Month: January 2023

Source: United States Department of Justice News

Remarks as Prepared for Delivery

Good morning!

Thank you for that kind introduction and warm welcome.

Thank you, Steve [Dettelbach] and thanks to your leadership team for the invitation to speak today and to see the ATF National Academy in action.

I’m excited to be here at FLETC —  to celebrate and honor today’s graduates.

I want to begin by acknowledging the family members and loved ones here today. It was great to meet so many of you earlier.  

Your loved ones have committed themselves to public service. As Special Agents they will be called upon to serve many late nights, to sacrifice time with family during weekends and holidays. They chose that because they answered the call to serve.

But they couldn’t make it to this day — or do what will be asked of them in the days that follow — without your love and support – and without the sacrifices you will make to help them do this work.

So their service is also your service. Thank you.

And now to the graduates — congratulations! You made it! You are the 238th graduating class from the ATF Academy.

Congratulations on fulfilling what for some of you may have been a lifelong dream — and what for all of you has been the goal of the last 27 weeks — becoming a Special Agent of the ATF.

Today marks the culmination of months of intensive training and hours in the classroom:

7 a.m. and 7 p.m. sessions on the range to earn — truly earn — a passing firearms score;

Three weeks straight of complex arson and explosives training;

And weeks of tactical training — so you are ready on day one to handle whatever comes your way.

After all that you have earned the right to be called an ATF Special Agent.

Let that sink in for a moment. Special Agent of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. 

You should be incredibly proud of the hard work that got you here.

Your job is now the core mission of the Department of Justice: to keep our country safe, uphold the rule of law, and protect civil rights.

The professionals of ATF come from diverse backgrounds, but you have one thing in common — you are dedicated to protecting the public.

Today, you join an organization with a long and storied history.

Today you join a legacy of legendary crime fighters — like Eliot Ness — and brave law enforcement leaders.

ATF also has a long history of bringing innovative approaches to crime fighting.

From the wiretapping used by ATF’s predecessors during prohibition — to the International Terrorist Bombing Information System pioneered by ATF and used in the fight against terrorism — to advances in forensic science that have revolutionized arson and explosives investigations.

ATF is leading the way again — this time in the battle against the gun violence fueling violent crime.

You are joining ATF at an exciting time and a moment of great promise — and you will be the ones to lead ATF into the future.

Now, more than ever, ATF represents modern policing at its best.

Being a modern law enforcement agency means using intelligence and technology to prevent and solve crimes.

One thing I have learned — and that’s the value of good data and intelligence.

It can prevent the next terror attack or disrupt an emerging cyber threat.

Today, ATF is leading the way in using technology and intelligence to reduce violent crime and make our communities safer.

ATF is the leader in using crime gun intelligence — data and information derived from crime guns and their fired shell casings — to go after the worst violent criminals and take shooters off the streets.

Collecting and analyzing fired shell casings and tracing crime guns is at the heart of identifying and solving gun crimes and stopping shooters before they can strike again.

ATF is the leader in doing just that. Every day it helps the nation’s 18,000 law enforcement agencies use ATF’s unique technology and know-how to protect communities.

That is the legacy you join today.

In the best traditions of innovative crime fighting — that would make Eliot Ness proud — the intelligence derived from data, linking shootings to each other and to perpetrators, is evidence-based, intelligence-led policing.

And ATF is using it to benefit communities across the country. I’ve seen it firsthand — including yesterday in Jacksonville when Director Dettelbach and I visited a crime gun intelligence center developed in partnership with local law enforcement.

I am so proud of the dedicated work that ATF has invested in crime gun intelligence. I am proud of the difference it is making for our partners, and I am proud to welcome you to this work.

ATF is also leading the way in providing critical research to shape violence reduction across the country.

As a department, we are training our sights on the most pressing threats like privately made firearms — ghost guns that can’t be traced.

Thanks to great work by ATF experts and researchers, last year ATF analyzed 20 years of data on the manufacture, importing and exporting of firearms.

