District of New Jersey

NEWARK, N.J. – A New York man was charged today with conspiring to kidnap and hold for ransom a Fort Lee, New Jersey, resident, U.S. Attorney Philip R. Sellinger announced.

Gabriel Anthony, 34, of Queens, New York, is charged by complaint with conspiring to commit kidnapping. He appeared today before U.S. Magistrate Judge Michael A. Hammer in Newark federal court and was detained.

Three conspirators – Fa Deng, 42, of Staten Island, New York, and Albert Ferrelli, 50, and Chiahao Lee, 30, both of Queens, New York – were charged by complaint on April 7, 2022 with conspiring to commit kidnapping.  

According to documents filed in the cases, and statements made in court:

On April 5, 2022, the four conspirators drove to the victim’s home in Fort Lee. Ferrelli and Anthony entered the victim’s home wearing masks. They bound the victim’s hands, placed duct tape over his eyes and mouth, and forced him into a vehicle. 

Law enforcement received information that kidnappers had sent the victim’s wife a photograph of the victim bound and duct-taped, demanding a ransom of approximately $680,000. When law enforcement responded to the victim’s home, they located what appeared to be duct tape with pieces of latex gloves stuck to it. After reviewing local surveillance footage, law enforcement identified a gray minivan used in the abduction. Other surveillance footage showed the minivan crossing the George Washington Bridge shortly after the kidnapping, and subsequently crossing into the Bronx and then into Queens. 

The following day, New York Police Department personnel responded to Prince Street in Queens, where they encountered Ferrelli guarding the door to a building. When officers approached Ferrelli, they heard a man screaming for help inside the building. Officers entered the building and found the victim with his hands bound, and duct tape over his eyes and mouth.

Law enforcement located the gray minivan used in the kidnapping parked in the driveway of Lee’s home in Queens. Records showed that the minivan had been rented by Lee’s wife at LaGuardia Airport on April 4, 2022.

The maximum penalty for the offense is life imprisonment.

U.S. Attorney Sellinger credited special agents of the FBI, under the direction of George M. Crouch Jr.; the Bergen County Prosecutor’s Office under the direction of Prosecutor Mark Musella; officers of the Fort Lee Police Department, under the direction of Chief Matthew J. Hintze; and the New York Police Department under the direction of Commissioner Keechant L. Sewell with the investigation leading to the charges.

The government is represented by Assistant U.S. Attorney Carolyn Silane of the Economic Crimes Unit in Newark.

The charges and allegations contained in the complaint are merely accusations, and the defendants are presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.

NEWARK, N.J. – An Essex County, New Jersey, man was convicted today for his role in scheming with at least one U.S. Postal Service (USPS) employee and others to steal credit cards from the mail and then steal victims’ identities in order to use the stolen cards to make hundreds of thousands of dollars of retail and online purchases, Attorney for the United States Vikas Khanna announced.

Dashaun Brown, 28, of Newark, was convicted on four counts of the superseding indictment against him: conspiracy to commit bank fraud, bank fraud, receipt and possession of stolen mail, and aggravated identity theft in connection with bank fraud, following a week-long trial before U.S. District Judge Kevin McNulty in Newark federal court. Brown was acquitted on one count of bank fraud and one count of aggravated identity theft.

According to documents filed in this case and statements made in court:

Dashaun Brown, Jahad Salter, 29, and Hakir Brown,­ 28, engaged USPS employees, including Khadijah Banks-Oneal, 31, to steal credit cards from the mail in exchange for compensation. Once they obtained the stolen cards, Dashaun Brown and his conspirators posed as the accountholders of the stolen credit cards when calling the banks that issued the cards and used personal identifying information belonging to the accountholders to activate the cards and to obtain or change information about the stolen credit cards. They then used the stolen credit cards to make purchases at retail stores in New Jersey and elsewhere, resulting in attempted losses of over $1 million.

Salter, Hakir Brown, and Banks-Oneal previously pleaded guilty for their respective roles in this scheme and are awaiting sentencing. Salter pleaded guilty on April 12, 2022, to conspiracy to commit bank fraud and being a felon in possession of a firearm, and his sentencing is scheduled for Aug. 30, 2022. Hakir Brown pleaded guilty on Feb. 25, 2022, to conspiracy to commit bank fraud, and his sentencing is scheduled for July 7, 2022. Banks-Oneal pleaded guilty on March 30, 2022, to receiving bribes as a federal employee, and he is scheduled to be sentenced on Aug. 10, 2022.

The charges of conspiracy to commit bank fraud and bank fraud are each punishable by a statutory maximum sentence of 30 years in prison and a maximum fine of $1 million. The charge of receipt and possession of stolen mail is punishable by a statutory maximum sentence of five years in prison and a maximum fine of $250,000. The aggravated identity theft charge carries a mandatory penalty of two years in prison, which must run consecutively to any other prison sentence imposed. Sentencing is scheduled for Sept. 6, 2022. 

Attorney for the United States Khanna credited postal inspectors of the U.S. Postal Inspection Service in Newark, under the direction of Postal Inspector of Charge Damon Wood, Philadelphia Division; and special agents of the U.S. Postal Service, Office of Inspector General, Northeast Area Field Office, under the direction of Special Agent in Charge Matthew Modafferi, with the investigation leading to today’s guilty verdict. He also thanked the U.S. Marshals Service, District of New Jersey, under the direction of Marshal Juan Mattos Jr.; the U.S. Secret Service, New York Field Office, under the direction of Special Agent in Charge Patrick J. Freaney; the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration, Mid-Atlantic Field Division, under the direction of Special Agent in Charge Andrew S. McKay; the Department of Homeland Security, Homeland Security Investigations, Newark Field Office, under the direction of Special Agent in Charge Jason J. Molina; the Livingston, New Jersey Police Department, under the direction of Chief Gary Marshuetz; the Newark Police Department, under the direction of Department of Public Safety Director Brian O’Hara; the Essex County, New Jersey Sheriff’s Office, under the direction of Sheriff Armando B. Fontoura; the New Providence, New Jersey, Police Department, under the direction of Chief of Police Theresa A. Gazaway; and the Berkeley Heights, New Jersey, Police Department, under the direction of Chief of Police Jason Massimino, for their assistance.

The government is represented by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Sara F. Merin and Elaine K. Lou of the Special Prosecutions Division in Newark.

CAMDEN, N.J. – A New York man was sentenced today to 235 months in prison for enticing and transporting a minor across state lines to engage in sexual activity, and for receiving images of child sexual abuse from another minor, U.S. Attorney Philip R. Sellinger announced.

Richard Gabriel Piedra Ordonez, 37, of Queens, New York, previously pleaded guilty by videoconference before U.S. District Judge Noel L. Hillman to a three-count information charging him with one count of coercion and enticement of a minor; one count of transporting a minor to engage in criminal sexual activity; and one count of receiving child pornography.  Judge Hillman imposed the sentence today in Camden federal court.

According to documents filed in this case and statements made in court:

In April 2019, Piedra began communicating with a New Jersey resident who was under the age of 16 using Snapchat and other social media and messaging platforms. Piedra was aware of the minor’s age and misrepresented his own age as 19 when he was actually 35 years old.  Over the course of the subsequent months, Piedra and the victim met in person and engaged sexual activity.  On multiple occasions, Piedra traveled to New Jersey to have sex with the victim and drove the victim to his home in New York City, where they engaged in sexual activity.

Federal law enforcement agents executing a search warrant on Piedra’s residence in December 2019 found sexually explicit images and videos of minors on a hard drive located in Piedra’s bedroom. Further investigation revealed that, in 2017, Piedra had communicated with an Indiana resident who was under the age of 15 using various social media and messaging platforms. Piedra was aware of the minor’s age and misrepresented his own age as 19 years old.  Piedra requested and received sexually explicit images and videos from the Indiana victim.

In addition to the prison term, Judge Hillman sentenced Piedra to 10 years of supervised release and ordered him to register as a sex offender.

U.S. Attorney Sellinger credited special agents with FBI’s Atlantic City Child Exploitation & Human Trafficking Task Force, under the direction of Special Agent in Charge George M. Crouch Jr. in Newark; the Atlantic County Prosecutor’s Office, under the direction of Acting Prosecutor Cary Shill; and the N.J State Police, under the direction of Col. Patrick J. Callahan, with the investigation leading to today’s sentencing. He also thanked the Cape May County Prosecutor’s Office, under the direction of Prosecutor Jeffrey H. Sutherland, for its assistance with the investigation.

The government is represented by Assistant U.S. Attorney Daniel A. Friedman of the U.S. Attorney’s Office’s Criminal Division in Camden.

NOTE: Criminal complaint against Nisim Davydov has been dismissed. Link to dismissal order is at end of press release.

NEWARK, N.J. –The Department of Justice announced criminal charges against 21 defendants in nine federal districts across the United States for their alleged participation in various health care related fraud schemes that exploited the COVID-19 pandemic. These cases allegedly resulted in over $149 million in COVID-19-related false billings to federal programs and theft from federally-funded pandemic assistance programs. In connection with the enforcement action, the department seized over $8 million in cash and other fraud proceeds.

“The Department of Justice’s Health Care Fraud Unit and our partners are dedicated to rooting out schemes that have exploited the pandemic,” Assistant Attorney General Kenneth A. Polite Jr. of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division said.

“Billions of dollars have been spent by the federal government to help individuals and their companies with the economic impact of the COVID-19 epidemic,” U.S. Attorney Philip R. Sellinger, District of New Jersey, said. “Unfortunately, unscrupulous people have stolen millions of dollars through a variety of schemes. We will continue to bring cases to fight this kind of fraud.”

“This COVID-19 health care fraud enforcement action involves extraordinary efforts to prosecute some of the largest and most wide-ranging pandemic frauds detected to date,” Director for COVID-19 Fraud Enforcement Kevin Chambers said.

The April 20, 2022, announcement builds on the success of the May 2021 COVID-19 Enforcement Action and involves the prosecution of various COVID-19 health care fraud schemes.

In the District of New Jersey:

• Abid Syed, Taquir Din, Tamer Mohamed, Abdul Rauf, Tauquir Khan, and Nisim Davydov, all of New Jersey, are charged by criminal complaint with conspiracy to violate the Federal Anti-Kickback Statute for their roles in an alleged scheme to defraud Medicare by paying illegal kickbacks and bribes of over $250,000 for laboratory tests for COVID-19 pathogen tests. Syed and Din owned and controlled Metpath, a clinical laboratory in Parsippany, New Jersey, which performed and billed Medicare for COVID-19 diagnostic testing. Khan, Mohamed, and Davydov were marketers who supplied thousands of COVID-19 diagnostic tests to Metpath and who received kickbacks and bribes from Syed and Din for doing so. The complaint alleges that Metpath tried to conceal its kickback payments to the marketers through shell companies set up and controlled by Rauf. The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney DeNae Thomas of the Health Care Fraud Unit of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of New Jersey.

 

• Lisa Hammell, 39, of Turnersville, New Jersey, an employee of the U.S. Postal Service, was charged by indictment with an alleged conspiracy to defraud the United States and fraud in connection with identification documents for her role in creating and distributing to others fraudulent COVID-19 vaccination record cards. Beginning in or around March 2021, Hammell allegedly began selling fraudulent COVID-19 vaccination record cards that she created by designing a COVID-19 vaccination record card and printing dozens of fraudulent cards while working at a post office. Hammell allegedly sold at least 400 fraudulent COVID-19 vaccination cards to unvaccinated people. As alleged in the indictment, the goal of the conspiracy was to undermine the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)’s function of administering the COVID-19 vaccination program and ensuring that genuine COVID-19 vaccination cards containing accurate information are distributed to vaccine recipients only by authorized providers. The case is being prosecuted by Trial Attorneys Kelly M. Lyons and Darren C. Halverson of the Newark Strike Force.

 

The enforcement actions were led and coordinated by Assistant Chief Jacob Foster and Trial Attorney D. Keith Clouser of the National Rapid Response Strike Force, and Assistant Chief Justin Woodard of the Health Care Fraud Unit’s Gulf Coast Strike Force in the Criminal Division’s Fraud Section. The Fraud Section’s National Rapid Response Strike Force and the Health Care Fraud Unit’s Strike Forces (SF) in Brooklyn, the Gulf Coast, Miami, Los Angeles, and Newark, as well as the U.S. Attorneys’ Offices for the District of Maryland, District of New Jersey, District of Utah, Northern District of California, and Western District of Tennessee are prosecuting these cases. Descriptions of each case involved in this enforcement action are available on the department’s website at: https://www.justice.gov/criminal-fraud/health-care-fraud-unit/case-summaries.

In addition to the FBI, HHS-OIG, and CPI/CMS, the U.S. Postal Inspection Service; Department of Defense Office of Inspector General; Department of the Interior Office of the Inspector General; Department of Labor Office of the Inspector General; Food and Drug Administration Office of the Inspector General; Homeland Security Investigations; U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs Office of the Inspector General; and other federal and local law enforcement agencies participated in the law enforcement action.

The Fraud Section leads the Health Care Fraud Strike Force. Since its inception in March 2007, the Health Care Fraud Strike Force, which maintains 15 strike forces operating in 24 federal districts, has charged more than 4,200 defendants who have collectively billed the Medicare program for nearly $19 billion. In addition, the CMS, working in conjunction with the HHS-OIG, are taking steps to increase accountability and decrease the presence of fraudulent providers.

On May 17, 2021, the Attorney General established the COVID-19 Fraud Enforcement Task Force to marshal the resources of the Department of Justice in partnership with agencies across government to enhance efforts to combat and prevent pandemic-related fraud. The Task Force bolsters efforts to investigate and prosecute the most culpable domestic and international criminal actors and assists agencies tasked with administering relief programs to prevent fraud by, among other methods, augmenting and incorporating existing coordination mechanisms, identifying resources and techniques to uncover fraudulent actors and their schemes, and sharing and harnessing information and insights gained from prior enforcement efforts. For more information on the department’s response to the pandemic, please visit https://www.justice.gov/coronavirus.

The Department of Justice needs the public’s assistance in remaining vigilant and reporting suspected fraudulent activity. To report suspected fraud, contact the National Center for Disaster Fraud (NCDF) at (866) 720-5721 or file an online complaint at: https://www.justice.gov/disaster-fraud/webform/ncdf-disaster-complaint-form. Complaints filed will be reviewed at the NCDF and referred to federal, state, local, or international law enforcement or regulatory agencies for investigation.

An indictment, complaint, or information is merely an allegation, and all defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.

 

davydovdismissal.pdf

NEWARK, N.J. – U.S. Attorney Philip R. Sellinger announced today his office’s participation in a first of its kind, anti-hate crime outreach program entitled United Against Hate, which seeks to directly connect federal, state, and local law enforcement with traditionally marginalized communities in order to build trust and encourage the reporting of hate crimes and hate incidents.

Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division joined U.S. Attorney Sellinger, Acting New Jersey Attorney General Matthew J. Platkin, and FBI Acting Special Agent in Charge Terence Reilly to announce their federal and state partnership on this new initiative. After they spoke to an audience of community leaders, civil rights advocates, and community members, subject matter experts from their offices engaged in a presentation and direct discussions with community leaders and advocates about taking steps to identify, report, and prevent hate crimes and incidents.

“Hate crimes and discrimination are antithetical to the core principles underlying our democracy,” U.S. Attorney Sellinger said. “No one should ever be subject to acts of discrimination or hate because of where they are from, what they look like, whom they love, or how they worship. In response to a dramatic increase in hate crimes and hate incidents, we are launching the United Against Hate Initiative in New Jersey. Combatting hate crimes, hate incidents, and discrimination is core to our mission, and through dynamic outreach and prevention efforts, we are eager to take steps to combat hate beyond prosecution.”

