Northern District of Georgia

ATLANTA - The Department of Justice announced that it has awarded more than $376 million in grant funding to enhance state, local and tribal law enforcement operations and reinforce public safety efforts in jurisdictions across the United States. $719,733 will support public safety activities in the Northern District of Georgia.  The awards were made by the Department’s Office of Justice Programs.

“The grants will be used to address violent crime problems each of those jurisdictions is facing,” said U.S. Attorney Byung J. “BJay” Pak.  “In Cobb County, District Attorney Joyette Holmes will enhance services to victims of adult sexual assaults, by providing specialized assistance to victims and by conducting research regarding recidivism.  In Rockdale County, District Attorney Alisha Johnson will implement the Rockdale County Comprehensive Homicide Initiative to address the increasing numbers of homicides occurring in the county in a collaborative manner.  Both initiatives will greatly benefit the citizens of the counties, and serve as models for other prosecution offices.”   

“Crime and violence hold families, friends and neighborhoods hostage. They also rip those communities apart,” said Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Katharine T. Sullivan for the Office of Justice Programs. “These programs simultaneously play a role in mending communities through preventing crime, apprehending and prosecuting perpetrators, facilitating appropriate sentencing and adjudication, and restoring communities and their residents.”

These awards support an array of crime-fighting initiatives, including the quarter-billion dollar Edward Byrne Justice Assistance Grants Program, which funds public safety efforts in 929 state, local and tribal jurisdictions. Funding also supports sex offender registration and notification, law enforcement-based victim services, the testing of sexual assault kits, and programs designed to address youth with sexual behavioral problems. Other awards will focus on wrongful convictions, intellectual property enforcement, innovative prosecution strategies and the safety and effectiveness of corrections systems.

Two organizations in the Northern District of Georgia were awarded under the BJA Innovative Prosecution Solutions for Combatting Violent Crime Program.  The program provides state, local and tribal prosecutors with information, resources, training, and technical assistance to develop effective strategies as well as programs to address and prosecute individuals who commit violent crime.

• Cobb County, Georgia                                               $359,733
• Rockdale County, Georgia                                         $360,000

Information about the programs and awards announced is available here: Public Safety Fact Sheet here.  For more information about OJP awards, visit the OJP Awards Data webpage.

The Office of Justice Programs, directed by Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Katharine T. Sullivan, provides federal leadership, grants, training and technical assistance, and other resources to improve the nation’s capacity to prevent and reduce crime, assist victims and enhance the rule of law by strengthening the criminal and juvenile justice systems. More information about OJP and its components can be found at www.ojp.gov.

For further information please contact the U.S. Attorney’s Public Affairs Office at USAGAN.PressEmails@usdoj.gov 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.

ATLANTA - Attorney General William P. Barr and Justice Department leadership announced the recipients of the Third Annual Attorney General’s Award for Distinguished Service in Policing, recognizing the exceptional work of 19 law enforcement officers and deputies from 12 jurisdictions across the country.

“Honoring and supporting the work of law enforcement officers and deputies is a top priority for the Trump Administration, and today is an opportunity for me to personally express my gratitude and commitment to those who risk their lives daily to protect our communities,” said Attorney General Barr. “The Attorney General’s Award for Distinguished Service in Policing honors exceptional police officers and the vital public service they provide. The brave men and women in law enforcement are engaged in an unrelenting and often unacknowledged fight to keep our communities safe each and every day. It is an honor to thank them for their service.”

“Our recognition of Officer Quick highlights his relentless commitment to the safety of the community and the well-being of the students he is involved with every day,” said U.S. Attorney Byung J. “BJay” Pak. 

Officer Troy Quick of the Conyers Police Department has been recognized for his dedication and service toward building trust between youth and law enforcement in Conyers, Georgia. Officer Quick is making a lasting impact on the youth within his community. As a School Resource Officer at Rockdale County High School, Officer Quick has been able to help a number of students leave gang life. Whether it is through the mentoring sessions he coordinates for students, donating items to families in need, or just taking an interest in student’s daily lives, Officer Quick is a true example of dedication and service.

President Donald J. Trump established clear directives for the Department of Justice – with three Executive Orders – demonstrating his strong support of the law enforcement community. These Executive Orders commit the Department to working in tandem with state and local law enforcement to restore the rule of law, reduce violent crime, dismantle criminal gangs, and combat the growing drug epidemic. Today the Department of Justice continues to support the President’s directive to honor law enforcement officers by announcing the third annual Attorney General’s Award for Distinguished Service in Policing.

The Attorney General’s Award recognizes individual state, local, and tribal sworn rank-and-file police officers and deputies for exceptional efforts in policing. The awarded officers and deputies have demonstrated active engagement with the community in one of three areas: criminal investigations, field operations or innovations in community policing. The Department received 199 nominations for 414 individuals ranging from state police departments, to local police, to campus public safety agencies. This award highlights the work that troopers, officers and deputies do to prevent, intervene in, and respond to crime and public safety issues. The individuals recognized today include:

For further information please contact the U.S. Attorney’s Public Affairs Office at USAGAN.PressEmails@usdoj.gov 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.

ATLANTA - Carmen Pearson has pleaded guilty to stealing over $175,000 from the federal government by concealing her father’s death from the Social Security Administration for nine years so that she could continue to receive his Social Security benefits.

“Stealing money from the federal government is stealing money from tax payers,” said U.S. Attorney Byung J. “BJay” Pak.  “Pearson went the extra mile to steal by swearing annually that her father was alive and that she was taking care of him even though he had died.”

“For nearly a decade, Ms. Pearson’s deception caused Social Security to issue payments to her for her deceased father,” said Gail S. Ennis, Inspector General for the Social Security Administration. “This guilty plea should send a warning to those who perpetrate this kind of fraud that we will identify you and bring you to justice on behalf of the American people. I want to thank the United States Attorney’s Office and Special Assistant U.S. Attorney Diane Schulman for prosecuting this case.”  

According to U.S. Attorney Pak, the charges and other information presented in court: In 2007, Carmen Pearson applied to Social Security to be her father’s representative payee and receive his Social Security benefits on his behalf.  Her father died in 2009.  Instead of notifying Social Security of his death, the defendant submitted at least five annual reporting statements in which she claimed he was still alive and that she used all of the Social Security benefit monies she received for his care and support.  Because Social Security believed that her father was still alive, it continued to pay monthly benefits to her for him until August 2018, for nearly nine years after his death. In total, Pearson stole $176,516 in federal money.

Sentencing for Carmen Pearson, 58, of Fairburn, Georgia, is scheduled for February 20, 2020, at 10:00 a.m., before U.S. District Judge Michael L. Brown.  In determining the actual sentence, the Court will consider the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines, which are not binding but provide appropriate sentencing ranges for most offenders.

The Social Security Administration - Office of the Inspector General is investigating this case.

Special Assistant U.S. Attorney Diane C. Schulman is prosecuting the case.

For further information please contact the U.S. Attorney’s Public Affairs Office at USAGAN.PressEmails@usdoj.gov 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.

ATLANTA - Cory Smith has been sentenced for defrauding more than a dozen diamond and jewelry dealers and wholesalers nationwide. Over the course of his scheme, Smith attempted to defraud these companies of nearly $1.2 million in diamonds and jewelry and successfully obtained nearly $570,000 in merchandise.

“Smith repeatedly exploited the trust of diamond and jewelry dealers to defraud them,” said U.S. Attorney Byung J. “BJay” Pak. “Identifying Smith took the collective effort and cooperation of the victim retailers and wholesalers, commercial shippers, and local and federal law enforcement, and I commend their work.”

“A lot of hard working citizens were victimized by Smith in his elaborate scheme that cost them over a million dollars,” said Special Agent in Charge of FBI Atlanta Chris Hacker. “His sentencing should serve as a warning that no matter how elaborate a scheme, investigating FBI agents are determined to protect American citizens against such crimes.”

“I am proud of the hard work and dedication that the Knox County Sheriff’s Office Deputies and detectives along with federal agents exemplified during this investigation.  Make no mistake, the Knox County Sheriff’s Office will always cooperate with state and federal authorities to bring criminals to justice,” said Knox County Sheriff Tom Spangler.

According to U.S. Attorney Pak, the charges and other information presented in court: Beginning by November 2016 and continuing until September 2018, Smith and others conspired to defraud diamond and jewelry retailers and wholesalers by taking advantage of the fact that many transactions in the industry are done by “memo financing.”

Memo financing is a type of consignment arrangement under which diamond or jewelry dealers will borrow diamonds or jewelry from a supplier (typically another dealer or wholesaler) and will pay for the merchandise only after they are sold (or otherwise return the items unsold). The use of memo financing is widespread in the diamond and jewelry industry and has been used for generations. In order to minimize the risk associated with memo financing, diamond and jewelry dealers will often only deal with well-established diamond/jewelry buyers with whom they have previously conducted business. After the transaction is arranged, the merchandise is usually transported via UPS, FedEx, or another common commercial interstate carrier.

Smith took advantage of this “memo financing” system by contacting jewelry and diamond suppliers across the United States and falsely representing that he was employed or affiliated with a well-known or established diamond or jewelry dealer. Smith would then direct that the merchandise in question be sent to an actual jewelry store in Georgia or elsewhere and typically provide the actual address of the detailer/retailer he was falsely purporting to represent. After receiving the tracking information for a particular shipment, Smith would then contact the shipper (i.e., UPS, FedEx) and have the shipment re-routed to a residential address or a FedEx or UPS facility or retail store near where the actual diamond/jewelry dealer he was falsely purporting to represent was located. Smith would thereafter arrange to have “runners” pick-up the shipment from the FedEx or UPS location or residential address. Smith facilitated this process by making travel arrangements for the runners to travel from Atlanta to out-of-state locations, including North Carolina, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee, and Virginia, to pick up the packages containing the diamonds/jewelry. Over the course of the nearly two-year scheme, Smith defrauded more than a dozen diamond and jewelry wholesalers and retailers nationwide.  

Cory Smith, 32, of Atlanta, Georgia, was sentenced to seven years, eight months in prison to be followed by three years of supervised release, and ordered to pay restitution in the amount of $567,669.70. Smith was convicted of interstate transportation of stolen property on May 13, 2019, after he pleaded guilty.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation investigated this case, with assistance from the Knox County, Tennessee Sheriff’s Office.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Alex R. Sistla prosecuted the case.

For further information please contact the U.S. Attorney’s Public Affairs Office at USAGAN.PressEmails@usdoj.gov 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.

ATLANTA - Nnamdi Marcellus MgBodile has been arraigned on twenty counts of bank fraud, money laundering, and conspiracy to commit bank fraud.

“Online romance scams and business email compromise frauds have increasingly become the method of choice for transnational fraudsters targeting U.S. residents and companies,” said U.S. Attorney Byung J. “BJay” Pak. “In this case, a single victim allegedly lost millions.  This is a stark reminder that users of online dating websites should be aware of such scams and exercise extreme caution if asked for money by anyone online or over the phone.”

“This investigation and subsequent indictment demonstrates the commitment the Secret Service and our partners have in aggressively pursuing those who commit online fraud scams,” said Malcolm D. Wiley, Sr., Acting Special Agent in Charge of the United States Secret Service, Atlanta Field Office.  “This case serves as a reminder to all, particularly during the holiday season, to ensure protocols related to cyber hygiene are observed.”

According to U.S. Attorney Pak, the charges, and other information presented in court: MgBodile was allegedly involved in two fraudulent schemes, a romance scam that defrauded a Virginia woman out of more than $6.5 million, and a business email compromise (“BEC”) scam in which MgBodile and others attempted to defraud a Georgia company of nearly $350,000.

Romance scams are a type of online fraud in which victims are targeted by individuals posing as potential paramours. The fraudsters create fake online dating profiles (often with photographs of attractive men or women) and use these fake personas to express a romantic interest in the victims in order to trick them into sending money to them or their co-conspirators under false pretenses. Romance scams frequently target vulnerable individuals who possess significant financial assets, such as retired widows or widowers.  

The indictment alleges that at the end of November 2017 a Virginia woman, who had a sizable trust, met a person through an online site.  She was soon convinced that she was in a romantic relationship with the defendant who she had come to know as “Jimmy Deere.”  Over the next month, the victim communicated via email with Deere, whom she believed had fallen for her. Deere said he wanted to start a life with her and was excited to live with her, but first had to resolve an investment opportunity—an opportunity that was totally fraudulent and fictitious.

Deere told the victim that he was a fund manager and he was on the verge of receiving a sizeable commission (“the funds”) for services provided to an unnamed client. He explained to the victim that he needed her to be his “representative partner” and have the funds deposited into the victim’s bank account to avoid an alleged conflict of interest.

In January and February 2018, after luring the victim, Deere and conspirators started requesting via email that she pay various “fees” and “taxes” so that the funds could be released. Between approximately January 2, 2018 and February 12, 2018, and in response to representations made by Deere and others regarding the funds, the victim made approximately twenty-five wire transfers totaling more than $6.5 million from the victim’s trust account into various bank accounts. At least $1.1 million was wired to business bank accounts controlled by MgBodile. These bank accounts were for fake companies that did not have physical premises, earn legitimate income, or pay wages to employees. After the fraudulent funds hit the accounts controlled by MgBodile, he allegedly wired the funds to other accounts controlled by MgBodile, or overseas accounts in China and the Middle East.

BEC scams commonly involve an employee of a company who has been fooled into responding with email messages that appear to be, but are not, legitimate (“spoof emails”). Here, the indictment alleges that in March 2019, MgBodile and others attempted to defraud a Georgia company out of nearly $350,000 after the Georgia company received emails from what it believed was Oxford Finance, a company that had provided financing to the victim company. The emails fraudulently represented that the victim needed to wire Oxford Finance a quarterly payment rather than being drawn via ACH. None of the emails purporting to be sent from Oxford Finance was actually sent by Oxford Finance. Rather, these “spoof emails” were sent from a domain, “oxfordfiinance.com,” which appeared to be Oxford Finance’s, but was not.  The emails also appeared to come from Oxford Finance because the purported sender is an actual employee of Oxford Finance and the email’s signature line contained Oxford Finance’s correct physical address.

Nnamdi Marcellus MgBodile, 35, of Marietta, Georgia, was arraigned on November 19, 2019 U.S. Magistrate Judge Janet F. King.  A federal grand jury indicted MgBodile on November 6, 2019.  Members of the public are reminded that the indictment only contains charges.  The defendant is presumed innocent of the charges and it will be the government’s burden to prove the defendant’s guilt beyond a reasonable doubt at trial.

The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Georgia is part of the Department Of Justice Transnational Elder Fraud Strike Force. The Strike Force focuses on investigating and prosecuting defendants associated with foreign-based fraud schemes that disproportionately affect American seniors.  These include romance scams, phone scams, mass-mailing fraud schemes, and tech-support fraud schemes.  For further information on these scams, see https://www.justice.gov/elderjustice/senior-scam-alert.

The U.S. Secret Service is investigating this case.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Alex R. Sistla is prosecuting the case.

For further information please contact the U.S. Attorney’s Public Affairs Office at USAGAN.PressEmails@usdoj.gov 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.

ROME, Ga. - Demontra Sharod Lucear has been convicted by a jury of conspiring to steal guns from federally licensed firearms dealers and to possessing stolen firearms. Lucear was one of seven defendants charged with conspiracy to burglarize ten gun stores in Georgia and Alabama from October through November 2015.

“Burglarizing gun stores and trafficking those stolen guns to convicted felons and other prohibited persons presents a serious threat to our community,” said U.S. Attorney Byung J. “BJay” Pak. “Thanks to our federal, multi-state, and local law enforcement partners, Lucear and his co-defendants are off the streets and can no longer continue their criminal enterprise.”

“Anyone who steals guns does so for one purpose,” said ATF Special Agent in Charge Arthur Peralta.  “They steal guns to use them in a violent criminal act.  These seven individuals did not consider the harm they would cause by putting these guns on the street.  I sincerely hope their arrest and conviction serves to deter anyone else who would consider this type of criminal act.  Georgia law enforcement agencies are working together to identify and arrest anyone who steals guns.” 

According to U.S. Attorney Pak, the charges and other information presented in court: Lucear and his six co-defendants burglarized seven federally licensed firearms dealers, and attempted to burglarize three more, between October and November 2015. In all, the crew stole 132 firearms which they later sold to others. Law enforcement officers recovered several of the firearms during criminal arrests. Lucear’s co-defendants previously pleaded guilty as follows:

• On July 18, 2016, Eric Jerome Moore pleaded guilty to theft of firearms from a federally licensed firearms dealer and to being a felon in possession of a firearm;
   
• On June 24, 2016, Jakeisia Miller pleaded guilty to conspiracy to steal firearms;
   
• On July 25, 2016, Dillon James Leborgne pleaded guilty to conspiracy to steal firearms, and theft of firearms, from a federally licensed firearms dealer;
   
• On August 1, 2016, Jacquez Miller pleaded guilty to theft of firearms from a federally licensed firearms dealer;
   
• On November 14, 2016, Jameel Yusuff Drinkard pleaded guilty to conspiracy to steal firearms, and theft of firearms, from a federally licensed firearms dealer, and to being a felon in possession of a firearm; and
   
• On November 17, 2016, Terry Eugene Brown pled guilty to conspiracy to steal firearms, and three counts of theft of firearms, from a federally licensed firearms dealer.

Sentencing for Demontra Sharod Lucear, 29, of Atlanta, Georgia, is scheduled for January 6, 2020, at 1:00 p.m. before United States District Judge Mark H. Cohen.  In determining Lucear’s actual sentence, the Court will consider the United States Sentencing Guidelines, which are not binding but provide appropriate sentencing ranges for most offenders.

The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives is investigating this case. Agents of ATF worked closely with multi-state and local law enforcement offices to connect the thefts and develop information on the conspirators. These agencies include the Tallapoosa Police Department, Dalton Police Department, Clayton County Police Department, Bibb County Sheriff’s Office, Monroe Police Department, Thomson Police Department, Athens-Clarke County Police Department, Warner Robbins Police Department, Lagrange Police Department, and the Pearl, Mississippi Police Department.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Jennifer Keen is prosecuting the case.

For further information please contact the U.S. Attorney’s Public Affairs Office at USAGAN.PressEmails@usdoj.gov 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.

GAINESVILLE, Ga. - Vinh Bao Chau has been sentenced for communicating a bomb threat to a church preschool, cyberstalking of a woman who refused to date him, and interstate communication of a threat.

“Those who hide behind a computer screen to terrorize, intimidate and threaten other people using social media will be brought to justice,” said U.S. Attorney Byung J. “BJay” Pak.  “The fact that this defendant called in a bomb threat which resulted in the evacuation of a church preschool is particularly appalling.”

“This case is a testament to the value of federal partnerships with state and local law enforcement; all of whom are committed to bringing those to justice who seek to strike fear into communities through the use of terroristic threats.  The defendant in this case made a threat to destroy a preschool with an improvised explosive device, and persistently cyberstalked and threatened a victim in multiple jurisdictions,” said acting Special Agent in Charge Robert Hammer, who oversees HSI operations in Georgia and Alabama.

“This prosecution is a great example of local, state and federal authorities working together to seek justice for Georgia citizens. This investigation spanned two judicial circuits in North Georgia, and we are grateful for the cooperation among investigators and prosecutors which led to this successful result,” said Georgia Attorney General Chris Carr.

According to U.S. Attorney Pak, the charges and other information presented in court: In February of 2017, Vinh Bao Chau began a campaign of terrorizing and harassing a local woman after he was rejected for a date.  Chau created fake social media accounts, which he then used to send hundreds of messages to the victim threatening to kill her and harm her in gruesome ways.  He also harassed her through repeated telephone calls and text messages.  Chau then called in a bomb threat on March 7, 2017, to the victim's place of employment, a church preschool.  The investigation revealed Chau was the perpetrator of both the harassing messages and bomb threat, and was then arrested.

Vinh Bao Chau, 23, of Jasper, Georgia, has been sentenced by Senior U.S. District Judge Richard W. Story to three years in prison to be followed by three years of supervised release.  Chau has been convicted on these charges on July 8, 2019, after he pleaded guilty.

The U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Homeland Security Investigations, Gordon County Sheriff's Office, Pickens County Sheriff's Office, and Jasper Police Department investigated this case.

Special Assistant U.S. Attorney Laura D. Pfister prosecuted the case.

For further information please contact the U.S. Attorney’s Public Affairs Office at USAGAN.PressEmails@usdoj.gov 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.

