Month: February 2023

Source: United States Department of Justice News

NEW ORLEANS –  U.S. Attorney Duane A. Evans announced today that the Eastern District of Louisiana collected slightly over $1 billion in criminal and civil actions in fiscal year 2022.  Of this amount, $7.78 million was collected in criminal actions and $992.4 million was collected in civil actions.

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  assistance programs. 

Additionally, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Louisiana, working with partner agencies and components, collected over $10 million in asset forfeiture actions and seized 341 firearms in FY 2022.  Forfeited funds are used to restore funds to crime victims and for a variety of law enforcement purposes.  Seizing firearms not only deprives criminals of the weapons they use to commit their crimes,  it also helps  dismantle criminal organizations.  The weapons are destroyed after the case in which they were seized is either closed, the weapons  are judicially forfeited, or  they are no longer needed as evidence. 

Highlights of the Eastern District of Louisiana’s 2022 collection and forfeiture efforts include:                                                          

• The collection of over $850 million in civil penalties, damages, and costs from BP Exploration & Production Inc.  imposed as a result of the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill;
•  Following a guilty plea to one count of wire fraud, Ritchel Morehead’s payment of  $310,205.91 to satisfy  the outstanding balance  of the restitution obligation she owed to the victims of her fraudulent investment scheme.
•  The forfeiture  of $1,473,393.50 in ill-gotten gains stemming from the  prosecution of Erik Martin and Darrel Fitzpatrick for  what the sentencing judge called a “massive bribery and fraud scheme” involving kickbacks and payoffs  targeting the United States Marine Corps.   .

  The seizure of  thirty-six (36) firearms from Michael Malone, a convicted felon and prohibited possessor of firearms pursuant to an investigation conducted by  the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives.

“These statistics  demonstrate our commitment and dedication to victims of crimes and to the citizens of the Eastern District of Louisiana through the successful forfeiture and collection of funds in civil and criminal cases,” said U.S. Attorney Evans. “Our office’s Monetary Penalties and Recovery Unit helps to protect the public by holding accountable those who have profited from the crimes they committed both in our District, and beyond. Equally important, the seizure of dangerous firearms from prohibited individuals helps reduce violent crime in our community.”

U.S. Attorney Evans thanks Asset Forfeiture Assistant United States Attorney Alexandra Giavotella, Financial Litigation Assistant United States Attorney Churita Hansell, as well as the Office’s outstanding support professionals Jerrilyn A. Dufauchard, David Vigier, Ilan Adona, Danielle Smith-Graham, Christina Garcia, and Monica Washington for their hard work and dedication to the pursuit of justice.

 

Source: United States Department of Justice News

NEW ORLEANS, LA – United States Attorney Duane A. Evans announced that QUINCY JACKSON, age 31, of New Orleans, Louisiana, was sentenced on February 1, 2023 for violating the Federal Gun Control Act, Title 18 United States Code, Sections 922(g)(1) and 924(a)(2). JACKSON was sentenced to 65 months of imprisonment, three years of supervised release, and a mandatory $100.00 special assessment fee.

The sentence is pursuant to his federal conviction for possessing a Glock semi-automatic handgun at a Shell gas station on North Broad Street in New Orleans on July 5, 2021. JACKSON is prohibited from possessing a firearm due to his criminal history. According to court documents, JACKSON was previously convicted of manslaughter, possession of heroin, and possession with intent to distribute cocaine.

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.

The case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and New Orleans Police Department. It is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Charles D. Strauss of the Violent Crimes Unit.

Source: United States Department of Justice News

NEW ORLEANS – U.S. Attorney Duane A. Evans announced that CYNTHIA BOWLEY, age 68, of Meraux, was sentenced on February 7, 2023 after pleading guilty to aiding and assisting in the filing of false tax returns, a violation of Title 26, United States Code, Section 7206(2). 

According to court documents, BOWLEY was a tax preparer who willfully caused false income tax returns to be filed for at least ten of her clients. To defraud the Internal Revenue Service (“IRS”), BOWLEY created false business losses on Schedules C (Profit or Loss from Business) and false charitable contributions on Schedules A (Itemized Deductions), resulting in a reduction of her clients’ tax liability and a tax loss to the United States. BOWLEY also created false Schedules E (Supplemental Income and Loss) and false filing statuses for her clients. For tax years 2013 through 2018, BOWLEY caused a total tax loss to the United States of $251,257.00.

U.S. District Judge Jay C. Zainey sentenced BOWLEY to three years of probation and a $100 mandatory special assessment. Judge Zainey also ordered that BOWLEY pay restitution to the IRS in the amount of $251,257.00.

U.S. Attorney Evans praised the work of the Internal Revenue Service-Criminal Investigations.   The prosecution of this case is being handled by Assistant United States Attorney Brandon S. Long.

Source: United States Department of Justice 2

A federal district court yesterday entered an order approving the last in a series of four settlements that collectively recovered nearly $5 million stolen from consumers by a transnational network of fraudsters.

