Month: August 2022

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Security News: Global Shipping Container Suppliers China International Marine Containers and Maersk Container Industry Abandon Merger after Justice Department Investigation

Source: United States Department of Justice News

Acquisition Would Have Combined Two of the Four Suppliers of Insulated Container Boxes and Refrigerated Shipping Containers in the World and Further Concentrated the Global Cold Supply Chain

China International Marine Containers Group Co. Ltd. (CIMC) confirmed today that it has abandoned its intended acquisition of Maersk Container Industry A/S and Maersk Container Industry Qingdao Ltd. (collectively, MCI) after the Justice Department’s Antitrust Division’s thorough investigation. 

The proposed transaction would have combined two of the world’s four suppliers of insulated container boxes and refrigerated shipping containers. It would also have consolidated control of over 90% of insulated container box and refrigerated shipping container production worldwide in Chinese state-owned or state-controlled entities.

“American consumers depend on the global cold supply chain for many of our everyday essentials,” said Assistant Attorney General Jonathan Kanter of the Justice Department’s Antitrust Division.  “CIMC’s acquisition of MCI threatened to harm this critical aspect of our economy leading to higher prices, lower quality, and less resiliency in global supply chains.  It would have cemented CIMC’s dominant position in an already consolidated industry and eliminated MCI as an innovative, independent competitor.  The deal also would have substantially increased the risk of coordination among the remaining suppliers in the marketplace, most of whom would have been aligned through common ownership and related alliances.”

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Security News: Florida Man Charged with Fraudulently Obtaining $1 Million in Unemployment Benefits and COVID-19 Loan

Source: United States Department of Justice News

NEWARK, N.J. – A Florida man was arrested for allegedly obtaining more than $1 million in government benefits, U.S. Attorney Philip R. Sellinger announced today.

Michael Blanc, 33, of Miami, Florida, appeared by videoconference in Florida on Aug. 24, 2022, before U.S. Magistrate Judge Chris M. McAliley, who set bond at $250,000.

According to the complaint:

The Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act is a federal law designed to provide emergency financial assistance to Americans suffering the economic effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, including workers who are not ordinarily eligible for unemployment insurance benefits. The CARES Act also enabled the Small Business Association (SBA) to offer funding to business owners through the COVID-19 Economic Injury Disaster Loans (EIDL).

From March 2020 to in or about December 2020, five states paid out approximately $960,000 in unemployment insurance benefits in response to applications that used an internet provider (IP) address associated with Blanc in furtherance of the claim. Law enforcement officers interviewed four people in whose names the claims were made; each said they did not file a claim, authorize anyone to make a claim, or know Blanc.

In July 2020, the SBA provided an EIDL of approximately $65,000 in response to an application in the name of a victim. The loan was transferred to a bank account in Blanc’s name. The IP address used to file the EIDL application is also connected to 67 additional EIDL applications. The SBA provided approximately $250,000 in response to these applications.  

The charge of wire fraud is punishable by a maximum potential penalty of 20 years in prison and a fine of the greater of $250,000, twice the gross profits or twice the gross loss suffered to the victims of his offense.

U.S. Attorney Sellinger credited special agents of the U.S. Department of Labor, Office of Inspector General, under the direction of Special Agent in Charge Jonathan Mellone, in New York, and the United States Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration, under the direction of Special Agent in Charge Dale Forrester, Cybercrime Investigations Division, with the investigation leading to the charges. U.S. Attorney Sellinger also thanked the FBI, Miami Division, and the New Jersey Department of Labor & Workforce Development for their assistance in the investigation.

The government is represented by Assistant U.S. Attorney Andrew Kogan of the U.S. Attorney’s Office Cybercrime Unit in Newark.

The charges and allegations contained in the complaint are merely accusations and the defendant is considered innocent unless and until proven guilty. 

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Security News: Two Men Charged In Murder For Hire Scheme That Resulted In 2019 Death Of Fort Myers Man

Source: United States Department of Justice News

Fort Myers, Florida – United States Attorney Roger B. Handberg announces the unsealing of an indictment charging Marvin Harris, Jr., aka “Mesh” (24, Fort Myers), and Latrel Jackson, aka “Kobe” (25, Plainfield, Illinois), with conspiracy to commit interstate murder for hire and interstate murder for hire. If convicted, each faces a mandatory term of life imprisonment. 

According to the indictment, Harris paid Jackson to travel to from the State of Illinois to the State of Florida to commit a murder. In accordance with the plan, Jackson traveled to Florida on October 28, 2019, and murdered an individual in Fort Myers on November 2, 2019.

