Month: April 2022

Source: United States Department of Justice News

SPRINGFIELD, Mo. – A Springfield, Missouri, man was sentenced in federal court today for producing child pornography and distributing those images over the internet.

Dennis Tyler Murray, 32, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge M. Douglas Harpool to 20 years in federal prison without parole.

On Oct 25, 2021, Murray pleaded guilty to one count of using a child to produce child pornography and one count of receiving and distributing child pornography.

On Sept. 29, 2020, law enforcement officers received three CyberTips from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children after Google discovered multiple images of child pornography in Murray’s account. Murray had distributed the pornographic images of a 6-year-old victim to another user through Google Hangouts.

On Oct. 1, 2020, law enforcement officers executed a search warrant at Murray’s residence. Murray admitted he used his cell phone to take sexually explicit images of the child victim. Murray also admitted he sent some of those images through Google Hangouts. Officers seized Murray’s cell phone, which contained pornographic images of the child victim.

This case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Ami Harshad Miller. It was investigated by Homeland Security Investigations, the Southwest Missouri Cyber Crimes Task Force, and the Springfield, Mo., Police Department.

Project Safe Childhood

This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse. Led by the United States Attorneys’ Offices and the Criminal Division’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state, and local resources to locate, apprehend, and prosecute individuals who sexually exploit children, and to identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.usdoj.gov/psc . For more information about Internet safety education, please visit www.usdoj.gov/psc and click on the tab “resources.”

Source: United States Department of Justice News

Kenneth J. Buck, Ph.D., the former Executive Director of the Office of Management Integration at the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), has agreed to pay $10,000 to resolve allegations that he violated conflict-of-interest rules in connection with a DHS contract following his departure from the agency in 2016. The settlement, which is based on his ability to pay, also resolves allegations that Buck violated the False Claims Act by submitting, or causing others to submit, false invoices to DHS to conceal his involvement with the contract following his departure from DHS.  

Among other things, the Ethics Reform Act of 1989 imposes post-employment restrictions on certain federal officials, including a mandatory one-year “cooling off period” during which former officials are prohibited from communicating directly with their former agency on behalf of another party with the intent to influence agency action. The settlement announced today resolves allegations that Buck violated this rule by communicating directly with a now-former DHS official with the intent to influence agency action regarding a DHS contract with Intelligent Fiscal Optimal Solutions LLC (iFOS), under which Buck was engaged as a subcontractor. According to the government’s allegations, Buck informed a now-former DHS official that he planned to leave DHS and accept an engagement with iFOS, and less than one week later that other DHS official selected iFOS for a no-bid contract. The government alleged that, during his one-year cooling off period, Buck had extensive communications with the DHS official on behalf of iFOS, which Buck and the other DHS official sought to conceal. Finally, the government alleged that Buck and iFOS violated the False Claims Act by submitting false invoices to DHS in which work performed by Buck was billed under the name of another iFOS employee, despite the fact that Buck had not completed a mandatory background investigation required for all personnel who worked on the DHS contract. 

“The federal government’s conflict-of-interest rules are essential to ensuring that the federal government’s operations, including the award of contracts, are conducted fairly and free of undue influence,” said Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Brian M. Boynton, head of the Justice Department’s Civil Division. “The department will hold accountable those who violate these important safeguards, whether they are current or former federal government employees.”

“We appreciate our partnership with the Department of Justice,” said Inspector General Dr. Joseph V. Cuffari of DHS. “This settlement sends a clear message that corruption in the ranks at DHS will not be tolerated.”

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 DHS Office of Inspector General’s Major Fraud and Corruption Unit. The matter was handled by Senior Trial Counsel Alicia J. Bentley of the Civil Division, with substantial investigative assistance from Special Agent Asher Shapiro of DHS-OIG. 

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

Source: United States Department of Justice News

MORGANTOWN, WEST VIRGINIA – Experts from the public and private sector will gather in Morgantown next week for a seminar to highlight best practices in preventing and responding to health care fraud, United States Attorney William Ihlenfeld announced.

The Mountaineer Health Care Fraud Symposium will take place on Thursday, April 21, at the WVU College of Law. Federal and state investigators will share the latest trends in health care fraud, while medical and insurance professionals will discuss best practices on how to detect and prevent fraud. A presentation explaining how whistleblowers can come forward, tell their story, and share in the financial recovery will also be made. The United States Attorney’s Office is hosting the event.

The symposium comes on the heels of the creation of a West Virginia-based health care fraud strike force comprised of state and federal agencies that takes a data-driven approach to uncovering waste and abuse.  In addition to the formation of the strike force, a hotline, email address and mailing address have been established to allow for the reporting of potential fraud. Anyone with information may call (304) 234-7711, send an email to wvfraud@fbi.gov, or mail correspondence to the U.S. Attorney’s Office, P.O. Box 591, Wheeling, WV 26003.

The registration-only event allows for both in-person and virtual attendance. The West Virginia State Bar has approved the event for 4.8 continuing legal education credits. To register, send an email to usawvn.registration@usdoj.gov.

The full agenda may be found at https://www.justice.gov/usao-ndwv/health-care-fraud-symposium.

Source: United States Department of Justice News

BOSTON – A Stoneham man was sentenced today for his involvement in a fraudulent scheme to obtain COVID-19-related unemployment assistance using stolen personal information.