The settlement represents the culmination of a civil action pursued by the United States to disrupt a bank fraud scheme and recover stolen victim funds. In a civil complaint filed on Aug. 13, 2021, the United States alleged that Guy Benoit, Edward Courdy, Harold Sobel, and more than 25 other individuals and corporations defrauded American consumers out of millions of dollars by charging unauthorized debits against their bank accounts. According to the complaint, the defendants posted unauthorized debit transactions in the name of sham corporate entities against the bank accounts of unsuspecting consumers. The defendants also used thousands of sham “micro transactions” to attempt to prevent banks from detecting the defendants’ unauthorized debits.

On Aug. 20, 2021, U.S. District Judge John F. Walter granted a temporary restraining order enjoining the fraud scheme, freezing fraud scheme assets, and appointing a receiver over corporate entities used in the scheme. In the following months, the United States obtained permanent injunctions against 28 defendants. In parallel, the receiver seized over $1 million in assets stolen as part of the fraud scheme and further recovered nearly $5 million through settlements with third parties the receiver identified as having received stolen victim funds.

“The scheme described in the government’s filings involved an elaborate plot to reach into consumers’ bank accounts and steal their hard-earned savings,” said Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Brian M. Boynton, head of the the Justice Department’s Civil Division. “The Department of Justice will use all of the tools at its disposal to halt practices like these, recover funds stolen from victims, and bring offenders to justice.”

“This action showcases the U.S. Postal Inspection Service’s relentlessness in pursuing justice and holding individuals and corporations, both domestically and internationally, accountable for their unlawful actions,” said Inspector in Charge Eric Shen of the U.S. Postal Inspection Service’s (USPIS) Criminal Investigations Group. “We will continue to work with our law enforcement partners to investigate and stop sophisticated fraud schemes targeting U.S. consumers.”

The USPIS conducted the investigation in this matter. The government is represented in the civil action by Trial Attorney Michael Wadden and Assistant Director Lisa Hsiao of the Civil Division’s Consumer Protection Branch.

For more information about the Consumer Protection Branch and its enforcement efforts, visit https://www.justice.gov/civil/consumer-protection-branch.

Source: United States Department of Justice News

Government Alleges Fake Oxycodone (M-30) Pills Containing Fentanyl Caused Overdose and Death to 20-year old Woman

            WASHINGTON – Larry Jerome Eastman, 22, of Temple Hills, Maryland, pleaded guilty today to conspiracy to distribute and possession with intent to distribute Fentanyl. His sister, Justice Michelle Eastman, 26, of Washington, D.C., pleaded guilty on January 31^st. The pleas were announced by U.S. Attorney Matthew M. Graves, Special Agent in Charge Jarod Forget, of the Washington Division Office of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), and Chief Robert J. Contee III, of the Metropolitan Police Department (MPD).

            Sentencing hearings for both defendants are scheduled for June 15, 2023.

            The defendants were arrested approximately one year ago, on January 26, 2022, following an investigation into the April 6, 2021 Fentanyl overdose death of a woman in Southeast Washington, D.C.

            According to the government’s evidence, the 20-year-old Southeast Washington, D.C. woman survived an earlier overdose in November of 2020, and was revived when paramedics administered Narcan. At the time of her fatal overdose in April 2021, white powder was discovered on a coffee table at the woman’s apartment. The DEA analyzed the powder and determined it to be Fentanyl. An autopsy determined the Victim’s cause of death was acute Fentanyl intoxication.

            A review of the female victim’s phone found text messages from the previous evening with Larry Eastman where the victim asked for “jammers” (a street term that often refers to counterfeit blue Oxycodone pills that contain Fentanyl). Eastman directed the victim to his address in Washington D.C., and requested that she make payment to a Cashapp account registered to Justice Eastman. Additional communications between the Defendant and the victim went as far back as September 2020, the start of the conspiracy. When the two defendants were arrested in January 2022, law enforcement seized additional fake Oxycodone (M30) pills, which contained Fentanyl, and match the pills that the defendants were working together to sell.

            As noted by the DEA, because of its potency and low cost, Fentanyl is increasingly being mixed with other drugs including heroin, methamphetamine, and cocaine, increasing the likelihood of a fatal interaction. Particularly dangerous are fake prescription pills like the fake oxycodone M30 tablets seized in this case, which contain Fentanyl. The DEA Laboratory has found that, of the Fentanyl-laced fake prescription pills analyzed in 2022, six out of ten now contain a potentially lethal dose of Fentanyl (see One Pill Can Kill).

            The charge of conspiracy to distribute and possess with intent to distribute Fentanyl carries a statutory maximum of 20 years in prison. A federal district court judge will determine any sentence after considering the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.

            The case was investigated by the Washington Division Office of the DEA and the Metropolitan Police Department. The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys David T. Henek, Andy T. Wang, and Matthew W. Kinskey, of the Violence Reduction and Trafficking Offenses Section of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia.