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Thursday 15 February 2024
Man Arrested After Standoff Left Three Officers ShotRead the Press Release
WASHINGTON – Stephen Claude Rattigan, also known as Julius James, 48, of Washington, D.C., has been charged with assault with intent to kill while armed, assault on a police officer while armed, and possession of a firearm during a crime of violence following the shooting of three Metropolitan Police Department officers and an hours-long standoff in Southeast DC. He is also being charged with misdemeanor cruelty to animals. The announcement was made by U.S. Attorney Matthew M. Graves and Chief Pamela Smith, of the Metropolitan Police Department (MPD).
Rattigan made his initial appearance before Superior Court Magistrate Judge Renee Raymond today, where he was ordered held without bond pending a preliminary hearing on February 29, 2024 before Judge Maribeth Raffinan.
According to court documents, on February 14, 2024, officers from the Metropolitan Police Department responded to Rattigan’s residence in the 5000 block of Hanna Place Southeast to execute an arrest warrant because of a complaint of animal cruelty. That warrant stemmed from an incident in April 2023 in which Rattigan was captured by a security camera beating one of his dogs several times in the face. On January 12, 2024, an Animal Control Investigator visited the residence to address the issue of the number of animals on the property and the need for a permit. Previously on January 8, 2024, a Humane Society Officer visited Rattigan’s residence to address the issue of inhumane living conditions for the animals based on complaints received.
On the day of arrest, law enforcement officers approached Rattigan’s residence and identified themselves as police officers, in an attempt to arrest Rattigan on the outstanding arrest warrant. Upon law enforcement’s entry into the home, Rattigan opened fire, shooting and striking several officers. Rattigan barricaded himself inside the residence for more than 12 hours until he was taken into custody later in the day. After the arrest, authorities removed 31 dogs from his home. The law enforcement officers who were struck are all currently in stable condition.
This case is being investigated by the Metropolitan Police Department. It is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Matthew Goldstein.
A complaint is merely an allegation, and all defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.
Man Accused of Armed Robbery of Third Postal WorkerRead the Press Release
ST. LOUIS – Two men already facing an indictment accusing them of robbing two mail carriers at gunpoint in 2022 have been accused of a third robbery.
A superseding indictment in U.S. District Court in St. Louis Wednesday added charges against Roy Lee Jones, 21, and Xavier Sean Boyd, 20, of Jennings. The pair had been facing six felony counts: two counts of robbery, two counts of theft of a mail key and two counts of possession and brandishing a firearm in furtherance of a robbery. Wednesday’s indictment adds one count of each crime.
The indictment accuses the men of robbing two U.S. Postal Service letter carriers of their “arrow keys,” which open certain U.S. Postal Service collection boxes, at gunpoint on June 9, 2022, and Boyd, acting with another, of a June 1 robbery.
“Those who commit violent crimes against postal employees who provide a critical service to the public must be held accountable,” said Inspector in Charge Ruth Mendonça who leads the Chicago Division of the U.S. Postal Inspection Service, which includes the St. Louis Field Office. “This superseding indictment is a critical step toward ensuring that accountability.”
Each robbery charge is punishable by up to 25 years in prison. The theft charges are punishable by up to 10 years in prison. The firearm charges carry a penalty of at least seven years, consecutive to all other charges.
Charges set forth in an indictment are merely accusations and do not constitute proof of guilt. Every defendant is presumed to be innocent unless and until proven guilty.
The U.S. Postal Inspection Service and the St. Louis County Police investigated the case. Assistant U.S. Attorney Jason Dunkel is prosecuting the case.
Louisville Man Sentenced to over 5 Years in Federal Prison for Illegally Possessing a Firearm and Money LaunderingRead the Press Release
Louisville, KY – A Louisville man was sentenced this week to 5 years and 3 months in federal prison for possessing a firearm after having previously been convicted of a felony offense and money laundering.
U.S. Attorney Michael A. Bennett of the Western District of Kentucky, Special Agent in Charge J. Todd Scott of the DEA Louisville Field Division, Acting Special Agent in Charles Birch of the Internal Revenue Service, Criminal Investigation, Cincinnati Field Office, Special Agent in Charge Michael E. Stansbury of the FBI Louisville Field Office, and Chief Jacquelyn Gwinn-Villaroel of the Louisville Metro Police Department made the announcement.
According to court documents, Steven Meredith, 46, was sentenced to 5 years and 3 months in prison, followed by 3 years of supervised release, for possessing a firearm after having previously been convicted of a felony offense and for laundering monetary instruments by transferring $40,000 in checks and cash to purchase real property located on Woodruff Avenue in Louisville, knowing the funds involved the proceeds of dealing in controlled substances. Meredith was also ordered to pay a fine of $20,000.
Meredith was prohibited from possessing a firearm because he had previously been convicted of the following felony offenses:
On December 19, 1996, in Jefferson Circuit Court, Meredith was convicted of burglary in the second degree and receiving stolen property over $300.
On August 25, 2010, in Jefferson Circuit Court, Meredith was convicted of complicity to receiving stolen property over $1000, trafficking in a controlled substance in the first degree and possession of a handgun by a convicted felon.
There is no parole in the federal system.
The case was investigated by the DEA and the IRS-CI, with assistance from the FBI Laboratory and IRS-CI Center for Science and Design.
Assistant U.S. Attorneys Robert Bonar and Amy Sullivan prosecuted the case.
This effort is part of an Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force (OCDETF) operation. OCDETF identifies, disrupts, and dismantles the highest-level criminal organizations that threaten the United States using a prosecutor-led, intelligence-driven, multi-agency approach. Additional information about the OCDETF Program can be found at www.justice.gov/OCDETF.
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Justice Department Sues Tennessee for Enforcing State Law that Discriminates Against People with HIVRead the Press Release
The Justice Department filed a lawsuit today against the State of Tennessee and the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation (TBI) for violating the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). The department previously notified Tennessee and the TBI that they violated the ADA by enforcing the state’s aggravated prostitution statute against people living with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). That letter of findings detailed the minimum remedial measures necessary to address the discrimination.
“The enforcement of state criminal laws that treat people differently based on HIV status alone and that are not based on actual risks of harm, discriminate against people living with HIV,” said Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division. “People living with HIV should not be subjected to a different system of justice based on outdated science and misguided assumptions. This lawsuit reflects the Justice Department’s commitment to ensuring that people living with HIV are not targeted because of their disability.”
The department’s investigation found that the state and TBI subject people living with HIV to harsher criminal penalties solely because of their HIV status, violating Title II of the ADA. Tennessee’s aggravated prostitution statute elevates what would otherwise be misdemeanor conduct to a felony because the individual has HIV, regardless of any actual risk of harm. A person convicted of aggravated prostitution faces three to 15 years in prison and a fine up to $10,000, while a person convicted of a misdemeanor charge based on the same conduct is subject to a penalty of no more than six months in prison and up to a $500 fine.
Aggravated prostitution is also categorized as a “violent sexual offense” mandating registration by those convicted on the Tennessee Sex Offender Registry, in most cases for life. The state maintains the registry through the TBI. Individuals placed on the registry due to convictions for aggravated prostitution are restricted in where they may live, work and go in public, and have experienced increased homelessness and unemployment. These individuals also face public disclosure of information about their HIV status, which can lead to harassment and discrimination. For example, the complaint identifies one person who has struggled to find safe housing that complies with the registry’s requirements and has experienced periods of homelessness, has been denied employment because she is on the registry, and is prevented from spending time alone with her nephew because of her conviction.
The Justice Department plays a central role in advancing the ADA’s goals of equal opportunity, full participation, independent living and economic self-sufficiency for people with disabilities. For more information on the Civil Rights Division, please visit www.justice.gov/crt. For more information on the ADA, please call the department’s toll-free ADA Information Line at 1-800-514-0301 (TTY 1-833-610-1264) or visit www.ada.gov.
Justice Department Conducts Court-Authorized Disruption of Botnet Controlled by the Russian Federation’s Main Intelligence Directorate of the General Staff (GRU)Read the Press Release
Note: Following the publication of this press release, the FBI and international partners issued a joint multinational cybersecurity advisory on Russian cyber actors' use of compromised routers to facilitate cyber operations.
A January 2024 court-authorized operation has neutralized a network of hundreds of small office/home office (SOHO) routers that GRU Military Unit 26165, also known as APT 28, Sofacy Group, Forest Blizzard, Pawn Storm, Fancy Bear, and Sednit, used to conceal and otherwise enable a variety of crimes. These crimes included vast spearphishing and similar credential harvesting campaigns against targets of intelligence interest to the Russian government, such as U.S. and foreign governments and military, security, and corporate organizations. In recent months, allegations of Unit 26165 activity of this type has been the subject of a private sector cybersecurity advisory and a Ukrainian government warning.
This botnet was distinct from prior GRU and Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) malware networks disrupted by the Department in that the GRU did not create it from scratch. Instead, the GRU relied on the “Moobot” malware, which is associated with a known criminal group. Non-GRU cybercriminals installed the Moobot malware on Ubiquiti Edge OS routers that still used publicly known default administrator passwords. GRU hackers then used the Moobot malware to install their own bespoke scripts and files that repurposed the botnet, turning it into a global cyber espionage platform.
The Department’s court-authorized operation leveraged the Moobot malware to copy and delete stolen and malicious data and files from compromised routers. Additionally, in order to neutralize the GRU’s access to the routers until victims can mitigate the compromise and reassert full control, the operation reversibly modified the routers’ firewall rules to block remote management access to the devices, and during the course of the operation, enabled temporary collection of non-content routing information that would expose GRU attempts to thwart the operation.
“The Justice Department is accelerating our efforts to disrupt the Russian government’s cyber campaigns against the United States and our allies, including Ukraine,” said Attorney General Merrick B. Garland. “In this case, Russian intelligence services turned to criminal groups to help them target home and office routers, but the Justice Department disabled their scheme. We will continue to disrupt and dismantle the Russian government’s malicious cyber tools that endanger the security of the United States and our allies.”
“For the second time in two months, we’ve disrupted state-sponsored hackers from launching cyber-attacks behind the cover of compromised U.S. routers,” said Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco. “We will continue to leverage all of our legal authorities to prevent harm and protect the public — whether the hackers are from Russia, China, or another global threat.”
“Russia’s GRU continues to maliciously target the United States through their botnet campaigns,” said FBI Director Christopher Wray. “The FBI utilized its technical capabilities to disrupt Russia’s access to hundreds of routers belonging to individuals in addition to small and home offices. This type of criminal behavior is simply unacceptable, and the FBI, in coordination with our federal and international partners, will not allow for any of Russia’s services to negatively impact the American people and our allies.”
“In this unique, two-for-one operation, the National Security Division and its partners disrupted a botnet used by both criminal and state-sponsored actors,” said Assistant Attorney General Matthew G. Olsen of the Justice Department’s National Security Division. “Notably, this represents the third time since Russia’s unjustified invasion of Ukraine that the Department has stripped the Russian intelligence services of a key tool used to further the Kremlin’s acts of aggression and other malicious activities. We will continue to use our legal authorities and cutting-edge techniques, and to draw on the strength of our partnerships, to protect the public and our allies from such threats.”
“This is yet another case of Russian military intelligence weaponizing common devices and technologies for that government’s malicious aims,” said U.S. Attorney Jacqueline C. Romero for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania. “As long as our nation-state adversaries continue to threaten U.S. national security in this way, we and our partners will use every tool available to disrupt their cyber thugs — whomever and wherever they are.”
“Operation Dying Ember was an international effort led by FBI Boston to remediate over a thousand compromised routers belonging to unsuspecting victims here in the United States, and around the world that were targeted by malicious, nation state actors in Russia to facilitate their strategic intelligence collection,” said Special Agent in Charge Jodi Cohen of the FBI Boston Field Office. “The FBI’s strong partnerships with the private sector were critical to identifying and addressing this threat which targeted our national security interests here and abroad. This operation should make it crystal clear to our adversaries that we will not allow anyone to exploit our technology and networks.”
As described in court documents, the government extensively tested the operation on the relevant Ubiquiti Edge OS routers. Other than stymieing the GRU’s ability to access to the routers, the operation did not impact the routers’ normal functionality or collect legitimate user content information. Additionally, the court-authorized steps to disconnect the routers from the Moobot network are temporary in nature; users can roll back the firewall rule changes by undertaking factory resets of their routers or by accessing their routers through their local network (e.g., via the routers’ web-based user interface). However, a factory reset that is not also accompanied by a change of the default administrator password will return the router to its default administrator credentials, leaving the router open to reinfection or similar compromises.
The FBI Philadelphia and Boston Field Offices and Cyber Division, U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, and the National Security Division’s National Security Cyber Section led the disruption effort. The Criminal Division’s Computer Crime and Intellectual Property Section and Office of International Affairs, Shadowserver Foundation, Microsoft Threat Intelligence, and other partners provided valuable assistance.
The FBI is working with internet service providers to provide notice of the operation to owners and operators of SOHO routers covered by the court’s authorization. If you believe you have a compromised router, please visit the FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center.
To better protect themselves, the FBI advises all victims to conduct the following remediation steps:
- Perform a hardware factory reset to flush the file systems of malicious files;
- Upgrade to the latest firmware version;
- Change any default usernames and passwords; and
- Implement strategic firewall rules to prevent the unwanted exposure of remote management services.
The FBI strongly encourages router owners to avoid exposing their devices to the internet until they change the default passwords.
Jury Finds District Man Guilty of First Degree Murder While Armed in 2020 Shooting on Southern AvenueRead the Press Release
WASHINGTON – Today, a jury sitting in Superior Court found Terrell Poe, 37, of Washington, D.C., guilty of first-degree murder while armed, possession of a firearm during a crime of violence, and unlawful possession of a firearm, in the September 2020 shooting death of Christopher Washington. The verdict was announced by U.S. Attorney Matthew M. Graves and Chief Pamela A. Smith, of the Metropolitan Police Department (MPD). Superior Court Judge Michael O’Keefe scheduled sentencing for April 19, 2024.
According to the government’s evidence, at 2:24 p.m. in the afternoon on Wednesday, September 23, 2020, Christopher Washington, 30, of Washington, D.C., was waiting at the bus stop on Southern Avenue, SE when Poe pulled up in a stolen white pickup truck, got out of the truck with an assault rifle, and shot him to death. Just minutes earlier, in a local church parking lot, Poe had switched from his girlfriend’s car into the stolen pickup truck and gone looking for Mr. Washington. Poe passed Mr. Washington as he walked up Indian Head Highway in Maryland, then turned around and followed Mr. Washington, apparently losing sight of him, and then finding him again at the bus stop. After the murder, Poe returned to the church parking lot, dropped off the stolen truck and drove off in his girlfriend’s car.
Poe was arrested on October 5, 2020.
This case is being investigated by the Metropolitan Police Department and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia. It is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Peter V. Roman and Wes Faulkner.
Indictment Charging Theft of a Vehicle in Yosemite National ParkRead the Press Release
FRESNO, Calif. — A federal grand jury returned a three-count indictment today against Christian Claustro, 28, of Rancho Cucamonga, charging him with theft of personal property, unauthorized use of a motor vehicle and fleeing or eluding a police officer, U.S. Attorney Phillip A. Talbert announced.
According to court documents, on Dec. 26, 2022, Claustro stole a Yosemite National Park employee’s vehicle who had pulled over on the side of the road to remove a bike from the roadway. Claustro then led a park ranger in a high-speed chase. The pursuit reached the Ferguson Slide bridge, and Claustro drove the wrong way on to the bridge, colliding head on with another vehicle. The other vehicle was disabled by the amount of damage caused, but Claustro was able to continue driving until he drove the vehicle off a cliff, falling approximately 200 feet to the bottom of a canyon.
This case is the product of an investigation by the National Park Service. Assistant U.S. Attorney Robert Veneman-Hughes is prosecuting the case.
If convicted, Claustro faces up to five years in prison and a $250,000 fine for theft of personal property, up to five years in prison and a fine of up to $250,000 for destroying or removing property subject to seizure, and up to three years in prison and a fine of up to $10,000 for recklessly evading a peace officer. Any sentence, however, would be determined at the discretion of the court after consideration of any applicable statutory factors and the Federal Sentencing Guidelines, which take into account a number of variables. The charges are only allegations; the defendant is presumed innocent until and unless proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.
Husband and Wife Plead Guilty to $5 Million Unemployment Fraud SchemeRead the Press Release
NEWS RELEASE SUMMARY – February 15, 2024
SAN DIEGO –Eduard Buse and Florentina Sima pleaded guilty in federal court today to fraud and money laundering charges, admitting they participated in a scheme to steal more than $5 million in California unemployment benefits intended to help workers affected by the pandemic.
Buse and Sima were indicted by a federal grand jury in October 2023 along with 12 others. The indictment alleged that the fraud scheme involved helping hundreds of undeserving applicants apply for benefits using fraudulent documents. In their respective plea agreements, Buse and Sima admitted the fraud resulted in almost $5.2 million in bogus claims paid by the state of California.
“These covid relief funds were meant to provide critical financial relief during the pandemic. Instead, the money was used to buy luxury cars and jewelry,” said U.S. Attorney Tara McGrath. “We will not only continue to prosecute those who diverted money intended to serve as a lifeline, but we will pursue every avenue to recover and return that money to public use.”
“The Covid-19 pandemic placed an enormous financial strain on millions of Americans; however, some individuals decided to use other people’s pain as an opportunity for financial gain,” said FBI San Diego Special Agent in Charge Stacey Moy. “Our pursuit of justice for those affected by fraud during the pandemic will not stop until each and every person who took advantage of individuals during this critical time is prosecuted for defrauding the U.S. government and innocent people.”
“The defendants’ abuse of programs designed to help people in need during and in the wake of the Covid pandemic is particularly despicable,” said Special Agent in Charge Tyler Hatcher, IRS Criminal Investigation, Los Angeles Field Office. “Even worse, they took money intended to help people keep their heads above water and showered themselves with luxury items. IRS Criminal Investigation is committed to rooting out this sort of evil by following the money to bring people like these defendants to justice.”