This research found that the number of short-barreled rifles has skyrocketed in the last 20 years and that there has been a proliferation of ghost guns — an increase of 1000% in five years.

Next week, ATF will release more critical research, this time analyzing crime gun data. 

This new report highlights the incredible value of data from crime gun tracing and ATF’s NIBIN program. It underscores in stark terms the challenges we face on the streets today:

In the last five years, the number of machine gun conversion devices that law enforcement agencies reported being recovered has increased by an alarming 570%. 

It’s research like this that is helping ATF and its partners focus on the deadliest and newest threats.

ATF is focusing on these threats and using intelligence and technology to do so because of dedicated and innovative leaders.

Leaders like Marvin Richardson — who has been evangelizing about crime gun intelligence for years.

And leaders like Director Steve Dettelbach – who is focused on the next generation of threats to agents and the communities they serve.

Thanks to Director Dettelbach’s leadership, the ATF has launched the Emerging Threats Unit (ETU).

The ETU is designed to conduct and coordinate multijurisdictional investigations, undercover operations and to use other investigative techniques to target new technologies that threaten public safety.

New technologies like the ghost guns and machine gun conversion devices that violent criminals are using in increasing numbers every day.

So, ATF is harnessing skills and expertise from across the Bureau to stay one step ahead of bad actors.

That’s why the ETU will also go after illegal firearms trafficking conducted on the dark web.

And lest anyone think that all this talk about data, intelligence and research is the stuff of classroom lectures or graduation speeches, these technologies have real-world impacts — they take criminals off the streets and help make us all safer.

To name just a few recent examples:

It was ballistics evidence discovered by ATF that was critical in stopping an alleged serial killer of homeless men in New York City and Washington, D.C.

And in another serial killer case in Stockton, California, it was ATF ballistics testing that tied multiple homicides together and helped police in their search for a suspect.

And it was quick tracing of the serial number on the firearm used in the Brooklyn subway shooting last April that gave investigators an important lead to identify the shooter. A few days ago, the shooter pleaded guilty and now faces up to life in prison.

And just last week, an individual in Maryland was sentenced to 35 years in federal prison after being convicted in connection with a murder-for-hire conspiracy. A key lead in the case came from ballistics evidence, generated through NIBIN, and connected the gun used in the murder to the defendant.

Every day across the country, ATF’s ballistics analysis and gun tracing is being used — from small town police departments to the largest federal agencies — to produce leads that result in arrests and convictions.

The Attorney General and I, and the Director, are deeply committed to investing in the technology and infrastructure that support crime gun intelligence and to nurturing the relationships with federal, state and local partners that ensure the intelligence is brought to bear to stop violent crime.

We will not rest until every community and law enforcement agency across our country has ready access to NIBIN ballistics technology and the crime-busting intelligence it provides.

As newly minted Special Agents, you are also joining an agency that has a critical regulatory mission — one that ensures that law abiding citizens can exercise their Second Amendment rights and that others cannot evade public safety protections enshrined in law.

Just last week, ATF took an important step to enhance public safety when it issued the Stabilizing Brace Rule.

This is a rule that ensures all short-barreled rifles, including those created when a qualifying brace is added to a pistol, are subject to applicable law.

The rule makes clear that short-barreled rifles must be registered and subject to a background check before any transfer so they don’t end up in the hands of prohibited persons.

This rule is about safety. In recent years, mass shootings in Dayton, Ohio, and Boulder, Colorado, were carried out with firearms outfitted with stabilizing braces.

This new rule is just another example of our pledge — and ATF’s mission — to use every tool available to reduce violent crime in our communities.

In the face of often terrible crime, and sometimes at great personal risk, ATF agents quietly go about the work of developing evidence and leads, seeking out suspects, and pursuing justice on behalf of victims.

You now join these ranks. Know that what you do matters.

Every day, you and your fellow Agents will put your lives on the line — for strangers.

You will do so quietly; you will do so with little fanfare.

Let me leave you with a story about what ATF stands for.

