District Not Recorded
The source did not name an office we could identify. These records remain unassigned rather than guessed.
Army Soldier Pleads Guilty for<br /> Role in Stealing Fuel in AfghanistanRead the Press Release
U.S. Army Sergeant Albert Kelly III, 28, of Fort Knox, Ky., pleaded guilty today to theft charges for his role in the theft of fuel at Forward Operating Base (FOB) Salerno in Afghanistan.
Acting Assistant Attorney General Mythili Raman of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division and U.S. Attorney David J. Hale of the Western District of Kentucky made the announcement.
The plea was entered in federal court in Louisville, Ky., before Magistrate Judge James D. Moyer of the Western District of Kentucky. Kelly faces a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison when he is sentenced on May 22, 2014, by U.S. District Judge John G. Heyburn II.
According to court records, Kelly was a soldier in the United States Army and was assigned to FOB Salerno from January 2011 to January 2012. For most of that time, Kelly served as a specialist, and his duties included overseeing the delivery of fuel into FOB Salerno. Typically, the fuel was brought into the base by Afghan trucking companies driven by Afghan nationals. Kelly’s duties included verifying the amounts of the fuel that were downloaded at FOB Salerno and preparing and certifying documents that accounted for the fuel that was downloaded.
From in or about November 2011 through January 2012, Kelly diverted and permitted the diversion of fuel delivery trucks from FOB Salerno to other locations, where the trucks would then be downloaded and the fuel stolen. To conceal this diversion, he falsely certified that the diverted fuel was in fact delivered and downloaded at FOB Salerno.
In exchange for assisting the fuel theft, Kelly received approximately $57,000 from the Afghan trucking company for diverting approximately 25,000 gallons of fuel. The loss to the government was approximately $100,000.
This case was investigated by the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR). The prosecution is being handled by Special Trial Attorney Mark H. Dubester, on detail to the Criminal Division’s Fraud Section from SIGAR, and Assistant United States Attorney Michael A. Bennett of the Western District of Kentucky.Virginia-Based Contractor to Pay $6.5 Million to Settle Allegations of False Claims on Navy ContractsRead the Press Release
Vector Planning and Services Inc. (VPSI), an information technology, systems engineering, program management and consulting firm headquartered in Chantilly, Va. , has agreed to pay the government $6.5 million to settle False Claims Act allegations that the company inflated claims for payment under several Navy contracts, the Justice Department announced today. VPSI’s West Coast center of operations is in San Diego, Calif.
“The Department of Justice will vigorously protect taxpayer funds from false claims,” said Assistant Attorney General for the Justice Department’s Civil Division Stuart F. Delery. “Contractors who wish to do business with the military must act with honesty and integrity, or they will be held accountable for their actions.”
VPSI has a number of contracts with the Navy and its contractors to provide information technology, systems engineering and management consulting services. Under these contracts, VPSI is entitled to bill the government for its indirect costs, which are costs such as overhead that cannot be allocated directly to a particular contract. The government alleged that, from 2005 to 2009, VPSI inflated its indirect cost billings to the government by improperly including direct costs, for which it had already been paid, in indirect cost accounts that were then allocated across its government contracts and billed again. The government further alleged that VPSI submitted claims for other costs that were never incurred.
“Our office will work aggressively with our investigative partners to protect taxpayer funds from abuse,” said U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of California Laura E. Duffy. “Today’s settlement demonstrates our commitment to pursue defense contractors who knowingly defraud or overcharge military programs.”
The allegations resolved by the settlement were originally brought by a whistleblower in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California, under the qui tam, or whistleblower, provisions of the False Claims Act. The Act permits private parties to sue, on behalf of the government, companies and individuals who have falsely claimed federal funds and to share in any recovery. The whistleblower in this case will receive $1.28 million.
This settlement is the result of a coordinated effort by the Justice Department’s Civil Division, the Civil and Criminal Divisions of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of California, the Defense Criminal Investigative Service, the Naval Criminal Investigative Service and the Defense Contract Audit Agency.
The case is captioned United States ex rel. Hai Ba Trung v. Vector Planning and Services Inc., et al., 3:12-cv-02353-LAB-BGS (S.D. Calif.). The claims settled by this agreement are allegations only; there has been no determination of liability.
Justice Department Reaches Settlement with Ganado School District to Ensure Equal Opportunities for English Language Learner StudentsRead the Press Release
The Justice Department announced today that it has entered into a settlement agreement with the Ganado Unified School District in Ganado, Ariz., to ensure that its English Language Learner (ELL) students have equal opportunities to participate in its educational programs, as mandated by federal law. The agreement stems from the department’s compliance review of the district’s ELL program under the Equal Educational Opportunities Act of 1974. The district, which is located on the Navajo Indian Reservation, cooperated throughout the review and is committed to improving its services for its Navajo ELL students and parents.
The settlement agreement requires the district to implement wide-ranging measures, beginning with the proper identification of ELL students when they enroll in the system and language-accessible communication with their parents about ELL program offerings and other essential information. The agreement further requires the district to: improve language acquisition instruction to ELL students; conduct significant training for staff and teachers of ELL students; provide adequate materials to support their acquisition of English and academic content; monitor students who opt out of ELL services and, after they exit such services, ensure they are participating equally; and evaluate the effectiveness of the ELL program.
“We applaud the Ganado Unified School District for undertaking this significant step toward ensuring the success of every student in the district,” said Acting Assistant Attorney General Jocelyn Samuels for the Civil Rights Division. “We look forward to continuing our collaboration with the district as it implements this comprehensive plan to serve effectively its Navajo students who are not yet proficient in English.”
The enforcement of the Equal Educational Opportunities Act is a top priority of the Civil Rights Division. Additional information about the Civil Rights Division is available on the division website.
Former Virginia Subcontractor Pleads Guilty to BriberyRead the Press Release
Dwayne Allen Hardman, 44, of Charleston, W.V., pleaded guilty today to paying bribes to public officials.
Acting Assistant Attorney General Mythili Raman of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division and Dana J. Boente, Acting U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia, Special Agent in Charge Robert Craig of the Defense Criminal Investigative Service Mid-Atlantic Field Office (DCIS), Acting Executive Assistant Director Charles T. May Jr. of the Naval Criminal Investigative Service (NCIS) Atlantic Operations and Special Agent in Charge Royce E. Curtin of the FBI’s Norfolk Field Office made the announcement after the plea was accepted by U.S. Magistrate Judge Douglas E. Miller in the Eastern District of Virginia.
Hardman was charged by criminal information on Feb. 12, 2014, with paying a bribe to public officials. Hardman faces a maximum penalty of 15 years in prison when he is sentenced on June 6, 2014.
According to a statement of facts filed with the plea agreement, in November 2004, Hardman and another businessman established a government contracting corporation in Chesapeake, Va., to provide support to the Military Sealift Command (MSC) on various telecommunications projects. Shortly thereafter, in early 2005, Hardman and his business partner agreed to pay cash bribes to two MSC officials in exchange for official action to steer government contracts to Hardman’s corporation. From March 2005 and until 2007, Hardman, his business partner and others paid the MSC officials approximately $3,000 each month in cash bribes. During this time, Hardman and his business partner withdrew approximately $144,000 in cash, which was then provided to the two MSC officials in exchange for their assistance in securing MSC contracting and subcontracting business for Hardman’s company.
According to court documents, in February 2009, Hardman left his former business and formed another government contracting company in Chesapeake with another businessman. The two MSC officials again agreed to steer contracting work to Hardman’s new company in exchange for receiving bribes from Hardman and his new business partner. In May 2009, Hardman and his new business partner paid each of the two MSC officials $25,000 in cash bribes.
On Feb. 12, 2014, one of the MSC officials, Kenny Toy, who was the Afloat Programs Manager for MSC’s N6 Command, Control, Communication and Computer Systems Directorate, pleaded guilty to accepting bribes in conjunction with this scheme.
This case was investigated by Special Agents of the FBI, the Naval Criminal Investigative Service, and the Defense Criminal Investigative Service. Trial Attorney Emily Rae Woods of the Criminal Division’s Public Integrity Section and Assistant U.S. Attorney Stephen W. Haynie are prosecuting the case.Former Puerto Rico Correctional Officer Sentenced <br /> for Scheme to Smuggle Heroin into State PrisonRead the Press Release
A former correctional officer at the Puerto Rico Department of Corrections was sentenced to serve 37 months in prison for attempting to smuggle heroin into the prison where he worked, Bayamón State Penitentiary, in exchange for a $3,000 payment.
Acting Assistant Attorney General Mythili Raman of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division and U.S. Attorney Rosa Emilia Rodríguez-Vélez of the District of Puerto Rico made the announcement.
Luis Lebron-Lebron, 38, of Maunabo, Puerto Rico, pleaded guilty on Oct. 29, 2013, to a one-count indictment charging him with attempt to distribute a controlled substance. Lebron-Lebron was sentenced by U.S. District Judge José A. Fusté .
On Sept. 9 and 10, 2010, Lebron agreed to introduce 1/8 of a kilogram of heroin to an inmate at the Bayamón State Penitentiary, where Lebron worked as a correctional officer. Lebron was paid $3,000 to make that delivery. On Sept. 10, 2010, Lebron met with an undercover agent, who he believed was a drug dealer, and was given what he believed to be 1/8 of a kilogram of heroin. He delivered the purported heroin to an inmate in the prison that same day.
The case was investigated by the FBI’s San Juan Division. The case was prosecuted by Trial Attorney Menaka Kalaskar of the Criminal Division’s Public Integrity Section and Assistant U.S. Attorney Hector Ramirez-Carbó of the District of Puerto Rico.Former Chief Executive Officer of Oil Services Company <br /> Pleads Guilty to Foreign Bribery ChargesRead the Press Release
The former chief executive officer of PetroTiger Ltd., a British Virgin Islands oil and gas company with operations in Colombia and offices in New Jersey, pleaded guilty today for his role in a scheme to pay bribes to foreign government officials and to defraud PetroTiger.
Acting Assistant Attorney General Mythili Raman of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division, U.S. Attorney Paul J. Fishman of the District of New Jersey and Special Agent in Charge Aaron T. Ford of the FBI’s Newark Division made the announcement.
Knut Hammarskjold, 42, of Greenville, S.C., the former co-CEO of PetroTiger, pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge Josephy E. Irenas in Camden, N.J., to an information charging one count of conspiracy to violate the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) and to commit wire fraud and is scheduled for sentencing on May 16, 2014. Gregory Weisman, 42, of Moorestown, N.J., the former general counsel of PetroTiger, pleaded guilty to the same charges on Nov. 8, 2013. Charges remain pending against Joseph Sigelman, 42, of Miami and the Philippines, the other former co-CEO of PetroTiger, for conspiracy to commit wire fraud, conspiracy to violate the FCPA, conspiracy to launder money and substantive violations of the FCPA.
According to the charges, the defendants allegedly paid bribes to an official in Colombia in exchange for the official’s assistance in securing approval for an oil services contract worth roughly $39 million. To conceal the bribes, the defendants allegedly first attempted to make the payments to a bank account in the name of the foreign official’s wife, for purported consulting services she did not perform. The charges allege that Sigelman and Hammarskjold provided Weisman invoices including her bank account information. The defendants made the payments directly to the official’s bank account when attempts to transfer the money to his wife’s account failed.
In addition, court documents allege that the defendants attempted to secure kickback payments at the expense of several of PetroTiger’s board members. According to the criminal charges, the defendants were negotiating an acquisition of another company on behalf of PetroTiger, including on behalf of several members of PetroTiger’s board of directors who were helping to fund the acquisition. In exchange for negotiating a higher purchase price for the acquisition, two of the owners of the target company agreed to kick back to the defendants a portion of the increased purchase price. According to the charges, to conceal the kickback payments, the defendants had the payments deposited into Sigelman’s bank account in the Philippines, created a “side letter” to falsely justify the payments, and used the code name “Manila Split” to refer to the payments amongst themselves.
Sigelman and Hammarskjold were charged by sealed complaints filed in the District of New Jersey on Nov. 8, 2013. Hammarskjold was arrested on Nov. 20, 2013, at Newark Liberty International Airport. Sigelman was arrested on Jan. 3, 2014, in the Philippines. The charges against Sigelman, Hammarskjold and Weisman were unsealed on Jan. 6, 2014.
The conspiracy to commit violations of the FCPA count carries a maximum penalty of five years in prison and a fine of the greater of $250,000 or twice the value gained or lost. The conspiracy to commit wire fraud count carries a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison and a fine of the greater of $250,000 or twice the value gained or lost.
As to the charges in the complaint pending against Sigelman, they are merely accusations and the defendant is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.
The department has worked closely with and has received significant assistance from its law enforcement counterparts in the Republic of Colombia and greatly appreciates their assistance in this matter. The department also thanks the Republic of the Philippines, including the Bureau of Immigration, and the Republic of Panama for their assistance in this matter. Significant assistance was also provided by the Criminal Division’s Office of International Affairs.
The case is being investigated by the FBI’s Newark Division. The case is being prosecuted by Assistant Chief Daniel S. Kahn of the Criminal Division’s Fraud Section and Assistant U.S. Attorney Aaron Mendelsohn of the District of New Jersey.
Additional information about the Justice Department’s FCPA enforcement efforts can be found at www.justice.gov/criminal/fraud/fcpa .Three Florida Residents Plead Guilty to Fraud Charges Related to Bogus Business OpportunitiesRead the Press Release
Three individuals charged in connection with operating a series of fraudulent business opportunity companies pleaded guilty this week in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida. Mitchell Berman (aka Brian Griffin) of Boca Raton, Fla., and Robert Gallo (aka Bobby Pace, Vincent Pastone, Joe Barone, Bobby Marino, Anthony Russo) of Coconut Creek, Fla., pleaded guilty this morning to one count of conspiracy to commit mail fraud. Steven Axelrod (aka Michael Hutton) of Wellington, Fla., yesterday entered a plea to one count of conspiracy to commit mail fraud. With their pleas, the defendants admit they operated a series of fraudulent companies that sold coffee display rack business opportunities to buyers who were told falsely that they would receive display racks and packets of coffee, as well as assistance in establishing and maintaining a business selling the coffee. The business opportunities the defendants sold cost a minimum of approximately $10,000 each.
The defendants admit that they operated, beginning in August 2000 and continuing through October 2011, a series of five companies: Selective Services Business, Best Gourmet Coffee, Cambridge Coffee, Royal Gourmet Coffee and South Beach Coffee. Each company operated for six months to a year, and after one company closed, the next one opened.
The defendants admit that Berman and Gallo ran the companies, while also working as salesmen together with Axelrod. All three defendants made numerous false statements to potential purchasers of the business opportunities to induce them to buy. Among the false statements were that purchasers likely would earn substantial profits, that prior purchasers of the business opportunities were earning substantial profits, that purchasers would be given lucrative “commercial accounts” and that the company would provide assistance in establishing and maintaining the business. According to the indictment, purchasers made little to no money on their investments, were unable to find profitable locations or accounts and were not provided the support promised by defendants. In making misrepresentations to potential purchasers, Berman also was violating a December 2000 federal court order barring him from misrepresenting profits, locations and other aspects of business opportunities.
Also according to the indictment, once purchasers began filing complaints with the Better Business Bureau or state authorities, the defendants shut down each of their companies in turn, and opened the next one. In order to evade detection, all the defendants used aliases and gave out false addresses for the companies. Berman and Gallo also avoided listing their own names on corporate and promotional documents and instead paid people who did not work at the companies to be titular presidents.
All three defendants will be sentenced later this year by Judge William J. Zloch in Ft. Lauderdale, Fla. Each faces a maximum statutory term of 20 years in prison, a possible fine and mandatory restitution.
Assistant Attorney General of the Justice Department’s Civil Division Stuart F. Delery commended the investigative efforts of the U.S. Postal Inspection Service. The case is being prosecuted by Trial Attorneys Cindy Cho and Chris Parisi of the Consumer Protection Branch of the Justice Department’s Civil Division.Tamuning Christian Fellowship Invites U.S. Attorney to Speak to Youth GroupRead the Press Release
United States Attorney ALICIA A.G. LIMTIACO, Districts of Guam and the Northern Mariana Islands, was invited to speak with the youth of the Tamuning Christian Fellowship on January 26, 2014. They, along with adult mentors of the youth group, discussed problems experienced by youth, including violence, substance abuse, and discrimination including discrimination because of one’s ethnicity, race and gender identity. They shared ways to engage the community so as to raise awareness about these issues, including a forum to bring together students, parents, families, educators, law enforcement, victim service providers, social services, health professionals, faith-based organizations, Mayors, Consulate Offices, and other community stakeholders, to dialogue about these problems and establish effective programs, projects and other means to address and prevent violence, abuse and exploitation, and discrimination, and to encourage positive behavior and role-modeling.
U.S. Attorney Limtiaco also shared information about Department of Justice initiatives, including Project Safe Childhood (PSC), Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN) and the Diverse Community Outreach.
Launched in May 2006, PSC is a nationwide initiative designed to protect children from online sexual exploitation and abuse. Led by U.S. Attorneys= Offices, the Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section of the Department=s Criminal Division, and Internet Crimes Against Children task forces, PSC marshals federal, state and local resources to better locate, apprehend and prosecute individuals who exploit children via the Internet, as well as identify and rescue victims. PSC’s goal is to educate parents about the potential dangers that their children face online, and warns potential online predators that exploiting a child online is a serious federal offense.
PSN is a nationwide commitment to aggressively prosecute offenders who engage in drug distribution, gang involvement and violent crime. U.S. Attorney Limtiaco talked about the Gang Resistance Education And Training (G.R.E.A.T.) Program, a program under PSN aimed at elementary and middle school students, which focuses on developing life skills to help students avoid delinquent behavior and violence, and to solve problems through communication and the exercise of good judgment.
The purpose of the Diverse Community Outreach Initiative is to increase and improve communication and collaboration between the community and law enforcement. Faith-based community members, Consulate Offices and other stakeholders are invited and participate in the
initiative. Issues discussed at the Diverse Community Outreach Initiative meetings include human trafficking; hate crimes and civil rights; immigration; labor; cultural competency; national security; and crime prevention.Photos taken at Tamuning Christian Fellowship.
San Vicente Catholic School Invites U.S. Attorney to Judge Human Rights Day ContestRead the Press Release
United States Attorney ALICIA A.G. LIMTIACO, U.S. Attorney for the Districts of Guam and the Northern Mariana Islands, was invited to San Vicente Catholic School (SVCS) on January 27, 2014, to be a judge of the middle school’s Human Rights T-Shirt Design Contest in observance of Human Rights Day and as part of its Catholic Schools Week festivities. The school’s 6th – 8th graders were tasked to design a t-shirt advocating the respect of human rights. This was coordinated by the Middle School Language Arts teacher and SVCS Catholic School Chairperson, Mrs. Belen De Fant, and sponsored by the SVCS Shalom Club. The contest was judged by U.S. Attorney Limtiaco, Mrs. Tina Blas, SVCS grandparent and wife of the former Lt. Gov. Frank F. Blas, and Ms. Ann Leon Guerrero, SVCS teacher.
Pictured above are some of the students showcasing their t-shirt design at San Vicente
Catholic School’s (SVCS) Human Rights T-Shirt Design contest in observance of
Human Rights Day and part of its Catholic Schools Week festivities.
The contest was judged by Ms. Alicia Limtiaco, the United States Attorney for the
Districts of Guam and the Northern Mariana Islands, Mrs. Tina Blas, SVCS grandparent and wife of the former Lt. Gov. Frank F. Blas, and Ms. Ann Leon Guerrero, SVCS teacher.Narwhal Tusk Trafficker Convicted of Conspiracy and Money LaunderingRead the Press Release
Andrew L. Zarauskas, 60, of Union, N.J., was found guilty today by a federal jury in Bangor, Maine, of illegally trafficking and smuggling narwhal tusks, and associated money laundering crimes, announced Robert G. Dreher, Acting Assistant Attorney General for the Environment and Natural Resources Division .
The defendant was convicted of conspiracy, money laundering conspiracy, smuggling, and money laundering violations for buying narwhal tusks knowing the tusks had been illegally imported into the United States from Canada, as well as selling or attempting to sell the tusks after their illegal importation.
