District Not Recorded

Download Simplified Chinese Press Release Translation

华盛顿——司法部 (Department of Justice, DOJ) 今天宣布已开始对休斯顿市有关非法倾倒 的运营、政策和做法展开一次环境正义调查。这项调查将由 Civil Rights Division（民权 司）带头审查该市在响应市政服务要求时（包括在响应非法倾倒时）是否违反了联邦民权 法律，对休斯顿的黑人和拉丁裔居民进行了歧视。

“非法垃圾场不仅吸引啮齿动物、蚊虫和其他害虫，造成健康风险，还可能污染地表水， 影响正常排水，使该地区更易发生洪灾，”司法部 Civil Rights Division 助理检察长克里 斯汀·克拉克 (Kristen Clarke) 表示。“在美国，不应有人因无效的固体废物管理或不完 善的执法计划而面临生病和遭到其他严重伤害的风险。我们将对这些环境正义问题及其对 休斯顿市的黑人和拉丁裔社区的影响展开公平和彻底的调查。”

“非法垃圾场会引起人们对公共健康和安全、物业价值和生活质量的重大担忧，”德克萨 斯州南部地区的美国检察官珍妮弗 B. 劳维里 (Jennifer B. Lowery) 表示。“我们期待着与 Civil Rights Division 展开合作，确保休斯顿市履行其联邦民权义务。”

本次调查将审查该市针对非法倾倒的执法和固体废物管理的运营、政策和做法是否导致对 黑人和拉丁裔居民的歧视，进而违反了 1964 年《民权法案》第 VI 章 (Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, Title VI)。Title VI 禁止联邦财政援助的接受者基于种族、肤色或原籍 进行歧视。

Civil Rights Division 的联邦协调与合规科 (Federal Coordination and Compliance Section) 正 在德克萨斯州南部地区美国检察官办公室的支持下进行这项调查。在宣布之前，司法部已 向休斯顿市的市长办公室和法律部门通报了调查启动的情况。

通过执行国家民权法律来应对歧视性的环境和健康影响是司法部的一项首要任务。2022 年 5 月，司法部长梅里克·加兰德 (Merrick Garland) 宣布设立有史以来第一个环境正义办 公室 (Office of Environmental Justice)。 他还宣布发布了司法部的综合环境正义执法战略 (Comprehensive Environmental Justice Enforcement Strategy)，这为使用司法部的民事和刑 事执法权力和工具（包括民权权力）以实现环境正义提供了一套路线图。2022 年 7 月， 司法部还发布了 2022-26 年战略规划 (2022-26 Strategic Plan)，将保护民权和推进环境正义 确立为一个焦点领域。2021 年 11 月， Civil Rights Division 宣布了其对 DOJ 接受者， 即：阿拉巴马州公共卫生局 (Alabama Department of Public Health) 和朗兹县卫生局 (Lowndes County Health Department)，进行首次 Title VI 环境正义调查。

“司法部最近设立的 Office of Environmental Justice 和综合环境正义执法战略确认了我们 对追求法律之下的平

等正义所做出的坚定承诺，”司法部环境与自然资源司 (Environment and Natural Resources Division) 助理检察长托德·金 (Todd Kim) 表示。 “这项调查体现 了司法部对缓和有色人种社区、低收入社区和部落社区经常承受的不成比例的环境负担所 做的承诺。”

我们鼓励有相关信息的个人通过电子邮件 TX.Houston.EJ@usdoj.gov 或致电 1-888-TITLE06 (1-888-848-5306) 的形式与 Federal Coordination and Compliance Section 取得联系。 如 需有关 Civil Rights Division 的其他信息，请查看其网站 www.justice.gov/crt。如需有关 Environment and Natural Resources Division 的其他信息，请查看其网站 www.justice.gov/enrd。请在此处查看本新闻稿的西班牙语版。

This afternoon, U.S. Attorney General Merrick B. Garland spoke by phone with Mexico’s Secretary of Foreign Affairs Marcelo Ebrard Casaubon. The two leaders previously met in Mexico City during the first U.S.-Mexico High-Level Security Dialogue (HLSD). During today’s call, Attorney General Garland expressed his gratitude to Secretary Ebrard and the Government of Mexico for successfully arresting Rafael Caro-Quintero. The Attorney General also offered his condolences to the families and loved ones of the Mexican servicemembers who gave their lives in service to their country last week. The two leaders reaffirmed their shared commitment to working expeditiously on the extradition of Caro-Quintero, who is wanted in the United States on a number of criminal charges, including his alleged involvement in the kidnapping and murder of Drug Enforcement Administration Special Agent Enrique “Kiki” Camarena in 1985.

This afternoon, Associate Attorney General Vanita Gupta and members of the Reproductive Rights Task Force met with senior staff from offices of state attorneys general to discuss the Task Force and the work state attorneys general are doing in their communities to respond to the Dobbs decision. The Associate and Task Force members updated participants on the Task Force’s work. The state attorneys general’s offices provided information about developments in their states, including what they are seeing and hearing from women and providers. This information will help inform the Task Force’s work going forward. 

The Task Force will continue meeting with stakeholders and coordinating with government partners in the coming weeks. 

Deputy Attorney General (Deputy AG) Lisa O. Monaco traveled to Colorado this week to highlight the Justice Department’s mission to protect and defend the rule of law. 

On Wednesday, the Deputy AG was in Aspen, Colorado, to speak at the Aspen Security Forum. Alongside Treasury Deputy Secretary Walley Adeyemo, she discussed the wide-ranging response by the Justice and Treasury Departments as part of the U.S. government’s ongoing efforts to impose consequences on the Russian regime for its unprovoked aggression in Ukraine.

In particular, the Deputy AG highlighted the success of the Justice Department’s Task Force KleptoCapture, and its work with partners across the U.S. government and around the world to enforce the sweeping sanctions, export restrictions and economic countermeasures that the United States has imposed on Russia. She also described the department’s resolve to expose the corruption that has benefited the Russian regime, saying:

“It is important, I think, to expose the corruption; to do everything we can to go after these ill-gotten gains — whether they’re in bank accounts here, whether they’re in the form of planes or yachts, you name it — and to expose this corruption to say that there’s no place that you can hide these ill-gotten gains — we’ll go to Fiji if we have to, to get [them] back.”

A video recording of the discussion, titled “Freezing, Seizing, and More: Behind the Sanctions on Russia,” is available here.

On Thursday, the Deputy AG was in Denver to visit the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Colorado. There she met with U.S. Attorney Cole Finegan and his leadership team, and received a series of briefings on cases from across the district. She also had an opportunity to hear from and talk with the men and women of the U.S Attorney’s Office during an all-hands meeting.  Finally, the Deputy AG convened a roundtable with state, local, federal and Tribal law enforcement leaders to discuss public safety issues — including violent crime and the ongoing threat posed by fentanyl. Deputy AG Monaco thanked the assembled leaders for their partnership. 

The Department of Justice announced today that it has opened an environmental justice investigation into the City of Houston’s operations, policies and practices related to illegal dumping. The investigation, which will be led by the Civil Rights Division, will examine whether the City responds to requests for municipal services, including in response to illegal dumping, in a manner that discriminates against Black and Latino Houston residents in violation of federal civil rights laws. 

“Illegal dumpsites not only attract rodents, mosquitos and other vermin that pose health risks, but they can also contaminate surface water and impact proper drainage, making areas more susceptible to flooding,” said Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division. “No one in the United States should be exposed to risk of illness and other serious harm because of ineffective solid waste management or inadequate enforcement programs. We will conduct a fair and thorough investigation of these environmental justice concerns and their impact on Black and Latino communities in the City of Houston.”

“Illegal dumpsites can raise significant concerns regarding public health and safety, property values, and quality of life,” said U.S. Attorney Jennifer B. Lowery for the Southern District of Texas. “We look forward to working with the Civil Rights Division to ensure the City of Houston is in compliance with its federal civil rights obligations.”

The investigation will examine whether the City’s enforcement and solid waste management operations, policies and practices in response to illegal dumping have resulted in discrimination against Black and Latino residents in violation of Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (Title VI). Title VI prohibits recipients of federal financial assistance from discriminating on the basis of race, color or national origin.

The Civil Rights Division’s Federal Coordination and Compliance Section is conducting this investigation with the support of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Texas. Prior to the announcement, the department informed the City of Houston’s mayor’s office and legal department of the investigation’s initiation.

Addressing discriminatory environmental and health impacts through enforcement of the nation’s civil rights laws is a top priority of the Department of Justice. In May 2022, Attorney General Merrick B. Garland announced the creation of the first-ever Office of Environmental Justice. He also announced the issuance of the Justice Department’s Comprehensive Environmental Justice Enforcement Strategy, which provides a roadmap for using the department’s civil and criminal enforcement authorities and tools, including civil rights authorities, to achieve environmental justice. In July 2022, the department released its 2022-26 Strategic Plan, which includes protecting civil rights and advancing environmental justice as an area of focus. In November 2021, the Civil Rights Division announced its first Title VI environmental justice investigation of Justice Department recipients, the Alabama Department of Public Health and Lowndes County Health Department.

“The Justice Department’s recent creation of the Office of Environmental Justice and a Comprehensive Environmental Justice Enforcement Strategy affirm our deep commitment to pursuing equal justice under law,” said Assistant Attorney General Todd Kim of the Justice Department’s Environment and Natural Resources Division. “This investigation exemplifies the department’s commitment to alleviating disproportionate environmental burdens borne all too often by communities of color, low-income communities and tribal communities.”

Individuals with relevant information are encouraged to contact the Federal Coordination and Compliance Section by email at TX.Houston.EJ@usdoj.gov or by phone at 1-888-TITLE-06 (1-888-848-5306).  Additional information about the Civil Rights Division is available on its website at www.justice.gov/crt. Additional information about the Environment and Natural Resources Division is available on its website at www.justice.gov/enrd. View the Spanish translation of this press release here.

A federal grand jury in Louisville, Kentucky, returned an indictment, which was unsealed today, charging a Kentucky man with using his former position as a probation officer to engage in unwanted sexual contact with individuals under his supervision. 

According to court documents, Ronald R. Tyler, 55, of Shepherdsville, Kentucky, has been charged with engaging in unwanted sexual contact with four individuals who were under his supervision and with making false statements during an interview with the Kentucky State Police for the purpose of obstructing an investigation into allegations he had sexually assaulted females under his supervision.

Tyler made an initial appearance on the indictment today. He is charged with four counts for allegedly violating the civil rights of probationers by subjecting them to unwanted sexual conduct, and one count for the allegedly false statement to investigators. One of the civil rights counts alleges that the offense involved aggravated sexual abuse. If convicted, Tyler faces a maximum of life imprisonment. A federal district court judge would determine any sentence after considering the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.

Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke for the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division; U.S. Attorney Michael A. Bennett of the Western District of Kentucky; and Special Agent in Charge Jodi Cohen of the FBI Louisville Field Division made the announcement.

The FBI and the Louisville Metro Police Department’s Public Integrity Unit jointly investigated the case through the Louisville Public Corruption Civil Rights Task Force.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Amanda E. Gregory of the Western District of Kentucky and Trial Attorney Anita Channapati of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division 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.

El Departamento de Justicia anunció hoy que ha iniciado una investigación de justicia medioambiental de las operaciones, políticas y prácticas de la Ciudad de Houston en lo que se refiere al vertido ilegal. La investigación, que será dirigida por la División de Derechos Civiles, examinará si la Ciudad responde a solicitudes de servicios municipales, incluyendo en respuesta al vertido ilegal, de una manera que discrimina a residentes negros y latinos, en contra de las leyes federales de derechos civiles.

“Los vertederos ilícitos no solo atraen a roedores, mosquitos y otros parásitos que representan un riesgo a la salud, sino que también contaminan el agua de superficie y afectan el drenaje adecuado, lo que hace que ciertas zonas sean más susceptibles a la inundación”, afirmó Kristen Clarke, la Fiscal General Auxiliar de la División de Derechos Civiles del Departamento de Justicia. “Nadie en los Estados Unidos debe ser expuesto al riesgo de la enfermedad u otro tipo de daño grave a causa de una gestión ineficaz de los residuos sólidos o de programas inadecuados de aplicación de la ley. Nosotros realizaremos una investigación justa y completa de estas preocupaciones de justicia medioambiental y su impacto en las comunidades negras y latinas de la Ciudad de Houston”.

“Los vertederos ilegales pueden generar un nivel de inquietud significativo en cuanto a la salud y seguridad públicas, los valores de las propiedades y la calidad de vida”, declaró Jennifer B. Lowery, la Fiscal Federal para el Distrito Sur de Texas. “Estamos deseando colaborar con la División de Derechos Civiles para garantizar que la Ciudad de Houston cumpla con sus obligaciones federales en lo que se refiere a los derechos civiles”.

La investigación examinará si la aplicación de la ley de la Ciudad, así como sus operaciones, políticas y prácticas de gestión de los residuos sólidos en respuesta al vertido ilícito, han resultado en la discriminación de residentes negros y latinos, en contra del Título VI de la ley de Derechos Civiles de 1964 (Título VI). El Título VI prohíbe la discriminación por motivos de raza, color de piel y origen nacional por parte de beneficiarios de fondos federales.

La Sección Federal de Coordinación y Cumplimiento de la División de Derechos Civiles está dirigiendo esta investigación, con el apoyo de la Fiscalía Federal para el Distrito Sur de Texas. Antes de la declaración, el Departamento informó a la Alcaldía de la Ciudad de Houston y su departamento legal del lanzamiento de la investigación.
Una de las prioridades principales de la División de Derechos Civiles es abordar los impactos discriminatorios en el medioambiente y la salud mediante la aplicación de las leyes nacionales de derechos civiles. En mayo del 2022, el Fiscal General Merrick Garland anunció (solo en inglés) la creación de la primera Oficina para la Justicia Medioambiental. También anunció la emisión por parte del Departamento de Justicia de la Estrategia Integral de Aplicación de la Justicia Medioambiental (solo en inglés), la cual ofrece una hoja de ruta para el uso de las herramientas y autoridades de cumplimiento de las leyes civiles y penales del Departamento, incluyendo las autoridades de derechos civiles, para lograr la justicia medioambiental. En julio del 2022, el Departamento emitió su Plan Estratégico 2022-26 (solo en inglés), que incluye la protección de los derechos civiles y la promoción de la justicia medioambiental como áreas de enfoque. En noviembre del 2021, la División de Derechos Civiles anunció su primera investigación de justicia medioambiental bajo el Título VI de beneficiarios del Departamento de Justicia, el Departamento de Salud Pública de Alabama y el Departamento de Salud del Condado de Lowndes.

“La creación reciente por parte del Departamento de Justicia de la Oficina para la Justicia Medioambiental y una Estrategia Integral de Aplicación de la Justicia Mediomabiental afirma nuestro compromiso sólido a perseguir la justicia equitativa frente a la ley”, comentó el Fiscal General Auxiliar Todd Kim, de la División del Medioambiente y Recursos Naturales del Departamento de Justicia.  “Esta investigación ejemplifica el compromiso del Departamento a aliviar las cargas medioambientales desproporcionadas que en demasiados casos caen sobre las comunidades de color, las comunidades de bajos ingresos y las comunidades indígenas”.

Se le pide a cualquier persona con información relevante que se comunique con la Sección Federal de Coordinación y Cumplimiento por correo electrónico a TX.Houston.EJ@usdoj.gov por teléfono al 1-888-TITLE-06 (1-888-848-5306). Para más información sobre la División de Derechos Civiles, visite su sitio web en www.justice.gov/crt-espanol. Para más información sobre la División del Medioambiente y Recursos Naturales, visite su sitio web en www.justice.gov/enrd (solo en inglés). Haga clic aquí para ver este comunicado de prensa en inglés.

Download Vietnamese Press Release Translation

Hôm nay, Bộ Tư Pháp (Department of Justice, DOJ) ra thông báo mở cuộc điều tra công lý môi trường đối với các hoạt động, chính sách và phương thức của Thành Phố Houston liên quan đến hành vi xả rác bất hợp pháp. Cuộc điều tra này - do Civil Rights Division (Ban Dân Quyền) tiến hành - sẽ kiểm tra xem liệu Thành Phố có phản hồi các yêu cầu thị chính (bao gồm biện pháp ứng phó với hành vi xả rác bất hợp pháp) theo cách phân biệt đối xử với cư dân Houston là người Da Đen và người Latinh vi phạm luật dân quyền liên bang hay không.

“Không chỉ thu hút các loài gặm nhấm, muỗi cũng như những loài côn trùng khác gây nguy hiểm cho sức khỏe, các bãi rác bất hợp pháp còn làm ô nhiễm nước mặt và ảnh hưởng đến hệ thống thoát nước thích hợp, khiến cho các khu vực dễ bị ngập lụt hơn.” - Kristen Clarke, Trợ Lý Bộ Trưởng Tư Pháp thuộc Civil Rights Division của DOJ cho biết. “Không ai ở Hoa Kỳ đáng phải chịu rủi ro bệnh tật và các tổn hại nghiêm trọng khác vì hoạt động quản lý chất thải rắn không hiệu quả hoặc các chương trình thực thi không đầy đủ. Chúng tôi sẽ tiến hành một cuộc điều tra công bằng và kỹ lưỡng về những mối lo ngại liên quan đến công lý môi trường này, cũng như tác động của các vấn đề nói trên đến cộng đồng người Da Đen và người Latinh ở Thành phố Houston.”

