District Not Recorded

The Department of Justice today filed a criminal information charging Swiss Life Holding AG (Swiss Life Holding), Swiss Life (Liechtenstein) AG (Swiss Life Liechtenstein), Swiss Life (Singapore) Pte. Ltd. (Swiss Life Singapore), and Swiss Life (Luxembourg) S.A. (Swiss Life Luxembourg), collectively, the “Swiss Life Entities,” with conspiring with U.S. taxpayers and others to conceal from the IRS assets held in offshore insurance policies, including more than 1,600 insurance wrapper policies, and related policy investment accounts in banks around the world and the income generated in these accounts.

The Justice Department also announced a deferred prosecution agreement with the Swiss Life Entities (“the Agreement”) under which they agreed to accept responsibility for their criminal conduct by stipulating to the accuracy of the Statement of Facts attached to the Agreement. The Agreement requires the Swiss Life Entities to refrain from all future criminal conduct, enhance remedial measures, and continue to cooperate fully with further investigations into hidden insurance policies and related policy investment accounts. Further, as part of today’s resolution, the Swiss Life Entities agreed to pay approximately $77.3 million to the U.S. Treasury, which includes restitution, forfeiture of all gross fees, and a penalty component. If the Swiss Life Entities abide by all of the terms of the Agreement, the government will defer prosecution on the information for three years and then seek to dismiss the charge.

“Swiss Life today is held responsible for creating and marketing specially designed insurance products to U.S. tax evaders seeking a new way to hide their offshore assets, in light of heightened Justice Department and IRS tax enforcement efforts,” said Acting Deputy Assistant Attorney General Stuart M. Goldberg of the Justice Department’s Tax Division. “Financial enablers here and abroad – and the taxpayers seeking their services – should know that we will continue to identify and unmask such schemes.”

“As they admit, Swiss Life and its subsidiaries sought out and offered their services to U.S. taxpayers to help them become U.S. tax evaders,” said U.S. Attorney Audrey Strauss for the Southern District of New York. “The Swiss Life Entities offered private placement life insurance policies and related investment accounts to U.S. customers, and provided services that concealed the policies and other assets from the IRS. Indeed, the Swiss Life Entities saw U.S. authorities’ stepped-up offshore tax enforcement as an opportunity to pitch themselves to tax-evading U.S. customers as an alternative to Swiss banks. Under the terms of today’s agreement, Swiss Life will turn over more than $77 million and be required to continue to cooperate with the United States in identifying U.S. tax evaders.”

“The successful resolution of this investigation is an important victory for the American taxpayer for two primary reasons,” said Chief James C. Lee of the IRS Criminal Investigation. “First, the recovery of more $77 million owed to the U.S. government sends an unequivocal message that offshore evasion is still a high priority of IRS Criminal Investigation. Secondly, this agreement further requires Swiss Life Entities to continue to cooperate with the government and does not shield them from future civil or criminal sanctions, which should put every entity engaged in offshore evasion on notice.”

According to documents filed today in Manhattan federal court:

Swiss Life Holding is the ultimate parent company of the Swiss Life group of companies (Swiss Life), a Switzerland-based provider of comprehensive life insurance and pension products for individuals and corporations, as well as asset management and financial planning services. From 2005 to 2014, Swiss Life through affiliated insurance carriers in Liechtenstein (Swiss Life Liechtenstein), Luxembourg (Swiss Life Luxembourg), and Singapore (Swiss Life Singapore), (collectively, the PPLI Carriers) maintained approximately 1,608 Private Placement Life Insurance (PPLI) policies. The PPLI Carriers’ issuance and administration of those policies (colloquially known as “insurance wrappers”) and the related investment accounts were often done in a manner to assist U.S. taxpayers in evading U.S. taxes and reporting requirements and concealing the ownership of offshore assets.

Moreover, beginning as early as the summer of 2008, the PPLI Carriers were aware that UBS and other Swiss banks were terminating or reevaluating their business relationships with U.S. clients in response to increasing offshore tax enforcement efforts by U.S. authorities. Certain management and sales personnel within the Swiss Life PPLI Business Unit viewed these developments as a business opportunity to expand the PPLI Business by onboarding U.S. clients who were fleeing UBS and other Swiss banks. Such clients with undeclared assets were typically referred within Swiss Life as “non-comprehensive advice seeking,” which was frequently abbreviated to “NCAS.” Because Swiss Life would be identified as the owner of the policy investment accounts, rather than the U.S. policyholder and/or ultimate beneficial owner of the assets, the insurance wrapper policies could be and were used by unscrupulous U.S. taxpayers to hide undeclared assets and income and to evade taxes. In turn, Swiss Life grew its PPLI business and earned fees on those policies. Members of management of the PPLI Business Unit knew about and authorized the onboarding of U.S. clients without regard to whether they were declared or undeclared.

Swiss Life engaged in other misconduct with respect to U.S.-related policies:

• U.S.-related PPLI Policies were funded or terminated through asset transfers from/to an account maintained by a third party associated with the policyholder, such as an offshore law firm or intermediary.
• Swiss Life PPLI personnel assisted U.S. taxpayers in establishing and maintaining Swiss Life PPLI policies in the name of a foreign relative with the effect of obscuring the U.S. nexus of the assets used to fund the policy or to repatriate the U.S. taxpayer’s undeclared assets through a sham death payout.
• Certain U.S.-related PPLI Policies issued by Swiss Life Liechtenstein involved transfers of physical gold, other precious metals, or precious gemstones into or out of the policy investment account, presumably for the purpose of avoiding detection by U.S. authorities.
• The PPLI Carriers allowed policyholders to designate an authorized recipient – typically the policyholder’s asset manager or other foreign representative – to receive policy documents and custodian investment account statements, rather than having those documents sent directly to the policyholder.
• Certain Swiss Life Liechtenstein personnel promoted the use of Swiss Life products to turn U.S. taxpayers’ undeclared or so-called “black” money into so-called “white” money by parking the funds in a Swiss Life insurance policy until the clock had run on the perceived statute of limitations for tax offenses.
• Corporate premium bank accounts were also misused as a transitory account to help conceal the movement of U.S. clients’ funds.

Under today’s resolution, the Swiss Life Entities are required to continue to cooperate fully with ongoing investigations and affirmatively disclose any information they may later uncover regarding U.S.-related insurance policies and related policy investment accounts. The Swiss Life Entities are also required to disclose information consistent with the Department of Justice’s Swiss Bank Program relating to accounts closed between Jan. 1, 2008, and Dec. 31, 2019. The Agreement provides no protection from criminal or civil prosecution for any individuals.   

Swiss Life Holding will pay a total of $77,374,337, which has three parts. First, Swiss Life Holding has agreed to pay $16,345,454 in restitution to the IRS, which represents the approximate unpaid taxes resulting from the Swiss Life Entities’ participation in the conspiracy. Second, Swiss Life Holding has agreed to forfeit $35,782,375 to the United States, which represents the approximate gross fees (not profits) that the Swiss Life Entities earned on the penalized insurance policies and related policy investment accounts between 2005 and 2014. Finally, Swiss Life Holding has agreed to pay a penalty of $25,246,508.

The penalty amount takes into consideration that Swiss Life conducted a robust internal investigation, supplied client-related data, facilitated the acquisition by the Justice Department of information relating to custodian banks, asset managers, and other entities and individuals related to Switzerland, Liechtenstein, and Singapore, and otherwise meaningfully assisted the department’s cross-border tax enforcement efforts. In addition, Swiss Life conducted extensive outreach to current and former U.S. clients to confirm historical tax compliance, and to encourage disclosure to the IRS when policyholders’ historical tax compliance issues had not yet been resolved. Swiss Life further implemented remedial measures to protect against the use of its services for tax evasion in the future.

The IRS Criminal Investigation is investigating this case.

This prosecution is being handled by the Department of Justice’s Tax Division and the Complex Frauds and Cybercrime Unit of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York. Senior Litigation Counsel Nanette Davis and Trial Attorney Jack Morgan of the Tax Division and Assistant U.S. Attorneys Nicholas Folly and Olga I. Zverovich of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York are in charge of the prosecution.    

The president and owner of Oil Chem Inc. was sentenced today to 12 months in prison for violating the Clean Water Act stemming from illegal discharges of landfill leachate — totaling more than 47 million gallons — into the city of Flint sanitary sewer system over an eight and a half year period.

Robert J. Massey, 70, of Brighton, Michigan, pleaded guilty on Jan. 14, to a criminal charge of violating the Clean Water Act. According to court records, Oil Chem, located in Flint, Michigan, processed and discharged industrial wastewaters to Flint’s sewer system. The company held a Clean Water Act permit issued by the city of Flint, which allowed it to discharge certain industrial wastes within permit limitations. The city’s sanitary sewers flow to its municipal wastewater treatment plant, where treatment takes place before the wastewater is discharged to the Flint River. The treatment plant’s discharge point for the treated wastewater was downstream of the location where drinking water was taken from the Flint River in 2014 to 2015.

According to the plea agreement filed in federal court, Oil Chem’s permit prohibited the discharge of landfill leachate waste. Landfill leachate is formed when water filters downward through a landfill, picking up dissolved materials from decomposing trash. Massey signed and certified Oil Chem’s 2008 permit application and did not disclose that his company had been and planned to continue to receive landfill leachate, which it discharged to the sewers untreated. Nor did Massey disclose to the city when Oil Chem started to discharge this new waste stream, which the permit also required. Massey directed employees of Oil Chem to begin discharging the leachate at the close of business each day, which allowed the waste to flow from a storage tank to the sanitary sewer overnight.

From January 2007 through October 2015, Massey arranged for Oil Chem to receive 47,824,293 gallons of landfill leachate from eight different landfills located in Michigan. One of the landfills was found to have polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) in its leachate. PCBs are known to be hazardous to human health and the environment.

Acting Assistant Attorney General Jean E. Williams of the Justice Department’s Environment and Natural Resources Division (ENRD) and Acting U.S. Attorney Saima Mohsin of the Eastern District of Michigan thanked the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Criminal Investigation Division as well as the Michigan Department of Natural Resources-Law Enforcement Division-Environmental Investigations Section and Coast Guard Investigative Service for their work in this investigation.

The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Ann Nee and Jules DePorre of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Michigan and ENRD Senior Counsel Kris Dighe.

A North Carolina businessman was sentenced today to three years in prison for tax fraud and illegal possession of a firearm.

According to court documents and statements made in court, Charles Agee Atkins, of Chapel Hill, controlled and operated several risk consulting businesses, including Financial Engineering & Risk Management LLC, Risk Assessment & Management LLC, and Ram Omni LLC. From 2011 through 2017, Atkins underreported the income that he received from these businesses on his tax returns, causing a tax loss of more than $380,000 to the IRS. Atkins also admitted that he failed to pay more than $420,000 in taxes he owed to the IRS for several prior years. In total Atkins caused a tax loss of more than $800,000 to the IRS.

Atkins also pleaded guilty to being a felon in possession of a firearm. According to court documents, Atkins was convicted of tax fraud in 1988, and during a 2019 search warrant executed on Atkins’s Chapel Hill residence, federal agents found a 12-gauge shotgun, which Atkins could not legally possess because of his prior conviction.

In addition to the term of imprisonment, U.S. District Judge Catherine C. Eagles ordered Atkins to serve three years of supervised release and to pay approximately $809,115 in restitution to the United States.

Acting Deputy Assistant Attorney General Stuart M. Goldberg of the Justice Department’s Tax Division and Acting U.S. Attorney Sandra J. Hairston for the Middle District of North Carolina made the announcement.

The IRS-Criminal Investigation is investigating the case.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Tanner Kroeger of the Middle District of North Carolina and Assistant Chief Todd Ellinwood of the Justice Department’s Tax Division are prosecuting the case.

A resident of Palm Beach County, Florida, was sentenced to 24 months in prison for not reporting his foreign financial accounts from 2006 through 2015 and for willfully evading the assessment of millions in taxes from 2007 through 2014.

According to court documents, from 2003 through 2009, Dusko Bruer owned and operated a company that bought U.S.-made agricultural machinery and parts and sold them throughout the world. Bruer’s company had numerous employees and reaped millions of dollars in annual gross receipts. Despite its success, Bruer’s company did not file employment or corporate tax returns, nor did the company pay employment or income taxes. Furthermore, from 2003 forward, the company never paid Bruer a salary. Instead, Bruer directed that millions of dollars from the company’s bank accounts be used to pay his personal expenses, to make foreign investments, and to transfer funds to his family members.

To conceal his income from the IRS, from 2006 through at least 2015, Bruer owned and controlled bank accounts held at financial institutions in Croatia, Germany, Serbia, and Switzerland, which he did not report, in violation of the law. Between 2007 to 2011 alone, Bruer transferred $5.8 million from domestic accounts to these foreign financial accounts. In total, between 2007 and 2014, Bruer did not report receiving $7,726,213 in income, nor did he pay $2,789,538 in taxes. Bruer used his unreported offshore accounts to fund his lifestyle, including the purchase of foreign property, a $1,350,000 yacht, and a 3,200 square foot home in Lake Worth, Florida, with 100 feet of frontage on the Intracoastal Waterway for $1,650,000.

In addition to the term of imprisonment, Senior U.S. District Court Judge Kenneth A. Marra ordered Bruer to serve two years of supervised release and to pay approximately $2,789,538 in restitution to the United States.

Acting Deputy Assistant Attorney General Stuart M. Goldberg of the Justice Department’s Tax Division and Acting U.S. Attorney Juan Antonio Gonzalez for the Southern District of Florida made the announcement. Further, Acting Deputy Assistant Attorney General Goldberg and Acting U.S. Attorney Gonzalez would like to thank the Ministry of Justice of the Republic of Croatia for their assistance in this matter. The Justice Department’s Office of International Affairs provided significant assistance.

The IRS-Criminal Investigation is investigating the case.

Senior Litigation Counsel Mark F. Daly of the Tax Division and Assistant U.S. Attorney Aurora Fagan of the Southern District of Florida are prosecuting the case. 

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

A federal court in the Northern District of Mississippi has permanently enjoined a Senatobia, Mississippi, tax return preparer from preparing returns for others and from owning, operating, or franchising any tax return preparation business in the future.

According to the court’s order, Kathy R. Moton and K&M Tax Essentials LLC consented to entry of the injunction, which permits the United States to conduct full post-judgment discovery to monitor compliance. The terms of the order require that Moton and K&M Tax Essentials send notice of the injunction each person for whom they prepared federal tax returns, other tax forms, or claims for refund after Jan. 1, 2018, and to advertise the injunction on social media for one year. The civil complaint filed against defendants alleged that their fraudulent activities resulted in a loss to the Treasury of over $1 million.

Acting Assistant Attorney General David A. Hubbert of the Justice Department’s Tax Division made the announcement.

Return preparer fraud is one of the IRS’ Dirty Dozen Tax Scams and taxpayers seeking a return preparer should remain vigilant. (More information can also be found here.) The IRS has information on its website for choosing a tax preparer, has launched a free directory of federal tax preparers, and offers information on how to avoid “ghost” tax preparers, whose refusal to sign a return should be a red flag to taxpayers. The IRS also has a list of important reminders for taxpayers who are about to file their 2020 tax returns, including how to prepare for a smooth filing process.

In addition, IRS Free File, a public-private partnership, offers free online tax preparation and filing options on IRS partner websites for individuals whose adjusted gross income is under $72,000. For individuals whose income is over that threshold, IRS Free File offers electronical federal tax forms that can be filled out and filed online for free.

