Month: June 2023

Source: United States Department of Justice News

            WASHINGTON — A Florida man was sentenced today for a felony charge for his actions during the breach of the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. His actions and the actions of others disrupted a joint session of the U.S. Congress convened to ascertain and count the electoral votes related to the 2020 presidential election.

            Mason Joel Courson, 27, of Tamarac, Florida, was sentenced to 57 months in prison for assaulting, resisting, or impeding a law enforcement officer with a dangerous weapon. Courson pleaded guilty on Nov. 30, 2022, in the District of Columbia. In addition to the prison term, U.S. District Court Judge Rudolph Contreras ordered 36 months of supervised release, and restitution of $2,000.

            According to court documents, on Jan. 6, 2021, Courson was part of a mob that confronted law enforcement officers at the Archway and tunnel areas leading into the Capitol building from the lower west terrace. By approximately 4:20 p.m., hundreds of rioters were gathered there, some of whom were throwing and/or swinging various objects at a group of law enforcement officers.

            During the violence, at approximately 4:27 p.m., another rioter, Jack Wade Whitton, climbed over a railing and began striking an officer with a crutch, also kicking him. Whitton then grabbed the officer and, along with Logan Barnhart and another rioter, dragged the officer down the steps and into the crowd. Courson, who was at the bottom of the steps, beat the officer with a police baton, as other rioters struck him with other objects. The officer sustained physical injuries, including bruising and abrasions.

            Courson is among a group of nine defendants named in an indictment in this case that was returned in the District of Columbia. Justin Jersey, Jack Wade Whitton, Logan James Barnhart, and Peter Francis Stager have all previously pleaded guilty in this matter.

            The case is being prosecuted by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia and the Department of Justice National Security Division’s Counterterrorism Section. Valuable assistance was provided by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Florida.

            The case is being investigated by the FBI’s Washington Field Office, which identified Courson as #129 in its seeking information photos, as well as the FBI’s Miami Field Office. Significant assistance has been provided in the investigation by the Metropolitan Police Department, the U.S. Capitol Police, and other FBI field offices.

            In the 29 months since Jan. 6, 2021, more than 1,000 individuals have been arrested in nearly all 50 states for crimes related to the breach of the U.S. Capitol, including nearly 350 individuals charged with assaulting or impeding law enforcement. The investigation remains ongoing. 

            Anyone with tips can call 1-800-CALL-FBI (800-225-5324) or visit tips.fbi.gov.

Source: United States Department of Justice News

            WASHINGTON — An Illinois man was sentenced to prison today for felony and misdemeanor charges during the breach of the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. His actions and the actions of others disrupted a joint session of the U.S. Congress that was in the process of ascertaining and counting the electoral votes related to the 2020 presidential election.

            Thomas B. Adams, Jr., 41, of Springfield, Illinois, was sentenced to 14 months in prison by U.S. District Judge Amit Mehta. In addition to the sentence, Judge Mehta ordered 36 months of supervised release and $2,000 in restitution. Adams was found guilty in February 2023 of the felony charge of obstruction of an official proceeding and aiding and abetting and the misdemeanor of remaining in a restricted building or grounds.

            According to court documents, on Jan. 6, 2021, Adams passed through a security perimeter on the west side of the Capitol building where he joined rioters. At approximately 2:48 pm, Adams was among the rioters who entered the Capitol building through the Parliamentarian Door, which is a fire door. On Feb. 4, 2021, Adams told the FBI that other people had breached the door with “window washing equipment.” He also stated that he walked into the Capitol building over broken glass and that one of the doors through which he entered had a broken window.

            After entering the building, Adams ignored and walked past a line of U.S. Capitol Police just beyond the Parliamentarian Door who were attempting to stop the rioters. Once Adams made his way past the line of officers, he made his way to the Senate Chamber by walking by Vice President Pence’s ceremonial office. At approximately 3:04 p.m., Adams entered the Senate Chamber through a door on the second floor. Adams knew that he did not have authorization to enter the Senate Chamber and walked into to the Senate well, where he and multiple other rioters walked among the Senators’ desks. While on the Senate floor, Adams took pictures with his cell phone. At approximately 3:11 pm, law enforcement escorted Adams out of the Capitol building via the Senate Carriage Door. Adams described this to the FBI as being “forced out.”

            After being removed from the Capitol, Adams told a reporter that he had traveled from Springfield, Illinois, for the rally President Trump had held earlier in the day and that he had been spurred on by President Trump’s claim that he had been cheated out of victory.

            On Feb. 4, 2021, Adams told the FBI that it was his intent to peacefully occupy the Capitol building. He stated, “since we were planning to occupy, we didn’t know if they were going to be out there for one day, five days, or a week.”

            This case was prosecuted by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia. Valuable assistance was provided by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Central District of Illinois.

