Month: April 2023

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Defense News: Holocaust survivor shares his family’s story with NUWC Division Newport, NAVSEA audience

Source: United States Navy

The event included a pre-recorded presentation by Stern prepared by Division Newport in December 2022, followed by a live question-and-answer session.

In the video, Stern recalled his family’s experiences after having been moved to a Jewish ghetto in Riga, Latvia, in November 1941. One day, the Russian army attacked the camp and Artur, Stern’s father, saved a German officer’s life. The officer arranged for the Stern family to be hidden in the Riga prison — rather than be returned to the ghetto — as the German forces retreated after catastrophic losses in the Battle of Stalingrad.

“We were in a cell on the second or third floor of that prison for about three months. My mother never left the cell; my brother and I and our father would occasionally be taken to the exercise yard and walk there,” Stern said. “While living in that cell, the trustees would sometimes let my brother and me help them distribute food to the prisoners. I remember crawling on the suicide screen of that prison. Near the end of 1943, we were taken out of that cell and this was the first time that I was aware that my parents were scared. We were taken to a cell in the basement or on the first floor.”

In January 1944, the family was put on a truck, deported back to Germany and separated. Artur was imprisoned in the Buchenwald concentration camp, where he died, while his mother, Karolina, younger brother, Sam, and Peter were transferred to Ravensbrűck concentration camp.

Here, the women were used for slave labor in the factories, Stern said, while the children were largely left to their own devices, locked up in the barracks. Stern recalled seeing all the different types of prisoners in Ravensbrück — Jews with yellow stars on their prison garb, homosexuals with pink triangles and red triangles for political prisoners, among them.

In February of 1945, Ravensbrück had to be emptied and the prisoners were put onto cattle cars and taken to Bergen-Belsen, which was much worse, Stern said, as everyone slept on the floor in cramped conditions. To move around you had to walk over people or, in some cases, corpses as they did not remove any of the bodies after people died. Stern and his family were there for about two months until finally, on April 15, 1945, the camp was liberated by British forces.

After the video presentation, Stern signed in online from the Holocaust Awareness Museum and Education Center in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, to answer questions by employees in Chafee Auditorium and those online throughout NAVSEA’s 10 warfare centers.

Jasmyn Prince, a security engineer from Naval Surface Warfare Center Corona Division, was one of the 415 people watching the broadcast. She asked Stern why it’s important for him to tell his story.

“I want people to feel empathy for everyone that isn’t them, because when you stop being empathetic to an individual, you can then easily go to the group and say, ‘they are the other,’ and then you’re on that slippery slope,” Stern said.

Stern emigrated to the U.S. from Germany in 1947 with his mother and brother. He was reluctant to speak about his Holocaust experience for a long time.

“I tended to hide that background early on. I just did not want to be different,” Stern said. “I didn’t say anything for years. I’m sure there are people still out there who may remember me for many reasons, but not know that that was my background.”

After living with an uncle in Florida, Stern moved to New York City, where he graduated high school in 1954. He spent a few years attending a community college and working for the Navy at its materials laboratory in Brooklyn. Stern attended the Missouri School of Mines and Metallurgy (now the Missouri University of Science and Technology).

After graduating, Stern worked as a metallurgical engineer for 10 years. He then switched careers to teach middle school science in Connecticut for the next 30 years. He never mentioned the Holocaust to his students until his final year as a teacher.

“In my last year of teaching, the school put on a play about the concentration camps,” Stern said. “It was a good play, but for some reason, I was struck by the fact that they never mentioned the odor. These places were not great on sanitation, and certainly when it came to place like Bergen-Belsen, there was also the stench of death. The soldiers who freed the camps were aware of the odor before they saw the place.”

After Stern retired, he was contacted by an organization called Child Survivors. The organization arranges for Holocaust survivors to share their stories of loss, resilience, and heroism with audiences at schools and to groups around the country.

Stern has been sharing his emotional story ever since.

