Month: March 2023

Source: United States Department of Justice News

            CONCORD – United States Attorney Jane E. Young announced today that Anniel Gomez, an inmate at the Federal Correctional Institution FCI-Berlin, has been charged with one count of assault in connection with an incident on December 19, 2022. 

            According to the indictment and statements made in court, Gomez beat another inmate with a weapon consisting of two padlocks strapped together.  As a result, the alleged victim lost four teeth and suffered head trauma, including lacerations above the right eyebrow and back of the head. 

           The charges in the indictment are only allegations.  The defendant is presumed to be innocent unless and until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.

           This matter was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and FCI-Berlin’s Office of the Special Investigative Supervisor.  The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Matthew T. Hunter.

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Source: United States Department of Justice News

            WASHINGTON – Kristina Ann Ballard, 53, of Largo, Florida, was sentenced today to three years in prison for embezzling more than $270,000 from her former employer, a nonprofit organization in Washington, D.C.

            The announcement was made by U.S. Attorney Matthew M. Graves and Wayne A. Jacobs, Special Agent in Charge of the FBI Washington Field Office’s Criminal Division.

            In March 2022, Ballard pleaded guilty to wire fraud in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. In addition to the prison term, the Honorable Royce C. Lamberth ordered that she serve three years of supervised release and pay $271,465.86 in restitution and an identical amount in a forfeiture money judgment.

            Ballard worked for the nonprofit organization between August 2014 and December 2020, at which point she was fired for poor performance. She served as the organization’s Director of Finance. From January 2015 through December 2020, she embezzled $271,465.86.

            Ballard started embezzling from the D.C. non-profit just four days after she was indicted in Arlington County, Virginia, for embezzling from a previous employer. In July 2015, a Virginia court sentenced her to four years of probation. In conjunction with her sentencing in that case, Ballard said she had learned from her mistakes and would “never let [something like this] happen again.” In fact, between the time she was indicted in Virginia in January 2015 and sentenced in July 2015, she had embezzled more than $30,000 from the D.C. employer. Following the imposition of the probationary sentence, Ballard went on to steal approximately $240,000 more from the D.C. non-profit.

            Ballard stole from the D.C. non-profit by wiring organization funds to bank accounts that she controlled, intercepting credit card rewards checks issued to the organization and then depositing them into a bank account she controlled, and fraudulently charging personal purchases on the organization’s credit card. On Nov. 5, 2020, she used the organization’s credit card to pay $24,694 in restitution to the Virginia court for her prior embezzlement scheme.

            Ballard concealed her fraud from the D.C. employer by listing various beneficiary names on wire transfers and creating fake invoices, often using fake company names. She also forged the Executive Director’s signature on the credit card rewards checks before she deposited them.

            This case was investigated by the FBI’s Washington Field Office and prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Kondi Kleinman with assistance from Paralegal Specialist Michon Tart and former Paralegal Specialist Angeline Thekkumthala.

Source: United States Department of Justice News

Russian National Fraudulently Obtained Entry to the United States Using Brazilian Alias to Attend a University in the District of Columbia and Obtain Information

            WASHINGTON – Sergey Vladimirovich Cherkasov (“Cherkasov”), 37, a national of the Russian Federation who operated as an “Illegal” agent for a Russian Intelligence Service (“RIS”) under the Brazilian alias of Victor Muller Ferreira, was charged today for acting as an agent of a foreign power, visa fraud, bank fraud, wire fraud, and other charges stemming from his illegal activities in the United States. Cherkasov started acting as an Illegal agent in 2012 in Brazil using the Ferreira name, and he moved to the United States in 2018 after obtaining admission to a graduate school program at a University 1, a university located in the District of Columbia. Cherkasov is currently incarcerated in Brazil on fraud charges.     

