Month: September 2022

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Security News: Former Government Contractor Executive Pleads Guilty to Unlawful Campaign Contributions

Source: United States Department of Justice News

A former government contractor executive pleaded guilty today to conspiring to make unlawful campaign contributions to a candidate for Congress and a political action committee (PAC), making unlawful campaign contributions, and causing the submission of false information to the Federal Election Commission.

According to court documents, Martin Kao, 48, of Honolulu, Hawaii, was the owner of a defense contractor prohibited from making contributions in federal elections. Kao and his co-conspirators created a shell company, which they used to make an illegal contribution – using government contractor funds – to a PAC supporting the election of a candidate for the U.S. Senate. Kao also used family members as conduits to make illegal contributions to the campaign committee of the same candidate, and then reimbursed them for those donations using funds obtained from Kao’s company.

Kao is scheduled to be sentenced on Feb. 9, 2023. He faces up to five years in prison on each count. A federal district court judge will determine any sentence after considering the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.

Assistant Attorney General Kenneth A. Polite, Jr. of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division; U.S. Attorney Matthew M. Graves for the District of Columbia; Assistant Director in Charge Steven M. D’Antuono of the FBI Washington Field Office; and Special Agent in Charge Christopher Dillard of the Department of Defense, Office of Inspector General, Defense Criminal Investigative Service (DCIS), Mid-Atlantic Field Office made the announcement.

The FBI Washington Field Office and DCIS Mid-Atlantic Field Office are investigating the case.

Trial Attorney Lauren Castaldi of the Criminal Division’s Public Integrity Section and Assistant U.S. Attorneys Elizabeth Aloi and Joshua Rothstein for the District of Columbia are prosecuting the case.

An indictment is merely an allegation. 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 Results of Enforcement Surge to Reduce the Fentanyl Supply Across the United States

Source: United States Department of Justice News

36 Million Lethal Doses of Fentanyl Removed from Communities between May and September

The U.S. Department of Justice Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) announced today the results of an enforcement operation that spanned from May to September and resulted in significant fentanyl seizures across the United States.

As part of the One Pill Can Kill initiative, the DEA and its law enforcement partners seized more than 10.2 million fentanyl pills and approximately 980 pounds of fentanyl powder during the period of May 23 through Sept. 8, 2022. The amount of fentanyl taken off the streets during this surge is equivalent to more than 36 million lethal doses removed from the illegal drug supply. Additionally, 338 weapons were seized, including rifles, shotguns, pistols, and hand grenades.

Of the 390 cases investigated during this period, 51 cases are linked to overdose poisonings and 35 cases link directly to one or both of the primary Mexican cartels responsible for the majority of fentanyl in the United States – the Sinaloa Cartel and the Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG). In addition, 129 investigations are linked to social media platforms, including Snapchat, Facebook Messenger, Instagram, and TikTok. These results build upon the One Pill Can Kill Phase II results announced by DEA Administrator Anne Milgram in December 2021.

“Across the country, fentanyl is devastating families and communities, and we know that violent, criminal drug cartels bear responsibility for this crisis,” said Attorney General Merrick B. Garland. “The Justice Department, including the extraordinary professionals of the DEA, is working to disrupt and dismantle the operations of these cartels, remove deadly fentanyl from our communities, and save Americans’ lives.”

“For the past year, confronting the fentanyl crisis has been the top priority for DEA. The most urgent threat to our communities, our kids, and our families are the Sinaloa Cartel and CJNG who are mass producing and supplying the fentanyl that is poisoning and killing Americans,” said DEA Administrator Anne Milgram. “The Sinaloa Cartel and CJNG are ruthless, criminal organizations that use deception and treachery to drive addiction with complete disregard for human life. To save American lives, the DEA is relentlessly focused on defeating the Sinaloa Cartel and CJNG by degrading their operations to make it impossible for them to do business.”

Fentanyl remains the deadliest drug threat facing this nation. In 2021, a record number of Americans – 107,622 – died from a drug poisoning or overdose. Sixty-six percent of those deaths can be attributed to synthetic opioids such as fentanyl.  

Drug traffickers have expanded their inventory to sell fentanyl in a variety of bright colors, shapes, and sizes. Rainbow fentanyl was first reported to DEA in February 2022, and it has now been seized in 21 states.  

Fentanyl is a synthetic opioid that is 50 times more potent than heroin. Just two milligrams of fentanyl, or the amount that could fit on the tip of a pencil, is considered a potentially lethal dose.

As part of DEA’s ongoing efforts to educate the public and encourage parents and caregivers to talk to teens and young adults about the dangers of fake pills and illicit drugs, DEA has also created a new resource, “What Every Parent and Caregiver Needs to Know About Fake Pills.”

In September 2021, DEA launched the One Pill Can Kill enforcement effort and public awareness campaign to combat the fake pill threat and educate the public about the dangers of fentanyl pills being disguised and sold as prescription medications, despite these pills not containing any of the actual medications advertised. The only safe medications are ones prescribed by a trusted medical professional and dispensed by a licensed pharmacist. All other pills are unsafe and potentially deadly.