“Các bãi rác bất hợp pháp có thể làm dấy lên những lo ngại đáng kể về sức khỏe, an toàn cộng đồng, giá trị tài sản và chất lượng cuộc sống.” - Luật Sư Hoa Kỳ Jennifer B. Lowery thuộc Quận Phía Nam của Texas chia sẻ. “Chúng tôi mong muốn được hợp tác với Civil Rights Division để đảm bảo Thành Phố Houston tuân thủ các nghĩa vụ dân quyền liên bang của mình.”

Cuộc điều tra này sẽ kiểm tra xem liệu các hoạt động thực thi, vận hành quản lý chất thải rắn, những chính sách cũng như phương thức ứng phó của Thành Phố với hành vi xả rác bất hợp pháp có dẫn đến sự phân biệt đối xử với cư dân là người Da Đen và người Latinh vi phạm Mục VI của Đạo Luật Quyền Công Dân năm 1964 (Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, Title VI) hay không. Title VI cấm các bên nhận hỗ trợ tài chính liên bang phân biệt đối xử dựa trên chủng tộc, màu da hoặc nguồn gốc quốc gia.

Bộ Phận Tuân Thủ và Điều Phối Liên Bang (Federal Coordination and Compliance Section) của Civil Rights Division sẽ tiến hành cuộc điều tra này với sự hỗ trợ của Văn Phòng Luật Sư Hoa Kỳ thuộc Quận Phía Nam của Texas. Trước khi công bố, bộ đã thông báo cho văn phòng thị trưởng của Thành Phố Houston và bộ phận pháp lý về việc bắt đầu cuộc điều tra.

Ưu tiên hàng đầu của DOJ là giải quyết các tác động của hành vi phân biệt đối xử về môi trường và sức khỏe thông qua quá trình thực thi luật dân quyền của quốc gia. Vào tháng 5 năm 2022, Bộ Trưởng Tư Pháp Merrick Garland đã thông báo về việc thành lập Văn Phòng Công Lý Môi Trường (Office of Environmental Justice) đầu tiên. Ông cũng thông báo về việc ban hành Chiến Lược Thực Thi Công Lý Môi Trường Toàn Diện (Comprehensive Environmental Justice Enforcement Strategy) của DOJ , qua đó đưa ra lộ trình vận dụng các công cụ cũng như cơ quan thực thi dân sự và hình sự của bộ (bao gồm các cơ quan dân quyền) nhằm đạt được công lý môi trường. Vào tháng 7 năm 2022, bộ đã phát hành Kế Hoạch Chiến Lược Năm 2022-26 (2022-26 Strategic Plan) ,bao gồm lĩnh vực trọng tâm là bảo vệ các quyền công dân và thúc đẩy công lý môi trường. Vào tháng 11/2021, Civil Rights Division đã công bố cuộc điều tra đầu tiên về công lý môi trường Tiêu Đề VI đối với những bên nhận của DOJ, Sở Y Tế Công Cộng Alabama và Sở Y Tế Quận Lowndes.

“Việc DOJ gần đây thành lập Office of Environmental Justice và Comprehensive Environmental Justice Enforcement Strategy đã khẳng định cam kết sâu sắc của chúng tôi trong quá trình theo đuổi công lý bình đẳng theo luật pháp.” - Trợ Lý Bộ Trưởng Tư Pháp Todd Kim thuộc Ban Tài Nguyên và Môi Trường (Environment and Natural Resources Division) của DOJ cho biết “Cuộc điều tra này thể hiện cam kết của bộ trong việc giảm bớt gánh nặng không cân xứng về môi trường mà các cộng đồng da màu, cộng đồng có thu nhập thấp và cộng đồng bộ tộc phải chịu đựng thường xuyên.”

Các cá nhân có thông tin phù hợp nên liên hệ với Federal Coordination and Compliance Section qua email tại TX.Houston.EJ@usdoj.gov hoặc qua điện thoại theo số 1-888-TITLE-06 (1-888- 848-5306). Thông tin thêm về Civil Rights Division có trên trang web của họ tại www.justice.gov/crt. Thông tin thêm về Environment and Natural Resources Division có trên trang web của họ tại www.justice.gov/enrd. Xem bản dịch tiếng Tây Ban Nha của thông cáo báo chí này tại đây.

This afternoon, U.S. Attorney General Merrick B. Garland spoke by phone with Mexico’s Attorney General Alejandro Gertz Manero. Attorney General Garland called to express his gratitude to Attorney General Gertz and the Government of Mexico for successfully arresting Rafael Caro-Quintero, who is wanted in the United States on a number of criminal charges, including his alleged involvement in the kidnapping and murder of Drug Enforcement Administration Special Agent Enrique “Kiki” Camarena in 1985. Attorney General Garland offered his condolences to the families and loved ones of the Mexican servicemembers who gave their lives in service to their country last week. The two leaders reaffirmed their shared commitment to continue working in lockstep on the extradition of Caro-Quintero and pledged to continue building upon successful collaboration in criminal investigations and prosecutions of cross-border crime.

A Michigan real estate consultant and accountant was sentenced today to 18 months in prison for filing false tax returns with the IRS that omitted more than $800,000 in income, most of which he earned from a kickback scheme.

According to court documents and statements made in court, Steven A. Mills, currently of Harbor Springs and formerly of East Lansing, operated Mills Real Estate Consulting LLC. Through his consulting business, Mills was retained by a corporation to supervise several outside real estate agents hired by the corporation and paid substantial commissions. From 2012 to 2015, Mills demanded and received approximately $577,000 in kickbacks from one of these agents, which he did not report as income on his tax returns. Mills also did not report all of the income he received from the corporation, nor did he report $100,000 in compensation he received from a real estate developer for the years 2013 to 2015.

In addition to the term of imprisonment, U.S. District Judge Paul L. Maloney ordered Mills to serve one year of supervised release and to pay $297,858 in restitution to the United States.

Acting Deputy Assistant Attorney General Stuart M. Goldberg of the Justice Department’s Tax Division and U.S. Attorney Mark A. Totten for the Western District of Michigan made the announcement.

IRS-Criminal Investigation investigated the case.

Trial Attorneys Kenneth Vert and Jeffrey McLellan of the Tax Division and Assistant U.S. Attorney Ronald Stella of the Western District of Michigan prosecuted the case.

One year after the announcement of cross-jurisdictional strike forces, Attorney General Merrick B. Garland and ATF Director Steven M. Dettelbach were briefed by senior ATF officials on ongoing efforts to help reduce gun violence through the disruption of illegal firearms trafficking in key regions across the country. 

Yesterday, ATF senior officials from Los Angeles, San Francisco, Chicago, New York, Philadelphia, and Washington D.C. joined the ATF Director at a briefing with Attorney General Garland held at Justice Department headquarters. 

In July 2021, the Department announced the formation of cross-jurisdictional strike forces to help reduce gun violence by disrupting illegal firearms trafficking in key regions across the country.

ATF Special Agents in Charge described the strike forces’ work on several high impact investigations that identified and prosecuted individuals who illegally trafficked firearms from source cities, through other communities, and into major urban areas where they were often discovered at crime scenes or in the possession of violent actors. They noted that these strike forces have fostered cross-jurisdictional partnerships, cooperation and intelligence sharing among federal, state, local, Tribal, and territorial law enforcement, and led to the ultimate disruption of trafficking corridors. 

In addition, the strike forces have encouraged partners’ participation in the National Integrated Ballistic Information Network (NIBIN), as the ATF has continued to expand NIBIN’s presence and availability. The ATF conducted over 600,000 traces, and over 8,500 urgent traces from July 2021 to July 2022. ATF field offices in strike force areas seized over 7,700 firearms in the same period.

The strike forces represent one important, concrete step in implementing the Department’s Comprehensive Violent Crime Reduction Strategy, which was announced on May 26, 2021. The comprehensive strategy supports local communities in preventing, investigating, and prosecuting gun violence and other violent crime — and requires U.S. Attorneys’ offices to work with federal, state, local, and tribal law enforcement, as well as the communities they serve, to address the most significant drivers of violence in their districts. In guidance to federal agents and prosecutors as part of that comprehensive strategy, the Deputy Attorney General made clear that firearms traffickers providing weapons to violent offenders are an enforcement priority across the country. 

A federal jury convicted a New York man today in connection with a scheme to defraud investors by marketing and selling fraudulent virtual currency. 

According to court documents and evidence presented at trial, Randall Crater, 51, of East Hampton, founded My Big Coin Pay Inc. (My Big Coin), a purported cryptocurrency and virtual payment services company headquartered in Las Vegas, Nevada, and offered virtual payment services through a fraudulent digital currency, “My Big Coins,” which he marketed to investors between 2014 and 2017 using misrepresentations about the nature and value of Coins. Crater and his associates falsely claimed that Coins was a fully functioning cryptocurrency backed by $300 million in gold, oil and other valuable assets. Crater also falsely told investors that My Big Coin had a partnership with MasterCard and that Coins could readily be exchanged for government-backed paper currency or other virtual currencies. Crater promulgated these misrepresentations through social media, the internet, email and text messages.

In reality, Coins were not backed by gold or other valuable assets, did not have a partnership with MasterCard and were not readily transferable. Over the course of the scheme, Crater misappropriated over $6 million of investor funds for his own personal gain, including spending hundreds of thousands of dollars on antiques, artwork and jewelry.

In January 2018, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) announced commodity fraud charges against Crater and My Big Coin Pay Inc. The CFTC also filed civil charges against the Chief Executive Officer of My Big Coin, John Roche, and two of Crater’s associates Mark Gillespie and Michael Kruger. 

Crater was convicted of four counts of wire fraud, which carries a maximum statutory penalty of up to 20 years in prison for each count, and three counts of money laundering, which carries a maximum statutory penalty of up to 10 years in prison for each count. He is scheduled to be sentenced on Oct. 27. A federal district court judge will determine any sentence after considering the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.

Assistant Attorney General Kenneth A. Polite, Jr. of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division, U.S. Attorney Rachael Rollins for the District of Massachusetts, Special Agent in Charge Joseph R. Bonavolonta of the FBI’s Boston Field Office and Inspector in Charge Eric Shen of the U.S. Postal Inspection Service (USPIS) made the announcement.

The FBI, USPIS, and CFTC investigated the case.

Trial Attorney Babasijibomi Moore of the Criminal Division’s Fraud Section and Assistant U.S. Attorney Christopher J. Markham for the District of Massachusetts are prosecuting the case.

The United States and United Kingdom intend to bring into force the Agreement between the Government of the United States of America and the Government of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland on Access to Electronic Data for the Purpose of Countering Serious Crime (“Data Access Agreement”), which was signed in 2019, on Oct. 3, 2022. The entry into force of the Data Access Agreement will start a new era of co-operation between the United States and the United Kingdom, bringing forward a renewed commitment to tackling the threat of serious crime.  

The Data Access Agreement will be the first agreement of its kind, allowing each country’s investigators to gain better access to vital data to combat serious crime in a way that is consistent with our shared values and mission of protecting our citizens and safeguarding our national security.  

The Data Access Agreement will allow information and evidence that is held by service providers within each of our nations and relates to the prevention, detection, investigation or prosecution of serious crime to be accessed more quickly than ever before. This will help, for example, our law enforcement agencies gain more effective access to the evidence they need to bring offenders to justice, including terrorists and child abuse offenders, thereby preventing further victimization.

Our Agreement will maintain the strong oversight and protections that our citizens enjoy and does not compromise or erode the human rights and freedoms that our nations cherish and share. It protects our citizens by improving both nations’ ability to fight serious crime while maintaining the democratic and civil liberties standards that we stand for and promote around the world. 

This Agreement is the latest demonstration of the strength of the bond between the United States and the United Kingdom, and our commitment to robust co-operation in the future. 

The Justice Department announced today that former Minneapolis Police Officer Thomas Lane, 39, was sentenced to serve 30 months in prison and two years of supervised release for depriving George Floyd Jr., of his constitutional rights.

On Feb. 24, 2022, following a trial that lasted nearly five weeks, a federal jury in St. Paul, Minnesota, found Lane guilty of depriving Floyd of his constitutional right to be free from a police officer’s deliberate indifference to serious medical needs when Lane saw Floyd restrained in police custody in clear need of medical care and willfully failed to aid him. The jury found that Lane’s failure to act resulted in bodily injury to and the death of Floyd. This offense is a violation of the federal criminal civil rights statute that prohibits willful violations of civil rights by a person, such as a police officer, acting in an official capacity.

The same jury also found former Minneapolis Police Department (MPD) Officers Tou Thao and J. Alexander Kueng guilty of depriving Floyd of his constitutional right to be free from an officer’s unreasonable force when Thao and Kueng each willfully failed to intervene to stop former MPD Officer Derek Chauvin’s use of unreasonable force, resulting in bodily injury to and the death of  Floyd. Thao and Kueng were also found to have deprived Floyd of his constitutional right to be free from a police officer’s deliberate indifference to Floyd’s serious medical needs, resulting in bodily injury to and the death of Floyd. A sentencing hearing for Thao and Kueng has not yet been scheduled.

Former Officer Derek Chauvin previously pleaded guilty to depriving Floyd and a then-14-year-old child of their constitutional rights in violation of the same federal statute. On July 7, 2022, Chauvin was sentenced to 252 months in prison for those crimes. 

“The tragic death of George Floyd makes clear the fatal consequences that can result from a police officer’s failure to intervene to protect people in their custody,” said Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke for the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division. “Had this defendant and other officers on the scene with Derek Chauvin taken simple steps, George Floyd would be alive today. This sentence should send a message that protecting people in custody is the affirmative duty and obligation of every law enforcement officer, regardless of one’s rank or seniority.”

“In the critical last minutes of George Floyd’s life, former officer Lane understood the seriousness of the situation," said U.S. Attorney Andrew M. Luger for the District of Minnesota. “He knew that Mr. Floyd was in grave need of medical care, but he chose passivity rather than action. As a sworn law enforcement officer, he failed to uphold his duty to step in and save a man’s life.”

This case was investigated by the FBI and the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension. It was prosecuted by Special Litigation Counsel Samantha Trepel and Trial Attorney Tara Allison of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division, and Assistant U.S. Attorneys Samantha Bates, LeeAnn Bell, Evan Gilead, Manda Sertich and Allen Slaughter for the District of Minnesota.  

Two Florida women pleaded guilty today in connection with their participation in a conspiracy to falsify clinical trial data. 

According to court documents, Analay Rico, 37, of Fort Lauderdale, and Daylen Diaz, 44, of Miami, worked as study coordinators at a clinical research site called Tellus Clinical Research. As part of their plea agreements, Rico and Diaz admitted that they agreed with others to defraud clients paying for clinical trial work intended to evaluate treatments for various medical conditions, including opioid dependency, irritable bowel syndrome and diabetic nephropathy. Among other things, Rico and Diaz admitted they falsified data to make it appear as though subjects were participating in the trials when, in truth, they were not.

“Clinical trials are the foundation of the drug approval process,” said Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Brian M. Boynton, head of the Justice Department’s Civil Division. “The Justice Department will continue to work with its law enforcement partners to prosecute those who falsify clinical trial data for personal profit.”

“The public relies on the accuracy of clinical trial data,” said U.S. Attorney Juan Antonio Gonzalez for the Southern District of Florida. “Falsifying clinical data endangers the safety of consumers and violates the public’s trust. It is a serious crime that we will continue to vigorously prosecute.”

“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 (FDA-OCI) 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.”

Duniel Tejeda, 36, of Clewiston, Florida, Eduardo Navarro, 53, of Miami, Florida, and Nayade Varona, 51, of Port St. Lucie, Florida, previously pleaded guilty and were sentenced to 30 months in prison, 46 months in prison, and 30 months in prison, respectively, for their roles in the scheme. The trial is set for Sept. 27, in the case of three other defendants, Dr. Martin Valdes, 66, of Coral Gables, Florida, Fidalgis Font, 55, of Miami, and Julio Lopez, 55, of Hialeah, all charged by indictment in connection with Tellus.

FDA-OCI is investigating the case.

Trial Attorneys Lauren M. Elfner, Joshua D. Rothman and Wandaly Fernández García of the Civil Division’s Consumer Protection Branch are prosecuting the case. The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Florida has provided critical assistance.

Additional information about the Consumer Protection Branch and its enforcement efforts may be found at www.justice.gov/civil/consumer-protection-branch. For more information about the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Florida, visit https://www.justice.gov/usao-sdfl.

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 Louisiana woman was sentenced today to 10 months in prison for conspiring to defraud the United States. This sentence will begin to run after the completion of her previous sentence, imposed on April 14, of one year and one day in prison.

According to court documents and statements made in court, from January through April 2015, Brittany Patterson, of Jefferson Parish, conspired with others to file false tax returns for clients of Pelicans Income Tax and Payroll Service, a return preparation business with locations in Kenner and Westwego. Patterson and others prepared returns with false income and withholding amounts in order to generate tax refunds their clients were not entitled to receive. For the 2014 tax year, Patterson also falsified her own tax return, submitting to the IRS fictitious education expenses and dependent information. In total, Patterson and her conspirators fraudulently sought more than $550,000 in IRS refunds.

In addition to the term of imprisonment, U.S. District Judge Sarah S. Vance ordered Patterson to serve three years of supervised release and to pay approximately $283,378 in restitution to the United States.

On April 14, Patterson was sentenced to prison in connection with a separate tax conspiracy relating to Crown Tax Service LLC, another return preparation business where Patterson worked as a tax return preparer.

