Month: April 2022

A member of the Oath Keepers pleaded guilty today to seditious conspiracy and obstruction of an official proceeding for his actions before, during and after the breach of the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. His and others’ actions disrupted a joint session of the U.S. Congress convened to ascertain and count the electoral votes related to the presidential election.

Brian Ulrich, 44, of Guyton, Georgia, pleaded guilty to seditious conspiracy in connection with the Capitol breach. As part of the plea agreement, Ulrich has agreed to cooperate with the government’s ongoing investigation.

Ulrich is the second Oath Keepers member to plead guilty to seditious conspiracy and obstruction charges. Joshua James, 34, of Arab, Alabama, pleaded guilty on March 2, 2022.

As described in court documents, Ulrich was a member of the Georgia chapter of the Oath Keepers. The Oath Keepers are a large but loosely organized collection of individuals, some of whom are associated with militias. Though the Oath Keepers will accept anyone as a member, they explicitly focus on recruiting current and former military, law enforcement and first-responder personnel.

In his guilty plea, Ulrich admitted that, from November 2020 through January 2021, he conspired with other Oath Keepers members and affiliates to use force to prevent, hinder and delay the execution of the laws of the United States governing the transfer of presidential power. He and others used encrypted and private communications, equipped themselves with a variety of weapons, donned combat and tactical gear, and were prepared to use force to stop the transfer of power.

In the weeks leading to Jan. 6, 2021, Ulrich and others used an application called “Signal” to prepare for the actions that would take place that day. Ulrich encouraged others in a group called “Oath Keepers of Georgia” to join him in Washington. In one chat, on Dec. 5, 2020, he messaged the group, “I seriously wonder what it would take just to get ever patriot marching around the capital armed? Just to show our government how powerless they are!” On Dec. 11, 2020, Ulrich messaged the group chat that “Civil War” may be necessary if Joseph R. Biden became President of the United States, adding, “I made my peace with God before I joined.” Another individual later messaged, “Remember, it is not over until January 20th.” Ulrich responded, “And if there’s a Civil War then there’s a Civil War.”

Ulrich also purchased tactical gear and other items, including two-way radio receivers, a recon backpack, a tactical holster, a medical tourniquet, and a half skull motorcycle helmet. Ulrich was told by another co-conspirator that others would be available with firearms. On Jan. 4, he traveled with other Oath Keepers to the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area, staying in a downtown hotel with others.

On Jan. 6, after learning the Capitol had been breached, Ulrich and others traveled to the Capitol on golf carts, driving around multiple barricades, including marked law enforcement vehicles. Ulrich was wearing a tactical vest, radio equipment, a body-worn camera, goggles, a camouflage tactical backpack, a black neck gaiter, and an Oath Keepers hat.

He and others weaved through the restricted area in a military “stack” formation with hands on shoulders and gear. Ulrich marched in a line up the stairs on the east side of the Capitol. He entered the building at 3:22 p.m., maneuvering himself toward the entrance to the Rotunda as law enforcement officers were attempting to clear the area. After officers deployed chemical-irritant spray, Ulrich left the Capitol and gathered with other co-conspirators approximately 100 feet from the building. In the aftermath of Jan. 6, Ulrich continued to communicate with co-conspirators on Signal, including one message urging them to “stay below the radar.”

Ulrich was arrested on Aug. 9, 2021, in Guyton, Georgia. He was among 11 defendants indicted on Jan. 12, 2022, in the District of Columbia on seditious conspiracy and other charges; co-defendant Joshua James pleaded guilty, and the remaining nine defendants have pleaded not guilty, including Elmer Stewart Rhodes III, 57, the founder and leader of the Oath Keepers.

Ulrich faces up to 20 years in prison for seditious conspiracy and up to 20 years for obstruction of an official proceeding, along with potential financial penalties. No sentencing date was set. A federal district court judge will determine any sentence after considering the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.

The case is being prosecuted by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia and the Department of Justice National Security Division’s Counterterrorism Section. Valuable assistance was provided by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Georgia.

