District Not Recorded

A Florida woman pleaded guilty today to laundering $735,695 in money stolen from Medicare, Medicaid, and private health insurers as part of a sprawling health care fraud scheme in Miami. 

According to court documents, Loyda Triana, 65, of Miami, laundered the fraudulent proceeds of five fraudulent medical supply companies over a two-year period. These companies — BF Distributors Corp, Timely Medical Services Corp., Ortho-Med Solution Inc., Expedited Medical Supplies Corp., and Prime Orthopedic Solutions Corp — were fake medical supply companies that billed Medicare, Medicaid, and private health insurers more than $48 million for medical equipment the companies never actually purchased and never actually provided to any patients. Triana laundered the stolen money by cashing checks issued by these companies and returning the cash, minus a fee, to her co-conspirators. To date, more than 15 individuals have been charged as part of the government’s investigation into this fraud and money laundering scheme. 

Triana pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit money laundering. She is scheduled to be sentenced on May 25, and faces a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison. 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 Juan Antonio Gonzalez for the Southern District of Florida; Special Agent in Charge Omar Pérez Aybar of the Department of Health and Human Services, Office of the Inspector General (HHS-OIG), Miami Regional Office; Assistant Director Luis Quesada of the FBI’s Criminal Investigative Division; Special Agent in Charge George L. Piro of the FBI’s Miami Field Office; Special Agent in Charge Kyle A. Myles of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, Office of the Inspector General (FDIC-OIG), Atlanta Regional Office; and Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody made the announcement.   

The FBI, HHS-OIG, FDIC-OIG, and Florida’s Medicaid Fraud Control Unit are investigating the case.

Trial Attorney Alexander Thor Pogozelski of the Criminal Division’s Fraud Section is prosecuting the case.

The Justice Department announced that Kenneth Pilon, 61, has been charged by information in federal district court with willfully intimidating and attempting to intimidate citizens from engaging in lawful speech and protests in support of Black Lives Matter.

According to the filed information, Pilon called nine Starbucks stores in Michigan and told the employees answering his calls to tell Starbucks employees wearing Black Lives Matter T-shirts that “the only good n***er is a dead n***er.” Pilon told one employee, “I’m gonna go out and lynch me a n***er.” Over the course of the next month, Pilon left four nooses in parking lots and a fifth noose inside of a 7-Eleven store. Pilon attached each noose to a handwritten note, reading: “An accessory to be worn with your ‘BLM’ t-shirt. Happy protesting!”

This case is being investigated by the FBI. Assistant U.S. Attorney Timothy Turkelson for the Eastern District of Michigan and Trial Attorney Tara Allison of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division are prosecuting the case. The announcement was made by Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke of the Justice Department's Civil Rights Division and U.S. Attorney Dawn N. Ison.

The charges in the information are merely allegations and the defendant is presumed innocent unless proven guilty in a court of law. 

A federal jury in the Eastern District of New York convicted a California man today for defrauding American Express of more than $4.7 million and money laundering. 

According to court documents and evidence presented at trial, Jasminder Singh, 45, of Fremont, used four business entities that he created and controlled and 10 American Express credit cards in those entities’ names to purchase thousands of Apple iPhones he then sold overseas for millions of dollars. Between November 2017 and December 2019, the defendant misrepresented to American Express his inability to repay more than $4.7 million in charges incurred from the purchase of iPhones and initiated phony payments in order to secure additional credit. The defendant used the proceeds of the scheme to pay for personal expenses and buy luxury items, including a $1.3 million home and a luxury vehicle.  

Singh was convicted of bank fraud and money laundering. He is scheduled to be sentenced on Aug. 2, and faces up to 30 years in prison. 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 Breon Peace for the Eastern District of New York; Assistant Director Luis Quesada of the FBI’s Criminal Investigative Division; and Assistant Director-in-Charge Michael J. Driscoll of the FBI’s New York Field Office made the announcement.

The FBI investigated the case. 

Trial Attorney Patrick J. Campbell of the Criminal Division’s Fraud Section and Assistant U.S. Attorney Michael Gibaldi of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of New York are prosecuting the case.

The Department of Justice today announced the creation of the National Law Enforcement Knowledge Lab, a free training, technical assistance and resource hub for law enforcement, designed to promote constitutional policing, improve public safety and build trust in communities across the country. Associate Attorney General Vanita Gupta will make the announcement today at the Los Angeles Police Department headquarters where she will be joined by police leaders, civil rights advocates, researchers and others from across the country dedicated to ensuring that law enforcement has access to the tools, trusted guidance and best practices for fair, impartial policing.

“Providing law enforcement with the tools, resources and support they need to do their jobs effectively and fairly makes our communities safer and stronger,” said Associate Attorney General Gupta. “The Knowledge Lab is the latest step in the Justice Department’s ongoing work to listen, learn and take action to build trust between law enforcement and the communities they serve.”

Law enforcement agencies nationwide will be able to turn to the Knowledge Lab for free, voluntary resources, including research summaries, profiles of best practices, training curricula and a roster of constitutional policing experts to support their needs.

It will build on multiple Justice Department initiatives designed to support best practices in policing in America, including the Office of Community Oriented Policing Services’ (COPS Office) Collaborative Reform Initiative, which Attorney General Merrick B. Garland announced in March. Existing resources from across the department will feed into the Knowledge Lab, making it a one-stop-shop for the latest information, training and guidance on strategies to reduce crime, protect civil rights and build public trust.

The Knowledge Lab is managed by the Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA), a division of the Justice Department’s Office of Justice Programs (OJP), through a partnership with the National Policing Institute in collaboration with 21st Century Policing Solutions, and a diverse cohort of policing experts from across the country. It is intended to grow and adapt over time to meet the needs of law enforcement agencies and communities. This week’s convening in Los Angeles is bringing together police leaders, civil rights advocates and experts to help build the foundation of the Knowledge Lab and inform what it will look like moving forward.

“Constitutional policing is foundational to a just and equitable society, and it remains the bedrock of effective public safety,” said Director Karhlton F. Moore of the BJA. “America’s law enforcement officers work hard to serve our communities. The Knowledge Lab will assist agencies in their efforts to serve with fairness and integrity, and we are determined to help them live up to the highest ideals of their profession.”

For almost 30 years, the Justice Department has used its enforcement authority and has entered into settlements and consent decrees to remedy systemic patterns or practices of unconstitutional conduct. Along with other resources, the Knowledge Lab will make all Justice Department consent decrees and associated materials available online and allow law enforcement agencies to learn from in-the-field experience, not just theory, about how best to promote a positive and healthy relationship between the police and the communities they serve.

The Knowledge Lab will offer free training and technical assistance that adapts this base of information to the needs of individual law enforcement agencies. The National Law Enforcement Knowledge Lab will enable law enforcement agencies to build on a foundation supported by evidence and experience.

Associate Attorney General Gupta was joined in today’s announcement by BJA Director Moore, local officials and law enforcement and civil rights experts from across the country.

Seattle – A 38-year-old Seattle man was sentenced today in U.S. District Court to 84-months in prison for distributing fentanyl, announced U.S. Attorney Nick Brown.  Ricky Chavez Hernandez was out on bail from a King County Superior Court drug case when he repeatedly sold large amounts of fentanyl to someone working with law enforcement.  At the sentencing hearing U.S. District Judge John C. Coughenour imposed 3 years of supervised release to follow the prison term.

According to records filed in the case, in early April 2021, a confidential source working with federal agents set up a drug buy from an associate of Hernandez.   At the site of the deal, Hernandez sold a quarter pound of powder fentanyl for $8,500.   Hernandez also offered to sell a pill press and fentanyl pills.  Analysis of the fentanyl Hernandez sold showed in contained not only fentanyl, but an animal tranquilizer.  The next month, Hernandez was again selling fentanyl to the confidential informant.  Finally, Hernandez was arrested after setting up a third drug deal on May 27, 2021.

When agents searched Hernandez’ home at the time of his arrest, they found a mixer used for cutting fentanyl with other substances, drug scales, and other drug trafficking equipment.

Hernandez engaged in the drug trafficking in this case while out on bail for charges related to drug trafficking crimes charged in state court.  In a search of Hernandez’ home in 2019, agents recovered two firearms, fentanyl powder, heroin, and fentanyl pills.  Law enforcement also found methamphetamine, cocaine, and the tools of a drug dealer such as scales and cell phones in the residence.

In asking for a 90-month sentence, prosecutors noted that fentanyl is deadly, not only for drug users but for others who can be inadvertently exposed.  Hernandez “was mixing pure powdered fentanyl with various other substances at his house where his mother, girlfriend, and infant daughter lived. Mixing drugs with the lethality of fentanyl — which can kill through air exposure alone—is dangerous enough. Doing so with an infant in the house indicates exceptional recklessness regarding the health risks to others,” prosecutors wrote in their sentencing memo.

Hernandez’s federal sentence and his state sentence on the 2019 case can be run concurrently.  Following prison, he will be on federal supervised release for 3 years.

The case was investigated by the High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area (HIDTA) Task Force, Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), Customs and Border Protection (CBP), and the Seattle and Federal Way Police Departments.

The case is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Kristine Foerster.

A New York man was sentenced today to 30 months in prison for tax evasion and employment tax crimes.

According to court documents and statements made in court, Rocco Manzione, of Queens, owned and operated several Brooklyn-based concrete companies. From 2011 to 2017, Manzione withheld more than $1 million in federal employment taxes from his employees’ wages, but he did not timely file employment tax returns for his companies, nor did he pay the required taxes to the IRS. Instead, Manzione spent these funds on family vacations, multiple mortgages, private school tuition and luxury vehicles. For the third quarter of 2016 alone, Manzione did not pay over to the IRS $85,000 in employment taxes for Advanced Transit Mix Corp., one of the companies he owned.

In addition to the payroll tax scheme, Manzione also filed false tax returns and evaded his individual income taxes. From 2012 through 2017, Manzione initially did not file federal income tax returns, even though he earned more than $3.9 million in taxable income during that period. He concealed some of his income from the IRS by transferring funds from one of the concrete companies he owned to a bank account in the name of a nominee corporation.

In December 2015, Manzione wanted to purchase a condominium in Miami for more than $1 million. The lending banks, however, required him to provide federal income tax returns for the previous three years. To qualify for a mortgage, Manzione conspired with his accountant, John Savignano, to file false 2012 through 2014 tax returns that underreported his income for each of those years.

In total, Manzione caused a tax loss to the IRS of more than $2.8 million. Savignano is scheduled to be sentenced on April 27.

In addition to the term of imprisonment, U.S. District Judge Rachel P. Kovner ordered Manzione to serve two years of supervised release and to pay approximately $2.8 million in restitution.

Acting Deputy Assistant Attorney General Stuart M. Goldberg of the Justice Department’s Tax Division made the announcement.

IRS-Criminal Investigation investigated the case.

Trial Attorneys Brittney Campbell and Kathryn Carpenter of the Justice Department’s Tax Division prosecuted the case.

On April 25, 2022, President Joseph R. Biden signed an order designating Gary M. Restaino, the U.S. Attorney for Arizona, to serve as Acting Director of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF). The Presidential Order became effective upon the President’s submission to the U.S. Senate of the nomination of former U.S. Attorney Steve Dettlebach to serve as permanent ATF Director. Acting Director Restaino will continue to serve as U.S. Attorney while the Senate considers Mr. Dettlebach’s nomination.

“After three decades of dedicated service, Deputy Director Marvin Richardson stepped up to lead ATF when he was needed the most, and under his leadership the brave professionals of ATF have worked tirelessly to protect our communities from violent crime and the scourge of gun violence,” said Attorney General Merrick B. Garland. “We are extremely grateful that Marvin will continue his service to the Justice Department and our country as Deputy Director. We are also grateful for the leadership and commitment of Gary Restaino, a U.S. Attorney and career prosecutor who has served with the Department for nearly 20 years, as he takes on this new assignment as Acting Director of ATF.”

Deputy Director Richardson will work closely with Acting Director Restaino to ensure both an effective transition and continuity in executing ATF’s crucial public safety mission.

A former Mississippi pharmacist was sentenced today to 10 years in the Southern District of Mississippi for a multimillion-dollar scheme to defraud TRICARE and private insurance companies by paying kickbacks to distributors for the referral of medically unnecessary prescriptions. The conduct resulted in more than $180 million in fraudulent billings, including more than $50 million paid by federal health care programs. 

According to court documents, Mitchell “Chad” Barrett, 55, now of Gulf Breeze, Florida, and formerly of Mississippi, participated in a scheme to defraud TRICARE and other health care benefit programs by distributing medically unnecessary compounded medications. Barrett was licensed as a pharmacist in Mississippi and was a co-owner of various compounding pharmacies. As part of this scheme, Barrett adjusted prescription formulas to ensure the highest reimbursement without regard to medical necessity. He solicited recruiters to procure prescriptions for high-margin compounded medications and paid those recruiters commissions based on the percentage of reimbursements paid by pharmacy benefit managers and health care benefit programs, including commissions on claims reimbursed by TRICARE. He further routinely and systematically waived and/or reduced copayments to be paid by beneficiaries and members, and utilized a purported copayment assistance program to falsely make it appear as if his pharmacy and its affiliate compounding pharmacies had been collecting copayments. 

Barrett pleaded guilty on Aug. 25, 2021, to conspiracy to engage in monetary transactions in criminally derived property. In addition to the term of imprisonment, Barrett was ordered to pay restitution and forfeit all assets traced to his ill-gotten gains.

Assistant Attorney General Kenneth A. Polite, Jr. of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division; U.S. Attorney Darren J. LaMarca for the Southern District of Mississippi; Assistant Director Luis Quesada of the FBI’s Criminal Investigative Division; and Special Agent in Charge Cyndy Bruce of the Department of Defense Office of Inspector General’s Defense Criminal Investigative Service (DoD OIG-DCIS) Southeast Field Office made the announcement.

The FBI Jackson Field Office and DoD OIG-DCIS are investigating the case.

Trial Attorneys Emily Cohen and Alejandra Arias of the Criminal Division’s Money Laundering and Asset Recovery Section and Assistant U.S. Attorney Kathlyn Van Buskirk of the Southern District of Mississippi are prosecuting the case with assistance from Sara Porter and Dustin Davis from the Criminal Division’s Fraud Section.

A Michigan man pleaded guilty yesterday to tax evasion arising from his near decade-long effort to prevent the IRS from collecting taxes he and his businesses owed.

According to court documents, Scott Chappelle, 61, of Okemos and East Lansing, was an attorney and former CPA who operated Terra Management Company, Strathmore Development Company Michigan LLC and Terra Holdings LLC, all of which were involved in real estate development and property management in the East Lansing area. As part of his guilty plea, Chappelle admitted he did not pay over to the IRS employment taxes withheld from the wages of the companies’ employees. When the IRS sought to collect the unpaid taxes, Chappelle made false statements to the agency about his and his companies’ assets and income, concealed his vacation house on Lake Michigan and purchased real property in nominee names instead of his own. Chappelle also falsely told IRS employees he could not afford to pay his tax debts, when in reality he was contemporaneously using business bank accounts to pay paid for personal expenses such as mortgage payments on two houses and a condominium, college tuition for his children, personal credit card bills, life insurance premiums, car payments for himself and one of his children, and expenses associated with boats he owned.

Chappelle also lied to IRS special agents who were investigating his misconduct. He falsely stated he had not purchased property since the IRS began collection activities, and he concealed the source of the funds used to pay for a mortgage on a condominium in East Lansing. During the criminal investigation, Chappelle also filed a false employment tax return for Terra Holdings LLC on which he claimed the company had no employees and paid no wages during the time period covered by the return. In fact, Chappelle knew the company had employees and paid wages during that period because he approved submissions to the company’s payroll provider.

Chappelle further admitted to making false statements on a loan application when he refinanced the mortgage on his Lake Michigan vacation house in Harbor Springs.

Chappelle is scheduled to be sentenced on Aug. 2. He 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 and U.S. Attorney Andrew B. Birge for the Western District of Michigan made the announcement.

IRS-Criminal Investigation is investigating the case.

Trial Attorney Melissa S. Siskind of the Tax Division and Assistant U.S. Attorney Timothy P. VerHey for the Western District of Michigan are prosecuting the case.

    United States Attorney SHAWN N. ANDERSON, for the Districts of Guam and the Northern Mariana Islands, will join the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) on Saturday, April 30th for its 22nd National Prescription Drug Take Back Day.  The biannual event will be held from 10:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m., at thousands of collection sites around the country, including in Guam and the CNMI. This event offers free and anonymous disposal of unneeded medications at more than 4,000 local drop-off locations nationwide.

    Working in close partnership with local law enforcement, Take Back Day has removed more than 7,600 tons of medication from circulation since its inception. This event facilitates DEA’s ongoing efforts to combat the rise of overdoses plaguing the United States.

    The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that over 105,000 people died in the United States in the 12-month period ending October 31, 2021, as the result of drug overdoses.  This marks the largest number of drug-related deaths ever recorded in a 12-month period. Opioid related deaths accounted for 75 percent of all overdose deaths during this time. In 2021, citizens of Guam and the CNMI turned in over 2,270 pounds of unneeded prescription medication.

