Month: June 2022

Source: United States Department of Justice News

Charleston, South Carolina — Lori Hammond, 53 of Summerville, Catherine (“Cassie”) Needham, 36, of Manning, Jontrell Wright, 35, of Holly Hill, and Christopher Conrad, 39, of Holly Hill, have all pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit wire fraud, and wire fraud, in connection with their roles in fraudulently obtaining millions of dollars in PPP loans.  

Evidence presented to the Court showed that from in or around June 2020 through around January 2021, Lori Hammond caused multiple materially fraudulent PPP loan applications to be submitted to federally insured financial institutions on behalf of herself and her co-conspirators. In these loan applications, Hammond used the identity of a deceased individual, misrepresented the number of employees and payroll expenses of the entities seeking the loans, attached fraudulent tax documents, and made numerous other false and misleading statements. As part of the conspiracy, Hammond assisted Needham, Conrad, and Wright by filling out the loan application documents with materially false and fraudulent information and then submitting them to an individual in California. The individual in California would in turn submit the fraudulent loan applications to financial institutions in exchange for a fee. Based on the false representations and submissions in the applications, the approved PPP lenders funded the PPP loans. After the funds were deposited into the respective accounts, Hammond, Wright, Needham, and Conrad used the funds for non-qualifying, non-business-related purposes, including homes, property, cars, and other personal purchases.

In total, the members of the conspiracy fraudulently obtained $4,721,638.50 in PPP loan funds.

The defendants all face a maximum penalty of twenty years in federal prison. They also face a fine of up to $250,000, restitution, and 3 years of supervision to follow the term of imprisonment.  United States District Judge David C. Norton accepted the guilty plea and will sentence the defendants after receiving and reviewing a sentencing report prepared by the United States Probation Office.

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.

This case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). Assistant U.S. Attorney Emily Limehouse is prosecuting the case.

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Source: United States Department of Justice News

SYRACUSE, NEW YORK – Wascar Javier, age 37, a citizen of the Dominican Republic, was sentenced today to serve 20 months in prison following his conviction for illegally reentering the United States, and fraud and misuse of a nonimmigrant visa, announced United States Attorney Carla B. Freedman; Thomas Brophy, Buffalo Field Office Director of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO); Keith Byrne, Special Agent in Charge, U.S. Department of State – Diplomatic Security Service; and New York State Police Superintendent Kevin P. Bruen.

Javier was removed from the United States in October 2020 following a felony conviction in New York state court. As part of his previous guilty plea, Javier admitted that sometime after his removal, he unlawfully reentered the United States without permission. On September 30, 2021, a New York State Trooper stopped a car Javier was driving and Javier presented to the Trooper a document that purported to be a passport issued by the Dominican Republic. The passport contained a fraudulent United States nonimmigrant visa and Javier admitted knowing that it was fraudulent.

Chief United States District Judge Glenn T. Suddaby also sentenced Javier to a three-year term of supervised release to begin after he serves his term of imprisonment. 

This case was investigated by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO) and the U.S. Department of State-Diplomatic Security Service, with assistance from the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), U.S. Department of Homeland Security-Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), and the New York State Police.  The case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Thomas Sutcliffe.

Source: United States Department of Justice News

Damian Williams, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, announced that GHISLANE MAXWELL was sentenced today in Manhattan federal court by United States Circuit Judge Alison J. Nathan to 240 months in prison for her role in a scheme to sexual exploit and abuse multiple minor girls with Jeffrey Epstein over the course of a decade.  MAXWELL was previously found guilty on December 29, 2021, following a one-month jury trial, of conspiracy to entice minors to travel to engage in illegal sex acts, conspiracy to transport minors to participate in illegal sex acts, transporting a minor to participate in illegal sex acts, sex trafficking conspiracy, and sex trafficking of a minor.

U.S. Attorney Damian Williams said:  “Today’s sentence holds Ghislaine Maxwell accountable for perpetrating heinous crimes against children.  This sentence sends a strong message that no one is above the law and it is never too late for justice.  We again express our gratitude to Epstein and Maxwell’s victims for their courage in coming forward, in testifying at trial, and in sharing their stories as part of today’s sentencing.”

According to the allegations in the Indictment, court documents, and evidence presented at trial:

From at least 1994, up to and including in or about 2004, GHISLAINE MAXWELL assisted, facilitated, and participated in Jeffrey Epstein’s abuse of minor girls by, among other things, helping Epstein to recruit, groom, and ultimately abuse victims known to MAXWELL and Epstein to be under the age of 18.  The victims were as young as 14 years old when they were groomed and abused by MAXWELL and Epstein, both of whom knew that their victims were in fact minors.  As a part and in furtherance of their scheme to abuse minor victims, MAXWELL and Epstein enticed and caused minor victims to travel to Epstein’s residences in different states, which MAXWELL knew and intended would result in their grooming for and subjection to sexual abuse.

MAXWELL enticed and groomed minor girls to be abused in multiple ways.  For example, MAXWELL attempted to befriend certain victims by asking them about their lives, their schools, and their families, and taking them to the movies or on shopping trips.  MAXWELL also acclimated victims to Epstein’s conduct simply by being present for victim interactions with Epstein, which put victims at ease by providing the assurance and comfort of an adult woman who seemingly approved of Epstein’s behavior.  Additionally, Epstein offered to help some victims by paying for travel and/or educational opportunities, and MAXWELL encouraged certain victims to accept Epstein’s assistance.  As a result, victims were made to feel indebted and believed that MAXWELL and Epstein were trying to help them.  MAXWELL also normalized and facilitated sexual abuse for a victim by discussing sexual topics, undressing in front of the victim, being present when the victim was undressed, and encouraging the victim to massage Epstein.