The case is being investigated by the FBI’s Washington Field Office and the FBI’s Atlanta Field Office, including its Macon, Georgia Resident Agency.

In the 15 months since Jan. 6, 2021, nearly 800 individuals have been arrested in nearly all 50 states for crimes related to the breach of the U.S. Capitol, including over 250 individuals charged with assaulting or impeding law enforcement. The investigation remains ongoing.

Anyone with tips can call 1-800-CALL-FBI (800-225-5324) or visit tips.fbi.gov.

The Justice Department’s Environment and Natural Resources Division, Environmental Crimes Section, unsealed an indictment charging a major seafood distributor and eight of its employees and associates with smuggling, Lacey Act violations and conspiracy to violate the Endangered Species Act, stemming from their trafficking in large volumes of highly imperiled eels. The defendants facing these felony charges are:

• American Eel Depot Corporation of Totowa, New Jersey
• Yi Rui Huang, aka Ricky, 47, of Oakland Gardens, New York
• Fen Liu, aka Emily, 45, of Oakland Gardens, New York
• Chao Jin Shi, aka Kevin, 49, of Flushing, New York
• Guo Tuan Zhou, aka Jason, 45, of Woodhaven, New York
• Liang Chen, aka Jackie, 33, of Fujian, China
• Yundong Wei, 42, of Fuzhou, China
• Xiajuan Huang Zhouyi, 46, of Changle, China
• Hong Lee, aka John, 75, of Yuen Long, Hong Kong

American Eel Depot is the largest importer and wholesale distributor of eel meat in the United States. Eel poaching and smuggling is one of the world’s biggest wildlife trafficking problems, based on both the number of animals and the amount of money that changes hands in the black market.

Following a crackdown on the poaching and smuggling of American eels, eel traffickers, including the defendants in this case, shifted their efforts to European eels, a species facing an even greater threat of extinction. It has been illegal since 2010 to export European eels out of any European Union country. European eels are also protected by the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) wildlife protection treaty, which is enforced in the United States through the Endangered Species Act.

Despite this ban, the indictment alleges, the defendants conspired to unlawfully smuggle large quantities of live baby European eels out of Europe, to their eel-rearing factory in China. After rearing the baby eels to maturity, defendants’ Chinese facility would then slaughter and process the eels for shipping to the United States, to be sold as sushi products.

The indictment alleges that, over a four-year period, the defendants imported approximately 138 ocean containers full of eel meat into the United States, with a market value exceeding $160 million. The indictment focuses on six containers, seized by the government, which were determined to contain all or mostly European eel, mislabeled as American eel to avoid law enforcement detection. American eel fishing is highly regulated but still lawful in limited quantities in some areas. As alleged in the indictment, the defendants knew the eels’ true species, knew what they were doing was unlawful, and intentionally lied to U.S. authorities to conceal the illegalities and avoid detection.

“This case demonstrates the effectiveness and importance of the Endangered Species Act in cracking down on the international trafficking of protected wildlife,” said Assistant Attorney General Todd Kim of the Justice Department’s Environment and Natural Resources Division. “We will not allow United States-based businesses and their executives and associates to cause – and profit off of – the systemic decline of the world’s protected aquatic species.”

“This investigation highlights the global trade pressures facing freshwater eels, and the Service’s commitment to stand as a united front with our international partners in protecting both foreign and domestic species,” said Assistant Director Edward Grace of the U.S Fish and Wildlife Service’s (USFWS) Office of Law Enforcement. “This indictment sends a clear message to individuals and corporations that if they unlawfully profit and decimate wildlife, domestically or abroad, investigators will work tirelessly to seek justice.”

This case was investigated by the Department of Homeland Security, USFWS and Customs and Border Protection. Trial Attorneys Mathew D. Evans and Ethan Eddy of the Justice Department’s Environmental Crimes Section are prosecuting the case.  

If convicted, each defendant faces up to 20 years in prison and a fine of $250,000 (for individual defendants) or $500,000 (for business organizations), or twice the financial gain to the defendant or twice the financial loss to another, whichever is greater. A federal district court judge will determine any sentence after considering the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.

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