ATLANTA – Jhovany Arias-Herrera has been arraigned on the federal charge of forcibly assaulting Homeland Security Investigation, Enforcement and Removal Operations, officers.

“Herrera, who is an illegal alien, allegedly assaulted and injured federal officers, and disrupted an airlines flight just prior to departure,” said U.S. Attorney Byung J. “BJay” Pak.  “This defendant’s conduct caused physical injuries to federal law enforcement officers performing their duties and created havoc and panic for passengers aboard an airline.  Our office has zero tolerance for individuals assaulting our law enforcement partners.”     

“Every day the brave men and women of ERO face danger while carrying out their duties.  I commend the quick reaction of those officers to prevent the situation onboard the aircraft from escalating further,” said acting Special Agent in Charge Robert Hammer, who oversees HSI operations in Georgia and Alabama. “An assault on any member of law enforcement is an assault on all of us and HSI will vigorously seek criminal prosecution on those who do in a court of law.”

According to U.S. Attorney Pak, the charges, and evidence presented at trial: On November 13, 2019, Herrera allegedly assaulted and resisted federal officers who were deporting him from the United States to Lima, Peru, his home country of origin. At the time of the incident, four HSI Enforcement and Removal Operations officers were transporting Herrera on Delta Airline flights from San Diego, California, through Atlanta with Peru as the final destination.

After arriving at Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport in Atlanta, the deportation officers escorted Herrera to the boarding area for the Atlanta flight. After boarding the flight, but before engaging his seatbelt, Herrera suddenly began screaming and demanding to use the bathroom. At the time, airline officials had already ordered passengers to fasten their seatbelts and closed and secured the door of the airplane. All the deportation officers present attempted to calm Herrera, including by allowing him access to the bathroom.

As an officer escorted Herrera to the bathroom, Herrera then punched the airplane wall frightening nearby passengers. Flight attendants responded and tried to calm the passengers as Herrera entered the bathroom. While Herrera was in the bathroom, another officer coordinated with a flight attendant to change Herrera’s seat assignment.

Herrera began yelling again after he left the bathroom and discovered his seat reassignment. The officers then decided to remove Herrera from the airplane. At the time, Herrera was seated in a middle seat, still screaming, and with clenched fists. As two of the officers tried to remove him, Herrera tore off his sweater and threw it at passengers seated in front of him. Two other officers immediately grabbed Herrera’s arms and attempted to escort him off the airplane. Herrera pulled away from the officers, began punching toward the officers’ face and chest areas, and tried to kick the officers’ legs and lower body.

During the struggle Herrera kicked an officer, striking him in the knee, causing bruising to that officer. Herrera repeatedly struck another officer as well. Eventually, the officers removed Herrera from the flight where Atlanta Police officers assisted in detaining him.

Jhovany Arias-Herrera, 27, of Lima, Peru, was arraigned Wednesday November 20, 2019.  Members of the public are reminded that the indictment only contains charges.  The defendant is presumed innocent of the charges and it will be the Government’s burden to prove the defendant’s guilt beyond a reasonable doubt at trial.

Homeland Security Investigations is investigating this case, with assistance from the Atlanta Police Department.

Assistant U.S. Attorneys Richard S. Moultrie, Jr., Chief of the office’s Violent Crime and National Security Section, and Radka Nations are handling the prosecution.

For further information please contact the U.S. Attorney’s Public Affairs Office at USAGAN.PressEmails@usdoj.gov 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.

ATLANTA – Allen Ifechukwu Athan Onyema, the Chairman, CEO, and founder of Air Peace, a Nigerian airline, has been charged with bank fraud and money laundering for moving more than $20 million from Nigeria through United States bank accounts in a scheme involving false documents based on the purchase of airplanes.  The international airline’s Chief of Administration and Finance, Ejiroghene Eghagha, has also been charged with bank fraud and committing aggravated identity theft in connection with the scheme.

“Onyema allegedly leveraged his status as a prominent business leader and airline executive while using falsified documents to commit fraud,” said U.S. Attorney Byung J. “BJay” Pak.  “We will diligently protect the integrity our banking system from being corrupted by criminals, even when they disguise themselves in a cloak of international business.”

Robert J. Murphy, the Special Agent in Charge of the DEA Atlanta Field Division commented on the indictment, “Allen Onyema’s status as a wealthy businessman turned out to be a fraud. He corrupted the U.S. banking system, but his trail of deceit and trickery came to a skidding halt. DEA would like to thank the many law enforcement partners and the subsequent prosecution by the U.S. Attorney’s Office who aided in making this investigation a success.”

“This case is a prime example of why IRS-CI seeks to partner and leverage its expertise in an effort to thwart those seeking to exploit our nation’s financial system,” said Thomas J. Holloman, IRS-Criminal Investigation Special Agent in Charge of the Atlanta Field Office. “With the importance of our banking system to the movement of money around the world, those attempting to use intricate schemes to commit bank fraud through the use of falsified documents and other means should know that the odds are now heavily stacked against them as law enforcement is combining its talents to protect the sanctity and integrity of the nation’s financial system.”

“Onyema setup various innocent sounding multi-million dollar asset purchases which were nothing more than alleged fronts for his scam,” said acting Special Agent in Charge Robert Hammer, who oversees HSI operations in Georgia and Alabama. “I’m proud to be part of a team of law enforcement agencies that come together to identify and attack criminals that attempt to profit from the exploitation of our nation’s financial systems.”

According to U.S. Attorney Pak, the indictment, and other information presented in court: Onyema, a Nigerian citizen and businessman, is the founder and Chairman of several organizations that purport to promote peace across Nigeria, including the Foundation for Ethnic Harmony, International Center for Non-Violence and Peace Development, and All-Time Peace Media Communications Limited. 

Beginning in 2010, Onyema began travelling frequently to Atlanta, where he opened several personal and business bank accounts.  Between 2010 and 2018, over $44.9 million was allegedly transferred into his Atlanta-based accounts from foreign sources.

Onyema is also the CEO and Chairman of Nigerian airline Air Peace, which he founded in 2013. In years following the founding of Air Peace, he traveled to the United States and purchased multiple airplanes for the airline. However, over $3 million of the funds used to purchase the aircraft allegedly came from bank accounts for Foundation for Ethnic Harmony, International Center for Non-Violence and Peace Development, All-Time Peace Media Communications Limited, and Every Child Limited.

Beginning in approximately May 2016, Onyema, together with Eghagha, allegedly used a series of export letters of credit to cause banks to transfer more than $20 million into Atlanta-based bank accounts controlled by Onyema.  The letters of credit were purportedly to fund the purchase of five separate Boeing 737 passenger planes by Air Peace.  The letters were supported by documents such as purchase agreements, bills of sale, and appraisals proving that Air Peace was purchasing the aircraft from Springfield Aviation Company LLC, a business registered in Georgia. 

However, the supporting documents were fake — Springfield Aviation Company LLC, which is owned by Onyema and managed by a person with no connection to the aviation business, never owned the aircraft, and the company that allegedly drafted the appraisals did not exist.  Eghagha allegedly participated in this scheme as well, directing the Springfield Aviation manager to sign and send false documents to banks and even using the manager’s identity to further the fraud.  After Onyema received the money in the United States, he allegedly laundered over $16 million of the proceeds of the fraud by transferring it to other accounts.

Allen Ifechukwu Athan Onyema, 56, of Lagos, Nigeria, and Ejiroghene Eghagha, 37, of Lagos, Nigeria, were indicted on November 19, 2019, on one count of conspiracy to commit bank fraud, three counts of bank fraud, one count of conspiracy to commit credit application fraud, and three counts of credit application fraud.  Additionally, Onyema was charged with 27 counts of money laundering, and Eghagha was charged with one count of aggravated identity theft.

Members of the public are reminded that the indictment only contains charges.  The defendants are presumed innocent of the charges and it will be the government’s burden to prove the defendant’s guilt beyond a reasonable doubt at trial.

The Drug Enforcement Administration, Internal Revenue Service Criminal Investigation, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Homeland Security Investigations, Federal Aviation Administration, Department of Commerce, and Department of Treasury are investigating this case.

Assistant U.S. Attorneys Garrett L. Bradford, Deputy Chief of the Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs Section and Lead Strike Force Attorney, Irina K. Dutcher, and Christopher J. Huber, Deputy Chief of the Complex Frauds Section, are prosecuting the case, with assistance from the Department of Justice’s Money Laundering and Asset Recovery Section and Office of International Affairs.

This prosecution was brought as a part of the Department of Justice’s Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces (OCDETF) Co-located Strike Forces Initiative, which enables agents from different agencies to collaborate on intelligence-driven, multi-jurisdictional operations against a continuum of priority targets and their affiliate illicit financial networks.  These prosecutor-led co-located Strike Forces capitalize on the synergy created through the long-term relationships that can be forged by agents, analysts, and prosecutors who remain together over time, and they epitomize the model that has proven most effective in combating organized crime.  The specific mission of the Atlanta Strike Force is to disrupt and dismantle the most significant drug trafficking and money laundering organizations designated as Consolidated Priority Organization Targets or Regional Priority Organization Targets and their affiliates impacting the Atlanta metropolitan area and the Northern District of Georgia.

For further information please contact the U.S. Attorney’s Public Affairs Office at USAGAN.PressEmails@usdoj.gov 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.

ATLANTA – Inmate Brian J. Wilson pleaded guilty to using a contraband cell phone to post photographs and videos onto Facebook from his cell in the U.S. Penitentiary-Atlanta (“USP Atlanta”).

“Inmates who use a contraband cell phone should ask themselves whether having a cell phone in prison is worth spending more time in prison,” said U.S. Attorney Byung J. “BJay” Pak.  “The federal government is committed to limiting the explosion of contraband cell phones in federal prisons.”  

“The boldness of this inmate to live stream for the world to see is an example of how widespread contraband cell phones are in our prisons,” said Special Agent in Charge of FBI Atlanta, Chris Hacker. “Many times they are used to further criminal activities and can create serious security concerns. That is why the FBI will continue to use every resource available to stop their proliferation.”

According to U.S. Attorney Pak, the charges, and other information presented in court – the USP Atlanta is a medium-security federal prison for male inmates operated by the Federal Bureau of Prisons. The Cell Phone Contraband Act of 2010 made it a crime for Federal inmates to possess or use cell phones while incarcerated.

On March 24, 2015, Wilson was sentenced to ten years of imprisonment after sustaining a conviction for possession of a stolen firearm. Since approximately May 3, 2018, Wilson has been an inmate at USP Atlanta. 

As an inmate, Wilson possessed a cell phone in USP Atlanta. Between late-May and July 2019, Wilson used his cell phone to post images to and to live stream content onto the social media platform Facebook from his prison cell. In fact, Wilson posted a “selfie” photograph onto his Facebook account of himself holding a cell phone while in his prison cell.  Ironically, in a live stream video, Wilson warned people that federal cases have significant prison sentences, lamenting that “federal law ain’t playing” because “the United States will lock you … up” if you are convicted of a federal crime.   

Prior to his guilty plea, Wilson was scheduled to be released from custody on November 28, 2022.  Under federal law, however, inmates convicted of possessing contraband in prison must receive consecutive (or additional) prison time after their original sentence is completed.

On April 29, 2019, Brian J. Wilson, 32, of Atlanta, was charged via criminal information with possessing a contraband cell phone in prison.

The FBI and the Bureau of Prisons are investigating this case.

Assistant U.S. Attorneys Jeffrey W. Davis, Chief of the Public Integrity and Special Matters Section, and Carolyn Cain Burch are prosecuting the case.

For further information please contact the U.S. Attorney’s Public Affairs Office at USAGAN.PressEmails@usdoj.gov 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.

NEWNAN, Ga. – The three gunmen who terrorized employees of the United Bank in Woodbury, Georgia in June of 2018 have each been sentenced to at least a decade in federal prison.

“These defendants chose to rob a bank and in the process terrorized its employees,” said U.S. Attorney Byung J. “BJay” Pak.  “Thanks to a quick law enforcement response they lost their getaway car and subsequently their freedom.”

“The sentencing of these three men illustrates the FBI’s commitment to working with its law enforcement partners to protect our citizens against such violent offenders,” said Special Agent in Charge of FBI Atlanta, Chris Hacker. “Hopefully this sentencing sends a message to those contemplating bank robbery that they will be aggressively investigated and prosecuted to the full extent of the law.”

“This case is a great example of teamwork. I’m thankful for the assistance of everyone involved, especially our law enforcement partners. We at the Woodbury Police Department are committed to providing a safe community for all who live in or visit. Knowing we have law enforcement partners willing to respond and support us during times like this is comforting. As we work together, we provide a safer community for everyone,” said Woodbury Police Chief Smart Web.

According to U.S. Attorney Pak, the charges and other information presented in court:  Shortly after noon on June 28, 2018, a vehicle allegedly driven by Dontavious Prather (whose charges remain pending), pulled up to the United Bank in Woodbury, Georgia and dropped off three masked gunmen: Antavious Bray, Derrick Scott, and D’Asis Sheffield.  Bray, armed with a semi-automatic rifle, ordered two bank employees to lie face down on the floor while he stood over them with the rifle pointed at them.  Meanwhile, Scott and Sheffield, armed with handguns, threatened the teller, forced their way into the bank vault, and filled their backpacks with cash.  The three gunmen then fled from the bank through a back door.

As they left the bank, Bray, Scott, and Sheffield discovered that their getaway driver had quickly left the scene without them because of the quick response of the Woodbury Police Department.  At that point, the three gunmen fled on foot into a nearby wooded area. Within hours, FBI agents had captured Bray and Scott, who had broken into a nearby home to use as a hiding place. 

Sheffield remained unidentified and at large until local news stations played a video clip of him walking through the backyard of a residence near the bank shortly after the robbery.  Several tipsters identified Sheffield, and the FBI arrested him shortly thereafter.  DNA evidence also confirmed that Sheffield was the third gunman.

Bray, Scott, and Sheffield each pled guilty to conspiracy to commit Hobbs Act robbery and brandishing a firearm during a crime of violence. 

• Antavious Bray, 31, of Greenville, Georgia, was sentenced to 12 years, 10 months in prison, and five years of supervised release. 

• Derrick Scott, 27, of Manchester, Georgia, was sentenced to 12 years, 10 months in prison, and five years of supervised release.

• D'Asis Sheffield, 21, of Greenville, Georgia, was sentenced to 10 years in prison, and five years of supervised release.  All three men were also ordered to pay full restitution to the victims.

Dontavious Prather, 23, of Greenville, Georgia, pled not guilty to a Second Superseding Indictment on December 21, 2018, and his case remains pending in federal court.  Members of the public are reminded that the indictment against Prather only contains charges.  The defendant is presumed innocent of the charges, and it will be the government’s burden to prove the defendant's guilt beyond a reasonable doubt at trial.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation investigated this case.

Assistant U.S. Attorneys Bret R. Hobson and Miguel R. Acosta prosecuted the case.

This case was bought as a part of the Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN).  In keeping with the Attorney Generals mission to reduce violent crime, the Northern District of Georgia’s PSN program focuses on prosecuting those individuals who most significantly drive violence in our communities, and supports and fosters partnerships between law enforcement and schools, the faith community, and local community leaders to prevent and deter future criminal conduct.

For further information please contact the U.S. Attorney’s Public Affairs Office at USAGAN.PressEmails@usdoj.gov 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.

ATLANTA – Ramone Shirley has been sentenced for possession with the intent to distribute heroin. Shirley is a prior convicted felon who had nearly 200 grams of heroin and two firearms in his possession when officers arrested him in 2018.

“Repeat offenders like Shirley pose a serious threat to public safety,” said U.S. Attorney Byung J. “BJay” Pak.  “Their continual return to criminal activity represents a lack of fear of consequences for their actions.  Citizens deserve safety and a drug-free community.  Through our commitment to Operation SCOPE, we will continue prosecuting and removing repeat offenders from our streets.”

“This is a perfect example of cooperative drug law enforcement.  The Atlanta-Carolinas HIDTA is committed to working with our Federal, State, Local and Tribal partners to rid our communities of this poison,” said HIDTA Executive Director Dan R. Salter.

“The successful results of this investigation should let career criminals like Mr. Shirley know that those who flood our streets with dangerous drugs like heroin, will ultimately be brought to justice by DEA, its law enforcement partners and the United States Attorney’s Office,” said Robert J. Murphy, the Special Agent in Charge of the DEA Atlanta Field Division.

“We are pleased that our combined efforts have led to the conviction of this repeat offender and he will no longer be distributing his poison on the streets of Atlanta,” said Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) Acting Special Agent in Charge Robert J. Hammer. “HSI is proud of its strong partnership with DEA Atlanta and will continue to partner with them to maximize our capabilities in dismantling these criminal networks.”

According to U.S. Attorney Pak, the charges and other information presented in court: In June 2016, Shirley distributed three kilograms of cocaine to another drug dealer inside his shop in Atlanta, Georgia. The cocaine was seized by Georgia State Patrol during a traffic stop, and DEA and Homeland Security Investigations agents eventually identified Shirley as the cocaine source.

After further investigation, agents arrested Shirley at his home on charges of distributing the cocaine seized in the 2016 traffic stop. During the arrest, they found a kilo-press, money counter, nearly 200 grams of heroin, and two loaded firearms, including one with an extended magazine. Agents also found parts of a kilo-press at Shirley’s shop, and his phone had videos of him waving vacuum-sealed bundles of cash. As a result of his conviction, Shirley forfeited his boat, a truck, two Harley Davidson motorcycles, and cash.

Ramone Shirley, a/k/a “Big Play Ray,” 44, of Atlanta, Georgia, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Mark H. Cohen to seven years in prison to be followed by four years of supervised release.  Shirley was convicted on these charges on April 9, 2019, after he pleaded guilty.

This case is presented as a part of Operation SCOPE (Strategically Combatting Opioids through Prosecution and Enforcement), which is an initiative launched by the U.S. Attorney’s Office to partner with federal and local law enforcement to fight the devastating effects that illegally-prescribed painkillers, heroin, and synthetic opioids, such as fentanyl have on our neighborhoods.

The Drug Enforcement Administration, the Atlanta-Carolina High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area Program, and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Homeland Security Investigations investigated this case.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Nicholas Hartigan prosecuted the case.

The U.S. Attorney’s Office in Atlanta recommends parents and children learn about the dangers of drugs at the following web site: www.justthinktwice.gov.

For further information please contact the U.S. Attorney’s Public Affairs Office at USAGAN.PressEmails@usdoj.gov 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.

ATLANTA - Devin Herman has been sentenced for attempting to have sex with someone he believed was an 11-year-old girl he met on the internet.

“Unmonitored internet and online chatting make it easy for potential predators to meet and sexually exploit children,” said U.S. Attorney Byung J. “BJay” Pak. “We will not tolerate this conduct.  Our mission is to protect citizens, especially the most vulnerable members of our community.”

“The facts of this case are shocking but unfortunately all too common,” said Special Agent in Charge of FBI Atlanta, Chris Hacker. “This sentencing sends a message to Herman and any other predators that the FBI will go to any length, within the constraints of the U.S. Constitution, to bring you to justice.”

According to U.S. Attorney Pak, the charges and other information presented in court: In February 2019, an FBI agent acting in an undercover capacity posted an ad online pretending to be a mother in metro-Atlanta.  On February 19, 2019, Devin Herman responded to the ad by sending the agent a message. Over the next three days, Herman and the undercover agent exchanged multiple messages that led to Herman arranging to meet in person to have sex with the 11-year-old daughter.

In the chats, the undercover agent told Herman that she was looking for someone to “teach” the 11-year-old girl.  Herman told the mother that “it sounds like it’d be a fun time.”  Herman then explained what he would do to the purported child.  During the chats, there were also times where Herman believed he was chatting directly with the 11-year-old girl, and he asked the child what she liked and what she wanted him to teach her. 

When Herman showed up at the planned meeting location in Alpharetta, Georgia on February 22, 2019, he was instead met by FBI agents and taken into custody. Upon his arrest, Herman was found to be in possession a cell phone, and two condoms.  

Devin Herman, 22, of Roswell, Georgia, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Amy M. Totenberg to ten years in prison to be followed by five years of supervised release. Herman had been convicted on August 21, 2019, after he pleaded guilty to one count of attempted coercion and enticement of a minor.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation investigated this case.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Alex R. Sistla prosecuted the case.

This case is being brought as part of Project Safe Childhood. In February 2006, the Attorney General launched Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative designed to protect children from online exploitation and abuse.  Led by the United States Attorney’s Offices around the country, Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state and local resources to apprehend and prosecute individuals who exploit children. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.projectsafechildhood.gov.