According to Buse’s plea agreement, he not only collected $28,350 in undue EDD benefits for himself but also facilitated payouts of $244,050 to 14 co-conspirators, including Sima. Buse then sent $128,902.99 and Sima sent $58,881.53 of fraud proceeds to their associates in Romania through money service businesses.
Buse admitted that he purchased a 2020 BMW X6 for $105,044 in Glendale, California, with proceeds from the fraud and shipped it from San Diego to Romania on April 28, 2023.
On November 13, 2023, Romanian authorities served search warrants on addresses affiliated with Buse at the request of the United States. They seized the BMW with California license plates along with approximately $9,476.50 in U.S. currency; a Rolex Yacht Master II and a rose gold luxury men’s watch purchased for $15,550 U.S. dollars; a Rolex Sky Dweller watch; a Breitling 1884 men’s watch; and a Rolex Oyster Perpetual Date women’s watch.
As part of their plea agreements, Buse and Sima agreed to forfeit the BMW, cash and luxury watches, along with all other property seized in connection with the case.
Buse also agreed to forfeit $128,902.99 and agreed to pay restitution in the amount of $244,050 to the State of California Employment Development Department. Sima agreed to forfeit $58,881.53 and pay the same amount in restitution to the State of California Employment Development Department.
Buse and Sima are scheduled to be sentenced on May 20, 2024, at 9 a.m. before U.S. District Judge Larry A. Burns. This case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Jessica Adeline Schulberg and Valerie Chu.
DEFENDANTS Case Number 23CR2090-LAB
Eduard Buse Age: 30 Transient, Romanian
Florentina Sima Age: 29 Transient, Romanian
SUMMARY OF CHARGES
Title 18, U.S.C. § 1349 — Conspiracy to Commit Wire Fraud
Title 18, U.S.C. § 1343 — Wire Fraud
Maximum penalty: Thirty years in prison, $1 million fine
Title 18 U.S.C. § 1956(a)(2)(B)(i) — Laundering of Monetary Instruments
Maximum penalty: Twenty years in prison and $500,000 fine or twice the value of the monetary instrument or funds involved in the transportation, transmission, or transfer, whichever is greater
AGENCY
Federal Bureau of Investigation
San Diego Police Department Economic Crimes Unit
IRS Criminal Investigation
California Employment Development Department Investigative Division
U.S. Department of Labor Office of Inspector General
U.S. Department of Homeland Security
*The charges and allegations contained in an indictment or complaint are merely accusations, and the defendants are considered innocent unless and until proven guilty.
Huffman resident sent to prison for images of children being sexually assaultedRead the Press Release
HOUSTON – A 65-year-old man has been sentenced for receipt of child pornography, announced U.S. Attorney Alamdar S. Hamdani.
Steve Howie Nelson pleaded guilty Sept. 29, 2023.
U.S. District Judge Keith P. Ellison has now ordered Nelson to serve 180 months in federal prison. He will also serve 10 years on supervised release following completion of his prison term. During that time, he will have to comply with numerous requirements designed to restrict his access to children and the internet. Nelson will also be ordered to register as a sex offender.
The investigation revealed Nelson had been viewing child pornography in a peer-to-peer platform. On Feb. 22, 2019, authorities executed a search warrant at his Huffman residence, at which time they found more than 25 images of child pornography on his laptop. These images depicted adult males sexually assaulting minor females from 10 to 14 years of age.
Nelson will remain in custody pending transfer to a U.S. Bureau of Prisons facility to be determined in the near future.
FBI conducted the investigation.
Assistant U.S. Attorneys Kimberly Leo and Jay Hileman prosecuted the case, which was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood (PSC), a nationwide initiative the Department of Justice (DOJ) launched in May 2006 to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse. U.S. Attorneys' Offices and the Criminal Division's Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section leads PSC, which marshals federal, state and local resources to locate, apprehend and prosecute individuals who sexually exploit children and identifies and rescues victims. For more information about PSC, please visit DOJ’s PSC page. For more information about internet safety education, please visit the resources tab on that page.
Hudson Man Pleads Guilty to Fraudulently Obtaining COVID-19 Relief FundsRead the Press Release
CONCORD – A Hudson man pleaded guilty today in federal court to fraudulently submitting four loan applications to obtain CARES Act funds, U.S. Attorney Jane E. Young announces.
Matthew Dispensa, 57, pleaded guilty to three counts of bank fraud and one count of attempted wire fraud. U.S. District Court Judge Joseph N. Laplante scheduled sentencing for May 28, 2024. Dispensa was charged on April 26, 2023.
Dispensa fraudulently applied for multiple loans under the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) and Economic Injury Disaster Loan (EIDL) programs. For example, on May 5, 2020, the defendant applied for a $90,400 PPP loan from Primary Bank for an entity called Gateway Hills LLC. In connection with the application, the defendant provided the bank multiple false supporting documents, such as fake annual and quarterly tax documents and a “Management Report” for the period ending December 31, 2020, seven months into the future. The defendant also provided a “Payroll Summary” showing that he was paid $8,700 per month through Gateway Hills LLC. The defendant’s tax returns actually showed no income from that entity.
Similarly, on December 29, 2020, the defendant applied for a $150,000 EIDL from the Small Business Administration. In that application, the defendant falsely claimed that the Gateway Hills LLC entity had gross revenues of $485,000 in the 12 months preceding January 31, 2020. However, the bank records showed no actual regular business activity for Gateway Hills LLC.
Overall, the defendant fraudulently obtained $342,650 and attempted to fraudulently obtain $492,650.
The charge of bank fraud provides a sentence of no greater than 30 years in prison, 5 years of supervised release, and a fine of $1 million. The charge of attempted wire fraud provides a sentence of no more than 20 years in prison, 3 years of supervised release, and a fine of $250,000 or twice the gross gain or loss, whichever is greater. Sentences are imposed by a federal district court judge based upon the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and statutes which govern the determination of a sentence in a criminal case.
The Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration and U.S. Postal Inspection Service led the investigation. Valuable assistance was provided by the Hudson Police Department. Assistant U.S. Attorney Alexander S. Chen is prosecuting the case.
During the early part of the coronavirus pandemic, Congress passed the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act. The CARES Act included multiple relief provisions to help the millions of Americans and many small businesses adversely affected by the pandemic, including the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP). Private lenders could participate in the PPP. The loans, which were supposed to be used for payroll, were fully guaranteed by the government. If borrowers used the PPP loans for payroll and other approved expenses as intended, they could apply for loan forgiveness. The CARES Act also opened up the Small Business Administration’s (SBA) Economic Injury Disaster Loan (EIDL) program. As with PPP loans, EIDL loans were supposed to be used for payroll and other business expenses such as rent and mortgage.
On May 17, 2021, the Attorney General established the COVID-19 Fraud Enforcement Task Force to marshal the resources of the Department of Justice in partnership with agencies across government to enhance efforts to combat and prevent pandemic-related fraud. The Task Force bolsters efforts to investigate and prosecute the most culpable domestic and international criminal actors and assists agencies tasked with administering relief programs to prevent fraud by, among other methods, augmenting and incorporating existing coordination mechanisms, identifying resources and techniques to uncover fraudulent actors and their schemes, and sharing and harnessing information and insights gained from prior enforcement efforts. For more information on the Department’s response to the pandemic, please visit https://www.justice.gov/coronavirus
Anyone with information about allegations of attempted fraud involving COVID-19 can report it by calling the Department of Justice’s National Center for Disaster Fraud (NCDF) Hotline at 866-720-5721 or via the NCDF Web Complaint Form at: https://www.justice.gov/disaster-fraud/ncdf-disaster-complaint-form.
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Hampton Man Pleads Guilty to Multiple Fraud Schemes Totaling over $2 Million and Will Forfeit More Than $800,000 to the United States GovernmentRead the Press Release
CONCORD – A Hampton man pleaded guilty today in federal court to four separate fraud schemes involving a total intended loss of approximately $2.1 million, U.S. Attorney Jane E. Young announces.
Anthony Silva, 39, pleaded guilty to three counts of wire fraud, one count of mail fraud, and one count of aggravated identity theft. As part of the plea agreement, Silva will forfeit assets totaling over $825,000 to the United States government. U.S. District Court Judge Samantha D. Elliott scheduled sentencing for May 2, 2024. The grand jury returned an initial indictment against the defendant on March 21, 2022, and a superseding indictment on December 20, 2023.
Silva orchestrated four separate fraud schemes using stolen identities. Specifically, Silva used stolen names, dates of birth, Social Security Numbers, and other identifiers to fraudulently obtain (1) unemployment insurance benefits from Vermont, (2) unemployment insurance benefits from Massachusetts, (3) American Express credit cards, and (4) CARES Act funds. The fraudulently obtained unemployment benefits and CARES Act funds were deposited either by check or direct deposit into dozens of accounts Silva controlled at multiple banks. Many of these accounts were in the names of individual victims or fictional organizations, with Silva listed as the trustee. Silva obtained more than $400,000 from Vermont, over $150,000 from Massachusetts, and $600,000 from the U.S. Small Business Administration. The fraudulently-obtained credit cards were used to make over $50,000 in purchases from retailers such as Victoria’s Secret and Walmart. Silva also tried unsuccessfully to obtain $1.35 million in CARES Act funding. The total intended loss was approximately $2.1 million.
The charge of wire fraud and mail fraud provides for a sentence of up to 20 years in prison and a fine of either $250,000 or twice the gross gain or loss, whichever is higher. The charge of aggravated identity theft provides for a mandatory sentence of 2 years to be served consecutive to any other sentence imposed. Sentences are imposed by a federal district court judge based upon the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and statutes which govern the determination of a sentence in a criminal case.
The U.S. Postal Inspection Service, Federal Bureau of Investigation, Department of Labor’s Office of the Inspector General, and the United States Secret Service led the investigation. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Alexander S. Chen and John J. Kennedy are prosecuting the case.
During the early part of the coronavirus pandemic, Congress passed the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act. The CARES Act included multiple relief provisions to help the millions of Americans and many small businesses adversely affected by the pandemic, including the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP). Private lenders could participate in the PPP. The loans, which were supposed to be used for payroll, were fully guaranteed by the government. If borrowers used the PPP loans for payroll and other approved expenses as intended, they could apply for loan forgiveness. The CARES Act also opened up the Small Business Administration’s (SBA) Economic Injury Disaster Loan (EIDL) program. As with PPP loans, EIDL loans were supposed to be used for payroll and other business expenses such as rent and mortgage.
Anyone with information about allegations of attempted fraud involving COVID-19 can report it by calling the Department of Justice’s National Center for Disaster Fraud (NCDF) Hotline at 866-720-5721 or via the NCDF Web Complaint Form at: https://www.justice.gov/disaster-fraud/ncdf-disaster-complaint-form.
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Grand Jury Returns Indictment Charging FBI Confidential Human Source with Felony False Statement and Obstruction CrimesRead the Press Release
Today, a federal court unsealed a two-count indictment returned by a federal grand jury in the Central District of California charging Alexander Smirnov, 43, with making a false statement, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1001, and creating a false and fictitious record, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1519, for statements he made that were recorded in an official record of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) known as a Form 1023.
David C. Weiss, Special Counsel, made the announcement.
On February 14, 2024, a federal grand jury returned the indictment and Smirnov was arrested at the Harry Reid International Airport in Las Vegas, Nevada, after his arrival in the U.S. from overseas. Later today, Smirnov will have an initial appearance at the federal courthouse in the District of Nevada at 2:30 p.m. pacific time.
According to the indictment, Smirnov was a confidential human source (CHS) with the FBI. As alleged in the indictment, despite repeated admonishments that he must provide truthful information to the FBI and that he must not fabricate evidence, Smirnov provided false derogatory information to the FBI about Public Official 1, and Businessperson 1, the son of Public Official 1, in 2020, after Public Official 1 became a presidential candidate.
The indictment alleges that in March 2017, Smirnov reported to an FBI Agent that he had had a phone call with the owner of Ukrainian industrial conglomerate Burisma Holdings, Limited concerning Burisma’s interest in acquiring a U.S. company and making an initial public offering (IPO) on a U.S.-based stock exchange. In reporting that conversation to the FBI Agent, Smirnov also noted that Businessperson 1, Public Official 1’s son, was a member of Burisma’s Board, a fact that was publicly known. The indictment alleges that Smirnov provided no further information.
Three years later, in June 2020, the indictment alleges that Smirnov reported, for the first time, two meetings in 2015 and/or 2016. As alleged in the indictment, Smirnov falsely claimed that during these meetings, executives associated with Burisma, admitted to him that they hired Businessperson 1 to “protect us, through his dad, from all kinds of problems,” and later that they had specifically paid $5 million each to Public Official 1 and Businessperson 1, when Public Official 1 was still in office, so that “[Businessperson 1] will take care of all those issues through his dad,” referring to a criminal investigation being conducted by the then-Ukrainian Prosecutor General into Burisma and to “deal with [the then-Ukrainian Prosecutor General].”
As alleged in the indictment, the events that Smirnov first reported to the FBI Agent in June 2020 were fabrications. In truth and fact, the defendant had contact with executives from Burisma in 2017, after the end of the administration when Public Official 1 had no ability to influence U.S. policy and after the Ukrainian Prosecutor General had been fired in February 2016. The indictment alleges that the defendant transformed his routine and unextraordinary business contacts with Burisma in 2017 and later into bribery allegations against Public Official 1 after expressing bias against Public Official 1 and his presidential candidacy.
As further alleged in the indictment, when he was interviewed by FBI agents in September 2023, Smirnov repeated some of his false claims, changed his story as to other of his claims, and promoted a new false narrative after he said he met with Russian officials.
If convicted, he faces a maximum penalty of 25 years in prison. Actual sentences for federal crimes are typically less than the maximum penalties. A federal district court judge will determine any sentence after taking into account the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.
Court documents and information for this case is located on the website of the District Court for the Central District of California or on PACER by searching for Case No. 2:24-cr-00091.
An indictment contains allegations that a defendant has committed a crime. Every defendant is presumed to be innocent until and unless proven guilty in court.
Four Accused of Nationwide Financial Scam Targeting ElderlyRead the Press Release
ST. LOUIS – Four men from California have been indicted in connection with a nationwide tech support fraud scam targeting the elderly.
Liang Jin, 24, of Walnut, Tsz Yin Kan, 41, of Chino Hills, and Kaiyu Wen, 25, of Irvine, were added Wednesday to an existing indictment against Yu-Chieh Huang, 22, of Chino Hills, filed in U.S. District Court in St. Louis last year. Jin, Wen and Huang face one felony count of conspiracy to commit mail, bank and wire fraud and multiple counts of wire fraud. Kan faces one felony count of conspiracy to commit mail, bank and wire fraud.
Huang has been in custody since August, when he was arrested after arriving to pick up $88,000 from an elderly Missouri couple and was accused of being a courier for the scammers, charging documents say. After investigators began seizing funds from bank accounts associated with Jin, he purchased a one-way flight to China, charging documents say. He was arrested at the airport before his flight. Kan has also been arrested. Wen is still being sought by authorities. Anyone with information is asked to call Homeland Security Investigations at 866-347-2423 or report tips online at ice.gov/tips.
“We’ve recently seen more scams employ couriers to pick up money from victims,” said U.S. Attorney Sayler A. Fleming. “This is just one of the warning signs of a scam. I strongly encourage people to be cautious when approached online or in person with demands for money and spread to the word to your friends and family to be vigilant about online scams.”
The investigation began in August, after a 78-year-old Missouri man responded to a pop-up message claiming his computer was infected with a virus. The victim and his 76-year-old wife were falsely told that their banking information had been compromised because someone had been accessing child pornography through the computer. To escape criminal prosecution, they were told they had to pay $88,000.
Scammers often initiate contact with phone calls, emails or pop-up messages on the target’s computer. They pretend to be tech support workers who will troubleshoot problems if given access to that computer or if paid a fee. Other times they claim the computer contains evidence of a crime and the victims will have to pay a fee to avoid prosecution.
Following instructions in a series of text messages, the Missouri couple gathered the money, took photos of it and sealed it in a cardboard box. They were told to wait for a courier but began to be suspicious and balked when the courier arrived. They called police, and the courier was arrested.
The man accused of being that courier, Yu-Chieh Huang, 22, was charged by complaint August 11 and indicted September 6. Charging documents say that he was paid $500 to $1,000 to pick up cash from victims and use a counterfeit passport and fraudulently obtained debit card to deposit it into a bank. He then withdrew money in cashier’s checks to send to co-conspirators, the charging documents say. Huang picked up $40,000 in Colorado and $40,000 in Oregon before coming to Missouri, the documents allege.
Huang, a college student from Taiwan, has pleaded not guilty.
Investigators then learned of the role of Jin, Wen and Kan, according to the criminal complaint and Wednesday’s indictment. Jin and Wen provided couriers with assignments and instructions, charging documents say, with Jin paying the courier salaries. Kan recruited college students to fraudulently open financial accounts using the names and passports of citizens of Taiwan, the charging documents say.
About $7 million in cashier’s checks were deposited into one bank account between March 2020 and July 2023, charging documents say, including a $170,000 check Kan deposited into a Missouri bank on June 29, 2022, the documents say. Huang conducted approximately $4 million in currency transactions during 2021 and Jin conducted over $5.7 million in currency transactions between June 2021 and September 2023.
Jin was admitted to the United States as a nonimmigrant student visa holder from China on Feb. 2, 2020, but is considered to have overstayed his visa.
Wen was admitted to the United States as a nonimmigrant student visa holder from China on March 6, 2020. He was terminated from the educational program when he failed to enroll and has overstayed his visa.
The indictment seeks the forfeiture of $6.8 million investigators identified in a series of financial accounts.
The conspiracy charge is punishable by up to 30 years in prison, a $1 million fine or both prison and a fine. Each wire fraud charge is punishable by up to 20 years in prison, a $250,000 fine or both. If convicted, restitution would be mandatory.