            The case was investigated by the FBI’s Springfield Field Office and Washington Field Office. Valuable assistance was provided by the Metropolitan Police Department and the U.S. Capitol Police.

            In the 29 months since Jan. 6, 2021, more than 1,000 individuals have been arrested in nearly all 50 states for crimes related to the breach of the U.S. Capitol, including nearly 350 individuals charged with assaulting or impeding law enforcement. The investigation remains ongoing. 

            Anyone with tips can call 1-800-CALL-FBI (800-225-5324) or visit tips.fbi.gov.

Source: United States Department of Justice News

A federal jury in the Eastern District of New York convicted a Canadian man today for perpetrating a decades-long mass-mailing fraud scheme that stole more than $175 million from victims in the United States.

According to court documents and evidence presented at trial, Patrice Runner, 57, a Canadian and French citizen, operated a mass-mailing fraud scheme from 1994 through November 2014. As part of the scheme, Runner sent letters to millions of U.S. consumers, many of whom were elderly and vulnerable. The letters falsely purported to be individualized, personal communications from so-called “psychics,” including Maria Duval (leading this type of fraud scheme to be referred to as a “Maria Duval Scam”), and promised that the recipient had the opportunity to achieve great wealth and happiness with the psychic’s assistance, in exchange for payment of a fee. Once a victim made a single payment in response to one of the letters, the victim was bombarded with dozens of additional letters, all purporting to be personalized communications from the psychics and offering additional services and items for a fee. 

Although the scheme’s letters frequently stated that a psychic had seen a personalized vision regarding the recipient of the letter, in fact, the scheme sent nearly identical form letters to tens of thousands of victims each week. Runner and his co-conspirators obtained the names of elderly and vulnerable victims by renting and trading mailing lists with other mail fraud schemes. In reality, the so-called “psychics” identified in the letters sent by the scheme had no role in sending the letters, did not receive responses from the victims, and did not send the additional letters after victims paid money. Some victims made dozens of payments in response to the fraudulent letters, losing thousands of dollars.

Runner directed the scheme for the entirety of its 20-year operation, providing instructions to co-conspirators who ran the day-to-day operations through a Canadian company. Runner used a series of shell companies registered in Canada and Hong Kong to hide his involvement in the scheme while living in multiple foreign countries, including Switzerland, France, the Netherlands, Costa Rica, and Spain.

Spanish authorities extradited Runner to the United States to face federal charges in December 2020.

“This case exemplifies the commitment of the Department of Justice’s Consumer Protection Branch and its partners in the U.S. Postal Inspection Service to investigating and prosecuting fraud schemes targeting Americans, no matter where in the world those schemes originate,” said Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Brian M. Boynton, head of the Justice Department’s Civil Division. “We will work with our law enforcement partners in the United States and around the world to bring to justice criminals who target Americans.” 

“For over 20 years, Patrice Runner managed a predatory scheme that targeted older American by mailing personalized letters to millions of victims purporting to be from a world renown psychic. Yesterday’s verdict should have come as no surprise to Mr. Runner,” said Inspector in Charge Chris Nielsen of the Postal Inspection Service’s Philadelphia Division. “Postal Inspectors are committed to protecting American consumers by eliminating these fraudulent mailings from the mailstream.”

Runner was convicted of conspiracy to commit mail and wire fraud, eight counts of mail fraud, four counts of wire fraud, and conspiracy to commit money laundering. He was found not guilty on four counts of mail fraud.

Runner will be sentenced at a later date and faces a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison on each count. He remains in prison pending sentencing. A federal district court judge will determine any sentence after considering the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.

Four other people previously pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit mail fraud in connection with this mass-mailing fraud scheme: Maria Thanos, 59, of Montreal, Canada; Philip Lett, 52, of Montreal, Canada; Sherry Gore, 72, of Indiana; and Daniel Arnold, 61, of Connecticut.

The U.S. Postal Inspection Service investigated the case. Assistant Director John W. Burke and Trial Attorneys Charles B. Dunn, Rachel Baron, and Ann Entwistle of the Justice Department’s Consumer Protection Branch are prosecuting the case. 

The department urges individuals to be on the lookout for lottery, prize notification, and sweepstakes scams. If you receive a phone call, letter, or email promising a large prize in exchange for a fee, do not respond. Fraudsters often will use official-sounding names or the names of real lotteries or sweepstakes, or pretend to be a government agent purportedly helping to secure a prize.