An indictment is merely a formal charge that a defendant has committed one or more violations of federal criminal law, and every defendant is presumed innocent unless, and until, proven guilty.

This case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Fort Myers Police Department. It will be prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Michael V. Leeman.

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Security News: Two Bowling Green Residents Indicted by Federal Grand Jury for Illegal Drug Trafficking

Source: United States Department of Justice News

Charges Include Possession of a Firearm by a Convicted Felon and Possession of a Firearm in Furtherance of Drug Trafficking

Bowling Green, KY – A federal grand jury in Bowling Green returned an indictment on August 10, 2022, charging Jack Herrod and Maleana Wilson with possessing with intent to distribute methamphetamine and charging Herrod with firearms offenses.

According to court documents, on February 6, 2022, in Warren County, KY, Herrod, 59, and Wilson, 60, both of Bowling Green, possessed with the intent to distribute methamphetamine. Herrod also possessed a Heritage Manufacturing Inc. .22 caliber revolver as a convicted felon and in furtherance of his drug trafficking. Herrod had previously been convicted of the felony offense of possession with intent to distribute cocaine in United States District Court for the Southern District of Illinois in case number 3:01-CR-30071.

Herrod and Wilson are charged with possession with intent to distribute 50 grams or more of methamphetamine and aiding and abetting each other in that crime. Herrod is also charged with possession of a firearm by a convicted felon and possession of a firearm in furtherance of drug trafficking. The defendants made their initial court appearance yesterday before a U.S. Magistrate Judge in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Kentucky.

If convicted, Herrod faces a mandatory minimum of 15 years in prison and Wilson faces a mandatory minimum of 10 years in prison. A federal district court judge will determine any sentence after considering the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors. There is no parole in the federal system.

U.S. Attorney Michael A. Bennett of the Western District of Kentucky, Special Agent in Charge R. Shawn Morrow of the ATF Louisville Field Division, Tommy Loving, Director of the Bowling Green-Warren County Drug Task Force, and Chief Michael Delaney of the Bowling Green Police Department made the announcement.

The ATF, the Bowling Green-Warren County Drug Task Force, and the Bowling Green Police Department are investigating the case.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Mark J. Yurchisin II of the U.S. Attorney’s Bowling Green Branch Office is prosecuting the case.

This case is part of Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN), a program bringing together all levels of law enforcement and the communities they serve to reduce violent crime and gun violence, and to make our neighborhoods safer for everyone. On May 26, 2021, the Department launched a violent crime reduction strategy strengthening PSN based on these core principles: fostering trust and legitimacy in our communities, supporting community-based organizations that help prevent violence from occurring in the first place, setting focused and strategic enforcement priorities, and measuring the results.

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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Security News: Department of Justice Announces the Opening of Nominations for the Sixth Annual Attorney General’s Award for Distinguished Service in Community Policing

Source: United States Department of Justice News

Today, Attorney General Merrick B. Garland announced the Department of Justice is now accepting nominations for the Sixth Annual Attorney General’s Award for Distinguished Service in Community Policing. Through this award, the Department of Justice honors the incredible work our nation’s law enforcement does to keep our communities and our country safe.

“Every day, law enforcement officers across the country work to forge and maintain strong community ties that are essential for ensuring public safety,” said Attorney General Garland. “The Department of Justice cannot fulfill its public safety mission without such critical efforts, and this award is just one way the Department says ‘thank you’ to our law enforcement partners.”

The Attorney General’s Award for Distinguished Service in Community Policing recognizes individual state, local, Tribal, and territorial police officers, deputies, and troopers for exceptional efforts in community policing. The awarded officers, deputies, and troopers will have demonstrated active engagement with the community in one of three areas: innovations in community policing, criminal investigations, or field operations. Within each category, an award will be given to law enforcement agencies serving small, medium, and large jurisdictions. Those agency sizes are defined as follows:

  1. Small: agencies serving populations of fewer than 50,000.
  2. Medium: agencies serving populations of 50,000 to 250,000.
  3. Large: agencies serving populations of more than 250,000.

By acknowledging and rewarding these efforts, the Department strives to promote and sustain its commitment to community policing and to advance proactive policing practices that are fair and effective. With the Attorney General’s Award for Distinguished Service in Community Policing, the Justice Department recognizes that the nation’s law enforcement agencies, officers, deputies, and troopers continue to work tirelessly to keep our communities safe.

The deadline for nominations is Sept. 23, 2022 at 8 p.m. (ET). More information and the application for nominees can be found at: www.justice.gov/ag/policing-award.

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