    The following sites in Guam and the CNMI are designated to receive unused prescription drugs and vaping device products on Saturday, April 30, between 10:00 a.m. and 2:00 p.m.:

• Agana Shopping Center (Center Court)
• Andersen Air Force Base Exchange (Entrance to Store)
• Dededo Senior Center
• Inarajan Mayor’s Office
• Naval Base Guam - Navy Exchange (Food Court)
• Saipan Commonwealth Health Center (Outpatient Pharmacy)
• Rota Health Center
• Tinian Health Center

    Contact DEA Resident Agent in Charge Kenneth Bowman at 671-472-7384 regarding any questions about prescription drug abuse and any concerns regarding drug-related activity on Guam or in the CNMI.

    For more information, go to www.dea.gov, www.DEATakeBack.com

Today, President Joseph R. Biden, Jr. is granting clemency to 78 individuals, consisting of three pardons and 75 commutations.

President Joseph R. Biden, Jr. is pardoning the following three individuals:

Abraham W. Bolden, Sr. – Chicago, Illinois Abraham Bolden is an 86-year-old former U.S. Secret Service agent and was the first African American to serve on a presidential detail.  In 1964, Mr. Bolden was charged with offenses related to attempting to sell a copy of a Secret Service file.  His first trial resulted in a hung jury, and following his conviction at a second trial, even though key witnesses against him admitted to lying at the prosecutor’s request, Mr. Bolden was denied a new trial and ultimately served several years in federal custody.  He has steadfastly maintained his innocence, arguing that he was targeted for prosecution in retaliation for exposing unprofessional and racist behavior within the U.S. Secret Service.  Mr. Bolden has received numerous honors and awards for his ongoing work to speak out against the racism he faced in the Secret Service in the 1960s, and his courage in challenging injustice.  Mr. Bolden has also been recognized for his many contributions to his community following his release from prison.  

Betty Jo Bogans – Houston, Texas Betty Jo Bogans is a 51-year-old woman who was convicted in 1998 of possession with intent to distribute crack cocaine in the Southern District of Texas after attempting to transport drugs for her boyfriend and his accomplice, neither of whom were detained or arrested.  At the time of her conviction, Ms. Bogans was a single mother with no prior record, who accepted responsibility for her limited role in the offense.  Because of the harsh penalties in place at the time she was convicted, Ms. Bogan received a seven-year sentence.  In the nearly two decades since her release from custody, Ms. Bogans has held consistent employment, even while undergoing treatment for cancer, and has focused on raising her son.     

Dexter Eugene Jackson – Athens, Georgia Dexter Jackson is a 52-year-old man who was convicted in 2002 for using his business to facilitate the distribution of marijuana in the Northern District of Georgia.  Mr. Jackson was not personally involved in trafficking marijuana, but allowed marijuana distributors to use his pool hall to facilitate drug transactions.  He accepted full responsibility for his actions at the time he was charged, and pled guilty.  Since his release from custody, Mr. Jackson has converted his business into a cell-phone repair service and hired local high school students through a program that seeks to provide young adults with work experience.  Mr. Jackson has also worked to build and renovate homes in a community that lacks quality affordable housing.

President Joseph R. Biden, Jr. is commuting the sentences of the following 75 individuals:  

Sergio Acosta – Montgomery, Alabama

Offense: Conspiracy to distribute 500 grams or more of a mixture or substance containing methamphetamine (Eastern District of Kentucky). 

Sentence: 97 months of imprisonment, five-year term of supervised release (February 23, 2018).

Commutation Grant: Sentence commuted to expire on April 26, 2023, with the remainder to be served in home confinement, leaving intact and in effect the five-year term of supervised release.  

Kathy Marie Albrecht – Jamestown, North Dakota

Offense: Conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute, and to distribute a controlled substance (District of North Dakota).

Sentence: 150 months of imprisonment, three-year term of supervised release (November 6, 2014).

Commutation Grant: Sentence commuted to expire on April 26, 2023, with the remainder to be served in home confinement, leaving intact and in effect the three-year term of supervised release.  

Maria Isabel Arreola – San Bernardino, California

Offense: 1. Conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute cocaine (Eastern District of Texas). 2. Conspiracy to distribute cocaine hydrochloride (Middle District of North Carolina).

Sentence: 1. 121 months of imprisonment, three-year term of supervised release (March 24, 2016). 2. 130 months of imprisonment, three-year term of supervised release (November 17, 2016). Prison sentences and terms of supervised release in each case to run concurrently.

Commutation Grant: Sentences commuted to expire on April 26, 2023, with the remainder to be served in home confinement, leaving intact and in effect the three-year terms of supervised release.  

Roberto Barrio – South Gate, California

Offense: Conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute, and to distribute cocaine base and cocaine powder; interstate travel in aid of racketeering enterprise (four counts); use of a telephone to facilitate the distribution of cocaine base and cocaine powder (two counts) (Western District of Oklahoma).

Sentence: Life imprisonment, three-year term of supervised release (October 23, 2000).

Commutation Grant: Sentence commuted to expire on August 24, 2022, leaving intact and in effect the three-year term of supervised release.  

Kelvin Beaufort – Charlotte, North Carolina

Offense: Conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute, and to distribute cocaine and cocaine base (Western District of North Carolina).

Sentence: 324 months of imprisonment, 20-year term of supervised release (December 10, 2007); amended to 262 months of imprisonment, 20-year term of supervised release (January 20, 2016).

Commutation Grant: Sentence commuted to expire on April 26, 2023, with the remainder to be served in home confinement, leaving intact and in effect the 20-year term of supervised release.  

Brandon Todd Berry – Sikeston, Missouri

Offense: Conspiracy to distribute 500 grams or more of a substance containing methamphetamine (Eastern District of Missouri).

Sentence: 240 months of imprisonment, 10-year term of supervised release (October 19, 2010).

Commutation Grant: Sentence to expire on August 24, 2022, leaving intact and in effect the 10-year term of supervised release.  

Sharon Louise Boatright – Richardson, Texas

Offense: Possession with intent to distribute methamphetamine (Northern District of Texas).

Sentence: 190 months of imprisonment, four-year term of supervised release (December 16, 2013); amended to 188 months of imprisonment, four-year term of supervised release (July 15, 2016).

Commutation Grant: Sentence commuted to expire on April 26, 2023, with the remainder to be served in home confinement, leaving intact and in effect the four-year term of supervised release.  

Terry Booty – Morgan City, Louisiana  

Offense: Conspiracy to distribute and possess with the intent to distribute 500 grams or more of a mixture or substance containing a detectable amount of methamphetamine (Eastern District of Louisiana).

Sentence: 240 months of imprisonment, 10-year term of supervised release, $10,000 fine (November 13, 2008).

Commutation Grant: Sentence commuted to expire on April 26, 2023, with the remainder to be served in home confinement, leaving intact and in effect the 10-year term of supervised release and the unpaid remainder, if any, of the $10,000 fine.  

Ramola Kaye Brown – Huntsville, Texas

Offense: Conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute five kilograms or more of cocaine and less than 50 kilograms of marijuana (Southern District of Texas). Sentence: 145 months of imprisonment, five-year term of supervised release (September 15, 2015).

Commutation Grant: Sentence commuted to expire on April 26, 2023, with the remainder to be served in home confinement, leaving intact and in effect the five-year term of supervised release.  

Julian Burford – Bedford, Ohio

Offense: Conspiracy to distribute and possess with the intent to distribute cocaine (Northern District of Ohio).

Sentence: 240 months of imprisonment, 10-year term of supervised release (September 17, 2009).

Commutation Grant: Sentence commuted to expire on August 24, 2022, leaving intact and in effect the 10-year term of supervised release.  

Mark Richard Burton – Odessa, Texas

Offense: Conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute, and to distribute 50 grams or more of actual methamphetamine and/or 500 grams or more of a mixture and substance containing methamphetamine (Western District of Texas).

Sentence: 121 months of imprisonment, five-year term of supervised release, $15,000 fine (March 16, 2016).

Commutation Grant: Sentence commuted to expire on April 26, 2023, with the remainder to be served in home confinement, leaving intact and in effect the five-year term of supervised release.  

Nickolas Cano – Amarillo, Texas

Offense: Possession with intent to distribute 50 grams or more of methamphetamine and aiding and abetting (Northern District of Texas).

Sentence: 140 months of imprisonment, four-year term of supervised release (September 5, 2014).

Commutation Grant: Sentence commuted to expire on April 26, 2023, with the remainder to be served in home confinement, leaving intact and in effect the four-year term of supervised release.  

Ruben Lopez Cazares – Chula Vista, California

Offense: Conspiracy to distribute controlled substance (District of Nebraska).

Sentence: 300 months of imprisonment, five-year term of supervised release (June 7, 2007); amended to 262 months of imprisonment, five-year term of supervised release (January 12, 2016).

Commutation Grant: Sentence commuted to expire on April 26, 2023, with the remainder to be served in home confinement, leaving intact and in effect the five-year term of supervised release.  

Jose Luis Colunga – Juniata, Nebraska

Offense: Conspiracy to distribute and possession with intent to distribute 1,000 kilograms or more of marijuana (Eastern District of Tennessee).

Sentence: 240 months of imprisonment, 10-year term of supervised release (July 13, 2010).

Commutation Grant: Sentence commuted to expire on October 26, 2023, leaving intact and in effect the 10-year term of supervised release.  

Paul Hernandez Contreras – Perris, California

Offense: Conspiracy to distribute and possession with intent to distribute 500 grams or more of a mixture and substance containing a detectable amount of methamphetamine and a mixture and substance containing a detectable amount of cocaine (District of Colorado).

Sentence: 108 months of imprisonment, three-year term of supervised release (January 8, 2019).

Commutation Grant: Sentence commuted to expire on April 26, 2023, with the remainder to be served in home confinement, leaving intact and in effect the three-year term of supervised release.  

Karen Cox – Salt Lake City, Utah  

Offense: Conspiracy to distribute methamphetamine (District of Wyoming).

Sentence: 121 months of imprisonment, five-year term of supervised release, $900 community restitution (June 16, 2016).

Commutation Grant: Sentence commuted to expire on April 26, 2023, with the remainder to be served in home confinement, leaving intact and in effect the 60-month term of supervised release and the unpaid remainder, if any, of the $900 community restitution.  

Lori Jean Cross – North Richland Hills, Texas

Offense: Conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute a controlled substance (Northern District of Texas).

Sentence: 120 months of imprisonment, three-year term of supervised release (September 12, 2016).

Commutation Grant: Sentence commuted to expire on April 26, 2023, with the remainder to be served in home confinement, leaving intact and in effect the three-year term of supervised release.  

Mario Cruz – Grand Rapids, Michigan

Offense: Conspiracy to distribute and possess with intent to distribute an unspecified quantity of cocaine and heroin (Western District of Michigan).

Sentence: 121 months of imprisonment, three-year term of supervised release (January 23, 2017).

Commutation Grant: Sentence commuted to expire on April 26, 2023, with the remainder to be served in home confinement, leaving intact and in effect the three-year term of supervised release.  

Christopher Dancy – Prince George, Virginia

Offense: Conspiracy to distribute cocaine hydrochloride (Eastern District of Virginia). Sentence: 336 months of imprisonment, five-year term of supervised release (February 27, 2009); amended to 288 months of imprisonment, five-year term of supervised release (December 19, 2018).

Commutation Grant: Sentence commuted to expire on August 24, 2022, leaving intact and in effect the five-year term of supervised release.  

Catalina Davis – San Antonio, Texas

Offense: Conspiracy to distribute and possess with intent to distribute methamphetamine; aiding and abetting the possession with intent to distribute methamphetamine (Western District of Texas).

Sentence: 210 months of imprisonment, five-year term of supervised release (March 6, 2014); amended to 151 months of imprisonment, five-year term of supervised release (August 31, 2015).

Commutation Grant: Sentence commuted to expire on April 26, 2023, with the remainder to be served in home confinement, leaving intact and in effect the five-year term of supervised release.  

Stacie Demers – Constable, New York

Offense: Conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute marijuana; aiding and abetting the possession with intent to distribute marijuana (Northern District of New York).

Sentence: 120 months of imprisonment, five-year term of supervised release (October 26, 2016).

Commutation Grant: Sentence commuted to expire on April 26, 2023, with the remainder to be served in home confinement, leaving intact and in effect the five-year term of supervised release.  

Deborah Ann Dodd – Forney, Texas

Offense: Conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute 500 grams or more of a mixture or substance containing a detectible amount of methamphetamine or 50 grams or more of actual methamphetamine (Eastern District of Texas).

Sentence: 140 months of imprisonment, five-year term of supervised release (February 19, 2015).

Commutation Grant: Sentence commuted to expire on April 26, 2023, with the remainder to be served in home confinement, leaving intact and in effect the five-year term of supervised release.  

Manuel Ruben Duran-Pimentel – Miami, Florida Offense: Conspiracy to import controlled substances; laundering of monetary instruments (District of Puerto Rico).

Sentence: 151 months of imprisonment, five-year term of supervised release (April 20, 2016).

Commutation Grant: Sentence commuted to expire on April 26, 2023, with the remainder to be served in home confinement, leaving intact and in effect the five-year term of supervised release.  

Nova Neal Finau – Fort Worth, Texas

Offense: Conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute a controlled substance (Northern District of Texas).

Sentence: 140 months of imprisonment, four-year term of supervised release (March 31, 2016).

Commutation Grant: Sentence commuted to expire on April 26, 2023, with the remainder to be served in home confinement, leaving intact and in effect the four-year term of supervised release.  

Tina Marie Finazzo – Las Vegas, Nevada

Offense: Conspiracy to distribute and possess with intent to distribute 50 grams or more of methamphetamine (District of Hawaii).

Sentence: 172 months of imprisonment, five-year term of supervised release (February 16, 2012); amended to 168 months of imprisonment, five-year term of supervised release (May 19, 2015).

Commutation Grant: Sentence commuted to expire on April 26, 2023, with the remainder to be served in home confinement, leaving intact and in effect the five-year term of supervised release.  

David C. Frazier – St. Louis, Missouri

Offense: Conspiracy to distribute cocaine; possession with intent to distribute a mixture containing cocaine; maintaining a drug involved premises (Eastern District of Missouri).

Sentence: 144 months of imprisonment, five-year term of supervised release (May 21, 2014).

Commutation Grant: Sentence commuted to expire on April 26, 2023, with the remainder to be served in home confinement, leaving intact and in effect the five-year term of supervised release.  

Julio Garza – Edinberg, Texas

Offense:  Possession with intent to distribute 10 kilograms of cocaine (Southern District of Texas).

Sentence: 240 months of imprisonment, 10-year term of supervised release (May 13, 2010).

Commutation Grant: Sentence commuted to expire on August 24, 2022, leaving intact and in effect the 10-year term of supervised release.  

Odell Givens – Certe, Illinois

Offense: Conspiracy to distribute a controlled substance; possession with intent to distribute a controlled substance (three counts) (Northern District of Illinois).

Sentence: 186 months of imprisonment, five-year term of supervised release (December 14, 2016).

Commutation Grant: Sentence commuted to expire on April 26, 2023, with the remainder to be served in home confinement, leaving intact and in effect the five-year term of supervised release.  

Dianna Gonzalez-Agosto – Altura de Rio G, Puerto Rico

Offense: Conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute at least 3.5 kilograms but less than 5 kilograms of cocaine within a protected location (District of Puerto Rico).

Sentence: 87 months of imprisonment, eight-year term of supervised release (July 14, 2020).

Commutation Grant: Sentence commuted to expire on April 26, 2023, with the remainder to be served in home confinement, leaving intact and in effect the eight-year term of supervised release.  

Virgil Goodman, Jr. – Lexington, Tennessee

Offense: Possession of methamphetamine with intent to distribute (Western District of Tennessee).

Sentence: 262 months of imprisonment, six-year term of supervised release (June 30, 2005).

Commutation Grant: Sentence commuted to expire on August 24, 2022, leaving intact and in effect the six-year term of supervised release.  

Christopher Gunter – Columbia, South Carolina  

Offense: Conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute, and to distribute 50 grams or more of cocaine base, 5 kilograms or more of cocaine, and 100 kilograms or more of marijuana; possession with intent to distribute a quantity of marijuana and a quantity of MDMA (District of South Carolina).

Sentence: 240 months of imprisonment, 10-year term of supervised release (September 25, 2008).

Commutation Grant: Sentence commuted to expire on August 24, 2022, leaving intact and in effect the 10-year term of supervised release.  

Rachel Lynn Hanson – Richton Park, Illinois

Offense: Possession of an unspecified quantity of cocaine with intent to distribute (Western District of Michigan).

Sentence: 151 months of imprisonment, three-year term of supervised release (March 4, 2015).

Commutation Grant: Sentence commuted to expire on April 26, 2023, with the remainder to be served in home confinement, leaving intact and in effect the three-year term of supervised release.  

Stephanie Hernandez – Dallas, Texas

Offense: Distribution of a controlled substance (Northern District of Texas).

Sentence: 120 months of imprisonment, three-year term of supervised release (April 21, 2017).

Commutation Grant: Sentence commuted to expire on April 26, 2023, with the remainder to be served in home confinement, leaving intact and in effect the three-year term of supervised release.  

Brandon Jermaine Huguley – Chattanooga, Tennessee

Offense: Conspiracy to distribute 280 grams or more of cocaine base (Eastern District of Tennessee).

Sentence: 235 months of imprisonment, five-year term of supervised release (August 20, 2012); amended to 188 months of imprisonment, five-year term of supervised release (May 22, 2017).

Commutation Grant: Sentence commuted to expire on April 26, 2023, with the remainder to be served in home confinement, leaving intact and in effect the five-year term of supervised release.  