In the past decade, the Tax Division has obtained injunctions against hundreds of unscrupulous tax preparers. Information about these cases is available on the Justice Department’s website. An alphabetical listing of persons enjoined from preparing returns and promoting tax schemes can be found this page. If you believe that one of the enjoined persons or businesses may be violating an injunction, please contact the Tax Division with details.

A federal grand jury in the Central District of California returned an indictment Wednesday charging a Deputy U.S. Marshal with conspiracy to commit cyberstalking, cyberstalking, and perjury.

According to the indictment, Ian R. Diaz, 43, of Brea, California, who serves as a Deputy U.S. Marshal with the U.S. Marshals Service, along with his former wife, who is alleged to be an unindicted co-conspirator, agreed to and did pose as a person with whom Diaz was formerly in a relationship (Jane Doe) and, in that guise, sent to themselves harassing and threatening electronic communications that contained apparent threats to harm Diaz’s former wife; solicited and lured men found through Craigslist “personal” advertisements to engage in so-called “rape fantasies” in an attempt to stage a purported sexual assault on Diaz’s former wife; and staged one or more hoax sexual assaults and attempted sexual assaults on Diaz’s former wife. Diaz and his then-wife then reported this conduct to local law enforcement, falsely claiming that Jane Doe posed a genuine and serious threat to Diaz and his then-wife, and thereby caused local law enforcement to arrest, charge, and ultimately detain Jane Doe in jail for nearly three months for conduct for which they framed her and in fact perpetrated themselves.

According to the indictment, Diaz and his former wife also allegedly took steps to conceal their conduct, including using falsely registered email accounts, using virtual private networks to access the internet anonymously, and communicating with each another using encrypted messaging services.

Diaz is charged with one count of conspiracy to commit cyberstalking, one count of cyberstalking, and one count of perjury for his false testimony in a deposition in connection with a federal civil lawsuit brought by Jane Doe. The defendant was arrested Thursday and made his initial court appearance before U.S. Magistrate Judge Douglas F. McCormick of the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California, Southern Division. If convicted, he faces a maximum penalty of five years in prison on each of the counts. A federal district court judge will determine any sentence after considering the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.

Acting Assistant Attorney General Nicholas L. McQuaid of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division and Special Agent in Charge Keith A. Bonanno of the Department of Justice Office of the Inspector General Cyber Investigations Office made the announcement.

The Department of Justice Office of the Inspector General is investigating the case.

Senior Litigation Counsel Marco A. Palmieri and Trial Attorney Rebecca G. Ross of the Criminal Division’s Public Integrity Section and Senior Trial Attorney Mona Sedky of the Computer Crime and Intellectual Property Section are prosecuting the case.

An indictment is merely an allegation and the defendant is presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.

The United States has filed a complaint in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California seeking to bar a San Diego tax return preparer from owning or operating a tax return preparation business and preparing federal income tax returns for others.

The civil complaint was filed against Archibald W. Smith Jr., also known as Archie Smith, and alleges that he operated a tax preparation business in San Diego, California, under his own name and the names “Ablizzia Bookkeeping and Production” and “ABPC Inc.” According to the complaint, Smith prepared and filed tax returns that falsely understated his customers’ federal income tax liabilities by fabricating businesses and related business expenses; fabricating deductions for unreimbursed employee business expenses and charitable contributions; and overstating tax credits for solar-panel installation.

According to the complaint, the defendant prepared over 3,500 tax returns in aggregate for tax years 2013 through 2020. The complaint alleges that an IRS review of 80 income tax returns for tax years 2013 through 2017 resulted in deficiencies totally nearly $1 million. As a result, the complaint alleges, the defendant has cost the United States lost tax revenue. The complaint further alleges that the defendant harmed his customers, who could potentially face large income tax debts and may be liable for penalties and interest.

Acting Assistant Attorney General David A. Hubbert of the Justice Department’s Tax Division made the announcement.

Return preparer fraud is one of the IRS’ Dirty Dozen Tax Scams and taxpayers seeking a return preparer should remain vigilant. (More information can also be found here.) The IRS has information on its website for choosing a tax preparer, has launched a free directory of federal tax preparers, and offers information on how to avoid “ghost” tax preparers, whose refusal to sign a return should be a red flag to taxpayers. The IRS also has a list of important reminders for taxpayers who are about to file their 2020 tax returns, including how to prepare for a smooth filing process.

In addition, IRS Free File, a public-private partnership, offers free online tax preparation and filing options on IRS partner websites for individuals whose adjusted gross income is under $72,000. For individuals whose income is over that threshold, IRS Free File offers electronical federal tax forms that can be filled out and filed online for free.

In the past decade, the Tax Division has obtained injunctions against hundreds of unscrupulous tax preparers. Information about these cases is available on the Justice Department’s website. An alphabetical listing of persons enjoined from preparing returns and promoting tax schemes can be found this page. If you believe that one of the enjoined persons or businesses may be violating an injunction, please contact the Tax Division with details.

A federal grand jury in Colorado returned an indictment that was unsealed Tuesday charging an Illinois woman and a Georgia man with running a Ponzi scheme that raised approximately $650 million from investors across the country.

According to court documents, Reva Joyce Stachniw, 69, of Galesburg, Illinois, and Ron Throgmartin, 57, of Buford, Georgia, were charged with running a Ponzi scheme, along with a third co-conspirator, Mark Ray, from late 2017 until early 2019. Ray was previously charged by criminal information for his role in the Ponzi scheme in the Central District of Illinois in February 2020.

According to the indictment, Stachniw, Throgmartin, and other co-conspirators solicited hundreds of millions of dollars from victim-investors throughout the United States. Most often, the conspirators fraudulently represented to victim-investors that their investments were backed by short-term investments in cattle. They also used false and fraudulent pretenses to solicit money from victim-investors for the conspirators’ Colorado-based marijuana business, Universal Herbs LLC. Other victim-investors gave the conspirators money based on false promises that investment money would be used for legitimate business activity related to cattle or marijuana, without having the investment money linked to specific investment opportunities.

In all three variations of the conspirators’ investment fraud scheme, victim-investors were promised returns of approximately 10% to 20% over periods as short as several weeks. At no point did Stachniw, Throgmartin, or Ray tell victim-investors that they were primarily using their money to repay other investors in a Ponzi-style investment scheme, or to enrich themselves. Stachniw and Throgmartin allegedly received millions of dollars from the scheme, despite putting little to none of their own money into it.

Stachniw and Throgmartin are each charged with one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and bank fraud, five counts of wire fraud, and one count of conspiracy to engage in money transactions in property derived from specified unlawful activity. Stachniw and Throgmartin made their initial court appearance Tuesday before U.S. Magistrate Judge N. Reid Neureiter of the U.S. District Court for the District of Colorado. If convicted, Stachniw and Throgmartin face a maximum penalty of 30 years in prison and a $1 million fine for conspiracy to commit wire fraud and bank fraud, 20 years in prison and a $250,000 fine for wire fraud, and 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine for conspiracy to engage in money transactions in property derived from specified unlawful activity. A federal district court judge will determine any sentence after considering the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.

Acting Assistant Attorney General Nicholas L. McQuaid of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division; Special Agent in Charge John Crawford of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation Office of Inspector General (FDIC-OIG) Chicago Regional Office; and Special Agent in Charge Christopher Combs of the FBI’s San Antonio Field Office made the announcement.

The FDIC-OIG and the FBI are investigating the case.

Trial Attorney Michael P. McCarthy of the Justice Department’s Fraud Section is prosecuting the case.

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

A Georgia woman pleaded guilty today to preparing false tax returns for clients.

According to court documents, between 2012 and 2017, Candace Roberts worked as a return preparer and manager at Rogers Tax Service, a tax preparation business located in Albany, Georgia. Over a five year period, Roberts inflated her clients’ tax refunds by fraudulently claiming American Opportunity Credits, education credits, and business income. In total, Roberts caused a tax loss to the IRS of more than $700,000.

Roberts will be sentenced at a later date and faces a maximum penalty of three years in prison. The defendant also faces a period of supervised release, restitution, and monetary penalties. A federal district court judge will determine any sentence after considering the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.

Acting Deputy Assistant Attorney General Stuart M. Goldberg of the Justice Department’s Tax Division and Acting U.S. Attorney Peter D. Leary for the Middle District of Georgia made the announcement. 

The IRS-Criminal Investigation is investigating the case.

Trial Attorneys William Montague and Brian Flanagan of the Justice Department’s Tax Division and Assistant U.S. Attorney Jim Crane of the Middle District of Georgia are prosecuting the case.

A federal grand jury in Orlando, Florida, returned an indictment April 21, 2021, charging residents of Florida, Georgia and North Carolina with promoting a tax fraud scheme.

According to the indictment, from 2013 to 2017, Iran Backstrom of Milledgeville, Georgia; Mehef Bey of Charlotte, North Carolina; Yomarie Febres of Atlanta, Georgia; and Aaron Aqueron of Clermont, Florida, allegedly conspired together and with others to promote a tax fraud scheme to more than 200 individuals in 12 states. The indictment alleges that the defendants recruited clients by falsely representing that the clients’ mortgages and other debts entitled them to tax refunds. To execute the scheme, the defendants and their conspirators allegedly prepared and caused clients to file tax returns that falsely claimed large amounts of income taxes had been withheld from the clients and paid over to the IRS, entitling the clients to tax refunds. According to the indictment, the defendants typically charged each client fees ranging from approximately $10,000 to $15,000 and did not report on their own tax returns any income generated from the scheme. 

The indictment further alleges that when the IRS discovered the fraud and attempted to recover the fraudulently obtained tax refunds, Aqueron encouraged clients to provide the IRS with false information and remove funds from their bank accounts in order to thwart the IRS’s collection efforts. As a result of the scheme, the defendants allegedly filed, and caused to be filed, with the IRS approximately $40 million in fraudulent claims for tax refunds

Backstrom, Bey, Febres and Aqueron are charged with conspiring to defraud the United States and aiding in the preparation of false tax returns. Aqueron is also charged with corruptly endeavoring to obstruct the due administration of the internal revenue laws.  

Backstrom, Febres and Aqueron are scheduled for their initial court appearances today before a U.S. Magistrate Judge for the Middle District of Florida. Bey will make an initial appearance at a later date. If convicted, each defendant faces a maximum sentence of five years in prison on the conspiracy charge and three years of prison on each count of aiding in the preparation of false tax returns. Aqueron also faces a maximum of three years in prison on the obstruction charge. In addition, the defendants face a period of supervised release, restitution and monetary penalties. A federal district court judge will determine any sentence after considering the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.

Acting Deputy Assistant Attorney General Stuart M. Goldberg of the Justice Department’s Tax Division and Acting U.S. Attorney Karin Hoppmann for the Middle District of Florida made the announcement.

The IRS-Criminal Investigation is investigating the case.

Trial Attorneys Lauren Archer, Kavitha Bondada and Alexander Effendi of the Tax Division and Assistant U.S. Attorney Karen Gable of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for Middle District of Florida are prosecuting the case.

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

A North Carolina man pleaded guilty today to a bribery and smuggling scheme in which he abused his position as a prison official to funnel drugs and other contraband into Caledonia Correctional Institution.

According to court documents, Ollie Rose III, 62, of Pleasant Hill, worked as a case manager at Caledonia Correctional Institution, a state prison in Halifax County. Rose admitted to agreeing to use his position, from at least November 2018 through October 2020, to smuggle contraband — including oxycodone, marijuana and synthetic cannabinoids — into the prison for inmates. Rose further admitted that he did so in exchange for payments ranging from $500 to $1,200 and received more than $40,000 in total in bribes. He was paid both in cash and via a mobile application, and he sometimes also accepted a portion of the drugs he smuggled into the prison as payment.

Rose pleaded guilty to one count of conspiring to use a facility in interstate commerce in furtherance of unlawful activity and one count of extortion under color of official right. A sentencing date has been scheduled for the Sept. 7 term of court. Rose faces a maximum penalty of 25 years in prison. A federal district court judge will determine any sentence after considering the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.

Acting Assistant Attorney General Nicholas L. McQuaid of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division and Special Agent in Charge Robert R. Wells of the FBI’s Charlotte Field Office made the announcement.

The case was investigated by the FBI, with significant assistance from the North Carolina Department of Public Safety.

Trial Attorneys Rebecca M. Schuman and Lauren E. Britsch of the Criminal Division’s Public Integrity Section are prosecuting the case.

A federal grand jury in Miami, Florida, returned an indictment today charging a Florida woman with conspiring to falsify clinical trial data regarding an asthma medication. 

According to court documents, Jessica Palacio, 34, of Miami, worked as a study coordinator at a clinical trial firm in Miami called Unlimited Medical Research. Unlimited Medical Research was one of many companies hired to conduct a clinical trial designed to investigate the safety and efficacy of an asthma medication in children. The indictment alleges that Palacio participated in a scheme to falsify medical records to make it appear as though pediatric subjects made scheduled visits to Unlimited Medical Research, received physical exams from a clinical investigator, and took study drugs as required, when in fact these things had not occurred. The indictment also alleges that when Palacio was confronted by a Food and Drug Administration (FDA) regulatory investigator about her conduct, she made a false statement to that investigator. 

“Falsifying clinical trial data risks the health and safety of those who might later rely upon the drugs being tested,” said Deputy Assistant Attorney General Arun G. Rao of the Justice Department’s Civil Division. “The Department of Justice will continue to work with its partners at the Food and Drug Administration to investigate and prosecute anyone who endangers the public for financial gain.”

“When the efficacy of a new pharmaceutical drug is tested, public health and safety must always take precedence over profit,” said Acting U.S. Attorney Juan Antonio Gonzalez for the Southern District of Florida. “Medical researchers who manipulate clinical data and falsify records needlessly endanger the public and will be prosecuted.” 

“Reliable and accurate data from clinical trials is the cornerstone of FDA’s evaluation of a new drug,” said Special Agent in Charge Justin C. Fielder of the FDA Office of Criminal Investigations, Miami Field Office. “Compromised clinical trial data could impact the agency’s decisions about the safety and effectiveness of the drug under review. We will continue to monitor, investigate and bring to justice those whose actions may subvert the FDA approval process and endanger the public health.”

Palacio is charged with conspiracy to commit wire fraud and making a false statement. The defendant is expected to make her initial court appearance later this week in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida. If convicted, she faces a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison for conspiracy to commit wire fraud, and five years in prison for making a false statement. A federal district court judge will determine any sentence after considering the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.

The FDA’s Office of Criminal Investigations is investigating the case.

Trial Attorneys Joshua D. Rothman and Kara M. Traster of the Civil Division’s Consumer Protection Branch are prosecuting the case, and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Florida provided critical assistance.

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

The U.S. Department of Justice’s Antitrust Division is pleased to be a part of the Multilateral Pharmaceutical Merger Task Force (Task Force), along with its counterpart competition enforcement agencies — the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), the Canadian Competition Bureau, the European Commission Directorate General for Competition, the United Kingdom’s Competition and Markets Authority, and Offices of State Attorneys General.

The Task Force, initiated by the FTC, seeks to identify concrete and actionable steps to refresh and update the analysis of pharmaceutical mergers. To facilitate a robust discussion of the ways to study the impact of pharmaceutical mergers, the Task Force requests public input, including from health policy experts, economists, attorneys, scientists, health care practitioners, academics, and consumers, on issues potentially implicated with pharmaceutical mergers. For more details about providing comments to the Task Force, including submission and timing information, please see the FTC’s Notice. Following public comment, the Task Force anticipates hosting a public workshop.

