Month: November 2022

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Security News: Political Consultant Convicted for Scheme Involving Illegal Foreign Campaign Contribution to 2016 Presidential Campaign

Source: United States Department of Justice News

A federal jury today convicted a political consultant for his role in funneling illegal foreign campaign contributions from a Russian foreign national to a 2016 presidential campaign. 

According to court documents and evidence presented at trial, Jessie R. Benton, 45, of The Woodlands, Texas, schemed with another political advisor to funnel political contributions to a 2016 presidential campaign from a Russian foreign national seeking to support, meet, and take a picture with the presidential candidate. Benton arranged for the Russian foreign national – whose nationality Benton concealed from the campaign and the candidate – to attend a political fundraising event for the campaign and to take a picture with the candidate.

As such attendance and engagement required a contribution, Benton caused the Russian foreign national to wire $100,000 to Benton’s political consulting firm for purposes of making an illegal foreign contribution to the campaign. To disguise the scheme, Benton created a fake invoice, which falsely identified the funds as payment for consulting services. Benton acted as a straw donor and contributed $25,000 of the Russian foreign national’s money to the campaign, falsely identified himself as the contributor, and pocketed the remaining $75,000. Because Benton falsely claimed to have given the contribution himself, the relevant campaign entities unwittingly filed reports with the Federal Election Commission (FEC) that inaccurately reported Benton – instead of the Russian foreign national – as the source of the funds.    

Benton was convicted of conspiring to solicit and cause an illegal campaign contribution by a foreign national, effecting a conduit contribution, and causing false records to be filed with the FEC. He is scheduled to be sentenced on Feb. 17, 2023, and faces a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison on the top 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 Randy Grossman for the Southern District of California, U.S. Attorney Matthew Graves for the District of Columbia, and Special Agent in Charge Stacey Moy of the FBI San Diego Field Office made the announcement.

The FBI San Diego Field Office investigated the case.

Trial Attorneys Rebecca G. Ross and Michelle K. Parikh of the Criminal Division’s Public Integrity Section and Assistant U.S. Attorney Michelle L. Wasserman for the Southern District of California, while serving in her capacity as a Special Assistant U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia, are prosecuting the case.

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Security News: Former New Orleans Police Officer Pleads Guilty to Federal Civil Rights Offense for Sexually Assaulting a 15-Year-Old Crime Victim

Source: United States Department of Justice

A former police officer with the New Orleans Police Department (NOPD) pleaded guilty today in federal court to sexually assaulting a 15-year-old crime victim in violation of her constitutional rights.

According to court documents, in May 2020, Rodney Vicknair, 55, while working in his capacity as an NOPD officer, escorted a then14-year-old girl, who was a victim of sexual assault, to the hospital to undergo a forensic exam, also known as a rape kit. The defendant gave the victim his cell phone number and offered to be her friend and mentor. At the time, the defendant was 53-years-old.

“The defendant’s job was to protect a child who was a victim of sexual assault but instead he exploited her vulnerabilities and abused his position of power to carry out his own sexual assault of the victim,” said Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division. “Law enforcement officials who sexually assault children are not above the law. The Civil Rights Division will continue to hold accountable law enforcement officers who sexually assault their victims when they should have otherwise been keeping them safe.”

“The safeguarding of all of our citizens’ civil rights is an essential part of our Constitution, especially for crime victims,” said U.S. Attorney Duane A. Evans for the Eastern District of Louisiana. “Any violation of these rights, especially when committed by a law enforcement officer sworn to protect the rights of our citizens, is particularly disturbing. The public must be able  to trust that law enforcement  will execute their sworn duties honestly and faithfully and, if not, that they will  face the consequences of their actions. Our office, along with the Department of Justice, the Federal Bureau of Investigation as well as state and local law enforcement agencies will continue to investigate and prosecute any violations of civil rights.”

“The preservation of civil rights and the investigation of Color of Law violations are of utmost priority for the FBI,” said Special Agent in Charge Douglas A. Williams Jr. of the FBI New Orleans Field Office. “Today’s guilty plea sends a clear message that individuals like Rodney Vicknair will be held responsible and no one is above the law. We thank our partners at the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Louisiana and Department of Justice Civil Rights Division for their strong partnership and dedication to protecting the civil rights of every citizen.”  

According to the court documents, in the months and weeks thereafter, Vicknair and the victim spoke on the phone and exchanged messages on Snapchat. Vicknair, while in uniform, often stopped by unannounced at the victim’s residence. Over time, Vicknair made comments to the victim that were sexual in nature.