Charges set forth in an indictment are merely accusations and do not constitute proof of guilt. Every defendant is presumed to be innocent unless and until proven guilty.
Homeland Security Investigations investigated the case. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Tracy Berry and Kyle Bateman are prosecuting the case.
Report cybercrime online at the Internet Crime Complaint Center at ic3.gov.
Former New York Construction and Remodeling Business Owner Sentenced to Two Years for Filing False Tax ReturnRead the Press Release
A South Carolina man was sentenced today to two years in prison for filing a false federal income tax return.
According to court documents and statements made in court, Timothy Blackman, of Daniel Island, was a self-employed contractor in Auburn, New York, providing construction and remodeling services. From 2007 through 2010, Blackman did not file income tax returns with the IRS or pay income taxes. After learning of a criminal investigation concerning his income taxes in June 2010, Blackman late-filed a false 2007 personal tax return, which underreported his construction and remodeling business’s total gross receipts and income.
In addition to the term of imprisonment, U.S. District Court Judge David Hurd for the Northern District of New York ordered Blackman to serve one year of supervised release.
Acting Deputy Assistant Attorney General Stuart M. Goldberg of the Justice Department’s Tax Division and U.S. Attorney Carla B. Freedman for the Northern District of New York made the announcement.
IRS Criminal Investigation investigated the case.
Acting Section Chief John N. Kane of the Justice Department’s Tax Division and Assistant U.S. Attorney Michael F. Perry for the Northern District of New York prosecuted the case.
Former New York Business Owner Sentenced to Prison for Tax FraudRead the Press Release
SYRACUSE, NEW YORK – Timothy Blackman, age 53, of Daniel Island, South Carolina, was sentenced today in federal court in Utica to 24 months in prison after previously pleading guilty to filing a false federal income tax return. United States Attorney Carla B. Freedman; Acting Deputy Assistant Attorney General Stuart M. Goldberg of the Justice Department’s Tax Division; and Thomas Fattorusso, Executive Special Agent in Charge of the Internal Revenue Service-Criminal Investigation Division (IRS-CI), New York Field Office, made the announcement.
In previously pleading guilty, Blackman admitted that while living in Auburn, New York, he was a self-employed contractor providing construction and remodeling services to customers. During the years 2007 through 2010, Blackman failed to file income tax returns with the IRS and failed to pay income taxes. After learning of an IRS criminal investigation in June 2010 concerning his income taxes, Blackman filed his 2007 individual tax return late, and willfully falsified that return by understating his true business receipts and total income from his construction and remodeling business. In addition to the term of imprisonment, United States District Judge David Hurd ordered Blackman to serve 1 year of supervised release and to pay restitution to the IRS in the amount of $42,121.
Blackman previously pled guilty to felony tax evasion in the Northern District of New York on March 19, 2004, for which he received a term of 15 months in prison.
IRS-CI investigated the case, which was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Michael F. Perry and Acting Section Chief John N. Kane of the Justice Department’s Tax Division.
Former Illinois Department of Agriculture Investigator Sentenced to a Year in Prison for Obstructing JusticeRead the Press Release
CHICAGO — A former investigator for the Illinois Department of Agriculture has been sentenced to a year in federal prison for groping several women while on duty and then lying under oath about it during an official proceeding.
JOSE GUILLEN inappropriately touched and groped female operators of animal care facilities that he inspected for the State of Illinois. In his official capacity as a state investigator, Guillen had the power to influence whether an animal care facility received a license to operate and whether it could continue in operation after receiving the license.
When one of the victims filed a civil lawsuit against Guillen, he repeatedly lied under oath during a deposition in the case. In the deposition, Guillen stated that he touched the victim’s buttocks by accident. In a plea agreement with the U.S. Attorney’s Office to resolve the federal criminal case, Guillen admitted that he “intentionally touched [the victim’s] buttocks for purposes of his own sexual gratification.” Guillen also admitted in the plea agreement that he lied in his deposition when he denied having inappropriately touched four other animal care facility operators.
Guillen, 43, of Melrose Park, Ill., pleaded guilty last year to obstruction of justice. U.S. District Judge Joan Humphrey Lefkow imposed the year-and-a-day sentence during a hearing Wednesday in federal court in Chicago.
The sentence was announced by Morris Pasqual, Acting United States Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois, and Robert W. “Wes” Wheeler, Jr., Special Agent-in-Charge of the Chicago Field Office of the FBI.
“None of these women consented to the defendant’s lecherous advances,” Assistant U.S. Attorneys Amarjeet S. Bhachu and Diane MacArthur argued in the government’s sentencing memorandum. “It was only when confronted by a series of accusers who were brave enough to step forward to put a stop to his misconduct that the defendant capitulated and accepted responsibility for his serial wrongdoing by pleading guilty.”
Former Coffeewood Prison Guard Arrested on Federal Child Porn ChargeRead the Press Release
CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. – A former prison officer at Coffeewood Correctional Center in Mitchells, Virginia was arrested today on federal charges related to his receipt and purchase of child pornography.
Davey Jonathan Sisk, 29, of Culpeper, Virginia, was arrested on a federal criminal complaint charging him with one count of receipt of child pornography.
According to court documents, an investigation conducted by the Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) revealed that from 2021 through 2022, a now-15-year-old minor living in Texas (MV1), and another minor engaged in sexual intercourse and then sold videos and images of these sexual encounters on the internet through various social applications, including Snapchat.
Specifically, it is alleged that Sisk, using the Snapchat username “JAKESMOOT2021,” paid approximately $465 through Cash App to MV1 in exchange for multiple sexually-explicit images and videos.
United States Attorney Christopher R. Kavanaugh of the Western District of Virginia made the announcement.
Homeland Security Investigations - Washington D.C.’s Harrisonburg Field Office is investigating the case.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Sally J. Sullivan is prosecuting the case.
A complaint is merely an allegation and all defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.
Former CEO and CFO of Staffing Company Plead Guilty to Scheme to Defraud Bank and Investors That Caused $75 Million in LossesRead the Press Release
Damian Williams, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, announced the guilty pleas today of LOUIS LLUBERES and MOISES LLUBERES for their roles in orchestrating a years-long scheme to fraudulently boost the revenues of their staffing company (“Company-1”). The scheme allowed Company-1 to fraudulently obtain hundreds of millions of dollars on its line of credit from a U.S. bank (“Bank-1”) and supported the sale of Company-1 to a group of investors (the “Investor Group”) at a grossly inflated price. LOUIS LLUBERES and MOISES LLUBERES pled guilty today to conspiracy commit bank fraud and conspiracy to commit wire fraud before U.S. District Judge Vernon S. Broderick.
U.S. Attorney Damian Williams said: “For many years, the defendants perpetrated a massive accounting fraud scheme in order to deceive their lenders and investors. In addition to causing more than $70 million in losses to victims, the defendants’ fraud jeopardized the livelihoods of hundreds of their employees. The defendants used accounting tricks, thinking their fraud would go undetected. They were wrong. Thanks to the tireless work of the FBI and the career prosecutors from my Office, the fraud was halted, the defendants’ assets were seized, and the defendants will face tough consequences for their criminal conduct.”
According to the charging documents and other filings and statements made in court:
LOUIS LLUBERES founded Company-1 in 1995 and served as Company-1’s Chief Executive Officer until March 2020. Company-1 served as a staffing company, supplying other businesses with temporary and permanent labor. MOISES LLUBERES, LOUIS LLUBERES’s brother, served as Company-1’s Chief Financial Officer.
Company-1 had established a revolving line of credit with Bank-1. Under the terms of the line of credit, Company-1 could only borrow up to a designated ratio of Company-1’s eligible accounts receivable (the “Borrowing Base”). By its terms, invoices that had gone more than 90 or 120 days without being paid were no longer eligible to be considered as part of Company-1’s Borrowing Base. Officials at Company-1 were required to submit weekly financial reports to Bank-1, which included information on Company-1’s sales and collections, among other items, that allowed Bank-1 representatives to calculate Company-1’s Borrowing Base.
Beginning in or about 2017, after losing significant business from major clients, the defendants began creating fraudulent invoices (the “Fictitious Receivables”). The Fictitious Receivables, which were recorded on Company-1’s books, created the appearance that Company-1 was engaged in more business and would be receiving more client payments than Company-1 did in reality. All told, the defendants created more than 2,000 such fraudulent invoices.
By inflating Company-1’s Borrowing Base through the creation of Fictitious Receivables, Company-1 and the defendants were able to borrow more than $500 million from Bank-1 through a revolving line of credit. Had Company-1 not deceived Bank-1 with the Fictitious Receivables, Company-1 would not have been entitled to borrow these funds under the terms of the line of credit.
In order to perpetuate their fraud, the defendants utilized two shell to disguise the loan proceeds before transferring those funds back to Company-1 and mischaracterizing the funds as client collection payments.
Once the misappropriated funds had been returned to Company-1’s collections account, they were applied to aging accounts receivable, including the Fictitious Receivables. This allowed Company-1 to maintain its Borrowing Base and continue borrowing from Bank-1 while artificially inflating Company-1’s revenues.
Beginning in or about 2017, the Investor Group initiated negotiations to acquire Company‑1, and the Investor Group executed an agreement to purchase Company-1 in May 2018. During those negotiations, LOUIS LLUBERES and MOISES LLUBERES actively concealed the fraud scheme, knowing that the fraud grossly inflated the value of Company-1.
LOUIS LLUBERES was paid approximately $11.3 million on the day the Investor Group acquired Company-1. LOUIS LLUBERES also received an additional approximately $6.2 million based, in part, on fraudulent representations to the Investor Group and Company-1. In total, LOUIS LLUBERES made at least $17.5 million from the sale of Company-1, and he transferred approximately $716,000 of those funds to MOISES LLUBERES.
* * *
LOUIS LLUBERES, 61, of Windermere, Florida, and MOISES LLUBERES, 60, of Winter Grove, Florida, each pled guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit bank fraud, which carries a maximum sentence of five years in prison, and one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud, which carries a maximum sentence of five years in prison. Both defendants agreed to pay restitution jointly and severally in the amount of $75,460,611. LOUIS LLUBERES was further ordered to forfeit $75,460,611, and MOISES LLUBERES was ordered to forfeit $1,063,342.45. In addition, the defendants were ordered to forfeit properties in the U.S. and abroad.
The maximum potential sentences in this case are prescribed by Congress and are provided here for informational purposes only, as any sentencing of the defendants will be determined by a judge.
Mr. Williams praised the outstanding work of the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
The case is being prosecuted by the Office’s Complex Frauds and Cybercrime Unit. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Nicholas W. Chiuchiolo, Daniel G. Nessim, Rushmi Bhaskaran, and Kevin Mead are in charge of the prosecution.
Foreign National Pleads Guilty to Role in Cybercrime Schemes Involving Tens of Millions of Dollars in LossesRead the Press Release
A Ukrainian national pleaded guilty today to his role in two separate and wide-ranging malware schemes involving tens of millions of dollars in losses.
“Vyacheslav Igorevich Penchukov was a leader of two prolific malware groups that infected thousands of computers with malicious software. These criminal groups stole millions of dollars from their victims and even attacked a major hospital with ransomware, leaving it unable to provide critical care to patients for over two weeks,” said Acting Assistant Attorney General Nicole M. Argentieri of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division. “Before his arrest and extradition to the United States, the defendant was a fugitive on the FBI’s most wanted list for nearly a decade. Today’s guilty pleas should serve as a clear warning: the Justice Department will never stop in its pursuit of cybercriminals.”
According to court documents, Vyacheslav Igorevich Penchukov, also known as Vyacheslav Igoravich Andreev and Tank, 37, of Donetsk, helped lead a wide-ranging racketeering enterprise and conspiracy that infected thousands of business computers with malicious software known as “Zeus” beginning in May 2009. After installing “Zeus” without authorization on victims’ computers, the enterprise then used the malicious software to capture bank account information, passwords, personal identification numbers, and similar information necessary to log into online banking accounts. Penchukov and his co-conspirators then falsely represented to banks that they were employees of the victims and authorized to make transfers of funds from the victims’ bank accounts, causing the banks to make unauthorized transfers of funds from the victims’ accounts, resulting in millions of dollars in losses to the victims. The enterprise used residents of the United States and elsewhere as “money mules” to receive wired funds from victims’ bank accounts into their own bank accounts, who then withdrew and wired funds overseas to accounts controlled by Penchukov’s co-conspirators.
Penchukov was charged with these offenses in the District of Nebraska. Given the severity of the charges in the case and the harm posed to American victims, Penchukov was added to the FBI’s Cyber Most Wanted List.
“The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Nebraska, in concert with the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of North Carolina and Justice Department’s Computer Crime and Intellectual Property Section, successfully coordinated the prosecution and plea of Penchukov,” said U.S. Attorney Susan T. Lehr for the District of Nebraska. “This case demonstrates that cybercrime can affect anyone, no matter where they are. It also demonstrates that no matter where the cybercriminals are, the department can and will bring them to justice.”
Despite being added to the FBI’s Cyber Most Wanted List, Penchukov returned to criminal activity by helping lead a conspiracy that infected victim computers with IcedID or Bokbot, a new malware, from at least November 2018 through February 2021. IcedID was a sophisticated form of malicious software that collected and transmitted personal information from victims, including credentials for banking accounts. Penchukov and his co-conspirators used this information to steal from IcedID’s victims. IcedID also provided access to infected computers for other forms of malicious software, including ransomware. One such victim of this ransomware attack was the University of Vermont Medical Center, causing the loss of over $30 million from this victim alone, and left the medical center unable to provide many critical patient services for over two weeks, creating a risk of death or serious bodily injury to patients. Penchukov was charged with these offenses in the Eastern District of North Carolina.
“Malware like IcedID bleeds billions from the American economy and puts our critical infrastructure and national security at risk,” said U.S. Attorney Michael Easley for the Eastern District of North Carolina. “The Justice Department and FBI Cyber Squad won’t stand by and watch it happen, and won’t quit coming for the world’s most wanted cybercriminals, no matter where they are in the world. This operation removed a key player from one of the world’s most notorious cybercriminal rings. Extradition is real. Anyone who infects American computers had better be prepared to answer to an American judge.”
“Core to the FBI’s cyber strategy is our willingness to play the long game and take players off the field. Vyacheslav Penchukov was a prolific criminal for over a decade and his criminal activities caused millions in damages,” said Assistant Director Bryan Vorndran of the FBI’s Cyber Division. “The FBI would like to thank our partners in both public and private sectors, and domestically and globally, for helping us bring Penchukov to justice.”
Penchukov was arrested in Switzerland in 2022 and extradited to the United States in 2023.
Penchukov pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit a racketeer influenced and corrupt organizations (RICO) act offense for his leadership role in the “Zeus” enterprise. Penchukov (as Andreev) also pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud for his leadership role in the IcedID malware group. He is scheduled to be sentenced on May 9 and faces a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison for each count. A federal judge will determine any sentence after considering the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.
The FBI Omaha and Charlotte Field Offices are investigating the case.
Assistant Deputy Chief William A. Hall Jr. and Senior Counsels Frank Lin and Ryan K.J. Dickey of the Criminal Division’s Computer Crime and Intellectual Property Section, Assistant U.S. Attorney John E. Higgins for the District of Nebraska, and Assistant U.S. Attorney Brad DeVoe for the Eastern District of North Carolina are prosecuting the case.
The Justice Department’s Office of International Affairs worked with the Swiss Federal Office of Justice to secure the arrest and extradition of Penchukov.
Florida conspirators sentenced to nearly five years in prison each for evading over $42 million in duties when illegally importing and selling plywoodRead the Press Release
MIAMI – A Florida husband and wife, Noel and Kelsy Hernandez Quintana were both sentenced yesterday to 57 months in prison for illegally importing and selling between $25 million and $65 million worth of plywood products in violation of the Lacey Act and customs laws. Their employee, Marta Angelbello, was also sentenced.
In addition to their prison sentences, the Quintanas were ordered to pay, jointly and severally, $42,417,318.50 in forfeitures, as well as $1,630,324.46 in storage costs incurred by the government when the Quintanas declined to abandon illegal wood seized by the government, thus forcing the government to maintain the wood in storage pending resolution of the case. The Quintanas were also ordered to serve three years of supervised release following their prison sentences, during which time they are prohibited in engaging in businesses regarding importing or exporting in products specifically protected under the Lacey Act.
Angelbello was sentenced to three years of probation to include 90 days in home detention and was ordered to pay a fine of $3,000.
“The enforcement of customs laws serves an integral part of U.S. foreign policy and trade policy,” said U.S. Attorney Markenzy Lapointe for the Southern District of Florida. “In this case, the defendants undermined U.S. policy by evading legally mandated customs duties on plywood manufactured in China using Russian timber. Moreover, by doing so, the defendants covered up their criminal scheme to violate federal environmental law, while also unjustly enriching themselves. This case shows the importance of prosecuting customs and environmental offenses.”
“Illegal timber trafficking has serious environmental effects. Also, accurate plant import declarations protect domestic producers from dumping by foreign countries and detect potential over-harvesting and trade in timber from high-risk sources,” said Assistant Attorney General Todd Kim of the Justice Department’s Environment and Natural Resources Division. “This case clearly illustrates the ties between natural resource crime and customs laws, and is the result of excellent investigative work by customs officers, import specialists and Homeland Security Investigations.”
“Homeland Security Investigations is committed to pursuing individuals or entities that attempt to defraud the government of millions of dollars, violate U.S. Customs laws and undermine a fair marketplace for businesses,” said Special Agent in Charge Anthony Salisbury of the Homeland Security (HSI) Miami Field Office. “These types of criminal activities only serve to negatively impact the U.S. economy and we will continue to work with our federal law enforcement partners to combat this illicit activity.”