“The Justice Department takes seriously our responsibility to prosecute those who engage in the illegal trade of any protected wildlife species,” said Acting Assistant Attorney General Dreher. “Zarauskas and his co-conspirators flouted U.S. law and international agreements that protect marine mammals such as the narwhal for their own personal financial benefit. The Justice Department will continue to investigate and prosecute those engaged in this insidious trade in order to protect species for future generations to enjoy.”
"The success of this investigation was a direct result of the uncompromising cooperation between special agents of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, NOAA and Environment Canada. It is this type of international teamwork which exemplifies the ongoing fight against illegal wildlife trafficking." said William C. Woody, Assistant Director for Law Enforcement for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
“This investigation is an example of excellent coordinated efforts between NOAA, Office of Law Enforcement (OLE) and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Office of Law Enforcement” said Logan Gregory, Special Agent In Charge for NOAA. The protection of Marine Mammals and enforcement of the Marine Mammal Protection Act is a high priority for OLE and we will continue to work with our enforcement partners and the Department of Justice to ensure compliance.”
From 2002 to 2008, Zarauskas knowingly purchased approximately 33 narwhal tusks that he knew were illegally imported into the United States in violation of federal law. A narwhal is a medium-sized whale with an extremely long tusk that projects from its upper left jaw, often referred to as the unicorn of the sea. As marine mammals narwhals are protected by the Marine Mammal Protection Act and are listed on Appendix II of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES). It is illegal to import parts of marine mammals into the United States without the requisite permits/certifications, and without declaring the merchandise at the time of importation to U.S. Customs and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Narwhal tusks are commonly collected for display purposes and can fetch large sums of money.
According to evidence presented at the trial, Zarauskas conspired with others, including persons located in Canada, to illegally import the protected tusks for re-sale in the United States and to launder the funds used to purchase the narwhal tusks by transporting, transmitting, or transferring checks and money orders from New Jersey to Canada, intending that the money be used for further illegal imports of narwhal tusks.
On Jan. 7, 2014, Jay G. Conrad, of Lakeland, Tenn., who had been charged in the same indictment, pleaded guilty to conspiring to illegally import and traffic narwhal tusks, conspiring to launder money, and illegally trafficking narwhal tusks. On that same date, a plea agreement was also unsealed in which Eddie T. Dunn, of Eads, Tenn., pleaded guilty in the District of Alaska to conspiring to illegally traffic, and trafficking, narwhal tusks.
Throughout the conspiracy, Zarauskus and his co-conspirators made payments to the Canadian supplier for the narwhal tusks, by sending the payments to a mailing address in Bangor, Maine, or directly to the supplier in Canada. The payments allowed the Canadian supplier to purchase and re-supply Zarauskus and Conrad with more narwhal tusks that they could then re-sell. Conrad sold between $400,000 and $1 million worth of narwhal tusks and Dunn sold approximately $1.1 million worth of narwhal tusks as members of the conspiracy.
Earlier this week, President Obama announced the National Strategy for Combating Wildlife Trafficking, recognizing that record high demand for wildlife products, coupled with inadequate preventative measures and weak institutions has resulted in an explosion of illicit trade in recent years. Like other forms of illicit trade, wildlife trafficking undermines security across nations. While t he Department of Justice has long worked to protect threatened and endangered wildlife species through its enforcement of the Lacey Act and the Marine Mammal Protection Act, among other laws, the National Strategy identifies priority areas for increased interagency coordination, with the objectives of harnessing and strategically applying the full breadth of U.S. Government resources to end the pernicious trade in protected species both at home and abroad.
Zarauskus and Conrad are to be sentenced by U.S. District Court Judge John A. Woodcock in the District of Maine. A sentencing date has not been set. They each face a maximum of twenty years incarceration for their involvement in this narwhal tusk trafficking scheme, and a fine of up to $250,000. Dunn is scheduled to be sentenced by U.S. District Judge Ralph R. Beistline in the District of Alaska on March 20, 2014, and may be imprisoned up to five years and fined $250,000. Co-defendant Gregory R. Logan is pending extradition from Canada to the District of Maine.
The case was investigated by agents from National Oceanic and Atomospheric Administration Office of Law Enforcement, the United States Fish and Wildlife Service Office of Law Enforcement and in coordination with Environmental Canada Wildlife Enforcement Division and the Department of Justice’s Office of International Affairs. The case is being prosecuted by Trial Attorneys Todd S. Mikolop and James Nelson of the Justice Department’s Environmental Crimes Section.Mizrahi Bank Client Pleads Guilty to Filing False Tax ReturnRead the Press Release
Monajem Hakimijoo, also known as Manny Hakimi, of Beverly Hills, Calif., pleaded guilty on Feb. 13, 2014, in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California to filing a false federal income tax return for tax year 2007, the Justice Department and Internal Revenue Service (IRS) announced today.
According to court documents, Hakimijoo, a U.S. citizen, and his brother maintained an undeclared bank account in Israel at Mizrahi Bank in the name of Kalamar Enterprises, a Turks and Caicos Islands entity they used to conceal their ownership of the account. Hakimijoo and his brother used the funds in the Kalamar account as collateral for back-to-back loans obtained from the Los Angeles branch of Mizrahi Bank. Although Hakimijoo and his brother claimed the interest paid on the back-to-back loans as a business deduction for federal tax purposes, they failed to report the interest income earned in their undeclared, Israel-based account as income on their tax returns. In total, Hakimijoo failed to report approximately $282,000 in interest income. The highest balance in the Kalamar Enterprises account was approximately $4,030,000.
According to court documents, in March 2013, Hakimijoo was scheduled to be interviewed by Justice Department attorneys and IRS special agents. Prior to the interview, Hakimijoo, through counsel, provided the attorneys and special agents with copies of his amended tax returns for 2004 and 2005. When asked if the amended tax returns had been filed with the IRS, Hakimijoo indicated that the returns had been filed. Shortly thereafter, the IRS determined there was no record of the amended returns being filed with the IRS. When Hakimijoo was asked to provide copies of cancelled checks to prove that the taxes reflected on the amended returns had been paid, none were provided.
Hakimijoo is the latest in a series of defendants charged in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California with concealing undeclared bank accounts in Israel that were used to obtain back-to-back loans in the United States.
U.S. citizens and residents who have an interest in, 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. They must also file a Report of Foreign Bank and Financial Reports with the U.S. Treasury disclosing the aforementioned financial account(s).
Hakimijoo will be sentenced on April 28, 2014, and faces a statutory maximum prison term of three years and a maximum fine of $250,000. In addition, Hakimijoo has agreed to pay a civil penalty to the IRS in the amount of 50 percent of the highest balance of his one-half interest in the Kalamar account.
Assistant Attorney General Kathryn Keneally of the Tax Division and U.S. Attorney André Birotte Jr. for the Central District of California thanked special agents of IRS-Criminal Investigation, who investigated the cases, Senior Litigation Counsel John E. Sullivan and Assistant Chief Elizabeth C. Hadden for the Tax Division, who prosecuted the cases, and Assistant U.S. Attorney Sandra A. Brown of the U.S. Attorney’s Office, who assisted with the prosecutions.
Additional information about the Tax Division and its enforcement efforts may be found at the division's website .
Justice Department Finds Substantial Evidence of Gender Bias in Missoula County Attorney’s OfficeRead the Press Release
Today, the Department of Justice issued a letter of findings describing problems in the Missoula County, Mont., Attorney’s Office’s response to sexual assault, and concluding that there is substantial evidence that the County Attorney’s response to sexual assault discriminates against women. The department opened civil pattern or practice investigations of the Missoula County Attorney’s Office, along with the Missoula Police Department and the University of Montana’s Office of Public Safety, in May 2012. The department investigations, brought under the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act of 1994, and the anti-discrimination provisions of the Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act of 1968, focused on allegations that the three law enforcement agencies were systematically failing to protect women victims of sexual assault in Missoula. The department, along with the Office for Civil Rights at the Department of Education, also opened an investigation of the University of Montana’s handling of allegations of sexual assault and harassment of students under Title IV of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972. The investigation of the Missoula Police Department and both investigations of the University of Montana were resolved in May 2013, via cooperative agreements with the Justice Department.
“Prosecutors play a critical role in ensuring that women victims of sexual assault have effective and equal access to criminal justice,” said Acting Assistant Attorney General Jocelyn Samuels for the Civil Rights Division. “We uncovered evidence of a disturbing pattern of deficiencies in the handling of these cases by the County Attorney’s Office, a pattern that not only denies victims meaningful access to justice, but places the safety of all women in Missoula at risk. We hope that this letter will enable us to move forward with constructive discussions with the County Attorney to resolve these serious concerns.”
The department’s investigation uncovered evidence indicating that the Missoula County Attorney’s Office engages in gender discrimination in violation of the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment to the Constitution as well as relevant federal laws. In particular, the investigation found evidence that the decisions of the County Attorney’s Office regarding the investigation and prosecution of sexual assaults and rape, particularly non-stranger assaults and rapes, are influenced by gender bias and gender stereotyping and adversely affect women in Missoula. The investigation found that the following, taken together, strongly suggest gender discrimination:
· Despite their prevalence in the community, sexual assaults of adult women are given low priority in the County Attorney’s Office;
· The County Attorney does not provide Deputy County Attorneys with the basic knowledge and training about sexual assault necessary to effectively and impartially investigate and prosecute these cases;
· The County Attorney’s Office generally does not develop evidence in support of sexual assault prosecutions, either on its own or in cooperation with other law enforcement agencies
· Adult women victims, particularly victims of non-stranger sexual assault and rape, are often treated with disrespect, not informed of the status of their case and revictimized by the process; and
· The County Attorney’s Office routinely fails to engage in the most basic communication about its cases of sexual assault with law enforcement and advocacy partners.
“Over the past eight months, the City of Missoula, the University of Montana and the Missoula Police Department already have made important strides toward improving their response to sexual assault and strengthening the community’s confidence in its local police,” said U.S. Attorney Michael Cotter for the District of Montana. “It is our sincere hope that the Missoula County Attorney will follow that example and work cooperatively with the Justice Department to address the deficiencies identified in our investigation, and to improve the safety of women in this community.
The investigation was conducted jointly by the Special Litigation Section of the Civil Rights Division and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Montana. The prevention of sex-based discrimination is a top priority of the Civil Rights Division and U.S. Attorney’s Offices. The Civil Rights Division has worked to ensure that women are not subject to discriminatory practices by law enforcement in New Orleans, Puerto Rico and elsewhere. Additional information about the Civil Rights Division is available on its website. Additional information about the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Montana can be found on its website.
Independent Contractor in Afghanistan Pleads Guilty for His Role in Offering $54,000 in Bribes to a U.S. Government OfficialRead the Press Release
Earlier today at the federal courthouse in Brooklyn, N.Y., Akbar Ahmad Sherzai, 49, of Centreville, Va., an independent contractor for a trucking company operating in Afghanistan that was responsible for delivering fuel to U.S. Army installations, pleaded guilty to his role in offering a U.S. Army serviceman $54,000 in bribes to falsify documents to reflect the successful delivery of fuel shipments that Army records indicate were never delivered. Sherzai faces a maximum of 15 years imprisonment and a $250,000 fine.
Acting Assistant Attorney General Mythili Raman of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division and United States Attorney for the Eastern District of New York Loretta E. Lynch made the announcement.
“The defendant sought to use deception, corruption and greed to enrich his company at the risk of jeopardizing the U.S. Army’s supply lines in Afghanistan,” said U.S. Attorney Lynch. “Attempts to corrupt American officials will not be tolerated, either at home or abroad.” U.S. Attorney Lynch extended her grateful appreciation to the Special Inspector General for the Afghanistan Reconstruction, Homeland Security Investigations and the FBI for their assistance in this case.
The U.S. Army regularly contracts with local Afghan trucking companies to transport U.S. military equipment, fuel, and other supplies throughout Afghanistan. To ensure the companies fulfilled these requests, the U.S. Army used transportation movement requests (TMRs), which, when properly completed, verified that the shipments were successfully completed before approving payments to the trucking companies.
In April 2013, Sherzai approached a U.S. military serviceman to discuss fuel delivery missions that had been classified by the U.S. Army as “no-shows,” meaning that the fuel had not been delivered. Sherzai offered the serviceman a bribe to falsify the TMRs to reflect successful deliveries so that Sherzai’s company would receive payment and avoid penalties for failed fuel deliveries. The serviceman, under the supervision of law enforcement, continued to meet with Sherzai to discuss payments for the falsification of records. On two separate occasions, Sherzai paid the serviceman bribes in cash on American military bases in Afghanistan. On another occasion, Sherzai arranged for the serviceman’s bribe to be transferred to the United States through a hawala, an informal money transfer system. In total, Sherzai paid the serviceman $54,000 in cash to falsify fourteen TMRs. Each “no show” delivery mission, absent the fraudulent TMRs, would have resulted in a fine of the company by the U.S. government of $75,000.
Sherzai was arrested on a criminal complaint on Sept. 24, 2013. The guilty plea proceeding was held before U.S. Magistrate Judge Robert M. Levy.
The government’s case is being prosecuted by Assistant U. S. Attorney Amir H. Toossi and Trial Attorney Daniel Butler of the Criminal Division’s Fraud Section.Harry S. Truman Elementary School Invites U.S. Attorney to Talk with Students About Bullying and CyberbullyingRead the Press Release
United States Attorney Alicia A.G. Limtiaco, Districts of Guam and the Northern Mariana Islands, was invited to speak on January 31, 2014, with approximately seventy-five 5th grade students at Harry S. Truman Elementary School, about bullying and cyberbullying, including the dangers and tragic consequences of bullying and cyberbullying, and ways to keep safe.
These students also graduated from the Gang Resistance Education And Training (GREAT) Program in November 2013. The GREAT Program=s primary objective is to raise awareness about and prevent delinquency, youth violence, and gang membership. The GREAT lessons taught by GREAT certified law enforcement officers and aimed at elementary and middle school students, focus on developing life skills to help students avoid delinquent behavior and violence, and learn to solve problems through communication and the exercise of good judgment.
U.S. Attorney Limtiaco at Harry S. Truman Elementary School.
Fifth grade students listening to U.S. Attorney Alicia Limtiaco.Getaway Driver in Murder of Rhode Island <br /> Gas Station Manager Sentenced to 40 Years in PrisonRead the Press Release
Jose A. Santiago, 36, of Springfield, Mass., was sentenced yesterday in Providence, R.I., to serve 40 years in prison for his role in the September 2010 armed robbery and murder of Woonsocket, R.I., gas station manager David D. Main.
Acting Assistant Attorney General Mythili Raman of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division, United States Attorney Peter F. Neronha of the District of Rhode Island, Special Agent in Charge Vincent B. Lisi of the FBI’s Boston Field Office, Col. Steven G. O’Donnell of the Rhode Island State Police and Chief Thomas S. Carey of the Woonsocket Police Department made the announcement.
According to court documents, Main, 49, was chased, shot to death at close range and robbed by Jason Wayne Pleau, 36, of Providence, as he approached the doorstep of a Woonsocket bank where he was preparing to deposit thousands of dollars in cash belonging to the gas station. Santiago was the getaway driver of a box truck parked a block away from the bank in which Pleau fled moments after he robbed and fatally shot Main.
Pleau, who pleaded guilty on July 31, 2013, to conspiracy to commit Hobbs Act robbery, Hobbs Act robbery, and carrying, using and discharging a firearm during and in relation to a federal crime of violence resulting in death was sentenced in October 2013 to serve life in prison.
Santiago pleaded guilty on Sept. 5, 2013, to conspiracy to commit Hobbs Act robbery, Hobbs Act robbery, and carrying, using, and discharging a firearm during and in relation to a federal crime of violence resulting in death. No plea agreement was filed in this matter. At sentencing, U.S. District Court Chief Judge William E. Smith also ordered Santiago to serve five years of supervised release upon completion of his prison term.
Co-defendant Kelly Marie Lajoie, 36, of Springfield, pleaded guilty on Dec. 9, 2011, to Hobbs Act conspiracy, aiding and abetting a Hobbs Act robbery and use of a firearm during a federal crime of violence. Lajoie is scheduled to be sentenced on Feb. 19, 2014.
The matter was investigated by the Woonsocket Police Department, Rhode Island State Police and the FBI, with the assistance of the U.S. Marshals Service and the Rhode Island National Guard.
The case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Adi Goldstein and William J. Ferland of the District of Rhode Island and Trial Attorney Jacabed Rodriguez-Coss of the Criminal Division’s Capital Case Section.Former Georgia Tax Return Preparer Sentenced for Tax FraudRead the Press Release
Irene Tamika Smith, a former professional tax-return preparer, was sentenced yesterday to serve 33 months in prison for conspiring with her co-workers to defraud the United States by filing false tax returns in order to receive fraudulently-inflated refunds for clients, Assistant Attorney General Kathryn Keneally of the Justice Department's Tax Division and U.S. Attorney Michael J. Moore for the Middle District of Georgia announced today. Smith was also ordered to pay $566,171 in restitution to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS).
According to court documents, Smith worked at Quick Tax, a tax preparation business in Cordele, Ga. From 2006 through 2009, Smith conspired with her co-workers Greene Wylie Sheppard, Sabrina Johnson-Lavant and Chandra Henderson to obtain higher refunds on their clients’ returns by falsely inflating clients’ wages in order to exploit certain tax credits. Smith and her co-conspirators also purchased other people’s identities which they then offered to sell to clients so that the clients could obtain higher refunds by falsely claiming additional dependents on their tax returns. Smith and her co-conspirators maintained notebooks that kept track of the identities they sold and how much clients owed them for the false dependents. Over the course of the conspiracy, which spanned four years, Quick Tax claimed over $500,000 in fraudulent refunds.
Smith’s co-conspirators each pleaded guilty to participating in the conspiracy and were sentenced in 2013. Sheppard was sentenced to serve 56 months in prison, Henderson was sentenced to serve 18 months in prison and Johnson-Lavant was sentenced to serve eight months in prison.
The case was investigated by special agents of IRS–Criminal Investigation, and Trial Attorneys Alexander Effendi and Charles Edgar Jr. of the Tax Division prosecuted the case.
Filipino Ladies Association of Guam Invites U.S. Attorney as Keynote SpeakerRead the Press Release
U.S. Attorney Alicia A.G. Limtiaco, Districts of Guam and the Northern Mariana Islands, was invited by the Filipino Ladies Association of Guam (FLAG) to be the Keynote Speaker at their 53rd Induction of Executive Officers and Board of Directors held on January 12, 2014.
U.S. Attorney Limtiaco congratulated and commended FLAG for their commitment to fostering unity among its membership, and improving the bonds of friendship among the people of Guam. FLAG members have supported and advocated for important fundamental issues – as evidenced by the over 50 years of community service, accomplishments, and meaningful contributions, involving human rights and human dignity; cultural preservation; education; health; and international goodwill and understanding.
U.S. Attorney Limtiaco spoke about the life and legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., and the importance of a community’s commitment to equality and the advancement of human rights and human dignity for all.
“On January 20, we pay tribute to the life of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., to honor his legacy – his everlasting and steadfast contributions to the struggle and achievement of equality and freedom for human kind, and racial, social and economic justice. It is then appropriate that we come together as one community to dialogue and take action against all forms of oppression of the human spirit – to combat against human trafficking, family violence, sexual assault, and child abuse,” stated U.S. Attorney Limtiaco.She also spoke about President Barack Obama’s proclamation of January 2014 as “National Slavery and Human Trafficking Prevention Month”. “Human trafficking is a severe crime that deprives and violates victims of their fundamental human dignity, and is a global international issue. To combat human trafficking in our Pacific Region, the nation, and globally – we must all be aware of the harsh realities of trafficking and mobilize collaborative efforts to end it. All federal and local law enforcement, social services, victim advocacy groups, medical, mental and public health professionals, educational institutions, faith-based organizations, private sector, civic organizations and fellow community stakeholders, must work together to effectively prevent human trafficking, protect and be responsive to the needs of victims, and hold offenders accountable,” said U.S. Attorney Limtiaco.
