Month: May 2023

Source: United States Department of Justice News

A Nevada man has been charged with 98 counts of federal hate crimes and weapons and explosives offenses, including the murder of one person and attempted murder of 44 others, for his actions during the shooting and attempted bombing at the Irvine Taiwanese Presbyterian Church on May 15, 2022.

David Chou, 69, of Las Vegas, killed one person and attempted to kill 44 others using firearms and explosive devices that he carried inside the Irvine Taiwanese Presbyterian Church in Southern California, according to the indictment returned Wednesday by a federal grand jury in Santa Ana, California. In addition to the victim who Chou fatally shot, five others were injured by gunfire. Chou allegedly acted because of the victims’ national origin and religion, and he intentionally obstructed the victims’ religious exercise.    

Specifically, the indictment charges Chou with 98 violations of federal law:

• 45 counts of obstructing free exercise of religious beliefs by force, which resulted in the death of one person, included attempts to kill 44 others, and involved the use of a firearm and attempted use of explosives and fire;
• 45 counts of violating the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act by attacking the church congregants because of their actual or perceived Taiwanese national origin and Presbyterian faith;
• One count of attempting to damage or destroy a building used in interstate commerce by means of fire and explosives;
• One count of carrying explosives during the commission of a federal felony offense; and
• Six counts of using a firearm during the commission of a crime of violence.

If convicted, Chou faces a maximum penalty of death or life in prison without parole. He is currently in state custody pending state criminal charges.

Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division, U.S. Attorney Martin Estrada for the Central District of California and Los Angeles FBI Assistant Director in Charge Donald Alway made the announcement. The FBI would like to acknowledge the considerable assistance of the Orange County Sheriff’s Department.

The FBI Los Angeles Field Office, the Orange County Sheriff’s Department and the ATF investigated the case.

Assistant U.S. Attorneys Greg Scally and Susan Har for the Central District of California and Special Litigation Counsel Michael J. Songer of the Civil Rights Division’s Criminal Section are prosecuting the case.    

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

Source: United States Department of Justice News

GCI Communications Corp. (GCI), located in Anchorage, Alaska, has agreed to pay $40,242,546 to resolve allegations that it violated the False Claims Act by knowingly inflating its prices and violating Federal Communications Commission (FCC) competitive bidding regulations in connection with GCI’s participation in the FCC’s Rural Health Care Program. The program provides more than $570 million each year to assist rural health care providers with their telecommunications needs.

Under the Rural Health Care Program, the FCC pays a subsidy equal to the difference between the more expensive cost for a telecommunication service in a rural area and the less expensive cost for the same service in an urban area in the same state. FCC regulations also require contracts for these subsidized services be awarded through a competitive bidding process. The United States alleged that, between 2013 and 2020, GCI failed to comply with FCC regulations that governed how telecommunications companies must calculate their prices for purposes of claiming subsidy payments, and as a result GCI received greater subsidy payments than it was entitled to. The United States further alleged that GCI caused Eastern Aleutian Tribes Inc., a rural health care provider in Alaska, to agree to inflated prices after the relevant contract was competitively bid. As a result, GCI knowingly received higher payments under the program, from 2015 through 2018, in connection with its contract with Eastern Aleutian Tribes, Inc.

“Telecommunications providers that seek to participate in important FCC programs like the Rural Health Care Program must comply with applicable rules, including those governing how they competitively bid on contracts and set their prices,” said Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Brian M. Boynton, head of the Justice Department’s Civil Division. “Today’s settlement demonstrates our continuing commitment to preventing the misuse of taxpayer funds.”

“Providing health care services in rural areas, especially to Indigenous people in remote areas of Alaska, is vital and must be protected,” said U.S. Attorney Nick Brown for the Western District of Washington. “This $40 million settlement should deter other companies from attempting to improperly enrich themselves by overcharging the government for important healthcare-related telecommunications services.”

“Compliance with the Universal Service Fund’s Rural Health Care Program rules is a critical component in making sure that medical providers have access to the types of communications equipment and services needed to enhance medical options and care in rural communities,” said FCC Enforcement Bureau Chief Loyaan Egal. “This global settlement reflects our strong partnership with the Department of Justice in protecting the USF, and we thank them for their efforts in this particular case.”