“The division is excited to participate in this initiative, and we encourage and welcome public input and feedback on this important topic,” said Acting Assistant Attorney General Richard A. Powers of the Antitrust Division. “We look forward to partnering with the Task Force members and engaging with consumers and other market participants in the development of future enforcement and policy efforts relating to pharmaceutical mergers.”

The University of Miami (UM) has agreed to pay $22 million to resolve allegations that it violated the False Claims Act by ordering medically unnecessary laboratory tests, and submitting false claims through its laboratory and off campus hospital based facilities (“Hospital Facilities”).

According to court documents, the United States alleged that UM engaged in three practices that violated the False Claims Act. First, the government alleged that UM knowingly engaged in improper billing relating to its Hospital Facilities. Medicare regulations allow medical systems to convert physician offices into Hospital Facilities provided they satisfy certain requirements. Billing as a Hospital Facility results in higher costs to the Medicare program and beneficiaries. Hospital Facilities are required to give notice to Medicare beneficiaries that explains the financial ramifications of receiving services at Hospital Facilities as opposed to physician offices. Here, the government alleged that UM converted multiple physician offices to Hospital Facilities, and then sought payment at higher rates without providing beneficiaries the required notice, even after being advised by a Medicare Administrative Contractor that its notice practices were deficient.

Second, the government alleged that UM billed federal health care programs for medically unnecessary laboratory tests for patients who received kidney transplants at the Miami Transplant Institute (MTI) — a transplant program operated by UM and Jackson Memorial Hospital (JMH). Each time a patient checked into the MTI, UM’s electronic ordering system triggered a pre-set “protocol” of tests to be run for the patient at UM’s laboratory. The government alleged that several tests on the protocol for all kidney transplant patients were medically unnecessary and dictated by financial considerations rather than patient care.

Third, the government alleged that UM caused JMH to submit inflated claims for reimbursement for pre-transplant laboratory testing conducted at the MTI in violation of related party regulations, which limit the reimbursement a provider can obtain for tests performed by a related entity to that entity’s actual costs. The government alleged that UM did so by controlling JMH’s decision to purchase pre-transplant laboratory tests from UM at inflated rates in exchange for UM’s surgeons and Department of Surgery continuing to perform surgeries at JMH. In a separate agreement, the United States has reached a $1.1 million settlement with JMH relating to this conduct. 

“Health care providers who charge for medically unnecessary services and knowingly violate billing rules contribute to the soaring cost of health care,” said Acting Assistant Attorney General Brian M. Boynton for the Justice Department’s Civil Division. “The department will investigate and hold accountable those who seek to profit at the expense of federal health care programs and their beneficiaries.” 

“Medical providers who submit fraudulent claims to our taxpayer-funded health care programs not only violate the public’s trust, they compromise the very integrity of these programs,” said Acting U.S. Attorney Juan Antonio Gonzalez for the Southern District of Florida. “Our office will aggressively pursue investigations against all providers who knowingly violate these billing rules no matter their size.”   

“Bilking the Medicare program and patients by charging for medically unnecessary services will always draw the attention of my office,” said Special Agent in Charge Omar Pérez Aybar of the Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General (HHS-OIG). “Working with our law enforcement partners, our agents are committed to investigating alleged billing scams that result in tremendous costs to federal health care programs and its beneficiaries.” 

Contemporaneous with the civil settlement, UM has also agreed to enter into a corporate integrity agreement with the Department of Health and Human Services.

The civil settlement resolves allegations made in three lawsuits filed under the qui tam, or whistleblower, provisions of the False Claims Act, which permit private individuals to sue on behalf of the government for false claims and to share in any recovery. The relator share of the recovery in this case has not yet been determined.     

The case was handled jointly by the Civil Division’s Fraud Section and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Florida with assistance from HHS-OIG, the U.S. Defense Health Agency Office of the Inspector General, the U.S. Office of Personnel Management Office of the Inspector General, and the Florida Attorney General’s Office’s Medicaid Fraud Control Unit. 

The cases are captioned United States ex rel. Jonathan Lord, M.D. v. University of Miami, Civ. No. 13-22500 (S.D. Fla.); United States ex rel. Philip Chen, M.D. and Joshua Yelen v. University of Miami and Miami-Dade Public Health Trust, Civ. No. 13-24320 (S.D. Fla.); and United States ex rel. Mitchell Wallace v. University of Miami and Miami-Dade Public Health Trust, Civ. No. 14-21206 (S.D. Fla.). 

The claims settled by this agreement are allegations only; there has been no determination of liability.

In honor of National Police Week, Attorney General Merrick B. Garland recognizes the service and sacrifice of federal, state, local, and Tribal law enforcement. This year, the week is observed Sunday, May 9 through Saturday, May 15, 2021.

“This week is a time to honor our law enforcement officers who have made the ultimate sacrifice in service to our nation,” said Attorney General Garland. “I am constantly inspired by the extraordinary courage and dedication with which members of law enforcement act each day, putting their lives on the line to make our communities safer. To members of law enforcement and your families: we know that not a single day, nor a single week, is enough to recognize your service and sacrifice. On behalf of the entire Department of Justice, you have our unwavering support and eternal gratitude.”

In 1962, President Kennedy issued the first proclamation for Peace Officers Memorial Day and National Police Week to remember and honor law enforcement officers for their service and sacrifices. Peace Officers Memorial Day, which every year falls on May 15, specifically honors law enforcement officers killed or disabled in the line of duty.  

Each year, during National Police Week, our nation celebrates the contributions of law enforcement from around the country, recognizing their hard work, dedication, loyalty, and commitment to keeping our communities safe. This year, the COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted law enforcement officers’ courage and unwavering devotion to the communities that they have sworn to serve.

During the Roll Call of Heroes, a ceremony coordinated by the Fraternal Order of Police (FOP), more than 300 officers will be honored. Based on data submitted to and analyzed by the National Law Enforcement Officer Memorial Fund (NLEOMF), of the law enforcement officers who died nationwide in the line of duty in 2020, nearly 60% succumbed to COVID-19.

Additionally, according to statistics reported by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) through the Law Enforcement Officer Killed and Assaulted (LEOKA) Program, 46 law enforcement officers died as a result of felonious acts and 47 died in accidents in 2020. LEOKA statistics can be found on FBI’s Crime Data Explorer website. 

The names of the 394 fallen officers who have been added in 2020 to the wall at the National Law Enforcement Officer Memorial will be read on Thursday, May 13, 2021, during a Virtual Candlelight Vigil, which will be livestreamed to the public at 8:00 pm EDT. The Police Week in-person public events, originally scheduled for May, have been rescheduled due to ongoing COVID-19 concerns to Oct. 13-17, 2021. An in-person Candlelight Vigil event is scheduled for Oct. 14, 2021.

Those who wish to view the Virtual Candlelight Vigil on May 13, 2021, can watch on the NLEOMF YouTube channel found at https://www.youtube.com/user/TheNLEOMF. The FOP’s Roll Call of Heroes can be viewed at www.fop.net. To view the schedule of virtual Police Week events in May, please view NLEOMF’s Police Week Flyer.   

To learn more about National Police Week in-person events scheduled for October, please visit www.policeweek.org.

A North Carolina return preparer was sentenced today to 22 months in prison for conspiring to defraud the IRS and one of her co-conspirators pleaded guilty on Wednesday for her role in the scheme.

Karen Marie Jones of Durham, North Carolina, was sentenced today to conspiring to defraud the United States. According to court documents and statements made in court, Jones owned Jones and Stone Taxes, a tax preparation business in Durham. From 2012 through 2017, Jones and two other return preparers at Jones and Stone, Andrea Marie Pasley and Audrey Renetta Odom, conspired to prepare false returns for clients. The returns fraudulently lowered the clients’ tax liabilities or inflated their refunds by claiming false education credits or dependents or by manipulating the clients’ income to qualify for larger earned income tax credits. Under the scheme, some clients were charged up to $3,000 for preparing returns. Based on an analysis of the falsely claimed education credits, the tax loss is approximately $1.2 million.

Pasley pleaded guilty Wednesday for her role in the scheme, and is scheduled to be sentenced on Aug. 11. She faces a maximum penalty of five years in prison and a period of supervised release, restitution, and monetary penalties. A federal district court judge will determine any sentence after considering the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.

Odom previously pleaded guilty to conspiracy to defraud the IRS in December 2020, and is scheduled to be sentenced in June 2021.

In addition to the term of imprisonment, U.S. District Judge Catherine C. Eagles ordered Jones to serve three years of supervised release and to pay approximately $1,264,493 in restitution to the United States.

Acting Deputy Assistant Attorney General Stuart M. Goldberg of the Justice Department’s Tax Division and Acting U.S. Attorney Sandra J. Hairston for the Middle District of North Carolina made the announcement.

IRS-Criminal Investigation investigated the case.

Assistant Chief Todd Ellinwood and Trial Attorney Kavitha Bondada of the Tax Division prosecuted the case.

A Texas man was sentenced to 40 years in prison for his leadership role in an armed home invasion robbery crew that traveled the United States targeting families of South Asian and East Asian descent.

Juan Olaya, 41, of Houston, Texas, was convicted by a federal jury of one count of racketeering conspiracy, four counts of assault with a dangerous weapon in aid of racketeering, and four counts of brandishing a firearm during and in relation to a crime of violence on March 9, 2020. According to evidence presented at trial, Olaya acted as the road boss for an enterprise that committed a string of armed home invasions in Michigan, Georgia, New York, New Jersey, and Texas from August through December of 2014. Olaya recruited other crew members and assigned roles to those members. Olaya and crew members then traveled to specific locations, conducted surveillance, and executed the robberies.

“The Criminal Division is committed to protecting the American public from violent criminals, particularly when those criminals target individuals based on their ethnicity or race,” said Acting Assistant Attorney General Nicholas L. McQuaid of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division. “We hope that this prosecution, trial conviction, and sentence will serve as a deterrent to others who might think about engaging in similar violent conduct.”

“Juan Olaya and his robbery crews committed a host of violent crimes that terrorized innocent victims across the United States,” said Special Agent in Charge Timothy Waters of the FBI’s Detroit Field Office. “His crimes are made more disturbing because the victims were chosen based on their ethnicity or race. The FBI will continue to work with our federal, state, and local partners to investigate and hold accountable predators like Olaya who threaten the safety of our communities.”

The organizer of the crew, Chaka Castro, ran the enterprise from 2011 through 2014. Castro was convicted by a federal jury on June 4, 2019, and was sentenced to 37 years in prison on Oct. 28, 2019. Castro generated lists of robbery targets in various states around the county, specifically families whose last names were common to certain ethnicities and assigned crews to carry out armed robberies inside the families’ homes.   

The crew utilized a particular modus operandi in each of the robberies. Members preferred to rob homes while the families were present so they could use their victims to point out valuable items.  Members disguised their appearance with clothing and bandanas so that victims would have difficulty identifying them. They openly carried and brandished firearms to gain control of the victims and then immediately corralled the victims, including children, into one location in the home.  At least one crew member then restrained the victims using duct tape and threats of violence, as one or more others ransacked the home in search of cash, jewelry, and electronics. The crew organized their trips to involve multiple home invasion robberies over a series of days.

The FBI’s Ann Arbor Office investigated the case with the assistance of federal agencies including U.S. Immigrations and Customs Enforcement’s Homeland Security Investigations and U.S. Secret Service, and local law enforcement agencies in Michigan, including Washtenaw County Sherriff’s Office, Ann Arbor Police Department and Canton Police Department; local law enforcement agencies in Ohio, including Beachwood Police Department; local law enforcement agencies in Georgia, including the Cobb County District Attorney’s Office, Cobb County Police Department, Gwinnett County Police Department, Duluth Police Department and Milton Police Department; local law enforcement agencies in New York, including Nassau County Police Department; the Tennessee Highway Patrol and local law enforcement agencies in Texas including Allen Police Department, Coppell Police Department, Flower Mound Police Department, Carrollton Police Department, Lewisville Police Department and Southlake Police Department.

Trial Attorneys Conor Mulroe and Bethany Lipman of the Criminal Division’s Organized Crime and Gang Section prosecuted the case.

WASHINGTON – The Department of Justice today issued a notice of proposed rulemaking that would update the definitions of “firearm” and related parts for the first time since 1968. The proposed rule would modernize the definition of “frame or receiver” and help close a regulatory loophole associated with the un-serialized privately made firearms that are increasingly being recovered at crime scenes across the country. These unmarked firearms, known as “ghost guns,” are often assembled from kits that are sold without background checks, making them easily acquired by criminals who otherwise would not be permitted to possess a firearm.

“We are committed to taking commonsense steps to address the epidemic of gun violence that takes the lives of too many people in our communities,” said Attorney General Merrick B. Garland. “Criminals and others barred from owning a gun should not be able to exploit a loophole to evade background checks and to escape detection by law enforcement. This proposed rule would help keep guns out of the wrong hands and make it easier for law enforcement to trace guns used to commit violent crimes, while protecting the rights of law-abiding Americans. Although this rulemaking will solve only one aspect of the problem, we have an obligation to do our part to keep our families and our neighborhoods safe from gun violence.”

As the proposed rule explains, from 2016 to 2020, more than 23,000 un-serialized firearms were reported to have been recovered by law enforcement from potential crime scenes — including in connection with 325 homicides or attempted homicides. The proposed rule, once implemented, would help address the proliferation of these un-serialized firearms in three ways:

• To help keep guns from being sold to convicted felons and other prohibited purchasers, the rule would make clear that retailers must run background checks before selling kits that contain the parts necessary for someone to readily make a gun at home.
• To help law enforcement trace guns used in a crime, the rule would require that manufacturers include a serial number on the firearm “frame or receiver” in easy-to-build firearm kits.
• To help reduce the number of “ghost guns” on our streets, the rule would set out requirements for federally licensed firearms dealers to have a serial number added to 3D printed guns or other un-serialized firearms they take into inventory.

Once the proposed rule is published in the Federal Register, the public will have 90 days to submit comments. The Notice of Proposed Rulemaking can be viewed here.

To learn more about the rulemaking process, please see the 

A former Tennessee Correctional Officer was sentenced today to a year and a day in prison and two years supervised release for conspiring to cover up the beating of an inmate and for persuading other officers to provide false information to investigators.

On May 7, Tommy Morris, a former Corporal with the Tennessee Department of Corrections (TDOC) at the Northwest County Correctional Complex in Tiptonville, Tennessee, pleaded guilty to federal offenses arising out of the assault of R.T., an inmate in the mental health unit at the facility. Morris is the third officer to be sentenced.

“The defendant, as a supervisory correctional officer, watched other officers assault a vulnerable inmate and then he guided these officers in their efforts to cover up their criminal conduct,” said Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Pamela S. Karlan for the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division. “The Justice Department will continue to hold accountable those who commit civil rights violations and those who conspire with their fellow officers to obstruct the ensuing criminal investigation.”

“The civil rights statutes are there to protect the Constitutional rights and freedoms of everyone,” said Acting U.S. Attorney Joseph C. Murphy Jr. for the Western District of Tennessee. “Our office will prosecute those who violate these laws, regardless of the victim’s status and those who attempt to cover up these crimes.”

“This sentence should send a clear message that the FBI makes it a priority to bring to justice any law enforcement officer who violates the civil rights of those in his care and custody,” said Special Agent in Charge Douglas M. Korneski of the FBI Memphis Field Office. “It undermines the respect and reputation of all law enforcement officers when a correctional officer violates the civil rights of an inmate whose safety he is charged with.”