U.S. Attorney Limtiaco shared the commitment of the Department of Justice and the U.S. Attorney’s Offices to work collaboratively with all stakeholders to prevent human trafficking, family violence, sexual assault, and child abuse in our island communities; to protect victims and survivors; and to hold offenders accountable. She also emphasized that public education and outreach are critical to sensitizing our community and ourselves, about the importance of, and the role and responsibility each and every one of us has as individuals and in our professional and official capacities, in prevention and enforcement efforts.
Aryan Brotherhood of Texas Gang Member <br /> Pleads Guilty to Federal Racketeering ChargesRead the Press Release
A member of the Aryan Brotherhood of Texas gang (ABT) has pleaded guilty to racketeering charges related to his membership in the ABT’s criminal enterprise, announced Acting Assistant Attorney General Mythili Raman of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division and U.S. Attorney Kenneth Magidson of the Southern District of Texas.
Ronald Lee Prince, aka “Big Show,” 44, of Dallas, pleaded guilty today before U.S. District Judge Sim Lake in the Southern District of Texas to one count of conspiracy to participate in racketeering activity.
According to court documents, Prince and other ABT gang members and associates agreed to commit multiple acts of murder, robbery, arson, kidnapping and narcotics trafficking on behalf of the ABT gang. Prince and numerous 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 activities.
By pleading guilty to racketeering charges, Prince admitted to being a member of the ABT criminal enterprise.
According to the superseding indictment, 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. According to the superseding indictment, the ABT was primarily concerned with the protection of white inmates and white supremacy. Over time, the ABT expanded its criminal enterprise to include illegal activities for profit.
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.”
According to the superseding indictment, 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.
At sentencing, scheduled for Oct. 9, 2014, Prince faces a maximum penalty of life in prison.
Prince is one of 36 defendants charged with, among other things, conducting racketeering activity through the ABT criminal enterprise. To date, 19 defendants have pleaded guilty, including the recent plea of Stephen Tobin Mullen, aka “Scuba Steve,” 44, of Dallas, who pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to participate in racketeering activity on Dec. 19, 2013.
This case is being investigated by a multi-agency task force consisting of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives; the 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 the Criminal Division’s Organized Crime and Gang Section and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Texas.U.S., Canada and Mexico Antitrust Officials Participate in Trilateral <br /> Meeting in Washington to Discuss Antitrust EnforcementRead the Press Release
The heads of the antitrust agencies of the United States, Canada and Mexico – Assistant Attorney General Bill Baer of the Department of Justice’s Antitrust Division, Chairwoman Edith Ramirez of the Federal Trade Commission, Canadian Commissioner of Competition John Pecman and President Alejandra Palacios Prieto of the Mexican Federal Competition Commission – met today in Washington, D.C., to discuss their mutual efforts to ensure continued effective antitrust enforcement cooperation in our increasingly interconnected markets.
The discussions covered a wide range of topics, including recent enforcement developments, cooperation and mutual support, and priority setting and efficiency in resource constrained environments.“Working with our antitrust colleagues across both United States borders to ensure effectiveantitrust enforcement is good for businesses and consumers,” said Assistant Attorney General Baer. “The department values its close law enforcement relationships with Canada and Mexico, and I look forward to our continued efforts to work together to combat anticompetitive activity.”
The meetings build on the foundations laid by the 1995 antitrust cooperation agreement between the United States and Canada, the 1999 agreement between the United States and Mexico and the 2001 agreement between Canada and Mexico. The agreements commit the antitrust agencies to cooperate and coordinate with each other to make their antitrust policies and enforcement as consistent and effective as possible.
The three nations also are parties to the North American Free Trade Agreement, which includes a competition chapter that provides for cooperation among them in antitrust investigations.
Sex Trafficker in Saipan, Northern Mariana Islands, Sentenced to over 19 Years in PrisonRead the Press Release
SAIPAN, CNMI – On Monday, February 10, 2014, in the U.S. District Court of the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, Chief Judge Ramona V. Manglona sentenced Chang Ru Meng Backman, age 41, of the People’s Republic of China, to 235 months in prison followed by three years of supervised release for sex trafficking. Chief Judge Manglona also ordered Backman to pay $9,750 in restitution to the victim.
Following the sentencing, U. S. Attorney for the Districts of Guam and the Northern Mariana Islands, Alicia A.G. Limtiaco, stated, “The heinous crime of sex trafficking dehumanizes its victims and involves the exploitation of the vulnerable by those motivated by power and greed. This prosecution, brought through the hard work of the FBI in collaboration with local law enforcement and the CNMI Attorney General’s Office, represents law enforcement’s tireless pursuit of those responsible for the sexual exploitation of women and the commitment to attaining justice for the victims of these horrible crimes,” said U.S. Attorney Limtiaco. “The sentence imposed by the Court sends the message that sex trafficking schemes will not be tolerated. We will continue to find traffickers and hold them accountable for their crimes."
Backman was convicted of one count of sex trafficking in June 2013, following a jury trial. Backman, who was the “boss-lady” of a bar known as the Holiday Karaoke Club, coerced a vulnerable Chinese woman into having sex with customers of the club for her own financial gain. Backman preyed upon the woman who had been enticed to come to Saipan from China with promises of work as a farm laborer, cleaning person in a hotel, or wait staff in a restaurant. Once the woman arrived, Backman used her debt, lack of legal immigration status, and inability to speak English to compel her to engage in commercial sex acts at Backman’s bar. Backman drove the woman to and from the bar so that the woman could have sex with men at Backman’s direction.
The case was investigated by FBI Special Agent Jaime Prida, and the United States was represented at trial by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Rami S. Badawy and Ross K. Naughton, and U.S. Attorney Limtiaco.Procurador Federal Del Distrito Oriental De California, La Atf, El Departamento De Policia De Fresno Anuncian Los Resultados De La Colaboracion En Los Casos Federales De Armas De Fuego Procesados En El 2013 Para El Area De FresnoRead the Press Release
40 acusados de delitos federales por armas de fuego en los condados de Fresno, Tulare y Madera en el 2013; sentenciados a prisión federal en el 2013
FRESNO, Calif.: El procurador federal del distrito oriental de California, Benjamin B. Wagner, anunció hoy los resultados del año pasado del trabajo continuo de las agencias del orden público locales, estatales y federales para procesar casos de violencia con armas en el àrea de Fresno. Los casos federales por armas de fuego son producto del Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN, Proyecto de Vecindarios Seguros), que es una iniciativa del Departamento de Justicia de los EE.UU. para unir a las agencias del orden público para luchar contra la violencia armada. Bajo la iniciativa Smart on Crime (Listos ante el Crimen) que anunció el procurador general de los EE.UU., Eric Holder, en agosto del año pasado, combatir la violencia armada es una alta prioridad del Departamento de Justicia de los EE.UU.
En el 2013 la Oficina del Procurador Federal del Distrito Oriental de California enjuició a por lo menos 100 acusados por delitos relacionados con armas de fuego. Sin embargo, el àrea de Fresno y sus alrededores ha sido objeto específicamente de casos por armas de fuego, y la Oficina del Procurador Federal del Distrito Oriental de California trabaja de cerca con el Departamento de la Policía de Fresno, la Agencia de Alcohol, Tabaco, Armas de Fuego y Explosivos de los EE.UU., el FBI y otros socios del orden público para detener a los criminales armados y peligrosos de esa región.
En el 2013, treinta y cuatro acusados en la ciudad de Fresno y el àrea aledaña del condado de Fresno enfrentaron cargos por delitos federales de armas de fuego. Dos personas màs del condado de Tulare y cuatro màs del condado de Madera fueron acusados por delitos federales de armas de fuego para un total de 40 acusados en el àrea que comprende los tres condados.
Diez de los acusados que enfrentaron cargos en el 2013 ya se han declarado culpables y han sido sentenciados a prisión y cinco màs se han declarado culpables y estàn esperando sentencia. Ademàs, por lo menos 30 acusados màs de la ciudad de Fresno y el àrea aledaña del condado de Fresno que enfrentaron cargos de delitos federales por armas de fuego en años anteriores fueron sentenciados a partir del inicio del 2013. Otros dos acusados del condado de Madera que fueron acusados en años anteriores por delitos de armas de fuego fueron sentenciados en el 2013. Por lo tanto, durante el año 2013 un total de 42 personas culpables de delitos de armas de fuego en los condados de Fresno, Tulare y Madera ingresaron a prisión federal.
Los delitos federales de armas de fuego en estos casos son delitos graves cuya culpabilidad a menudo resulta en sentencias largas de muchos años. Todos los 42 acusados de esta àrea que fueron sentenciados por casos federales de armas de fuego desde principios del 2013 fueron sentenciados a prisión, y màs de la mitad està ahora cumpliendo sentencias de màs de cinco años en prisión. En el sistema federal se ha abolido la libertad condicional, y los acusados tienen que cumplir por lo menos el 85 por ciento del tiempo de prisión que se les ha impuesto. Muchos acusados condenados cumplen sus sentencias en prisiones federales lejos del àrea de Fresno. Los delitos de armas de fuego incluyen el uso de un arma de fuego en el transcurso de un delito de tràfico de drogas o crimen violento, la posesión de un arma de fuego por una persona condenada por un delito grave, la posesión de un arma de fuego sin inscribir, tal como un rifle de asalto totalmente automàtico, una escopeta recortada o un dispositivo explosivo, o la posesión de un arma de fuego por un extranjero indocumentado. Algunos acusados también fueron condenados por ofensas relacionadas con narcóticos y otros delitos federales.
“En nuestro esfuerzo por combatir el crimen armado, hemos trabajado de cerca con nuestros socios de las agencias del orden público para enfocarnos en los criminales peligrosos y armados”, dijo el procurador federal del distrito oriental de California, Wagner. “Gracias a la relación excepcional de trabajo que existe entre las agencias del orden público federales y locales en el àrea de Fresno, esta iniciativa ha logrado sacar de la calle a un gran número de estos criminales por períodos de tiempo extensos.”
“A través del proyecto PSN, la ATF, junto con nuestros socios, pueden enfrentarse a aquellos criminales que comenten delitos violentos y que poseen ilegalmente las armas que tienen bajo asedio a las comunidades”, dijo el agente especial encargado de la Agencia de Alcohol, Tabaco, Armas de Fuego y Explosivos, Joseph M. Riehl.
“La prioridad principal del Departamento de Policía de Fresno continuarà siendo el concentrarse en las gangas e incautarles armas de fuego a los criminales violentos. Nuestra colaboración con la Oficina del Procurador Federal del Distrito Oriental de California a través de la iniciativa Project Safe Neighborhoods ha enviado un mensaje contundente a los miembros de las gangas en nuestras comunidades de que no toleraremos la violencia armada.”
Algunos ejemplos de las condenas federales por armas de fuego en el 2013 producto de este esfuerzo conjunto incluyen los siguientes:
- El 12 de noviembre de 2013, Fernando Casas, de 35 años de edad, un miembro de la ganga Bond Street Bulldog, fue sentenciado a siete años y ocho meses en prisión al haber sido condenado por el delito de poseer un arma de fuego habiendo sido condenado por un delito grave. Bond tiene nueve condenas por delitos graves entre el 1998 y 2011, incluyendo por armas de fuego, sustancias controladas y delitos a la propiedad.
- El 12 de noviembre de 2013, Robert Cervantes, de 35 años, miembro de una ganga en Fresno/Clovis, fue sentenciado a 15 años en prisión por venderle metanfetamina a un informante confidencial en abril de 2011 y luego por haber sido arrestado en mayo de 2011 por poseer un revólver y una onza de metanfetamina que pretendía vender. Cervantes había sido condenado en cinco casos de tràfico de drogas entre el 1997 y 2008.
- El 18 de noviembre de 2013, Luis Montoy, de 35 años de edad, fue sentenciado a seis y cinco meses en prisión al haber sido condenado por el delito de poseer municiones habiendo sido condenado por un delito grave. Los miembros del Grupo de Trabajo con Fugitivos del Servicio del Alguacil Federal de los EE.UU. arrestó a Montoy por haber escapado mientras estaba bajo libertad condicional. Él tenía en su poder pólvora negra para armas y municiones. Él había sido condenado en tres casos de delitos graves entre el 2001 y el 2009 por armas de fuego, violencia doméstica y sustancias controladas.
- El 6 de mayo de 2013, Nicholas Andronicous, de 31 años de edad, fue sentenciado a siete años y ocho meses en prisión al haber sido arrestado por el delito de poseer municiones y un rifle de cañón corto sin inscribir. Según los documentos judiciales, el encuentro con Andronicous ocurrió en mayo de 2012 en respuesta a una llamada por violencia doméstica, y se descubrió que poseía metanfetamina, múltiples armas de fuego y municiones. En junio de 2012 él fue objeto de una investigación por infracción de tràfico y le encontraron otra arma de fuego y municiones. Andronicous había sido condenado en tres casos de delitos graves entre el 2004 y el 2006 por sustancias controladas y otros delitos.
- El 12 de agosto de 2013, Eric Moore, de 36 años, de Fresno, fue sentenciado a 10 años en prisión por poseer múltiples armas de fuego habiendo sido condenado por un delito grave. Según lo indican los documentos judiciales, Moore y otros acusados participaron en allanamientos a concesionarios de armas de fuego en Torrance y Corona, California, y de traer 54 rifles y revólveres robados a Fresno para vendérselos a miembros de gangas y a otras personas.
- El 3 de septiembre de 2013, Ralph Haros, de 49 años, de Fresno, fue sentenciado a seis y medio años en prisión por poseer un arma de fuego habiendo sido condenado por un delito grave. A Haros lo arrestaron los miembros del Grupo de Trabajo con Fugitivos del Servicio del Alguacil Federal de los EE.UU. por una orden de arresto por violar los términos de su libertad condicional. Él había sido condenado en cinco casos de delitos graves entre el 1986 y el 2003 por delitos de allanamiento, armas de fuego, violencia doméstica, sustancias controladas y armas de fuego.
- El 23 de septiembre de 2013 Edward Mitchell, de 33 años, de Fresno, fue sentenciado a ocho años en prisión por poseer un arma de fuego habiendo sido condenado por un delito grave y por la posesión con intención de distribuir cocaína. Según los documentos judiciales, Mitchell tenía dos pistolas en su poder, de las cuales una había usado para matar a un cliente de cocaína que le había disparado a Mitchell y a varios otros en el apartamento de Mitchell. Otras dos personas en el apartamento fueron heridas de bala, de las cuales una sucumbió ante sus heridas y murió.
Estos casos son producto de las investigaciones por múltiples agencias, incluyendo el Departamento de la Policía de Fresno, la Agencia de Alcohol, Tabaco, Armas de Fuego y Explosivos, el FBI, la DEA, departamento de Cumplimiento de Inmigración y Aduana (ICE, por sus siglas en inglés), Investigaciones de Seguridad Nacional (HSI) y varias otras oficinas y departamentos de policía en los condados de Fresno, Tulare y Madera. El grupo de trabajo MAGEC y la oficina del Fiscal de Distrito del Condado de Fresno también tuvieron una función crucial en muchos de los casos. Los ayudantes del procurador federal del distrito oriental de California, Kim Sanchez, Laurel Montoya, Kathleen Servatius, Karen Escobar, Michael Frye, Melanie Alsworth, Grant Rabenn y Kevin Rooney estàn procesando los casos.
Los cargos en contra de los acusados que no han sido condenados solamente son alegados pues se presume que todo acusado es inocente a menos que se le pruebe culpable màs allà de duda razonable.
Patrick Jude Brennan, Jr. Sentenced for Distribution of Methamphetamine HydrochlorideRead the Press Release
ALICIA A.G. LIMTIACO, United States Attorney for the Districts of Guam and the Northern Mariana Islands, announced that Defendant PATRICK JUDE BRENNAN, JR., age 48, was sentenced by Chief Judge Frances Tydingco-Gatewood, in the District Court of Guam, to eight months home confinement for the offense of Distribution of Methamphetamine Hydrochloride. Defendant BRENNAN also received a sentence of two years probation, and will be required to perform 50 hours of community service to include public speaking, pay a $2,000 fine and forfeit his 2008 Toyota FJ Cruiser. Defendant BRENNAN drove his brother to pick up drugs and as a result, he forfeited his 2008 Toyota FJ Cruiser.
Defendant BRENNAN was involved in a scheme to distribute 1.6 grams of methamphetamine hydrochloride to other persons from his apartment residence. The methamphetamine hydrochloride sold by BRENNAN had a purity level that was 85% purity.
The case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Rosetta San Nicolas. U.S. Attorney Limtiaco commends the hard work and investigative efforts of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF).
U.S. Attorney Limtiaco states, “Methamphetamine has been linked to an increase in violent crimes and results in devastating effects to individuals and to the community. Methamphetamine presents a public safety and a public health threat to our community warranting aggressive law enforcement action. Those who engage in the criminal importation, receipt and sale of this illegal drug will be prosecuted and face severe penalties. Persons who aid others in the distribution of drugs will also face the loss of their personal property. ”
U.S. Attorney Limtiaco noted that this prosecution is part of the U.S. Department of Justice’s Project Safe Neighborhood (PSN) Initiative, a nationwide commitment to aggressively prosecute defendants who engage in drug distribution, gang involvement and violent crime.Former Firefighter in Saipan, Commonwealth of Northern Mariana Islands, Pleads Guilty to Sexual Exploitation of A ChildRead the Press Release
Saipan, CNMI – Richard Sullivan Benavente, age 43, pleaded guilty on February 10, 2014, to sexual exploitation of a child. The guilty plea was announced by Alicia A.G. Limtiaco, U.S. Attorney for the Districts of Guam and the Northern Mariana Islands. According to the plea agreement, Benavente used his cell phone to produce a video of himself and a 15 year-old female engaging in sexually explicit conduct on or about June 23, 2013.
In July 2013, the CNMI Department of Public Safety received a video file from an anonymous source depicting Benavente and a minor female engaging in sexually explicit conduct. The minor was later identified. The same video file was found on Benavente’s cell phone pursuant to a search warrant. Benavente was arrested on a complaint on August 14, 2013. On August 22, 2013, a federal grand jury returned an indictment against Benavente charging him with two counts of sexual exploitation of a child and one count of attempted sexual exploitation of a child in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 2251(a).
Benavente faces a minimum mandatory sentence of 15 years and a maximum sentence of 30 years in prison. Chief Judge Ramona V. Manglona, U.S. District Court of the CNMI, scheduled sentencing for September 10, 2014, at 10:00 a.m.
This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.justice.gov/psc.
U.S. Attorney Limtiaco acknowledged and commended the hard work and investigative efforts of the FBI, and the assistance of the CNMI Department of Public Safety. The case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Rami S. Badawy and Ross K. Naughton.
Bridgestone Corp. Agrees to Plead Guilty to Price Fixing on Automobile Parts Installed in U.S. CarsRead the Press Release
Bridgestone Corp., a Tokyo, Japan-based company, has agreed to plead guilty and to pay a $425 million criminal fine for its role in a conspiracy to fix prices of automotive anti-vibration rubber parts installed in cars sold in the United States and elsewhere, the Department of Justice announced today.
According to a one-count felony charge filed today in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Ohio in Toledo, Bridgestone engaged in a conspiracy to allocate sales of, to rig bids for and to fix, raise and maintain the prices of automotive anti-vibration rubber parts it sold to Toyota Motor Corp., Nissan Motor Corp., Fuji Heavy Industries Ltd., Suzuki Motor Corp., Isuzu Motors Ltd. and certain of their subsidiaries, affiliates and suppliers, in the United States and elsewhere. In addition to the criminal fine, Bridgestone also has agreed to cooperate with the department’s ongoing auto parts investigations. The plea agreement is subject to court approval.
In October 2011, Bridgestone pleaded guilty and paid a $28 million fine for price-fixing and Foreign Corrupt Practices Act violations in the marine hose industry, but did not disclose at the time of the plea that it had also participated in the anti-vibration rubber parts conspiracy. Bridgestone’s failure to disclose this conspiracy was a factor in determining the $425 million fine.
“The Antitrust Division will take a hard line when repeat offenders fail to disclose additional anticompetitive behavior,” said Brent Snyder, Deputy Assistant Attorney General for the Antitrust Division’s criminal enforcement program. “Today’s significant fine reaffirms the division’s commitment to holding companies accountable for conduct that harms U.S. consumers.”