David Charles Jenkins – Beaumont, Texas

Offense: 1. Conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute cocaine base; possession with intent to distribute cocaine base (Western District of Louisiana). 2. Violation of supervised release (Eastern District of Texas). 3. Production of counterfeit access devices (Eastern District of Texas).

Sentence 1. 151 months of imprisonment, eight-year term of supervised release, $5,000 fine (November 28, 2011); amended to 121 months of imprisonment, eight-year term of supervised release, $5,000 fine (February 9, 2018). 2. 24 months of imprisonment (January 5, 2012). 3. 24 months of imprisonment, three-year term of supervised release, $2,516 restitution (April 29, 2015). Prison sentences and terms of supervised release in each case to run consecutively.

Commutation Grant: Sentences commuted to expire on April 26, 2023, with the remainder to be served in home confinement, leaving intact and in effect the eight and three-year terms of supervised release, and the unpaid remainders, if any, of the $5,000 fine and $2,516 restitution.  

Douglas Dean Johnson – Dickens, Iowa

Offense: Conspiracy to manufacture and distribute 50 grams or more of actual methamphetamine and possess and distribute pseudoephedrine following a felony drug conviction; travel in interstate commerce and aid and abet travel in interstate commerce with the intent to promote and facilitate a business enterprise involving the manufacture and distribution of controlled substances (Northern District of Iowa).

Sentence: 240 months of imprisonment, 10-year term of supervised release (December 8, 2008).

Commutation Grant: Sentence commuted to expire on April 26, 2023, with the remainder to be served in home confinement, leaving intact and in effect the 10-year term of supervised release.  

Gregory Jones – Philadelphia, Pennsylvania  

Offense: Conspiracy to distribute five kilograms or more of cocaine; attempted possession with the intent to distribute five or more kilograms of cocaine and aiding and abetting (East District of Pennsylvania).

Sentence: 216 months of imprisonment, five-year term of supervised release, $2,500 fine (March 30, 2012).

Commutation Grant: Sentence commuted to expire on April 26, 2023, with the remainder to be served in home confinement, leaving intact and in effect the five-year term of supervised release and the unpaid remainder, if any, of the $2,500 fine.  

Stephan George Jones – Rosebud, South Dakota

Offense: Conspiracy to distribute a controlled substance (District of South Dakota).

Sentence: 120 months of imprisonment, five-year term of supervised release, $1,000 fine (April 11, 2017).

Commutation Grant: Sentence commuted to expire on April 26, 2023, with the remainder to be served in home confinement, leaving intact and in effect the five-year term of supervised release and the unpaid remainder, if any, of the $1,000 fine.  

Terri Kelly – Rialto, California

Offense: Conspiracy to distribute 500 grams of methamphetamine (Eastern District of Kentucky).

Sentence: 240 months of imprisonment, 10-year term of supervised release (November 30, 2009).

Commutation Grant: Sentence commuted to expire on August 24, 2022, leaving intact and in effect the 10-year term of supervised release.  

Tellas Levallas Kennedy – Glennville, Georgia

Offense: Conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute, and to distribute a quantity of cocaine hydrochloride (Southern District of Georgia).

Sentence: 210 months of imprisonment, five-year term of supervised release, $4,800 fine (September 30, 2013); amended to 168 months of imprisonment, five-year term of supervised release, $4,800 fine (October 22, 2015).

Commutation Grant: Sentence commuted to expire on April 26, 2023, with the remainder to be served in home confinement, leaving intact and in effect the five-year term of supervised release and $4,800 fine.  

Vincent Edward Kennedy – Surfside Beach, South Carolina

Offense: Conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute cocaine; money laundering (District of South Carolina).

Sentence: 180 months of imprisonment, 10-year term of supervised release (June 26, 2014); amended to 145 months of imprisonment 10-year term of supervised release (June 29, 2015).

Commutation Grant: Sentence commuted to expire on April 26, 2023, with the remainder to be served in home confinement, leaving intact and in effect the 10-year term of supervised release.  

Brittany Krambeck – Fort Worth, Texas

Offense: Maintaining drug involved premises; structuring transactions to evade reporting requirements (Northern District of Texas).

Sentence: 220 months of imprisonment, three-year term of supervised release (October 29, 2010).

Commutation Grant: Sentence commuted to expire on April 26, 2024, leaving intact and in effect the three-year term of supervised release.  

Carry Le – Duluth, Georgia

Offense: Conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute 1,000 or more marijuana plants (Southern District of Texas).

Sentence: 120 months of imprisonment, five-year term of supervised release (March 4, 2016).

Commutation Grant: Sentence commuted to expire on April 26, 2023, with the remainder to be served in home confinement, leaving intact and in effect the five-year term of supervised release.  

David Lee – Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Offense: Conspiracy to distribute more than one kilogram of heroin and to distribute or manufacture in or near a school zone; distribution and possession of heroin with intent to distribute (seven counts); use of communication facility (Eastern District of Pennsylvania).

Sentence: 300 months of imprisonment, 10-year term of supervised release, $1,500 fine (October 1, 2007); amended to 243 months of imprisonment,10-year term of supervised release, $1,500 fine (June 24, 2015).

Commutation Grant: Sentence commuted to expire on April 26, 2023, with the remainder to be served in home confinement, leaving intact and in effect the 10-year term of supervised release and $1,500 fine.  

Rosamaria Lucero – New Braunfels, Texas

Offense: Possession with intent to distribute a controlled substance, aiding and abetting (Western District of Texas).

Sentence: 120 months of imprisonment, five-year term of supervised release (February 13, 2018).

Commutation Grant: Sentence commuted to expire on April 26, 2023, with the remainder to be served in home confinement, leaving intact and in effect the five-year term of supervised release.  

Paul A. Lupercio – Blue Springs, Missouri

Offense: Conspiracy to distribute 1,000 kilograms or more of marijuana and five kilograms or more of cocaine (Western District of Missouri).

Sentence: 240 months of imprisonment, 10-year term of supervised release (May 8, 2008).

Commutation Grant: Sentence to expire on August 24, 2022, leaving intact and in effect the 10-year term of supervised release.  

Angelica Marquez – Apple Valley, California

Offense: Conspiracy to distribute and possess with intent to distribute more than 50 grams of methamphetamine (District of Kansas).

Sentence: 117 months of imprisonment, five-year term of supervised release (April 23, 2018).

Commutation Grant: Sentence commuted to expire on April 26, 2023, with the remainder to be served in home confinement, leaving intact and in effect the five-year term of supervised release.  

Eddie Mateus – New York, New York

Offense: Conspiracy to distribute heroin and cocaine (Southern District of New York).

Sentence: 120 months of imprisonment, three-year term of supervised release (January 17, 2017).

Commutation Grant: Sentence commuted to expire on April 26, 2023, with the remainder to be served in home confinement, leaving intact and in effect the five-year term of supervised release.  

Stephanie McMurphy – Adel, Georgia

Offense: Distribution of methamphetamine within 1,000 feet of a school (Middle District of Georgia).

Sentence: 102 months of imprisonment, six-year term of supervised release (October 22, 2018).

Commutation Grant: Sentence commuted to expire on April 26, 2023, with the remainder to be served in home confinement, leaving intact and in effect the six-year term of supervised release.  

Byron James Miller – St. Louis, Missouri

Offense: 1. Conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute crack cocaine; possession with intent to distribute in excess of 500 grams of cocaine (Eastern District of Missouri). 2. Possession with intent to distribute heroin; possession of heroin in a federal prison (District of Central Illinois).

Sentence:   1. 292 months of imprisonment, 10-year term of supervised release (June 6, 1997); amended to 188 months of imprisonment, eight-year term of supervised release (December 17, 2019). 2. 210 months of imprisonment, three-year term of supervised release (March 5, 1999). Prison sentences and terms of supervised release in each case to run consecutively.

Commutation Grant: Sentences commuted to expire on April 26, 2023, with the remainder to be served in home confinement, leaving intact and in effect the consecutive eight and three-year terms of supervised release.  

Bethel Cheyenne Mooneyham – Spencer, Tennessee

Offense: Conspiracy to manufacture and distribute 50 grams or more of actual methamphetamine and 500 grams or more of a mixture and substance containing methamphetamine (Eastern District of Tennessee).

Sentence: 240 months of imprisonment, 10-year term of supervised release (June 13, 2011).

Commutation Grant: Sentence to expire on August 24, 2022, leaving intact and in effect the 10-year term of supervised release.  

Colleen Mossberger – Crest Hill, Illinois

Offense: Possession with intent to distribute 500 grams or more of methamphetamine (Northern District of Texas).

Sentence: 120 months of imprisonment, five-year term of supervised release (June 5, 2017).

Commutation Grant: Sentence commuted to expire on April 26, 2023, with the remainder to be served in home confinement, leaving intact and in effect the five-year term of supervised release.  

Quang Nguyen – Houston, Texas

Offense: Conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute 1,000 or more marijuana plants (Southern District of Texas).

Sentence: 120 months of imprisonment, five-year term of supervised release (March 30, 2017).

Commutation Grant: Sentence commuted to expire on April 26, 2023, with the remainder to be served in home confinement, leaving intact and in effect the five-year term of supervised release.  

Rickey Wayne Norton – Augusta, Georgia

Offense: Possession with intent to distribute a controlled substance (Southern District of Georgia).

Sentence: 120 months of imprisonment, three-year term of supervised release, $40,000 fine (October 17, 2017).

Commutation Grant: Sentence commuted to expire on April 26, 2023, with the remainder to be served in home confinement, leaving intact and in effect the three-year term of supervised release and the unpaid remainder, if any, of the $40,000 fine.  

Shannon Ann Norton – Augusta, Georgia

Offense: Possession with intent to distribute a controlled substance (Southern District of Georgia).

Sentence: 120 months of imprisonment, three-year term of supervised release, $40,000 fine (October 17, 2017).

Commutation Grant: Sentence commuted to expire on April 26, 2023, with the remainder to be served in home confinement, leaving intact and in effect the three-year term of supervised release and the unpaid remainder, if any, of the $40,000 fine.  

Thomas Perkins – Louisville, Kentucky

Offense: Conspiracy to distribute in excess of 5 kilograms or more of cocaine hydrochloride (mixture) and 50 grams or more of cocaine base (mixture) (Southern District of Indiana).

Sentence: 240 months of imprisonment, 10-year term of supervised release (December 22, 2008).

Commutation Grant: Sentence commuted to expire on August 24, 2022, leaving intact and in effect the 10-year term of supervised release.  

Aaron Ponce – Odessa, Texas

Offense: Conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute, and to distribute a controlled substance, 50 grams or more of actual methamphetamine (Western District of Texas).

Sentence: 240 months of imprisonment, 10-year term of supervised release (July 11, 2013).

Commutation Grant: Sentence commuted to expire on August 24, 2022, leaving intact and in effect the 10-year term of supervised release.  

Rose Trujillo Rangel – Waco, Texas

Offense: Conspiracy to distribute cocaine, a schedule II-narcotic-drug-controlled substance (Western District of Texas).

Sentence: 240 months of imprisonment, three-year term of supervised release, $5,000 fine (April 14, 2008).

Commutation Grant: Sentence commuted to expire on August 24, 2022, leaving intact and in effect the three-year term of supervised release and the unpaid remainder, if any, of the $5,000 fine.  

Alejandro Reyna – Brownsville, Texas

Offense: Importation of more than 50 grams of methamphetamine (Western District of Texas).

Sentence: 210 months of imprisonment, five-year term of supervised release, $2,000 fine (January 16, 2014); amended to 180 months of imprisonment, five-year term of supervised release, $2,000 fine (February 26, 2016).

Commutation Grant: Sentence commuted to expire on April 26, 2023, with the remainder to be served in home confinement, leaving intact and in effect the five-year term of supervised release and the unpaid remainder, if any, of the $2,000 fine.  

Fermin Serna – Rio Grande City, Texas

Offense: Conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute in excess of 1,000 kilograms of marijuana, a schedule I controlled substance (Southern District of Texas).

Sentence: 240 months of imprisonment, 10-year term of supervised release (November 9, 2007).

Commutation Grant: Sentence commuted to expire on August 24, 2022, leaving intact and in effect the 10-year term of supervised release.  

Mackie Shivers – Ft. Lauderdale, Florida

Offense: Conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute 5 kilograms or more of cocaine; possession with intent to distribute 5 kilograms or more of cocaine (Southern District of Florida).

Sentence: Life imprisonment, 10-year term of supervised release (April 10, 2001).

Commutation Grant: Sentence commuted to expire on August 24, 2022, leaving intact and in effect the 10-year term of supervised release.  

Kirstie Marie Smith Israel – Albertville, Alabama

Offense: Possession with intent to distribute 50 grams or more of methamphetamine (Northern District of Alabama).

Sentence: 97 months of imprisonment, three-year term of supervised release (August 23, 2017).

Commutation Grant: Sentence commuted to expire on April 26, 2023, with the remainder to be served in home confinement, leaving intact and in effect the three-year term of supervised release.

Tony Lee Stanfield – Villa Rica, Georgia

Offense: Possession with intent to distribute methamphetamine (Western District of North Carolina).

Sentence: 120 months of imprisonment, five-year term of supervised release (November 2, 2017).

Commutation Grant: Sentence commuted to expire on April 26, 2023, with the remainder to be served in home confinement, leaving intact and in effect the five-year term of supervised release.  

Cleola Sullivan – Tallahassee, Florida

Offense: Conspiracy to distribute and possess with intent to distribute cocaine base and 5 kilograms or more of cocaine; possess with intent to distribute 500 grams or more of cocaine (Northern District of Florida).

Sentence: 120 months of imprisonment, five-year term of supervised release (December 13, 2016).

Commutation Grant: Sentence commuted to expire on April 26, 2023, with the remainder to be served in home confinement, leaving intact and in effect the five-year term of supervised release.  

Charles Arnold Thomas – Inglewood, California

Offense: 1. Conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute 100 grams or more of phencyclidine, or one kilogram or more of a mixture containing a detectable amount of phencyclidine (Southern District of Texas). 2. Possession of a prohibited item by a prison inmate (Eastern District of Arkansas).

Sentence: 1. 210 months of imprisonment, five-year term of supervised release (August 4, 2011). 2. Seven months of imprisonment (April 25, 2018). Prison sentences in each case to run consecutively.

Commutation Grant: Sentences commuted to expire on April 26, 2023, with the remainder to be served in home confinement, leaving intact and in effect the five-year term of supervised release.  

Edwin G. Tierney – Council Bluffs, Iowa

Offense: Conspiracy to distribute methamphetamine (District of Nebraska). Sentence: 120 months of imprisonment, five-year term of supervised release (November 8, 2016).

Commutation Grant: Sentence commuted to expire on April 26, 2023, with the remainder to be served in home confinement, leaving intact and in effect the five-year term of supervised release.  

Jesse Alan Trimue – Burton, Michigan

Offense: Conspiracy to distribute and possess with the intent to distribute 5 grams of actual methamphetamine and 50 grams or more of methamphetamine mixture, a schedule II-controlled substance (Eastern District of Tennessee).

Sentence: 120 months of imprisonment, eight-year term of supervised release (June 6, 2016).

Commutation Grant: Sentence commuted to expire on April 26, 2023, with the remainder to be served in home confinement, leaving intact and in effect the eight-year term of supervised release.  

Daniel Valencia – Maylene, Alabama

Offense: Importation of a quantity of 50 grams or more of methamphetamine and 500 grams or more of a mixture and substance containing a detectable amount of methamphetamine (Southern District of Texas).

Sentence: 135 months of imprisonment, five-year term of supervised release, $2,000 fine (April 24, 2015).

Commutation Grant: Sentence commuted to expire on April 26, 2023, with the remainder to be served in home confinement, leaving intact and in effect the five-year term of supervised release and the unpaid remainder, if any, of the $2,000 fine.  

Martin R. Vandemerwe – Price, Utah

Offense: Possession with intent to distribute methamphetamine (District of Utah).

Sentence: 20 years of imprisonment; five-year term of supervised release (September 23, 2009).

Commutation Grant: Sentence commuted to expire on April 26, 2023, with the remainder to be served in home confinement, leaving intact and in effect the five-year term of supervised release.  

James Darrell Walker – Lubbock, Texas

Offense: Distribution of and possession with intent to distribute cocaine base (Northern District of Texas).

Sentence: 327 months of imprisonment, five-year term of supervised release (August 21, 2006); amended to 262 months of imprisonment, five-year term of supervised release (June 9, 2016).

Commutation Grant: Sentence commuted to expire on April 26, 2023, with the remainder to be served in home confinement, leaving intact and in effect the five-year term of supervised release.  

Cindy Noella Williams – Casper, Wyoming

Offense: Possession with intent to distribute methamphetamine (District of Wyoming).

Sentence: 120 months of imprisonment, five-year term of supervised release, $800 restitution (October 10, 2018); amended to 102 months of imprisonment, five-year term of supervised release; $800 restitution (November 4, 2019).

Commutation Grant: Sentence commuted to expire on April 26, 2023, with the remainder to be served in home confinement, leaving intact and in effect the five-year term of supervised release and the unpaid remainder, if any, of the $800 restitution.  

Cynthia Lynn Yeley-Davis – Mills, Wyoming

Offense: Conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute, and to distribute methamphetamine (District of Wyoming).