Stern’s 2021 appearance at Division Newport is described in the article, “Holocaust survivor recounts experience to NUWC Division Newport employees,” and can be read at: https://www.dvidshub.net/news/396026/holocaust-survivor-recounts-experience-nuwc-division-newport-employees

Holocaust Days of Remembrance was established by the U.S. Congress as an annual week-long commemoration of the Holocaust. The Department of Defense’s theme for this year’s observance is “Behind Every Name a Story: The Women.” Read more about Holocaust Remembrance Days at:
https://www.defenseculture.mil/Human-Relations-Toolkit/Special-Observances/#days-of-remembrance-holocaust-remembrance-day

NUWC Newport is the oldest warfare center in the country, tracing its heritage to the Naval Torpedo Station established on Goat Island in Newport Harbor in 1869. Commanded by Capt. Chad Hennings, NUWC Newport maintains major detachments in West Palm Beach, Florida, and Andros Island in the Bahamas, as well as test facilities at Seneca Lake and Fisher’s Island, New York, Leesburg, Florida, and Dodge Pond, Connecticut.

Join our team! NUWC Division Newport, one of the 20 largest employers in Rhode Island, employs a diverse, highly trained, educated, and skilled workforce. We are continuously looking for engineers, scientists, and other STEM professionals, as well as talented business, finance, logistics and other support experts who wish to be at the forefront of undersea research and development. Please connect with NUWC Division Newport Recruiting at this site- https://www.navsea.navy.mil/Home/Warfare-Centers/NUWC-Newport/Career-Opportunities/ and follow us on LinkedIn @NUWC-Newport and on Facebook @NUWCNewport.

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Defense News: Norfolk Naval Shipyard Celebrates Completion of Fully Mission Capable Dry Dock 4 with Ribbon Cutting

Source: United States Navy

SIOP is a holistic investment plan that when fully executed will deliver required dry dock repairs and upgrades to support current and planned future classes of nuclear-powered aircraft carriers and submarines, optimize workflow within the shipyards through significant changes to their physical layout, and recapitalize industrial plant equipment with modern technology that will substantially increase productivity and safety.

Rear Adm. Lore Aguayo, commander, Naval Facilities Engineering Systems Command (NAVFAC) Atlantic, along with distinguished guests from Senator Tim Kaine’s office, Portsmouth Mayor Shannon Glover, Program Executive Officer for Industrial Infrastructure (PEO II) and SIOP, Mr. Mark Edelson, Capt. Lawrence Brandon, acting commander, NNSY, and Cmdr. Kendall Chapman, Resident Officer in Charge of Construction (ROICC) NNSY attended the event and delivered remarks.

“This project is truly precedence setting for NAVFAC, as the first dry dock turned back over to the Fleet in support of SIOP and one of the first executed using a construction oversight organizational construct dedicated to SIOP,” said Aguayo. “This collective team came together and did a fantastic job delivering a modern and fully mission capable dry dock.”

Dry Dock 4 was the first of three dry docks built at NNSY in 1919 during its World War I-era expansion, originally constructed as a soil supported, unreinforced concrete structure. It hosted notable ships including USS Langley (CV 1), the nation’s very first aircraft carrier; USS Texas (BB 35), a battleship that fought in both World Wars; the battleship USS Arizona (BB 39) that received its modernization at NNSY a decade prior to its tragic loss in the attack on Pearl Harbor; and the British aircraft carrier HMS Illustrious, one of many Allied fleet repairs conducted at NNSY during World War II.

To ensure its operational certification, the critical upgrades provided by the SIOP project to this historic dry dock were required. The project was an enormous undertaking, which involved the placement of over thirty-thousand cubic yards of concrete and requiring 836,000 man hours of construction, was executed as a phased, multi-year operations and maintenance funded repair, valued at $191 million.

