Month: May 2022

Source: United States Department of Justice

GREENEVILLE, Tenn. – On May 9, 2022, Dr. Xiaorong You, aka Shannon You, 59, of Lansing, Michigan was sentenced to serve 168 months in prison by the Honorable J. Ronnie Greer, U.S. District Judge in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Tennessee. Following her imprisonment, the defendant was also ordered to serve three years of supervised release and pay a $200,000 fine.

In April 2021, following a thirteen-day trial, a federal jury convicted You of conspiracy to commit trade secret theft in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1832(a)(5), conspiracy to commit economic espionage in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1831(a)(5), possession of stolen trade secrets in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1832(a)(3), economic espionage 18 U.S.C. § 1831(a)(3), and wire fraud in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1343.

According to court documents and evidence presented at trial, You stole valuable trade secrets related to formulations for bisphenol-A-free (BPA-free) coatings for the inside of beverage cans.  You was granted access to the trade secrets while working at The Coca-Cola Company in Atlanta, Georgia, and Eastman Chemical Company in Kingsport, Tennessee.  The stolen trade secrets belonged to major chemical and coating companies, including Akzo-Nobel, BASF, Dow Chemical, PPG, Toyochem, Sherwin Williams, and Eastman Chemical Company, and cost nearly $120,000,000 to develop.

You stole the trade secrets to set up a new BPA-free coating company in China.  You and her Chinese corporate partner, Weihai Jinhong Group received millions of dollars in Chinese government grants to support the new company.  Documents and other evidence presented at trial, showed You’s intent to benefit not only Weihai Jinhong Group, but also the governments of China, the Chinese province of Shandong, and the Chinese city of Weihai, as well as her intent to benefit the Chinese Communist Party.

Until recently, BPA was used universally to coat the inside of cans and other food and beverage containers to help minimize flavor loss and prevent the container from corroding or reacting with the food or beverage contained therein.  However, due to BPA’s potential health risks, companies began searching for BPA-free alternatives.  As witnesses from the chemical and coating companies testified at trial, developing these BPA-free alternatives was a very complex, expensive and time-consuming process.

Evidence presented at trial showed that from December 2012 through Aug. 31, 2017, You was employed as Principal Engineer for Global Research at Coca-Cola, which had agreements with numerous companies to conduct research and development, testing, analysis, and review of various BPA-free technologies.  Because of You’s extensive education and experience with BPA and BPA-free coating technologies, she was one of a limited number of Coca-Cola employees with access to BPA-free trade secrets belonging to Akzo-Nobel, BASF, Dow Chemical, PPG, Toyochem, and Sherwin Williams.  From approximately September 2017 through June 2018, You was employed as a packaging application development manager for Eastman Chemical Company in Kingsport, Tennessee, where she was one of a limited number of employees with access to trade secrets belonging to Eastman.

“As the evidence at trial showed, the defendant stole valuable trade secrets and intended to use them to benefit not only a foreign company, but also the government of China,” said Assistant Attorney General Matthew G. Olsen of the Justice Department’s National Security Division. “Today’s sentence reflects the seriousness of this offense, as well as the Department of Justice’s commitment to protect our nation’s security by investigating and prosecuting those who steal U.S. companies’ intellectual property.”

“When companies invest huge amounts of time and money to develop world-class technologies, only to have those technologies stolen, the results are devastating,” said Assistant Attorney General Kenneth A. Polite Jr. of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division.  “Here, the defendant intended not only to enrich herself and her China-based partners, but also the government of China.  Crimes like the defendant’s threaten both victim companies and the economic security of the nation as a whole.  This case should serve as a warning to those entrusted with valuable trade secrets: if you break the law, you will be punished.”

“Stealing trade secrets of U.S. companies for the benefit of the Chinese government will be vigorously prosecuted in the Eastern District of Tennessee, and today’s 14-year sentence reflects the seriousness of this defendant’s crimes,” said U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Tennessee Francis M. Hamilton III.  “The corporate vigilance and subsequent cooperation with federal law enforcement that brought this defendant to justice is to be commended; our national security depends on it.”

“Stealing technology isn’t just a crime against a company,” said Acting Assistant Director Bradley S. Benavides of the FBI’s Counterintelligence Division.  “It’s a crime against American workers whose jobs and livelihoods are impacted.  Today’s sentencing is a reminder that the FBI and its partners will hold accountable those who break our laws and threaten our economic and national security.”