Sentence: 240 months of imprisonment, 10-year term of supervised release, $1,000 fine (December 17, 2009).

Commutation Grant: Sentence to expire on August 24, 2022, leaving intact and in effect the 10-year term of supervised release and the unpaid remainder, if any, of the $1,000 fine.  

Andrea Zavala – Waterloo, Iowa

Offense: Conspiracy to distribute at least 50 grams of a mixture or substance containing methamphetamine and 5 grams of actual methamphetamine (Northern District of Iowa).

Sentence: 108 months of imprisonment, five-year term of supervised release (June 7, 2017).

Commutation Grant: Sentence commuted to expire on April 26, 2023, with the remainder to be served in home confinement, leaving intact and in effect the five-year term of supervised release.  

Courtney Donnell Zeno – Warner Robins, Georgia

Offense: Distribution of cocaine base (five counts); possession with intent to distribute cocaine base; forfeiture (Western District of Louisiana).

Sentence: Life imprisonment, 10-year term of supervised release (August 31, 2010); amended to 240 months of imprisonment, eight-year term of supervised release (February 7, 2013).

Commutation Grant: Sentence commuted to expire on April 26, 2023, with the remainder to be served in home confinement, leaving intact and in effect the eight-year term of supervised release.  

David L. Zouck – Buffalo, Missouri

Offense: Conspiracy to distribute 500 grams or more of methamphetamine; distribution of five grams or more of actual methamphetamine (Western District of Missouri).

Sentence: 132 months of imprisonment, five-year term of supervised release (March 30, 2016).

Commutation Grant: Sentence commuted to expire on April 26, 2023, with the remainder to be served in home confinement, leaving intact and in effect the five-year term of supervised release.

In honor of Sexual Assault Awareness and Prevention Month and National Crime Victims’ Rights Week, the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division and Office on Violence Against Women (OVW) today held an event to highlight efforts to combat sexual misconduct and gender-based violence. The event, entitled “Access to Justice for Survivors of Sexual Harassment, Assault, and Misconduct,” featured Civil Rights Division and OVW officials and staff, as well as national community leaders and representatives from the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD).

“We are committed to using our federal civil rights laws to confront gender-based violence, prosecute perpetrators of sexual assault and eliminate sexual harassment,” said Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division. “Sexual assaults and gender-based violence, whether carried out in our communities, workplaces, schools or jails, stand as a threat to our shared humanity. Through enforcement of the law, we are working to empower survivors, hold perpetrators accountable, expose unlawful systems that leave people vulnerable and ensure greater public safety in every corner of the country.”

“Sexual violence – in all its forms – is an affront to our values, impacting the lives of everyone in our communities, not just those of us who are survivors,” said OVW Principal Deputy Director Allison Randall. “Sexual assault harms all of us in a workplace or a neighborhood or a family. It ripples out. And it demands a response from all of us. That response must be rooted in what survivors themselves tell us they need. We must hold survivors at the forefront of our efforts to repair and prevent harm.”  

At the beginning of the event, Deputy Attorney General Lisa O. Monaco’s pre-recorded remarks were aired and she discussed the Justice Department’s criminal enforcement efforts and the 2022 reauthorization of the Violence Against Women Act.

The event also featured a discussion with Fatima Goss Graves, the Executive Director of the National Women’s Law Center, and Condencia Brade, the Co-Founder and Strategic Director of the National Organization of Sisters of Color Ending Sexual Assault, who are national leaders in representing survivors of sexual misconduct and advocating for affected communities.

The event also included panels where attorneys from the Civil Rights Division discussed their enforcement authorities to address sexual misconduct, and where an OVW attorney advisor and representatives from HHS and HUD discussed initiatives that provide economic and housing supports and protections to survivors, including funding for transitional housing and family violence prevention services. 

Assistant Attorney General Clarke also announced the creation of a new Coordinating Committee to Combat Sexual Misconduct, which will increase the Civil Rights Division’s outreach to affected communities and enhance civil and criminal enforcement actions.  

Learn more about the Civil Rights Division’s work combatting sexual misconduct at http://www.justice.gov/crt and  more about OVW’s work to provide assistance to victims and survivors of sexual violence at http://www.justice.gov/ovw.  

A New York man was sentenced today to 18 months in prison for conspiring to defraud the United States.

According to court documents and statements made in court, Richard Barker, of Queens, owned and operated a tax return preparation business under the names Tax Depot Inc. and KPS Kampant, Parkinson, Sinclair & Co. Inc. From approximately 2012 through 2019, Barker conspired with other individuals to submit false tax returns to the IRS on behalf of clients. These tax returns included Forms 1099-OID that falsely reported financial institutions, creditors and other entities had withheld and paid taxes to the IRS on behalf of the clients, when in reality no such taxes had been withheld or paid. As a result of these fictitious withholdings, the IRS paid the clients refunds they were not entitled to receive. Barker also filed false returns for himself based on the same 1099-OID scheme and recruited at least one other individual to do the same. In total, Barker caused a tax loss to the IRS of more than $460,000.

In addition to the term of imprisonment, U.S. District Judge Eric R. Komitee ordered Barker to serve two years of supervised release and to pay approximately $464,252 in restitution to the IRS.

Acting Deputy Assistant Attorney General Stuart M. Goldberg of the Justice Department’s Tax Division and U.S. Attorney Breon Peace for the Eastern District of New York made the announcement.

IRS-Criminal Investigation and the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration investigated the case.

Trial Attorneys Ann M. Cherry and Mark Kotila of the Tax Division prosecuted the case.

The Justice Department today filed a lawsuit against the Town of Clarksville, Indiana, for violating Title I of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA).

The lawsuit, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Indiana, alleges that the Town’s police department unlawfully revoked a job offer to a qualified law enforcement officer based on his Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) diagnosis. The officer had been successfully working for the Town’s police department as a volunteer reserve officer for over a year and was fully qualified to work as a police officer.

“No qualified individual should lose a hard-earned career opportunity because of misguided views about their disability that are not supported by medicine or science,” said Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division. “This lawsuit reflects the Justice Department’s firm commitment to protecting qualified workers, including those with HIV, from unlawful employment discrimination.”

“Every day, we depend on law enforcement officers who put themselves in harm’s way to keep us safe,” said U.S. Attorney Zachary A. Myers for the Southern District of Indiana. “Those who are qualified and seek to serve their communities should not be subjected to unlawful discrimination. Individuals living with HIV are entitled to the full protection of our anti-discrimination laws. Our office will work closely with our partners in the Civil Rights Division to ensure that those who seek to serve the public are not unlawfully discriminated against.”  

Title I of the ADA prohibits employers from discriminating against qualified individuals on the basis of disability. Discrimination includes withdrawing a job offer to a qualified individual based on unsupported and stereotypical views of the applicant’s disability.

This case is being handled by the department’s Civil Rights Division and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Indiana based on a referral from the Indianapolis District Office of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. The department plays a central role in advancing the ADA’s goals of equal opportunity, full participation, independent living and economic self-sufficiency for people with disabilities.

For more information on the ADA, please call the department’s toll-free ADA information line at 800-514-0301 (TDD 800-514-0383) or visit www.ada.gov. For more information on the Civil Rights Division, please visit http://www.justice.gov/crt. Individuals who believe they may have been victims of discrimination may file a complaint at https://civilrights.justice.gov/. View the complaint here.

For almost four years, the Department of Justice has responsibly used the authority Congress granted it in the Preventing Emerging Threats Act of 2018 to protect critical department missions and the public, such as high-profile sporting events like the Super Bowl and the World Series, from the threat posed by unmanned aircraft systems (UAS), commonly referred to as “drones.” The department uses the authority to keep our communities safe while ensuring full respect for the Constitution, privacy, civil rights and civil liberties, and the safety of the national airspace system. But the threat posed by the criminal use of drones is increasing and evolving, and department components cannot protect everyone, everywhere, all the time. 

The department strongly supports the Administration’s Counter-UAS National Action Plan and comprehensive legislative proposal transmitted to Congress on April 19 seeking the reauthorization of the department’s authority. Additionally, the department strongly supports the element of the National Action Plan incrementally extending relief from federal criminal laws to state, local, territorial and tribal (SLTT) law enforcement entities to use technology to detect, and in limited circumstances, mitigate UAS threats under appropriate controls and Federal oversight. A third critical component of the plan is endorsement of the department’s legislative proposal that would fill a gap in federal criminal laws to prosecute the most malicious and dangerous uses of drones.

The department is grateful to the Administration for recognizing the increasing risk and for involving federal departments and agencies in crafting a thoughtful approach. The Counter-UAS plan is a whole-of-government measured proposal that builds off existing authorities to address the threat that simultaneously protects privacy and civil liberties of the American people, the safety of the national airspace and the communications spectrum. 

In the coming weeks, the department and interagency will engage with the Congress and key stakeholders across the government, private sector, law enforcement and society on the plan and legislative proposal. 

A fact sheet about the C-UAS National Action Plan and legislative proposal can be found at the White House webpage at the following link: Counter-UAS National Action Plan Fact Sheet.

 

A former manager for a defense contractor pleaded guilty today to tax evasion.

According to court documents and statements made in court, from 2010 through 2016, Ronald L. Thomas, of Wellington, Florida, worked in Afghanistan, Oman and the United Arab Emirates for a U.S. Department of Defense contracting company as a project director and in other roles. In 2016 and 2017, Thomas served as a paid consultant for a Mexican oil and gas venture. From 2010 to 2017 Thomas evaded taxes owed to the IRS by underreporting to his tax preparer the salaries and bonuses he earned for each of those years. In total, Thomas did not report approximately $870,000 in compensation he earned from 2010 through 2017, causing a tax loss to the government of more than $227,000.

Thomas is the third defendant associated with the defense contracting company to plead guilty. Charles Squires pleaded guilty to tax evasion in February 2022, and James Robar pleaded guilty to tax evasion in March 2022.

Thomas is scheduled to be sentenced at a later date and 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 and U.S. Attorney Matthew M. Graves for the District of Columbia made the announcement.

IRS-Criminal Investigation and the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction are investigating the case.

Assistance was provided by the Joint Chiefs of Global Tax Enforcement (J5), which brings together the taxing authorities of Australia, Canada, Netherlands, United Kingdom and the United States.

Senior Litigation Counsel Nanette Davis and Trial Attorneys Brittney Campbell and Sarah Ranney of the Tax Division, and Assistant U.S. Attorney Leslie Goemaat of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia are prosecuting the case.

The Department of Justice’s Environment and Natural Resources Division (ENRD) today released its Accomplishments Report for Fiscal Year (FY) 2021. The report highlights ENRD’s strong enforcement of our nation’s environmental and natural resources laws, efforts to advance environmental justice and role in our nation’s response to the climate crisis. 

“I am proud to serve alongside the remarkable attorneys and staff who dedicate their professional lives to advancing the interests of the American people in environmental and natural resource matters,” said Assistant Attorney General Todd Kim of the Justice Department’s Environment and Natural Resources Division (ENRD). “ENRD has an incredibly important mission to protect public health and welfare by enforcing the nation’s environmental laws, safeguarding our breathtaking landscapes and precious natural resources, preserving the rights and resources of American Indian and Alaska Native nations, defending federal agency actions and enabling critical infrastructure projects, among other things.”

In 2021, ENRD litigated and won meaningful remedies from polluters who imperiled overburdened communities across the nation, including in America’s heartland, the Southeast, downtown New York City and the U.S. Virgin Islands. Going forward, Assistant Attorney General Kim pledged that ENRD will work “to ensure that all Americans — regardless of race, color, national origin or income — are treated fairly and can engage in the decisions that affect them.”

ENRD also prioritized efforts to combat climate change, as part of the President’s whole-of-government response to the climate crisis. Last year, ENRD brought civil and criminal cases to limit damaging pollution from sources like petroleum facilities and oceangoing vessels. The division also worked to protect natural resources by defending floodplain control projects and cracking down on those who unlawfully fill wetlands, illegally harvest timber and more. The division defended the authority of other federal agencies to take critical steps needed to alleviate the effects of climate change, such as the Environmental Protection Agency’s efforts to limit greenhouse gas emissions from power plants.

In FY21, ENRD worked on more than 4,000 matters. It obtained over $1.5 billion in civil and criminal fines, penalties and costs recovered. It secured federal injunctive relief valued at over $5.1 billion. And through its defensive and condemnation litigation, it saved the United States more than $443 million. ENRD achieved a favorable outcome in 99.4% of its civil enforcement cases, 90.2 percent in its civil defensive cases, 98.9% of its criminal cases and 100% of its condemnation cases. 

The achievements described in the report add to ENRD’s storied legacy, which dates back 113 years. Its work is all the more important now, at what Assistant Attorney General Kim called a “pivotal moment in our nation’s history,” for environmental and natural resources issues.   

The Justice Department announced today that the Office of Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS Office) and the Office of Justice Programs (OJP) have released over $320 million in grant solicitations for programs that advance community policing, keep school students safe, and combat the production and distribution of illegal drugs.

“The Justice Department is committed to providing our state, local, Tribal, and territorial law enforcement partners with the resources they need to keep our communities safe,” said Attorney General Merrick B. Garland. “With these funds, the Department is supporting law enforcement agencies, as well as the residents they serve, by increasing their capacity to disrupt illegal drug trafficking, hire officers committed to using best practices to serve their communities, and keep children safe in school.”

“These grants represent our commitment to provide law enforcement agencies and the communities they serve with critical resources to make our communities safer for everyone that lives, works, and plays in them,” said Associate Attorney General Vanita Gupta.

The announced solicitations include $156.5 million available for the COPS Hiring Program (CHP), a competitive award program intended to reduce crime and advance public safety through community policing by providing direct funding for the hiring of career law enforcement officers. Anticipated outcomes of the CHP program awards include increased engagement in community partnerships, implementation of projects that focus on prioritized crime issues impacting communities, implementation of changes to personnel and agency management in support of community policing, and increased capacity of agencies to implement comprehensive community policing plans that build trust and reduce crime. All local, state, Tribal, and territorial law enforcement agencies that have primary law enforcement authority are eligible to apply.

Funding also includes $53 million for the School Violence Prevention Program (SVPP). This program provides funding to improve security at schools and on school grounds in the grantees’ jurisdictions through evidence-based school safety programs. Awards will be provided directly to eligible state, local, Tribal, and territorial partners. Recipients of SVPP funding must use funding for the benefit of K-12, primary, and secondary schools and students.

The Department’s Office of Justice Programs — through its Bureau of Justice Assistance and Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention — also released almost $64.7 million in solicitations to support violence prevention and response efforts in schools through the STOP School Violence Act. More information about OJP’s grants can be found at https://www.ojp.gov/funding.       

There is also $15 million available for the COPS Anti-Methamphetamine Program (CAMP) and $35 million for the COPS Anti-Heroin Task Force (AHTF) Program. The 2022 COPS Anti-Methamphetamine Program is a competitive grant program that advances public safety by providing funds directly to state law enforcement agencies to investigate illicit activities related to the manufacture and distribution of methamphetamine. AHTF is a competitive grant program that provides funding to state law enforcement agencies in states with high per capita levels of primary treatment admissions for heroin, fentanyl, carfentanil, and other opioids. These funds will be used for drug enforcement including investigations and activities related to the distribution of heroin and other opioids or the unlawful diversion and distribution of prescription opioids.

Additional information on these programs, as well as information on how to apply, can be found at https://cops.usdoj.gov/grants.

The COPS Office is the federal component of the Department of Justice responsible for advancing community policing nationwide. The only Department of Justice agency with policing in its name, the COPS Office was established in 1994 and has been the cornerstone of the nation’s crime fighting strategy with grants, a variety of knowledge resource products, and training and technical assistance. Through the years, the COPS Office has become the go-to organization for law enforcement agencies across the country and continues to listen to the field and provide the resources that are needed to reduce crime and build trust between law enforcement and the communities served. The COPS Office has invested more than $14 billion to advance community policing, including grants awarded to more than 13,000 state, local and Tribal law enforcement agencies to fund the hiring and redeployment of more than 135,000 officers.

The Justice Department today announced that a federal grand jury sitting in Montgomery, Alabama, returned a four-count indictment charging former Alabama Department of Corrections (ADOC) Sergeant Lorenzo Mills, 55, with assaulting three compliant inmates with a wooden baton at ADOC’s Draper Correctional Facility. Mills is also charged with falsification of records for submitting a false written statement in connection with the incident.

The indictment alleges that on Oct. 25, 2020, Mills, while acting in his official capacity as a Correctional Sergeant with ADOC, subjected three inmates to cruel and unusual punishment by striking them with a wooden baton, and that the assault caused bodily injury and involved the use of a dangerous weapon. The indictment further alleges that Mills submitted a false written statement in connection with the incident. Specifically, the indictment alleges that Mills falsely wrote in his statement that he had not used any force against the three inmate victims.

Mills faces a statutory maximum sentence of 10 years in prison for each of the civil rights charges and 20 years in prison for the obstruction of justice offense.

Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division and U.S. Attorney Sandra J. Stewart for the Middle District of Alabama made the announcement. This case is being investigated by the FBI’s Mobile Field Division and ADOC’s Law Enforcement Services Division. It is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Eric Counts of the Middle District of Alabama, and Trial Attorneys David Reese and Nikhil Ramnaney of the Civil Rights Division.

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

The United States, on behalf of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), has reached a proposed settlement with Schnitzer Steel Industries Inc. of Portland, Oregon, to resolve alleged violations of the Clean Air Act and regulations designed to protect stratospheric ozone at 40 scrap metal recycling facilities throughout the United States.