On Nov. 24, 2020, Morris pleaded guilty to conspiring to cover up the beating of R.T. and to knowingly encouraging correctional officers to provide investigators with false and misleading information. 

This case was investigated by the Memphis Division of the FBI with the support of the TDOC, and is being prosecuted by Trial Attorney Rebekah J. Bailey of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division and Assistant U.S. Attorney David Pritchard of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Tennessee.

The Justice Department announced today the signing of two agreements with community colleges to remove barriers experienced by students with disabilities, including veterans. The agreements, reached with Central Texas College of Killeen (CTC), located in Killeen, Texas, and Tidewater Community College (TCC), located in Virginia Beach, Virginia, are part of the department’s commitment to ensure that educational institutions comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). Both colleges have high populations of servicemembers who have returned from active duty.

Under the agreements announced today, CTC and TCC will remove barriers to accessibility in facilities, such as classrooms, dormitories, libraries, technology centers and places of recreation.  The agreements require CTC and TCC to make physical modifications so that parking, entrances, restrooms, service counters, drinking fountains and routes to and within buildings are accessible to people with disabilities. The colleges also must ensure that assembly areas, such as auditoriums, have the required wheelchair and companion seating. The agreements further require these colleges to implement a plan for the accessibility of sidewalks and curb cuts within their borders.

“College students, including returning servicemembers, should not face barriers in education due to their disabilities,” said Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Pamela S. Karlan for the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division. “The Civil Rights Division is committed to enforcing the rights of all students with disabilities, many of whom are veterans who have made great sacrifices while serving our country.”

“The Western District of Texas is proud to be the home of many veterans and the location of numerous colleges and universities,” said U.S. Attorney Ashley Hoff for the Western District of Texas. “Protecting the rights of veterans and students with disabilities is a priority in this district. We remain committed to ensuring that educational facilities are accessible to servicemembers and Texans with disabilities.”

“Through the protections enshrined in the Americans with Disabilities Act, it is essential that we work together to remove barriers to education and uphold the civil rights of every member of our community,” said Acting U.S. Attorney Raj Parekh for the Eastern District of Virginia. “We must ensure that all individuals with disabilities, including veterans who have sacrificed so much for our country, have equal opportunity and equal access to educational services.”

People interested in finding out more about the CTC agreement, the TCC agreement, or the ADA can call the Justice Department’s toll-free ADA Information Line at 800-514-0301 or 800-514-0383 (TDD), or access the ADA website at http://www.ada.gov. For more information about the department’s Servicemembers and Veterans Initiative, please visit www.servicemembers.gov. Members of the public may report possible civil rights violations at https://civilrights.justice.gov/report.

Attorney General Merrick B. Garland has appointed Mary Ida Townson as the U.S. Trustee for Florida, Georgia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands (Region 21).  Ms. Townson will assume her duties in June and will replace Nancy Gargula, who is the U.S. Trustee in Region 10 and who has served as the interim U.S. Trustee in Region 21 since April 2019. 

Ms. Townson brings more than 30 years of bankruptcy experience to the position, including the past 18 years as a standing chapter 13 trustee for the Northern District of Georgia and, before that, in private practice representing debtors and creditors and serving as a chapter 7 panel trustee. She also has held various leadership positions with the National Association of Chapter 13 Trustees and the Southeastern Bankruptcy Law Institute over the past 10 years. Ms. Townson received a Bachelor of Arts with Honors from Auburn University and her Juris Doctor from the University of Georgia Law School.

“Ms. Townson has committed her career to improving the bankruptcy system and we are excited to have her join our leadership team,” said U.S. Trustee Program (USTP) Director Cliff White. “We also are indebted to Ms. Gargula for her expert leadership of Region 21 over these past two years.”

The USTP is the component of the Justice Department that protects the integrity of the bankruptcy system by overseeing case administration and litigating to enforce the bankruptcy laws. The USTP has 21 regions and 90 field office locations. Region 21 is headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, with additional offices in Macon and Savannah, Georgia; Miami, Orlando, Tallahassee and Tampa, Florida; and San Juan, Puerto Rico. 

Brian M. Boynton, Acting Assistant Attorney General for the Justice Department's Civil Division, released the following statement:

“The CDC’s eviction moratorium — which Congress extended last December and the CDC later extended through June 30, 2021 — protects many renters who cannot make their monthly payments due to job loss or health care expenses. Scientific evidence shows that evictions exacerbate the spread of COVID-19, which has already killed more than half a million Americans, and the harm to the public that would result from unchecked evictions cannot be undone. 

“The Department of Justice respectfully disagrees with today’s decision of the district court in Alabama Association of Realtors v. HHS concluding that the moratorium exceeds CDC’s statutory authority to protect public health. In the department’s view, that decision conflicts with the text of the statute, Congress’s ratification of the moratorium, and the rulings of other courts.  

“The department has already filed a notice of appeal of the decision and intends to seek an emergency stay of the order pending appeal.” 

A federal court in the Northern District of California entered an order today authorizing the IRS to serve a John Doe summons on Payward Ventures Inc., and Subsidiaries d/b/a Kraken (Kraken) seeking information about U.S. taxpayers who conducted at least the equivalent of $20,000 in transactions in cryptocurrency during the years 2016 to 2020. The IRS is seeking the records of Americans who engaged in business with or through Kraken, a digital currency exchanger headquartered in San Francisco, California.

“Gathering the information in the summons approved today is an important step to ensure cryptocurrency owners are following the tax laws,” said Acting Assistant Attorney General David A. Hubbert of the Justice Department’s Tax Division. “Those who transact with cryptocurrency must meet their tax obligations like any other taxpayer.”

“There is no excuse for taxpayers continuing to fail to report the income earned and taxes due from virtual currency transactions,” said IRS Commissioner Chuck Rettig. “This John Doe summons is part of our effort to uncover those who are trying to skirt reporting and avoid paying their fair share.”

Cryptocurrency, as generally defined, is a digital representation of value. Because transactions in cryptocurrencies can be difficult to trace and have an inherently pseudoanonymous aspect, taxpayers may be using them to hide taxable income from the IRS. On April 1, 2021, a federal court in the District of Massachusetts granted an order authorizing the IRS to serve a similar John Doe summons on Circle, a digital currency exchange headquartered in Boston.

Today’s order from the Northern District of California grants the IRS permission to serve what is known as a “John Doe” summons on Kraken. The United States’ petition does not allege that Kraken has engaged in any wrongdoing in connection with its digital currency exchange business. Rather, according to the court’s order, the summons seeks information related to the IRS’s “investigation of an ascertainable group or class of persons” that the IRS has reasonable basis to believe “may have failed to comply with internal revenue laws.” According to the copy of the summons filed with the petition, the IRS directed Kraken to produce records identifying the U.S. taxpayers described above, along with other documents relating to their cryptocurrency transactions.

The IRS has issued guidance regarding the tax consequences on the use of virtual currencies in IRS Notice 2014-21,which provides that virtual currencies that can be converted into traditional currency are property for tax purposes, and a taxpayer can have a gain or loss on the sale or exchange of a virtual currency, depending on the taxpayer’s cost to purchase the virtual currency (that is, the taxpayer’s tax basis).

Attorney General Merrick B. Garland issued the following statement:

“Generations of American Indians and Alaska Natives have experienced violence or mourned a murdered or missing family member or loved one. The lasting effects of such trauma and suffering ripple across their communities.

“Today, we reaffirm our commitment to Tribes across the country who need and deserve our resources to help bring answers and justice to their grieving communities. In partnership with Tribal, federal, state and local agencies, the Justice Department is committed to finding lasting solutions to the public safety challenges Tribal communities encounter and to protecting them from violence, abuse, and exploitation.”

A Massachusetts woman pleaded guilty today to tax evasion, conspiracy to distribute marijuana, possession of marijuana with intent to distribute, and money laundering.

According to court documents and the criminal complaint, Deana Martin, 53, of Milton, owned and managed Northern Herb, an illegal marijuana delivery service that operated in Massachusetts from 2015 to 2018. While Northern Herb purported to sell medical marijuana, it did not require a customer to provide proof of a medical marijuana card. Furthermore, it is alleged that Northern Herb would deliver marijuana to unattended locations (such as a front door or hallway) where unknown third parties might have access to it. Northern Herb used locations in Canton, Milton, Foxborough, and Hyde Park to store and distribute marijuana, and employed at least 25 workers.

From May 2016 through July 2018, Northern Herb had total revenue exceeding $14 million. Northern Herb did not pay taxes on its profits nor withhold taxes due from its employees’ wages. Martin paid many of the employees in cash and did not collect or pay the IRS withholdings that were due nor file with the IRS required reports documenting the payments made to Northern Herb’s employees and independent contractors.

U.S. District Judge Timothy S. Hillman today accepted Martin’s guilty plea but reserved acceptance of the plea agreement that, if accepted, would guide the sentence to be imposed. Martin is scheduled to be sentenced on Sept. 1, 2021.

On the drug counts, Martin faces a maximum sentence of up to 20 years of prison and a maximum fine of $1,000,000. On the money laundering counts, Martin faces a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison and a maximum fine of $500,000 or twice the value of the money laundered. On the tax count, Martin faces a maximum sentence of five years in prison and a maximum fine of $100,000. Martin also faces restitution and forfeiture. Sentences are imposed by a federal district court judge based on the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.

Acting Deputy Assistant Attorney General Stuart M. Goldberg of the Justice Department’s Tax Division; Acting U.S. Attorney Nathaniel R. Mendell of the District of Massachusetts; Special Agent in Charge Brian D. Boyle of the Drug Enforcement Administration, New England Division; and Special Agent in Charge Ramsey Covington of the IRS-Criminal Investigations in Boston made the announcement today. The U.S. Postal Inspection Service also provided valuable assistance with this investigation.

Assistant U.S. Attorneys Bill Abely and John Mulcahy of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Massachusetts and Assistant Chief Kathleen Barry of the Tax Division prosecuted the case. 

A pharmaceutical company headquartered in Delaware has agreed to pay $12.6 million to resolve allegations that it violated the False Claims Act by paying kickbacks.

Today’s settlement resolves allegations that, from November 2011 through December 2014, Incyte Corporation purportedly used an independent foundation as a conduit to pay the copays of certain federal beneficiaries taking Incyte’s drug Jakafi, which was approved to treat myleofibrosis in 2011. Specifically, Incyte was the sole donor to a fund that was opened in November 2011 to assist only myleofibrosis patients. After the fund opened, the government alleges that Incyte used the fund to pay the copays of federal beneficiaries taking Jakafi who were ineligible for assistance from the fund because they did not have myleofibrosis. Incyte managers pressured the foundation, through phone calls and emails, to provide economic assistance to these ineligible patients, and Incyte’s contractor helped ineligible patients to complete applications submitted to the fund for assistance. The government alleges that through this conduct, Incyte caused false claims for Jakafi to be submitted to Medicare and TRICARE.

“Drug companies undermine the integrity of federal health care programs and contribute to rising drug costs when they illegally use foundations to cover patients’ costs for their own drugs,” said Acting Assistant Attorney General Brian M. Boynton of the Justice Department’s Civil Division. “This resolution reflects the government’s continuing commitment to hold pharmaceutical companies accountable for this conduct.”

“Pharmaceutical companies cannot skirt the anti-kickback rules by disguising their inducements to federally-insured patients as charitable donations,” said Acting U.S. Attorney Jennifer Arbittier Williams for the Eastern District of Pennseylvania. “This resolution shows our office’s continuing commitment to holding drug companies accountable for this conduct.”

“Protecting TRICARE, the health care system for U.S. military members and their dependents, is a top priority for the Defense Criminal Investigative Service (DCIS),” said Special Agent in Charge Patrick J. Hegarty of the DCIS Northeast Field Office. “Submitting false claims for ineligible patients compromises the integrity of the TRICARE program. Today's settlement is the result of a joint effort with the U.S. Attorney’s Office, DOJ  Civil Frauds, and HHS-OIG, and it demonstrates our ongoing commitment to work with our law enforcement partners to investigate those who engage in health care fraud.”

When a beneficiary obtains a prescription drug covered by Medicare or TRICARE, the beneficiary may be required to make a partial payment, which may take the form of a copayment, coinsurance or a deductible (collectively “copays”). Congress included copay requirements in these federal programs, in part, to serve as a check on health care costs, including the prices that pharmaceutical manufacturers can demand for their drugs.

Under the Anti-Kickback Statute, a pharmaceutical company is prohibited from offering or paying, directly or indirectly, any remuneration — which includes money or any other thing of value — to induce federal beneficiaries to purchase the company’s drugs. This prohibition extends to the payment of patients’ copay obligations.

The civil settlement includes the resolution of claims brought under the qui tam or whistleblower provisions of the False Claims Act by Justin Dillon, a former compliance executive at Incyte. Under those provisions, a private party can file an action on behalf of the United States and receive a portion of any recovery. The qui tam case is captioned U.S. ex rel. Dillon v. Incyte Corp., No. 2:18 -cv-2642 (E.D. Pa.). Dillon will receive approximately $3.59 million of the recovery.

The resolution obtained in this matter was the result of a coordinated effort between the Civil Division’s Commercial Litigation Branch, Fraud Section, and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, with assistance from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General, the Department of Defense Office of Inspector General, and the Office of Personnel Management Office of the Inspector General.

The investigation and resolution of this matter illustrates the government’s emphasis on combating health care fraud. One of the most powerful tools in this effort is the False Claims Act. Tips and complaints from all sources about potential fraud, waste, abuse, and mismanagement can be reported to the Department of Health and Human Services at 800-HHS-TIPS (800-447-8477).

The matter was investigated by Senior Trial Counsel Jennifer Cihon of the Civil Division’s Commercial Litigation Branch, Fraud Section, and Assistant U.S. Attorneys Paul Koob and Matthew Howatt and Auditor George Niedzwicki of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania.

The claims resolved by the settlement are allegations only and there has been no determination of liability.

The Department of Justice, together with the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), announced a $20 million settlement resolving alleged violations of the FTC Act and the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA), including violations of the Red Flags Rule. The settlement includes $15 million in civil penalties, which represents the largest civil penalty ever paid to resolve FCRA violations under the FTC Act.

Vivint Smart Home Inc. sells “smart” home security and monitoring systems, largely via a sales force that sells door-to-door. The complaint alleges that Vivint failed to implement an Identity Theft Prevention Program, allowing its sales representatives to obtain credit reports of unsuspecting consumers without the consumers’ knowledge or consent, and unfairly sold false debt to buyers or debt collectors. According to the complaint, the defendant’s lack of an Identity Theft Prevention Program violated the FTC’s Red Flags Rule, which requires covered financial institutions and creditors to establish and administer an appropriate, written Identity Theft Prevention Program. The Red Flags Rule plays an important role in the detection, prevention, and mitigation of identity theft.

The complaint further alleges that, due in part to the absence of an appropriate Identity Theft Prevention Program, Vivint’s door-to-door sales force was able to systematically use the names and identities of innocent victims to complete sales to potential Vivint customers who failed the required credit checks. When some of those Vivint customers later defaulted, Vivint allegedly then sold the false debt to third-party debt collectors that attempted to collect from the victims, who had no knowledge of the Vivint accounts created using their identities.

“The Justice Department is committed to protecting consumers against the unlawful use of their credit reports and the unfair sale of false debts,” said Acting Assistant Attorney General Brian M. Boynton of the Justice Department’s Civil Division. “We are pleased to join with our partners at the Federal Trade Commission on this important matter.”

“Vivint’s sales staff stole people’s personal information to approve others for loans,” said Acting Director Daniel Kaufman of the FTC’s Bureau of Consumer Protection. “For misusing consumer credit reports and other sensitive data, and harming people’s credit, this company will pay $20 million.”