According to the charges, Bridgestone and its co-conspirators carried out the conspiracy through meetings and conversations in which they discussed and agreed upon bids, prices and allocating sales of certain automotive anti-vibration rubber products. After exchanging this information with its co-conspirators, Bridgestone submitted bids and prices in accordance with those agreements and sold and accepted payments for automotive anti-vibration rubber parts at collusive and noncompetitive prices. Bridgestone’s involvement in the conspiracy to fix prices of anti-vibration rubber parts lasted from at least January 2001 until at least December 2008.
“The Cleveland Division of the FBI is committed to aggressively investigating price-fixing and other antitrust violations,” said Special Agent in Charge Stephen D. Anthony. “The illegal activity in this case threatened the basic tenet of free competition. We are pleased with the acceptance of responsibility along with the significant penalty which will be paid by Bridgestone for this conspiracy to fix prices. Together with our partners in the Department of Justice’s Antitrust Division, we will continue to combat illegal practices which threaten consumers across the United States.”
Bridgestone manufactures and sells a variety of automotive parts, including anti-vibration rubber parts, which are comprised primarily of rubber and metal, and are installed in suspension systems and engine mounts as well as other parts of an automobile. They are installed in automobiles for the purpose of reducing road and engine vibration.
Including Bridgestone, 26 companies have pleaded guilty or agreed to plead guilty in the department’s ongoing investigation into price fixing and bid rigging in the automotive parts industry. The companies have agreed to pay a total of more than $2 billion in criminal fines. Additionally, 28 individuals have been charged.
Bridgestone is charged with price fixing in violation of the Sherman Act, which carries maximum penalties of a $100 million criminal fine for corporations. The maximum fine 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.
Today’s prosecution is the result of an ongoing federal antitrust investigation into price fixing, bid rigging and other anticompetitive conduct in the automotive parts industry, which is being conducted by each 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 Cleveland Field Office, with the assistance of the FBI headquarters’ International Corruption Unit and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Ohio. Anyone with information concerning this investigation 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 Cleveland Field Office at 216-522-1400.14 Acusados En Importante Red De Tráfico De Drogas En Central ValleyRead the Press Release
SACRAMENTO, Calif. — — Un gran jurado federal devolvió hoy 32 acusaciones en contra de Francisco Félix, 40, de Mountain House; Alejandro Martínez, 25, de Patterson; Miguel Félix, 34, de Ceres; Martín López, 48, de Rosemead; Gerardo Barraza, 19, de Stockton; Rafael Alcauter, 49, de Newman; Ramón Díaz, 33, de Ceres; Raúl Rangel, 41, de San José; Sergio Modesto, 34, de Turlock; Martín Rubio, 49, de Stockton; y los residentes de Patterson, Leonaires Alcauter, 48, Alfonso Magana, 52, Antonio Ramírez, 35, y Agustín Ramírez, 62, acusàndoles de una variedad de ofensas federales relacionadas con drogas, anunció el procurador federal del distrito oriental de California Benjamin B. Wagner.
Estos demandados fueron acusados de varias maneras con conspiración de distribuir y posesión con la intención de distribuir metanfetamina; conspiración de producir, distribuir y poseer con la intención de distribuir marihuana; conspiración de distribuir y posesión con la intención de distribuir cocaína; distribución de metanfetamina; producción de marihuana; y posesión con la intención de distribuir marihuana.
Este caso surgió de una investigación de un año de narcóticos que reveló que una organización de tràfico de drogas con conexiones con el Cartel de Drogas de Sinaloa en México, estaba basada en el Central Valley de California, e importaba grandes cantidades de metanfetamina y cocaína a los Estados Unidos. Subsiguientemente, la organización de tràfico de drogas distribuía esos narcóticos por toda California y los Estados Unidos. Adicionalmente, la investigación reveló que la organización estaba cultivando marihuana en numerosas propiedades en los condados de Stanislaus y San Joaquín, la cual de igual manera era distribuida por toda California y los Estados Unidos.
“Por medio de nuestros esfuerzos conjuntos de ejecución, hemos desmantelado una organización criminal que presentaba una grave amenaza a la seguridad pública, como lo evidencian las armas y drogas confiscadas durante el curso de este caso”, dijo Dan Lane, agente especial ayudante encargado de Investigaciones de Seguridad Nacional (HSI) de Sacramento. “Los arrestos y acusaciones resultantes en esta investigación han interrumpido una cadena de suministro potencialmente mortal y evitado que un gran volumen de drogas peligrosas se distribuyera en nuestras calles.”
Durante los últimos nueve meses los investigadores adquirieron de miembros de la organización màs de 70 libras de metanfetamina, aproximadamente tres libras de marihuana de alta calidad y seis armas de fuego, incluyendo tres rifles de asalto y unapistola de mano calibre .50.. Màs aún, el 9 de diciembre de 2013, los agentes policiales confiscaron diez libras adicionales de metanfetamina de la residencia de un miembro en el àrea de Los Ángeles.
Este caso fue el producto de una investigación del Equipo de Investigación de Marihuana de Montaña y Valle del Departamento de Justicia de California bajo los auspicios del Programa de Tràfico de Drogas de Alta Intensidad del Central Valley (HIDTA), los Cuerpos de Seguridad de Inmigración y Aduanas (ICE) de los Estados Unidos, Investigaciones de Seguridad Nacional (HSI), la Oficina del Procurador del Distrito del Condado Placer, los Departamentos del Alguacil de los condados Placer, El Dorado y Sacramento; el Departamento de Pesca y Fauna de California; y el Cuerpo Especial Doméstico de Apoyo contra las Drogas de la Guardia Nacional de California.
Si son condenados por las ofensas acusadas, los demandados se enfrentan a un mínimo de 5 años hasta cadena perpetua, así como una multa de hasta $10,000,000. Cualquier sentencia, sin embargo, sería determinada a discreción del tribunal después de considerar cualquier factor legislativo aplicable y las Normas Federales a seguir a la hora de dictar sentencia, las cuales toman en consideración un número de variables.
Los cargos son solamente alegaciones; los demandados se les supone inocentes hasta y a menos que se demuestre su culpabilidad fuera de toda duda razonable.
14 Acusados En Importante Red De Trafico De Drogas En Central ValleyRead the Press Release
SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Un gran jurado federal devolvió hoy 32 acusaciones en contra de Francisco Félix, 40, de Mountain House; Alejandro Martínez, 25, de Patterson; Miguel Félix, 34, de Ceres; Martín López, 48, de Rosemead; Gerardo Barraza, 19, de Stockton; Rafael Alcauter, 49, de Newman; Ramón Díaz, 33, de Ceres; Raúl Rangel, 41, de San José; Sergio Modesto, 34, de Turlock; Martín Rubio, 49, de Stockton; y los residentes de Patterson, Leonaires Alcauter, 48, Alfonso Magana, 52, Antonio Ramírez, 35, y Agustín Ramírez, 62, acusàndoles de una variedad de ofensas federales relacionadas con drogas, anunció el procurador federal del distrito oriental de California Benjamin B. Wagner.
Estos demandados fueron acusados de varias maneras con conspiración de distribuir y posesión con la intención de distribuir metanfetamina; conspiración de producir, distribuir y poseer con la intención de distribuir marihuana; conspiración de distribuir y posesión con la intención de distribuir cocaína; distribución de metanfetamina; producción de marihuana; y posesión con la intención de distribuir marihuana.
Este caso surgió de una investigación de un año de narcóticos que reveló que una organización de tràfico de drogas con conexiones con el Cartel de Drogas de Sinaloa en México, estaba basada en el Central Valley de California, e importaba grandes cantidades de metanfetamina y cocaína a los Estados Unidos. Subsiguientemente, la organización de tràfico de drogas distribuía esos narcóticos por toda California y los Estados Unidos. Adicionalmente, la investigación reveló que la organización estaba cultivando marihuana en numerosas propiedades en los condados de Stanislaus y San Joaquín, la cual de igual manera era distribuida por toda California y los Estados Unidos.
“Por medio de nuestros esfuerzos conjuntos de ejecución, hemos desmantelado una organización criminal que presentaba una grave amenaza a la seguridad pública, como lo evidencian las armas y drogas confiscadas durante el curso de este caso”, dijo Dan Lane, agente especial ayudante encargado de Investigaciones de Seguridad Nacional (HSI) de Sacramento. “Los arrestos y acusaciones resultantes en esta investigación han interrumpido una cadena de suministro potencialmente mortal y evitado que un gran volumen de drogas peligrosas se distribuyera en nuestras calles.”
Durante los últimos nueve meses los investigadores adquirieron de miembros de la organización màs de 70 libras de metanfetamina, aproximadamente tres libras de marihuana de alta calidad y seis armas de fuego, incluyendo tres rifles de asalto y unapistola de mano calibre .50.. Màs aún, el 9 de diciembre de 2013, los agentes policiales confiscaron diez libras adicionales de metanfetamina de la residencia de un miembro en el àrea de Los Ángeles.
Este caso fue el producto de una investigación del Equipo de Investigación de Marihuana de Montaña y Valle del Departamento de Justicia de California bajo los auspicios del Programa de Tràfico de Drogas de Alta Intensidad del Central Valley (HIDTA), los Cuerpos de Seguridad de Inmigración y Aduanas (ICE) de los Estados Unidos, Investigaciones de Seguridad Nacional (HSI), la Oficina del Procurador del Distrito del Condado Placer, los Departamentos del Alguacil de los condados Placer, El Dorado y Sacramento; el Departamento de Pesca y Fauna de California; y el Cuerpo Especial Doméstico de Apoyo contra las Drogas de la Guardia Nacional de California.
Si son condenados por las ofensas acusadas, los demandados se enfrentan a un mínimo de 5 años hasta cadena perpetua, así como una multa de hasta $10,000,000. Cualquier sentencia, sin embargo, sería determinada a discreción del tribunal después de considerar cualquier factor legislativo aplicable y las Normas Federales a seguir a la hora de dictar sentencia, las cuales toman en consideración un número de variables.
Los cargos son solamente alegaciones; los demandados se les supone inocentes hasta y a menos que se demuestre su culpabilidad fuera de toda duda razonable.
Statement of Timothy Q. Purdon United States Attorney, District of North Dakota Department of JusticeRead the Press Release
Before the
Senate Committee on Indian Affairs
At a Hearing Entitled,
Indian Law & Order Commission:
A Roadmap for Making Native America Safer
Presented on
February 12, 2014
Chairwoman Cantwell, Vice-Chair Barrasso, and Members of the Committee:
Thank you for the opportunity to provide the perspective of the Department of Justice on the Indian Law and Order Commission’s thorough, thoughtful, and incisive report, A Roadmap for Making Native America Safer, and to discuss the Department’s ongoing efforts to ensure public safety in Indian Country. The Department shares the commitment of this Committee and the Indian Law and Order Commission to this important issue, and we congratulate the Commission on the hard work that has culminated in its final report and recommendations. Like the Commission, we at the Department have long been concerned about the high rate of crimes occurring in Indian Country, in particular violence against women. That’s why, early in this Administration, Attorney General Eric Holder launched a Department-wide initiative to improve public safety in Indian country. Since 2009, the Department has been engaged in focused and energetic efforts alongside our tribal law enforcement partners to help stem this tide.
As the United States Attorney for the District of North Dakota and Chair of the Attorney General’s Native American Issues Subcommittee, I am honored to appear before you to discuss the work of the Department to improve public safety in Indian Country. Since 2009, the Department has made fighting crime in Indian Country a top priority and has pursued an aggressive strategy consisting of law enforcement action, prosecution, grant funding, training, technical support, and collaboration with tribal partners that is already showing success. For example, the Department’s renewed commitment to the vigorous prosecution of federal crimes in Indian Country has increased the number of Indian Country prosecutions by United States Attorney’s Offices nationwide by more than fifty percent over the past four years.
Nonetheless, the Department recognizes that an increase in federal arrests and prosecutions alone cannot solve all the public safety challenges on the reservations. Accordingly, we have augmented our enhanced focus on law enforcement and prosecutions with additional support for tribal criminal justice institutions. In 2010, the Department answered a call from tribal leaders for a more streamlined, holistic approach to its tribal-specific grant programs by establishing the Coordinated Tribal Assistance Solicitation (CTAS). CTAS helps tribes secure critical federal assistance on a wide array of criminal justice issues, including preventing violence against women, protecting at-risk children, improving community policing, and exploring alternatives to incarceration. Through CTAS, we have awarded nearly $440 million in federal grants to tribes in the past four years. These funds work to directly strengthen the criminal justice system in Indian Country, creating opportunities for increased collaboration with our tribal partners and increased tribal self-determination.
The Department recognizes the unique challenges to public safety in Indian Country created by varied jurisdictional schemes and varying tribal cultures. It is against this backdrop that the Roadmap presents a broad array of recommendations in issue areas as diverse as criminal jurisdiction and juvenile justice. We are carefully studying the recommendations and will be reaching out to stakeholders to seek additional input on solutions that can address the difficult public safety issues confronting tribal communities. Meanwhile, we will continue to use our existing authorities to meet our responsibilities and to strengthen capacity at every level of the criminal justice system.
Establishing Unprecedented Levels of Cooperation
Since taking Office, Attorney General Holder has consistently emphasized that combatting violent crime in Indian Country and fostering safe communities is a top priority of the Department of Justice. Attorney General Holder has stated that when it comes to this challenge, we must “recommit ourselves to collaboration on an unprecedented scale.” To this end, the Department took steps in early 2010 to ensure that each United States Attorney’s Office with responsibilities in Indian Country implemented a district-specific operational plan to formalize its strategy for consulting and working with tribal, state, and local law enforcement, prosecutors, and other leaders, to improve public safety in Indian Country. For example, in North Dakota, our operational plan took the form of an Anti-Violence Strategy that combines enhanced enforcement of federal criminal laws with support for viable crime prevention programs and efforts to build a sustainable offender reentry program. Our plan has now been in place for almost three years and has resulted in unprecedented levels of communication and collaboration between the U.S. Attorney’s Office and the tribes in North Dakota as well as a large increase in the number of Indian Country cases being prosecuted by our Office.
The Department’s renewed focus nationwide on leveraging partnerships with tribal, local, state, and federal partners to address violent crime has led to concrete results, not just in North Dakota, but across the rest of the country. In just the last four years, U.S. Attorneys’ offices with responsibility for Indian Country have seen the number of prosecutions for crimes committed on tribal lands increase by more than 54 percent. This increase was reported to Congress in our Indian Country Investigation and Prosecution Report (ICIP) for calendar years (CYs) 2011 and 2012. [1] Specifically, Indian Country caseloads nationwide have increased overall:
· 1,091 criminal cases filed in fiscal year (FY) 2009;
· 1,138 criminal cases filed in FY 2010;
· 1,547 criminal cases filed in FY 2011; and
· 1,677 criminal cases filed in FY 2012.
This increase in prosecutions is due to many factors, but efforts by U.S. Attorneys to enhance investigative and prosecutorial coordination with tribal partners have been critical to this improvement.
A great example of how collaboration improves law enforcement can be found in Montana. In 2010, Montana United States Attorney Mike Cotter began convening bi-monthly meetings involving the federal prosecutors assigned to each reservation, the tribal prosecutors for the reservation, and tribal and federal law enforcement officers. During these meetings, cases arising on a particular reservation during the preceding two-week period are discussed and a decision is reached collaboratively concerning which jurisdiction – Federal or tribal or both – will prosecute a particular case. This close communication ensures that serious Indian Country crimes are appropriately investigated and that the decision whether a matter will be charged in federal court or tribal court is an informed one.
An important tool contributing to improved collaboration is the Department’s enhanced Tribal Special Assistant U.S. Attorney (SAUSA) program. Tribal SAUSAs are tribal prosecutors who are “cross-deputized” and able to prosecute crimes in both tribal court and federal court as appropriate. These Tribal SAUSAs serve to strengthen a tribal government’s ability to fight crime and to increase the USAO’s coordination with tribal law enforcement personnel. Since its inception, the program blossomed, with dozens of Tribal SAUSAs serving in districts across the country.
To increase the use of Tribal SAUSAs in cases involving violence against Native women, in 2012, the Office on Violence Against Women (OVW) initiated its Violence Against Women Tribal SAUSA Pilot Project, making awards to four tribes in Nebraska, New Mexico, Montana, North Dakota and South Dakota to fund cross-designated tribal prosecutors. The goal of the Tribal SAUSA Pilot Project is that every viable crime of domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault, and stalking will be prosecuted in federal court, tribal court, or both. We have an OVW-funded SAUSA working in my Office and for the Standing Rock Sioux Tribal Prosecutor. She has tried domestic violence cases in tribal court and has secured prison time in domestic violence cases in federal court as well.
The work of Tribal SAUSAs can also help to accelerate a tribal criminal justice system’s implementation of the Tribal Law and Order Act of 2010 and the Violence Against Women Reauthorization Act of 2013. The use of Tribal SAUSAs is expanding and, consistent with the Roadmap’s Recommendations 3.3 and 3.4, the Department supports strengthening the work of Tribal SAUSAs by improving access to law enforcement sensitive information and witnesses where such access does not exist already.
The SAUSA program is one area that the Roadmap acknowledges has the potential to address the broader need for skilled, committed prosecutors working on the ground in Indian Country. To help meet this demand, Attorney General Holder announced last November the Attorney General’s Indian Country Fellowship. This fellowship, which will be part of the Attorney General’s Honors Program, will inspire and train the next generation of prosecutors to serve in Indian Country. It will create an opportunity for highly qualified law-school graduates to spend three years – primarily in U.S. Attorneys’ Offices – working on Indian Country cases and thereby creating a pool of attorneys with deep experience in Federal Indian law, tribal law, and Indian country issues.
The commitment of the U.S. Attorney’s Offices in Indian Country has been supported by Department components that have provided much-needed training to law enforcement and prosecutors who are working in Indian Country. For example:
· National Indian Country Training Initiative (NICTI). Prosecutors working in Indian Country need specialized training. The NICTI has answered that call. Launched in 2010, it works to ensure that AUSAs and Tribal SAUSAs, as well as state and tribal criminal justice personnel, receive the training and support needed to address the particular challenges relevant to Indian Country prosecutions. For example, in January 2013, the NICTI partnered with the National Strangulation Training Institute to deliver the first-ever national Indian Country training on the investigation and prosecution of non-fatal strangulation and suffocation offenses. The training, held at the National Advocacy Center in Columbia, South Carolina, drew attendance from 17 tribes, U.S. Attorney’s Offices, the FBI, and the Bureau of Indian Affairs and provided an in-depth examination of the mechanics of strangulation and suffocation from a medical, legal, and law enforcement perspective.
· Access to Justice (ATJ) . Since 2011, ATJ has partnered with the U.S. Department of the Interior’s Bureau of Indian Affairs, Office of Justice Services, to host a series of tribal court trainings known as the Tribal Court Trial Advocacy Training Program. This free, three-day trial advocacy course is designed to improve the trial skills of judges, public defenders, and prosecutors who appear in tribal courts. All trainings are staffed by experienced tribal prosecutors, defenders, judges, Assistant United States Attorneys (AUSAs) who prosecute Indian Country cases, and Assistant Federal Public Defenders.
Finally, the Department is also working to ensure that, in our work in Indian Country, we remain focused on providing critical services to the victims of crime. Since 2009, the Office for Victims of Crime (OVC), within the Office of Justice Programs, has provided over $2.6 million to the BIA to support victim assistance positions in Montana, South Dakota, Arizona, and New Mexico and has helped to build the capacity of sexual assault services in Indian Country through such innovative partnerships as the Department and the Indian Health Service working together to establish the American Indian/Alaska Native Sexual Assault Nurse Examiner-Sexual Assault Response Team (SANE-SART) Initiative, which addresses the comprehensive needs of tribal victims of sexual violence.
