Month: June 2022

Source: United States Department of Justice News

PROVIDENCE – A Warwick man previously convicted and sentenced to federal prison for bank robbery admitted to a federal judge on Wednesday that he illegally possessed a firearm; that gun was discharged by a juvenile in the man’s home, resulting in a self-inflicted gunshot wound, announced United States Attorney Zachary A. Cunha.

Branden Eddie Smith, 37, pleaded guilty to possession of a firearm by a prohibited person.

According to information presented to the court, on March 21, 2022, Warwick police and emergency services were called to a Warwick residence several hours after a juvenile discharged a firearm, causing a self-inflicted wound to his knee. The juvenile ultimately told police that, earlier in the evening, he was handling what he believed to be an unloaded firearm; the gun was in fact loaded, however, and when the juvenile pulled the trigger, the firearm discharged sending a bullet through his knee.

Warwick police executed a court-authorized search of the residence and located the firearm, a Glock 42 semi-automatic pistol, as well as eight rounds of .380 caliber ammunition. The gun and ammunition were found inside a safe in the defendant’s bedroom.

Smith is scheduled to be sentenced on September 29, 2022. The defendant’s sentence will be determined by a federal district judge after consideration of the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.

According to court documents, Smith was previously convicted of bank robbery in U.S. District Court in the District of Nevada in 2017 and sentenced to fifty-six months in prison to be followed by three years of federal supervised release.

 The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Christine D. Lowell.

The matter was investigated by the Warwick Police Department, with the assistance of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF).

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Source: United States Department of Justice News

ATLANTA – Oluwagbemiga Otufale has been arraigned on federal charges of conspiracy and money laundering.  Otufale was indicted by a federal grand jury on June 21, 2022

“Money launderers function as the financiers of criminal organizations, enabling the victimization of our communities while hiding behind a shield of anonymity built through a maze of aliases, bank accounts, and business transactions,” said U.S. Attorney Ryan K. Buchanan.  “We will continue to bring sophisticated money launderers to justice, especially the criminals who exploited the pandemic to steal from those in need.”

“It is disheartening to see the lengths that some individuals will go to take advantage of people in need during a national and world crisis,” said Keri Farley, Special Agent in Charge of FBI Atlanta. “No matter how elaborate or complicated the fraud scheme, the FBI and our partners will work to uncover it and bring those responsible to justice.”

“An important mission of the Office of Inspector General is to investigate allegations of fraud related to unemployment insurance benefit programs. We will continue to work with our law enforcement partners to investigate these types of allegations,” stated Mathew Broadhurst, Special Agent-in-Charge, Atlanta Region, U.S. Department of Labor, Office of Inspector General.

According to U.S. Attorney Buchanan, the charges, and other information presented in court: The Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (“CARES”) Act created a temporary federal program that provided up to 39 weeks of unemployment benefits for those unemployed as a result of the pandemic and included a provision to provide temporary benefits to individuals who had exhausted their entitlement to regular benefits or were otherwise not eligible.  That temporary federal program was administered by state employment agencies. 

Oluwagbemiga Otufale allegedly laundered money procured from fraudulent unemployment claims submitted to state employment agencies in Washington, Illinois, and Massachusetts.  These claims were filed using stolen personally identifiable information of over a hundred individuals.  Otufale also allegedly laundered proceeds from a business email compromise scheme targeting two Georgia businesses.  Additionally, Otufale allegedly created multiple aliases and sham business entities to open financial accounts in which he deposited the fraudulent proceeds.        

Oluwagbemiga Otufale, a/k/a Joseph Perrone, a/k/a Kelvin Benjamin, a/k/a Abraham Young, 44, of Riverdale, Georgia, who was arraigned before U.S. Magistrate Judge J. Elizabeth McBath, was charged with money laundering conspiracy and concealment money laundering as a result of these activities.  Members of the public are reminded that the indictment only contains charges.  The defendant is presumed innocent of the charges and it will be the government’s burden to prove the defendant’s guilt beyond a reasonable doubt at trial.

This case is being investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the U.S. Department of Labor, Office of Inspector General.

Assistant U.S. Attorneys Sarah E. Klapman and Tracia King are prosecuting 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

The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Georgia is part of the Georgia Unemployment Insurance Task Force.  The Task Force is comprised of federal and state agencies throughout Georgia that are dedicated to combat COVID-related Unemployment Insurance Benefit Fraud.

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.

For further information please contact the U.S. Attorney’s Public Affairs Office at USAGAN.PressEmails@usdoj.gov or (404) 581-6016.  The Internet address for the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Georgia is http://www.justice.gov/usao-ndga.

