas L. Baus from the U.S. Marshals Service’s Justice Prisoner and Alien Transportation System, for the development of the innovative and complex JPATS System
Over an aggressive 19-month development cycle, the Justice Prisoner and Alien Transportation System (JPATS) Information Technology Team developed the innovative and complex JPATS Automated Routing and Scheduling System. The team implemented the details of hundreds of JPATS trips and over 11,000 prisoner routes in the system, developed major customization of Oracle Transportation Management Software, and implemented complex data integration procedures between the Base Scheduling System and the Automated Routing and Scheduling System. New user interface functions were created, and a comprehensive training program was developed to successfully address a significantly re-engineered business process. At the close of fiscal year 2013, the use of this program succeeded in exceeding target goals by supporting improvements in scheduler productivity, and by enhancing operational performance that resulted in an overall savings of $11.1 million for the department.
The Attorney General’s Award for Excellence in Furthering the Interests of U.S. National Security recognizes outstanding achievements and contributions in protecting U.S. national security. One Excellence in Furthering the Interests of U.S. National Security Award is presented this year for exemplary service in the operation of a national online counterterrorism program. Through innovative online targeting strategies and creative use of technology, Terror Net is a key contributor to the FBI’s mission to protect the U.S. from terrorist attack. Terror Net is a national online counterterrorism program operated by the FBI San Francisco Division. It targets predicated subjects who use the Internet in furtherance of terrorist acts, and focuses on homegrown violent extremists (HVEs) who are difficult to identify and investigate through traditional methods. The Terror Net team conducts online targeting of HVEs, both in the San Francisco Division and other FBI field offices which do not have their own resources or subject matter expertise to conduct this type of operation. The Terror Net team is the preeminent FBI asset used to locate, engage, and disrupt terrorist threats emanating from the online realm. Through fiscal year 2013 to present, Terror Net has conducted major counterterrorism disruptions against two subjects who attempted to conduct large scale vehicle bomb attacks on significant targets in the United States. Terror Net is currently supporting 37 cases in 17 field offices, and has supported over 70 investigations in 25 field offices over time.
Award recipients include, from the FBI, San Francisco Field Office Special Agents James P. Colraine, Daniel R. Costin, Stephen V. Denitto, Kevin J. Gray, T.M. Ito, Steven A. Kornaros, Matthew Quick, Mike P. Stahala and Gregory Wuthrich; Sacramento Field Office Language Specialist Bassam Dib; Legat Singapore Supervisory Special Agent Sanjay Virmani; Counterterrorism Division Intelligence Analyst Sarah E. Marconi and Management and Program Analyst Melissa L. Willig.
The Attorney General’s Award for Equal Employment Opportunity is the department’s highest award for performance in support of the Equal Employment Opportunity program. One Equal Employment Opportunity Award is presented this year for outstanding leadership and performance in equal employment opportunity and diversity in the Tax Division. The Tax Division’s Attorney Diversity Subcommittee has made significant and long-lasting contributions to the division and the department in the areas of diversity, inclusion, and employee engagement. The subcommittee developed concrete proposals to improve attorney hiring practices in the division; brought the Diversity and Inclusion Dialogue Project to the department; recommended changes to the division’s attorney worklife policies; fostered deeper relationships with department affinity groups; and hosted a number of thought-provoking, interesting and fun diversity and inclusion events for division employees. The recipients each served as chair of this subcommittee and, as such, deserve to be recognized for their outstanding contributions to diversity and inclusion in the division and the department.
Award recipients include, from the Tax Division, in the Criminal Enforcement Section, Northern Region, Assistant Chief Karen Kelly; from the Civil Trial Section, Southern Region Assistant Chief David M. Katinsky; from the Office of Review, Section Chief Ann C. Reid; and from the Civil Trial Section, Eastern Region, Section Chief Deborah S. Meland.
The Attorney General’s Award for Excellence in Legal Support recognizes outstanding achievements in the field of legal support to attorneys by paralegal specialists and other legal assistants.
In the Paralegal Category, this year’s award for Excellence in Legal Support is presented to Paula C. Clinedinst, Paralegal Specialist for the Environment and Natural Resources Division’s Wildlife and Marine Resources Section for her sustained outstanding paralegal support to the ENRD Wildlife and Marine Resources Section. Ms. Clinedinst is a key member of the Wildlife and Marine Resources team, superbly providing all facets of paralegal support, including cite-checking and proofing briefs; legal research; overseeing and tracking two high-volume litigation dockets; and training other paralegals. For 25 years, she has gone above and beyond the call of duty time and again, and has delivered outstanding results for the division. Moreover, her tireless efforts and dedication have ensured success in some of the division’s most important and difficult matters, including litigation related to the Navy’s use of sonar; the operation of the Federal Columbia River Power System; the listing of the polar bear as a threatened species under the Endangered Species Act; and California’s Central Valley Project.
In the Legal Support Category, this year’s award for Excellence in Legal Support is presented to Gail P. Dallman, Legal Assistant for the Executive Office for U.S. Trustees’ Office of the U.S. Trustee - Region 11 for her outstanding and sustained dedication and contributions to the U.S. Trustee Program. On her own initiative, Ms. Dallman worked to identify, test and implement the use of low-cost alternatives to the Public Access to Case Electronic Records (PACER) system. Based on her success in converting offices in Region 11, the U.S. Trustee Program made PACER costs savings nationwide a priority for fiscal year 2014, and Ms. Dallman is playing an important role in that effort. She serves as one of the field leads on the CourtLink Working Group, adapted the PowerPoint tutorial she developed for her region for use on a national level, and assisted in drafting frequently asked questions and answers for new users. She also fields questions and provides assistance to staff from around the country as they work to implement this new system in their offices. As a result of the efforts started by Ms. Dallman, the U.S. Trustee Program has already realized significant savings, and projects a drop in PACER costs of at least $750,000 in fiscal year 2014.
The Attorney General’s Award for Excellence in Administrative Support recognizes outstanding performance in administrative or managerial support by an administrative employee or secretary. Two Excellence in Administrative Support Awards are presented this year.
In the Administrative Category, this year’s award for Excellence in Administrative Support is presented to Staci A. Card, Contract Specialist for the Federal Bureau of Prisons’ Federal Correctional Institution in Otisville, New York, for her outstanding work in her contracting efforts for the Electronics Business Group of Federal Prison Industries (FPI). Her expertise, attention to detail and innovative thinking have directly resulted in the realization of numerous renewable energy projects, benefitting FPI and federal agencies in their quest to become more energy efficient. Ms. Card’s devotion to duty is in keeping with the highest standards of the agency, and reflects great credit upon herself, the Federal Bureau of Prisons and the department.
In the Secretarial Category, this year’s award for Excellence in Administrative Support is presented to Renee L. Robinson, Information Technology Specialist for the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Alaska for her outstanding and sustained dedication and contributions to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Alaska. Ms. Robinson is recognized for her indispensable contributions to the mission of the U.S. Attorney’s Office in multiple roles. Besides her regular responsibilities as Information Technology Manager, Ms. Robinson developed and executed the Information Management, Records Management, Case Management and Property Accountability Programs for the U.S. Attorney’s Office and two branch offices in the District of Alaska. She served as the Acting Administrative Officer while the position was vacant, and has ensured that docketing functions are accomplished while that position remains vacant. Ms. Robinson can be counted on to perform any support task required in the office, and does so willingly, accurately, and professionally. Her dedication reflects greatly upon herself, the U.S. Attorney’s Office and the department.
The Claudia J. Flynn Award for Professional Responsibility recognizes a department attorney who has made significant contributions in the area of professional responsibility by successfully handling a sensitive and challenging professional responsibility issue in an exemplary fashion and/or leading efforts to ensure that department attorneys carry out their duties in accordance with the rules of professional conduct. This year’s award is presented to Paul M. O’Brien, Deputy Assistant Attorney General in the Criminal Division’s Office of the Assistant Attorney General for his significant contributions to the professional responsibility of department attorneys. Mr. O’Brien has spent his 20-year career representing the interests of the department on challenging professional responsibility issues. In his capacity as the Deputy Assistant Attorney General of the Criminal Division, he oversees the highly sensitive work of the Office of Enforcement Operations and the Public Integrity Section, and has led efforts to ensure that the department’s attorneys carry out their duties in accordance with the rules of professional conduct. His improvements to the Electronic Surveillance Unit and the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) Unit ensure that department attorneys have the tools, resources and knowledge to represent the interests of the United States while meeting their professional responsibility obligations. Whether the issues involve particularly sensitive or challenging matters, or enhance department policy in the area of professional responsibility, Mr. O’Brien is highly respected by his colleagues as a dedicated leader who can be depended upon for his integrity, judgment and commitment to do the right thing in every circumstance.
The Attorney General’s Award for Outstanding Service in Freedom of Information Act Administration recognizes exceptional dedication and effort to the implementation of FOIA. The president’s Open Government Directive and the Attorney General’s FOIA Guidelines prioritize the need for the government to incorporate information technology into FOIA processing when responding to requests for information. The Civil Division’s FOIA Unit developed a groundbreaking program that successfully increased the efficiency and timeliness, while decreasing the cost, of responding to FOIA requests. In just one fiscal year, the recipients successfully transformed workflows and applied information technology typically used in litigation to the FOIA search, review, and response process. Using these new methods, in fiscal year 2013 the team reduced the division’s request backlog by more than 50 percent, while receiving six percent more requests than the previous year. Using new processes and technology the team completed 33 percent more requests than in fiscal year 2012. The success of the team is attributable to its expertise and dedication to the president’s open government priorities. Through its efforts, the recipients created a technologically innovative FOIA system that advances the president’s and the Attorney General’s goals of providing faster and more complete responses to requests for information by the public.
Award recipients include, from the Civil Division’s Office of the Assistant Attorney General, Senior Supervisory FOIA Counsels Angie E. Cecil and James M. Kovakas; Director of the Office of Litigation Support Joshua P. Wood; and Office of Management Programs Senior Litigation Support Professional Tammy L. Walmsley for their outstanding and sustained dedication and contributions to the department’s FOIA Program.
The Attorney General’s Award for Fraud Prevention recognizes exceptional dedication and effort to prevent, investigate and prosecute fraud, white-collar crimes and official corruption. This team is honored for its exceptional perseverance, diligence and vision in the investigation, litigation and prosecution of allegations that Johnson & Johnson and two of its subsidiaries, Janssen and Scios, improperly promoted drugs, disregarded patient safety and paid kickbacks to enhance sales. The resolution marks the culmination of an extensive, coordinated eight-year investigation. The team’s extraordinary efforts resulted in three civil complaints and two criminal informations filed in the three different districts, and demonstrated an exemplary use of parallel proceedings. More important, the team’s efforts resulted in Johnson & Johnson paying in excess of $2.2 billion to resolve criminal and civil liability arising from its illegal misbranding and fraudulent marketing of drugs to vulnerable populations such as the elderly, children and those with developmental disabilities, and its payment of kickbacks to physicians and the nation’s largest long-term care pharmacy provider. The global resolution is the third largest health care fraud settlement in U.S. history, and with respect to Risperdal, the resolution is the largest settlement for one drug.
Award recipients include, from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, Deputy Chief for Affirmative Civil Litigation Mary Catherine Frye; and Assistant U.S. Attorneys Scott M. Cullen, Charlene Keller Fuller and Albers S. Glenn; from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of California, Assistant U.S. Attorneys Thomas R. Green and Sara Winslow; from the from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Florida, Assistant U.S. Attorney Kevin James Larsen; from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Massachusetts, Assistant U.S. Attorneys George B. Henderson III and Gregg David Shapiro; and from the Civil Division’s Commercial Litigation Branch Fraud Section, Senior Trial Counsel Laurie A. Oberembt; Senior Counsel for Healthcare Fraud Edward C. Crooke; and Trial Attorneys Jennifer L. Cihon, Kimberly I. Friday, Patrick M. Klein II and Renée S. Orleans.
The Attorney General’s Award for Outstanding Contributions to Community Partnerships for Public Safety recognizes outstanding achievement in the development and support of community partnerships designed to address public safety within a community. The award recognizes the significant contributions of citizens and organizations that have assisted the department in the accomplishment of these programs.
This year’s Outstanding Contribution to Community Partnerships for Public Safety Award is presented to the team who performed exceptional work to address solutions to the active shooter epidemic. This team focused on two major collaborative efforts: working with Executive Branch members to create a singular national voice addressing potential solutions to the active shooter problem; and working with law enforcement nationally to share best practices and lessons learned. To accomplish the first task, the recipients began what became six months of nearly-daily meetings with representatives from Executive Branch agencies. President Obama had asked the working group to focus first on creating guides for schools, institutions of higher learning, and houses of worship which would be used to develop comprehensive Emergency Operations Plans. From the first meeting led by the Vice President’s Office, it became clear that each working group member brought his or her own agencies varied priorities and responsibilities. Out of intense and productive discussions, three distinct 100-page guides were written, vetted, and approved by the Executive Branch agencies. When the documents were released by Vice President Biden during a July 2013 press conference, it marked the first time a collaborative effort had resulted in Federal agency collaboration on emergency planning guides. The guides provide practical advice on how to work with students, teachers and administrators on ways to prevent and intercede before an active shooter incident happens, and how to react and respond when it does. The second effort undertaken by the team focused on finding a practical way to share with 800,000 law enforcement officers better ways to predict and respond to active shooter incidents. The team designed a three-tiered approach to this task. First, the team worked with the department’s Bureau of Justice Assistance and Texas State University to adopt a national response protocol for law enforcement. Second, the team developed materials for a two-day conference, hosted by FBI field office personnel to bring lessons learned and best practices to the chiefs, sheriffs, and commanders on the scenes of these incidents. Finally, the team developed tabletop exercises specific to schools and universities to bring law enforcement and first responders together to discuss how they would handle an active shooter incident in their territory.