As the Roadmap recommends and as detailed above, the Department is embracing intergovernmental cooperation and coordination. In an effort to further strengthen the government-to-government relationships between the Department and sovereign tribes, the Department is in the process of adopting a new Statement of Principles to guide all the actions we take in working with federally recognized Indian tribes. This proposed Statement will codify our determination, as the Attorney General has remarked, to serve not as a patron, but as a partner in fighting crime and enforcing the law in Indian Country. It will also memorialize our commitment to Indian tribes and provide a foundation for reinforcing relationships, reforming the criminal justice system, and aggressively enforcing federal laws and civil rights protections. The Department has now begun the process of formal and informal consultation with tribal leaders on the Statement of Principles. [2]
Combating Domestic Violence
The fight against domestic violence in Indian Country has been an especially important priority for the Department of Justice. The Department applauds Congress for passing the bipartisan Violence Against Women Reauthorization Act of 2013 (VAWA 2013), which the President signed into law last March. This important Act, most of which has already taken effect, improves the ability of federal and tribal authorities to respond to domestic violence offenders and protect victims in three crucial ways. First, it strengthens federal domestic violence offenses and the federal assault statute – a statute frequently used in Indian Country intimate-partner violence crimes. Second, the Act recognizes the tribes’ inherent power to exercise “special domestic violence criminal jurisdiction” over those who commit acts of domestic violence or dating violence or violate certain protection orders in Indian Country, regardless of their Indian or non-Indian status. Finally, it contributes to tribal self-determination by recognizing that tribes have full civil jurisdiction to issue and enforce protection orders involving any person (Indian or non-Indian) in matters arising anywhere in the tribe’s Indian country or otherwise within the tribe’s authority. These provisions, which help hold Indian and non-Indian perpetrators accountable, were first proposed, and have long been championed, by the Department.
While the new law’s tribal criminal jurisdiction provision takes effect on March 7, 2015, VAWA 2013 also authorizes a voluntary “Pilot Project” to allow tribes to begin exercising special domestic violence criminal jurisdiction sooner. The Department received the first set of requests from six tribal governments to participate in the Pilot Project and last week three tribes – the Pascua Yaqui Tribe of Arizona, the Umatilla Tribes of Oregon, and the Tulalip Tribes of Washington – were granted Pilot Project approval by the Department. They will be the first tribes in the nation to exercise special criminal jurisdiction over crimes of domestic and dating violence, regardless of the defendant’s Indian or non-Indian status, under VAWA 2013.
The Roadmap offers a recommendation for another step forward in Alaska as well. It urges the repeal of Section 910 of VAWA 2013. VAWA Section 910 renders the restored tribal jurisdiction provisions of Sections 904 and 905 of the Act generally inapplicable in Alaska. The Department supports the repeal of Section 910. Permitting application in Alaska of VAWA Section 905, which provides that tribes have full civil jurisdiction to issue and enforce domestic violence protection orders, would be a meaningful change that could help protect Alaska Native victims of domestic violence. Unlike VAWA Section 904 (which recognizes tribal criminal jurisdiction over certain crimes committed in a tribe’s Indian country), VAWA Section 905 expressly covers not only matters arising anywhere in the tribe’s Indian country but also matters that are “otherwise within the authority of the Indian tribe.” So the impact of repealing Section 910 will likely have its greatest direct effect on the application of Section 905, which would then recognize Alaska tribes’ civil jurisdiction to issue and enforce protection orders involving Natives and non-Natives alike.
Protecting Our Children
Providing safe, secure, and healthy communities for children is perhaps the most important priority for all stakeholders in Indian Country. In that regard, the Roadmap makes numerous recommendations relating to myriad criminal justice issues impacting tribal youth and juvenile justice.
The Department agrees that few issues are more critical to the long-term improvement of public safety in Indian Country than working with young people to break the cycle of violence and hopelessness we have come to see on some reservations. Recognizing the importance of this issue, the Department is working to improve juvenile justice in Indian Country.
· In South Dakota, my colleague U.S. Attorney Brendan Johnson has implemented a process of collaboration with tribal prosecutors on some reservations that formalizes efforts to work together towards ensuring justice for juvenile offenders. While remaining committed to the federal prosecution of juveniles who commit the most serious offenses and those involved in gang activity, the South Dakota U.S. Attorney’s Office program recognizes that, where appropriate, tribal prosecution may be the most effective method of handling juvenile misconduct. The hope is that keeping these young offenders under the supervision of the tribal court for as long as possible will provide an opportunity for rehabilitation, allow the youth to remain in his community surrounded by his family and culture, and keep federal prosecution – and a federal record – as a last resort.
· In North Dakota, in the fall of 2012, we launched a pilot program aimed at reaching young people on the Standing Rock Reservation. An AUSA in our office, who is himself an enrolled member in a North Dakota tribe, spearheaded the program. During the 2012-2013 school year, he organized a series of presentations to the student bodies of Standing Rock High School and Standing Rock Middle School designed to educate the students on protecting their personal safety and on the legal and physical/psychological hazards associated with certain conduct. The Standing Rock students were receptive to these presentations and we believe the program increased trust of the law enforcement presenters. Indeed, the Bismarck Tribune editorialized that “[t]o have an assistant U.S. attorney making his or her presence felt on the Standing Rock Indian Reservation — not in the courtroom but in the lives of young Native Americans — has to make a positive difference.” [3] We agree.
Finally, the Department recently established the American Indian and Alaska Native Children Exposed to Violence Task Force as part of the Department’s Defending Childhood Initiative. The Initiative is designed to prevent and reduce children’s trauma from experiencing violence as victims or witnesses. Research funded by the Department demonstrates that a majority of America’s children – more than 60 percent – are exposed to some form of violence, crime, or abuse. [4] While this study was not specific to tribal communities, our own experiences and reports from tribal leadership tell us that American Indian and Alaska Native children experience high degrees of unmet needs for services and support to prevent and respond to extreme levels of violence on some reservations.
The Task Force is made up of an Advisory Committee of tribal members and national experts – in academia, child health and trauma, and child welfare and law – and a Working Group that, along with me, includes U.S. Attorneys Amanda Marshall from Oregon, Brendan Johnson from South Dakota, and Barry Grissom from Kansas, as well as other top officials from the Departments of Justice, the Interior, and Health and Human Services. More specifically:
· The Task Force’s Advisory Committee, co-chaired by former U.S. Senator and former chair of the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs Byron Dorgan and Iroquois composer and singer Joanne Shenandoah, has been appointed to examine the scope and impact of violence facing American Indian and Alaska Native children and make policy recommendations to Attorney General Holder on ways to address this issue.
· The Working Group was formed to support the Advisory Committee because the Department recognizes that there are things we can do right now that can have a direct and immediate impact in children’s lives. These efforts are already making a difference. Since its inception in August 2013, the Working Group of federal officials has taken action to improve educational and programmatic services in youth detention facilities in Indian Country. Contracts have been secured for teachers who will provide educational services to Native youths held in Bureau of Indian Affairs’ detention facilities.
The Advisory Committee held its first hearing on December 9, 2013, in Bismarck, North Dakota. We were honored to have Senator Heitkamp participate. Over this next year, the Advisory Committee will continue to travel throughout the country, holding hearings and listening sessions. The Advisory Committee will explore existing research and consult with experts to obtain a clearer picture of the incidence of violence among native children, and help identify ways to prevent it. The Advisory Committee’s work will culminate in a final report – a strategic plan of action that will guide practitioners and policymakers at all levels. Similar to the work of the Defending Childhood Task Force, the recommendations of the Advisory Committee will serve as a blueprint to guide us into the future.
The work that is done in Indian Country United States Attorney’s Offices across this nation every day is critical to the improvement of public safety on the reservations. As a United States Attorney who has prioritized this work in my District, I am incredibly grateful to my colleagues throughout the Department and to Attorney General Holder for their unwavering commitment to the mission in Indian Country. The United States Attorney community and the Department as a whole are proud of the work we have done thus far, but know there is much more to do. As the Attorney General has declared, we must and we will, recommit ourselves to collaboration with our tribal partners on an unprecedented scale.
Thank you for the opportunity to appear before you today to reiterate the Department’s strong commitment to working with Congress, and especially this Committee, and with our tribal partners to achieve the core goals that animated the Indian Law and Order Commission and its dedicated members and staff: to build safe, sustainable, healthy, and resilient American Indian and Alaska Native communities. We praise the Commission for its hard work and devotion to strengthening and securing public safety for tribal nations, and we thank the Commission for its thoughtful and comprehensive recommendations.
I look forward to answering any questions you may have.
[1] www.justice.gov/tribal/tloa-report-cy-2011-2012.pdf
[2] http://www.justice.gov/tribal/
[3] “Reaching out on the Reservation,” Bismarck Tribune, May 3, 2012.
[4] https://www.ncjrs.gov/pdffiles1/ojjdp/227744.pdf
MPRI Inc. Agrees to Pay $3.2 Million for False Labor<br /> Charges on Contract to Support Army in AfghanistanRead the Press Release
MPRI Inc. has agreed to pay $3.2 million to resolve allegations that it submitted false labor charges on a contract to support the Army in Afghanistan, the Justice Department announced today. MPRI is a Chantilly, Virginia-based company.
“We will not tolerate contractors that bill for work that is not performed,” said Assistant Attorney General for the Department of Justice’s Civil Division Stuart F. Delery. “The Department of Justice will pursue those who do not comply with the terms of their bargain with the government and restore to the taxpayers the full measure of funds falsely claimed.”
The government alleged that MPRI billed for employees who had not worked because they had been granted leave and were out of the country. The alleged false billing occurred between March 2005 and October 2010.Under its contract with the Army, MPRI was required to provide support to the Army in its efforts to re-design and build from scratch a new Afghan Defense Sector that would establish an Afghan national security system suitable for a modern Western military. Among other things, MPRI was required to provide support for program and financial management, development and implementation of core systems for the Afghan Ministry of Defense and General Staff, intermediate Commands, and sustaining institutions, training in logistics, acquisitions, installation management and intelligence.
“Our job with our partner agencies is to ensure that the government gets what it pays for,” said U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Ohio Carter Stewart. “Our office will make every effort to ensure that government contractors submit claims in strict compliance with contract terms and take no liberties in the submission of claims for payment.”
The allegations arose from a whistleblower lawsuit filed by Byron Scott Lankford under the False Claims Act, which permits private individuals to bring lawsuits on behalf of the government and to share in the proceeds of any settlement or judgment. MPRI employed Lankford in Afghanistan between 2007 and 2009 as a finance officer and contract support official. Lankford will receive $576,000 as his share of the settlement amount.
The settlement announced today was the result of a coordinated effort by the Justice Department’s Civil Division, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Ohio and an investigative team that included the Defense Criminal Investigative Service and the Defense Contract Audit Agency. The claims settled by this agreement are allegations only, and there has been no determination of liability.
The case is captioned U.S. ex rel. Lankford v. MPRI Inc., Case No. 10-193 (S.D. Ohio).Joint Statement by Attorney General Eric Holder and Director of National Intelligence James Clapper on the Declassification of Additional Documents Regarding Collection Under Section 501 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance ActRead the Press Release
Attorney General Eric Holder and Director of National Intelligence James Clapper released the following joint statement Wednesday:
“On Jan. 3, 2014, the Director of National Intelligence declassified and disclosed publicly that the U.S. government had filed an application with the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court seeking renewal of the authority to collect telephony metadata in bulk, and that, on Jan. 3, 2014, the court renewed that authority. The Director of National Intelligence also announced that the Administration was undertaking a declassification review of the court’s Jan. 3 primary order.
“During his speech on Jan. 17, 2014, President Obama ordered a transition that will end the Section 215 bulk telephony metadata program as it currently exists, and establish a mechanism that preserves the capabilities this country needs without the U.S. Government holding this bulk data.
“As a first step in that transition, the President directed the Department of Justice to work with the FISC to ensure that, absent a true emergency, the telephony metadata can only be queried after a judicial finding that there is a reasonable, articulable suspicion that the selection term is associated with an approved international terrorist organization. The President also directed that the query results must be limited to metadata within two hops of the selection term instead of three. As previously announced on Feb. 6, 2014, to put these two changes into effect, the Department of Justice filed a motion with the FISC to amend its Jan. 3, 2014, primary order that renewed the authority to collect telephony metadata under Section 215. On Feb. 5, 2014, the FISC granted the motion.
“Following a declassification review by the Executive Branch, today the FISC released in redacted form the previously classified Jan. 3, 2014, primary order, signed by Judge Thomas Hogan, re-authorizing the collection of bulk telephony metadata under Section 215. The order re-affirms that the bulk telephony metadata collection is lawful. The authorization expires on Mar. 28, 2014. The FISC also released in redacted form the U.S. Government’s previously classified motion to amend the Jan. 3, 2014, primary order, as well as the previously classified Feb. 5, 2014, order granting that motion, signed by Judge Reggie Walton.
“The motion and two orders are available at the FISC’s website, www.uscourts.gov; the website of the Department of Justice, www.justice.gov; the website of the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, www.dni.gov; and ODNI’s public website dedicated to fostering greater public visibility into the intelligence activities of the Government, IContheRecord.tumblr.com.”
Department of Justice Proposes Remedy to Address Bazaarvoice’s Unlawful Acquisition of PowerReviewsRead the Press Release
The Department of Justice today submitted to the court a proposed remedy to address Bazaarvoice Inc.’s unlawful acquisition of PowerReviews Inc., following the Jan. 8, 2014, U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California finding that Bazaarvoice violated Section 7 of the Clayton Act when it acquired PowerReviews, its closest and only serious competitor. The proposed remedy is intended to restore competition in the provision of online ratings and reviews.“Bazaarvoice’s unlawful acquisition of PowerReviews has deprived customers of the benefits of competition for 20 months,” said Assistant Attorney General Bill Baer in charge of the Department of Justice’s Antitrust Division. “The department’s proposed remedy will restore the competitive landscape by enabling another company to replicate the critical competitive role that PowerReviews would be playing today had it not been illegally acquired by Bazaarvoice.”
Since the merger closed, Bazaarvoice has not invested in research and development for the PowerReviews platform, and it has migrated customers away from the PowerReviews platform to its own product, the department said. The department’s proposed remedy, if approved by the court, requires Bazaarvoice to sell all of PowerReviews assets and contains other provisions to compensate for the deterioration of PowerReviews’ business. Under the department’s proposal, Bazaarvoice would be required to provide syndication services to the divestiture buyer, allowing the buyer to build its customer base and develop its own syndication network. Bazaarvoice would also be required to waive trade-secret restrictions for any of its employees who are hired by the divestiture buyer, enabling the buyer to leverage Bazaarvoice’s post-merger research and development efforts.
If the PowerReviews assets have diminished so significantly that the asset sale would not transfer a large number of customers to the divestiture buyer, Bazaarvoice would also be required to license a copy of its latest ratings and reviews platform to the divestiture buyer, under the proposed remedy. Additionally, the department is asking the court to appoint a special master to oversee the divestiture process and monitor Bazaarvoice’s compliance with its other obligations under the proposed remedy.On Jan. 10, 2013, the department filed a civil antitrust lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California against Bazaarvoice. The department alleged that Bazaarvoice’s June 2012 acquisition of PowerReviews eliminated the company’s only significant rival, in violation of the antitrust laws.
Bazaarvoice’s acquisition of PowerReviews was not required to be reported under the Hart-Scott-Rodino Antitrust Improvements Act of 1976, which requires companies to notify and provide information to the department and the Federal Trade Commission before consummating certain acquisitions. The department began its investigation shortly after the transaction closed.
The department’s trial against Bazaarvoice, which was overseen by Judge William Orrick, began on Sept. 23, 2013. The trial lasted three weeks, with closing arguments taking place on Oct. 15, 2013. On Jan. 8, 2014, the court found that Bazaarvoice violated Section 7 of the Clayton Act by acquiring its primary rival, PowerReviews.
Bazaarvoice’s opposition to the department’s proposed remedy must be filed with the court by March 5, 2014. If the court determines that a hearing is necessary, it will be held on April 2, 2014.
Denver Business Owner Pleads Guilty to Tax Evasion, Admits to Making False Statements to the IRSRead the Press Release
Abdelhamid M. Horany, 58, of Denver, pleaded guilty today before U.S. District Judge R. Brooke Jackson in federal court in Denver to one count of tax evasion related to his 2007 individual income taxes, announced the Justice Department and the Internal Revenue Service (IRS).
As part of his plea, Horany admitted that he owned and operated Euphrates Pizza, doing business as Famous Pizza, in Denver from at least 2003 through 2007. He further admitted to willfully underreporting the income he received from his business by approximately $175,000 on his 2007 income tax return, which resulted in Horany underreporting his tax due and owing by over $60,000 for 2007. In total, for tax years 2005 through 2007, Horany admitted that he underreported his tax due and owing by more than $145,000. Horany further admitted to making false statements to an IRS Revenue Agent regarding his tax liabilities.
According to court documents, Horany was indicted in July 2012 after he had fled the United States to his native country of Jordan, and was arrested in October 2013 when he returned on a flight and was ordered detained as a flight risk.
Sentencing was set for May 8, 2014, when Horany faces a statutory maximum sentence of five years in prison, a $250,000 fine and three years of supervised release. In addition, according to the plea agreement, he has agreed to pay restitution to the IRS in the amount of at least $195,280.
The case was investigated by special agents of the IRS - Criminal Investigation, and Trial Attorneys Hayden Brockett and Timothy Stockwell of the Tax Division are prosecuting the case.
Army National Guard Soldier Pleads Guilty to Role in Scheme to Defraud U.S. Army National Guard BureauRead the Press Release
A U.S. Army National Guard soldier pleaded guilty for her role in a bribery and fraud scheme that caused $30,000 in losses to the U.S. Army National Guard Bureau.
Acting Assistant Attorney General Mythili Raman of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division and U.S. Attorney Kenneth Magidson of the Southern District of Texas made the announcement.
Specialist Danielle Applin, 27, of Harker Heights, Texas, pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy and one count of bribery. The case against Applin arises from an investigation involving allegations that former and current military recruiters and U.S. soldiers in the San Antonio and Houston areas engaged in a wide-ranging corruption scheme to illegally obtain fraudulent recruiting bonuses. To date, the investigation has led to charges against 27 individuals, 20 of whom have pleaded guilty.
According to court documents filed in the case, in approximately September 2005, the National Guard Bureau entered into a contract with Document and Packaging Broker Inc. (Docupak) to administer the Guard Recruiting Assistance Program (G-RAP). The G-RAP was a recruiting program that offered monetary incentives to soldiers of the Army National Guard who referred others to join the Army National Guard. Through this program, a participating soldier could receive bonus payments for referring another individual to join the Army National Guard. Based on certain milestones achieved by the referred soldier, a participating soldier would receive payment through direct deposit into the participating soldier’s designated bank account. To participate in the program, soldiers were required to create online recruiting assistant accounts.
Applin admitted that she paid an Army National Guard recruiter for the names and Social Security numbers of potential Army National Guard soldiers. Applin further admitted that she used the personal identifying information for these potential soldiers to claim that she was responsible for referring these potential soldiers to join the Army National Guard, when in fact she had not referred them. As a result of these fraudulent representations, Applin collected approximately $13,000 in fraudulent bonuses.
The charge of bribery carries a maximum penalty of 15 years in prison and a maximum fine of $250,000 or twice the pecuniary gain or loss. The charge of conspiracy carries a maximum penalty of five years in prison and a maximum fine of $250,000 or twice the pecuniary gain or loss.
Applin is scheduled to be sentenced before U.S. District Judge Lee H. Rosenthal in Houston on June 11, 2014.
This case is being investigated by the San Antonio Fraud Resident Agency of Army Criminal Investigation Command’s Major Procurement Fraud Unit. The case is being prosecuted by Trial Attorneys Sean F. Mulryne, Heidi Boutros Gesch, and Mark J. Cipolletti of the Criminal Division’s Public Integrity Section and Assistant U.S. Attorney John Pearson of the Southern District of Texas.
Armenian Power Gang Associate Convicted for His Role in Racketeering ConspiracyRead the Press Release
Andranik Aloyan, an associate of the Armenian Power gang, has been convicted at trial for his role in a racketeering conspiracy that included stealing personal and financial information of elderly bank customers who held accounts that were valued at more than $25 million.
Acting Assistant Attorney General Mythili Raman of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division, U.S. Attorney Andre Birotte Jr. of the Central District of California and Assistant Director in Charge Bill L. Lewis of the FBI’s Los Angeles Field Office made the announcement.