As MAXWELL and Epstein intended, these grooming behaviors left minor victims vulnerable and susceptible to sexual abuse by Epstein.  MAXWELL was then present for certain sexual encounters between minor victims and Epstein, such as interactions where a minor victim was undressed, and ultimately was present for sex acts perpetrated by Epstein on minor victims.  That abuse included sexualized massages during which a minor victim was fully or partially nude, as well as group sexualized massages of Epstein involving a minor victim where MAXWELL was present.  In some instances, MAXWELL participated in the sexual abuse of minor victims. 

Ultimately minor victims were subjected to sexual abuse that included, among other things, the touching of a victim’s breasts or genitals, placing a sex toy such as a vibrator on a victim’s genitals, directing a victim to touch Epstein while he masturbated, and directing a victim to touch Epstein’s genitals.  MAXWELL and Epstein’s victims were groomed or abused at Epstein’s residences in New York, Florida, and New Mexico, as well as MAXWELL’s residence in London, England.

In the earlier phase of the conspiracy, from at least approximately 1994 through approximately 2001, MAXWELL and Epstein identified vulnerable girls, typically from single-mother households and difficult financial circumstances.  This earlier phase required the defendant and Epstein to identify one girl at a time to target for grooming and abuse.  In the later phase, from approximately 2001 until at least approximately 2004, MAXWELL and Epstein enticed and recruited, and caused to be enticed and recruited, minor girls to visit Epstein’s Palm Beach Residence to engage in sex acts with Epstein, after which Epstein, MAXWELL, or another employee of Epstein’s would give the victims hundreds of dollars in cash. MAXWELL and Epstein encouraged one or more of those victims to travel with Epstein with the intention that the victim engage in sex acts with Epstein.  Moreover, and in order to maintain and increase his supply of victims, MAXWELL and Epstein also paid certain victims to recruit additional girls to be similarly abused by Epstein.  In this way, MAXWELL and Epstein created a network of underage victims for Epstein to sexually exploit.

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In addition to the prison sentence, MAXWELL, 60, was sentenced to five years of supervised release and ordered to pay a $750,00 fine.

Mr. Williams praised the outstanding work of the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

This case is being handled by the Office’s Public Corruption Unit.  Assistant U.S. Attorneys Maurene Comey, Alison Moe, Lara Pomerantz, and Andrew Rohrbach are in charge of the prosecution.

Source: United States Department of Justice News

FAIRBANKS – A federal grand jury in Alaska returned a 31-count indictment charging two Fairbanks men with conspiracy, bank and wire fraud, aggravated identity theft and money laundering.

According to court documents, Jared Post, 25, and Levi Skulstad, 26, defrauded multiple banks and individuals they viewed as vulnerable to scams between 2017 and 2021, obtaining at least $500,000. Post and Skulstad contacted individuals who they called “Plays” via social media or in person and convinced the “Play” to share their bank account information under the pretense they needed to deposit a check into the “Play’s” account. Post or Skulstad then offered the “Play” a portion of the deposited check in return for use of the “Play’s” bank account.

Once the check posted in the “Play’s” account, Post or Skulstad logged in via the “Play’s” remote banking app and withdrew or transferred the funds electronically or directed the “Play” to transfer the funds to one of them via a cash app or Western Union. In reality, the checks Post and Skulstad deposited were stolen and fraudulently altered; and they withdrew the funds prior to the bank flagging the checks as fraudulent and reversing the transaction. The involved banks, the “Plays,” and the initial victim whose checks were stolen, were left paying losses and overdraft fees while Post and Skulstad made off with the cash.

If convicted, each defendant faces a maximum penalty of 30 years in prison on the most serious indictment count and a mandatory sentence of two years in prison for each count of aggravated identity theft. A federal district court judge will determine any sentence after considering the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.

The Fairbanks Resident Agency of the FBI’s Anchorage Field Office, Alaska State Troopers, Fairbanks Police Department, Anchorage Police Department and the Vancouver, Washington, Police Department are investigating the case. The FBI’s Phoenix Field Office also assisted in the investigation.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Ryan Tansey is prosecuting the case.

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

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Source: United States Department of Justice News

HUNTINGTON, W.Va. – A Maryland man was sentenced today to nine years in prison, to be followed by five years of supervised release, for possessing a firearm in furtherance of drug trafficking and violating his supervised release.

According to court documents and statements made in court, on April 7, 2021, law enforcement officers executed a search warrant at a Washington Avenue residence in Huntington. Edward Sample, also known as “Caine,” 37, of Baltimore, was located in the house along with other individuals. Officers seized a loaded Taurus G3C 9mm pistol, capsules which contained  heroin and fentanyl, $1,620 in cash, digital scales and a cutting agent during the search. Sample admitted to possessing the firearm to protect his money and drugs. Sample further admitted to using the same firearm two days earlier to shoot at a house in the Cross Lanes area in order to collect a $50 drug debt. The Kanawha County Sheriff’s Department investigated that incident.

Samples was previously convicted of aiding and abetting an armed robbery and possessing and brandishing a firearm in furtherance of a crime of violence in United States District Court for the District of Maryland on January 21, 2011. Today’s nine-year prison sentence includes two additional years for committing crimes while on supervised release.

United States Attorney Will Thompson made the announcement and commended the investigative work of the Huntington Violent Crimes and Drug Task Force, the Huntington Police Department and the Kanawha County Sheriff’s Department.

United States District Judge Robert C. Chambers imposed the sentence. Assistant United States Attorney Greg McVey prosecuted the case.

A copy of this press release is located on the website of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of West Virginia. Related court documents and information can be found on PACER by searching for Case No. 3:21-cr-58.

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