Just a few weeks ago, while he was on vacation, Senior Special Agent (SSA) Rich Clabeaux was going about his day — he wasn’t on the job. But that didn’t matter. He saw a man in distress who appeared to be attempting to jump off an overpass bridge.

SSA Clabeaux immediately stopped and began talking with the man, and as he did so, he called 9-1-1.

SSA Clabeaux kept talking with the man until emergency assistance could arrive and help this stranger is distress.

I’m sure there were others who drove by that man. After all, he was a stranger. 

But Senior Special Agent Clabeaux made a choice — to stop; he made a choice to help.

And in doing so he made a difference and likely saved a life.

He made a choice that reflects the very best of ATF.

Now, I know there are stories of ATF bravery and heroism in the face of violence, gunfire, explosions — danger. Those stories reflect the best of ATF to be sure — and so do the actions of SSA Clabeaux.

He stepped up — when no one was watching.

To the graduates here today – you have also made a choice. You have chosen to take on a tremendous challenge: To become Special Agents of the ATF. 

Thank you for making the choice to serve.

Congratulations on your accomplishment today. I wish you the very best.

Source: United States Department of Justice Criminal Division

A federal jury in the Northern District of Illinois convicted a Chicago man yesterday for participating in a conspiracy to pay approximately $25 million in illegal kickbacks to generate business for his durable medical equipment pharmacy. 

According to evidence presented at trial, Mark Sorensen, 53, worked at Symed, a Chicago pharmacy that paid illegal kickbacks to obtain patients to bill to Medicare, TRICARE, and the Department of Labor’s Office of Workers’ Compensation Programs (OWCP). Between 2015 and 2018, Sorensen illegally bought patient leads from Bernie Perconti. Perconti obtained the leads from others, including Christine Anderson and Craig O’Neil. Without the involvement of the Symed, the conspirators could not have submitted claims to obtain reimbursement from Medicare or other federal health care benefit programs.  Perconti, O’Neil, and Anderson each pleaded guilty to conspiracy to pay and receive kickbacks in 2019, July 2020, and January 2021, respectively, and are scheduled to be sentenced at a later date.

Sorensen was convicted of one count of conspiracy and three counts of payment of illegal kickbacks. He faces a maximum penalty of five years in prison on each count of conviction. 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; Assistant Director Luis Quesada of the FBI’s Criminal Investigative Division; Special Agent in Charge Robert W. ‘Wes’ Wheeler Jr. of the FBI Chicago Field Office; Special Agent in Charge Mario M. Pinto of the Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General (HHS-OIG); Special Agent in Charge Irene Lindow of the Department of Labor Office of Inspector General (DOL-OIG), Chicago Region; and Special Agent in Charge Darrin Jones of the Department of Defense Office of Inspector General (DOD-OIG) made the announcement.

The FBI, HHS-OIG, DOL-OIG, and DOD-OIG investigated the case.

Assistant Chiefs Leslie S. Garthwaite and Daniel J. Griffin of the Criminal Division’s Fraud Section are prosecuting the case.

The Fraud Section leads the Criminal Division’s efforts to combat health care fraud through the Health Care Fraud Strike Force Program. Since March 2007, this program, comprised of 15 strike forces operating in 24 federal districts, has charged more than 4,200 defendants who collectively have billed the Medicare program for more than $19 billion. In addition, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, working in conjunction with the Office of the Inspector General for the Department of Health and Human Services, are taking steps to hold providers accountable for their involvement in health care fraud schemes. More information can be found at https://www.justice.gov/criminal-fraud/health-care-fraud-unit.

Source: United States Department of Justice News

Damian Williams, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, announced today that LAWRENCE RAY, a/k/a “Lawrence Grecco,” received a sentence of 60 years in prison for racketeering conspiracy, violent crime in aid of racketeering, extortion, sex trafficking, forced labor, tax evasion, and money laundering offenses.  RAY was sentenced today by United States District Judge Lewis J. Liman after being convicted at trial in April 2022.