Daniel Maleus, 34, was sentenced by U.S. Senior District Court Judge Rya W. Zobel to three years in prison and three years of supervised release. Maleus was also ordered to pay restitution in the amount of $526,423. On Nov. 2, 2021, Maleus pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud, five counts of wire fraud, and one count of aggravated identity theft.

In March 2020, in response to the global coronavirus pandemic, Congress passed the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (CARES Act), which among other things, created a temporary federal unemployment insurance program called Pandemic Unemployment Assistance (PUA). The PUA program, which in Massachusetts is administered by the Department of Unemployment Assistance, provided unemployment insurance benefits for individuals who were not eligible for other types of unemployment benefits.

Between April 2020 and April 2021, Maleus filed and conspired with others to file over 50 fraudulent PUA claims using the stolen personal information of others. Maleus used email accounts that he created in the names of the victims and directed payments from the fraudulent claims to bank accounts that he controlled. Maleus and his co-conspirators obtained $526,423 in PUA funds from this scheme.

United States Attorney Rachael S. Rollins; Joseph R. Bonavolonta, Special Agent in Charge of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Boston Division; and Jonathan Mellone, Special Agent in Charge of the Department of Labor, Office of Inspector General, Office of Investigations made the announcement. Special assistance was provided by the Massachusetts Department of Unemployment Assistance. Assistant U.S. Attorney Christopher J. Markham of Rollins’ Securities, Financial & Cyber Fraud Unit 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, 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.

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 at 866-720-5721 or via the NCDF Web Complaint Form at: https://www.justice.gov/disaster-fraud/ncdf-disaster-complaint-form.

Source: United States Department of Justice News

Damian Williams, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, announced that former New York City Police Department (“NYPD”) officer and Bronxville, New York resident JOHN CICERO was sentenced today by U.S. District Judge Kenneth M. Karas to 10 years in prison for distributing large quantities of imported gamma-butyrolactone (known as “GBL”) and methamphetamine in Westchester County and New York City.  CICERO previously pled guilty on October 13, 2021 before U.S. Magistrate Judge Andrew E. Krause, to one count of conspiring to distribute GBL and 50 grams of methamphetamine.

U.S. Attorney Damian Williams said:  “A former NYPD police officer once sworn to protect the public, John Cicero spent years betraying his former law enforcement partners, enriching himself, and endangering the community by importing GBL, a dangerous liquid date-rape drug, from China and methamphetamine from Mexico and trafficking massive amounts of both throughout Westchester and New York City, including in Hell’s Kitchen and midtown-Manhattan around Penn Station.  Thanks to the tireless efforts of law enforcement, Cicero will serve a substantial sentence in prison for his callous crimes.”      

According to the Indictment, public court filings, and statements made in court:

Beginning in at least 2017 and lasting until his arrest in February 2020, CICERO and his co-conspirators stockpiled and sold liters of GBL and kilograms of methamphetamine in apartments, hotel rooms, and storage units in the heart of midtown Manhattan, and a residence in Bronxville, New York.  CICERO played a prominent and leadership role in the conspiracy, as the conspiracy’s top importer of GBL from China, and as someone who had direct access to the Mexico-based source of supply and with whom he arranged the receipt of and payment for methamphetamine.  CICERO also created and used fake identity documents and stolen credit cards to pay for, among other things, the luxury Manhattan hotel rooms where drugs were trafficked and used.  CICERO repeatedly brokered large-scale narcotics transactions over recorded prison calls with an inmate then in New York State custody.  U.S. Customs and Border Protection has previously seized GBL sent from China to CICERO’s address in New York.  CICERO held a supervisory role in the criminal activity, which involved over three kilograms of methamphetamine and 750 liters of GBL.  The charged conduct began years after CICERO left the NYPD.

On February 19, 2020, CICERO was arrested in a Wall Street hotel, in a room he had rented under a false identity.  In addition to methamphetamine and GBL, law enforcement recovered from CICERO’s room a bank card and a fake ID, bearing CICERO’s photograph, all in the name of the false identity to whom the room was rented.  As part of CICERO’s arrest, law enforcement also recovered detailed drug ledgers, sophisticated credit card making equipment, and notebooks full of victims’ personally identifiable information.

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In addition to the prison sentence, CICERO, 40, of Bronxville, New York, was sentenced to four years of supervised release and ordered to pay a forfeiture penalty of $216,262.50.

Earlier in the case, three of CICERO’s co-defendants pled guilty for their roles in the same conspiracy.  MARCO CASO, 50, of New York, New York and IRMA MATERASSO, 38, of New Rochelle, New York, previously pled guilty to one count of conspiring to distribute GBL and 50 grams of methamphetamine and MATTHEW MATEO, 25, of the Bronx, New York, previously pled guilty to one count of conspiring to distribute GBL and 500 grams of methamphetamine.

Mr. Williams praised the outstanding investigative work of the FBI Westchester County Safe Streets Task Force, which comprises agents and detectives from the FBI, Westchester County District Attorney’s Office, Westchester County Police Department, Yonkers Police Department, Peekskill Police Department, Mount Vernon Police Department, New York Police Department, and U.S. Probation.  He also thanked the Drug Enforcement Administration, U.S. Customs and Border Protection, and the New York State Department of Corrections Office of Special Investigations for their assistance.

This case is being prosecuted by the Office’s White Plains Division.  Assistant U.S. Attorneys David R. Felton and Daniel G. Nessim are in charge of the prosecution.