On the night of Sept. 23, 2020, the defendant arrived at the victim’s house. By that time, she had turned 15-years-old. He told her to come outside and get into his vehicle. She got into the passenger’s seat while the defendant remained in the driver’s seat. Then, the defendant locked the doors so that the victim could not leave. He leaned over toward the victim, and she feared for her physical safety. The defendant then sexually assaulted the victim when he intentionally touched her genitals under her clothing without her consent. The defendant admitted in court that he acted without a legitimate law enforcement purpose, and that he knew his actions were wrong and against the law, but that he engaged in such conduct anyway.

A sentencing hearing has been set for March 8, 2023.

The FBI New Orleans Field Office and the NOPD Public Integrity Bureau investigated the case. Criminal Chief Tracey Knight for the Eastern District of Louisiana and Special Litigation Counsel Fara Gold of the Criminal Section of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division are prosecuting the case.

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Defense News: Women Sailors Get Measured Now for Better Fitting Uniforms in the Future

Source: United States Navy

 During the event, 100 women Sailors volunteered to have their measurements taken and try on several prototype uniforms to collect data with the ultimate objective of establishing a consistent fit for uniforms in the future.

“Over the past four years, we have been working with anthropometric data on current female body types/sizes and clothing industry experts to update the patterns to reflect an accuracy in the development of a new Navy fit type and sizing for women Sailors,” said Dr. Brianna Plummer, Supervisory Textile Technologist, Design & Testing Group at NCTRF. “The ultimate goal of this effort is to update all uniform patterns to create better fit that require fewer alterations and resulting in the commonality of sizing across all uniform items.”

During the fit evaluation, Sailors worked individually with NCTRF clothing designers and textile technologists to have their measurements documented. Sailors then tried on multiple dress uniform items, including two overblouse prototype design concepts in the new sizing system to be worn with Summer White and Service Dress Blue uniforms. 

“The data gathered during the West Coast fit evaluation, along with the data gathered from previous fit evaluations, will significantly contribute to the direction of our research,” said Plummer. “It was important that we had a wide diversity of female body types and sizes documented, so we would have a complete view of today’s women Sailors. NEXCOM is committed to providing certified, high-quality Navy uniforms with a focus on continuing improvements to fit, comfort, design and durability.”

This West Coast fit evaluation was the third and final one to collect instrumental data to assess the fit, comfort, consistency of sizes based on prototyped construction features. NEXCOM’s two previous fit tests were held in Virginia Beach, Virginia, in 2019 and Norfolk, Virginia, in July 2022. 

Quick Facts

The Navy Exchange Service Command’s Navy Clothing & Textile Research Facility (NCTRF) held a Female Size Standardization fit evaluation at Naval Air Station North Island, California, Oct. 31 – Nov. 4.

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Security News: Michigan Personal Injury Attorney Convicted of Tax Crimes

Source: United States Department of Justice News

Filed False Tax Returns Omitting Over $2.6 Million in Income Concealed in Lawyer’s Trust Accounts

A federal jury convicted Michigan attorney Carl L. Collins, III on Nov. 16 of willfully filing five false tax returns for himself and one of his businesses.

Collins was a personal injury lawyer with offices in Southfield, Michigan. He also owned a real estate company, First Third LLC, and two medical-related companies, MedCity Rehabilitation Services LLC and Alpha Living LLC. At trial, the evidence proved Collins did not report substantial income he received from these businesses and deposited into undisclosed Interest on Lawyer’s Trust Accounts (IOLTA), bank accounts to be used by lawyers solely to hold money in trust for clients. As a result, Collins was able to conceal these funds from his tax preparers and the IRS.

Collins was convicted of filing false personal tax returns for 2012, 2015, and 2018, filing a false 2012 amended return, and filing a false 2015 corporate return for Alpha Living. The evidence established that Collins did not report approximately $600,000 in income he earned in 2012. He deposited most of these funds into an undisclosed IOLTA account and concealed the deposits from his tax preparer. On his 2015 personal return, Collins also did not report over $800,000 in income. With respect to his false 2018 personal tax return, Collins omitted approximately $300,000 in income that he deposited into another undisclosed IOLTA account. In all, the evidence showed that Collins did not report over $2.6 million in income.

Collins is scheduled to be sentenced on March 21, 2023, and faces a maximum penalty of three years in prison for each count of filing a false tax return. He also faces a period of supervised release, restitution and monetary penalties. A federal district court judge will determine any sentence after considering the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.

Acting Deputy Assistant Attorney General Stuart M. Goldberg of the Justice Department’s Tax Division and U.S. Attorney Dawn N. Ison for the Eastern District of Michigan made the announcement.

IRS-Criminal Investigation is investigating the case.

Trial Attorneys Kenneth Vert and Jeffrey McLellan of the Tax Division are prosecuting the case. Law Clerk Evan Mulbry and Paralegal Specialist Eric Mahoney of the Tax Division are assisting with the prosecution.

