Phoenix Man Sentenced for Importing Counterfeit N95 Masks from Asia

Source: United States Department of Justice News

PHOENIX, Ariz. – Mark Forrest Cohn, 68, of Chandler, Arizona, was sentenced on December 21, 2022, by United States District Judge David G. Campbell to one year of probation and ordered to pay restitution, to include $8,028 in unpaid taxes and tariffs to U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP). Cohn pleaded guilty to one felony count of Entry of Goods by Means of False Statements.

On October 29, 2020, Cohn fraudulently imported counterfeit 3M manufactured N95 masks into the United States from China using shipping labels and papers that falsely represented the merchandise. The false representations disguised the merchandise as goods not subject to duties and inspection by the United States Food and Drug Administration. Once the shipment arrived at a Phoenix mail facility, a box imported by Custom Glass and Synthetic was targeted for inspection as part of an enforcement operation conducted by Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) and CBP’s Office of Field Operations officers. When the box was opened, HSI and CBP officers found masks branded as 3M with pixelated photos on the packaging. Working together, HSI and CBP officers scanned and transmitted images of the shipment of purported N95 masks to 3M. On November 3, 2020, 3M advised the N95 masks were in fact counterfeit. Counterfeits create risks to the user because the seals can be ill-fitting and the masks less effective.

On November 23, 2020, Department of Veterans Affairs Office of Inspector General agents and a 3M representative inspected the masks located at a Veterans Affairs Medical Center (VAMC) warehouse in Minneapolis, Minnesota. The counterfeit masks were identified and seized before they made their way to front line workers. 

The N95 mask is designed for health care workers as the fit and seal minimize the transference of COVID. Cohn sold over 20,000 masks to a third-party vendor that supplied equipment to the VAMC warehouse in Minnesota. The third-party vendor did not know that the masks were counterfeit.

Homeland Security Investigations conducted the investigation in this case, with assistance from CBP’s Office of Field Operations and the Department of Veterans Affairs Office of Inspector General. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Kristen Brook and Peter Sexton, District of Arizona, Phoenix, handled the prosecution.

CASE NUMBER:            CR-22-01308-PHX-DGC
RELEASE NUMBER:    2022-232_Cohn

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For more information on the U.S. Attorney’s Office, District of Arizona, visit http://www.justice.gov/usao/az/

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U.S. Attorney’s Office Collects $41,562,706.60 in Civil and Criminal Actions in Fiscal Year 2022

Source: United States Department of Justice News

(DENVER) – U.S. Attorney Cole Finegan announced today that the District of Colorado collected $41,562,706.60 in criminal and civil actions in Fiscal Year 2022. Of this amount, $4,245,736.91 was collected in criminal actions and $37,316,969.69 was collected in civil actions

The District of Colorado also worked with other U.S. Attorney’s Offices and components of the Department of Justice to collect an additional $1,855,053.04 in cases pursued jointly by these offices. Of this amount, $741,651.73 was collected in criminal actions and $1,113,401.31 was collected in civil actions. 

The district’s Asset Recovery Division, led by Chief Tonya Andrews, working with partner agencies, also forfeited $23,307,938.73. Forfeited assets deposited into the Department of Justice Assets Forfeiture Fund are used to restore funds to crime victims and for a variety of law enforcement purposes. In January and August, the District of Colorado recovered over $13 million in COVID-fraud related funds in the Folk and Citi Bank cases, involving individuals who fraudulently applied for and received COVID-relief funds from the Small Business Administration.

“As a result of exceptional work by the Asset Recovery Division and our Civil Division, in coordination with our law enforcement partners, more than $41 million was recovered this year,” said U.S. Attorney Cole Finegan. “These collected funds will assist victims in their recovery process and aid law enforcement as they continue to hold criminals accountable for their crimes.”

The U.S. Attorneys’ Offices, along with the department’s litigating divisions, are responsible for enforcing and collecting civil and criminal debts owed to the U.S. and criminal debts owed to federal crime victims. The law requires defendants to pay restitution to victims of certain federal crimes who have suffered a physical injury or financial loss. While restitution is paid to the victim, criminal fines and felony assessments are paid to the department’s Crime Victims Fund, which distributes the funds collected to federal and state victim compensation and victim assistance programs.