According to court filings, the Quintanas and Angelbello together engaged in a sophisticated scheme to evade antidumping and countervailing duties owed on hardwood plywood products made in China by falsely declaring the species, country of origin or country of harvest of the wood from which the plywood was made. At times they caused containers of plywood to be shipped from China to Malaysia or Sri Lanka, for example, where the wood was taken out of the original containers and put into a second set of containers to conceal the Chinese origin of the product.
The Quintanas incorporated seven companies in the United States – naming relatives or friends as corporate officers and agents – and used these shell companies to import hundreds of shipments of plywood products into the United States between February 2016 and December 2020. The Quintanas also incorporated a financial shell company through which they accepted payments from purchasers for the plywood they imported in violation of law, including the Lacey Act and customs laws.
When importing plant products, the Lacey Act requires filing a declaration which contains, among other things, the plant’s scientific name and its country of harvest. The Lacey Act makes it unlawful to transport or sell a plant product knowing it or the plant it was made from was transported in violation of any plant-related law. Customs laws prohibit false statements in any import declaration without reasonable cause to believe the truth of such statement. It is also illegal to import merchandise contrary to law, including the Lacey Act.
According to the Quintana’s October plea agreement, softwood plywood – regardless of country of export – carried a general duty of 8%, with a few duty-free exceptions, such as if the outer ply was made from Parana pine. Antidumping and countervailing duties of more than 200% applied to hardwood plywood manufactured in China after approximately April 2017.
Before April 2017, the Quintana’s importing shell companies imported containers of plywood into the United States and almost exclusively declared them to be hardwood plywood imported from China. But after April 2017, the companies evaded applicable duties by falsely declaring their hardwood plywood imports from China to be either the product of another country or to be made with a species of wood not subject to duties.
For example, a declaration from July 2018 said plywood in three containers was manufactured in Russia. But the containers were manufactured and loaded in Qingdao, China, and transported to Port Everglades, Florida, through the Panama Canal, without ever stopping in Russia. After federal authorities stopped such a shipment through Panama, the Quintanas used a different tactic to evade duties by shipping Chinese-produced hardwood plywood to Malaysia and transferring the wood to new containers to be shipped onward to the United States. This change of containers was intended to better conceal that the plywood originated from China.
The Quintana also falsely declared some shipments of softwood plywood to be duty-free Parana pine, which allowed them to evade the 8% general duty on these imports.
Additional court filings reflect that, after being alerted to the possibility of prosecution for their illegal acts, the Quintanas fled the United States initially to Panama and then to Montenegro where they were the subject of extradition proceedings.
The couple pleaded guilty to conspiring to import hardwood plywood in violation of the Lacey Act and customs laws and conspiring to sell the illegally imported plywood. Noel Quintana also pleaded guilty to one count of smuggling and one count of importing plant products without filing a declaration including the scientific name and name of the country from which the plants were taken. Kelsy Quintana also pleaded guilty to two counts of importing plant products without filing a declaration including the scientific name and name of the country where the plant was harvested.
HSI investigated the case with support from Customs and Border Protection, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the Animal and Plant Health Investigation Service.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Florida and attorneys from the Environment and Natural Resources Division’s Environmental Crimes Section prosecuted the case.
Related court documents and information may be found on the website of the District Court for the Southern District of Florida at www.flsd.uscourts.gov or at http://pacer.flsd.uscourts.gov.
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Florida Conspirators Sentenced to Nearly Five Years in Prison Each for Evading over $42 Million in Duties When Illegally Importing and Selling PlywoodRead the Press Release
A Florida husband and wife, Noel and Kelsy Hernandez Quintana were both sentenced yesterday to 57 months in prison for illegally importing and selling between $25 million and $65 million worth of plywood products in violation of the Lacey Act and customs laws. Their employee, Marta Angelbello, was also sentenced.
In addition to their prison sentences, the Quintanas were ordered to pay, jointly and severally, $42,417,318.50 in forfeitures, as well as $1,630,324.46 in storage costs incurred by the government when the Quintanas declined to abandon illegal wood seized by the government, thus forcing the government to maintain the wood in storage pending resolution of the case. The Quintanas were also ordered to serve three years of supervised release following their prison sentences, during which time they are prohibited in engaging in businesses regarding importing or exporting in products specifically protected under the Lacey Act.
Angelbello was sentenced to three years of probation to include 90 days in home detention and was ordered to pay a fine of $3,000.
“Illegal timber trafficking has serious environmental effects. Also, accurate plant import declarations protect domestic producers from dumping by foreign countries and detect potential over-harvesting and trade in timber from high-risk sources,” said Assistant Attorney General Todd Kim of the Justice Department’s Environment and Natural Resources Division. “This case clearly illustrates the ties between natural resource crime and customs laws, and is the result of excellent investigative work by customs officers, import specialists and Homeland Security Investigations.”
“The enforcement of customs laws serves an integral part of U.S. foreign policy and trade policy,” said U.S. Attorney Markenzy Lapointe for the Southern District of Florida. “In this case, the defendants undermined U.S. policy by evading legally mandated customs duties on plywood manufactured in China using Russian timber. Moreover, by doing so, the defendants covered up their criminal scheme to violate federal environmental law, while also unjustly enriching themselves. This case shows the importance of prosecuting customs and environmental offenses.”
“Homeland Security Investigations is committed to pursuing individuals or entities that attempt to defraud the government of millions of dollars, violate U.S. Customs laws and undermine a fair marketplace for businesses,” said Special Agent in Charge Anthony Salisbury of the Homeland Security (HSI) Miami Field Office. “These types of criminal activities only serve to negatively impact the U.S. economy and we will continue to work with our federal law enforcement partners to combat this illicit activity.”
According to court filings, the Quintanas and Angelbello together engaged in a sophisticated scheme to evade antidumping and countervailing duties owed on hardwood plywood products made in China by falsely declaring the species, country of origin or country of harvest of the wood from which the plywood was made. At times they caused containers of plywood to be shipped from China to Malaysia or Sri Lanka, for example, where the wood was taken out of the original containers and put into a second set of containers to conceal the Chinese origin of the product.
The Quintanas incorporated seven companies in the United States – naming relatives or friends as corporate officers and agents – and used these shell companies to import hundreds of shipments of plywood products into the United States between February 2016 and December 2020. The Quintanas also incorporated a financial shell company through which they accepted payments from purchasers for the plywood they imported in violation of law, including the Lacey Act and customs laws.
When importing plant products, the Lacey Act requires filing a declaration which contains, among other things, the plant’s scientific name and its country of harvest. The Lacey Act makes it unlawful to transport or sell a plant product knowing it or the plant it was made from was transported in violation of any plant-related law. Customs laws prohibit false statements in any import declaration without reasonable cause to believe the truth of such statement. It is also illegal to import merchandise contrary to law, including the Lacey Act.
According to the Quintana’s October plea agreement, softwood plywood – regardless of country of export – carried a general duty of 8%, with a few duty-free exceptions, such as if the outer ply was made from Parana pine. Antidumping and countervailing duties of more than 200% applied to hardwood plywood manufactured in China after approximately April 2017.
Before April 2017, the Quintana’s importing shell companies imported containers of plywood into the United States and almost exclusively declared them to be hardwood plywood imported from China. But after April 2017, the companies evaded applicable duties by falsely declaring their hardwood plywood imports from China to be either the product of another country or to be made with a species of wood not subject to duties.
For example, a declaration from July 2018 said plywood in three containers was manufactured in Russia. But the containers were manufactured and loaded in Qingdao, China, and transported to Port Everglades, Florida, through the Panama Canal, without ever stopping in Russia. After federal authorities stopped such a shipment through Panama, the Quintanas used a different tactic to evade duties by shipping Chinese-produced hardwood plywood to Malaysia and transferring the wood to new containers to be shipped onward to the United States. This change of containers was intended to better conceal that the plywood originated from China.
The Quintana also falsely declared some shipments of softwood plywood to be duty-free Parana pine, which allowed them to evade the 8% general duty on these imports.
Additional court filings reflect that, after being alerted to the possibility of prosecution for their illegal acts, the Quintanas fled the United States initially to Panama and then to Montenegro where they were the subject of extradition proceedings.
The couple pleaded guilty to conspiring to import hardwood plywood in violation of the Lacey Act and customs laws and conspiring to sell the illegally imported plywood. Noel Quintana also pleaded guilty to one count of smuggling and one count of importing plant products without filing a declaration including the scientific name and name of the country from which the plants were taken. Kelsy Quintana also pleaded guilty to two counts of importing plant products without filing a declaration including the scientific name and name of the country where the plant was harvested.
HSI investigated the case with support from Customs and Border Protection, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the Animal and Plant Health Investigation Service.
Attorneys from the Environment and Natural Resources Division’s Environmental Crimes Section and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Florida prosecuted the case.
Florida Business Owners Sentenced in Durable Medical Equipment Bribery SchemeRead the Press Release
ATLANTA - Brett Weiner and Valerie Desalvo have been sentenced on conspiracy charges for their role in buying and selling fraudulent doctors’ orders used to obtain over $1.5 million in fraudulent payments from Medicare.
“Thieves take advantage of telemedicine and use it as a platform to orchestrate their criminal schemes,” said U.S. Attorney Ryan K. Buchanan. “Our office is committed to prosecuting those who exploit our most vulnerable citizens and bilk the health care system in the name of personal greed.”
“Fraudulent schemes, such as what Weiner and DeSalvo participated in, corrupt medical decision making, drive up the cost of health care, and hurt every taxpayer in this country,” said Keri Farley, Special Agent in Charge of FBI Atlanta. “Hopefully this lengthy sentence will send the message that the FBI makes it a priority to end people from abusing government funded programs like Medicaid.”
“Health care providers who cause the submission of Medicare claims for medically unnecessary equipment pose a significant risk to these programs and the patients who rely on them,” stated Special Agent in Charge Tamala E. Miles of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Office of Inspector General (HHS-OIG). “HHS-OIG works diligently with our law enforcement partners to hold accountable individuals who, to satisfy their own greed, exploit federal health care programs.”
According to U.S. Attorney Buchanan, the charges and other information presented in court: Brett Weiner and Valerie Desalvo owned and operated Laboratory Marketing Services, LLC (“LMS”), a business in Boca Raton, Florida. LMS was in the business of, among other things, receiving kickback payments in exchange for patient “leads,” consisting of billable Medicare beneficiaries. Weiner and Desalvo received bribes from DME companies such as Medihealth Medical Solutions, LLC, located in Amory, Mississippi, and Liberty Medical DME, LLC, in Atlanta, Georgia, in exchange for the leads, which included, among other information, each Medicare beneficiary’s name, Medicare number, diagnoses, pain level, and primary care physician.
Through LMS, Weiner and Desalvo also bought and sold signed physicians’ orders from Nagaindra Srivastav and his company B2B Apps Solutions, LLC, in Tampa, Florida, which they sold to DME companies. A substantial portion of the doctors’ orders that Weiner and Desalvo purchased from Srivastav and B2B contained signatures or purported approvals of physicians or other health care providers whose names and professional identifying information were used without their true authorization and prior knowledge.
In total, Weiner and Desalvo, through LMS, caused the submission of false and fraudulent claims to Medicare in the approximate amount of over $1,500,000, which generated approximately $715,000 in payment, for medical braces, including back, knee, and ankle braces, that were procured through the payment of illegal kickbacks and bribes and ineligible for Medicare reimbursement.
Brett Weiner, 61, of Boca Raton, Florida, and Valerie Desalvo, 58, of Boca Raton Florida, were each sentenced to three years, one month in prison, to be followed by three years of supervised release. Weiner and Desalvo were also ordered to pay $715,435.03 in restitution.
The following defendants were previously sentenced as part of the same conspiracy:
- Nagaindra Srivastav, 59, of Tampa, Florida, was sentenced to serve nine years in prison, followed by three years of supervised release, and ordered to pay $48,150,692.49 in restitution; and
- Brian Tisdale, 46, of Amory, Mississippi, was sentenced to serve three years, six months in prison, followed by three years of supervised release, and ordered to pay $4,675,093.80 in restitution.
This case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Office of Inspector General.
Assistant U.S. Attorney David A. O’Neal prosecuted the case.
For further information please contact the U.S. Attorney’s Public Affairs Office at [email protected] or (404) 581-6280. The Internet address for the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Georgia is http://www.justice.gov/usao-ndga.
Five Individuals Sentenced to Federal Prison for Methamphetamine Trafficking and Money Laundering in the Fox ValleyRead the Press Release
Gregory J. Haanstad, United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Wisconsin, announced that on February 14, 2024, five individuals were sentenced by United States Senior District Court Judge William C. Griesbach for their involvement in a methamphetamine trafficking organization that operated in the Fox Valley area and elsewhere. The five individuals were sentenced as follows:
Defendant
Conviction(s)
Months of Prison
Mario Rodriguez Diaz (Age: 32), Moxee, Washington
Conspiracy to Distribute Methamphetamine
168
Luis R. Leon (Age: 29), Appleton, Wisconsin
Money Laundering
84
Rodrigo Diaz (Age: 27), Moxee, Washington
Conspiracy to Distribute Methamphetamine
80
Julio C. Vargas-Rodriguez (Age: 39), Appleton, Wisconsin
Conspiracy to Distribute Methamphetamine
72
Darius Robinson (Age: 28), Tacoma, Washington
Conspiracy to Distribute Methamphetamine
72
According to court documents, Mario Rodriguez Diaz, a Washington resident, was the leader of the drug trafficking organization. He obtained large quantities of methamphetamine from Mexico and paid couriers, including Darius Robinson, to distribute the methamphetamine throughout the United States. Rodriguez Diaz obtained and distributed several hundred pounds of methamphetamine from 2021 through 2022.
Court documents established that Luis Leon and Julio Cesar Vargas Rodriguez, who lived and operated in the Fox Valley area, frequently received large quantities of methamphetamine from Mario Rodriguez Diaz. Specifically, they received methamphetamine from a courier approximately 1-2 times per month and distributed over 3 pounds of methamphetamine per week.
Finally, court documents demonstrated that Rodrigo Diaz oversaw the organization’s finances and frequently traveled to Appleton, Wisconsin, to pick up cash that Luis Leon and Julio Cesar Vargas Rodriguez earned from methamphetamine distribution. Drug proceeds were also concealed in bank accounts of a Limited Liability Company (LLC) registered to Luis Leon.
The investigation resulted in the seizure of approximately $300,000 in cash, 125 pounds of methamphetamine, several vehicles, and dozens of firearms.
The defendants were charged based on a multi-year investigation led by law enforcement agents and officers from the Lake Winnebago Area Metropolitan Enforcement Group – Drug Unit (LWAM), the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) – Green Bay Resident Office, the DEA – Madison Resident Office, and the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) Criminal Investigation Division. Several other law enforcement agencies assisted with the investigation, including the DEA – Yakima Resident Office, the Appleton Police Department, the Outagamie County Sheriff’s Office, and the Wisconsin Department of Justice – Division of Criminal Investigation (DCI).
Assistant United States Attorney Alex Duros prosecuted the case.
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Firearms Purchaser Sentenced to 21 Months for Lying to Acquire a FirearmRead the Press Release
TUCSON, Ariz. – Javier Alejandro Ramos-Velderrain, 23, of Tucson, was sentenced last week by United States District Judge Scott H. Rash to 21 months in prison. On October 23, 2023, a jury convicted Ramos-Velderrain of Making a False Statement During the Purchase of a Firearm.
On November 4, 2020, U. S. Customs and Border Protection officers stopped Luis Manuel Bray-Vasquez as he attempted to enter the Republic of Mexico at the Mariposa Port of Entry in Nogales in an SUV. When told to turn off the engine, Bray-Vasquez, a U.S. Consulate employee, put the car in drive and attempted to flee into Mexico. Port officials were able to close the gates and stop the vehicle from escaping into Mexico and Bray-Vasquez was arrested. A search of the SUV revealed 15 firearms, including a Barrett BMG .50 caliber rifle, broken down and hidden in a blue bag. Bray-Vasquez was subsequently prosecuted and sentenced on August 24, 2021, by United States District Judge Jennifer G. Zipps, to 46 months in prison after he pleaded guilty to Smuggling Goods from the United States (CR-21-00655-TUC-JGZ).
Homeland Security Investigations and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) began an investigation into the source of the 15 firearms and traced the 12 firearms that had serial numbers. Based on the tracing, ATF discovered that Javier Alejandro Ramos-Velderrain purchased the Barrett BMG .50 caliber firearm from 2A Ballistic Solutions, a federal firearms licensee (FFL), just 22 days prior to it being intercepted at the border. When he purchased the Barrett rifle, Ramos-Velderrain filled out and certified under penalty of perjury the ATF Form 4473, the Firearms Transaction Record, which records the identifying information of the buyer when purchasing a firearm from an FFL. At the time, Ramos-Velderrain knowingly listed a false address as his residence. This delayed the investigation, as agents were unable to locate Ramos-Velderrain. When agents found him, Ramos-Velderrain stated that he sold the firearm for $7,000 to a person who responded to an internet sale advertisement. He was unable to provide any information as to whom and when he allegedly sold the firearm. The Barrett BMG .50 caliber rifle is one of the most highly powered firearms that can be purchased outside of the military as it has massive destructive power.
The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, Homeland Security Investigations, and U.S. Customs and Border Protection conducted the investigation in this case. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Serra M. Tsethlikai and Evan N. Wesley, District of Arizona, Tucson, handled the prosecution. Assistant U.S. Attorney Angela W. Woolridge, District of Arizona, Tucson, handled the prosecution of Luis Manuel Bray-Vasquez.
CASE NUMBER: CR-21-03282-SHR
RELEASE NUMBER: 2024-018_Ramos-Velderrain# # #
For more information on the U.S. Attorney’s Office, District of Arizona, visit http://www.justice.gov/usao/az/
Follow the U.S. Attorney’s Office, District of Arizona, on Twitter @USAO_AZ for the latest news.Felon with Multiple Domestic Violence Convictions on His Record Sentenced to 15 Years in Federal Prison for Possessing AmmunitionRead the Press Release
LOS ANGELES – A San Bernardino man with multiple felony domestic violence convictions has been sentenced to 180 months in federal prison for unlawfully possessing ammunition – the fired cartridge cases of which law enforcement found in the man’s shared family home after he had fired them during a domestic dispute, the Justice Department announced today.