“The U.S. Department of Justice continues to marshal all resources at its disposal to hold people who engage in unlawful, bias-motivated acts of hate accountable,” Assistant Attorney General Clarke of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division said. “Through United Against Hate, we are bringing together the Justice Department, local law enforcement, and community leaders to strengthen our overall efforts to combat hate crimes and prevent hate incidents. Our communities, schools, workplaces and homes are all safer when we stand unified in the fight against hate.”

“The ripple effect of hate crimes is felt hundreds, even thousands of miles away,” FBI Acting Special Agent in Charge Reilly said. “People who identify with those victims see themselves and wonder ‘will it happen here?’ and ‘Will I be next?’ The Constitution of the United States grants us many freedoms. When any one of those freedoms – or any other constitutional right – is threatened or violated, we have to respond. And when I say ‘we,’ I’m not speaking just as a member of the FBI. I’m speaking as a member of the community. Because if we don’t respond, we risk the erosion of our very identity as a nation. That's why the FBI embarked on a hate crimes awareness campaign last year. We want people to call us if they have witnessed or been subjected to a hate crime.”

“The numbers are clear. Hate and bias are at an all-time high across our nation and in New Jersey,” Acting Attorney General Platkin said. “One of the strongest tools we have at our disposal is the collaboration between government and community stakeholders. That is why I am proud to stand shoulder to shoulder with federal and state partners who share the same commitment and urgency to stem the tide of hate.”

The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of New Jersey was chosen as one of three districts, out of 94 districts in the nation, to advance the United Against Hate outreach initiative. The U.S. Attorney’s Office plans to engage with communities across New Jersey to deepen connections with those communities, further hate crimes prevention efforts, and encourage more people to report hate crimes and hate incidents.

Last month, U.S. Attorney Sellinger announced the creation of a Civil Rights Division within the U.S. Attorney’s Office. This new division, which enforces both civil and criminal civil rights laws, will engage with local community members, advocacy groups, and other federal and state agencies to protect civil rights. The division will lead the U.S. Attorney’s Office’s efforts in implementing the United Against Hate initiative.

Members of the public may report possible civil rights violations through the https://www.justice.gov/usao-nj/civil-rights-enforcement or may call the U.S. Attorney’s Civil Rights Hotline at (855) 281-3339.

TRENTON, N.J. – An Ocean County, New Jersey, man was charged with federal hate crimes for a series of violent assaults on members of the Orthodox Jewish community in and around Lakewood, New Jersey, U.S. Attorney Philip R. Sellinger for the District of New Jersey and Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division announced today.

Dion Marsh, 27, of Manchester, New Jersey, is charged with four counts of violating the federal Matthew Shepard and James Byrd Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act and one count of carjacking. With respect to the hate crimes violations, Marsh is charged with willfully causing bodily injury to four victims, and attempting to kill and cause injuries with dangerous weapons to three of them, all because they were Jewish. Marsh is in custody on related state charges and will make his initial appearance on the federal charges on a date to be determined.

According to documents filed in this case and statements made in court:

At 1:18 p.m. on April 8, 2022, Marsh forced a visibly identifiable Orthodox Jewish man out of his car in Lakewood, assaulting and injuring him in the process. Marsh took control of the man’s car and drove away. A surveillance video in the area captured Marsh arriving in the area prior to the carjacking and assault.

At 6:06 p.m., Marsh was in Lakewood driving a different car when he deliberately struck another visibly identifiable Orthodox Jewish man with the vehicle, attempting to kill the victim and causing him to suffer several broken bones.

At 6:55 p.m., Marsh, once again driving the vehicle that he had stolen from the first victim, attempted to kill another visibly identifiable Orthodox Jewish man. Marsh used the stolen vehicle to deliberately strike the man, who was walking in Lakewood. Marsh got out of the vehicle and stabbed the man in the chest with a knife, causing the victim to suffer a stab wound and other injuries.

At 8:23 p.m., Marsh, still driving the vehicle that he had stolen from the first victim, used it to deliberately strike another visibly identifiable Orthodox Jewish man who was walking in nearby Jackson Township, New Jersey, attempting to kill the man and causing him to suffer several broken bones and internal injuries.

At 12:00 a.m. on April 9, 2022, law enforcement officers arrested Marsh at his residence.

The three hate crimes violations charging Marsh with attempting to kill those victims each carry a statutory maximum term of life in prison and a $250,000 fine. The hate crime violation charging Marsh with assaulting the other victim carries a statutory maximum term of 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine. The carjacking charge carries a statutory maximum term of 15 years in prison and a $250,000 fine.

U.S. Attorney Sellinger credited special agents of the FBI, Newark Division, Red Bank Resident Agency, under the direction of Special Agent in Charge George M. Crouch Jr.; officers of the Lakewood Police Department, under the direction of Chief of Police Gregory H. Meyer; officers of the Jackson Township Police Department, under the direction of Chief of Police Matthew Kunz; officers of the Ocean County Sheriff’s Office, under the direction of Sheriff Michael G. Mastronardy; prosecutors and detectives of the Ocean County Prosecutor’s Office, under the direction of Prosecutor Bradley D. Billhimer, and officers of the New Jersey State Police, under the direction of Superintendent Col. Patrick J. Callahan, with the investigation leading to the charges.

The government is represented by Assistant U.S. Attorney R. Joseph Gribko of the U.S. Attorney’s Office’s Civil Rights Division.

The charges and allegations contained in the complaint are merely accusations and the defendant is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.

NEWARK, N.J. – A Union County, New Jersey, man today admitted committing wire fraud and making false reports and statements to and for the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), U.S. Attorney Philip R. Sellinger announced.

Shenandoah Adams Sr., aka “Shane Adams Sr.,” 56, of New Providence, New Jersey, pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge Esther Salas to one count of an indictment charging him with wire fraud and an information charging him with one count of making false reports and statements to and for HUD.

According to documents filed in this case and statements made in court:

Adams was a principal of Adams Property Management and Investment Group LLC (Adams Property Management), which purchased property on Hilton Street in East Orange, New Jersey in 2014. The following year, Adams arranged for a close associate to obtain a $153,562 loan from a mortgage lender to purchase the Hilton Street property from Adams Property Management. After the associate’s mortgage payments on the Hilton Street property became substantially in arrears, Adams arranged for the associate to sell the property to another associate for $255,000. The closing on that sale commenced on May 31, 2016; as of that date, the total amount to pay off the first associate’s mortgage was $210,565, including interest and fees. On June 1, 2016, Adams and the first associate had a telephone conversation with the mortgage servicer for the associate’s lender, during which Adams made false and fraudulent statements to induce the lender to reduce the payoff amount. The lender agreed to reduce the associate’s payoff amount to $190,000. At Adams’s direction, the associate cashed the check for the amount of the reduction – $20,665 – and delivered the cash proceeds to Adams.

Adams also was a principal of VH Electrical and Plumbing LLC.  On March 11, 2015, Adams, on behalf of VH, entered into a contract with the Orange Public Library to replace the Library’s HVAC/chiller unit for $49,000. The project was funded by a HUD Community Development Block Grant to the library and Orange. Adams sent a library representative documentation to give the false impression that Adams was taking steps to order a replacement chiller. Adams received $40,000 from the library, but did not replace the library’s chiller. 

The charge of wire fraud carries a maximum potential penalty of 20 years in prison and a maximum $250,000 fine. The charge of making false reports and statements to HUD carries a maximum potential penalty of one year in prison and a maximum potential fine of $100,000. Sentencing is scheduled for Sept. 29, 2022.

U.S. Attorney Sellinger credited special agents of the FBI, under the direction of Special Agent in Charge George M. Crouch Jr. in Newark, and special agents of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, Office of Inspector General, under the direction of Special Agent in Charge Christina Scaringi, with the investigation leading to today’s guilty plea.

The government is represented by Assistant U.S. Attorney Cari Fais, Chief of the Opioid Abuse Prevention and Enforcement Unit, and Assistant U.S. Attorneys J Fortier Imbert and Sara F. Merin of the U.S. Attorney’s Office’s Special Prosecutions Division.

CAMDEN, N.J. – A medical sales representative from Gloucester County, New Jersey, was convicted today on 18 counts related to defrauding public health insurance plans out of more than $4.6 million, Attorney for the United States Vikas Khanna announced.

Steven Monaco, 40, of Sewell, New Jersey, was convicted on April 19, 2022, of one count of conspiracy to commit health care fraud and wire fraud, eight counts of health care fraud, eight counts of wire fraud, and one count of conspiracy to violate the Anti-Kickback Statute and the Travel Act, following a nine-day trial before U.S. District Judge Robert B. Kugler. 

According to documents filed in this case and the evidence at trial:

Monaco was a leader of two related fraud schemes that resulted in millions of dollars of loss to public health insurance plans. In the first scheme, Monaco, as a sales representative for a medical diagnostic laboratory, orchestrated a kickback scheme with a doctor, Daniel Oswari.  Monaco arranged for Oswari’s medical assistant to be placed on the payroll of the laboratory while continuing to work as a medical assistant for Oswari’s practice. In exchange, Oswari referred all his lab work to the laboratory for testing between late 2013 and 2016, and Monaco received $36,000 in commissions from the laboratory.

In the second fraud scheme, Monaco and his conspirator, pharmaceutical sales representative Richard Zappala, discovered that certain insurance plans – including New Jersey state and local government plans – paid for very expensive compounded prescription medications between 2014 and 2016. Monaco and Zappala organized a scheme in which they received a percentage of the insurance reimbursement for compounded medication prescriptions that they arranged. Monaco and Zappala approached medical professionals and paid them to sign medically unnecessary prescriptions for the compounded medications. Monaco paid Oswari and his staff to identify and prescribe the compound medications to patients of Oswari’s practice with the requisite insurance plans, as well as other people that Oswari did not medically evaluate.  Monaco also arranged for other medical professionals – including Dr. Michael Goldis and his cousin, physician’s assistant Jason Chacker – to sign medically unnecessary prescriptions for members of Monaco’s family and others whom these medical professionals did not examine.  Monaco directly compensated Chacker with money and tickets to sporting events, and Zappala paid Goldis cash to sign the medically unnecessary prescriptions for members of Monaco’s family and others. Monaco also directly paid individuals who had coverage under the public insurance plans and agreed to receive prescriptions for the compounded medications. As a result of this scheme, Monaco received approximately $350,000 and caused a loss of over $4.6 million to the insurance plans.

Monaco was initially charged in an indictment in 2019 with Oswari, Goldis, and medical assistant Aaron Jones. Oswari pleaded guilty in December 2019 to fraud and kickback charges.  Goldis pleaded guilty in June 2020 to four counts of making false statements relating to health care matters. Jones pleaded guilty in March 2022 to health care fraud conspiracy. Zappala also pleaded guilty in September 2017 to conspiracy to commit health care fraud. Chacker pleaded guilty in October 2019 to conspiracy to commit health care fraud. Oswari, Goldis, Chacker, and Zappala all await sentencing.

The health care fraud and wire fraud conspiracy count on which Monaco was convicted carries a maximum potential penalty of 20 years in prison. The Anti-Kickback Statute and Travel Act conspiracy carries a maximum penalty of five years in prison. The health care fraud counts each carry a maximum of 10 years in prison, and the wire fraud counts each carry a maximum of 20 years in prison. All the counts also carry a $250,000 fine, or twice the gain or loss from the offense. Sentencing for Monaco is scheduled for Aug. 24, 2022.   

Attorney for the United States Khanna credited agents of the FBI’s Atlantic City Resident Agency, under the direction of Special Agent in Charge George M. Crouch Jr. in Newark; IRS Office of Criminal Investigation, under the direction of Acting Special Agent in Charge Tammy Tomlins in Newark; and the U.S. Department of Labor Office of Inspector General, New York Region, under the direction of Special Agent in Charge Jonathan Mellone, with the investigation leading to today’s conviction.

The government is represented by R. David Walk Jr., Chief of the Government Fraud Unit, and Assistant U.S. Attorney Christina O. Hud of the Criminal Division.

CAMDEN, N.J. – A Cumberland County, New Jersey man pleaded guilty today to possessing with intent to distribute methamphetamine, U.S. Attorney Philip R. Sellinger announced.

Charles Sistrunk Jr., 39, of Millville, New Jersey, pleaded guilty by videoconference before U.S. District Judge Robert B. Kugler to an information charging him with possession with intent to distribute 500 mg or more of a substance containing methamphetamine.

According to documents filed in this case and statements made in court:

On Oct. 13, 2020, agents of the FBI executed a court-authorized search warrant at Sistrunk’s residence and found over 3.7 kilograms of crystal methamphetamine, or “ice.” In his guilty plea today, Sistrunk admitted to possessing the methamphetamine with intent to distribute it to others.

The charge carries a mandatory minimum term of 10 years in prison, a maximum term of life in prison and a maximum $10 million fine. Sentencing is scheduled for Aug. 23, 2022.

U.S. Attorney Sellinger credited special agents of the FBI, under the direction of Special Agent in Charge George M. Crouch Jr. in Newark, with the investigation leading to today’s guilty plea. He also thanked the Drug Enforcement Administration; the Department of Homeland Security, Homeland Security Investigations; the New Jersey State Police; the Atlantic County Prosecutor’s Office; the Atlantic County Sheriff’s Office; the Atlantic City Police Department; the Pleasantville Police Department; and the Millville Police Department for their assistance in the investigation.

This case is part of an Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces (OCDETF) operation. OCDETF identifies, disrupts, and dismantles the highest-level criminal organizations that threaten the United States using a prosecutor-led, intelligence-driven, multi-agency approach. Additional information about the OCDETF Program can be found at https://www.justice.gov/OCDETF.

The government is represented by Assistant U.S. Attorney Andrew B. Johns of the Criminal Division in Camden.

TRENTON, N.J. – An Ocean County, New Jersey, man was sentenced today to 18 months in prison for fraudulently obtaining chainsaws and chainsaw parts from his employer Amtrak and then selling this equipment for personal profit, U.S. Attorney Philip R. Sellinger announced.

Jose Rodriguez, 49, of Brick, New Jersey, previously pleaded guilty by videoconference before U.S. District Judge Zahid N. Quraishi to an information charging him with one count of mail fraud. Judge Quraishi imposed the sentence today

According to documents filed in this case and statements made in court:

Rodriguez had been an Amtrak employee since October 2007, most recently as a senior engineer and repairman, based out of an Amtrak facility in North Brunswick, New Jersey. Between March 2012 and July 2020, Rodriguez obtained approximately 114 chainsaws, 122 chainsaw replacement bars, and 222 replacement chains from Amtrak, the total value of which was over $76,000, under the false pretense that this equipment would be used for Amtrak projects, but then sold the equipment either on an online auction service or directly to purchasers. Rodriguez used the U.S. Postal Service to mail the stolen chainsaw and chainsaw parts to purchasers throughout the United States, including purchasers in Ohio, Pennsylvania, and West Virginia.

In addition to the prison term, Judge Quraishi sentenced Rodriguez to three years of supervised release and ordered restitution of $76,379 and forfeiture of $53,381.

U.S. Attorney Sellinger credited detectives from Amtrak Police New York Division and Mid-Atlantic Division, under the direction of Chief Sam Dotson, and special agents from Amtrak Office of Inspector General, under the direction of Special Agent in Charge Michael J. Waters, Eastern Field Office, with the investigation leading to today’s sentencing.

The government is represented by Assistant U.S. Attorney Leslie Faye Schwartz in the Special Prosecutions Division and Cari Fais, Chief of the Criminal Division’s Opioids Unit.

TRENTON, N.J. – A Monmouth County, New Jersey, man was sentenced today to 60 months in prison for distributing cocaine in Monmouth County and conspiring to illegally sell firearms, including multiple handguns and a semi-automatic rifle, in and around Monmouth and Ocean counties, U.S. Attorney Philip R. Sellinger announced.

