Latest Records
Newest first across public DOJ and U.S. Attorney press releases.
10 December 2018
Richard Brega, Owner of Rockland County Bus Companies, Sentenced to More Than Four Years in Prison for Bribery and FraudRead the Press Release
Geoffrey S. Berman, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, announced that RICHARD BREGA was sentenced today to 50 months in prison for bribery, fraud, and theft from a program receiving government funds. BREGA was found guilty of these crimes on May 2, 2018, by a jury at the conclusion of a three-week trial. The sentence was imposed by United States District Judge Kenneth M. Karas.
U.S. Attorney Geoffrey S. Berman said: “The successful prosecution of Richard Brega demonstrates the commitment of the federal government to rooting out corruption and fraud in Rockland County and throughout the Hudson Valley. The taxpayers and the schoolchildren and their families there deserve far better than the criminal scheming Brega gave them. The sentence imposed today serves a stern reminder that the criminal path Brega chose leads to one place: prison.”
The evidence at trial showed, among other things, the following:
BREGA defrauded a school district – Rockland BOCES – by falsely claiming to maintain the district’s buses, which BREGA knew were used to transport special-needs students, and bribing a Rockland BOCES employee to approve the false invoices for payment. As a result, Rockland BOCES transported special-needs students on deteriorating, unmaintained buses as BREGA got paid.
In particular, BREGA owned and controlled vehicle repair and transportation companies in Rockland County, including Brega D.O.T. Maintenance Corp. (“Brega DOT”), a fleet-maintenance repair shop. Rockland BOCES serves eight school districts in Rockland County. Among the services that Rockland BOCES offers to its students – particularly children with special physical, intellectual, and emotional needs – is transportation, for which it has a fleet of buses and other vehicles (hereinafter collectively referred to as “Rockland BOCES buses” and “bus fleet”), some of which are specially equipped for students with physical disabilities. Rockland BOCES receives federal funding each year, often in excess of $1 million.
From in or about 2008 or 2009, through in or about 2015, Brega DOT provided vehicle repair service and maintenance for Rockland BOCES bus fleet, including regular preventive maintenance (“Preventive Maintenance”), which is supposed to involve a thorough and detailed inspection and testing of the buses at Brega DOT’s facility, designed to ensure that the buses are defect-free and safe to operate with children aboard. Brega DOT would fix any problems with the buses that it found during Preventive Maintenance inspections before releasing the buses back to Rockland BOCES. Brega DOT also created invoices documenting the work done and provided those invoices to Rockland BOCES for payment. Rockland BOCES’ director of transportation, William Popkave, would then approve the invoice as accurately stating work that was performed on Rockland BOCES buses, and Rockland BOCES would mail payment to Brega DOT.
From in or about 2012 through in or about 2014, BREGA stole money from Rockland BOCES by, among other things, billing Rockland BOCES for Preventive Maintenance inspections that were never performed. To do so, BREGA directed his employees to prepare fraudulent invoices, as well as fraudulent supporting documentation, giving the false appearance that his company had performed regular Preventive Maintenance inspections on certain buses, when in fact those buses were not even brought to Brega DOT and Preventive Maintenance inspections were not performed.
To create the fraudulent invoices, and to obtain payment from Rockland BOCES for work that was never performed, BREGA bribed Popkave – who oversaw upkeep and maintenance of its buses – with tens of thousands of dollars’ worth of free personal vehicle repairs. Popkave sent BREGA lists of buses and their mileages so that BREGA could create fraudulent invoices and supporting documentation, and thereafter approved payment of the fraudulent invoices at Rockland BOCES, even though Popkave and BREGA knew that the buses had not even been to Brega DOT on the days for which Brega DOT billed Rockland BOCES, and had not received Preventive Maintenance inspections.
* * *
BREGA, 51, of Rockland County, was convicted of three counts: (1) mail fraud, (2) bribery concerning a program receiving federal funds, and (3) theft from a program receiving federal funds.
Popkave, 62, of Rockland County, New York, pled guilty before U.S. Magistrate Judge Judith C. McCarthy on January 24, 2017, to five counts: (1) conspiracy to commit mail fraud, which carries a maximum potential penalty of 20 years in prison; (2) mail fraud, which carries a maximum potential penalty of 20 years in prison; (3) theft concerning a program receiving federal funds, which carries a maximum potential penalty of 10 years in prison; (4) bribery concerning a program receiving federal funds, which carries a maximum potential penalty of 10 years in prison; and (5) obstruction of justice, which carries a maximum potential penalty of 20 years in prison.
The statutory maximum penalties are prescribed by Congress and are provided here for informational purposes only, as the sentencing of Popkave will be determined by the judge at a future date.
Mr. Berman praised the outstanding investigative work of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Rockland County District Attorney’s Office, and the United States Department of Transportation Office of Inspector General. Mr. Berman also thanked the United States Department of Education, Office of Inspector General, for its assistance.
This case is being handled by the Office’s White Plains Division. Assistant United States Attorneys Michael D. Maimin and Benjamin Allee are in charge of the prosecution.
Realtor sentenced for stealing millions from clientsRead the Press Release
ATLANTA – Emily Moerdermo Fu, a metro Atlanta realtor and businesswoman who defrauded clients out of over $22 million dollars over a two-year period, has been sentenced to seven years, three months for mail fraud.
“While Fu was a well-respected real estate and financial professional, she took advantage of her reputation and clients’ trust to defraud them,” said U.S. Attorney Byung J. “BJay” Pak. “In some cases she created fictitious closings and then pocketed the money. In other instances, she went through with the closing and used the property as collateral for unauthorized loans for her own benefit, meanwhile embezzling hundreds of thousands of dollars in managing such properties.”
"This announcement serves as a reminder to scam artists who blatantly commit fraud that they will be held accountable through the judicial system,” said Scott D. Fix, Acting U.S. Postal Inspector in Charge of the Charlotte Division. “Postal Inspectors are committed to pursuing those individuals who violate the public’s trust and encourage customers to keep a watchful eye on their investments.”
According to U.S. Attorney Pak, the charges and other information presented in court: Fu operated Capital Management in Suwanee, Georgia, which offered a wide range of services to investors in commercial properties around metropolitan Atlanta, including investment recommendations, property financing and acquisition, and management services. From 2004 to 2017, Fu established several investment companies for a group of clients for the supposed purchase of commercial real estate in Forsyth, Gwinnett, Fulton, and other metro counties.
In November 2017, the investors discovered irregularities in the books of some of the investment companies and confronted Fu, who admitted to having embezzled around $930,000. Through queries of county property databases and other investigations, it was determined that Fu had never followed through on several commercial real estate purchases, each valued in the millions of dollars. The properties included medical and shopping centers in Atlanta and across the northern metro area. Fu represented to her victims that she had completed the closings and was managing the properties, when in fact she had diverted the loans and investment funds for these “ghost purchases” to her own purposes. Fu had been a prominent real estate professional before she committed the fraud.
Emily Moerdermo Fu, 58, of Atlanta, Georgia, has been sentenced by U.S. District Judge Richard W. Story to seven years, three months in prison to be followed by three years of supervised release, and ordered to pay restitution in the amount of $22,043,640.67. Fu pleaded guilty to mail fraud on July 12, 2018.
This case was investigated by the U.S. Postal Inspection Service.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Brian Pearce prosecuted the case.
For further information please contact the U.S. Attorney’s Public Affairs Office at [email protected] or (404) 581-6016. The Internet address for the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Georgia is http://www.justice.gov/usao-ndga.
Pittsburgh Drug Conspirator Sentenced to Nearly 5 Years in PrisonRead the Press Release
PITTSBURGH, Pa. – A former resident of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, was sentenced in federal court on Friday to a term of imprisonment of four years and nine months, to be followed by three years of supervised release, on charges of conspiracy to distribute and possession with intent to distribute an analogue of fentanyl, United States Attorney Scott W. Brady announced today.
Senior United States District Court Judge David S. Cercone imposed the sentence on Calvin Armstrong, 32, formerly of Pittsburgh, PA.
According to information presented to the court, from May 2017 to August 2017, Calvin Armstrong conspired with others to conspire to distribute and possess with intent to distribute cyclopropyl fentanyl, an analogue of fentanyl. Lynell Guyton purchased large quantities of fentanyl analogues from overseas purveyors, which he distributed in Western Pennsylvania.
From late August 8th through the early morning of August 9th, Armstrong packaged large amounts of cyclopropyl fentanyl with other individuals. On August 9, 2017, law enforcement executed a search warrant at 7 Bond Street. Guyton was found on the first floor along with Armstrong and two other individuals. Large amounts of narcotics and packaging paraphernalia were present in the house. A table with powder narcotics was overturned during the initial SWAT entry into the home, causing large amounts of opioids to become airborne. SWAT officers exposed to the airborne narcotics were sent to Mercy for evaluation–everyone was medically cleared and no one was harmed. Law enforcement also executed a search warrant at 1268 Lakewood Avenue and found another individual and opioids at the residence. A total of 235 grams of cyclopropyl fentanyl was recovered from both residences. Armstrong admitted to packaging narcotics.
Assistant United States Attorneys Rachael L. Dizard and Shanicka L. Kennedy prosecuted this case on behalf of the government.
The U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE)/ Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), assisted by the United States Postal Inspection Service, the Pennsylvania State Police and the Pittsburgh Bureau of Police, including the Pittsburgh Police SWAT Team, conducted the investigation leading to the prosecution of this case.
Pinellas Men Plead Guilty in Telemarketing ScamRead the Press Release
Tampa, FL – United States Attorney Maria Chapa Lopez announces that Gary Kinard (40, St. Petersburg), Martin Steele (46, Largo), and Mark Boring (47, St. Petersburg) have each pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and one count of aggravated identity theft. Each faces a maximum penalty of 20 years in federal prison for the wire fraud conspiracy and a minimum mandatory consecutive term of 2 years’ imprisonment for the aggravated identity theft.
Pursuant to their plea agreements, Kinard has agreed to pay restitution to the scheme’s numerous victims in the amount of $1,555,860.21; Steele has agreed to pay restitution in the amount of $1,768,163.60; and Boring has agreed to pay restitution in the amount of $853,392.03. Each has also consented to a forfeiture money judgment of $75,000.
According to the plea agreements, from 2016 through at least 2018, Kinard, Steele, and Boring conspired with each other and others to take money from victims throughout the United States who wanted to sell their timeshare properties or other land parcels. The conspirators placed telephone calls to these victims impersonating real estate professionals. They misled the timeshare owners to believe that the conspirators had identified buyers for the victims’ timeshares and other properties. The conspirators further advised the victims that the timeshare and property sales could be consummated if the victims made one or more advanced payments to the conspirators for various fees purportedly associated with the sales, such as closing costs, courier services, title searches, transfer and legal fees. Once the victims agreed to pay the bogus advance fees, the conspirators directed the victims to send funds via wire transfers to one of the conspirators. That conspirator then withdrew the fraud proceeds and shared them with the others, based upon each conspirator’s role in the fraudulent transaction. The conspirators often repeatedly re-contacted their victims and fraudulently advised them that additional fees were needed in order to complete the sales, and they continued to dupe the victims into sending bogus advance fees until the victims either ran out of money or became aware of the scam.
After the victims had depleted their assets or recognized that they had been defrauded, Kinard, Steele, and other conspirators evolved their scheme. In this second stage, Kinard, Steele, and/or other conspirators re-contacted their victims via email and, now posing as helpful attorneys, told the victims that they had been defrauded in a timeshare scam. They then offered to “represent” the victims against their “first attorneys,” and to obtain settlements on their behalf. Once Kinard, Steele, and/or other conspirators regained the trust of the timeshare victims, they directed the victims to forward additional bogus fees purportedly associated with the cost of litigation, settlement expenses, and other related expenses. Some victims paid the conspirators hundreds of thousands of dollars for the purported “litigation.” Over the course of the conspiracy, the conspirators received in excess of $1.5 million via wire transfers from more than 40 victims.
This case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the St. Petersburg Police Department, and the Florida Department of Law Enforcement. It is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Rachel K. Jones.
Pawtucket Man Charged with Manufacturing Counterfeit MoneyRead the Press Release
PROVIDENCE - A Pawtucket man, previously convicted and incarcerated for producing counterfeit casino coins, was arrested at his Pawtucket residence on Friday and made an initial appearance before U.S. District Court Magistrate Judge Lincoln D. Almond on charges that he allegedly possessed equipment used to manufacture counterfeit U.S. currency and that he manufactured counterfeit $100 bills.
Louis B. Colavecchio, 76, was arrested by United States Secret Service agents as the agents, assisted by Coventry and Pawtucket Police, executed a federal court-authorized search of his residence. The U.S. Secret Service seized, among other items, electronic media and presses used in the production of counterfeit U.S. currency, including the simulation of security features on U.S. currency. Agents also seized approximately $24,000 in counterfeit $100 bills.
Colavecchio’s arrest on charges of intent to defraud by falsely making or forging obligations or other securities of the United States; intent to defraud, pass, publish or sell counterfeit U.S. currency; and selling, buying or transferring counterfeit U.S. currency is announced by United States Attorney Stephen G. Dambruch, Special Agent in Charge of the U.S. Secret Service Stephen Marks, Coventry Police Chief John S. MacDonald, and Pawtucket Police Chief Tina Goncalves.
According to Court documents, Coventry Police developed information relating to Colavecchio’s alleged counterfeiting activity. Between June and November 2018, it is alleged that Colavecchio had numerous recorded telephone conversations monitored by law enforcement in which he discussed plans to manufacture counterfeit currency. He also spoke of technology he said he developed which replicates security features of U.S. currency, including how genuine currency reacts to UV light.
It is alleged that Colavecchio repeatedly insisted that the counterfeit currency he produced not be passed in Rhode Island. In one conversation monitored by law enforcement, Colavecchio allegedly stated that, if arrested, his “defense” would be that he was working as a counterfeit detection specialist.
Colavecchio was released on $10,000 unsecured bond following his appearance on Friday before U.S. District Court Magistrate Judge Lincoln D. Almond.
According to court records, Colavecchio was convicted in U.S. District Court in New Jersey in October 1997, and sentenced to 27 months in federal prison for manufacturing counterfeit casino coins. He was convicted on charges of conspiracy to defraud the United States and scheme to defraud: counterfeit securities.