“Our naval shipyards are steeped in history, having supported the Navy’s evolution from sail to steam to nuclear power,” Mark Edelson, the newly installed leader of Program Executive Office, Industrial Infrastructure (PEO II). “With the support of Congress and our local communities, we are bringing this vital, centuries-old infrastructure into the modern day.” Edelson added, “Without major upgrades and reconfiguration, the Navy’s four public shipyards cannot repair and upgrade the fleet’s current and future carriers and submarines at the pace required.”

The renovated dry dock includes a new caisson for sealing the facility from the Elizabeth River, replacement of the dock walls and floor, complete restoration of the pumpwell, and upgrading all mechanical and electrical equipment. Additional improvements greatly safeguard against a major flooding event.

The initial project development and contract award was managed utilizing the public works department with support from NAVFAC Mid-Atlantic. However, to ensure proper oversight and execution success while the project was underway, NAVFAC stood up the ROICC for NNSY. The ROICC’s sole purpose is overseeing the execution of SIOP projects, which is estimated to be over $2.4 billion at NNSY.

“The ROICC office, led by Cmdr. Kendall Chapman, provided dedicated government oversight of the completion of this project” said Aguayo. “We intend to apply lessons learned at this and our other public shipyards to the remainder of the SIOP program over the next decade.”

“With any construction project, we’re always learning something,” said Cmdr. Kendall Chapman. “We are committed to applying lessons learned across the enterprise as we deliver this fully capable dry dock back to the Fleet in support of nuclear-powered warships. Our country expects nothing less.”

Partnerships with industry and a shared common mission in support of national security are a model for what NAVFAC strives to achieve around the world as we build the infrastructure the Navy needs for strategic competition needs.

“With our industry partners on our left and right we can deliver the construction the Navy and Nation need, when and where they need it,” said Aguayo. “I am proud of what our combined teams have accomplished.”

NAVFAC is the Naval Shore Facilities, Base Operating Support, and Expeditionary Engineering Systems Command that delivers life-cycle technical and acquisition solutions aligned to Fleet and Marine Corps priorities.

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IRB Brasil Agrees to Pay Shareholders $5M in Connection with Securities Fraud Scheme

Source: United States Department of Justice News

A publicly traded Brazilian reinsurance company, IRB Brasil Resseguros SA, aka IRB Brasil RE (IRB), has entered into a non-prosecution agreement (NPA) with the Justice Department and agreed to pay $5 million in victim compensation to resolve the government’s investigation into a securities fraud scheme to fraudulently prop up IRB’s stock price by spreading false information that U.S. investment firm Berkshire Hathaway Inc. had invested in the company. IRB trades on Brazil’s B3 exchange and has shareholders around the world, including in the United States.

As it admitted in the NPA, IRB, through its former CFO, Fernando Passos, executed the fraud scheme beginning in February 2020 after an investment company published a report questioning the accuracy of IRB’s financial statements and announcing that the investment company had taken a short position against IRB’s stock. IRB’s stock price dropped in the wake of the report. In response, Passos developed and executed a scheme to mislead shareholders and the investing public by disseminating and causing to be disseminated materially false information that Berkshire Hathaway had invested in IRB, despite knowing that Berkshire Hathaway had not made any such investment. Passos circulated, and caused subordinate IRB investor relations employees to circulate, false materials to members of the press, analysts, and members of IRB’s board of directors to spread the false information regarding Berkshire Hathaway’s purported investment.  

News outlets in both Brazil and the United States began incorrectly reporting that Berkshire Hathaway had invested in IRB. Following the news coverage, on the evening of March 3, 2020, Berkshire Hathaway issued a press release stating that it was not currently, had never been, and had no intention of becoming a shareholder in IRB. On March 4, 2020, after Berkshire Hathaway’s press release, IRB’s stock price dropped precipitously, causing significant shareholder losses.  