Additional resources for parents and the community can be found on the DEA’s Fentanyl Awareness page.

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Security News: Justice Department Files Disability Discrimination Lawsuit Against St. Louis, Missouri, Apartment Complex

Source: United States Department of Justice News

The Justice Department announced the filing of a lawsuit against Missouri-based LJLD LLC and Westminster Properties LLC, the owners, developers and builders of a multifamily housing complex in St. Louis, Missouri. The lawsuit alleges that these defendants failed to design and construct housing units and related facilities at the Bridgewater Residences Apartments to make them accessible to persons with disabilities in compliance with the Fair Housing Act (FHA) and the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA).   

The lawsuit arose from a complaint by Metropolitan St. Louis Equal Housing and Opportunity Council (EHOC) filed with the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). After HUD investigated the complaint, it determined that LJLD LLC and Westminster Properties LLC violated the FHA and issued a charge of discrimination. After EHOC chose to have the matter decided in federal court, HUD referred to the matter to the Justice Department. 

“For more than three decades, federal law has required multifamily housing complexes to be designed and built with accessible features,” said Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division. “The Department of Justice is committed to protecting the rights of people with disabilities to ensure that they have equal access to housing, including accessible parking, common areas and related facilities.”

“This lawsuit seeks changes in an apartment complex in which the visually impaired risk injury simply getting the mail,” said U.S. Attorney Sayler A. Fleming for the Eastern District of Missouri. “Wheelchair users may not be able to get into or use bathrooms, adjust their own thermostats, safely get to their patios or access the complex’s office, dog park and other amenities.”

“Builders and developers of multifamily housing complexes must adhere to the requirements of the Fair Housing Act to ensure that persons with disabilities have equal opportunity to live in these properties,” said Demetria McCain, HUD’s Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary for Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity. “HUD applauds today’s action and remains committed to working with the Justice Department to vigorously enforce our nation’s fair housing laws.”

The lawsuit, which was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Missouri, alleges that the Bridgewater Residences Apartments have significant accessibility barriers including excessively sloped pedestrian routes from apartment units to the public street and to site amenities (such as the dog park, mail center, dumpster, management/leasing office); barriers to accessible parking; inaccessible bathrooms; inaccessible door hardware; and insufficient maneuvering space at entrances to common use areas that make those entrances inaccessible to many people with disabilities.

The lawsuit seeks an order (1) requiring the defendants to bring the properties into compliance with the FHA and the ADA, (2) requiring the defendants to pay monetary damages to persons harmed by the lack of accessibility, as well as civil penalties to the United States to vindicate the public interest, and (3) prohibiting the defendants from designing or constructing future residential properties in a manner that discriminates against persons with disabilities. Bridgewater V LLC, the current owner of the apartment complex, also is named in the lawsuit as a necessary party to provide access to the property for the required retrofits.

Individuals who may have been affected by the lack of accessibility at these properties should call the Civil Rights Division’s Housing Discrimination Hotline at 1-833-591-0291, press 1 for English, press 4 for housing accessibility for persons with disabilities or the design and construction of accessible housing cases, then press 7 for United States v. LJLD (Bridgewater) to leave a message, or send an email to fairhousing@usdoj.gov.  

The FHA prohibits discrimination in housing based on disability, race, color, religion, national origin, sex and familial status. Among other things, it requires all multifamily housing constructed after March 13, 1991, to have basic accessibility features, including accessible routes without steps or steep slopes to all ground-floor units. Enacted in 1990, the ADA requires, among other things, that places of public accommodation – such as rental offices – at multifamily housing complexes designed and constructed for first occupancy after Jan. 26, 1993, be accessible to persons with disabilities. More information about the Civil Rights Division and the laws it enforces is available at www.usdoj.gov/crt.  

A complaint 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: Owner of Farm Labor Contracting Company Pleads Guilty in Racketeering Conspiracy Involving the Forced Labor of Mexican Workers

Source: United States Department of Justice News

Bladimir Moreno, 55, pleaded guilty in federal court in Tampa, Florida, to charges of conspiracy under the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) Act and conspiracy to commit forced labor. A federal grand jury in the Middle District of Florida had previously returned a six-count indictment against multiple defendants for their roles in a federal racketeering conspiracy that victimized Mexican H-2A workers who, between 2015 and 2017, had worked in the United States harvesting fruits, vegetables and other agricultural products. 

“The scheme these defendants employed trapped the victims through fear of serious harm if they did not continue to toil away for the defendants’ profit,” said Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division. “The Department of Justice is committed to combating human trafficking in all its forms, including prosecuting agricultural employers who break the law to subject their vulnerable migrant farm workers to forced labor.”

“Forcing individuals to work against their will using abusive and coercive tactics is not only unconscionable but illegal,” said U.S. Attorney Roger Handberg for the Middle District of Florida. “We will continue to work with our human trafficking task forces to stamp out these illegal practices throughout our district and state.”