Award recipients include, from the FBI’s Washington Field Office, Office of the Director Supervisory Special Agent Michael McElhenny; Resource Planning Office Special Advisor Kathryn M. Crotts; Critical Incident Response Group Supervisory Special Agent Katherine W. Schweit; and Public Affairs Specialist Andrew C. Ames; from the Department of California Highway Patrol, Lieutenant David William Knoff.
The Cubby Dorsey Award for Outstanding Contributions by a Wage Grade System Employee recognizes extraordinary performance and contributions by wage grade system employees, including laborers, mechanics, and skilled craft workers. One Cubby Dorsey Award for Outstanding Service by a Federal Wage Grade System Employee is presented this year to Michael Grigsby, HVAC Supervisor Federal Bureau of Prisons Federal Prison Camp (FPC) in Montgomery, Alabama.
Mr. Grigsby is honored for his outstanding leadership and dedication to FPC Montgomery for the past 16 years. His knowledge and fortitude to research the most cost effective methods for repairing projects at an institution which opened in 1930 continues to exceed expectations. Mr. Grigsby supervises the plumbing, electrical, and HVAC details at the facility. Additionally, he works closely with Maxwell Air Force Base personnel, and continues to exemplify a very positive partnership with the local community. Mr. Grigsby handles institution emergencies regarding facility concerns in his area of expertise with outstanding efficiency. His ownership of projects assigned to him are reflective of his determination to ensure the best solution for a long term resolution are utilized, as well as always researching the most cost effective methods. Mr. Grigsby is viewed as a leader among his peers, and his reputation is that of a great historian to FPC Montgomery.
The Attorney General’s Award for Outstanding Contributions by a New Employee recognizes exceptional performance and notable accomplishments towards the department’s mission by an employee with fewer than five years of federal career service. Two Outstanding Contributions by a New Employee Awards are presented this year.
The first Contribution by a New Employee Award is presented to Regina Kline, Trial Attorney in the Civil Rights Division’s Disability Rights Section, for her exemplary work in the division. As the driving force behind the precedent-setting U.S. v. Rhode Island and City of Providence (Rhode Island) sheltered workshop lawsuit filed by the Civil Rights Division, Ms. Kline has distinguished herself as an extraordinarily dedicated and effective advocate for the United States. Through her outstanding oral and written advocacy, a groundbreaking settlement was achieved in the case, the first agreement to apply the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) integration mandate in a comprehensive manner to state and local employment service systems for persons with disabilities. Olmstead v. LC (Olmstead) has been called the Brown v. Board of Education of the disability rights movement, and Olmstead enforcement has been a top priority for the department. Although many of the department’s cases involve the unnecessary segregation of people with disabilities in residential institutions, Ms. Kline’s work in Rhode Island expanded this work to look beyond just where people live, to examine how people live. The results obtained by Ms. Kline in Rhode Island have played a pivotal role in leveraging the department’s Olmstead enforcement to bring about broad policy change, and have led to nationwide interest in addressing segregation in state employment services. Although Ms. Kline has served as a trial attorney at the department for less than two years, she has also played a lead role in the United States’ intervention in Lane v. Kitzhaber, an ADA lawsuit challenging the state of Oregon’s over-reliance on segregated employment services settings for people with disabilities.
The second and final Contribution by a New Employee Award is presented to Ashley Altshuler, Assistant U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Oklahoma, for his exceptional performance in support of the DOJ Project Safe Neighborhoods, Project Sentry and Offender Reentry Initiatives. Since his hiring, Mr. Altshuler has exceptionally performed his duties in support of the department’s Project Safe Neighborhoods, Project Sentry and offender reentry initiatives. He has taken the initiative to make reentry a priority, and led his U.S. Attorney’s Office’s efforts, even though he has been an Assistant U.S. Attorney for less than three years. His creation and development of the Probationer and Parolee Reentry Program has made the Western District of Oklahoma safer. Mr. Altshuler has also established a research partnership with a local university to study the effectiveness of the reentry program.
The John Marshall Awards are the department’s highest awards offered to attorneys, for contributions and excellence in specialized areas of legal performance. Twelve awards in nine categories are presented this year.
The first John Marshall Award for Trial of Litigation is presented to John O. Holm, Erika B. Kranz and Kristin R. Muenzen, Trial Attorneys in the Environment and Natural Resources Division’s Land Acquisition Section, for their exceptional work litigating the acquisition of land for the United Airlines Flight 93 Memorial.
The Flight 93 National Memorial Trial Team was responsible for litigating the acquisition of over 275 acres of land in Somerset County, Pennsylvania, where United Airlines Flight 93 crashed on Sept. 11, 2001. The land was acquired to construct the Flight 93 National Memorial to honor the victims of this national tragedy. The recipients were responsible for litigating this case and ensuring just compensation was paid to the former landowners. The case involved extensive discovery, motion practice, settlement negotiations and a week-long trial during the most recent government shutdown. On Dec. 9, 2013, the Land Commission issued a report finding that the fair market value of the subject property was $1.5 million, which was $21.7 million less than the valuation by the landowners’ appraiser. As the result reflects, the Flight 93 Trial Team was successful at every stage of this litigation from the preparation of numerous successful motions that eliminated millions of dollars claimed by the landowners, to limiting the scope of evidence presented at a highly-contentious trial in which the team was able to undermine the testimony of an expert who is nationally recognized in the field of valuing similar, high-profile properties. Through the team’s efforts, the United States and its taxpayers saved tens of millions of dollars, while ensuring that the necessary land was acquired to develop a national memorial to the victims of United Airlines Flight 93 who lost their lives on Sept. 11, 2001.
The second John Marshall Award for Trial of Litigation is presented to Joseph E. DePadilla, Benjamin L. Hatch and Brian J. Samuels, Assistant U.S. Attorneys in the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Virginia, and Paul G. Casey, Trial Attorney in the National Security Division’s Counterterrorism Section, for their outstanding performance prosecuting 14 sea-based Somali pirates and one land-based Somali pirate leader for their role in the capture and murders of four Americans onboard the sailboat Quest. These prosecutions resulted in two separate trials, U.S. v. Mohammad Saaili Shibin, and a two-month capital trial involving three defendants, U.S. v. Ahmed Muse Salad, Abukar Osman Beyle, and Shani Nurani Shiekh Abrar. Shibin was the first Somali-based pirate leader ever brought to trial in the United States, and his case was the first time that U.S. piracy laws had ever been applied to a person who did not himself go onto the high seas to commit violent acts of piracy, but rather facilitated those acts from the relative safety of Somalia. The recipients secured convictions on all counts and Shibin was sentenced to serve more than 12 life sentences. In the Salad, et al. trial, the Attorney General directed the prosecution team to seek the death penalty for all three defendants who were found guilty on 26 counts of the indictment. The jury determined that the defendants were eligible to receive the death penalty, and ultimately recommended sentences of life imprisonment. The district court subsequently imposed 19 consecutive life sentences, two concurrent life sentences, and 360 months consecutive for each defendant. This prosecution demonstrates the United States’ commitment to obtaining justice for victims of piracy affecting the United States and the international community, and it sends a strong message that Somali pirates and their land-based leaders are not beyond the reach of U.S. and international law.
The first John Marshall Award for Participation in Litigation is presented for exemplary dedication and contributions to assert government interest to guarantee right to counsel for indigent defendants. In the 50 years since the landmark U.S. Supreme Court decision in Gideon v. Wainwright guaranteeing the Sixth Amendment right to counsel for indigent defendants, the department had spoken about the indigent defense crisis in America and provided leadership and grant-making to address it, but had never participated in litigation to contribute to assuring that all Americans facing criminal charges are guaranteed an attorney. That changed in 2013, when a litigation team from the Access to Justice Initiative and the Civil Rights Division researched, crafted, and filed a statement of interest in the federal case of Wilbur v. City of Mount Vernon asserting that the federal government has a strong interest in ensuring that all jurisdictions are fulfilling their obligations under Gideon. The filing stated that in the event that the court found constitutional violations, workload limits for public defense providers should be imposed to better ensure quality representation for each client, and an independent monitor should be appointed to ensure compliance. In December 2013, the Federal District Court Judge in Wilbur ruled that there had been a systematic deprivation of the right to counsel and ordered the appointment of an independent monitor. The department’s participation in the case drew national attention and strengthened the department’s ongoing contribution to justice for all, including those who are unable to afford an attorney.
Award recipients include, from the Civil Rights Division’s Special Litigation Section, Chief Jonathan M. Smith and Trial Attorney Paul A. Killebrew; and Access to Justice Initiative Acting Senior Counselors Karen A. Lash and Deborah Leff; and Senior Counsels Jenni Katzman and Larry Kupers.
The second John Marshall Award for Participation in Litigation is presented for superior performance in the litigation and prosecution of Randolph Linn, the Islamic Center of Greater Toledo arsonist. Award recipients include, from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Ohio, Assistant U.S. Attorneys Bridget M. Brennan and Ava M. Rotell Dustin. On Sept. 30, 2012, Linn, armed with gas cans and a handgun, set fire to the Islamic Center of Greater Toledo, the largest mosque in northwest Ohio. This horrific act resulted in more than $1.4 million in damage, displaced the congregation and a full-time elementary school for over a year, and caused a wave of fear to spread throughout the Muslim community in the region. Less than three months after the fire was set, the recipients skillfully negotiated a binding plea agreement resulting in Linn pleading guilty to damage to religious property, use of a fire to commit a felony and use of a firearm to commit a crime of violence. On April 16, 2013, Linn was sentenced to serve 20 years in prison for these hate crimes.
The first John Marshall Award for Support of Litigation is presented for exceptional support to the National Labor Relations Board and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. Award Recipients include, from the Office of the Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Division, Deputy Assistant Attorney General Beth S. Brinkmann; Appellate Counsel Scott R. McIntosh; and Appellate Staff Attorneys Melissa N. Patterson and Benjamin M. Shultz; and from the Office of the Solicitor General, Assistant to the Solicitor General Curtis E. Gannon. This team is honored for providing exceptional support to the National Labor Relations Board in connection with the challenged validity of President Obama’s recess appointment of three board members, and to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau in connection with the president’s appointment of its director. The issues opened up multiple first-impression questions of constitutional law implicating the historical practices under the Recess Appointments Clause all the way back to the first president. The recipients undertook an extraordinary effort, turning to the primary historical sources themselves, poring over original appointment records in the National Archives, the U.S. Department of State, the Library of Congress and other historical collections, and documented a substantial number of presidential recess appointments never before reported in any academic source or judicial decision.
The second John Marshall Award for Support of Litigation is presented to the Environment and Natural Resources Division’s Environmental Enforcement Section, Deputy Section Chief Ellen M. Mahan; Assistant Section Chief William D. Brighton; Senior Counsel Jerome W. MacLaughlin; Senior Attorneys Peter M. Flynn and Keith T. Tashima; and Trial Attorney Bradley L. Levine, for outstanding performance recovering funds for cleanup and restoration at the New Bedford Harbor PCB Superfund Site. This team was instrumental in recovering $475 million for environmental cleanup and restoration of natural resources at the New Bedford Harbor polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) Superfund Site in Massachusetts. Decades of industrial discharges spread PCB contamination across 18,000 acres of the harbor bottom. PCB pollution threatens human health and interferes with a multi-generational tradition of fin and shell fishing in the harbor by local families, including families of Portuguese, Puerto Rican and Cape Verdean descent. The money recovered will increase the pace and efficiency of the harbor cleanup. This case procured a huge victory for the people of New Bedford and for the environment, and struck a blow for environmental justice. It represents an outstanding achievement by this talented, determined and resourceful team of litigators.
The John Marshall Award for Handling of Appeals is presented to Deputy Chief Robert A. Parker of the Criminal Division’s Appellate Section, Criminal Division Attorney Christopher J. Smith; General Attorney Paula H. Wulff of the FBI’s Office of the General Counsel; Senior Counsel David J. Karp from the Office of Legal Policy; and from the Office of the Solicitor, Deputy Solicitor General Michael R. Dreeben, and General Assistant to the Solicitor General Elaine J. Goldenberg. This team is recognized for its extraordinary work in successfully defending the interests of the United States before the U.S. Supreme Court in Maryland v. King. In King, the court, by a narrow vote of five to four, upheld the right of federal and state law enforcement to collect DNA samples from arrestees for the purpose of generating identification profiles. The importance of this decision cannot be overstated as it validates over two decades of efforts by Congress, state legislatures and federal and state law enforcement agencies to create a reliable national database of DNA identification profiles that can be used to identify criminal offenders, solve crimes and exonerate the innocent, all while rigorously protecting personal privacy. The recipients worked together to brief and argue the case on behalf of the United States, and the Supreme Court majority’s opinion closely tracks the arguments they crafted. Their efforts were crucial to the outcome of this case, and will have far-reaching effects on the ability of federal, state and local enforcement agencies to identify offenders and solve crimes.