If approved by the court, the settlement will require the company to pay a civil penalty of $1,550,000, implement compliance measures worth over $1,700,000 to prevent the release of ozone-depleting refrigerants and non-exempt substitutes from refrigerant-containing items during their processing and disposal and complete an environmental mitigation project. The complaint filed together with the consent decree alleges that Schnitzer failed to recover refrigerant from small appliances and motor vehicle air conditioners before disposal or to verify from the supplier that the refrigerant had been properly recovered prior to delivery to Schnitzer’s facilities.

“To help protect stratospheric ozone and reduce the risks of climate change, the Department of Justice will seek to ensure companies like Schnitzer comply with the Clean Air Act when recycling appliances and motor vehicles containing harmful refrigerants,” said Assistant Attorney General Todd Kim of the Justice Department’s Environment and Natural Resources Division.

“Many refrigerants are potent greenhouse gases that contribute to global warming if released into the atmosphere,” said Acting Assistant Administrator Larry Starfield for EPA’s Office of Enforcement and Compliance Assurance. “This settlement will help protect our climate by ensuring that these chemicals are managed properly at 40 recycling facilities across the country.”

Under the settlement, Schnitzer must implement an EPA-approved Refrigerant Recovery Management Program (RRMP) at its 40 U.S. facilities. The RRMP includes, among other things: installation of refrigerant recovery systems at Schnitzer’s facilities; screening procedures for scrap appliances and vehicles; new forms for statements and contracts to verify any refrigerant recovery from appliances and motor vehicles prior to receipt by Schnitzer; notices to customers regarding proper procedures for delivering items currently or previously containing refrigerants; employee training on procedures for ensuring compliance with regulations designed to prevent the release of refrigerants; and recordkeeping and reporting obligations.

The settlement also requires Schnitzer to perform an environmental mitigation project involving the destruction of all R-12 refrigerant in scrapped appliances and automobiles received at its facilities. R-12 contains chlorofluorocarbons and has over 10,000 times the global warming potential of carbon dioxide.

Today’s action was filed by the United States, on behalf of the EPA.

More information:

The proposed consent decree, lodged in the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts, is subject to a 30-day public comment period and approval by the federal court. To view the proposed consent decree or to submit a comment during the public comment period, visit:  justice.gov/enrd/consent-decrees

Clean Air Act enforcement: epa.gov/enforcement/air-enforcement

Ozone Protection Under Title VI of the Clean Air Act:  epa.gov/ozone-layer-protection/ozone-protection-under-title-vi-clean-air-act

Climate Change: epa.gov/climate-change

In an indictment unsealed today, a federal grand jury in Del Rio, Texas, indicted a tax return preparer for willfully helping clients file false tax returns with the IRS.

According to the indictment, in 2016 and 2017, Adela Cruz prepared tax returns for her clients that included false education credits, dependent information, and business profits and losses. Cruz allegedly charged the clients between $200 and $500 for each return. Cruz allegedly also falsified her own individual income tax returns for 2015 and 2016, claiming false education credits she was not entitled to receive.

If convicted, Cruz faces a statutory maximum sentence of three years in prison for each count of filing a false tax return for herself and her clients. She also faces a period of supervised release 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 U.S. Attorney Ashley C. Hoff for the Western District of Texas made the announcement.

IRS-Criminal Investigation is investigating the case.

Trial Attorneys Robert A. Kemins and Nicholas J. Schilling, Jr. of the Tax 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.

A New York physician was charged in an indictment unsealed today in the Eastern District of New York for an alleged $10 million health care fraud scheme involving the submission of false and fraudulent claims to Medicare and Medicare Part D plans. 

According to court documents, Elemer Raffai, 56, of Rome, between approximately July 2016 and June 2017, allegedly signed prescriptions and order forms via purported telemedicine services for durable medical equipment (DME) that were not medically necessary. Raffai caused these claims to be submitted based solely on a short telephone conversation for beneficiaries he did not physically examine and evaluate and that were induced, in part, by the payments of bribes and kickbacks to Raffai. The indictment further alleges that Raffai, with others, submitted or caused the submission of approximately $10 million in false and fraudulent claims to Medicare for DME, and Medicare paid more than $4 million on those claims.

Raffai is charged with health care fraud. He was arrested and is making his initial court appearance today in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of New York. If convicted, Raffai faces a maximum total penalty of 10 years in prison. 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 Breon Peace for the Eastern District of New York; Special Agent in Charge Scott J. Lampert of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General’s (HHS-OIG) Office of Investigations; Assistant Director Luis Quesada of the FBI’s Criminal Investigative Division; and Special Agent in Charge Janeen DiGuiseppi of the FBI’s Albany Field Office made the announcement. 

HHS-OIG and the FBI investigated the case.

Trial Attorneys Kelly M. Lyons and Andrew Estes of the Criminal Division’s Fraud Section prosecuted 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.

Daniel Markus Inc., which operated pawn shops in New Jersey, and its owner have agreed to pay $50,000 in civil penalties to settle allegations that the company violated the False Claims Act and the Financial Institutions Reform, Recovery and Enforcement Act (FIRREA) by obtaining more than one Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loan in 2020. The company also agreed to repay the duplicative PPP loan in full to its lender, relieving the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) of liability to the lender for the federal guaranty of approximately $240,000 on the improper loan.   

“PPP loans were intended to provide critical relief to small businesses,” said Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Brian M. Boynton, head of the Justice Department’s Civil Division. “The department is committed to pursuing those who knowingly violated the requirements of the PPP or other COVID-19 assistance programs and obtained relief funds to which they were not entitled.”

“This resolution demonstrates that the department will identify those who took advantage of relief packages meant to help the American people and will take steps to recover ill-gotten funds whenever possible,” said Associate Deputy Attorney General Kevin A. Chambers, the department’s Director of COVID-19 Fraud Enforcement.

“OIG continues to identify and bring to justice anyone who wrongfully obtains benefits from SBA programs,” said Special Agent-in-Charge Amaleka McCall-Brathwaite for SBA Office of Inspector General (OIG). “OIG remains committed to rooting out bad actors and protecting the integrity of SBA programs. I want to thank the Department of Justice and our law enforcement partners for their dedication and pursuit of justice.”

Congress created the PPP in March 2020, as part of the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security (CARES) Act, to provide emergency financial support to the millions of Americans suffering the economic effects caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. The CARES Act authorized billions of dollars in forgivable loans to small businesses struggling to pay employees and other business expenses. Throughout 2020, PPP loan applicants were required to certify that they would not receive more than one PPP loan prior to Dec. 31, 2020. This settlement resolves allegations that Daniel Markus Inc. knowingly and improperly received and retained a second, duplicative PPP loan in 2020.

The settlement with Daniel Markus Inc., and its owner, Margarita Risis, resolved a lawsuit filed under the whistleblower provision of the False Claims Act, which permits private parties to file suit on behalf of the United States for false claims and share in a portion of the government’s recovery. The civil lawsuit was filed by J. Bryan Quesenberry, and, as part of the resolution, he will receive approximately $3,500 as a share of the False Claims Act recovery.  

The resolution obtained in this matter was the result of a coordinated effort between the Civil Division’s Commercial Litigation Branch, Fraud Section and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of New Jersey, with assistance from the SBA’s Office of General Counsel and Office of the Inspector General.

This matter was handled by Trial Attorney Jared S. Wiesner of the Civil Division and Assistant U.S. Attorney David V. Simunovich of the District of New Jersey.

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

Tips and complaints from all sources about potential fraud affecting COVID-19 government relief programs can be reported by visiting the webpage of the Civil Division’s Fraud Section, which can be found here. Anyone with information about allegations of attempted fraud involving COVID-19 can also report it by calling the Department of Justice’s National Center for Disaster Fraud (NCDF) Hotline at 866-720-5721 or via the NCDF Web Complaint Form at: https://www.justice.gov/disaster-fraud/ncdf-disaster-complaint-form.

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

The Justice Department today joined the City of Baltimore, the Baltimore Police Department (BPD) and the Court-appointed independent monitoring team to report on the City’s and BPD’s progress toward compliance with the terms of the consent decree designed to ensure effective and constitutional policing in the City.

At today’s public hearing before U.S District Court Chief Judge James K. Bredar, the Justice Department recognized the significant accomplishments that have been achieved including:

• adoption of a problem-oriented approach to policing, prioritizing public safety, crime reduction and lawful patrol and enforcement efforts;
• adoption of a wide range of new policies covering use of force, transport, impartial policing and stops, searches and arrests, that provide clear guidance to officers to ensure effective and constitutional policing;
• revitalization of the training academy, including upgraded facilities, expanded staff and revamped in-service training curricula, including new trainings developed to educate officers on the revised policies;
• revitalization of the internal affairs unit, including expanded staff and new procedures and training to ensure fair and thorough investigations of alleged misconduct and consistent discipline when misconduct takes place;
• creation of auditing procedures to ensure proper supervisory review of use-of-force incidents, scrutiny of arrests that do not result in charges filed against the arrestee, and the use of safe practices in the transportation of individuals in custody; and
• procurement of a new records management system to ensure accurate and consistent incident reporting and case management throughout BPD.

The Justice Department noted that to fully comply with the decree, BPD must show that its officers are consistently and effectively following the new policies and trainings and being held accountable if they do not. In the coming months, the independent monitoring team will conduct detailed assessments of BPD’s compliance with the decree’s requirements regarding the use of force, arrests and sexual assault investigations. These assessments will provide a roadmap for BPD’s continuing efforts to achieve full compliance in these areas.

“The problems at BPD were many years in the making and we are pleased with the progress that has been made since the consent decree was put in place,” said Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division. “While much work remains, we believe that a strong foundation has been laid to achieve effective and constitutional policing in Baltimore. The citizens of Baltimore deserve nothing less.”

The Justice Department initiated an investigation of BPD in May 2015 under the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act of 1994. This law authorizes the Attorney General to file a lawsuit to address a pattern or practice of conduct by law enforcement officers that deprives individuals of their rights under the Constitution or federal law. The investigation was conducted by the Civil Rights Division’s Special Litigation Section, and findings were announced in August 2016. The consent decree was approved by the Court in April 2017.

The findings report and consent decree, as well as additional information about the Civil Rights Division, are available on its website at www.justice.gov/crt. Additional information about implementation of the consent decree is also available on the BPD website at www.baltimorepolice.org and the monitoring team’s website at www.bpdmonitor.com. The department welcomes comments or concerns from the community via email at Community.Baltimore@usdoj.gov.

View the consent decree here.

View the consent decree fact sheet here.

View the findings report here.

View the findings summary here.

Two Nevada men were sentenced to prison today for conspiring to defraud the IRS.

Saud Alessa was sentenced to 13 months in prison and Jeffrey Bowen was sentenced to 60 days in prison. After a federal jury trial in November 2021, Alessa and Bowen were both convicted on the conspiracy charge, and Alessa also was convicted on tax evasion and false tax return charges.

According to court documents and evidence presented at trial, from 2010 through approximately March 2014, Alessa, Bowen and another co-conspirator, Jackie Hayes, sought to thwart efforts by the IRS to collect more than $500,000 in tax liabilities owed by Alessa for tax years 1998 to 2007. As part of the scheme, Hayes entered into a payment arrangement with Bowen, the owner of a vacuum cleaner distributor, J&L Distributing Inc. (J&L), where commissions actually earned by Alessa for his work at J&L were falsely recorded in the company’s books as commissions earned by Hayes. Hayes and Bowen then submitted tax forms and filings to the IRS falsely reporting that Hayes had earned the income. This scheme allowed Alessa to evade IRS collection efforts and the payment of his outstanding federal tax debt. To further conceal his income and assets, Alessa filed false 2012 and 2013 individual tax returns, and in February 2013, he filed a bankruptcy petition falsely reporting no income.

In addition to imprisonment, Chief U.S. District Judge Miranda M. Du ordered Alessa and Bowen to each serve three years of supervised release and to pay over $500,000 in restitution to the United States.

Hayes previously pleaded guilty and was sentenced in February 2022 to two months in prison for her role in the conspiracy.

Acting Deputy Assistant Attorney General Stuart M. Goldberg of the Justice Department’s Tax Division, Acting U.S. Attorney Christopher Chiou for the District of Nevada and Special Agent in Charge Albert A. Childress of IRS-Criminal Investigation made the announcement. They commended special agents of IRS-Criminal Investigation, which conducted the investigation, and members of the U.S. Trustee Program, which uncovered the charged conduct during the supervision of the administration of a Chapter 7 bankruptcy case filed by Alessa.

Trial Attorneys Michael Landman and Eric Taffet of the Justice Department’s Tax Division prosecuted the case.

A federal criminal complaint was issued charging William A. McDonald, 54, of West Allis, Wisconsin, with using force and threatening to use force to injure, intimidate and interfere with the housing rights of multiple individuals because of their race, color or national origin. Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division and U.S. Attorney Richard G. Frohling for the Eastern District of Wisconsin made the announcement.

According to a publicly filed complaint, law enforcement has been investigating a series of racially motivated incidents involving property damage and threats of bodily harm unless individuals move from West Allis. The complaint alleges that McDonald violated federal law with respect to one or more of these incidents.

The FBI’s Milwaukee Field Office and the West Allis Police Department are investigating the case. The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Philip Kovoor and Christopher Ladwig for the Eastern District of Wisconsin, in collaboration with Trial Attorney Nikhil Ramnaney for the Civil Rights Division’s Criminal Section.

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

Stericycle Inc. (Stericycle), an international waste management company headquartered in Lake Forest, Illinois, has agreed to pay more than $84 million to resolve parallel investigations by authorities in the United States and Brazil into the bribery of foreign officials in Brazil, Mexico, and Argentina.

According to court documents, Stericycle entered into a three-year deferred prosecution agreement (DPA) with the Department of Justice in connection with the filing of a criminal information charging the company with two counts of conspiracy to violate (1) the anti-bribery provision of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA), and (2) the FCPA’s books and records provision. Pursuant to the DPA, Stericycle’s criminal penalty is $52.5 million. The department has agreed to credit up to one-third of the criminal penalty against fines the company pays to authorities in Brazil in related proceedings, including an amount of approximately $9.3 million to resolve investigations by the Controladoria-Geral da União (CGU) and the Advocacia-Geral de União (Attorney General’s Office) in Brazil. In addition, Stericycle has agreed to pay approximately $28 million to resolve a parallel investigation by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). 

“Stericycle today accepted responsibility for its corrupt business practices in paying millions of dollars in bribes to foreign officials in multiple countries,” said Assistant Attorney General Kenneth A. Polite, Jr. of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division. “The company also maintained false books and records to conceal corrupt and improper payments made by its subsidiaries in Brazil, Mexico, and Argentina. Today’s resolution demonstrates the Department of Justice’s continuing commitment to combating corruption and protecting the international marketplace.”

“Today’s resolution with Stericycle shows that the FBI and our international law enforcement partners will not allow corruption to permeate domestic or international markets,” said Assistant Director Luis Quesada of the FBI’s Criminal Investigative Division. “The consequences of violating the FCPA are clear: Companies that bribe foreign officials for business advantage will be held accountable.”

According to the company’s admissions and court documents, Stericycle conspired to corruptly offer and pay approximately $10.5 million in bribes to foreign officials in Brazil, Mexico, and Argentina in order to obtain and retain business and other advantages for Stericycle. The company earned at least $21.5 million in profits from the corrupt scheme.

Specifically, between 2011 and 2016, Stericycle caused hundreds of bribe payments to be made to officials at government agencies and instrumentalities in Brazil, Mexico, and Argentina to obtain and retain business and to secure improper advantages in connection with providing waste management services. In perpetrating the scheme, an executive at Stericycle’s Latin America division directed employees in the company’s offices in Brazil, Mexico, and Argentina who paid bribes, typically in cash, that were calculated as a percentage of the underlying contract payments owed to Stericycle from government customers. In all three countries, the co-conspirators tracked the bribe payments through spreadsheets and described the bribes through code words and euphemisms, such as “CP” or “commission payment” in Brazil; “IP” or “incentive payment” in Mexico; and “alfajores” (a popular cookie) or “IP” in Argentina. 

As part of the DPA, Stericycle has agreed to continue to cooperate with the department in any ongoing or future criminal investigations relating to this conduct. In addition, under the DPA, Stericycle agreed to continue to enhance its compliance program and to retain an independent compliance monitor for two years, followed by self-reporting to the department for the remainder of the term.

The government reached this resolution with Stericycle based on a number of factors, including, among others, the company’s failure to voluntarily and timely disclose the conduct that triggered the investigation and the nature, seriousness, and pervasiveness of the offense. Stericycle received full credit for its cooperation with the department’s investigation and engaged in extensive remedial measures. Although Stericycle has taken extensive remedial measures, it has not fully implemented or tested its enhanced compliance program, necessitating the imposition of an independent compliance monitor for a term of two years. Accordingly, the criminal penalty reflects a 25% reduction off the bottom of the applicable U.S. Sentencing Guidelines fine range.

In a related civil matter in the United States, Stericycle has agreed to pay disgorgement and prejudgment interest totaling approximately $28 million to resolve an investigation by the SEC. In related proceedings in Brazil, the company has agreed to resolve investigations by the CGU and the Attorney General’s Office.