As reflected in the stipulated order entered by the court, Vivint will pay $15 million in civil penalties and $5 million in equitable monetary relief. Additionally, Vivint is required to take a number of steps to prevent a recurrence of its alleged unlawful conduct. Among other things, Vivint must establish a corporate component to verify certain accounts and to investigate reports of identity theft; establish an employee monitoring and Identity Theft Prevention Program; and comply with related recordkeeping, certification, and compliance obligations.

This matter was handled by Assistant Director Lisa K. Hsiao and Trial Attorney Alisha M. Crovetto of the Civil Division’s Consumer Protection Branch. Gorana Neskovic and Kevin H. Moriarty represented the FTC.

For more information about the Consumer Protection Branch and its enforcement efforts, visit its website at https://www.justice.gov/civil/consumer-protection-branch. For more information about the FTC, visit its website at https://www.FTC.gov.

Neurosurgeon Wilson Asfora, M.D. of Sioux Falls, South Dakota, and two medical device distributorships that he owns, Medical Designs LLC and Sicage LLC, have agreed to pay $4.4 million to resolve False Claims Act allegations relating to illegal payments to Asfora to induce the use of certain medical devices, in violation of the Anti-Kickback Statute, as well as claims for medically unnecessary surgeries.

Medical Designs and Sicage agreed to pay an additional $100,000 in penalties to settle allegations that they violated the Open Payments Program by failing to report to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) Asfora’s ownership interests and payments made to Asfora.

Under the terms of the settlement agreement, Asfora, Medical Designs, and Sicage each will be excluded from participation in federal health care programs for a period of six years.

“Physicians who accept kickbacks and perform unnecessary surgeries put their patients at risk and increase health care costs for everyone,” said Acting Assistant Attorney General Brian M. Boynton of the Department of Justice’s Civil Division. “We will continue to hold physicians and medical device companies accountable for unlawful financial arrangements that undermine the integrity of federal health care programs.”

The settlement announced today resolves allegations that over the course of nearly a decade, Asfora, Medical Designs, and Sicage knowingly and willfully engaged in three kickback schemes to allow Asfora to profit from his use of over a dozen devices in his medical procedures. First, the United States alleged that Medical Designs and Sicage paid Asfora profit distributions in exchange for Asfora using Medical Designs’ and Sicage’s devices in his spine surgeries. Second, the United States alleged that Medical Designs acted as a distributor, reselling other manufacturers’ spinal devices and splitting the profits with Asfora when he used those devices in surgeries. Third, the United States alleged that Asfora solicited and received kickbacks from medical device manufacturer Medtronic USA Inc. in exchange for using its SynchroMed II infusion pumps, which are implantable devices used to deliver medication to patients. At Asfora’s request, Medtronic allegedly paid the kickbacks to Asfora through a restaurant he owned with his wife, called Carnaval Brazilian Grill, in the form of lavish meals and alcohol for Asfora and his friends, colleagues, and business partners.

In addition, the settlement resolves allegations that Asfora knowingly submitted false claims to federal health care programs for medically unnecessary procedures using the devices in which he had a financial interest. Despite receiving numerous warnings that he was performing medically unnecessary procedures – including warnings from his own physician colleagues – Asfora allegedly continued to perform such procedures while personally profiting from his use of devices sold by Medical Designs, Sicage, and Medtronic. 

“Fraud in the health care arena is taken very seriously by the Department of Justice,” said Acting U.S. Attorney Dennis R. Holmes for the District of South Dakota. “South Dakota is fortunate to have many honest and dedicated health care providers who strive daily to provide high quality services. Dr. Asfora and his companies violated the trust that so many others have worked hard to earn.”

“Kickback dollars can corrupt the high quality medical care patients deserve and taxpayers fund,” said Special Agent in Charge Curt L. Muller of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General (HHS-OIG). “We have excluded Dr. Asfora and his two medical distributorships from receiving Medicare, Medicaid, and other federal health program dollars.”

This settlement also resolves Medical Designs’ and Sicage’s liability under CMS’ Open Payments Program, which was established by the Affordable Care Act and requires medical device companies to disclose to CMS physician ownership interests and certain payments or other transfers of value to a physician. 

The civil settlement includes the resolution of claims that Drs. Carl Dustin Bechtold and Bryan Wellman brought under the qui tam or whistleblower provisions of the False Claims Act against Asfora and Medical Designs. Under the qui tam provisions of the False Claims Act, a private party can file an action on behalf of the United States and receive a portion of any settlement. The qui tam case is captioned United States ex rel. Bechtold, et al. v. Asfora, et al., No. 4:16-cv-04115-LLP (D.S.D.). The whistleblowers will receive $880,000 of the settlement proceeds.

This settlement was the result of a coordinated effort between the Civil Division's Commercial Litigation Branch, Fraud Section, and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of South Dakota, with assistance from HHS-OIG. As a result of its efforts, the United States has recovered a total of more than $33 million relating to conduct involving Asfora, including a False Claims Act settlement with Sanford Health entities for $20.25 million in October 2019 and a False Claims Act and Open Payments settlement with Medtronic for $9.21 million in October 2020. This matter and the related matters were investigated by Trial Attorneys Christopher Terranova and Harin C. Song and Assistant U.S. Attorneys Meghan K. Roche and Ellie J. Bailey.   

The claims resolved by the settlement are allegations only, and there has been no determination of liability.  

An Indiana man and former business agent of Iron Workers Local 395 was sentenced today to more than four years in prison for conspiracy to commit Hobbs Act extortion.

Thomas Williamson Sr., 70, of Schererville, pleaded guilty on Jan. 24, 2020. According to court documents, Williamson organized and led an assault on a group of non-union ironworkers as part of an attempt to obtain a contract to perform construction work on the Plum Creek Christian Academy, a school affiliated with the Dyer Baptist Church in Dyer, Indiana.

In January 2016, Williamson learned that a non-union ironworking company was performing work for the Dyer Baptist Church, which he considered to be in Local 395’s “territory.” On Jan. 6, 2016, Williamson visited the construction site and made threats to the workers to get them to stop work on the site. Upon being rebuffed, Williamson then visited the church and attempted to persuade church officials to use Local 395 for the project instead of the non-union workers.

The day after these efforts failed, Williamson returned to the construction site along with then-Local 395 president Jeffrey Veach and a group of rank-and-file union members. At Williamson’s direction, the union members executed a coordinated and brutal assault on the non-union workers, beating their victims with loose pieces of hardwood, punching them and kicking them. The attack left one of the non-union workers with a broken jaw that required several surgeries and prolonged hospitalization.

Veach also pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit Hobbs Act extortion and was separately sentenced to 42 months in prison in September 2020. Under federal law, both Williamson and Veach will be barred from holding any union position for at least 13 years following the end of their prison sentences.

Acting Assistant Attorney General Nicholas L. McQuaid of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division made the announcement.

The FBI’s Indianapolis Field Office and the Department of Labor, Office of Inspector General, Chicago Regional Office investigated the case with assistance from the Dyer Police Department in Indiana.

Trial Attorneys Alexander Gottfried and Robert Tully of the Criminal Division’s Organized Crime and Gang Section prosecuted the case. Assistant Chief for Labor-Management Racketeering Gerald Toner provided invaluable assistance in the prosecution of this case. Through its Labor Unit, the Organized Crime and Gang Section supports federal criminal prosecution in cases involving labor-management relations, internal union affairs, and the operation of employee pension and health care plans.

A former Tennessee correctional officer was sentenced Friday to two years in prison and two years of supervised release for his involvement in a staff assault of an inmate.

Jonathan York, a former Tennessee Department of Corrections (TDOC) Officer at the Northwest County Correctional Complex in Tiptonville, Tennessee, was sentenced April 30. During the federal investigation, six former TDOC officers ultimately pleaded guilty to federal offenses arising out of the assault of the inmate and the cover up that followed. York is the second of the six to be sentenced. 

“The defendant was held accountable for abusing his power and for violating the public’s trust in him as a correctional officer,” said Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Pamela S. Karlan for the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division. “The Justice Department is committed to vigorously prosecuting all who commit civil rights violations.”

“The United States Attorney’s Office is committed to the prosecution of criminal civil rights violations committed by corrections officers, who have a responsibility to treat those in their custody in a manner consistent with the U.S. Constitution and federal civil rights statute,” said Acting U.S. Attorney Joseph C. Murphy Jr. for the Western District of Tennessee. “This case is an example of that commitment.”

"This sentencing should be a reminder that wearing a badge does not make one above the law,” said Acting Special Agent in Charge Matthew Foster of the FBI Memphis Field Office. “Law enforcement officers or any other government employees who abuse their authority and use unlawful force will be vigorously investigated and prosecuted. The FBI will always work to bring to justice those who violate the civil rights of others."

On June 9, 2020, York pleaded guilty to using unlawful force while acting under color of law and conspiring to cover up the incident. With his guilty plea, York admitted that, on Feb. 1, 2019, he and other correctional officers entered the cell of R.T., an inmate in the mental health unit. Inside the cell, York asked a fellow officer to cover the surveillance camera and he then punched R.T.  Although R.T. did not pose a threat to the officers, York punched R.T. approximately 30 times.  York then stood by and watched as two other correctional officers punched R.T. After the assault of R.T., York spoke with other correctional officers and they conspired to tell a false cover story about what happened to R.T. 

This case was investigated by the Memphis Division of the FBI with the support of the TDOC, and was prosecuted by Trial Attorney Rebekah J. Bailey of the Civil Rights Division and Assistant U.S. Attorney David Pritchard of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Tennessee.

NEW ORLEANS – DEA’s National Prescription Drug Take Back Day collected 829,543 pounds (419.7 tons) of unused, expired, and unwanted medications across the country. The New Orleans Field Division (NOFD) collected 45,603 pounds of that grand total. Americans once again showed their dedication toward helping prevent addiction and potential overdose by removing prescription pills from their homes. Our April event included 4,425 community partners at 5,060 collection sites throughout the country.

“DEA’s biannual Take Back Day events are critical to helping reduce overdose deaths and alleviate addiction by safely disposing of prescription medications that sit idle in the home,” said DEA Acting Administrator D. Christopher Evans. “DEA is committed to providing a safe and secure method for the public to rid their homes of potentially dangerous drugs.”

DEA Special Agent in Charge Brad L. Byerley said, “DEA’s National Prescription Drug Take Back Day events continue to remove even-higher amounts of opioids and other medicines from the nation’s homes, where they could be stolen or abused. Residents in this region took a vital step in reducing the risk of prescription drug diversion by turning in over 45,600 pounds of medications. DEA thanks the citizens and community partners for their vast support in this crucial event.”

DEA, along with its law enforcement partners, has now collected 14,670,240 million pounds of medications since the inception of the National Prescription Drug Take Back Initiative in 2010. On Oct. 24, 2020, the public turned in a record 985,392 pounds – almost 493 tons – of medication to DEA and 4,153 of its community partners at 4,587 collection sites nationwide, including 33 Bureau of Indian Affairs sites.

DEA’s NOFD, which covers Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and Arkansas, collected 45,603 pounds of potentially dangerous expired, unused and unwanted prescription drugs for disposal at collection sites throughout the division. The amounts collected for each state within the division was the following: Louisiana – 6,050 pounds; Mississippi –5,748 pounds; Alabama – 5,100 pounds; and Arkansas – 28,705 pounds.

For those who could not make it to a Take Back location, DEA reminds the community that every day is Take Back Day with more than 11,000 year-round authorized collection sites across the country. For more information, visit: https://apps2.deadiversion.usdoj.gov/pubdispsearch/spring/main?execution=e1s1.

DEA also encourages the public to reach out to their local law enforcement to find out if they have any permanent drug disposal locations throughout their local community.

Complete results for DEA’s April 2021 Take Back Day are available at www.deatakeback.com.

Photos and video from Take Back Day are available at https://flic.kr/s/aHsmVkw4ra.

U.S. Attorney General Merrick B. Garland today announced the Department of Justice is now accepting nominations for the Fifth Annual Attorney General’s Award for Distinguished Service in Community Policing. These awards represent part of the Department of Justice’s on-going commitment to support the nation’s law enforcement officers who put their lives on the line every day to keep our communities safe.

“Effective community policing builds trust between law enforcement officers and those they serve, and that trust helps to improve public safety,” said Attorney General Garland. “These awards honor the exceptional dedication and hard work of law enforcement officers who have gone above and beyond in the performance of their duties, and departments that have excelled in their community policing efforts. Policing is a difficult job, for which extraordinary efforts often go unnoticed, and the Department of Justice is proud to publicly recognize these exemplars of community policing.”

The Attorney General’s Award recognizes individual state, local and tribal sworn, rank- and-file police officers and deputies for exceptional efforts in community policing. The awarded officers, deputies and troopers will have demonstrated active engagement with the community in one of three areas: criminal investigations, field operations or innovations in policing. Within each category, an award will be given to law enforcement agencies serving small, medium, and large jurisdictions. Those agency sizes are defined as:

• Small: agencies serving populations of fewer than 50,000
• Medium: agencies serving populations of 50,000 to 250,000
• Large: agencies serving populations of more than 250,000

By acknowledging and rewarding these efforts, the department strives to promote and sustain its national commitment to community policing and to advance proactive policing practices that are fair and effective. With the Attorney General’s Award for Distinguished Service in Community Policing, the Office of the Attorney General recognizes that the nation’s law enforcement agencies, officers, deputies, and troopers continue to work tirelessly to keep our communities safe places to live and work.

The deadline for nominations is May 28, 2021, at 8 p.m. EDT. More information and the application for nominees can be found at: https://www.justice.gov/ag/policing-award.

Today, a federal court in Fort Pierce, Florida, permanently barred a Florida tax return preparer from preparing federal tax returns for others.

According to the complaint, Brandhi Shaw prepared tax returns in Belle Glade, Florida, at Premier Financial Services and Premium Financial Solutions. The complaint alleges that Shaw prepared tax returns that purposefully understated the tax her customers owed or overstated the refunds they were entitled to claim. For example, Shaw allegedly prepared tax returns for customers that fabricated business expenses of over $40,000 in one case and over $20,000 in expenses plus over $22,000 in costs of goods sold in another.

The civil injunction order, to which Shaw agreed, was signed by Judge Aileen Cannon of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida.

Return preparer fraud is one of the IRS’ Dirty Dozen Tax Scams and taxpayers seeking a return preparer should remain vigilant. (More information can also be found here.) The IRS has information on its website for choosing a tax preparer and has launched a free directory of federal tax preparers. In addition, IRS Free File, a public-private partnership, offers free online tax preparation and filing options on IRS partner websites for individuals whose adjusted gross income is under $72,000. For individuals whose income is over that threshold, IRS Free File offers electronical federal tax forms that can be filled out and filed online for free.

In the past decade, the Tax Division has obtained injunctions against hundreds of unscrupulous tax preparers. Information about these cases is available on the Justice Department’s website. An alphabetical listing of persons enjoined from preparing returns and promoting tax schemes can be found on this page. If you believe that one of the enjoined persons or businesses may be violating an injunction, please contact the Tax Division with details.

Note: A full copy of the non-prosecution agreement can be viewed 

To learn more about what the Justice Department is doing to deter and hold to account those who violate export controls and sanctions laws, visit www.justice.gov/nsd. A full copy of the Voluntary Self Disclosure (VSD) Policy can be found here.