Enrique Quijada, 25, of Freehold, New Jersey, previously pleaded guilty by videoconference before U.S. District Judge Anne E. Thompson to a superseding information charging him with one count of conspiracy to engage in firearms trafficking, one count of possession of a firearm by an alien unlawfully present in the United States, and one count of distribution of cocaine. Judge Thompson imposed the sentence today in Trenton federal court.

According to documents filed in this case and statements made in court:

From May 2020 through September 2020, Manuel Espinosa-Ozoria, Waldin Espinosa-Ozoria, Enrique Quijada, Javier Rodriguez-Valpais, and Jacquelyn DeJesus were members of a gun trafficking conspiracy that spanned from Florida to New Jersey. DeJesus allegedly assisted Manuel Espinosa-Ozoria – the alleged leader of the conspiracy – by acting as a “straw purchaser” of firearms in Florida. Manuel Espinosa-Ozoria and DeJesus then transported the firearms from Florida to Monmouth County, where members of the conspiracy, including Quijada, sold the firearms to individuals working at the direction and supervision of the FBI. Rodriguez-Valpais sold a .223 caliber semi-automatic rifle to Quijada, who in turn sold the rifle to an individual working at the direction and supervision of the FBI. In addition to gun trafficking, Quijada admitted selling cocaine to an individual working at the direction and supervision of the FBI.

Three other members of the gun trafficking conspiracy – Javier Rodriguez-Valpais, Waldin Espinosa-Ozoria, and Jacquelyn DeJesus – previously have pleaded guilty in connection with this case. The charges against Manuel Espinosa-Ozoria remain pending.   

In addition to the prison term, Judge Thompson sentenced Quijada to three years of supervised release. 

U.S. Attorney Sellinger credited special agents of the FBI, Newark Division, under the direction of Special Agent in Charge George M. Crouch Jr., with the investigation leading to today’s sentencing. He also thanked the FBI Tampa Division, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, Newark and Tampa Field Divisions, and the Freehold Borough, New Jersey, police department for their assistance in the investigation.

In July 2021 the U.S. Department of Justice launched five cross-jurisdictional strike forces to help reduce gun violence by disrupting illegal firearms trafficking in key regions across the country. Leveraging existing resources, the regional strike forces will better ensure sustained and focused coordination across jurisdictions and help stem the supply of illegally trafficked firearms from source cities, through other communities, and into five key market regions: New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, the San Francisco Bay Area/Sacramento Region and Washington, D.C. According to gun trace data, a significant number of firearms recovered in the New York/northern New Jersey area originate from outside the area. The new strike force will help ensure sustained and focused coordination between law enforcement and prosecutors in the New York/northern New Jersey area with their counterparts in those other locations.

The government is represented by Assistant U.S. Attorney Ian D. Brater of the U.S. Attorney’s Office’s Criminal Division in Trenton.

For the defendant whose charges remain pending, the charges and allegations are merely accusations, and he is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.

NEWARK, N.J. – A former U.S. Postal Service USPS employee today admitted that he conspired to fraudulently obtain unemployment insurance benefits, U.S. Attorney Philip R. Sellinger announced. 

Ross Clayton, 31, of Irvington, New Jersey, pleaded guilty by videoconference before U.S. District Judge Julien X. Neals to an information charging him with conspiring to commit wire fraud.

According to documents filed in the case and statements made in court:

On March 27, 2020, the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (CARES Act) was signed into law. The CARES Act created a new temporary federal unemployment insurance program called Pandemic Unemployment Assistance (PUA), which provided unemployment insurance benefits for individuals who were not eligible for other types of unemployment (the self-employed, independent contractors, gig economy workers). The CARES Act also created a new temporary federal program called Federal Pandemic Unemployment Assistance (FPUC) that provided an additional $600 weekly benefit to those eligible for PUA and regular unemployment insurance benefits.

Clayton was a USPS employee. Clayton took unemployment insurance benefits-related mail, including debit cards, from a USPS location in New Jersey and used that mail to obtain unemployment insurance benefits to which he was not entitled.

The charge of conspiring to commit wire fraud is punishable by a maximum potential penalty of 20 years in prison and a fine of the greater of $250,000, twice the gross profits to Stokes or twice the gross loss suffered by the victims. Sentencing is scheduled for Sept. 7, 2022.

U.S. Attorney Sellinger credited special agents of the U.S. Department of Labor, Office of Inspector General, under the direction of Special Agent in Charge Jonathan Mellone in Manhattan; and postal inspectors of the U.S. Postal Inspection Service in Newark, under the direction of Postal Inspector in Charge Damon Wood, Philadelphia Division, with the investigation leading to today’s guilty plea.

The government is represented by Assistant U.S. Attorney Andrew Kogan of the U.S. Attorney’s Office Cybercrime Unit in Newark.

NEWARK, N.J. – A former hotel employee of a nationwide hotel chain today admitted his role in a scheme to embezzle over $300,000 from the company, U.S. Attorney Philip R. Sellinger announced.

Marco Alvarez, 46, of Bloomfield, New Jersey, pleaded guilty by videoconference before U.S. District Judge Esther Salas to an information charging him with one count of wire fraud. 

According to documents filed in this case and statements made in court:

As senior analyst for strategic sourcing for a national hotel chain, Alvarez was responsible for administering the company’s corporate credit card program. He was authorized to approve applications for credit cards and to access account information for such credit cards. From April 2014 through January 2020, Alvarez embezzled funds from the hotel through the unauthorized use of the hotel’s corporate credit cards to purchase goods and services. Alvarez admitted that he knowingly opened and used corporate credit cards to make $317,582 in unauthorized personal purchases and attempted to conceal them by transferring credits owed to the hotel to these credit cards to offset the unauthorized charges made.

The charge of wire fraud carries a maximum potential penalty of 20 years in prison and a fine of the greater of $250,000, or twice the gross profits or loss, whichever is greatest. Sentencing is scheduled for Sept. 21, 2022.

U.S. Attorney Sellinger credited postal inspectors of the U.S. Postal Inspection Service in Newark, under the direction of Postal Inspector in Charge Damon Wood, Philadelphia Division; and special agents of the U.S. Attorney’s Office, under the direction of Special Agent in Charge Thomas Mahoney, with the investigation leading to today’s guilty plea.

The government is represented by Assistant U.S. Attorney Fatime Meka Cano of the U.S. Attorney’s Office Government Fraud Unit in Newark.

NEWARK, N.J. – Four individuals were charged with conspiring to launder money taken from victims across the United States, many of whom were elderly, as a part of a series of romance scams, U.S. Attorney Philip R. Sellinger announced today.

William Kwabena Goeh, 47, of Somerset, New Jersey; Nana Yaw Marfo, 37, of Virginia; and Shannon Braxton, 45, and Chevon Braxton, 42, both of Maryland, are each charged by complaint with one count of money laundering conspiracy. Goeh was arrested this morning in New Jersey, had his initial appearance by videoconference before U.S. Magistrate Judge James B. Clark III, and was released on $100,000 unsecured bond.

Marfo was arrested this morning in Virginia and is scheduled to have his initial appearance this afternoon before the U.S. Magistrate Judge Ivan Davis in the Eastern District of Virginia. The Braxtons were both arrested this morning in Maryland and are scheduled to have their initial appearances before U.S. Magistrate Judge Gina L. Simms in the District of Maryland. Marfo and the Braxtons are scheduled to have their initial appearances in the District of New Jersey on.

According to documents filed in this case and statements made in court:

The defendants used bank accounts and accounts at credit unions to launder the proceeds of money obtained by victims of romance scams. Several victims throughout the United States fell victim to romance scams after meeting individuals online who they thought were interested in a romantic relationship. The victims, many of whom were elderly, sent thousands of dollars to accounts controlled by Goeh, Marfo, the Braxtons, and others, believing the money was being sent for the benefit of their online romantic interest. Goeh and Marfo opened up business bank accounts in the names of various entities to conceal the romance scam fraud proceeds. Goeh received at least $530,000; Marfo received at least $4.7 million; Shannon Braxton received at least $500,000; and Chevon Braxton received at least $1.3 million. The Braxtons withdrew a large portion of the fraud proceeds as cash, while Goeh and Marfo wired thousands of dollars overseas, including to accounts in China, the United Arab Emirates, Italy, Singapore, and Mauritius.      

The money laundering conspiracy charge has a maximum term of 20 years in prison and a maximum fine of $500,000 or twice the value of the funds involved in the transfer, whichever is greater.

U.S. Attorney Sellinger credited special agents of the FBI, under the direction of Special Agents in Charge George M. Crouch Jr. in Newark and Eric B. Smith in Cleveland, Ohio; special agents of the U.S. Department of Labor’s Office of Inspector General, under the direction of Special Agent in Charge Irene Lindow in Chicago, Illinois, and the U.S. Secret Service, under the direction of Special Agent in Charge Paul Duran in San Antonio, Texas, with the investigation leading to the charges.  U.S. Attorney Sellinger also thanks the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Ohio for its assistance. 

The government is represented by Assistant U.S. Attorney Jamie L. Hoxie of the U.S. Attorney’s Office’s Cybercrime Unit in Newark.

The charges and allegations contained in the complaints are merely accusations and the defendants are considered innocent unless and until proven guilty. 

NEWARK, N.J. – A Colorado man was arrested today for conspiring to unlawfully transport firearms via the internet, U.S. Attorney Philip R. Sellinger announced today.

Hunter Weeks, 22, of Colorado Springs, Colorado, was arrested in Colorado and is charged by complaint with conspiracy to unlawfully transport firearms, and possession and transportation of an unregistered firearm. He is scheduled make his initial appearance today in the District of Colorado.

According to documents filed in this case and statements made in court:

From February 2021 through July 2021, undercover law enforcement agents communicated with several individuals, including Weeks, via a social media platform where individuals advertised for sale various narcotics and firearms. During this time period, Weeks’ fingerprints were found on the parcels used to mail three firearms from addresses in Colorado to New Jersey that were sold to the undercover agents, including: a Glock firearm with an auto sear switch, making it a fully-automatic firearm; an Uzi assembled to function as machine gun; and an AR-15 firearm.

The count of conspiracy to unlawfully transport firearms charge carries a statutory maximum of five years in prison and a fine of $250,000. The possession of unregistered firearms charge carries a statutory maximum of 10 years in prison and a fine of $10,000.

U.S. Attorney Sellinger credited postal inspectors of the U.S. Postal Inspection Service in Newark, under the direction of Inspector in Charge Damon Wood, Philadelphia Division; and special agents with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives, Newark Field Division, under the direction of Special Agent in Charge Jeffrey L. Matthews, with the investigation leading to today’s arrest. 

The government is represented by Assistant U.S. Attorney Vera Varshavsky of the U.S. Attorney’s Cybercrime Unit in Newark.

The charges and allegations contained in the complaint are merely accusations, and the defendant is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.

NEWARK, N.J. – A Bergen County, New Jersey, man was sentenced today to 24 months and two days in prison for his role in a scheme to file fraudulent tax returns in victims’ names in order to obtain tax refunds to which he was not entitled, U.S. Attorney Philip R. Sellinger announced.

Emmanuel A. Barrientos-Fermin, 39, previously pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge Claire C. Cecchi to an indictment charging him with one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud, one count of access device fraud, and one count of aggravated identity theft. Judge Cecchi imposed the sentence today via videoconference.

According to documents filed in this case and statements made in court:

From January 2020, through February 2020, Barrientos and others conspired to utilize stolen personal identifying information (PII) to submit fraudulent tax returns in victims’ names, in order to obtain tax refunds without the victims’ knowledge or consent. A conspirator would obtain falsified Social Security cards, driver’s licenses, birth certificates and W-2s bearing the victims’ stolen PII and provide them to Barrientos-Fermin and other, who would use them to file tax returns at various tax preparation company branches posing as the victims.

In addition to the prison term, Judge Cecchi sentenced Barrientos-Fermin three years of supervised release and ordered him to pay $17,373 in restitution.

U.S. Attorney Sellinger credited postal inspectors of the U.S. Postal Inspection Service in Newark, under the direction of Postal Inspector in Charge Damon Wood, Philadelphia Division; and special agents of IRS-Criminal Investigation, under the direction of Acting Special Agent in Charge Tammy Tomlins, with the investigation leading to today’s sentencing. He also thanked the Totowa, New Jersey, Police Department, for its assistance.

The government is represented by Assistant U.S. Attorney Fatime Meka Cano of the U.S. Attorney’s Office Government Fraud Unit in Newark.

CAMDEN, N.J. – An Atlantic County, New Jersey, man today admitted his role in drug distribution scheme, U.S. Attorney Philip R. Sellinger announced.

Ricardo Clavijo, 40, of Egg Harbor Township, New Jersey, pleaded guilty today before the U.S. District Judge Renée Marie Bumb to an information charging him with one count of conspiring to distribute over one kilogram of heroin, one count of possession with intent to distribute over one kilogram of heroin, and one count of maintaining a drug-related premises.

According to documents filed in this case and statements made in court:

On July 12, 2021, a search warrant was executed at Clavijo’s residence, where law enforcement authorities encountered Clavijo and his brother, Christopher Gonzalez. Authorities found a drug packaging facility in the basement, as well as 4.3 kilograms of heroin, 5.5 kilograms of fentanyl, 10.8 kilograms of cocaine, drug packaging materials and equipment, and a money counting machine. Some of the heroin was already packaged in tens of thousands of individual doses, ready for street-level distribution. Agents also seized a .45 caliber handgun, a loaded magazine for the handgun, a 9mm 50-round drum magazine, and $8,457 in cash, all of which will be forfeited by Clavijo as part of his guilty plea.

The conspiracy count and possession with intent to distribute count to which Clavijo pleaded guilty both carry a mandatory minimum term of 10 years in prison, a maximum term of life in prison and a fine of $10 million, or twice the gross gain or loss caused by the offense, whichever is greatest. The count of maintaining a drug-related premises carries a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison and a $500,000 fine, or twice the gross gain or loss caused by the offense, whichever is greatest. Sentencing is scheduled for Sept. 7, 2022.

Gonzalez is charged by complaint with conspiracy to distribute and possess with intent to distribute over one kilogram of heroin.

U.S. Attorney Sellinger credited special agents of the Drug Enforcement Administration’s Newark Division, DEA Atlantic County HIDTA Task Force, under the direction of Special Agent in Charge Susan A. Gibson, with the investigation leading to today’s guilty plea. He also thanked the Atlantic County Prosecutor’s Office, under the direction of Acting County Prosecutor Cary Shill, and the Egg Harbor Township Police Department, under the direction of Chief Michael T. Hughes, for their assistance.

The government is represented by Assistant U.S. Attorney Andrew B. Johns of the Criminal Division in Camden.

The charges and allegations contained in Gonzalez’s complaint are merely accusations, and he is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.

NEWARK, N.J. – A Middlesex County, New Jersey, man was charged with embezzling over $2.3 million from a New York-based company where he had been the controller since 2001, U.S. Attorney Philip R. Sellinger announced today.

Gerard Beauzile, 61, of South Plainfield, New Jersey, is charged by indictment with 10 counts of wire fraud. He appeared by videoconference today before U.S. Magistrate Judge James B. Clark, III, and was released on $200,000 unsecured bond.

According to documents filed in this case and statements made in court:

From 2001 through February 2021, Beauzile worked as controller, heading a New York-based company’s accounting department. On a monthly basis, from 2014 through December 2020, Beauzile issued company checks to himself, and deposited those checks into his personal bank account at bank branches in New York, near his employer’s headquarters. 