Acting Deputy Assistant Attorney General Stuart M. Goldberg of the Justice Department’s Tax Division and U.S. Attorney Duane A. Evans for the Eastern District of Louisiana made the announcement.

IRS-Criminal Investigation investigated the case.

Trial Attorneys Jessica Kraft and William Montague of the Justice Department’s Tax Division and Assistant U.S. Attorney Carter Guice for the Eastern District of Louisiana prosecuted the case.

A California man was sentenced to one year and one day in prison and 36 months of supervised release for renovating two apartment complexes in violation of federal Clean Air Act regulations intended to prevent human exposure to toxic airborne asbestos fibers.   

Bobby Khalili, 46, of Los Angeles, was indicted by a grand jury sitting in the District of Nevada in September 2019, in connection with asbestos-related Clean Air Act violations at a Las Vegas apartment complex. The grand jury later returned a superseding indictment against Khalili in July 2021, in connection with new Clean Air Act asbestos violations at a second apartment complex, which Khalili committed while on pretrial release for the first set of charges. Khalili pled guilty on March 11, to failing to safely remove asbestos prior to renovation at each complex.

As part of his guilty plea, Khalili acknowledged that, on behalf of Las Vegas Apartments LLC, he oversaw renovation activities at both apartment complexes. He further admitted that he was aware of asbestos-containing materials at both buildings, and that he hired untrained individuals to tear out those materials without following asbestos work-practice standards prescribed by the Clean Air Act. Those work practice standards require that asbestos-containing materials be safely removed prior to general renovation activity taking place. Asbestos-containing materials must be kept wet at all times to prevent dust escaping, sealed in leak-proof bags, and disposed of at facilities authorized to accept asbestos waste. At both apartment buildings, untrained laborers removed asbestos-containing drywall and ceiling texture without wetting or containment, releasing asbestos fibers into the surrounding atmosphere.

Khalili also admitted to taking steps to evade law enforcement at each site. At the first apartment complex, Khalili attempted to have a dumpster filled with asbestos waste removed from the site when inspectors from the Clark County Department of Air Quality discovered asbestos-related violations. At the second complex, where he oversaw illegal renovations while on pretrial release, he instructed the contractor in charge of the renovation to lie to inspectors about who owned and oversaw the project, in an attempt to blame another person for the Clean Air Act violations he knowingly committed. According to the government’s sentencing memorandum filed with the court, Khalili also created a fake contract purportedly showing that other person’s responsibility for the renovation; in truth, that person was deceased at the time of the project.

Inhalation of airborne asbestos fibers has been determined to cause lung cancer, asbestosis and mesothelioma, an invariably fatal disease. Congress and the EPA have determined that there is no safe level of exposure to asbestos.

“Today’s sentencing demonstrates that cutting corners on asbestos abatement will not result in a slap on the wrist,” said Assistant Attorney General Todd Kim of the Justice Department's Environment and Natural Resources Division (ENRD). “These are serious offenses with serious consequences, and we will continue to work with EPA and our partners in U.S. Attorneys’ Offices to prosecute violations of the Clean Air Act’s asbestos safety regulations.”

“The defendant placed the public in danger of inhaling asbestos fibers when he failed to follow Clean Air Act regulations,” said U.S. Attorney Jason M. Frierson for the District of Nevada. “This sentence sends a deterrent message that the U.S. Attorney’s Office and our partners will hold accountable individuals who violate federal environmental laws that are designed to protect workers and our communities.”

“The defendant failed to provide for the required safe removal of material containing asbestos,” said Special Agent in Charge Scot Adair of EPA’s Criminal Enforcement Program in Nevada. “In addition, the defendant created an elaborate scheme in an effort to deceive law enforcement and regulators. Today’s sentencing reflects our commitment to holding people like Khalili accountable for their criminal conduct.”

Special agents of the EPA and employees of the Clark County Department of Air Quality investigated the case. Senior Trial Attorney Cassandra Barnum of ENRD’s Environmental Crimes Section and Assistant U.S. Attorney Jean Ripley and Special Assistant U.S. Attorney Rachel Kent for the District of Nevada prosecuted the case.

The Justice Department has secured an agreement under Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) with the Jefferson County, Kentucky, Board of Elections to ensure that the Board’s polling places are accessible to individuals with disabilities. 

The department identified architectural barriers at numerous polling places after it reviewed the Jefferson County Board’s voting program for compliance with the ADA. These barriers included inaccessible parking, ramps that were too steep, walkways that had steep cross slopes or had gaps and bumps and voting machines that could not be accessed by voters with mobility disabilities. The department also identified that the Jefferson County Board fails to provide voters with disabilities privacy and independence while voting.

Under the ADA, state and local governmental entities that conduct elections may not select polling places that are inaccessible to individuals with disabilities for use during elections, and they must make reasonable modifications to ensure that voters with disabilities have equal opportunity to participate in voting programs.

“Voting is the bedrock of our democracy, and all voters, including those with disabilities, should have an equal opportunity to participate in the voting process,” said Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division. “The Justice Department will continue to use every tool at our disposal, including the Americans with Disabilities Act, to protect the rights of all Americans to vote.”

Under the terms of the agreement, the Jefferson County Board will immediately begin remediating its voting program. The Board will employ measures such as portable ramps, signage and propped-open doors to ensure that its selected polling places are accessible to voters with disabilities. In addition, the Board will train its poll workers and other elections staff on the requirements of the ADA and how to use temporary measures to ensure each polling place is accessible during elections. The Board will also survey polling locations for accessibility and maintain the accessibility of each polling place it uses on election days. When selecting future polling places, the Board will select locations that will be accessible during elections.

This settlement is part of the department’s ADA Voting Initiative, which focuses on protecting the voting rights of individuals with disabilities. A hallmark of the ADA Voting Initiative is its collaboration with jurisdictions to increase accessibility at polling places. Through this initiative, the Department of Justice has surveyed more than 2,500 polling places and increased polling place accessibility in more than 50 jurisdictions, including Newton County, Arkansas; St. Louis, Missouri; Travis County, Texas; and Lackawanna County, Pennsylvania.

For more information about the ADA, please visit http://www.ada.gov or call the toll-free ADA Information Line at (800) 514-0301 or (800) 514-0383 (TTY).

The Department of Justice today announced criminal charges against 36 defendants in 13 federal districts across the United States for more than $1.2 billion in alleged fraudulent telemedicine, cardiovascular and cancer genetic testing, and durable medical equipment (DME) schemes.

The nationwide coordinated law enforcement action includes criminal charges against a telemedicine company executive, owners and executives of clinical laboratories, durable medical equipment companies, marketing organizations, and medical professionals. In connection with the enforcement action, the department seized over $8 million in cash, luxury vehicles, and other fraud proceeds.

Additionally, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), Center for Program Integrity (CPI) announced today that it took administrative actions against 52 providers involved in similar schemes.

“The Department of Justice is committed to prosecuting people who abuse our health care system and exploit telemedicine technologies in fraud and bribery schemes,” said Assistant Attorney General Kenneth A. Polite, Jr. of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division. “This enforcement action demonstrates that the department will do everything in its power to protect the health care systems our communities rely on from people looking to defraud them for their own personal gain.”

The coordinated federal investigations announced today primarily targeted alleged schemes involving the payment of illegal kickbacks and bribes by laboratory owners and operators in exchange for the referral of patients by medical professionals working with fraudulent telemedicine and digital medical technology companies. Telemedicine schemes account for more than $1 billion of the total alleged intended losses associated with today’s enforcement action. These charges include some of the first prosecutions in the nation related to fraudulent cardiovascular genetic testing, a burgeoning scheme. As alleged in court documents, medical professionals made referrals for expensive and medically unnecessary cardiovascular and cancer genetic tests, as well as durable medical equipment. For example, cardiovascular genetic testing was not a method of diagnosing whether an individual presently had a cardiac condition and was not approved by Medicare for use as a general screening test for indicating an increased risk of developing cardiovascular conditions in the future.

“Protecting the American people is at the forefront of the FBI’s mission,” said Assistant Director Luis Quesada of the FBI’s Criminal Investigative Division. “Fraudsters and scammers take advantage of telemedicine and use it as a platform to orchestrate their criminal schemes. This collaborative law enforcement action shows our dedication to investigating and bringing to justice those who look to exploit our U.S. health care system at the expense of patients.”

“Today’s enforcement action highlights our dedication to fighting health care fraud and investigating individuals who target Medicare beneficiaries and steal from taxpayers for personal gain,” said Inspector General Christi A. Grimm of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. “HHS-OIG is proud to work alongside our law enforcement partners to disrupt fraud schemes that use the guise of telehealth to expand the reach of kickback schemes designed to cheat federally funded health care programs.”

One particular case charged involved the operator of several clinical laboratories, who was charged in connection with a scheme to pay over $16 million in kickbacks to marketers who, in turn, paid kickbacks to telemedicine companies and call centers in exchange for doctors’ orders. As alleged in court documents, orders for cardiovascular and cancer genetic testing were used by the defendant and others to submit over $174 million in false and fraudulent claims to Medicare—but the results of the testing were not used in treatment of patients. The defendant allegedly laundered the proceeds of the fraudulent scheme through a complex network of bank accounts and entities, including to purchase luxury vehicles, a yacht, and real estate. The indictment seeks forfeiture of over $7 million in United States currency, three properties, the yacht, and a Tesla and other vehicles.  

Some of the defendants charged in this enforcement action allegedly controlled a telemarketing network, based both domestically and overseas, that lured thousands of elderly and/or disabled patients into a criminal scheme. The owners of marketing organizations allegedly had telemarketers use deceptive techniques to induce Medicare beneficiaries to agree to cardiovascular genetic testing, and other genetic testing and equipment.

“The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services continues to aggressively investigate fraud, waste and abuse and has taken action to protect patients, critical health care resources and to prevent losses to the Medicare Trust Fund,” said CMS Administrator Chiquita Brooks-LaSure. “Work like this to combat fraud, waste, and abuse in our federal programs would not be possible without the successful partnership of CMS, the Department of Justice, and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General.”

The charges announced today allege that the telemedicine companies arranged for medical professionals to order these expensive genetic tests and durable medical equipment regardless of whether the patients needed them, and that they were ordered without any patient interaction or with only a brief telephonic conversation. Often, these test results or durable medical equipment were not provided to the patients or were worthless to their primary care doctors. 

Today’s announcement builds on prior telemedicine enforcement actions involving over $8 billion in fraud, including 2019’s Operation Brace Yourself, 2019’s Operation Double Helix, 2020’s Operation Rubber Stamp, and the telemedicine component of the 2021 National Health Care Fraud Enforcement Action. Specifically, the Operation Brace Yourself Telemedicine and Durable Medical Equipment Takedown alone resulted in an estimated cost avoidance of more than $1.9 billion in the amount paid by Medicare for orthotic braces in the 20 months following that enforcement action.

Today’s enforcement actions were led and coordinated by Acting Principal Assistant Chief Jacob Foster, Acting Assistant Chief Rebecca Yuan and Trial Attorney Catherine Wagner of the National Rapid Response Strike Force in the Criminal Division’s Fraud Section. The Fraud Section’s National Rapid Response Strike Force and the Health Care Fraud Unit’s Strike Forces (SF) in Brooklyn, Detroit, the Gulf Coast, Houston, Miami, Newark, as well as the U.S. Attorneys’ Offices for the District of New Jersey, Eastern District of Louisiana, Eastern District of Texas, Middle District of Florida, Middle District of Tennessee, Northern District of Georgia, Northern District of Mississippi, and Western District of North Carolina are prosecuting these cases.

In addition to the FBI, HHS-OIG, and CPI/CMS, VA-OIG, DCIS, IRS, MFCU, DEA, and other federal and state law enforcement agencies participated in the operation.

Prior to the charges announced as part of today’s nationwide enforcement action and since its inception in March 2007, the Health Care Fraud Strike Force, which maintains 16 strike forces operating in 27 districts, has charged more than 5,000 defendants who collectively billed federal health care programs and private insurers approximately $24.7 billion.

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

The following documents related to today’s announcement are available on the Health Care Fraud Unit website through the following links:

Telemedicine Enforcement Action (justice.gov)

Telemedicine Court Documents (justice.gov)

Telemedicine Press Releases (justice.gov)

Telemedicine Case Summaries (justice.gov)

Any patients who believe that they have been contacted as part of a fraudulent telemedicine, clinical laboratory, or DME scheme should call to report this conduct to HHS-OIG at 1-800-HHS-TIPS.

A Georgia woman was sentenced to 51 months in prison today for conspiring to defraud the United States by promoting a nationwide tax fraud scheme involving more than 200 participants in at least 19 states.

According to court documents and statements made in court, Yomarie Febres, of Covington, prepared 77 false income tax returns that collectively sought more than $23.8 million in tax refunds from the IRS. Between 2014 and 2016, Febres’s co-conspirators held seminars throughout the country where they promoted the scheme and recruited clients to file false tax returns with the IRS by telling them that their mortgages and other debts entitled them to refunds. Information collected from clients was then provided to Febres for use in the preparation of false tax returns. The tax returns that Febres prepared falsely claimed that banks and other financial institutions had withheld large amounts of income taxes from the clients, which entitled the clients to refunds. In reality, the financial institutions had not paid any income to or withheld any taxes from the clients. The false returns Febres prepared caused the IRS to pay out more than $15 million in fraudulent refunds to scheme participants. Febres concealed her role in the scheme by falsely reporting that all of the returns were “self-prepared,” when she had actually created them.

Febres admitted that her co-conspirators charged clients approximately $10,000 to $15,000 in fees to participate in the scheme. Febres typically received a portion of the fee – typically $500 per client – for each tax return she prepared. Febres did not report on her 2014 and 2015 income tax returns the income she received for preparing these false returns. She also claimed false business losses on her personal tax returns.

In March, the main promoter of the fraud scheme, Iran Backstrom, was sentenced to more than eight years in prison, and Backstrom’s second-in-command, Mehef Bey, was sentenced to 11 years in prison. In April, Aaron Aqueron, who recruited clients and provided information to Febres for use in the preparation of false tax returns, was sentenced to more than four years in prison.

“Today’s sentence represents the culmination of years of work by the Department of Justice, the U.S. Attorney’s Office and IRS-Criminal Investigation,” said Acting Deputy Assistant Attorney General Stuart M. Goldberg. “The main promoters of this multimillion-dollar tax fraud conspiracy now has been identified, convicted and sentenced to a substantial prison term. The message to other would-be tax cheats is clear:  no matter how sophisticated or complicated your scheme, we will uncover it, obtain your conviction and seek sentences that hold you fully responsible for your criminal conduct.”

“I am proud of the investigators and prosecutors who worked diligently to unravel this complex financial scheme and recover millions of dollars on behalf of American taxpayers,” said U.S. Attorney Roger B. Handberg for the Middle District of Florida. “Today’s sentence, along with those previously imposed upon the co-conspirators in this case, shows that those who willfully violate our national’s tax laws should expect to face significant consequences for their crimes.”

“Plain and simple, you can’t defraud the U.S. government and not face repercussions for your crimes,” said Special Agent in Charge Brian Payne of the IRS-Criminal Investigation Tampa Field Office. “Our investigation revealed that Febres not only misrepresented the refunds her clients were entitled to on their tax returns, but she also attempted to conceal her role in the criminal activity by failing to list herself as the tax preparer. Her actions landed her in federal prison with a hefty restitution amount due to the IRS.”

In addition to the term of imprisonment, the district judge also ordered Febres to serve two years of supervised release and pay $11,140,842.65 in restitution to the IRS.

IRS-Criminal Investigation investigated the case.

Trial Attorneys Melissa S. Siskind, Kavitha Bondada and Isaiah Boyd III of the Tax Division, and Assistant U.S. Attorney Chauncey A. Bratt for the Middle District of Florida, prosecuted the case.

Deputy Attorney General (Deputy AG) Lisa Monaco traveled to New York this week to highlight the Department of Justice’s efforts to combat the cyber threats of today and prepare for the threats of tomorrow.

On Monday afternoon, Deputy AG Monaco visited the National Cyber-Forensics Training Alliance (NCFTA), a public-private partnership designed to increase information-sharing between private industry and government to identify, mitigate and disrupt cyber threats. She received a briefing from the NCFTA’s managing director, several private sector members and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) on the strategies they are using to tackle malicious cyber actors.

While at NCFTA, Deputy AG Monaco met with students, recent graduates, professors and career advisors from law schools and universities around New York to highlight the department’s new Cyber Fellows Program. Launched last year by Deputy AG Monaco, the program will foster the next generation of cyber leaders in the Justice Department. Alongside other department prosecutors, the Deputy AG highlighted the department’s one-of-a-kind cyber mission to protect the American people and encouraged student attendees to apply for future classes of the department’s Cyber Fellows.

On Tuesday morning, the Deputy AG provided keynote remarks at the annual International Conference on Cyber Security (ICCS), where she announced the department’s latest seizure and forfeiture of ransomware profits – this time from a North Korean state-sponsored hacking group that deployed ransomware known as “Maui.” The Deputy AG also outlined key findings from the department’s Comprehensive Cyber Review, which she launched during her first weeks as Deputy Attorney General and was published earlier today, including: applying lessons learned from the department’s fight against other national security threats and reaffirming the department’s commitment to using all the tools at its disposal to address the blended threat presented by nation state cyber actors and transnational criminal groups deploying a wide range of threats – from ransomware attacks to global botnets.                                                                                      

Following her remarks, the Deputy AG departed New York for Colorado, where she will attend the Aspen Security Forum and visit the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Denver and meet with federal, state and local law enforcement partners.