WASHINGTON – Software company, SAP SE, headquartered in Walldorf, Germany, has agreed to pay combined penalties of more than $8 million as part of a global resolution with the U.S. Departments of Justice (DOJ), Commerce and Treasury. In voluntary disclosures the company made to the three agencies, SAP acknowledged violations of the Export Administration Regulations and the Iranian Transactions and Sanctions Regulations. As a result of its voluntary disclosure to DOJ, extensive cooperation and strong remediation costing more than $27 million, DOJ’s National Security Division (NSD) and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Massachusetts entered into a Non-Prosecution Agreement with SAP. Pursuant to that agreement, SAP will disgorge $5.14 million of ill-gotten gain.

“Today’s first-ever resolution pursuant to the Department’s Export Control and Sanctions Enforcement Policy for Business Organizations sends a strong message that businesses must abide by export control and sanctions laws, but that when they violate those laws, there is a clear benefit to coming to the Department before they get caught,” said Assistant Attorney General John C. Demers for the Justice Department’s National Security Division. “SAP will suffer the penalties for its violations of the Iran sanctions, but these would have been far worse had they not disclosed, cooperated, and remediated.  We hope that other businesses, software or otherwise, we heed this lesson.”  

“Today, SAP has admitted to thousands of export violations spanning six years that violated the U.S. embargo against Iran and endangered the national security of the United States,” said Acting U.S. Attorney Nathaniel Mendell for the District of Massachusetts. “This settlement should serve as a strong deterrent message to others that the release of software and sale of product and services on the internet are subject to U.S. export laws and regulations.”    

“This action demonstrates that the Office of Export Enforcement will continue to leverage our unique authorities to enforce our nation’s export control laws and to deter new violations. Violators of the EAR will be held accountable through criminal or civil penalties, or both when appropriate,” said Special Agent in Charge William Higgins for the Commerce Department’s Office of Export Enforcement, Boston Field Office. “These laws are designed to protect U.S. Foreign Policy and National Security and will be vigorously investigated.”

“By supplying Iran with millions of dollars’ worth of illegally exported software and services, SAP circumvented U.S. economic sanctions against Iran—pressure that is intended to end Iran’s malign behavior. However, it was SAP that first uncovered and reported this sanctions violation, and we would like to thank them for working hard to enhance their compliance program to prevent future violations,” said Special Agent in Charge Joseph R. Bonavolonta for the FBI’s Boston Division. “Let this case be a lesson to others that it’s better to self-report and own up to one’s mistakes than undermine U.S. foreign policy and adversely affect our national security.”

“Among HSI’s priorities is the commitment to ensuring that sensitive U.S. products, to include software, are not illegally exported to embargoed destinations, such as Iran,” said Acting Special Agent in Charge William S. Walker for Homeland Security Investigations, Boston. “It will continue to be incumbent upon U.S. companies to guarantee that foreign subsidiaries dealing in their products remain in compliance with U.S. sanctions and export control regulations. HSI will continue to coordinate with our law enforcement partners to safeguard sensitive technologies produced in the United States from ending up in the hands of our adversaries.”

Beginning in approximately January 2010 through approximately September 2017, SAP, without a license, willfully exported, or caused the export, of its products to Iranian users. SAP’s violations occurred in two principle ways.

First, between 2010 and 2017, SAP and its overseas partners released U.S-origin software, including upgrades or software patches more than 20,000 times to users located in Iran. Certain SAP senior executives were aware that neither the company nor its U.S.-based content delivery provider used geolocation filters to identify and block Iranian downloads, yet for years the company did not remedy the issue. The vast majority of the Iranian downloads went to 14 companies, which SAP partners in Turkey, United Arab Emirates, Germany and Malaysia knew were Iranian-controlled front companies. The remaining downloads went to several multinational companies with operations in Iran, which downloaded SAP’s software, updates, or patches from locations in Iran.

Second, from approximately 2011 to 2017, SAP’s Cloud Business Group companies (CBGs) permitted approximately 2,360 Iranian users to access U.S.-based cloud services from Iran. Beginning in 2011, SAP acquired various CBGs and became aware, through pre-acquisition due diligence as well as post-acquisition export control-specific audits, that these companies lacked adequate export control and sanctions compliance processes. Yet, SAP made the decision to allow these companies to continue to operate as standalone entities after acquiring them and failed to fully integrate them into SAP’s more robust export controls and sanctions compliance program.

While this conduct constituted serious violations of U.S. law involving the release of U.S. origin technology and software through cloud servers and online portals, this Non-Prosecution Agreement recognizes the importance of voluntary self-disclosure and cooperation with the government. DOJ and the District of Massachusetts reached this resolution with SAP based upon its voluntary self-disclosure as well as SAP’s extensive internal investigation and cooperation over a three-year period. During this time, SAP worked with prosecutors and investigators, producing thousands of translated documents, answering inquiries and making foreign-based employees available for interviews in a mutually agreed upon overseas location. SAP also timely remediated and implemented significant changes to its export compliance and sanctions program, spending more than $27 million on such changes over the last four years, including, among other things detailed in the NPA: (1) implementing GeoIP blocking; (2) deactivating thousands of individuals users of SAP cloud based services based in Iran; (3) transitioning to automated sanctioned party screening of its CBGs; (4) auditing and suspending SAP partners that sold to Iran-affiliated customers; and (5) hiring of experienced U.S.-based export controls staff, and (6) conducting more robust due diligence at the acquisition stage by requiring new acquisitions to adopt GeoIP blocking and requiring involvement of the Export Control Team before acquisition.

Concurrently with this agreement, SAP is entering into administrative agreements with the Department of Commerce, Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) and the Department of the Treasury, Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC). Among other things, the BIS settlement agreement requires SAP to conduct internal audits of its compliance with U.S. export control laws and regulations and produce audit reports to BIS for a period of three years.

The Department encourages companies to voluntarily self-disclose all potentially willful  violations of the statutes implementing the U.S. government’s primary export control and sanctions regimes — the Arms Export Control Act (AECA), the Export Control Reform Act (ECRA), and the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA), — directly to NSD. The VSD Policy, absent aggravating factors, creates a presumption in favor of a non-prosecution agreement and limits any monetary payment to an amount equal to the gains from the illegal conduct.

Deputy Chief of Export Controls and Sanctions Elizabeth Cannon and Senior Trial Attorney Heather Schmidt for NSD’s Counterintelligence and Export Controls Section, and Assistant U.S. Attorney B. Stephanie Siegmann, Chief of District of the Massachusetts’ National Security Unit oversaw the investigation and negotiated this agreement.

The Department of Justice’s U.S. Trustee Program (USTP) has entered into a settlement with three law firms representing Purdue Pharma (Purdue) in its ongoing bankruptcy cases. The firms are Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP; Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr LLP; and Dechert LLP (the Firms). 

The settlement, which is subject to approval by the Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York, resolves the USTP’s concerns about the adequacy of the Firms’ disclosures in the Purdue bankruptcy cases. Under the settlement, the Firms, collectively, will relinquish $1 million in fees earned in the cases and are required to supplement their prior disclosures so that the court and other parties can make a determination as to their sufficiency.    

According to the USTP, the Firms failed to adequately disclose a Joint Defense and Common Interest Agreement (the Agreement) between Purdue and the Sackler families that created obligations for the Firms to the Sacklers related to the defense against hundreds of lawsuits involving potentially billions of dollars of liability related to the manufacture, sale, and distribution of the prescription pain medication OxyContin. During the course of the bankruptcy cases, Purdue invoked the Agreement to avoid turning over documents to the official committee of unsecured creditors as it conducted its review of the debtors’ conduct.

“These disclosure violations are particularly concerning because a central question in these cases has been the independence of Purdue from the Sackler families,” said USTP Director Cliff White. “This agreement reflects the USTP’s ongoing efforts to police law firms and other bankruptcy professionals who fail to disclose connections that may raise questions about their ability to perform their duties free of conflicts of interest.”

Due to the multiplicity of interests in a bankruptcy case, the Bankruptcy Code and Bankruptcy Rule 2014 mandate that law firms and other professional firms disclose their connections to other parties in a case. The USTP reviews applications to employ firms that seek payment from a chapter 11 bankruptcy estate under sections 327 and 1103 of the Bankruptcy Code and advocates for strict compliance with the law to ensure that the interests of all stakeholders are protected. Where there has been a failure to disclose a connection in an application, even when inadvertent, the bankruptcy court may remedy the failure to disclose by, among other remedies, requiring all or part of the fees earned by counsel to be disgorged. In this settlement, the parties have agreed to disgorgement. 

The USTP’s work on this matter has been handled by U.S. Trustee William Harrington, Assistant U.S. Trustee Linda Riffkin, Associate General Counsel for Chapter 11 Practice Nan Eitel, and Trial Attorney Paul Schwartzberg.

The U.S. Trustee Program is the component of the Justice Department that protects the integrity of the bankruptcy system by overseeing case administration and litigating to enforce the bankruptcy laws. The Program has 21 regions and 90 field office locations. Learn more information on the Program at: https://www.justice.gov/ust.

A federal grand jury in West Virginia returned an indictment Tuesday charging a former West Virginia police officer with a civil rights offense against an arrestee.

According to court documents, Everett Maynard, 44, was indicted Tuesday by a federal grand jury in Charleston for using excessive force against an arrestee while Maynard was a police officer with the Logan, West Virginia, Police Department.

The indictment charges Maynard with one count of deprivation of rights under color of law. The indictment alleges that Maynard used unreasonable force when he assaulted arrestee R.W., resulting in bodily injury to R.W.

The count carries a maximum penalty of 10 years of imprisonment.  

Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Pamela S. Karlan of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division; Acting U.S. Attorney Lisa G. Johnston for the Southern District of West Virginia; and Acting Special Agent in Charge Carlton Peeples of the FBI Pittsburgh Field Office made the announcement.

This case was investigated by the Charleston Resident Agency of the FBI Pittsburgh Field Office with the support of the West Virginia State Police and is being prosecuted by Trial Attorney Kathryn E. Gilbert of the Civil Rights Division and Assistant U.S. Attorney Nowles Heinrich.

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

A federal grand jury in Shreveport, Louisiana, returned an indictment charging a former Shreveport police officer with assaulting an arrestee in Caddo Parish. 

According to court documents, on Aug. 5, 2019, defendant Dylan Hudson, 34, while acting in his official capacity as an officer of the Shreveport Police Department, used unreasonable force against an arrestee by punching him in the face and head, kneeing him in the stomach, tasing him in the neck and head, pistol-whipping him in the head, slamming his head into the ground, and kicking him in the face. The indictment further alleges that Hudson’s assault caused bodily injury to the arrestee, and that the assault involved the use of dangerous weapons (a Taser, a pistol, and a shod foot).   

The one-count indictment charges Hudson with willfully depriving an individual of his right to be free from the use of unreasonable force during an arrest.

Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Pamela S. Karlan of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division, Acting U.S. Attorney Alexander C. Van Hook for the Western District of Louisiana and FBI New Orleans Special Agent in Charge Daniel R. Genck made the announcement.

If convicted, Hudson faces a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison, three years of supervised release, and a fine of up to $250,000. 

The case is being investigated by the FBI New Orleans Field Office and is being prosecuted by Trial Attorney Thomas Johnson of the Civil Rights Division and Assistant U.S. Attorney Mary Mudrick of the Western District of Louisiana.

An indictment is a formal accusation of criminal conduct, not evidence of guilt. The defendant is presumed innocent unless proven guilty.

Two Texas men pleaded guilty today to for their roles in an odometer tampering scheme.

According to court documents, Nepthali Luna, 61, of San Antonio, pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to make false odometer statements and commit securities fraud, while his son, Devon Luna, 36, also of San Antonio, pleaded guilty to two counts of making false odometer statements and two counts of securities fraud.

As part of their plea agreements, the defendants admitted that between 2016 and 2018, they engaged in a scheme to sell high-mileage, used vehicles with false, low mileage readings entered on the vehicles’ odometers, titles and odometer disclosure statements. According to court filings, Devon Luna purchased high-mileage vehicles through his company, Pioneer Auto Finance. The defendants then caused the vehicles’ odometers and titles to reflect false, low mileages, and they sold the vehicles for inflated prices to unwitting consumers.

“The Department of Justice remains steadfast in its commitment to protect consumers against deceptive practices, including odometer fraud schemes,” said Acting Assistant Attorney General Brian Boynton of the Justice Department's Civil Division. “Consumers are entitled to truthful information about the vehicles they purchase, including the amount of miles that a used vehicle has been driven.”

In pleading guilty, the Lunas admitted that they caused at least 225 vehicles to be sold with “rolled back” odometers. The defendants admitted that the scheme resulted in consumer losses of more than $550,000.

Both defendants are scheduled to be sentenced on Aug. 3, 2021. Nepthali Luna faces a maximum sentence of five years in prison on the conspiracy charge. Devon Luna faces a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison on the securities fraud charges and three years on the false odometer statement charges. A federal district court judge will determine any sentence after considering the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration Office of Odometer Fraud Investigation (NHTSA), assisted by the San Antonio Police Department, investigated the case.

Trial Attorney Arturo DeCastro of the Civil Division’s Consumer Protection Branch is prosecuting the case with assistance from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Texas.

NHTSA estimates that odometer fraud in the United States results in consumer losses of more than $1 billion annually. Individuals with information relating to odometer tampering should call NHTSA’s odometer fraud hotline at (800) 424-9393 or (202) 366-4761. More information on odometer fraud is available on the NHTSA website at https://www.nhtsa.gov/odometer-fraud and tips on detecting and avoiding odometer fraud are available at www.nhtsa.gov/staticfiles/nvs/pdf/811284.pdf.

For more information about the Consumer Protection Branch and its enforcement efforts, visit its website at http://www.justice.gov/civil/consumer-protection-branch. For more information about the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Texas, visit https://www.justice.gov/usao-wdtx.

HUNTSVILLE, Ala. – A federal grand jury returned a 24-count indictment yesterday, charging two Huntsville men with committing a string of armed robberies across North Alabama, announced U.S. Attorney Prim F. Escalona and FBI Special Agent in Charge Johnnie Sharp, Jr.   

According to the indictment, between August and October of 2019, Terrence Warren Jackson, 43, and Deonte Marquish Eddins, 25, committed 11 armed robberies at businesses across North Alabama.  Jackson and Eddins robbed  Family Dollar, Dollar General, MetroPCS, Verizon Wireless, and two GameStop stores.  In a span of six days in October 2019, Jackson robbed Verizon Wireless, Marco’s Pizza, MetroPCS, and two GameStop stores.  The indictment also charges the pair with brandishing a firearm and being felons in possession of a firearm.

The Hobbs Act prohibits actual or attempted robbery that affects interstate commerce and that involves the taking of property from another person by means of actual or threatened force or violence. If convicted of a Hobbs Act Robbery, the defendants face a maximum of 20 years in prison. If convicted of brandishing a firearm during and in relation to a violent crime, the defendants face a mandatory minimum of seven years in prison per count, to be served consecutively to any other sentence imposed for the crime.  If convicted of being a felon in possession of a firearm, the defendants face a maximum of ten years in prison. 

The FBI Violent Crimes Task Force, assisted by local law enforcement, investigated the case.  Assistant U.S. Attorney Mary Stuart Burrell is prosecuting the case.

An indictment contains only charges.  A defendant is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.

Three Georgia men were indicted today by a federal grand jury in the Southern District of Georgia and charged with hate crimes and the attempted kidnapping of Ahmaud Arbery. The indictment also charges two of the men with separate counts of using firearms during that crime of violence.