Florida Man Sentenced to Two Years in Federal Prison for Pandemic-Related Fraud

Source: United States Department of Justice News

Also Ordered to Pay $26,699.80 in Restitution to Oklahoma Employment Security Commission for Fraudulent Unemployment Insurance Benefits

OKLAHOMA CITY– ANDRICE VANEC SAINVIL, 20, of Margate, Florida, pleaded guilty and was sentenced today to two years in prison for his role in a Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (“CARES”) Act fraud scheme, announced U.S. Attorney Robert J. Troester.

According to an indictment filed in September 2021, Sainvil conspired with others to steal the identities of dozens of Oklahomans, use their victims’ names and social security numbers to apply for fraudulent Unemployment Insurance (“UI”) benefits with the Oklahoma Employment Security Commission (“OESC”), and cause OESC to mail prepaid debit cards containing those fraudulently obtained UI benefits to addresses to which the coconspirators had access throughout the Western District of Oklahoma.  The indictment further alleges that Sainvil and others then retrieved those prepaid debit cards and used them to withdraw thousands of dollars in cash from ATMs throughout Oklahoma City and elsewhere.

At a hearing this morning, Sainvil pleaded guilty to count three of a six-count indictment against him, and admitted that he personally possessed four of those fraudulently obtained UI benefit debit cards, withdrawing more than $1,000.00 in cash from three of them.  Sainvil was then sentenced to two years in prison, to be followed by three years of supervised release.  He was further ordered to pay $26,699.80 in restitution to OESC, and to forfeit the $2,658.00 in proceeds that he obtained as a result of the scheme. 

This case is a result of an investigation by the United States Department of Labor Office of Inspector General.  It was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Julia E. Barry.

Reference is made to court filings for further information.

Owner of Farm Labor Company Sentenced to 118 Months in Prison for Leading a Multi-State Conspiracy Involving Forced Labor of Mexican Farm Workers

Source: United States Department of Justice News

Bladimir Moreno, 55, was sentenced for leading a federal racketeering and forced labor conspiracy that victimized Mexican H-2A agricultural workers in the United States between 2015 and 2017. U.S. District Court Judge Charlene Edward Honeywell of the Middle District of Florida sentenced Moreno to 118 months in prison with three years of supervised release and ordered him to pay over $175,000 in restitution to the victims.

Moreno, the owner of Los Villatoros Harvesting LLC (LVH), the labor contracting company that employed the workers, was charged in September 2021 and pleaded guilty earlier this year to conspiracy under the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO) and conspiracy to commit forced labor. Two of Moreno’s co-defendants previously pleaded guilty to conspiracy under RICO, and a third, Guadalupe Mendes, 45, pleaded guilty to conspiring to obstruct a federal investigation. They were sentenced in October 2022. Rodas, a citizen of Mexico, who worked for LVH as a recruiter, manager and supervisor, received 41 months in prison. Gamez, a U.S. citizen, who worked for LVH as a bookkeeper, manager and supervisor, received 37 months in prison. Mendes, a U.S. citizen, who worked for LVH as a manager and supervisor, received eight months of home detention and a $5,500 fine to be paid over 24 months of supervised release.

“Human trafficking, including forced labor campaigns that exploit vulnerable workers, is unlawful, immoral and inhumane,” said Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division. “This defendant abused his power as a business owner to capitalize on the victims’ vulnerabilities and immigration status, luring those seeking a better quality of life with false promises of lawful work paying a fair wage. The defendant forced Mexican agricultural workers to labor under inhumane conditions, confiscated their passports, imposed exorbitant fees and debts, and threatened them with deportation or false arrest. The Department of Justice is committed to seeking justice for survivors of forced labor campaigns, holding perpetrators accountable and stripping wrongdoers of their illegal profits.”

“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 task force partners to combat human trafficking in all its forms, including prosecuting those who exploit vulnerable workers.” 

According to court documents, Moreno owned, operated and managed LVH — a farm labor contracting company that brought large numbers of temporary, seasonal Mexican workers into the United States on H-2A agricultural visas — as a criminal enterprise. Moreno compelled victims to work in Florida, Kentucky, Indiana, Georgia and North Carolina, and he engaged in a pattern of other racketeering activity that included visa fraud and fraud in foreign labor contracting, among other things. In order to facilitate the enterprise, Moreno made false statements in applications to federal agencies for the company to be granted temporary, H-2A agricultural workers. Moreno and his co-conspirators also made false promises to the Mexican farm workers themselves to encourage them to work for LVH and then charged them inflated sums to come into the United States on H-2A visas.