A Michigan endocrinologist pleaded guilty today to tax evasion.

According to court documents, Bashar Kiami, 53, of Roscommon, owned and operated Northern Michigan Endocrine PLLC, a solo endocrinology practice in Grayling. From 2014 to 2017, the defendant filed corporate returns for the endocrinology practice on which he underreported the practice’s gross receipts and overstated its expenses. As the sole shareholder, Dr. Kiami reported business income from the practice on his individual income tax returns. By underreporting the practice’s business income, Kiami fraudulently reduced his tax liability for the years 2014 through 2017. In total, Kiami caused a tax loss to the IRS of more than $250,000.

Sentencing will be scheduled for a later date. Kiami faces a maximum penalty of five years in prison for tax evasion. He 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 made the announcement.

IRS-Criminal Investigation is investigating the case.

Trial Attorneys Jeffrey A. McLellan and Melissa S. Siskind of the Tax Division are prosecuting the case.

The Department of Justice filed in court today a multi-million-dollar settlement agreement with Uber Technologies Inc. (Uber) to resolve a lawsuit alleging that Uber violated the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). Under the agreement, Uber will offer several million dollars in compensation to more than 65,000 Uber users who were charged discriminatory fees due to disability. 

In November 2021, the department filed a lawsuit alleging that Uber violated Title III of the ADA, which prohibits discrimination by private transportation companies like Uber. According to the complaint, in April 2016, Uber began charging passengers wait time fees in a number of cities, eventually expanding the policy nationwide. The wait time fees started two minutes after the Uber car arrived at the pickup location and were charged until the car began its trip. The department’s complaint alleged that Uber violated the ADA by failing to reasonably modify its wait time fee policy for passengers who, because of disability, needed more than two minutes to get in an Uber car. Passengers with disabilities may need additional time to enter a car for various reasons. A passenger may, for example, use a wheelchair or walker that needs to be broken down and stored in the car. Or a passenger who is blind may need additional time to safely walk from the pickup location to the car itself. The department’s lawsuit alleged that, even when Uber was aware that passengers’ need for additional time was clearly disability-based, Uber started charging a wait time fee at the two-minute mark.  

Under the two-year agreement, Uber has committed to waive wait time fees for all Uber riders who certify that they (or someone they frequently travel with) need more time to get in an Uber car because of a disability. Uber also will ensure that refunds are easily available for anyone who does not have a waiver and is charged a wait time fee because of disability. Uber will advertise the wait time fee waiver program and train its customer service representatives on the waiver program and refund process to ensure that people with disabilities are not charged illegal fees. 

Additionally, Uber will credit the accounts of more than 65,000 eligible riders who signed up for the waiver program for double the amount of wait time fees they were ever charged, which could amount to potentially hundreds of thousands or millions of dollars in compensation. Uber will also pay $1,738,500 to more than one thousand riders who complained to Uber about being charged wait time fees because of disability, and $500,000 to other harmed individuals identified by the department.

“People with disabilities should not be made to feel like second-class citizens or punished because of their disability, which is exactly what Uber’s wait time fee policy did,” said Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division. “This agreement sends a strong message that Uber and other ridesharing companies will be held accountable if their services discriminate against people with disabilities. The Civil Rights Division remains committed to enforcing the ADA and ensuring that people with disabilities can travel free from barriers and indignities.”

“Ensuring equal access to transportation for those with disabilities is an important goal of the ADA,” said U.S. Attorney Stephanie M. Hinds for the Northern District of California. “People with disabilities must have access to ridesharing services provided by Uber and similar companies without enduring discriminatory wait time fees. This agreement removes that barrier to equal access for passengers with disabilities and provides a mechanism to compensate those harmed by Uber’s past wait time fee policy.”

This matter was handled jointly by Assistant U.S. Attorney David DeVito for the Northern District of California and the Civil Rights Division’s Disability Rights Section. A copy of the settlement agreement is attached.

For more information on the Civil Rights Division, please visit http://www.justice.gov/crt. For more information on the ADA, please call the department’s toll-free ADA information line at 800-514-0301 (TDD 800-514-0383) or visit www.ada.gov. ADA complaints may be filed online at http://www.ada.gov/complaint.

In a consent decree entered on July 15 by the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Virginia, Envigo RMS, a company that breeds and sells animals for research, has agreed to a permanent prohibition on engaging in any activity at its facility in Cumberland, Virginia, that requires an Animal Welfare Act (AWA) license. Envigo RMS has also agreed to relinquish all remaining beagles at the Cumberland facility to the Humane Society of the United States (HSUS).

In May, the United States filed suit against Envigo RMS, alleging that the company was failing to provide humane care and treatment to the thousands of beagles at the company’s Cumberland facility. Specifically, the complaint alleged that Envigo RMS was failing to meet the AWA’s minimum standards for handling, housing, feeding, watering, sanitation and adequate veterinary care, among other requirements. Based on past violations identified during inspections by the Department of Agriculture and evidence of extensive, ongoing AWA violations obtained during a multiday criminal search warrant executed at the Cumberland facility beginning on May 18, the Justice Department moved for a temporary restraining order that the federal court granted on May 21 to ensure the health and welfare of the beagles at the Cumberland facility.

The Justice Department worked with the HSUS to develop a plan to transfer the 4,000 remaining beagles from the Cumberland facility and make those beagles available for adoption. The transfer plan, which was jointly submitted by the Justice Department and Envigo RMS, was approved by the District Court on July 5. Under the transfer plan, the HSUS will coordinate the enormous effort to remove all of the beagles from the Cumberland facility over the course of 60 days.

“This settlement brings to an end the needless suffering caused by Envigo’s blatant violations of animal welfare laws at this facility,” said Assistant Attorney General Todd Kim of the Justice Department’s Environment and Natural Resources Division (ENRD). “We will continue to vigorously enforce animal welfare laws to ensure that animals are provided the humane care that they are legally owed and deserve.”

“Due to the efforts of Environment and Natural Resources Division and the U.S. Attorney’s Office, more than 4,000 animals have been rescued from dire circumstances, and we will continue to hold accountable those who are responsible,” said U.S. Attorney Christopher R. Kavanaugh for the Western District of Virginia. “I am grateful to all those who assisted with this case, especially those who are ensuring that these animals receive the care they deserve.” 

This settlement is the result of prosecution by Senior Trial Attorney Mary Hollingsworth and Trial Attorney Shampa Panda of ENRD’s Wildlife and Marine Resources Section, and First Assistant U.S. Attorney Anthony Giorno for the Western District of Virginia.

The Justice Department announced today that it filed a lawsuit against the City of Lansing, Michigan, alleging that Lansing discriminated against former detention officer Sylvia Coleman on the basis of her religion, when it terminated her employment in violation of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Title VII is a federal statute that prohibits employment discrimination on the basis of race, color, national origin, sex and religion.

“Religious discrimination and intolerance have no place in the workplace today,” said Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division. “Employees should not have to choose between their religion and their livelihood, particularly when the employer can accommodate their religious beliefs. The Civil Rights Division is committed to protecting the religious rights and religious freedom of employees by ensuring that no one faces unlawful discrimination in the workplace.”

According to the complaint, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Michigan on July 15, 2022, Coleman informed the City of Lansing that she could not work a shift from sunset Friday to sunset Saturday because of her religious observance of the Sabbath as a Seventh-day Adventist. Yet the City of Lansing failed to take adequate steps to reasonably accommodate her religious observance and instead terminated her employment, following her first scheduled Saturday shift. The complaint also alleges that the City of Lansing failed to show that accommodating Coleman would cause undue hardship on the operation of its business. Through this lawsuit, the United States seeks to have the City of Lansing develop and implement policies that would prevent religious discrimination, seeks monetary damages for Coleman, and seeks other appropriate relief.

The Indianapolis District Office of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) investigated and attempted to resolve Coleman’s charge of discrimination before referring it to the Department of Justice. More information about the EEOC’s jurisdiction is available on its website at www.eeoc.gov.

This case is being handled by Senior Trial Attorneys Sara Safriet and Robert Galbreath of the Civil Rights Division’s Employment Litigation Section.

Ensuring that local, county and state governments comply with Title VII is a top priority of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division. Additional information about the Civil Rights Division and the jurisdiction of the Employment Litigation Section is available on its websites at www.justice.gov/crt/ and https://www.justice.gov/crt/employment-litigation-section.

Dr. Gerald M. Sacks, a pain specialist with an office in Santa Monica, California, has paid $271,259.12 to resolve allegations that he violated the False Claims Act. The allegations concerned prescribing the medications Butrans, Hysingla and OxyContin to Medicare beneficiaries in exchange, at least in part, for receiving paid speaking and consulting work from their manufacturer, Purdue Pharma LP, and the medications Gralise, Lazanda and Nucynta to Medicare beneficiaries in exchange, at least in part, for receiving paid speaking and consulting work from their manufacturer, Depomed Inc.

Prescribing drugs in exchange for receiving paid speaking and consulting work from their manufacturers violates the Anti-Kickback Statute, and renders associated claims to federal health care programs false. Butrans, Hysingla, OxyContin, Lazanda and Nucynta are opioid medications for the treatment of pain. Gralise is a nerve-pain medication.

“Physicians are prohibited from accepting kickbacks designed to influence their decisionmaking,” said Deputy Assistant Attorney General Michael D. Granston of the Justice Department’s Civil Division. “Adherence to this prohibition is especially crucial with regard to dangerous drugs like opioids.”

The resolution obtained in this matter was the result of a coordinated effort between the Justice Department’s Civil Division, Commercial Litigation Branch, Fraud Section, and the Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General. The matter was handled by Trial Attorneys Albert P. Mayer and Kristen M. Murphy of the Civil Division.

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

INTERPOL Washington—INTERPOL Washington, the U.S. National Central Bureau (USNCB), recently partnered with the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Counterterrorism to increase the Kyrgyz Republic’s capacity to share critical information with INTERPOL. Through Project TERMINUS, funded by the Bureau of Counterterrorism, the Kyrgyz Republic implemented technical solutions to establish a Domestic Stolen and Lost Travel Document (SLTD) database (DSD) and automate uploading of Kyrgyz SLTD records to INTERPOL’s global database. This INTERPOL database serves as a searchable repository containing more than 120 million records accessible to law enforcement and border security authorities in all 195 INTERPOL member countries.

The DSD solution enabled the Kyrgyz Republic to quickly and easily establish a robust and feature-rich authoritative national database of SLTD records. The DSD allows the INTERPOL National Central Bureau (NCB) Bishkek to easily manage their SLTD records, improving accuracy and timeliness of Kyrgyz Republic SLTD data, and eliminating countless hours of administrative effort.   The SLTD Uploader software solution automates the submission and management of the country’s SLTD records to the INTERPOL SLTD searchable database. The data management and automation solution was made possible by computer hardware and custom software developed, provided, and installed by the USNCB’s Border Security Division. This accomplishment is the culmination of more than twelve months of active collaboration between the USNCB, the U.S. State Department, and the Kyrgyz Republic.

The Project TERMINUS technical team made several enhancements to its Domestic SLTD Database (DSD) application to accommodate the unique requirements and incredible volume of the more than 5.7 million SLTD records maintained by the government.  Furthermore, within the first days of the deployment, the new Kyrgyz SLTD solutions had created more than 150,000 new SLTD records in INTERPOL’s Stolen and Lost Travel Documents (SLTD) database.

“Project TERMINUS continues to assist INTERPOL member countries to enhance their border security screening capacity.  The TERMINUS model has been used on four continents providing advanced border security tools necessary to detect and deter transnational criminals. Our partnership with the Department of State is a key component in closing security gaps between countries and continents. Border security is a collective responsibility among nations, and is only as strong as its weakest link.  The USNCB is proud to help strengthen these links through our cooperative efforts,” said USNCB Director Michael A. Hughes.

This project is the latest in a series of successful information sharing and INTERPOL connectivity efforts deployed under the Project TERMINUS initiative, each building on prior lessons learned.  In addition to the Kyrgyz Republic, partner nations currently receiving assistance under Project TERMINUS include Indonesia, Maldives, Malaysia, Nigeria, Panama, and Uzbekistan.

Established in 2015, Project TERMINUS is a partnership between the USNCB’s Border Security Division and the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Counterterrorism.  The mission of Project TERMINUS is to extend INTERPOL's I-24/7 secure, global police-to-police communications network to partner nations worldwide to prevent, detect, and deter foreign terrorist fighter (FTF) travel.

INTERPOL’s SLTD database is a critical tool for combatting terrorism by preventing FTF movements by identifying and interdicting FTFs and other transnational criminals using stolen, lost, or revoked documents such as passports, visas, and identity documents.  By ensuring that law enforcement officers have access to INTERPOL’s I-24/7 system, frontline authorities can search, and cross-check traveler data in a matter of seconds and share sensitive or urgent police information with their counterparts around the world in real-time, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

A component of the U.S. Department of Justice, INTERPOL Washington, the U.S. National Central Bureau (USNCB), is the designated United States representative to INTERPOL on behalf of the Attorney General. It serves as the national point of contact and coordination for all INTERPOL matters, coordinating international investigative efforts among member countries and the more than 18,000 local, state, federal, and tribal law enforcement agencies.

A Turkish businessman was extradited from Austria to face money laundering, wire fraud and obstruction charges.

Sezgin Baran Korkmaz arrived today in Utah in the custody of the U.S. Marshals Service. Korkmaz was indicted in Salt Lake City, Utah, with laundering more than $133 million in illegal proceeds through bank accounts he controlled in Turkey and Luxembourg. According to an April 2021 superseding indictment, the proceeds relate to a scheme orchestrated in Plymouth, Utah, by Jacob Kingston, Isaiah Kingston and Levon Termendzhyan to defraud the U.S. Treasury by filing false claims for more than $1 billion in tax credits allegedly for the production and sale of biodiesel by their company, Washakie Renewable Energy LLC.

Korkmaz and his co-conspirators allegedly used the biofuel fraud proceeds to acquire luxury homes and assets, as well as businesses such as Biofarma, the Turkish airline Borajet, a yacht named the Queen Anne, a hotel in Turkey and a villa and apartment on the Bosporus river in Istanbul. In coordination with authorities in Lebanon, the U.S. Marshals Service took the Queen Anne yacht into custody in July 2021 and sold it earlier this year for $10.11 million pursuant to an October 2021 order of U.S. District Judge Jill Parrish of the U.S. District Court for the District of Utah, who is presiding over the Korkmaz case. Other assets of Korkmaz-related companies in Turkey and Europe are the subject of forfeiture claims by the United States and Turkey.  

According to the superseding indictment, Korkmaz also devised a scheme to defraud Jacob Kingston and Isaiah Kingston in early 2018 by falsely representing he could provide them with protection, through unnamed government officials, from a federal grand jury investigation and civil lawsuits. In exchange, the Kingstons sent him $6 million over several months.

Additionally, Korkmaz allegedly made false statements to federal agents in an attempt to obstruct the pending criminal trial against Kingston and Termendzhyan. Among other misstatements, Korkmaz allegedly lied about $38 million in wire transfers sent to a bank account controlled by Termendzhyan.

“The successful apprehension and extradition of Baran Korkmaz demonstrates the department’s commitment to working with our international partners to pursue, capture and return those who seek to defraud the American people,” said Acting Deputy Assistant Attorney General Stuart M. Goldberg of the Justice Department’s Tax Division. “Thanks to our law enforcement partners and their counterparts in Austria and Lebanon, we are now able to bring Korkmaz to trial on the pending charges, and have recovered significant forfeiture proceeds.”

“We commend our partners from the Tax Division and the Department of Justice for pursuing Sezgin Baran Korkmaz on behalf of the American taxpayers and ensuring his return to Utah to face justice in U.S. District Court,” said U.S. Attorney Trina A. Higgins for the District of Utah. “We are also thankful for the efforts of our foreign partners in Lebanon and Austria, and in particular, the Austrian Bundeskriminalamt Fugitive Active Search Team, for locating Korkmaz overseas.”

In July 2019 Jacob and Isaiah Kingston both pleaded guilty to federal charges, and in 2020 both men testified at the trial of Levon Termendzhyan in Utah. The federal jury convicted Termendzhyan of all charges. The Kingstons and Termendzhyan all await sentencing. 

If convicted, Korkmaz faces a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison for each count of money laundering conspiracy, wire fraud and obstruction of an official proceeding. A district court judge will determine any sentence after considering the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.

IRS-Criminal Investigation, the Environmental Protection Agency Criminal Investigation Division and the Department of Defense DCIS are investigating the case.

The Justice Department’s Office of International Affairs and FBI Legal Attaché in Vienna, Austria played key roles in securing the arrest and successful extradition of Korkmaz. The U.S. Marshals Service assisted by transporting Korkmaz from Austria to Utah. Assistant U.S. Attorney Cy Castle for the District of Utah, Senior Policy Advisor Darrin L. McCullough of the Criminal Division’s Money Laundering and Asset Recovery Section, and the U.S. Marshals Service provided significant assistance in the seizure of the Queen Anne yacht and its subsequent sale.

Trial Attorney Richard Rolwing and Senior Litigation Counsel John Sullivan of the Tax Division 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.

Attorney General Merrick B. Garland today released the following statement on the capture of Rafael Caro-Quintero, one of the FBI’s Ten Most Wanted Fugitives. Caro-Quintero was wanted for his alleged involvement in the kidnapping and murder of Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) Special Agent Enrique “Kiki” Camarena in 1985.  