The FBI’s New York Field Office is investigating the case. Trial Attorneys Paul A. Hayden and Jil Simon of the Criminal Division’s Fraud Section are prosecuting the case. Authorities in Brazil and Mexico provided assistance in this matter, as did the Justice Department’s Office of International Affairs.

The Fraud Section is responsible for investigating and prosecuting FCPA matters. Additional information about the Justice Department’s FCPA enforcement efforts can be found at www.justice.gov/criminal-fraud/foreign-corrupt-practices-act.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The Justice Department concluded today, based upon a thorough investigation, that there is reasonable cause to believe that conditions and practices at the Mississippi State Penitentiary (also known as Parchman) violate the Eighth and Fourteenth Amendments to the U.S. Constitution. Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke of the Civil Rights Division, U.S. Attorney Clay Joyner for the Northern District of Mississippi and U.S. Attorney Darren J. LaMarca for the Southern District of Mississippi made the announcement.

Specifically, the department concluded that there is reasonable cause to believe Mississippi routinely violates the constitutional rights of people incarcerated at Parchman by:

• failing to provide adequate mental health treatment to people with serious mental health needs;
• failing to take sufficient suicide prevention measures to protect people at risk of self-harm;
• subjecting people to prolonged isolation in solitary confinement in egregious conditions that place their physical and mental health at substantial risk of serious harm; and
• failing to protect incarcerated people from violence at the hands of other incarcerated people.

As required by the Civil Rights of Institutionalized Persons Act (CRIPA), the Justice Department provided the state of Mississippi with written notice of the supporting facts for these findings and the minimum remedial measures necessary to address them in a comprehensive 59-page findings letter.  

“The Constitution guarantees that all people incarcerated in jails and prisons are treated humanely, that reasonable measures are taken to keep them safe, and that they receive necessary mental health care, treatment, and services to address their needs,” said Assistant Attorney General Clarke. “Our investigation uncovered evidence of systemic violations that have generated a violent and unsafe environment for people incarcerated at Parchman. We are committed to taking action that will ensure the safety of all people held at Parchman and other state prison facilities. We look forward to working with state officials to institute comprehensive reforms.”

“Prisons have a constitutional obligation to keep safe the incarcerated persons who depend on them for their basic needs,” said U.S. Attorney Joyner. “Mississippi violated the rights of persons incarcerated at Parchman by failing to keep them safe from physical violence and for failing to provide constitutionally adequate mental health care and that people confined to Parchman experience serious physical and psychological harm as a result. Our office is dedicated to defending the civil rights of all our district’s residents, including those who are incarcerated. We look forward to continuing to work with the Mississippi Department of Corrections to protect the civil rights of those incarcerated at Parchman.”

“The action taken today by the Department of Justice will ensure that the Mississippi State Penitentiary at Parchman fulfills its constitutional obligations,” said U.S. Attorney LaMarca. “Those obligations extend to reasonable efforts to provide basic mental health care, prevent violence between incarcerated persons and prevent suicides. Those who owe a debt to society should have these basic needs while paying that debt. We are committed to working with state officials to ensure that the State of Mississippi abides by its constitutional obligations.”

The department’s investigation began in February 2020. Our investigation of conditions at Southern Mississippi Correctional Institution, Central Mississippi Correctional Facility, and Wilkinson County Correctional Facility is ongoing. Individuals with relevant information are encouraged to contact the department by phone at (833) 591-0288, or by email at Community.MSDoc@usdoj.gov.

For more information about the Civil Rights Division and the Special Litigation Section, please visit https://www.justice.gov/crt/special-litigation-section.

Additional information about the Northern and Southern U.S. Attorneys’ Offices is available at: https://www.justice.gov/usao-ndms and https://www.justice.gov/usao-sdms. You can contact the Northern District’s Civil Division at (662) 234-3318, and the Southern District at (601) 965-4480. You can also report civil rights violations to the Section by completing the complaint form available at https://civilrights.justice.gov/.

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

“The Department of Justice’s Health Care Fraud Unit and our partners are dedicated to rooting out schemes that have exploited the pandemic,” said Assistant Attorney General Kenneth A. Polite, Jr. of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division. “Today’s enforcement action reinforces our commitment to using all available tools to hold accountable medical professionals, corporate executives, and others who have placed greed above care during an unprecedented public health emergency.”

“This COVID-19 health care fraud enforcement action involves extraordinary efforts to prosecute some of the largest and most wide-ranging pandemic frauds detected to date,” said Director for COVID-19 Fraud Enforcement Kevin Chambers. “The scale and complexity of the schemes prosecuted today illustrates the success of our unprecedented interagency effort to quickly investigate and prosecute those who abuse our critical health care programs.”

This announcement builds on the success of the May 2021 COVID-19 Enforcement Action and involves the prosecution of various COVID-19 health care fraud schemes. For example, several cases announced today involve defendants who allegedly offered COVID-19 testing to induce patients to provide their personal identifying information and a saliva or blood sample. The defendants are alleged to have then used the information and samples to submit false and fraudulent claims to Medicare for unrelated, medically unnecessary, and far more expensive tests or services. In one such scheme in the Central District of California, two owners of a clinical laboratory were charged with a health care fraud, kickback, and money laundering scheme that involved the fraudulent billing of over $214 million for laboratory tests, over $125 million of which allegedly involved fraudulent claims during the pandemic for COVID-19 and respiratory pathogen tests. The proceeds of this fraudulent scheme were allegedly laundered through shell corporations in the United States, transferred to foreign countries, and used to purchase real estate and luxury items. In two separate cases in the District of Maryland and the Eastern District of New York, owners of medical clinics allegedly obtained confidential information from patients seeking COVID-19 testing at drive-thru testing sites and then submitted fraudulent claims for lengthy office visits with the patients that did not, in fact, occur.

“Throughout the pandemic, we have seen trusted medical professionals orchestrate and carry out egregious crimes against their patients all for financial gain,” said Assistant Director Luis Quesada of the FBI’s Criminal Investigative Division. “These health care fraud abuses erode the integrity and trust patients have with those in the health care industry, particularly during a vulnerable and worrisome time for many individuals. The actions of these criminals are unacceptable, and the FBI, working in coordination with our law enforcement partners, will continue to investigate and pursue those who exploit the integrity of the health care industry for profit.”

In another type of COVID-19 health care fraud scheme announced today, defendants allegedly exploited policies that the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) put in place to enable increased access to care during the COVID-19 pandemic. For example, in the Southern District of Florida, one medical professional was charged with a health care fraud, wire fraud, and kickback scheme that allegedly involved billing for sham telemedicine encounters that did not occur and agreeing to order unnecessary genetic testing in exchange for access to telehealth patients. Late last year, one defendant previously was sentenced to 82 months in prison in connection with this scheme.

“The attempt to profit from the COVID-19 pandemic by targeting beneficiaries and stealing from federal health care programs is unconscionable,” said Inspector General Christi A. Grimm of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). “HHS-OIG is proud to work alongside our law enforcement partners at the federal and state levels to ensure that bad actors who perpetrate egregious and harmful crimes are held accountable.”

Today’s announcement includes charges against two additional defendants for schemes targeting the Provider Relief Fund (PRF). The PRF is part of the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act, a federal law enacted in March 2020 that provided financial assistance to medical providers to provide needed medical care to Americans suffering from COVID-19. In total, 10 defendants have been charged with crimes related to misappropriating PRF monies intended for frontline medical providers and three have pleaded guilty.

Today’s announcement also includes charges against manufacturers and distributors of fake COVID-19 vaccination record cards who, according to the allegations, intentionally sought to obstruct the HHS and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in their efforts to administer the nationwide vaccination program and provide Americans with accurate proof of vaccination. For example, in the Northern District of California, three additional defendants were charged in a scheme to sell homeoprophylaxis immunizations for COVID-19 and falsify COVID-19 vaccination record cards to make it appear that customers received government-authorized vaccines. One defendant allegedly misused her position as the Director of Pharmacy at a northern California hospital to obtain real lot numbers for the Moderna vaccine that were then used to falsify COVID-19 vaccination record cards. Another defendant pleaded guilty in April 2022. In a separate case in the Western District of Washington, one manufacturer was charged in the multistate distribution of fake COVID-19 vaccination record cards after allegedly telling an undercover federal agent that “until I get caught and go to jail, [expletive] it I’m taking the money, ha! I don’t care.”

Additionally, the Center for Program Integrity, Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CPI/CMS) separately announced today that it has taken an additional 28 administrative actions against providers for their alleged involvement in fraud, waste, and abuse schemes related to the delivery of care for COVID-19, as well as schemes that capitalize upon the public health emergency.

“We are committed to working closely with our law enforcement partners to combat fraud, waste and abuse in our federal health care programs,” said CMS Administrator Chiquita Brooks-LaSure. “The administrative actions CMS has taken protect the Medicare Trust Funds while also safeguarding people enrolled in Medicare.”

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

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

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

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

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

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

Attorney General Merrick B. Garland issued the following statement today, commemorating the 27th anniversary of the Oklahoma City Bombing, which took place April 19, 1995, in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma:

“Every year on this day, we remember those who were killed when a domestic terrorist bombed the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City, taking the lives of 168 people, including 19 children, and seriously injuring hundreds of others.

“And every year on this day, we commemorate the strength of the Oklahoma City community that came together in the face of that loss.

“The Justice Department apprehended, prosecuted, and convicted the men responsible for the bombing of the Murrah Federal Building. As we did, we never forgot the victims, in whose memories we worked.

“Twenty-seven years later, the Justice Department remains vigilant in the face of the threat of domestic terrorism. We believe that the time to address threats of violence is before the violence occurs, so we are putting our resources into disrupting terrorist plots. We also remain committed to holding accountable those who perpetrate such attacks, which are aimed at rending the fabric of our democratic society and driving us apart.

“Today, as we remember Oklahoma City, we must stand together against the kind of hatred that leads to tragedies like that one. Today, we are also reminded of the grace and resilience demonstrated by the Oklahoma City community, which refused to allow hate and division to win.”

The U.S. Department of Justice today released the following statement on Health Freedom Defense Fund Inc., et. al. v. Biden, et. al. from spokesman Anthony Coley:

“The Department of Justice and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) disagree with the district court’s decision and will appeal, subject to CDC’s conclusion that the order remains necessary for public health. The Department continues to believe that the order requiring masking in the transportation corridor is a valid exercise of the authority Congress has given CDC to protect the public health. That is an important authority the Department will continue to work to preserve.

“On April 13, 2022, before the district court’s decision, CDC explained that the order would remain in effect while it assessed current public health conditions, and that the Transportation Security Administration would extend its directive implementing the order until May 3 to facilitate CDC’s assessment.

“If CDC concludes that a mandatory order remains necessary for the public’s health after that assessment, the Department of Justice will appeal the district court’s decision.”

A Florida man pleaded guilty today in U.S. District Court to threatening a member of the U.S. House of Representatives. Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division and U.S. Attorney Roger B. Handberg for the Middle District of Florida made the announcement.

On April 19, David Hannon, 67, of Sarasota, entered a guilty plea before U.S. Magistrate Judge Christopher P. Tuite to an information charging him with one count of threatening a federal official.

According to information presented at the guilty plea hearing, on July 16, 2019, while in Sarasota, Hannon sent an email to U.S. Congresswoman Ilhan Omar threatening to kill her. Hannon sent the email following a televised press conference held by Representative Omar and three other U.S. Congresswomen. In his threatening email, which had a subject line that read, “[You’re] dead, you radical Muslim,” Hannon referred to Congresswoman Omar and the other Congresswomen of color as “radical rats,” and asked Congresswoman Omar if she was prepared “to die for Islam.” The email further stated that Hannon was going to shoot the Congresswomen in the head.

“Threatening to kill our elected officials, especially because of their race, ethnicity or religious beliefs, is offensive to our nation’s fundamental values,” said Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division. “The Justice Department will not hesitate to prosecute individuals who violate federal laws that prohibit violent, hate-motivated threats. All elected officials, regardless of their background, should be able to represent their communities and serve the public free from hate-motivated threats and violence.”

“No one should fear violence because of who they are or what they believe,” said U.S. Attorney Roger Handberg for the Middle District of Florida. “Unlawful threats against our elected officials are an assault against our democracy, and we will continue to work with our law enforcement partners to seek justice in these cases.”

The case is being investigated by the FBI with assistance from the U.S. Capitol Police, and is being prosecuted by Civil Rights Division Trial Attorney Sanjay Patel and Assistant U.S. Attorney Erin Claire Favorit for the Middle District of Florida.  

The Department of Justice announced today that it reached a settlement with United Parcel Service Inc. (UPS). The settlement resolves the department’s claims that UPS violated the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA) when it discriminated against a non-U.S. citizen by requesting that he present additional documents to prove his permission to work after the worker had already provided sufficient proof.

“When checking an individual’s permission to work, employers cannot ask for more documents than necessary based on a worker’s citizenship status,” said Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division. “The Civil Rights Division is committed to protecting workers from unnecessary document requests based on citizenship status and national origin.”

The department’s investigation determined that UPS discriminated against a newly hired lawful permanent resident in Jacksonville, Florida, by asking him for his Permanent Resident Card and “work visa,” to prove his permission to work, even though he had already shown his driver’s license and unrestricted social security card, which were sufficient proof. UPS asked for the additional documents after getting a data entry error notification from the propriety software program the company uses to access E-Verify and verify workers’ permission to work. When UPS received the notification, the company asked the worker for additional documents instead of checking for a simple data entry error, as the company did when it received such notices for U.S. citizen workers.

The INA’s anti-discrimination provision prohibits employers from asking for unnecessary documents — or specifying the type of documentation a worker should present — to prove their permission to work, because of a worker’s citizenship, immigration status or national origin.  Under the settlement, UPS will pay a civil penalty, train employees about how to properly handle notices about data entry errors, and be subject to department monitoring.

The Civil Rights Division’s Immigrant and Employee Rights Section (IER) is responsible for enforcing the anti-discrimination provision of the INA. The statute prohibits citizenship or immigration status and national origin discrimination in hiring, firing or recruitment or referral for a fee; unfair documentary practices; and retaliation and intimidation.  

Learn more about IER’s work and how to get assistance through this brief video. Job applicants or employees who believe they were discriminated against based on their citizenship, immigration status or national origin in hiring, firing, recruitment or during the employment eligibility verification process (Form I-9 and E-Verify); or subjected to retaliation, can file a charge. The public also can contact IER’s worker hotline at 1-800-255-7688; call IER’s employer hotline at 1-800-255-8155 (1-800-237-2515, TTY for hearing impaired); email IER@usdoj.gov; sign up for a free webinar; or visit IER’s English and Spanish websites. Subscribe to GovDelivery to receive updates from IER. 

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The Justice Department filed an amended complaint today in the U.S. District Court for the District of Arizona to add American Vision Partners (AVP) as a co-defendant in the department’s lawsuit against Barnet Dulaney Perkins Eye Center (BDP). The amended complaint alleges that AVP and BDP discriminate against patients who, because of their disabilities, need assistance transferring from their wheelchairs for eye surgery.

AVP provides management, training, policies and guidance, staff, infrastructure and technology to BDP and other eye care medical practices with nearly 80 facilities in Arizona, New Mexico, Nevada and Texas including: Southwestern Eye Center, M & M Eye Institute, Retinol Consultants of Arizona, Abrams Eye Institute, Southwest Eye Institute, Aiello Eye Institute, Havasu Eye Center, Visage Aesthetics and Plastic Surgery and Moretsky Cassidy Vision Correction.

In its original complaint, the department alleged that BDP required patients with disabilities who need transfer assistance to use and pay for third party medical transport and transfer assistance as a condition of surgery, in violation of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). The amended complaint adds allegations that AVP and BDP have also denied eye surgery outright to patients who need transfer assistance. The United States alleges that this discriminatory practice delays needed medical care and results in significant harms to individuals who need eye surgery, including continued eye pain, vision loss and a loss of independence.

“No one should be refused healthcare services simply because they need help transferring from a wheelchair to a surgery table,” said Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division. “Denial of needed surgery based on unfounded assumptions and stereotypes about disability violates the ADA and devalues the lives, health, dignity and independence of individuals with disabilities.”

The department is asking the court to stop AVP and BDP from discriminating against individuals with disabilities, including by adopting non-discriminatory polices related to transfer assistance and training its staff to provide patients with wheelchairs transfer assistance. The department also seeks money damages for those people who were harmed by AVP’s and BDP’s discriminatory policies and practices, including those who were denied medical services and those who were forced to pay for third-party transfer assistance in order to get surgery services.  

In addition to BDP, AVP partner practices include Southwestern Eye Center, M & M Eye Institute, Retinol Consultants of Arizona, Abrams Eye Institute, Southwest Eye Institute, Aiello Eye Institute, Havasu Eye Center, Visage Aesthetics and Plastic Surgery and Moretsky Cassidy Vision Correction. If you believe that you or someone you know was denied medical services by an AVP partner practice or BDP because of needed transfer assistance or was required to pay for third-party medical personnel to provide transfer assistance or transportation at an AVP partner practice or BDP, please contact 1-866-380-2003 (toll-free), or send an email to BDPEyeCenter@usdoj.gov. For more information on the ADA, please call the Department’s toll-free ADA Information Line at 1-800-514-0301 (TDD 800-514-0383) or visit www.ada.gov. For more information on the Civil Rights Division, please visit www.justice.gov/crt.

Two Indiana men have pleaded guilty to federal crimes for their roles in paying and receiving secret political contributions through a middleman.