“Ingenuity, innovation, and perseverance are the time-honored trademarks of American business and entrepreneurship.  In the current global state of commerce, corporations are forced to place an increased emphasis on the protection of trade secrets and intellectual property.  The FBI will not sit by while any nation-state attempts to steal or incentivizes the theft of trade secrets from successful corporations.  The FBI is committed to working with industry to hold those accountable who would attempt to steal technology or trade secrets at the cost of American businesses, their employees, and their livelihood,” said Joseph E. Carrico, Special Agent-in-Charge of the Knoxville office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

Assistant Attorney General Matthew G. Olsen of the National Security Division; Assistant Attorney General Kenneth A. Polite, Jr. of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division; and U.S. Attorney Francis M. Hamilton III for the Eastern District of Tennessee made the announcement.

The FBI’s Knoxville Field Office and Department of Homeland Security’s Homeland Security Investigation (HSI) investigated the case.

Former Assistant U.S. Attorney T.J. Harker of the Eastern District of Tennessee; Senior Counsel Matt Walczewski of the U.S. Department of Justice’s Criminal Division’s Computer Crime and Intellectual Property Section; and Trial Attorney Nic Hunter of the U.S. Department of Justice’s National Security Division’s Counterintelligence and Export Control Section prosecuted the case.                                        

                                                                                      ###

Source: United States Department of Justice News

PHOENIX, Ariz. – Jonathan Bastida-Delgado, 28, of Phoenix, Arizona, was sentenced last week by U.S. District Judge Dominic W. Lanza to 120 months in prison, followed by three years of supervised release. Bastida-Delgado previously pleaded guilty to two counts of Hobbs Act Robbery and one count of Using, Carrying, and Brandishing a Firearm during and in relation to a Crime of Violence. 

In March 2020, authorities became aware of a series of armed robberies targeting businesses in Phoenix, Glendale and Buckeye, Arizona from late February through mid-March 2020. According to witnesses, the suspect in each robbery matched the same general physical description, wore a combination of the same clothing, and made similar types of threats to the victims. In each robbery, the suspect also used the same black and silver semiautomatic handgun. Working together, the FBI and local law enforcement identified and located Bastida-Delgado and took him into custody without incident on March 17, 2020.

This case was prosecuted as part of the joint federal, state, and local Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN) Program, the centerpiece of the Department of Justice’s violent crime reduction efforts. PSN is an evidence-based program proven to be effective at reducing violent crime. Through PSN, a broad spectrum of stakeholders work together to identify the most pressing violent crime problems in the community and develop comprehensive solutions to address them. As part of this strategy, PSN focuses enforcement efforts on the most violent offenders and partners with locally based prevention and reentry programs for lasting reductions in crime.

The FBI Desert Hawk Violent Crime Task Force conducted the investigation in this case. Assistant U.S. Attorney Brian E. Kasprzyk, District of Arizona, Phoenix, handled the prosecution.

CASE NUMBER:            CR-20-00589-PHX-DWL
RELEASE NUMBER:    2022- 063_Bastida-Delgado

# # #

For more information on the U.S. Attorney’s Office, District of Arizona, visit http://www.justice.gov/usao/az/
Follow the U.S. Attorney’s Office, District of Arizona, on Twitter @USAO_AZ for the latest news.

Source: United States Department of Justice News

Assistant U. S. Attorney Dylan M. Aste (619) 546-7621

NEWS RELEASE SUMMARY – May 9, 2022

SAN DIEGO – Prism Behavioral Solutions has paid $650,000 to resolve allegations that it billed the state’s Medicaid Program, known as Medi-Cal, for services to autistic children without actually providing care to the children, according to a settlement agreement signed by Prism Behavioral Solutions, the United States, and the State of California.

Prism Behavioral Solutions provides treatment to children diagnosed with autism and other related disorders through therapy called Applied Behavioral Analysis. Prism Behavioral Solutions maintains a corporate address in Woodland Hills, California, and provides medical services to patients in Southern California. The United States and the State of California alleged that Prism Behavioral Solutions violated the federal False Claims Act and the California False Claims Act by knowingly submitting false claims to Medi-Cal for medical services that Prism Behavioral Solutions did not perform from September 2016 through December 2019. According to a whistleblower’s complaint, this included Prism Behavioral Solutions billing Medi-Cal for cancelled appointments.

“Billing government health care programs for services not rendered negatively impacts the entire health care system,” said U.S. Attorney Randy S. Grossman. “This settlement shows our continuing commitment to protect the integrity of government health care programs and other taxpayer-funded programs. We commend the whistleblower in this case for coming forward, and the team of federal and state agency partners and Assistant U.S. Attorneys for their work on this case.”