The John Marshall Award for Providing Legal Advice is presented to John T. Lynch Jr., Chief of the Criminal Division’s Computer Crime and Intellectual Property Section, for his dedicated service and outstanding leadership of the Criminal Division’s Computer Crime and Intellectual Property Section. Mr. Lynch is a leader in one of the department’s most prominent areas of concern, and his expert, tireless and professional work as Chief of the Criminal Division’s Computer Crime and Intellectual Property Section has furthered the department’s mission at every stage. From the highest levels of the department and throughout the law enforcement community, anyone who confronts complex issues involving computer crime or cyber threats knows and relies upon Mr. Lynch and the people that he leads. From providing expert advice on hacking cases, protecting intellectual property rights, and guiding the department’s position on crucial legislative and policy initiatives, Mr. Lynch has served the government with the highest commitment and level of professionalism.
The John Marshall Award for Preparation or Handling of Legislation is presented to Deputy Director Michelle Morales and Attorney Janis Kockritz from the Criminal Division’s Office of Policy and Legislation for their exceptional work in conceptualizing, planning and completing the DOJ Review of Federal Firearm Prohibitors Report. The report was commissioned by President Obama following the murder of 20 first graders and six adult staff members at the Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut. The team’s exhaustive work resulted in a comprehensive report that examines how the current prohibitors are applied in practice to prevent certain categories of persons from obtaining and/or possessing firearms; identifies statutory, regulatory and operational gaps or weaknesses in the existing prohibitors; and presents legislative and executive policy options for modifying or enhancing the prohibitors to make them more effective in preventing potentially dangerous individuals from having guns. The report is a major contribution to department’s understanding of the role, application and realities of the federal firearm prohibitors in federal law enforcement, and marks a notable advancement for the Criminal Division in legal and policy analysis.
The John Marshall Award for Asset Forfeiture is presented to Assistant U.S. Attorneys Arlo Devlin-Brown, Christopher D. Frey, Randall Wade Jackson, Paul M. Monteleoni, Matthew L. Schwartz and John T. Zach for the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York; and Assistant U.S. Attorney Barbara A. Ward of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of New Jersey. This team is responsible for the investigation and prosecution of various cases stemming from the collapse of Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securities, which was revealed in December 2008 to be the largest Ponzi scheme in history. In the five years since Bernard Madoff was arrested for orchestrating his massive Ponzi scheme, the team conducted an international investigation that resulted in the prosecution of more than a dozen individuals; a deferred prosecution agreement with JPMorgan Chase Bank; and the forfeiture and collection of more than $4 billion. The forfeited funds are being distributed through the largest and most ambitious remission project in the department’s history, where it will reach thousands of victims in dozens of countries, and serve as a precedent for future large-scale remission programs. The team’s extraordinary work, including its novel use of forfeiture, has ensured a meaningful measure of recompense to thousands of innocent victims who otherwise would not have recovered anything from the failed investments.
The John Marshall Award for Alternative Dispute Resolution is presented to the Environment and Natural Resources Division’s Natural Resources Section Assistant Section Chief Keith E. Saxe and Senior Attorneys Stephen G. Bartell and Thomas K. Snodgrass for their outstanding professional achievement for the protection of ecosystems in Juab County, Utah. This team is honored for its exemplary work in the management of litigation involving claims brought under the Quiet Title Act for highway rights-of-way, and the negotiation of a creative three-sided resolution of the first of dozens of lawsuits involving highway rights-of-way claims that threaten the federal government’s ability to manage federal lands in the western United States. The settlement provides for the protection of important ecosystems in a remote area of Juab County in Utah, designated as the Deep Creek Mountains Wilderness Study Area, which is known for its beauty and impressive geologic formations. The agreement balances the protection of the lands with limited access to these remote areas for recreational purposes. The settlement is historic in identifying an approach to resolving a flood of litigation that could severely drain the resources of the department and its client land-management agencies. The negotiation was a model of cooperation among federal, state and local governments, as well as environmental interests, and set a foundation of good will on which to build further agreement and resolutions.
The John Marshall Award for Interagency Cooperation in Support of Litigation is presented to Robert A. Kaplan, Regional Counsel for Region 5 of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) for his outstanding work managing EPA’s largest regional enforcement program. As the chief attorney overseeing the EPA’s largest and most successful regional enforcement program, Mr. Kaplan is recognized for his unrelenting efforts to support the environmental enforcement litigation that the department pursues on EPA’s behalf. In fiscal year 2013, the Office of Regional Counsel overseen by Mr. Kaplan led all 10 EPA regions in the number of civil litigation referrals to the department, the number of civil judicial matters concluded, the total dollar value of injunctive relief and supplemental environmental projects obtained in their cases, and the total amount of air pollution reduced through enforcement efforts. These results were enabled in large part by Mr. Kaplan’s leadership and initiatives promoting joint priority-setting by EPA and the department; the efficient deployment of enforcement resources; and the active oversight and support of the case development work, negotiations and litigation undertaken by the assigned case teams.
Attorney General Holder Announces Vanita Gupta to Serve as Acting Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Rights DivisionRead the Press Release
Attorney General Eric Holder announced on Wednesday that Vanita Gupta will serve as Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General and Acting Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Rights Division.
Gupta succeeds Molly Moran, who will become Principal Deputy Associate Attorney General.
“Vanita has spent her entire career working to ensure that our nation lives up to its promise of equal justice for all,” said Attorney General Holder. “Even as she has done trailblazing work as a civil rights lawyer, Vanita is also known as a unifier and consensus builder. She has a knack for bridging differences and building coalitions to drive progress. I am certain that Vanita will serve as a sound steward of this critical division, continuing the exemplary work that Molly Moran, Jocelyn Samuels and Tom Perez, have so ably led.”
Prior to joining the department, Gupta served as Deputy Legal Director of the American Civil Liberties Union and Director of its Center for Justice. Previously, she was an attorney for its Racial Justice Program. Over her career, Gupta has earned a reputation for working closely and collaboratively with law enforcement, departments of corrections and across the political spectrum to advance smart policing and criminal justice reforms. Through her work with the ACLU, she has been involved in reform initiatives around the country pertaining to federal and state policing, sentencing, drug policy and criminal law. Her recent work has focused on building a bipartisan consensus to end overreliance on incarceration.
Gupta began her career as a lawyer with the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund. In addition to her work with the ACLU and NAACP Legal Defense Fund, Gupta has taught civil rights litigation and advocacy clinics at New York University School of Law since 2008. She received a B.A., magna cum laude, from Yale University and J.D. from New York University School of Law.
Her first case involved leading an effort to win the release of 35 defendants in Tulia, Texas, whose drug convictions and lengthy sentences were discredited by the work of Gupta and the legal team of private bar attorneys she organized. All of the defendants were eventually pardoned in 2003 by Governor Rick Perry, and she helped to negotiate a $6 million settlement for those arrested.
Gupta begins at the department on Monday, Oct. 20.
The Attorney General also announced that Molly Moran will become Principal Deputy Associate Attorney General in Acting Associate Attorney General Stuart F. Delery’s office.
“Molly Moran stepped in to lead the Civil Rights Division at my request and she has led the division through some unprecedented challenges,” said Attorney General Holder. “During a time of transition for the division, Molly provided stability and leadership. From Ferguson, Missouri to voting rights cases in Texas, North Carolina and beyond, the division has continued its critical work on behalf of the American people with the benefit of Molly’s wise counsel, thoughtful leadership and tireless advocacy. Fortunately for the country, the department and I will be able to continue to rely on Molly’s talents for the foreseeable future as Principal Deputy Associate Attorney General.”
Since becoming Acting Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Rights Division, Moran has provided stability and leadership to the division during one of its most high profile periods. Stepping into the role as Acting Assistant Attorney General just before the shooting of Michael Brown by a Ferguson Missouri Police Officer, Moran has overseen the ongoing civil rights investigation into the shooting and opened a civil pattern or practice investigation into the operations of the Ferguson Police Department. In September, the division filed a statement of interest in Hurrell-Harring et al. v. New York regarding the standards for indigent defense provided by the state—only the second time the division has weighed in on a state level case on right to counsel. Following a September 2014 trial, the department won its first Voting Rights Act case since the Supreme Court’s Shelby v. Holder ruling. In the case, which challenged the Texas voter ID law, the court agreed with the department’s position that the law is discriminatory in both effect and intent.
Federal Court Bars Alabama Tax Return Preparer from Preparing Returns for OthersRead the Press Release
A federal court in Montgomery, Alabama, has permanently barred a Montgomery tax preparer from preparing federal tax returns for others, the Justice Department announced today.
The complaint alleged that Jenika Williams prepared returns that falsely claimed or inflated taxpayers’ income tax refunds by using social security numbers and other identifying information of third parties to falsely claim dependents in order to overstate the taxpayers’ claim to the Earned Income Tax Credit.
Williams, the suit alleges, previously pleaded guilty to conspiracy to defraud the United States, wire fraud and aggravated identity theft. Altogether, the loss to the U.S. Treasury from Williams’ activities may exceed $1 million. The permanent injunction was entered by U.S. District Judge W. Keith Watkins for the Middle District of Alabama after Williams failed to respond to the lawsuit.
Return preparer fraud is one of the Internal Revenue Service’s (IRS) Dirty Dozen Tax Scams for 2014. The IRS has some tips on their website for choosing a tax preparer. In the past decade, the Justice Department’s Tax Division has obtained injunctions against hundreds of unscrupulous tax preparers. Information about these cases is available on the Justice Department website.
Related Materials:
United States v. Tonja Renee Toney, et al.
Permanent Injunction Against Jenika WilliamsDepartment of Justice Reaches Settlement Agreement with Colorado School District to Address Racial Harassment and DiscriminationRead the Press Release
The Justice Department announced that it has entered into a comprehensive settlement agreement with the Falcon School District 49 in Colorado Springs, Colorado, to resolve complaints about the district’s response to racial harassment and discrimination in its schools.
The agreement will continue for at least three years and replaces a settlement agreement reached by the parties in 2010 which addressed similar issues. The agreement requires the district to take affirmative steps to eliminate and prevent racial harassment and discrimination in schools. Specifically, the district agrees to:
- revise its policies and procedures on harassment and discrimination;
- maintain adequate records of all incidents of racial harassment and discrimination;
- analyze incidents of racial harassment and discrimination to ensure that all incidents are properly identified, investigated, and resolved;
- train staff in preventing and responding to harassment and discrimination;
- provide training to students to prevent and address harassment and discrimination;
- include restorative justice techniques and positive behavior interventions and supports in the district’s disciplinary responses to incidents of harassment and discrimination; and
- hire a consultant to identify any additional measures the district should take to effectively address, prevent, and respond to harassment and discrimination.
“We applaud the Falcon School District 49 for working cooperatively with the Department of Justice to resolve this matter and ensure that all students can attend school without fear of harassment or discrimination from their peers,” said Acting Assistant Attorney General Molly Moran for the Civil Rights Division.
The enforcement of Title IV of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which prohibits discrimination on the basis of race, color, national origin, sex and religion in public schools, is a top priority of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division. Additional information about the Civil Rights Division of the Justice Department is available on its website at www.justice.gov/crt.
Bioscan Principal Pleads Guilty in Multi-Million Dollar Health Care Fraud and Money Laundering SchemeRead the Press Release
A Florida managing member of a shell company pleaded guilty today in federal court in Tampa, Florida, for his role in a multi-million dollar health care fraud and money laundering scheme.
Assistant Attorney General Leslie R. Caldwell of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division, U.S. Attorney A. Lee Bentley III of the Middle District of Florida, Acting Special Agent in Charge Derrick Jackson of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General’s (HHS-OIG) Miami Regional Office and Special Agent in Charge Paul Wysopal of the FBI’s Tampa Field Office made the announcement.
Gregory J. Sylvestri, 44, formerly of Lake Worth, Florida, pleaded guilty in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Florida to two charges related to money laundering of health care fraud proceeds. His sentencing date will be set by the court at a later date. In his plea agreement, Sylvestri agreed to the forfeiture of a $60,000 platinum and diamond engagement ring that he purchased with health care fraud proceeds.
According to his plea agreement, from June 2010 through April 2014, Sylvestri’s co-conspirators submitted over $12 million in fraudulent claims to Medicare through three purported health clinics, Cornerstone Health Specialists of Lakeland, Florida, Summit Health Specialists P.L. of Tampa, and Coastal Health Specialists LLC of Lakeland and Melbourne, Florida. These fraudulent claims included claims resulting from illegal kickback arrangements and claims for radiology, audiology, neurology and cardiology services that were never rendered. In fact, some of the services were purportedly provided to Medicare beneficiaries who had died before the supposed date of service. Medicare paid over $2,500,000 in reimbursement on the fraudulent claims.