“There is no hiding place for anyone who kidnaps, tortures, and murders American law enforcement. We are deeply grateful to Mexican authorities for their capture and arrest of Rafael Caro-Quintero. Today’s arrest is the culmination of tireless work by DEA and their Mexican partners to bring Caro-Quintero to justice for his alleged crimes, including the torture and execution of DEA Special Agent Enrique “Kiki” Camarena. We will be seeking his immediate extradition to the United States so he can be tried for these crimes in the very justice system Special Agent Camarena died defending.

“We join in mourning the 14 Mexican servicemembers who gave their lives in service to their country and extend our condolences to the loved ones they left behind.”

In a June 28th news release,  U.S. Attorney Jacqueline C. Romero announced that Al-Ashraf Basem Khalil, 28, of Philadelphia, PA, was arrested on June 24, 2022, after being charged by Criminal Complaint with arson on June 23, 2022. The arson resulted in the death of Philadelphia Fire Lieutenant Sean Williamson. The release acknowledges the assistance of INTERPOL Washington and other organizations. This case is an excellent example of cooperation between law enforcement agencies.  Read the full release here: U.S. Attorney Romero Announces Arson Charges Against Philadelphia Man for Pizza Shop Fire That Resulted in Death of Firefighter | USAO-EDPA | Department of Justice

An Ohio husband and wife pleaded guilty today to conspiring to defraud the IRS relating to their ownership and operation of illegal gambling businesses in Canton.

According to court documents and statements made in court, from 2010 through 2018, Jason Kachner and Rebecca Kachner, along with other co-conspirators, owned and operated two illegal gambling businesses, Skilled Shamrock and Redemption Skill Games 777 (Redemption). The Kachners admitted to conspiring together and with the other owners to defraud the IRS by filing false tax returns that omitted most of the income they received from their ownership of the illegal gambling businesses and by using a nominee owner to conceal their ownership of the businesses.

From 2012 through 2017, patrons at Skilled Shamrock wagered a total of more than $34 million, which resulted in more than $4 million in income for the owners of the gambling business. During these years, Jason and Rebecca Kachner received more than $900,000 in income from Skilled Shamrock. In total, from 2009 through 2018, they received approximately $2.3 million in income from Skilled Shamrock and Redemption. They did not report the vast majority of this income on their annual tax returns during these years. Rebecca Kachner also admitted to renting a storage locker to hold cash, which was generated from the illegal gambling businesses. As part of her plea agreement, she agreed to forfeit approximately $241,000 in cash that investigators found in the storage locker.

Rebecca Kachner pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to defraud the IRS, and Jason Kachner pleaded guilty to two counts. Sentencing hearings for both defendants will be scheduled at a later date. Both face a maximum penalty of five years in prison for each count of conspiring to defraud the IRS. They also 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 First Assistant U.S. Attorney Michelle M. Baeppler for the Northern District of Ohio made the announcement.

IRS-Criminal Investigation, the U.S. Department of the Treasury, Office of the Inspector General, the Ohio Casino Control Commission and the Ohio Casino Control Commission are investigating the case. Homeland Security Investigations provided substantial assistance.

Trial Attorneys Richard M. Rolwing and Sam Bean of the Tax Division and Assistant U.S. Attorneys Robert Patton and David Toepfer for the Northern District of Ohio are prosecuting the case.

The Justice Department, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality (LDEQ) announced a settlement with PCS Nitrogen Fertilizer L.P. (PCS Nitrogen), to remedy hazardous waste issues at its former fertilizer manufacturing facility in Geismar, Louisiana.

This settlement resolves alleged violations of the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) at the facility, including that PCS Nitrogen failed to properly identify and manage certain waste streams as hazardous wastes. These corrosive (acidic) hazardous wastes were illegally mixed with process wastewater and phosphogypsum from phosphoric acid production. The resulting mixture of wastes was disposed of in surface impoundments. The settlement requires PCS Nitrogen to treat over one billion pounds of acidic hazardous process wastewater over the next several years. The acidic hazardous process wastewaters will be contained in the phosphogypsum stack system and then treated in the newly constructed water treatment plant. The settlement also regulates the long-term closure of PCS Nitrogen’s phosphogypsum stacks and surface impoundments for over 50 years and requires PCS Nitrogen to ensure that financial resources will be available for environmentally sound closure of the facility. PCS Nitrogen will provide over $84 million of financial assurance to secure the full cost of closure and pay a civil penalty of $1,510,023.

“This settlement requires treatment of all contaminated wastewater accumulated at the PCS Nitrogen facility, thus protecting sensitive wetlands and the Mississippi River,” said Assistant Attorney General Todd Kim of the Justice Department’s Environment and Natural Resources Division. “PCS Nitrogen also will secure the full cost of closure with $84 million in financial assurance to protect taxpayers, demonstrating our continued commitment to hold this industry accountable both for past violations and future contingencies.”

“This settlement requires PCS Nitrogen to treat over one billion pounds of hazardous waste and take steps to ensure that the long-term closure of its facility is protective of the environment,” said Acting Assistant Administrator Larry Starfield for EPA’s Office of Enforcement and Compliance Assurance. “This is a very important outcome as the facility is located in an area prone to hurricanes and the financial assurance secured will protect taxpayers from paying future closure and cleanup costs.”

“This settlement represents a lot of hard work by LDEQ enforcement and legal staffs who joined their EPA counterparts in drafting this settlement,” said LDEQ Secretary Dr. Chuck Carr Brown. “It will provide a protective solution for decades to come.”

PCS Nitrogen manufactured phosphate products in Louisiana for agriculture and industry from the 1960s to 2018, including phosphoric acid and phosphate fertilizer, through processes that generated large quantities of acidic wastewater and a solid material called phosphogypsum. The phosphogypsum was deposited and remains in large piles (some over 100 acres large and 200 feet high) referred to as phosphogypsum stacks. Acidic wastewaters are stored in the phosphogypsum stacks and surface impoundments. The facility is now undergoing closure.

The settlement requires PCS Nitrogen to comply with RCRA requirements to make RCRA hazardous waste determinations and properly manage all hazardous wastes in its phosphogypsum stacks and surface impoundments. This injunctive relief will be governed by the terms of the consent decree and by administrative agreements, permits, and/or orders issued by LDEQ under its authorized state program, and subject to EPA’s authorities under RCRA or any other applicable law. Additionally, PCS Nitrogen has completed certain site assessment and remedial activities pursuant to EPA and Louisiana regulations.

The EPA has completed judicial and administrative settlements with 13 phosphate fertilizer facilities across the United States, all requiring extensive injunctive relief and financial assurance to bring their operations into compliance with RCRA.

A consent decree formalizing this settlement with PCS Nitrogen was lodged today in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Louisiana and is subject to a 45-day public comment period and approval by the federal court. The consent decree can be viewed at the Department of Justice website: www.justice.gov/enrd/Consent_Decrees.html.

A Texas military contractor pleaded guilty yesterday to rigging bids on public military contracts in Texas and Michigan.

Yesterday, in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas, Texarkana Division, John “Mark” Leveritt, 62, pleaded guilty to rigging bids on government contracts from at least May 2013 through April 2018.

According to court documents, Leveritt conspired with others to rig bids on certain government contracts in order to give the false impression of competition and to secure government payments in excess of $17.5 million. The plea agreement detailed seven contracting bids that Leveritt and his co-conspirator rigged, which included work performed for the Red River Army Depot in Texarkana and the U.S. Contracting Command in Warren, Michigan.

Leveritt also admitted to falsely representing himself to be an employee of one business so that he could obtain government contracts that were set aside for qualifying businesses that were required to be owned and operated by certain categories of minority, disadvantaged or disabled persons. In fact, the work for some of the contracts was performed by businesses that had not placed any bids. Leveritt also admitted to providing a government employee with: tickets to a 2011 World Series game, tickets to two college football games, two expense-paid family vacations to Las Vegas, donations to youth sports teams coached by the government employee and approximately 100 meals at restaurants.

“U.S. taxpayers deserve to know that the government contracting process is not subverted through collusion,” said Assistant Attorney General Jonathan Kanter of the Justice Department’s Antitrust Division. “Bid rigging undermines the competitive process, wastes taxpayer dollars and deprives businesses that follow the rules of the right to fair competition. Investigating and prosecuting this case and others involving government contracting is a top priority for the Department of Justice and all members of the Procurement Collusion Strike Force.”

“The United States government offers many economic opportunities to the free market for fair contracts and the welcomed employment of many people,” said U.S. Attorney Brit Featherston for the Eastern District of Texas. “When thieves take advantage of the taxpayer and of those persons trying to compete fairly for contracts, their felonious acts undermine the confidence built into the contracting process.”

“Rigging bids undermines the benefits of competition and takes money out of the pockets of taxpayers,” said Assistant Director Luis Quesada of the FBI’s Criminal Investigative Division. “The public deserves a level playing field when doing business with the government. The FBI, hand in hand with our law enforcement partners, will continue to investigate those who corrupt the systems established to protect American citizens from this type of fraud.”

“Bid rigging disrupts the government contracting process and leads to waste and unfair bid competition,” said Special Agent-in-Charge L. Scott Moreland of the U.S. Army Criminal Investigation Division’s Major Procurement Fraud Field Office. “This guilty plea demonstrates how CID’s highly-trained special agents in our fraud unit, matched with other federal partnerships, aids in combating and uncovering fraud, deception, bribery and other criminal acts.”

Leveritt pleaded guilty to a violation of Section 1 of the Sherman Act. He faces a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison and a $1 million criminal fine. The maximum fine may be increased to twice the gain derived from the crime or twice the loss suffered by the victims of the crime if either amount is greater than the statutory maximum fine. A federal district court judge will determine any sentence after considering the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other relevant factors.

The Antitrust Division’s Washington Criminal II Section is prosecuting the case, which was investigated with the assistance of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Texas, the U.S. Army Criminal Investigation Division’s Dallas Fraud Resident Agency and the FBI’s Dallas Field Office. 

Anyone with information in connection with this investigation should contact the Antitrust Division’s Complaint Center at 888-647-3258, or visit http://www.justice.gov/atr/report-violations.

In November 2019, the Department of Justice created the Procurement Collusion Strike Force (PCSF), a joint law enforcement effort to combat antitrust crimes and related fraudulent schemes that impact government procurement, grant and program funding at all levels of government – federal, state and local. To learn more about the PCSF, or to report information on market allocation, price fixing, bid rigging and other anticompetitive conduct related to defense-related spending, go to https://www.justice.gov/procurement-collusion-strike-force.

A federal grand jury returned an indictment charging Michael Thomas Pruden, 48, with five counts of assault on federal land, one count of impersonating a federal officer, and a hate crimes sentencing enhancement alleging that Pruden assaulted four of the victims because of their perceived sexual orientation. Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke of the Department of Justice’s Civil Rights Division, U.S. Attorney Matthew M. Graves for the District of Columbia and Assistant Director in Charge Steven M. D’Antuono for the FBI Washington Field Office made the announcement.

The indictment alleges that on five separate dates from 2018 to 2021, Pruden went after dark to Meridian Hill Park, aka Malcolm X Park, which is informally known in the Washington, D.C. community as a meeting place for men seeking consensual sex with other men, and assaulted five men with a chemical irritant. Before spraying the men, Pruden pretended to be a Park Police officer, shined a flashlight in the victims’ faces and gave the victims police-style directives. The indictment alleges that Pruden assaulted four of the victims because of their actual or perceived sexual orientation. 

Pruden was arrested today in Norfolk, Virginia. Pruden faces a statutory maximum sentence of 10 years for each assault count and a three-year statutory maximum sentence for impersonating a federal officer. The hate crimes sentencing enhancement increases the range of the potential sentence for the assault counts.

This case was investigated by the U.S. Park Police and the FBI Washington Field Office, and is being prosecuted by Trial Attorney Rebekah J. Bailey of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division and Assistant U.S. Attorney Risa Berkower for the District of Columbia.

If you believe that you were a victim of, or witnessed, a similar assault in Meridian Hill Park, please call the FBI tip line, 1-800-CALL-FBI (1-800-225-5324). 

For more information and resources about the department’s work to combat hate crimes, visit www.justice.gov/hatecrimes.

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 former Clare, Michigan, hotel manager was sentenced today to one year and one day in prison for filing a false tax return. His father, the owner of the hotel, previously pleaded guilty to obstructing the grand jury’s investigation of his son.

According to court documents, Harold Walls, 58, managed the day-to-day operations of a Clare hotel, which his father, Karl Walls, 86, owned. Harold Walls did not report to the IRS any of the income he received working at the hotel from 2013 through 2017. Rather than pay himself wages directly through the hotel’s payroll system, Harold Walls paid himself by other means, including by writing checks to himself from the hotel operating account and using a hotel bank account to pay for personal expenses.

Harold Walls also provided false and incomplete information to the hotel’s tax return preparer for 2012 through 2017, resulting in the hotel’s business income being understated. Specifically, Harold Walls did not disclose to the tax return preparer that the hotel had 11 “off-book” rooms that were not tracked in the hotel’s reservation system. Harold Walls also provided the return preparer documents that overstated the amount of property taxes the hotel had paid to the City of Clare.

After the IRS began investigating, Harold Walls obstructed the investigation by instructing a hotel employee to make false statements to the IRS about the nature and extent of his work at the hotel. He also denied to IRS special agents that he was employed at the hotel.

Karl Walls obstructed the investigation into his son by directing two witnesses to lie to the grand jury. In October 2018, two days before a former hotel employee was scheduled to provide grand jury testimony, Karl Walls instructed the employee to testify that Harold Walls did not work at the hotel. Karl Walls also attempted to convince his tax return preparer to make a similar false statement to the grand jury about his son’s employment status.

In addition to the term of imprisonment, U.S. District Judge Thomas L. Ludington ordered Harold Walls to serve one year of supervised release and pay $254,562 in restitution to the United States. 

Acting Deputy Assistant Attorney General Stuart M. Goldberg of the Justice Department’s Tax Division made the announcement and thanked the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Michigan for providing substantial assistance in this matter.

IRS-Criminal Investigation is investigating the case.

Trial Attorneys Melissa S. Siskind and Sam Bean of the Tax Division are prosecuting the case.

A former Kansas businessman was sentenced today to one year and one day in prison for willfully failing to pay over employment taxes to the IRS.

According to court documents and statements made in court, Lance Ashley was the sole owner and operator of Ashley Home Care Services (AHCS), an Overland Park home health care business that provided daily living services to individuals. Ashley was responsible for all financial matters relating to AHCS, including handling payroll and paying expenses. From 2013 through 2016, Ashley did not pay over to the IRS all the federal tax withholdings collected from the wages of AHCS’s employees. Instead, he used some of the funds to pay corporate and personal expenses. After the IRS initiated enforcement efforts in 2016 to collect AHCS’s unpaid employment taxes, Ashley provided fraudulent bank records to the IRS, did not fully disclose all of the company’s bank accounts, filed false IRS forms and attempted to use a recently formed corporation to conceal AHCS’s operations. In total, Ashley’s conduct caused a tax loss to the IRS exceeding $321,000.

In addition to the term of imprisonment, U.S. District Judge Julie A. Robinson ordered Ashley to serve two years of supervised release and to pay approximately $321,000 in restitution to the United States.

Acting Deputy Assistant Attorney General Stuart M. Goldberg of the Justice Department’s Tax Division and U.S. Attorney Duston J. Slinkard for the District of Kansas made the announcement.

IRS-Criminal Investigation investigated the case.

Trial Attorney Julia Rugg of the Tax Division and Assistant U.S. Attorney Ryan Huschka for the District of Kansas prosecuted the case.

A Georgia man was sentenced today to 230 months in prison for charges related to his filing of dozens of fraudulent tax returns on behalf of multiple sham trusts.

Marquet Mattox, of Lilburn, was convicted by a federal jury on Aug. 18, 2021, of wire fraud, false claims and theft of government funds. According to court documents and evidence presented at trial, from 2016 to 2018 Mattox filed more than 30 fraudulent federal income tax returns with the IRS in the names of approximately 12 different trusts. On those returns, Mattox falsely reported that the trusts had withheld large amounts of taxes on purported interest income, thereby entitling the trusts to refunds. In total, Mattox claimed approximately $165 million in refunds on behalf of the purported trusts. The IRS paid $5 million of the requested refunds. Mattox used those funds to purchase a new house, a luxury automobile and other personal expenses.

“Marquet Mattox secured $5 million in fraudulent refunds by inundating the IRS with dozens of false returns on behalf of phony trusts he owned and controlled,” said Acting Deputy Assistant Attorney General Stuart M. Goldberg of the Justice Department’s Tax Division. “His significant prison sentence today makes clear that fraudsters will be identified and prosecuted, no matter how persistent or complicated their schemes.”

“It’s an injustice to all those who rightfully pay their taxes when an individual criminally takes advantage of the system, in this case defrauding taxpayers of millions of dollars,” U.S Attorney Peter D. Leary for the Middle District of Georgia. “Our office and our law enforcement partners will do whatever it takes to hold fraudsters accountable for their crimes.”

“Mattox made multiple attempts to defraud the Internal Revenue Service of over $117 million,” said Special Agent in Charge James E. Dorsey of IRS-Criminal Investigation. “IRS has systems in place to detect and prevent fraud, attempting to file false claims for refunds is a federal crime. Today’s sentencing reflects the seriousness of Mattox’s actions and greed. Taxpayers should be wary of any individuals promoting and using schemes to submit false filings to the IRS. Should you come across such a scheme, please report it to IRS-Criminal Investigation.”