At the time of his arrest on Friday, Colavecchio was serving a Rhode Island state court 7 year suspended sentence with probation for possessing 5 kilograms or more of marijuana. He was convicted in Rhode Island State court and sentenced in January 2015.
A criminal complaint is merely an allegation and is not evidence of guilt. A defendant is entitled to a fair trial in which it will be the government’s burden to prove guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.
The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Gerard B. Sullivan, with the assistance of Assistant U.S. Attorney Richard W. Rose.
###
Omaha Man Sentenced for Armed Bank RobberyRead the Press Release
United States Attorney Joe Kelly announced that Warren Dwayne Vasser, 45, was sentenced today in Omaha, Nebraska, by Senior United States District Judge Laurie Smith Camp, for the crimes of armed bank robbery and brandishing a firearm. Senior Judge Smith Camp sentenced Vasser to 132 months’ imprisonment, a five-year term of supervised release, and ordered Vasser to make restitution in the amount of $20 to the bank.
On November 15, 2017, Vasser and two others, Warren Copeland and Angelo Douglas, all possessing firearms, entered the First State Bank located at 1005 East 23rd St. in Fremont and took $84,135 in bank funds. After a high speed chase into Omaha, all three were arrested and all but $20 of the $84,135 was recovered. Copeland and Douglas were sentenced to prison terms of 12 and 11 years respectively earlier this year.
This case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Fremont Police Department, and the Nebraska State Patrol.
Omaha Man Sentenced for RobberyRead the Press Release
United States Attorney Joe Kelly announced that Jonathan A. Valentine, age 40, was sentenced in federal court Monday in Omaha, Nebraska, for one count of interference with commerce by robbery. The Honorable Laurie Smith Camp sentenced Valentine to 10 years in prison, ordered him to pay $1,256.50 in restitution, and three years of supervised release after he is released from prison.
On July 20, 2017, Valentine went into the Baker’s Supermarket at 5555 North 90th Street, with a stocking over his head that concealed his face and a gun that was later determined to be a toy. He pointed the gun at a clerk in the customer service area and demanded she put money in a bag he brought in. During the robbery, Valentine placed his hand on the counter leaving his DNA. A tip led law enforcement to Valentine and his DNA was compared to that left on the counter. He was confronted and admitted his involvement in the crime.
During the time period that included the date of the robbery, Valentine was on federal supervised release for a prior conviction of possession with intent to distribute crack cocaine. As a result of his robbery conviction, his supervised release was revoked and Senior U.S. District Judge Smith Camp ordered him to serve an additional two years, three months in prison in addition to the 10-year robbery sentence.
The case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation Great Plains Violent Crimes Task Force and Omaha Police robbery unit.
Omaha Company Sentenced for Making False Statements to the U.S. Department of LaborRead the Press Release
United States Attorney Joe Kelly announced today that Chief United States District Court Judge John M. Gerrard sentenced Perkins & Perkins Co., LLC, an Omaha-based construction company, to a three-year term of probation and ordered restitution in the amount of $75,666 following the company’s felony conviction for making false statements to a federal agency.
During an investigation conducted by Special Agents with the United States Department of Labor Office of Inspector General, it was determined that between 2012 to 2014, Perkins & Perkins Co., LLC was awarded $1,530,503 in five Department of Transportation subcontracts to perform work on highway and road projects in Iowa and Nebraska. The projects were each federally funded requiring compliance with federal reporting requirements.
As part of the Department of Transportation subcontracts, Perkins & Perkins Co., LLC was required to pay its employees a prevailing wage. Perkins & Perkins Co., LLC was also required to submit weekly certified payroll records to the General Contractor of each project certifying that prevailing wages were in fact paid to the company’s employees. Certified payroll records submitted to the General Contractors were relied upon by the United States Department of Labor for processing payments to Perkins & Perkins Co., LLC under the Department of Transportation subcontracts.
Between 2012 and 2014 Perkins & Perkins Co., LLC submitted false certified payroll records relied upon by the United States Department of Labor. The certified payroll records falsely represented Perkins & Perkins Co., LLC paid the required prevailing wage to its employees, when company employees were paid less than the prevailing wage.
“We will continue to work with our law enforcement partners and United States Department of Labor’s Office of the Solicitor and Wage and Hour Division to protect the integrity of United States Department of Labor programs and to ensure workers are paid proper wages for the work they perform,” stated Steven Grell, Special Agent-in-Charge, Dallas Region, U.S. Department of Labor Office of Inspector General.
This case was investigated by the United States Department of Labor Office of Inspector General.
Olympus Medical Systems Corporation, Former Senior Executive Plead Guilty to Distributing Endoscopes After Failing to File FDA-Required Adverse Event Reports of Serious InfectionsRead the Press Release
Olympus Medical Systems Corporation (Olympus) and a former senior executive in Japan pleaded guilty today in Newark, New Jersey, to failing to file required adverse event reports involving infections connected to duodenoscopes, and to continuing to sell the duodenoscopes in the United States despite those failures, the Justice Department announced today.
Olympus, which is located in Tokyo, Japan, and Hisao Yabe, 62, of Japan, both entered guilty pleas before U.S. District Court Judge Stanley R. Chesler in Newark Federal Court: Olympus to three counts, and Yabe to one count, of distributing misbranded medical devices in interstate commerce in violation of the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (FDCA).
Judge Chesler also imposed sentence on the company today – fining Olympus $80,000,000 and ordering $5,000,000 in criminal forfeiture, consistent with a plea agreement between Olympus and the Justice Department. Olympus must also abide by an agreement with the Justice Department requiring Olympus to enact extensive compliance reforms.
Yabe is scheduled to be sentenced by Judge Chesler on March 27, 2019. Yabe faces a maximum potential penalty of a year in prison and a $100,000 fine, or twice the gain or loss from the offense.
Olympus admitted that it failed to file with the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) required adverse event reports in 2012 and 2013 relating to three separate events involving infections in Europe connected to Olympus’s TJF-Q180V duodenoscope (Q180V): the infection of approximately 22 patients with Pseudomonas aeruginosa at the Erasmus Medical Center in the Netherlands in early 2012; the infection of three patients with Escherichia coli at Clinique de Bercy in France in November 2012; and the infection of five patients with Pseudomonas aeruginosa at Kremlin Bicetre in France in July 2012.
Yabe admitted his own personal responsibility for the failure to file the necessary information with FDA relating to the Erasmus Medical Center infections. At the time, Yabe was Olympus’s Division Manager for the Quality and Environment Division – Olympus’s top regulatory official, whose responsibilities included adverse event reporting in the United States.
“Medical devices, such as the Olympus duodenoscope that is used in 500,000 procedures per year in the United States, can extend and improve the quality of life for many people,” said Assistant Attorney General Jody Hunt for the Department of Justice’s Civil Division. “But when a device manufacturer becomes aware of risks that could lead to illness, injury, or death, there is a statutory obligation to report that information to the FDA in a timely manner. By failing to do so, Olympus and Mr. Yabe put patients’ health at risk.”
“Olympus and Yabe failed to file important FDA reports regarding adverse events,” Attorney for the United States Rachael Honig, District of New Jersey, said. “It is especially troubling that they remained quiet when they received additional information from an independent expert questioning the safety of Olympus’ device. Patient safety must always be a paramount concern for medical device companies, and these defendants simply failed to treat that concern with the gravity it deserves. Today’s resolution is a reminder that this office will act whenever patient safety is put at risk by a quest for profits.”
“Medical device adverse event reporting requirements are designed to protect Americans by providing FDA with a tool to detect potential safety issues. When device manufacturers fail to report adverse events, unsuspecting patients are placed at risk,” said FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb, M.D. “We take our patient safety mission very seriously and we remain fully committed to aggressively pursuing those who jeopardize public health by subverting FDA’s regulatory requirements.”
Olympus’s and Yabe’s Failure to File Required Adverse Event Reports
To enable FDA and others to identify and monitor adverse events, the FDCA requires medical device manufacturers to file adverse event reports – known as Medical Device Reports (MDRs) – when the manufacturer becomes aware of information that reasonably suggests that the manufacturer’s device may have caused or contributed to a death or serious injury. The FDCA also requires manufacturers to file supplemental MDRs if they subsequently obtain information about the event that was not known or available when the initial MDR was filed.
Olympus today admitted that it failed to make the required initial MDR filing regarding the Kremlin Bicetre infections, and failed to file required supplemental MDRs relating to the Erasmus Medical Center and Clinique de Bercy infections, for which Olympus had filed initial MDRs. Under the FDCA, devices for which required MDRs and supplemental MDRs have not been filed are deemed misbranded, and it is a crime to ship such devices in interstate commerce. Between August 2012 and October 2014, Olympus shipped hundreds of misbranded duodenoscopes in the United States, generating approximately $40 million in revenue and approximately $33 million in total gross profit. Olympus’s payment of $85 million is more than 2½ times Olympus’s total profit from sales of the misbranded duodenoscopes.
Yabe admitted today that he was aware of Olympus’s obligation to file supplemental MDRs and was involved in Olympus’s failure to file a supplemental MDR regarding the Erasmus Medical Center infections and a report Olympus received prepared by an independent expert of Delft University of Technology in the Netherlands. That expert report – which Olympus obtained in the summer of 2012 – noted numerous problems with the Q180V, including that the Q180V’s tip had various cracks, corners, and crevices that could harbor bacteria and could be cleaned only with great difficulty. The report recommended immediate further investigation of all such scopes, updating the cleaning instructions, and improving the quality of the seals.
Additional Compliance Measures
As part of its plea agreement with the Justice Department, Olympus has agreed to: retain an independent MDR expert to inspect and review Olympus’s policies and procedures to determine their compliance with the MDR requirements of the FDCA and its implementing regulations; periodic review by the MDR expert of Olympus’s continued compliance with the MDR requirements of the FDCA and its implementing regulations; and conduct a review and audit of the device classification and market pathway for all endoscope device types manufactured by Olympus that are intended for use in the sterile body cavity and that are currently sold in the United States. The MDR expert will report back to FDA and the Justice Department periodically for three years. In addition, the President of Olympus and Olympus’s Board of Directors will periodically conduct a review of Olympus’s MDR compliance measures and classification/marketing pathway review and provide certifications to FDA and the Justice Department relating to those reviews. Olympus also is obligated to inform health care providers in the United States who received Q180Vs between August 2012 and October 2014 of Olympus’s plea today, and to provide information to those health care providers regarding Olympus’s failure to file the required MDRs.
In March 2016, Olympus Corp. of the Americas and Olympus Latin America, two separate subsidiaries of Olympus Corp., entered into deferred prosecution agreements (DPAs) and civil settlements with the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of New Jersey and the Justice Department’s Civil Division to resolve criminal and civil charges and civil claims relating to schemes between 2006-2011 to pay kickbacks to doctors and hospitals in the United States and violate the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act in Latin America. The DPAs are scheduled to expire in March 2019. While the unlawful conduct at issue in today’s resolution terminated in October 2014 – a year and a half before the government entered into the DPAs – conduct relating to violations of the FDCA and failure to file MDRs was specifically not covered by the March 2016 resolution, as the investigation into the FDCA violations was ongoing at that time.
The guilty pleas are the culmination of an investigation conducted by special agents from FDA’s Office of Criminal Investigations, under the direction of Special Agent in Charge Jeffrey J. Ebersole of the New York Field Office, along with special agents from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Office of Inspector General, under the direction of Special Agent in Charge Scott J. Lampert, and special agents of the FBI, under the direction of Special Agent in Charge Gregory W. Ehrie.
The government is represented in the criminal case by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Jacob T. Elberg and R. David Walk, Jr. of the U.S. Attorney’s Office’s Health Care and Government Fraud Unit, and Senior Litigation Counsel Patrick Jasperse of the Justice Department’s Consumer Protection Branch, with the assistance of Senior Counsel Shannon M. Singleton of the FDA’s Office of Chief Counsel.
Additional information about the Consumer Protection Branch and its enforcement efforts may be found at www.justice.gov/civil/consumer-protection-branch. For more information about the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of New Jersey, visit its website at www.justice.gov/usao-nj.
Olympus Medical Systems Corporation, Former Senior Executive Admit Distributing Endoscopes after Failing to File FDA-Required Adverse Event Reports of Serious InfectionsRead the Press Release
Corporation to Pay $85 Million, Enact Compliance Reforms
NEWARK, N.J. – Olympus Medical Systems Corporation (Olympus) and a former senior executive in Japan pleaded guilty today in Newark, New Jersey, to failing to file required adverse event reports involving infections connected to duodenoscopes, and to continuing to sell the duodenoscopes in the United States despite those failures, the Justice Department announced today.
Olympus, which is located in Tokyo, Japan, and Hisao Yabe, 62, of Japan, both entered guilty pleas before U.S. District Court Judge Stanley R. Chesler in Newark Federal Court: Olympus to three counts, and Yabe to one count, of distributing misbranded medical devices in interstate commerce in violation of the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (FDCA).
Judge Chesler also imposed sentence on the company today – fining Olympus $80,000,000 and ordering $5,000,000 in criminal forfeiture, consistent with a plea agreement between Olympus and the Justice Department. Olympus must also abide by an agreement with the Justice Department requiring Olympus to enact extensive compliance reforms.
Yabe is scheduled to be sentenced by Judge Chesler on March 27, 2019. Yabe faces a maximum potential penalty of a year in prison and a $100,000 fine, or twice the gain or loss from the offense.
Olympus admitted that it failed to file with the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) required adverse event reports in 2012 and 2013 relating to three separate events involving infections in Europe connected to Olympus’s TJF-Q180V duodenoscope (Q180V): the infection of approximately 22 patients with Pseudomonas aeruginosa at the Erasmus Medical Center in the Netherlands in early 2012; the infection of three patients with Escherichia coli at Clinique de Bercy in France in November 2012; and the infection of five patients with Pseudomonas aeruginosa at Kremlin Bicetre in France in July 2012.
Yabe admitted his own personal responsibility for the failure to file the necessary information with FDA relating to the Erasmus Medical Center infections. At the time, Yabe was Olympus’s Division Manager for the Quality and Environment Division – Olympus’s top regulatory official, whose responsibilities included adverse event reporting in the United States.
“Medical devices, such as the Olympus duodenoscope that is used in 500,000 procedures per year in the United States, can extend and improve the quality of life for many people,” said Assistant Attorney General Jody Hunt for the Department of Justice’s Civil Division. “But when a device manufacturer becomes aware of risks that could lead to illness, injury, or death, there is a statutory obligation to report that information to the FDA in a timely manner. By failing to do so, Olympus and Mr. Yabe put patients’ health at risk.”