U.S. Attorney Damian Williams said: “Larry Ray is a monster.  For years, he inflicted brutal and lifelong harm on innocent victims.  Students who had their lives ahead of them.  He groomed them and abused them into submission for his own gain.  Through physical and psychological abuse, he took control over his victims’ minds and bodies and then extracted millions of dollars from them.  The sentence imposed today will ensure that Ray will never harm victims again.  I commend the brave victims who testified in Court in the face of incredible trauma.  I also thank the career prosecutors in this Office and our law enforcement partners who made the just conviction and sentence in this case possible.”

According to the Indictment and the evidence at trial:

From in or about 2010 through the present, LAWRENCE RAY subjected a group of college students and other victims he met after moving into his daughter’s dorm room at Sarah Lawrence College to sexual and psychological manipulation and physical abuse.  RAY’s tactics included sleep deprivation, psychological and sexual humiliation, verbal abuse, threats of physical violence, physical violence, threats of criminal legal action, alienating the victims from their families, and exploiting the victims’ mental health vulnerabilities. 

Through this manipulation and abuse, RAY extracted false confessions from the victims to causing purported damages to RAY and his family and associates and then extorted payment for those purported damages through several means.  The victims made payments to RAY by draining their parents’ savings, opening credit lines, soliciting contributions from acquaintances, selling real estate ownership, and at RAY’s direction, performing unpaid labor for RAY and earning money through prostitution. 

Through fear, violence, and coercion, RAY forced one female victim to engage in commercial sex acts to pay damages to RAY that she did not actually owe.  Beginning when she was just a college student, RAY sexually groomed this victim and collected sexually explicit photographs and other personal information, which he then used to coerce her into continued commercial sex acts.  RAY also used physical violence.  On one occasion, RAY tied his victim to a chair, placed a plastic bag over her head, and nearly suffocated her.  RAY collected millions of dollars in forced prostitution proceeds from this victim.

In addition, RAY forced three female victims to perform unpaid labor on a family member’s property in North Carolina.  Through a course of psychological and physical abuse, RAY forced these three victims to do extensive physical labor, sometimes in the middle of the night, for no pay.

Associates of RAY helped RAY collect and transfer the criminal proceeds, which RAY shared with at least two associates.  RAY then laundered his criminal proceeds through an internet domain business and evaded paying taxes on his proceeds. 

At the sentencing today, Judge Liman underscored “the resiliency of the human spirit and the courage of the victims.”

*                *                *

In addition to the prison term, RAY, 63, of Piscataway, New Jersey, was sentenced to a lifetime of supervised release.  He was also ordered to forfeit $2,444,349, the proceeds from the sale of his GoDaddy portfolio, and the Pinehurst, North Carolina, residence where the forced labor took place.  Restitution will be decided by the Court within 90 days of today’s sentencing.

Mr. Williams praised the efforts of the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the New York City Police Department.

RAY’s co-defendant Isabella Pollok is scheduled to be sentenced on February 22, 2023, at 11:00 a.m.

This case is being handled by the Office’s Violent and Organized Crime Unit.  Assistant U.S. Attorneys Danielle Sassoon, Mollie Bracewell, and Lindsey Keenan are in charge of the prosecution.  

Source: United States Department of Justice News

Good morning, everybody.

Mayor Suarez, thank you very much for that overly kind introduction. And it is great to be back here with all of you for the 91st Winter Meeting.

The United States Department of Justice, as Mayor Suarez said, has a wide-ranging and urgent mission: to uphold the rule of law, to keep Americans safe, and to protect civil rights.

But we cannot do this work alone. The mayors gathered in this room are the Justice Department’s indispensable partners.

So, on behalf of the entire Department of Justice, I want to thank you for your leadership and for your continued partnership.

The strength of that partnership has never been more important than it is today – particularly when it comes to confronting the fentanyl epidemic.

Across the country, fentanyl is devastating families and communities. 

According to the CDC, more than 107,000 people in the United States died of drug overdoses in 2021. And about two-thirds of those deaths involved synthetic opioids – primarily fentanyl.