“TIGTA’s statutory mission includes investigating individuals who interfere with the lawful collection of taxes,” said J. Russell George, the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration (TIGTA). “Attempts to interfere with IRS employees engaged in the performance of their official duties will be aggressively pursued. We appreciate the efforts of the U.S. Attorney’s Office and IRS-Criminal Investigation in working with TIGTA to protect the integrity of federal tax administration.”

In addition to the prison term, Mattox was ordered to pay approximately $3.2 million in restitution and serve three years of supervised release.

IRS-Criminal Investigation and the U.S. Department of the Treasury, Office of the Inspector General investigated the case.

Trial Attorney Jessica Kraft of the Justice Department’s Tax Division and Assistant U.S. Attorney Lyndie Freeman for the Middle District of Georgia prosecuted the case.

Today, during remarks at the Trilateral Working Group on Violence Against Indigenous Women and Girls, Deputy Attorney General Lisa O. Monaco announced a directive to all U.S. Attorneys and law enforcement component heads addressing public safety in Indian country, including violence directed at indigenous women, youth and children.  

In a memorandum, Deputy Attorney General Monaco declared it a priority of the Department of Justice to address the disproportionately high rates of violence experienced by American Indians and Alaska Natives, and relatedly, the high rates of indigenous persons reported missing. The memorandum directs each U.S. Attorney with Indian country jurisdiction — along with their law enforcement partners at the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF), the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), the FBI and the U.S. Marshals Service (USMS) — to update and develop new plans for addressing public safety in Indian country.  

“With this memorandum, we are reaffirming the department’s unwavering commitment to promoting public safety in Indian Country and to respecting Tribal sovereignty,” said Deputy Attorney General Lisa O. Monaco. “Tribes know best how to make their communities safer, and Tribal engagement has thus been the cornerstone of the department’s review of its policies and procedures. Federal law enforcement agencies will continue to work diligently with our Tribal partners in support of public safety in Indian Country.”

In November 2021, the department established a Steering Committee dedicated to marshalling the department’s resources and personnel to address public safety and the issues of missing or murdered indigenous persons. The Steering Committee undertook a review — in close consultation with Tribal leaders and stakeholders — of the department’s relevant guidance, policies and practices to improve the law enforcement response in Indian country.  

Today’s memorandum marks the first guidance from the Deputy Attorney General to U.S. Attorneys in Indian country since 2010, when then-Deputy Attorney General David Ogden required each U.S. Attorney with Indian country jurisdiction to establish a structure and plan for addressing public safety in Indian country. Deputy Attorney General Monaco’s memorandum sets forth needed updates, which account for significant legal and legislative developments in the intervening decade, including the Tribal Law and Order Act of 2010, Savanna’s Act, the Not Invisible Act of 2019 and the 2013 and 2022 reauthorizations of the Violence Against Women Act. The memorandum also recognizes that the department’s law enforcement components are essential to investigating crimes in Indian country, and it directs those agencies to adopt their own guidelines, policies and protocols to address the unique public safety challenges in Indian country. 

In particular, the memorandum instructs department prosecutors and law enforcement officers to update their operational plans, policies, and protocols to:

• Coordinate with Tribal, State and local law enforcement officers, as well as other federal agencies;
• Support victims, survivors and their families in a victim-centered and culturally-appropriate manner; and
• Address cases, including unresolved cases, involving missing or murdered indigenous people.

The memorandum also directs U.S. Attorneys Offices and law enforcement agencies to engage with Tribes to better address priority public safety issues, including combatting violence against women, youth and children and addressing the devastating consequences of drug trafficking and substance use disorder in Indian country. 

You can read the Deputy Attorney General’s full remarks to the Trilateral Working Group here and the full text of the memorandum here.

Herdade Lokua, 34, and Jospin Mujangi, 32, of Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), pleaded guilty yesterday in federal court in Seattle to conspiracy and Lacey Act charges. They were indicted on Nov. 3, 2021, on 11 counts relating to trafficking wildlife from DRC to Seattle. The court scheduled the sentencing hearing for Nov. 1.

In pleading guilty, both defendants admitted that beginning in November 2019, they agreed to smuggle elephant ivory, white rhinoceros horn and pangolin scales to the United States. They worked with a middleman to negotiate the sales and coordinate imports to Seattle. Between August and September 2020, Lokua and Mujangi shipped three packages containing approximately 49 pounds of ivory from Kinshasa. They arranged for the ivory to be cut into smaller pieces and painted black; the packages were then falsely labeled as containing wood.

Lokua and Mujangi acknowledged that in June 2021, they sent nearly five pounds of rhinoceros horn to Seattle using a similar scheme. Lokua discussed sending two tons of ivory and one ton of pangolin scales concealed in a shipping container. He stated that payment would have to be routed through a bank account in China before they could access the cash in Kinshasa.

Lokua and Mujangi admitted that they traveled to Seattle on Nov. 2, 2021, to meet with prospective buyers who were actually undercover federal agents. After negotiating the details of a large shipment of ivory, rhinoceros horn and pangolin scales, agents arrested both men in Edmonds, Washington.

The investigation was part of “Operation Kuluna,” an international operation conducted between the Office of Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) in Seattle, the Government of the DRC, the Department of State's Diplomatic Security Service (DSS) and the U.S. Embassy in Kinshasa. After the arrests, the task force in DRC acted on information provided by HSI-Seattle to seize 2,067 pounds of ivory and 75 pounds of pangolin scales in Kinshasa worth approximately $3.5 million, all contraband related to wildlife trafficking.

The Lacey Act is the nation’s oldest wildlife trafficking statute and prohibits, among other things, falsely labeling shipments containing wildlife. The United States, DRC and approximately 181 other countries are signatories to the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES). CITES is an international treaty that restricts trade in species that may be threatened with extinction. CITES has permit requirements for protected wildlife, and the indictment alleges that the defendants did not obtain any of the necessary papers or declarations from DRC or the United States.

The CITES treaty has listed the white rhinoceros (Ceratotherium simum) as a protected species since 1975 and the African elephant (Loxodanta africana) since 1977. All species of pangolin were added to the CITES appendix with the greatest level of protection in 2017. All three mammals are threatened by poaching and habitat loss.

HSI-Seattle conducted the investigation. The government is represented by Senior Trial Attorneys Patrick M. Duggan and Ryan C. Connors of the Environment and Natural Resources Division’s Environmental Crimes Section with assistance from the U.S. Attorney’s Office in the Western District of Washington.

A New York couple and their adult son were sentenced to prison today for conspiring to defraud the United States and for tax evasion.

In November 2021, John Zourdos, his wife Helen Zourdos and their son Dimitrios Zourdos, all of Rome, were each convicted by a federal jury of conspiracy to defraud the United States, tax evasion and helping to file false corporate tax returns. U.S. District Court Judge David N. Hurd sentenced John Zourdos to 30 months in prison, Helen Zourdos to 20 months in prison and Dimitrios Zourdos to 10 months in prison.

According to evidence presented at trial and other court documents, John, Helen and  Dimitrios operated three Dippin Donuts coffee and donut shops with locations in Rome and New Hartford. From 2012 to 2017, the defendants concealed from the IRS approximately $4.5 million in cash sales. During that period, they evaded more than $2 million in individual and corporate taxes by, among other things, depositing cash directly into their personal bank accounts instead of into business bank accounts, providing incomplete information to their accountants, causing their accountants to file false individual and corporate tax returns with the IRS, and funding personal expenditures directly with undeposited and unreported cash. They used unreported income to fund a lavish lifestyle that included multiple luxury vehicles, expensive watches, investment accounts and real estate. They also paid some employees “off the books” cash wages for overtime hours, and paid other employees entirely in “off the books” cash.

In addition to the terms of imprisonment, Judge Hurd ordered each defendant to serve three years of supervised release and to pay more than $2 million in restitution to the United States.

Acting Deputy Assistant Attorney General Stuart M. Goldberg of the Justice Department’s Tax Division and U.S. Attorney Carla B. Freedman for the Northern District of New York made the announcement.

IRS-Criminal Investigation investigated the case.

Assistant Chief John N. Kane of the Tax Division and Assistant U.S. Attorney Michael F. Perry for the Northern District of New York prosecuted the case.

A Louisiana woman was sentenced yesterday to 40 months in prison for conspiring to defraud the United States.

According to court documents, Carlanda Isaac, of New Orleans, worked for Pelican Income Tax and Bookkeeping Services LLC, and later for Taxes by J.A.D.A., another tax preparation business. Isaac, together with others, sought inflated tax refunds for clients by claiming on their returns false income, withholding and education credits. Isaac charged her clients a fee for preparing false tax returns.

In addition to the term of imprisonment, U.S. District Judge Greg G. Guidry ordered Isaac to serve three years of supervised release and to pay approximately $283,378 in restitution to the United States.

Acting Deputy Assistant Attorney General Stuart M. Goldberg of the Justice Department’s Tax Division and U.S. Attorney Duane A. Evans for the Eastern District of Louisiana made the announcement.

IRS-Criminal Investigation investigated the case.

Trial Attorney Jessica Kraft of the Justice Department’s Tax Division and Assistant U.S. Attorney Carter Guice of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Louisiana prosecuted the case.

A federal jury convicted a New York man today in an over $600 million health care fraud, wire fraud, and identity theft scheme.

According to court documents and evidence presented at trial, Mathew James, 54, of East Northport, operated a medical billing company that billed for procedures that were either more serious or entirely different than those James’ doctor-clients performed.  James directed his doctor-clients to schedule elective surgeries through the emergency room so that insurance companies would reimburse at substantially higher rates. When insurance companies denied the inflated claims, James impersonated patients to demand that the insurance companies pay the outstanding balances of tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars.

“James orchestrated a fraudulent medical billing scheme to steal from insurance companies and businesses, in order to line his own pockets,” said Assistant Attorney General Kenneth A. Polite, Jr. of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division. “This conviction shows that medical billers who fuel health care fraud will be brought to justice.”          

“The defendant stands convicted of carrying out an audacious scheme in which he used insurance companies like ATM machines. He stole hundreds of millions of dollars until he was finally exposed by a paper trail a mile-long, phone recordings on which he impersonated patients, and text messages and emails with his co-conspirator doctor clients demonstrating his nefarious billing practices. For this massive fraud, a federal jury convicted him today,” said U.S. Attorney Breon Peace for the Eastern District of New York. “Health care fraud is not a victimless crime, because fraudulent billing ultimately affects consumers who must pay the cost of higher insurance premiums.”

“Health care fraud, including fraudulent billing schemes like this, costs U.S. taxpayers tens of billions of dollars annually. These crimes impact all of us in many ways, including increased health insurance premiums, greater out-of-pocket expenses and copayment amounts for medical treatment, and reduced or lost benefits, just to name a few,” said Assistant Director Luis Quesada of the FBI’s Criminal Investigative Division. “The FBI, together with our law enforcement partners, is committed to rooting out health care fraud in all its forms and bringing those who seek to exploit our health care system to justice.”

James was convicted of conspiracy to commit health care fraud, health care fraud, three counts of wire fraud, and three counts of aggravated identity theft. He is scheduled to be sentenced at a later date and faces up to 10 years in prison for health care fraud conspiracy, up to 10 years in prison for health care fraud, up to 20 years in prison for each of three wire fraud counts, and a two year mandatory minimum each for three aggravated identity theft counts. A federal district court judge will determine any sentence after considering the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.

The FBI investigated the case.

Acting Assistant Chief Miriam Glaser Dauermann of the Criminal Division’s Fraud Section and Assistant U.S. Attorneys Catherine Mirabile and Antoinette Rangel of the Eastern District of New York are prosecuting the case.

The Fraud Section leads the Criminal Division’s efforts to combat health care fraud through the Health Care Fraud Strike Force Program. Since March 2007, this program, comprised of 15 strike forces operating in 24 federal districts, has charged more than 4,200 defendants who collectively have billed the Medicare program for more than $19 billion. In addition, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, working in conjunction with the Office of the Inspector General for the Department of Health and Human Services, are taking steps to hold providers accountable for their involvement in health care fraud schemes. More information can be found at https://www.justice.gov/criminal-fraud/health-care-fraud-unit.

A North Carolina man was sentenced yesterday to 41 months in prison for conspiring to defraud the United States by preparing and filing false tax returns.

According to court documents and statements made in court, Joseph Octave, 49, of Charlotte, was the leader of a multi-year, multimillion-dollar tax fraud scheme involving hundreds of fraudulent tax returns. Octave was the owner and operator of Kapital Financial Services, a tax preparation business with two offices in Charlotte. From 2014 through 2019, Octave used his tax business to orchestrate a criminal conspiracy in which he directed his employees to prepare and file fraudulent tax returns.

Octave instructed his employees to use several methods to falsify clients’ tax returns, including claiming false deductions, business losses, American Opportunity credits, education credits and earned income tax credits. Octave also trained his employees on how to create the fraudulent returns to avoid IRS detection and provided them with scripts and cheat sheets. To further conceal the fraud, Octave instructed his employees not to give clients copies of their own tax returns and not to share with the clients any details beyond the total refund amount.

According to filed documents and information presented in court, the falsified tax returns and false deductions resulted in reduced tax liabilities and inflated tax refunds for Octave’s clients. Furthermore, because the majority of the time the tax preparation fees were taken directly from the clients’ fraudulently inflated tax refunds, in many instances the clients were unaware of how much they were being charged. As a result of the tax scheme, Kapital Financial Services earned at least $700,000 in fees for preparing the fraudulent tax returns, and, as the owner, Octave received the largest share of this income. The conspiracy caused a total tax loss of more than $2.5 million.

In addition to the term of imprisonment, U.S. District Judge Max O. Cogburn Jr. ordered Octave to serve two years of supervised release and to pay approximately $2.5 million in restitution to the United States.

Acting Deputy Assistant Attorney General Stuart M. Goldberg of the Justice Department’s Tax Division, U.S. Attorney Dena J. King for the Western District of North Carolina and Special Agent in Charge Donald “Trey” Eakins of IRS-Criminal Investigation, Charlotte Field Office, made the announcement.

IRS-Criminal Investigation investigated the case.

Trial Attorney Brian Flanagan of the Tax Division and Assistant U.S. Attorney Caryn Finley of the Western District of North Carolina prosecuted the case.

The Justice Department today released the following statement from Attorney General Merrick B. Garland following the Senate’s bipartisan confirmation of Steve Dettelbach as the Director of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF):

“Every day, ATF’s agents, investigators, and professional staff work tirelessly to protect our communities from violent crime and the devastation caused by gun violence. They provide support, training, and expertise to law enforcement agencies nationwide, conduct life-saving research and analysis, work to ensure that our regulations keep pace with the ever-changing technology of firearms, and disrupt illegal gun trafficking networks. Today, for the second time in history, the United States Senate has voted to give ATF long-overdue Senate-confirmed leadership. As a career prosecutor and the former U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Ohio, Steve understands the importance and urgency of ATF’s mission, and I am confident he will lead ATF with integrity, dedication, and skill.”

The Justice Department announced today the establishment of the Reproductive Rights Task Force. The Task Force formalizes an existing working group and efforts by the Department over the last several months to identify ways to protect access to reproductive health care in anticipation of the possibility of the Supreme Court overturning Roe v. Wade and Planned Parenthood v. Casey. Associate Attorney General Vanita Gupta will chair the Task Force, which will consist of representatives from the Department’s Civil Division, Civil Rights Division, U.S. Attorney community, Office of the Solicitor General, Office for Access to Justice, Office of Legal Counsel, Office of Legal Policy, Office of Legislative Affairs, Office of the Associate Attorney General, Office of the Deputy Attorney General and Office of the Attorney General and will be supported by dedicated staff.

“As Attorney General Garland has said, the Supreme Court’s Dobbs decision is a devastating blow to reproductive freedom in the United States,” said Associate Attorney General Gupta. “The Court abandoned 50 years of precedent and took away the constitutional right to abortion, preventing women all over the country from being able to make critical decisions about our bodies, our health, and our futures. The Justice Department is committed to protecting access to reproductive services.”

The Task Force will monitor and evaluate all state and local legislation and enforcement actions that threaten to:

• Infringe on federal legal protections relating to the provision or pursuit of reproductive care;
• Impair women’s ability to seek reproductive care in states where it is legal;
• Impair individuals’ ability to inform and counsel each other about the reproductive care that is available in other states;
• Ban Mifepristone based on disagreement with the FDA’s expert judgment about its safety and efficacy; or
• Impose criminal or civil liability on federal employees who provide reproductive health services in a manner authorized by federal law.

The Task Force will identify such actions and coordinate appropriate federal government responses, including proactive and defensive legal action where appropriate. The Task Force will work with agencies across the federal government to support their work on issues relating to reproductive rights and access to reproductive healthcare. 

The Justice Department is working with external stakeholders such as reproductive services providers, advocates and state attorneys general. The Task Force will continue this important effort. It will also work with the Office of Counsel to the President to convene a meeting of private pro bono attorneys, bar associations and public interest organizations in order to encourage lawyers to represent and assist patients, providers and third parties lawfully seeking reproductive health services throughout the country. In order to assist attorneys working to protect access to comprehensive reproductive health services, the Task Force will centralize online legal resources, such as filed Justice Department legal briefs and information about the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act.