Over the course of the scheme, Beauzile issued approximately 140 checks to himself totaling in excess of $2.3 million, which he used for his own benefit. Beauzile hid his scheme by failing to enter some of the checks into the victim company’s accounting system; causing checks to appear as though they were made payable to vendors when, in fact, Beauzile issued them to himself; changing the vendors invoices to correspond with the accounting of those checks; and falsifying the victim company’s bank account statements.

Each count of wire fraud is punishable by a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison and a maximum $250,000 fine.

U.S. Attorney Sellinger credited special agents of the FBI, under the direction of Special Agent in Charge George Crouch in Newark, with the investigation leading to the indictment.

The government is represented by Assistant U.S. Attorney Blake Coppotelli of the Economic Crimes Unit in Newark.

The charges and allegations contained in the indictment are merely accusations, and the defendant is presumed to be innocent unless and until proven guilty.

NEWARK, N.J. – Three New York men were charged today with conspiring to kidnap and hold for ransom a Fort Lee resident, U.S. Attorney Philip R. Sellinger announced.

Fa Deng, 42, of Staten Island, New York, and Albert Ferrelli, 50, and Chiahao Lee, 30, both of Queens, New York, are charged by complaint with conspiring to commit kidnapping. The three defendants appeared today before U.S. Magistrate Judge Cathy L. Waldor in Newark federal court and were detained.

According to documents filed in this case and statements made in court:

On April 5, 2022, Deng, Ferrelli, Lee, and another conspirator drove to the victim’s home in Fort Lee. Ferrelli and the other conspirator entered the victim’s home wearing masks. They bound the victim’s hands, placed duct tape over his eyes and mouth, and forced him into a vehicle. 

Law enforcement received information that kidnappers had sent the victim’s wife a photograph of the victim bound and duct-taped, demanding a ransom of approximately $680,000. When law enforcement responded to the victim’s home, they located what appeared to be duct tape with pieces of latex gloves stuck to it. After reviewing local surveillance footage, law enforcement identified a gray minivan used in the abduction. Other surveillance footage showed the minivan crossing the George Washington Bridge shortly after the kidnapping, and subsequently crossing into the Bronx and then into Queens. 

The following day, New York Police Department personnel responded to Prince Street in Queens, where they encountered Ferrelli guarding the door to the building. When officers approached Ferrelli, they heard a man screaming for help inside the building. Officers entered the building and found the victim with his hands bound, and duct tape over his eyes and mouth. Surveillance footage obtained by law enforcement showed that during this captivity, the victim attempted to escape by running out of the building where he was eventually found. The video showed Ferrelli tackle the victim to prevent him from escaping, engage in a physical scuffle, and pull him back into the building. 

Law enforcement located the gray minivan used in the kidnapping parked in the driveway of Lee’s home in Queens. Records showed that the minivan had been rented by Lee’s wife at LaGuardia Airport on April 4, 2022.

The maximum penalty for the offense is life imprisonment.

U.S. Attorney Sellinger credited special agents of the FBI, under the direction of George M. Crouch Jr.; the Bergen County Prosecutor’s Office under the direction of Prosecutor Mark Musella; officers of the Fort Lee Police Department, under the direction of Chief Matthew J. Hintze; and the New York Police Department under the direction of Commissioner Keechant L. Sewell with the investigation leading to the charges.

The government is represented by Assistant U.S. Attorney Carolyn Silane of the Economic Crimes Unit in Newark.

The charges and allegations contained in the complaint are merely accusations, and the defendants are presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.

CAMDEN, N.J. – A Pennsylvania man today admitted to his role in a bank fraud conspiracy that targeted 12 different financial institutions in southern New Jersey and southeastern Pennsylvania, U.S. Attorney Philip R. Sellinger announced.

Ahmed Bamidele Ponle, 42, of Darby, Pennsylvania, pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge Noel L. Hillman in Camden federal court an information charging him with one count of conspiracy to commit bank fraud,.

According to documents filed in this case and statements made in court:

Ponle was part of a multi-defendant, Nigerian-based, multi-layered criminal organization that engaged in a massive bank fraud conspiracy in several states, including New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Maryland, and Rhode Island, between June 2016 and March 2020. Members of the group acquired numerous business checks that were stolen from the United States mail, altered the payee on the checks to a fraudulent name. They deposited the checks into bank accounts that had been opened with forged foreign passport documents and fraudulent U.S. visas that matched the names on the stolen checks. Once the banks credited all or a portion of the funds to the accounts, but before the checks had cleared, the defendants withdrew the funds from ATMs or purchased money orders, using debit cards associated with the fraudulent accounts. Members of the organization have used over 400 fraudulent accounts opened with fake identity documents to defraud the victim banks. To date, the total loss to the victim banks is approximately $6 million.

Ponle admitted his role in the conspiracy, which included using several false identities to open fraudulent bank accounts. He then made numerous deposits of stolen checks to these accounts and withdrew funds from the accounts.

As part of his plea, Ponle agreed to forfeit his interest in approximately $90,000 worth of money orders which were proceeds of the bank fraud and which were seized from a public storage facility in Philadelphia used by the conspirators to store additional fraudulent identity documents and proceeds of the bank fraud.

The bank fraud conspiracy charge carries a maximum potential penalty of 30 years in prison and a maximum fine of $1 million. Sentencing is scheduled for Aug. 10, 2022.

U.S. Attorney Sellinger credited special agents of the U.S. Postal Inspection Service, Bellmawr office and Philadelphia Division Office, under the direction of Damon E. Wood, Inspector in Charge, Philadelphia Division; U.S. Postal Inspection Service, Washington, D.C. Division Office, under the direction of Peter R. Rendina, Washington Division Inspector in Charge; the Department of Homeland Security, Homeland Security Investigations, Cherry Hill Office and Newark Division Office, under the direction of Special Agent in Charge Jason J. Molina; Homeland Security Investigations Philadelphia Division Office, under the Direction of Acting Special Agent in Charge William S. Walker; Homeland Security Investigations Maryland Division Office, under the direction of James R. Mancuso, Special Agent in Charge, Baltimore; Homeland Security Investigations Rhode Island Office, under the direction of Matthew Millhollin, Special Agent in Charge, Boston Division Office; and the U.S. Department of State’s Diplomatic Security Service (DSS), under the direction of R. Mike Escott, Resident Agent in Charge, Philadelphia Resident Office, with the investigation leading to today’s guilty plea.

Three other conspirators have pleaded guilty and are awaiting sentencing before Judge Hillman. Charges against eight other defendants remain pending before the District Court.

The government is represented by Assistant U.S. Attorney Patrick C. Askin of the U.S. Attorney’s Office Criminal Division in Camden.

The charges and allegations contained in the pending complaints and indictments against the remaining eight conspirators are merely accusations, and the defendants in those cases are presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.

TRENTON, N.J. – A Monmouth County, New Jersey, man today admitted defrauding lenders of approximately $50 million dollars in connection with an invoice factoring scheme perpetrated over nearly a decade, U.S. Attorney Philip R. Sellinger announced.

Vincent Galano, 59, of Oceanport, New Jersey, pleaded guilty by videoconference before U.S. District Judge Zahid N. Quraishi to an information charging him with one count of wire fraud.

According to documents filed in this case and statements made in court:

Accounts receivable factoring (factoring), also known as invoice financing, is a financial transaction through which a company obtains cash by selling its unpaid invoices, ordinarily at a discount, to a factor. Factoring clients send their debtors notices of assignment naming the factor as the assignee of the debt owed on the invoices. The factor, in turn, collects invoiced amounts owed by the clients’ debtors and, upon collection of the entire invoiced amount, pays its clients the balance of the invoice, deducting the factor’s fees.

Galano formed Prime Financial Funding LLC (PF Funding) in 1996 for the purpose of factoring accounts receivables for various corporate clients. In 2007, PF Funding entered into a secured lending relationship with a single-purpose entity created to finance PF Funding’s factoring business.  Shortly thereafter, the factoring lender established a line of credit as a means to provide PF Funding capital to grow its receivables portfolio. Over the next several years, PF Funding grew its factoring business by drawing from the line of credit while maintaining as current its loan obligations to the factoring lender. However, beginning in 2011, Galano, through PF Funding, purchased increasingly greater numbers of invoices for which he was unable to collect the debt owed on the receivables. To justify PF Funding’s continued draws from the line of credit, Galano concealed this bad debt from the factoring lender by misrepresenting the bad invoices as collectible on reports he routinely provided to the factoring lender. In other instances, Galano mischaracterized invoices that had already been paid and collected as outstanding and capable of being factored, in essence double-counting to drive up the outstanding receivables. In the reports provided to the factoring lender, Galano manipulated the overall value of PF Funding’s portfolio of outstanding invoices in an amount proportional to the funds he needed to draw from the unsecured line of credit to maintain as current the principal and interest payments on his outstanding loans.   

Engaging in this pattern of misrepresentation over nearly a decade, by 2020 PF Funding had ultimately defaulted under its loan obligations, owing approximately $50 million to its lenders by virtue of the scheme. During a May 2020 telephone call with his lenders, Galano admitted that he had concealed significant losses suffered by PF Funding over many years. He further admitted that he had routinely distributed to lenders over that prolonged period fabricated reports that overstated the number and value of outstanding invoices which the reports represented as payable.   

The wire fraud charge to which Galano pleaded guilty carries a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison and a fine of $250,000, or twice the gross pecuniary gain/loss from the scheme, whichever is greatest. Sentencing is scheduled for July 14, 2022. 

U.S. Attorney Sellinger credited special agents of the FBI, under the direction of Special Agent in Charge George M. Crouch Jr. in Newark, with the investigation leading to today’s guilty plea.

The government is represented by Assistant U.S. Attorney Eric A. Boden of the U.S. Attorney’s Office’s Criminal Division in Trenton.

NEWARK, N.J. – An Illinois man today admitted that he used other individuals’ personal identification information to fraudulently obtain unemployment insurance benefits while he was incarcerated, U.S. Attorney Philip R. Sellinger announced. 

Devontae Stokes, 27, of Country Club Hills, Illinois, pleaded guilty by videoconference before U.S. District Judge Madeline Cox Arleo to an information charging him with conspiring to commit wire fraud.

According to documents filed in the case and statements made in court:

On March 27, 2020, the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (CARES Act) was signed into law. The CARES Act created a new temporary federal unemployment insurance program called Pandemic Unemployment Assistance (PUA), which provided unemployment insurance benefits for individuals who were not eligible for other types of unemployment (e.g., the self-employed, independent contractors, gig economy workers). The CARES Act also created a new temporary federal program called Federal Pandemic Unemployment Assistance (FPUC) that provided an additional weekly benefit to those eligible for PUA and regular unemployment insurance benefits. 

Between August 2020 and November 2020, Stokes was incarcerated at FCI Fort Dix, a federal correctional institutional with an adjacent satellite camp located in Fort Dix, New Jersey. Stokes and his conspirators obtained personal identification information (PII), including names, dates of birth, and Social Security numbers belonging to other individuals without those individuals’ knowledge and consent. Stokes and his conspirators then used the PII to make fraudulent unemployment insurance benefits applications and obtained more than $140,000 in benefits.

The charge of conspiring to commit wire fraud is punishable by a maximum potential penalty of 20 years in prison and a fine of the greater of $250,000, twice the gross profits to Stokes or twice the gross loss suffered by the victims, whichever is greatest. Sentencing is scheduled for Aug. 23, 2022.

U.S. Attorney Sellinger credited special agents of the U.S. Department of Labor, Office of Inspector General, under the direction of Special Agent in Charge Jonathan Mellone, in New York; special agents of the FBI, under the direction of Special Agent in Charge George M. Crouch Jr., in Newark; and special agents with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, Homeland Security Investigations, under the direction of Special Agent in Charge Jason J. Molina, in Newark, with the investigation leading to today’s guilty plea.

The government is represented by Assistant U.S. Attorney Andrew Kogan of the U.S. Attorney’s Office Cybercrime Unit in Newark. 

CAMDEN, N.J. – A Gloucester County, New Jersey, man was arrested by federal agents today on charges of filing false claims against the IRS, U.S. Attorney Philip R. Sellinger announced.

Christian L. Whittaker, 41, of Williamstown, New Jersey, is charged by indictment with making false claims against the IRS. He is scheduled to appear today before U.S. Magistrate Judge Matthew J. Skahill in Camden federal court.

According to documents filed in this case and statements made in court:

Whittaker knowingly and willfully prepared, electronically signed, and filed with the IRS false U.S. Individual Income Tax Returns (Forms 1040) for the tax years 2016, 2017, 2018, and 2019. Whittaker knew the information contained in the returns was not true and correct as to every material matter. He used fraudulent income amounts and business losses to prepare the returns, which resulted in $372,278 in federal refunds being paid to or on behalf of Whittaker.

In addition to filings with the IRS, Whittaker prepared, signed, and filed with the New Jersey Department of Treasury false state tax returns for the tax years 2016, 2017, 2018, and 2019, with fictitious income, expenses, and withholdings, which would have paid Whittaker $49,208 in state refunds for tax years 2016 through 2019. However, the New Jersey Department of Treasury did not pay out any refunds to Whittaker for the tax years under investigation.

The charges each carry a maximum penalty of five years in prison.

U.S. Attorney Sellinger credited special agents of the IRS, under the direction of Michael Montanez, with the investigation leading to today’s arrest.

The government is represented by Special Assistant U.S. Attorney John Crockett of the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Camden.

NEWARK, N.J. – A former associate director of a global maritime service group today admitted embezzling hundreds of thousands of dollars and to failing to collect, account for, and pay over hundreds of thousands in federal payroll taxes, U.S. Attorney Philip R. Sellinger announced.

David Buckingham, 38, of Chatham, New Jersey, pleaded guilty by videoconference before U.S. District Judge Katharine S. Hayden to a superseding information charging him with one count of wire fraud and one count of failure to collect, account for, and pay over federal payroll taxes. Buckingham was originally charged by indictment in December 2019 with five counts of wire fraud. 

According to documents filed in this case and statements made in court:

Buckingham held the title of associate director and head of the New York office of a global maritime service group headquartered in London, England. From 2016 through 2018, Buckingham used his position and access to the company’s bank accounts to embezzle hundreds of thousands of dollars by writing checks to himself or to “cash.” Buckingham falsified the company’s books and records in an effort to make the payments appear to be legitimate business expenses and to cover up his fraud. From in or around February 2016 to October 2018, Buckingham also willfully failed to account for and pay over to the IRS payroll taxes for the employees of the company in the amount of $277,051.

The wire fraud count carries a potential maximum penalty of 20 years in prison and a $250,000 fine. The tax count carries a potential maximum penalty of five years in prison and a $10,000 fine. Sentencing is scheduled for Sept. 14, 2022.

U.S. Attorney Sellinger credited special agents of IRS-Criminal Investigation, under the direction of Special Agent in Charge Michael Montanez, and postal inspectors of the U.S. Postal Inspection Service in Newark, under the direction of Inspector in Charge Damon Wood, Philadelphia Division, with the investigation leading to today’s guilty plea.

The government is represented by Assistant U.S. Attorney Jonathan Fayer of the U.S. Attorney’s Office Economic Crimes Unit.

NEWARK, N.J. – A Newburgh, New York, man today admitted possessing a stolen and loaded firearm that he tried to get through security at Newark Liberty International Airport, U.S. Attorney Philip R. Sellinger announced.

Desmond Herring, 48, pleaded guilty by videoconference before U.S. District Judge Claire C. Cecchi to an information charging him with one count of possession of a firearm and ammunition by a convicted felon and one count of carrying a weapon on an aircraft.

According to documents filed in this case and statements made in court:

On Nov. 29, 2021, Herring submitted a carry-on bag for inspection at Newark Liberty International Airport. During the screening of Herring’s luggage, a Transportation Security Administration (TSA) agent identified ammunition and a suspected firearm and contacted the Port Authority Police Department. Upon seeing that his bag had attracted additional attention, Herring left the security checkpoint area without his bag and walked to a departure gate for his flight to Atlanta, Georgia.