Aloyan, 40, of Los Angeles, was convicted by a federal jury on Feb.11, 2014, of racketeering conspiracy, attempted bank fraud, access device fraud, four counts of aggravated identity theft, and possession of a firearm by a convicted felon. According to evidence at trial, Aloyan possessed personal and financial information of more than 75 mostly elderly customers of banks throughout the country. The combined value of the accounts for which Aloyan possessed account information exceeded $25 million.
Aloyan was among 90 individuals charged in two indictments, including a 140-count indictment in July 2011 charging 70 defendants with a variety of criminal activities associated with the Armenian Power gang. The indictment accused 29 defendants, including Aloyan, of participating in the Armenian Power racketeering conspiracy that involved a host of illegal activities such as sophisticated fraudulent schemes of bank fraud, identity theft, debit-card skimming, manufacturing counterfeit checks and laundering criminal proceeds. In addition, defendants in the case were allegedly involved in a variety of violent crimes, such as kidnapping, extortion and firearms offenses, along with other crimes including drug trafficking and illegal gambling.
According to court documents, the Armenian Power street gang formed in the East Hollywood district of Los Angeles in the 1980s. The gang’s membership consisted primarily of individuals of Armenian descent, as well as of other countries within the former Soviet bloc. Armenian Power has been designated under California state law as a criminal street gang and is believed to have more than 250 documented members, as well as hundreds of associates. According to court documents, Armenian Power members and associates regularly carry out violent criminal acts, including murders, attempted murders, kidnappings, robberies, extortions and witness intimidation to enrich its members and associates and preserve and enhance the power of the criminal enterprise.
Aloyan was convicted after a five-day jury trial before U.S. District Judge Philip S. Gutierrez in the Central District of California. He is scheduled to be sentenced on June 2, 2014.
Five defendants remain pending trial in March 2014. Seventy-seven defendants have previously been convicted or pleaded guilty to the indictments.
The case is being investigated by the Eurasian Organized Crime Task Force, which is comprised of the FBI, U.S. Secret Service, Los Angeles Police Department, Los Angeles Sheriff's Department, Glendale Police Department, Burbank Police Department, Internal Revenue Service and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Homeland Security Investigations.
The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Martin Estrada, Elizabeth Yang and Stephen Wolfe of the Central District of California and Trial Attorney Andrew Creighton of the Criminal Division’s Organized Crime and Gang Section.Statements of Associate Attorney General Tony West and Acting Assistant Attorney General of Enrd on the National Strategy for Combatting Wildlife TraffickingRead the Press Release
Today, the White House released the National Strategy for Combatting Wildlife Trafficking. The Department of Justice, along with the Departments of State and the Interior, are co-chairs of the U.S. Task Force established by President Obama to lead the implementation of this strategy. On Thursday, Associate Attorney General Tony West will lead the U.S. Delegation’s participation at the London Conference on the Illegal Wildlife Trade.
"The Department is pleased to be a part of this interagency approach to combating illegal wildlife trafficking,” said Associate Attorney General West. “Record high demand for wildlife products, coupled with inadequate preventative measures and weak institutions, has resulted in an explosion of illicit trade in wildlife in recent years, with the increasing involvement of organized transnational criminal syndicates. This trade undermines security, fuels corruption and contributes to the spread of disease, and it is decimating iconic animal populations. The National Strategy identifies priority areas for interagency coordination, with the objectives of harnessing and strategically applying the full breadth of U.S. government resources. Combating this problem will also require the shared understanding, commitment, and efforts of the world’s governments, intergovernmental organizations, NGOs, corporations, civil society and individuals. At this week’s London Conference on the Illegal Wildlife Trade, we hope other countries will join us in taking ambitious action to combat wildlife trafficking.”
The Department of Justice has long worked to protect threatened and endangered wildlife species through its enforcement of the Lacey Act and Endangered Species Act, as well as related criminal statutes.“The president has called upon DOJ and more than a dozen other federal agencies to combine forces to more effectively battle this pernicious trade, which is growing at an alarming rate and threatens the survival of protected species both at home and abroad,” said Acting Assistant Attorney General Robert Dreher for the Environment and Natural Resources Division. “The release of today’s National Strategy to Combat Wildlife Trafficking is a welcome next step in our longstanding efforts to protect threatened and endangered wildlife species. Strong enforcement is critical to stopping those who kill and traffic in these animals, whether on land or in the oceans. At the same time, the Strategy recognizes that enforcement alone is not enough to stop traffickers. We must also work to reduce demand for illegal wildlife products. This is not a fight that the United States can win alone; under the Strategy, we will build relationships with local and global partners who share our commitment to ending wildlife trafficking.”
The Environmental Crimes Section of the Environment and Natural Resources Division and U.S. Attorneys’ Offices around the country bring criminal prosecutions under these laws against, for example, people who are found smuggling wildlife and plants into the United States. There is a major worldwide black market for some endangered species or products made from them. The main federal agencies that the Division represents in this area are the Fish and Wildlife Service and the National Marine Fisheries Service.
Minnesota Man and Woman Sentenced for Participating in a Sex Trafficking ConspiracyRead the Press Release
Today, the Justice Department announced that Andre James Hertzog, 29, was sentenced to serve 10 years in prison and eight years of supervised release for participating in a sex trafficking conspiracy. Hertzog’s co-defendant, Nicole Bramer, 29, was sentenced to serve 21 months in prison, to be followed by five years of supervised release. In addition, the defendants were each ordered to pay $6100 in restitution to the victims of the offense. Hertzog and Bramer are both from St. Paul, Minn.
“The defendants preyed upon vulnerable young women by a variety of deplorable means,” said Acting Assistant Attorney General Jocelyn Samuels for the Civil Rights Division. “The Department of Justice is committed to prosecuting those who sexually exploit vulnerable women for financial benefit.”
“Working with victims of sex trafficking to attain a measure of justice is a serious responsibility,” said Special Agent in Charge Christopher Warrener for the FBI’s Minneapolis Field Office. “These sentences are the culmination of investigators and prosecutors effectively communicating with victims.”
Bramer pleaded guilty to participating in the sex trafficking conspiracy on May 29, 2013, and Hertzog pleaded guilty on July 2, 2013. During his plea hearing, Hertzog admitted that, from April 2011 to August 2012, he and Bramer engaged in a scheme to target and recruit young, vulnerable women, one of whom was a minor, and to compel them into performing commercial sex acts for their own financial gain. Hertzog and Bramer used coercive tactics, including physical violence and psychological coercion, to isolate the young women, control them and cause them to perform acts of prostitution. As part of the trafficking scheme, the defendants transported the victims across state lines for the purpose of having them engage in prostitution, and the defendants routinely advertised the sexual services of the young women on the internet website Backpage.com.
The case was investigated by the FBI and prosecuted jointly by Special Assistant U.S. Attorney Mark Kappelhoff for the District of Minnesota, Trial Attorney Christine M. Siscaretti, and former Trial Attorney Amanda Gregory for the Civil Rights Division’s Human Trafficking Prosecution Unit.
Justice Department Highlights Ongoing Efforts to Protect the Public and Shut Down Fraudulent Tax Return Preparers and Promoters NationwideRead the Press Release
Today, the Justice Department announced the results of its ongoing efforts to combat fraudulent tax-return preparers and promoters of tax-fraud schemes. Taxpayers filed an estimated 142 million individual income tax returns for the 2011 tax year, with nearly 70 million taxpayers using a paid return preparer according to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) Compliance Data Warehouse, Individual Returns Transaction File and Return Preparers and Providers Database, Tax Year 2011, filed through March 2013. The return filing deadline for the 2013 tax year is just over two months away on April 15, 2014. The department’s Tax Division has an active program to stop fraudulent return preparers and promoters from violating federal tax laws, particularly where their fraudulent activity can harm individual customers or drain the U.S. Treasury. In the last year, the division has obtained permanent injunctions against more than 60 preparers and promoters doing business all over the United States.
“During the time when honest taxpayers are preparing their returns, the Tax Division will work tirelessly to challenge those who would abuse the tax laws and take advantange of their customers,” said Assistant Attorney General Kathryn Keneally for the Tax Division. “The division’s attorneys and staff, along with our colleagues in the Internal Revenue Service, are working hard to shut down these abusive schemes and scams and punish the perpetrators where appropriate.”
The division’s enforcement efforts have been directed against against both large-scale return preparation franchises and smaller, independent return preparers and promoters. For example, in 2013 the Tax Division concluded civil actions resulting in permanent injunctions against ITS Financial LLC, the parent company of the Instant Tax Service franchise located in Dayton, Ohio, and against Instant Tax franchises in Las Vegas, Kansas City , Kan., Los Angeles and Indianapolis. Instant Tax Service claimed to be the fourth-largest tax-preparation firm in the nation. In entering the permanent injunction in November 2013 that ordered ITS Financial LLC to cease operating, the court found the "defendants' harm to the public is extensive and egregious, indeed appalling…especially so given the nature of Instant Tax Service's core customer - the working poor - who are particularly vulnerable to [the] defendants' fraudulent practices.” The injunction also barred Fesum Ogbazion, the sole owner and CEO of ITS Financial, from operating or being involved with any business relating to tax-return preparation.
Similarly, in September 2013, the division obtained injunctions that permanently barred the owners, Markey Granberry and Derrick Robinson, as well as Eumora Reese, a former manager of Mo' Money Taxes, the Memphis, Tenn., based tax-preparation chain that at one time operated as many as 300 offices in 18 states, from preparing tax returns for others and owning or operating a tax return preparation business. Earlier, in March 2013, a federal district court in Tennessee permanently shut down a Nashville, Tenn., licensee of Mo’ Money Taxes LLC and MoneyCo USA LLC.
Numerous smaller tax return preparation businesses and individual preparers around the country were also subjects of injunctions shutting down their business, including tax return preparers in Indiana, Maryland, Missouri, Texas, Georgia, South Carolina, Florida and California who were engaging in fraudulent practices.
The division also obtained injunctions against a number of fraudulent tax-scheme promoters. For example, in October 2013, a federal court permanently barred Tobias Elsass and his companies from preparing federal tax returns, promoting the availability of theft loss deductions or engaging in any other tax-related business. The court found that Elsass and Fraud Recovery Group promoted a nationwide scheme that falsely informed customers that they were entitled to claim large theft loss tax deductions, and then prepared the tax returns that improperly claimed such deductions. The court stated “there can be no doubt that the collective transgressions represent concerted and conscious attempts to game the nation’s income tax system not necessarily for the benefit of FRG’s customers, but for the profit of Elsass himself.” At the division’s urging, federal courts also enjoined a real estate appraiser who allegedly inflated easement values on historic properties to help customers claim millions in improper deductions, and a Chicago lawyer who the complaint alleges had lawyers, entrepreneurs and professional football players among his customers, from promoting tax fraud schemes and from preparing various types of tax returns (IRS Forms 1040, 1041, 1065 and 1120) for individuals, estates and trusts, partnerships or corporations, to help facilitate the schemes.
As set forth in the civil injunction complaints filed by the United States, fraudulent return preparers commonly falsify return information to take advantage of refundable credits available under the tax code, often manipulating a taxpayer’s income, expenses and dependents to maximize the amount of the refundable credit claimed. Some return preparers also take advantage of their customers by selling deceptive loan products with exhorbitant fees. As identified in the complaints, some of the fraudulent schemes and practices that have been stopped through injunction orders entered include:
· Preparing phony tax-return forms with fabricated businesses and income;
· Claiming false education and homebuyer credits;
· Claiming false and inflated deductions;
· Claiming false filing status;
· Claiming false dependents;
· Selling deceptive loan products and defrauding customers, who were largely low-income earners, by marketing false and fraudulent loan products to lure them into the tax-preparation offices;
· Filing tax returns without customer consent or authorization;
· Preparing bogus W-2 Forms, based on information from employee paystubs;
· Falsifying return information to claim inflated Earned Income Tax Credits;
· Preparing tax returns for cash payments, but not signing the tax returns; and
· Defrauding customers by requiring franchisees to charge phony and exorbitant fees.
In addition to the civil enforcement through injunctions that stop their illegal actions, many return preparers also face prosecution. Examples of those investigations can be found for fiscal years 2013 and 2014
In the past decade, the Tax Division has obtained injunctions against hundreds of tax-return preparers and tax-fraud promoters. Information about these cases is available on the department website . Return preparer fraud is one of the IRS’s “Dirty Dozen Tax Scams.”
The IRS advises taxpayers who may select a tax professional to prepare their return to be careful in selecting a tax professional to prepare a return. The IRS offers some basic tips and guidelines to assist taxpayers in choosing a reputable tax professional and is also offering taxpayers a number of instructional YouTube videos to help them prepare their own taxes for the upcoming filing season. Several options, including free assistance with preparation and electronic filing for the elderly and individuals making $50,000 or less, are available to help taxpayers prepare for the 2014 tax season and receive their refunds as easily as possible.
Justice Department Highlights Ongoing Efforts to Protect the Public and Shut Down Fraudulent Tax Return Preparers and Promoters NationwideRead the Press Release
WASHINGTON – Today, the Justice Department announced the results of its ongoing efforts to combat fraudulent tax-return preparers and promoters of tax-fraud schemes. Taxpayers filed an estimated 142 million individual income tax returns for the 2011 tax year, with nearly 70 million taxpayers using a paid return preparer according to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) Compliance Data Warehouse, Individual Returns Transaction File and Return Preparers and Providers Database, Tax Year 2011, filed through March 2013. The return filing deadline for the 2013 tax year is just over two months away on April 15, 2014. The department's Tax Division has an active program to stop fraudulent return preparers and promoters from violating federal tax laws, particularly where their fraudulent activity can harm individual customers or drain the U.S. Treasury. In the last year, the division has obtained permanent injunctions against more than 60 preparers and promoters doing business all over the United States.
"During the time when honest taxpayers are preparing their returns, the Tax Division will work tirelessly to challenge those who would abuse the tax laws and take advantange of their customers," said Assistant Attorney General Kathryn Keneally for the Tax Division. "The division's attorneys and staff, along with our colleagues in the Internal Revenue Service, are working hard to shut down these abusive schemes and scams and punish the perpetrators where appropriate."
The division's enforcement efforts have been directed against against both large-scale return preparation franchises and smaller, independent return preparers and promoters. For example, in 2013 the Tax Division concluded civil actions resulting in permanent injunctions against ITS Financial LLC, the parent company of the Instant Tax Service franchise located in Dayton, Ohio, and against Instant Tax franchises in Las Vegas, Kansas City, Kan., Los Angeles and Indianapolis. Instant Tax Service claimed to be the fourth-largest tax-preparation firm in the nation. In entering the permanent injunction in November 2013 that ordered ITS Financial LLC to cease operating, the court found the "defendants' harm to the public is extensive and egregious, indeed appalling especially so given the nature of Instant Tax Service's core customer - the working poor - who are particularly vulnerable to [the] defendants' fraudulent practices." The injunction also barred Fesum Ogbazion, the sole owner and CEO of ITS Financial, from operating or being involved with any business relating to tax-return preparation.
Similarly, in September 2013, the division obtained injunctions that permanently barred the owners, Markey Granberry and Derrick Robinson, as well as Eumora Reese, a former manager of Mo' Money Taxes, the Memphis, Tenn., based tax-preparation chain that at one time operated as many as 300 offices in 18 states, from preparing tax returns for others and owning or operating a tax return preparation business. Earlier, in March 2013, a federal district court in Tennessee permanently shut down a Nashville, Tenn., licensee of Mo' Money Taxes LLC and MoneyCo USA LLC.
Numerous smaller tax return preparation businesses and individual preparers around the country were also subjects of injunctions shutting down their business, including tax return preparers in Indiana, Maryland, Missouri, Texas, Georgia, South Carolina, Florida and California who were engaging in fraudulent practices.
The division also obtained injunctions against a number of fraudulent tax-scheme promoters. For example, in October 2013, a federal court permanently barred Tobias Elsass and his companies from preparing federal tax returns, promoting the availability of theft loss deductions or engaging in any other tax-related business. The court found that Elsass and Fraud Recovery Group promoted a nationwide scheme that falsely informed customers that they were entitled to claim large theft loss tax deductions, and then prepared the tax returns that improperly claimed such deductions. The court stated "there can be no doubt that the collective transgressions represent concerted and conscious attempts to game the nation's income tax system not necessarily for the benefit of FRG's customers, but for the profit of Elsass himself." At the division's urging, federal courts also enjoined a real estate appraiser who allegedly inflated easement values on historic properties to help customers claim millions in improper deductions, and a Chicago lawyer, who the complaint alleges had lawyers, entrepreneurs and professional football players among his customers, from promoting tax fraud schemes and from preparing various types of tax returns (IRS Forms 1040, 1041, 1065 and 1120) for individuals, estates and trusts, partnerships or corporations, to help facilitate the schemes.
As set forth in the civil injunction complaints filed by the United States, fraudulent return preparers commonly falsify return information to take advantage of refundable credits available under the tax code, often manipulating a taxpayer's income, expenses and dependents to maximize the amount of the refundable credit claimed. Some return preparers also take advantage of their customers by selling deceptive loan products with exhorbitant fees. As identified in the complaints, some of the fraudulent schemes and practices that have been stopped through injunction orders entered include:
- Preparing phony tax-return forms with fabricated businesses and income;
- Claiming false education and homebuyer credits;
- Claiming false and inflated deductions;
- Claiming false filing status;
- Claiming false dependents;
- Selling deceptive loan products and defrauding customers, who were largely low-income earners, by marketing false and fraudulent loan products to lure them into the tax-preparation offices;
- Filing tax returns without customer consent or authorization;
- Preparing bogus W-2 Forms, based on information from employee paystubs;
- Falsifying return information to claim inflated Earned Income Tax Credits;
- Preparing tax returns for cash payments, but not signing the tax returns; and
- Defrauding customers by requiring franchisees to charge phony and exorbitant fees.
In addition to the civil enforcement through injunctions that stop their illegal actions, many return preparers also face prosecution. Examples of those investigations can be found for fiscal years 2013 and 2014.
In the past decade, the Tax Division has obtained injunctions against hundreds of tax-return preparers and tax-fraud promoters. Information about these cases is available on the department website. Return preparer fraud is one of the IRS's "Dirty Dozen Tax Scams."
The IRS advises taxpayers who may select a tax professional to prepare their return to be careful in selecting a tax professional to prepare a return. The IRS offers some basic tips and guidelines to assist taxpayers in choosing a reputable tax professional and is also offering taxpayers a number of instructional YouTube videos to help them prepare their own taxes for the upcoming filing season. Several options, including free assistance with preparation and electronic filing for the elderly and individuals making $50,000 or less, are available to help taxpayers prepare for the 2014 tax season and receive their refunds as easily as possible.
Four Employees of Adoption Services Provider<br /> Charged with Conspiracy to Defraud the United States<br /> in Connection with Ethiopia OperationsRead the Press Release
Four current and former employees of International Adoption Guides Inc. (IAG), an adoption services provider, have been indicted by a grand jury in South Carolina for allegedly conspiring to defraud the United States in connection with IAG’s adoption services in Ethiopia. IAG is a South Carolina company that identified children in Ethiopia for adoption and arranged for their adoption by U.S.-based parents.
Acting Assistant Attorney General Mythili Raman of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division, U.S. Attorney William N. Nettles of the District of South Carolina and Assistant Secretary Gregory B. Starr of the Department of State’s Bureau of Diplomatic Security made the announcement.
“The defendants are accused of obtaining adoption decrees and U.S. visas by submitting fraudulent adoption contracts signed by orphanages that never cared for or housed the children, thus undermining the very laws that are designed to protect the children and families involved,” said Acting Assistant Attorney General Raman. “As today’s indictments show, the Justice Department, alongside its partners both here and abroad, will respond vigorously to these criminal schemes and will act to protect the many families and children who rely on the integrity of the adoption process.”
“The Bureau of Diplomatic Security uses its global presence to vigorously investigate any fraud related to the acquisition of U.S. visas,” said Assistant Secretary Starr. “The Department of State’s Bureaus of Consular Affairs and Diplomatic Security are firmly committed to working with the U.S. Department of Justice to investigate and bring to justice people who victimize children and families by abusing inter-country adoption system and bribe officials to facilitate their actions.”
