Month: October 2022

Source: United States Department of Justice News

TULSA, Okla. – A Tulsa man was sentenced Friday in U.S. District Court for hiding a camera in a minor victim’s bedroom so he could capture images and video of the child in various stages of undress, announced U.S. Attorney Clint Johnson.

U.S. District Judge Rodney W. Sippel sentenced Kor Vang, 36, to 25 years in federal prison. Vang previously pleaded guilty to sexual exploitation of a child and possession of child pornography in Indian Country.

“Kor Vang can no longer victimize this child or any others because he will be spending the next 25 years in federal prison. Upon his release, he will also be monitored for a lifetime by U.S. probation officials,” said U.S. Attorney Clint Johnson. “Agents and Task Force Officers from Homeland Security Investigations and the Tulsa County Sheriff’s Office are to be commended for their work in this case and continue to be critical partners in the fight to protect children from predators.”

“Identifying and investigating those who prey on our nation’s children is a top priority for HSI Dallas and our field office in Tulsa,” said HSI Dallas Special Agent in Charge,  Lester R. Hayes Jr. “This lengthy sentence should serve as a warning that HSI will never relent in our efforts to prosecute those seeking to exploit our most vulnerable population.“

In a January 2022 plea agreement, Vang admitted that from July 2019 to November 2021, he concealed a hidden camera inside a Bluetooth speaker and placed it in an 11-year-old child’s bedroom. He specifically recorded video and took pictures of the victim when she was undressed inside her bedroom and shower using the hidden camera and his cell phone. He further admitted that he gained unauthorized access the victim’s iCloud account and obtained images showing the victim in various stages of undress.

Vang initially triggered a law enforcement investigation after he downloaded child pornography. On Nov. 17, 2021, special agents with Homeland Security Investigations and task force officers and deputies from the Tulsa County Sheriff’s Office executed a federal search and seizure warrant on Vang’s home.

Vang waived his Miranda Rights and spoke to an agent at the scene. Vang stated that he had been addicted to child pornography for approximately five years and indicated that child pornography would likely be on his phone. He explained that he also exchanged the illicit depictions with others online.

Vang further told the agent that he had used a hidden camera to record the victim and gained access to the victim’s iCloud account where he obtained more images of the child.

When agents and officers reviewed the phone at the scene, they located hundreds of videos and images of the victim clothed and unclothed. Vang was arrested at the scene. A later review of Vang’s phone also revealed a video depicting the rape of an infant.

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Homeland Security Investigations and the Tulsa County Sheriff’s Office conducted the investigation. Assistant U.S. Attorney Niko A. Boulieris and Christopher J. Nassar prosecuted the case.

Source: United States Department of Justice News

CLEVELAND – Jason S. Huffman, 50, of Youngstown, Ohio, was sentenced on Tuesday, September 27, 2022, to more than 27 years in prison, or 328 months, and was ordered to pay $3,000 in restitution by U.S. District Judge Christopher Boyko.  The sentence was pronounced after Huffman pleaded guilty to a five-count indictment in April 2022, charging him with transportation of visual depictions of minors engaged in sexual conduct, possession of child pornography and sexual exploitation of children.

According to court documents and courtroom proceedings, from April 2015 to December 2020, Huffman uploaded images of child pornography to a cloud storage account, prompting numerous cyber-tips to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children.

According to court records, law enforcement authorities executed a search warrant at Huffman’s residence in February 2021 and, during the search, found images of child pornography on multiple cellphones belonging to Huffman, including images Huffman had created of a minor victim engaged in sexually explicit conduct.  Authorities were laer able to determine that Huffman had created the explicit photos of the victim over the course of a two-year period.

This case was investigated by the Department of Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) and the Mahoning Valley Human Trafficking Task Force.  This case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Carol M. Skutnik.

###

Source: United States Department of Justice Criminal Division

The Agreement between the Government of the United States of America and the Government of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland on Access to Electronic Data for the Purpose of Countering Serious Crime (“Data Access Agreement” or “Agreement”) entered into force today. The Agreement is authorized by the Clarifying Lawful Overseas Use of Data (CLOUD) Act, a law enacted by Congress in 2018, and will be the first agreement of its kind, allowing each country’s investigators to gain better access to vital data to combat serious crime in a way that is consistent with privacy and civil liberties standards.

Under the Data Access Agreement, service providers in one country may respond to qualifying, lawful orders for electronic data issued by the other country, without fear of running afoul of restrictions on cross-border disclosures. The Data Access Agreement fosters more timely and efficient access to electronic data required in fast-moving investigations through the use of orders covered by the Agreement. This will greatly enhance the ability of the United States and the United Kingdom to prevent, detect, investigate, and prosecute serious crime, including terrorism, transnational organized crime, and child exploitation, among others.

The Data Access Agreement sets out numerous requirements that must be met for U.S. or UK authorities to invoke the Agreement. For example, orders submitted by U.S. authorities must not target persons located in the UK and must relate to a serious crime. Similarly, orders submitted by UK authorities must not target U.S. persons or persons located in the United States and must relate to a serious crime. U.S. and UK authorities must also abide by agreed requirements, limitations and conditions when obtaining and using data obtained under the Data Access Agreement. 

The United States and the United Kingdom have selected Designated Authorities responsible for implementation of the Data Access Agreement for each country. For the United States, the Designated Authority is the Department of Justice’s Office of International Affairs (OIA), and for the United Kingdom it is the Investigatory Powers Unit of the UK Home Office.

Among its various functions as U.S. Designated Authority, OIA has created a CLOUD team to review and certify orders that comply with the Agreement on behalf of federal, state, local, and territorial authorities located in the United States, transmit certified orders directly to UK service providers, and arrange for the return of responsive data to the requesting authorities.