This settlement resolves the allegations in a former Prism Behavioral Solutions employee’s whistleblower lawsuit filed under the qui tam provisions of the False Claims Act, which permit private individuals to sue for false claims on behalf of the government and to share in a recovery. The civil lawsuit was filed in the Southern District of California and is captioned United States and the State of California, ex rel. Mason v. Prism Autism Foundation, 19-CV-0043-W (BLM). As part of this settlement, the whistleblower will receive $130,000.

“Prism had the important responsibility of supporting and caring for children and young adults with autism spectrum disorders,” said Attorney General Rob Bonta. “Instead of fulfilling its obligation to the families under its care, Prism is alleged to have filed false claims and misused state taxpayer money. These allegations are shameful and these families deserved respect and dignity, not to be used to cheat state resources. I am grateful to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for their involvement in this investigation, which helped bring justice to these families and California taxpayers. My office will continue to hold accountable bad actors who hurt the health and well-being of Californians.”

The resolution of this matter illustrates the government’s emphasis on combating health care fraud. One of the most powerful tools in this effort is the False Claims Act. Tips and complaints from all sources about potential fraud, waste, abuse, and mismanagement can be reported to the Department of Health and Human Services at 800-HHS-TIPS (800-447-8477).

This matter was handled by Assistant U.S. Attorney Dylan M. Aste of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of California; the Office of Inspector General for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services; and the California Department of Justice, Division of Medi-Cal Fraud and Elder Abuse.

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

Source: United States Department of Justice News

A Haitian citizen was extradited from Jamaica to the United States on Friday to face criminal charges in the Southern District of Florida related to his alleged involvement in the assassination of the former President of Haiti, Jovenel Moïse, on July 7, 2021.

Joseph Joel John, 51, made his initial court appearance this afternoon before U.S. Magistrate Judge Lauren Louis, who sits in Miami.  

John is charged with conspiring to commit murder or kidnapping outside the United States and providing material support resulting in death, knowing or intending that such material support would be used to prepare for or carry out the conspiracy to kill or kidnap. John is the third individual to be charged and arrested in the United States for his role in the assassination plot. The other men charged are Mario Antonio Palacios, 43, and Rodolphe Jaar, 49, who were both arrested earlier this year.

As alleged in the complaint, which was unsealed today, John and others – including approximately 20 Colombian citizens and a number of dual Haitian-American citizens – participated in a plot to kidnap or kill the Haitian President. As alleged, John was present when a co-conspirator (Co-Conspirator #1) secured the signature of a former Haitian judge on a written request for assistance to further the arrest and imprisonment of President Moïse, as well as purporting to provide Haitian immunity for such actions. According to the complaint, on June 28, 2021, Co-Conspirator #1, a dual Haitian-American citizen, traveled from Haiti to the United States in furtherance of the conspiracy and provided other individuals with the document, and flew from Florida back to Haiti on July 1, 2021, to participate in the operation against the president.  

As alleged in the complaint, while the plot initially focused on conducting a kidnapping of the Haitian President as part of a purported arrest operation, it ultimately resulted in a plot to kill the President. The complaint alleges that on July 7, 2021, various co-conspirators entered President Moïse’s residence in Haiti with the intent and purpose of killing him, and in fact the President was killed.

As alleged in the complaint, John helped to obtain vehicles and attempted to obtain firearms to support the operation against the president. It is also alleged that John attended a meeting with certain co-conspirators on or about July 6, 2021, after which many of the co-conspirators embarked on the mission to kill President Moïse.

Co-conspirator #1 was subsequently arrested by Haitian authorities and remains in custody in Haiti. John was arrested in Jamaica pursuant to the United States’ provisional arrest request to the Government of Jamaica for John’s extradition. On April 28, the Minister of Justice of Jamaica signed the order granting the extradition request, resulting in John’s arrival in Miami last week. John is currently in the custody of U.S. law enforcement.

If convicted of the charges in the complaint, John faces a maximum sentence of life imprisonment. A federal district court judge will determine any sentence after considering the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.

Assistant Attorney General Matthew G. Olsen of the Justice Department’s National Security Division, U.S. Attorney Juan Antonio Gonzalez for the Southern District of Florida and Special Agent in Charge George Piro of the FBI’s Miami Field Office made the announcement.

The FBI is investigating the case with other law enforcement partners, with valuable assistance provided by HSI.

Assistant U.S. Attorneys Andrea Goldbarg and Walter Norkin for the Southern District of Florida are prosecuting the case, with assistance from National Security Division Trial Attorneys Frank Russo, Jessica Fender and Emma Ellenrieder. The Justice Department’s Office of International Affairs provided valuable assistance.

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