For further information please contact the U.S. Attorney’s Public Affairs Office at USAGAN.PressEmails@usdoj.gov 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.

ATLANTA - William Prater, who conspired with his fiancé, Genia Letson to obtain methamphetamine at the U.S. Penitentiary-Atlanta (“USP”), pleaded guilty to a charge of conspiracy to possess with the intent to distribute more than five grams of methamphetamine.  Prater coordinated with his fiancé using a contraband cellphone and arranged for her to bring him methamphetamine at USP-Atlanta.  

“Prater’s audacious attempt to obtain drugs in a federal prison demonstrates his continued lack of respect for the law,” said U.S. Attorney Byung J. “BJay” Pak.  “Additionally, his use of a contraband cell phone as part of his crime once again highlights the danger these devices present in a prison environment.”

“Instead of using his time in prison to rehabilitate, Prater chose to continue similar criminal acts that led to his incarceration,” said Special Agent in Charge of FBI Atlanta, Chris Hacker. “His bold defiance of the law put prisoners and prison staff in danger and he will now be held accountable for his actions.”

According to U.S. Attorney Pak, the charges and other information presented in court: Prater was incarcerated at USP-Atlanta for violating the terms of his supervised release following his 2010 conviction for manufacturing methamphetamine.  While an inmate at USP-Atlanta, Prater used a contraband cellular telephone to obtain methamphetamine.  He recruited his fiancée, Genia Letson, to serve as a courier, and she agreed to travel to Atlanta to obtain the drugs. On November 4, 2018, Letson met with Prater in the visitation room in USP-Atlanta and passed him the methamphetamine she had smuggled inside the prison. Guards witnessed Letson hand Prater the methamphetamine, intervened, and seized the drugs.  

Sentencing for William Prater, 35, of Cleveland, Tennessee, has not yet been scheduled.  In determining the actual sentence, the Court will consider the United States Sentencing Guidelines, which are not binding but provide appropriate sentencing ranges for most offenders.  Genia Letson, 47, also of Cleveland, Tennessee, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to possess with the intent to distribute more than five grams of methamphetamine on July 29, 2019.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation is investigating this case.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Calvin A. Leipold, III is prosecuting the case.

The U.S. Attorney’s Office in Atlanta recommends parents and children learn about the dangers of drugs at the following web site: www.justthinktwice.gov.

For further information please contact the U.S. Attorney’s Public Affairs Office at USAGAN.PressEmails@usdoj.gov 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.

ATLANTA – William Gerard Brown, a five-time convicted felon, has been sentenced for possession of a firearm by a convicted felon.

“Repeat offenders in possession of firearms pose grave risks to our community,” said U.S. Attorney Byung J. “BJay” Pak.  “Brown has repeatedly ignored the law and will now have to face the consequences of his actions.” 

“ATF considers the Atlanta Police Department a critical partner in its long-term mission of removing criminals from our communities,” said ATF Assistant Special Agent in Charge (ASAC) Beau Kolodka.  

According to U.S. Attorney Pak, the charges and the record developed at trial: On April 28, 2017, Brown, a five-time convicted felon, was standing near a fence at a public park holding what appeared to be a marijuana joint in his hand.  Atlanta Police Officers approached Brown and attempted to speak with him.  In the middle of their conversation, Brown abruptly fled on foot through the park, passing several people, including children, in an attempt to run away from police.

As Brown ran into the wood line near the park, he pulled a firearm from his waistband and threw it.  Moments later, the officers apprehended Brown.  At that time he was in possession of approximately 25 grams of marijuana. Officers subsequently canvassed Brown’s flightpath and located the handgun Brown pulled from his waistband and threw on the ground during the foot chase. 

U.S. District Judge Eleanor L. Ross sentenced William Gerard Brown, 36, of Atlanta, Georgia, to 15 years in federal prison, and five years of supervised release.  On March 29, 2019, Brown was found guilty by a jury of possession of a firearm by a convicted felon.    

The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and the Atlanta Police Department investigated this case, with assistance from the U.S. Postal Inspection Service. 

Assistant U.S. Attorneys Jessica Morris and Noah Schechtman prosecuted the case.

For further information please contact the U.S. Attorney’s Public Affairs Office at USAGAN.PressEmails@usdoj.gov 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.

ATLANTA – Marc Celello, a former state securities enforcement attorney and General Counsel for a Georgia investment company, has pleaded guilty to conspiring to defraud investors out of over $40 million. 

“Marc Celello used his skills as an attorney to help his employer cheat investors out of millions of dollars,” said U.S. Attorney Byung J. “BJay” Pak. “We will continue to work with our law enforcement partners to identify fraudsters who seek to cheat investors out of their hard-earned money.”  

“As an attorney Celello should have known the company he worked for was allegedly breaking the law, instead of participating in a scheme that defrauded investors out of their hard earned money,” said Special Agent in Charge of FBI Atlanta, Chris Hacker. “In its dedication to protecting our citizens, the FBI will pursue anyone motivated by personal greed instead of protecting investors.”

According to U.S. Attorney Pak, the charges, and other information presented in court: Celello was the Vice President and General Counsel of a Georgia company named Credit Nation.  Credit Nation purchased life insurance policies and subprime automobile loans and offered investors the opportunity to purchase promissory notes for those policies and loans. Celello at times approved of marketing materials stating that the company’s promissory notes offered a 9% rate of return and were “backed by hard asset dollar for dollar.”  However, Celello knew that the company was operating at a significant financial loss and that funds were being diverted for undisclosed purposes. 

In November 2015, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) filed a federal civil complaint alleging that Credit Nation investors had been defrauded out of millions of dollars.  In response to this SEC action, Celello, who had previously been employed as an enforcement attorney for the Georgia Secretary of State’s Securities and Business Regulation Division, approved a letter that went out to investors that provided misleading information about a forensic accountant’s audit of the company. 

Credit Nation’s CEO, James Torchia, was previously indicted by a federal grand jury on related fraud and conspiracy charges.  Torchia pled not guilty on October 8, 2019, and his case remains pending in federal court.  Members of the public are reminded that the indictment against Torchia only contains charges.  The defendant is presumed innocent of the charges and it will be the government’s burden to prove the defendants’ guilt beyond a reasonable doubt at trial.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation is investigating this case.  The Atlanta Division Office of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission previously brought a civil action against Torchia and Credit Nation in the Northern District of Georgia.

Assistant U.S. Attorneys Thomas J. Krepp and Leanne M. Marek are prosecuting the case.

For further information please contact the U.S. Attorney’s Public Affairs Office at USAGAN.PressEmails@usdoj.gov 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.

ATLANTA – Attorney General William P. Barr announced the launch of Project Guardian, a new initiative designed to reduce gun violence and enforce federal firearms laws across the country. Specifically, Project Guardian focuses on investigating, prosecuting, and preventing gun crimes.

“Gun crime remains a pervasive problem in too many communities across America. Today, the Department of Justice is redoubling its commitment to tackling this issue through the launch of Project Guardian,” said Attorney General William P. Barr. “Building on the success of past programs like Triggerlock, Project Guardian will strengthen our efforts to reduce gun violence by allowing the federal government and our state and local partners to better target offenders who use guns in crimes and those who try to buy guns illegally.”

“Those who seek to illegally acquire firearms for use in criminal activity employ various methods of deception to get them,” said U.S. Attorney Byung J. (“BJay”) Pak.  “Project Guardian will address this by emphasizing close federal, state, and local law-enforcement collaboration with a focus on those who represent the greatest threat of violence to our communities.  Additionally, the state law enforcement fusion center will receive a report on individuals denied purchases through NICS, and the reason for the denial, so that appropriate steps under state and local laws can be taken.”

“ATF has a long history of strong partnerships in the law enforcement community,” said Acting Director Regina Lombardo. “Make no mistake, the women and men of ATF remain steadfast to our core mission of getting crime guns off of our streets. ATF and U.S. Attorneys nationwide will leverage these partnerships even further through enhanced community outreach initiatives and coordination with local, state, and tribal law enforcement and prosecutors to cut the pipeline of crime guns from those violent individuals who seek to terrorize our communities. Project Guardian will enhance ATF’s Crime Gun Intelligence, to include identifying, investigating and prosecuting those involved in the straw purchases of firearms, lying on federal firearms transaction forms, and those subject to the mental health prohibition of possessing firearms.”

Reducing gun violence and enforcing federal firearms laws have always been among the Department’s highest priorities. In order to develop a new and robust effort to promote and ensure public safety, the Department reviewed and adapted some of the successes of past strategies to curb gun violence. Project Guardian draws on the Department’s earlier achievements, such as the “Triggerlock” program, and it serves as a complementary effort to the success of Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN). In addition, the initiative emphasizes the importance of using all modern technologies available to law enforcement to promote gun crime intelligence.

          Project Guardian’s implementation is based on five principles:

1. Coordinated Prosecution. Federal prosecutors and law enforcement will coordinate with state, local, and tribal law enforcement and prosecutors to consider potential federal prosecution for new cases involving a defendant who: a) was arrested in possession of a firearm; b) is believed to have used a firearm in committing a crime of violence or drug trafficking crime prosecutable in federal court; or c) is suspected of actively committing violent crime(s) in the community on behalf of a criminal organization.
2. Enforcing the Background Check System. U.S. Attorneys, in consultation with the Special Agent in Charge of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) in their district, will create new, or review existing, guidelines for intake and prosecution of federal cases involving false statements (including lie-and-try, lie-and-buy, and straw purchasers) made during the acquisition or attempted acquisition of firearms from Federal Firearms Licensees.                                                     -Particular emphasis is placed on individuals convicted of violent felonies or misdemeanor crimes of domestic violence, individuals subject to protective orders, and individuals who are fugitives where the underlying offense is a felony or misdemeanor crime of domestic violence; individuals suspected of involvement in criminal organizations or of providing firearms to criminal organizations; and individuals involved in repeat denials.
3. Improved Information Sharing. On a regular basis, and as often as practicable given current technical limitations, ATF will provide to state law enforcement fusion centers a report listing individuals for whom the National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS) has issued denials, including the basis for the denial, so that state and local law enforcement can take appropriate steps under their laws.
4. Coordinated Response to Mental Health Denials. Each U.S. Attorney will ensure that whenever there is federal case information regarding individuals who are prohibited from possessing a firearm under the mental health prohibition, such information continues to be entered timely and accurately into the United States Attorneys’ Offices’ case-management system for prompt submission to NICS. ATF should engage in additional outreach to state and local law enforcement on how to use this denial information to better assure public safety.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                      -Additionally, U.S. Attorneys will consult with relevant district stakeholders to assess feasibility of adopting disruption of early engagement programs to address mental-health-prohibited individuals who attempt to acquire a firearm. U.S. Attorneys should consider, when appropriate, recommending court-ordered mental health treatment for any sentences issued to individuals prohibited based on mental health.
5. Crime Gun Intelligence Coordination. Federal, state, local, and tribal prosecutors and law enforcement will work together to ensure effective use of the ATF’s Crime Gun Intelligence Centers (CGICs), and all related resources, to maximize the use of modern intelligence tools and technology. These tools can greatly enhance the speed and effectiveness in identifying trigger-pullers and finding their guns, but the success depends in large part on state, local, and tribal law enforcement partners sharing ballistic evidence and firearm recovery data with the ATF.

Federal law enforcement represents only about 15% of all law enforcement resources nationwide. Therefore, partnerships with state, local, and tribal law enforcement and the communities they serve are critical to addressing gun crime. The Department recognizes that sharing information with our state, local, and tribal law enforcement partners at every level will enhance public safety, and provide a greater depth of resources available to address gun crime on a national level.  

For more information on Project Guardian, see the Attorney General’s memorandum at: https://www.justice.gov/ag/project-guardian-memo-2019/download.

For further information please contact the U.S. Attorney’s Public Affairs Office at USAGAN.PressEmails@usdoj.gov 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.

ATLANTA - Marc Hannon-White, a former Atlanta Regional Commission employee, has been arraigned on charges of bribery and extortion.

“Hannon-White abused his position at the Atlanta Regional Commission to enrich himself,” said U.S. Attorney Byung J. “BJay” Pak.  “He allegedly extorted and took bribes from training providers that received federal funds through the Commission.”

“An important mission of the U.S. Department of Labor, Office of Inspector General is to investigate allegations of fraud relating to Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act grants issued by the U.S. Department of Labor. We will continue to work with our law enforcement partners to investigate these types of allegations,” said Rafiq Ahmad, Special Agent-in-Charge, Atlanta Region, U.S. Department of Labor, Office of Inspector General.

“Hannon-White instilled fear in Georgia providers trying to compete in the global economy to line his own pockets with thousands of dollars of federal funds administered by the state of Georgia. Our partnership with the US Department of Labor OIG and other agencies and law enforcement partners is essential for continued public trust. We are committed to weeding out individuals who misuse their positions for their own greed at the expense of Georgia taxpayers,” said Inspector General Deb Wallace of the State of Georgia Office of Inspector General.

According to U.S. Attorney Pak, the charges, and other information presented in court: the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA) and the Workforce Investment Act (WIA) are federal public laws designed to help job seekers access employment, education, training, and support services to succeed in the labor market and to match employers with the skilled workers they need to compete in the global economy.

The Atlanta Regional Commission (ARC) administers WIOA and WIA funds by serving as the administrative agency for the Atlanta Regional Workforce Development Board for Cherokee, Clayton, Douglas, Fayette, Gwinnett, Henry, and Rockdale counties.  In this role, ARC oversees federally funded workforce development programs for those seven counties. 

Between February 2014 and January 2015, Hannon-White worked for the division of ARC that administered, managed, and staffed those federally funded workforce development programs.  During this time, Hannon-White used his position to solicit and accept payments from training providers that received federal funds for each qualified student they trained.  As detailed in the indictment, Hannon-White allegedly arranged some of the bribe payments by text, sending his bank account number to one training provider who then caused money to be deposited into Hannon-White’s account in exchange for receiving additional students.

Marc Hannon-White, 52, of Atlanta, Georgia, was arraigned before Christopher C. Bly, United States Magistrate Judge, on federal charges of extortion and soliciting and accepting bribes.  A federal grand jury indicted Hannon-White on November 5, 2019, on one count of conspiracy to commit bribery, one count of conspiracy to commit Hobbs Act extortion, and two counts of Hobbs Act extortion.

Members of the public are reminded that the indictment only contains charges.  The defendant is presumed innocent of the charges and it will be the government’s burden to prove the defendant’s guilt beyond a reasonable doubt at trial.

The U.S. Department of Labor Office of Inspector General is investigating this case with the help of the State of Georgia Office of Inspector General.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Bret R. Hobson is prosecuting the case.

For further information please contact the U.S. Attorney’s Public Affairs Office at USAGAN.PressEmails@usdoj.gov 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.

GAINESVILLE, Ga. – The U.S. Attorney’s Office today announced that it reached an agreement with Lanier Technical College, a unit of the Technical College System of Georgia, to resolve the Department’s lawsuit alleging disability discrimination in violation of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA).  The agreement resolves the Department’s complaint alleging that the college terminated an employee on the basis of her disability, multiple sclerosis, after years of service to the college.  The complaint further alleges that, after the employee took three days of sick leave one summer, the college removed her from the teaching schedule for an entire school semester, thus reducing her hours and pay to zero, due to her multiple sclerosis.

“Nearly thirty years after the passage of the Americans with Disabilities Act, cases like these demonstrate that there is still work to be done to ensure that the hard working people in our district do not face disability discrimination at work or otherwise,” said U.S. Attorney Byung J. “BJay” Pak.  “It is of paramount importance that state institutions like Lanier Tech set the example in rooting out discriminatory policies and practices.”

“Individuals should not face unlawful barriers to employment because they have a chronic illness or other disability,” said Assistant Attorney General Eric Dreiband. “This agreement is another step towards eliminating discriminatory employment barriers for people with disabilities. We applaud Lanier Technical College for committing to change its policies and practices, and compensating its former employee who was unlawfully terminated from her job.” 

Under the agreement, Lanier Technical College will revise its policies to ensure compliance with the ADA, implement new policies to ensure it does not discriminate on the basis of disability in its scheduling practices, train staff on the ADA, and file periodic reports with the Department on implementation of the agreement.  The college will pay $53,000 in back pay and compensatory damages to its former employee.  This matter was based on a referral from the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission’s Atlanta District Office, which completed the initial investigation of the facts.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Tiffany Johnson handled this case for the Northern District of Georgia jointly with the Civil Rights Division of the Department of Justice.

To read the settlement agreement, please click here https://www.ada.gov/lanier_sa.html, and to read the complaint please click here https://www.ada.gov/lanier_complaint.html.  For more information on the Civil Rights Division, please visit www.justice.gov/crt.  For more information on the ADA, please call the Department’s toll-free ADA Information Line at 800-514-0301 (TDD 800-514-0383) or visit www.ada.gov.

For further information please contact the U.S. Attorney’s Public Affairs Office at USAGAN.PressEmails@usdoj.gov 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.

The Justice Department today announced that it reached an agreement with Lanier Technical College, a unit of the Technical College System of Georgia, to resolve the Department’s lawsuit alleging disability discrimination in violation of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). The agreement resolves the Department’s complaint alleging that the college terminated an employee, who has multiple sclerosis, on the basis of her disability after years of service to the college. The complaint further alleges that, after the employee took three days of sick leave one summer, the college removed her from the teaching schedule for an entire school semester, thus reducing her hours and pay to zero, due to her multiple sclerosis.

Under the agreement, Lanier Technical College will revise its policies to ensure compliance with the ADA, implement new policies to ensure it does not discriminate on the basis of disability in its scheduling practices, train staff on the ADA, and file periodic reports with the Department on implementation of the agreement. The college will pay $53,000 in back pay and compensatory damages to its former employee. This matter was based on a referral from the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission’s Atlanta District Office, which completed the initial investigation of the facts.

“Individuals should not face unlawful barriers to employment because they have a chronic illness or other disability,” said Assistant Attorney General Eric Dreiband. “This agreement is another step towards eliminating discriminatory employment barriers for people with disabilities. We applaud Lanier Technical College for committing to change its policies and practices, and compensating its former employee who was unlawfully terminated from her job.” 

“Nearly 30 years after the passage of the Americans with Disabilities Act, cases like this demonstrate that there is still work to be done to ensure that the hard-working people in our district do not face disability discrimination at work or otherwise,” said U.S. Attorney Byung J. “BJay” Pak for the Northern District of Georgia. “It is of paramount importance that state institutions like Lanier Tech set the example in rooting out discriminatory policies and practices.”

To read the settlement agreement, please click here, and to read the complaint, please click here. For more information on the Civil Rights Division, please visit www.justice.gov/crt. For more information on the ADA, please call the Department’s toll-free ADA Information Line at 800-514-0301 (TDD 800-514-0383) or visit www.ada.gov.

ATLANTA – U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Georgia Byung J. “BJay” Pak announces that Assistant U.S. Attorney (AUSA) Brent Gray has been appointed to serve as the District Election Officer (DEO) and, in that capacity, is responsible for overseeing the handling of complaints of election fraud and voting rights abuses in consultation with Justice Department Headquarters in Washington, D.C.

“Every citizen must be able to vote without interference or discrimination and to have their vote counted,” said U.S. Attorney Byung J. “BJay” Pak.  “On Election Day, federal monitors will be located at polling places in Gwinnett County to monitor voting procedures. Free and fair elections depend, in large part, on the cooperation of the American electorate.” 

The right to vote is the cornerstone of American democracy.  We all must ensure that we protect the right to vote.  In order to respond to complaints of election fraud or voting rights abuses on November 5, 2019, and to ensure that such complaints are directed to the appropriate authorities, he Gray will be on duty in this District while the polls are open.  AUSA Gray can be reached by the public at the following telephone number (404) 581-6077.  Members of the public also can call the Civil Rights Division’s Voting Section in Washington, DC by phone at 1-800-253-3931 or (202) 307-2767, by fax at (202) 307-3961, by email to voting.section@usdoj.gov or by complaint form at http://www.justice.gov/crt/complaint/votintake/index.php.

For further information please contact the U.S. Attorney’s Public Affairs Office at USAGAN.PressEmails@usdoj.gov 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.

ATLANTA - Olu Victor Alonge has been sentenced for his role in a multi-year wire fraud scheme that targeted users of American dating websites and caused a total loss of $1,835,279.  Six other Nigerian nationals have been charged as part of the conspiracy; three have pled guilty, and Alonge is the first to be sentenced. 