Further investigation of Herring’s bag revealed that it contained a 9 millimeter pistol, 10 rounds of 9 millimeter ammunition loaded into a magazine, and 150 additional rounds of 9 millimeter ammunition. Herring was prohibited from possessing a firearm due to a 2010 federal conviction for conspiracy to distribute controlled substances.

Both charges carry a maximum potential penalty of 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine. Sentencing is scheduled for Aug. 17, 2022.

U.S. Attorney Sellinger credited special agents of the FBI, under the direction of Special Agent in Charge George M. Crouch Jr. in Newark; officers of the Port Authority Police Department, under the direction of Superintendent Edward Cetnar; and officers of the TSA with the investigation leading to today’s guilty plea.  

The government is represented by Assistant U.S. Attorney Benjamin Levin of the U.S. Attorney’s Office National Security Unit in Newark.

NEWARK, N.J. – A Denver, Colorado, CEO today admitted conducting a securities scheme to fraudulently obtain $11 million from investors through various misrepresentations about fund operations, his background, and his contribution to the fund, U.S. Attorney Philip R. Sellinger announced.

Samuel J. Mancini, 55, pleaded guilty before U.S. District Court Judge Cecchi in Newark federal court to an information charging him with one count of securities fraud.

According to documents filed in this case and statements made in court:

Mancini managed and controlled Outdoor Capital Partners LLC (OCP), which he purported to be a venture capital and private equity firm. OCP served as the managing director of OCP Italia Fund LLC (OCP Italia), a private investment fund. Mancini used OCP and OCP Italia to engage in the fraudulent scheme.

 From February 2020 through July 2021, Mancini promised investors that he was raising $20 million, including $5 million of his own money, for OCP Italia to invest solely in acquiring controlling interests in three Italian cycling companies. Mancini represented to investors that the acquisitions would take place soon after the fund closed. To induce investments, Mancini promised investors approximately 70 percent of OCP Italia’s operating profits. 

Mancini repeatedly misrepresented his finances and his contribution to OCP Italia.  Mancini also misrepresented OCP Italia’s ability to close on the acquisitions. OCP Italia never acquired any of the Italian cycling companies. Instead, Mancini defaulted on contracts, diverted investor funds out of OCP Italia, and, in certain instances, paid investor funds to other investors seeking redemption.

 Mancini also misled investors about his educational background by representing himself as a graduate of a prestigious military academy when, in fact, Mancini had failed to graduate from the academy due to an ethical violation. 

When confronted with requests for transparency and redemptions by certain investors in OCP Italia, Mancini failed to honor the redemption requests, made misrepresentations about his inability to honor the redemption requests, misstated and omitted material facts, and provided certain investors with forged, modified, or otherwise fraudulent documentation and financial records. Mancini fraudulently obtained approximately $11 million from victims. 

The securities fraud count carries a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison and a $5 million fine. Sentencing is scheduled for Aug. 17, 2022.

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has filed a civil complaint against Mancini based on the allegations underlying the securities fraud scheme to which Mancini pleaded guilty today.

U.S. Attorney Sellinger credited special agents and intelligence analysts of the FBI, under the direction of Special Agent in Charge George M. Crouch Jr. in Newark, with the investigation leading to today’s guilty plea. He also thanked the FBI Denver Field Office, under the direction of Special Agent in Charge Michael H. Schneider, for its assistance.

The government is represented by Assistant U.S. Attorney Lauren E. Repole, Chief of the General Crimes Unit.

NEWARK, N.J.– A Bronx, New York, man today admitted his role in a scheme to steal checks from the mail, alter them and deposit them in bank accounts he controlled, U.S. Attorney Philip R. Sellinger announced.

Alique Jordan Clarke, 21, of the Bronx, New York, pleaded guilty by videoconference before U.S. District Judge Katharine S. Hayden to an information charging him with one count of conspiracy to commit bank fraud and one count of conspiracy to receive and possess stolen mail.

According to documents filed in the case and statements made in court:

From February 2020 to November 2020, Clarke and two conspirators stole over 290 checks from mailboxes in and around Morris, Essex, Somerset, and Passaic counties, altered the stolen checks, and then deposited the altered checks into bank accounts controlled by Clarke and his conspirators. After the stolen checks were deposited, Clarke and his conspirators withdrew cash from the accounts totaling more than $550,000.

The conspiracy to commit bank fraud charge carries a maximum penalty of 30 years in prison and a $1 million fine, and the conspiracy to receive and possess stole mail carries a maximum sentence of five years in prison and a $250,000 fine. Sentencing is scheduled for Sept. 8, 2022.

U.S. Attorney Sellinger credited postal inspectors of the U.S. Postal Inspection Service in Newark, under the direction of Inspector in Charge Damon Wood, Philadelphia Division, with the investigation leading to today’s plea. 

The government is represented by Assistant U.S. Attorney Blake Coppotelli of the U.S. Attorney’s Office Economic Crimes Unit.

CAMDEN, N.J. – A Pennsylvania man today admitted his role in a bank fraud conspiracy that targeted 12 financial institutions in southern New Jersey and southeastern Pennsylvania, U.S. Attorney Philip R. Sellinger announced.

Tunde Adeowo, 41, of Lansdowne, Pennsylvania, pleaded guilty before U.S. district Judge Noel L. Hillman in Camden federal court to an information charging him with one count of conspiracy to commit bank fraud.

According to documents filed in this case and statements made in court:

Adeowo was part of a multi-defendant, Nigerian-based, multi-layered criminal organization that engaged in a massive bank fraud conspiracy in several states, including New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Maryland, and Rhode Island, between June 2016 and March 2020. Members of the group acquired numerous business checks that were stolen from the United States mail, altered the payee on the checks to a fraudulent name. They deposited the checks into bank accounts that had been opened with forged foreign passport documents and fraudulent U.S. visas that matched the names on the stolen checks. Once the banks credited all or a portion of the funds to the accounts, but before the checks had cleared, the defendants withdrew the funds from ATMs or purchased money orders, using debit cards associated with the fraudulent accounts. Members of the organization have used over 400 fraudulent accounts opened with fake identity documents to defraud the victim banks. To date, the total loss to the victim banks is approximately $6 million.

Adeowo admitted his role in the conspiracy, which included using several false identities to open fraudulent bank accounts. He then made numerous deposits of stolen checks to these accounts and withdrew funds from the accounts.

As part of his plea, Adeowo agreed to forfeit his interest in approximately $90,000 worth of money orders which were proceeds of the bank fraud and which were seized from a public storage facility in Philadelphia used by the conspirators to store additional fraudulent identity documents and proceeds of the bank fraud.

The bank fraud conspiracy charge carries a maximum potential penalty of 30 years in prison and a maximum fine of $1 million. Sentencing is scheduled for Aug. 11, 2022.

U.S. Attorney Sellinger credited special agents of the U.S. Postal Inspection Service, Bellmawr office and Philadelphia Division Office, under the direction of Damon E. Wood, Inspector in Charge, Philadelphia Division; U.S. Postal Inspection Service, Washington, D.C. Division Office, under the direction of Peter R. Rendina, Washington Division Inspector in Charge; the Department of Homeland Security, Homeland Security Investigations, Cherry Hill Office and Newark Division Office, under the direction of Special Agent in Charge Jason J. Molina; Homeland Security Investigations Philadelphia Division Office, under the Direction of Acting Special Agent in Charge William S. Walker; Homeland Security Investigations Maryland Division Office, under the direction of James R. Mancuso, Special Agent in Charge, Baltimore; Homeland Security Investigations Rhode Island Office, under the direction of Matthew Millhollin, Special Agent in Charge, Boston Division Office; and the U.S. Department of State’s Diplomatic Security Service (DSS), under the direction of R. Mike Escott, Resident Agent in Charge, Philadelphia Resident Office, with the investigation leading to today’s guilty plea.

Two other conspirators have previously pleaded guilty and are awaiting sentencing before Judge Hillman. Charges against nine other defendants remain pending before the District Court.

The government is represented by Assistant U.S. Attorney Patrick C. Askin of the U.S. Attorney’s Office Criminal Division in Camden.

The charges and allegations contained in the pending complaints and indictments against the nine conspirators are merely accusations, and the defendants in those cases are presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.

NEWARK, N.J. – Five men were convicted today for their roles in a conspiracy to transport over $2 million worth of stolen perfume products out of New Jersey to Florida, U.S. Attorney Philip R. Sellinger announced.

Carlos Duvergel, 57, of Texas, and Juan Crespo, 45, Felix Castillo, 49, Asnay Fernandez, 31, and Ismael Manzano-Suarez, 24, all of Hialeah, Florida, were charged by superseding indictment with conspiring to transport stolen property in interstate commerce and transportations of stolen property in interstate commerce. They were convicted following an eight-day trial before U.S. District Judge Peter G. Sheridan in Trenton federal court.

According to documents filed in this case and statements made in court:

In November 2017, the defendants broke into a warehouse storing perfume products in Edison, New Jersey, and drove away with two tractor trailers filled with stolen perfume products. The value of the stolen perfume products is estimated to be over $2 million. The defendants were arrested in May 2018 attempting to break into another perfume warehouse in East Brunswick, New Jersey.

The count of conspiring to transport stolen property in interstate commerce carries a maximum penalty five years in prison; the count of transportations of stolen property in interstate commerce carries a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison. Both charges also carry a $250,000 fine, or twice the gross gain or loss from the offenses, whichever is greatest. Sentencing for all five defendants is scheduled for Sept. 27, 2022.

U.S. Attorney Sellinger credited special agents and officers with the FBI, under the direction of Special Agent in Charge George M. Crouch Jr. in Newark; officers of the Edison Police Department, under the direction of Chief Tom Bryan; officers of the East Brunswick Police Department, under the direction of Chief Frank LoSacco; and the Middlesex County Prosecutor’s Office, under the direction of Prosecutor Yolanda Ciccone, with the investigation leading to today’s convictions.

The government is represented by Assistant U.S. Attorney Christopher D. Amore of the National Security Unit and Special Assistant U.S. Attorney Timothy P. Shaughnessy of the Organized Crime and Gangs Unit in Newark.

NEWARK, N.J. – A Union County, New Jersey, man today admitted robbing a bank in Rutherford, New Jersey, U.S. Attorney Philip R. Sellinger announced.

Seneca Wilson, 43, of Clark, New Jersey, pleaded guilty by videoconference before U.S. District Judge Claire C. Cecchi to an indictment charging him with one count of bank robbery.

According to documents filed in this case and statements made in court:

On April 7, 2021, at approximately 4:12 p.m., Wilson entered the Kearny Bank in Rutherford. He handed the teller a note in which he demanded money with no straps on the bills.  The teller then put approximately $2,300 in United States currency into a white plastic bag that Wilson had provided. Wilson then took the bag of cash and walked out of the bank.

The bank robbery charge carries a maximum potential penalty of 20 years in prison and a $250,000 fine. Sentencing is scheduled for Aug. 16, 2022.

U.S. Attorney Sellinger credited special agents of the FBI’s Violent Crimes/Interstate Theft Task Force, under the direction of Special Agent in Charge George M. Crouch in Newark, with the investigation leading to today’s guilty plea.

The government is represented by Assistant U.S. Attorney Benjamin Levin of the U.S. Attorney’s Office National Security Unit in Newark.

TRENTON, N.J. – A Cumberland County, New Jersey, man with a prior felony conviction was sentenced today to 24 months in prison for participating in straw purchases to obtain firearms that he was not permitted to purchase, U.S. Attorney Philip R. Sellinger announced.

Darick Nollett, 32, of Heislerville, New Jersey, previously pleaded guilty by videoconference before U.S. District Judge Michael A. Shipp to an information charging him with one count of aiding and abetting the making of a false statement during the purchase of a firearm. Judge Shipp imposed the sentence today in Trenton federal court.

According to documents filed in this case and statements made in court:

Nollett was not legally permitted to purchase firearms because of a 2015 felony conviction. In 2018 and 2019, in order to obtain firearms, Nollett caused other individuals to purchase five firearms for him. These individuals falsely stated on U.S. Department of Justice, Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms & Explosives (ATF) Firearm Transaction that they were the actual buyer/transferee of the firearm when, in fact, Nollett was the actual buyer/transferee. In 2020, Nollett ordered “fuel filters” from China that he intended to modify and use as firearms silencers. Law enforcement officers executing a court-authorized search warrant of Nollett’s property in May 2020 recovered more than 30 firearms, as well as ammunition and firearm accessories.

In addition to the prison term, Judge Shipp sentenced Nollett to three years of supervised release and ordered Nollett to forfeit or abandon the firearms, ammunition, and firearm accessories recovered from his property.

U.S. Attorney Sellinger credited special agents of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, Homeland Security Investigations, under the direction of Special Agent in Charge Jason J. Molina in Newark; special agents of the ATF Newark Field Division, under the direction of Special Agent in Charge Jeffrey L. Matthews; postal inspectors of the U.S. Postal Inspection Service, Philadelphia Division, under the direction of Inspector in Charge Damon E. Wood; officers of the New Jersey State Police, under the direction of Superintendent Col. Patrick J. Callahan; the Cumberland County Prosecutor’s Office, under the direction of Prosecutor Jennifer Webb-McRae, with the investigation leading to today’s sentencing.

The government is represented by Assistant U.S. Attorney Daniel A. Friedman of the U.S. Attorney’s Office’s Criminal Division in Camden.

CAMDEN, N.J. – A California man was sentenced today to 42 months in prison for defrauding elderly victims through a bogus investment scheme, U.S. Attorney Philip R. Sellinger announced.

Christopher Glynn, 59, of Burbank, California, previously pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge Robert B. Kugler in Camden federal court to a superseding information charging him with one count of wire fraud and one count of money laundering.

According to documents filed in this case and statements made in court:

Glynn maintained a variety of corporate entities, including U.S. Grant Distribution Group, PG Philanthropic Initiative, Perrarus Global Philanthropic Initiative, and others. Glynn also claimed affiliation with an international trust that purportedly was funded with billions of dollars.

Glynn approached two victims in Vineland, New Jersey, and offered them an opportunity to “invest” hundreds of thousands of dollars in a “business development loan.” Glynn told the victims that this business development loan would be used for authorized business and legal expenses related to his entities and the international trust. The loan also would be used for expenses related to an animal welfare charitable foundation and shelter that Glynn was helping the victims to set up. Glynn assured the victims that the international trust would guarantee their business development loan, the loan would generate specific returns for the victims, and the victims could use the returns to fund their animal welfare charitable foundation and shelter.  

Glynn sent emails and other correspondence and contracts to the victims. Glynn also arranged for conference calls between himself, his associates, and the victims, including one call that Glynn claimed included “a direct representative from the NSA (National Security Agency), and a representative from either DHS (Department of Homeland Security) or the FBI.”  Glynn took these steps in order to convince the victims that they were investing in a legitimate business opportunity.

Glynn ultimately directed the victims to wire funds to various bank accounts that Glynn controlled, in order to fund the “business development loan.” The victims did so, relying on Glynn’s representations about how the funds would be used. In addition, Glynn also convinced the victims to open credit cards in the name of their forthcoming animal welfare charitable foundation, to which Glynn and his associates would have access.

Instead of using the “business development loan” and the credit cards in the manner that Glynn had promised, Glynn and his associates misappropriated the victims’ money and used it for unauthorized personal expenses such as personal travel, tanning services, and luxury retail purchases.

In addition to the prison term, Judge Kugler sentenced Glynn to three years of supervised release.

U.S. Attorney Philip R. Sellinger credited special agents of the FBI’s Atlantic City Resident Agency, under the direction of Special Agent in Charge George M. Crouch Jr. in Newark, with the investigation leading to today’s sentencing.