Travis McMichael, 35; Travis’s father, Gregory McMichael, 65; and William “Roddie” Bryan, 51, were each charged with one count of interference with rights and with one count of attempted kidnapping. Travis and Gregory McMichael were also charged with one count each of using, carrying, and brandishing—and in Travis’s case, discharging—a firearm during and in relation to a crime of violence.

Counts One and Two of the indictment allege that the defendants used force and threats of force to intimidate and interfere with Arbery’s right to use a public street because of his race. Specifically, Count One of the indictment alleges that as Arbery was running on a public street in the Satilla Shores neighborhood of Brunswick, Georgia, Travis and Gregory McMichael armed themselves with firearms, got into a truck, and chased Arbery through the public streets of the neighborhood while yelling at him, using their truck to cut off his route, and threatening him with firearms. Count One also alleges that the offense resulted in Arbery’s death. Count Two alleges that William “Roddie” Bryan joined the chase and used his truck to cut off Arbery’s route. 

In addition to the hate-crime charges, Count Three alleges that all three defendants attempted to unlawfully seize and confine Arbery by chasing after him in their trucks in an attempt to restrain him, restrict his free movement, corral and detain him against his will, and prevent his escape. Counts Four and Five allege that during the course of the crime of violence charged in Count One, Travis used, carried, brandished, and discharged a Remington shotgun, and Gregory used, carried, and brandished a .357 Magnum revolver. 

All three defendants have also been charged in a separate state proceeding with malice murder, felony murder, aggravated assault, false imprisonment, and criminal attempt to commit a felony. No trial date has been set for the state case.

The announcement was made by Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Pamela S. Karlan of the Justice Department's Civil Rights Division, Acting U.S. Attorney David Estes of the Southern District of Georgia, and Special Agent in Charge J.C. Hacker of the FBI.

This case was investigated by both the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Georgia Bureau of Investigation and is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Tara Lyons of the Southern District of Georgia, and Deputy Chief Bobbi Bernstein and Special Litigation Counsel Christopher J. Perras of the Civil Rights Division.

An indictment is a formal accusation of conduct, not evidence of guilt. A defendant is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.

A federal grand jury in Los Angeles has indicted two Los Angeles-area men on conspiracy and hate crime offenses for allegedly attacking five victims at a family-owned Turkish restaurant while shouting anti-Turkish slurs, hurling chairs at the victims and threatening to kill them.

The indictment was unsealed today following the arrest this morning of Harutyun Harry Chalikyan, 23, of Tujunga, who is scheduled to be arraigned this afternoon in U.S. District Court in Los Angeles.

The second defendant in the case – William Stepanyan, 23, of Glendale – is currently in state custody and is expected to appear in federal court in this case in the coming weeks.

Chalikyan and Stepanyan, both of whom are Armenian-American, are charged with one count of conspiracy and five hate crimes.

According to the indictment, Stepanyan sent a text message on Nov. 4, 2020, saying that he planned to go “hunting for [T]urks.” Later that day, Stepanyan met with Chalikyan and other Armenian-Americans to protest what they considered to be Turkish aggression against Armenians, express their contempt for Turkey and show their support for Armenia.

Stepanyan, Chalikyan and other Armenian-Americans then drove to the family-owned restaurant, where Stepanyan and Chalikyan stormed into the restaurant and attacked the victims inside, the indictment alleges. Stepanyan and Chalikyan, who were both wearing masks during the attack, allegedly flung chairs at the victims while shouting derogatory slurs about Turkish people. Four of the five victims were of Turkish descent.

The indictment further alleges that at least one of the defendants threatened to kill the victims, shouting: “We came to kill you!  We will kill you!”

During the attack, multiple victims were injured, including one individual who lost feeling in their legs and collapsed multiple times due to the injury, the indictment states. After the victims escaped, Stepanyan and Chalikyan allegedly continued to destroy the restaurant, ultimately causing over $20,000 in damage, forcing the restaurant to close temporarily and causing thousands of dollars in lost revenue.

If convicted, Stepanyan and Chalikyan each would face a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison for the hate crime charges and five years in prison for the conspiracy charge.

The FBI conducted the investigation in this matter and received substantial assistance from the Beverly Hills Police Department.

Assistant United States Attorney Lindsey Greer Dotson of the Public Corruption and Civil Rights Section, and Trial Attorney Michael J. Songer of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division are prosecuting the case.

An indictment is merely an allegation, and the defendants are presumed innocent unless proven guilty in a court of law.

WASHINGTON - U.S. Attorney General Merrick B. Garland spoke Monday afternoon by phone with Mexico Attorney General Alejandro Gertz Manero. The two leaders affirmed their commitment to work together to address law enforcement matters that impact the people and communities of the United States and Mexico. In particular, the Attorneys General discussed the need to continue bilateral cooperation to fight organized and transnational crime, and to disrupt the supply chains of illegal and illicit drugs. Other areas to further strengthen bilateral cooperation were also highlighted, including firearms tracking, illicit finance, and human smuggling and traffickers.

A North Carolina woman was sentenced Monday to 50 years in prison followed by 20 years of supervised release for production and distribution of child pornography.

Alyson Brooke Saunders, 25, of Greensboro, pleaded guilty to one count of production of child pornography and one count of distribution of child pornography on Nov. 5, 2020. According to court documents, in or about January and February 2019, while employed at a day care facility in the Middle District of North Carolina, Saunders admitted to using five minor victims in her care to create sexually explicit images and videos, including some in which she also engaged in hands-on sexual abuse of some of the children. The defendant then sent these images and videos to an online co-conspirator, with the knowledge that he intended to post them on the internet.

“The defendant in this case exploited her position as a caregiver to produce sexually explicit images of vulnerable young children with the purpose of providing the images to a co-conspirator,” said Acting Assistant Attorney General Nicholas L. McQuaid of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division. “Thanks to a proactive investigation by our law enforcement partners and the department’s continued commitment to combatting child sexual exploitation, the defendant was apprehended and received a significant penalty for her heinous crimes.”   

“When people in positions of trust and responsibility exploit children it not only steals the child’s innocence, it can also teach them not to trust any more, which can cause lifelong trauma,” said Special Agent in Charge Ronnie Martinez of Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) North Carolina. “Thanks to the great work done by HSI and its law enforcement partners, this predator will no longer be able to victimize children or spread those disturbing images”

HSI in Winston-Salem investigated the case with assistance from the North Carolina State Bureau of Investigations.

Trial Attorney Nadia Prinz of the Criminal Division’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section (CEOS) prosecuted the case.

This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice. Led by U.S. Attorneys’ Offices and CEOS, Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state and local resources to better locate, apprehend and prosecute individuals who exploit children via the internet, as well as to identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.justice.gov/psc.

A citizen of Cameroon was extradited to the U.S. yesterday to face federal charges for his alleged involvement in a fraud scheme perpetrated against American consumers.

Desmond Fodje Bobga, 28, made his initial appearance in federal district court in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, today. He was extradited from Romania. Bobga is charged with conspiracy to commit wire fraud, wire fraud, forging a seal of the U.S. Supreme Court, and aggravated identity theft.

According to the charges, from around June 2018 to around June 2020, Bobga knowingly conspired with others to offer puppies and other animals for sale on internet websites. He and others communicated by text message and email with potential victims to induce purchases. Following each purchase, Bobga and co-conspirators claimed that a transportation company would deliver the puppy or other animal and provided a false tracking number for the pet. Bobga and his co-conspirators, acting as the transportation company, then claimed the pet transport was delayed and that the victim needed to pay additional money for delivery of the pet.

Bobga and co-conspirators told some victims that they needed to pay more money for delivery because the pet had been exposed to the coronavirus. The perpetrators used false promises and bogus documents regarding shipping fees and coronavirus exposure to extract successive payments from victims. Among the fake documents were a “Refundable Crate and Vaccine Guarantee Document” that purported to have been issued by the “Supreme Court of the United States of America” and bore the seal of the Court, along with the signature of a Clerk of the Court. After Bobga and the co-conspirators received money directly and indirectly through wire communications from the victims, they never delivered the pets.

“The Department of Justice is committed to prosecuting fraud schemes that take advantage of American consumers, including schemes that seek to exploit the COVID-19 pandemic,” said Acting Assistant Attorney General Brian M. Boynton of the Justice Department's Civil Division. “We are grateful to the U.S. Attorney’s Office in the Western District of Pennsylvania and to the FBI for their partnership on this matter, and we greatly appreciate the efforts of Romanian law enforcement.”

“From across the globe, Desmond Fodje Bobga and his co-conspirators callously exploited consumers who were seeking the companionship of a pet to alleviate the isolation and stress caused by the COVID pandemic,” said Acting U.S. Attorney Stephen R. Kaufman for the Western District of Pennsylvania. “Today he stands before the court in Pittsburgh to face justice.”

“Mr. Bobga created false websites to advertise puppies or other animals, communicated with customers in the U.S., obtained payment and then provided nothing in return,” said FBI Pittsburgh Acting Special Agent in Charge Carlton Peeples. “His extradition to Western Pennsylvania to face these accusations sends a message to others looking to exploit victims in the U.S. that the FBI will stop at nothing to find you and put a stop to these scams.”

The criminal charges detail the alleged dealings of Bobga and his co-conspirators with victims in Western Pennsylvania and elsewhere. For example:

• One victim, of New Brighton, Pennsylvania, was seeking to purchase a mini-dachshund for her mother in mid-March of 2020. Victim 1 was induced to lose $9,100 due to false claims that the puppy was being shipped, needed insurance, and was exposed to COVID-19;
• Another victim, of Fruitland, Iowa, was seeking to purchase a mini-dachshund for herself in mid-March of 2020. False claims induced Victim 2 to lose $1,840; and
• A couple in Dallas, Texas, who were seeking to purchase a dog and lost $1,800, were induced to make successive payments based on claims about transportation issues and other matters.

The criminal charges include a reference to a website, lovelyhappypuppy.com, to which Bobga allegedly directed numerous victims to view puppies that he fraudulently claimed to sell:

The wire fraud conspiracy and wire fraud charges provide for a sentence of up to 20 years in prison. Forging of seal provides for a maximum sentence of five years in prison. Aggravated identity theft provides for a mandatory two years in prison. Sentences are imposed by a federal district court judge based upon the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.

The prosecution is being handled by Assistant U.S. Attorney Ira M. Karoll of the Western District of Pennsylvania and Wei Xiang of the Civil Division’s Consumer Protection Branch.

The FBI Pittsburgh Field Office conducted the investigation leading to the charges in this case. The Justice Department’s Office of International Affairs provided substantial assistance. Law enforcement authorities in Romania, including the Romanian National Police, Directorate for Combating Organized Crime and the Cluj Brigade for Combating Organized Crime, provided significant cooperation.

If you believe you are a victim in this case and would like to opt-in to receive notifications or if you have any questions about your rights, please contact the Victim Witness Coordinator at 412-894-7400 or through our website (https://www.justice.gov/usao-wdpa/webform/contact-victim-witness-coordinator). 

For more information about the Consumer Protection Branch, visit its website at www.justice.gov/civil/consumer-protection-branch. 

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

A federal grand jury in Newark, New Jersey, returned an indictment on April 1, 2021, charging a Springfield man with tax evasion and willful failure to file individual income tax returns.

According to the indictment, Jonathan Michael was a mechanic employed by a company engaged in managing the operations of a port in New Jersey. From 2014 through 2018, Michael allegedly earned over $1.6 million in income from all sources, including the port-operating company. In February 2014, as alleged in the indictment, Michael submitted an IRS Form W-4, “Employee’s Withholding Allowance Certificate,” to the port-operating company that falsely claimed he was exempt from federal income tax withholding. The indictment further alleges that Michael willfully did not file federal individual income tax returns for 2014 through 2018, despite having a legal obligation to do so.

Michael is charged with one count of tax evasion and five counts of willful failure to file tax returns. The defendant made his initial court appearance today before a U.S. Magistrate Judge in the U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey. If convicted, he faces a maximum sentence of five years in prison for the tax evasion and one year in prison for each failure to file count. A federal district court judge will determine any sentence after considering the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.

Acting Deputy Assistant Attorney General Stuart M. Goldberg of the Justice Department’s Tax Division and Acting U.S. Attorney Rachael A. Honig for the District of New Jersey made the announcement.

The IRS-Criminal Investigation is investigating the case.

Trial Attorney Michael C. Vasiliadis of the Tax Division and Assistant U.S. Attorney Matthew F. Nikic of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of New Jersey are prosecuting the case.

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

A federal jury convicted a former South Carolina sheriff and two of his former deputies of conspiracy and a range of other charges, such as  deprivation of civil rights during an unlawful arrest, falsification of records, and various charges relating to their misuse of funds and personnel.

According to court documents and evidence presented at trial, former Sheriff of Chester County, South Carolina, George Alexander Underwood, 57, of Chester, former Chester County Sheriff’s Office Chief Deputy Robert Andrew Sprouse, 46, of Ridgeway, and former Chester County Sheriff’s Office Lieutenant Johnny Ricardo Neal Jr., 41, of Lancaster, conspired to use their positions to enrich themselves by obtaining money to which they were not entitled, cover up their misconduct, and obstruct investigations into their misconduct. Evidence showed Underwood and Sprouse violated the rights of a Chester County resident, K.S., who was filming the Sheriff’s Office’s response to a crash scene on Nov. 20, 2018, by arresting him without probable cause. When the FBI began investigating these civil rights violations, Sprouse and Neal tried to cover up what happened by creating a false incident reports and Sprouse made false statements to the FBI. 

Additionally, court documents and evidence presented at trial showed the three defendants directed on-duty Sheriff’s Office employees to provide manual labor or other services that personally benefited Underwood and Sprouse, including requiring them to help with extensive renovations of a barn on Underwood’s property in order to add a bar, a television viewing area, and other amenities.  Underwood and Sprouse took family members on a trip to a conference in Reno, Nevada, and charged the cost to the Sheriff’s Office. Underwood and Neal also engaged in a scheme in which they skimmed money from payments owed to other Sheriff’s Office employees for off-duty work at public safety checkpoints.    

Underwood, Sprouse, and Neal were removed from their positions with the Chester County Sheriff’s Office in approximately May 2019 after they were initially indicted by a federal grand jury. 

Underwood was convicted of conspiracy, deprivation of rights, federal program theft, and wire fraud. Sprouse was convicted of conspiracy, falsification of records, false statements, and federal program theft. Neal was convicted of conspiracy, deprivation of rights, falsification of records, federal program theft, and wire fraud. A sentencing date has not yet been set. Each defendant faces a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison. A federal district court judge will determine any sentence

Acting Assistant Attorney General Nicholas L. McQuaid of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division made the announcement.

The FBI investigated the case. The Office of the Attorney General of South Carolina and the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division aided the investigation.

Trial Attorneys William M. Miller and Rebecca M. Schuman of the Criminal Division’s Public Integrity Section are prosecuting the case. The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of South Carolina investigated and initially indicted the case.

Attorney General Merrick B. Garland announced today that the Department of Justice has opened a pattern or practice investigation into the Louisville/Jefferson County Metro Government (Louisville Metro) and the Louisville Metro Police Department (LMPD). The investigation will assess all types of force used by LMPD officers, including use of force on individuals with behavioral health disabilities or individuals engaged in activities protected by the First Amendment. The investigation will assess whether LMPD engages in discriminatory policing, and also whether it conducts unreasonable stops, searches, seizures, and arrests, both during patrol activities and in obtaining and executing search warrants for private homes. The investigation will include a comprehensive review of LMPD policies, training, and supervision, as well as LMPD’s systems of accountability, including misconduct complaint intake, investigation, review, disposition, and discipline.