The international program director and coordinator for IAG, James Harding, 53, of Lawrenceville, Ga., was arrested today in Georgia. Alisa Bivens, 42, of Gastonia, N.C., who oversaw the Ethiopian operations from the United States, is scheduled to make an appearance at a later date in U.S. District Court in Charleston, S.C. The company’s executive director, Mary Mooney, 53, of Belmont, N.C., was apprehended in Belize by Belizean authorities and transported to the United States. Haile Mekonnen, age unknown, an Ethiopian national who ran IAG’s operations on the ground in Ethiopia, was also charged in the indictment.
According to the indictment, the defendants allegedly engaged in a five-year conspiracy to violate laws relating to the adoption of Ethiopian children by U.S. parents. The scheme involved, among other things, paying orphanages to “sign off” on contracts of adoption with the adopting parents as if the children had been raised by those orphanages — even though the children had never resided in those orphanages and had not been cared for or raised there. These orphanages could not, therefore, properly offer these children up for adoption. In some instances, the children resided with a parent or relative.
As part of the charged conspiracy, the defendants then allegedly submitted or caused to be submitted these fraudulent contracts of adoption to Ethiopian courts in order to secure adoption decrees, and submitted or caused to be submitted the fraudulent contracts of adoption and the fraudulently procured adoption decrees to the U.S. Embassy in Ethiopia in order to obtain U.S. visas for the children to travel to the United States to be with their new families. The indictment also charges that the defendants’ scheme involved paying bribes to an Ethiopian government official and agreeing to create counterfeit U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Service forms that were to be submitted to the Ethiopian government.
The charge of conspiring to defraud the United States carries a maximum penalty of five years in prison and a fine of the greater of $250,000 or twice the value gained or lost.
The charges contained in the indictment are merely accusations, and the defendants are presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.
If you believe you have been a victim of this crime involving the named individuals or International Adoption Guides, please call 1-800-837-2655 and leave your contact information. If you have questions or concerns about adoptions from Ethiopia in general, please contact the Office of Children’s Issues at the Department of State through the email address [email protected] . If you have specific questions about an adoption from Ethiopia that IAG facilitated, you should contact the Office of Children’s Issues at the Department of State through the email address [email protected] .
This ongoing investigation is being conducted by the Bureau of Diplomatic Security. The prosecution is being conducted by Assistant United States Attorney Jamie Schoen of the District of South Carolina and Trial Attorney John W. Borchert of the Criminal Division’s Fraud Section.Federal Advisory Committee Examines Juvenile Courts and Justice System Programs for American Indian Children Exposed to ViolenceRead the Press Release
More than 30 tribal leaders, juvenile court judges, child advocates, juvenile justice system experts and community members from the Salt River Pima-Maricopa Indian Community testified today in the second public hearing of the Advisory Committee of the Attorney General’s Task Force on American Indian and Alaska Native Children Exposed to Violence. The hearing focused on how juvenile courts and other programs within tribal juvenile justice systems address the impact of children’s exposure to violence.
“Too many native children encounter violence in their homes and communities that can disrupt a path to living healthy adult lives, and we must do all that we can to protect these young people,” said Associate Attorney General Tony West. “By intervening early, we can help these children avoid a fate involving courts and the corrections system.”
During the hearing, experts explained how children entering tribal, state or federal justice systems are screened and treated for trauma from previous exposure to violence. They also discussed a variety of issues facing Native children in juvenile justice systems, including the availability of legal representation, tribal court transfer of juvenile cases to adult courts, culturally sensitive programs and services that divert youth from entering the juvenile justice system.
“The long-term impact of a child’s exposure to violence depends heavily on how law enforcement officials, prosecutors, defenders, judges, and corrections professionals handle that child’s case,” said Assistant Attorney General of the Office of Justice Programs Karol V. Mason. “Through the work of the task force, we hope to find ways to make the justice system a force for positive change in a young person’s life.”
The Attorney General’s Task Force on American Indian and Alaska Native Children exposed to violence is comprised of a federal working group that includes U.S. Attorneys and officials from the Departments of the Interior and Justice and an advisory committee of experts on American Indian studies, child health and trauma, victim services and child welfare and law.
The 13-member advisory committee is co-chaired by former U.S. Sen. Byron Dorgan and Iroquois composer and singer Joanne Shenandoah. The advisory committee will draw upon research and information gathered through public hearings to draft a final report of policy recommendations that it will present to Attorney General Eric Holder by late 2014.
Attorney General Holder created the task force in April 2013 as part of his Defending Childhood initiative to prevent and reduce children’s exposure to violence as victims and witnesses. The task force is also a component of the Justice Department’s ongoing collaboration with leaders in American Indian and Alaska Native communities to improve public safety.
The advisory committee held its first public hearing Dec. 9, 2013, in Bismarck, N.D. and will hold additional public hearings, in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. and Anchorage, Alaska.
For more information about the advisory committee and public hearings, please visit www.justice.gov/defendingchildhood.
The Office of Justice Programs (OJP), headed by Assistant Attorney General Karol V. Mason, provides federal leadership in developing the nation’s capacity to prevent and control crime, administer justice and assist victims. OJP has six components: the Bureau of Justice Assistance; the Bureau of Justice Statistics; the National Institute of Justice; the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention; the Office for Victims of Crime and the Office of Sex Offender Sentencing, Monitoring, Apprehending, Registering and Tracking. More information about OJP can be found at www.ojp.gov.
Durable Medical Equipment Clinic Owner Sentenced <br /> for His Role in $11 Million Health Care Fraud SchemeRead the Press Release
The former owner of a defunct durable medical equipment (DME) clinic was sentenced today in Miami to serve 70 months in prison for his role in an $11 million health care fraud scheme involving World Class Medical Clinic Corp. (World Class).
Acting Assistant Attorney General Mythili Raman of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division, U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Florida Wifredo A Ferrer; Special Agent in Charge Michael B. Steinbach of the FBI's Miami Field Office, and Special Agent in Charge Christopher B. Dennis of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General (HHS-OIG) Office of Investigation’s Miami Office made the announcement.
Francisco Enrique Chavez, 36, of Miami, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Patricia A. Seitz in the Southern District of Florida. In addition to his prison term, Chavez was sentenced to three years of supervised release and ordered to pay $1,713,959 in restitution.
On Nov. 21, 2013, Chavez pleaded guilty to one count of health care fraud.
During the course of the health care fraud scheme, Chavez served as the president and sole corporate officer of World Class, a defunct DME company located in Miami. From March 27, 2006 through Aug. 22, 2006, Chavez submitted and caused to be submitted approximately $11.3 million in false and fraudulent claims to the Medicare program on behalf of World Class for DME that was neither prescribed by a physician nor medically necessary. Medicare paid more than $1.7 million on these false and fraudulent claims. The proceeds of the World Class fraud scheme were deposited into corporate bank accounts that were controlled by Chavez. Chavez, in turn, made numerous cash withdrawals and deposits into personal and shell entity bank accounts to facilitate and conceal the nature of the scheme.
The 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 Southern District of Florida. The case is being prosecuted by Allan J. Medina and Sarah M. Hall of the Fraud Section .
Since their inception in March 2007, Medicare Fraud Strike Force operations in nine locations have charged more than 1,700 defendants who collectively have falsely billed the Medicare program for more than $5.5 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 .Two Men Sentenced for Federal Hate Crime Charges Resulting from 2012 New Year's Eve AttackRead the Press Release
The Civil Rights Division and U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Central District of California announced that two Latino men associated with the Compton 155 street gang were sentenced today by U.S. District Judge Terry J. Hatter Jr. for their racially-motivated attack on African-American juveniles at a residence in Compton, Calif., on Dec. 31, 2012. Jeffrey Aguilar, also known as Terco, 19, and Efren Marquez Jr., also known as Stretch and Junior, 21, were each sentenced to serve 21 months in prison along with three years of supervised release.
On Oct. 17, 2013, both defendants pleaded guilty to violating the Matthew Shepard-James Byrd Jr. Hate Crime Prevention Act after admitting their involvement in the assault.
Aguilar and another individual physically attacked a 17-year-old African-American, who was walking down a street in the city of Compton. Aguilar chased down and struck the victim in the head with a metal pipe. During the incident, Marquez threatened to shoot another African-American juvenile who was present. Both Aguilar and Marquez admitted that the attack on the 17-year-old victim was motivated by the race and color of the victim.
“Despite the substantial progress made, violent acts of hate committed because of someone’s race continue to occur to this day, and the department will continue to use every available tool to identify and prosecute hate crimes whenever and wherever they occur," said Acting Assistant Attorney General Jocelyn Samuels for the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division.
“Hate based crimes have no place in America,” said U.S. Attorney André Birotte Jr. for the Central District of California. “The defendants’ attempt to rid their neighborhood of African-Americans serves as a sickening reminder that racial intolerance still exists in some segments of our community. For this egregious conduct, the defendants have received well-deserved prison terms.”
“The FBI is committed to the protection of civil rights and will continue to investigate allegations of crime motivated by hate,” said Assistant Director in Charge Bill L. Lewis for the FBI’s Los Angeles Field Office. “I’m hopeful that this sentencing will clarify the serious consequences for anyone contemplating senseless violence against the innocent due to their religion, race, disability, ethnic origin or sexual orientation.”
“Law enforcement is dedicated to protecting the civil rights of all members of our community and the outcome of this case is a great example of the close cooperation between all agencies involved to ensure that goal,” said Interim Sheriff John L. Scott of the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department.
This case is the result of an investigation conducted by the FBI and the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department. It is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Reema El-Amamy of the Violent and Organized Crime Section of the U.S. Attorney’s Office and Trial Attorney Saeed Mody of the Civil Rights Division.
Justice Department Files Lawsuit Against the State of Rhode Island and the R.I. Department of Corrections Alleging Race and National Origin DiscriminationRead the Press Release
The Justice Department announced the filing of a lawsuit today against the State of Rhode Island and the Rhode Island Department of Corrections (RIDOC) alleging that the defendants are engaged in a pattern or practice of employment discrimination against African-Americans and Hispanics in violation of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (Title VII). Specifically, the lawsuit challenges the defendants’ use of a written examination and a video examination to screen and select applicants for entry-level correction officer (CO) positions at RIDOC as part of the department’s ongoing efforts to ensure that state and local government employers utilize non-discriminatory assessment tools in their hiring practices.
The complaint, filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Rhode Island, alleges that the defendants require applicants for entry-level CO positions at RIDOC to undertake a multi-step selection process that includes, among other things, a written examination and a video examination taken on the same day. The complaint further alleges that the manner in which the defendants use the written and video examinations as part of their multi-step selection process disproportionately screens out African-American and Hispanic applicants, resulting in an unjustified disparate impact against these applicants.
Title VII not only prohibits intentional discrimination on the basis of race, color, sex, national origin and religion, but also prohibits employment practices that result in a disparate impact upon a protected group, unless the employer can prove that such practices validly predict an applicant’s ability to perform a job or there is a less discriminatory alternative that the employer can use. The department’s complaint states that the manner in which the defendants use the written and video examinations violates Title VII because such use is not “job related or consistent with business necessity,” as the law requires, and does not validly enable the employer to identify those applicants who are qualified for entry-level CO positions at RIDOC.
The department shares the goal of enabling public employers to hire qualified applicants to perform their critical public safety functions. In light of its findings and this shared goal, the department is seeking a court order requiring the defendants to stop using the challenged written and video examinations, develop selection procedures for entry-level CO positions at RIDOC that comply with Title VII and provide make-whole relief including, where appropriate, offers of hire, back pay and retroactive seniority, to African-Americans and Hispanics who have been or will be harmed as a result of the defendants’ use of the challenged examinations.
“Bringing an end to practices that have an unjustified discriminatory impact on the basis of race or national origin is a major priority of the Department of Justice,” said Acting Assistant Attorney General Jocelyn Samuels for the Civil Rights Division. “Employers must be able to show that examinations like those at issue here, that disproportionately screen out large numbers of African-American and Hispanic applicants, validly distinguish between qualified and unqualified applicants for the job. Otherwise, the examinations will not serve the employer’s purposes and will violate the law.”
Additional information about Title VII and other federal employment laws is available on the Civil Rights Division’s Web site at http://www.justice.gov/crt/
Government Settles False Claims Act Allegations Against <br /> Kentucky Addiction Clinic, Clinical Lab and Two <br /> Doctors for $15.75 MillionRead the Press Release
SelfRefind, a chain of addiction treatment clinics, PremierTox LLC, a clinical laboratory that performs urine testing and Drs. Bryan Wood and Robin Peavler, the owners of SelfRefind and PremierTox, have agreed to pay $15.75 million to resolve allegations that they violated the False Claims Act by submitting claims to Medicare and Kentucky’s Medicaid program for tests that were medically unnecessary, more expensive than those performed or billed in violation of the Stark Law, the Department of Justice announced today. SelfRefind provides addiction services to Medicare and Medicaid beneficiaries in 12 locations across Kentucky.
“Billing Medicare and Medicaid for lab tests that are not necessary contributes to the soaring costs of health care,” said Assistant Attorney General for the Justice Department’s Civil Division Stuart F. Delery. “Providers will be investigated aggressively and held accountable for falsely billing federal health care programs.”
In December 2010, Wood and Peavler each purchased a 20 percent ownership stake in PremierTox, a new, independent clinical laboratory created to perform urine drug testing. The government alleged that, after Wood and Peavler became owners of PremierTox, SelfRefind began referring comprehensive urine drug screening tests to PremierTox that were unnecessary and many times more expensive than other suitable alternative tests. The government also alleged that PremierTox submitted to Medicare and Medicaid inflated claims that misidentified the class of drug being tested and billed for tests that were referred by SelfRefind in violation of the Stark law. The Stark Law forbids a laboratory from billing Medicare and Medicaid for certain services referred by physicians that have a financial relationship with the laboratory.
“Federal health care programs are essential to many of our citizens,” said U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Kentucky Kerry B. Harvey. “We will not tolerate efforts by misguided providers to unfairly enrich themselves at the expense of these programs and the taxpaying public. This settlement underscores the continuing commitment of our office to use every available tool to protect these vital programs from false claims.”
This settlement is the result of a coordinated effort among the Justice Department’s Civil Division, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Kentucky, the Kentucky Attorney General’s Office and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General. Of the total $15.75 million settlement amount, the federal share is $13.01 million, and the remaining $2.74 million will be paid to the Commonwealth of Kentucky.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 Attorney General Eric Holder and Secretary of Health and Human Services Kathleen Sebelius. 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 $17.3 billion through False Claims Act cases, with more than $12.4 billion of that amount recovered in cases involving fraud against federal health care programs.
The claims settled by this agreement are allegations only; there has been no determination of liability.
Former Sailor Sentenced to 30 Years in Prison for Attempted EspionageRead the Press Release
Robert Patrick Hoffman II, 40, of Virginia Beach, Va., was sentenced today to serve 30 years in prison for attempting to commit espionage against the United States.
John P. Carlin, Acting Assistant Attorney General of the Justice Department’s National Security Division; Dana J. Boente, Acting United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia; Charles T. May Jr., the Naval Criminal Investigative Service (NCIS) Acting Executive Assistant Director for Atlantic Operations; and Royce E. Curtin, Special Agent in Charge of the FBI’s Norfolk Field Office, made the announcement after sentencing by Senior United States District Judge Robert G. Doumar.
“By attempting to hand over some of America’s most closely held military secrets, Robert Hoffman put U.S. service members and this country at risk,” said Acting Assistant Attorney General Carlin. “ Today, Mr. Hoffman is being held accountable for his actions. This prosecution should serve as a warning to others who would compromise our nation’s secrets. I commend the prosecutors, agents and analysts who worked diligently on this case.”
“Hoffman attempted to spy on behalf of the Russian Federation and betrayed the trust this country placed in him,” said Acting U.S. Attorney Boente. “He was willing to place American lives at risk for personal gain.”
After a five day trial that concluded on Aug. 21, 2013, a Norfolk jury found Hoffman guilty of attempted espionage, as charged in the one-count superseding indictment filed on May 8, 2013. According to court records and the evidence at trial, Hoffman is a U.S. citizen born in Buffalo, N.Y., who served for 20 years in the U.S. Navy until retiring at the rank of Petty Officer First Class on Nov. 1, 2011.
Hoffman’s rating in the Navy was as a Cryptologic Technician - Technical (CTT). In that capacity, he worked aboard or in conjunction with U.S. submarines for much of his naval career. While deployed, Hoffman operated electronic sensors and systems designed to collect data and information about potential adversaries, scanned the operating environment for threats to the submarine, and provided technical and tactical guidance to submarine commanders. Due to these duties, Hoffman held security clearances and regularly received access to classified national defense information about U.S. submarines and their capabilities and equipment, about adversaries, about specific missions, and about U.S. military and naval intelligence. As a condition of receiving access to this sensitive information, Hoffman repeatedly signed agreements not to disclose it to those unauthorized to receive it and regularly received training about his obligations to protect the information and to report without delay any suspicious contacts.
In 2012, the FBI initiated an investigation to determine if Hoffman was willing to act as an agent for a foreign government and commit espionage against the United States by divulging classified information. As part of this investigation, undercover FBI agents posing as operatives of the Russian Federation contacted Hoffman seeking defense information. In a series of responsive emails and other communications, Hoffman advised that he looked forward to “renewing [a] friendship” with his purported Russian contact, was “willing to develop a mutual trust,” and wanted compensation for his activities in the form of job assistance or payments based upon the risk and effort involved. Hoffman also emphasized, however, that the need for “security [was] paramount” and suggested they communicate by physical, rather than unsecure electronic means.
In accordance with this request, undercover agents posed a series of questions to Hoffman and directed, if he chose to reply, that he should signal his willingness to do so by means of a coded reply and then leave his answers on a pre-arranged date in the hollow at the base of a tree at a dead drop site located in Virginia Beach, Va. On three occasions in September and October 2012, Hoffman did just that and filled the drop site with encrypted thumb drives containing answers to the questions posed to him by persons he believed to be Russian agents. In his answers, Hoffman supplied, among other things, national defense information classified at the levels of secret and top secret/sensitive compartmented information. Following these disclosures, FBI and NCIS agents arrested Hoffman on Dec. 6, 2012, and the court ordered him detained.
This case was investigated by the FBI and NCIS. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Robert J. Krask and Alan M. Salsbury for the Eastern District of Virginia and Trial Attorney Heather M. Schmidt of the Counterespionage Section of the Justice Department’s National Security Division prosecuted the case on behalf of the United States.Former Guatemalan Special Forces Officer Sentenced<br /> for Covering up Involvement in 1982 MassacreRead the Press Release
A former Guatemalan Special Forces officer was sentenced today to serve 10 years in prison for covering up his involvement in a 1982 massacre at Dos Erres, Guatemala.
Acting Assistant Attorney General Mythili Raman of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division, U.S. Attorney André Birotte Jr. of the Central District of California and Acting Director John Sandweg of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) made the announcement.
Jorge Sosa, 55, of Moreno Valley, Calif., was sentenced by U.S. District Court Judge Virginia A. Phillips in the Central District of California. At sentencing, the court also revoked Sosa’s U.S. citizenship.
“Jorge Sosa helped orchestrate the ruthless massacre of innocent villagers, including dozens of young children, and then lied about his past to obtain refuge in the United States,” said Acting Assistant Attorney General Raman. “And, today, he has been sentenced to serve 10 years in a U.S. prison. This prosecution demonstrates our resolve to deny safe haven to human rights violators and to ensure that these criminals are held accountable.”
“Southern California is fortunate to be home to immigrants from all over the globe, some of whom have fled persecution in their native lands,” said U.S. Attorney Birotte. “But Mr. Sosa fled his native country after being a persecutor who played a direct role in the massacre of an entire village in Guatemala. Because he is responsible for war crimes and for failing to disclose his role in a human rights offense, Mr. Sosa will be incarcerated for a lengthy period of time and will no longer be welcome in our country.”
“ICE is dedicated to identifying and investigating alleged human rights violators hiding in the United States,” said Acting ICE Director Sandweg. “Today’s sentencing reaffirms our commitment to ensuring that the United States not be used as a safe haven by those who have committed atrocities against mankind.”