Frank Escobar, Jr., 35, was sentenced on Wednesday afternoon by United States District Judge Hernán D. Vera.
Escobar pleaded guilty in November 2023 to one count of being a felon in possession of ammunition. He has been in federal custody since August 2023.
In May 2023, Escobar knowingly possessed ammunition, specifically, three rounds of .25-caliber ammunition and four rounds of 12-gauge shotgun ammunition. Law enforcement found two of the .25-caliber rounds in the form of fired cartridge cases in Escobar’s shared family residence after he had fired the bullets during a domestic dispute. He was not permitted to possess the firearm and ammunition because of his criminal history, which includes four convictions for felony domestic violence.
“Firearm restrictions are particularly impactful and necessary for offenders like [Escobar] with a history of domestic violence,” prosecutors argued in a sentencing memorandum. “Possession of a firearm by an abuser significantly increases the risk of death for a victim of domestic violence…While in possession of a firearm that he was legally prohibited from possessing, [Escobar] fired the gun multiple times in close proximity to his family members inside their shared residence.”
The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives, and the San Bernardino Police Department investigated this matter.
Assistant United States Attorney Kelsey A. Stimson of the General Crimes Section prosecuted this case.
Federal Grand Jury Indicts Hickman Felon for Illegally Possessing a FirearmRead the Press Release
Paducah, KY – A federal grand jury in Paducah, Kentucky, returned an indictment on February 13, 2024, charging a Hickman man with possessing a firearm after being convicted of a felony.
U.S. Attorney Michael A. Bennett of the Western District of Kentucky, Special Agent in Charge R. Shawn Morrow of the ATF Louisville Field Division, and Sheriff Chad Parker of the Fulton County Sheriff’s Office made the announcement.
According to the indictment, on November 1, 2023, Maurice Thorpe, 44, of Hickman, possessed a Jennings Firearm 9-millimeter pistol. Thorpe was prohibited from possessing a firearm because he had previously been convicted of the following felony offenses:
On March 27, 1998, in Fulton Circuit Court, Thorpe was convicted of trafficking in cocaine.
On January 13, 2000, in Fulton Circuit Court, Thorpe was convicted of possession of cocaine.
On November 12, 2024, in Fulton Circuit Court, Thorpe was convicted of trafficking in marijuana over 8 ounces.
On October 26, 2005, in Calloway Circuit Court, Thorpe was convicted of trafficking in a controlled substance and first-degree fleeing or evading police.
On April 10, 2014, in Fulton Circuit Court, Thorpe was convicted of trafficking in a controlled substance – second or greater offense.
On May 25, 2017, in Fulton Circuit Court, Thorpe was convicted of second-degree criminal abuse.
Thorpe made his initial court appearance today before a U.S. Magistrate Judge in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Kentucky. If convicted, Thorpe faces a maximum sentence of 15 years in prison. With three prior qualifying felony convictions, Thorpe could face no less than 15 years, and up to life, in federal prison. A federal district court judge will determine any sentence after considering the sentencing guidelines and other statutory factors. The Defendant remains in federal custody pending further court proceedings.
There is no parole in the federal system.
This case is being investigated by the ATF Paducah Post of Duty and the Fulton County Sheriff’s Office, with assistance from the Carlisle County Sheriff’s Office.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Leigh Ann Dycus, of the U.S. Attorney’s Paducah Branch Office, is prosecuting this case.
This case is part of Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN), a program bringing together all levels of law enforcement and the communities they serve to reduce violent crime and gun violence, and to make our neighborhoods safer for everyone. On May 26, 2021, the Department launched a violent crime reduction strategy strengthening PSN based on these core principles: fostering trust and legitimacy in our communities, supporting community-based organizations that help prevent violence from occurring in the first place, setting focused and strategic enforcement priorities, and measuring the results.
An indictment is merely an allegation. All defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.
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Federal Government Enters Agreement with Ashland Dermatology Practice to Ensure Effective Communication with Deaf and Hard of Hearing PatientsRead the Press Release
LEXINGTON, Ky. – The United States has reached an agreement, under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), with Jack F. Ditty, M.D., P.S.C., a dermatology practice in Ashland, Kentucky, addressing effective communication with deaf and hard of hearing patients.
The settlement resolves a complaint filed by a patient who alleged that she was not provided an American Sign Language (ASL) interpreter during an initial appointment. Through an investigation, the United States determined that the dermatology practice failed to take necessary steps to ensure effective communication with deaf or hard of hearing patients, by not providing interpreters or other auxiliary aids and services to patients, who staff knew were deaf or hard of hearing, and encouraging those patients to bring someone with them to facilitate communication.
“Adequate communication with your health care provider is absolutely essential to receiving the medical care you need,” said Carlton S. Shier, IV, United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Kentucky. “This foundational access to communication is critically important and required by law. This settlement reflects our commitment to ensuring deaf and hard-of-hearing patients can properly participate in their important health care decisions, through essential access to adequate communication services.”
Under the terms of the agreement, the practice will advise patients and companions of their right to auxiliary aids and services to ensure effective communication, including a live qualified sign language interpreter, whether through video or on-site. The practice will maintain a list of qualified interpreters and establish internal procedures for ordering interpreting services. The practices will also modify its policies and practices to comply with the ADA, train its staff on the ADA and the terms of the agreement, and will periodically submit reports about its compliance with the agreement.
This matter was handled by Assistant U.S. Attorney Carrie Pond, in coordination with the Disability Rights Section of the U.S. Department of Justice Civil Rights Division.
For more information on the Office’s civil rights efforts, please visit https://www.justice.gov/usao-edky/civil-rights. ADA complaints may be emailed to [email protected] or by contacting the U.S. Attorney's Office’s Civil Rights Hotline at (859) 685-4880.
More information about the ADA is available at the Justice Department’s toll-free ADA Information line at (800) 514 0301 or (800) 514 0383 (TTY) and on the ADA website at www.ada.gov.
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Fayette County Auto Dealer Sentenced to Prison for COVID-19 Relief FraudRead the Press Release
PITTSBURGH, Pa. – A resident of Fayette County, Pennsylvania, was sentenced in federal court on February 14, 2024, for conspiracy to commit mail and bank fraud, U.S. Attorney Eric G. Olshan announced today.
United States Senior District Judge Arthur J. Schwab sentenced Joshua DeWitt, 38, to ten months of imprisonment followed by two years of supervised release. DeWitt was also ordered to pay restitution in the total amount of $60,022.50.
According to information provided to the Court, DeWitt was the owner of RC Auto, a used car dealership in Fayette County. Along with his co-conspirator Terrence Newmeyer, DeWitt filed a series of fraudulent applications for Pandemic Unemployment Assistance benefits and Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) COVID-19 relief loans, including on behalf of customers, telling some that they were applying for funds that could be used to purchase a vehicle from the dealership. DeWitt and Newmeyer used the fraudulently obtained pandemic benefits for themselves and the dealership, by—among other things—accepting them as payment for vehicles and services sold.
Prior to imposing sentence, Judge Schwab stated that the fraud conspiracy lasted for many months and involved repeated instances of criminal activity.
Assistant United States Attorney Jeffrey Bengel prosecuted this case on behalf of the government.
United States Attorney Olshan commended the United States Department of Labor Office of the Inspector General, Pennsylvania State Police, and Fayette County District Attorney’s Office for the investigation leading to the successful prosecution of DeWitt.
Newmeyer’s sentencing hearing currently is scheduled for March 5, 2024.
Enfield Man Pleads Guilty to Producing and Possessing Child Sex Abuse ImagesRead the Press Release
Vanessa Roberts Avery, United States Attorney for the District of Connecticut, Michael J. Krol, Special Agent in Charge of Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), New England, and Enfield Police Chief Alaric Fox today announced that KATRELL JOHNSON, 34, of Enfield, pleaded guilty yesterday before U.S. District Judge Jeffrey A. Meyer in New Haven to producing and possessing child sex abuse images and videos.
According to court documents and statements made in court, in April and May 2023, the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (“NCMEC”) received CyberTipline reports from Google and WhatsApp that accounts, subsequently connected to Johnson, had been used to upload images and videos depicting the sexual abuse of children. A court-authorized search of two of Johnson’s Google accounts revealed hundreds of child sex abuse images and videos, including images and videos of prepubescent children, and images that Johnson created of two minor victims.
Johnson pleaded guilty to two counts of production of child pornography, an offense that carries a mandatory minimum term of imprisonment of 15 years and a maximum term of imprisonment of 30 years on each count, and one count of possession of child pornography, an offense that carries a maximum term of imprisonment of 20 years. Judge Meyer scheduled sentencing for May 8.
Johnson has been detained since his arrest on July 13, 2023.
This matter is being investigated by Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) and the Enfield Police Department. The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Jessica Casey and Amanda Oakes.
This prosecution is part of the U.S. Department of Justice’s Project Safe Childhood Initiative, which is aimed at protecting children from sexual abuse and exploitation. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.justice.gov/psc.
To report cases of child exploitation, please visit www.cybertipline.com.
Encino Tax Prep Company Owner Pleads Guilty to Helping Client File a False Tax Return and Admits Causing Tax Loss of More Than $400,000Read the Press Release
LOS ANGELES – The owner of an Encino tax preparation company pleaded guilty today to helping a client file a false individual tax return that deliberately underreported the client’s income, admitting that this and other false tax returns for the same the client caused a loss to the IRS of more than $400,000.
Bijan Kohanzad, 62, of Calabasas, pleaded guilty to one count of aiding and assisting the filing of a false tax return.
According to his plea agreement, beginning in mid-2015 and lasting until May 2017, Kohanzad helped and counseled a client to reduce the client’s taxable income. He did so illegally by falsely increasing the client’s business expenses reported on the client’s federal tax returns.
On the client’s corporate tax return for the year 2015, the client’s company claimed $150,000 in advertising expenses, a claim that Kohanzad knew was false. This false expense claim reduced the company’s ordinary business income from more than $326,000 to over $176,000, and fraudulently reduced the income the client would then report on his individual tax return.
In September 2016, Kohanzad also knowingly and willfully helped and advised the same client to file a false individual income tax return for the year 2015. On this return, the client failed to report the approximately $150,000 in concealed income that the client had received through his company. As a result, the client’s personal tax return falsely reported a taxable income of $127,878, when the actual amount exceeded $278,000.
For the tax year 2016, Kohanzad admitted that he again prepared and filed corporate and individual income tax returns for the same client that he knew were false. As with the false 2015 tax returns, the 2016 corporate tax return falsely claimed $886,325 in business expenses, which reduced the company’s reported ordinary business income, and fraudulently reduced the client’s taxable income as reported on his individual tax return from more than $1.3 million to less than $450,000.
The total loss Kohanzad caused to the IRS for these two tax years was approximately $401,436. Kohanzad admitted in his plea agreement that he acted willfully and that he voluntarily and intentionally violated federal law.
United States District Judge André Birotte Jr. scheduled a July 12 sentencing hearing, at which time Kohanzad will face a statutory maximum sentence of three years in federal prison. Kohanzad is free on $100,000 bond.
IRS Criminal Investigation is investigating this matter.
Assistant United States Attorney Monica E. Tait of the Major Frauds Section is prosecuting this case.
Eleven Individuals Indicted and Arrested for Drug Trafficking from Puerto Rico to the Continental United StatesRead the Press Release
SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico – On February 14, 2024, a federal grand jury returned a nine-count indictment charging 11 individuals for drug trafficking, announced W. Stephen Muldrow, United States Attorney for the District of Puerto Rico. The United States Postal Inspection Service, U.S. Postal Service Office of Inspector General, and the Puerto Rico Police Bureau are investigating the case.
According to court documents, from April of 2019 and continuing up to and until September of 2022, the following defendants knowingly and intentionally, combined, conspired, and agreed with others, to knowingly and intentionally possess with intent to distribute and distribute cocaine using the U.S. Postal Service.
[1] Emmanuel A. Fernández García
[2] Edwin Orlando Carrasquillo
[3] Efraín Guillermo Vila Serrano
[4] Marymar Marrero Torres
[5] Pedro Benjamín Marrero Torres
[6] Arajulia Ramírez Del Valle
[7] Sebastián Restrepo Cano
[8] Luis Dejesus III
[9] Gadelys Rosario Alvarado
[10] Tyrone José Beltrán Lugo
[11] David Custodio Hernández
The defendants are facing a narcotics forfeiture allegation of $6,930,000.
“Drug trafficking poses a significant threat to public health and safety,” said United States Attorney Muldrow. “This criminal organization distributed cocaine into communities across the East Coast in various ways, including the mail. The U.S. Attorney’s Office and its partners will continue to pursue drug traffickers and to seek justice for our communities.”
“The arrests made today in Massachusetts, Florida, and Puerto Rico highlight the broad reach of the U.S. Postal Inspection Service when it comes to dismantling criminal drug trafficking organizations that pose a serious public safety threat,” said Ketty Larco-Ward, Inspector in Charge of the U.S. Postal Inspection Service, Boston Division. “Postal inspectors aggressively seek to rid the mail of illicit narcotics, preserve the integrity of the mail and, most importantly, provide a safe environment for postal employees and Postal Service customers. I would like to commend the hard work and countless hours put forth by all the law enforcement agencies on this case. Together we will prevent these dangerous and addictive drugs from reaching our streets and ensure the perpetrators are brought to justice.”
The defendants arrested in Puerto Rico are scheduled for their initial court appearance today before U.S. Magistrate Judge Héctor Ramos-Vega of the U.S. District Court for the District of Puerto Rico. If convicted, the defendants face a mandatory minimum penalty of 10 years in prison for the conspiracy charged in count one of the indictment. A federal district court judge will determine any sentence after considering the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.
Assistant U.S. Attorney R. Vance Eaton is prosecuting the case.
An indictment is merely an allegation and all defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.
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Dominican Republic Man Sentenced to One Year on Illegally Reentery ConvictionRead the Press Release
St. Thomas, VI – United States Attorney Delia L. Smith announced today that Cristian Lopez-Moncion, 42, of the Dominican Republic, was sentenced by Chief District Judge Robert A. Molloy to one year of incarceration on his conviction of Illegal Reentry into the United States of a Removed Alien after pleading guilty on October 6, 2023.
According to court documents, on February 23, 2023, Lopez-Moncion was seen in the vicinity of Emile Griffith Ballpark in St. Thomas by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement Officer who was familiar with Lopez-Moncion and was aware of that he had been deported from the United States in 2019. Further investigation confirmed that the individual in question was, in fact, Lopez-Moncion. After his arrest on May 4, 2023, Lopez-Moncion admitted that he had been deported from the United States.
The case was investigated by United States Customs and Border Protection, Homeland Security Investigations and Department of Homeland Security Enforcement and Removal and was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Evan Rikhye.
DOJ and Vancouver, Washington, hospital resolve allegations of Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) violationsRead the Press Release
Seattle – PeaceHealth Southwest Medical Center in Vancouver, Washington has resolved allegations it violated the Americans with Disabilities Act by failing to provide a sign language interpreter to a patient who is deaf. The settlement, with the U.S. Department of Justice, requires the medical facility to improve its services, staff training, and communications with the public. The patient will be paid $75,000 for the discrimination she suffered while hospitalized March 20-23, 2020.
“Ensuring compliance with the American with Disabilities Act is a top priority of our Civil Rights Unit – and that is critically important in the health care setting,” said U.S. Attorney Tessa Gorman. “When facing hospitalization and treatment, every patient deserves clear communication about their course of treatment. This settlement seeks to ensure that effective communication for each patient.”
According to the settlement agreement, PeaceHealth violated the ADA by failing to have a sign language interpreter for the patient and that failure caused significant emotional distress as the patient was unable to understand the reason for her hospitalization or the suggested course of treatment. Other patients who needed sign language interpreters or video remote interpreting services, were also denied appropriate communication aids.
Under the terms of the settlement, hospital staff will now assess a patient’s communications needs at the initial visit. They will also assess the needs of the patient’s companion. As part of their scheduling obligation, staff will make sure appropriate language services are available for effective communication.
The medical center will designate members of staff as the communications services resources. At least one of these staff members will be available at all times the hospital is operating. This person is responsible for knowing where the assistive devices are located and how to arrange for qualified sign language interpreters.
The hospital will keep a log of all requests for qualified interpreters or video remote interpretation. The hospital will keep records of all complaints about services provided to patients who are deaf, deaf-blind, or hard of hearing. The hospital may not charge additional fees for the interpretation services.
Under the terms of the agreement, PeaceHealth Southwest will maintain relationships with five different interpreter services. The hospital will have access to Video Remote Interpreting (VRI) but will not use it if it does not provide effective communication for the patient.
PeaceHealth agrees to post information about auxiliary aids and services in the facility and on its website. The medical facility also commits to training personnel about the communications resource program and services.
Every six months PeaceHealth Southwest will provide a compliance report to the U.S. Attorney’s Office and will report any complaint regarding failure to provide effective communication within 45 days.
In addition to the $75,000 paid to the complaint in this case, the medical center will pay DOJ $10,000 for violating the ADA.
This matter was referred to the U.S. Attorney’s Office by the Northwest Justice Project (NJP).
The matter was investigated, and the settlement was negotiated, by Assistant United States Attorney Susan Kas, who serves as the Civil Rights Coordinator for the U.S. Attorney’s Office, Western District of Washington.
Cuban national convicted of trafficking aliens in rotten produceRead the Press Release
CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas – A federal jury in Corpus Christi has returned a guilty verdict against a 38-year-old man for transporting illegal aliens within the United States, announced U.S. Attorney Alamdar S. Hamdani.
The jury deliberated for approximately 90 minutes before convicting Illeysel Carcasses following a two-day trial that included 10 witnesses.