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Defense News: NRL CIRCE Satellites Delivered, Set for Historic 2022 UK Launch

Source: United States Navy

The Coordinated Ionospheric Reconstruction CubeSat Experiment (CIRCE) satellites are scheduled for manifest aboard Virgin Orbit, which is targeting their first satellite launch later this year. Virgin Orbit’s Launcher One rocket takes off horizontally, carried aloft by a modified Boeing 747 jet, pioneering new lower cost research opportunities for space access.

CIRCE is a joint NRL-United Kingdom Defence Science and Technology Laboratory (Dstl) experiment designed to measure the Earth’s ionosphere and particle radiation environment from a circular orbit at 555 km (344 miles) altitude in a lead/trail formation 300-500 km (186-310 miles) apart in the same orbit plane.

“We are excited and thankful for the international partnership that we have on the CIRCE program. It’s been a wonderful experience working with the folks at Dstl and their university and industry partners in the U.K.,” said Andrew Nicholas, CIRCE’s principal investigator. “We are looking forward to a successful launch and are excited to continue work with our U.K. partners, to start getting real observational data downlinked, and to start the research these observations will enable.”

Funded by the Office of Naval Research’s Space Weather S&T program with the launch supported by the DoD Space Test Program, the twin satellites push the boundaries of the CubeSat platform technology, challenging the size, weight and power constraints of the platform as well as integration and complex concepts of operations.
“The CIRCE spacecraft are the size of a cereal box and we’ve managed to sandwich five sensors in each of them,” Nicholas said. “So, they are very compact and heavily laden with technology that is really tightly integrated in there.”

NRL developed the Triple Tiny Ionospheric Photometer (Tri-TIP) to measure nighttime O+ 135.6nm airglow emissions in the atmosphere. Each CIRCE CubeSat has two Tri-TIPs onboard, configured to look along coordinated lines of sight to perform ionospheric tomography in the orbital plane.

The U.K. contribution to CIRCE is the In situ and Remote Ionospheric Sensing (IRIS) suite, which comprises three highly miniaturized payloads and complements NRL sensors. One IRIS suite will be flown on each satellite, and incorporates an ion/neutral mass spectrometer, a tri-band global positioning system receiver for ionospheric remote sensing, and a radiation environment monitor.

“A lot of this program has been done during the pandemic where we haven’t had the typical, in-person business that usually happens with programs like this,” Nicholas said. “It was really nice to be side–by-side at Spaceport Cornwall, preparing for launch with the Dstl folks that we’ve been working with for so many years.”

During the life of its mission, CIRCE will help researchers better understand how the ionosphere is changing day-to-day, hour-to-hour and even minute-to-minute, which is important to the Navy, especially for over-the-horizon communications and radar.

“In addition, if you really want to understand the ionosphere tomorrow, you have to understand the ionosphere and thermosphere today, so it is great that we have the INMS from the U.K. to measure the neutral composition as well.” Nicholas said.

The U.K. instrument suite showcases academic collaboration, with payloads provided by University College London’s Mullard Space Science Laboratory, University of Bath, and Surrey Satellite Technology Limited (SSTL), drawing on expertise from University of Surrey.

“We are delighted to be working with NRL on the CIRCE mission, and proud of the valuable contribution made by our U.K. payload providers,” said Gemma Attrill, Ph.D., Dstl’s CIRCE lead. “The data returned by CIRCE will provide unparalleled temporal and spatial detail regarding the dynamic behavior of the ionosphere, allowing us to develop our understanding of system impacts relevant to both defense and the civil sector.”

This historic mission will be the first orbital launch from the U.K., the first international launch for Virgin Orbit, and the first commercial launch from Western Europe. CIRCE is scheduled to launch from Spaceport Cornwall located at Newquay Airport in Cornwall, England, later in 2022.

About the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory
NRL is a scientific and engineering command dedicated to research that drives innovative advances for the U.S. Navy and Marine Corps from the seafloor to space and in the information domain. NRL is located in Washington, D.C. with major field sites in Stennis Space Center, Mississippi; Key West, Florida; Monterey, California, and employs approximately 3,000 civilian scientists, engineers and support personnel.

For more information, contact NRL Corporate Communications at (202) 480-3746 or nrlpao@nrl.navy.mil.

Dstl – The science inside U.K. defence and security
The Defence Science and Technology Laboratory (Dstl) delivers high-impact science and technology (S&T) for the U.K.’s defence, security and prosperity. Dstl is an Executive Agency of the MOD with around 4,500 staff working across three sites; Porton Down, near Salisbury, Portsdown West, near Portsmouth, and Alverstoke, near Gosport.

Email: Dstlpress@dstl.gov.uk
Social media: @dstlmod
Website: gov.uk/dstl