This nearly invisible poison is 50 times more potent than heroin. Just two milligrams of fentanyl – the amount that could fit at the tip of a pencil – is a potentially lethal dose.

And increasingly, we are finding that many people who are taking fentanyl do not even know that they are taking it.

That is because violent drug cartels are manufacturing and moving fake pills that are designed to look exactly like brand name drugs. Instead, the fake pills contain deadly amounts of fentanyl.

The DEA has seen a sharp increase in the deadliness of fentanyl-laced fake prescription pills across the country.

In 2022, six out of 10 fentanyl-laced, fake prescription pills that were seized contained a potentially lethal dose. That is an astounding increase from an already terrible statistic of 2021, when four out of 10 such pills contained a potentially lethal dose.

In addition, we know that cartels are marketing rainbow-colored pills that look like candy or prescription medication. They often come in tablet form or in a block that resembles sidewalk chalk. 

These pills, too, often contain fentanyl. And we know from lab testing that this “rainbow fentanyl” is just as dangerous and deadly as other forms.

Each of you understands better than most the human toll of this crisis. As mayors, you have witnessed firsthand the devastation wrought by fentanyl poisonings and overdoses.

You have seen the lives lost. You know the families and communities that have been devastated.

And you have witnessed the additional demands and dangers being placed on the police officers who must respond to this crisis.

Recently, DEA Administrator Anne Milgram and I met with the families of victims of fentanyl poisoning from around the D.C. area. The victims ranged in age from 17 to 64 years old. Among them were gifted musicians, athletes, and loving friends.

A parent who spent his Sundays after church playing football. A young woman who was planning to go to community college. A young man who was looking forward to being a father. 

Each of them was killed by fentanyl poisoning. Each story was tragic and heartbreaking.

Too many lives have been lost to drug poisoning and overdose. Too many families – too many communities – have been shattered by this crisis.

The Department of Justice is using every tool at our disposal to save American lives:

We are working tirelessly to get deadly fentanyl out of our communities.

We are doing everything in our power to dismantle and hold accountable the cartels that put it there.

We are dedicating our resources to supporting programming that addresses the public health challenges of addiction and abuse.

And we are doing all of this in collaboration with our state, local, Tribal, and territorial partners.

First, our agents and prosecutors are working closely with their partners across the country to conduct investigations, arrest traffickers, and seize deadly fentanyl. Last year, DEA agents conducted investigations in communities across the country, including dozens of cartel-linked investigations.

In 2022, the DEA and its law enforcement partners seized more than 50.6 million fentanyl-laced, fake prescription pills. That is more than double the amount seized in 2021.

The DEA has also seized more than 10,000 pounds of fentanyl powder.

Together, these seizures represent more than 379 million potentially deadly doses of fentanyl.

That much fentanyl could kill every single American.

We are also working closely with our partners at home and abroad to hold accountable those who are responsible for this crisis.

DEA is focusing its efforts on disrupting the two cartels that are responsible for significant quantities of fentanyl crossing the U.S.-Mexico border: the Sinaloa and Jalisco New Generation Cartels.

Last week, I joined President Biden and other cabinet members in Mexico City for meetings with our counterparts in the Mexican government.  

There, we discussed dramatically stepping up our countries’ joint efforts to combat fentanyl trafficking. This includes disrupting the flow of precursor chemicals coming from the People’s Republic of China to Mexico, and dismantling the clandestine labs where cartels use those chemicals to synthesize fentanyl in Mexico.

And in districts across the country, our agents and prosecutors are working every day to bring to justice those who endanger our communities with deadly drugs.

Just yesterday for example, in the Middle District of Georgia, an indictment was unsealed charging nine defendants with conspiring to possess with intent to distribute methamphetamine and fentanyl. Two of the defendants were also indicted on federal firearm charges.

And just last week:

In the Southern District of California, an individual was sentenced for distributing fentanyl that resulted in the fatal overdose of a 30-year-old.