Sylvestri admitted that he and his co-conspirators used bank accounts for the clinics and shell companies, including his shell company, BONB LLC, aka BioScan, to conceal and disburse the fraud proceeds.
Four other defendants were indicted in this case on health care fraud and money laundering charges. In addition to Sylvestri, one of the other defendants has pleaded guilty. The remaining three defendants are scheduled for a jury trial in April 2015. An indictment is merely an accusation, and the defendants are presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.
This case is being investigated by HHS-OIG and the FBI and was brought as part of the Medicare Fraud Strike Force, under the supervision of the Criminal Division’s Fraud Section and U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of Florida. This case is being prosecuted by Trial Attorney Christopher J. Hunter of the Criminal Division’s Fraud Section.
Since its inception in March 2007, the Medicare Fraud Strike Force, now operating in nine cities across the country, has charged nearly 2,000 defendants who have collectively billed the Medicare program for more than $6 billion. In addition, the HHS Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, working in conjunction with the HHS-OIG, are taking steps to increase accountability and decrease the presence of fraudulent providers.
To learn more about the Health Care Fraud Prevention and Enforcement Team (HEAT), go to: www.stopmedicarefraud.gov.
Attorney General Holder Announces New Policy to Enhance Justice Department's Commitment to Support Defendants' Right to CounselRead the Press Release
Attorney General Eric Holder, along with Deputy Attorney General James M. Cole, announced today that the Department of Justice will no longer ask criminal defendants who plead guilty to waive their right to bring future claims of ineffective assistance of counsel. The new policy bolsters the department’s commitment to ensuring that individuals are ably represented as they face criminal charges and marks the Attorney General’s latest step to reform the criminal justice system.
“Everyone in this country who faces criminal legal action deserves the opportunity to make decisions with the assistance of effective legal counsel,” said Attorney General Holder. “Under this policy, no defendant will have to forego their right to able representation in the course of pleading guilty to a crime. I am confident in the ability of our outstanding prosecutors to ably and successfully perform their duties without the use of these waivers, as the vast majority of them already do. Moving forward, I am certain that this more consistent policy will help to bring our system of justice closer in line with our most fundamental values and highest ideals.”
“This new policy reaffirms the commitment by the department’s prosecutors to protecting the right to counsel and enhancing due process,” said Deputy Attorney General Cole. “As reflected in our recent intervention to secure greater public defender services in New York, the criminal justice system is best served when parties have competent and unbiased legal representation.”
Deputy Attorney General Cole unveiled the new policy through a memorandum to all federal prosecutors and through a conference call today. Prior to today’s action, 35 of the department’s 94 U.S. Attorney’s Offices sought waivers of future claims that included claims of ineffective assistance of counsel. While the department believes such waivers are legal and ethical, the new policy will create a uniform policy for all U.S. Attorneys to follow.
The memo directs federal prosecutors to no longer ask defendants to waive future claims of ineffective assistance of counsel in plea agreements. It also instructs prosecutors to decline to enforce waivers that have already been signed in cases where defense counsel provided ineffective assistance resulting in prejudice or where the defendant’s ineffective assistance claim raises a serious issue that a court should resolve.
Ahmed Abu Khatallah Indicted on Additional Charges for September 2012 Attack in Benghazi, LibyaRead the Press Release
A federal grand jury in the District of Columbia returned a superseding indictment today charging Ahmed Abu Khatallah, aka Ahmed Mukatallah, with numerous additional offenses arising from his alleged participation in the Sept. 11 through 12, 2012, terrorist attacks in Benghazi, Libya, which resulted in the deaths of Ambassador J. Christopher Stevens and U.S. government personnel Sean Smith, Tyrone Woods and Glen Doherty.
Khatallah, 43, a Libyan national, was initially indicted on June 26, 2014, on the charge of conspiracy to provide material support and resources to terrorists resulting in death. That charge, which is included in the superseding indictment, carries a potential life sentence. The superseding indictment includes a total of 17 new charges, including some that could be punishable by death.
“These additional charges reflect Ahmed Abu Khattalah’s integral role in the attack on U.S. facilities in Benghazi, which led to the deaths of four brave Americans,” said Attorney General Eric Holder. “We will never relent in pursuing justice against those who commit heinous acts of terrorism against the United States. Those who would do harm to our citizens—no matter how far away—should understand that our nation’s memory is long and our reach is far.”
“This superseding indictment charges Ahmed Abu Khatallah for his role in the attacks on U.S. facilities in Benghazi, Libya that resulted in the deaths of four U.S. government personnel,” said Assistant Attorney General for National Security John Carlin. “This case reminds us of the continued threat the United States faces abroad from terrorism, but it also highlights our resolve to find and hold terrorists accountable wherever they may hide.”
“We have no higher priority than bringing to justice terrorists who kill U.S. citizens serving our country on foreign soil,” said U.S. Attorney Ronald C. Machen Jr. for the District of Columbia. “With this 18-count indictment, a grand jury in our nation’s capital has charged Ahmed Abu Khatallah with the murders of four brave Americans in Benghazi. We will press forward with our efforts to hold accountable all those who are responsible for this cowardly act.”
“With additional charges being announced today, Ahmed Abu Khatallah’s role in the Benghazi attack is even clearer,” said Assistant Director in Charge George Venizelos of the FBI’s New York Field Office. “As the charges allege, he was the leader of an extremist militia group who carried out this brutal act of violence that took the lives of four honorable Americans. The Benghazi investigation remains one of the FBI’s top priorities and we will work tirelessly until all of those responsible are brought to justice.”
The superseding indictment describes Khatallah’s alleged role in the attacks at a U.S. diplomatic mission in Benghazi and a second U.S. facility there, known as the annex. According to the superseding indictment, Khatallah was a leader of an extremist militia group and he conspired with others to attack the facilities, kill U.S. citizens, destroy buildings and other property, and plunder materials, including documents, maps and computers containing sensitive information.
The offenses that could carry death sentences include one count of murder of an internationally protected person; three counts of murder of an officer and employee of the United States; four counts of killing a person in the course of an attack on a federal facility involving the use of a firearm and a dangerous weapon; and two counts of maliciously damaging and destroying U.S. property by means of fire and an explosive causing death.
The seven other new charges in the superseding indictment include one count of providing material support and resources to terrorists resulting in death; three counts of attempted murder of an officer and employee of the United States; two counts of maliciously destroying and injuring dwellings and property, and placing lives in jeopardy within the special maritime and territorial jurisdiction of the United States, and attempting to do the same; and one count of using, carrying, brandishing and discharging a firearm during a crime of violence, which carries a mandatory minimum sentence of 30 years in prison.
Khatallah will be arraigned on the new charges at a hearing Oct. 20, 2014, before the Honorable Christopher R. Cooper in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. At an earlier hearing, he pleaded not guilty to the terrorism conspiracy charge.
The investigation is continuing.
According to the superseding indictment, Khatallah was the commander of Ubaydah Bin Jarrah (UBJ), an Islamist extremist militia in Benghazi, which had the goal of establishing Sharia law in Libya. In approximately 2011, UBJ merged with Ansar al-Sharia (AAS), another Islamist extremist group in Libya with the same goal of establishing Sharia law in the country. Khatallah was a Benghazi-based leader of AAS.
The attack at the diplomatic mission, which took place on the night of Sept. 11, 2012, led to the deaths of Ambassador Stevens and Smith, who was an Information Management Officer for the U.S. Department of State; a second State Department employee was injured in this violence. The attack at the annex took place early Sept. 12, 2012. Woods and Doherty, who were security officers working on the U.S. government’s behalf, were killed in the attack at the annex, and another security officer and a State Department employee were wounded in the violence there.
In June 2014, Khatallah was taken into custody, and he initially was charged in a criminal complaint that was filed under seal on July 15, 2013, which became public on June 17, 2014. The earlier indictment became public on June 28, 2014, the date of his first court appearance.
An indictment is merely a formal allegation that a defendant has committed a violation of criminal laws and every defendant is presumed innocent until, and unless, proven guilty.
The case is being investigated by the FBI New York Field Office's Joint Terrorism Task Force with substantial assistance from various other government agencies. The case is being prosecuted by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia and the Counterterrorism Section of the National Security Division.
Taiwanese Businessman Pleads Guilty to Conspiring to Violate U.S. Laws Preventing Proliferation of Weapons of Mass DestructionRead the Press Release
A former resident of Taiwan, who the United States has linked to the supply of weapons manufacturing machinery to North Korea, pleaded guilty today to conspiracy to violate U.S. regulations regarding the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, announced Assistant Attorney General John Carlin for the National Security Division and U.S. Attorney Zachary T. Fardon for the Northern District of Illinois. The defendant, Hsien Tai Tsai, admitted that he engaged in illegal business transactions involving the export of U.S. origin goods and machinery.
Tsai, 69, also known as “Alex Tsai,” was arrested in May 2013 in Tallinn, Estonia, and later was extradited to the United States, where he remains in federal custody.
Tsai pleaded guilty to conspiracy to defraud the United States in its enforcement of regulations targeting proliferators of weapons of mass destruction before U.S. District Judge Charles Norgle in Federal Court in Chicago. Sentencing was set for Dec. 5, 2014. Tsai faces a maximum sentence of five years in prison and a $250,000 fine. Under the terms of his plea agreement, the government will recommend a sentence of approximately 30 months in prison provided Tsai continues to fully cooperate with the United States.
According to court documents, Tsai was associated with at least three companies based in Taiwan – Global Interface Company Inc., Trans Merits Co. Ltd., and Trans Multi Mechanics Co. Ltd. – that purchased and then exported, and attempted to purchase and then export, from the United States and other countries machinery used to fabricate metals and other materials with a high degree of precision.
In January 2009, under Executive Order 13382 which sanctions proliferators of weapons of mass destruction and their supporters, the Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) designated Tsai, Global Interface, and Trans Merits as proliferators of weapons of mass destruction, isolating them from the U.S. financial and commercial systems and prohibiting any person or company in the United States from knowingly engaging in any transaction or dealing with them.
The Treasury Department said at the time that Tsai was designated for providing, or attempting to provide, financial, technological, or other support for, or goods or services in support of the Korea Mining Development Trading Corporation (KOMID), which was designated as a proliferator by President George W. Bush in June 2005. The Treasury Department asserted that Tsai “has been supplying goods with weapons production capabilities to KOMID and its subordinates since the late 1990s, and he has been involved in shipping items to North Korea that could be used to support North Korea’s advanced weapons program.” The Treasury Department further said that Global Interface was designated “for being owned or controlled by Tsai,” who was a shareholder of the company and acted as its president. Tsai was also the general manager of Trans Merits Co. Ltd., which was designated for being a subsidiary owned or controlled by Global Interface Company Inc. http://www.treasury.gov/press-center/press-releases/Pages/hp1359.aspx
After the OFAC designations, Tsai and others allegedly continued to conduct business together, but attempted to hide Tsai’s and Trans Merit’s involvement in those transactions by conducting business under different company names, including Trans Multi Mechanics. For example, by August 2009 – approximately eight months after the OFAC designations –Tsai and others allegedly began using Trans Multi Mechanics to purchase and export machinery on behalf of Trans Merits and Tsai.
In pleading guilty, Tsai admitted that in September 2009 he was involved in the purchase of a Bryant center hole grinder from a U.S. company based in suburban Chicago, and exported it to Taiwan using the company Trans Multi Mechanics. A Bryant center hole grinder is a machine tool used to grind a center hole, with precisely smooth sides, through the length of a material. Tsai also admitted a role in Trans Merits’ transaction involving LED road lights and an oil pump.
Charges remain pending against Tsai’s son, Yueh-Hsun Tsai, 37, of Glenview, Ill., also known as “Gary” Tsai. He was released on bond after he was arrested in May 2013 and has pleaded not guilty.
The guilty plea was announced by Zachary T. Fardon, United States Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois; Robert J. Holley, Special Agent-in-Charge of the Chicago Office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation; Gary Hartwig, Special Agent-in-Charge of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) in Chicago; and Ronald B. Orzel, Special Agent-in-Charge for the Chicago Field Office of the U.S. Department of Commerce, Bureau of Industry and Security, Office of Export Enforcement. The Justice Department’s National Security Division and Office International Affairs assisted with the investigation. The Estonian Internal Security Service and the Estonian Prosecutor’s Office cooperated with the United States.
The government is being represented by Assistant U.S. Attorney Brian Hayes and Justice Department Trial Attorney Brandon L. Van Grack.
Second Vice President of Equatorial Guinea Agrees to Relinquish More Than $30 Million of Assets Purchased with Corruption ProceedsRead the Press Release
The Department of Justice has reached a settlement of its civil forfeiture cases against assets in the United States owned by the Second Vice President of the Republic of Equatorial Guinea Teodoro Nguema Obiang Mangue that he purchased with the proceeds of corruption.
Assistant Attorney General Leslie R. Caldwell of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division and Acting Director Thomas S. Winkowski of U.S. Immigration and Customs and Enforcement made the announcement after the settlement was signed and lodged with the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California.