The government is represented by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Sara A. Aliabadi and Andrew B. Johns of the U.S. Attorney’s Office Criminal Division in Camden.

TRENTON, N.J. – A New York man was sentenced to 56 months in prison on March 31, 2022 for perpetrating a scheme to defraud more than 70 investors through a long-running securities offering fraud that raised more than $4 million and caused investor losses of more than $3.5 million, U.S. Attorney Philip R. Sellinger announced.

Donald A. Milne III, 57, of Massapequa, New York, previously pleaded guilty by videoconference before U.S. District Judge Michael A. Shipp to an information charging him with one count of securities fraud. Judge Shipp imposed the sentence in Trenton federal court.

According to documents filed in this case and statements made in court:

Beginning in 2012, Milne founded Instaprin Pharmaceuticals Inc. (Instaprin), a purported pharmaceutical corporation that operated in New York, for the stated purpose of developing a fast-acting form of powdered aspirin that could instantly stop heart attacks and strokes. Instaprin was a successor entity to another New York corporation, SPI Acquisition Corp. (SPI), which Milne founded in 2010 for the stated purpose of acquiring assets for the development of the same fast-acting form of powdered aspirin. Milne was the founder, president, and chief executive officer of Instaprin and SPI, and exercised complete and exclusive control over them, including the offer, marketing, and sale of securities issued by those entities.

From as early as 2013 and through 2018, Milne executed a scheme to defraud dozens of investors in Instaprin and SPI securities through multiple and ongoing material misrepresentations concerning, among other things, how the victims’ investment money would be used and how their past investments had performed, so that Milne could misappropriate substantial sums of the investors’ money for his own personal gain and enrichment. Through at least four separate unregistered securities offerings that he caused Instaprin or SPI to issue between 2013 and 2016, Milne received more than $4 million in investment proceeds from victim investors across the country, and deposited the investment funds in one or more bank accounts that he controlled.

Milne misrepresented to victim investors the manner in which he and Instaprin/SPI would maintain and use the funds raised through Instaprin securities offerings. Milne falsely represented in the offering materials that he had assembled “a very strong world renowned board of directors and medical advisory board” that included industry leaders in fields of science and finance. Milne also misrepresented to investors that specific individuals had joined Instaprin as directors, advisors, and/or shareholders of Instaprin, made numerous false and misleading statements in investment updates distributed to investors between April 2014 and September 2018, and also represented that Instaprin was in negotiations with large pharmaceutical corporations for joint business ventures.

Milne misappropriated a substantial majority of the investors’ funds to pay out distributions to other investors in a Ponzi-scheme fashion; pay for Milne’s personal expenses, including a Caribbean vacation, boating expenses, divorce payments, clothing, and spa treatments; and to sustain and operate Island Raceway & Hobby Inc., a toy race car business that Milne separately owned.

In May 2019, the Securities and Exchange Commission filed a civil complaint against Milne and Instaprin in New Jersey federal court regarding the fraudulent scheme to which Milne pleaded guilty. That matter was resolved through the entry of final judgments permanently enjoining Milne and Instaprin from violating the charged provisions of the federal securities laws, ordering full disgorgement, prejudgment interest, and civil penalties.

In addition to the prison term, Judge Shipp sentenced Milne to three years of supervised release.

U.S. Attorney Sellinger credited special agents of the FBI Trenton Resident Agency, under the direction of Special Agent in Charge George M. Crouch Jr. in Newark, with the investigation leading to the sentencing. He also thanked the SEC’s Philadelphia Regional Office, under the direction of Kelly L. Gibson, for its substantial assistance with the investigation.

The government is represented by Assistant U.S. Attorney J. Brendan Day, Attorney-in-Charge of the U.S. Attorney’s Office’s Trenton Office, and Assistant U.S. Attorney Heather Suchorsky of the Economic Crimes Unit in Newark.

Defense counsel: Joseph Mure Jr. Esq., Brooklyn, New York

NEWARK, N.J. – A Cumberland County, New Jersey, man was sentenced to 51 months in prison on March 31, 2022 for conspiring to distribute and possessing with intent to distribute 400 grams or more of fentanyl, U.S. Attorney Philip R. Sellinger announced.

Emanuel Figueroa-Martinez, 36, of Millville, New Jersey, previously pleaded guilty by videoconference before U.S. District Judge John Michael Vazquez to an information charging him with conspiracy to distribute 400 grams or more of fentanyl and possession with intent to distribute 400 grams or more of fentanyl.

According to documents filed in this case and statements made in court:

In April 2020, Figueroa-Martinez conspired to distribute five kilograms of fentanyl. On April 24, 2020, Figueroa-Martinez transported the fentanyl to a location in Monmouth County, New Jersey. Upon arrival, he was arrested, and the fentanyl was recovered from his car.

In addition to the prison term, Judge Vazquez sentenced Figueroa-Martinez to two years of supervised release.

U.S. Attorney Sellinger credited special agents of the Drug Enforcement Administration, under the direction of Special Agent in Charge Susan A. Gibson, the Asbury Park Police Department, under the direction of Chief David Kelso, and the Neptune Township Police Department, under the direction of Chief James Hunt, with the investigation leading to the sentencing. 

The government is represented by Assistant U.S. Attorney Francesca Liquori of the Organized Crime and Gangs Unit.

Defense counsel: Justin Capek Esq., Philadelphia

NEWARK, N.J. – Newark Housing Authority (NHA)’s former director of information technology admitted using his position to embezzle NHA funds to purchase cellular telephones and other electronic devices, U.S. Attorney Philip R. Sellinger announced.

Venancio Diaz, 56, of Jersey City, New Jersey, pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge Brian Martinotti in Newark federal court on March 30, 2022, to an information charging him with committing theft from an agency receiving federal funds.

According to documents filed in this case and statements made in court:

From December 2013 to Aug. 10, 2021, Diaz bought, on behalf of NHA and using NHA funds, 1,509 electronic devices, primarily cellular telephones and tablets, from a telecommunications company. Diaz then caused those devices to be activated on NHA’s account on the company’s network for a short period of time – often only days or weeks. After the brief period of activation ended, Diaz posed as the owner of the devices and sold them to two different online electronics resale marketplaces. Diaz directed all the proceeds of the sales – a total of $594,425 – to his own bank accounts and kept the money for his own personal use.

The count of theft from an agency receiving federal funds carries a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison and a maximum potential fine of $250,000 or twice the gross amount of pecuniary gain that any person derived from the offense, whichever is greater.  Sentencing is scheduled for August 4, 2022.

U.S. Attorney Sellinger credited special agents of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development – Office of the Inspector General, under the direction of Special Agent in Charge Christina D. Scaringi in Newark; and special agents of the FBI, under the direction of Special Agent in Charge George M. Crouch Jr. in Newark, with the investigation leading to today’s guilty plea. He also thanked the IRS-Criminal Investigations for its assistance.

The government is represented by Assistant U.S. Attorney Sara F. Merin of the Special Prosecutions Division in Newark.

Defense counsel: Joel Silberman Esq., Jersey City

NEWARK, N.J. – A Bergen County, New Jersey, man was sentenced to 97 months in prison on March 30, 2022 for orchestrating a long-running bank and securities fraud scheme, which led to large-scale losses for financial institutions and investors, U.S. Attorney Philip R. Sellinger announced.

Seth Levine, 53, of Teaneck, New Jersey, previously pleaded guilty by videoconference before U.S. District Judge Madeline Cox Arleo to an information charging him with one count of conspiracy to commit bank fraud and one count of securities fraud. U.S. District Judge Susan D. Wigenton imposed the sentence today in Newark federal court. 

According to documents filed in this case and statements made in court:

Levine was the founding partner, owner, and managing member of Norse Holdings, which was the parent company to more than 70 subsidiary companies. Each of the subsidiary companies owned one or more multifamily buildings, located primarily in New Jersey. From 2009 through August 2019, Levine directed a scheme to fraudulently refinance the multifamily properties by providing materially false information to financial institutions about the rents collected, the number of apartments leased, the expenses, and the true owners of the properties.  Levine and others provided lenders fake documents, including falsified leases that created the appearance that vacant spaces were occupied and that overstated the rent paid by tenants; fake personal financial statements; fake expense documents; and fake operating agreements that misrepresented ownership interests in the multifamily properties. Levine also forged signatures on some of the fraudulent documents submitted to lenders. As a result of the fraudulent refinances, Levine received cash payouts from the lenders, which Levine and others used for their own enrichment and to continue the fraud scheme. 

Many of the lenders who approved mortgages based on the false statements of Levine and others in turn sold those mortgages to the Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation (Freddie Mac) and the Federal National Mortgage Association (Fannie Mae). Because the refinances were obtained with fraudulent data regarding the properties’ income and expenses, the multifamily properties were overvalued and rents and other income from the properties did not cover the mortgage payments and other expenses associated with the properties. To cover the shortfalls, Levine obtained additional cash-out refinances, thereby increasing his total debt incurred. In total, Levine controlled at least 70 multifamily properties, comprising approximately 2,500 apartments. At the time the fraud was discovered, the outstanding balance of the fraudulently obtained mortgages on the multifamily properties was more than $150 million, including 40 mortgages held by Freddie Mac with an outstanding loan balance of approximately $103 million. At the time of sentencing, the bank fraud conspiracy resulted in losses to victim lenders of at least $47 million.   

While defrauding the lending financial institutions, Levine also carried out a securities fraud scheme to defraud investors in the multifamily properties. He solicited investors to invest in the multifamily properties based on materially false statements and promises about the condition of the properties and the use of investor funds. Levine represented to investors that his conduct would be limited by an operating agreement. However, after Levine acquired the multifamily properties, he violated representations made to the investors, including by selling off portions of Levine’s ownership interest in the properties without investor consent, bringing on additional investors without consent, and refinancing the multifamily properties without investor consent. Levine provided fraudulent documents to investors, such as operating agreements that overstated Levine’s personal investment in the multifamily properties and documents bearing signatures forged by Levine. He also co-mingled investor funds and used the funds in violation of representations to investors, by using investor money to support other multifamily properties, make payments to other investors, and further the fraud. At the time of sentencing, the securities fraud victims lost more than $13 million.       

In addition to the prison term, Judge Wigenton sentenced Levine to five years of supervised release.

Individuals who believe they may have information about this case may contact the FBI at 1-800-CALL-FBI (225-5324).

U.S. Attorney Sellinger credited special agents of the FBI, under the direction of Special Agent in Charge George M. Crouch Jr. in Newark, and special agents of the Federal Housing Finance Agency, Office of Inspector General, under the direction of Special Agent in Charge, Robert Manchak, with the investigation leading to the sentencing. The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has filed a civil complaint against Levine based on allegations underlying the securities fraud charge. 

The government is represented by Assistant U.S. Attorney Heather Suchorsky of the Economic Crimes Unit and Special Assistant U.S. Attorney Charlie L. Divine of the Federal Housing Finance Agency, Office of Inspector General.

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Defense counsel: Benjamin Brafman Esq. and Jacob Kaplan Esq., New York

NEWARK, N.J. – A U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) employee was arrested for possession of child pornography on his EPA computer, the U.S. Attorney Philip R. Sellinger announced today.

John Struble, 63, of Fair Lawn, New Jersey, is charged by complaint with one count of possession of child pornography. He appeared by videoconference before U.S. Magistrate Judge Leda Dunn Wettre on March 29, 2022.

According to documents filed in this case and statements made in court:

The EPA alerted the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, Homeland Security Investigations, (HSI) that it discovered images of child pornography on a computer that it issued to Struble. HSI learned that Struble had navigated to websites containing sexual content and viewed child pornography using his EPA computer. HSI located a cache folder containing approximately 100 images constituting child pornography, which Struble had accessed from Fair Lawn using his EPA computer. HSI further determined that Struble accessed the child pornography on his EPA computer using a web browser that was not authorized by the EPA for installation on the computer.     

The count of possession of child pornography is punishable by a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison and a fine of $250,000.

U.S. Attorney Sellinger credited special agents of HSI, New Jersey Division, under the direction of Special Agent in Charge Jason J. Molina, and the EPA, Office of Inspector General, Electronic Crimes Division, under the direction of Special Agent in Charge Justin Link. He also thanked the Fair Lawn Police Department for their assistance with the investigation.

The government is represented by Assistant U.S. Attorney Kimberly Mitchell of the Organized Crime/Gangs Unit in Newark.

The charges and allegations contained in the complaint are merely accusations, and the defendant is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.

NEWARK, N.J. – A Langhorne, Pennsylvania, man today admitted participating in a massive compounded-medication kickback scheme that he and others ran out of a pharmacy in Clifton, New Jersey, U.S. Attorney Philip R. Sellinger announced.

Robert Schneiderman, 79, pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge John Michael Vazquez in Newark federal court to two counts of an indictment charging him with one count of conspiracy to commit health care fraud and one count of conspiracy to violate the Anti-Kickback Statute.

According to documents filed in this case and statements made in court:

From 2014 through 2016, Schneiderman and his conspirators used Main Avenue Pharmacy, a mail-order pharmacy with a storefront in Clifton, to run a fraud and kickback scheme involving compounded drugs like scar creams, pain creams, migraine mediation, and vitamins. Schneiderman was the President of Main Avenue Pharmacy and was a founder and CEO of its corporate parent.

The scheme revolved around identifying compounded drugs that would yield exorbitant reimbursements from health insurers, including both federal and commercial payers. Once Main Avenue identified lucrative formulas for compounds, it would create large prescription pads with precisely those formulas on it. The prescription pad was extremely easy to use – it included check boxes for doctors to select a particular compounded formula. This increased the likelihood that the doctor would not alter the high-paying formula. There was also a place to select up to a dozen refills and a box authorizing the pharmacy to alter the ingredients itself in case an insurer wasn’t covering a particular compounded medication.

Once the prescription pad was set, Main Avenue would disseminate it to its stable of marketers across the country, with whom it had contractual relationships. The marketing companies would in turn distribute the prescription pad to telemedicine companies and doctors with whom they had a financial arrangement.

Physicians who signed prescriptions for compounded medications that were filled at Main Avenue often had never even spoken to the patient, let alone examined him or her. Once the prescriptions were signed by a doctor, they would be returned to Main Avenue Pharmacy.  Main Avenue would then fill the prescription regardless of its medical necessity and then submit claims to health care benefit programs for reimbursement. They did so with federal payers like Medicare and Tricare and with commercial payers in New Jersey and elsewhere.

After Main Avenue obtained reimbursement from the health insurers, they would pay kickbacks to the marketers who had generated the prescriptions based on the overall adjudication amount. Main Avenue signed contracts with many of the marketers, and the contracts themselves spelled out the kickback arrangement, which called for Main Avenue to pay each marketer money based on the volume of referrals of compounded prescriptions and the reimbursement amount that Main Avenue received.

As part of the scheme, Main Avenue would routinely waive co-payments of the patients to whom they were sending multiple prescriptions. It did this to ensure that the patients would keep the medications that Main Avenue had sent regardless of whether the patient wanted them.  On some occasions, Main Avenue Pharmacy paid the co-payments on behalf of the patients, and falsified money orders from the patients to Main Avenue to make it appear as if the patients had paid their co-payments when they had not.

On compounded medications alone, Main Avenue received over $34 million in reimbursements from health care benefit programs. Approximately $8 million of that total was paid by federal payers. Schneiderman himself earned over $400,000 through the course of the scheme.

The count of conspiracy to commit health care fraud carries a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison. The count of conspiracy to violate the Anti-Kickback Statute carries a maximum penalty of five years in prison. Both counts also are punishable by a maximum fine of $250,000 fine, or twice the gross gain or loss from the offense, whichever is greatest. Sentencing is scheduled for Sept. 16, 2022.