“Olympus and Yabe failed to file important FDA reports regarding adverse events,” Attorney for the United States Rachael Honig, District of New Jersey, said. “It is especially troubling that they remained quiet when they received additional information from an independent expert questioning the safety of Olympus’ device. Patient safety must always be a paramount concern for medical device companies, and these defendants simply failed to treat that concern with the gravity it deserves. Today’s resolution is a reminder that this office will act whenever patient safety is put at risk by a quest for profits.”
“Medical device adverse event reporting requirements are designed to protect Americans by providing FDA with a tool to detect potential safety issues. When device manufacturers fail to report adverse events, unsuspecting patients are placed at risk,” said FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb, M.D. “We take our patient safety mission very seriously and we remain fully committed to aggressively pursuing those who jeopardize public health by subverting FDA’s regulatory requirements.”
Olympus’s and Yabe’s Failure to File Required Adverse Event Reports
To enable FDA and others to identify and monitor adverse events, the FDCA requires medical device manufacturers to file adverse event reports – known as Medical Device Reports (MDRs) – when the manufacturer becomes aware of information that reasonably suggests that the manufacturer’s device may have caused or contributed to a death or serious injury. The FDCA also requires manufacturers to file supplemental MDRs if they subsequently obtain information about the event that was not known or available when the initial MDR was filed.
Olympus today admitted that it failed to make the required initial MDR filing regarding the Kremlin Bicetre infections, and failed to file required supplemental MDRs relating to the Erasmus Medical Center and Clinique de Bercy infections, for which Olympus had filed initial MDRs. Under the FDCA, devices for which required MDRs and supplemental MDRs have not been filed are deemed misbranded, and it is a crime to ship such devices in interstate commerce. Between August 2012 and October 2014, Olympus shipped hundreds of misbranded duodenoscopes in the United States, generating approximately $40 million in revenue and approximately $33 million in total gross profit. Olympus’s payment of $85 million is more than 2½ times Olympus’s total profit from sales of the misbranded duodenoscopes.
Yabe admitted today that he was aware of Olympus’s obligation to file supplemental MDRs and was involved in Olympus’s failure to file a supplemental MDR regarding the Erasmus Medical Center infections and a report Olympus received prepared by an independent expert of Delft University of Technology in the Netherlands. That expert report – which Olympus obtained in the summer of 2012 – noted numerous problems with the Q180V, including that the Q180V’s tip had various cracks, corners, and crevices that could harbor bacteria and could be cleaned only with great difficulty. The report recommended immediate further investigation of all such scopes, updating the cleaning instructions, and improving the quality of the seals.
Additional Compliance Measures
As part of its plea agreement with the Justice Department, Olympus has agreed to: retain an independent MDR expert to inspect and review Olympus’s policies and procedures to determine their compliance with the MDR requirements of the FDCA and its implementing regulations; periodic review by the MDR expert of Olympus’s continued compliance with the MDR requirements of the FDCA and its implementing regulations; and conduct a review and audit of the device classification and market pathway for all endoscope device types manufactured by Olympus that are intended for use in the sterile body cavity and that are currently sold in the United States. The MDR expert will report back to FDA and the Justice Department periodically for three years. In addition, the President of Olympus and Olympus’s Board of Directors will periodically conduct a review of Olympus’s MDR compliance measures and classification/marketing pathway review and provide certifications to FDA and the Justice Department relating to those reviews. Olympus also is obligated to inform health care providers in the United States who received Q180Vs between August 2012 and October 2014 of Olympus’s plea today, and to provide information to those health care providers regarding Olympus’s failure to file the required MDRs.
In March 2016, Olympus Corp. of the Americas and Olympus Latin America, two separate subsidiaries of Olympus Corp., entered into deferred prosecution agreements (DPAs) and civil settlements with the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of New Jersey and the Justice Department’s Civil Division to resolve criminal and civil charges and civil claims relating to schemes between 2006-2011 to pay kickbacks to doctors and hospitals in the United States and violate the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act in Latin America. The DPAs are scheduled to expire in March 2019. While the unlawful conduct at issue in today’s resolution terminated in October 2014 – a year and a half before the government entered into the DPAs – conduct relating to violations of the FDCA and failure to file MDRs was specifically not covered by the March 2016 resolution, as the investigation into the FDCA violations was ongoing at that time.
The guilty pleas are the culmination of an investigation conducted by special agents from FDA’s Office of Criminal Investigations, under the direction of Special Agent in Charge Jeffrey J. Ebersole of the New York Field Office, along with special agents from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Office of Inspector General, under the direction of Special Agent in Charge Scott J. Lampert, and special agents of the FBI, under the direction of Special Agent in Charge Gregory W. Ehrie.
The government is represented in the criminal case by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Jacob T. Elberg and R. David Walk, Jr. of the U.S. Attorney’s Office’s Health Care and Government Fraud Unit, and Senior Litigation Counsel Patrick Jasperse of the Justice Department’s Consumer Protection Branch, with the assistance of Senior Counsel Shannon M. Singleton of the FDA’s Office of Chief Counsel.
Additional information about the Consumer Protection Branch and its enforcement efforts may be found at www.justice.gov/civil/consumer-protection-branch.
Ohio man arrested and charged in federal court after planning an attack on a synagogue in the Toledo areaRead the Press Release
Damon M. Joseph, 21, of Holland, Ohio, was charged today in federal court with one count of attempting to provide material support to the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham (ISIS), a designated foreign terrorist organization, for allegedly planning an attack on a synagogue in the Toledo, Ohio area. Joseph was arrested Friday evening after he took possession of two semi-automatic rifles.
The announcement was made by Assistant Attorney General for National Security John C. Demers, U.S Attorney Justin E. Herdman for the Northern District of Ohio and Acting Special Agent in Charge Jeff Fortunato of the FBI’s Cleveland Division.
“Damon Joseph was allegedly inspired by ISIS’ call to violence and hate. He planned to attack the victims, based on their religion, at a Toledo-area synagogue in the name of ISIS, and hoped that it would lead to the deaths of many and spread fear,” said Assistant Attorney General Demers. “His alleged actions would be an assault on the liberties and respect for humanity we hold so dear. We will continue to make every effort to prevent such attacks from occurring. I commend the agents, analysts, and prosecutors who identified the threat posed by this defendant and took action to protect the public from his plans.”
“This man spent months planning a violent terrorist attack on behalf of ISIS here in the United States, and eventually targeted a Jewish synagogue in the Toledo area,” said U.S. Attorney Herdman. “The charges describe a calculated man fueled by an ideology of hatred and intent on killing innocent people. The FBI, our police and Justice Department employees are to be credited for working to stop the defendant before he could act.”
“In a matter of months, Damon Joseph progressed from radicalized, virtual jihadist to attack planner,” said Acting Special Agent in Charge Fortunato. “He ultimately decided to target two Toledo-area synagogues for a mass-casualty attack in the name of ISIS. Joseph will now be accountable in a court of law for his pursuit of a violent act of terrorism upon our fellow citizens attending their desired house of worship.”
According to an affidavit filed in U.S. District Court in Toledo:
Earlier in 2018, Joseph drew the attention of law enforcement by posting photographs of weapons and various messages in support of ISIS on his social media accounts, as well as a photograph originally distributed by the media wing of ISIS. This activity led to multiple interactions between Joseph and undercover FBI agents.
During his communication with undercover agents, Joseph stated his support for ISIS and produced propaganda in support of ISIS recruitment. In September, Joseph made videos that he sent to the undercover agent, hoping they would be used to recruit people to ISIS. He also complained that the mosque he attended was critical of ISIS.
Joseph stated his support for violent attacks and operations. For example, on Oct. 21, Joseph expressed support for “martyrdom operations” and stated: “what must be done, must be done” and “there will always be casualties of war.”
On Oct. 30, Joseph and the undercover communicated regarding the mass shooting at a Jewish synagogue in Pittsburgh. Joseph stated: “I admire what the guy did with the shooting actually.” He added: “I can see myself carrying out this type of operation inshallah. They wouldn’t even [an attack] expect in my area...”
Over the next few weeks, Joseph continued stating he wanted to participate in an attack on behalf of ISIS. On Dec. 2 he forwarded a document that laid out his plans for an attack, using the name “Abdullah Ali Yusuf” for himself. In the document, he described plans to attack where the greatest number of people are gathered, inflict the most casualties during the attack and make sure no one escaped.
Joseph then stated that he did not see this necessarily as “a martyrdom operation” as his plan accounted for an escape and potential combat with law enforcement.
On Dec. 4, Joseph stated he was deciding between two synagogues in the area to attack. He stated the choice would depend on “Which one will have the most people, what time and what day. Go big or go home.”
The next day, Joseph met with an undercover FBI agent and discussed conducting a mass shooting at a synagogue. Joseph identified two synagogues he viewed as targets in the greater Toledo area, and discussed the types of weapons he believed would be able to inflict mass casualties.
Joseph made written notes about the firearms he wanted and provided them to the undercover agent, stating he wanted AR 15s, AK 47, Glocks and ammunition.
On Dec. 6, Joseph met with an undercover in the Toledo area and stated it would be ideal to attack two synagogues, but that it was probably more realistic to only attack one. Joseph also stated specifically that he wanted to kill a rabbi.
Also on Dec. 6, Joseph wrote the name and address of the synagogue where the attack was to occur. Joseph stated he had conducted research to determine when the Jewish sabbath was so that more people would be present. Joseph pulled up photographs of the inside of the synagogue and said he wanted the attack to begin in the sanctuary. Joseph told the undercover agent that he would hide two semi-automatic rifles at his house once the undercover purchased them.
Later that day, the undercover agent told Joseph that he purchased rifles for the attack. The two met on Dec. 7 at a predetermined location and Joseph took a black duffel bag containing two semi-automatic rifles, which had been rendered inoperable by law enforcement officers so that they posed no danger to the public. Joseph was then arrested.
A charge is merely an allegation, and the defendant is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.
The FBI’s Joint Terrorism Task Force, which is comprised of members of the FBI, Homeland Security and Investigations, U.S. Customs and Border Protection, Ohio State Highway Patrol and Toledo Police Department, is leading the ongoing investigation.
The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Michelle Baeppler of the Northern District of Ohio, and Trial Attorneys Josh Champagne and Kyle Phillips of the National Security Division’s Counterterrorism Section.
Ohio Man Arrested on Terrorism Charge After Planning Attack on Jewish SynagogueRead the Press Release
Damon M. Joseph, 21, of Holland, Ohio, was charged today in federal court with one count of attempting to provide material support to the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham (ISIS), a designated foreign terrorist organization, for allegedly planning an attack on a synagogue in the Toledo, Ohio area. Joseph was arrested Friday evening after he took possession of two semi-automatic rifles.
The announcement was made by Assistant Attorney General for National Security John C. Demers, U.S Attorney Justin E. Herdman for the Northern District of Ohio and Acting Special Agent in Charge Jeff Fortunato of the FBI’s Cleveland Division.
“Damon Joseph was allegedly inspired by ISIS’ call to violence and hate. He planned to attack the victims, based on their religion, at a Toledo-area synagogue in the name of ISIS, and hoped that it would lead to the deaths of many and spread fear,” said Assistant Attorney General Demers. “His alleged actions would be an assault on the liberties and respect for humanity we hold so dear. We will continue to make every effort to prevent such attacks from occurring. I commend the agents, analysts, and prosecutors who identified the threat posed by this defendant and took action to protect the public from his plans.”
“This man spent months planning a violent terrorist attack on behalf of ISIS here in the United States, and eventually targeted a Jewish synagogue in the Toledo area,” said U.S. Attorney Herdman. “The charges describe a calculated man fueled by an ideology of hatred and intent on killing innocent people. The FBI, our police and Justice Department employees are to be credited for working to stop the defendant before he could act.”
“In a matter of months, Damon Joseph progressed from radicalized, virtual jihadist to attack planner,” said Acting Special Agent in Charge Fortunato. “He ultimately decided to target two Toledo-area synagogues for a mass-casualty attack in the name of ISIS. Joseph will now be accountable in a court of law for his pursuit of a violent act of terrorism upon our fellow citizens attending their desired house of worship.”
According to an affidavit filed in U.S. District Court in Toledo:
Earlier in 2018, Joseph drew the attention of law enforcement by posting photographs of weapons and various messages in support of ISIS on his social media accounts, as well as a photograph originally distributed by the media wing of ISIS. This activity led to multiple interactions between Joseph and undercover FBI agents.
During his communication with undercover agents, Joseph stated his support for ISIS and produced propaganda in support of ISIS recruitment. In September, Joseph made videos that he sent to the undercover agent, hoping they would be used to recruit people to ISIS. He also complained that the mosque he attended was critical of ISIS.
Joseph stated his support for violent attacks and operations. For example, on Oct. 21, Joseph expressed support for “martyrdom operations” and stated: “what must be done, must be done” and “there will always be casualties of war.”
On Oct. 30, Joseph and the undercover communicated regarding the mass shooting at a Jewish synagogue in Pittsburgh. Joseph stated: “I admire what the guy did with the shooting actually.” He added: “I can see myself carrying out this type of operation inshallah. They wouldn’t even [an attack] expect in my area...”
Over the next few weeks, Joseph continued stating he wanted to participate in an attack on behalf of ISIS. On Dec. 2 he forwarded a document that laid out his plans for an attack, using the name “Abdullah Ali Yusuf” for himself. In the document, he described plans to attack where the greatest number of people are gathered, inflict the most casualties during the attack and make sure no one escaped.
Joseph then stated that he did not see this necessarily as “a martyrdom operation” as his plan accounted for an escape and potential combat with law enforcement.
On Dec. 4, Joseph stated he was deciding between two synagogues in the area to attack. He stated the choice would depend on “Which one will have the most people, what time and what day. Go big or go home.”
The next day, Joseph met with an undercover FBI agent and discussed conducting a mass shooting at a synagogue. Joseph identified two synagogues he viewed as targets in the greater Toledo area, and discussed the types of weapons he believed would be able to inflict mass casualties.
Joseph made written notes about the firearms he wanted and provided them to the undercover agent, stating he wanted AR 15s, AK 47, Glocks and ammunition.
