Month: March 2023

Source: United States Department of Justice News

FARGO – United States Attorney Mac Schneider, District of North Dakota, announced that on March 13, 2023, Macalla Lee Knott a/k/a Kayla, age 30, from St. Cloud, MN, pled guilty in Federal Court in Fargo, ND, before Chief Judge Peter W. Welte, to the offenses of Conspiracy to Distribute Controlled Substances, Money Laundering Conspiracy and Continuing Criminal Enterprise (CCE). Sentencing is scheduled for August 7, 2023.

At the plea hearing, Knott admitted to supervising, managing, and leading more than five people in the enterprise. Knott, who had been living in Mexico since March of 2020, directed shipments of methamphetamine, cocaine, and fentanyl to various distributors across the upper Midwest and arranged payments to sources of supply in Mexico.

This case is part of an Organized Crime and Drug Enforcement Task Force (OCDETF) investigation into the international trafficking of methamphetamine, cocaine, and fentanyl and was aided by coordination with the U.S. Attorney’s Office, District of Minnesota.

This investigation has led to eighteen (18) defendants charged in North Dakota. The investigation has been tied to seizures of over 100 pounds of methamphetamine, 9 pounds of fentanyl powder and 120,000 fentanyl pills. The investigation remains very active.

Sentenced in this case so far are:

Mary Thompson, 29, Moorhead, Minnesota – 100 months (8.3 years) imprisonment and 3 years supervised release.

Melanie Quick, 28, St. Cloud, Minnesota – 108 months (9 years) imprisonment and 3 years supervised release.

This case is being investigated by the Central Minnesota Violent Offenders Task Force (CMVOTF), Federal Bureau of Investigation, St. Cloud Police Department, Stearns County Sheriff’s Office, Sartell Police Department, Benton County Sheriff’s Office, Sherburne County Sheriff’s Office, Morrison County Sheriff’s Office, Internal Revenue Service – CID, Fargo Police Department, West Fargo Police Department, Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension and the Drug Enforcement Administration.

The cases are being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Christopher C. Myers and Alex Stock, District of North Dakota, with the assistance from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Minnesota and the Stearns County Attorney’s Office.

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Source: United States Department of Justice News

On March 7, a federal grand jury in Austin returned an indictment, unsealed today, charging seven individuals with conspiracy to commit mail and wire fraud and other crimes arising out of their scheme to defraud the IRS using stolen identities.

According to the indictment, from 2018 through 2021, Abraham Yusuff, of Round Rock, Meghan Inyang, of San Antonio, Christopher Eduardo, of Round Rock, Christian Mathurin, of Nashville, Tennessee, Dillon Anozie, of San Antonio, Babajide Ogunbanjo, of Austin, and Aydin Mammadov, of Houston, engaged in a conspiracy to claim fraudulent tax refunds using the stolen identities of accountants and taxpayers by filing at least 371 false tax returns claiming over $111 million in refunds from the IRS.

Yusuff allegedly recruited and directed Eduardo, Mathurin, Anozie, Ogunbanjo and Mammadov to provide addresses to him that could be used in the scheme. Yusuff and others then allegedly registered with the IRS, posing as authorized agents of multiple taxpayers using stolen information relating to the taxpayers and their real tax preparers. The conspirators then allegedly directed the IRS to change the addresses on file for the taxpayers and to send their tax information, including account transcripts and wage records, to the addresses controlled by the conspirators. The conspirators then allegedly used this information to electronically file tax returns claiming fraudulent refunds and directed the refunds the IRS to split the refunds among several prepaid debit cards. Prior to issuing tax refunds to some taxpayers, the IRS allegedly sent verification letters to the addresses controlled by the defendants, and the defendants and others, pretending to be the taxpayers, instructed the IRS to release the refunds. 

The indictment also charges that Yusuff, Inyang, Eduardo, Anozie, Ogunbanjo and Mammadov obtained the prepaid debit cards that were to be used to receive the fraudulent refunds and that once the refunds were deposited onto the prepaid debit cards, they laundered the funds by purchasing, among other things, money orders from local stores in amounts low enough to avoid reporting thresholds. Yusuff and others also allegedly used the prepaid debit cards and money orders to purchase designer clothing, home renovation materials and used cars at auction. The indictment alleges that all defendants kept or received money orders purchased with the fraudulent refunds as their share of the illegal proceeds.

The indictment charges each defendant with varying crimes, including mail and wire fraud, conspiracy to commit mail and wire fraud, aggravated identity theft, money laundering and access device fraud. If convicted, they face a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison for the mail and wire fraud and the conspiracy of said fraud, 20 years for money laundering, 10 years for access device fraud, and a mandatory sentence of two years for aggravated identity theft. In addition to any term of imprisonment, each of the defendants also faces a period of supervised release, monetary penalties, restitution and forfeiture. A federal district court judge will determine any sentence after considering the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.

Acting Deputy Assistant Attorney General Stuart Goldberg of the Justice Department’s Tax Division and U.S. Attorney Jaime Esparza for the Western District of Texas made the announcement.