Recognizing that the best way to protect reproductive freedom is through congressional action, the Task Force will also coordinate providing technical assistance to Congress in connection with federal legislation to codify reproductive rights and ensure access to comprehensive reproductive services. It will also coordinate the provision of technical assistance concerning Federal constitutional protections to states seeking to afford legal protection to out-of-state patients and providers who offer legal reproductive healthcare.

A former South Carolina sheriff and two deputies were sentenced yesterday for various charges relating to their conspiracy to violate federal law, deprivation of civil rights during an unlawful arrest, obstruction of justice, and misuse of public funds and personnel.

Former Chester County Sheriff George Alexander Underwood, 59, of Chester; Chief Deputy Robert Andrew Sprouse, 47, of Ridgeway; and former Chester County Sheriff’s Office Lieutenant Johnny Ricardo Neal Jr., 42, of Lancaster, were convicted of conspiracy to violate federal law and to commit federal program theft in April 2021 following a 10-day jury trial. Underwood and Neal were additionally convicted of deprivation of rights and wire fraud. Sprouse and Neal were additionally convicted of falsifying records, and Sprouse was found guilty of making false statements.

Underwood and Neal were both sentenced to 46 months, and Sprouse was sentenced to 24 months in prison.

According to court documents and evidence presented at trial, Underwood, Sprouse, and Neal conspired to use their positions to enrich themselves by obtaining money to which they were not entitled; to cover up their misconduct; and to obstruct investigations into their misconduct. Evidence showed Underwood and Neal 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 and detaining him without probable cause. When the FBI began investigating these civil rights violations, Sprouse and Neal created false incident reports and Sprouse made false statements to the FBI to cover up their misconduct.

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 to add a bar, a television viewing area, and other amenities. Separately, Underwood and Sprouse took family members on a trip to a conference in Reno, Nevada, and charged the costs 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.

Assistant Attorney General Kenneth A. Polite, Jr. of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division and Special Agent in Charge Susan Ferensic of the FBI’s Columbia Field Office made the announcement.

The FBI investigated the case.

Trial Attorneys William M. Miller and Rebecca M. Schuman of the Criminal Division’s Public Integrity Section prosecuted the case.

Derek A. Mays, 32, a former Eastern Kentucky Correctional Center (EKCC) officer from Morehead, Kentucky, pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge David Bunning, to four counts of obstruction of justice.  

According to his plea agreement, Mays admitted that on July 24, 2018, he witnessed three EKCC correctional officers assaulting an inmate, and then he falsified records in order to cover up that assault. Specifically, Mays wrote and signed an occurrence report falsely claiming that the inmate had been noncompliant. Mays also admitted to later lying to his supervisor, a Kentucky State Police (KSP) detective, and a Kentucky Justice and Public Safety Cabinet investigator, on three separate occasions, about the assault. Mays was indicted in July 2022.

Mason is scheduled to be sentenced on March 13, 2023. He faces a maximum of 20 years in prison for each charge. However, any sentence will be imposed by the court, after its consideration of the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and the federal sentencing statutes. 

Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division; Acting U.S. Attorney Carlton S. Shier IV for the Eastern District of Kentucky; Special Agent in Charge Jodi Cohen of the FBI Louisville Field Office; and Colonel Phillip Burnett Jr. Commissioner, KSP, jointly announced the guilty plea.

The investigation was conducted by FBI, KSP and the Kentucky Justice and Public Safety Cabinet. The U.S. Attorney’s Office was represented by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Zach Dembo and Mary Melton.

Today, Attorney General Merrick B. Garland announced the recipients for the 69th Annual Attorney General’s Awards, recognizing Department of Justice employees and partners for extraordinary contributions to the enforcement of our nation’s laws. This year, 298 Justice Department employees received awards, while 54 non-department individuals are also being honored for their work.  

“This year’s awardees have served selflessly to further the Department’s important work upholding the rule of law, keeping our country safe, and protecting civil rights,” said Attorney General Merrick B. Garland. “I am proud to recognize these individuals for their professionalism, skill, and leadership, and I am grateful for their service to our Department and our nation.”

The 69th Annual Attorney General’s Awards and recipients are as follows.

The Attorney General’s David Margolis Award for Exceptional Service is the Department’s highest award for employee performance. Attorney General Garland recognizes Supervisory Special Agent Jessica A. Nye; Special Agents Peter Ahearn, Jr, Blair H. Newman, and John A. Maser; Computer Scientists Lindsey Chiesa and Naomi R. Patrick, Charlotte Field Office; Supervisory Special Agent Thomas S. Breeden, Baltimore Field Office; Supervisory Special Agent Carrie A. Crot, Cyber Division; Intelligence Analyst Sean A. McDermott, Richmond Division, FBI; Assistant U.S. Attorneys Eric L. Iverson and Anand P. Ramaswamy for the Middle District of North Carolina; and Senior Counsel Ryan Kao Jeung Dickey, Criminal Division.

The Attorney General’s Award for Distinguished Service is the Department’s second highest award for employee performance; there are 15 Distinguished Service Awards being awarded today.

The first Distinguished Award is presented to Senior Counsel Cory B. Leuchten of the Office of the Assistant Attorney General; Trial Attorneys Meagan K. Bellshaw, Brittney A. Dimond, Collier T. Kelley, Ihan Kim, Sarah H. Licht, Bennett J. Matelson, Lillian Okamuro, John R. Read, Ethan D. Stevenson, Lara E.V. Trager, and Jeffrey Vernon, Financial Services, Fintech & Banking Section; Economists Brian Clark and Alexander Raskovich, Economic Regulatory Section; and Financial Analyst John Griffin, Economic Litigation Section, Antitrust Division.

The second Distinguished Award is presented to Assistant Branch Director Bridget B. Lipscomb, Torts Branch, Environmental Torts Section of the Civil Division.

The third Distinguished Award is presented to Director Eli M. Rosenbaum of Human Rights Enforcement Strategy and Policy; Trial Attorney Susan Masling; Chief Historian Dr. Jeffrey S. Richter, Human Rights and Special Prosecutions Section, Criminal Division; Deputy Chief Paul F. Stone; Senior Counsel Daniel I. Smulow, National Security Unit, Office of Immigration Litigation, Civil Division; Deputy Chief Counsel Brandon Josephsen; Senior Attorney William A. Lund; Associate Legal Advisor Ajay Bhatt, Office of the Principal Legal Advisor; and Special Agents Glen Earl Blache and John A. Witsell III, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Department of Homeland Security.

The fourth Distinguished Award is presented to Special Litigation Counsel Rosanna E. Gibson, Criminal Section, Civil Rights Division; Assistant U.S. Attorney J. Drew Yeates; Paralegals Ester Hernandez and Ingrid Westphal-Kelson; Victim-Witness Coordinator Candelaria Bennett for the District of Utah; and Special Agent Steven S. Hymas, FBI.

The fifth Distinguished Award is presented to Special Agent Zachary C. Leasure of the San Diego Field Division of the Drug Enforcement Agency.

The sixth Distinguished Award is presented to Senior Attorney Bridget Kennedy McNeil of the Wildlife and Marine Resources Section for the Environment and Natural Resources Division.

The seventh Distinguished Award is presented to Assistant U.S. Attorneys Jarod J. Douglas and Brandon S. Flower; Victim-Witness Coordinator Christina M. Frizzell for the Northern District of West Virginia; Special Agents Ashley E. Archibald and John D. Large, Pittsburgh Division, FBI; Resident Agent in Charge Colin Davis; and Special Agent Keith Vereb, Office of the Inspector General, U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs.

The eighth Distinguished Award is presented to Assistant U.S. Attorneys Christopher J. Clark, Nicole Grosnoff, Peter Laserna, and Lisa H. Miller for the Southern District of Florida; Special Agent Kristin Bailey, FBI; and Special Agent Robyn W. Ziemer, Office of Inspector General, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

The ninth Distinguished Award is presented to First Assistant U.S. Attorney Mark Lesko; Assistant U.S. Attorneys Tanya Hajjar and Kevin M. Trowel; Paralegal Specialist Teri Carby for the Eastern District of New York; Supervisory Special Agents Anthony Bivona and Christopher Donohue; Special Agents Delise Jeffrey, Michael W. Lever, Maegan O. Rees, and Michael J. Weniger; Victim Specialist Laura B. Riso; Task Force Officer Charles B. Fontanelli, New York Field Office, FBI; and Special Agents Megan Buckley and Christopher T. Munster, New York Field Office, Homeland Security Investigations, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, U.S. Department of Homeland Security.

The tenth Distinguished Award is presented to Supervisory Trial Attorney Jennifer Kennedy Gellie, Counterintelligence & Export Control Section; Trial Attorney Jennifer E. Levy, Counterterrorism Section, National Security Division; Special Assistant U.S. Attorney John M. Cummings, Jr. for the District of Columbia; Intelligence Analysts Mikolaj Recko and Susan M. Zalac; Special Agents Bernie S. Annor, Kathryn M. McDonald,  Michael C. Merletti,  Alexa M. Racioppo, and Danielle Ray, Washington Field Office; Supervisory Special Agents David Nadasi and Matthew J. Sanderl, Counterintelligence Division; Supervisory Special Agent Jason Coffey; Special Agent Danielle S. Ditzler; and Intelligence Analyst Stephany Warner, Counterterrorism Division Fly Team, Counterterrorism Section, FBI.

The eleventh Distinguished Award is presented to Senior Level Trial Attorney Nannette L. Davis; Supervisory Trial Attorney Kathleen M. Barry, Northern Criminal Enforcement Section; Supervisory Trial Attorney Todd Ellinwood, Southern Criminal Enforcement Section; Litigation Technology Case Manager Jason D. Dowling, Office of Management and Administration; Paralegal Kevin P. Kingston, Court of Federal Claims Section, Tax Division; Assistant U.S. Attorneys Timothy Capozzi and Sagar K. Ravi for the Southern District of New York; Special Agent Amy Lindner; and CI Cybercrimes Fraud Detection Analyst David Utzke, Criminal Investigation Division, Internal Revenue Service, U.S. Department of the Treasury.

The twelfth Distinguished Award is presented to Supervisory Electronics Engineer Robert J. Smith; Electronics Engineers Gregory Klatt, Peter R. Lacko, and Robert M. Weber, Operational Technology Division; and Special Agent Peter G. Diaz, New York Field Office, FBI.

The thirteenth Distinguished Award is presented to Director Shawn O. Flinn; and Deputy Director Valarie Mulcahy, Human Resources, Justice Management Division.

The fourteenth Distinguished Award is presented to Chief Inspectors Jan E. Hamm, Erin A. Lane, Michael E. Pannone, and Allison E. Russo; Senior Inspector Kathleen E. Flanagan; Inspectors Eric F. Barker, James D. Ludwig, Fei Yin Luk, and Charla Ngatcha, Evaluation and Inspections Division; Investigative Counsels S. Randall Humm and Ann Marie Terzaken, Oversight and Review Division; Assistant Director Melanie C. Danberg; and Mathematical Statisticians Elizabeth T. Heines and Ramona R. Rantala, Office of Data Analytics, Audit Division, Office of the Inspector General.

The fifteenth Distinguished Award is presented to Assistant Chief Senior Inspector Vincent G. Bellino; Deputy U.S. Marshal William J. Hicks; and Task Force Officers Mark Jeffrey and Gerik John Robert Ray, Western District of Texas, U.S. Marshals Service.

The Attorney General’s Award for Exceptional Heroism recognizes an extraordinary act of courage and voluntary risk of life during the performance of official duties. One Exceptional Heroism Award is presented this year to Deputy U.S. Marshal Marlon J. Medrano of the U.S. Marshals Service.

The Edward H. Levi Award for Outstanding Professionalism and Exemplary Integrity pays tribute to the memory and achievements of former Attorney General Edward H. Levi. This award is presented to an individual whose career as an attorney, law professor and dean, and public servant exemplified these qualities in the best traditions of the Department. This year’s Edward H. Levi Award is presented to Deputy Chief Douglas E. Crow of the Organized Crime and Gang Section for the Criminal Division.

The Mary C. Lawton Lifetime Service Award recognizes employees who have served at least 20 years in the Department and who have demonstrated high standards of excellence and dedication throughout their careers. This award is presented only in exceptional circumstances to those individuals of special merit and is not awarded to express general appreciation for tenure alone. Two Mary C. Lawton Award are presented this year.

The first Mary C. Lawton Lifetime Service Award is presented to Chief Teresa L. McHenry of the Human Rights and Special Prosecutions Section of the Criminal Division.

The second Mary C. Lawton Lifetime Service Award is presented to Assistant U.S. Attorney Robert A. Zauzmer for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania.

The Attorney General’s Award for Meritorious Public Service, the top public service award granted by the Department, recognizes the most significant contributions of citizens and organizations that have assisted the Department in the accomplishment of its mission and objectives. This award is presented to Grants Director Kim J. Day of the International Association of Forensic Nurses.

The Attorney General’s Award for Exceptional Service in Indian Country recognizes extraordinary efforts by those who demonstrated the Department’s commitment to fighting crime in Indian Country. This year, two Exceptional Service in Indian Country Awards are being presented.

The first Exceptional Service in Indian Country is presented to Supervisory Special Agent L. Craig Overby; Special Agents Nadine F. Brown, Steven Lowe, and Brandon Walter; Intelligence Analyst Nicolette G. Rose; Staff Operations Specialist Cara K. Kaizer; Victim Specialists Erin Harris and Michele L. Stewart, Salt Lake City Field Office; Forensic Accountant Daniel R. Conger, Criminal Investigative Division, FBI; Assistant U.S. Attorney Kevin Lee Sundwall for the District of Utah; Tribal Operations Officer Jo-Ellen Cree, Bureau of Indian Affairs; and Special Agents Larry S. Harris and J. Christopher Wood, Office of Inspector General, U.S. Department of Interior.

The second Exceptional Service in Indian Country is presented to Assistant U.S. Attorneys Shannon B. Cozzoni, Ryan M. Roberts, and Douglas E. Snow of the Northern District of Oklahoma.

The Attorney General’s Award for Excellence in Law Enforcement recognizes outstanding professional achievements by law enforcement officers of the Department of Justice. This award is presented to Supervisory Special Agents Adam Cushman and Steven C. Patterson; Special Agent Jacob E. Alder, Phoenix Field Office; Supervisory Special Agent Victor Nguyen, San Diego Field Office; Supervisory Special Agents Ricardo L. Jimenez, Brian D. Percival, and Carlos Tomala, Legal Attaché Mexico City; Supervisory Special Agent Kyle S. Blackhurst, Legal Attaché San Salvador; Supervisory Special Agents Shannon Fontenot and Amie Loos, Criminal Investigation Division; and Supervisory Special Agent Jason P. Parrish, Laboratory Division, FBI.

The Attorney General’s Award for Excellence in Management recognizes outstanding administrative or managerial achievements, which have significantly improved operations, productivity, or reduced costs. This year, three Excellence in Management Awards are being presented.

The first Award for Excellence in Management is presented to Geospatial Program Manager Aaron A. Jabbour of the National Geospatial Intelligence Branch for the Criminal Intelligence Division, Office of Strategic Intelligence and Information, and Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.

The second Award for Excellence in Management is presented to Deputy Chief Learning Officer Mary Beth Pfister of the Office of Legal Education for the National Advocacy Center and Executive Office for U.S. Attorneys.

The third Award for Excellence in Management is presented to Deputy Assistant Attorney General Michael H. Allen for Policy, Management and Planning; and Deputy Director Christine E. Gunning of the Security and Emergency Planning Staff for the Justice Management Division.

The Attorney General’s Award for Excellence in Information Technology recognizes outstanding achievements in applying information technology to improve operations and productivity, reduce or avoid costs, and solve problems. Two Excellence in Information Technology Award are presented this year.

The first Award for Excellence in Information Technology is presented to Deputy Chief Brian R. Young; Assistant Chiefs Mark Cipolletti, Michael T. O’Neill, Avi M. Perry, and Justin Weitz; and Trial Attorneys Drew Bradylyons, Jennifer L. Farer, Leslie S. Garthwaite, Cory E. Jacobs, Alexander J. Kramer, John F. Scanlon, Della Sentilles, and Matthew F. Sullivan, Fraud Section, Criminal Division.

The second Award for Excellence in Information Technology is presented to Deputy Chief Information Officer Craig J. Hegemann; Supervisory Information Technology Specialists Kate Myong Ahn, Kelvin N. Doan, David Robert Fruehwald, Andrew J. Leftwich, Timothy L. Robinson II, and Willie J. Williams; Supervisory Information Technology Project Manager Michael R. Barylski; Supervisory Information Technology Program Manager Desmond L. Murphy; and Information Technology Specialists Dain A. Bentley, Nelma Gail Hartfiel, Ricardo D. Phillips, Sr., Elissa M. Reynolds, and Sein Sanborn, Office of Information Technology, Executive Office for Immigration Review.

The Attorney General’s Award for Excellence in Furthering the Interests of U.S. National Security recognizes outstanding achievements and contributions towards protecting U.S. National Security. Two Excellence in Furthering the Interests of U.S. National Security Award are presented this year.

The first Award for Excellence in Furthering the Interests of U.S. National Security is presented to Assistant U.S. Attorney Dominick S. Gerace; First Assistant U.S. Attorney Vipal J. Patel; Paralegal Catherine Robillard; Victim-Witness Specialist Acquanette Lindsey for the Southern District of Ohio; Trial Attorney Justin Sher, Counterterrorism Section, National Security Division; Supervisory Trial Attorney Paul Casey, Counterterrorism Section, National Security Division; Victim-Witness Specialists Christina Conrad and Linda James, Cincinnati Field Division; Supervisory Special Agent Morgan Spurlock; Supervisory Special Agent Michael Herwig; Special Agents Patrick Gragan and T.A. Staderman; and Task Force Officers Charles Balaj, Brad Meeker, Kyle Metz, and A.J. Schweier, Joint Terrorism Task Forces, FBI.