“Through relentless embezzlement and extortion, Vice President Nguema Obiang shamelessly looted his government and shook down businesses in his country to support his lavish lifestyle, while many of his fellow citizens lived in extreme poverty,” said Assistant Attorney General Caldwell. “After raking in millions in bribes and kickbacks, Nguema Obiang embarked on a corruption-fueled spending spree in the United States. This settlement forces Nguema Obiang to relinquish assets worth an estimated $30 million, and prevents Nguema Obiang from hiding other stolen money in the United States, fulfilling the goals of our Kleptocracy Asset Recovery Initiative: to deny safe haven to the proceeds of large-scale foreign official corruption and recover those funds for the people harmed by the abuse of office.”
“While this settlement is certainly gratifying for the many investigators and prosecutors who worked tirelessly to bring it to fruition, it is undoubtedly even more rewarding for the people of Equatorial Guinea, knowing that at least some of the money plundered from their country’s coffers is being returned to them,” said Acting ICE Director Winkowski. “ICE remains steadfast in its resolve to combat foreign corruption when the spoils of these crimes come to our shores and we are committed to seeking justice and compensation for the often impoverished victims.”
According to court documents, Nguema Obiang, the son of Equatorial Guinea’s President Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo, received an official government salary of less than $100,000 but used his position and influence as a government minister to amass more than $300 million worth of assets through corruption and money laundering, in violation of both Equatoguinean and U.S. law. Through intermediaries and corporate entities, Nguema Obiang acquired numerous assets in the United States that he is agreeing to relinquish in a combination of forfeiture and divestment to a charity for the benefit of the people of Equatorial Guinea.
Under the terms of the settlement, Nguema Obiang must sell a $30 million mansion located in Malibu, California, a Ferrari automobile and various items of Michael Jackson memorabilia purchased with the proceeds of corruption. Of those proceeds, $20 million will be given to a charitable organization to be used for the benefit of the people of Equatorial Guinea. Another $10.3 million will be forfeited to the United States and will be used for the benefit of the people of Equatorial Guinea to the extent permitted by law.
Under the agreement, Nguema Obiang must also disclose and remove other assets he owns in the United States. Nguema Obiang must also make a $1 million payment to the United States, representing the value of Michael Jackson memorabilia already removed from the United States for disbursement to the charitable organization. The agreement also provides that if certain of Nguema Obiang’s other assets, including a Gulfstream Jet, are ever brought into the United States, they are subject to seizure and forfeiture.
Next week, the parties will request that the court enter appropriate orders to implement and enforce this agreement.
This case was brought under the Kleptocracy Asset Recovery Initiative by a team of dedicated prosecutors in the Criminal Division’s Asset Forfeiture and Money Laundering Section, working in partnership with federal law enforcement agencies to forfeit the proceeds of foreign official corruption and, where appropriate, return those proceeds to benefit the people harmed by these acts of corruption and abuse of office. Individuals with information about possible proceeds of foreign corruption located in or laundered through the United States should contact federal law enforcement or send an email to [email protected].
The investigation was conducted by ICE, Homeland Security Investigation’s (HSI) Foreign Corruption Investigations Group and the HSI Asset Identification and Removal Group in Miami, with the assistance of the HSI Office of the Special Agent in Charge for Los Angeles, the HSI Attaché Office in Rome, HSI Attaché Office in Madrid, HSI Attaché Office in London and the HSI Attaché Office in Paris. HSI established the FCIG in 2003 to conduct investigations into the laundering of proceeds emanating from foreign public corruption, bribery and embezzlement. The cases are worked jointly with representatives of the victimized foreign governments. The FCIG’s goal is to prevent foreign-derived, ill-gotten gains from entering the U.S. financial infrastructure; to seize assets identified in the U.S.; and to repatriate these funds to the victimized governments. Since the initiative’s launch, HSI has effected 220 seizures involving more than $146 million worth of property and assets.
The case was handled by Trial Attorneys Woo S. Lee, Stephen A. Gibbons, and Della G. Sentilles and Assistant Deputy Chief Daniel Claman of the Criminal Division’s Asset Forfeiture and Money Laundering Section, with substantial assistance from Assistant U.S. Attorney Steven Welk of the Central District of California. The Criminal Division’s Office of International Affairs also provided significant assistance
The department appreciates the extensive assistance provided by the Government of France in this investigation and prosecution.
Obiang Settlement Agreement
Liberty Reserve Founder Extradited from SpainRead the Press Release
The founder of Liberty Reserve, a virtual currency used by cybercriminals around the world to launder proceeds of their illegal activity, was extradited from Spain and arrived in the United States this afternoon.
Assistant Attorney General Leslie R. Caldwell of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division and U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara of the Southern District of New York made the announcement.
Arthur Budovsky, 40, a citizen of Costa Rica, was arrested in Spain in May 2013 after being indicted by a grand jury in the Southern District of New York. Following his extradition by Spanish authorities, Budovsky arrived in New York this afternoon and will be presented before U.S. Magistrate Judge James C. Francis IV on Oct. 11, 2014, at 2:00 p.m. Budovsky will be arraigned before U.S. District Judge Denise L. Cote on Oct. 14, 2014, at 12:45 p.m.
“Arthur Budovsky allegedly built Liberty Reserve overseas to provide the international underworld with a crime-friendly digital currency and elude the scrutiny of American authorities. He even renounced his U.S. citizenship to try to escape facing justice in an American courtroom,” said Assistant Attorney General Caldwell. “With the cooperation of our foreign partners in Spain and elsewhere, this case and extradition are a clear example that money launderers can run, but they cannot hide from the Department of Justice.”
“For years, Arthur Budovsky allegedly enabled criminals in the United States and around the world to process illegal payments and to launder billions of dollars in crime proceeds through Liberty Reserve,” said U.S. Attorney Bharara. “Budovsky operated Liberty Reserve from Costa Rica, hoping to evade the reach of U.S. law enforcement. Thanks to the cooperative efforts of our law enforcement partners here and in Spain, he was apprehended and extradited to the United States where he will now face justice.”
According to allegations contained in the indictment and statements made in related court proceedings, Liberty Reserve was born out of Budovsky’s unsuccessful experience running a third-party exchange service, called Gold Age Inc., for another digital currency, called E-Gold. In or about 2006, Budovsky was convicted in New York State of operating Gold Age Inc. as an unlicensed money transmitting business. In 2007, the operators of E-Gold were also charged with criminal offenses, including money laundering and operating an unlicensed money transmitting business, and subsequently ceased doing business. In the wake of his own criminal conviction, Budovsky set about building a digital currency that would succeed in eluding law enforcement where E-Gold had failed, by, among other ways, locating the business outside the United States. Accordingly, Budovsky emigrated to Costa Rica, where he and other defendants began operating Liberty Reserve.
Liberty Reserve, which billed itself as the Internet’s “largest payment processor and money transfer system,” was created, structured and operated to help users conduct illegal transactions anonymously and launder the proceeds of their crimes. The indictment alleges that Budovsky devoted himself to building and expanding Liberty Reserve so that the company could profit from attracting more and more criminal customers, all while seeking to evade the scrutiny and reach of U.S. law enforcement authorities. At all relevant times, Budovsky directed and supervised Liberty Reserve’s operations, finances, and corporate strategy.
Liberty Reserve emerged as one of the principal money transfer agents used by cybercriminals around the world to distribute, store, and launder the proceeds of their illegal activity. Liberty Reserve was used extensively for illegal purposes, functioning as the bank of choice for the criminal underworld because it provided an infrastructure that enabled cybercriminals to conduct anonymous and untraceable financial transactions. The indictment alleges that Budovsky was so committed to evading U.S. law enforcement that he formally renounced his U.S. citizenship in 2011 and became a Costa Rican citizen, telling U.S. immigration authorities that he was concerned that the “software” his “company” was developing “might open him up to liability in the U.S.”
Before being shut down by the U.S. government in May 2013, Liberty Reserve had more than one million users worldwide, including more than 200,000 users in the United States, who conducted approximately 55 million transactions through its system totaling more than $6 billion in funds. These funds encompassed suspected proceeds of credit card fraud, identity theft, investment fraud, computer hacking, narcotics trafficking, and other crimes.
Budovsky is among seven individuals charged in the indictment, which was unsealed on May 28, 2013. Four co-defendants – Vladimir Kats, Azzeddine el Amine, Mark Marmilev, and Maxim Chukharev – have pleaded guilty and await sentencing before U.S. District Judge Denise L. Cote. Charges against Liberty Reserve and two individual defendants who have not been apprehended remain pending.
The charges contained in the indictment remain pending and are merely accusations. The defendants are presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.
This case is being investigated by the U.S. Secret Service, the Internal Revenue Service-Criminal Investigation and the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Homeland Security Investigations, with assistance from the Secret Service’s New York Electronic Crimes Task Force. The Judicial Investigation Organization in Costa Rica, the National High Tech Crime Unit in the Netherlands, the Financial and Economic Crime Unit of the Spanish National Police, the Cyber Crime Unit at the Swedish National Bureau of Investigation and the Swiss Federal Prosecutor’s Office also provided assistance.
This case is being prosecuted jointly by the Criminal Division’s Asset Forfeiture and Money Laundering Section (AFMLS) and the U.S. Attorney’s Office’s Complex Frauds Unit and Asset Forfeiture Unit in the Southern District of New York, with assistance from the Criminal Division’s Office of International Affairs and Computer Crime and Intellectual Property Section.
Trial Attorney Kevin Mosley of AFMLS and Assistant U.S. Attorneys Serrin Turner, Andrew Goldstein and Christine Magdo of the Southern District of New York are in charge of the prosecution, and Assistant U.S. Attorney Christine Magdo is in charge of the forfeiture aspects of the case.
Extendicare Health Services Inc. Agrees to Pay $38 Million to Settle False Claims Act Allegations Relating to the Provision of Substandard Nursing Care and Medically Unnecessary Rehabilitation TherapyRead the Press Release
Extendicare Health Services Inc. (Extendicare) and its subsidiary Progressive Step Corporation (ProStep) have agreed to pay $38 million to the United States and eight states to resolve allegations that Extendicare billed Medicare and Medicaid for materially substandard nursing services that were so deficient that they were effectively worthless and billed Medicare for medically unreasonable and unnecessary rehabilitation therapy services, the Justice Department and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General (HHS-OIG) jointly announced today. This resolution is the largest failure of care settlement with a chain-wide skilled nursing facility in the department’s history.
As part of this settlement, Extendicare has also been required to enter into a five year chain-wide Corporate Integrity Agreement with HHS-OIG. Extendicare is a Delaware corporation that, through its subsidiaries, operates 146 skilled nursing facilities in 11 states. ProStep provides physical, speech, and occupational rehabilitation services.
“Our seniors rely on the Medicare and Medicaid programs to provide them with quality care, ensuring that they are treated with dignity and respect when they are most vulnerable,” said Acting Associate Attorney General Stuart F. Delery. “It is critically important that we confront nursing home operators who put their own economic gain ahead of the needs of their residents. Operators who bill Medicare and Medicaid while failing to provide essential services or bill for services so grossly substandard as to be effectively worthless will be pursued for false claims.”
This settlement resolves allegations that between 2007 and 2013, in 33 of its skilled nursing homes in eight states, Extendicare billed Medicare and Medicaid for materially substandard skilled nursing services and failed to provide care to its residents that met federal and state standards of care and regulatory requirements. The government alleges, for example, that Extendicare failed to have a sufficient number of skilled nurses to adequately care for its skilled nursing residents; failed to provide adequate catheter care to some of the residents and failed to follow the appropriate protocols to prevent pressure ulcers or falls. The eight states involved in this component of the settlement are Indiana, Kentucky, Michigan, Minnesota, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Washington and Wisconsin.
“The continued viability of Medicare depends, in large part, on the honesty and integrity of the program participants,” said Acting Assistant Attorney General Joyce R. Branda for the Civil Division. “Health care providers must make decisions regarding the level of services to be provided based solely on their patients’ clinical needs, and not corporate financial targets.”
“This investigation and settlement highlights the importance of leveraging the joint resources and expertise of the states and federal government,” said Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine. “Working together allowed us to focus our efforts nationally on protecting the most vulnerable in our population who rely on quality care in our nursing homes.”
Additionally, this settlement resolves allegations that between 2007 and 2013, in 33 of its skilled nursing homes, Extendicare provided medically unreasonable and unnecessary rehabilitation therapy services to its Medicare Part A beneficiaries, particularly during the patients’ assessment reference periods, so that it could bill Medicare for those patients at the highest per diem rate possible.
As a result of today’s settlement, the federal government will receive $32.3 million and the eight state Medicaid programs will receive $5.7 million. The Medicaid program is funded jointly by the federal and state governments.
“The United States remains committed to demanding the highest quality of care for nursing home and skilled facility residents,” said U.S. Attorney Carter M. Stewart for the Southern District of Ohio. “We are proud of our efforts to work cooperatively with our partners at the Ohio Attorney General’s Medicaid Fraud Control Unit, as well as with other U.S. Attorney’s offices across the country. We will remain vigilant in our efforts to combat healthcare fraud, especially when it impacts the most vulnerable in our society, including seniors and others requiring significant long term care.”
“Nursing home residents should not be subject to unreasonable or unnecessary rehabilitation therapy that is dictated by a company’s profits rather than patient needs,” said U.S. Attorney Zane David Memeger for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania. “It is critical to the integrity of a system that benefits millions of Americans that we do as much as possible to hold accountable those who commit fraudulent acts. The Eastern District of Pennsylvania will continue its efforts to prevent Medicare fraud and protect government beneficiaries.”
