Month: January 2023

Source: United States Department of Justice News

Remarks as Delivered

Thank you, Attorney General Garland and Associate Attorney General Gupta.

As alleged in our complaint, in late 2016, a Google digital advertising executive asked the following question in an internal email exchange: “[I]s there a deeper issue with us owning the platform, the exchange, and a huge network? The analogy would be if Goldman or Citibank owned the [New York Stock Exchange]?”

The answer to Google’s rhetorical question is: yes. Indeed, there is a deeper issue: and that issue is the Sherman Antitrust Act. Google’s alleged misconduct amounts to numerous violations of the United States’ antitrust laws. And that is precisely why we are here today.

The lawsuit we have filed today seeks to hold Google to account for what we allege are its longstanding monopolies in digital advertising technologies that content creators use to sell ads and advertisers use to buy ads on the open internet.

In the complaint, the Department alleges that Google engaged in 15 years of sustained conduct that had — and continues to have — the effect of: driving out rivals, diminishing competition, inflating advertising costs, reducing website publisher revenues, stymieing innovation, and flattening our public marketplace of ideas.

The complaint filed today alleges that Google engaged in a pattern of acquisitions to obtain market dominance and – once it had obtained that dominance – a series of exclusionary acts to expand and entrench its monopoly power.

Here are just five examples:

1. locking in content creators through tying arrangements;
2. manipulating auctions, including by giving itself a “first look” and then “last look” advantage over competing ad exchanges;
3. blocking industry participants from using rivals’ technologies and punishing those that tried;
4. amassing and abusing troves of its rivals’ bidding data; and
5. depriving customers of choice by degrading the quality of Google’s own.

Because Google dominates every part of the ad tech industry, it has the power to impose a surcharge on display advertising transactions, an industry where billions of dollars are transacted via instantaneous auctions each year in the United States.

Google’s own documents estimate it keeps on average at least 30 cents of each advertising dollar that flows through Google’s ad-tech tools. For some transactions, and for certain customers, Google keeps significantly more.

In addition to the harm Google inflicts on content creators and online advertisers, the lawsuit alleges that Google’s conduct has also harmed the United States Government, including the United States Army.

Google’s alleged anticompetitive conduct over the last 15 years is perhaps best explained through the words of Google’s own employees and documents, which are quoted extensively in the Department’s complaint.

Here are just five examples:

1. A Google employee characterized Google’s ad exchange as an “authoritarian intermediary.”
2. A senior Google executive conceded that switching ad servers for publishers is a “nightmare” that “[t]akes an act of God.”
3. A Google employee described the company’s scheme to pay publishers “$3 [billion] yearly” by restricting access to Google Ads and “overcharging its advertisers.”
4. A Google manager made clear that: “[o]ur goal should be all or nothing – use [Google’s ad exchange] or don’t get access to our [advertiser] demand.”
5. A Google executive detailed the company’s steps to “dry out” rivals.

For more than two centuries, advertising in this country has funded newspapers and other avenues of free expression. Revenue from advertising has provided critical support for content creation, the sharing of information, and the exchange of viewpoints, which promote a vibrant, free, and healthy society.

The Antitrust Division – and I am so proud of this – has a storied history of safeguarding competition in offline media, from music to broadcasting to publishing. It is now just as important — if not more — to protect competition in the digital marketplace of ideas, where powerful network effects make monopoly power even more durable and harmful, and the abuses by companies with monopoly power like Google even more pernicious.

In closing, I would like to thank the unbelievably hardworking, dedicated, talented, and extremely awesome staff of the Antitrust Division whose tireless efforts to untangle the complex web of Google’s alleged conduct resulted in today’s filing.

I am also deeply pleased to thank the Attorneys General of California, Colorado, Connecticut, New Jersey, New York, Rhode Island, Tennessee and the Commonwealth of Virginia, and their extremely talented staff – we’ve enjoyed an excellent and constructive working relationship with our partner State Attorneys General. I would also like to thank the U.S. Attorney’s Office of the Eastern District of Virginia for joining us in filing this important and historic case.

Thank you. I look forward to your questions.

Source: United States Department of Justice News

FORT SMITH – The Justice Department announced today that a federal Grand Jury returned an Indictment charging former Crawford County, Arkansas, Sheriff’s Deputies Levi White, age 32, and Zackary King, age 27, with federal civil rights offenses for using excessive force on a 27-year-old man during the arrest of that man at a gas station in Mulberry, Arkansas, on August 21, 2022.
Specifically, Count One of the Indictment alleges that, while the arrestee was lying on the ground, White struck him multiple times. Count Two of the Indictment alleges that King struck the arrestee multiple times, also while the arrestee was lying on the ground. The Indictment further alleges that the arrestee suffered bodily injury as a result of White and King’s actions.
If convicted, White and King face a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison for the excessive-force charge; both defendants also face up to three years of supervised release and a fine of up to $250,000.
United States Attorney David Clay Fowlkes for the Western District of Arkansas, Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division, and Special Agent in Charge James A. Dawson of the FBI Little Rock Field Office made the announcement.
The FBI Little Rock Field Office investigated the case.
Assistant U.S. Attorneys Dustin Roberts and Devon Still for the Western District of Arkansas and Trial Attorneys Anna Gotfryd and Michael J. Songer of the Civil Rights Division’s Criminal Section are prosecuting the case.