On Dec. 6, Joseph met with an undercover in the Toledo area and stated it would be ideal to attack two synagogues, but that it was probably more realistic to only attack one. Joseph also stated specifically that he wanted to kill a rabbi.
Also on Dec. 6, Joseph wrote the name and address of the synagogue where the attack was to occur. Joseph stated he had conducted research to determine when the Jewish sabbath was so that more people would be present. Joseph pulled up photographs of the inside of the synagogue and said he wanted the attack to begin in the sanctuary. Joseph told the undercover agent that he would hide two semi-automatic rifles at his house once the undercover purchased them.
Later that day, the undercover agent told Joseph that he purchased rifles for the attack. The two met on Dec. 7 at a predetermined location and Joseph took a black duffel bag containing two semi-automatic rifles, which had been rendered inoperable by law enforcement officers so that they posed no danger to the public. Joseph was then arrested.
A charge is merely an allegation, and the defendant is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.
The FBI’s Joint Terrorism Task Force, which is comprised of members of the FBI, Homeland Security and Investigations, U.S. Customs and Border Protection, Ohio State Highway Patrol and Toledo Police Department, is leading the ongoing investigation.
The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Michelle Baeppler of the Northern District of Ohio, and Trial Attorneys Josh Champagne and Kyle Phillips of the National Security Division’s Counterterrorism Section.
New York Man Sentenced to Prison for Fentanyl ConspiracyRead the Press Release
NORFOLK, Va. – A New York City man was sentenced today to over six years in prison for his role in a conspiracy to distribute fentanyl.
According to court documents, in February law enforcement observed Sheldon Myers, 56, exit a bus in Norfolk and enter a waiting vehicle with Virginia license plates. After conducting a traffic stop, law enforcement smelled marijuana and ordered both the driver and Myers to exit the vehicle. A search of the vehicle revealed approximately 313 grams of fentanyl concealed inside a graham cracker box. After waiving his Miranda rights, Myers admitted he had been recruited to transport the drugs on the bus from New York City to Norfolk.
G. Zachary Terwilliger, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia, Michael K. Lamonea, Assistant Special Agent in Charge of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) Norfolk, and Larry D. Boone, Chief of Norfolk Police, made the announcement after sentencing by U.S. District Judge Robert G. Doumar. Assistant U.S. Attorney Darryl J. Mitchell prosecuted the case.
A copy of this press release is located on the website of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Virginia. Related court documents and information is located on the website of the District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia or on PACER by searching for Case No. 2:18-cr-95.
Mobile County Man Receives 188 Month Sentence for CarjackingRead the Press Release
United States Attorney Richard W. Moore of the Southern District of Alabama announced today that Gary Michael Gilmore of Mobile, Alabama was sentenced to 188 months imprisonment for Carjacking before Judge Callie V.S. Granade.
On April 22, 2018, Gilmore took a 2013 Chevrolet Equinox from a person by force and violence and by intimidation with intent to cause death and serious bodily injury, in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Section 2119.
The victim was asleep in his vehicle in the parking lot of the Sahara Club on Schillinger Road, Mobile, Alabama when he was awaken with a knife to his throat. Gilmore was apprehended in Citronelle, Alabama with the stolen vehicle after he ran from police by jumping in a lake.Special Agents of the Federal Bureau of Investigations along with deputies of the Mobile, County, Alabama Sheriff’s office investigated the case and brought it to the U.S. Attorney's Office for prosecution. The prosecutor assigned to the case is Assistant United States Attorney, Michael D. Anderson.
Missouri Man Who Sold Guns, Marijuana Sentenced to Federal PrisonRead the Press Release
KANSAS CITY, KAN. – A Raytown, Mo., man who peddled marijuana and guns on the street in Wyandotte County was sentenced Monday to five years in federal prison, U.S. Attorney Stephen McAllister said.
Antonio Rodriguez Robertson, Jr., 21, Raytown, Mo., pleaded guilty to one count of possession of a firearm in furtherance of drug trafficking. In his plea, he admitted he sold marijuana and guns to investigators working undercover, including a 9 mm Glock Model 17 pistol for $450, a 9 mm Glock Model 19 pistol for $625, a Taurus 9 mm pistol for $450, a .40 caliber Glock pistol for $700, an AR rifle DPMS Model 15 rifle for $1,100. Robertson admitted he regularly smoked marijuana.
McAllister commended the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and Special Assistant U.S. Attorney James Ward for their work on the case. This case was a Project Safe Neighborhood prosecution.
Minong Man Sentenced to 78 Months for Distributing MethamphetamineRead the Press Release
MADISON, WIS. -- Scott C. Blader, United States Attorney for the Western District of Wisconsin, announced that Rodney Kersten, 60, Minong, Wisconsin, was sentenced on Friday, December 7, by Chief U.S. District Judge James D. Peterson to 78 months in federal prison for distributing methamphetamine. Kersten pleaded guilty to this charge on September 25, 2018.
Kersten was arrested after three controlled purchases of methamphetamine coordinated by law enforcement. Judge Peterson found that Kersten was responsible for distributing 276 grams of methamphetamine. Judge Peterson noted that the sentence was necessary because Kersten was a meaningful part of a system of drug dealing that is damaging the community.
The charge against Kersten was the result of an investigation conducted by the Washburn County Sheriff’s Department, the Wisconsin Department of Justice Division of Criminal Investigation, and the Sawyer County Sheriff’s Department. The prosecution of the case has been handled by Assistant U.S. Attorney Darren Halverson.
Mexican Citizen Sentenced for Illegal Re-entry into United StatesRead the Press Release
ALBANY, NEW YORK – Alejandro Quintero-Marquez, age 34, and a citizen of Mexico, was sentenced today to time served (135 days in jail), for illegal re-entry into the United States.
The announcement was made by United States Attorney Grant C. Jaquith and Thomas E. Feeley, Director of the Buffalo Field Office of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO).
Quintero-Marquez has been previously removed from the United States to Mexico three times, the most recent removal taking place on July 30, 2010. On July 28, 2018, he was encountered and arrested by an ICE Officer in Walton, Delaware County, New York. A fingerprint check of Quintero-Marquez resulted in the discovery of the prior removals. Quintero-Marquez admitted that he returned to the United States without permission following the July 30, 2010 removal. Quintero-Marquez has never had lawful authority to enter or reside in the United States.
This case was investigated by ICE-ERO and prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Edward P. Grogan.
Men Plead Guilty to Transportation of Illegal AliensRead the Press Release
ALBANY, NEW YORK – Daniel Santana, age 49, of New York City, and Sandy Santana-Soto, age 35, of Kissimmee, Florida, each pled guilty today to transporting two illegal aliens within the United States.
The announcement was made by United States Attorney Grant C. Jaquith and Robert N. Garcia, Chief Patrol Agent, United States Border Patrol, Swanton Sector.
As part of their respective pleas, Santana and Santana-Soto each admitted that on June 13, 2018, they drove together to the Massena Port of Entry, New York, and entered the United States from Canada. Simultaneously, Manuela Marina Del Pillar Soto-Garcia and Manuel de Jesus Polanco-Feliz were being smuggled across the border by boat approximately 5 miles east of the Massena Port of Entry, avoiding United States immigration and customs inspection. Soto-Garcia and Polanco-Feliz were delivered to a restaurant parking lot near Hogansburg, New York, by an unidentified smuggler.
After entering the United States, Santana and Santana-Soto drove to the parking lot and picked up Soto-Garcia and Polanco-Feliz. Santana and Santana-Soto exited the parking lot and drove west on New York State Route 37 until they stopped at a gas station in Hogansburg. While at the gas station, Border Patrol approached the group, determined that Soto-Garcia and Polanco-Feliz were both aliens unlawfully present in the United States, and arrested all four individuals.
The passengers, Soto-Garcia and Polanco-Feliz, were prosecuted for the misdemeanor offense of entry without inspection.
Soto-Garcia, age 55, and a citizen of the Dominican Republic, was convicted on July 10, 2018 and sentenced to 35 days in jail. Polanco-Feliz, age 27, and a citizen of the Dominican Republic, was convicted on July 5, 2018, and sentenced to 22 days in jail and to pay a $200 fine.
As a result of their felony convictions, Santana and Santana-Soto each face up to 5 years in prison and a fine of up to $250,000 when they are sentenced by Senior United States District Judge Thomas J. McAvoy on April 16, 2019. A defendant’s sentence is imposed by a judge based on the particular statute the defendant is charged with violating, the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines, and other factors.
These cases were investigated by Border Patrol and prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Edward P. Grogan.
Member of Quileute Tribe Sentenced to Six Years in Prison for Vehicle Assault on Tribal Police OfficerRead the Press Release
A 33-year-old member of the Quileute Tribe was sentenced last week in U.S. District Court in Tacoma to 6 years in prison for assaulting a federal officer and stealing a car on tribal land, announced U.S. Attorney Annette L. Hayes. JUANITA ELENA PENN-SALAZAR, was arrested April 11, 2018, after a police chase on the Quileute Reservation in La Push, Washington. At the sentencing hearing U.S. District Judge Ronald B. Leighton imposed three years of supervised release to follow the prison term.
According to records filed in the case, PENN-SALAZAR stole a Toyota Camry outside a small store on the reservation. She had asked the car’s owner for a ride and when the owner refused, PENN-SALAZAR smashed the car window and took the vehicle. A Tribal police officer responded to the report of a stolen car. As he drove on the reservation looking for the vehicle, PENN-SALAZAR pulled out from a subdivision and struck the patrol car. PENN-SALAZAR fled in the stolen car at speeds over 80 miles-per-hour. PENN-SALAZAR drove the stolen Camry into the patrol car two more times – the final time pinning the officer in the car. Other law enforcement officers pursued PENN-SALAZAR through the reservation. At one point, she aimed and accelerated the stolen vehicle at an officer who was placing spike strips to try to stop the car. Fortunately, that officer was able to jump out of the way. Ultimately, PENN-SALAZAR was taken into custody.
Toxicology reports show PENN-SALAZAR was under the influence of methamphetamine and marijuana at the time of the chase.
In September 2018, PENN-SALAZAR pleaded guilty to assault on a federal officer and theft of a motor vehicle.
The case was investigated by the FBI. The case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Rebecca Cohen.
Man admits assaulting Fort Belknap law enforcement officerRead the Press Release
GREAT FALLS – A Hays man admitted assault charges on Monday in federal court after he attempted to stab a Fort Belknap law enforcement officer with a pair of scissors in a confrontation during which he got shot in the shoulder, U.S. Attorney Kurt G. Alme said.
Cody Michael Anderson, 24, pleaded guilty to assault with a dangerous weapon.
U.S. District Judge Brian M. Morris presided at the hearing. Judge Morris set sentencing for March 21, 2019. Anderson is detained.
Anderson faces a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison, a $250,000 fine and three years supervised release.
If the case had gone to trial, the government would have presented the following information as evidence:
On May 7, 2018 south of Hays on the Fort Belknap Indian Reservation, Anderson attacked a tribal officer with a pair of scissors. The officer thought the scissors was a knife because all he could see was something long and metal shining in the sunlight.
The assault occurred after tribal officers responded to a 911 call from Anderson, who had driven off a road and was stranded in Mission canyon. During the call, Anderson said the cops were taking too long and threatened to shoot a cop or tow truck he saw them. The officers treated the situation as a gun call.
At the scene, Anderson told one of the officers he should have kept going, pulled a pair of scissors from his backpack and made multiple attempts to slash or stab the officer. The officer attempted to taze Anderson and then shot him in the shoulder while trying to protect himself. Anderson remained combative after getting shot but eventually threw the scissors toward another officer and surrendered.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Paulette Stewart is prosecuting the case, which was investigated FBI and the Fort Belknap Tribal Police.
This case is part of Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN), a program bringing together federal, state, local and tribal law enforcement agencies and the communities they serve to reduce violent crime and make neighborhoods safer for everyone. The Department of Justice reinvigorated PSN in 2017 as part of its renewed focus on targeting violent criminals.
XXX
Man Who Detonated Explosive Device in Tampa Pleads Guilty to Federal Destructive Device ChargeRead the Press Release
Tampa, Florida – United States Attorney Maria Chapa Lopez announces that Joseph David Caltagirone (61, Tampa) today pleaded guilty to possessing an unregistered destructive device. Caltagirone faces a maximum penalty of 10 years in federal prison. A sentencing date has not yet been set.
According to court documents, on April 11, 2018, members of the Tampa Police Department Bomb Squad were conducting training on North 12th Street in Tampa when they heard a loud explosion. The officers observed a large greyish-white smoke plume several blocks away, rising above East Columbus Drive. They canvassed the neighborhood, eventually ending up at Caltagirone’s residence.
Inside that residence, officers discovered PVC piping, a hobby fuse, and precursor chemicals such as potassium nitrate, air float charcoal, and sulfur. Officers also discovered an assembled destructive device resembling a “pipe bomb.” The device had been constructed using a PVC pipe and an improvised wire initiator. The pipe contained an explosive mixture called Tannerite. Exploding the device would have projected PVC fragments at high velocities in all directions. Caltagirone admitted to having designed, constructed, and possessed the devices.
This case was investigated by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and the Tampa Police Department. It is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Frank Murray.
This case was brought as part of Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN), a program that has been successful in bringing together all levels of law enforcement to reduce violent crime and make our neighborhoods safer for everyone. In the Middle District of Florida, U.S. Attorney Maria Chapa Lopez coordinates PSN efforts in cooperation with various federal, state, and local law enforcement officials.
Madera Woman Indicted for Credit Card Fraud, Bank Fraud, and Identity TheftRead the Press Release
FRESNO, Calif. — A federal grand jury returned a three-count indictment Thursday against Leah Guillen, 35, of Madera, charging her with use of unauthorized debit cards, bank fraud, and aggravated identity theft, U.S. Attorney McGregor W. Scott announced.
According to court documents, in early 2018, Leah Guillen obtained the name, social security account number, and date of birth of a specific victim. Guillen then used this information to impersonate the victim and fraudulently gain access to her bank accounts at Golden 1 Credit Union. Using an unauthorized debit card, Guillen drained the victim’s bank accounts over a three-month period between April 18, 2018, and June 30, 2018, causing a loss in excess of $210,449.
This case is the product of an investigation by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the U.S. Postal Inspection Service, and the Madera Police Department. Assistant U.S. Attorney Laura D. Withers is prosecuting the case.