“There are approximately 18,000 federal, state, and local law enforcement agencies in this country. In each one, dedicated officers put themselves in harm’s way to protect others,” said Attorney General Garland. “Promoting public trust between communities and law enforcement is essential to making both communities and policing safer. Our enforcement efforts, as well as our grant-making and other support, will contribute to achieving that end and to protecting the civil rights of everyone in our country.” 

Department of Justice officials informed Louisville Mayor Greg Fischer, LMPD Chief Erika Shields, County Attorney Mike O’Connell, and Louisville Metro Council President David James of the investigation. As part of this investigation, the Department of Justice will reach out to community groups and members of the public to learn about their experiences with LMPD.

“The Constitution and federal law require law enforcement officers to treat all people fairly and equitably, regardless of race, disability, or participation in protected First Amendment activities,” said Pamela S. Karlan, Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Rights Division. “The investigation we are announcing today will examine whether these laws are being violated, while also analyzing the root causes of any violations we may find.”

The investigation is being conducted pursuant to the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act of 1994 which prohibits state and local governments from engaging in a pattern or practice of conduct by law enforcement officers that deprives individuals of rights protected by the Constitution or federal law. The Act allows the Department of Justice to remedy such misconduct through civil litigation.  The department will be assessing law enforcement practices under the First, Fourth, and Fourteenth Amendments to the U.S. Constitution, as well as under the Safe Streets Act of 1968 Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act.

The investigation will be led by the department’s Civil Rights Division and conducted by career attorneys and staff in the Civil Rights Division and in the Civil Division of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Kentucky. Individuals with relevant information are encouraged to contact the Department of Justice via email at Community.Louisville@usdoj.gov or by phone at 1-844-920-1460. Individuals can also report civil rights violations regarding this or other matters using the Civil Rights Division’s reporting portal, available at www.civilrights.justice.gov.

Additional information about the Civil Rights Division is available on its website at www.justice.gov/crt. Additional information about the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Kentucky is available at https://www.justice.gov/usao-wdky.

Information specific to the Civil Rights Division’s Police Reform Work can be found here: https://www.justice.gov/crt/file/922421/download.  

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico – On April 14, 2021, a Federal Grand Jury in the District of Puerto Rico returned a four-count indictment charging three individuals with conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute a controlled substance aboard a vessel subject to the jurisdiction of the United States, as well as violations of the Drug Trafficking Vessel Interdiction Act (DTVIA), announced W. Stephen Muldrow, United States Attorney for the District of Puerto Rico.

The indictment charges that, on or about April 8, 2021, on the high seas, defendants Arturo González-Quiñones, Freiman Yepes-Ospina, and José Álvaro Córdoba-Rentería, conspired to possess with intent to distribute cocaine, conspired to operate and embark in a semi-submersible vessel without nationality, and to navigate thereon into and through waters beyond the outer limit of any country’s territorial sea, with the intent to evade detection, in violation of the DTVIA.

The United States Coast Guard seized approximately 2,500 kilograms of cocaine that the defendants transported on board a semi-submersible vessel. The shipment of cocaine has a wholesale value of approximately $75 million -- using a wholesale price of $30,000 per kilogram of cocaine.

The interdiction was the result of multi-agency efforts in support of U.S. Southern Command’s enhanced counter-narcotics operations in the Western Hemisphere, the Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force (OCDETF) and High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area (HIDTA) programs, and the Caribbean Corridor Strike Force (CCSF).

The OCDETF CCSF is a multi-agency task force operating in the District of Puerto Rico focusing on attacking command and control elements of Caribbean and South American-based Transnational Criminal Organizations (TCOs). The CCSF targets the smuggling of shipments of narcotics into Puerto Rico, the transshipment of drugs to the Continental United States, as well as the laundering of drug proceeds using bulk cash smuggling and sophisticated money laundering activities. The signatory agencies to the CCSF are the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), the United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), the United States Coast Guard Investigative Service (CGIS), the United States Marshals Service (USMS), and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Puerto Rico.

Law enforcement agencies that provide critical and essential support to the CCSF, especially with respect to drug interdiction efforts, include: (a) the United States Coast Guard, (b) the United States Customs and Border Protection, Office of Field Operations, Caribbean Air and Marine Branch, (c) the Puerto Rico Department of Public Safety, (c) the Puerto Rico Police Bureau, (d) the Puerto Rico Joint Forces of Rapid Action (“Fuerzas Unidas de Rapida Accion” – FURA), and (e) the United States Border Patrol.  

“Since the beginning of October 2020, the CCSF and supporting agencies have seized over 17,000 kilograms of cocaine and charged 82 defendants in connection with those seizures,” said United States Attorney Muldrow. “The CCSF will also continue to pursue the command and control elements of the transnational criminal organizations involved in these drug trafficking and related money laundering activities. Rest assured that we are steadfast in our resolve to protect our borders and our community from these criminal cartels.”

Using a wholesale value of $30,000 per kilogram of cocaine seized, the over 17,000 kilograms of cocaine seized by the CCSF in FY21 has a wholesale value of $510,000,000.  The over 17,000 kilograms of cocaine seized by the CCSF during FY21 significantly outpace the CCSF cocaine seizures in FY19 and FY20. Also, the seizures described above relate only to the CCSF, and do not include other drug seizures unrelated to the CCSF.

The prosecutors in charge of the prosecution of the case are U.S. Coast Guard Special Assistant U.S. Attorney Seth Tremble; Chief of the Transnational Organized Crime Section, Assistant U.S. Attorney Max Pérez-Bouret; and Deputy Chief of the Transnational Organized Crime Section, Assistant U.S. Attorney Vanessa Bonhomme. If convicted the defendants face a mandatory minimum sentence of ten years up to life in prison on the drug trafficking charges and a maximum sentence of fifteen years in prison for violations of the DTVIA (18 U.S.C. § 2285). 

Indictments contain only charges and are not evidence of guilt. Defendants are presumed to be innocent until and unless proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.

# # #

The U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum last night conferred their highest honor, the Elie Wiesel Award, on the U.S. Department of Justice in recognition of the successes of its longtime enforcement program’s efforts to identify, investigate, and prosecute participants in World War II-era Nazi crimes.

That program, previously based in the former Office of Special Investigations (OSI), is now part of the mission of OSI’s successor unit, the Criminal Division’s Human Rights and Special Prosecutions Section (HRSP). The award was accepted by former OSI Director Eli Rosenbaum, under whose leadership most of the unit’s prosecution successes were achieved. Rosenbaum, who recently led HRSP’s investigation and prosecution of a Nazi concentration camp guard who was removed from the U.S., currently serves as HRSP’s Director of Human Rights Enforcement Strategy and Policy.

“It is deeply gratifying that the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum has recognized the Justice Department’s extraordinary work in pursuing justice on behalf of the victims of Nazi genocide,” said Attorney General Merrick B. Garland. “The Department remains steadfast in its resolve to pursue justice on behalf of victims of human rights abuses committed in a tragically long list of countries both during and since World War II.”

Also honored with the Eli Wiesel Award was Ambassador Stuart Eizenstat, former Chief White House Domestic Affairs Advisor under President Jimmy Carter, who was instrumental in the legislation that led to the creation of the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum and who led tireless efforts to secure compensatory and historical justice for survivors.

“While true justice for the victims of the Holocaust is not possible, Stuart Eizenstat and the U.S. Department of Justice’s Office of Special Investigations have each worked tirelessly in different ways to secure a measure of justice for the survivors and accountability for the perpetrators,” said Museum Chairman Howard M. Lorber. “We are honored to recognize their achievements and decades-long dedication to these noble pursuits.”

The OSI was established in 1979 to identify, investigate, and bring to trial people living in the U.S. who participated in Nazi crimes against humanity. Staffed by a dedicated team of prosecutors, investigators, and historians, OSI sought out Nazi perpetrators living in the U.S. who had entered the country illegally. Between its founding and 2010, when it was merged into HRSP, OSI’s investigations and prosecutions led to the denaturalization and/or removal or extradition of more than 100 Nazi offenders from the U.S. In addition, with the assistance of the Justice Department’s former Immigration and Naturalization Service—and since 2002, its successor, the Department of Homeland Security—OSI blocked more than 200 people suspected of participating in wartime Nazi and Japanese crimes from gaining entry to the U.S.

OSI documented and made public the details of U.S. intelligence agencies’ recruitment of such Nazi perpetrators as Klaus Barbie, known as “the Butcher of Lyon” for his torture of Jews and members of the French Resistance and the deportation of Jewish children to Auschwitz. It also denaturalized and deported, among others, John Demjanjuk, the notorious Sobibor extermination camp guard, and Arthur Rudolph, a wartime Nazi slavemaster and later a senior NASA official in charge of constructing the Saturn V rocket. OSI also performed the key investigative work, under Ambassador Eizenstat’s leadership, that proved that the Third Reich transferred Holocaust victim-origin gold to the Swiss National Bank during the war and helped achieve the declassification and public release of millions of pages of classified U.S. government records on Nazi criminals and their crimes.

Given that most Holocaust perpetrators are no longer alive, the principal focus of the human rights enforcement work of HRSP is now on modern human rights abusers. HRSP has prosecuted war criminals, persecutors and other human rights abusers from all over the world, including in relation to postwar conflicts such as those in Bosnia, Guatemala, and Rwanda.

Established in 2011, the Elie Wiesel Award recognizes internationally prominent individuals whose actions embody the Museum’s vision of a world where people confront hate, prevent genocide, and promote human dignity. Holocaust survivor, author, and Nobel Peace Prize laureate Elie Wiesel, the Museum’s founding chairman, was the first recipient of the award, which was subsequently named in his honor. Engraved on the award are words from Wiesel’s Nobel Prize acceptance speech, “One person of integrity can make a difference.”

In addition to the late Professor Wiesel, the 13 previous recipients include former Nuremberg prosecutor Benjamin Ferencz, the late Congressman John Lewis, and the Syrian White Helmets organization.

Today, marking the 40th Anniversary of National Crime Victims’ Rights Week (NCVRW), the Justice Department’s Hate Crimes Enforcement and Prevention Initiative announced newly translated hate crimes resources in eight languages for the department’s hate crimes website, www.justice.gov/hatecrimes.

The website, which has been visited by over one million users since launching in 2018, now features new pages in Simplified Chinese, Traditional Chinese, Vietnamese, Korean, Tagalog, Arabic, and Japanese. These pages include basic information about hate crimes, in-language resources, and instructions on reporting hate crimes to the FBI Tip Line with assistance from qualified interpreters. Experience has proven that communicating in-language with people who are limited English proficient (LEP) is a crucial step to combating hate crimes nationally.  

There has been an alarming rise in violence, harassment, and discrimination directed at the Asian-American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) community. The new in-language pages can help victims and witnesses who are limited English proficient recognize and report hate crimes. The website also has a new English language page with links to resources and news addressing hate targeting AAPI communities. www.justice.gov/hatecrimes/addressing-hate-crimes-against-AAPI. The page includes a link to the FBI’s Hate Crime Threat Guide. The Threat Guide, a single-page chart describing types of hate crime threats (physical, verbal, phoned, electronic, written, or visual), lists recommended responses, including steps to preserve evidence. The Guide is now available in Simplified and Traditional Chinese.

The Spanish language hate crimes site, www.justice,gov/hatecrimes-espanol, also has expanded content, such as up-to-date hate crimes statistics, case examples, Spanish language resources, and a map of which states have hate crimes laws. 

“Supporting victims of hate crimes is an essential part of the department’s mission, and an important measure of our success,” said Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Pamela Karlan of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division. “People with limited English proficiency, and the advocates and community leaders who work with them, face additional barriers to seeking justice. We hope that these new in-language resources help the department and our partners more effectively support victims of hate crimes, build trust, and engage communities. We will continue to expand the number of languages on www.justice.gov/hatecrimes.”

Today’s announcements are just one part of the department’s work to combat discrimination and violence through capacity building, training, support and outreach to our partners, including those that work with AAPI communities or members of the public who have limited English proficiency.   

On Jan. 26, President Biden issued the “Presidential Memorandum Condemning and Combating Racism, Xenophobia, and Intolerance Against Asian-Americans and Pacific Islanders in the United States,” which mandates that the Attorney General shall:

• explore opportunities to support, consistent with applicable law, the efforts of state and local agencies, as well as AAPI communities and community-based organizations, to prevent discrimination, bullying, harassment, and hate crimes against AAPI individuals, and
• expand collection of data and public reporting regarding hate incidents against such individuals.

For more information on the Justice Department’s work to combat and prevent hate crimes, visit www.justice.gov/hatecrimes, a one-stop portal with links to hate crimes resources for law enforcement, media, researchers, victims, advocacy groups, and other organizations and individuals.  For more information about ensuring language access and the concentration of, and languages spoken by, persons with limited English proficiency in a county, state, or judicial district, visit www.lep.gov/  

لقد حل الأسبوع الوطني لحقوق ضحايا الجرائم.  هذا الأسبوع، وعلى مدار العام، نود أن يعلم ضحايا جرائم الكراهية أنهم ليسوا وحدهم. لمعرفة المزيد من المعلومات عن جرائم الكراهية والتعرف على كيفية طلب المساعدة، يرجى زيارة الموقع: www.justice.gov/hatecrimes/translated-get-help-arabic  (Arabic)

本周是“全国犯罪受害者权利周”。 本周，乃至全年，我们想要让仇恨犯罪的受害者知道他们并不孤单。 要了解更多关于仇恨犯罪的信息和了解您可以如何求助，请访问：www.justice.gov/hatecrimes/translated-get-help-simplified-chinese  (Simplified Chinese)

本週是「全國犯罪受害者權利週」。本週，乃至全年，我們想讓仇恨犯罪的受害者知道他們並不孤單。要瞭解更多關於仇恨犯罪的資訊和瞭解您可以如何求助，請訪問：www.justice.gov/hatecrimes/translated-get-help-traditional-chinese (Traditional Chinese)

全国犯罪被害者の権利週間です。今週そして年間を通じ、自分は一人ではないということをヘイトクライム被害者に知っていただきたいです。ヘイトクライムの詳細および助けの求め方を知るには：www.justice.gov/hatecrimes/translated-get-help-japanese (Japanese)

전국 범죄 희생자의 권리 주간입니다.  이번 주 그리고 연중 내내, 저희는 증오 범죄의 희생자들이 혼자가 아니라는 것을 알게 되길 바랍니다.  증오 범죄에 대해 더 자세히 알고 도움을 요청할 수 있는 방법에 대해  알아보려면 다음을 방문해 주십시오:  www.justice.gov/hatecrimes/translated-get-help-korean (Korean)

Pambansang Linggo ng mga Karapatan ng Biktima ng Krimen ngayon.  Ang linggo ito, at sa buong taon, nais naming iparating sa mga biktima ng poot na hindi sila nag-iisa.  Para malaman pa ang tungkol sa mga krimen ng poot at para malaman kung paano kayo hihingi ng tulong, bisitahin ang: www.justice.gov/hatecrimes/translated-get-help-tagalog (Tagalog)

Đã đến Tuần lễ Quyền của Nạn nhân Tội phạm Quốc gia.  Tuần này, và trong suốt cả năm, chúng tôi muốn các nạn nhân của tội ác thù hận biết rằng họ không đơn độc.  Để tìm hiểu thêm về tội ác thù hận và tìm hiểu cách bạn có thể yêu cầu trợ giúp, vui lòng truy cập: www.justice.gov/hatecrimes/translated-get-help-vietnamese (Vietnamese)