If you or someone you know is age 60 or older and has experienced financial fraud, experienced professionals are standing by at the National Elder Fraud Hotline: 1-833-FRAUD-11 (1-833-372-8311). This U.S. Department of Justice hotline, managed by the Office for Victims of Crime, can provide personalized support to callers by assessing the needs of the victim and identifying relevant next steps. Case managers will identify appropriate reporting agencies, provide information to callers to assist them in reporting, connect callers directly with appropriate agencies, and provide resources and referrals, on a case-by-case basis. Reporting is the first step. Reporting can help authorities identify those who commit fraud and reporting certain financial losses due to fraud as soon as possible can increase the likelihood of recovering losses. The hotline is open Monday through Friday from 10:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. ET. English, Spanish and other languages are available. The Federal Trade Commission also provides a hotline at 877-FTC-HELP and a website at www.ftccomplaintassistant.gov to receive consumer complaints.

More information about the department’s efforts to help American seniors is available at its Elder Justice Initiative webpage. For more information about the Consumer Protection Branch and its enforcement efforts, visit its website at www.justice.gov/civil/consumer-protection-branch. The Department of Justice provides information about a variety of resources relating to elder fraud victimization through its Office for Victims of Crime, which are available at www.ovc.gov.

Source: United States Department of Justice News

VitalAxis Inc., a Maryland-based billing company for diagnostic laboratories, has agreed to pay $300,479.58 to resolve False Claims Act allegations that it caused the submission of false claims to Medicare for medically unnecessary respiratory pathogen panels run on seniors who received COVID-19 tests.

Throughout 2020, VitalAxis performed billing services for a diagnostic laboratory in Atlanta, Georgia that provided COVID-19 testing to residents of senior living communities. For one chain of communities, the laboratory directed VitalAxis to bill Medicare for respiratory pathogen panels purportedly ordered by a physician who had not actually ordered the tests and who was ineligible to treat Medicare beneficiaries. VitalAxis found the credentials of a different physician and, without authorization, billed Medicare using that physician’s name. Medicare subsequently paid the laboratory for these medically unnecessary tests.

“Federal health care programs only pay for items or services that are reasonable and medically necessary,” said Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Brian M. Boynton, head of the Justice Department’s Civil Division. “Today’s settlement demonstrates our commitment to pursue those who exploited the COVID-19 pandemic by billing the government for wasteful tests that nobody wanted or needed.”

“Unscrupulous companies that exploit the Medicare billing system divert important resources away from the program and abuse patient trust,” said U.S. Attorney Ryan K. Buchanan for the Northern District of Georgia. “This civil resolution confirms that our district is committed to protecting our federal programs from fraud and holding those accountable who knowingly waste taxpayer dollars.”

“When companies bill for medically unnecessary services, they waste valuable taxpayer dollars and undermine the integrity of federal health care programs,” said Special Agent in Charge Tamala Miles with the Department of Health and Human Services, Office of Inspector General (HHS-OIG). “As this settlement illustrates, HHS-OIG is committed to protecting the interests of the American taxpayer and holding health care providers accountable should they attempt to exploit the Medicare program.”

VitalAxis received a credit in connection with the settlement announced today in recognition of their cooperation, including by performing and disclosing the results of an internal investigation, disclosing relevant facts and material not known to the government but relevant to its investigation, providing information relevant to potential misconduct by other individuals and entities, and admitting liability.

The resolution obtained in this matter was the result of a coordinated effort between the Civil Division’s Commercial Litigation Branch, Fraud Section, and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Georgia, with assistance from the Department of Health and Human Services, Office of the Inspector General.

This matter was handled by Deputy Director Paul R. Perkins of the Civil Division, Commercial Litigation Branch, Fraud Section, and Assistant U.S. Attorney Mellori Lumpkin-Dawson and Civil Investigator Alena Evans of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Georgia.

The investigation and resolution of this matter illustrates the government’s emphasis on combating health care fraud. One of the most powerful tools in this effort is the False Claims Act. Tips and complaints from all sources about potential fraud, waste, abuse, and mismanagement can be reported to the Department of Health and Human Services at 800-HHS-TIPS (800-447-8477).

On May 17, 2021, the Attorney General established the COVID-19 Fraud Enforcement Task Force to marshal the resources of the Justice Department in partnership with agencies across government to enhance efforts to combat and prevent pandemic-related fraud. The task force bolsters efforts to investigate and prosecute the most culpable domestic and international actors committing civil and criminal fraud and assists agencies tasked with administering relief programs to prevent fraud by, among other methods, augmenting and incorporating existing coordination mechanisms, identifying resources and techniques to uncover fraudulent actors and their schemes, and sharing and harnessing information and insights gained from prior enforcement efforts. For more information on the department’s response to the pandemic, please visit www.justice.gov/coronavirus.

Tips and complaints from all sources about potential fraud affecting COVID-19 government relief programs can be reported by visiting the webpage of the Civil Division’s Fraud Section, which can be found here. Anyone with information about allegations of attempted fraud involving COVID-19 can also report it by calling the Department of Justice’s National Center for Disaster Fraud (NCDF) Hotline at 866-720-5721 or via the NCDF Web Complaint Form at: www.justice.gov/disaster-fraud/ncdf-disaster-complaint-form.

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