Source: United States Department of Justice News

A Glenpool man was sentenced Tuesday for sexually exploiting a 16-year-old and other crimes, announced U.S. Attorney Clint Johnson.
 
U.S. District Judge Rodney W. Sippel sentenced Thomas Anthony Pearce, 55, to life in federal prison. On March 22, 2022, Pearce was convicted at trial of coercion or enticement of a minor, production of child pornography, possession of child pornography in Indian Country, and distribution of marijuana. 
 
“Thomas Pearce preyed on a teenage girl that he coerced into engaging in sexual acts by providing her drugs. His illicit behavior escalated when he restrained her with zip ties and sexually assaulted her. He also photographed the sexual acts resulting in the producing and possessing child pornography charges,” said U.S. Attorney Clint Johnson. “Federal prosecutors and our law enforcement partners will do everything in our power to protect victims and bring to justice those who have harmed them. I am proud to say justice has been served in this case.”

“Protecting minors from sexual exploitation is one of the primary law enforcement priorities of Homeland Security Investigations. The deviant, calculated and exploitive actions of this defendant caused deep wounds and scars to the children he routinely victimized,” said Lester R. Hayes Jr., Special Agent in Charge HSI Dallas. “Our hope is now that justice has spoken and with this predator spending the remainder of his life behind bars, the victims he abused can continue the healing process.”

The crimes occurred from Feb. 3, 2021, through Feb. 8, 2021. Pearce met the victim online, coerced her into sexual activity, provided her with marijuana, and took sexually explicit photographs of the teenager. He was also found to possess additional child pornography on various electronic devices.

Pearce’s crimes were discovered after an alert Jenks police officer noticed a suspicious white Dodge pick-up parked on a partially paved area just off a road in the early morning hours of Feb. 8, 2021. As the officer turned around to investigate, the driver, later identified as Pearce, quickly drove away. The officer conducted a traffic stop and initiated contact with Pearce and a minor female in the passenger’s seat. Pearce claimed the minor was his niece but could not provide a phone number for the officer to contact the child’s parents.

During the stop, the minor victim told officers that she was high on marijuana that Pearce had given her and stated that nothing had occurred “this time” but that the defendant had zip tied her hands and took explicit pictures of her on another occasion. Pearce was taken into custody.

During a search of the vehicle at the scene, officers located marijuana, four thumb drives, a package of zip-ties, duct tape, three cell phones and other items.

The victim was later forensically interviewed. She disclosed that she and Pearce had contact on six different occasions and that Pearce’s sexual advances and abuse escalated with each encounter, to include sexually assaulting the victim, ziptying her, and taking sexually explicit photographs of her.

She stated that Pearce provided her with marijuana. He also told her to take a pill, which she refused.

On a phone found in the vehicle, investigators with Homeland Security Investigations and the Jenks Police Department discovered a file with the victim’s name on it, which contained explicit photographs depicting the sexual acts that the victim described in her interview.

In text messages between Pearce and the victim, Pearce made references to his sexual abuse of the victim, told the victim that she should take a pill that would make her feel good because “he said so,” and stated that he had had sexual encounters with other minors. When the victim texted that she did not want to meet him again, he threatened to harm her siblings.

Search warrants were also executed on Pearce’s residence in Glenpool and at two storage units in Tulsa. Officers seized a computer and numerous hard drives during the searches.

On a thumb drive seized, investigators found another file with a female’s name on it that contained sexually explicit images of a minor. The woman, now an adult, was contacted. She confirmed that she had met Pearce online while she was in high school and that Pearce had sex with her and took sexually explicit photographs. She stated that Pearce would pay her in cash, gifts and marijuana.

Investigators also located child pornography on one of the hard drives seized. Video and image titles specifically referenced “raped teens” and other child sexual abuse.

Pearce was one of 33 defendants apprehended during Operation Clean Sweep. The four-month long operation focused on identifying predators who exploit children and ultimately led to the identification of 12 child victims. The operation was conducted by the U.S. Attorney’s Office and more than a dozen local, state, tribal and federal law enforcement agencies in 10 of the 11 counties in the Northern District of Oklahoma.

Homeland Security Investigations and the Jenks Police Department conducted the investigation. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Victor A.S. Régal and Richard M. Cella prosecuted the case.

Source: United States Department of Justice News

KANSAS CITY, Mo. – A Kansas City, Mo., man who was injured when his ATV flipped over while making a turn on an Independence, Mo., street was indicted by a federal grand jury today for illegally possessing firearms and methamphetamine.