“The conspirators in these cases, including some who were overseas, used fake personas on online dating websites to trick individuals, including elderly retirees, into giving them large amounts of money,” said U.S. Attorney Byung J. “BJay” Pak.  “The conspirators would spend weeks cultivating online relationships with their victims before defrauding them of hundreds of thousands of dollars, often taken from their retirement savings or inheritances.  The judge rightly called the romance fraud scheme ‘pure evil’ before handing down the defendant’s sentence.  Combating this type of transnational fraud targeting elderly Americans is a top priority of my office and the Department of Justice; would-be cybercriminals should think twice before engaging in such vile conduct.”

“This sentencing exemplifies IRS Special Agents' intense focus on the rigorous pursuit of crimes against our most vulnerable citizens, the elderly,” said Atlanta Field Office IRS Criminal Investigation Special Agent in Charge Thomas J. Holloman, III. “Individuals who commit fraud and identity theft of this magnitude and with this degree of trickery, dishonesty and deceit, deserve to be punished to the fullest extent of the law. Olu Alonge perpetuated an elaborate scheme driven by insatiable greed and a blatant disregard for the tremendous damage inflicted on innocent victims. Be assured that IRS Criminal Investigation, together with our partners at the U.S. Attorney's Office, will hold those who engage in similar behavior fully accountable.”

“I greatly appreciate the hard work of our investigators in pursuing this crime, and that of the U.S. Attorney’s staff for prosecuting this case.  Everyone did an excellent job in bringing this serious matter to a satisfactory conclusion,” said Steven A. Sund, Chief of the U.S. Capitol Police.

According to U.S. Attorney Pak, the charges and other information presented in court: The defendants and other conspirators created phony dating profiles on popular online dating websites that described fictitious personas.  These profiles displayed photographs of men and women that, in some instances, were public figures, such as government officials or models, taken from publically available websites.  The conspirators then used their fake online personas to target users of online dating websites and falsely pose as potential paramours by expressing strong romantic interest in the targeted users.  These conspirators often targeted vulnerable individuals who possessed financial assets and in some cases spent months cultivating romantic relationships with them through online messaging, text messaging, and voice calls.

After gaining their affection and trust, the conspirators, posing as the fake paramours, provided the targeted users with elaborate false stories to cause the users to send them money through interstate wire or online transfers to bank accounts controlled by the conspirators.  The fake paramours often claimed to be working overseas and in need of money to travel back to the United States or to complete business deals abroad.  Once the conspirators received money from targeted users, the conspirators quickly withdrew the funds and dispersed them into other accounts, domestically and abroad.

The conspirators caused a total loss of $1,835,279.00 to the eight identified victims.  One victim lost $610,319.00.  Four other victims lost $418,697.00, $388,900.00, $260,000.00, and $148,800 respectively.

The two superseding indictments returned by a grand jury on June 20, 2018 charged the defendants with a total of 60 counts of wire fraud, money laundering, identity theft, and use of false passports.  The defendants charged include:

• Olu Victor Alonge, a/k/a Serge Damessi, a/k/a Didier Baraze, a/k/a Mobo Marcus Adeh, a/k/a Ayo Baraze, a/k/a Nicolas Soglo, 35, of Newnan, Georgia, who was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Timothy C. Batten, Sr., on October 30, 2019, to 10 years of imprisonment and ordered to pay $1,835,279.00 in victim restitution.
   
• Ugochukwu Lazarus Onebunne, a/k/a Policap Tizhe, a/k/a Saheed Ademoha, 41, of Douglasville, Georgia;
   
• Olajide Olalekan Adara, a/k/a Kelvin Mensah, 33, of Loganville, Georgia;
   
• Joshua Adedeji Ipoade, 28, of Atlanta, Georgia;
   
• Oladunni Temitope Oladipupo, 24, of Lynn, Massachusetts; and
   
• Two other defendants are fugitives and their identities remain sealed.

Onebunne and Adara have pleaded guilty and are awaiting sentencing.  Ipoade and Oladipupo are awaiting trial dates pending the completion of pretrial litigation.  Alonge, Onebunne, and Adara will face immigration removal proceedings after the completion of their criminal cases, as will Ipoade, if convicted.  

Members of the public are reminded that the indictment only contains charges.  The defendants who have not been convicted are presumed innocent of the charges and it will be the government’s burden to prove the defendants’ guilt beyond a reasonable doubt at trial.

Users of online dating websites should be aware of romance scams involving internet dating sites and should exercise extreme caution if asked for money by anyone online or over the phone.

The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Georgia is part of the Department Of Justice Transnational Elder Fraud Strike Force.  The Strike Force focuses on investigating and prosecuting defendants associated with foreign-based fraud schemes that disproportionately affect American seniors.  These include phone scams, mass-mailing fraud schemes, and tech-support fraud schemes.

The U.S. Capitol Police and Internal Revenue Service Criminal Investigations Division are investigating this case.

Assistant U.S. Attorneys John S. Ghose and Sekret Sneed are prosecuting the case.

For further information please contact the U.S. Attorney’s Public Affairs Office at USAGAN.PressEmails@usdoj.gov 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.

ATLANTA - The Justice Department announced the formation of the new Procurement Collusion Strike Force (PCSF) focusing on deterring, detecting, investigating and prosecuting antitrust crimes, such as bid-rigging conspiracies and related fraudulent schemes, which undermine competition in government procurement, grant and program funding.

Deputy Attorney General Jeffrey A. Rosen expressed the Department’s support for the initiative. “To protect taxpayer dollars, the Justice Department is doing its part to eliminate anticompetitive collusion, waste and abuse from government procurement,” said Deputy Attorney General Rosen.  “To ensure taxpayers the full benefits of competitive bidding, experienced investigators and prosecutors with the necessary expertise will partner in this Strike Force to deter, detect and prosecute antitrust crimes and related schemes in government procurements.”

“We will remain laser-focused on rooting out the fraud, waste, and abuse that can plague the procurement process at all levels of government,” says U.S. Attorney Byung J. “BJay” Pak.  “By providing this additional training and outreach to those involved in the process, we believe that we can rapidly begin to remove opportunities for corruption.”   

“The investigation and prosecution of individuals and organizations that cheat, collude and seek to undermine the integrity of government procurement are priorities for this administration,” said Assistant Attorney General Delrahim.  “The PCSF will train and educate procurement officials nationwide to recognize and report suspicious conduct in procurement, grant and program funding processes.  We will aggressively investigate and prosecute those who violate our antitrust laws to cheat the American taxpayer.”

At a press conference at the Department of Justice in Washington, D.C., Assistant Attorney General Makan Delrahim of the Justice Department’s Antitrust Division explained that the PCSF will be an interagency partnership consisting of prosecutors from the Antitrust Division, prosecutors from 13 U.S. Attorneys’ Offices, and investigators from the FBI, the Department of Defense Office of Inspector General, the U.S. Postal Service Office of Inspector General and other partner federal Offices of Inspector General.

The PCSF will lead a national effort to protect taxpayer-funded projects at the federal, state and local level from antitrust violations and related crimes, starting with a focus on 13 districts throughout the country.  Prosecutors from the Antitrust Division and the participating U.S. Attorneys’ Offices, along with agents from the FBI and partner Offices of Inspector General, will work together to conduct outreach and training for procurement officials and government contractors on antitrust risks in the procurement process.  In addition, the partnered prosecutors and investigators will jointly investigate and prosecute cases that result from their targeted outreach efforts.

“Inspectors General throughout the federal government have a long history of rooting out waste, fraud and abuse in government contracting,” said Michael E. Horowitz, Inspector General of the Department of Justice and Chair of the Council of Inspectors General on Integrity and Efficiency.  “We welcome the opportunity to contribute our expertise to the important work of the Procurement Collusion Strike Force.  We look forward to partnering with the other participating members of the law enforcement community to hold accountable actors who seek to defraud the government and cheat taxpayers.”

“The FBI has a long history of working with our interagency and law enforcement partners to investigate public procurement crimes and ensure justice,” said FBI Criminal Intelligence Division Assistant Director Terry Wade.  “We are committed to working closely with our DOJ colleagues and our federal, state and local partners as we continue to successfully combat these crimes.”

“Individuals and companies that participate in procurement collusion cause significant harm and losses to the Department of Defense and to American taxpayers,” said Glenn A. Fine, Principal Deputy Inspector General, Performing the Duties of the Inspector General, of the Department of Defense Office of Inspector General.  “The DoD Office of Inspector General, and our criminal investigative component, the Defense Criminal Investigative Service, are committed to aggressively investigating those individuals and companies who would attempt to compromise government procurement processes.”

The Antitrust Division and its law enforcement partners have a history of prosecuting criminal antitrust conspiracies that take advantage of government contracts.  In late 2018 and early 2019, for instance, five South Korean oil companies agreed to plead guilty for their involvement in a decade-long bid-rigging conspiracy that targeted contracts to supply fuel to U.S. military bases in South Korea.  The Antitrust Division also indicted seven individuals for conspiring to rig bids and to defraud the government, and one executive was also charged with obstruction of justice.  In total, the companies have agreed to pay $156 million in criminal fines and over $205 million in separate civil settlements.  This year, the Justice Department, in partnership with the GSA Office of Inspector General, also indicted individuals for involvement in rigging bids submitted to the GSA.

The PCSF’s 13 U.S. Attorney partners include:

- Byung J. “BJay” Pak, Northern District of Georgia

- Nicola T. Hanna, Central District of California

- McGregor Scott, Eastern District of California

- Jason R. Dunn, District of Colorado

- Jessie K. Liu, District of Columbia

- Ariana Fajardo Orshan, Southern District of Florida

- John R. Lausch, Jr., Northern District of Illinois

- Matthew Schneider, Eastern District of Michigan

- Geoffrey S. Berman, Southern District of New York

- David M. DeVillers, Southern District of Ohio

- William M. McSwain, Eastern District of Pennsylvania

- Erin Nealy Cox, Northern District of Texas

- G. Zachary Terwilliger, Eastern District of Virginia

 

The PCSF’s investigative partners include:

- Department of Defense Office of Inspector General

- Federal Bureau of Investigation

- General Services Administration Office of Inspector General

- Department of Justice Office of the Inspector General

- U.S. Postal Service Office of Inspector General

The PCSF has launched a publicly available website at https://www.justice.gov/procurement-collusion-strike-force, where government procurement officials and members of the public can review information about the federal antitrust laws and training programs, and report suspected criminal activity affecting public procurement.

Individuals and companies are encouraged to contact the PCSF if they have information concerning anticompetitive conduct involving federal taxpayer dollars by emailing pcsf@usdoj.gov.

For further information please contact the U.S. Attorney’s Public Affairs Office at USAGAN.PressEmails@usdoj.gov 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.

ATLANTA - Maysam Ghovanloo has been sentenced for violating the federal wire fraud statute in furtherance of a scheme to defraud the National Science Foundation. Ghovanloo was a tenured full professor in the School of Electrical and Computer Engineering at the Georgia Institute of Technology.

“Grant funding is limited, and the competition for those dollars is keen,” said U.S. Attorney Byung J. “BJay” Pak.  “People awarded grants to do research and development vow that they will adhere to the rules governing it.  Ghovanloo decided to sacrifice his reputation by dodging those rules and lying.”

“The National Science Foundation's Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) program provides small businesses with funding to conduct research and development work that will lead to the commercialization of innovative new products and services. This sentence serves as a reminder that fraud in the SBIR Program will not be tolerated. The NSF Office of Inspector General remains committed to ensuring the integrity of the SBIR program and will actively pursue oversight of these taxpayer funds. I commend the U.S. Attorney’s Office and our investigative partners for their support in this effort.”

According to U.S. Attorney Pak, the charges and other information presented in court: Maysam Ghovanloo owned and operated a Georgia corporation called Bionic Sciences, Inc. (BSI). Ghovanloo and BSI received federal grants through Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) programs sponsored by NSF. To be eligible for SBIR grant funds, Ghovanloo and BSI were required to meet program-eligibility requirements, adhere to award terms and conditions, and provide only truthful information in all documents submitted to NSF. However, Ghovanloo submitted certifications that contained materially false and fraudulent statements and omissions, followed by electronic payment requests to NSF.

Maysam Ghovanloo, 46, of Atlanta, Georgia, was sentenced to eight months home confinement, and ordered to pay $40,000 in restitution.  As part of his guilty plea and plea agreement, he resigned from his position at Georgia Tech, effective June 21, 2019.  He was also was barred from doing business with the federal government for a period of three years.  Ghovanloo was convicted on these charges on August 21, 2019, after he pleaded guilty.

The National Science Foundation Office of Inspector General and the Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General investigated this case.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Russell Phillips prosecuted the case.

For further information please contact the U.S. Attorney’s Public Affairs Office at USAGAN.PressEmails@usdoj.gov 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.

ATLANTA –Two metro-Atlanta chiropractors, Allan Spagnardi and Stacy Spagnardi, have been sentenced to federal prison for using their chiropractic clinic to commit healthcare fraud and for defrauding the Internal Revenue Service. 

“These chiropractors used their patients’ personal information to obtain over a million dollars from a private insurance company,” said U. S. Attorney Byung J. (“BJay”) Pak.  “Then they went further by engaging in a lengthy scheme to hide their income from the IRS.  Healthcare professionals who defraud insurance companies do not just abuse the trust afforded to them by their patients, they also drive up healthcare prices for honest citizens throughout the country.” 

“The community has a right to expect that when seeking healthcare services, their healthcare provider will not abuse their private information for personal gain," said Thomas J. Holloman, III, Special Agent in Charge, IRS-Criminal Investigations. “Professionals, including chiropractors, who abuse the public’s trust, will be held accountable and face severe consequences including imprisonment and substantial fines. The American public deserves our vigilance in the investigation and prosecution of allegations of fraud by unscrupulous healthcare professionals who hide income and evade the payment of their fair share of taxes.” 

“The Spagnardis chose to take advantage of patients and the entire health care industry by billing for services that were never provided and defrauding the IRS,” said Chris Hacker, Special Agent in Charge of FBI Atlanta. “This sentence will serve as a reminder to others that the FBI will not tolerate healthcare providers who engage in schemes to steal from taxpayers and defraud the industry.”

“Here in Georgia, we are committed to protecting consumers and taxpayers from bad actors like the Spagnardis, whose actions erode trust in our healthcare system and lead to higher premiums across the state,” said Georgia Insurance and Safety Fire Commissioner John F. King. “I’m thankful for the work of U.S. Attorney Pak and his team to bring these individuals to justice and send a clear message that these types of activities will not be tolerated in Georgia.”

According to U.S. Attorney Pak, the charges, and other information presented in court: Dr. Allan Spagnardi and Dr. Stacy Spagnardi operated a chiropractic clinic located in Marietta, Georgia.  Over a multi-year period, the Spagnardis used their patients’ personal information to bill a private insurance company for services that were never actually rendered.  At times, the Spagnardis submitted claims for reimbursement for services occurring when they were not even in the country.  For instance, the Spagnardis claimed that their clinic had 296 patient visits during a week that they were actually on a cruise vacation out of the country. 

Despite earning well over $1 million in personal income in 2014 and 2015, the Spagnardis failed to file federal income tax returns or pay federal income taxes for those tax years and instead took steps to hide their true income from the Internal Revenue Service (“IRS”).  After the Spagnardis were indicted, they continued to take steps to hide their income from the IRS, including by filing a false federal income tax return in early 2018. 

Allan Spagnardi, 41, and Stacy Spagnardi, 52, both of Atlanta, Georgia, were each sentenced to four years, three months of incarceration, and three years of supervised release.  Both defendants were also ordered to pay full restitution to the victim of the offense. 

The Federal Bureau of Investigation, Internal Revenue Service Criminal Investigation, and the Georgia Office of Commissioner of Insurance investigated the case.

Assistant U.S. Attorneys Thomas J. Krepp and Leanne M. Marek prosecuted the case.

For further information please contact the U.S. Attorney’s Public Affairs Office at USAGAN.PressEmails@usdoj.gov 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.

GAINESVILLE, Ga. - John Michael “Mike” Gowder and James Heaton have been convicted after a two-week jury trial on 102 counts related to illegally prescribing and obtaining more than 15,000 doses of prescription pain medications outside the usual course of professional practice and for no legitimate medical purpose.  In addition, Heaton was convicted of 27 counts of issuing prescriptions to two female patients outside the usual course of professional medical practice and for no legitimate medical purpose.

“When doctors prescribe opioids outside of the applicable rules, they are nothing but drug traffickers with a medical degree,” said U.S. Attorney Byung J. “BJay” Pak.  “Therefore, we will accordingly treat them as such.”

Robert J. Murphy, the Special Agent in Charge of the DEA Atlanta Division stated, “Pharmaceutical products that are distributed for non-medical reasons can be just as deadly as illicit drugs.  The defendants in this case distributed vast quantities of pharmaceutical products and had ill-will and total disregard for human life. This conviction should serve as a reminder to all drug traffickers, including those with medical degrees, that DEA and its law enforcement partners will expend the necessary resources to disrupt and destroy those who distribute poison throughout our communities. This is a perfect example of the success that can be accomplished when federal, state and local resources are combined.”

“This is a very substantial victory in the battle against opioid use in our communities.  It goes to show what can be accomplished when the DEA and local law enforcement work together. Drugs know no boundaries including state lines.  I am very grateful for our relationship with Union County and the DEA,” said Derrick Palmer, Sheriff, Cherokee County, North Carolina.

According to U.S. Attorney Pak, the charges and other information presented in court: From 2011 to 2016 Mike Gowder was the Chief Operating Officer and later Chief Executive Officer of Union General Hospital in Blairsville, and Dr. James Heaton operated a family practice clinic in Blairsville, Georgia, and worked as the Medical Director of the Nursing Home of Union General Hospital.

During that time, Dr. Heaton illegally prescribed increasing quantities of hydrocodone and oxycodone to Mike Gowder, knowing that the prescriptions were issued outside the usual course of professional practice and that the pills obtained with the prescriptions had no legitimate medical purpose. Dr. Heaton violated numerous standards of medical practice by prescribing the pills to Mike Gowder without adequately documenting the medical need for the prescriptions in his patient file and without monitoring patient abuse of the pills he obtained.  During the three and half years in which Dr. Heaton prescribed more than 15,000 hydrocodone and oxycodone pills to Mike Gowder, Dr. Heaton only six of the prescriptions were recorded in his patient file for Mike Gowder.

Starting in 2012, Mike Gowder obtained oxycodone by fraud, subterfuge, and deception by filling the illegal prescriptions that Dr. Heaton issued for oxycodone at different pharmacies in Georgia, Tennessee, and North Carolina in an effort to conceal the large numbers of pills that Dr. Heaton was prescribing to him.

Between January 5, 2012, and June 16, 2015, Dr. Heaton wrote at least 95 illegal prescriptions for hydrocodone and oxycodone to Mike Gowder. In addition to filling the prescriptions at pharmacies in Georgia, Mike Gowder often travelled to North Carolina and Tennessee to fill multiple prescriptions a month at pharmacies in those states. On multiple occasions, Dr. Heaton wrote two prescriptions for oxycodone for Mike Gowder on the same day. On other occasions, Mike Gowder would travel to North Carolina to fill one prescription and Tennessee to fill the second prescription to conceal the fact that multiple prescriptions were written to him on the same day.

In addition, Dr. James Heaton issued prescriptions hydrocodone, oxycodone, and methadone to two female patients outside the usual course of professional practice and without a legitimate medical purpose.

Oxycodone, hydrocodone, and methadone are powerful pain medications that are listed as controlled substances under federal law because each has a high potential for psychological and physical abuse and dependence. Oxycodone, which may be combined with acetaminophen, is sold generically under brand names including Percocet, Endocet, Oxycontin, and Roxicodone. Hydrocodone is sold generically or under brand names including Lortab, Vicodin, and Norco. Methadone is an opioid pain medication that is also used in opioid dependence therapy.

On March 15, 2019, Dr. George David Gowder pleaded guilty to a single count of the superseding indictment in this case for illegal dispensing medications outside the scope of professional practice and without a legitimate medical purpose.  Sentencings for John Michael “Mike” Gowder, 61, of Nashville, Tennessee, and James Heaton, 63, of Blairsville, Georgia, have not yet been scheduled.

The Drug Enforcement Administration, the Union County (Georgia) Sheriff's Office, Cherokee County (North Carolina) Sheriff’s Office, Georgia Drugs and Narcotics Agency, and Zell Miller Mountain Parkway Drug Task Force are investigating this case.