For more information on the CLOUD Act, the Data Access Agreement and OIA, please visit: https://www.justice.gov/cloudact and https://www.justice.gov/criminal-oia.

Source: United States Department of Justice News

A federal court in the Southern District of Florida has ordered a return preparer operating in the West Palm Beach area to pay $213,500 in fees he received for preparing tax returns in violation of a permanent injunction that barred him from filing, preparing, or helping to prepare federal tax returns for others.

The United States sued Nate E. Dameus, doing business as Mobile Tax Express Services, in May 2021. The Government’s complaint alleged that Dameus prepared returns for customers that fraudulently understated the tax those customers owed and/or overstated the refund to which they were entitled. The complaint alleged, for example, that Dameus prepared returns with fabricated tax withholdings and bogus claims for unreimbursed employee business expenses like car mileage, tools, cell phone services and meals. In addition, the complaint alleged that Dameus routinely falsified home improvement expenses on his customers’ returns to claim residential energy credits his customers were not entitled to receive. With Dameus’ consent, the court issued an injunction in September 2021 that permanently barred him from preparing tax returns for others.

The United States filed a motion on July 26, 2022, asking the court to hold Dameus in contempt for violating that injunction. According to the motion, Dameus used the Preparer Tax Identification Number assigned to his cousin, Fedson Dameus, to covertly prepare at least 305 tax returns for customers in 2022 in violation of the injunction. The motion also alleged that at least some of those returns reported fictitious business and “other income” losses, and false employer credits for paid family and medical leave. Before the scheduled hearing on the motion, Dameus stipulated that the United States could prove that those facts by clear and convincing evidence consented to an order finding him in contempt for continuing to prepare returns in violation of the injunction and agreed to pay $213,500. The court entered the order holding Dameus in contempt on Sept. 29, 2022. In addition to ordering Dameus to surrender ill-gotten fees, the court ordered him to reimburse the government for the costs incurred to investigate his violations and enforce the injunction.

Deputy Assistant Attorney General David A. Hubbert of the Justice Department’s Tax Division made the announcement.

Return preparer fraud is one of the IRS’ Dirty Dozen Tax Scams and taxpayers seeking a return preparer should remain vigilant. (More information can also be found here.) The IRS has information on its website for choosing a tax preparer, has launched a free directory of federal tax preparers, and offers information on how to avoid “ghost” tax preparers, whose refusal to sign a return should be a red flag to taxpayers. The IRS also has a checklist of things to remember when filing income tax returns in 2022.

In addition, IRS Free File, a public-private partnership, offers free online tax preparation and filing options on IRS partner websites for individuals whose adjusted gross income is under $73,000. For individuals whose income is over that threshold, IRS Free File offers electronical federal tax forms that can be filled out and filed online for free. The IRS has tips on how seniors and individuals with low to moderate income can get other help or guidance on tax return preparation, too.

In the past decade, the Tax Division has obtained injunctions against hundreds of unscrupulous tax preparers. Information about these cases is available on the Justice Department’s website. An alphabetical listing of persons enjoined from preparing returns and promoting tax schemes can be found this page. If you believe that one of the enjoined persons or businesses may be violating an injunction, please contact the Tax Division with details.

Source: United States Department of Justice News

HOUSTON – A 39-year-old Richmond resident has been charged with fraudulently obtaining nearly $600,000 in financial aid funds at several Texas colleges and universities, announced U.S. Attorney Jennifer Lowery.

Emmanuel Finnih is expected to make his initial appearance before U.S. Magistrate Judge Yvonne Y. Ho at 2 p.m. today.   

A federal grand jury returned the seven-count indictment Sept. 28. He was taken into custody Sept. 30.  

Beginning in or about 2017 through to present, Finnih allegedly aided and abetted or was aided and abetted by others in submitting false applications for financial aid. The charges allege he unlawfully obtained financial aid funds for over 30 alleged students at eight colleges and universities in Texas. 

Finnih used the personal identifiers of other individuals to prepare, submit and sign false and fraudulent financial aid applications and master promissory notes in their names, according to the indictment. Finnih allegedly utilized mailing addresses, telephone numbers and email accounts he controlled to ensure that the Department of Education and colleges would send any communications directly to him. The indictment alleges he then obtained the financial aid refunds via electronic transfer, check and prepaid debit cards sent either to mailing addresses or bank accounts he had designated.

The charges further allege that Finnih aided and abetted or was aided and abetted by others in the aggravated identity theft of two alleged students. According to the indictment, he or others were also fraudulently in possession of identity documents – temporary driver permits or identification cards – with the intent to unlawfully use or transfer those documents. 

Federal financial aid funds are intended to be used for educational purposes. However, the charges allege Finnih received the funds for his personal benefit.

The actual loss to the United States is alleged to be over $595,000. 

The indictment includes one count each of theft of government funds, student financial aid fraud and unlawful use or transfer of identity documents along with four counts of aggravated identity theft.

If convicted of theft of government funds, Finnih faces up to 10 years in federal prison, while the student financial aid fraud and unlawful use or transfer identity documents each carry a possible five-year prison term. In addition, each of the aggravated identity theft counts carries a sentence of two years which must be served consecutively to any other sentence imposed.

The Department of Education – Office of Inspector General conducted the investigation with assistance from the Lone Star College Police Department and U.S. Marshals Service. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Shirin Hakimzadeh and Charles J. Escher are prosecuting the case. 

An indictment is a formal accusation of criminal conduct, not evidence.
A defendant is presumed innocent unless convicted through due process of law.