As part of the NPA, IRB admitted that the facts described in the NPA constitute securities fraud. Under the terms of the NPA, IRB has agreed to continue cooperating with the Justice Department in other related investigations, to continue to implement a compliance and ethics program as set forth in the NPA, and to report to the department regarding the company’s remediation and implementation of the compliance measures as described in the NPA. Further, IRB has agreed to pay victim compensation of $5 million to shareholders who sold IRB stock on March 4, 2020. 

The department reached this resolution with IRB based on a number of factors, including, among others, the nature and seriousness of the offense conduct involving IRB’s former CFO, as well IRB’s cooperation and implementation of remedial measures. In addition, IRB and the department agreed that the total amount of losses to all shareholders who sold IRB stock on March 4, 2020, was significantly more than $5 million. However, despite agreeing that a larger amount otherwise would be appropriate based on the law and the facts, IRB made representations to the department that the company had an inability to pay a criminal monetary penalty and to cover the full loss to shareholders. Based on those representations, the department, with the assistance of a forensic accounting expert, conducted an independent inability-to-pay analysis, which determined that the payment of more than $5 million was reasonably likely to threaten the continued viability of IRB, which in turn may expose the company’s shareholders to a further risk of loss.

Passos has been indicted and is presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.

Assistant Attorney General Kenneth A. Polite, Jr. of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division and Inspector in Charge Eric Shen of the U.S. Postal Inspection Service’s (USPIS) Criminal Investigations Group made the announcement.

The USPIS is investigating the case.

Trial Attorney Kate McCarthy of the Criminal Division’s Fraud Section is handling 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. To learn more about victims’ rights, please visit: www.justice.gov/criminal-vns/victim-rights-derechos-de-las-v-ctimas. Victims can find case updates and additional information at www.justice.gov/criminal-vns/united-states-v-fernando-passos.

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Five Individuals Charged in $2M Virtual Asset and Securities Manipulation Scheme

Source: United States Department of Justice Criminal Division

An indictment was unsealed today in Miami charging two U.S. citizens and a South African national with conspiring to manipulate the market for HYDRO, a virtual asset created by the Hydrogen Technology Corporation. Two other individuals were also charged in separate charging documents for their roles in the scheme filed in the Southern District of Florida.   

According to court documents, from around June 2018 through April 2019, Michael Kane, 38, of Miami; Shane Hampton, 31, of Philadelphia; and George Wolvaardt, 38, of Johannesburg, South Africa, allegedly conspired to manipulate the market for HYDRO, a token on the Ethereum blockchain platform, and defraud market participants by creating the false appearance of supply and demand for HYDRO to induce other market participants to trade at prices, quantities, and times that they otherwise would not have traded. The defendants allegedly used a trading bot to place thousands of orders that they did not intend to execute, or “spoof orders,” and thousands of orders where the bot bought and sold tokens to itself through the same account, or “wash trades.” The co-conspirators allegedly reaped $2 million in profit through their sales of HYDRO at artificially inflated prices.  

As alleged in the indictment, Kane was the co-founder and CEO of Hydrogen Technology and Hampton was the Chief of Financial Engineering for the company. Wolvaardt was the Chief Technology Officer for Moonwalkers Trading Limited, a self-described “market-making” firm that purportedly designed the trading bot and was hired by Kane and Hampton to manipulate the market for HYDRO.

Relatedly, Tyler Ostern, 29, of Coos Bay, Oregon, the former CEO of Moonwalkers, and Andrew Chorlian, 29, of New York, New York, a blockchain engineer at Hydrogen Technology, were also charged for their participation in the scheme.

Kane, Hampton, and Wolvaardt are each charged with one count of conspiracy to commit securities price manipulation, one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud, and two counts of wire fraud. If convicted, they each face a maximum penalty of five years in prison on the conspiracy to commit securities price manipulation count and 20 years in prison on each of the other charged counts. Ostern and Chorlian are each charged with one count of conspiracy to commit securities price manipulation and wire fraud. If convicted, they each face a maximum penalty of five years in prison.