Source: United States Department of Justice News

ATLANTA – Brett Sabado has been sentenced for his role in a scheme to defraud Tricare and Medicare by submitting fraudulent claims for compound medications and durable medical equipment (DME). Sabado also agreed to pay $950,000 as part of an “ability to pay” civil settlement in order to resolve violations of the False Claims Act for causing false claims for DME to be submitted to the Medicare Program. This resolution is the result of a global investigation involving the criminal and civil divisions of the Northern District of Georgia and the Southern District of California.

“Instead of putting patient care first, the defendants decided their best interests were more important,” said U.S. Attorney Ryan K. Buchanan. “Healthcare providers and pharmacies who use their positions of trust to game the system, specifically designed to maximize their profits, put their patients at risk and divert scarce government resources.”

“Through federal healthcare programs like Medicare and TRICARE, the United States provides essential medical care for the elderly and disabled, and to service members and their families,” said U.S. Attorney Randy Grossman of the Southern District of California. “It is crucial that the American people know that taxpayer funds are being used for these important purposes and not diverted through the schemes of fraudsters. I am proud of the coordination and cooperation among districts and agencies reflected in this outcome,” he added, commending the work of the attorneys and agents in the SDCA and NDGA U.S. Attorneys’ Offices, and at DCIS, FBI, and HHS-OIG, in employing the range of criminal and civil remedies to reach this resolution.”

“This sentence will hold Sabado accountable for the damage he caused to Medicare and every taxpayer in this country,” said Keri Farley, Special Agent in Charge of FBI Atlanta. “Government subsidized programs like Medicare help protect the healthcare needs of deserving Americans and the FBI is determined to work with our partners to prevent people from illegally profiting off of them.”

“HHS-OIG is committed to protecting beneficiaries of federal health care programs from fraud and safeguarding valuable taxpayer dollars,” said Tamala E. Miles, Special Agent in Charge with the Department of Health and Human Services, Office of Inspector General (HHS-OIG). “We will continue to investigate and hold accountable any providers who egregiously take advantage of their patients for illegitimate financial gain.”

“Compounding pharmacy fraud bilked the Defense Health Agency of over a billion dollars and exploited not only the military, but all citizens,” said DoD Inspector General’s Defense Criminal Investigative Service (DCIS) Southeast Field Office Special Agent in Charge Cynthia A. Bruce. “I thank the U.S. Attorney’s Office and our investigative team for their tireless effort to untangle this web of crime, trace the assets, and hold these individuals accountable.”  

According to U.S. Attorney Buchanan, the charges, and other information presented in court: Sabado and his co-conspirators received illegal kickbacks for Tricare referrals and prescriptions of compound medication formulations including pain creams, scar creams, and multi-vitamins that they specifically devised to maximize profits.

Sabado operated NHS, a pharmaceutical company that caused compounding pharmacies to submit false claims for these prescriptions to Tricare. The compounding pharmacies paid NHS a portion of the Tricare reimbursement, and NHS paid a portion of its proceeds to healthcare marketing companies that pushed providers into prescribing these unnecessary compound medications.

Sabado further executed the scheme by creating an online portal database used by NHS to facilitate the referral of prescriptions through NHS to the compounding pharmacies. Sabado and others at NHS used claims data to track the referrals made to compounding pharmacies and to invoice those pharmacies for the illegal kickbacks owed to NHS for the referrals. Sabado ultimately caused a loss of $4.5 million to Tricare.

Sabado also conspired with the owners of DME supply companies to submit false and fraudulent claims for medically unnecessary DME such as arm, leg, back, wrist, and neck braces to Medicare. Specifically, Sabado warehoused, packaged, and shipped thousands of fraudulent DME orders to Medicare beneficiaries. Sabado knew that the DME orders were supported by sham prescriptions written by telemedicine physicians who, in many instances, never spoke with or examined the Medicare beneficiaries for whom the physicians ordered DME. Nonetheless, Sabado continued to package and ship DME that Medicare beneficiaries neither requested nor needed.

For his part in this scheme, Sabado received between $5 and $15 for each medically unnecessary brace he shipped. Sabado also received a percentage of all Medicare reimbursement for the braces. Sabado ultimately caused a loss of almost $70 million to Medicare.

Sabado further engaged in similar conduct involving the submission of false and fraudulent claims to Tricare, the New Jersey State Health Benefits Program, and private health care benefits programs for expensive and medically unnecessary compounded medication in other states.

Brett Sabado, 34, of Sandy Springs, Georgia, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Thomas W. Thrash, Jr., to five years in prison to be followed by three years of supervised release.