On Nov. 13, 2023, Carcasses drove a refrigerated box truck to the Sarita Border Patrol (BP) checkpoint. Upon initial inspection, a K-9 alerted to the rear of the truck. During a search, authorities discovered five undocumented individuals concealed inside the back of the vehicle hidden amongst pallets of rotten produce. The jury heard how the individuals were locked inside with no way of escaping.
Carcasses denied having keys to open the rear of the vehicle. However, authorities had discovered the keys in the truck’s cab. Evidence also showed that his cell phone was present at the location where the undocumented individuals were loaded into the vehicle.
The defense attempted to convince the jury that Carcasses was unaware the undocumented individuals were concealed in his truck. The jury did not believe those claims and found him guilty as charged.
U.S. District Judge David S. Morales presided over the trial and set sentencing for May 8. At that time, Carcasses faces up to five years in federal prison and a possible $250,000 maximum fine.
Carcasses was permitted to remain on bond pending sentencing.
Homeland Security Investigations and BP conducted the investigation. Assistant U.S. Attorneys John Marck and Joseph Griffith are prosecuting the case.
Convicted Felon Sentenced to 12.5 Years in Federal PrisonRead the Press Release
Dallas woman sentenced to 12.5 years in federal prison for drug and firearm charges, announced U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Texas Leigha Simonton. Danette Ozuna, 48, was indicted in October 2022 and she pleaded guilty in September 2023 to one count each of possession of a controlled substance with intent to distribute and possession of a firearm by a convicted felon. Ms. Ozuna was sentenced Wednesday by U.S. District Judge Brantley Starr. According to court documents, in March 2022 a confidential informant made multiple purchases of methamphetamine from Ms. Ozuna at the Star Motel located in Dallas. Following those purchases, in May 2022 law enforcement executed a search warrant at the hotel and located Ms. Ozuna in the hotel room. While she was being taken into custody, Ms. Ozuna told officers there was a handgun under the pillow of the bed. During the search, officers located a handgun, drug ledger, bank bag containing $7,006 in cash and a red bag containing methamphetamine. Additional methamphetamine was located in the nightstand drawer. At the sentencing hearing, prosecutors discussed a sign in the hotel room that listed rules for drug purchases:Please Read First!
1) I don’t want to do no fronts, and if I do the price goes up!
2) You only get a price break when 4 and up
3) If you Owe me money you will not get more until Debt is cleared.
4) price went up on me So goes up for you too!
4 - 650
1 - 175.00
½ - 125.00
7 - 80.00
8 Ball - 50
Teen - 30
Anything above that 150 piece
5) what you have $ for is what you will get - ne extra, No fronts
I have too much money out and I have my own Bills to pay!
If you ask after Reading this you will Be directed back to read it Over again!
No exceptions! Thank you!
Ms. Ozuna was convicted on April 2, 2014 of a crime in the 86th Judicial District Court of Kaufman County and was sentenced to 10 years imprisonment. That conviction made it a federal crime for her to possess a firearm.
The Drug Enforcement Administration, Kaufman County Sheriff’s Department, and the Dallas Police Department conducted the investigation. Assistant U.S. Attorney George Leal prosecuted the case.
Company and Owners Plead Guilty to Violating the Clean Water ActRead the Press Release
NEWS RELEASE SUMMARY – February 15, 2024
SAN DIEGO – Brothers Robert and Filip Sulc, along with their company Bio-Edge Inc., pleaded guilty in federal court today, admitting they discharged methanol-contaminated wastewater to the sewers at their San Diego-based facility in violation of the Clean Water Act in June of 2023.
Bio-Edge, a company located on Nancy Ridge Drive in San Diego, produced polymeric additives. The company used methanol, both as part of its manufacturing process and to clean glassware.
In violation of both federal pretreatment standards and Bio-Edge’s permit with the City of San Diego, Robert Sulc instructed Bio-Edge employees to collect their methanol-contaminated wastewater, treat it with salt to prevent drain clogs, dilute it with water, and dump the wastewater down the drain into the municipal sewage system.
According to the plea agreements, federal pretreatment standards (40 CFR 403.5(b)(1)) and the permit prohibit the discharge of wastewater that includes pollutants that create a fire or explosion hazard in municipal sewer systems, such as methanol. The federal pretreatment standards (40 CFR 403.6(d)) and the permit further prohibit the use of dilution as a substitute for approved treatment in order to achieve compliance.
Robert Sulc and Bio-Edge, Inc. each pleaded guilty to felony violations of the Clean Water Act. Filip Sulc pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor violation of the Clean Water Act, admitting he acted negligently with respect to the same wastewater discharge.
“Environmental regulations don’t just keep San Diego beautiful; they keep us safe.” said U.S. Attorney Tara McGrath. “We have one planet, and the United States Attorney’s Office will do everything in our power to protect it.”
“The deliberate and routine discharge of a toxic and ignitable chemical into the city of San Diego’s sewer system by Bio-edge, Robert Sulc, and Filip Sulc, posed a risk to the community and the company’s employees,” said Kimberly Bahney, Acting EPA-CID Special Agent in Charge. “Criminal neglect and disregard for Clean Water Act requirements are vigorously prosecuted to ensure protection of human health and the environment.”
Sentencing is scheduled to occur on May 6, 2024, before U.S. District Judge Marilyn L. Huff
This case is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorneys Carl Brooker and Melanie Pierson.
DEFENDANTS Case Number 24-cr-00242
Count 1
Robert Sulc Age: 46 San Diego, CA
Bio-Edge, Incorporated
Count 2
Filip Sulc Age: 48 San Diego, CA
SUMMARY OF CHARGES
Count 1: Violation of a Federal Pretreatment Standard – Title 33, U.S.C., Section 1317(d)/1319(c)(2)(A)
Count 1: Maximum penalty as to Robert Sulc: Three years in prison and a fine of not less than $5,000 nor more than $50,000 per day of violation.
Count 1: Maximum penalty as to Bio-Edge Inc.: Five years of probation and a fine of not less than $5,000 nor more than $50,000 per day of violation.
Count 2: Violation of a Federal Pretreatment Standard – Title 33, U.S.C., Section 1317(d)/1319(c)(1)(A)
Count 2: Maximum penalty: One year in prison and a fine of not less than $2,500 nor more than $25,000 per day of violation.
AGENCY
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
Cofundador del Cártel de Sinaloa Acusado en Formal Sustitutiva de Conspiración para Fabricar y Distribuir FentaniloRead the Press Release
Hoy se presentó una quinta acusación formal sustitutiva en un tribunal federal de Brooklyn atribuyendo a Ismael Zambada García, también conocido como El Mayo, el delito de unirse en asociación delictuosa para fabricar y distribuir una sustancia que contenía N-fenil-N-[1-(2-feniletil)-4-piperidinil] propanamida (fentanilo), una sustancia controlada de categoría II con la intención y a sabiendas de que dichas sustancias serían importadas ilegalmente a los Estados Unidos. Zambada fue imputado anteriormente en múltiples acusaciones formales sustitutivas por dirigir una actividad delictiva continuada, así como por asociación delictuosa para cometer homicidio, asociación delictuosa para lavar dinero, asociación delictuosa para fabricar y distribuir cocaína, heroína, metanfetamina y fentanilo, así como por otros delitos relacionados con drogas, a través de su liderazgo continuado del Cártel de Sinaloa, una de las organizaciones de narcotráfico más violentas y poderosas del mundo. La quinta acusación formal sustitutiva extiende las fechas de finalización de la actividad delictiva continuada y varias asociaciones delictuosas desde mayo de 2014 hasta enero de 2024. Zambada García permanece prófugo.
El fiscal federal Breon Peace para el Distrito Este de Nueva York, la administradora Anne Milgram de la Administración para el Control de Drogas (DEA), el subdirector interino Iván J. Arvelo de Operaciones Nacionales de Investigaciones de Seguridad Nacional (HSI), el subdirector a cargo David Sundberg de la Oficina de Campo de Washington del FBI, el comisario Edward A. Caban del Departamento de Policía de la Ciudad de Nueva York (NYPD) y el superintendente Steven G. James de la Policía Estatal de Nueva York (NYSP) anunciaron la quinta acusación formal sustitutiva.
“Tal como se alega, Zambada García está acusado de numerosos delitos relacionados con drogas, que ahora incluyen la fabricación y distribución de fentanilo, una droga mortal que era en gran medida desconocida cuando fundó el Cártel de Sinaloa hace más de tres décadas y que hoy es responsable de un daño inconmensurable”, señaló el fiscal federal Peace. “Si bien Zambada García continúa siendo un líder principal de la actividad delictiva responsable de importar enormes cantidades de narcóticos a los Estados Unidos, esta quinta acusación formal sustitutiva demuestra nuestra firme determinación de llevarlo ante la justicia, tal como lo hicimos con su ex cómplice El Chapo, y tal como continuaremos haciendo con todos aquellos que trafican con drogas y buscan lucrar con la devastación infligida a nuestras comunidades”.
El fiscal federal Peace también expresó su agradecimiento a la Sección de Narcóticos y Drogas Peligrosas de la División Penal del Departamento de Justicia por su asistencia en el caso.
“El fentanilo es la amenaza de drogas más letal que los estadounidenses hayan enfrentado jamás, y el Cártel de Sinaloa sigue siendo el mayor traficante de fentanilo para los Estados Unidos”, señaló la administradora de la DEA, Milgram. “Siendo el fentanilo la principal causa de muerte entre los estadounidenses entre 18 y 45 años, debemos seguir responsabilizando a Zambada García y otros líderes, miembros y asociados de los cárteles por las personas que han matado”.
“Como cofundador y actual líder de la organización de narcotráfico más grande y poderosa del mundo, Ismael Zambada García está acusado de suministrar fentanilo a los Estados Unidos en un momento en que el narcótico letal se ha cobrado vidas a un ritmo devastador”, comentó Arvelo, subdirector interino de HSI. “Durante décadas, el despiadado y violento Cártel de Sinaloa ha continuado su flagelo mortal con el tráfico generalizado de fentanilo, cocaína, heroína, metanfetamina y otras drogas sintéticas para los Estados Unidos. HSI de Nueva York y nuestros colaboradores del orden público no se detendrán hasta que llevemos a Zambada García ante la justicia en nombre de sus innumerables víctimas”.
“Tal como se alega, Zambada García ha supervisado durante décadas el tráfico de decenas de miles de libras de cocaína, heroína, metanfetamina y fentanilo para los Estados Unidos junto con decenas de actos de violencia relacionados”, dijo el subdirector a cargo del FBI, Sundberg. “Esta acusación formal sustitutiva es otro ejemplo más de nuestro compromiso de llevar a los líderes de los cárteles ante la justicia. Prometemos continuar trabajando con nuestros colaboradores nacionales y extranjeros para desmantelar organizaciones violentas de delincuencia transnacional como el Cártel de Sinaloa”.
“Después de la detención y condena de Joaquín ‘El Chapo’ Guzmán Loera, los investigadores del NYPD permanecieron totalmente dedicados a nuestra colaboración con el orden público enfocada en llevar ante la justicia a los líderes que quedan del Cártel de Sinaloa”, comentó el comisario Caban del NYPD. “Este último cargo contra Zambada García demuestra aún más nuestro compromiso de impedir que los productos ilícitos de su masiva y violenta actividad delictiva ingresen a nuestro país y plaguen las calles de nuestras ciudades”.
“Sencillamente, no toleraremos este tipo de actividad de tráfico ilegal de drogas en nuestro país y en el estado de Nueva York”, dijo el superintendente James del NYSP. “Quiero agradecer a la fiscalía federal y a todos nuestros colaboradores del orden público por su tenaz trabajo en este caso. Es gracias a su colaboración continua y su firme compromiso que estamos un paso más cerca de acabar con esta peligrosa actividad y poner a Zambada García tras las rejas”.
Tal como se alega, Zambada García fue cofundador del Cártel de Sinaloa con su ex coacusado Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán Loera. Guzmán Loera fue declarado culpable por un jurado federal en Brooklyn en febrero de 2019 y sentenciado a cadena perpetua más 30 años. Zambada García ha seguido evadiendo la captura y, tal como se alega, continúa dirigiendo el Cártel de Sinaloa desde México. Según la acusación formal sustitutiva, desde 1989 hasta 2024, Zambada García dirigió una actividad delictiva continuada responsable de la importación y distribución de cantidades masivas de narcóticos y que generó miles de millones de dólares en ganancias. Para asegurar el éxito del cártel, Zambada García empleó a personas para obtener rutas de transporte y bodegas para importar y almacenar narcóticos, y a sicarios para llevar a cabo secuestros y homicidios en México y tomar represalias contra rivales que amenazaban al cártel. Los millones de dólares generados por la venta de drogas fueron luego transportados de regreso a México. El nombre de Guzmán Loera ha sido eliminado de la quinta acusación formal sustitutiva a la luz de su condena en juicio de 2018.
Según lo especificado en la ley, la cantidad de fentanilo involucrada en la asociación delictuosa atribuible al acusado como resultado de su propia conducta y de la conducta de otros razonablemente previsible para él, fue de al menos 400 gramos o más, pero se demostrará en el juicio que se trató de una cantidad bastante más grande.
El Departamento de Estado de Estados Unidos ofrece una recompensa de hasta $15 millones de dólares estadounidenses por información que conduzca a la detención y/o condena de Zambada García. Si tiene información, comuníquese con la DEA al +1-619-540-6912, donde se pueden aceptar mensajes de aplicaciones de mensajería social, o por correo electrónico en [email protected]. Si se encuentra fuera de los Estados Unidos, comuníquese con la embajada o el consulado de los Estados Unidos más cercano.
Los fiscales federales adjuntos Francisco J. Navarro, Robert M. Pollack y Lauren A. Bowman para el Distrito Este de Nueva York están procesando el caso.
Esta acusación formal sustitutiva es parte de una investigación de la Fuerza de Tarea de Control de Drogas contra la Delincuencia Organizada (OCDETF). La OCDETF identifica, desarticula y desmantela a los narcotraficantes, lavadores de dinero, pandillas y organizaciones delictivas transnacionales de más alto nivel que amenazan a los Estados Unidos mediante el uso de un enfoque multiagencial dirigido por fiscales e impulsado por inteligencia que aprovecha las fortalezas de las agencias del orden público federales, estatales y locales contra las redes delictivas.
Una acusación formal es simplemente un alegato. Todos los acusados se presumen inocentes hasta que se demuestre su culpabilidad en un tribunal de justicia.
Co-Founder of Sinaloa Cartel Charged in Superseding Indictment with Conspiracy to Manufacture and Distribute FentanylRead the Press Release
A fifth superseding indictment was filed today in federal court in Brooklyn charging Ismael Zambada Garcia, also known as “El Mayo,” with conspiring to manufacture and distribute a substance, containing N-phenyl-N-[1-(2-phenylethyl)-4-piperidinyl] propanamide (“fentanyl”), a Schedule II controlled substance intending and knowing that such substances would be unlawfully imported into the United States. Zambada was previously charged in multiple superseding indictments with running a continuing criminal enterprise, as well as murder conspiracy, money laundering conspiracy, cocaine, heroin, methamphetamine, and fentanyl manufacture and distribution conspiracy, as well as other drug-related crimes, through his continuing leadership of the Sinaloa Cartel, one of the most violent and powerful drug trafficking organizations in the world. The fifth superseding indictment extends the end-dates of the continuing criminal enterprise and several conspiracies from May 2014 to January 2024. Zambada Garcia remains at large.
Breon Peace, United States Attorney for the Eastern District of New York; Anne Milgram, Administrator, U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), Ivan J. Arvelo, Acting Assistant Director of Domestic Operations, Homeland Security Investigations (HSI); David Sundberg, Assistant Director-in-Charge, Federal Bureau of Investigation, Washington Field Office (FBI); Edward A. Caban, Commissioner, New York City Police Department (NYPD); and Steven G. James, Superintendent, New York State Police (NYSP), announced the fifth superseding indictment.
“As alleged, Zambada Garcia is charged with numerous drug offenses, now including the manufacture and distribution of fentanyl, a deadly drug that was largely unheard of when he founded the Sinaloa Cartel more than three decades ago and today is responsible for immeasurable harm,” stated United States Attorney Peace. “While Zambada Garcia continues to be a principal leader of the criminal enterprise responsible for importing enormous quantities of narcotics into the United States, this fifth superseding indictment demonstrates our firm resolve to bring him to justice, just as we did with his former co-conspirator El Chapo, and just as we will continue to do to all those who traffic drugs and seek to profit from the devastation inflicted on our communities.”
Mr. Peace also expressed his thanks to the Justice Department Criminal Division’s Narcotic and Dangerous Drug Section for its assistance on the case.
“Fentanyl is the deadliest drug threat Americans have ever faced, and the Sinaloa Cartel continues to be the largest trafficker of fentanyl into the United States,” stated DEA Administrator Milgram. “With fentanyl the leading cause of death for Americans between the ages of 18 and 45, we must continue to hold Zambada Garcia and other cartel leaders, members, and associates accountable for the people they have killed.”
“As the co-founder and current leader of the largest, most powerful drug trafficking organization in the world, Ismael Zambada Garcia is accused of supplying fentanyl to the United States at a time when the lethal narcotic has claimed lives at a devastating rate. For decades, the ruthlessly violent Sinaloa Cartel has continued its deadly scourge with the pervasive trafficking of fentanyl, cocaine, heroin, methamphetamine, and other synthetic drugs into the U.S,” stated HSI Acting Assistant Director Arvelo. “HSI New York and our law enforcement partners will not stop until we bring Zambada Garcia to justice on behalf of his countless victims.”
“As alleged, Zambada Garcia has, for decades, overseen the trafficking of tens of thousands of pounds of cocaine, heroin, methamphetamine, and fentanyl into the U.S. along with scores of related violence,” stated FBI Assistant Director-in-Charge Sundberg. “This superseding indictment is yet another example of our commitment to bringing cartel leaders to justice. We vow to continue to work with our domestic and foreign partners to dismantle violent transnational criminal organizations like the Sinaloa Cartel.”