In the District of Minnesota, two individuals were sentenced for their roles in a fentanyl trafficking conspiracy targeting the Red Lake Indian Reservation.

In the District of Colorado, an individual was sentenced to life in prison for conspiring to distribute fentanyl and distributing fentanyl resulting in death.

Evidence presented at trial established that between 2017 and 2018, the defendant imported tens of thousands of pills laced with fentanyl from Mexico to the United States, resulting in a young man’s death in [2017].

In the Western District of Virginia, we charged an individual with conspiring to possess with intent to distribute fentanyl, methamphetamine, heroin, and cocaine. 

He was also charged with possessing a firearm in furtherance of his drug trafficking. The defendant is alleged to have possessed over 10,000 fentanyl pills and a kilogram of fentanyl powder.

And, earlier this month, in the Eastern District of Virginia, we secured the guilty plea of an individual who sold pills to a 14-year-old.

The pills were purported to be a brand name painkiller. In fact, they were laced with fentanyl. Five days after the sale, the 14-year-old died of a fentanyl overdose.

These cases are emblematic of the work our agents and prosecutors are doing every day, together with their state and local partners, to disrupt fentanyl trafficking and save lives.  

Now, in addition to our enforcement efforts, we are committed to supporting communities to meet the public health challenges of addiction and substance abuse.

Last year, our Office of Justice Programs announced grant awards totaling more than $340 million to address the overdose epidemic.

Those awards go toward supporting drug and treatment courts; residential treatment programs; prevention and harm reduction services; recovery support; services for opioid-affected youth; and community-based strategies that improve continuity of care.

In the coming year, our Office of Justice Programs expects to make available even more funding for these programs. These programs will help expand access to support and treatment that people struggling with addiction and substance abuse need to recover.

As with all of the Department’s efforts to keep our country safe and combat violent crime, the success of our work continues to depend on close collaboration with our partners.

All of our 94 United States Attorney’s Offices continue to work alongside their state and local partners to develop and implement district-specific violent crime reduction strategies.

And the Department’s grantmaking components continue to provide financial assistance to local law enforcement agencies.

Last year, through our Office of Community Oriented Policing Services – or COPS – we awarded more than $139 million in funding for the COPS Hiring Program.

These grants enable law enforcement agencies across the country to hire additional full-time law enforcement professionals. In the coming year, we will award even more, with over $224 million dedicated to the COPS Hiring Program.

Our grantmaking components also offer support, targeted technical assistance, and help to agencies to uplift best practices in the field.

And each of our law enforcement components continues to work with its state, local, Tribal, and territorial law enforcement partners to seize illegal guns and deadly drugs and to apprehend the most dangerous fugitives.

We are grateful for the continued partnership of America’s mayors in this work.

And we are committed to continue working with you to protect our communities.

Thank you all very much.

Source: United States Department of Justice News

PHOENIX, Ariz. – Anthony Henry Williams, 52, of Surprise, Arizona, was found guilty on January 11, 2023, by a federal jury of one count of Conspiracy, seven counts of False Claims to the IRS, eight counts of Money Laundering, and one count of Mail Fraud. Sentencing is scheduled for March 27, 2023, before United States District Judge Michael T. Liburdi. 

Evidence introduced at trial established that, in 2018 and 2019, Williams submitted seven false tax returns to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) claiming over $3 million in owed refunds. The IRS processed one of these returns that resulted in an unwarranted $600,000 refund to Williams. The IRS advised him that the return was fraudulent, and that Williams needed to return the money. Williams failed to do so; instead, he purchased two luxury vehicles and a home, among other expenditures.

Internal Revenue Service Criminal Investigation conducted the investigation in this case. Assistant United States Attorneys Kevin M. Rapp and Kristen Brook, District of Arizona, Phoenix, handled the prosecution.

CASE NUMBER:            CR-21-00722-PHX-MLT
RELEASE NUMBER:    2023-007_Williams

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

Follow the U.S. Attorney’s Office, District of Arizona, on Twitter @USAO_AZ for the latest news.