            According to a Criminal Complaint filed on March 24, 2023, in the United States District Court for the District of Columbia, between 2012 and April 2022. Cherkasov acted as an illegal agent of a RIS using a Brazilian cover identity. In October 2017, Cherkasov maintained his cover as a Brazilian national to apply to graduate programs in the United States, including University 1, and he obtained admission to University 1 at the behest of the RIS. Using that same fraudulent cover, Cherkasov fraudulently applied for, and obtained, a visa to enter the United States in 2017. In March 2018, Cherkasov obtained admission to University 1, and again fraudulently applied for, and obtained, a student visa to enter the United States. According to the complaint, after entering the United States, Cherkasov fraudulently opened bank accounts at a U.S. bank under the Brazilian alias Victor Muller Ferreira  and obtained a U.S. driver’s license from the Commonwealth of Virginia.  Cherkasov further made connections to persons of interest in the United States and maintained communications with his RIS handlers. While in the United States, Cherkasov obtained information about U.S. persons that he passed to his RIS handlers. Cherkasov obtained his graduate degree using the fraudulent Ferreira identity from University 1, and left the United States in or about May 2020.  Cherkasov continued his activities for the RIS after leaving the United States, and he continued to use his connections from University 1 to obtain information about U.S. foreign policy to provide to the RIS in 2021 and 2022. Cherkasov attempted to obtain employment at the International Criminal Court in The Hague, Netherlands, in April 2022. After being turned away by Dutch officials, Cherkasov returned to Brazil where he was arrested on fraud charges stemming from his use of the false Ferreira identity.

            “When foreign adversaries, such as Russia, send undercover operatives into the United States, we will find them and prosecute them to the fullest extent of the law,” said US Attorney Matthew M. Graves. “Such adversaries seek to operate in secret to undermine our national security in ways that could jeopardize the safety of our citizens. With our partners in the FBI, we will root out anyone who intends to do harm to the United States and bring them to justice.”

          “For years, Cherkasov worked as an illegal agent for a Russian intelligence service and committed fraud against the United States,” said David Sundberg, Assistant Director in Charge of the FBI’s Washington Field Office. “Today’s criminal complaint is a result of the hard work, determination, and collaborative efforts of the FBI and our international partners in a complex investigation holding him accountable for his attempts to collect intelligence on the United States at the behest of the Russian government.”

            This investigation was conducted by the FBI’s Washington Field Office and coordinated by the FBI’s Counterintelligence Division.

            Assistant U.S. Attorney Tejpal S. Chawla and Trial Attorney Heather Schmidt of the National Security Division’s Counterintelligence and Export Control Section prosecuted the case, with support from Paralegals Michael Watts and Mariela Andrade.

Source: United States Department of Justice News

A federal grand jury in Wisconsin returned an indictment that was unsealed yesterday charging an Illinois woman and man with running illegal multimillion-dollar pyramid schemes in at least four different states.

According to court documents, Candice V. Cunningham, 35, and Joseph E. Johnson Jr., 50, both of Chicago, allegedly operated a series of pyramid schemes that were advertised to potential victim-participants under various names, including Wealth Partners Publishing, Wealth Wise, Zero to Profit, 30 Day Success Formula, Lav Label, Beckett Group, and DTR Group. Marketing materials for the pyramid schemes allegedly misrepresented that if a victim-participant invested money in one of the schemes, that victim-participant would receive payments from other participants he or she recruited. The materials also are alleged to have falsely promised that if a victim-participant did not receive payments from other participants, the victim-participant was guaranteed that his or her initial investment would be fully refunded. Most victim-participants allegedly did not receive any payments from other participants and were denied the return of their initial investment. Cunningham, Johnson, and others obtained millions of dollars as a result of their alleged scheme.  

Cunningham and Johnson are each charged with one count of conspiracy to commit mail fraud and seven counts of mail fraud. If convicted, they each face a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison for each count.

Assistant Attorney General Kenneth A. Polite, Jr. of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division, U.S. Attorney Gregory J. Haanstad for the Eastern District of Wisconsin, Special Agent in Charge Michael E. Hensle of the FBI Milwaukee Field Office, and Inspector in Charge Ruth Mendonca of the U.S. Postal Inspection Service (USPIS) Chicago Division made the announcement.

The FBI and USPIS are investigating the case.

Trial Attorneys Amanda Swanson and Della Sentilles of the Criminal Division’s Fraud Section and Assistant U.S. Attorney Farris Martini for the Eastern District of Wisconsin are prosecuting the case.

If you believe you are a victim in this case, please contact the Fraud Section’s Victim Witness Unit toll-free at (888) 549-3945 or by email at victimassistance.fraud@usdoj.gov. Victims can find case updates and additional information at https://www.justice.gov/criminal-vns/case/united-states-v-candice-v-cunningham-et-al.

An indictment is merely an allegation. All defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.