Melvin L. Carter, 48, was charged in a three-count indictment returned by a federal grand jury in Kansas City, Mo. Today’s indictment charges Carter with one count of possessing methamphetamine with the intent to distribute, one count of possessing a firearm in furtherance of a drug-trafficking crime, and one count of being a felon in possession of a firearm.

Carter was arrested on Oct. 14, 2022, when Independence police officers were called to an address on S. Overton Avenue after Carter was ejected from his ATV as it flipped over while making a turn. Prior to the officers’ arrival, the Independence Fire Department responded to an earlier 911 call and informed officers that Carter had been armed when they arrived at the scene of the accident. They retrieved his firearm, a Keltec 9mm pistol, which they turned over to the police officers. Officers found the ATV flipped on its side when they arrived at the scene. Carter was bleeding from his head and being treated by paramedics.

Police officers checked Carter’s jacket and found a plastic baggie that contained approximately 105 grams of methamphetamine.

Under federal law, it is illegal for anyone who has been convicted of a felony to be in possession of any firearm or ammunition. Carter has prior felony convictions for robbery, possession of a controlled substance, sale of a controlled substance, trafficking, and resisting arrest.

The charges contained in this indictment are simply accusations, and not evidence of guilt. Evidence supporting the charges must be presented to a federal trial jury, whose duty is to determine guilt or innocence.

This case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Jeffrey Q. McCarther. It was investigated by the Independence, Mo., Police Department and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.

Project Safe Neighborhoods

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.

Source: United States Department of Justice News

TALLAHASSEE, FLORIDA – Gretchen Buselli (a/k/a “Gretchen Yarbrough”), 48, of Tallahassee, Florida, was sentenced to fifteen years in prison for use of an interstate commerce facility in the commission of murder-for-hire and making a false statement to a federal officer. The sentence was announced by Jason R. Coody, United States Attorney for the Northern District of Florida.

“This sentence not only punishes the malevolence of the defendant but should serve as a significant deterrent to those inclined to initiate violence,” stated U.S. Attorney Jason R. Coody. “Despite calculation and concealment, the defendant’s murderous plot was averted due to the exceptional work of a citizen and our law enforcement partners. They are to be commended.”

Evidence introduced during the trial revealed between on or about June 17, 2021, and on or about September 16, 2021, Buselli used the U.S. mail as well as a facility of interstate commerce, a cellular phone, with the intent that a murder be committed in violation of the laws of the State of Florida. Testimony revealed that Buselli communicated with an acquaintance via the U.S. mail, telephone calls, text, and an encrypted mobile application to solicit the murder of her estranged husband. The acquaintance reported Buselli’s request to law enforcement, who then engaged an undercover agent to further the investigation. Buselli communicated her desire to have her estranged husband killed to the undercover agent, providing a description of the intended victim, his whereabouts, and his routines. In subsequent conversations with the undercover agent, Buselli negotiated the price for committing the murder and discussed the manner in which the act would take place, acknowledging that she would be interviewed by law enforcement thereafter. Buselli was later surveilled depositing the agreed upon $5,000 in U.S. currency at the amphitheater in Cascades Park. Following her delivery of the payment, agents observed Buselli dispose of the clothing she had worn during delivery of the payment. After being notified by the undercover agent that her estranged husband had been killed, she was approached and then questioned by law enforcement, Buselli made multiple false statements denying her awareness of nor involvement in the plot and her desire to have her estranged husband killed.

“This case demonstrates the FBI’s commitment to investigate with a sense of urgency in order to prevent violent crime in our communities,” said FBI Jacksonville Special Agent in Charge Sherri E. Onks. “I am extremely proud of the collaborative effort by the FBI, Tallahassee Police Department, and the United States Postal Inspection Service to ensure a life was protected and a defendant was brought to justice.”

“The Tallahassee Police Department is proud to see the judicial system prevail in this case,” said police Chief Lawrence Revell. “Our Detectives worked tirelessly to investigate this case and collect the evidence needed for an arrest and subsequent conviction. This verdict and the collaborative efforts of our law enforcement and judicial partners sends a message to the community that those who commit or attempt to commit crimes will be held accountable and we will do everything we can to bring justice to the victims involved.”

Buselli’s prison sentence will be followed by 3 years of supervised release. The Court ordered forfeiture of the currency paid by the defendant to facilitate the murder. In addition, the court ordered the gold coins provided by the defendant to be placed in an independent trust for the benefit of the couple’s daughter.

This conviction was the result of a joint investigation conducted by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Tallahassee Police Department, and the Montana United States Postal Inspection Service. The case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorneys Eric K. Mountin and Kaitlin Weiss.

The United States Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Florida is one of 94 offices that serve as the nation’s principal litigators under the direction of the Attorney General. To access public court documents online, please visit the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Florida website. For more information about the United States Attorney’s Office, Northern District of Florida, visit http://www.justice.gov/usao/fln/index.html.