If convicted of bank fraud, Guillen faces a maximum statutory penalty of 30 years in prison and a $1 million fine, and she faces up to 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine if convicted of the use of unauthorized debit cards. If convicted of the aggravated identity theft, Guillen faces two years in prison and a $250,000 fine. 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.
Lyons Man Sentenced for Bank FraudRead the Press Release
United States Attorney Joe Kelly announced that Joshua Huffman, 32, a resident of Lyons, Nebraska, was sentenced today, in Omaha, Nebraska, by Senior United States District Judge Laurie Smith Camp for the crime of bank fraud. Senior Judge Smith Camp sentenced Huffman to 3 months’ imprisonment, a five-year term of supervised release, and ordered Huffman to make restitution to the United Bank of Iowa and the Washington County Bank.
During the period from December 2014 through May of 2015, the Defendant submitted a series of false and fraudulent financial statements to United Bank of Iowa in Ida Grove, Iowa, and Washington County Bank in Blair, Nebraska, to obtain loans for his farming operation. These financial statements contained false information that ultimately resulted in the loans going into default. United Bank of Iowa suffered a loss of approximately $320,000 while Washington County Bank suffered a loss of almost $14,000.
This case was investigated by the United States Postal Inspection Service and the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
Long-time Project Safe Neighborhoods Facilitators Represent the USVI at the National Project Safe Neighborhoods Conference in Kansas City, MORead the Press Release
Three seasoned Virgin Islands Police Department (VIPD) officers and U.S Attorney Gretchen C.F. Shappert represented the Territory at last week’s Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN) National Conference in Kansas City, Missouri. The Conference brought together federal prosecutors and their law enforcement partners from across the nation and included speeches by President Donald Trump, Acting Attorney General Matthew Whitaker, Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, and former Attorney General John Ashcroft. The PSN Conference was the first of its kind in eight years and underscores the commitment of the Department of Justice to reducing violent crime and fostering public safety for all Americans.
Beginning in 2017, all 93 United States Attorneys were directed to implement enhanced violent crime reduction programs that incorporate the lessons learned since the original PSN program launch in 2001 and to develop new strategies to reduce violent crime. According to U.S. Attorney Gretchen C.F Shappert, "The goal of the enhanced PSN program is to bring together all levels of law enforcement and community stakeholders to reduce violent crime and make communities safer for everyone. PSN uses a comprehensive approach to public safety--one that includes prevention, enforcement, and reentry efforts-- while ensuring that federal prosecutors focus on the work they do best: investigating and prosecuting crimes. As federal prosecutors, we intend to bring the full extent of criminal sanctions to bear on violent offenders, deterring future crime, and empowering our law enforcement and community partners to ensure public safety."
The USVI delegation to the PSN National Conference included strong VIPD leadership with considerable experience in community-based policing. Jacqueline Freeman is the Director of the VIPD Crime Prevention Bureau and serves as the Chair of the USVI PSN Law Enforcement Planning Commission Board. Director Freeman has also worked extensively with the USVI Weed and Seed initiative which assists under-served communities to identify and leverage resources to support public safety. During her tenure, she has coordinated annual gang awareness trainings, supervised development of the highly acclaimed documentary "Gangs in Paradise", worked with law enforcement and community partners to improve communication, and facilitated numerous community discussions of public safety issues. Edith Christopher is currently assigned as the Community Oriented Police (COP) Officer in the Grove Place Weed and Seed site on St. Croix, which is part of the VIPD Crime Prevention Unit. Officer Christopher has conducted extensive anti-bullying trainings in the schools and the community and has worked to expand the
Neighborhood Watch Program on St. Croix. Captain Sandra Colbourne, a 30-year veteran with VIPD, is part of the Management and Supervision Team responsible for the VIPD Consent Decree implementation. She also serves as Co-Chair of the USVI PSN Law Enforcement Planning Commission Board during her years with VIPD, Captain Colbourne has worked with PSN and the National Network for Safe Communities (NNSC) to identify grant resources and funding streams which support community outreach efforts. She has also been instrumental in facilitating constructive dialog between law enforcement and vulnerable communities in St. Thomas and St. John.
"The Territory is fortunate to have such dedicated and experienced VIPD representatives who are committed to public safety and to the PSN initiative," Shappert said. "The training we received in Kansas City will enable us to incorporate effective law enforcement strategies and the principles of PSN into our crime-fighting efforts in the USVI. We recognize that community buy-in is essential to our success, and we intend to increase our community engagement."
Pictured from left to right: USVI PSN representatives from left to right: Director Jacqueline Freeman, Officer Edith Christopher, U.S. Attorney Gretchen Shappert, and Captain Sandra ColbourneLong Island Investment Advisor Pleads Guilty in Multi-Million Dollar Securities Fraud and Ponzi SchemeRead the Press Release
Earlier today, in federal court in Central Islip, Steven Pagartanis pleaded guilty before United States District Judge Joseph F. Bianco to conspiracy to commit mail and wire fraud for orchestrating a Ponzi scheme over the course of 18 years.
Richard P. Donoghue, United States Attorney for the Eastern District of New York, William F. Sweeney, Jr., Assistant Director-in-Charge, Federal Bureau of Investigation, New York Field Office (FBI), and James Robnett, Special Agent-in-Charge, Internal Revenue Service Criminal Investigation, New York (IRS-CI), announced the charges.
“Pagartanis perpetrated his fraud scheme against elderly investors who could least afford to lose their life savings,” stated United States Attorney Donoghue. “Protecting older Americans from financial predators like the defendant is a priority of the Department of Justice.”
As admitted at his guilty plea and as detailed in court documents, from January 2000 to March 2018, Pagartanis, a formerly licensed financial advisor and affiliate of a registered broker-dealer, solicited elderly victims to invest in real estate-related investments, including those affiliated with publicly traded entities, a Canadian company and an international hotel conglomerate. Pagartanis promised the victims that their principal would be secure and earn a fixed return, which he typically claimed to be between 4.5 to 8 percent annually. At Pagartanis’s direction, the victims wrote checks payable to an entity secretly controlled by Pagartanis. Pagartanis utilized a network of bank accounts to launder the stolen funds, which he used to pay personal expenses, buy luxury items and make the guaranteed “interest” or “dividend” payments to other victims. Pagartanis created fictitious account statements reflecting ownership interests in the purported investments to induce investment and conceal the scheme. In all, the victims invested over $13 million and sustained actual losses of over $9 million. Many lost substantial portions of their life savings as a result of the scheme.
When sentenced, Pagartanis faces up to 20 years’ imprisonment. The SEC has filed a civil case against Pagartanis, which was stayed pending resolution of the criminal case.
The government’s criminal case is being handled by the Office’s Long Island Criminal Division. Assistant United States Attorney Artie McConnell is in charge of the prosecution.
The Defendant:
STEVEN PAGARTANIS
Age: 58
East Setauket, New YorkE.D.N.Y. Docket No. 18-CR-374 (DRH)
Lexington Man Sentenced to 43 Months for Trafficking in FentanylRead the Press Release
LEXINGTON, Ky. — Marvin Lee Foxx, 50, of Lexington, was sentenced Friday, to 43 months federal in prison, by United States District Judge Danny C. Reeves, for possession with intent to distribute fentanyl.
In April 2018, the Lexington Police Department executed a search warrant at Foxx’s Lexington residence, locating 28 grams of fentanyl, two grams of cocaine, and a firearm. On September 7, 2018, Foxx entered a guilty plea, admitting to possession with intent to distribute the fentanyl. Foxx has a prior conviction, for a conspiracy to distribute crack cocaine, from the United States District Court, Eastern District of Kentucky, from 2008.
Under federal law, Foxx must serve 85 percent of his prison sentence; and upon his release, he will be under the supervision of the United States Probation Office for six years.
Robert M. Duncan, Jr., United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Kentucky; Stuart Lowrey, Special Agent in Charge of the ATF Louisville Field Division; and Lawrence Weathers, Chief of the Lexington Police Department, jointly made the announcement.
The ATF and the Lexington Police Department conducted the investigation. The United States was represented by Assistant United States Attorney Cynthia T. Rieker.
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 make our neighborhoods safer for everyone. The PSN program was reinvigorated as part of the Department’s renewed focus on targeting violent criminals, directing all U.S. Attorney’s Offices to work in partnership with federal, state, local, and tribal law enforcement and the local community to develop effective, locally-based strategies to reduce violent crime.
Lexington Man Sentenced to 190 Months for Armed Heroin TraffickingRead the Press Release
LEXINGTON, Ky. — Andre Stackhouse, 47, of Lexington, was sentenced Friday, to 190 months in federal prison, by United States District Judge Danny C. Reeves, for possession with intent to distribute heroin, possession of a firearm in furtherance of drug trafficking, and possession of a firearm by a convicted felon.
In January 2018, detectives with the Lexington Police Department executed a search warrant at Stackhouse’s Lexington residence, locating 244 grams of a heroin/fentanyl mix and two firearms. Stackhouse was arrested and admitted to the distribution of heroin and to possessing the firearms for protection during his drug trafficking. Stackhouse has six prior felony convictions, including drug trafficking, from Chicago.
Under federal law, Stackhouse must serve 85 percent of his prison sentence; and upon his release, he will be under the supervision of the United States Probation Office for eight years.
Robert M. Duncan, Jr., United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Kentucky; Stuart Lowrey, Special Agent in Charge of the ATF Louisville Field Division; and Lawrence Weathers, Chief of the Lexington Police Department, jointly made the announcement.
The ATF and the Lexington Police Department conducted the investigation. The United States was represented by Assistant United States Attorney Cynthia T. Rieker.
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 make our neighborhoods safer for everyone. The PSN program was reinvigorated as part of the Department’s renewed focus on targeting violent criminals, directing all U.S. Attorney’s Offices to work in partnership with federal, state, local, and tribal law enforcement and the local community to develop effective, locally-based strategies to reduce violent crime.
Lewis County man sentenced for firearms chargeRead the Press Release
ELKINS, WEST VIRGINIA – Roger Lee Clem, II, aka “Woody,” of Weston, West Virginia, was sentenced today to 37 months incarceration for a firearms charge, United States Attorney Bill Powell announced.
Clem, age 30, pled guilty to one count of “Possession of a Stolen Firearm” in July 2018. Clem admitted to having a stolen .45-caliber pistol in Lewis County in October 2016.
This case was brought as part of Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN), a program that has been historically successful in bringing together all levels of law enforcement to reduce violent crime and make our neighborhoods safer for everyone. The Attorney General’s Office has made turning the tide of rising violent crime in America a top priority. In October 2017, as part of a series of actions to address this crime trend, the Attorney General’s Office announced the reinvigoration of PSN and directed all U.S. Attorney’s Offices to develop a district crime reduction strategy that incorporates the lessons learned since PSN launched in 2001.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Stephen D. Warner prosecuted the case on behalf of the government. The Bureau of Alcohol, Firearms, Tobacco and Explosives, The Mountain Region Drug & Violent Crime Task Force, the Greater Harrison Drug &Violent Crime Task Force, a HIDTA-funded initiative, the West Virginia State Police, Upshur County Sheriff’s Office, Lewis County Sheriff’s Office, the Buckhannon Police Department, and the Weston Police Department investigated.
U.S. District Judge John Preston Bailey presided.KC-Area Man Convicted of Illegal FirearmRead the Press Release
KANSAS CITY, Mo. – A Kansas City, Mo., area man was found guilty at the conclusion of a bench trial today of illegally possessing a firearm.
Seneca Harrison, 36, was found guilty of being a felon in possession of a firearm. Harrison was in possession of a loaded Maverick by Mossberg 12-gauge pump action pistol grip shotgun.
A Blue Springs, Mo., police officer conducted a traffic stop of Harrison’s vehicle on April 9, 2018. Harrison was driving a silver GMC Yukon eastbound on 40 Highway. When Harrison stopped his vehicle, he got out of the vehicle and began to walk away. The officer told Harrison to return to his vehicle, but Harrison continued walking away. When the officer attempted to detain Harrison, he resisted by pulling away and pushing the officer. During this interaction, the officer observed the strong odor of alcohol coming from Harrison’s breath.
Another officer arrived on the scene and saw the shotgun in the driver’s seat of Harrison’s vehicle. Harrison was arrested. Harrison kicked the rear door of the patrol vehicle while he was being transported to the Blue Springs jail and yelled at the officers. Upon arrival at the jail, Harrison continued to be combative as he threatened and cursed at the officers.
While at the jail, an empty prescription pill bottle that contained residue that field tested positive for methamphetamine was located in Harrison’s cell. Harrison said, “Oh yeah that’s mine. It’s got my name on it.” Harrison continued to be combative and refused to provide a breathe test. He was transported to St. Mary’s Hospital for a blood draw. While at the hospital, Harrison said, “I’m kinda glad you guys got me. You knew I was going to kill someone tomorrow. I was about to go away for a long time.” Harrison uttered this multiple times in various ways.
Under federal law, it is illegal for anyone who has been convicted of a felony to be in possession of any firearm or ammunition. Harrison has two prior felony convictions burglary and prior felony convictions for unlawful possession of a firearm, stealing, unlawful use of a weapon and possession of marijuana. He was on parole for the unlawful possession of a firearm conviction at the time of the federal offense.
Under federal statutes, Harrison is subject to a sentence of up to 10 years in federal prison without parole. The maximum statutory sentence is prescribed by Congress and is provided here for informational purposes, as the sentencing of the defendant will be determined by the court based on the advisory sentencing guidelines and other statutory factors. A sentencing hearing will be scheduled after the completion of a presentence investigation by the United States Probation Office.
U.S. District Judge Stephen R. Bough announced the verdict at the close of the trial that began this morning.
This case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Matthew Moeder and Ashleigh Ragner. It was investigated by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and the Blue Springs, Mo., Police Department.
Project Safe Neighborhoods
The U.S. Attorney’s Office is partnering with federal, state, and local law enforcement to specifically identify criminals responsible for significant violent crime in the Western District of Missouri. A centerpiece of this effort is Project Safe Neighborhoods, a program that brings together all levels of law enforcement to reduce violent crime and make neighborhoods safer for everyone.Justice Department Settles Immigration-Related Discrimination Claim Against Walmart Store in Fort Worth, TexasRead the Press Release
The Justice Department today announced that it has reached a settlement agreement with Walmart Inc. The agreement resolves claims that a Walmart store in Fort Worth, Texas, violated the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA) by unlawfully requesting specific work authorization documents from non-U.S. citizens based on their citizenship status.