This case was investigated by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Georgia, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services – Office of Inspector General, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and the Defense Criminal Investigative Service.

The civil resolution was reached by Assistant U.S. Attorney Mellori Lumpkin-Dawson. The criminal case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Angela Adams and Bernita Malloy in the Northern District of Georgia. A related case in the Southern District of California, United States v. Charles Ronald Green and Melinda Elizabeth Green, Case No. 3:20-cr-01566-DMS, SDCA (San Diego)), was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Valerie Chu and Kevin Larsen. 

For further information please contact the U.S. Attorney’s Public Affairs Office at USAGAN.PressEmails@usdoj.gov or (404) 581-6016.  The Internet address for the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Georgia is http://www.justice.gov/usao-ndga.

Source: United States Department of Justice News

The Russian Elites, Proxies, and Oligarchs (REPO) Task Force has leveraged extensive multilateral coordination to block or freeze more than $30 billion worth of sanctioned Russians’ assets, freeze or seize sanctioned persons’ high-value goods, and heavily restrict sanctioned Russians’ access to the international financial system. REPO members have achieved these successes through close and extensive national and international coordination and collaboration. 

In the 100 days since the Finance, Justice, Home Affairs, and Trade Ministers and European Commissioners committed to prioritizing resources and working together to isolate sanctioned Russians from the international financial system, REPO members have:

• Blocked or frozen more than $30 billion worth of sanctioned Russians’ assets in financial accounts and economic resources.
• Immobilized about $300 billion worth of Russian Central Bank assets.
• Seized, frozen, or detained yachts and other vessels owned, held, or controlled by sanctioned Russians, including the Amadea, the Tango, the Amore Vero, the Rahil, and the Phi.
• Seized or frozen luxury real estate owned, held, or controlled by sanctioned Russians.
• Restricted Russia’s access to the global financial system, making it more difficult for Russia to procure technology necessary to sustain its unjust war in Ukraine.

Where appropriate and possible, REPO members are undertaking efforts to update or expand and implement their respective legal frameworks that enable the freezing, seizure, forfeiture and/or disposal of assets, for example within criminal law. These efforts better position members to achieve REPO’s objectives.

REPO is working collaboratively with the private sector to promote effective sanctions implementation. Financial institutions and other entities required to comply with both sanctions and anti-money laundering/countering the financing of terrorism regulations have helped to identify and immobilize assets subject to sanctions and worked to prevent Russia from evading sanctions. Where available, REPO members have relied on the use of registries, such as bank account and beneficial ownership registries. In addition, REPO members deeply appreciate the cooperation that countries outside the REPO Task Force have provided.

REPO’s work is not yet complete. In the coming months, REPO members will continue to track Russian sanctioned assets and prevent sanctioned Russians from undermining the measures that REPO members have jointly imposed. Together, we will ensure that our sanctions continue to impose costs on Russia for its unprovoked and continuing aggression in Ukraine and to prevent funds and economic resources from being provided to or for the benefit of designated persons. As we undertake this work, we are seeking to maximize the impact of sanctions on designated persons and entities while guarding against spillover that affects global commodities markets and food supplies, which Russia has disrupted by choosing and continuing to wage war.

As we undertake REPO’s work, we underscore our shared commitment to our determined and coordinated sanctions response to Russia’s war of aggression and to carry on with our efforts in ever closer cooperation, including with the European Commission’s Freeze and Seize Task Force. We continue to increase Russia’s cost of its war. We remain committed to fully implementing and enforcing our economic and financial sanctions and remain vigilant against sanctions evasion and circumvention.

Source: United States Department of Justice News

PHOENIX, Ariz. – Last week, Ralph Yellow, 78, of Tuba City, Arizona, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Diane J. Humetewa to 240 months in prison, followed by lifetime supervised release. Yellow previously pleaded guilty to one count of Abusive Sexual Contact with a Child.

Yellow admitted that in 2012 or 2013, he knowingly engaged in sexual contact with a six-year-old child. The evidence also showed that Yellow engaged in sexual acts with other children for decades. The crimes took place on the Navajo Nation Indian Reservation, where Yellow is an enrolled tribal member.    

The FBI, Navajo Nation Department of Criminal Investigations, and Gallup Police Department conducted the investigation in this case. The United States Attorney’s Office, District of Arizona, Phoenix, handled the prosecution.

CASE NUMBER:           CR-20-08133-PCT-DJH
RELEASE NUMBER:    2022-100_Yellow

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For more information on the U.S. Attorney’s Office, District of Arizona, visit http://www.justice.gov/usao/az/
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