U.S. Attorney Sellinger credited special agents of the FBI, under the direction of Special Agent in Charge George M. Crouch in Newark; the U.S. Department of Defense, Office of the Inspector General, Defense Criminal Investigative Service, under the direction of Special Agent in Charge Patrick J. Hegarty; special agents of the Department of Health and Human Services – Office of Inspector General, under the direction of Special Agent in Charge Scott J. Lampert; and special agents of the Department of Veterans Affairs, Office of Inspector General, under the direction of Special Agent in Charge Christopher Algieri, with the investigation leading to today’s guilty plea.

The government is represented by Health Care Fraud Unit Chief Jason S. Gould of the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Newark.

NEWARK, N.J. – A Bronx, New York, man was sentenced today to 180 months in prison for his role in a kidnapping in Paterson, New Jersey, U.S. Attorney Philip R. Sellinger announced.

Maurice Cottman, 42, previously pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge Stanley R. Chesler to an information charging him with one count of kidnapping. Judge Chesler imposed the sentence today in Newark federal court.

According to documents filed in this case and statements made in court:

On Oct. 8, 2020, Cottman and his conspirator, Reginald Law, entered a retail store in Paterson and assaulted the victim, who was working in the store. Cottman and Law dragged the victim from the store, threw him into the back of a U-Haul truck and drove to New York.  Cottman and Law pistol whipped the victim in the head and face. Later that morning, Cottman called the victim’s family, told them that he had the victim and demanded amounts as high as $200,000 for his return.

That afternoon, law enforcement officers went to Harlem, New York, where they saw the U-Haul parked on the street. When the officers approached, Cottman and Law fled in the U-Haul and were pursued. After some distance, the U-Haul crashed, and a foot pursuit ensued.  Ultimately, the officers apprehended Cottman. The officers found the victim in the rear of the U-Haul. Law was arrested on May 26, 2021.

In addition to the prison term, Judge Chesler sentenced Cottman to five years of supervised release.

U.S. Attorney Sellinger credited special agents of the FBI, under the direction of Special Agent in Charge George M. Crouch Jr. in Newark, with the investigation leading to today’s sentencing. He also thanked the FBI New York Field Office and the Paterson Police Department for their assistance.

The government is represented by Assistant U.S. Attorney Shontae D. Gray of the OCDETF/Narcotics Unit.

The charges against Law remain pending, and he is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.

NEWARK, N.J. – A New York company admitted its role in price gouging a chain of New Jersey grocery stores in connection with the sale of KN95 masks during the COVID-19 pandemic, U.S. Attorney Philip R. Sellinger announced today.

Milk & Honey Ventures LLC (MHV), a company based in Brooklyn, New York, pleaded guilty by videoconference before U.S. Magistrate Judge Jessica S. Allen on March 28, 2022, to an information charging it with price gouging in violation of the Defense Production Act.

According to documents filed in this case and statements made in court:

In March 2020, MHV and two partners purchased 250,000 KN95 filtering facepiece respirators from a foreign manufacturer. MHV and one of those partners then sold 100,000 of those masks to a chain of New Jersey grocery stores at prices in excess of prevailing market prices. MHV sold the masks at a price of $5.25 per mask, which amounted to a markup of more than 400 percent from its acquisition cost. Prior to the spread of COVID-19, MHV had no history of selling personal protective equipment.

A violation of the Defense Production Act carries a maximum fine of $200,000, or twice the gross pecuniary gain derived from the offense, or twice the gross pecuniary loss sustained by any victims of the offense, whichever is greatest. Sentencing for MHV is scheduled for Aug. 9, 2022.

U.S. Attorney Sellinger credited special agents of the Department of Homeland Security, Homeland Security Investigations, under the direction of Special Agent in Charge Peter Fitzhugh in New York, with the investigation leading to today’s guilty plea.

The government is represented by Assistant U.S. Attorney David V. Simunovich of the Government Fraud Unit in Newark and Nicholas P. Grippo, Chief of the Criminal Division in Newark.

On May 17, 2021, the Attorney General established the COVID-19 Fraud Enforcement Task Force to marshal the resources of the Department of Justice in partnership with agencies across government to enhance efforts to combat and prevent pandemic-related fraud. The Task Force bolsters efforts to investigate and prosecute the most culpable domestic and international criminal actors and assists agencies tasked with administering relief programs to prevent fraud by, among other methods, augmenting and incorporating existing coordination mechanisms, identifying resources and techniques to uncover fraudulent actors and their schemes, and sharing and harnessing information and insights gained from prior enforcement efforts. For more information on the Department’s response to the pandemic, please visit: https://www.justice.gov/coronavirus.

Anyone with information about allegations of attempted fraud involving COVID-19 can report it by calling the Department of Justice’s National Center for Disaster Fraud (NCDF) Hotline at 866-720-5721 or via the NCDF Web Complaint Form at: https://www.justice.gov/disaster-fraud/ncdf-disaster-complaint-form.

NOTE: To see U.S. Attorney Sellinger's announcement, click here.

 

NEWARK, N.J. – U.S. Attorney Philip R. Sellinger announced today the creation of a Civil Rights Division whose sole focus will be the enforcement of federal civil rights laws in New Jersey. The new division, which will report directly to the U.S. Attorney and the U.S. Attorney’s front office, will enforce both civil and criminal civil rights laws. The division will also engage with local community members, advocacy groups, and other federal and state agencies to protect civil rights. This is the first and largest division in the district’s history to focus entirely on enforcing and protecting civil rights.

“No one should ever be subject to acts of discrimination or hate because of where they are from, what they look like, whom they love, or how they worship,” said U.S. Attorney Sellinger. “Hate crimes and unlawful bias incidents are antithetical to the core principles underlying our democracy, and the U.S. Attorney’s Office will do all it can to combat these threats to constitutional and civil rights. The Department of Justice was founded to protect the civil rights guaranteed by the 13th, 14th, and 15th Amendments. Building on this legacy, I am creating a Civil Rights Division within the U.S. Attorney’s Office, which will focus all its efforts on protecting and upholding the civil rights of those in our community. To that end, I have nearly doubled the number of civil and criminal attorneys who will carry out this important mission – all of whom will work together in this newly created division.”

The U.S. Attorney’s Office’s Civil Rights Division will be led by Division Chief Michael E. Campion. It will combine the Office’s longstanding Civil Rights Unit, which conducted civil enforcement as part of the Office’s Civil Division, with seasoned federal prosecutors from the Office’s Criminal Division, who will focus on federal criminal civil rights prosecutions. By increasing the number of attorneys dedicated to civil rights enforcement and merging civil and criminal civil rights enforcement into one Civil Rights Division, the U.S. Attorney’s Office will be able to prioritize and coordinate protecting and advancing civil rights for all in New Jersey.

The Civil Rights Division will continue the Office’s past efforts – often in partnership with the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division – in bringing criminal civil rights prosecutions, as well as its efforts in bringing civil enforcement actions involving discrimination, fair housing, fair lending, the rights of institutionalized persons, police misconduct, voting rights, and the rights of veterans and servicemembers. Significant actions taken by the Office to advance civil rights in New Jersey include:

• A consent decree to end unlawful sexual harassment by an Elizabeth landlord who required sex acts in exchange for housing benefits from numerous women and gay or bisexual men; this historic settlement provided for the largest victim compensation fund in the Justice Department’s history of sexual harassment in housing matters;

• A consent decree to end a pattern or practice of Eighth Amendment violations and protects prisoners from sexual abuse by facility staff at the Edna Mahan Correctional Facility for Women.

• A Letter of Findings in the investigation into the Cumberland County Jail for failing to take measures to prevent inmate suicides, including the failure to provide medication to treat opioid use disorder.

• A consent decree to reform the Newark Police Department’s unconstitutional practices.

• Settlement agreements with the Union County and Ocean County Boards of Election under the Americans with Disability Act to ensure that voters with disabilities have access to polling places.

• Guilty pleas by several Paterson Police officers for violating civil rights, using excessive force, and filing false police reports.

• Settlements with several municipalities to end religious discrimination and burdens on the practice of religion resulting from unlawful zoning ordinances and zoning denials regarding mosques, synagogues, and other houses of worship.

• A consent decree with Hudson City Savings Bank to end redlining and pay $27 million to ensure equal lending services to predominantly Black and Hispanic communities.

• A consent decree with New Jersey’s student lending authority to provide damages to servicemembers who were subjected to unlawful default judgments with respect to student loans.

• A settlement with Newark Public Schools to require the district to provide effective English learner services.

 

Members of the public may report possible civil rights violations through the https://www.justice.gov/usao-nj/civil-rights-enforcement or may call the U.S. Attorney’s Civil Rights Hotline at (855) 281-3339.

NEWARK, N.J. – A Nevada man today admitted his role in laundering funds solicited for BitClub Network, a $722 million fraudulent cryptocurrency scheme, U.S. Attorney Philip R. Sellinger announced.

Gordon Brad Beckstead, 57, of Henderson, Nevada, pleaded guilty by videoconference before U.S. District Judge Claire C. Cecchi to an information charging him with one count of conspiracy to commit money laundering and one count of aiding in the preparation of a false tax return.

According to documents filed in this case and statements made in court:  

From April 2014 through December 2019, the BitClub Network was a fraudulent scheme that solicited money from investors in exchange for shares of purported cryptocurrency mining pools and rewarded investors for recruiting new investors into the scheme. Matthew Brent Goettsche, BitClub Network’s creator and operator, and Silviu Catalin Balaci, Russ Albert Medlin, Jobadiah Sinclair Weeks, and Joseph Frank Abel, were charged by indictment in December 2019 in connection with the BitClub Network scheme. 

Beckstead, a BitClub Network investor, admitted conspiring with Goettsche and others to launder funds earned by Goettsche through his operation of the BitClub Network. At the direction of Goettsche, Beckstead created and controlled various entities that were used by Beckstead, Goettsche, and others to shield Goettsche’s association with the BitClub Network and to disguise income derived by Goettsche through his operation of the BitClub Network.

Beckstead further admitted to controlling bank accounts associated with the entities and directing transfers to and from the accounts exceeding $50 million. Beckstead acknowledged that the transfers were designed to conceal the source of Goettsche’s income, disguise Goettsche’s ownership of certain property and assets paid for with BitClub Network proceeds, and to help Goettsche evade tax reporting requirements. Beckstead also admitted that he and others provided false and misleading information to financial institutions to conceal the source of Goettsche’s income. 

Beckstead, a former CPA, also admitted to aiding at least two different tax preparers in the preparation of Goettsche’s false 2017 and 2018 federal tax returns. Beckstead provided the tax preparers with documents and records to assist in the preparation of the returns. Beckstead admitted that he and Goettsche knew the 2017 and 2018 tax returns were fraudulent in that they failed to report more than $60 million in total income earned by Goettsche through his operation of the BitClub Network. This allowed Goettsche to avoid paying more than $20 million in federal income taxes.

The money laundering conspiracy charge to which Beckstead pleaded guilty carries a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison and a fine of $500,000, or twice the value of the property involved in the transaction, whichever is greater. The tax charge to which Beckstead pleaded guilty carries a maximum penalty of three years in prison and a fine of $100,000. Sentencing is scheduled for Aug. 9, 2022.

U.S. Attorney Sellinger credited special agents and task force officers of the FBI Los Angeles Division’s West Covina Resident Agency, under the direction of Assistant Director in Charge Kristi K. Johnson; and special agents of IRS - Criminal Investigation, under the direction of Special Agent in Charge Michael Montanez in Newark, who conducted this investigation under the initiative of the Joint Chiefs of Global Tax Enforcement, with the investigation leading to today’s guilty plea.

Anyone who believes they may be a victim of the BitClub Network may visit www.justice.gov/usao-nj/bitclub. Victims can find more information about the case, including a questionnaire for victims to fill out and submit.

The government is represented by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Anthony P. Torntore and Jamie L. Hoxie of the Cybercrime Unit, and Unit Chief Sarah Devlin and Assistant U.S. Attorney Joseph Minish of the Asset Recovery and Money Laundering Unit, of the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Newark.     

TRENTON, N.J. – A former member of Paraguay’s Congress was sentenced today to 33 months in prison for her role in an international money laundering conspiracy, U.S. Attorney Philip R. Sellinger announced.

Cynthia Elizabeth Tarrago Diaz, 42, pleaded guilty on Sept. 15, 2020, before Chief Judge Freda L. Wolfson to an information charging her with conspiracy to commit money laundering. Judge Wolfson imposed Tarrago’s sentence today by videoconference. Tarrago’s husband, Raimundo Va, 46, pleaded guilty on Sept. 16, 2020, before Judge Wolfson to an information charging him with one count of conspiracy to commit money laundering, and is scheduled to be sentenced on April 14, 2022.

Tarrago and Va were arrested by the FBI on Nov. 21, 2019, after they arrived in Newark as part of their unlawful money laundering activities, and were charged in a criminal complaint along with a third individual, Rodrigo Alvarenga Paredes, who remains in Paraguay.

According to documents filed in this case and statements made in court:

Until January 2019, Tarrago was a member of Paraguay’s Congress and, in late 2019, had publicly announced her intention to run for mayor of the capital district of Asunción. While in office, Tarrago and Va agreed to accept at least $2 million in United States currency from two individuals who represented themselves to be narcotics traffickers, believing the money to be proceeds of unlawful narcotics trafficking and to launder the funds through an international network of accounts in order to disguise the unlawful source of the proceeds. Tarrago and Va traveled to New Jersey and Florida on multiple occasions and accepted approximately $800,000 in United States currency from the purported drug traffickers. They then caused those funds to be laundered through the conspiracy’s network of accounts and ultimately to be transferred back to an account maintained by the purported drug traffickers. To disguise the illicit source of the funds, members of the conspiracy generated fraudulent invoices that stated legitimate business reasons for the transfers of laundered funds to the purported drug traffickers’ account. On multiple occasions during the purported drug dealers’ meetings with Tarrago and Va, Tarrago indicated that she would be able to assist the purported drug dealers with procuring large quantities of cocaine from Paraguay at an inexpensive price.

Unbeknownst to Tarrago and Va, the currency that they accepted from the purported drug traffickers and caused to be laundered was not actually illicit drug proceeds, but was provided to Tarrago and Va by two undercover FBI agents as part of an extensive investigation of the money laundering network. The undercover agents met with Tarrago and Va in the United States on numerous occasions and obtained substantial video and audio recordings of their interactions with Tarrago and Va, during which details of the money laundering network were discussed. The evidence obtained revealed that Alvarenga Paredes, operating through the auspices of a money-exchange company in Paraguay, coordinated the laundering of the funds that the undercover agents provided to Tarrago and Va.

In addition to the prison term, Judge Wolfson ordered Tarrago to forfeit $119,049.

U.S. Attorney Sellinger credited special agents of the FBI, Newark Division, Trenton Resident Agency, under the direction of Special Agent in Charge George M. Crouch Jr., with the investigation leading to today’s sentencing. He also thanked the Department of Justice’s Office of International Affairs for its assistance in the case.

The government is represented by Assistant U.S. Attorneys R. Joseph Gribko of the Criminal Division in Trenton and J. Brendan Day, Attorney in Charge of the Trenton Office of the U.S. Attorney’s Office.

NEWARK, N.J. – A Connecticut man today admitted his role in a murder for hire scheme in which a New Jersey-based political consultant paid him and another man to kill a longtime associate, U.S. Attorney Philip R. Sellinger announced.

George Bratsenis, 73, of Monroe, Connecticut, pleaded guilty by videoconference before U.S. District Judge John Michael Vazquez to an information charging him with one count of conspiracy to commit murder for hire. Bratsenis’ conspirators – Sean Caddle and Bomani Africa – previously pleaded guilty before Judge Vazquez to their roles in the murder scheme.   

