Category: MIL-OSI

Source: United States Department of Justice Criminal Division

A federal grand jury returned an indictment yesterday charging 15 Memphis, Tennessee, residents for their involvement in an organized drug trafficking scheme. 

According to court documents, between November 2023 and June 2024, the defendants allegedly worked together, and with others, to distribute fentanyl, methamphetamine, and marijuana throughout the Memphis area. During the investigation, agents recovered two stolen vehicles and seized 29 firearms, five machinegun conversion devices (known as “switches”), over $4,000 in cash, approximately 938 grams of methamphetamine, approximately 541 grams of fentanyl, approximately 200 grams of psilocybin mushrooms, and 26.43 pounds of marijuana.

The indictment charges the following 15 defendants:

If convicted, the defendants charged with conspiracy to distribute marijuana face a maximum penalty of five years in prison and defendants charged with distributing methamphetamine face a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison. The defendants charged with conspiracy to distribute fentanyl face a mandatory minimum of five years or 10 years in prison, depending on the amount distributed, and a maximum penalty of life in prison. The defendants charged with possession of firearms during and in relation to drug trafficking crimes face a mandatory minimum of five years in prison and a maximum penalty of life in prison.

Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Nicole M. Argentieri, head of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division, and U.S. Attorney Kevin G. Ritz for the Western District of Tennessee made the announcement.

The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF); FBI; U.S. Postal Inspection Service (USPIS); Multi-Agency Gang Unit; Memphis Police Department; Bartlett Police Department; and Shelby County Sheriff’s Office investigated the case.

Trial Attorneys Amanda Kotula and Aaron Henricks of the Criminal Division’s Violent Crime and Racketeering Section and Assistant U.S. Attorney Neal Oldham for the Western District of Tennessee are prosecuting the case.

This case is brought as part of the Criminal Division’s Memphis Violent Crime Initiative, conducted in partnership with the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Tennessee and local, state, and federal law enforcement. The joint effort addresses violent crime by employing, where appropriate, federal laws to prosecute gang members and associates in Memphis. As part of the initiative, the Criminal Division has dedicated attorneys and other resources to prosecuting violent offenders and assisting intervention, prevention, and reentry efforts to address the root causes of violent crime. 

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 2

A federal grand jury returned an indictment yesterday charging 15 Memphis, Tennessee, residents for their involvement in an organized drug trafficking scheme. 

According to court documents, between November 2023 and June 2024, the defendants allegedly worked together, and with others, to distribute fentanyl, methamphetamine, and marijuana throughout the Memphis area. During the investigation, agents recovered two stolen vehicles and seized 29 firearms, five machinegun conversion devices (known as “switches”), over $4,000 in cash, approximately 938 grams of methamphetamine, approximately 541 grams of fentanyl, approximately 200 grams of psilocybin mushrooms, and 26.43 pounds of marijuana.

The indictment charges the following 15 defendants:

If convicted, the defendants charged with conspiracy to distribute marijuana face a maximum penalty of five years in prison and defendants charged with distributing methamphetamine face a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison. The defendants charged with conspiracy to distribute fentanyl face a mandatory minimum of five years or 10 years in prison, depending on the amount distributed, and a maximum penalty of life in prison. The defendants charged with possession of firearms during and in relation to drug trafficking crimes face a mandatory minimum of five years in prison and a maximum penalty of life in prison.

Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Nicole M. Argentieri, head of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division, and U.S. Attorney Kevin G. Ritz for the Western District of Tennessee made the announcement.

The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF); FBI; U.S. Postal Inspection Service (USPIS); Multi-Agency Gang Unit; Memphis Police Department; Bartlett Police Department; and Shelby County Sheriff’s Office investigated the case.

Trial Attorneys Amanda Kotula and Aaron Henricks of the Criminal Division’s Violent Crime and Racketeering Section and Assistant U.S. Attorney Neal Oldham for the Western District of Tennessee are prosecuting the case.

This case is brought as part of the Criminal Division’s Memphis Violent Crime Initiative, conducted in partnership with the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Tennessee and local, state, and federal law enforcement. The joint effort addresses violent crime by employing, where appropriate, federal laws to prosecute gang members and associates in Memphis. As part of the initiative, the Criminal Division has dedicated attorneys and other resources to prosecuting violent offenders and assisting intervention, prevention, and reentry efforts to address the root causes of violent crime. 

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 Criminal Division

Today, the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division convened principals of federal agency civil rights offices and senior government officials to foster AI and civil rights coordination.

This was the third such convening hosted by the Civil Rights Division following President Biden’s Executive Order on the Safe, Secure and Trustworthy Development and Use of Artificial Intelligence (EO 14110), which tasks the Civil Rights Division with coordinating federal agencies to use our authorities to prevent and address unlawful discrimination and other harms that may result from the use of AI in programs and benefits, while preserving the potential social, medical and other advances AI may spur.