Assistant Attorney General Kenneth A. Polite, Jr. of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division, U.S. Attorney Markenzy Lapointe for the Southern District of Florida, Assistant Director Luis Quesada of the FBI’s Criminal Investigative Division, and Special Agent in Charge Jeffrey B. Veltri of the FBI Miami Field Office made the announcement.

The FBI is investigating the case.

Trial Attorney Andrew Jaco and Assistant Chief Scott Armstrong of the Criminal Division’s Fraud Section and Assistant U.S. Attorney Eric Morales for the Southern District of Florida 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. To learn more about victims’ rights, please visit www.justice.gov/criminal-vns/victim-rights-derechos-de-las-v-ctimas.

An indictment and information are merely allegations. All defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.

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Georgia Doctor Pleads Guilty to Distributing Misbranded Weight Loss Drug Product

Source: United States Department of Justice News

A Georgia physician pleaded guilty today to charges related to the sale of a purported weight loss drug product that contained human chorionic gonadotropin, or HCG.

Dr. Audrey Arona, 64, of Gainesville, Georgia, pleaded guilty to causing the introduction into interstate commerce of a misbranded drug product containing HCG and marketed under the name “Releana.” Pursuant to a plea agreement, Magistrate Judge J. Clay Fuller of the United States District Court for the Northern District of Georgia ordered Dr. Arona to forfeit approximately $65,000.

HCG is a hormone produced by the human placenta. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved certain injectable HCG drug products for the treatment of some cases of female infertility and for hormone treatment in males. But the FDA has never approved any oral or sublingual HCG drug products for any use, and the FDA has never approved any HCG drug product for weight loss. In fact, FDA has specifically warned consumers to avoid HCG weight-loss products, advising, “If you have HCG products for weight loss, quit using it, throw it out, and stop following the dieting instructions.”

“Doctors who distribute drugs must comply with federal law designed to ensure these products are safe and effective,” said Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Brian M. Boynton, head of the Justice Department’s Civil Division. “The Department will continue to work closely with our law enforcement partners to stop the distribution of misbranded HCG drugs and other misbranded drugs, including through criminal enforcement where appropriate.”

“Misbranded prescription drugs can present a serious health risk to those who buy and use them. The drugs may contain unknown ingredients and may be made under unknown conditions,” said Special Agent in Charge Charles L. Grinstead of the FDA Office of Criminal Investigations Kansas City Field Office. “We will continue to investigate and bring to justice those who traffic in misbranded prescription drugs.”

According to court documents, Dr. Arona admitted to selling a sublingually administered HCG-for-weight-loss drug product to patients around the country. Dr. Arona further admitted that she represented to patients that the HCG-for-weight-loss drug product was FDA-approved and that it could assist with weight loss.

Dr. Arona was the third defendant to plead guilty in connection with the marketing and sale of Releana. In September 2022, Hoschton, Georgia, resident Maurice Bailey also pleaded guilty to causing the introduction into interstate commerce of a misbranded drug product containing HCG. According to court documents, Bailey admitted to preparing the Releana sold by Dr. Arona in a facility that was not properly registered with FDA, and to inaccurately labelling that Releana. In August 2021, Colorado resident Sarah Alberg pleaded guilty to causing the introduction into interstate commerce of a misbranded drug product containing HCG, with the intent to mislead or defraud. According to court documents, Alberg also distributed Releana, and she admitted to smuggling HCG into the United States from India and distributing HCG using bottles and supplies exposed to rodent droppings.

The FDA Office of Criminal Investigations investigated the cases.

Senior Litigation Counsel Patrick Runkle and Trial Attorney Michael Wadden of the Justice Department’s Consumer Protection Branch prosecuted the cases against Dr. Arona and Bailey, with assistance from Assistant U.S. Attorney Jennifer Keen for the Northern District of Georgia.

For more information about the enforcement efforts of the Consumer Protection Branch visit the Branch’s website at http://www.justice.gov/civil/consumer-protection-branch