Sosa was convicted by a federal jury in Riverside, Calif., on Oct. 1, 2013, of one count of making false statements in immigration proceedings and one count of unlawful procurement of naturalized U.S. citizenship. Evidence presented during trial showed that Sosa became an officer in the Guatemalan Army in 1976, was part of Guatemala’s elite Special Forces division called the Kaibiles and was an instructor at the Kaibil School. During this time, the Guatemalan Army was engaged in armed conflict with anti-government forces referred to as the “guerillas.” In early 1982, Sosa and other Kaibil instructors were chosen to be part of the Special Patrol, a small unit formedto combat guerilla forces. In early December 1982, the Special Patrol, including Sosa, was deployed along with approximately 40 other Kaibil soldiers to the village of Dos Erres to recover military rifles that had purportedly been stolen during a guerilla ambush of Guatemalan soldiers. When the Special Patrol entered Dos Erres, the rifles were not found and there was no evidence of guerilla soldiers in the area.
According to evidence at trial, while at Dos Erres, members of the Special Patrol then removed the villagers from their homes, separated the men from the women and children, and raped some of the young girls. To cover up the rapes, all of the villagers were brought to the center of the village, where the Special Patrol members systematically killed the men, women and children by, among other methods, bludgeoning them on the head with a sledgehammer, shooting them or throwing them into the village well while still alive. Testimony from two Kaibiles who participated in the massacre revealed that Sosa supervised the Special Patrol soldiers as they filled the well with Dos Erres villagers. The evidence also showed that at some point during the massacre, a villager screamed out at Sosa from the well, and Sosa responded by cursing and shooting his assault weapon and throwing a grenade into the well.
Approximately 12 years after the massacre at Dos Erres, the Argentine Forensic Anthropology Team (Equipo Argentino de Antropologia Forense, or EAAF) exhumed the 40-foot well. At trial, a member of EAAF testified that the team found 162 skeletons in the well. Of those skeletons, 67 appeared to be those of children under the age of 12.
The evidence further showed that after Sosa became aware he was being investigated for unlawfully procuring citizenship, he fled the United States to Mexico and eventually traveled to Canada. Sosa was arrested in Canada and extradited to the United States to face these charges.
The jury found that when Sosa applied for lawful permanent residence in 1997 and naturalized U.S. citizenship in 2007, he knowingly omitted the fact that he was a member of the Guatemalan military and that he had committed a crime for which he had not been arrested. During trial, a U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Service examiner testified that had Sosa been truthful about his past, his applications for permanent residence and citizenship would have been summarily denied.
Members of the public who have information about foreign nationals suspected of engaging in human rights abuses or war crimes are urged to call the toll-free ICE Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) tip line at 1-866-DHS-2-ICE or to complete its online tip form . Both are staffed around the clock. To learn more about the assistance available to victims in these cases, the public should contact HIS’s confidential victim-witness toll-free number at 1-866-872-4973. Tips may be provided anonymously.
The case was prosecuted by Trial Attorney Brian Skaret of the Criminal Division’s Human Rights and Special Prosecutions Section and Assistant U.S. Attorneys Jeannie Joseph and Dennise Willett of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Central District of California. Valuable assistance was provided by Trial Attorney Jay Bauer, Historian Joanna Crandall, and Paralegal Joanna Naples-Mitchell of the Criminal Division’s Human Rights and Special Prosecutions Section. The Criminal Division’s Office of International Affairs and Trial Attorney Lisa Roberts also provided assistance.
The case was investigated by Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Human Rights Violator and War Crimes Unit and Homeland Security Investigations in Riverside, Calif.Former Executive of Power Generation Company <br /> Charged with Fraud and Money LaunderingRead the Press Release
Asem Elgawhary, the former principal vice president of Bechtel Corporation and general manager of the Power Generation Engineering and Services Company (PGESCo), was indicted by a grand jury in Maryland today on charges that he defrauded his former employers, laundered the proceeds of the fraudulent scheme and violated federal tax laws.
Acting Assistant Attorney General Mythili Raman of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division, U.S. Attorney Rod J. Rosenstein of the District of Maryland, Special Agent in Charge Stephen E. Vogt of the FBI’s Baltimore Division and Chief Richard Weber of the Internal Revenue Service-Criminal Investigation (IRS-CI) made the announcement after the indictment was returned earlier today.
“As today’s indictment alleges, this high-ranking executive took millions of dollars in kickbacks from power companies in exchange for preferential treatment and, in doing so, defrauded his former employer, other companies who were playing by the rules and U.S. tax authorities,” said Acting Assistant Attorney General Raman. “He then allegedly concealed his kickback scheme by hiding the payments in off-shore bank accounts, giving false information to his former employer and destroying evidence. The Justice Department is committed to prosecuting not just the companies and individuals who pay bribes and kickbacks, but also those who solicit and accept them.”
“Mr. Elgawhary has been charged with using his corporate position for his own personal gain,” stated IRS-CI Chief Weber. “No matter what your career or position is in a corporation, all U.S. citizens are obligated to comply with the tax laws. When individuals and corporations deliberately fail to comply, IRS Criminal Investigation agents conduct investigations and recommend prosecution to the Department of Justice.”
The eight-count indictment alleges that from 1996 to 2011, Elgawhary, 72, of Maryland, was assigned by Bechtel – a U.S. corporation engaged in engineering, construction and project management – to be the general manager at PGESCo, a joint venture between Bechtel and a state-owned and state-controlled electricity company (EEHC). PGESCo assisted EEHC in identifying possible subcontractors, soliciting bids and awarding contracts to perform power projects for EEHC. The charges allege that Elgawhary used his position at PGESCo to provide preferential treatment to three power companies attempting to secure projects with EEHC in exchange for kickbacks from those power companies and their third-party consultants. The court documents allege that the power companies and their consultants paid more than $5 million in kickbacks into various off-shore bank accounts under the control of Elgawhary, including various Swiss bank accounts. In return, the power companies secured more than $2 billion in lucrative contracts.
The indictment alleges that Elgawhary then also attempted to conceal the kickback scheme and the proceeds he obtained from it. Elgawhary allegedly sent to Bechtel executives and members of the PGESCo board of directors in Maryland various documents and “Representation Letters” that falsely represented that he had no knowledge of any fraud or suspected fraud at PGESCo and that there were no violations or possible violations of law or regulations whose effects were material and should have been considered for disclosure in PGESCo’s financial statements. In addition, when Elgawhary was interviewed by counsel for Bechtel in April 2011, he claimed that he never received money from power companies or their consultants and that he did not maintain control over any foreign bank accounts. With the help of other employees at PGESCo, Elgawhary also allegedly caused evidence about the kickback scheme to be deleted and destroyed, according to the charges.
The court documents also allege that Elgawhary used money from one of his Swiss bank accounts to purchase a $1.78 million home in Maryland for two close family members. In order to conceal the origin of the money, however, Elgawhary and others made it appear that the money was from an unsecured loan from a marketing company owned and operated by another relative.
Elgawhary also allegedly obstructed and impeded the administration of U.S. tax laws by falsely claiming that he maintained only one foreign bank account and denying that he received any income from any foreign bank account. Elgawhary also allegedly failed to report any of the kickbacks as income for the tax years 2008 through 2011.
The mail and wire fraud counts each carry a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison and a fine of the greater of $250,000 or twice the value gained or lost. The conspiracy to commit money laundering count carries a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison and a fine of the greater of $500,000 or twice the value of the property involved in the transaction. The tax count carries a maximum penalty of three years in prison and a fine of $5,000.
The charges contained in the indictment are merely accusations, and the defendant is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.
The department has received significant assistance in this matter from its law enforcement counterparts in Switzerland, Germany, Italy and Cyprus. Significant assistance was also provided by the Criminal Division’s Office of International Affairs.
The case is being investigated by the FBI’s and IRS-CI’s Baltimore Divisions. The case is being prosecuted by Assistant Chief Daniel S. Kahn of the Criminal Division’s Fraud Section and Assistant U.S. Attorney David Salem of the District of Maryland.
Additional information about the Justice Department’s FCPA enforcement efforts can be found at www.justice.gov/criminal/fraud/fcpa .Former Bank of America Executive Pleads Guilty for Role in Conspiracy and Fraud Involving Investment Contracts for Municipal Bonds ProceedsRead the Press Release
A former Bank of America executive pleaded guilty today for his participation in a conspiracy and scheme to defraud related to bidding for contracts for the investment of municipal bond proceeds and other municipal finance contracts, the Department of Justice announced.
Phillip D. Murphy, the former managing director of Bank of America’s municipal derivatives products desk from 1998 to 2002, pleaded guilty today before U.S. District Judge Max O. Cogburn Jr. in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of North Carolina to participating in a fraud conspiracy and wire fraud scheme with employees of Rubin/Chambers, Dunhill Insurance Services Inc., also known as CDR Financial Products, a broker of municipal finance contracts, and others. Murphy also pleaded guilty to conspiring with others to make false entries in the reports and statements originating from his desk, which were sent to bank management.
Murphy was indicted by a grand jury on July 19, 2012. According to the indictment, Murphy participated in a wire fraud scheme and separate fraud conspiracies that began as early as 1998 and continued until 2006.
“By manipulating what was intended to be a competitive bidding process, the conspirators defrauded municipalities, public entities and taxpayers across the country,” said Brent Snyder, Deputy Assistant Attorney General of the Antitrust Division’s Criminal Enforcement Program. “Today’s guilty plea reaffirms the Antitrust Division’s continued efforts to hold accountable those who corrupt and subvert the competitive process in our financial markets.”
Public entities seek to invest money from a variety of sources, primarily the proceeds of municipal bonds that they issue, to raise money for, among other things, public projects. Public entities typically hire a broker to conduct a competitive bidding process for the award of the investment agreements and often for other municipal finance contracts.
According to the charges, Murphy conspired with CDR and others to increase the number and profitability of investment agreements and other municipal finance contracts awarded to Bank of America. Murphy won investment agreements through CDR’s manipulation of the bidding process in obtaining losing bids from other providers, which is explicitly prohibited by U.S. Treasury regulations. As a result of the information, various providers won investment agreements and other municipal finance contracts at artificially determined prices. In exchange for this information, Murphy submitted intentionally losing bids for certain investment agreements and other contracts when requested, and, on occasion, agreed to pay or arranged for kickbacks to be paid to CDR and other co-conspirator brokers.
Murphy and his co-conspirators misrepresented to municipal issuers that the bidding process was competitive and in compliance with U.S. Treasury regulations. This caused the municipal issuers to award investment agreements and other municipal finance contracts to providers that otherwise would not have been awarded the contracts if the issuers had true and accurate information regarding the bidding process. Such conduct placed the tax-exempt status of the underlying bonds in jeopardy.“Mr. Murphy’s actions undermined the public’s trust when he conspired to manipulate a competitive bidding process,” said Richard Weber, Chief, IRS Criminal Investigation (IRS-CI). “IRS-CI has experienced great success in unraveling significant and complex financial frauds as we work in close collaboration with our law enforcement partners.”
“Mr. Murphy ripped off hard working American taxpayers and cash-strapped municipalities all in pursuit of his own lucre,” said George Venizelos, Assistant Director in Charge of the FBI’s New York Field Office. “Let this serve as a reminder to others who are entrusted to act in the public’s best interest; your lack of candor won’t go without notice.”
Murphy pleaded guilty to two counts of conspiracy and one count of wire fraud. The fraud conspiracy carries a maximum penalty of five years in prison and a $250,000 fine. The wire fraud charge carries a maximum penalty of 30 years in prison and a $1 million fine. The false bank records conspiracy carries a maximum penalty of five years in prison and a $250,000 fine. The maximum fines for each of these offenses 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.
Including Murphy, a total of 17 individuals have been convicted or pleaded guilty. Additionally, one company has pleaded guilty.
The prosecution is being handled by Steven Tugander, Richard Powers, Eric Hoffmann, Patricia Jannaco and Stephanie Raney of the Antitrust Division. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Kurt Meyers, Michael Savage and Mark Odulio of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Western District of North Carolina have also provided valuable assistance in this matter. The guilty plea announced today resulted from a wide-ranging investigation conducted by the Antitrust Division’s New York office, the FBI and the IRS-CI. The division coordinated its investigation with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency and the Federal Reserve Bank of New York.Today’s guilty plea is part of efforts underway by President Obama’s Financial Fraud Enforcement Task Force (FFETF) which was created in November 2009 to wage an aggressive, coordinated and proactive effort to investigate and prosecute financial crimes. With more than 20 federal agencies, 94 U.S. attorney’s offices and state and local partners, it’s the broadest coalition of law enforcement, investigatory and regulatory agencies ever assembled to combat fraud. Since its formation, the task force has made great strides in facilitating increased investigation and prosecution of financial crimes; enhancing coordination and cooperation among federal, state and local authorities; addressing discrimination in the lending and financial markets and conducting outreach to the public, victims, financial institutions and other organizations. Over the past three fiscal years, the Justice Department has filed more than 10,000 financial fraud cases against nearly 15,000 defendants including more than 2,700 mortgage fraud defendants. For more information on the task force, visit www.stopfraud.gov.
Anyone with information concerning bid rigging and related offenses in any financial markets should contact the Antitrust Division’s New York Field Office at 212-335-8000, the FBI at 212-384-5000 or IRS-CI at 212-436-1761, or visit www.justice.gov/atr/contact/newcase.htm.
Attorney General Holder Announces Justice Department to Lift Hiring FreezeRead the Press Release
In a video message released today, Attorney General Eric Holder announced that, due to the budget agreement approved by Congress last month, the Justice Department is able to lift the hiring freeze that has been in place for just over three years.
The complete text of the Attorney General’s message is below:
“In recent years, federal employees have been asked to contend with sharp budget cuts, sequestration, and the personal hardships imposed by a government shutdown. Here at the Department of Justice, these conditions have strained our capacity. And they’ve compelled us to take extraordinary measures just to make ends meet – including a hiring freeze that I was forced to institute in 2011, and which has resulted in the loss of more than 4,000 employees.
“These losses have been acutely felt. But finally, after years of uncertainty, Congress recently passed – and the President signed – a bipartisan budget agreement that allowed our appropriators to restore Justice Department funding to pre-sequestration levels – and even adds funding for key priorities. As a result of this budget agreement, effective immediately, the Department will lift the hiring freeze that’s been in place for just over three years. After years of doing more with less, we will begin to fill critical vacancies. And we will resume the normal hiring process for federal agents, prosecutors, analysts and the other staff we need to fulfill our mission. These added resources will help us carry out our critical law enforcement responsibilities and improve public safety.
“I want to thank Members of Congress – particularly Senators Mikulski and Shelby and Congressmen Wolf and Fattah – for their leadership in securing this important agreement. As we put these resources to work, my colleagues and I will remain committed to serving as sound stewards of taxpayer dollars. And we’ll continue to make our operations as efficient and effective as possible.
“Across the board, I’m extremely proud of the outstanding work that Justice Department employees have performed in recent years – in the face of adversity, and despite escalating threats and challenges. Every one of them is a credit to this institution, to our nation, and to the American people we’re privileged to serve. So I want to take this opportunity to thank them – for their commitment, for their dedication, and for the sacrifices that they and their families have made in the name of public service. Their efforts inspire me every day. And I will never stop working to secure the support they need to carry out their important duties – and to keep advancing the cause of justice that remains our common pursuit.”
The Attorney General’s video message can be viewed online here: http://www.justice.gov/agwa.php.
Statement of the Department of Justice Antitrust Division on Its Decision <br /> to Close Its Investigation of Samsung’s Use of Its Standards-Essential PatentsRead the Press Release
The Department of Justice’s Antitrust Division issued the following statement today after announcing the closing of its investigation into Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.’s use of its portfolio of standards-essential patents that it had committed to license to industry participants on fair, reasonable, and non-discriminatory terms (SEPs) to exclude certain Apple, Inc. products from the U.S. market:
“The Antitrust Division’s investigation focused on Samsung’s attempts to use its SEPs to obtain exclusion orders from the U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC) relating to certain iPhone and iPad models.
“As the Department of Justice and the Patent & Trademark Office (PTO) explained in their joint ‘Policy Statement on Remedies for Standards-Essential Patents Subject to Voluntary F/RAND Commitments,' issued on Jan. 8, 2013, a number of competitive issues arise when holders of SEPs seek to block their competitors from selling products that implement the SEPs. While there are certain circumstances where an exclusion order as a remedy for infringement of such patents could be appropriate, in many cases there is a risk that the patent holder could use the threat of an exclusion order to obtain licensing terms that are more onerous than would be justified by the value of the technology itself, effectively exploiting the market power obtained through the standards-setting process.“The U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) reviewed the exclusion order issued by the ITC against Apple at Samsung’s request and overturned it, determining that it was not consistent with the public interest. As a result of the USTR’s action, the Antitrust Division has determined that no further action is required at this time. The Antitrust Division is therefore closing its investigation into Samsung’s conduct, but will continue to monitor further developments in this area.
“Throughout the investigation, the Antitrust Division has worked closely and consulted frequently with its colleagues at the European Commission. This cooperation underscores the agencies’ common concerns over the potential harm to competition that can result from the anticompetitive use of SEPs.”
The Antitrust Division’s Closing Statement Policy
The division provides this statement under its policy of issuing statements concerning the closing of investigations in appropriate cases. This statement is limited by the division's obligation to protect the confidentiality of certain information obtained in its investigations. As in most of its investigations, the division's evaluation has been highly fact-specific, and many of the relevant underlying facts are not public. Consequently, readers should not draw overly broad conclusions regarding how the division is likely in the future to analyze other collaborations or activities, or transactions involving particular firms. Enforcement decisions are made on a case-by-case basis, and the analysis and conclusions discussed in this statement do not bind the division in any future enforcement actions. Guidance on the division's policy regarding closing statements is available at www.justice.gov/atr/public/closing/index.html.
Sanborn Map Co. Pays $2.1 Million to Resolve Allegations of False <br /> Claims for Map Work Related to United States Military Convoy <br /> Routes in Iraq and Marine Corps Bases in United StatesRead the Press Release
Sanborn Map Company Inc. has agreed to pay $2.1 million to the U.S. government to resolve allegations that it submitted false claims in connection with U. S. Army Corps of Engineers contracts, the Justice Department announced today. Sanborn, headquartered in Colorado Springs, Colo., provides photogrammetric mapping and geographic information system services.
“We are committed to defending the integrity of our public contracting process,” said Assistant Attorney General for the Justice Department’s Civil Division Stuart F. Delery. “ The Department of Justice will not hesitate to pursue companies that knowingly fail to comply with their contractual obligations, particularly obligations involving the protection of our national security interests.”From 2005 to 2011, Sanborn contracted with the U.S. Army Corp of Engineers to produce maps for U.S. convoy routes in Iraq, Marine Corps bases in the U. S. and other military and civilian projects. Allegedly, in an effort to save money, Sanborn used unapproved foreign subcontractors on three projects, which violated contractual obligations and caused delays on these projects. Sanborn also allegedly used unapproved domestic subcontractors when Sanborn was required to complete all map work in-house and charged unrelated work to the government contracts.
"We applaud the hard work and dedication of our agents and partners at the Department of Justice and other fellow law enforcement agencies," said Director Frank Robey of the U. S. Army Criminal Investigation Command's Major Procurement Fraud Unit. "Our specially trained agents will doggedly pursue all who would undermine the needs and resources of the military.”The allegations arose from a lawsuit filed by a former Sanborn employee, James Peterson, in a federal court in St. Louis, Mo., under the qui tam, or whistleblower, provisions of the False Claims Act, which allow private individuals known as “relators” to sue on behalf of the government and to share in the proceeds of any settlement or judgment. Peterson’s share of today’s settlement has not been determined.
The settlement was the result of a coordinated effort among the Commercial Litigation Branch, Civil Division, Department of Justice; the U. S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Missouri and the U. S. Army Corps of Engineers. The U.S. Army Criminal Investigation Command – Major Procurement Fraud Unit; the Department of Defense Office of Inspector General, Defense Criminal Investigative Service; and Defense Contract Audit Agency assisted in the investigation.
The case is United States ex rel. James Peterson v. Sanborn Map Company Inc., 4:11CV000902 AGF (E.D. Mo.). The claims settled by this agreement are allegations only, and there has been no determination of liability.