The Department initiated an investigation after a lawful permanent resident filed a charge alleging that Walmart fired her on her first day of work because she could not fulfill a human resources employee’s request for a document issued by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), even though she had already provided other documents sufficient to establish her work authorization. When the worker protested her firing, a regional supervisor and hiring staff member at another nearby store incorrectly reaffirmed the unnecessary request for a DHS-issued document. IER’s subsequent investigation concluded that the human resources employee had a practice of requesting unnecessary DHS documents from non-U.S. citizens to establish their work authorization because of their citizenship status. The INA prohibits employers from (a) rejecting valid work authorization documents, (b) limiting workers’ choice of documentation to present for employment verification, and (c) subjecting workers to different or unnecessary documentary demands, based on the workers’ citizenship, immigration status, or national origin.
After the Department initiated its investigation, Walmart provided $1,944 in back pay to the worker and reinstated her employment. Under the terms of the settlement, Walmart will pay a civil penalty to the United States, train staff in Fort Worth-area stores, and be subject to departmental monitoring and reporting requirements.
“Employers should not ask employees for unnecessary work-authorization documents because of their citizenship or immigration status,” said Assistant Attorney General Eric Dreiband. “We are pleased that Walmart has agreed to work with the Department and to provide additional training to relevant employees.”
The Division’s Immigrant and Employee Rights Section (IER), formerly known as the Office of Special Counsel for Immigration-Related Unfair Employment Practices, is responsible for enforcing the anti-discrimination provision of the INA. Among other things, the statute prohibits citizenship status and national origin discrimination in hiring, firing, or recruitment or referral for a fee; unfair documentary practices; and retaliation and intimidation.
For more information about protections against employment discrimination under immigration laws, call IER’s worker hotline at 1-800-255-7688 (1-800-237-2515, TTY for hearing impaired); call IER’s employer hotline at 1-800-255-8155 (1-800-237-2515, TTY for hearing impaired); sign up for a free webinar; email [email protected]; or visit IER’s English and Spanish websites.
Applicants or employees who believe they were subjected to different documentary requirements based on their citizenship/immigration status or national origin, or discrimination based on their citizenship/immigration status, or national origin in hiring, firing, or recruitment or referral for a fee, should contact IER’s worker hotline for assistance.
Indian National Arrested and Charged with Smuggling Foreign Nationals into the United States via Commercial FlightsRead the Press Release
NEWARK, N.J. – An Indian national has been arrested on charges that he conspired to smuggle foreign nationals into the United States via commercial airline flights, New Jersey U.S. Attorney Craig Carpenito announced today.
Bhavin Patel, 38, of India, was arrested by special agents of the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) on Dec. 7, 2018 at Newark Liberty International Airport. He is charged by indictment with one count of conspiracy to bring in and harbor aliens and six counts of smuggling foreign nationals into the United States for private financial gain and is scheduled to be arraigned Dec. 18, 2018, before U.S. District Judge John Michael Vazquez.
According to documents filed in this case and statements made in court:
HSI learned that a smuggling operation run by Patel was attempting to find methods to illegally smuggle foreign nationals from India into the United States. The investigation revealed that the smuggling organization recruited Indian nationals and others to pay fees in exchange for passage to the United States.
Beginning in October 2013, an undercover law enforcement officer posing as a smuggler began meeting with Patel in Bangkok, Thailand. Patel told the undercover law enforcement officer that he wanted to smuggle Indian nationals into the United States. On three occasions, Patel or his conspirator transported the Indian nationals to an airport in Thailand, at which point the undercover law enforcement officer would purportedly use his contacts to smuggle them into the United States via commercial airline flights. Patel agreed to wire down payments for each individual to be smuggled into the United States and to pay a balance of tens of thousands of dollars for each individual once the foreign nationals arrived in the United States. Over the ensuing months, Patel arranged for six Indian nationals to be brought to Thailand for smuggling into the United States via Newark Liberty International Airport.
The conspiracy charge carries a maximum potential sentence of 10 years in prison. Each substantive charge of smuggling carries a maximum potential sentence of five years in prison.
U.S. Attorney Carpenito credited special agents of HSI, under the direction of Special Agent in Charge Brian Michael in Newark, with the investigation leading to the arrest.
The government is represented by Assistant U.S. Thomas S. Kearney of the U.S Attorney’s Office National Security Unit in Newark.
Illegal Immigrant Sentenced for Theft of Social Security and Medicare BenefitsRead the Press Release
Orlando, Florida –U.S. District Judge Carlos E. Mendoza has sentenced Andres Arteaga Perez (50, Casselberry) to 13 months in federal prison, followed by one year of supervised release, for theft of government funds. As part of his sentence, the court also entered a money judgment in the amount of $423,602.80, the proceeds of the crime, and ordered Perez to pay restitution.
Perez had pleaded guilty on October 18, 2018.
According to court documents, Perez, a Mexican citizen with no legal status in the United States, used a Georgia man’s name and Social Security number to apply for and receive Social Security disability benefits. Perez also applied for and received Medicare benefits, using the identity of the same individual. In total, Perez stole or converted approximately $56,000 in Social Security benefits and approximately $367,000 in Medicare benefits to which he was not entitled.
This case was investigated by the Social Security Administration – Office of the Inspector General, the Department of Health and Human Services – Office of Inspector General, and the U.S. Postal Inspection Service. It was prosecuted by Special Assistant United States Attorney Suzanne Huyler.
Honduras citizen admits illegal re-entryRead the Press Release
GREAT FALLS—A citizen of Honduras who was arrested while working in Havre admitted in federal court on Monday to having illegally reentered the United States, U.S. Attorney Kurt G. Alme said.
Jose Alex Ventura-Padilla, 41, of Honduras, pleaded guilty to illegal reentry.
U.S. District Judge Brian M. Morris presided at the hearing. Judge Morris set sentencing for Jan. 23, 2019. Ventura-Padilla is detained.
Ventura-Padilla faces a maximum 10 years in prison, a $250,000 fine and three years supervised release.
If the case had gone to trial, the government would have presented the following information as evidence:
On Sept. 27, the Havre Sector Intelligence Unit of the U.S. Border Patrol received information that there was a crew working on a large water tank in Havre and that about a dozen of the workers were illegally in the country. Some of the workers had been deported multiple times. An investigation found that a North Carolina business was a subcontractor and had workers on the job.
Border Patrol agents observed one of the North Carolina company’s work trucks at a local restaurant. Three of the suspected water tower workers came out of the restaurant and walked toward the truck. An agent approached, identified himself and asked if the men were part of the crew working at the water tower. The men, including Ventura-Padilla, responded yes. Ventura-Padilla told the agent he was in the country illegally and did not have immigration documents.
Ventura-Padilla has two prior convictions for illegal reentry. He was last deported in 2010 after having served time on federal convictions and re-entered in 2015.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Paulette Stewart is prosecuting the case, which was investigated by the U.S. Border Patrol.
XXX
Honduran Man Charged with Illegal Re-EntryRead the Press Release
NEW ORLEANS, LOUISIANA – United States Attorney Peter G. Strasser announced that FREDY ANTONIO MENDOZA-CHIRINOS, age 26, a native of Honduras, was charged Friday, December 7, 2018 in a one-count indictment with illegal reentry of a removed alien, in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Section 1326(a).
According to the indictment, MENDOZA-CHIRINOS was previously removed from the United States on August 18, 2017. He was later found in the Eastern District of Louisiana on November 21, 2018 and had not received permission from the Attorney General of the United States or the Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security to reenter.
If convicted, MENDOZA-CHIRINOS faces a maximum term of imprisonment of 2 years, a fine of $250,000, one year of supervised release, and a $100 special assessment fee.
U.S. Attorney Strasser reiterated that an indictment is merely a charge and that the guilt of the defendant must be proven beyond a reasonable doubt.
U.S. Attorney Strasser praised the work of the United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency in investigating this matter. Assistant United States Attorney Carter K.D. Guice, Jr. is in charge of the prosecution.
* * *
Heroin and Crack Cocaine Trafficker Sentenced to PrisonRead the Press Release
NORFOLK, Va. – A Chesapeake man was sentenced today to 12 years in prison for conspiring to manufacture and deal heroin and crack cocaine throughout Hampton Roads.
According to court documents, Anthony Michael Covil, 33, was a member of a drug-trafficking conspiracy that operated primarily in Chesapeake. In the last five years, Covil distributed at least 700 grams of heroin, some of which was mixed with fentanyl, at least 2 kilograms of crack cocaine, at least 4 kilograms of powder cocaine, and marijuana. He was arrested during a buy-bust in possession of two bags of heroin and fentanyl, two bags of cocaine, one bag of marijuana, and $300 cash in police buy money from previous controlled purchases. Covil also carried firearms during at least two drug transactions.
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 make our neighborhoods safer for everyone. The Department reinvigorated PSN in 2017 as part of a renewed focus on targeting violent criminals, directing all U.S. Attorney’s Offices to work in partnership with federal, state, local, and tribal law enforcement and the local community to develop effective, locally-based strategies to reduce violent crime.
G. Zachary Terwilliger, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia, and Thomas L. Chittum, III, Special Agent in Charge of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives’ (ATF) Washington Field Division, made the announcement after sentencing by U.S. District Judge Raymond A. Jackson. Assistant U.S. Attorney William B. Jackson prosecuted the case.
A copy of this press release is located on the website of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Virginia. Related court documents and information is located on the website of the District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia or on PACER by searching for Case No. 2:18-cr-133.
Hartford Apartment Manager Sentenced to Prison for Allowing Building to be Used by Drug RingRead the Press Release
John H. Durham, United States Attorney for the District of Connecticut, announced that FRANKLYN NIEVES, 63, of Hartford, was sentenced today by U.S. District Judge Stefan R. Underhill in Bridgeport to 28 months of imprisonment, followed by two years of supervised release, for allowing a Hartford apartment building he managed to be used as a drug trafficking hub.
According to court documents and statements made in court, a drug trafficking organization used 8-10 Hamilton Street, a six-unit apartment building in Hartford, to store, process and distribute heroin and fentanyl. Nieves, who managed the building and resided in one of the apartments, was aware of the drug trafficking activity at the building, helped to secure the basement of the building for the trafficking organization’s drug activities, and knew that a 17-year-old was working for the organization and serving drug customers at the building.
Nieves was arrested on December 7, 2017. On May 14, 2018, he pleaded guilty to one count of maintaining a drug-involved premises.
Nieves, who is released on a $50,000 bond, was ordered to report to prison on January 16, 2019.
This matter was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s Northern Connecticut Violent Crimes Task Force and the Hartford Police Department. The Task Force includes members of the Hartford Police Department, East Hartford Police Department, Connecticut State Police and Connecticut Department of Correction. The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Brian P. Leaming.
Harrison County man sentenced for firearms chargeRead the Press Release
ELKINS, WEST VIRGINIA – Michael A. Spino, of Bridgeport, West Virginia, was sentenced today to 46 months incarceration for a firearms charge, United States Attorney Bill Powell announced.
Spino, age 30, pled guilty to one count of “Unlawful Possession of a Firearm” in July 2018. Spino, having been previously convicted of two felonies, admitted to having an unregistered 12-gauge sawed-off shotgun in January 2018 in Harrison County.
This case was brought as part of Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN), a program that has been historically successful in bringing together all levels of law enforcement to reduce violent crime and make our neighborhoods safer for everyone. The Attorney General’s Office has made turning the tide of rising violent crime in America a top priority. In October 2017, as part of a series of actions to address this crime trend, the Attorney General’s Office announced the reinvigoration of PSN and directed all U.S. Attorney’s Offices to develop a district crime reduction strategy that incorporates the lessons learned since PSN launched in 2001.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Zelda E. Wesley prosecuted the case on behalf of the government. The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and the West Virginia Probation Office investigated.
U.S. District Judge John Preston Bailey presided.
Hampden Woman Pleads Guilty to Conspiracy to Commit Marriage FraudRead the Press Release
Bangor, Maine: United States Attorney Halsey B. Frank announced that Marena Mushero, 28, recently of Hampden, Maine, pled guilty today in U.S. District Court to conspiring to enter a marriage in order to evade U.S. immigration laws.
According to court records, Mushero, a United States citizen, posted an advertisement on an on-line forum, in which she offered to marry a person in need of permanent resident status in exchange for money. On June 13, 2018, she received a response from a Nepalese citizen who was lawfully in the U.S. and living in another state. Mushero agreed to marry him in exchange for cash payments so that he could get a “green card.” On June 25, 2018, Mushero and her coconspirator were married in Brewer, Maine. Before and after the wedding, Mushero received hundreds of dollars via wire transfers from her coconspirator, who continued to live and work in another state.
Mushero faces up to five years in prison and a $250,000 fine. She will be sentenced after the completion of a pre-sentence investigation report by the U.S Probation Office.
The investigation was conducted by the Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Homeland Security Investigations and the Brewer Police Department.
Grand Jury Charges Denver Men for Possessing Unregistered FirearmsRead the Press Release
DENVER — A Federal Grand Jury returned indictments last week against two Denver men, Jose Eduardo Trujillo and Andres Jaquin Luna III, charging them with firearms offenses, announced U.S. Attorney Jason R. Dunn, and ATF Denver Special Agent in Charge Debbie Livingston.
Both defendants Luna and Trujillo were originally charged by criminal complaints on November 27, 2018. According to the affidavits filed in support of the criminal complaints, Luna and Trujillo sold firearms without serial numbers to undercover agents in July, August, and October of this year. The firearms included machine guns and silencers without serial numbers. Both defendants were arrested in November. On December 4, 2018, a Federal Grand Jury in Denver charged the defendants with possession of unregistered firearms and possession of machine guns. In addition, defendant Luna was charged with distribution of methamphetamine, as well as being a felon in possession of a firearm.
This investigation was conducted by ATF Denver. The defendants are being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Celeste Rangel and Kelly Winslow.
The charges contained in the indictment are allegations, and the defendants are presumed innocent unless and until proved guilty in a court of law.
This enforcement action is part of Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN), a nationwide initiative that brings together federal, state, local and tribal law enforcement officials, prosecutors, and community leaders to identify the most pressing violent crime problems in a community and develop comprehensive solutions to address them. Learn more about Project Safe Neighborhoods.