Contemporaneous with the civil settlement, GCI has agreed to enter into a corporate compliance agreement with the FCC. GCI will also resolve an FCC administrative investigation and an FCC proceeding arising from GCI’s participation in the Rural Health Care Program.

The civil settlement includes the resolution of claims brought under the qui tam or whistleblower provisions of the False Claims Act by Robert Taylor, GCI’s former Director of Business Administration. Under those provisions, a private party can file an action on behalf of the United States and receive a portion of any recovery. The qui tam case is captioned U.S. ex rel. Taylor v. GCI Liberty, et al., Case No. 19-cv-2029 (W.D. Wash.). The whistleblower will receive $6.4 million as his share of the recovery.

The resolution obtained in this matter was the result of a coordinated effort between the Justice Department’s Civil Division, Commercial Litigation Branch, Fraud Section, and the United States Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Washington, with assistance from the FCC’s Office of the Inspector General and the FCC’s Enforcement Bureau.

The matter was handled by Trial Attorney David M. Sobotkin and Assistant U.S. Attorney Kayla Stahman for the Western District of Washington.

The claims resolved by the settlement are allegations only and there has been no determination of liability.

Source: United States Department of Justice News

A former Assistant Inspector General for the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) was sentenced today to one year and one day in prison for engaging in a scheme to conceal his financial indebtedness to a government contractor and personal friend to whom he steered tens of millions of dollars in government business.

According to court documents, Eghbal “Eddie” Saffarinia, 63, of Front Royal, Virginia, engaged in a scheme to conceal material facts, including the nature and extent of his financial relationship with a personal friend who was the owner and chief executive officer of an information technology company. During a period in which Saffarinia received payments and loans from his friend totaling $80,000, Saffarinia disclosed confidential internal government information to his friend and steered government contracts and provided competitive advantages and preferential treatment to his friend’s company. Saffarinia also failed to disclose this financial relationship and another large promissory note on his public financial disclosure forms.

In September 2022, Saffarinia was convicted after trial of one count of concealing material facts, three counts of making false statements, and three counts of falsifying a record or document.

Assistant Attorney General Kenneth A. Polite, Jr. of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division, Assistant Director in Charge David Sundberg of the FBI Washington Field Office, and Inspector General Thomas A. Monheim of the Intelligence Community made the announcement.

The FBI Washington Field Office and the Office of the Inspector General of the Intelligence Community investigated the case.

Senior Litigation Counsel Edward P. Sullivan and Trial Attorneys Rosaleen T. O’Gara and John P. Taddei of the Criminal Division’s Public Integrity Section prosecuted the case.

Source: United States Department of Justice Criminal Division

A federal jury convicted a Missouri man yesterday for running four websites dedicated to sharing images of child sexual abuse.

According to court documents and evidence presented at trial, Clint Robert Schram, 54, of Kansas City, hosted, managed, and maintained four different websites from his home. Each of these websites operated over the “dark web,” and each was devoted to advertising, distributing, and exchanging images and videos depicting the sexual abuse of children. One of the websites allowed members to post images of children as young as 2 years old, and another had no restrictions on the types of child sexual abuse images that could be shared. Schram advertised and distributed child sexual abuse images over these websites, and he recruited, managed, and directed different tiers of “staff” members who helped run the websites. 

Schram was convicted of one count of engaging in a child exploitation enterprise and four counts each of advertisement of child pornography and conspiracy to advertise child pornography. He is scheduled to be sentenced on Oct. 12 and faces a mandatory minimum sentence of 20 years in prison and a maximum sentence of life in prison. 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, U.S. Attorney Teresa A. Moore for the Western District of Missouri, Assistant Director Luis Quesada of the FBI’s Criminal Investigative Division, and Special Agent in Charge Charles A. Dayoub of the FBI Kansas City Field Office made the announcement.

The FBI’s Child Exploitation Operational Unit and Kansas City Field Office investigated the case.

Trial Attorney Kyle P. Reynolds of the Criminal Division’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section and Assistant U.S. Attorneys Alison D. Dunning and David Luna for the Western District of Missouri are prosecuting the case.

This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice. Led by U.S. Attorneys’ Offices and the Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state, and local resources to better locate, apprehend, and prosecute individuals who exploit children via the internet, as well as to identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.justice.gov/psc.