“After the arrest and successful conviction of Joaquin ‘El Chapo’ Guzman Loera, NYPD investigators remained fully dedicated to our law enforcement partnership focused on bringing the Sinaloa Cartel’s remaining leadership to justice,” stated NYPD Commissioner Caban. “This latest charge against Mr. Zambada Garcia further demonstrates our commitment to keeping the illicit products of his massive, violent criminal enterprise from entering our country and plaguing our cities’ streets.”
“We simply will not tolerate this type of illegal drug trafficking activity in our country and New York State. I want to thank the U.S. Attorney’s Office and all our law enforcement partners for their tenacious work on this case. It is because of their ongoing collaboration and steadfast commitment that we are one step closer to shutting down this dangerous enterprise and placing Mr. Garcia behind bars,” stated NYSP Superintendent James.
As alleged, Zambada Garcia was a co-founder of the Sinaloa Cartel with his former co-defendant Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman Loera. Guzman Loera was convicted by a federal jury in Brooklyn in February 2019 and sentenced to life in prison plus 30 years. Zambada Garcia has continued to evade capture, and, as alleged, continues to run the Sinaloa Cartel from Mexico. According to the superseding indictment, from 1989 to 2024, Zambada Garcia led a continuing criminal enterprise responsible for the importation and distribution of massive quantities of narcotics and which generated billions of dollars in profits. To ensure the success of the cartel, Zambada Garcia employed individuals to obtain transportation routes and warehouses to import and store narcotics, and “sicarios,” or hit men, to carry out kidnappings and murders in Mexico to retaliate against rivals who threatened the cartel. The millions of dollars generated from the drug sales were then transported back to Mexico. Guzman Loera’s name has been removed from the fifth superseding indictment in light of his 2018 trial conviction.
Under the statute, the amount of fentanyl involved in the conspiracy attributable to the defendant as a result of his own conduct, and the conduct of others reasonably foreseeable to him, was at least 400 grams or more, but a vastly larger quantity would be proven at trial.
The charges in the indictment are allegations, and the defendant is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.
The U.S. Department of State is offering a reward of up to $15 million for information leading to the arrest and/or conviction of Zambada Garcia. If you have information, please contact the DEA at +1-619-540-6912, which can accept messages from social messaging applications, or via email at [email protected]. If you are located outside of the United States, please contact the nearest U.S. Embassy or Consulate.
The government’s case is being handled by the Office’s International Narcotics and Money Laundering Section. Assistant United States Attorneys Francisco J. Navarro, Robert M. Pollack, and Lauren A. Bowman are in charge of the prosecution.
This superseding indictment is part of an Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces (OCDETF) investigation. OCDETF identifies, disrupts, and dismantles the highest-level drug traffickers, money launderers, gangs, and transnational criminal organizations that threaten the United States by using a prosecutor-led, intelligence-driven, multi-agency approach that leverages the strengths of federal, state, and local law enforcement agencies against criminal networks.
The Defendant:
ISMAEL ZAMBADA GARCIA (also known as “El Mayo”)
Age: 76
MexicoE.D.N.Y. Docket No. 9-CR-466 (BMC)
Centerville Man Sentenced to Federal Prison for Prohibited Possession of a FirearmRead the Press Release
SIOUX FALLS - United States Attorney Alison J. Ramsdell announced today that U.S. District Judge Karen E. Schreier has sentenced a Centerville, South Dakota, man, convicted of Possession of a Firearm by a Prohibited Person. The sentencing took place on February 9, 2024, in Sioux Falls, South Dakota.
Robert W. Blakey, age 57, was sentenced to one year and nine months federal prison, followed by three years of supervised release. He was ordered to pay $100 as a statutorily required special assessment to the Federal Crime Victims Fund.
Blakey was indicted for Possession of a Firearm by a Prohibited Person by a federal grand jury in August of 2023. He pleaded guilty to Possession of a Firearm by a Prohibited Person on November 28, 2023.
On January 26, 2023, law enforcement was dispatched to a location in Centerville for a report of shots fired. While officers were speaking with Blakey on scene, they noticed a leather holster on Blakey’s left hip which contained a revolver that was loaded with four bullets.
Then, on May 23, 2023, law enforcement was dispatched to a 911 call reporting a male subject brandished gun near the Cockatoo bar in Yankton, South Dakota. Officers located the male and identified him as Blakey. Blakey had in his possession revolver loaded with five live rounds of ammo and one in the chamber.
Blakey is prohibited from possessing firearms and ammunition because he has eight prior felony convictions.
This case was investigated by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, the Centerville Police Department, and the Yankton Police Department. Assistant U.S. Attorney Elizabeth Ebert prosecuted the case.
This case is part of Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN), the centerpiece of the Department of Justice’s violent crime reduction efforts. PSN is an evidence-based program proven to be effective at reducing violent crime. Through PSN, a broad spectrum of stakeholders work together to identify the most pressing violent crime problems in the community and develop comprehensive solutions to address them. As part of this strategy, PSN focuses enforcement efforts on the most violent offenders and partners with locally based prevention and reentry programs for lasting reductions in crime.
Blakey was remanded to the custody of the U.S. Marshals Service to continue serving his sentence.
California Pharmaceutical Company to Pay $750,000 to Resolve False Claims Act Liability for Allegedly Paying Kickbacks to Induce Prescriptions of Opioid ProductsRead the Press Release
NEWARK, N.J. – A California pharmaceutical company has agreed to pay $750,000 to resolve allegations that it violated the False Claims Act by causing the submission of claims for certain opioids in violation of the federal Anti-Kickback Statute, U.S. Attorney Philip R. Sellinger announced today.
From Dec. 1, 2015, through Aug. 31, 2016, Sentynl Therapeutics Inc., of Solana Beach, California, a specialty pharmaceutical company, marketed and sold prescription opioids Abstral and Levorphanol Tartrate (Levorphanol).
The settlement resolves allegations that, during the relevant time period, Sentynl knowingly caused the submission of claims for Abstral and Levorphanol medications to Medicare in violation of the federal Anti-Kickback Statute. These allegedly false claims resulted from Sentynl’s alleged indirect payment of kickbacks to a physician. Specifically, the United States contends that Sentynl hired the girlfriend of a physician who was a top prescriber of Transmucosal Immediate Release Fentanyl (TIRF) medications to act as a sales representative in South Florida – the same region in which the physician practiced. Sentynl hired, employed, and made salary and bonus payments to the physician’s girlfriend to induce the physician to prescribe its Abstral and Levorphanol medications.
U.S. Attorney Philip R. Sellinger“The opioid crisis has had devastating impacts here in New Jersey and for the country at large. This office is committed to combatting this crisis at every level of the healthcare system, from the prescribers to the manufacturers. Here, this pharmaceutical company is alleged to have indirectly paid unlawful kickbacks to a doctor by employing his girlfriend in an effort to improperly induce him to prescribe their opioid products. Today’s settlement holds them accountable for this alleged wrongdoing and reflects law enforcement’s ongoing commitment to protecting the integrity of medical decision-making and combatting the opioid crisis.”
"Pharmaceutical companies that sold opioids are being held accountable for improper inducements offered to prescribers,” FBI – Newark Special Agent in Charge James E. Dennehy said. The Newark FBI and our law enforcement partners will continue our pursuit of those who continue to believe the rules don’t apply to them.”
“Pharmaceutical companies are not exempt from their responsibilities to operate within the confines of the law,” Special Agent in Charge Cheryl Ortiz of the Drug Enforcement Administration’s New Jersey Field Division said. “We are glad our diversion investigators were able to assist efforts to bring this matter to a resolution.”
“Some violations of the Anti-Kickback Statute, like those alleged here, can induce physicians’ imprudent prescribing of controlled substances,” stated Special Agent in Charge Naomi Gruchacz with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General. “Individuals and entities that participate in the federal health care system are required to obey the laws meant to preserve the integrity of program funds and the provision of appropriate, quality services to patients.”
U.S. Attorney Sellinger credited special agents of the FBI, under the direction of Special Agent in Charge James E. Dennehy in Newark; investigators of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), under the direction of Special Agent in Charge Cheryl Ortiz; special agents of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General, under the direction of Special Agent in Charge Naomi Gruchacz, with the investigation leading to the settlement.
The government is represented by Assistant U.S. Attorney Susan J. Pappy of the U.S. Attorney’s Office, District of New Jersey’s Health Care Fraud Unit and Robert L. Toll of the Office’s Opioid Abuse Prevention and Enforcement Unit, and Trial Attorney Douglas J. Rosenthal of the Department of Justice’s Civil Division, Commercial Litigation Branch (Fraud Section).
The government’s pursuit of this matter illustrates its efforts to combat healthcare fraud. One of the strongest tools in this effort is the False Claims Act. Tips and complaints from all sources about potential fraud, waste, abuse, and mismanagement can be reported to the Department of Health and Human Services, at 800-HHS-TIPS (800-447-8477).
The claims resolved by the settlement are allegations only and there has been no determination of liability.
sentynl.settlement.pdfCalifornia Man and South Dakota Woman Sentenced for Conspiracy to Distribute MethamphetamineRead the Press Release
SIOUX FALLS - United States Attorney Alison J. Ramsdell announced today that U.S. District Judge Karen E. Schreier has sentenced a Mojave, California, man convicted of Conspiracy to Distribute Methamphetamine. The sentencing took place on January 29, 2024.
Alfred Sarco, a/k/a “Rambo Red,” a/k/a “Red,” 44, was sentenced to 21 years and 10 months in federal prison, followed by ten years of supervised release. He was also ordered to pay a $100 special assessment to the Federal Crime Victims Fund.
Sarco was indicted, along with co-defendant Morningstar Kitto, for Conspiracy to Distribute Methamphetamine by a federal grand jury in September of 2022. Sarco pleaded guilty on October 24, 2023. Kitto, of Rosholt, South Dakota, pleaded guilty on January 26, 2023, and was sentenced on January 30, 2023, to 10 years and six months in federal prison, followed by five years of supervised release. She was also ordered to pay a $100 special assessment to the Federal Crime Victims Fund.
According to court documents, Sarco and Kitto conspired to sell methamphetamine, together they sold more than 2,275 grams (five pounds) of methamphetamine to an undercover law enforcement agent. Sarco also forfeited more than $9,500 in drug proceeds to the government.
This case was investigated by the Bureau of Indian Affairs and the Drug Enforcement Administration. Assistant U.S. Attorney Elizabeth Ebert prosecuted the case.
Sarco and Kitto were both remanded to the custody of the U.S. Marshals Service.
California Man Sentenced to over 18 Years for Conspiracy to Distribute 30 Pounds of MethRead the Press Release
SIOUX FALLS - United States Attorney Alison J. Ramsdell announced today that U.S. District Karen E. Schreier has sentenced a Salinas, California, man convicted of Conspiracy to Distribute a Controlled Substance. The sentencing took place on February 5, 2024.
Jose Rolando Gonzalez, 56, was sentenced to 18 years and four months in federal prison, followed by three years of supervised release. He was also ordered to pay a $100 special assessment to the Federal Crime Victims Fund.
Gonzalez was indicted for Conspiracy to Distribute Methamphetamine by a federal grand jury in November of 2022. He pleaded guilty on November 6, 2023.
Gonzalez was arrested on September 25, 2022, when he was traveling through South Dakota and was approached by a police officer at a gas station in Brookings regarding traffic complaints about his driving. The officer ran his onsite police dog around the vehicle and the dog gave a positive indication to the presence of drugs. Law enforcement performed a search of the vehicle which revealed approximately 13.39 kilograms (approximately 30 pounds) of methamphetamine. Gonzalez was traveling from California, where his methamphetamine source was located, to Minnesota, with the intention of distributing the methamphetamine.
This case was investigated by the South Dakota Highway Patrol, Brookings Police Department, and the Drug Enforcement Administration. Assistant U.S. Attorney Paige Petersen prosecuted the case.
Gonzalez was immediately remanded to the custody of the U.S. Marshals Service.
California Man Sentenced for Smuggling Fraudulent Cognitive Enhancement Drug into the United States from ChinaRead the Press Release
BOSTON – A California man was sentenced yesterday in federal court in Springfield, Mass. for conspiring to smuggle tianeptine, a highly-addictive drug that claims to enhance mood and cognitive functioning, into the United States from China.
Ryan M. Stabile, 37, of Pasadena, Calif., was sentenced by U.S. District Court Judge Mark G. Mastroianni to two years in prison, to be followed by three years of supervised release. Stabile was also ordered to pay a forfeiture of $1,833,922. In September 2023, Stabile pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy and two counts of introduction of misbranded drugs with intent to defraud and mislead.
“Mr. Stabile knew how addicting and dangerous tianeptine was and yet it did not stop him from smuggling the illegal drug into the United States and selling it under false pretenses,” said Acting United States Attorney Joshua S. Levy. “He continued to profit off the addiction of others even after he was indicted.”
“Misbranded and unapproved drugs that are smuggled from overseas can present a serious health risk to those who buy and use them. Tianeptine is an unsafe drug that is not approved for any use in the United States. All smuggled drugs carry additional risks of unknown ingredients and unknown manufacturing conditions,” Fernando McMillan, Special Agent in Charge of the United States Food and Drug Administration’s Office of Criminal Investigation. “We will continue to investigate and bring to justice those who attempt to traffic in these dangerous, misbranded, and unapproved drug products.”
Stabile was the owner of Supplements for Work, a company which sold the misbranded drug tianeptine, commonly known as gas station heroin, online. Stabile, through his company, marketed tianeptine as a mood enhancer and claimed that it improved cognitive functioning and falsely represented that he was selling tianeptine for research purposes only, even though he sold tianeptine to individuals for personal use.
Stabile smuggled tianeptine in multi-kilogram quantities from China into the United States, importing between 10-15 kilograms of tianeptine per month from a Chinese supplier. Once received, Stabile divided and repackaged the tianeptine and resold it on his websites in five-gram, 10-gram and 20-gram quantities for prices between $55 and $175. Stabile’s tianeptine sales averaged $250,000 per month and comprised 95 percent of his company’s profits.
Additionally, following his indictment by a federal grand jury in November 2019, Stabile continued to sell tianeptine on the internet for several years while on pre-trial release, under a different company and website called Ultra Vulgar Festival Drip.
In total, Stabile made at least $2.2 million in illegal tianeptine sales.
Acting U.S. Attorney Levy and FDA SAC McMillan made the announcement. Assistant U.S. Attorney Deepika Bains Shukla, Chief of the Springfield Branch Office prosecuted the case.
California Man Charged with Threats to Kill Postal WorkersRead the Press Release
St. Thomas, VI – United States Attorney Delia L. Smith announced today that Simon Peters, 41, of Valley Center, CA, was charged after repeatedly making threats to kill postal workers in St. Thomas. Peters is expected to appear before a federal magistrate judge in California on February 15, 2024, after with he will appear in St. Thomas for prosecution.
According to court documents, on January 27, 2024, a United States Postal Service employee received a telephone call from Peters at the Ottley Post Office located in St. Thomas. Peters was angry that his package addressed to the Kirwan Terrace Housing Community had not been delivered. During the call, Peters told the postal employee to “Make sure the fat boy know we’re watching him and next time we’re going to kill him behind the building”. Peters further threatened that if “any more packages from California go missing, you will see what happen to the co-workers, one by one.” Peters provided the tracking number for his missing package which had been intercepted and seized by Customs and Border Protection. An inspection of the package reveals that it contained marijuana. On January 29, 2024, Peters again contacted the Ottley Post Office and asked to speak with the Kirwan Terrace delivery driver. Peters stated that he had people driving around looking for the postal employee to kill him.
This case is being investigated by United States Postal Inspection Service and prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Natasha L. Baker.United States Attorney reminds the pubic that a criminal complaint is merely an allegation, and all defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.
Bristol Man Sentenced to Prison for Fraud and Tax OffensesRead the Press Release
Vanessa Roberts Avery, United States Attorney for the District of Connecticut, announced that JOHN HORVATH, 73, of Bristol, was sentenced today by U.S. District Judge Michael P. Shea in Hartford to 34 months of imprisonment, followed by two years of supervised release, for fraud and tax offenses.
According to court documents and statements made in court, Horvath was licensed by the State of Connecticut as a resident insurance producer, which authorized him to sell various forms of insurance. In that capacity, he sold annuity contracts issued by Allianz Life Insurance Company of North America (“Allianz”) to clients. Beginning no later than July 2015 and continuing until April 2021, Horvath defrauded several clients by advising them that they could achieve better rates of return through alternative investments, rather than their existing annuity contracts, and that he could broker and manage those investments for them. Victim-investors gave Horvath investment funds with the expectation he would manage the funds for them. Instead, Horvath commingled the victim-investors’ funds with his own and used the pooled money to pay personal expenses and repay earlier victim-investors.
Through this scheme, Horvath defrauded at least eight victims out of a total of approximately $1,189,200. One victim, a widow who family members described as suffering from increasing memory impairment, lost nearly $900,000 through this scheme.
In addition, Horvath failed to pay income taxes on his substantial income from the scheme, resulting in a loss to the government of $267,739 for the 2015 through 2020 tax years.
Judge Shea ordered Horvath to pay full restitution.
On July 26, 2023, Horvath pleaded guilty to one count of wire fraud and one count of tax evasion.
Horvath, who is released on a $50,000 bond, is required to report to prison on April 12.
This matter was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Internal Revenue Service – Criminal Investigation. The case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Conor M. Reardon.
The Justice Department has established a National Elder Fraud Hotline to provide services to seniors who may be victims of financial fraud. The Hotline is staffed by experienced case managers who can provide personalized support to callers. Case managers assist callers with reporting the suspected fraud to relevant agencies and by providing resources and referrals to other appropriate services as needed. When applicable, case managers will complete a complaint form with the Federal Bureau of Investigation Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) for Internet-facilitated crimes and submit a consumer complaint to the Federal Trade Commission on behalf of the caller. The Hotline’s toll free number is 833-FRAUD-11 (833-372-8311). For more information, please visit https://ovc.ojp.gov/program/stop-elder-fraud/providing-help-restoring-hope.