Today, a former Indianapolis-based casino executive pleaded guilty to causing false statements on the casino’s corporate tax return by concealing contributions to a local political party as deductible business expenses. Additionally, a 2016 candidate for U.S. Congress, charged in the same indictment, pleaded guilty last week to making and receiving illegal conduit contributions through sham donors and making false statements to the FBI.

According to court documents, John Keeler, 72, of Indianapolis, former vice president and general counsel of gaming company New Centaur LLC, funneled $41,000 in New Centaur corporate funds to Maryland-based political consultant Kelley Rogers and an entity under his control for the purpose of contributing the funds to the Greater Indianapolis Republican Finance Committee to benefit the Marion County Republican Central Committee. Keeler then caused New Centaur to falsely report the political contribution to the IRS as a deductible business expense.  

In addition, Darryl Brent Waltz, 48, of Greenwood, a former Indiana State Senator and 2016 candidate for U.S. Congress, pleaded guilty last week to funneling $40,500 in illegal conduit contributions to his 2016 congressional campaign. Waltz and Rogers directed corporate funds from New Centaur into the Brent Waltz for Congress campaign through several straw contributors and through Waltz himself. Waltz also lied to and misled federal authorities who were investigating the illegal contributions.

Both defendants are scheduled to be sentenced at a later date. Waltz faces up to 10 years in prison and Keeler faces up to three years in prison. A federal district court judge will determine any sentence after considering the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.

FBI and IRS-Criminal Investigation investigated the cases.

Assistant Attorney General Kenneth A. Polite, Jr. of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division, U.S. Attorney Zachary A. Myers for the Southern District of Indiana, Assistant Director Luis Quesada of the FBI’s Criminal Investigative Division, Assistant Director in Charge Steven D’Antuono of the of the FBI’s Washington Field Office, and Special Agent in Charge Justin Campbell of IRS-Criminal Investigation Chicago Field Office made the announcement.

Trial Attorneys William J. Gullotta and John P. Taddei of the Criminal Division’s Public Integrity Section and Senior Litigation Counsel Bradley P. Shepard for the Southern District of Indiana are prosecuting the cases.

A superseding indictment was unsealed today in the Southern District of Iowa charging the former Chief Financial Officer (CFO) of publicly traded reinsurance company, IRB Brasil Resseguros SA, aka IRB Brasil RE (IRB), for fraudulently propping up its stock price by spreading false information that U.S. investment firm Berkshire Hathaway Inc. had invested in IRB.

According to court documents, Fernando Passos, 39, of Brazil, allegedly executed the fraud scheme beginning in February 2020, after an investment company published a report questioning the accuracy of IRB’s financial statements and announcing that the investment company had taken a short position against IRB’s stock. IRB’s stock price dropped in the wake of the report. In response, Passos allegedly developed and executed a scheme to mislead shareholders and the investing public by disseminating and causing to be disseminated materially false information that Berkshire Hathaway had invested in IRB, despite knowing the U.S. investment firm had not made such an investment. Passos discussed his plans to spread this materially false information with IRB investor relations employees. In one text message described in the indictment, Passos stated, “I will spread this story that berk [i.e., Berkshire Hathaway] bought 28MM of shares,” and added, “then it becomes true.”  

As part of the fraud scheme, the superseding indictment alleges, Passos falsified documents and information to support his claims that Berkshire Hathaway was an IRB shareholder and caused this information to be provided to members of the press, several of IRB’s directors, and IRB investors. News outlets in both Brazil and the United States began incorrectly reporting that Berkshire Hathaway had invested in IRB. Following the news coverage, on the evening of March 3, 2020, Berkshire Hathaway issued a press release stating that it was not currently, had never been, and had no intention of becoming a shareholder in IRB. On March 4, 2020, after Berkshire Hathaway’s press release, IRB’s stock price dropped, causing significant shareholder losses.  

IRB, which is based in Brazil, trades on Brazil’s B3 exchange and has shareholders around the world, including in the United States.

Passos is charged with one count of securities fraud and three counts of wire fraud. If convicted, he faces up to 20 years in prison on each count. A federal district court judge will determine any sentence after considering the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors. He remains at large.

Assistant Attorney General Kenneth A. Polite, Jr. of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division and Inspector in Charge Eric Shen of the U.S. Postal Inspection Service’s Criminal Investigations Group made the announcement.

The U.S. Postal Inspection Service is investigating the case.

Trial Attorney Kate McCarthy of the Criminal Division’s Fraud Section is prosecuting the case. 

The Fraud Section uses the Victim Notification System (VNS) to provide victims with case information and updates related to this case. Victims with questions may contact the Fraud Section’s Victim Assistance Unit by calling the Victim Assistance phone line at 1-888-549-3945 or by emailing Victimassistance.fraud@usdoj.gov. To learn more about victims’ rights, please visit: https://www.justice.gov/criminal-vns/victim-rights-derechos-de-las-v-ctimas. If you believe you are a victim of the conduct described in the Passos indictment, please visit https://www.justice.gov/criminal-vns/case/Passos.

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 llegado a un acuerdo con United Parcel Service Inc. (UPS). El acuerdo resuelve las acusaciones del Departamento de que UPS vulneró la ley de Inmigración y Nacionalidad («INA», por sus siglas en inglés) cuando discriminó a un no ciudadano de los EE. UU. al pedir que presentara documentos adicionales para demostrar su permiso para trabajar después de que el trabajador ya había presentado suficientes pruebas.

 

«En el momento de comprobar el permiso de un individuo para trabajar, los empleadores no pueden pedir documentos adicionales más allá de los necesarios con base en el estatus de ciudadanía de un trabajador», afirmó Kristen Clarke, la Fiscal General Auxiliar de la División de Derechos Civiles del Departamento de Justicia. «La División de Derechos Civiles está comprometida a proteger a los trabajadores de solicitudes innecesarias de documentos con base en su estatus de ciudadanía o nacionalidad de origen».

 

La investigación del Departamento determinó que UPS discriminó a un residente permanente legal recién contratado en Jacksonville, Florida al pedir que presentara su tarjeta de residente permanente y «visa laboral» para demostrar que tenía permiso para trabajar, a pesar de que ya había presentado su carnet de conducir y tarjeta de seguro social sin restricciones, los que constituyen pruebas suficientes. UPS pidió los documentos adicionales después de recibir una notificación de error de introducción de datos del programa de software propio que la compañía usa para acceder a E-Verify y verificar el permiso de trabajadores para trabajar. Cuando UPS recibió la notificación, la compañía pidió al trabajador documentos adicionales en vez de comprobar si había un error sencillo en la introducción de datos, tal y como la compañía hacía cuando recibía tales notificaciones para trabajadores ciudadanos de los EE. UU.

 

La disposición antidiscriminatoria de la INA prohíbe que los empleadores pidan documentos innecesarios –o que especifiquen el tipo de documentación que un trabajador debe presentar– para demostrar su permiso para trabajar, debido a la ciudadanía, estatus migratorio o nacionalidad de origen del trabajador. Conforme la conciliación, UPS pagará una sanción civil, capacitará a sus empleadores en cuanto a la gestión adecuada de notificaciones de errores en la introducción de datos y se someterá a la supervisión por parte del Departamento.

 

La Sección de Derechos de Inmigrantes y Empleados de la División de Derechos Civiles es responsable de hacer cumplir la disposición antidiscriminatoria de la INA. La ley prohíbe la discriminación por motivos de estatus migratorio o de ciudadanía o bien por la nacionalidad de origen en los procesos de contratación, despido o reclutamiento o recomendación por comisión; prácticas documentales injustas; y represalias e intimidación.    

 

Aquellos solicitantes de trabajo o empleados que creen haber sido discriminados por motivos de su estatus migratorio, ciudadanía o nacionalidad de origen en los procesos de contratación, despido, reclutamiento o durante el proceso de verificación de la elegibilidad para trabajar (Formulario I-9 e E-Verify) o sujetos a represalias pueden presentar una denuncia. El público también puede llamar a la línea directa de la IER para trabajadores al 1-800-255-7688; llamar a la línea directa de la IER para empleadores al 1-800-255-8155 (1-800-237-2515, TTY para personas con discapacidades auditivas); enviar un correo electrónico a IER@usdoj.gov; inscribirse a un seminario en línea gratuito; o visitar la página web de la IER en inglés o español. Para recibir las últimas noticias de la IER, inscríbase a GovDelivery. 

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The Justice Department today filed a lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia alleging that Steve’s Towing Inc. in Virginia Beach, Virginia, violated the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act (SCRA) by failing to obtain court orders before auctioning off vehicles belonging to at least seven SCRA-protected servicemembers, including two vehicles belonging to a member of a Navy Seal team who was deployed overseas. The SCRA, which provides a variety of financial and housing protections to members of the military, prohibits towing companies from auctioning off servicemembers’ vehicles without a court order.    

Federal law requires towing companies to determine whether a vehicle in their possession belongs to a servicemember. The complaint alleges that several facts should have put Steve’s Towing on notice that the Navy Seal’s vehicles belonged to a servicemember, including that the vehicles were towed from a military base and one contained a duffel bag filled with military uniforms.  

“The flagrant disregard of a law designed to protect the rights of those in military service will not be tolerated,” said Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division. “The Department of Justice is taking action to ensure that all servicemembers harmed by unscrupulous actions receive just compensation. We must put an end to unlawful business practices that bring harm and distress to those selflessly serving in our armed forces.”

In addition to seeking damages for the Navy Seal and the other affected servicemembers, the Justice Department is requesting a court order preventing Steve’s Towing from illegally auctioning off servicemembers’ vehicles in the future. The lawsuit also seeks a civil penalty.

This lawsuit is the result of a coordinated effort between the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Virginia. The complaint contains allegations only; there has been no determination of civil liability.

Servicemembers and their dependents who believe their SCRA rights have been violated should contact the nearest Armed Forces Legal Assistance Program Office. Office locations may be found at http://legalassistance.law.af.mil/. The department’s enforcement of the SCRA is conducted by the Civil Rights Division’s Housing and Civil Enforcement Section and U.S. Attorney’s Offices throughout the country. Since 2011, the department has obtained over $476 million in monetary relief for over 121,000 servicemembers through its enforcement of the SCRA. Additional information on the Justice Department’s enforcement of the SCRA and other laws protecting servicemembers is available at www.servicemembers.gov.

A federal jury in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, convicted a former Kay County Oklahoma supervisory corrections officer of violating the civil rights of three pretrial detainees held at the Kay County Detention Center (KCDC). Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke for the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division and U.S. Attorney Robert Troester of the Western District of Oklahoma made the announcement.

The jury convicted Matthew Ware, 53, of willfully depriving two pretrial detainees of their right to be free from a corrections officer’s deliberate indifference to a substantial risk of serious harm and of willfully depriving a third pretrial detainee of the right to be free from a corrections officer’s use of excessive force.

“This high-ranking corrections official had a duty to ensure that the civil rights of pretrial detainees in his custody were not violated,” said Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division. “The defendant abused his power and authority by ordering subordinate corrections officers to violate the constitutional rights of several pretrial detainees. The Civil Rights Division will continue to hold corrections officials accountable when they violate the civil rights of detainees and inmates.”

“Criminal conduct by any corrections employee violates the public trust and unfairly tarnishes the reputation of all corrections officials who honorably perform their important work each day,” said U.S. Attorney Robert J. Troester for the Western District of Oklahoma. “This verdict demonstrates our continuing commitment to protect the civil rights of all Oklahomans, including those in custody. I commend the outstanding work of Assistant U.S. Attorney Julia Barry and Trial Attorney Laura Gilson, who vigorously prosecuted this case, and the FBI Special Agents and other law enforcement officials who conducted this investigation.”

“The preservation of civil rights and the investigation of color of law violations are of utmost priority for the FBI,” said Special Agent in Charge Ed Gray of the FBI Oklahoma City Field Office. “If we don’t hold our very own law enforcement officials accountable, those sworn to protect and serve, what hope will the American people have? Mr. Ware’s actions were impermissible and undignified, particularly given his leadership role. His conviction is a prompt reminder that no one is above the law.”

The evidence and testimony revealed that, on May 18, 2017, while Ware served as the Lieutenant of the KCDC, he ordered lower-ranking corrections officers to move two Black pretrial detainees, D’Angelo Wilson and Marcus Miller, to a cell row housing white supremacist inmates whom Ware knew posed a danger to Wilson and Miller. Later that same day, Ware gave lower-ranking officers a second order: to unlock the jail cells of Wilson and Miller, and those other white supremacist inmates at the same time the following morning. When Ware’s orders were followed, the white supremacist inmates attacked Wilson and Miller, resulting in physical injury to both, including a facial laceration to Wilson that required seven stitches to close.

The evidence and testimony also revealed that, on Jan. 31, 2018, while Ware served as the Acting Captain of the KCDC, he ordered lower-ranking corrections officer to restrain another pretrial detainee, Christopher Davis, in a stretched-out position — with Davis’ left wrist restrained to the far-left side of the bench and his right wrist restrained to the far-right side of the bench — in retaliation for Davis sending Ware a note that criticized how Ware ran the KCDC. Davis was left restrained in this position for 90 minutes, resulting in physical injury.

Ware faces a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison, three years of supervised release and a fine of up to $ 250,000 for each violation. Sentencing will take place in approximately 90 days.

The case was investigated by the Oklahoma City FBI Field Office. Assistant U.S. Attorney Julia Barry of the Western District of Oklahoma and Trial Attorney Laura Gilson of the Civil Rights Division prosecuted the case.

A former trader at a global financial institution pleaded guilty yesterday to manipulating U.S. Treasury securities prices.

According to court documents, Tyler Forbes, 27, of Manlius, New York, was employed as a trader on the U.S. Treasuries desk of a global financial institution. From approximately January to June 2019, Forbes engaged in an unlawful “spoofing” scheme to manipulate the price of certain U.S. Treasury securities traded in the secondary (or “cash”) market — predominantly two and three-year U.S. Treasury notes, as well as 10-year U.S. Treasury notes. Forbes’s spoofing strategy involved electronically placing large, non-bona fide “spoof orders” that he intended to cancel prior to execution on one side of the market, while simultaneously entering smaller, genuine orders that he intended to execute on the opposite side of the market. Many of Forbes’s genuine orders were “iceberg” orders, meaning that only a portion of the order’s full size was visible to other market participants at any given time, whereas all of Forbes’s spoof orders were fully displayed. The purpose of Forbes’s “spoof orders” was to create a false appearance of market depth and activity in order to mislead other traders, and to artificially raise or depress the prevailing market price so that Forbes could execute his genuine orders more easily or more profitably. 

Forbes pleaded guilty to one count of manipulation of security prices. He is scheduled to be sentenced on July 28 in the Eastern District of New York and faces a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison. 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 and Assistant Director Luis Quesada of the FBI’s Criminal Investigative Division made the announcement.

The FBI investigated the case.

Deputy Chief Avi Perry and Trial Attorney Sara Hallmark of the Criminal Division’s Fraud Section are prosecuting the case.

A federal jury convicted a California man today of misappropriating hundreds of thousands of dollars in forgivable Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loans guaranteed by the Small Business Administration (SBA) under the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security (CARES) Act. 

According to evidence presented at trial, Oumar Sissoko, 59, whose last known residence was in Temecula, submitted a PPP loan application on behalf of his company, Road Doctor California LLC, and obtained $7.25 million. The loan application certified that the funds would be used to retain workers and maintain payroll or make mortgage-interest payments, lease payments, and utility payments. In early May 2020, Sissoko misappropriated hundreds of thousands of dollars of the PPP loan proceeds to use for impermissible purposes, including the purchase of a luxury car for more than $100,000, the satisfaction of a loan made to Sissoko in connection with his prior acquisition of a different luxury car, and the purchase of a computer for almost $6,000. Sissoko also attempted to transmit approximately $150,000 to accounts in Mauritania associated with a different company for which Sissoko purported to serve as CEO.

Sissoko was convicted of four counts of wire fraud. He is scheduled to be sentenced on July 18 and faces up to 20 years in prison for each count of conviction. 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 Tracy L. Wilkison for the Central District of California; Assistant Director Luis Quesada of the FBI’s Criminal Investigative Division; Assistant Director in Charge Kristi K. Johnson of the FBI’s Los Angeles Field Office; Special Agent in Charge Weston King of the U.S. Small Business Administration’s Office of Inspector General’s (SBA-OIG) Western Region; and Special Agent in Charge Jeffrey D. Pittano of the San Francisco Regional Office of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation’s Office of Inspector General (FDIC-OIG) made the announcement.

The FBI, SBA-OIG, and FDIC-OIG investigated the case.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Carolyn Small for the Central District of California and Trial Attorney Jason Covert of the Criminal Division’s Fraud Section prosecuted the case.

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

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

A Louisiana woman was sentenced today to one year and one day in prison for conspiring to defraud the United States and helping clients file false tax returns.

On Nov. 14, 2019, Brittany Patterson, of St. John the Baptist Parish, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to defraud the United States and aiding and assisting in the filing of false tax returns. According to court documents, Michegel Butler owned Crown Tax Service LLC, where Patterson worked as a tax return preparer. From approximately January 2013 through April 2013, Patterson, Butler and others conspired to inflate their clients’ refunds by preparing tax returns claiming false Schedule C businesses, dependents and dependent care expenses. To substantiate the false income and expenses reported on their tax returns, Patterson and the other co-conspirators directed clients to fill out fraudulent receipts. They also encouraged some clients to buy or sell the personal identification information of dependents that could be falsely reported on tax returns.