In addition, as part of this resolution, Extendicare and ProStep are required to enter into a five year chain-wide Corporate Integrity Agreement. It is a priority of the OIG to investigate and pursue cases involving abuse or grossly deficient care of Medicare or Medicaid beneficiaries and to recommend improvements to the systems intended to promote quality of care. To protect the Federal healthcare programs and its beneficiaries, OIG required Extendicare to agree to a Corporate Integrity Agreement under which Extendicare must have a comprehensive compliance program with systems to address the quality of resident care. Extendicare’s compliance program must include, among other things, corporate-level committees to address compliance and quality, including a committee to assess staffing, and an internal audit program to assess the quality of care provided to its residents. Extendicare must retain an independent monitor, selected by the OIG, who will regularly visit Extendicare’s facilities and report to the OIG. In addition, an independent review organization will perform annual reviews of Extendicare’s claims to Medicare.
“This case demonstrates that the government will aggressively pursue allegations of abuse and grossly deficient care,” said Inspector General Daniel R. Levinson of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. “Our five-year corporate integrity agreement with Extendicare requires a government-selected quality of care monitor be retained by Extendicare, and additional rigorous provisions designed to ensure Extendicare provides appropriate staffing and monitors the quality of care provided to its residents.”
Under the False Claims Act, private citizens, known as relators, can bring suit on behalf of the United States and share in any recovery. Two relators brought separate cases against Extendicare. Relator Tracy Lovvron will receive more than $1.8 million as her share of the recovery in the RUGS upcoding case, and Relator Donald Gallick will receive more than $250,000 as his share of the recovery in the Ohio worthless services case.
This settlement illustrates the government’s emphasis on combating health care fraud and marks another achievement for the Health Care Fraud Prevention and Enforcement Action Team (HEAT) initiative, which was announced in May 2009 by the Attorney General and the Secretary of Health and Human Services. The partnership between the two departments has focused efforts to reduce and prevent Medicare and Medicaid financial fraud through enhanced cooperation. One of the most powerful tools in this effort is the False Claims Act. Since January 2009, the Justice Department has recovered a total of more than $22.5 billion through False Claims Act cases, with more than $14.3 billion of that amount recovered in cases involving fraud against federal health care programs.
The settlement was the result of a coordinated federal and state effort by the Civil Division, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Ohio, HHS-OIG and the Attorneys General for the states of Indiana, Kentucky, Michigan, Minnesota, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Washington and Wisconsin. This investigation was also supported by the department’s Elder Justice Initiative, which coordinates the department’s activities combating elder abuse, neglect and financial exploitation, especially as they impact beneficiaries of Medicare, Medicaid and other federal health care programs. Learn more about the Justice Department’s Elder Justice Initiative at http://www.justice.gov/elderjustice/.
The two qui tam cases are docketed as United States ex rel. Lovvorn v. EHSI, et. al. C.A. 10-1580 (E.D. Pa) and United States ex rel. Gallick et al., v. EHSI et al., C.A. 2:13cv-092 (S.D. Ohio). The claims resolved by the settlement are allegations only; there has been no determination of liability.
Boeing Pays $23 Million to Resolve False Claims Act AllegationsRead the Press Release
The Boeing Company paid $23 million to resolve allegations that it submitted false claims for labor charges on maintenance contracts with the U.S. Air Force for the C-17 Globemaster aircraft, the Justice Department announced today. Boeing, an aerospace and defense industry giant, is headquartered in Chicago.
“Today’s settlement demonstrates that the Justice Department vigilantly ensures that companies meet their contractual obligations and charge the government appropriately,” said Acting Assistant Attorney General Joyce R. Branda for the Justice Department’s Civil Division. “Government contractors who seek illegal profit at the expense of taxpayers will face serious consequences.”
The government alleged that Boeing improperly charged labor costs under contracts with the Air Force for the maintenance and repair of C-17 Globemaster aircraft at Boeing’s Aerospace Support Center in San Antonio, Texas. The C-17 Globemaster aircraft, which is both manufactured and maintained by Boeing, is one of the military’s major systems for transporting troops and cargo throughout the world. The government alleged that the company knowingly and improperly billed a variety of labor costs in violation of applicable contract requirements, including for time its mechanics spent at meetings not directly related to the contracts.
“Defense contractors are required to obey strict accounting standards when submitting billing for work performed on government contracts,” said U.S. Attorney Robert Pitman for the Western District of Texas. “The pursuit and favorable settlement of this civil litigation was the result of effective teamwork between the Justice Department and the investigative agencies.”
The settlement resolves allegations originally brought in a lawsuit by present and former Boeing employees Clinton Craddock, Fred Van Shoubrouek, Anthony Rico and Fernando de la Garza in federal court in San Antonio under the False Claims Act. The act permits private parties to sue for false claims on behalf of the United States and to share in any recovery. The individuals who filed the suit will receive $3,910,000 as their share of the settlement.
The settlement was the result of a coordinated effort by the Civil Division, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Texas, the Defense Criminal Investigative Service, the Air Force Office of Special Investigations, the Defense Contract Audit Agency and the Defense Contract Management Agency.
The case is United States ex rel. Craddock v. Boeing, Case No. SA-07-CA-0880FB (W.D. Tex.). The claims resolved by the settlement are allegations only; there has been no determination of liability.
Russian National Receives 18 Month Prison Sentence for Smuggling High-Tech Night Vision Technology to RussiaRead the Press Release
WILMINGTON, Del. - Dmitry Ustinov, of Moscow, Russia, 53, was sentenced in U.S. District Court to 18 months in prison and 3 years supervised release, for conspiracy to export high-tech military technology, in violation of federal law, including the Arms Export Control Act (AECA) and the International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR), announced Charles M. Oberly, III, U.S. Attorney for the District of Delaware yesterday afternoon. Ustinov will be deported from the United States upon his release from federal prison.
Ustinov has been incarcerated since April 15, 2013, when he was arrested at the request of the U.S. Government in Vilnius, Lithuania after entering the country from Russia. On August 23, 2013, Lithuania extradited Ustinov to the United States. On July 10, 2013, Ustinov pled guilty to the conspiracy offense listed above.
According to court documents, between July 2010 and April 2013, Ustinov caused or attempted to cause the export of approximately seventeen different night vision devices and thermal imaging scopes, which are designated on the United States Munition List (USML) as defense articles, and are prohibited from export outside the United States. The defense articles at issue, including Insight Mini Thermal Monoculars, D-740 night vision scopes, and Flir Tau 640 thermal imaging cameras, are primarily used as weapons’ mounted or helmet mounted night vision devices, and in the case of the Flir Tau 640s, can even be mounted to fast moving vehicles or aircrafts, such as unmanned aerial vehicles.
Given the sensitive nature of the defense articles at issue, Ustinov’s scheme was designed to avoid detection by law enforcement at each step in the process. First, Ustinov worked closely with a United States-based straw purchaser to conceal his involvement at the point of sale. Second, once a specific defense article was identified for purchase, Ustinov wired money to the straw purchaser to buy the defense article from front companies located in off-shore accounts in Cyprus. Finally, Ustinov also caused the packages containing USML defense articles to be falsely labeled so that customs officials from the United States and other countries would be less likely to search the package. Moreover, Ustinov also discussed using less traditional methods to obtain and export these night vision devices outside the United States, such as establishing a phony front company in the United States, and placing these high-tech devices inside chopped up car parts to conceal them from customs officials. At no time, however, did Ustinov ever apply for or receive a license to export these devices from the U.S. Department of State.
U.S. Attorney Oberly thanked U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Homeland Security Investigations for their hard work, and stated, “No matter the distance we must travel or the nationality of the defendant, those individuals that want to profit themselves by unlawfully obtaining and exporting items designated by the United States as defense articles will be prosecuted. It is important that we take all necessary steps to prevent our military technology from being exported and possibly used against our service members and our allies overseas.”
“HSI will continue to deter individuals putting America's national security at risk by illegally exporting technology to prohibited countries,” said John P. Kelleghan, Special Agent in Charge of HSI Philadelphia. “Our longstanding commitment with our federal law enforcement partners to stop the illegal export of technology to prohibited countries underscores HSI’s determination to dismantle and disrupt any illegal scheme involving the illegal export of controlled military equipment.”
This case was investigated by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Homeland Security Investigations. It was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Jamie M. McCall and Trial Attorney Mariclaire Rourke of the Counterespionage Section of the U.S. Department of Justice, National Security Division. For further information, please contact AUSA McCall at 302-573-6079.
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Marion Mendiola Sentenced in the District Court of GuamRead the Press Release
ALICIA A.G. LIMTIACO, United States Attorney for the Districts of Guam and the Northern Mariana Islands, announced that Defendant MARION MENDIOLA, was sentenced on October 7, 2014, in the District Court of Guam by Chief Judge Frances Tydingco-Gatewood.
Defendant Mendiola was sentenced to one month in jail and seven months home confinement and placed on three years supervised release for his part in a drug conspiracy case. On July 13, 2012, postal inspectors seized a first class letter containing 60 grams of methamphetamine, which was 98% pure. The agents removed the meth and replaced it with ‘sham’ and delivered the letter to the defendant’s grandmother’s residence where defendant resided.
Agents observed defendant remove the letter from the mailbox and take it into the residence. Shortly thereafter, agents entered the residence. Defendant admitted he knew the letter contained methamphetamine. He told agents his brother Eugene expected the letter. Agents arrested Eugene Mendiola who was sentenced on July 23, 2014 to 31 months in prison and five years supervised release.
This case is the product of an extensive investigation by the Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force (OCDETF), a focused multi-agency, multi-jurisdictional task force investigating and prosecuting the most significant drug trafficking organizations throughout the United States by leveraging the combined expertise of federal, state and local law enforcement agencies.
Credit for the investigation is given to U.S. Postal Inspectors, Guam Customs and Quarantine and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF). The case was handled by Assistant U.S. Attorney Clyde Lemons.Jimmy Hsieh, William Perez and Pauline Perez Sentenced TodayRead the Press Release
ALICIA A.G. LIMTIACO, United States Attorney for the Districts of Guam and the Northern Mariana Islands, announced that defendants JIMMY HSIEH, WILLIAM PEREZ AND PAULINE PEREZ who were convicted in a criminal conspiracy to conduct an illegal gambling business at the former MGM Spa in Tamuning, were sentenced on October 8, 2014. Chief Judge Tydingco-Gatewood imposed a two year prison sentence for JIMMY HSIEH who had pled guilty to the gambling conspiracy and money laundering. A $423,640.47 money judgment of forfeiture was also entered against HSIEH. HSIEH agreed to forfeit $178,113.45 from personal accounts and that three of his condos are subject to possible forfeiture proceedings, and was also ordered to pay a $100 special assessment. HSIEH's personal accounts and an MGM corporate account had already been previously seized by Internal Revenue Service - Criminal Investigation agents with assistance from the FBI.
WILLIAM PEREZ, the manager and supervisor of the MGM poker operation in 2010, received a one year sentence (six months prison term and six months home confinement) and three years supervised release for conspiring to operate the illegal gambling business, by operating baccarat and poker games at the former MGM Spa. PEREZ also was ordered to pay a $100 special assessment and $24,000 fine.
PAULINE PEREZ, who had pled guilty to participating in the gambling business, and substantially assisted the government in the prosecution of the case, received one year probation and community service.
U.S. Attorney Alicia A.G. Limtiaco stated, “These sentences and the federal forfeiture of almost half a million dollars reflect the U.S. Attorney’s Office and Department of Justice’s commitment to prosecute those white-collar crimes, including illegal gambling businesses, money laundering and structuring offenses, where individuals evade currency transaction reporting requirements.”
The Criminal Investigation Division of the IRS, FBI and Naval Criminal Investigative Service supported the investigation and prosecution of this illegal gambling operation and related offenses. Assistant U.S. Attorney Karon Johnson (retired) was responsible for the prosecution of this case and Assistant U.S. Attorney B. Alcantara represented the U.S. Attorney's Office at the sentencing. One more defendant, JENNIE PAU, will be sentenced on Thursday, October 16, 2014, at the District Court of Guam.
A warrant of arrest has been issued for the fifth co-defendant, WAI KAM HO, who is currently a fugitive as he never returned to Guam as ordered by the Court, and will be prosecuted to the full extent of the law when found. Anyone with information related to WAI KAM HO also known as KEN HO is encouraged to contact the FBI at (671) 472-7332.Defendant Pleads Guilty for Role in Brutal Sex Trafficking RingRead the Press Release
Acting Assistant Attorney General Molly Moran for the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division and U.S. Attorney Wifredo A. Ferrer for the Southern District of Florida announced today that Rafael Alberto Cadena-Sosa pleaded guilty in the Southern District of Florida to one count of conspiracy and one count of holding a person in involuntary servitude. Cadena-Sosa faces a maximum sentence of 15 years in prison and a fine of $500,000. Sentencing is scheduled to occur on Jan. 27, 2015, before United States District Judge Jose Martinez. According to the terms of the plea agreement, the parties will recommend the maximum sentence of 15 years and over $1.26 million in restitution to the victims.