Once the immigrants arrived in the United States, Moreno and his co-conspirators coerced over a dozen of them 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 forms of coercion, including imposing debts on the workers; confiscating their passports; subjecting them to crowded, unsanitary and degrading living conditions; harboring them in the United States after their visas had expired; and threatening them with arrest and deportation if they failed to comply with Moreno’s and his co-conspirators’ demands. Later, in an attempt to conceal the criminal enterprise from federal investigators, Moreno created and provided to investigators fraudulent records that contained falsified information about the workers’ pay and hours, and repeatedly made false statements to federal investigators.

Assistant Attorney General Clarke, U.S. Attorney Handberg and Acting Special Agent in Charge DeWitt announced the sentence.

The Palm Beach County Human Trafficking Task Force, which includes the FBI, Homeland Security Investigations and the Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office investigated the case. The Task Force received assistance from the Department of Labor Office of the Inspector General, the Department of Labor Wage and Hour Division, the Department of State Diplomatic Security Service, the 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.

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.

Spring Hill Man Sentenced To 30 Months In Federal Prison For Manufacturing And Aiding In The Passing Of Counterfeit Currency Throughout North Florida

Source: United States Department of Justice News

Jacksonville, Florida – U.S. District Judge Brian J. Davis has sentenced Derrick Kamran Collins (32, Spring Hill) to 30 months in federal prison for manufacturing counterfeit Federal Reserve notes, aiding and abetting the passing of counterfeit Federal Reserve notes, and possession of counterfeit Federal Reserve notes. The court also ordered Collins to forfeit computer equipment utilized for manufacturing counterfeit Federal Reserve notes and $2,846.18 in illicit proceeds from his counterfeiting activities. Collins had been found guilty on October 25, 2022, following a bench trial.

According to court documents, from 2017 to March 2019, Collins acted as the source of supply for counterfeit Federal Reserve notes for various individuals throughout the Middle District of Florida. Collins was part of a scheme to pass the counterfeit bills in order to defraud businesses. After successfully passing the counterfeit currency at businesses, individuals paid Collins a portion of the proceeds. On March 26, 2019, the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office (JSO) conducted a traffic stop on a vehicle that contained multiple people, including Collins, at the River City Marketplace for suspicion of passing counterfeit Federal Reserve notes. During a search of the vehicle, the officers recovered multiple counterfeit $100 bills throughout the vehicle and in the glove box. Subsequently, law enforcement was able to determine Collins was the source of supply for the counterfeit Federal Reserve note that were passed by various individuals in the North Florida area, including at the River City Marketplace.

On November 21, 2019, the New Port Richey Police Department (NPRPD) conducted a traffic stop at approximately 1:00 a.m. on a vehicle driven by the registered owner, Collins. Upon making contact with Collins, law enforcement observed signs of impairment. During a subsequent DUI investigation, Collins refused to participate in field sobriety exercises and was arrested for DUI. During an inventory search pursuant to towing the vehicle from the area, the NPRPD located several sheets of counterfeit $100 bills in various stages of manufacturing in the trunk of the vehicle, and computer media. In the vehicle’s glove box, officers located completed counterfeit cash and illicit proceeds from the passing of counterfeit cash, bundled together. 

This prosecution was part of a long-term investigation into counterfeit Federal Reserve notes being passed in the areas of New Port Richey and North Florida. To date, Collins is the fourth individual prosecuted in connection with this activity. In February 2020, Charles Alexander Coriaty, III (Tampa) was sentenced to 16 months in federal prison for passing counterfeit Federal Reserve notes supplied by Collins and was ordered to pay restitution to the businesses that he defrauded. In June 2020, Brett Lawrence Rozenburgh (Tampa) was sentenced to 13 months’ imprisonment for passing counterfeit Federal Reserve notes supplied by Collins and was ordered to pay restitution to the businesses that he defrauded. In September 2020, Samantha Jade Falcone (Tampa) was sentenced to 2 years’ federal supervision for passing counterfeit Federal Reserve notes supplied by Collins and was ordered to pay restitution to the businesses that she defrauded.   

This case was investigated by the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office, the New Port Richey Police Department and the United States Secret Service – Jacksonville Field Office. It was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Kevin C. Frein. The forfeiture was handled by Assistant United States Mai Tran.