In addition to the term of imprisonment, U.S. District Judge Carl J. Barbier ordered Patterson to serve three years of supervised release and pay approximately $90,856 in restitution to the United States.

On Feb. 4, 2021, Butler was sentenced to two years in prison for his role in the conspiracy.

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 Dall Kammer of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Louisiana prosecuted the case.

A New York man was arraigned today in the Eastern District of New York on charges of tax evasion.

According to the April 8 indictment, from 2009 to 2014, David Seruya, of Brooklyn, was a shareholder of a New Jersey-based home warranty business. In 2014, Seruya allegedly entered into a buyout agreement whereby he agreed to sell his shares of stock back to the business and exit the company. In exchange for his stock shares, the home warranty company allegedly agreed to pay Seruya a total of more than $4.1 million, which included a lump sum payment and installment payments spread out over 24 months. The indictment charges that on his 2014 through 2016 tax returns, Seruya underreported income he received from the sale of his stock. Indeed, Seruya allegedly provided false and incomplete income information to his return preparer for each of those years. In total, Seruya’s tax evasion allegedly caused a loss to the IRS of more than $250,000.

If convicted, Seruya faces a maximum penalty of five years in prison for each of three counts of tax evasion. 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, U.S. Attorney Breon Peace for the Eastern District of New York and Acting Special Agent in Charge Tammy Tomlins of IRS-Criminal Investigation Newark Field Office made the announcement.

IRS-Criminal Investigation is investigating the case.

Trial Attorney Shawn Noud of the Tax Division and Special Assistant U.S. Attorney Carolyn Silane for the Eastern District of New York 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.

The Department of Justice’s Civil Rights Division and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of South Carolina today filed a complaint and settlement agreement with the South Carolina Department of Juvenile Justice to resolve its investigation of the Broad River Road Complex in Columbia, South Carolina, the long-term residential facility for children in South Carolina’s juvenile justice system. Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division and U.S. Attorney Corey Ellis for the District of South Carolina made the announcement.

The agreement resolves the department’s claims that the South Carolina Department of Juvenile Justice fails to protect children at the Broad River Road Complex from harm from staff and other children and uses prolonged isolation as punishment. 

Under the agreement, the South Carolina Department of Juvenile Justice will make changes meant to increase safety at the Broad River Road Complex. These changes include changes to staffing patterns, the development of a positive behavior management program to reduce youth-on-youth violence and increased video surveillance. The agreement also requires the Department of Juvenile Justice to limit the use of force or restraints to exceptional circumstances and improve its investigation process. 

In addition, the agreement requires the Department of Juvenile Justice to restrict the use of isolation to incidents where the child poses a serious and immediate danger to themselves or to others. Finally, the agreement appoints an independent subject matter expert to monitor the agreement and make recommendations to ensure the Department of Juvenile Justice’s compliance with the agreement.

“All children held in the custody of the state deserve safe and humane conditions, that can bring about rehabilitation and reform,” said Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke. “This comprehensive settlement agreement will protect children held in the Broad River Road Complex from harm and the damaging impact of long-term isolation. We will continue working to safeguard the civil rights of children held in detention facilities across the county.”

“The South Carolina Department of Juvenile Justice is to be commended for its commitment to reforming the state’s juvenile detention facility and protecting children in custody,” said U.S. Attorney Corey Ellis for the District of South Carolina. “Today, the state has taken an important step in rectifying the unconstitutional conditions in its juvenile correctional facilities.”

The Civil Rights Division’s Special Litigation Section and the United States Attorney’s Office for the District of South Carolina initiated the investigation in October 2017. Today, the department provided written notice of the facts supporting its conclusion that employees at the Broad River Road Complex engage in a pattern of excessive force that harms children and violates their constitutional rights. In February 2020, the department also sent the Department of Juvenile Justice notice of its conclusions that it fails to protect children from harm from other children and engages in punitive, prolonged isolation. The agreement addresses both reports.

The Justice Department filed the complaint pursuant to provisions of 34 U.S.C. § 12601 covering “the incarceration of juveniles.” In addition, the Justice Department and South Carolina filed a joint motion requesting that the court retain jurisdiction to enforce the settlement agreement, if necessary.

The Civil Rights Division is committed to safeguarding the rights of children held in secure facilities across the country. For example, the division recently opened a statewide investigation of Texas’s secure juvenile facilities to examine whether Texas provides children confined in the facilities with adequate mental health care, reasonable protection from physical and sexual abuse by staff and other residents, and reasonable protection from excessive use of chemical restraints and isolation. In Connecticut, the division recently issued a report finding that the Manson Youth Institution’s isolation practices, inadequate mental health services and inadequate special education services violate children’s constitutional and federal rights. 

The department encourages individuals who wish to share information about the Broad River Road Complex to contact the department at (844) 380-6166 or via email at scjuvenile.justice@usdoj.gov. The Civil Rights Division also has a Civil Rights Portal, where people can report when their civil rights have been violated, which is available at https://civilrights.justice.gov/. Additional information about the Civil Rights Division of the Justice Department is available on its website at www.justice.gov/crt.

The Department of Justice today released its Equity Action Plan, in accordance with President Biden’s Executive Order on Advancing Racial Equity and Support for Underserved Communities Through the Federal Government.

The Justice Department’s mission is to ensure equal justice under law. The Equity Action Plan builds on this mission by utilizing resources across the Department to advance equity for underserved communities nationwide. The Equity Action Plan focuses on prioritizing equity and increasing opportunity in five key areas: federal financial assistance, access to grants, language access, stakeholder engagement, and contracting and procurement.

Underserved communities, especially communities of color, experience higher rates of violent crime, especially hate crimes and gun violence, which have devastating effects on victims, their families, and their communities. Such violence affects Black youth, men, and women and other communities of color at disproportionate rates, and is highest in racially segregated, high poverty neighborhoods. The Department has dedicated substantial resources to combating violent crime and gun violence through both vigorous law enforcement efforts and significant investments in evidence-based community programs, such as community-based violence intervention, that can help disrupt violence and strengthen communities. The Equity Action Plan will use cross-departmental resources to aid communities that have experienced inequity, disparity, grief, and adversity, often attributed to violent crime.

“Improving access to Justice Department programs and services is critical to ensuring equal justice under law and promoting public safety,” said Attorney General Merrick B. Garland. “The Department’s Equity Action Plan is designed to increase equity, opportunity, and resources to our most vulnerable communities.”

In order to address the key areas established in the Equity Action Plan, the Department has identified the following action items:

1. Leverage federal funds provided by the Department to (a) encourage grantees to include equity considerations in the provision of federally funded services, (b) enhance data collection to identify and take action to address disparities in access to the Department’s programs or services based on demographic factors, and (c) better ensure that grantees are complying with non-discrimination mandates;
2. Improve access to funding opportunities for organizations that are led by, or primarily serve, historically marginalized and underserved populations;
3. Reduce language barriers that make it difficult for individuals with limited English proficiency to access Department programs or activities, communicate public safety concerns, or vindicate their rights;
4. Improve the Department’s engagement with stakeholders in underserved communities and disadvantaged groups in order to establish enduring relationships with them and enhance the public’s awareness of the Department’s expansive mission and resources; and
5. Increase opportunities for small businesses located in Historically Underutilized Business Zones to secure Department contracts.

Since Jan. 20, 2021, the Department has taken many steps to advance equity for marginalized communities, including by combating hate crimes and hate incidents, revitalizing the Community Relations Service, re-establishing the Office for Access to Justice, ensuring non-discrimination in federal grants, expanding language access, and reforming law enforcement practices. The Department’s Equity Action Plan will build on these ongoing efforts.

Today, a Texas man was convicted of obstructing a Federal Trade Commission (FTC) investigation, following an eight-day trial in the Eastern District of Texas.

“Lying to federal agencies is a crime, plain and simple,” said Assistant Attorney General Jonathan Kanter of the Justice Department’s Antitrust Division. “And, as the court’s rulings in this case make clear, so is wage fixing. When obstruction affects the federal government’s investigations into labor market collusion and impedes our ability to protect workers, we will use all the tools available to prosecute all of these crimes to the full extent of the law.”

“Wage fixing causes tremendous harm to countless hardworking Americans,” said Assistant Director Luis Quesada of the FBI’s Criminal Investigative Division. “The FBI will continue to work closely with our law enforcement partners to uncover this type of corruption and bring to justice anyone who is responsible or who obstructs our investigations into this conduct.” 

Evidence introduced at trial showed that Neeraj Jindal obstructed an FTC investigation in 2017 into an alleged illegal agreement to fix rates paid to therapists for treating home health agency patients in the Dallas/Fort Worth, Texas, area. At the time, Jindal was the owner of a Texas-based therapist staffing company providing in-home physical therapy services.  

The obstruction offense carries a statutory maximum penalty of five years imprisonment and a $250,000 fine. A federal district court judge will determine any sentence after considering the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.

Jindal was found not guilty on two other counts charged in the same indictment. John Rodgers, his co-defendant, was found not guilty on the three charges against him included in the indictment.

In November 2021, in denying a motion to dismiss, the court held that “price-fixing agreements — even among buyers in the labor market — have been per se illegal for years.” The court observed: “When the price of labor is lowered, or wages are suppressed, fewer people take jobs, which always or almost always tends to restrict competition and decrease output.” (internal citations omitted).

The Antitrust Division’s Washington Criminal I Section prosecuted the case, which was investigated with the FBI’s International Corruption Unit, with support from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Texas.

The charges in this case were brought in connection with the Antitrust Division’s ongoing commitment to prosecute anticompetitive conduct affecting American labor markets. Anyone with information on market allocation or price fixing by employers should contact the Antitrust Division’s Citizen Complaint Center at 1-888-647-3258 or visit www.justice.gov/atr/contact/newcase.html.

A New York woman was sentenced today to 78 months in prison for defrauding health care programs, including more than $6.5 million from Medicare Part D plans and Medicaid drug plans.

According to court documents, Aleah Mohammed, 37, of Queens, pleaded guilty to one count of mail fraud, one count of health care fraud, and one count of conspiracy to commit health care fraud.

According to court documents, Mohammed was an owner and operator of five pharmacies: Superdrugs Inc., Superdrugs I Inc., Superdrugs II Inc., S&A Superdrugs II Inc. and Village Stardrugs Inc. Between 2015 and 2020, Mohammed used these pharmacies to defraud health care programs, including Medicare and Medicaid, by submitting claims for prescription drugs that were not dispensed, not prescribed as claimed, not medically necessary, or that were purportedly dispensed during a time when the pharmacy was no longer registered with the State of New York. The fraudulent claims included claims for expensive prescription drugs for the treatment of the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). Mohammed used proceeds of the scheme to purchase herself luxury items, such as jewelry and a Porsche.  

Assistant Attorney General Kenneth A. Polite, Jr. of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division; U.S. Attorney Breon Peace for the Eastern District of New York; Special Agent in Charge Scott J. Lampert of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General’s (HHS-OIG) Office of Investigations; Assistant Director Luis Quesada of the FBI's Criminal Investigative Division; and Assistant Director-in-Charge Michael J. Driscoll of the FBI’s New York Field Office made the announcement. 

HHS-OIG and the FBI investigated the case.

Trial Attorneys Andrew Estes and Patrick J. Campbell of the Criminal Division’s Fraud Section prosecuted the case.

A federal grand jury in Flint, Michigan, returned an indictment today charging Michael Angelo (Angelo), Hassan Kamal Fayad, Mirna Kamal Fayad, Cory Justin Mann, Thomas Reed Quartz and Rosina Angelo with conspiring to defraud the IRS and other crimes.

According to the indictment, from approximately 2011 to 2022, Angelo owned and operated a network of corporate entities that provided medical, legal and transportation services to automobile crash victims. To disguise his ownership of the entities, Angelo allegedly designated nominee owners over some of the entities. Hassan Kamal Fayad, Mirna Kamal Fayad, Mann, Quartz, Rosina Angelo and others allegedly helped Angelo operate the entities.

The indictment alleges that certain other individuals had access to Michigan traffic crash reports that were obtained through both lawful and unlawful means. Angelo allegedly directed these individuals to contact crash victims and offer them services provided by Angelo’s network of entities. The network of entities allegedly earned millions of dollars in revenues during the years Angelo owned and operated them, but Angelo did not report all of this income to the IRS. To conceal income earned by the entities, Angelo and his co-conspirators allegedly directed payments the entities received to bank accounts he owned and controlled. The indictment alleges Angelo used some of the funds to pay his personal expenses.

In addition to defrauding the IRS, Angelo, Hassan Kamal Fayad and Mann also allegedly defrauded third-party finance companies that had purchased the right to payments from some crash victims who had received services from entities they owned. According to the indictment, Angelo, Hassan Kamal Fayad and Mann sold to these finance companies the rights to certain payments due for invoices issued to patients and clients that actually had already been paid or settled. The three defendants then allegedly concealed some of this income from the IRS to avoid paying taxes on this income.

All six defendants are charged with one or more counts of conspiring to defraud the IRS. If convicted, each faces a maximum of five years in prison for each such count. In addition, if convicted: Angelo faces a maximum of 20 years in prison for each of five counts of wire fraud and a maximum of five years on each of two counts of tax evasion; Hasan Kamal Fayad faces a maximum of 20 years in prison for each of 13 counts of wire fraud and a mandatory minimum of two years in prison for one count of aggravated identity theft; and Mann faces a maximum of 20 years in prison for each of three counts of wire fraud. 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.

The FBI and IRS-Criminal Investigation division are investigating the case.

Trial Attorneys Mark McDonald and Christopher P. O’Donnell of the Justice Department’s Tax 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.

An Ohio man pleaded guilty to wire fraud for operating a scheme where he solicited payment in exchange for purported hunting leases he had no rights to sell.

According to court documents, throughout 2019, Nathanal L. Knox, 30, of Ohio, operated a scheme where he placed online advertisements for hunting leases supposedly available on several parcels of land in Ohio. The defendant in fact had no rights to sell leases to the properties in question. He placed the advertisements on at least 38 different Facebook pages, including “Hunt Florida,” “Ohio Hunting Lease,” “Bow Hunting PA,” and “Alabama Deer Hunters.”

In these advertisements, the defendant solicited payment in exchange for purported hunting leases. The prices charged ranged from $400 to $5,000. The defendant requested payment from prospective clients be made through PayPal, Walmart 2 Walmart, Money Gram, Western Union and Venmo. When individuals inquired further about the purported leases, the defendant would provide pictures of mature bucks that he falsely claimed had been harvested by former clients on the parcels in question. After receiving initial payments, the defendant would send contracts and instructions via email.

The defendant was arrested on Sept. 30, 2019, by the Fayette County Sheriff’s Office while attempting to collect the second half of a $5,000 fee owed by two victims from Florida. The victims had travelled to the supposed lease site to scout the area, and been confronted by the landowner, at which point they learned they had been defrauded. They then contacted the Sheriff’s office and set up the meeting with the defendant, at which point he was arrested. During this time, the Ohio Department of Natural Resources, Division of Wildlife had received multiple complaints from landowners as well. Upon receiving the complaints, investigators obtained a copy of the initial sheriff’s report and began searching for the remaining victims through social media posts.

The investigation, carried out by the Ohio Department of Natural Resources, Division of Wildlife, in cooperation with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, involved search warrants on social media accounts, subpoenas on payment facilitators, interviews of victims, and interviews of the target and related subjects. In total, the defendant solicited payment from at least 68 different individuals, all of whom resided outside of Ohio. At least 59 of these individuals sent initial payments to the defendant, totaling over $34,000.

“The Department of Justice prosecutes fraud in many forms,” said Assistant Attorney General Todd Kim of the Justice Department’s Environment and Natural Resources Division. “The defendant’s scheme not only cheated dozens of innocent people, but also put landowners and hunters in harm’s way. The Department is grateful to its law enforcement partners for stopping Knox before anyone was injured.”

“Unfortunately, individuals can find themselves being victimized in so many different ways,” said U.S. Attorney Kenneth L. Parker for the Southern District of Ohio. “In this case, it was a fraudulent hunting lease scheme, which we shut down to ensure no other persons were taken advantage of by Knox. The 59 persons who sent an initial payment to this defendant are 59 victims too many.”

“Protecting sustainable hunting of America's wildlife resources is bedrock to our mission in the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service,” said Assistant Director Edward Grace of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Office of Law Enforcement. “Investigating those who prey on individuals attempting to hunt lawfully by defrauding them is our trusted responsibility to the American people.”

“We value our landowners and work hard to protect their interests as well as the interests of hunters. This case shows the results of that work,” said Kendra Wecker, Chief of the Ohio Department of Natural Resources, Division of Wildlife. “If you witness a wildlife violation in Ohio, we encourage you to call 1-800-WILDLIFE. Reports are kept anonymous, and you will be doing a great service to protect Ohio’s wildlife resources.”

Knox pleaded guilty to wire fraud. He is scheduled to be sentenced in the coming months and faces a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison. A federal district court judge will determine any sentence after considering the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.

The Ohio Department of Natural Resources, Division of Wildlife, in cooperation with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service are investigating the case.

Trial Attorney Adam Cullman of the Justice Department’s Environment and Natural Resources Division, Environmental Crimes Section; Special Assistant U.S. Attorney, J. Michael Marous for the Southern District of Ohio; and Assistant Attorney General Sally Smetzer Montell of Ohio are prosecuting the case.