According to court documents, Moreno owned, operated and managed Los Villatoros Harvesting (LVH), a farm labor contracting company, that functioned as a criminal enterprise compelling victims to work in Florida, Kentucky, Indiana, Georgia and North Carolina. After charging Mexican farm workers exorbitant sums to come into the United States on short-term, H-2A, agricultural visas to work for LVH, Moreno and his co-conspirators coerced over a dozen workers into providing long hours of physically demanding agricultural labor, six to seven days a week, for de minimis pay. Moreno and his co-conspirators used various coercive means, including imposing debts on workers; confiscating the workers’ passports; subjecting workers to crowded, unsanitary and degrading living conditions; verbally abusing and humiliating the workers; threatening workers with arrest, jailtime and deportation; isolating workers by preventing them from interacting with anyone other than LVH employees; and threatening to physically harm the workers’ family members back in Mexico if the workers failed to comply with their demands. In addition to conspiring to subject H-2A workers to forced labor, Moreno and his coconspirators also harbored H-2A workers in the United States after their visas had expired for financial gain and committed visa fraud and fraud in foreign labor contracting. 

Earlier this year, three co-defendants who had worked for Moreno and assisted him in operating LVH pleaded guilty to related offenses. Christina Gamez, 43, a U.S. citizen, who worked for LVH as a bookkeeper, manager and supervisor, pleaded guilty to RICO conspiracy. Efrain Cabrera Rodas, 32, a citizen of Mexico, who worked for LVH as a recruiter, manager and supervisor, also pleaded guilty to RICO conspiracy. Guadalupe Mendes Mendoza, 45, a citizen of Mexico, who worked for LVH as a manager and supervisor, pleaded guilty to conspiring to obstruct a federal investigation.

The Palm Beach County Human Trafficking Task Force, which includes the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Homeland Security Investigations, and the Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office, investigated the case. The Task Force received assistance from the Department of Labor (DOL) Office of the Inspector General, the DOL Wage and Hour Division, the Department of State Diplomatic Security Service, and Coalition of Immokalee Workers, Colorado Legal Services Migrant Farm Worker Division, Legal Aid Services of Oregon Farmworker Program and Indiana Legal Services Worker Rights and Protection Project.

The announcement was made by Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke for the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division and U.S. Attorney Roger Handberg for the Middle District of Florida.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Ilyssa Spergel for the Middle District of Florida and Trial Attorneys Avner Shapiro, Maryam Zhuravitsky, and Matthew Thiman of the Civil Rights Division’s Criminal Section are prosecuting the case.  

Anyone who has information about human trafficking should report that information to the National Human Trafficking Hotline toll-free at 1-888-373-7888, which is available 24 hours a day, seven days a week. For more information about human trafficking, please visit www.humantraffickinghotline.org. Information on the Department of Justice’s efforts to combat human trafficking can be found at www.justice.gov/humantrafficking.

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GSA Awards Contract for Environmental Assessment as Part of Highgate Springs Land Port of Entry Project

Source: United States General Services Administration

September 27, 2022

BOSTON – The U.S. General Services Administration (GSA), as part of a Bipartisan Infrastructure Law Land Port of Entry (LPOE) project, has awarded a contract to perform an Environmental Assessment (EA) at the Highgate Springs, Vt. LPOE.

The $134,856 contract was awarded to women-owned small business Solv, LLC. Solv supports the mission of government and commercial clients by providing sustainable solutions based on sound engineering, science, economic, and management principles.

The EA will be conducted in compliance with the National Environmental Protection Act (NEPA), and is part of a larger project at the Highgate Springs LPOE, funded under the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL). The project will modernize the Highgate Springs LPOE, one of the busiest land ports of entry in New England.

The new facility is critical due to the anticipated completion of Canadian Auto-Route 35 in 2025, which will connect to Interstate 89 at Highgate Springs. The new land port of entry will improve public and officer safety, as well as expedite crossing times for the traveling public and businesses that rely on binational commerce.

“The Highgate Springs LPOE is more than just a secure, welcoming gateway to our country,” Region 1 Public Buildings Service Commissioner and Acting Regional Administrator Glenn C. Rotondo said. “It is intrinsic to the fabric of life and community along the New England border with Canada. We are excited for the opportunity to begin the process to improve this facility, and the economic prospects this project will bring to the region.”

The EA process provides steps and procedures to evaluate the potential social, economic, and environmental impacts of Project alternatives while providing an opportunity for local, state, tribal and Federal agencies It also allows the public to provide input and comments through public information meetings and public hearings. The social, economic, and environmental considerations are evaluated and measured, as defined in the regulations, by their magnitude of impacts.

About GSA:
GSA provides centralized procurement for the federal government, managing a nationwide real estate portfolio of nearly 370 million rentable square feet and overseeing approximately $75 billion in annual contracts. GSA’s mission is to deliver the best value in real estate, acquisition, and technology services across government, in support of the Biden-Harris administration’s priorities. For more information, visit GSA.gov and follow us at @USGSA.