Bloods Gang Member Convicted at Trial for Violent and Extortionate Takeover of the New York City Fire Mitigation IndustryRead the Press Release
Damian Williams, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, announced the conviction of JATIEK SMITH, a/k/a “Tiek,” of racketeering and extortion conspiracies. The verdict was issued yesterday following a two-week bench trial before U.S. District Judge Jed S. Rakoff in December 2023.
U.S. Attorney Damian Williams said: “Jatiek Smith’s audacious takeover of the New York City fire mitigation industry with the help of his gang associates presented a new form of organized criminal activity in our community, but the experienced career prosecutors of this Office and our law enforcement partners stand ready to combat violent and organized crime, no matter how unconventional. We will not stand for gangs or any criminal groups who try to corrupt our communities and threaten our safety. Those who do should expect to find themselves in handcuffs.”
According to the Indictment, statements made in public court proceedings and filings, and the evidence at trial:
The fire restoration industry refers to the businesses that repair properties that have suffered damage from fires or exposures to fires. Within this industry, fire restoration companies (sometimes referred to as emergency mitigation services (“EMS”) companies) provide emergency mitigation services, demolition, and construction services to properties that have suffered such damages. First Response Cleaning Corp. (“First Response”) was one such EMS company.
In 2019, JATIEK SMITH joined First Response and quickly assumed control over its operations. SMITH, a member of the Bloods, a violent street gang, recruited other gang members and associates to join him at First Response. As the leader of this crew, SMITH and his associates used violence, threats of violence, and extortion to terrorize and dominate the fire restoration industry in New York City.
SMITH asserted control over the industry by first ousting First Response’s main competitor through violence, threats, and extortion. Once SMITH and his crew had established control over the industry, they imposed rules that allocated a preferential share of fires to First Response. These rules were backed by threats — including threats to kill children — and violence. Industry participants, including senior citizens, who solicited fires in violation of SMITH’s rules were assaulted in broad daylight. Through threats of violence, actual violence, and economic fear, SMITH and his crew also extorted hundreds of thousands of dollars from other industry participants. SMITH maximized his profits from this scheme by concealing illegal conditions in properties and defrauding insurance companies.
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JATIEK SMITH, 39, of Staten Island, New York, was convicted of racketeering conspiracy, which carries a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison, and extortion conspiracy, which carries a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison.
The maximum potential sentences are prescribed by Congress and are provided here for informational purposes only, as the sentence of the defendant will be determined by a judge.
Mr. Williams praised the outstanding investigative work of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Homeland Security Investigations, the New York City Police Department, and the Department of Investigation.
This case is being handled by the Office’s Violent and Organized Crime Unit. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Rushmi Bhaskaran, Marguerite B. Colson, Elizabeth A. Espinosa, and Adam S. Hobson, are in charge of the prosecution, with assistance from Paralegal Specialists Grayson Glogoff and Ananya Sankar.
Blackstone Man Pleads Guilty to Defrauding Former Employer, Identity Theft and Tax EvasionRead the Press Release
BOSTON – A Blackstone man pleaded guilty today in federal court in Worcester to defrauding his former employer– a company that operates a national chain of second-hand retail stores – by using others’ identities and repeatedly falsifying working hours for employees and taking all the wages for himself. He also admitted to evading taxes on the income derived from the fraud scheme.
Anthony Prizio, 48, pleaded guilty to six counts of wire fraud, one count of tax evasion and one count of unauthorized use of another’s identity. U.S. District Court Judge Margaret R. Guzman scheduled sentencing for May 23, 2024. Prizio was indicted by a federal grand jury in December 2023.
From January 2019 until July 2021, Prizio served as manager of the company’s Worcester store location. In this position, Prizio had access to the store’s timekeeping system for employees’ working hours, human resources portal and un-activated payroll paycards issued to certain employees for wages. Prizio used his position as store manager to repeatedly falsifying working hours for employees, including employees who no longer worked there. He would then take some or all of the wages for his own use on personal expenditures, including his home’s utility expenses, vehicle registration fees and veterinary services. As part of the scheme, Prizio caused payroll debit cards to be issued in others’ names, which he then took for himself. Additionally, Prizio took steps to conceal his fraud by misrepresenting the productivity of the Worcester store to make it appear that the store processed more items, as well as by entering false paid sick and bereavement for employees to fraudulently cause payment for fictitious hours without adversely affecting the productivity measurement of the store. Prizio failed to pay taxes on any of the income derived from this fraudulent scheme.
The charge of wire fraud provides for a sentence of up to 20 years in prison, up to three years of supervised release and a fine of up to $250,000 or twice the gross loss involved. The charge of tax evasion provides for a sentence up to five years in prison, up to three years of supervised release and a fine of up to $100,000. The charge of unlawful use of another’s identity as charge in this case provides for a sentence of up to 15 years in prison, up to three years of supervised release and a fine of up to $250,000. Sentences are imposed by a federal district court judge based upon the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and statutes which govern the determination of a sentence in a criminal case.
Acting United States Attorney Joshua S. Levy; Jodi Cohen, Special Agent in Charge of the Federal Bureau of Investigation Boston Division; and Harry Chavis, Jr., Special Agent in Charge of the Internal Revenue Service’s Criminal Investigation in Boston made the announcement today. Assistant U.S. Attorney Kaitlin J. Brown of the Worcester Branch Office is prosecuting the case.
Billings man sentenced to 20 years in prison for producing, possessing child pornographyRead the Press Release
MISSOULA -- A Billings man who admitted to coercing a minor girl in New York to make and send him sexually explicit images of herself was sentenced today to 20 years in prison, to be followed by a lifetime of supervised release, U.S. Attorney Jesse Laslovich said.
Jeffrey Eugene Herbert, 35, pleaded guilty in March 2023 to production of child pornography and possession of child pornography.
U.S. District Judge Dana L. Christensen presided. The court also ordered restitution of $842.
In court documents, the government alleged that Herbert possessed and distributed child sexual abuse material (CSAM) prior to using minor victims to produce the material for his personal enjoyment.
In June 2022, the parents of a 13-year-old girl, identified as Jane Doe 1, in New York reported to law enforcement that their daughter was coerced to self-produce CSAM online through a social media application. An investigation and review of Jane Doe 1’s phone determined that the girl and a user, “amberbaby 14141,” had exchanged nearly 900 communications in June 2022. The user, “amberbaby 14141,” who was later identified as Herbert, was posing as a 14-year-old female and was actively soliciting sexually explicit content from Jane Doe 1. In an attempt to solicit more material from Jane Doe 1, Herbert became increasingly coercive and threatening. He threatened to send the videos that she had sent him to others and said he would “mess ur life up.”
Law enforcement executed a search warrant on Herbert’s residence in October 2022 and collected electronic media. In an interview with law enforcement, Herbert admitted to using the “amberbaby 14141” account to coerce underage girls to produce sexually explicit content. Herbert told law enforcement where CSAM would be located on his cellular phone, and investigators found a hidden application where folders were organized by names of victims. Law enforcement identified potentially 22 minor victims. The content included hundreds of videos and images and reflected minors around the country self-producing CSAM at Herbert’s instruction.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Zeno B. Baucus prosecuted the case, which was investigated by the FBI and Montana Division of Criminal Investigation.
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. Led by U.S. Attorney’s Offices and the Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section (CEOS), Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state, and local resources to better locate, apprehend, and prosecute individuals who exploit children via the internet, as well as to identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.justice.gov/psc.
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Baltimore Robber Pleads Guilty to Committing a Series of Armed Bank and Commercial RobberiesRead the Press Release
Baltimore, Maryland – Dexter Nikoe Eaton, age 34, of Baltimore, pleaded guilty yesterday to armed bank robbery, related to a series of bank and armed commercial robberies he committed.
The guilty plea was announced by United States Attorney for the District of Maryland Erek L. Barron; Acting Special Agent in Charge R. Joseph Rothrock of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Baltimore Field Office; and Commissioner Richard Worley of the Baltimore Police Department.
According to Eaton’s plea agreement, between June 3 and July 30, 2022, Eaton committee six separate robberies/attempted robberies of banks and other businesses and used a firearm in four of the robberies.
Specifically, Eaton admitted that on June 3, 2022, he robbed a bank in the 3200 block of West North Avenue in Baltimore, providing a note to the teller that demanded money and threatened to kill the teller’s family if the teller did not comply with Eaton’s demands. On June 9, 2022, Eaton attempted to rob a check cashing and financial services business located in the 1600 block of West North Avenue, again by passing a note to the teller. The teller refused to read the note, instead activating an alarm, and Eaton fled the bank. Law enforcement collected the note passed by Eaton, which again demanded money and threatened to kill the family of the employee if Eaton’s demands were not met.
As detailed in his plea agreement, on June 10, 2022, Eaton, armed with a handgun, entered a bank in the 3200 block of West North Avenue wearing a black head covering and a surgical mask and pointed the gun at customers and employees stating, “Nobody move. Give me $4,000 or everyone in this b***h is dead.” Eaton forced a customer to the ground at gunpoint and took the customer’s wallet and cash. With the gun still pointed at the customer’s head, Eaton demanded that an employee get him $4,000 or Eaton would shoot the customer. The bank employee, fearing for her safety and the safety of others, gave Eaton cash, and Eaton fled the bank. On June 27, Eaton, armed with a handgun, robbed a bank in the 4700 block of Liberty Heights Avenue in Baltimore, pointing a gun at the security guard’s head and forcing the security guard to accompany Eaton to the teller window, where a customer was conducting a transaction. With the gun still at the security guard’s head, Eaton demanded that the teller give him $7,000 and threatened to shoot the security guard and the customer if the teller did not give him money or pushed any alarms. Fearing for her safety, the teller gave Eaton cash and he fled the bank.
Finally, on July 23, 2022, and July 30, 2022, Eaton robbed two businesses in the 3100 block of West North Avenue. In both robberies, Eaton held employees at gunpoint and demanded money, threatening an employee in the second robbery for moving too slow. The employees in both robberies gave Eaton cash and he left the stores.
Eaton and the government have agreed that, if the Court accepts the plea agreement, a sentence between seven and 20 years in federal prison is the appropriate disposition of the case. U.S. District Judge Richard D. Bennett has scheduled sentencing for May 15, 2024 at 11:00 a.m.
United States Attorney Erek L. Barron praised the FBI and Baltimore Police Department for their work in the investigation. Mr. Barron thanked Assistant U.S. Attorneys Reema Sood and Paul E. Budlow, who are prosecuting the case.
For more information on the Maryland U.S. Attorney’s Office, its priorities, and resources available to help the community, please visit www.justice.gov/usao-md and https://www.justice.gov/usao-md/community-outreach.
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Attorney Sentenced to 78 Months in Prison for Operating $18.8 Million Ponzi Scheme, Money Laundering, Obstruction of Justice, and PerjuryRead the Press Release
Damian Williams, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, announced that ROBERT WISNICKI was sentenced to 78 months in prison today by U.S. District Judge Paul G. Gardephe for operating an $18.8 million Ponzi scheme run through his New York-based law firms, Wisnicki & Associates LLP and Wisnicki Neuhauser LLP (the “Wisnicki Firms”), and a separate conspiracy to commit money laundering to conceal a healthcare fraud scheme. WISNICKI pled guilty before Judge Gardephe to conspiracy to commit wire fraud and conspiracy to commit money laundering on September 18, 2023.
U.S. Attorney Damian Williams said: “As an attorney, Robert Wisnicki was well aware that organizing a Ponzi scheme, laundering money for a healthcare fraud conspiracy, obstructing justice, and committing perjury would expose him to criminal charges and potentially land him in federal prison. Wisnicki’s sprawling schemes showed his flagrant disregard for the law, and today’s sentence should make crystal clear to anyone who believes they are above the law that this Office will not waver in our commitment to hold all offenders accountable.”
According to public documents and statements made in court:
The Ponzi Scheme
The Wisnicki Firms specialized in real estate transactional work — namely, assisting clients with purchasing and selling property. In or about 2007, WISNICKI began a real estate investment business using the Wisnicki Firms. Existing clients of the Wisnicki Firms (“Investor Clients”) asked WISNICKI to identify potential real estate investment opportunities for them. The Investor Clients then either transferred funds to WISNICKI or asked him to retain their funds that were already held in the Wisnicki Firms’ Interest Only Lawyers Accounts (“IOLA”) accounts. WISNICKI then identified real estate investment opportunities for the Investor Clients, and the Wisnicki Firms represented the Investor Clients in the resulting investment transactions.
The Investor Clients began suffering losses in the investments that WISNICKI had arranged. Rather than notify the Investor Clients of their losses, WISNICKI used funds from the Wisnicki Firms’ clients who did not participate in the real estate investments, which were held in trust in the firm’s IOLA accounts, and transferred those funds to the Investor Clients to mask their losses. WISNICKI falsely represented to these other clients that their funds were still held in the Wisnicki Firms’ IOLA accounts when, in fact, he had transferred those funds to his Investor Clients.
WISNICKI also used funds from new Investor Clients to cover up losses suffered by prior Investor Clients. WISNICKI falsely told the new Investor Clients that their funds would be invested in real estate when, in fact, he used those funds to repay his prior Investor Clients.
WISNICKI continued the above-described fraud through at least in or about 2022. WISNICKI misappropriated approximately $18.8 million from Investor Clients, which includes approximately $6.3 million stolen from members of his own family and approximately $12.5 million stolen from non-family members.
The Money Laundering, Obstruction, and Perjury Scheme
WISNICKI engineered deceptive financial transactions, submitted fabricated documents, lied to investigators, and committed perjury in testimony before the grand jury all in an effort to conceal one of the largest no-fault insurance schemes in New York history.
New York and New Jersey no-fault insurance laws require a driver’s automobile insurance company to pay automobile insurance claims automatically for certain types of motor vehicle accidents, provided that the claim is legitimate and is below a particular monetary threshold (the “No-Fault Laws”). Pursuant to these requirements, insurance companies will often pay medical service providers directly for the treatment they provide to automobile accident victims, without the need to bill the victims themselves. This process resolves automobile claims without apportioning blame or fault for the accident, thereby avoiding protracted disputes and the costs associated with an extended investigation of the accident.
Beginning in or about 2014, a criminal organization (the “Gulkarov Conspiracy” or the “Gulkarov Conspirators”) began a scheme to exploit the No-Fault Laws. As part of the scheme, the Gulkarov Conspirators fraudulently owned and controlled more than a dozen medical professional corporations – including medical, acupuncture, and chiropractic practices – by paying licensed medical professionals to use their licenses to incorporate the professional corporations (collectively, the “Gulkarov Clinics”). The Gulkarov Conspirators further defrauded automobile insurance companies by billing insurance companies for unnecessary, harmful, and excessive medical treatments, and lying under oath to insurance company representatives.
The Gulkarov Conspirators laundered the proceeds of the healthcare fraud through, among other ways, the Wisnicki Firms. In or about 2016 and 2017, one of the Gulkarov Conspirators (“CC-1”) transferred funds from the Gulkarov Clinics to the Wisnicki Firms. WISNICKI deposited the funds into one of his IOLA accounts, despite the fact that the Wisnicki Firms did not represent the Gulkarov Clinics and had no attorney-client relationship with the Gulkarov Conspirators. The Gulkarov Conspirators then arranged for the Wisnicki Firms to use the healthcare fraud proceeds to pay for real estate on behalf of the leaders of the Gulkarov Conspiracy.
In or about April 2021, the Wisnicki Firms were served with a subpoena from a grand jury sitting in the Southern District of New York (the “Subpoena”). Among other things, the Subpoena required the Wisnicki Firms to produce documentation concerning the funds obtained from the Gulkarov Clinics.
WISNICKI, CC-1, and a second member of the Gulkarov Conspiracy (“CC-2”) agreed to respond to the Subpoena by submitting fabricated documents to the grand jury, lying in communications with the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York, and committing perjury before the grand jury.
WISNICKI, CC-1, and CC-2 further agreed to re-launder the proceeds in response to the Subpoena. At the direction of CC-1, WISNICKI wrote checks, drawn on his IOLA account, purporting to return the monies that had been previously paid to his firm. The checks were made payable to physicians who purported to be owners of the Gulkarov Clinics and to family members of the Gulkarov Conspirators (together, the “Payees”). WISNICKI wrote the checks under the false pretense that the Payees were clients of the Wisnicki Firms who had previously paid money to the Wisnicki Firms for legal services. WISNICKI and others agreed that the checks to the Payees would be deposited, and the funds would then be withdrawn and returned to the Wisnicki Firms. WISNICKI delivered the checks to CC-1 for this purpose.
Thereafter, on or about April 19, 2021, WISNICKI submitted to the grand jury over a dozen fabricated retainer agreements. The same day, WISNICKI falsely stated to the U.S. Attorney’s Office that the funds paid to the Wisnicki Firms “were originally supposed to be used for a [sic] retainer fees, which is why the agreements were originally prepared,” but that the clients ultimately “instead asked us to hold the funds to be used for future investments.” WISNICKI further represented that the Wisnicki Firms decided to return the retainer fees after receiving the Subpoena.
On or about July 6, 2021, WISNICKI was called to appear before the grand jury as custodian of records for the Wisnicki Firms. WISNICKI falsely testified to the grand jury, among other things, that payments to the Wisnicki Firms had been made for the purpose of opening a “lending platform” that was never completed and that WISNICKI had not spoken to anyone outside of the Wisnicki Firms about the Subpoena.
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In addition to the prison term, ROBERT WISNICKI, 45, of Woodmere, New York, was sentenced to three years of supervised release. WISNICKI was also ordered to forfeit a money judgment of $19,010,548.06 and to pay $18,800,000 in restitution.
Mr. Williams praised the investigative work of the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
This case is being handled by the Office’s Complex Frauds and Cybercrime Unit and the White Plains Division. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Mathew Andrews, Timothy Capozzi, and Ryan W. Allison are in charge of the prosecution.