Assistant U.S. Attorneys William McKinnon and Laurel R. Boatright are prosecuting the case.

This case was brought as part of Operation SCOPE, Strategically Combatting Opioids through Prosecution and Enforcement.  SCOPE is our initiative combining our efforts (criminal, civil, and educational) with those of our law enforcement partners to create one unified front in the battle against the opioid/heroin epidemic.  One important aspect of Operation SCOPE is to prosecute those who are illegally prescribing, or distributing, painkillers.

The U.S. Attorney’s Office in Atlanta recommends parents and children learn about the dangers of drugs at the following web site: www.justthinktwice.gov.

For further information please contact the U.S. Attorney’s Public Affairs Office at USAGAN.PressEmails@usdoj.gov 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.

ATLANTA - Michael Bang has been sentenced for defrauding the Colorado Public Employees Retirement Association’s (“COPERA”) health insurance plan, called PERACare.

“Bang exploited a public entity that was at the same time providing him with medical and other benefits,” said U.S. Attorney Byung J. “BJay” Pak.  “His scheme depleted the healthcare resources available to other retirees and cost the public hundreds of thousands of dollars.”

“Bang falsified prescriptions in order to generate illicit profits at the expense of retirees and tax payers,” said Chris Hacker, Special Agent in Charge of FBI Atlanta. “This sentencing will not only hold him accountable for those actions but will serve as a reminder to others that the FBI will pursue any individual who abuses our health care system.”

According to U.S. Attorney Pak, the charges and other information presented in court: As part of the healthcare fraud scheme, Bang, who at the time was a resident of Atlanta, sought reimbursement for medications through the submission of fraudulent reimbursement forms for medication that he was either not receiving or that was more expensive than the medications he was receiving.  Bang’s scheme involved three Atlanta-area pharmacies.

PERACare’s prescription benefits were administered by Express Scripts.  Over more than two years, Bang submitted fraudulent reimbursement claims to Express Scripts, including forms with forged pharmacist signatures, forms for medications that Bang never received, and forms claiming out-of-pocket expenses that Bang never actually incurred. According to pharmacy records, Bang paid a total of approximately $3,500 for prescription medications, while bank records show Bang received more than $180,000 in prescription drug reimbursements from Express Scripts during the same period.  Bang received more than $300,000 from COPERA in reimbursements to which he was not entitled.

Michael Bang, 58, of Antioch, California, has been sentenced to one year, six months in prison to be followed by three years of supervised release, and ordered to pay restitution in the amount of $306,179.28.  Bang was convicted on these charges on August 5, 2019, after he pleaded guilty.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation investigated this case.

Assistant U.S. Attorneys Ryan Huschka and Alison Prout prosecuted the case.

For further information please contact the U.S. Attorney’s Public Affairs Office at USAGAN.PressEmails@usdoj.gov 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.

ATLANTA - Anne Gronek-Gibbs has been arraigned on federal charges of wire fraud for embezzling hundreds of thousands of dollars from the Coca-Cola Company. 

“The defendant used her employer’s money to pay for trips, jewelry and expensive hand-bags,” said U.S. Attorney Byung J. “BJay” Pak.  “Employees who are trusted with access to corporate funds are not entitled to use them to enrich themselves.  This case is a reminder that all entities should have strong internal controls and a robust compliance program to prevent this type of fraud.”

“When someone is elevated to a position of leadership in a company, it is a sign of that company’s trust in the integrity and honesty of the person chosen to lead,” said Special Agent in Charge of FBI Atlanta, Chris Hacker. “When someone violates that trust and abuses their position, as is alleged in these charges, the FBI stands ready to hold them accountable.”

According to U.S. Attorney Pak, the charges, and other information presented in court: Gronek-Gibbs was a sales director who allegedly used her position to obtain personal goods and services from Coca-Cola Company suppliers and had the company pay for those goods and services.  She ordered luxury goods, tickets, and gift cards and also booked first class travel, and had Coca-Cola pay for luxury hotel accommodations for personal trips.  Gronek-Gibbs modified electronic versions of quotes, purchase orders, and invoices from vendors which she then submitted to Coca-Cola for payment.  Ultimately, Gronek-Gibbs purchased hundreds of thousands of dollars’ worth of gift cards, jewelry, handbags, and purses using this system and, all told, embezzled over $450,000.

Anne Gronek-Gibbs, 41, of Atlanta, Georgia, was arraigned before U.S. Magistrate Judge Christopher C. Bly. The government filed an information charging Gronek-Gibbs on October 28, 2019.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation is investigating this case with assistance from the Atlanta Police Department Major Fraud Unit.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Christopher J. Huber, Deputy Chief of the Complex Frauds Section, is prosecuting the case.

For further information please contact the U.S. Attorney’s Public Affairs Office at USAGAN.PressEmails@usdoj.gov 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.

U.S. Attorney Byung (BJay) Pak invites you to participate in the next community threat awareness conference call sponsored by the US Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Georgia, scheduled for Wednesday, October 30th, at 2:00 PM.  The guest speakers will be Assistant U.S. Attorney Jolee Porter and Special Assistant U.S. Attorney Valerie Verduce.  AUSA Porter leads the Elder Fraud Strike Force in Atlanta, and SAUSA Verduce is an attorney from the Federal Trade Commission attached to our office.  They will be speaking on elder fraud and scams conducted in Northern Georgia and around the nation.  The call is scheduled for an hour.

As space is limited to 200 participants, we ask that you register for the call at the link provided below – first come, first served.  Once your registration is received, the call-in number and activation pin will be emailed to you.  Once we reach capacity, you will be placed on a waiting list.  The registration link will also allow you to submit questions for consideration prior to the call.

We hope to expand this capacity using commercial tools available at a later date.  We also plan to conduct these calls multiple times throughout the year, on different topics, with different audiences. 

For further information please contact the U.S. Attorney’s Public Affairs Office at USAGAN.PressEmails@usdoj.gov 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.

GAINESVILLE, Ga. - Michael Bush has been sentenced on federal charges of producing, receiving, and possessing child pornography.  During the search of his home, agents discovered images that Bush had taken, even images of an eleven-year-old child.

“Bush created and collected images showing the exploitation and sexual abuse of minor children,” said U.S. Attorney Byung J. “BJay” Pak. “His disgusting passion for these types of images further exploits the children in the photographs.  We will continue to identify and remove those individuals who pose a threat to our children.”

“Individuals who produce child pornography steal the innocence of children and re-victimize them each time the evidence of their exploitation is shared online,” said Homeland Security Investigations Atlanta Acting Special Agent in Charge Travis Pickard. "This case clearly demonstrates HSI aggressively works to disrupt the trade of these illegal images, seeking to prosecute those criminals who produce and possess them to the fullest extent of the law.”

According to U.S. Attorney Pak, the charges, and other information presented in court: Federal agents determined that Bush purchased child pornography online on multiple occasions between 2015 and 2018. Agents executed a search warrant at Bush's home in August 2018 and found multiple digital devices containing thousands of images and videos of child pornography. They also discovered that Bush took a series of pornographic photographs of an eleven-year-old child and saved them to his computer where he retained them for years.

Michael Bush, 49, of Talking Rock, Georgia, was sentenced before U.S. District Court Judge Steve C. Jones, to 15 years imprisonment, followed by a 10 years of supervised release. He also was ordered to pay restitution to victims of his offenses.

The U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Homeland Security Investigations investigated this case.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Jill E. Steinberg, Deputy Chief of the Criminal Division, prosecuted the case.

This case is being brought as part of Project Safe Childhood. In February 2006, the Attorney General launched Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative designed to protect children from online exploitation and abuse.  Led by the United States Attorney’s Offices around the country, Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state and local resources to apprehend and prosecute individuals who exploit children. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.projectsafechildhood.gov.

For further information please contact the U.S. Attorney’s Public Affairs Office at USAGAN.PressEmails@usdoj.gov 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.

ATLANTA - Roberto Arroyo-Garcia has pleaded guilty to methamphetamine trafficking on premises where a minor child resides and within 1,000 feet of a school.    Arroyo-Garcia and two co-defendants illegally entered the United States from Mexico and then utilized a family home across the street from an elementary school to operate a methamphetamine laboratory and to distribute methamphetamine. 

“Running a drug lab in a residential neighborhood demonstrates how little the defendant cared for the safety of neighbors and especially children attending the school nearby,” said U.S. Attorney Byung J. “BJay” Pak.  “Also, a child lived in the residence where the three operated the lab.  Clearly, Garcia only cared about making money at any cost.”

“These criminals’ days of selling poison and endangering children, neighbors and other innocent people are over,” said Homeland Security Investigations Atlanta Acting Special Agent in Charge Travis Pickard.  “HSI is firmly committed to working with state and local law enforcement partners to dismantle drug trafficking organizations and protect our communities.

Robert J. Murphy, the Special Agent in Charge of the DEA Atlanta Division said, “Methamphetamine traffickers pose a clear and present danger to our nation and DEA will be unrelenting in our efforts to bring them to justice. The defendant in this case put the lives of neighbors and school-age youth at risk by engaging in illegal drug trafficking activities near an elementary school. Such traffickers are a true menace to society. Now that they have been removed from the streets, our children and the entire community, are much safer. I want to thank our federal, state and local law enforcement counterparts who had a direct impact in making this investigation a success.” 

According to U.S. Attorney Pak, the charges and other information presented in court: In August 2017, HSI agents began investigating a local methamphetamine distributor.  Using a combination of investigative information, agents identified a stash house they believed was used as part of the drug distribution operation.  The house was located across the street from part of an elementary school in Norcross, Georgia. 

As agents were surveilling the suspected drug stash house, Georgia State Patrol, working in conjunction with HSI, stopped defendant Zury Brito-Arroyo as he was driving away from the house.  Inside his car, they found $10,000 cash wrapped in green cellophane and a 9mm pistol.  Brito-Arroyo’s five-year-old child and wife were also in the car.  Upon searching Brito-Arroyo’s cell phone pursuant to a federal search warrant, agents discovered an app that monitored security cameras mounted at the stash house.  Agents then searched the stash house, and found defendants Roberto Arroyo-Garcia and Bonifacio Brito-Maldonado actively operating a methamphetamine laboratory in a shed in the backyard.  Arroyo-Garcia fled after being handcuffed, but was ultimately recaptured. 

Agents seized over 12 kilograms of crystal methamphetamine from the shed and inside the house, plus additional methamphetamine in liquid form.  They also seized a another 9mm pistol, $8,500 cash, and other methamphetamine trafficking paraphernalia including respirators, rubber gloves, and digital scales. 

The DEA Clandestine Laboratory Enforcement Team responded to the scene to remove the dangerous chemicals.  Agents also found children’s clothes inside the house, and later confirmed that a ten-year-old child, who was related to the defendants, lived there.  With assistance from the Sandy Springs Police Department, agents also searched another residence used by Brito-Arroyo, where they discovered a plastic bin with methamphetamine residue, another 9mm pistol, an electronic money counter, and four bundles of cash totaling $41,000 wrapped in green cellophane.

At the time of these events, all three defendants were illegally present in the United States.  Roberto Arroyo-Garcia, a/k/a Jonathan Valenzuela Rodriguez, a/k/a Santiago Arroyo Prieto, 37, of Norcross, Georgia, was previously deported twice following separate drug convictions.  His co-defendants, Zury Brito-Arroyo, 27, and Bonifacio Brito-Maldonado, 23, pleaded guilty on October 17, 2019, to these charges and to maintaining a premises for methamphetamine trafficking.

In determining the actual sentence, the Court will consider the United States Sentencing Guidelines, which are not binding but provide appropriate sentencing ranges for most offenders.

The U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Homeland Security Investigations, the Drug Enforcement Administration, the Georgia State Patrol, and the Sandy Springs Police Department are investigating this case.

Assistant U.S. Attorneys Ryan M. Christian and Garrett L. Bradford, Deputy Chief of the Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs Section, are prosecuting the case.

The U.S. Attorney’s Office in Atlanta recommends parents and children learn about the dangers of drugs at the following web site: www.justthinktwice.gov.

This prosecution was brought as a part of the Department of Justice’s Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces (OCDETF) Co-located Strike Forces Initiative, which provides for the establishment of permanent multi-agency task force teams that work side-by-side in the same location.  This co-located model enables agents from different agencies to collaborate on intelligence-driven, multi-jurisdictional operations against a continuum of priority targets and their affiliate illicit financial networks.  These prosecutor-led co-located Strike Forces capitalize on the synergy created through the long-term relationships that can be forged by agents, analysts, and prosecutors who remain together over time, and they epitomize the model that has proven most effective in combating organized crime.  The specific mission of the Atlanta Strike Force is to disrupt and dismantle the most significant drug trafficking organizations designated as Consolidated Priority Organization Targets (CPOTs) or Regional Priority Organization Targets (RPOTs) and their affiliates in the Atlanta metropolitan area and the Northern District of Georgia.

OCDETF was established in 1982 to conduct comprehensive, multilevel attacks on major drug trafficking and money laundering organizations and is the keystone of the Department of Justice’s drug reduction strategy.  Today, OCDETF combines the resources and expertise of its member federal agencies in cooperation with state and local law enforcement.  The principal mission of the OCDETF program is to identify, disrupt, and dismantle the most serious drug trafficking organizations, transnational criminal organizations, and money laundering organizations that present a significant threat to the public safety, economic, or national security of the United States.

For further information please contact the U.S. Attorney’s Public Affairs Office at USAGAN.PressEmails@usdoj.gov 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.

ATLANTA - Natasha Simone White, has been sentenced for obstructing an official forfeiture proceeding.  White, a lawyer and licensed real estate agent, used drug proceeds to renovate a house she owned in California.  She blatantly disobeyed warnings from the federal government not to sell the house, and made off with a profit of almost one million dollars from the sale.

“While she did not sell the drugs, White lined her pockets with the excessive profits gained from drug trafficking, using the funds to build her dream house in California,” said U.S. Attorney Byung J. “BJay” Pak.  “But when the Government came knocking, White packed her bags and tried to leave town, along with $1 million dollars in profit.  As an attorney herself, White should have known better than to obstruct the federal government in its pursuit of justice.”

“HSI is firmly committed to targeting the illegal import and sale of narcotics; following the money trails, and leveraging our transnational partnerships to stop drug trafficking organizations in their tracks,” said Homeland Security Investigations Atlanta Acting Special Agent in Charge Travis Pickard. “HSI will continue to focus on bringing to justice members of drug trafficking organizations, those complicit in their activities as well as seizing every illicitly-derived proceed and ill-gotten gain.”

“The sentencing of Natasha White signals an important victory for the American public. The role of IRS Criminal Investigation in narcotics investigations is to follow the money so we can financially disrupt and dismantle major international drug trafficking organizations,” said Thomas J. Holloman III, IRS Criminal Investigation, Special Agent in Charge, Atlanta Field Office. “One of the government's most powerful weapons is the ability to seize the assets associated with narcotics-related crime.  We are proud to work hand-in-hand with our law enforcement partners to bring these criminals to justice.”

According to U.S. Attorney Pak, the charges and other information presented in court: In 2012, federal agents began investigating a drug trafficking and money laundering organization operating in the Atlanta area.  In 2015, agents identified White, who was at the time a romantic interest of a target of the drug investigation, for her possible involvement in the laundering of the drug proceeds. 

Through the investigation, agents began to suspect White was involved in concealing the source of the drug proceeds.  Agents learned that White is an attorney admitted to the State Bar of Georgia and a real estate broker licensed in California.  Agents also learned that White had received hundreds of thousands of dollars in drug proceeds, which she used to purchase a house located in Los Angeles, California, for $625,000, and then renovate and improve with an additional $600,000. 

Once in 2015, and again in 2016, agents interviewed White about the drug and money laundering investigation, and each time, the agents informed White that the Los Angeles house was subject to federal forfeiture on the grounds that it was the proceeds of drug trafficking and that it was involved in money laundering.  Agents also advised White not to sell the property, and she agreed.

In August 2016, agents discovered that White listed the Los Angeles house for sale on various real estate websites with an asking price of $1,600,000.  White's attorney agreed to have her withdraw the property from the listing services, and a few days later, agents confirmed that she had done so.

On September 29, 2016, the United States filed a civil forfeiture complaint against the Los Angeles house in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Georgia.  Agents then contacted White's lawyer to inform him that the complaint had been filed and that the government would be recording a lien, known as a lis pendens, against the house in the real property records of Los Angeles County, California.  Agents also informed the attorney that White could be charged with obstruction if she were to sell the house. 

On November 6, 2016, despite instructions to the contrary from the federal government, White sold the Los Angeles house for $1,550,000 to a third-party who had no knowledge that the property was subject to forfeiture.  After paying off the mortgage, White received sale proceeds of more than $997,196, which she spent, among other things, to purchase a house in Union City, Georgia, to fund her bank accounts, and to pay off hundreds of thousands of dollars in personal and family debt, including her school loans.

Natasha White, 44, of Inglewood, California, pleaded guilty to obstruction before U.S. District Judge Mark Cohen on July 22, 2019.  White was sentenced to six months in prison followed by two years of supervised release with the first six months to be served on home confinement.  She was also ordered to pay a personal forfeiture money judgment of $997,196 and to forfeit the real property located in Union City, Georgia and approximately $59,000 in funds seized from her bank accounts.

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security, Homeland Security Investigations, the Internal Revenue Service, and the Drug Enforcement Administration investigated this case.

Assistant U.S. Attorneys C. Brock Brockington, Sekret T. Sneed, Deputy Chief of the Asset Forfeiture and Money Laundering Section, and former Assistant U.S. Attorney Timothy H. Lee prosecuted the case.  Assistant U.S. Attorney Michael J. Brown, Chief of the Asset Forfeiture and Money Laundering Section, prosecuted the related civil forfeiture case against the Los Angeles house.

For further information please contact the U.S. Attorney’s Public Affairs Office at USAGAN.PressEmails@usdoj.gov 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.

ATLANTA - Michael Frost, who was previously convicted and served a sentence in federal prison for possession of child pornography, has been sentenced for possessing child pornography including images of children as young as seven. 

“Frost made a decision to go back to victimizing children even though he has already been jailed once for it,” said U.S. Attorney Byung J. “BJay” Pak.  “Child pornography is disgusting and it is a second victimization of a child who has already been traumatized.  Our office will continue to pursue and prosecute those who prey on children.  Additionally, we will pursue criminals who use the dark web to avoid prosecution for their illicit activities.”

“Clearly prison time was not a deterrent that kept Frost from continuing his abhorrent behavior,” said Special Agent in Charge of FBI Atlanta, Chris Hacker. “If he thought he could hide behind the dark web, he was wrong, thanks to the cooperative work of the FBI and our local law enforcement partners. Now Frost will serve several more years in prison where he won’t be able to victimize any more children.”

“There is no work in law enforcement more important than protecting children.  Officers, agents and prosecutors at all levels of our profession take great pride in capturing and prosecuting vile men and women that aim to victimize children.  We are so grateful for our working relationship with the FBI and the U.S. Attorney’s Office, and this is a great example of our partnerships leading to the apprehension of another child predator,” Chief John Robison, Alpharetta Department of Public Safety.

“Again a person intent on victimizing our children has been brought to answer for his criminal acts.  Only through continued diligence by local, state and federal law enforcement can these online predators be stopped.  The Forsyth County Sheriff’s Office is committed to working with our partner agencies and prosecutors to stop these criminals.  Kudos to FBI Atlanta, the U.S. Attorney’s Office and the Alpharetta Department of Public Safety for their assistance.   Cases like this should serve as a warning to these criminals, that there is no room to hide when you endanger our children.  We will not stop and we will find you and hold you accountable for your criminal acts,” said Forsyth County Sheriff Ron Freeman.

According to U.S. Attorney Pak, the charges and other information presented in court: During an undercover operation on the dark web, an area on the Internet where illegal content is uploaded and shared, law enforcement identified an IP address assigned to a physical address in Cumming, Georgia where child pornography had been downloaded, and interviewed the occupant at that address.  The occupant was not involved in downloading child pornography, but told law enforcement that Michael Frost visited regularly and used his personal laptop computer to access the web when at the address. 

When law enforcement obtained a search warrant for Frost’s address in Atlanta, Georgia, they seized multiple electronics that contained tens of thousands of images and videos of children as young as seven years old engaged in sodomy and other sexually explicit activity.  Defendant had been previously convicted in 2002 in federal court of possessing child pornography and served approximately three years in federal prison.