Cadena-Sosa, a 45 year-old Mexican national, pleaded guilty to holding the victim, a young, undocumented Mexican national, in involuntary servitude from 1996 to 1997, using beatings, rapes, threats of harm toward the victim and her family and threats of arrest to compel her to engage in prostitution to pay off a smuggling debt. Cadena-Sosa also pleaded guilty to conspiring with other members of the Cadena organization to commit additional offenses in connection with the scheme.
Sixteen defendants were charged in a superseding indictment filed in 1998. Cadena-Sosa was arrested in Mexico and extradited to the United States in November 2013. Four other family members have been convicted, including Cadena-Sosa’s uncle, Rogerio Cadena, who pleaded guilty in 1999 and was sentenced to 15 years; Cadena-Sosa’s brother, Abel Cadena-Sosa, who was convicted in Mexico and sentenced to 24 years, and two other brothers, Hugo and Juan Luis Cadena-Sosa, who pleaded guilty 2002 and 2008, and were sentenced to 5 years and 15 years, respectively. Six other defendants have pleaded guilty in federal court in connection with the scheme, and one was convicted in state court for a murder outside a Cadena-run brothel.
According to court records, the defendant and other members of the Cadena organization recruited young women and girls, some as young as fourteen, in Veracruz, Mexico, and lured them to the United States on false promises of legitimate jobs. The defendants then smuggled the victims into the United States, imposed heavy smuggling debts, and compelled them into prostitution for twelve hours a day, six days a week, using brutal assaults, rapes and threats to control the victims and punish those who attempted to escape.
“No human being should have to endure the atrocities these young women and girls suffered at the hands of the Cadena organization,” said Acting Assistant Attorney General Moran. “These violations of the victims’ individual rights and freedom are intolerable in a nation founded on rights, liberty, and the rule of law. The Department of Justice will continue in its relentless efforts to bring human traffickers to justice and restore the rights and dignity of the courageous survivors of this crime.”
“Undoubtedly, sex trafficking is one the most serious crimes prosecuted by our Office and the Department of Justice,” said U.S. Attorney Ferrer. “The heinous acts committed against these young women and girls by the Cadena organization simply cannot be tolerated, and we will continue to identify, arrest and prosecute those who seek to profit at the expense of the suffering of others. The victims here are survivors and today’s plea represents one more step towards closure in a case that has taken them down a long road to justice.”
“Rafael Alberto Cadena-Sosa is a brutal criminal who threatened and coerced young victims into prostitution to pay off smuggling debts,” said FBI Special Agent in Charge George L. Pira of the FBI’s Miami Office. “ He is now behind bars in large part due to the diligence and dedication of our many law enforcement partners who helped bring this case to justice.”
Acting Assistant Attorney General Moran and U.S. Attorney Ferrer commended the collaborative efforts of multiple law enforcement agencies throughout the investigation and prosecution, including the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Department of Homeland Security’s Customs and Border Protection and Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, Florida Department of Law Enforcement, Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office, West Palm Beach Police Department, Okeechobee County Sheriff’s Office, Fort Pierce Police Department, Avon Park Police Department, Boynton Beach Police Department and Lee County Sheriff’s Office. They also thanked the Justice Department’s Office of International Affairs for its assistance with the extradition. The case is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Adam McMichael and Trial Attorney Matthew Grady of the Civil Rights Division’s Human Trafficking Prosecution Unit.
Child Pornographer Sentenced to 57 MonthsRead the Press Release
ALICIA A.G. LIMTIACO, United States Attorney for Guam, announced that JIMMY ALONSO TURRUBIARTES, was sentenced on October 8, 2014, in the U.S. District Court of Guam by Chief Judge Frances Tydingco-Gatewood, to 57 months incarceration, five years of supervised release, and ordered to pay a $100 special assessment.
Defendant TURRUBIARTES pled guilty on September 11, 2013 to one count of Receipt of Child Pornography in violation of Title 18 U.S.C. Section 2252A(a)(2). Defendant TURRUBIARTES utilized the peer to peer (P2P) network to receive approximately 150 movies which depict the sexual abuse of young children. Defendant TURRUBIARTES was also ordered to register with the Sex Offender Registry wherever he lives, works or attends school. He was also ordered to forfeit his computer and all storage devices.
U.S. Attorney Limtiaco states “Child pornography offenses involve the sexual abuse and exploitation of children. These offenses are extremely serious because they result in perpetual harm to the child victims, and normalize the sexual exploitation of children. When the internet is utilized to obtain these images of child sexual abuse, the images can travel to offenders domestically and internationally anywhere in the world, to include the Pacific region. The harm to victims is lifelong. The U.S. Attorney’s Office remains committed to aggressively prosecute defendants who victimize and prey on children through any means, including by computer.”
The U.S. Attorney reminds defendants who have committed sexual abuse of children that, under federal and local law, all sex offenders have a duty to register and keep their registration current with the Sex Offender Registry in their jurisdiction. Sex offenders who travel to Guam and who reside on Guam must inform the Guam Sex Offender Registry where they reside, work, or attend school - they must also periodically update their registration information. The U.S. Attorney notes that the sex offender registry was created in order to protect the public by protecting victims, preventing further victimization and informing the public of the whereabouts of sex offenders. Guam’s Sex Offender Registry can be found online at www.guamcourts.org.
This prosecution is part of the U.S. Department of Justice’s Project Safe Childhood (PSC) Initiative, a nationwide commitment to aggressively prosecute defendants who engage in the sexual victimization of children and adults, possess or receive child pornography, and sex offenders who fail to register with the jurisdiction’s Sex Offender Registry.
The investigation was conducted by the Naval Criminal Investigative Service. The case was handled by Assistant U.S. Attorney R. San Nicolas.Attorney General Holder Statement on Federal Court Ruling Against Texas Voter Identification LawRead the Press Release
Attorney General Eric Holder released the following statement late Thursday after a federal district court ruled in favor of the Justice Department's lawsuit against Texas' voter identification law:
"We are extremely heartened by the court's decision, which affirms our position that the Texas voter identification law unfairly and unnecessarily restricts access to the franchise. Even after the Voting Rights Act was seriously eroded last year, we vowed to continue enforcing the remaining portions of that statute as aggressively as possible. This ruling is an important vindication of those efforts.
"We are also pleased that the Supreme Court has refused to allow Wisconsin to implement its own restrictive voter identification law.
"This Department will never yield in its commitment to protecting that most sacred of Americans' rights - the right to vote."
Alleged Russian Cyber-Criminal Now Charged in 40-Count Superseding IndictmentRead the Press Release
A federal grand jury in Seattle returned a second superseding indictment late yesterday charging a Russian national with 11 additional counts and further detailing his alleged scheme to hack into businesses and steal credit card information for later sale over the Internet on “carding” websites.
The now 40-count indictment alleges that Roman Valerevich Seleznev, aka “Track2,” 30, of Vladivostok, Russia, was involved in the theft and sale of more than 2 million credit card numbers.
Assistant Attorney General Leslie R. Caldwell of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division and Acting U.S. Attorney Annette L. Hayes of the Western District of Washington made the announcement.
“The additions in this superseding indictment show how cybercriminals use the Internet not only to infiltrate and steal sensitive data, but also to teach other criminals how to navigate the credit-card selling underworld and get equipment that can be used to defraud U.S. citizens,” said Assistant Attorney General Caldwell. “The Criminal Division is committed to investigating these thefts and uncovering the methods of computer hackers to stay one step ahead of them and bring them to face justice.”
“The charges returned by the grand jury detail a criminal scheme that continued right up until Mr. Seleznev’s arrest in July,” said Acting U.S. Attorney Hayes. “As set forth in the indictment, the government expects to prove at trial that Seleznev was a leader in the marketplace for stolen credit card numbers, and even created a website offering a tutorial on how to use stolen credit card numbers to commit crime.”
The indictment charges Seleznev with 11 counts of wire fraud, nine counts of intentional damage to a protected computer, nine counts of obtaining information from a protected computer, nine counts of possession of 15 or more unauthorized access devices and two counts of aggravated identity theft. Seleznev is currently scheduled for trial on Nov. 3, 2014, and will be arraigned on the new charges sometime next week.
According to court documents, between October 2009 and October 2013, Seleznev allegedly hacked into retail point of sale systems and installed malicious software to steal credit card numbers from various businesses. Seleznev allegedly created and operated the infrastructure to facilitate the theft and sale of credit card data, used servers located all over the world to facilitate his operation, and sold stolen credit card data on a website known as “2pac.cc.”
Seleznev is also charged in a separate indictment in the District of Nevada with participating in a racketeer influenced corrupt organization (RICO) and conspiracy to engage in a racketeer influenced corrupt organization, as well as two counts of possession of 15 or more counterfeit and unauthorized access devices.
The charges contained in the indictments are only allegations. A person is presumed innocent unless and until he or she is proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.
The case is being investigated by the U.S. Secret Service Electronic Crimes Task Force, which includes detectives from the Seattle Police Department. The case is being prosecuted by Trial Attorney Ethan Arenson of the Criminal Division’s Computer Crime and Intellectual Property Section and Assistant U.S. Attorneys Norman M. Barbosa and Seth Wilkinson of the Western District of Washington. The Office of International Affairs and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Guam provided substantial assistance in this case.
Michigan Home Health Agency Owner Pleads Guilty in $22 Million Medicare Fraud ConspiracyRead the Press Release
A former owner and manager of two Detroit-area home health care agencies has pleaded guilty in federal court for his role in a $22 million Medicare fraud conspiracy.
Assistant Attorney General Leslie R. Caldwell of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division, U.S. Attorney Barbara L. McQuade of the Eastern District of Michigan, Special Agent in Charge Paul M. Abbate of the FBI’s Detroit Field Office, Special Agent in Charge Lamont Pugh III of the Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General (HHS-OIG), Chicago Regional Office and Acting Special Agent in Charge Jarod Koopman of Internal Revenue Service, Criminal Investigation (IRS-CI) made the announcement.
Usman Butt, 40, of Shelby Township, Michigan, pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge Bernard A. Friedman in the Eastern District of Michigan to conspiracy to commit health care fraud and aiding or assisting in preparing a fraudulent tax return on Aug. 27, 2014, and the case was unsealed today. Sentencing has been scheduled for Jan. 13, 2015. His plea follows that of his former business partner and co-conspirator, Muhammad Aamir, who pleaded guilty on Aug. 20, 2014.
According to plea documents, Butt admitted that beginning in 2008 and continuing through January 2013, he conspired with others to bill Medicare for home health care services that were not actually rendered, not medically necessary, and procured through paying illegal kickbacks.
Specifically, Butt admitted that the physical therapy and skilled nursing services provided by his companies, Prestige Home Health Services Inc., based in Troy, Michigan, and Royal Home Health Care Inc., of Clawson and Troy, Michigan, were not medically necessary or even rendered. Butt also admitted that he fabricated patient files to give the false appearance that the services were medically necessary and actually provided.
During the scheme, Butt submitted or caused the submission of false claims to Medicare, which in turn caused Medicare to pay approximately $12,607,262. According to court records, the conspiracy resulted in the submission of fraudulent claims that caused Medicare to pay more than $22 million. Butt also admitted that he assisted a co-conspirator in filing a false corporate tax return for Prestige, deducting illegal kickbacks as “business expenses” to save Prestige at least $321,485 in taxes due for 2009.
This case was investigated by the FBI, HHS-OIG, and IRS-CI, and was brought as part of the Medicare Fraud Strike Force, supervised by the Criminal Division’s Fraud Section and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Michigan. This case is being prosecuted by Trial Attorneys Niall M. O’Donnell and James P. McDonald of the Criminal Division’s Fraud Section.
Since its inception in March 2007, the Medicare Fraud Strike Force, now operating in nine cities across the country, has charged nearly 2,000 defendants who have collectively billed the Medicare program for more than $6 billion. In addition, the HHS Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, working in conjunction with the HHS-OIG, are taking steps to increase accountability and decrease the presence of fraudulent providers.
To learn more about the Health Care Fraud Prevention and Enforcement Action Team (HEAT), go to: www.stopmedicarefraud.gov.
Manager of Three Los Angeles Medical Clinics Indicted in $4 Million Medicare Fraud SchemeRead the Press Release
An indictment was unsealed today charging two managers and operators of three Los Angeles medical clinics with Medicare fraud and conspiracy to pay illegal kickbacks for medical procedures that were never actually provided.
Assistant Attorney General Leslie R. Caldwell of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division; Acting U.S. Attorney Stephanie Yonekura of the Central District of California; Special Agent in Charge Glenn R. Ferry of the Los Angeles Region of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General (HHS-OIG) and Assistant Director in Charge Bill Lewis of the FBI’s Los Angeles Field Office made the announcement.
Hovik Simitian, 47, of Los Angeles, and Anahit Shatvoryan, 49, of Glendale, California, were each charged in the Central District of California with one count of conspiracy to commit health care fraud, six counts of health care fraud and one count of conspiracy to pay health care kickbacks.