“Eight years ago, these three individuals – Caddle, Bratsenis, and Africa – conspired to brutally murder the victim,” U.S. Attorney Sellinger said. “At Caddle’s direction, Bratsenis and Africa stabbed the victim to death in the victim’s apartment, and then set it ablaze. These guilty pleas bring a measure of justice to the victim’s memory and for his family. I commend the efforts of the FBI, the Hudson County Prosecutor’s Office, and my Office for their determination over many years to bring this matter to resolution.” 

“This defendant conspired in the ultimate crime – murder for money,” FBI Newark Special Agent in Charge George M. Crouch Jr. said. “Those who devalue life – whether out of greed or animus – need to know that the FBI is dedicated to keeping our citizens safe, and nothing will stop us from accomplishing that mission. When you break the law, you will be brought to justice no matter how long it takes.” 

According to documents filed in this case and statements made in court:

In April of 2014, Caddle solicited Bratsenis to commit a murder on Caddle’s behalf in exchange for thousands of dollars. Bratsenis recruited Africa, a longtime accomplice from Philadelphia, to join the plot. After Bratsenis confirmed his and Africa’s interest in the job, Caddle told Bratsenis that the target was a longtime associate who had worked for Caddle on various political campaigns.

On May 22, 2014, Bratsenis and Africa traveled from out of state to the victim’s apartment in Jersey City. After entering the apartment, Bratsenis and Africa stabbed the victim to death and then set fire to the victim’s apartment. After Caddle learned that the victim had been murdered, the following day, he met Bratsenis in the parking lot of a diner in Elizabeth, New Jersey. Caddle paid Bratsenis thousands of dollars in exchange for the murder, and Bratsenis shared a portion of those proceeds with Africa.

Bratsenis faces a maximum potential penalty of life imprisonment and a $250,000 fine. Sentencing is scheduled for Aug. 2, 2022. 

U.S. Attorney Sellinger credited special agents of the FBI, under the direction of Special Agent in Charge Crouch in Newark, with the investigation leading to today’s guilty plea. He also thanked the Hudson County Prosecutor’s Office for its assistance.

The government is represented by Executive Assistant U.S. Attorney Lee M. Cortes Jr. and Assistant U.S. Attorney Sean Farrell, Chief of the U.S. Attorney’s Office Cybercrime Unit.

NEWARK, N.J. – Two California men were arrested for conspiring to sell methamphetamine and fentanyl and to unlawfully transport numerous firearms via the internet, U.S. Attorney Philip R. Sellinger announced.

Angelo Chavez, 22, of Stockton, California, and Phillip Luevano, 21, of Manteca, California, were arrested on March 22, 2022, in California and charged by complaint with conspiracy to distribute and possess with intent to distribute methamphetamine and fentanyl, conspiracy to unlawfully transport firearms, and possession and transportation of unregistered firearms. The defendants are scheduled to appear today before U.S. Magistrate Judge Deborah Barnes in the Eastern District of California.

According to documents filed in this case and statements made in court:

From August 2020 and December 2021, undercover law enforcement agents began communicating with Chavez and Luevano via a social media platform, where the defendants advertised for sale various narcotics and firearms. Agents made numerous purchases from Chavez and Luevano, including

1. 150 pills of oxycodone purchased from Luevano, which contained fentanyl and another synthetic opioid;

1. 50 grams of heroin purchased from Chavez;

1. 100 grams of MDMA (ecstasy) purchased from Luevano;

1. 100 grams of methamphetamine purchased from Chavez and Luevano;

1. a Springfield Armory Model 1911 A1 .45 caliber firearm, an AK-47 firearm, and an AR-15 firearm with “We The People” engraved on the barrel were purchased from Chavez and Luevano;

1. Numerous additional firearms were purchased from Chavez including: a Glock 27 .40 caliber firearm, an Ithaca sawed-off 12-guage shotgun, a Springfield XD45 .45 caliber firearm, approximately 5 different AR-15 firearms, and numerous auto sear switches which convert a semi-automatic firearm into a fully automatic firearm; and

1. An additional AR-15 firearm was purchased from Luevano.

 

Chavez and Luevano were paid mostly in cryptocurrency, and mailed the drugs and guns from addresses in California to New Jersey.

The count of conspiracy to distribute and possess with intent to distribute methamphetamine carries a mandatory minimum of five years in prison, a maximum of 40 years in prison and a maximum fine of $5 million. The count of conspiracy to distribute and possess with intent to distribute fentanyl carries a statutory maximum of 20 years in prison and a maximum fine of $1 million. The count of conspiracy to unlawfully transport firearms carries a statutory maximum of five years in prison and a fine of $250,000. The count of possession of unregistered firearms carries a statutory maximum of 10 years in prison and a fine of $10,000.

U.S. Attorney Sellinger credited postal inspectors of the U.S. Postal Inspection Service in Newark, under the direction of Inspector in Charge Damon Wood, Philadelphia Division, and special agents with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives, Newark Field Division, under the direction of Special Agent in Charge Jeffrey L. Matthews, with the investigation leading to today’s arrests. 

The government is represented by Assistant U.S. Attorney Vera Varshavsky of the U.S. Attorney’s Cybercrime Unit in Newark.

The charges and accusations in the complaint are merely accusations, and the defendants are presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.

NEWARK, N.J. – A Middlesex County husband and wife pleaded guilty in connection with a scheme to market and distribute over $3 million worth of misbranded drugs and unapproved new drugs, U.S. Attorney Philip R. Sellinger announced today.

Sylvia Kovaleski, 43, of South Amboy, New Jersey, pleaded guilty On March 22, 2022, by videoconference before U.S. District Judge Susan D. Wigenton to one count of conspiring to distribute misbranded drugs and unapproved new drugs. Her husband, Keith Kovaleski, 57, pleaded guilty to the same charge on March 21, 2022.     

According to documents filed in this case and statements made in court:

The Kovaleskis owned and operated All American Peptide (AAP). From 2014 to January 2019, AAP used its website to market and distribute substances primarily used by bodybuilders and others engaged in weight training to enhance performance and mitigate the side effects of performance enhancing substances.   

The Kovaleskis, though AAP, sold: prescription drugs, such as tadalafil, the active ingredient in Cialis; SARMS, used by bodybuilders as an alternative to steroids; peptides, also used as performance enhancing substances; and other drugs that had not been approved for human use, for example, clenbuterol, a drug sold in foreign markets but not approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. 

The Kovaleskis used their South Amboy basement as a manufacturing facility to make and label AAP products, including homemade capsules containing significantly higher dosages of tadalafil than the highest recommended dosage. The Kovaleskis failed to provide adequate directions for use for their products, such as frequency of administration, dosage information, or warnings about side effects.     

The conspiracy charge carries a maximum potential penalty of up to five years in prison and a maximum potential fine of up to $250,000 or twice the gross gain or loss, whichever is greatest. As part of their plea agreements, the Kovaleskis must forfeit over $3 million in criminal proceeds. Sentencing for both defendants is scheduled for July 26. 2022. 

U.S. Attorney Philip R. Sellinger credited special agents of the Food and Drug Administration Criminal Investigation’s New York Field Office, under the direction of Acting Special Agent in Charge Michael Felezzola; special agents of the Amtrak Office of Inspector General, under the direction of Special Agent in Charge Michael Waters; and postal inspectors with the U.S. Postal Inspection Service in Newark, under the direction of Inspector in Charge Damon Wood, Philadelphia Division, with the investigation leading to the guilty pleas. 

The government is represented by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Cari Fais, Chief of the Opioid Abuse Prevention and Enforcement Unit, and Barbara Ward of the Asset Forfeiture and Money Laundering Unit.

CAMDEN, N.J. – The president of a company providing goods to government agencies was sentenced today to 99 months in prison – 87 months for attempting to defraud businesses in connection with government contracting and an additional 12 months for violating his supervised release – U.S. Attorney Philip R. Sellinger announced.

Keith Fisher Sr., 64, of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and Burlington, New Jersey, previously pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge Renée Marie Bumb in Camden federal court to an indictment charging him with one count of mail fraud. Fisher also pleaded guilty to violating the conditions of his supervised release from a prior conviction.

According to documents filed in this case and statements made in court:

On July 18, 2017, Fisher was sentenced by Judge Bumb to 60 months in prison for conspiring to commit mail fraud using various companies he owned and controlled. In that case, Fisher and his companies won bids for U.S. government contracts; subcontracted with victim-businesses to provide goods to the government pursuant to the contracts; collected payments from the government for fulfilling the contracts; and then failed to pay the subcontractor victim-businesses that actually provided the goods.

The fraud scheme sentenced today involved another company, Atlantic Safety Corp., controlled by Fisher, and began when Fisher was nearing the end of his previous prison sentence. Fisher used Atlantic Safety to bid on federal contracts through a reverse auction online marketplace that enabled government agencies to post requirements for goods. Upon submitting a winning bid, Atlantic Safety was awarded a contract to provide goods to a government agency.

Fisher orchestrated his fraud by using an alias to subcontract with a third-party vendor to provide goods directly to the government agency. Fisher induced the third-party vendor to ship the goods to the government agency on credit by falsely promising to pay the vendor for the goods. Fisher also made fraudulent representations to other potential subcontractor vendors about the creditworthiness and financial status of Atlantic Safety.

In addition to the prison term, Judge Bumb also sentenced Fisher to 54 months of additional supervised release.

U.S. Attorney Sellinger credited special agents with the U.S. Naval Criminal Investigative Service, Economic Crimes Field Office, under the direction of Special Agent in Charge Eric Maddox; special agents with the General Services Administration Office of Inspector General, Office of Investigations Mid-Atlantic Division, under the direction of Special Agent in Charge Eric D. Radwick; and special agents with the U.S. Department of State Office of Inspector General, Office of Investigations, under the direction of Special Agent in Charge Michael Speckhardt, with the investigation leading to today’s sentencing.

The government is represented by Assistant U.S. Attorney Jeffrey Bender of the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Camden.

TRENTON, N.J. – A Lebanon, Indiana, man was convicted today on four counts of sex offenses, U.S. Attorney Philip R. Sellinger announced. 

Randal Wise, 45, was convicted of attempted online enticement of a minor, transportation of child pornography, possession of child pornography, and attempted transfer of obscenity to a minor following a three-day trial before U.S. District Judge Michael A. Shipp.

According to documents in this case, and the evidence at trial:

On Oct. 24, 2019, Wise traveled into New Jersey, approached an individual he believed was a 14-year-old boy on an internet dating application, and started a sexual dialogue. The individual was actually an undercover officer posing as a minor. Wise sent the undercover officer multiple photographs of his genitalia and requested similar photographs from him. The following day, Wise approached another individual that he believed was a minor boy on the same application. Unbeknownst to Wise, this individual was a second undercover officer posing as a minor. Wise engaged the second undercover officer in a highly sexual dialogue over the ensuing 24-hour period, sending sexually explicit photographs, questioning the second undercover officer about his sexual preferences and interests, and inviting the individual to his hotel for sex. On Oct. 26, 2019, Wise traveled to the second undercover officer’s location to engage in sexual activity with a minor, at which time he was arrested.

Law enforcement seized Wise’s phone and subsequently discovered multiple items of child pornography embedded in a sexually graphic conversation.

The attempted online enticement of a minor charge carries a maximum potential penalty of life in prison, and a mandatory minimum prison sentence of 10 years. Because of a prior conviction, the transportation of child pornography charge carries a maximum potential penalty of 40 years, and a mandatory minimum of 15 years. Because of a prior conviction the possession of child pornography charge carries a maximum of 20 years, and a mandatory minimum prison sentence of 10 years. The attempted transfer of obscenity to a minor count carries a maximum potential penalty of 10 years. All of the counts carry a maximum $250,000 fine. Sentencing is scheduled for July 22, 2022.

U.S. Attorney Sellinger credited special agents of the FBI, under the direction of Special Agent in Charge George M. Crouch Jr. in Newark, with the investigation leading to today’s conviction. He also thanked the Somerset County Prosecutor’s Office, under the direction of Acting Prosecutor Thomas J. Chirichella, detectives with the Bayonne Police Department, and detectives with the Indianapolis Police Department.

The government is represented by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Ray Mateo and Shawn Barnes of the U.S. Attorney’s Office, Criminal Division in Newark.

NEWARK, N.J. – A former program manager of an international freight forwarding company was sentenced today to 18 months in prison for his role in a scheme to embezzle over $550,000 from the company, U.S. Attorney Philip R. Sellinger announced.

Morten Nielsen, 37, a Danish national residing in Maine, previously pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge Susan D. Wigenton to an information charging him with one count of wire fraud. Judge Wigenton imposed the sentence today via videoconference.

According to documents filed in this case and statements made in court:

As program manager for the freight forwarding company, Nielsen was responsible for the company’s contract relating to the Egyptian Foreign Military Sales program (EFMP), a program between the government of Egypt and the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) that facilitated the sale and repair of military equipment from the DoD to Egypt. Nielsen was responsible for ensuring all logistics for the transportation of certain material between the United States and Egypt and for submitting all paperwork and billing invoices on behalf of the company to the Egyptian government. Once approved, those invoices were forwarded to the DoD for payment to the company.

From July 2017 through July 2019, Nielsen submitted fraudulent invoices from a sham company that he controlled to the freight forwarding company for work that the sham company never performed. Nielsen then sent the fraudulent invoices on behalf of his employer to the Egyptian government. The fraudulent invoices were approved by Egypt and, the DoD reimbursed the freight forwarding company. Nielsen caused his employer to pay the sham company he created approximately $559,000 over the course of two years, and then transferred those funds into his personal account.

In addition to the prison term, Judge Wigenton sentenced Nielsen to three years of supervised release and ordered him to pay $559,000 in restitution.

U.S. Attorney Sellinger credited special agents of the FBI, under the direction of Special Agent in Charge George M. Crouch Jr. in Newark; special agents of the Department of Defense, Office of Inspector General, Defense Criminal Investigative Service under the direction of Special Agent in Charge Patrick Hegarty; and special agents of the Department of Homeland Security, Homeland Security Investigations, under the direction of Special Agent in Charge Jason J. Molina in Newark, with the investigation leading to today’s sentencing.

The government is represented by Assistant U.S. Attorney Fatime Meka Cano of the U.S. Attorney’s Office Government Fraud Unit in Newark.

NEWARK, N.J. – An Essex County, New Jersey, man was sentenced today to 108 months in prison for his role in a carjacking in which a firearm was brandished, U.S. Attorney Philip R. Sellinger announced.

Jared Walker, 24, of Newark, previously pleaded guilty by videoconference before U.S. District Judge Claire C. Cecchi to a three-count indictment charging him with carjacking, possession of a firearm by a convicted felon, and brandishing a firearm during and in relation to a crime of violence.

According to documents filed in this case and statements made in court:

On Jan. 6, 2020, the driver of a 2008 Ford E-350 van was carjacked at gunpoint in Newark. Walker approached the van, which was parked in Newark, and drove it away while the victim was still inside. Walker brandished a firearm during the carjacking. The victim ultimately escaped from the vehicle, and Walker was apprehended a short time later. When law enforcement recovered the gun, officers discovered that it was loaded with 13 rounds of ammunition. In 2015, Walker was convicted of unlawful possession of a handgun in New Jersey Superior Court – a felony offense – and is prohibited under federal law from possessing firearms and ammunition.     

In addition to the prison term, Judge Cecchi sentenced Walker to four years of supervised release.

U.S. Attorney Sellinger credited special agents of the FBI, under the direction of Special Agent in Charge George M. Crouch in Newark, and officers of the Newark Police Department, under the direction of Public Safety Director Brian O’Hara, with the investigation leading to today’s sentencing.

The government is represented by Assistant U.S. Attorney Samantha C. Fasanello of the Violent Crimes Unit.