Case Number: 18-cr-555-PAB
03917922530.pdf
####
Visit our website http://www.justice.gov/usao/co | Follow us on Twitter @DCoNews
Sign up for news releases [email protected]
Fraudster Sentenced to 57 Months in Federal Prison for Scamming Elderly Victims of Almost $400,000 Through Advance Fee SchemeRead the Press Release
Greenbelt, Maryland – U.S. District Judge Paula Xinis sentenced Onijah Crighton, age 23, of Chillum, Maryland, today to 57 months in federal prison, followed by three years of supervised release, for the federal charges of conspiracy to commit mail and wire fraud, in connection with a scheme to defraud more than 100 elderly victims through an advance fee scheme, specifically, by falsely representing that the victims had won a lottery or sweepstakes and demanding taxes or other fees before the victims could receive the prize. There is no parole in the federal system. Judge Xinis also ordered that Crighton must pay restitution in the full amount of the victims’ losses, which is $396,157.
The sentence was announced by United States Attorney for the District of Maryland Robert K. Hur; Special Agent in Charge of the FBI Washington Field Office’s Criminal Division, Matthew J. DeSarno; and Postal Inspector in Charge Peter R. Rendina of the U.S. Postal Inspection Service – Washington Division.
“Criminals like Onijah Crighton target vulnerable individuals with these types of advance fee schemes,” said U.S. Attorney for the District of Maryland Robert K. Hur. “Our law enforcement partners are committed to prosecuting and deterring elder fraud schemes like this one.”
According to his plea agreement, beginning in April 2013, Crighton and a co-conspirator began contacting Victim 1, an elderly man living in Virginia who suffered from Parkinson’s disease. Crighton falsely told Victim 1 that he was the second-place winner of the $10 million “grand prize draw” that Publishers Clearing House and the Better Business Bureau sponsored. Crighton fraudulently represented that the second-place prize was $2.5 million. Over the following months, Crighton and his co-conspirator contacted Victim 1 hundreds of times, convincing Victim 1 to send the conspirators 44 payments totaling approximately $112,000. Victim 1 made the payments through Western Union, by adding money to Green Dot cards controlled by Crighton and a co-conspirator, or by sending cash in the mail.
During the course of the conspiracy, Crighton e-mailed a “leads list provider” to purchase a list of names and personal identification information that Crighton could use to mass-market the lottery scam to elderly individuals across the country. Crighton and other members of the conspiracy successfully defrauded over 100 elderly victims of at least $396,157.
Crighton admitted that, beginning in 2012, he also used the personal identifying information of elderly individuals to fraudulently enroll debit cards in their names without their knowledge or consent. To conceal his involvement in the scheme, Crighton listed a number of different e-mail addresses on the debit card applications, and listed street addresses on the applications that belonged to others involved in the scheme. In this manner, Crighton enrolled or caused to be enrolled hundreds of debit cards that were applied for using the stolen identities of at least 10 elderly individuals.
The Department of Justice, through its Elder Justice Initiative, which includes the work of many Department components, is working on multiple fronts to protect older Americans from physical, emotional, and financial abuse. The Department has aggressively prosecuted mass mailing fraud schemes, such as Jamaican lottery and psychic scams, many of which target seniors and are international in nature. The Department also launched 10 regional Elder Justice Task Forces across the country, including in Maryland, to enhance the ability of federal, state, and local authorities to work together to combat elder financial fraud and to pursue those nursing homes that provide grossly substandard care to their Medicare and Medicaid residents. The Department actively supports state and local efforts to prevent and combat elder abuse in a variety of ways, including helping older victims and their families by connecting them to available resources, assistance and information on its Elder Justice website: www.elderjustice.gov.
Earlier this year, the Department of Justice and its law enforcement partners also conducted the largest coordinated sweep of elder fraud cases in history that involved more than 250 defendants and over one million American victims, most of whom were elderly.
United States Attorney Robert K. Hur commended the FBI and the U.S. Postal Inspection Service for their work in the investigation. Mr. Hur thanked Assistant U.S. Attorneys Gregory Bernstein and Dana J. Brusca, who are prosecuting the case.
# # #
Fourth Defendant Arrested in Credit Card ‘Bust-Out’ Scheme that Spent $2 Million on Luxury Watches, Liquor, Cars and Cemetery PlotsRead the Press Release
LOS ANGELES – With the surrender this morning of the final defendant, federal authorities have taken into custody four people named in a grand jury indictment that alleges a “bust-out” scheme in which the defendants fraudulently charged nearly $2 million in less than a year to credit cards often opened with “synthetic identities.”
Gayane Hakobyan, 69, of Hollywood Hills, was taken into custody this morning and is expected to be arraigned on the indictment this afternoon in United States District Court.
Previously in this case, Mikayel Hovhannisyan, 36, of North Hollywood, surrendered on December 3. The other two defendants in the case – Mikayel Hmayakyan, 41, of Glendale; and Vahan Aloyan, 43, also of Glendale – were arrested on November 20. During their arraignments, all three of these defendants entered not guilty pleas and were freed on bond.
The defendants allegedly conspired to carry out a wide-ranging credit card fraud scheme, using the fraudulently obtained cards to purchase hundreds of thousands of dollars’ worth of liquor and luxury watches. The 22-count indictment alleges a bust-out scheme in which the defendants obtained credit cards – sometimes under their real names, but often with synthetic identities created with a combination of real and fictitious information – that were run up to the credit limit. Members of the scheme then allegedly “paid down” by submitting payments from accounts with insufficient funds or through fake accounts to restore the credit line, which allowed them to make additional purchases.
All four defendants allegedly used the fraudulently-obtained credit cards to purchase hundreds of thousands of dollars in alcoholic beverages on behalf of the now-closed Liquor Spot in Glendale, where Aloyan was a manager.
The indictment also charges Hmayakyan with bank fraud for using fraudulent credit cards in the names of various aliases – including “Liam Sarcozzy” – to purchase plots at Forest Lawn Cemetery in Glendale, which he then sold at a profit. Hmayakyan is also accused of conspiring with others to fraudulently apply for loans under an alias to obtain a Kia Optima and in a real person’s name for a 2016 Lexus GX460. The indictment alleges that Hmayakyan never intended to pay any credit card bills nor made any payments on the loans.
During the execution of a search warrant in 2016, law enforcement seized more than 37,000 bottles of alcoholic beverages, worth approximately $300,000, from the Liquor Spot. They also seized nearly $13,000 in U.S. currency from the store, as well as nearly $13,000 and 37 watches and other jewelry items from Aloyan’s residence.
All four defendants are charged with one count of conspiracy to commit bank fraud and 10 counts of bank fraud. Hmayakyan is charged separately with six additional counts of bank fraud. Hmayakyan and Aloyan also are charged with possessing “unauthorized access devices,” which included credit cards, debit cards, bank account information and Social Security numbers belonging to other people. Hmayakyan is also charged with two counts of aggravated identity theft.
Each count of bank fraud and conspiracy to commit bank fraud carries a statutory maximum penalty of 30 years in federal prison. The charge of possession of unauthorized access devices carries a statutory maximum penalty of 10 years. The aggravated identity theft charges carry a mandatory consecutive sentence of two years.
United States District Judge George H. Wu has scheduled a trial in this case for early January.
An indictment contains allegations that a defendant has committed a crime. Every defendant is presumed innocent until and unless proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.
This case was investigated by the United States Secret Service and the Glendale Police Department.
This case is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Poonam G. Kumar of the Major Fraud Section.
Former Waterloo Resident Pleads Guilty to Receiving Child PornographyRead the Press Release
Mark A. Brueggemann, 60, of Waterloo, Illinois, has been convicted of knowingly receiving child pornography, the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Illinois, Steven D. Weinhoeft, announced today. Brueggemann pleaded guilty to a one-count federal indictment without a plea agreement. He faces a prison sentence of 5 to 20 years on the charge. Sentencing is set for March 27, 2019, at the federal courthouse in East St. Louis.
This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative launched in 2006 by the Department of Justice to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse. Led by the United States Attorneys’ Offices and the Criminal Division's Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state, and local resources to locate, apprehend, and prosecute individuals who sexually exploit children, and to identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.usdoj.gov/psc. For more information about internet safety education, please visit www.usdoj.gov/psc and click on the tab "resources."
The prosecution is the result of an investigation by the Monroe County Sheriff’s Office and the United States Secret Service’s Springfield Electronic Crime Unit-Southern Illinois Cyber Group. The case is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Laura V. Reppert.
Former Non-Profit President Pleads Guilty to Scheme to Conceal Foreign Funding of 2013 Congressional TripRead the Press Release
The former president of a Texas-based non-profit pleaded guilty today for his role in a scheme to conceal the fact that a 2013 Congressional trip to Azerbaijan was funded by the Azerbaijan government.
Assistant Attorney General Brian A. Benczkowski of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division, U.S. Attorney Jessie K. Liu for the District of Columbia and Assistant Director in Charge Nancy McNamara of the FBI’s Washington Field Office made the announcement.
Kemal Oksuz, aka "Kevin Oksuz," 49, and previously a resident of Arlington, Virginia, pleaded guilty to one count of devising a scheme to falsify, conceal and cover up material facts from the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Ethics. Oksuz will be sentenced on Feb. 11, 2019 before U.S. District Court Judge Tanya S. Chutkan for the District of Columbia.
According to admissions made in connection with his guilty plea, Oksuz lied on disclosure forms filed with the Ethics Committee prior to, and following, a privately sponsored Congressional trip to Azerbaijan. Oksuz falsely represented and certified on required disclosure forms that the Turquoise Council of Americans and Eurasions (TCAE), the Houston non-profit for which Oksuz was president, had not accepted funding for the Congressional trip from any outside sources. Oksuz admitted to, in truth, orchestrating a scheme to funnel money to fund the trip from the State Oil Company of Azerbaijan Republic (SOCAR), the wholly state-owned national oil and gas company of Azerbaijan, and then concealed the true source of funding, which violated House travel regulations.
A five-count indictment was returned earlier this year in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia and ordered unsealed in September. Oksuz was recently extradited from Armenia where he was detained by authorities, pursuant to a warrant that was issued for his arrest.
The investigation was conducted by the FBI. The case is being prosecuted by Trial Attorney Marco Palmieri of the Criminal Division’s Public Integrity Section, Assistant U.S. Attorney David Misler and Will Mackie of the National Security Division’s Counterintelligence and Export Control Section. Assistance in the investigation was provided by Trial Attorney Amanda Vaughn of the Public Integrity Section, Assistant U.S. Attorney Jonathan Hooks and former Assistant U.S. Attorney Michelle Bradford of the District of Columbia. Trial Attorney Natalya T. Savransky of the Criminal Division’s Office of International Affairs handled the extradition request to Armenia. The Office of International Affairs, along with the U.S. Department of State and cooperating Armenian authorities provided substantial assistance with the extradition.
Former Non-Profit President Pleads Guilty to Scheme to Conceal Foreign Funding of 2013 Congressional TripRead the Press Release
WASHINGTON – The former president of a Texas-based non-profit pleaded guilty today for his role in a scheme to conceal the fact that a 2013 Congressional trip to Azerbaijan was funded by the Azerbaijan government.
Assistant Attorney General Brian A. Benczkowski of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division, U.S. Attorney Jessie K. Liu for the District of Columbia, and Assistant Director in Charge Nancy McNamara of the FBI’s Washington Field Office made the announcement.
Kemal Oksuz, aka Kevin Oksuz, 49, and previously a resident of Arlington, Virginia, pleaded guilty to one count of devising a scheme to falsify, conceal and cover up material facts from the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Ethics. Oksuz will be sentenced on Feb. 11, 2019 before Judge Tanya S. Chutkan of U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia.
According to admissions made in connection with his guilty plea, Oksuz lied on disclosure forms filed with the Ethics Committee prior to, and following, a privately sponsored Congressional trip to Azerbaijan. Oksuz falsely represented and certified on required disclosure forms that the Turquoise Council of Americans and Eurasions (TCAE), the Houston non-profit for which Oksuz was president, had not accepted funding for the Congressional trip from any outside sources. Oksuz admitted to, in truth, orchestrating a scheme to funnel money to fund the trip from the State Oil Company of Azerbaijan Republic (SOCAR), the wholly state-owned national oil and gas company of Azerbaijan, and then concealed the true source of funding, which violated House travel regulations.
A five-count indictment was returned earlier this year in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia and ordered unsealed in September. Oksuz was recently extradited from Armenia where he was detained by authorities, pursuant to a warrant that was issued for his arrest.
The investigation was conducted by the FBI. The case is being prosecuted by Trial Attorney Marco Palmieri of the Criminal Division’s Public Integrity Section, Assistant U.S. Attorney David Misler, and Will Mackie of the National Security Division’s Counterintelligence and Export Control Section. Assistance in the Investigation was provided by Trial Attorney Amanda Vaughn of the Public Integrity Section, Assistant U.S. Attorney Jonathan Hooks, and former Assistant U.S. Attorney Michelle Bradford of the District of Columbia. Trial Attorney Natalya T. Savransky of the Criminal Division’s Office of International Affairs handled the extradition request to Armenia. The Office of International Affairs, along with the U.S. Department of State and cooperating Armenian authorities provided substantial assistance with the extradition.
Former Director of Healthcare Services Company Charged in Alleged $300 Million Investment Fraud SchemeRead the Press Release
A former member of the board of directors of a publicly traded healthcare services company was arrested at John F. Kennedy (JFK) International Airport over the weekend for allegedly participating in a wide-spread scheme to defraud investors and others out of hundreds of millions of dollars in connection with a merger transaction designed to convert the company into a private entity, Assistant Attorney General Brian A. Benczkowski of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division and U.S. Attorney Craig Carpenito for the District of New Jersey announced.
Pavandeep Bakhshi, 41, of the United Kingdom, is charged by complaint with one count of conspiracy to commit securities fraud and one count of securities fraud. Bakhshi was arrested Saturday evening at JFK Airport after arriving on a flight from London. Bakhshi’s initial court appearance is today at 2:30 p.m. EST before U.S. Magistrate Judge Leda Dunn Wettre for the District of New Jersey.