The IRS–Criminal Investigation and the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration are investigating the case.

Assistant Chief Michael Boteler and Trial Attorneys Mitchell T. Galloway and Mary Frances Richardson of the Justice Department’s Tax Division are prosecuting the case.

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

Source: United States Department of Justice News

Damian Williams, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, announced today that a jury was unable to reach a unanimous decision as to whether to authorize the death penalty for SAYFULLO SAIPOV.  U.S. District Judge Vernon S. Broderick will sentence SAIPOV to the statutorily mandated sentence of life in prison for carrying out a terrorist attack on October 31, 2017, in the name of the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham (“ISIS”), in which SAIPOV used a truck to murder eight victims and injure many more on a bike path in lower Manhattan. 

On January 26, 2023, the same jury convicted SAIPOV of all 28 counts in the Indictment, which charged SAIPOV with murder for the purpose of gaining entrance to a racketeering enterprise (ISIS); assault with a dangerous weapon and attempted murder for the purpose of gaining entrance to a racketeering enterprise (ISIS); providing material support to a designated foreign terrorist organization (ISIS) resulting in death; and damage and destruction to a motor vehicle resulting in death.     

U.S. Attorney Damian Williams said: “On October 31, 2017, Sayfullo Saipov stole eight innocent lives – and devastated the lives of many more – in a horrendous terrorist attack.  This evil act was fueled by Saipov’s allegiance to ISIS, an allegiance which Saipov proudly maintained after the attack and up through his trial.  Today a jury has declined to authorize the death penalty for Saipov, and accordingly the defendant will be subject to a mandatory sentence of life imprisonment without the possibility of parole.”

Saipov’s crimes were predicated on ISIS’s commitment to murder innocent civilians and its disdain for rule of law.  But, in the end, Saipov’s actions have highlighted one of the pillars of the rule of law in this country: the right to a full and fair public trial before a jury drawn from the community.  We thank the jurors for their careful consideration of the evidence and the law during this long trial, and for their willingness to serve.  We also thank the families of the murdered victims, and the surviving victims, for their patience and understanding as the legal process played out.  Even though the trial has ended, we know that their pain and grief endures.  We stand with them in honoring the lives of their loved ones, and all who were affected by this senseless attack.”

As set forth in public documents in the case and statements made during court proceedings:

On Halloween afternoon in 2017, SAYFULLO SAIPOV used a 6,000-pound truck to strike more than 20 innocent people on the Hudson River Bike Path in lower Manhattan.  SAIPOV killed eight of his victims and critically injured many others, including a 14-year-old child.  SAIPOV’s surviving victims suffered amputations, serious brain injuries, life-altering physical injuries, and significant psychological trauma.  SAIPOV committed his attack after years of devotion to the brutal terrorist organization ISIS and after months of careful planning.  In the weeks before his attack, for example, SAIPOV rented a truck to practice maneuvering it so that he could hit as many people as possible.  SAIPOV brought a note to the attack with the ISIS flag and rallying cry written on it.  After his attack, while in custody at a hospital, SAIPOV told the FBI that he committed the attack in response to calls from the leader of ISIS and that he was proud of what he had done.  SAIPOV smiled when describing his attack and sought to hang the ISIS flag in his hospital room.  After the attack, ISIS praised SAIPOV as an Islamic State soldier and called his attack one of the most prominent attacks in the United States.  In the years since his attack, SAIPOV continued to demonstrate his devotion to ISIS, including though statements in court, recorded telephone calls, and writings seized from his prison cell.  In prison, SAIPOV also made statements confirming his continued belief that enemies of ISIS should be eliminated and threatening to cut the heads off of corrections officers.  At the liability and sentencing phases of trial, many of SAIPOV’s victims and their family members bravely described the terror he caused and the pain and suffering they continue to endure.

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SAIPOV, 34, of Uzbekistan, will be sentenced to life in prison on all nine capital counts in the Indictment. 

Mr. Williams praised the outstanding investigative efforts of the FBI’s New York Joint Terrorism Task Force, which consists of investigators and analysts from the FBI, the NYPD, and over 50 other federal, state, and local agencies.  Mr. Williams also thanked the FBI Legal Attaché Office for Central Asia and the FBI’s Counterterrorism Division, Laboratory Division, Victim Services Division, and Language Services Section, Homeland Security Investigations, New York, and the Department of Justice’s National Security Division, Capital Case Section, Organized Crime and Gang Section, Office of Enforcement Operations, and Office of International Affairs for their assistance.

The case is being handled by the Office’s National Security and International Narcotics Unit.  Assistant U.S. Attorneys Amanda L. Houle, Jason A. Richman, Alexander Li, and Andrew Dember, with the assistance of Paralegal Specialist Daniel Sitko, are in charge of the prosecution, with assistance from Trial Attorney John Cella of the National Security Division’s Counterterrorism Section and Trial Attorney Michael Warbel of the Capital Case Section. Mr. Williams also thanked Wendy Olsen and the Office’s Victim and Witness Section for their outstanding efforts in assisting the victims of this crime and their families.