According to allegations in the indictment, Simitian and and Shatvoryan managed and operated three medical clinics – Columbia Medical Group Inc., Life Care Medical Clinic and Safe Health Medical Clinic – out of two suites in the same Los Angeles office building. From approximately February 2010 through June 2014, Simitian and Shatvoryan paid marketers illegal kickbacks to recruit Medicare beneficiaries to the clinics. They then submitted false claims to Medicare for services – including procedures such as anorectal manometry and nerve conduction tests – that were not medically necessary and never actually provided.
From approximately February 2010 through June 2014, the clinics allegedly submitted a total of $4,526,791 in false and fraudulent claims to Medicare, and Medicare paid $1,668,559 on those claims.
The charges contained in an indictment are merely accusations, and a defendant is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.
This case is being investigated by the FBI and HHS-OIG, and was brought as part of the Medicare Fraud Strike Force, under the supervision of the Criminal Division’s Fraud Section and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Central District of California. This case is being prosecuted by Trial Attorneys Blanca Quintero and Alexander F. Porter of the Criminal Division’s Fraud Section.
Since its inception in March 2007, the Medicare Fraud Strike Force, now operating in nine cities across the country, has charged nearly 2,000 defendants who have collectively billed the Medicare program for more than $6 billion. In addition, the HHS Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, working in conjunction with the HHS-OIG, are taking steps to increase accountability and decrease the presence of fraudulent providers.
To learn more about the Health Care Fraud Prevention and Enforcement Action Team (HEAT), go to: www.stopmedicarefraud.gov.
Five Sentenced for Involvement in Aryan Brotherhood of Texas Racketeering ConspiracyRead the Press Release
Five Aryan Brotherhood of Texas (ABT) gang members from Dallas were sentenced to prison this week for their roles in the violent ABT enterprise, announced Assistant Attorney General Leslie R. Caldwell of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division and U.S. Attorney Kenneth Magidson of the Southern District of Texas.
Today, James Lawrence Burns, 44, and Kenneth Hancock, 34, high-ranking members in the ABT’s hierarchical structure, were ordered to serve respective terms of 20 and 15 years in federal prison by U.S. District Judge Sim Lake in the Southern District of Texas. Yesterday, Dustin Harris, 30, and Christopher Morris, 39, were each ordered to serve 10 years in prison, while Clay Kirkland, 35, received a sentence of more than 11 years in prison. An additional defendant – Bill Frank Weatherred, 29 – will be sentenced tomorrow.
According to information presented in court, the six men were admitted members of ABT, a powerful race-based, statewide organization that operates inside and outside of state federal prisons throughout Texas and the United States. Along with other ABT gang members and associates, they agreed to commit multiple acts of murder, robbery, arson, kidnapping and narcotics trafficking on behalf of the ABT gang. ABT gang members met on a regular basis at various locations throughout Texas to report on gang-related business, collect dues, commit disciplinary assaults against fellow gang members and discuss acts of violence against rival gang members, among other things.
The ABT was established in the early 1980s within the Texas prison system. The gang modeled itself after and adopted many of the precepts and writings of the Aryan Brotherhood, a California-based prison gang that was formed in the California prison system during the 1960s. Previously, the ABT was primarily concerned with the protection of white inmates and white supremacy/separatism, but over time, the ABT has expanded its criminal enterprise to include illegal activities for profit, according to court records.
Court documents allege that the ABT enforced its rules and promoted discipline among its members, prospects and associates through murder, attempted murder, conspiracy to murder, arson, assault, robbery and threats against those who violate the rules or pose a threat to the enterprise. Members, and oftentimes associates, were required to follow the orders of higher-ranking members, often referred to as “direct orders.”
In order to be considered for ABT membership, a person must be sponsored by another gang member. Once sponsored, a prospective member must serve an unspecified term, during which he is referred to as a prospect, while his conduct is observed by the members of the ABT.
The defendants sentenced this week are six of 36 defendants convicted of conducting racketeering activity through the ABT criminal enterprise, among other charges.
This Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force case is being investigated by a multi-agency task force consisting of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives; Drug Enforcement Administration; FBI; U.S. Marshals Service; Federal Bureau of Prisons; U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Homeland Security Investigations; Texas Rangers; Texas Department of Public Safety; Montgomery County, Texas, Sheriff’s Office; Houston Police Department-Gang Division; Texas Department of Criminal Justice – Office of Inspector General; Harris County, Texas, Sheriff’s Office; Atascosa County, Texas, Sheriff’s Office; Orange County, Texas, Sheriff’s Office; Waller County, Texas, Sheriff’s Office; Alvin, Texas, Police Department; Carrollton, Texas, Police Department; Mesquite, Texas, Police Department; Montgomery County District Attorney’s Office; and the Atascosa County District Attorney’s Office.
The case is being prosecuted by David Karpel of the Criminal Division’s Organized Crime and Gang Section and Assistant U.S. Attorneys Ed Gallagher and Tim Braley of the Southern District of Texas.
Federal Inmate Sentenced to Life in Prison for Murdering Another InmateRead the Press Release
Federal inmate Kevin Marquette Bellinger, a former resident of Washington, D.C., and an inmate at the United States Penitentiary in Hazelton, West Virginia, was sentenced today to life in prison for the murder of another inmate.
Assistant Attorney General Leslie R. Caldwell of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division and U.S. Attorney William J. Ihlenfeld II, for the Northern District of West Virginia made the announcement after sentencing by U.S. District Judge Irene M. Keeley of the Northern District of West Virginia.
Bellinger was convicted by a federal jury on June 16, 2014, of one count of murder by a federal prisoner serving a life sentence and one count of second degree murder in a federal facility for his role in the Oct. 7, 2007, murder of inmate Jesse Harris.
According to evidence presented at trial, during a move of inmates from the recreation yard back to their cells, Bellinger and a co-defendant left the yard ahead of the others and traveled to an intersection of two corridors in the prison facility, where they confronted Harris and stabbed him with shanks in an orchestrated attack. In less than a minute, an officer approached, and the attackers fled. Officers apprehended Bellinger after a short pursuit, but they did not recover his weapon. Surveillance footage of the attack showed Bellinger and his co-defendant engaged in a verbal exchange with Harris, followed by the two attackers wielding weapons and assaulting Harris, who was unarmed and backing away from them.
At the time of the murder, Bellinger was serving a life sentence for an assault with intent to kill that took place in 2000.
This case was investigated by the FBI and the U.S. Bureau of Prisons. The case was prosecuted by Trial Attorney Richard Burns from the Criminal Division’s Capital Case Section and Assistant U.S. Attorney Andrew Cogar and former Assistant U.S. Attorney Brandon Flower of the Northern District of West Virginia.
Mississippi Man Pleads Guilty to Paying Bribes to Employees at Military Base for Freight BusinessRead the Press Release
A former driver for a national trucking company pleaded guilty today to bribery charges, admitting that he bribed employees in the Traffic Office at the Marine Corps Logistics Base Albany (MCLB-Albany) in order to obtain lucrative freight hauling business, announced Assistant Attorney General Leslie R. Caldwell of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division and U.S. Attorney Michael J. Moore of the Middle District of Georgia.
David R. Nelson, 54, of Lucedale, Mississippi, pleaded guilty today before U.S. District Judge W. Louis Sands in the Middle District of Georgia to one count of bribery of a public official.
During his guilty plea, Nelson, a former driver for a large transportation company based in Louisville, Kentucky, admitted to paying more than $100,000 in bribes between 2006 and 2012 to officials in the Traffic Office at MCLB-Albany in exchange for obtaining freight shipments from the base to destinations on the West Coast. The bribes started at $500 for each shipment, but later grew to as much as $1,500 per shipment. From the money he made from these freight shipments, Nelson purchased a $50,000 specially-modified trailer that allowed him to carry multiple Protected Security Service loads on a single trip.
As part of his plea agreement with the United States, Nelson agreed to forfeit the proceeds he received as a result of the bribery scheme, as well as to pay full restitution to the Department of Defense. Sentencing will be scheduled at a later date.
The case is being investigated by the Naval Criminal Investigative Service and the Defense Criminal Investigative Service. The case is being prosecuted by Trial Attorneys Richard B. Evans, J.P. Cooney and John Keller of the Criminal Division’s Public Integrity Section and Assistant U.S. Attorney K. Alan Dasher of the Middle District of Georgia.
Justice Department Sues Three Owners of Memphis-Area Tax Return Preparation StoresRead the Press Release
The United States filed a civil injunction suit in Memphis, Tennessee, to bar three individuals from owning or operating a tax return preparation business or preparing tax returns for others, the Justice Department announced today.
Shandon Allen, Tabitha Tunstall and Shewanda Hamilton previously managed Mo’ Money Taxes stores in Memphis, but more recently have prepared tax returns under the names Southern King Taxes, Tabitha’s Taxes, LaQuita’s Professional Tax Service and Cash King Tax Service, according to the complaint. The United States previously obtained an injunction permanently barring the owners of Mo’ Money Taxes, Markey Granberry and Derrick Robinson, as well as a former Mo’ Money manager, Eumora Reese, from preparing tax returns for others and owning or operating a tax return preparation business.
The complaint alleges that the defendants and their employees prepare fraudulent tax returns that cause their customers to incorrectly report their federal tax liabilities and underpay their taxes. According to the complaint, the defendants and their employees prepare federal tax returns on which they falsely claim the Earned Income Tax Credit, improper filing status and bogus education credits. Additionally, the defendants and their employees allegedly improperly prepare tax returns using paystubs rather than W-2 forms, fabricate bogus W-2 forms and file tax returns without customers’ consent while charging deceptive and unconscionable fees, according to the suit.
Return preparer fraud is one of the Internal Revenue Service’s (IRS) Dirty Dozen Tax Scams for 2014. The IRS has some tips on their website for choosing a tax preparer. In the past decade, the Tax Division has obtained injunctions against hundreds of unscrupulous tax preparers. Information about these cases is available on the Justice Department website. An alphabetical listing of persons enjoined from preparing returns and promoting tax schemes can be found on this page. If you believe that one of the enjoined persons or businesses may be violating an injunction, please contact the Tax Division with details.
Related Materials:
United States v. Shandon Allen, et al.
Complaint for Permanent Injunction and Other ReliefFormer Puerto Rico Officer and Civilian Plead Guilty for July 2012 Robbery in Puerto RicoRead the Press Release
A former Police of Puerto Rico (POPR) sergeant and a civilian have pleaded guilty for their involvement in a July 2012 robbery in Bayamon, Puerto Rico, and an additional POPR officer has pleaded guilty to lying to federal agents, announced Assistant Attorney General Leslie R. Caldwell of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division and U.S. Attorney Rosa Emilia Rodríguez-Vélez of the District of Puerto Rico.
Jorge Fernandez-Aviles, 49, a POPR sergeant, pleaded guilty today to robbery and firearms charges for his role in a July 2012 robbery in Bayamon, Puerto Rico. On Oct. 3, 2014, David Figueroa, 32, a civilian, pleaded guilty to robbery and civil rights charges for his involvement in the robbery. Alexander Mir-Hernandez, 40, a POPR officer, also pleaded guilty on Oct. 3, 2014, to one count of false statements for lying to federal agents about his role in the July 2012 robbery and to a civil rights crime for an unrelated December 2013 robbery. Sentencing for all three is scheduled for Jan. 9, 2015.
Pedro Lopez-Torres, 35, and Luis Ramos-Figueroa, 38, were each POPR officers and were charged by information on June 25, 2014, for their roles in the July 2012 robbery and other crimes. Lopez and Torres pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge José A. Fusté the same day. Fernando Reyes-Rojas, a civilian, has been indicted for robbery, drug, and firearms charges for his involvement in the July 2012 robbery. Reyes-Rojas is scheduled for trial on Nov. 3, 2014.
According to court documents, on July 14, 2012, Sergeant Fernandez-Aviles and Officers Lopez-Torres and Ramos-Figueroa, armed with their POPR weapons, went with Figueroa, Ramos-Figueroa’s cousin, to the airport, where they picked up a marked patrol car from Officer Mir before a planned home robbery. They drove the patrol car to meet Reyes-Rojas and then went together to the location of the robbery.
Upon entering the house, the officers identified themselves as police, falsely claimed they were executing a search warrant, and ordered several individuals in the garage to the ground and searched for weapons. While Figueroa watched the occupants, Sergeant Fernandez, Officer Lopez-Torres, Officer Ramos-Figueroa, and Reyes-Rojas searched the property, and Reyes-Rojas found cocaine in a shed in the backyard. A few days later, Reyes-Rojas met with Lopez-Torres and gave him money from the proceeds of the sale of the cocaine he took on the day of the robbery. Officer Lopez-Torres split the money with Sergeant Fernandez-Aviles and Officer Ramos-Figueroa.
In June 2014, Officer Mir was interviewed by Special Agents of the Federal Bureau of Investigation and falsely claimed that he did not recognize a photograph of Officer Lopez-Torres; that he had not met with Officer Lopez-Torres in more than six months; and that he did not provide the patrol car that was used to commit the July 2012 robbery.
An indictment is merely an allegation, and a defendant is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.
This case was investigated by the FBI’s San Juan Division and is being prosecuted by Trial Attorney Heidi Boutros Gesch of the Criminal Division’s Public Integrity Section and Assistant U.S. Attorney Mariana Bauza of the District of Puerto Rico.