Michael Frost, 49, of Atlanta, Georgia, was sentenced by U.S. District Court Judge Leigh Martin May to ten years in prison followed by ten years supervised release, and ordered to register as a sex offender for life.  He was also ordered to pay a special assessment of $5,100, and restitution of $20,000 to victims.  Frost was convicted of these charges on July 19, 2019, after he pleaded guilty.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation, Forsyth County Sheriff’s Office, and Alpharetta Police Department investigated this case, with assistance from the Atlanta Police Department.

Special Assistant U.S. Attorney Diane C. Schulman prosecuted the case.

This case is being brought as part of Project Safe Childhood. In February 2006, the Attorney General launched Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative designed to protect children from online exploitation and abuse.  Led by the United States Attorney’s Offices around the country, Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state and local resources to apprehend and prosecute individuals who exploit children. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.projectsafechildhood.gov.

For further information please contact the U.S. Attorney’s Public Affairs Office at USAGAN.PressEmails@usdoj.gov 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.

ATLANTA – The Department of Justice announced it has awarded more than $85.3 million to bolster school security—including funding to educate and train students and faculty—and support first responders who arrive on the scene of a school shooting or other violent incident.

“Children are precious gifts and deserve to be safe while they are in school,” said U.S. Attorney Byng J. “BJay” Pak.  “These grants will provide the resources necessary for enhanced training as well as assistance with developing technology to expedite emergency notifications.”   

“These federal resources will help to prevent school violence and give our students the support they need to learn, grow, and thrive,” said Attorney General William P. Barr. “By training faculty, students and first responders, and by improving school security measures, we can make schools and their communities safer.”

The grants award more than $1,050,873 in funding to prevent violence in schools to the Meriwether County Board of Education, Fulton County Board of Education, and Calhoun City School District.  In addition, the Georgia Criminal Justice Coordinating Council received $999,554.  President Trump signed the STOP School Violence Act into law in March 2018, authorizing grants that are designed to improve threat assessments, train students and faculty to provide tips and leads, and prepare law enforcement officers and emergency professionals to respond to school shootings and other violent incidents. The grant programs are managed by OJP’s Bureau of Justice Assistance and the Justice Department’s Office of Community Oriented Policing Services.

The Bureau of Justice Assistance, within the Department’s Office of Justice Programs, and the Office of Community Oriented Policing Services manage the programs and administer the grants, which include funds to:

•         Develop school threat assessment teams and pursue technological solutions to improve reporting of suspicious activity in and around schools;

•         Implement or improve school safety measures, including coordination with law enforcement, as well as the use of metal detectors, locks, lighting and other deterrent measures;

•         Train law enforcement to help deter student violence against others and themselves;

•         Improve notification to first responders through implementation of technology that expedites emergency notifications;

•         Develop and operate anonymous reporting systems to encourage safe reporting of potential school threats;

•         Train school officials to intervene when mentally ill individuals threaten school safety; and

•         Provide training and technical assistance to schools and other awardees in helping implement these programs.

For more details about these individual award programs, as well as listings of individual 2019 awardees, visit https://go.usa.gov/xVJuV

About the Office of Justice Programs:  The Office of Justice Programs, directed by Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Katharine T. Sullivan, provides federal leadership, grants, training, technical assistance and other resources to improve the nation’s capacity to prevent and reduce crime, assist victims and enhance the rule of law by strengthening the criminal justice system. More information about OJP and its components can be found at www.ojp.gov.

About the Office of Community Oriented Policing Services:  The COPS Office is a federal agency responsible for advancing community policing nationwide. Since 1994, the COPS Office has invested more than $14 billion to advance community policing, including grants awarded to more than 13,000 state, local and tribal law enforcement agencies to fund the hiring and redeployment of approximately 130,000 officers and provide a variety of knowledge resource products including publications, training and technical assistance. For additional information about the COPS Office, please visit www.cops.usdoj.gov.

For further information please contact the U.S. Attorney’s Public Affairs Office at USAGAN.PressEmails@usdoj.gov 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.

ROME, GA. - Voltaire Peter Pierre, a former corrections officer at Hays State Prison, has pleaded guilty to smuggling methamphetamine, crack cocaine, and marijuana past prison security and into the hands of inmates in exchange for payments.  Because Pierre stored the drugs at his family home before smuggling them into the prison, he also pleaded guilty to possession with intent to distribute methamphetamine on premises where a minor resides.

“Public service is a duty and a privilege, not an opportunity to leverage a position of trust for personal financial gain,” said U.S. Attorney Byung J. “BJay” Pak.  “As a former corrections officer, Pierre violated his oath to uphold the law, betrayed the community, and endangered his fellow officers and inmates.  We will continue working with our federal and state law enforcement partners to ferret out and remove corrupt officials and to combat the flow of drugs and other contraband into our prisons.”

“Smuggling illegal contraband into a prison not only jeopardizes the safety of staff and inmates, it also fosters criminal activities inside and outside of the prison,” said the Special Agent in Charge of FBI Atlanta, Chris Hacker. “Pierre not only violated his sworn oath, but betrayed every hard working corrections officer. The FBI will vigorously pursue any allegations of corruption in these facilities to ensure the safety of both staff and inmates.”

“The Georgia Department of Corrections maintains a zero tolerance policy for individuals who choose to ignore their oath and jeopardize our non-negotiable mission of public safety.  We appreciate the support of our Federal partners in our efforts to see that justice is served on this former Officer,” said GDC Commissioner Timothy C. Ward.  “The actions of this individual do not reflect the hundreds of Officers who are committed each and every day to ensuring the safety of the public and the safe operations of our facilities.”

According to U.S. Attorney Pak, the charges and other information presented in court: Beginning in June 2018, and continuing until his arrest on October 1, 2018, Pierre smuggled methamphetamine, crack cocaine, marijuana, and tobacco into Hays State Prison in Trion, Georgia, for distribution to inmates, many of whom were members of the Bloods criminal street gang.  He coordinated with inmates and their associates outside prison to arrange drug drop-offs at motels and at his family’s home.  After receiving the drugs, the defendant smuggled them into the prison in soup containers and other seemingly innocuous items.  Inmates and their associates paid the defendant through a mobile payment app.   

On October 2, 2019, Voltaire Peter Pierre, 39, of Norcross, Georgia, was charged via criminal information with (1) conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute methamphetamine, crack cocaine, and marijuana and (2) possession with intent to distribute methamphetamine on premises where a minor resides.  Pierre pleaded guilty to both of those charges.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation is investigating this case in coordination with the Georgia Department of Corrections.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Ryan M. Christian is prosecuting the case.

The U.S. Attorney’s Office in Atlanta recommends parents and children learn about the dangers of drugs at the following web site: www.justthinktwice.gov.

For further information please contact the U.S. Attorney’s Public Affairs Office at USAGAN.PressEmails@usdoj.gov 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

An Atlanta, Georgia, woman was sentenced today to 56 months in prison for her role in a scheme to file false federal tax returns, announced Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Richard E. Zuckerman of the Justice Department’s Tax Division and United States Attorney Byung J. Pak for the Northern District of Georgia.

According to documents and information provided to the Court, between January 2010 and April 2014, Tiffany Lewis and her co-conspirators filed more than 5,000 false federal tax returns, many of which used stolen personal identifiable information. In total, Lewis was responsible for filing returns that claimed more than $11.9 million, and which caused the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) to issue more than $3.7 million in fraudulent refunds.

After directing the fraudulent refunds into bank accounts they controlled, Lewis and her co-conspirators used checks and debit cards to withdraw cash or pay personal expenses. Later, when Lewis was interviewed by a Special Agent of the IRS Criminal Investigation Division, Lewis lied about her involvement in the fraud scheme.

"Identity thieves have figured out that if they can steal Social Security numbers, they can file false returns with us," said Thomas J. Holloman, Special Agent in Charge, IRS Criminal Investigations, Atlanta Field Office. “Stealing identities and filing false tax returns is a serious crime that hurts innocent taxpayers. Today’s sentence should serve as a strong warning to those who are considering similar conduct. Law enforcement is serious about investigating these crimes and holding to account those who would defraud the government.” 

In addition to the term of imprisonment, U.S. District Judge Steve C. Jones ordered Lewis to serve a term of three years of supervised release and to pay restitution to the United States in the amount of $3,799,991.

Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Zuckerman and U.S. Attorney Pak commended special agents of IRS-Criminal Investigation, who investigated the case, and Trial Attorneys David B. Zisserson and Sean Beaty of the Tax Division, as well as Assistant United States Attorney Jeffrey A. Brown, who prosecuted the case.

Additional information about the Tax Division’s enforcement efforts can be found on the division’s website.

ATLANTA – The U.S. Attorney's Office for the Northern District of Georgia has entered into an agreement with the Fox Theatre, Inc. (“the Fox”) to improve the quality and availability of auxiliary aids and services for customers who are deaf or hard of hearing.  The agreement with the Fox is the culmination of negotiations that led to greater accessibility for persons who are deaf and hard of hearing.    

“The cooperative process between the Fox and our office led to this agreement and is an example of what can be accomplished through collaboration between private industry and the government,” said U. S. Attorney Byung J. “BJay” Pak.  “By strengthening the Fox Theatre's services for people who are deaf or hard of hearing, this agreement will make a difference in the lives of people who are hard of hearing or deaf and wish to enjoy a live theatre performance.”

The agreement will resolve complaints regarding a violation of the Americans with Disabilities Act (“ADA”) that were filed with the U.S. Attorney’s Office.  The complaints alleged that customers with hearing disabilities were denied effective communication in violation of the ADA.  Under the agreement, the Fox will continue to provide auxiliary aids and services necessary for deaf and hard of hearing individuals to enjoy the programs and services at the Fox.  These auxiliary aids and services have been expanded to include closed captioning.  Additionally, as set forth in the agreement, the Fox will evaluate the effectiveness of its auxiliary aids and services and explore innovative methods to ensure effective communication for people who are deaf or hard of hearing. 

This agreement was achieved with extensive input and assistance from the Georgia Advocacy Office.  The U.S. Attorney’s Office, Northern District of Georgia recognizes and appreciates the valuable contribution of our stakeholders.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Aileen Bell Hughes, Civil Rights Enforcement Coordinator for the U.S. Attorney’s Office, handled this matter.

For further information please contact the U.S. Attorney’s Public Affairs Office at USAGAN.PressEmails@usdoj.gov 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.

ATLANTA – Ovidiu Nedelcu and Ovidiusz Dragos Cordas, both citizens of Romania, have been charged in a 32-count indictment with bank fraud, access device fraud, and aggravated identity theft offenses for their roles in a nationwide conspiracy.   

“The defendants are accused of making their living by stealing from Americans’ bank accounts,” said U.S. Attorney Byung J. “BJay” Pak.  “They allegedly installed ATM skimming devices to steal customer data, and then used their network of conspirators to cash-out and profit from their crimes.”

“This investigation and subsequent indictment demonstrates the Secret Service’s commitment to safeguarding our nation’s critical financial infrastructure and payment systems,” said Kimberly A. Cheatle, Special Agent in Charge of the U.S. Secret Service, Atlanta Field Office.  “These cyber criminals used a national network of co-conspirators to withdraw large sums of money from ATM machines.  Our success in this case is due to the level of cooperation and information sharing throughout this investigation by all law enforcement partners.”

According to U.S. Attorney Pak, the charges, and other information presented in court:  From 2018 to 2019, the defendants, Ovidiu Nedelcu and Ovidiusz Dragos Cordas, a/k/a Dragos Ovidiusz Folea, conspired with one another and others to use account numbers and PINs stolen from bank and credit union customers in order to unlawfully withdraw money from those customer accounts.  They accomplished this by conspiring with each other and others to:

• Cause surreptitious electronic devices, known as ATM “skimmers,” to be installed over ATM card slots at various locations in order to capture and record account access information from customers of numerous financial institutions;
• Cause tiny surreptitious cameras to be installed above the keypads of the ATMs with the ATM skimmers in order to visually record the key strokes as customers entered their PINs for their accounts;
• Cause stolen customer account access information recorded on the ATM skimmers to be encoded onto blank magnetic stripes on unbranded plastic cards; and
• Cause the stolen account access information—customer account numbers and PINs—to be used to unlawfully withdraw United States currency from those compromised financial institution accounts at ATMs in Georgia, and elsewhere, including Florida, Colorado, and Washington.

Ovidiu Nedelcu, 41, of Craiova, Romania, and Ovidiusz Dragos Cordas, a/k/a Dragos Ovidiusz Folea, 50, of Oradea, Romania, were indicted by a federal grand jury on September 18, 2019.  Both defendants are present in the United States illegally. 

Members of the public are reminded that the indictment only contains charges.  The defendants are presumed innocent of the charges and it will be the government’s burden to prove the defendants’ guilt beyond a reasonable doubt at trial.

This case is being investigated by the U.S. Secret Service, with assistance from the DeKalb County Police Department.  Assistant U.S. Attorneys John S. Ghose and Alex R. Sistla are prosecuting the case.

For further information please contact the U.S. Attorney’s Public Affairs Office at USAGAN.PressEmails@usdoj.gov 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.

ATLANTA – Winston Wade Turner, a former licensed broker for nationwide financial services firms, has been sentenced for mail fraud.

“Turner pitched a bogus biofuel scheme to former clients he met through reputable brokerage firms where he previously worked,” said U.S. Attorney Byung J. “BJay” Pak. “He lured his victims into signing ‘corporate notes’ with promises of immediate returns on a profitable biofuel producer which turned out to be only a shell company of his own invention.  This case is a reminder that if it seems too good to be true, it usually is.” 

“Retirees simply looking for safe and secure returns on their hard earned investments should not have to worry about someone like Turner, who preyed on them for his own greed,” said Chris Hacker, Special Agent in Charge of FBI Atlanta. “Those individuals who use false promises to capitalize financially at the expense of unsuspecting investors should be aware that the FBI will vigorously pursue them for prosecution.”  

According to U.S. Attorney Pak, the indictment, and other information presented in court: beginning in July 2015, Turner represented to investors that he was a broker for “North American BioFuel,” a purported biofuel producer based in Bradenton, Florida.  Turner encouraged his victims, former clients from his previous employment at two financial services firms, to move funds he had invested for them, or in some cases, new funds, in North American BioFuel.  Turner promised them their ‘loans’ would generate a stream of monthly interest payments and return of the full principal at the end of investment periods ranging from one to three years. 

Unknown to his victims, Turner had been fired, lost his broker’s license and been banned from the securities industry.  Turner represented the company as specializing in and already producing biofuel, at a time when it was in fact only a shell company consisting of a rented mailbox address and articles of incorporation in Florida.  Turner typically made a fraction of the promised interest payments, did not return the principal, and ceased contact with the victims.  Turner was found to have bilked investors in the fictitious biofuel firm of $877,188.

Winston Wade Turner, 50, of Jefferson, Georgia, was sentenced by U.S. District Court Judge Richard W. Story to two years, nine months in prison to be followed by three years of supervised release, and was ordered to pay $877,188 in restitution.  He was also ordered to forfeit $160,149.52.  Turner pleaded guilty to mail fraud on June 5, 2019.

This Federal Bureau of Investigation investigated this case.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Brian Pearce prosecuted the case.

For further information please contact the U.S. Attorney’s Public Affairs Office at USAGAN.PressEmails@usdoj.gov 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.

ATLANTA –James Torchia has been indicted for running a fraud scheme that caused investors to spend over $40 million on his company’s promissory notes.

“Torchia is alleged to have stolen investors’ hard-earned money by lying to them about the security of their investments and how he would use their money,” said U.S. Attorney Byung J. “BJay” Pak. “It is important that investors thoroughly investigate who they are investing with before committing any of their hard-earned savings.”  

“The harm that can be caused by greed and the false promise of safe investments can be devastating,” said Special Agent in Charge Chris Hacker of the FBI Atlanta field office. “By disrupting this alleged scheme, the FBI has demonstrated our commitment to aggressively pursue those engaged in acts of financial fraud.”

According to U.S. Attorney Pak, the charges, and other information presented in court: James Torchia was the CEO of a Georgia company named Credit Nation.  Credit Nation purchased life insurance policies and subprime automobile loans and offered investors the opportunity to purchase promissory notes for those policies and loans. Torchia solicited investments in Credit Nation “promissory notes” that offered a 9% rate of return and that were purportedly “100% asset-backed” and “backed by hard asset dollar for dollar.”  However, when making these representations, Torchia knew that these investments were not backed by hard assets “dollar for dollar” as Credit Nation had actually been operating at a significant financial loss.  Torchia also allegedly lied to investors about how their funds would be used and diverted investors’ funds for undisclosed purposes. 

The indictment further alleges that even after Torchia’s own forensic accountant produced a report to him showing that Credit Nation did not have sufficient assets to cover all outstanding promissory notes, Torchia continued to provide false information about the security of the promissory notes and the use of investors’ funds.   All told, investors spent over $40 million on Credit Nation’s promissory notes. 

In November 2015, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) filed a federal civil complaint alleging that Credit Nation investors had been defrauded out of millions of dollars.  Torchia allegedly sent a letter to investors refuting the SEC’s allegations.  The letter also referenced steps that the company had taken during the SEC investigation, which included “hir[ing] a forensic accountant to assist the SEC with its understanding of our business operations and assets.  All of this was to no avail.”  The letter, however, failed to disclose that the forensic accountant’s report confirmed that Credit Nation could not pay back all of its investors. 

James Torchia, 61, of Canton, Georgia was arraigned today before U.S. Magistrate Judge Catherine M. Salinas. 

Members of the public are reminded that the indictment only contains charges.  The defendant is presumed innocent of the charges and it will be the government’s burden to prove the defendant’s guilt beyond a reasonable doubt at trial.

This Federal Bureau of Investigation is investigating this case.  The Atlanta Division Office of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission previously brought a civil action against Torchia and Credit Nation in the Northern District of Georgia.

Assistant U.S. Attorneys Thomas J. Krepp and Leanne M. Marek are prosecuting the case.

For further information please contact the U.S. Attorney’s Public Affairs Office at USAGAN.PressEmails@usdoj.gov 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

Jury heard about triple murder in nightclub, murder of witness, 50 pounds of cocaine, and shooting of teenager

ATLANTA – Three leaders of the Gangster Disciples national criminal organization have been convicted by a federal jury of offenses including racketeering conspiracy involving murder, attempted murder in aid of racketeering, drug trafficking conspiracy, and other crimes.  This case is the latest of a series of trials and pleas for members and leaders of the Gangster Disciples.

“The Gangster Disciples are extremely organized and their reach is wide-spread across the United States,” said U.S. Attorney Byung “BJay” Pak.  “Their strict chain of command that carried their message of violence and crime throughout the organization posed a serious threat nationwide.  They lured young people into the gang with the promise of a better life, and then inducted them into an appalling world of violence and crime.”

"The Gangster Disciples have terrorized communities in Georgia and elsewhere for far too long,” said Assistant Attorney Brian A. Benczkowski of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division.  “Today’s convictions, as well as the convictions of 32 co-defendants to date, send a clear message: the Department of Justice is committed to dismantling this violent and lawless criminal enterprise.”

“Drug trafficking, thefts, violent assaults and murders are all crimes that the Gangster Disciples commit every day to protect their turf, increase their territory, control and recruit members and terrorize rival gangs.  They are merciless and have wreaked havoc in our neighborhoods for far too long,” said Special Agent in Charge Chris Hacker of the FBI’s Atlanta Field Office.  “The FBI and our partners will aggressively pursue gangs wherever they surface. We are dedicated to dismantling these organized and violent criminal enterprises in order to make Atlanta and the surrounding communities, a safer place for our citizens.”

According to U.S. Attorney Pak, the charges, and other information presented in court:  The Gangster Disciples are a national gang with roots in Chicago dating back to the 1970’s.  The gang is highly structured, with a hierarchy of leadership posts known as “Positions of Authority” or “POAs.”  The gang strictly enforces rules for its members, the most important of which is “silence and secrecy” – a prohibition on cooperating with law enforcement.  Violations of the rule are punishable by death.

The evidence showed that the defendants and their fellow gang members used the gang’s structure to carry out a pattern of violent and serious crimes, including murder, attempted murder, robbery, bank and wire fraud, drug trafficking, and extortion.  The jury heard testimony and other evidence about multiple murders and attempted murders by Gangster Disciples.

Included in those murders was a deadly shooting at a nightclub in Macon, Georgia.  Three people were killed and another three were wounded after gang member Vertuies Wall and his subordinates started a gunfight with rivals.  On another occasion, gang member Lewis Mobley shot a teenage victim twice at point-blank range. Mobley believed that the victim had disrespected the gang by walking through a crowd while shouting a slogan and wearing the color associated with a rival gang.  In a third incident, a top Gangster Disciples leader summoned the gang’s National Chief Enforcer to travel across the country to kill a witness.  The witness, who was scheduled to testify against a Gangster Disciple on drug charges, was shot dead in her home on the gang’s orders.