In her opening remarks, Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division highlighted her recent announcement that nine cabinet-level federal agencies have joined the pledge to enforce civil rights laws in AI as new technologies become more common in daily life.

Agencies discussed their efforts to safeguard civil rights through robust enforcement, policy initiatives, rulemaking and ongoing education and outreach, including completing all 180-day actions in EO 14110 on schedule. These accomplishments include:

• Guidance to assist federal contractors in compliance with equal employment laws to promote safe AI adoption and to apply the Fair Labor Standards Act and other federal labor standards as employers use AI (Department of Labor);
• Resources for job seekers, workers, tech vendors and creators on how AI use could violate employment discrimination laws (Equal Employment Opportunity Commission);
• Guidance affirming that existing prohibitions against discrimination apply to AI’s use for tenant screening and advertisement of housing opportunities, and explained how deployers of AI tools can comply with these obligations (Department of Housing and Urban Development);
• Guidance and principles that set guardrails for the responsible and equitable use of AI in administering public benefits programs (Department of Agriculture and Department of Health and Human Services); and
• A final rule applying the nondiscrimination principles under Section 1557 of the Affordable Care Act to the use of patient care decision support tools in clinical care, and it requires those covered by the rule to take steps to identify and mitigate discrimination when they use AI and other forms of decision support tools for care (Department of Health and Human Services).

The interagency convening’s attendees included Chair Charlotte Burrows of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, Director Melanie Fontes Rainer of the Department of Health and Human Services’ Office of Civil Rights, Officer for Civil Rights and Civil Liberties Shoba Sivaprasad Wadhia of the Department of Homeland Security and Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary Diane Shelley of the Department of Housing and Urban Development. Other senior agency officials also participated.

All participants pledged to continue collaboration to protect the American public against any harm that might result from the increased use and reliance on AI, algorithms and other advanced technologies. The agencies also agreed to partner on external stakeholder engagement around their collective efforts to advance equity and civil rights in AI.

For more information, see the Civil Rights Division’s webpage, which centralizes content related to the division’s work on AI and civil rights. This resource provides information about how advanced technologies can result in unlawful discrimination and what the division can do to assist victims of discrimination. The webpage will soon also include the work on AI and civil rights from enforcement agencies throughout the federal government.

Source: United States Department of Justice Criminal Division

A federal jury in New Jersey convicted the former CEO of SCWorx Corp. (SCWorx), a publicly traded health care company, today for his role in a scheme to mislead investors about SCWorx’s procurement of COVID-19 rapid test kits in the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic.

According to court documents and evidence presented at trial, Marc Schessel, 64, of New Paltz, New York, caused SCWorx to issue multiple public statements claiming that SCWorx was buying and reselling at least 48 million COVID-19 test kits, despite knowing that such statements were false and misleading. Specifically, Schessel made, or caused to be issued, four false and misleading statements during a five-day period in April 2020: an April 13 press release; an April 15 investor conference call; an April 16 8-K filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission; and an April 17 press release. All four announcements claimed that SCWorx would be receiving millions of COVID-19 rapid test kits within two weeks, but Schessel and SCWorx never acquired a single COVID-19 test kit as part of the announced transaction.

In the wake of these public announcements, SCWorx’s share price surged, rising by over 400%, from approximately $2.25 to an intraday high of $14.88. After SCWorx announced that it was terminating these COVID-19 rapid test kit agreements without having acquired any tests, SCWorx’s share price quickly dropped below its pre-April 13, 2020, announcement price.

The jury convicted Schessel of two counts of securities fraud. He is scheduled to be sentenced on Dec. 17 and faces a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison on count one and a maximum penalty of 25 years on count two. A federal district court judge will determine any sentence after considering the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.

Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Nicole M. Argentieri, head of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division; U.S. Attorney Philip R. Sellinger for the District of New Jersey; and Assistant Director Michael D. Nordwall of the FBI’s Criminal Investigative Division made the announcement.

The FBI Newark Field Office investigated the case. The Justice Department appreciates the assistance of FINRA’s Criminal Prosecution Assistance Group.

Principal Assistant Deputy Chief Lucy Jennings and Trial Attorneys Kate McCarthy and Spencer Ryan of the Criminal Division’s Fraud Section and Assistant U.S. Attorneys George Brandley and Angelica Sinopole for the District of New Jersey are prosecuting the case.

The Fraud Section uses the Victim Notification System to provide victims with case information and updates related to this case. Victims with questions may contact the Fraud Section’s Victim Assistance Unit by calling the Victim Assistance phone line at 1-888-549-3945 or by emailing victimassistance.fraud@usdoj.gov. To learn more about victims’ rights, please visit www.justice.gov/criminal-vns/victim-rights-derechos-de-las-v-ctimas.