Month: November 2021

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Security News in Brief: Eight Individuals Indicted and Arrested for Unemployment Benefits and Pandemic Unemployment Assistance (PUA) Fraud

Source: United States Department of Justice News

SAN JUAN, P.R. – On October 27 and 28, 2021, the Federal Grand Jury in the District of Puerto Rico returned six separate indictments charging eight (8) individuals with fraud against the Unemployment Insurance and Pandemic Unemployment Assistance Program, announced W. Stephen Muldrow, U.S. Attorney for the District of Puerto Rico. These cases were investigated by various federal agencies, including the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), the United States Postal Inspection Service (USPIS), the United States Department of Labor Office of Inspector General (USDOL-OIG), and the Social Security Office of Inspector General (SSA-OIG), with the assistance of local law enforcement officials from the Puerto Rico Police Bureau (PRPB), the Puerto Rico Department of Labor and Human Resources, and the Puerto Rico Department of Treasury (Hacienda).

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Security News in Brief: Mississippi Podiatrist Charged for Alleged Foot Bath Scheme

Source: United States Department of Justice News

A federal grand jury in Oxford, Mississippi, returned an indictment on Oct. 27 that was unsealed today, charging a Mississippi podiatrist with a scheme to defraud health care benefit programs, including Medicare, by prescribing and dispensing medically unnecessary medications and ordering medically unnecessary testing, including in exchange for kickbacks and bribes.

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Security News in Brief: Convictions for the President, Secretary, and an Associate of theWeight Loss Company BAJA PESO YA INC.

Source: United States Department of Justice News

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico – Michelle Andujar-González, the president of BAJA PESO YA INC., Sahen L. Maldonado-López, the secretary, and María de Lourdes Irizarry-Rodríguez, an associate of the company, were charged and pled guilty on November 2, 2021, to participating in a mail fraud conspiracy to illegally sell weight loss products. The defendants marketed, sold, and delivered through the mail what they described as dietary supplements for weight loss but were in fact misbranded drugs containing ingredients that were not declared on the products’ labeling. W. Stephen Muldrow, United States Attorney for the District of Puerto Rico, and Justin C. Fielder, Special Agent in Charge of the FDA, Office of Criminal Investigations Miami Field Office, announced the convictions of the defendants for their role in the scheme. Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) and the United States Postal Inspection Service (USPIS) collaborated during the investigation.