The evidence also showed that each of the trial defendants held a position of authority within the gang’s structure.  Mobley held a position in the gang’s security/enforcement arm, and exercised leadership over the enforcement team known as “HATE Committee,” that was responsible for committing murders, shootings, and other violence.  Wall was the “First C,” or local leader, for the Macon area Gangster Disciples.  Gang member Lawrence Grice also held a leadership position over Gangster Disciples in parts of Texas including the city of Houston.

The defendants listed below were convicted in this case, and found guilty of the following charges:

• Lewis Mobley, 42, of Atlanta, Georgia, was convicted of RICO conspiracy, including murder and drug conspiracy; committing an attempted murder in aid of racketeering and using a firearm to do so; and possessing with intent to distribute cocaine and possessing a firearm relating to the drug crime.
• Vertuies Wall, 43, of Atlanta, Georgia, was convicted of RICO conspiracy, including murder.
• Lawrence Grice, 30, of Houston, Texas, was convicted of RICO conspiracy, and a drug conspiracy regarding more than five kilograms of cocaine.

To date, 27 defendants have pleaded guilty, five were convicted at a separate trial, and three defendants are presently awaiting trial.

The FBI Safe Streets Task Force; ATF; U.S. Marshal Service; The U.S. Postal Service, the Bureau of Prisons; the Georgia Department of Community Supervision; the Georgia Department of Corrections; DeKalb Police Department; Cobb County Police Department; Bibb County District Attorney’s Office; Atlanta Police Department; Louisiana State Police; and Aurora, Colorado Police Department investigated this case.

Assistant U.S Attorneys Kim S. Dammers, Chief of the Organized Crime and Gangs Section, Ryan K. Buchanan, Deputy Chief of the Violent Crime and National Security Section, and Erin N. Spritzer of the Northern District of Georgia, and Department of Justice Trial Attorney Conor Mulroe of the Criminal Division’s Organized Crime and Gang Section prosecuted the case.

For further information please contact the U.S. Attorney’s Public Affairs Office at USAGAN.PressEmails@usdoj.gov 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.

A federal jury has convicted three leaders of the Gangster Disciples (GD) national criminal organization of offenses including racketeering conspiracy (RICO) involving murder, attempted murder in aid of racketeering, drug trafficking conspiracy and other crimes.

Lewis Mobley, 42, of Atlanta, Georgia, was convicted of RICO conspiracy, including a sentencing enhancement for murder and a sentencing enhancement for drugs; committing an attempted murder in aid of racketeering and using a firearm to do so and possessing with intent to distribute cocaine and possessing a firearm relating to the drug crime.  Vertuies Wall, 43, of Atlanta, Georgia, was convicted of RICO conspiracy, including a sentencing enhancement for murder.  Lawrence Grice, 30, of Houston, Texas, was convicted of RICO conspiracy, including a sentencing enhancement for drugs and a separate conviction for drug conspiracy regarding more than five kilograms of cocaine.

According to court documents, the Gangster Disciples are a national gang with roots in Chicago dating back to the 1970s.  The gang is highly structured, with a hierarchy of leadership posts known as “Positions of Authority” or “POAs.”  The gang strictly enforces rules for its members, the most important of which is “Silence and Secrecy” – a prohibition on cooperating with law enforcement.  Violations of the rule are punishable by death.

“The Gangster Disciples have terrorized communities in Georgia and elsewhere for far too long,” said Assistant Attorney Brian A. Benczkowski of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division.  “Today’s convictions, as well as the convictions of 32 co-defendants to date, send a clear message: the Department of Justice is committed to dismantling this violent and lawless criminal enterprise.”

“The Gangster Disciples are extremely organized and their reach is wide-spread across the United States,” said U.S. Attorney Byung “BJay” Pak for the Northern District of Georgia.  “Their strict chain of command that carried their message of violence and crime throughout the organization posed a serious threat nationwide.  They lured young people into the gang with the promise of a better life, and then inducted them into an appalling world of violence and crime.”

“Drug trafficking, thefts, violent assaults and murders are all crimes that the Gangster Disciples commit every day to protect their turf, increase their territory, control and recruit members and terrorize rival gangs.  They are merciless and have wreaked havoc in our neighborhoods for far too long,” said Special Agent in Charge Chris Hacker of the FBI’s Atlanta Field Office.  “The FBI and our partners will aggressively pursue gangs wherever they surface. We are dedicated to dismantling these organized and violent criminal enterprises in order to make Atlanta and the surrounding communities, a safer place for our citizens.”

The evidence showed that the defendants and their fellow gang members used the gang’s structure to carry out a pattern of violent and serious crimes, including murder, attempted murder, robbery, bank and wire fraud, drug trafficking and extortion.  The jury heard testimony and other evidence about multiple murders and attempted murders by Gangster Disciples.

Included in those murders was a deadly shooting at the Wings Café nightclub in Macon, Georgia.  Three people were killed and another three wounded after Wall and his subordinates started a gunfight with rivals.  On another occasion, Mobley shot a teenage victim twice at point-blank range.  Mobley believed that the victim had disrespected the gang by walking through a crowd while shouting a slogan and wearing the color associated with a rival gang.  In a third incident, a top Gangster Disciple leader summoned the gang’s National Chief Enforcer to travel across the country to kill a witness.  The witness, who was scheduled to testify against a Gangster Disciple on drug charges, was shot dead in her home on the gang’s orders.

The evidence showed that each of the trial defendants held a position of authority within the gang’s structure.  Mobley held a leadership position in the gang’s security/enforcement arm, and exercised leadership over the enforcement team known as “HATE Committee” that was responsible for committing murders, shootings and other violent crimes.  Wall was the “First C,” or local leader, for the Macon-area Gangster Disciples.  Grice held a leadership position over Gangster Disciples in parts of Texas including Houston.

To date, 27 defendants have pleaded guilty, five were convicted at a separate trial and three defendants are presently awaiting trial.

The FBI Safe Streets Task Force, DeKalb Police Department, DeKalb District Attorney’s Office and Atlanta Police Department investigated this case. 

Trial Attorney Conor Mulroe of the Criminal Division’s Organized Crime and Gang Section and Assistant U.S. Attorneys Kim S. Dammers, Chief of the Organized Crime and Gangs section, Ryan K. Buchanan, Deputy Chief of the Violent Crime and National Security section and Erin N. Spritzer of the Northern District of Georgia prosecuted the case.

ATLANTA – April and James Thompson have been indicted for defrauding an Atlanta timberland investment company out of more than four million dollars.

“The defendants allegedly stole millions of dollars through a false invoicing scheme,” said U.S. Attorney Byung J. “BJay” Pak. “Employees who take advantage of their positions of trust will be prosecuted when they use their positions to engage in fraud schemes such as this.”  

“When a person takes advantage of a company by abusing the position they were entrusted to uphold, the FBI must hold them accountable,” said Special Agent in Charge Chris Hacker of the FBI Atlanta field office. “We are committed to protecting companies from employees who are driven by personal greed and not the company’s best interests.”

According to U.S. Attorney Pak, the charges, and other information presented in court: April Thompson worked on behalf of a company named Kingwood Forestry Services (“Kingwood”) that provided services to timber properties in various states.  Kingwood was contracted with Forest Investment Associates (“FIA”), an Atlanta-based company that provides timberland investment advisory and management services for institutional timberland investors.  At Kingwood, April Thompson managed invoices submitted to FIA and requested payments to contractors. 

The indictment alleges that from 2011 through April 2019, April Thompson billed FIA for over $4 million for work that James Thompson had allegedly done on FIA timber properties.  However, these invoices were all fraudulent as James Thompson had never been an FIA or Kingwood contractor and never did any work on the timber properties.  As a result of these fraudulent invoices, April and James Thompson received over $4 million, which they then used for their own personal benefit. 

April Thompson, 41, and James Thompson, 46, both of Maud, Texas were indicted by a federal grand jury in the Northern District of Georgia, on September 25, 2019, and had their initial appearances on October 1, 2019, in the Eastern District of Texas. 

Members of the public are reminded that the indictment only contains charges.  The defendants are presumed innocent of the charges and it will be the government’s burden to prove the defendants’ guilt beyond a reasonable doubt at trial.

This Federal Bureau of Investigation is investigating this case.  

Assistant U.S. Attorney Thomas J. Krepp is prosecuting the case.

For further information please contact the U.S. Attorney’s Public Affairs Office at USAGAN.PressEmails@usdoj.gov 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.

ATLANTA – Kingston Ansah, the owner of a Georgia shipping company, has been sentenced to federal prison for an identity theft and credit card scheme.  Ansah has been in federal custody since he attempted to flee the country after learning of these charges in November 2017. 

“Identity theft and credit card fraud is an all too common problem in the business community,” said U.S. Attorney Byung J. (“BJay”) Pak.  “Thieves like Ansah continue to pursue new ways to enrich themselves at others’ expense.  We will employ every tool available to catch and prosecute people who seek to take what is not theirs.”

“Postal Inspectors, along with our law enforcement partners from the Social Security OIG, were able to unravel this sophisticated financial scheme that resulted in bringing this perpetrator to justice,” said David M. McGinnis, U.S. Postal Inspector in Charge of the Charlotte Division. “We will continue to be vigilant in pursuing individuals who illegally utilize the mail system for illicit financial gain.” 

“The Social Security OIG will continue to partner with the Department of Justice and other law enforcement agencies to uphold the integrity of the Social Security number and prevent its misuse for profit,” said Rodregas Owens, Special Agent-in-Charge of the Social Security Administration, Office of the Inspector General, Atlanta Field Division. “I want to thank the U.S. Postal Inspection Service and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for pursuing this case and bringing an end to this individual’s fraudulent activities.”

According to U.S. Attorney Pak, the charges and other information presented in court: Kingston Ansah was the owner of “Oceane Cargo Link,” an Atlanta company that specialized in shipping products around the world.  Beginning in 2016, Ansah made over $800,000 worth of credit card transactions using fraudulently obtained credit cards.  The fraudulently obtained credit cards had been obtained by combining real and false personal identifying information (what are commonly known as “synthetic identities”).  The fraudulent credit card transactions caused financial institutions to send hundreds of thousands of dollars to bank accounts under Ansah’s control.  

In November 2017, U.S. Postal inspectors executed search warrants at Ansah’s home and Oceane Cargo Link’s headquarters.  At Oceane Cargo Link, Postal Inspectors found dozens of fabricated driver’s licenses and fraudulent credit cards as well as folders cataloging individual synthetic identity profiles.  In October 2017, Ansah was notified through his attorney that a federal grand jury had returned an indictment charging him with these offenses.  Instead of surrendering to federal authorities, Ansah purchased a one-way plane ticket back to his native country of Ghana.  Fortunately, U.S. Postal Inspectors learned of Ansah’s attempt to flee and arrested him as he waited to board his flight at Atlanta Hartsfield Jackson International Airport. 

Kingston Ansah, 37, of Atlanta, Georgia, was sentenced to four years, nine months in prison, and three years of supervised release.  Ansah was also ordered to pay full restitution to the victims. 

The U.S. Postal Inspection Service and the Social Security Administration investigated this case.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Thomas J. Krepp prosecuted the case.

For further information please contact the U.S. Attorney’s Public Affairs Office at USAGAN.PressEmails@usdoj.gov 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.

ATLANTA - Former Gwinnett County Sheriff’s Deputy Antione Riggins, who was also a federal task-force member, has been arraigned on federal charges that he used his former position to steal cocaine and methamphetamine before the drugs could be secured in evidence, and made a series of false statements to cover up his drug theft.

“Riggins’ alleged theft of previously seized drugs is shocking,” said U.S. Attorney Byung J. “BJay” Pak.  “He also allegedly fabricated documents and made false statements to prevent the arrest and prosecution of the drug trafficking suspects from whom the drugs were seized, in an apparent effort to cover his tracks.  Riggins’s alleged actions betray the community he was sworn to protect.” 

“The allegations in this indictment are particularly disturbing because they are against a law enforcement officer,” said Special Agent in Charge Chris Hacker of the FBI Atlanta field office. “The alleged actions of this individual undermine and insult the integrity of every law enforcement officer who takes an oath to serve and protect the people in their communities.”

“As a Task Force Officer, Riggins engaged in conduct that betrayed the oath he took to faithfully serve the people of Gwinnett County.  His behavior should not take away from the outstanding work done each day by the vast majority of law enforcement professionals around the country.”  DHS OIG’s Acting Special Agent in Charge Ronnie Tippett.

“This former officer violated his oath of office and the public’s trust. Corruption within the law enforcement ranks will not be tolerated. The GBI is committed to working with local and federal partners to investigate these types of crimes to ensure the public trust of officers is upheld,” said Vic Reynolds, Director, Georgia Bureau of Investigation.

According to U.S. Attorney Pak, the charges, and other information presented in court: In 2017 and 2018, Riggins was a federally-deputized task force officer with Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), while also employed as a deputy sheriff with the Gwinnett County Sheriff's Office (GCSO).  Riggins’s duties during this time included investigating drug trafficking cases with HSI agents and other law enforcement officers.  Riggins was also responsible for assisting Gwinnett County authorities to prosecute local drug cases investigated by HSI.  In this role, Riggins was entrusted with transporting seized drugs from HSI crime scenes to the Gwinnett County evidence vault, and obtaining arrest warrants for drug traffickers.   

On February 23, 2017, an HSI investigation resulted in the seizure of three kilograms of cocaine following a high-speed car chase and crash on I-285.  HSI identified the suspected owner of the cocaine, even though he fled from the crash and was not apprehended.  HSI agents tasked Riggins with transporting the cocaine to the Gwinnett County evidence vault.  The next day, Riggins allegedly checked only one kilogram of cocaine into evidence, not three, and he failed to secure a warrant for the arrest of the cocaine trafficker. 

On July 14, 2017, an HSI investigation resulted in the seizure of approximately six kilograms of methamphetamine from an Atlanta hotel room.  An HSI agent again tasked Riggins with transporting the methamphetamine to the Gwinnett County evidence vault; however, none of the methamphetamine was subsequently checked into evidence. 

Riggins also allegedly made false documents and statements in relation to the cocaine theft, for the purpose of covering up his theft of those drugs.  In particular, the indictment alleged that Riggins created and submitted a falsified evidence form to the GCSO, Riggins presented a false court order to the Magistrate Court of Gwinnett County, and made two false statements to HSI agents, all to prevent prosecutors from discovering the missing drugs.

Riggins’s role at HSI ended in early 2018, and his employment with the GCSO ended after these alleged actions came to the attention of law enforcement.

Antione Riggins, 40, of Loganville, Georgia, was arraigned before U.S. Magistrate Judge Catherine M. Salinas.  The defendant was indicted by a federal grand jury in the Northern District of Georgia on September 24, 2019, on charges of possession with intent to distribute controlled substances, unlawfully removing property to prevent government seizure, and making false statements and documents.

Members of the public are reminded that the indictment only contains charges.  The defendant is presumed innocent of the charges and it will be the government’s burden to prove the defendant’s guilt beyond a reasonable doubt at trial.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation, Department of Homeland Security - Office of the Inspector General, the Georgia Bureau of Investigation, and the Gwinnett County District Attorney’s Office are investigating this case.

Assistant United States Attorney Trevor C. Wilmot is prosecuting the case.

For further information please contact the U.S. Attorney’s Public Affairs Office at USAGAN.PressEmails@usdoj.gov 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.

ATLANTA - John Lamb, a/k/a Johnny Lamb, has been sentenced to federal prison for a second time for again using counterfeit checks for purchases from the United States Postal Service (USPS). 

“Lamb proves that some people never learn,” said U.S. Attorney Byung J. “BJay” Pak.  “He once again used counterfeit checks to purchase postal products and again will serve time in a federal prison.  If you seek to steal from our public institutions, and ultimately the American people, you will be prosecuted and sent to prison every time.”

“This career offender stole from the Postal Service for his own financial gain and the sentence sends a message to others to deter from these types of illegal acts,” said David M. McGinnis, Inspector in Charge of the Charlotte Division. “Postal Inspectors will continue to investigate and apprehend individuals that engage in criminal activities against the nation's mail system.”

According to U.S. Attorney Pak, the charges and other information presented in court: From September 2018 through March 2019, John Lamb a/k/a Johnny Lamb engaged in a scheme to defraud the USPS throughout the Southeastern United States, including North Georgia.  Lamb negotiated over 200 counterfeit and forged checks at post offices in Georgia, Tennessee, North Carolina, Alabama, and Kentucky, defrauding the United States Postal Service of over $140,000.  The value of these checks ranged from $500 to $950, which he used to buy U.S. postage stamps. 

The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Georgia prosecuted Lamb in 2014 for using counterfeit checks to buy over $500,000 worth of U.S. Postal Service products, including stamps and services.  He served a sentence in federal prison.

Lamb was sentenced to two years in prison to be followed by three years of supervised release, and ordered to pay restitution in the amount of $143,960.  Lamb was convicted on these charges on June 20, 2019, after he pleaded guilty.

The U.S. Postal Inspection Service investigated this case.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Christopher J. Huber, Deputy Chief of the Complex Frauds Section, prosecuted the case.

For further information please contact the U.S. Attorney’s Public Affairs Office at USAGAN.PressEmails@usdoj.gov 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.

ATLANTA - The Department of Justice announced today that Avanir Pharmaceuticals (Avanir), a pharmaceutical manufacturer based in Aliso Viejo, California, has been charged for paying kickbacks to a physician to induce prescriptions of its drug Nuedexta. 

“When a drug company pays kickbacks to physicians, it can affect their medical decision making and undermine the proper treatment of their patients,” said U.S. Attorney Byung J. “BJay” Pak.  “This is particularly troublesome when it affects our vulnerable elderly population.”

“Kickbacks have the power to corrupt a provider’s medical judgment,” said Assistant Attorney Jody Hunt of the Department of Justice’s Civil Division.  “And it is particularly concerning when a pharmaceutical company uses kickbacks to drive up sales in connection with a vulnerable population, such as elderly patients in nursing care facilities.”      

“Paying kickbacks to medical providers in an effort to increase profits is illegal and diminishes the trust and credibility of drug companies who engage in these activities,” said Derrick L. Jackson, Special Agent in Charge for the Office of Inspector General of the Department of Health and Human Services.  My agency’s five-year compliance agreement with Avanir has been tailored to ensure such alleged behavior will not be repeated.”

As alleged in a one-count Information filed today in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Georgia, Avanir violated the Anti-Kickback Statute by paying a doctor to induce him to become a high prescriber of Nuedexta to beneficiaries of federal healthcare programs, offering him financial incentives to write additional Nuedexta prescriptions for beneficiaries of federal healthcare programs, and inducing him to recommend that other physicians prescribe Nuedexta to beneficiaries of federal healthcare programs.  Nuedexta is approved by the Food and Drug Administration for the treatment of pseudobulbar affect (PBA), which is characterized by involuntary, sudden, and frequent episodes of laughing or crying, and occurs secondary to a neurologic disease or brain injury.    

The Northern District of Georgia also announced a deferred prosecution agreement resolving the charge, under which Avanir admits that it paid the doctor to induce him to not only maintain, but increase his prescription volume.  Under the agreement’s terms, Avanir will pay a monetary penalty in the amount of $7,800,000, and a forfeiture in the amount of $5,074,895.  The United States will defer prosecuting Avanir for a period of three years to allow the company to comply with the agreement’s terms.  The agreement will not be final until accepted by the court.

The Northern District of Georgia entered into the deferred prosecution agreement with Avanir based on the individual facts and circumstances of this case.  Among those facts and circumstances, the agreement specifically identifies the company’s substantial and ongoing cooperation with the investigation to date, including capturing and producing text messages from employee cell phones, the extensive remedial measures taken by the company, including terminating, or permitting to resign in lieu of termination, multiple employees, at various levels of the organization, including senior executives, and its enhanced compliance program.  Other facts and circumstances include: Avanir has agreed to resolve all civil claims relating to federal health care programs arising from its conduct; and a conviction (including a guilty plea) would likely result in the Office of the Inspector General of the Department of Health and Human Services imposing mandatory exclusion of Avanir from all federal health care programs under 42 U.S.C. § 1320a-7 for a period of at least five years, which would result in substantial consequences, including to American consumers.  The agreement can ensure that integrity has been restored to Avanir’s operations and preserve its financial viability while preserving the United States’ ability to prosecute it should material breaches occur.