The second Award for Excellence in Furthering the Interests of U.S. National Security is presented to Supervisory Attorney-Advisors Loyaan A. Egal, Eric S. Johnson, and David I. Plotinsky, Foreign Investment Review Section; Attorney-Advisor Julie E. Dickerson, Office of Law and Policy; and Attorney-Advisors Christopher R. Clements, Megan K. Fluckiger, Alice S. Jou, Lee G. Licata, and Christine M. Quinn, Foreign Investment Review Section, National Security Division.

The Attorney General’s Award for Equal Employment Opportunity is the Department’s highest award for performance in support of the Equal Employment Opportunity Program. One Equal Employment Opportunity Award is presented this year to Supervisory Special Agent Catherine M. Fagan, Training Division; Supervisory Management and Program Analyst David R. Cotton-Zinn, Criminal Justice Information Services (CJIS) Division; Intelligence Analyst Ashley V. Evans, Washington Field Office; Intelligence Analyst Aleksandra Panovska, Cincinnati Field Office; Staff Operations Specialist David M. Maltinsky, Los Angeles Field Office; Special Agent Anthony J. Grecco, Jr., New York Field Office; Intelligence Analyst Summer Harms, Sacramento Field Office; Intelligence Analyst Corbin M. Warfel; Special Agent Brett Kalina, San Diego Field Office; and Special Agent Clay Rehrig, San Juan Field Office, FBI.

The Attorney General’s Award for Excellence in Legal Support recognizes outstanding achievements in the field of legal support to attorneys by paralegal specialists and other legal assistants. Three Excellence in Legal Support Awards are presented this year.

The first Excellence in Legal Support Award in the paralegal category is presented to Supervisory Paralegal Specialist Wanda G. Evans of the Office of Immigration Litigation (Appellate) for the Civil Division.

The second Excellence in Legal Support Award in the paralegal category is presented to Paralegal Specialist Jennie M. Gallagher of the U.S. Trustee Program - Region 10 for the Peoria Field Office.

The third Excellence in Legal Support Award in the legal support category is presented to Senior IT Specialist Tsang (Rowbe) Pun of the Litigation Support Section for the Antitrust Division.

The Attorney General’s Award for Excellence in Administrative Support recognizes outstanding performance in administrative or managerial support by administrative employees or secretaries. Four Excellence in Administrative Support Awards are being presented.

The first Excellence in Administrative Support Award in the Administrative category is presented to Legal Assistant Christopher G. McShea for the Southern District of New York.

The second Excellence in Administrative Support Award in the Administrative category is presented to Supervisory Paralegal Specialist Betty Alfaraz for the Southern District of Florida.

The third Excellence in Administrative Support Award in the Secretarial category is presented to Legal Assistant Madison V. Beasley of the Environmental Enforcement Section for the Environment and Natural Resources Division.

The fourth Excellence in Administrative Support Award in the Secretarial category is presented to Supervisory Support Services Specialist Tracey N. Armstrong for the Southern District of Texas.

The Claudia J. Flynn Award for Professional Responsibility recognizes Department attorneys who have made significant contributions in the area of professional responsibility by successfully handling a sensitive and challenging professional responsibility issue in an exemplary fashion and/or leading efforts to ensure that Department attorneys carry out their duties in accordance with the rules of professional conduct. This year’s Claudia J. Flynn Award is presented to Assistant U.S. Attorney Lawrence E. Kole for the Central District of California.

The Attorney General’s Award for Outstanding Service in Freedom of Information Act Administration recognizes exceptional dedication and effort to the implementation of the Freedom of Information Act. One Outstanding Service in Freedom of Information Act Administration Award is presented this year to Division Chief Adam C. Siple of the Information Privacy and Governance Division, Office of Public and Governmental Affairs, and Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.

The Attorney General’s Award for Fraud Prevention recognizes exceptional dedication and effort to prevent, investigate, and prosecute fraud, white collar crimes, and official corruption. Two Fraud Prevention Awards are presented this year.

The first Award for Fraud Prevention is presented to Assistant U.S. Attorneys Abraham C. Meltzer, Alexander B. Schwab, and Carolyn S. Small; Paralegal Specialist Yeni Gomez for the Central District of California; Assistant U.S. Attorney Ben S. Kingsley; Paralegal Specialist Jonathan Birch for the Northern District of California; Assistant U.S. Attorney Daniel Ryan for the Western District of North Carolina; Trial Attorney Alexander T. Pogozelski, Civil Frauds Section, Civil Division; Postal Inspector Megan Bradley, U.S. Postal Inspection Service, U.S. Postal Service; Special Agent Paul Richard, Office Inspector General, Federal Housing Finance Agency; Special Agent Ryan Wat Office of Inspector General, Consumer Financial Protection Bureau; Special Agents Armando Delgado-Campos and Albert Fontana, FBI; and Special Agent Kelvin Zwiefelhofer, Office of Inspector General, Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation.

The second Award for Fraud Prevention is presented to Assistant U.S. Attorney Francis D. Murray for the Middle District of Florida; Special Agents Kristy L. Anderson, Alvis A. Lockhart, and Yenixa Perez, Tampa Field Office, Homeland Security Investigations, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement; and Task Force Officer Ryan P. Doherty, Tampa Field Office, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, U.S. Department of Homeland Security.

The Attorney General’s Award for Outstanding Contributions to Community Partnerships for Public Safety recognizes outstanding achievement in the development and support of community partnerships designed to address public safety within a community. Two Outstanding Contributions to Community Partnerships for Public Safety Awards are being presented this year.

The first Outstanding Contributions to Community Partnerships for Public Safety Award is presented to Regional Director Meg Gorecki; Associate Director Theresa J. Segovia; Lead Conciliation Specialists Walter Atkinson, Darryck Dean, and James Williams III; and Conciliation Specialists Mildred Duprey de Robles, Kim Milstead, and Linda Ortiz, Community Relations Service.

The second Outstanding Contributions to Community Partnerships for Public Safety Award is presented to Senior Inspector William A. Boldin; Supervisory Deputy U.S. Marshal Anne M. Murphy, Northern District of Ohio; Chief John Majoy, Newburgh Heights Police Department; Chief Scott Gardner, East Cleveland Police Department; Survivor and Missing Person Advocate Amanda Berry; Producer Carrie Young; News Director Andy Fishman, Fox Channel 8 News; Former Quarterback for the Cleveland Browns Bernie Kosar; Survivor and Founder Gina DeJesus, Cleveland Center for Missing Persons; Karen McHenry of the Bellefaire JCB Missing & Homeless Youth Program; and Program Administrators Kara Davis and Maureen Draye, Cuyahoga Children & Family Services, Cleveland, Ohio.

The Cubby Dorsey Award for Outstanding Service by a Wage Grade System Employee recognizes extraordinary performance and contributions by wage grade system employees, including laborers, mechanics, and skilled craft workers. This award is presented to Electrician Supervisor Dennis W. Good of the Finance and Facilities Division for the FBI.

The Attorney General’s Award for Outstanding Contributions by a New Employee recognizes exceptional performance and notable accomplishments towards the Department’s mission by an employee with fewer than five years of federal career service. Four Outstanding Contributions by a New Employee Awards are presented this year.

The first Award for Outstanding Contributions by a New Employee is presented to Trial Attorney Heather Diefenbach Call of the Washington Criminal II Section for the Antitrust Division.

The second Award for Outstanding Contributions by a New Employee is presented to Psychology Technician Jennifer A. Samonte-Rillo of the Federal Correctional Complex (FCC) Lompoc for the Federal Bureau of Prisons.

The third Award for Outstanding Contributions by a New Employee is presented to Digital Investigative Analyst Matthew E. Markovich of the Criminal Section for the Civil Rights Division.

The fourth Award for Outstanding Contributions by a New Employee is presented to Assistant U.S. Attorney Adam F. Sleeper for the District of the Virgin Islands.

The last award presented this year is The John Marshall Awards which are the Department’s highest awards offered to attorneys, recognizing them for their contributions and excellence in specialized areas of legal performance. Thirteen awards in nine categories are being presented this year.

The first John Marshall Award in the Trial of Litigation category is presented to Deputy Chief Kelly Pearson; Trial Attorneys Bethany Lipman, Conor M. Mulroe, and Marianne Shelvey, Organized Crime and Gang Section, Criminal Division; and Assistant U.S. Attorneys Mitra Jafary-Hariri and Doug Salzenstein for the Eastern District of Michigan.

The second John Marshall Award also in the Trial of Litigation category is presented to Deputy Director Matthew T. Grady of the Human Trafficking Prosecution Unit for the Criminal Section, Civil Rights Division.

The third John Marshall Award also in the Trial of Litigation category is presented to Senior Counsels Scott D. Bauer, Sean K. Carman, Myles E. Flint II, Danica Anderson Glaser, and Jerome W. MacLaughlin; Senior Attorneys Patrick B. Bryan, Richard S. Greene IV, and Laura J. Rowley, Environmental Enforcement Section; Senior Attorney Phillip R. Dupre, Environmental Defense Section; and Trial Attorney Joan M. Pepin, Appellate Section, Environment and Natural Resources Division.

The fourth John Marshall Award also in the Trial of Litigation category is presented to Assistant U.S. Attorneys Andrew C. Bosse, John F. Butler, and Joseph E. DePadilla for the Eastern District of Virginia; and Trial Attorney Teresa Wallbaum of the Organized Crime and Gang Section for the Criminal Division.

The fifth John Marshall Award in the Participation in Litigation category is presented to Deputy Chief Timothy J. Moran; Trial Attorneys Tamica H. Daniel, Tanya I. Kirwan, and Lauren M. Marks; Paralegal Chiquita Robertson; Equal Opportunity Specialist Ayanna A. Brown, Housing and Civil Enforcement, Civil Rights Division; Assistant U.S. Attorneys Emily Fagan and Ron Gallegos; and Paralegal Jessica Rogers for the Western District of Oklahoma.

The sixth John Marshall Award in the Support of Litigation category is presented to Assistant U.S. Attorneys Alexander P. Berrang, Jonathan S. Keim, and Maya D. Song for the Eastern District of Virginia; Trial Attorneys Louisa K. Marion and Adrienne L. Rose, Computer Crime & Intellectual Property Section; Deputy Chief Keith A. Becker, Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, Criminal Division; and Assistant General Counsel Joanne Pasquarelli, Office of the General Counsel, FBI.

The seventh John Marshall Award also in the Support of Litigation category is presented to Assistant Section Chief S. Jay Govindan; Senior Attorney Robert P. Williams, Wildlife and Marine Resources Section; Assistant Section Chief Stephen G. Bartell; Senior Attorney Thomas K. Snodgrass, Natural Resources Section; Senior Attorney for Legal Issues David W. Harder; and Trial Attorney Daron T. Carreiro, Indian Resources Section, Environment and Natural Resources Division.

The eighth John Marshall Award in the Handling of Appeals category is presented to Assistant to the Solicitor General Morgan L. Ratner of the Office of the Solicitor General.

The ninth John Marshall Award in the Preparation or Handling of Legislation category is presented to Assistant Director Aimee Lee; Supervisory Trial Attorney Tara K. Hogan; Senior Trial Counsels Meen-Geu Oh and Stephen J. Tosini; and Trial Attorneys Kyle S. Beckrich, Joshua E. Kurland, and Ann C. Motto, Commercial Litigation Branch, National Courts Section, Civil Division.

The tenth John Marshall Award also in the Preparation or Handling of Legislation category is presented to Senior Counsel Christina Giffin; Trial Attorneys Danielle L. Hickman, Christian A. Levesque, and Susan Masling, Human Rights and Special Prosecutions Section; Trial Attorneys Sonja Ralston and Finnuala Kelleher Tessier, Appellate Section, Criminal Division; Counsel Anne Pings, Office of Legislative Affairs; Deputy Solicitor General Eric Feigin, Office of the Solicitor General; and Deputy Assistant Attorney General Laurence Rothenberg, Office of Legal Policy.

The eleventh John Marshall Award in the Asset Forfeiture category is presented to Principal Deputy Chief Daniel H. Claman, International Unit; Trial Attorneys Elizabeth A. Aloi and Michael W. Khoo, Money Laundering and Asset Forfeiture Section; and Trial Attorney Emily Siedell, Office of International Affairs, Criminal Division.

The twelfth John Marshall Award in the Alternative Dispute Resolution category is presented to Executive Assistant U.S. Attorney Meghan C. Morrissey; and Assistant U.S. Attorney Shoba Pillay for the Northern District of Illinois.

The thirteenth John Marshall Award in the Interagency Cooperation category is presented to Associate Chief Counsels Laura Akowuah, Tracey Allen, Jennifer Argabright, Josh Davenport, and Jaclyn M. Resly; and Senior Counsels Tara Boland, Sonia Nath, Marci Norton, Laura Pawloski, Shannon Singleton, James Smith, Paige Taylor, and Claudia Zuckerman, Office of the Chief Counsel, U.S. Food and Drug Administration.

Attorney General Merrick B. Garland today announced that he has selected Colette S. Peters to serve as Director of the Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP) at the Department of Justice.

“The Justice Department’s mission to uphold the rule of law, keep our country safe, and protect civil rights depends on an effective, safe, and humane correctional system,” said Attorney General Merrick B. Garland. “Director Peters is uniquely qualified to lead BOP in its efforts to ensure the rehabilitation, health, and safety of incarcerated individuals, a safe and secure work environment for correctional staff, and transparency and accountability across federal detention facilities.”

BOP is one of the largest components of the Department of Justice and the nation's largest correctional agency, with approximately 150,000 federal offenders housed in 122 federal prisons, and 178 community-based facilities worldwide. The Director of BOP is responsible for leading over 36,000 employees in the implementation of BOP's core mission.

Ms. Peters has 30 years of experience in public safety and has been the Director of the Oregon Department of Corrections (ODOC) since 2012. She is the first woman to serve as ODOC Director and is also the Chair of the National Institute of Corrections Advisory Board and a past Vice President of the Association of State Correctional Administrators.

“Colette Peters has a proven track record as a visionary leader in the field of corrections and public safety,” said Deputy Attorney General Lisa O. Monaco. “With her experience and judgment, she is the right leader for BOP and its dual mission of providing both safe detention and meaningful preparation for those in custody reentering society. I look forward to working with her.”

Ms. Peters has demonstrated an ability to lead change by establishing a vision for reform, and using creativity, innovation, external awareness, and strategic thinking to achieve her vision. Under her leadership, ODOC developed the “Oregon Way,” a visionary approach to improving employee health and wellness and reducing the use of segregation for adults in custody to transform environments inside correctional facilities to be more humane and reflective of the outside community.

She began her career in public safety as a Victim Advocate and Crisis Mediator with the Denver Police Department. She was Director of Public Affairs for ODOC from 2004-2006, and the ODOC Assistant Director for Public Services and Inspector General from 2006-2008. From 2009-2012, she was Director of the Oregon Youth Authority, the state agency responsible for providing custody, rehabilitation, and treatment services to youth ages 12-24 who committed crimes prior to their 18th birthday.

Ms. Peters earned her Bachelor of Arts in Psychology from the College of St. Benedict in Saint Joseph, Minnesota, and her master’s in criminal justice from the Graduate School of Public Affairs at the University of Colorado in Denver.

She will assume her duties on Tuesday, August 2.

Today at the Judicial Studies Institute (JSI) in San Juan, Puerto Rico, U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor addressed virtually 24 judges from Colombia, Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Mexico, and Panama as part of a Department of Justice (DOJ) training program for Western Hemisphere judiciaries. Justice Sotomayor stressed the importance of their contributions to the rule of law in the Western Hemisphere and lauded them for their roles in transforming Latin American justice.   

With the support of Justice Sotomayor, and in partnership with the Department of State’s Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs, the Justice Department’s Office of Prosecutorial Development, Assistance, and Training (OPDAT) launched JSI in 2012 as a response to the wave of justice sector reforms in Latin America, during which many countries transitioned from inquisitorial to adversarial systems of justice. Through Spanish instruction, practical exercises, and observations of courtroom proceedings, participating judges learned about evidentiary guidelines, the role of judges, courtroom management in an adversarial justice system, human smuggling, and judging without gender, among other important topics. 

This capacity building is critical to the region, as there are significant differences between the two systems. For example, in an inquisitorial system, judges investigate charges and determine guilt through written deliberations behind closed doors. In an adversarial system, the judge acts as an impartial referee responsible for weighing evidence and guaranteeing the rights of both the victim and the accused in an open courtroom setting. JSI offers judicial counterparts the opportunity to learn practical skills, encouraging JSI alumni to become agents of change within their judiciaries. Many DOJ-trained JSI alumni been able to go on to serve as force multipliers in the region, imparting their training within their own judiciary and for future OPDAT programs. 

Since establishing JSI in 2012, OPDAT and its partners at the University of Puerto Rico and Inter-American University law schools, the Puerto Rico State Judiciary, and the U.S. Federal Judiciary have trained over 1,000 Latin American judges. This year marks the 10-year anniversary of this important and sustainable project.

Please visit https://www.justice.gov/criminal-opdat for more information about OPDAT’s capacity-building efforts around the world.