According to the complaint unsealed this weekend:
From May 2015 through September 2017, Bakhshi and co-conspirators Parmjit Parmar, aka “Paul Parmar” (“Parmar”), Sotirios Zaharis, aka “Sam Zaharis” (“Zaharis”), and Ravi Chivukula (“Chivukula”), allegedly orchestrated an elaborate scheme to defraud a private investment firm and others out of hundreds of millions of dollars in connection with the funding of a transaction to take private a healthcare services company (Company A) traded publicly on the London Stock Exchange’s Alternative Investment Market. To fund the transaction, the private investment firm put up $82 million and a consortium of financial institutions put up another $130 million. The scheme allegedly utilized fraudulent methods to grossly inflate the value of Company A and trick others into believing that Company A was worth substantially more than its actual value.
The complaint alleges that to present a positive picture of the company’s financial wealth, the conspirators allegedly sought to raise tens of millions of dollars in the public markets, purportedly to fund Company A’s acquisitions of various operating subsidiaries. In reality, the complaint alleges, a number of those entities either did not exist or had only a fraction of the operating income attributed to them. The conspirators allegedly funneled the proceeds of these secondary offerings through bank accounts they controlled and used the money for a variety of purposes that had nothing to do with acquiring the purported targets. The money from one of the offerings was instead used to make it appear as if the operating subsidiary had substantial customer revenue when, in fact, the funds were simply transfers of the money that had been raised in the secondary offering, the complaint alleges. The conspirators allegedly went to great lengths to make it appear that these funds were revenue, concocting phony customers and altering bank statements to make it appear as if the funds were coming from customers.
The conspirators allegedly:
- Created fictitious operating companies that Company A purportedly acquired in sham acquisitions;
- Falsified and fabricated bank records of subsidiary entities in order to generate a phony picture of Company A’s revenue streams;
- Generated fake income streams and phony customers of Company A and its subsidiaries; and
- Made material misrepresentations and omissions to the private investment firm and others.
The defendants’ alleged actions caused the private investment firm and others to value Company A at more than $300 million for purposes of financing the transaction to take the company private.
The alleged scheme was uncovered around September 2017, when the conspirators resigned from their positions with Company A or were terminated. On March 16, Company A and numerous of its affiliated entities filed for bankruptcy, attributing the company’s financial demise, in large part, to the fraud scheme.
The United States filed a criminal complaint against Parmar, Zaharis and Chivukula on May 16 for their alleged roles in the scheme. Zaharis and Chivukula currently are fugitives. The United States also filed a separate civil complaint on the same date seeking forfeiture of four properties that Parmar owns or controls, including a house in Colts Neck and three apartments in New York City. Separately, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission filed a civil complaint on May 16 against Parmar, Zaharis and Chivukula.
The investigation was conducted by the FBI. The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission’s New York Regional Office provided assistance in the investigation.
The case is being prosecuted by Chief Paul A. Murphy of the U.S. Attorney’s Office’s Economic Crimes Unit, Assistant U.S. Attorney Nicholas P. Grippo of the Economic Crimes Unit, Assistant U.S. Attorney Sarah Devlin of the U.S. Attorney’s Office’s Asset Recovery Money Laundering Unit and Trial Attorney Leslie Lehnert of the Criminal Division’s Money Laundering and Asset Recovery Section,.
The charges and allegations contained in the complaint are merely accusations, and the defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.
Former Director of Healthcare Services Company Charged in Alleged $300 Million Investment Fraud SchemeRead the Press Release
The Defendant And His Conspirators Allegedly Inflated Company’s Value and Revenue to Defraud Investors
NEWARK, N.J. – A former member of the board of directors of a publicly traded healthcare services company was arrested at John F. Kennedy (JFK) International Airport over the weekend for allegedly participating in a widespread scheme to defraud investors and others out of hundreds of millions of dollars in connection with a merger transaction designed to convert the company into a private entity, U.S. Attorney Craig Carpenito for the District of New Jersey and Assistant Attorney General Brian A. Benczkowski of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division announced.
Pavandeep Bakhshi, 41, of the United Kingdom, is charged by complaint with one count of conspiracy to commit securities fraud and one count of securities fraud. Bakhshi was arrested Saturday evening at JFK Airport after arriving on a flight from London. He is scheduled to appear today before U.S. Magistrate Judge Leda Dunn Wettre in Newark federal court.
According to the complaint unsealed this weekend:
From May 2015 through September 2017, Bakhshi and co-conspirators Parmjit Parmar, aka “Paul Parmar,” Sotirios Zaharis, aka “Sam Zaharis,” and Ravi Chivukula allegedly orchestrated an elaborate scheme to defraud a private investment firm and others out of hundreds of millions of dollars in connection with the funding of a transaction to take private a healthcare services company (Company A) traded publicly on the London Stock Exchange’s Alternative Investment Market. To fund the transaction, the private investment firm put up $82 million and a consortium of financial institutions put up another $130 million. The scheme allegedly utilized fraudulent methods to grossly inflate the value of Company A and trick others into believing that Company A was worth substantially more than its actual value.
The complaint alleges that to present a positive picture of the company’s financial wealth, the conspirators allegedly sought to raise tens of millions of dollars in the public markets, purportedly to fund Company A’s acquisitions of various operating subsidiaries. In reality, the complaint alleges, a number of those entities either did not exist or had only a fraction of the operating income attributed to them. The conspirators allegedly funneled the proceeds of these secondary offerings through bank accounts they controlled and used the money for a variety of purposes that had nothing to do with acquiring the purported targets. The money from one of the offerings was instead used to make it appear as if the operating subsidiary had substantial customer revenue when, in fact, the funds were simply transfers of the money that had been raised in the secondary offering, the complaint alleges. The conspirators allegedly went to great lengths to make it appear that these funds were revenue, concocting phony customers and altering bank statements to make it appear as if the funds were coming from customers.
The conspirators allegedly:
• Created fictitious operating companies that Company A purportedly acquired in sham acquisitions; • Falsified and fabricated bank records of subsidiary entities in order to generate a phony picture of Company A’s revenue streams; • Generated fake income streams and phony customers of Company A and its subsidiaries; and
• Made material misrepresentations and omissions to the private investment firm and others.The defendants’ alleged actions caused the private investment firm and others to value Company A at more than $300 million for purposes of financing the transaction to take the company private.
The alleged scheme was uncovered around September 2017, when the conspirators resigned from their positions with Company A or were terminated. On March 16, Company A and numerous of its affiliated entities filed for bankruptcy, attributing the company’s financial demise, in large part, to the fraud scheme.
The United States filed a criminal complaint against Parmar, Zaharis and Chivukula on May 16 for their alleged roles in the scheme. Zaharis and Chivukula currently are fugitives. The United States also filed a separate civil complaint on the same date seeking forfeiture of four properties that Parmar owns or controls, including a house in Colt’s Neck and three apartments in New York City. Separately, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission filed a civil complaint on May 16 against Parmar, Zaharis and Chivukula.
The investigation was conducted by the FBI. The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission’s New York Regional Office provided assistance in the investigation.The case is being prosecuted by Chief Paul A. Murphy of the U.S. Attorney’s Office’s Economic Crimes Unit, Assistant U.S. Attorney Nicholas P. Grippo of the Economic Crimes Unit and Assistant U.S. Attorney Sarah Devlin of the U.S. Attorney’s Office’s Asset Recovery Money Laundering Unit and Trial Attorney Leslie Lehnert of the Criminal Division’s Money Laundering and Asset Recovery Section.
The charges and allegations contained in the complaint are merely accusations, and the defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.
Defense counsel: Alex Spiro Esq., New York
Former CEO at Long Island Mortgage Lender Sentenced to 24 Months’ Imprisonment for $8.9 Million FraudRead the Press Release
Earlier today, at the federal courthouse in Central Islip, Matthew T. Voss, formerly the Chief Operating Officer of Long Island mortgage lender Vanguard Funding, LLC (Vanguard), was sentenced by United States District Judge Sandra J. Feuerstein to 24 months’ imprisonment to be followed by three years’ supervised release. The amount of restitution will be ordered by the Court at a later date. In February 2018, Voss pleaded guilty to conspiring to commit wire and bank fraud in connection with the diversion of more than $8.9 million of warehouse loans that Vanguard had fraudulently obtained purportedly to fund home mortgages and mortgage refinancing.
Richard P. Donoghue, United States Attorney for the Eastern District of New York, William F. Sweeney, Jr., Assistant Director-in-Charge, Federal Bureau of Investigation, New York Field Office (FBI), and Maria T. Vullo, Superintendent, New York State Department of Financial Services (DFS), announced the sentence.
“With today’s sentence, Matthew Voss has been held accountable for using his extensive knowledge of the mortgage industry to deceive banks that trusted and relied upon him as a business partner and divert money for his personal use,” stated United States Attorney Donoghue. “This Office, together with our law enforcement partners, will vigorously investigate and prosecute those who commit fraud to advance their own financial interests at the expense of businesses and residents of our community.”
“A compromised banking system threatens economic stability and the safety of the mortgage industry, which puts communities and the American institution of homeownership at risk,” stated FBI Assistant-Director-in-Charge Sweeney. “Thanks to the dedicated work of our law enforcement partners, today’s sentence proves that those who use their expertise to deceive others for their own financial gain will be held accountable to the fullest extent of the law.”
“As New York’s financial services regulator, DFS is proud to have worked with the U.S. Attorney’s Office and other law enforcement partners to hold this defendant accountable for his actions,” stated DFS Superintendent Vullo. “DFS will continue to combat fraud and bring criminals to justice in order to safeguard the industry and protect consumers.”
Between August 2015 and March 2017, Voss and his co-conspirators at Vanguard engaged in a scheme whereby they obtained more than $8.9 million in short-term loans, referred to as warehouse loans, by falsely representing that the loan proceeds would fund specific mortgages, or refinance specific mortgages, for Vanguard clients. Instead, Voss and his co-conspirators diverted the funds to pay personal expenses and compensation, and to pay off loans they had previously obtained through false loan applications.
The government’s case is being handled by the Office’s Business and Securities Fraud Section. Assistant United States Attorneys Whitman G.S. Knapp and Elizabeth Losey Macchiaverna are in charge of the prosecution.
The Defendant:
MATTHEW T. VOSS
Age: 43
Northport, New YorkE.D.N.Y. Docket No. 18-CR-027 (SJF)
Former Barry County Man Sentenced to 17 Years for Traveling to Tennessee for Illicit Sex with a MinorRead the Press Release
SPRINGFIELD, Mo. – A former Barry County, Mo., man has been sentenced in federal court for traveling from Missouri to Tennessee to engage in an illicit sexual relationship with a 15-year-old victim, who became pregnant and bore his child.
Michael Douglas Peterson, 35, of Morristown, Tenn., was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Roseann Ketchmark on Friday, Dec. 7, 2018, to 17 years in federal prison without parole.
On April 25, 2018, Peterson pleaded guilty to traveling across state lines to engage in illicit sexual activity.
Peterson admitted that he moved from Missouri to Tennessee in June 2014 because the child victim, who was then 15 years old, moved to Tennessee. Peterson lived with the child victim and her mother and helped to pay for rent and groceries. Peterson engaged in illicit sexual conduct with the child victim, who became pregnant and gave birth to their child on Feb. 26, 2015.
This case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Ami Harshad Miller. It was investigated by the Southwest Missouri Cyber Crimes Task Force, Immigration and Customs Enforcement's (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) and the FBI.
Project Safe Childhood
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 the United States Attorneys' Offices and the Criminal Division's Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state, and local resources to locate, apprehend, and prosecute individuals who sexually exploit children, and to identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.usdoj.gov/psc . For more information about Internet safety education, please visit www.usdoj.gov/psc and click on the tab "resources."
Ford County Man Sentenced for Sexual Exploitation of Multiple ChildrenRead the Press Release
URBANA, Ill. – A 78-year-old Ford County, Ill., man, Toetim Cizmar, of Cabery, has been ordered to serve consecutive sentences that total 140 years in prison for sexual exploitation of multiple children. On Dec. 7, U.S. District Judge Sara Darrow ordered Cizmar to serve four consecutive 30-year sentences for sexual exploitation of a child followed by a 20-year sentence for possession of child pornography.
On June 23, 2017, Cizmar entered pleas of guilty to four counts of sexual exploitation of a child, involving three different children, aged three to six-years-old, from January through March 2014. Cizmar engaged in sexually explicit conduct with the children to produce visual depictions of the conduct. Cizmar also pleaded guilty to possession of child pornography images at the time of his arrest, in December 2016. Cizmar has remained in the custody of the U.S. Marshals Service since his arrest.
According to court documents, Cizmar presented himself to friends and family as a “humble” and “kind” elderly man and “loving” father. The government argued, however, that the evidence showed Cizmar’s private personae is “a manipulative pedophile, who consumes children for his own sexual pleasure.” The government argued for a life sentence stating that Cizmar groomed young children and their parents by presenting himself as a man of faith who dedicated his life to being an educator and gaining unfettered access to their young children. The government argued that Cizmar directed the children’s games “toward his perverted sexual desires” and based on his lack of remorse, there is reason to believe that Cizmar will never be rehabilitated.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Elly M. Peirson prosecuted the case which was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Illinois State Police.
The case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice. Led by U.S. Attorneys' Offices and the Criminal Division's 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.projectsafechildhood.gov.
Florida man sentenced for fraud charges involving gas station skimmersRead the Press Release
CLARKSBURG, WEST VIRGINIA – Yarai Fuentes Quinones, of Hialeah, Florida, was sentenced today to 36 months incarceration for his involvement with a gas station skimming fraud scheme, United States Attorney Bill Powell announced.
Quinones, age 27, pled guilty today to one count of “Access Device Fraud-Use of Unauthorized Access Device” in June 2018.
He admitted to his role in a conspiracy spanning four states that involved using skimming devices at gas pumps, using technology to upload the account information, and creating fraudulent cards with said accounts to make unauthorized transactions at different businesses in West Virginia and elsewhere.
Quinones was also ordered to pay $61,844.66 in restitution.
The United States was granted forfeiture of the following:
a. approximately thirty-three (33) gift cards containing an unknown value; b. approximately $72,495.73 in United States Currency; c. approximately $28,498.00 worth of Western Union money orders; d. approximately $10,300.00 worth of MoneyGram money orders; e. one magnetic stripe card reader-writer-encoder f. two laptops g. six cell phones
Assistant U.S. Attorney Jarod J. Douglas prosecuted the case on behalf of the government. The Federal Bureau of Investigation, United States Secret Service, The U.S. Department of Homeland Security, West Virginia State Police, and the Monongalia County Sheriff’s Office investigated.
Senior U.S. District Judge Irene M. Keeley presided.