The Northern District of Ohio also announced indictments of four individuals, including former Avanir employees and one of the top prescribers of Nuedexta in the country, who were involved in the kickback scheme.  Avanir has also agreed to pay over $95 million to resolve civil False Claims Act allegations of kickbacks as well as its false and misleading marketing of Nuedexta to providers in long term care facilities to induce them to prescribe it for behaviors commonly associated with dementia patients, which is not an approved use of the drug. 

Named in the 83-count Northern District of Ohio indictment are: Deepak Raheja, 63, of Hudson; Gregory Hayslette, 43, of Aurora; Frank Mazzucco, 41, of Dublin, and Bhupinder Sawhny, 70, of Gates Mills.  All four are charged with conspiracy to solicit, receive, offer and pay health care kickbacks. Avanir has agreed to cooperate in the prosecution of these individuals.

“Doctors should prescribe medicine based on what is best for their patients, not on which drug company is paying for their travel and meals,” said U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Ohio Justin Herdman.

In a separate civil resolution, Avanir has agreed to pay $95,972,017 to the United States to resolve allegations under the False Claims Act related to its marketing of Nuedexta.  The government alleged that between October 29, 2010, and December 31, 2016, Avanir provided remuneration in the form of money, honoraria, travel, and food to certain physicians and other health care professionals to induce them to write prescriptions for Nuedexta.  One form of remuneration included Avanir’s payment to certain health care professionals to give talks (commonly known as “speaker’s programs”) about Nuedexta based on their willingness to prescribe Nuedexta.  These events were primarily social, with no educational value. 

The government further alleged that Avanir implemented a strategy to market Nuedexta in long-term care (LTC) facilities for uses other than PBA that had not been approved by the FDA and were not medically accepted indications as defined by the statutes and regulations governing the Federal health care programs.  In particular, Avanir sought to capitalize on efforts by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services to reduce the use of anti-psychotics on dementia patients in LTC facilities, based in part on CMS’s concern that anti-psychotics can be and have been used as a form of chemical restraint for residents.  Avanir did so by instructing its sales force to initiate discussions in LTCs regarding anti-psychotic use and how Nuedexta could be used to reduce a LTC facility’s reliance on anti-psychotics even though Avanir’s own studies demonstrated that the actual population of patients with PBA is limited.  In order to counter the objection by certain physicians that they had few, if any, patients that exhibited signs of PBA in their facilities, Avanir instructed sales representatives to provide false and misleading information that PBA patients could be exhibiting a wide variety of “behaviors” such as crying without tears, moaning, or making other inarticulate sounds, when, in fact, those symptoms are commonly observed in patients who have dementia but do not have a diagnosis of PBA.  This strategy worked, and Nuedexta utilization in LTC facilities increased. 

In one example of the impact of these strategies, the government alleged that an Avanir employee reported that one doctor, who was also a paid speaker for Nuedexta, had “entire units” of patients on Nuedexta at the LTC facility where he worked, which contained a large number of dementia patients with behavioral issues.  And while another doctor, a geriatrician, who also worked in the same LTC facility routinely discontinued Nuedexta for patients, the doctor paid by Avanir “constantly re-initiat[ed]” the treatment.

Contemporaneous with the civil settlement, Avanir entered into a Corporate Integrity Agreement (CIA) with the Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General.  The CIA requires, among other things, that Avanir implement additional controls around its interactions with physicians and conduct internal and external monitoring of promotional and other activities.  It also increases individual accountability by requiring compliance-related certifications from its Board and key executives.    

The civil settlement resolves lawsuits filed by Kevin Manieri, Duane Arnold, and Mark Shipman, all former employees of Avanir, under the qui tam or whistleblower provisions of the False Claims Act, which permit private individuals, known as relators, to sue on behalf of the government for false claims and to share in any recovery.  The qui tam suits were filed in the Northern District of Ohio and the Northern District of Georgia and are captioned United States ex rel. Kevin Manieri v. Avanir Pharmaceuticals, Inc. and Deepak Raheja, Action No. 5:15-cv-611 (N.D. Ohio), and United States ex rel. Duane Arnold and Mark Shipman v. Avanir Pharmaceuticals, Inc., Action No. 1:15-cv-01250 (N.D. Ga.).  Manieri will receive $12,389,823 of the civil settlement, and Arnold and Shipman will receive $5,365,000 of the civil settlement.  In addition to the $95,972,017 being paid to resolve the United States’ civil claims, Avanir will pay an additional $7,027,983 to resolve state Medicaid claims. 

The government is represented in the criminal case against Avanir by Assistant U.S. Attorney Christopher J. Huber, Deputy Chief Complex Frauds Section, U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Georgia, and against the individuals by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Michael Collyer and Megan Miller, U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Ohio.  The civil settlement was the result of the coordinated efforts of Assistant U.S. Attorneys Patricia Fitzgerald and Brendan Barker of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Ohio, Assistant U.S. Attorney Neeli Ben-David of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Georgia, and Senior Counsel Natalie Waites of the Civil Division’s Commercial Litigation Branch.  The investigation was conducted by the FBI, HHS-OIG, the Department of Defense Criminal Investigative Services, the Office of Personnel Management Office of Inspector General, the Department of Veteran’s Affair Office of Inspector General, and the Ohio Medicaid Fraud Control Unit.  Assistance was also provided by the Consumer Protection Branch of the Department of Justice, HHS Office of Counsel to the Inspector General and the National Association of Medicaid Fraud Control Units.   

Since President Trump signed the bipartisan Elder Abuse Prevention and Prosecution Act (EAPPA) into law, the Department of Justice has participated in hundreds of enforcement actions in criminal and civil cases that targeted or disproportionately affected seniors.  In particular, this past March the Department announced the largest elder fraud enforcement action in American history, charging more than 260 defendants in a nationwide elder fraud sweep.  The Department has likewise conducted hundreds of trainings and outreach sessions across the country since the passage of the Act.  

Except as to conduct admitted as part of the deferred prosecution agreement and its Statement of Facts, the claims resolved by the civil settlement are allegations only and there has been no determination of liability.  

For further information please contact the U.S. Attorney’s Public Affairs Office at USAGAN.PressEmails@usdoj.gov 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.

Avanir Pharmaceuticals (Avanir), a pharmaceutical manufacturer based in Aliso Viejo, California, was charged for paying kickbacks to a physician to induce prescriptions of its drug Nuedexta, the Department of Justice announced today.  The Northern District of Ohio also announced indictments of four individuals, including former Avanir employees and one of the top prescribers of Nuedexta in the country, who were involved in the kickback scheme.  Avanir has also agreed to pay over $95 million to resolve civil False Claims Act allegations of kickbacks as well as its false and misleading marketing of Nuedexta to providers in long term care facilities to induce them to prescribe it for behaviors commonly associated with dementia patients, which is not an approved use of the drug.

“Kickbacks have the power to corrupt a provider’s medical judgment,” said Assistant Attorney Jody Hunt of the Department of Justice’s Civil Division.  “And it is particularly concerning when a pharmaceutical company uses kickbacks to drive up sales in connection with a vulnerable population, such as elderly patients in nursing care facilities.”      

As alleged in a one-count Information filed today in the United States District Court for the Northern District of Georgia, Avanir violated the Anti-Kickback Statute by paying a doctor to induce him to become a high prescriber of Nuedexta to beneficiaries of federal healthcare programs, offering him financial incentives to write additional Nuedexta prescriptions for beneficiaries of federal healthcare programs, and inducing him to recommend that other physicians prescribe Nuedexta to beneficiaries of federal healthcare programs.  Nuedexta is approved by the Food and Drug Administration for the treatment of pseudobulbar affect (PBA), which is characterized by involuntary, sudden, and frequent episodes of laughing or crying, and occurs secondary to a neurologic disease or brain injury.    

The Northern District of Georgia also announced a deferred prosecution agreement resolving the charge, under which Avanir admits that it paid the doctor to induce him to not only maintain, but increase his prescription volume.  Under the agreement’s terms, Avanir will pay a monetary penalty in the amount of $7,800,000, and a forfeiture in the amount of $5,074,895.  The United States will defer prosecuting Avanir for a period of three years to allow the company to comply with the agreement’s terms.  The agreement will not be final until accepted by the court.

“When a drug company pays kickbacks to physicians, it can affect their medical decision making and undermine the proper treatment of their patients,” said Byung J. “BJay” Pak, U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Georgia.  “This is particularly troublesome when it affects our vulnerable elderly population.”

The Northern District of Georgia entered into the deferred prosecution agreement with Avanir based on the individual facts and circumstances of this case.  Among those facts and circumstances, the agreement specifically identifies the company’s substantial and ongoing cooperation with the investigation to date, including capturing and producing text messages from employee cell phones, the extensive remedial measures taken by the company, including terminating, or permitting to resign in lieu of termination, multiple employees, at various levels of the organization, including senior executives, and its enhanced compliance program.  Other facts and circumstances include: Avanir has agreed to resolve all civil claims relating to federal health care programs arising from its conduct; and a conviction (including a guilty plea) would likely result in the Office of the Inspector General of the Department of Health and Human Services imposing mandatory exclusion of Avanir from all federal health care programs under 42 U.S.C. § 1320a-7 for a period of at least five years, which would result in substantial consequences, including to American consumers.  The agreement can ensure that integrity has been restored to Avanir’s operations and preserve its financial viability while preserving the United States’ ability to prosecute it should material breaches occur.

The Northern District of Ohio also announced indictments of four individuals who paid or received kickbacks from Avanir.  Named in the 83-count indictment are: Deepak Raheja, 63, of Hudson; Gregory Hayslette, 43, of Aurora; Frank Mazzucco, 41, of Dublin, and Bhupinder Sawhny, 70, of Gates Mills.  All four are charged with conspiracy to solicit, receive, offer and pay health care kickbacks. Avanir has agreed to cooperate in the prosecution of these individuals.

“Doctors should prescribe medicine based on what is best for their patients, not on which drug company is paying for their travel and meals,” said U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Ohio Justin Herdman.

In a separate civil resolution, Avanir has agreed to pay $95,972,017 to the United States to resolve allegations under the False Claims Act related to its marketing of Nuedexta.  The government alleged that between October 29, 2010, and December 31, 2016, Avanir provided remuneration in the form of money, honoraria, travel, and food to certain physicians and other health care professionals to induce them to write prescriptions for Nuedexta.  One form of remuneration included Avanir’s payment to certain health care professionals to give talks (commonly known as “speaker’s programs”) about Nuedexta based on their willingness to prescribe Nuedexta.  These events were primarily social, with no educational value. 

The government further alleged that Avanir implemented a strategy to market Nuedexta in long-term care (LTC) facilities for uses other than PBA that had not been approved by the FDA and were not medically accepted indications as defined by the statutes and regulations governing the Federal health care programs.  In particular, Avanir sought to capitalize on efforts by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services to reduce the use of anti-psychotics on dementia patients in LTC facilities, based in part on CMS’s concern that anti-psychotics can be and have been used as a form of chemical restraint for residents.  Avanir did so by instructing its sales force to initiate discussions in LTCs regarding anti-psychotic use and how Nuedexta could be used to reduce a LTC facility’s reliance on anti-psychotics even though Avanir’s own studies demonstrated that the actual population of patients with PBA is limited.  In order to counter the objection by certain physicians that they had few, if any, patients that exhibited signs of PBA in their facilities, Avanir instructed sales representatives to provide false and misleading information that PBA patients could be exhibiting a wide variety of “behaviors” such as crying without tears, moaning, or making other inarticulate sounds, when, in fact, those symptoms are commonly observed in patients who have dementia but do not have a diagnosis of PBA.  This strategy worked, and Nuedexta utilization in LTC facilities increased. 

In one example of the impact of these strategies, the government alleged that an Avanir employee reported that one doctor, who was also a paid speaker for Nuedexta, had “entire units” of patients on Nuedexta at the LTC facility where he worked, which contained a large number of dementia patients with behavioral issues.  And while another doctor, a geriatrician, who also worked in the same LTC facility routinely discontinued Nuedexta for patients, the doctor paid by Avanir “constantly re-initiat[ed]” the treatment.

Contemporaneous with the civil settlement, Avanir entered into a Corporate Integrity Agreement (CIA) with the Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General.  The CIA requires, among other things, that Avanir implement additional controls around its interactions with physicians and conduct internal and external monitoring of promotional and other activities.  It also increases individual accountability by requiring compliance-related certifications from its Board and key executives.    

“Paying kickbacks to medical providers in an effort to increase profits is illegal and diminishes the trust and credibility of drug companies who engage in these activities,” said Derrick L. Jackson, Special Agent in Charge for the Office of Inspector General of the Department of Health and Human Services.  My agency’s five-year compliance agreement with Avanir has been tailored to ensure such alleged behavior will not be repeated.”

The civil settlement resolves lawsuits filed by Kevin Manieri, Duane Arnold, and Mark Shipman, all former employees of Avanir, under the qui tam or whistleblower provisions of the False Claims Act, which permit private individuals, known as relators, to sue on behalf of the government for false claims and to share in any recovery.  The qui tam suits were filed in the Northern District of Ohio and the Northern District of Georgia and are captioned United States ex rel. Kevin Manieri v. Avanir Pharmaceuticals, Inc. and Deepak Raheja, Action No. 5:15-cv-611 (N.D. Ohio), and United States ex rel. Duane Arnold and Mark Shipman v. Avanir Pharmaceuticals, Inc., Action No. 1:15-cv-01250 (N.D. Ga.).  Manieri will receive $12,389,823 of the civil settlement, and Arnold and Shipman will receive $5,365,000 of the civil settlement.  In addition to the $95,972,017 being paid to resolve the United States’ civil claims, Avanir will pay an additional $7,027,983 to resolve state Medicaid claims. 

The government is represented in the criminal case against Avanir by Assistant U.S. Attorney Christopher J. Huber, Deputy Chief Complex Frauds Section, U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Georgia, and against the individuals by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Michael Collyer and Megan Miller, U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Ohio.  The civil settlement was the result of the coordinated efforts of Assistant U.S. Attorneys Patricia Fitzgerald and Brendan Barker of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Ohio, Assistant U.S. Attorney Neeli Ben-David of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Georgia, and Senior Counsel Natalie Waites of the Civil Division’s Commercial Litigation Branch.  The investigation was conducted by the FBI, HHS-OIG, the Department of Defense Criminal Investigative Services, the Office of Personnel Management Office of Inspector General, the Department of Veteran’s Affair Office of Inspector General, and the Ohio Medicaid Fraud Control Unit.  Assistance was also provided by the Consumer Protection Branch of the Department of Justice, HHS Office of Counsel to the Inspector General and the National Association of Medicaid Fraud Control Units.   

Since President Trump signed the bipartisan Elder Abuse Prevention and Prosecution Act (EAPPA) into law, the Department of Justice has participated in hundreds of enforcement actions in criminal and civil cases that targeted or disproportionately affected seniors.  In particular, this past March the Department announced the largest elder fraud enforcement action in American history, charging more than 260 defendants in a nationwide elder fraud sweep.  The Department has likewise conducted hundreds of trainings and outreach sessions across the country since the passage of the Act.  

Except as to conduct admitted as part of the deferred prosecution agreement and its Statement of Facts, the claims resolved by the civil settlement are allegations only and there has been no determination of liability.          

ATLANTA - Wayne Patterson, who committed a string of eight armed robberies in the metro-Atlanta area, has been sentenced to federal prison. 

“Patterson’s decision to rob these businesses at gunpoint placed employees’ and customers’ lives in danger,” said U.S. Attorney Byung J. “BJay” Pak.  “Cooperation among federal and local law enforcement officers ended Patterson’s robbery spree and ensured the lengthy prison sentence he received.”

“Patterson terrorized employees and customers at seven different businesses he robbed in a nine day period in 2018 across three counties,” said Chris Hacker, Special Agent in Charge of FBI Atlanta. “Thanks to our partnerships with six different local law enforcement agencies we were able to stop him before someone got hurt or killed. Hopefully the victims of those robberies can take some solace with this sentencing.”

“The Covington Police appreciates the diligence of the employee to stay calm, cooperate with the robber, get an accurate tag number, and give details of the crimes to the responding officers. This great effort allowed CPD to locate and arrest the suspect thus ending his criminal activity,” said Stacey L. Cotton, Chief of the Covington Police Department.

According to U.S. Attorney Pak, the charges and other information presented in court: Patterson robbed seven Family Dollar and Dollar General Stores in the metro-Atlanta area over nine days in July 2018. In each case, Patterson browsed in the store, selected an item to supposedly purchase, and then approached the cash register. Once at the register, Patterson brandished a handgun and demanded money, and then fled the store with whatever money the cashier gave him. 

Approximately three weeks after committing the Family Dollar and Dollar General Store robberies, Patterson robbed a clothing store in Covington, Georgia, using the same tactic. On this occasion, however, an employee recorded the license plate of Patterson’s getaway car and provided that information to Covington Police who arrested Patterson shortly thereafter.

Wayne Patterson, 39, of Covington, Georgia, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Steve C. Jones to 20 years in prison to be followed by 5 years of supervised release.  Patterson was convicted on June 19, 2019 after he pleaded guilty to eight counts of Hobbs Act robbery and two counts of brandishing a firearm during a crime of violence.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Bret R. Hobson prosecuted the case.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Covington Police Department, the Clayton County Police Department, the Riverdale Police Department, the Cobb County Police Department, the Atlanta Police Department, and the Conyers Police Department investigated the case.

This case was brought as a part of Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN). In keeping with the Attorney General’s mission to reduce violent crime, the Northern District of Georgia’s PSN program focuses on prosecuting those individuals who most significantly drive violence in our communities, and supports and fosters partnerships between law enforcement and schools, the faith community, and local community leaders to prevent and deter future criminal conduct.

For further information please contact the U.S. Attorney’s Public Affairs Office at USAGAN.PressEmails@usdoj.gov 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.

ATLANTA – Joseph Orlando Hood, a career offender, has been sentenced following his armed robbery of three Waffle House restaurants and a DeKalb County motel. 

“Hood threatened the lives of multiple citizens and law enforcement officers during his crime spree,” said U.S. Attorney Byung J. “BJay” Pak. “He demonstrated a complete lack of concern for the victims in this case and justly deserved this lengthy prison sentence.”

“Criminals who choose to use guns to harm or intimidate their victims have no regard for others,” said ATF Special Agent in Charge Arthur Peralta.  “Mr. Hood initiated those acts of violence and his actions placed many innocent people at risk of great bodily harm or worse.”

According to U.S. Attorney Pak, the charges, and trial transcript: Hood robbed three Waffle House restaurants and a motel during a one-week span. Two of the restaurant robberies occurred on the same day. Hood shot at a customer during one of the Waffle House robberies. While he missed the customer, Hood nearly struck a Waffle House employee. During the motel robbery, Hood hit an employee on the head with the butt of his gun, knocking the employee unconscious.

Hood’s robbing spree ended during the early morning hours of November 17, 2016. That day, Hood entered a local bar and grill restaurant and walked towards a backroom where customers were seated. Hood pointed two firearms at the customers and demanded money. While Hood was taking money from the customers, one of the men tried to escape.  Hood fired his gun at the man and chased him through the Bar, while firing additional rounds. 

After fleeing the restaurant, Hood exchanged gunfire with the bar’s owner. During the gun battle, the bar owner shot Hood in the leg.  Hood then fled to a nearby apartment complex, where DeKalb County police officers arrested him. The officers transported Hood to a local hospital from where Hood subsequently escaped. Shortly after, Atlanta Police officers apprehended him.

Joseph Orlando Hood, 32, of Scottsdale, Georgia was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Steve C. Jones to 39 years in federal prison, followed by five years of supervised release. On February 12, 2019, a jury found Hood guilty of four counts of Hobbs Act robbery and four counts of brandishing a firearm during those robberies. 

This case was investigated by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and the DeKalb County Police Department.

Assistant U.S. Attorneys Dash A. Cooper and Joseph Plummer prosecuted the case.

This case was brought as a part of Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN). In keeping with the Attorney General’s mission to reduce violent crime, the Northern District of Georgia’s PSN program focuses on prosecuting those individuals who most significantly drive violence in our communities, and supports and fosters partnerships between law enforcement and schools, the faith community, and local community leaders to prevent and deter future criminal conduct.

For further information please contact the U.S. Attorney’s Public Affairs Office at USAGAN.PressEmails@usdoj.gov.