Category: US Department of Justice

Source: United States Department of Justice News

            WASHINGTON – A Texas man was sentenced today on charges related to 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 presidential election.

            Christopher Grider, 41, of Eddy, Texas, was sentenced in the District of Columbia today to 83 months in prison, 36 months of supervised release, ordered to pay restitution of $5,055, and a fine of $812, for his conviction on felony and misdemeanor charges. Grider pleaded guilty in December 2022.

            According to court documents, on Jan. 6, 2021, Grider traveled to Washington, D.C., where he entered the scaffolding on the northwest terrace of the Capitol with a crowd of rioters who had pushed through a police line. He obtained a bike rack and used it to climb to the terrace stairs, and then proceeded up the terrace stairs – at one point, stopping to wave rioters toward the Capitol. Once inside the Capitol, Grider found an electric utility box and pressed buttons as he yelled “Turn the power off!” He then proceeded to the Crypt, where he was part of another group of rioters who pushed through a police line. Grider then proceeded to the hallway outside of the House Chamber, where he waved more rioters in. After this group of rioters pushed through the police line that stood between the mob and the House Main Door, Grider stood with other rioters directly outside of the House Main Door, as they attempted to get inside the House Chamber.

            Grider then ran from the House Main Door to the Speaker’s Lobby Door, where he watched members of Congress and staff evacuate on the other side. He gave his helmet to another rioter and pushed on the door. The rioter proceeded to use the helmet to break the windows in the door. Grider was observed backing away from the Speaker’s Lobby door as other individuals were screaming, “gun.” The officer on the other side of the door subsequently fired a single gunshot that struck and killed a woman. After the shooting, police ordered rioters to move away from the scene. Grider remained and could be seen leaning over the railing to get a better glimpse of the woman bleeding on the floor. Grider was holding his phone over the stairway appearing to capture a video or pictures of the woman.

           The case was prosecuted by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia. Valuable assistance was provided by U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Texas.

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

            In the 28 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 more than 320 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

The Justice Department today announced that Alexei Saab, aka Ali Hassan Saab, aka Alex Saab, aka Rachid, 46, was sentenced to 12 years in prison followed by three years of supervised release for receiving military-type training from Hezbollah, marriage fraud, and making false statements.

According to court documents, Saab was convicted by a jury in May 2022 after a two-week trial. The sentence was imposed by the Honorable Paul G. Gardephe, who also presided over the trial.

According to court documents and evidence presented at trial, Hezbollah is a Lebanon-based Shia Islamic organization with political, social and terrorist components. Hezbollah was founded in the 1980s with support from Iran after the 1982 Israeli invasion of Lebanon, and its mission includes establishing a fundamentalist Islamic state in Lebanon. Since Hezbollah’s formation, the organization has been responsible for numerous terrorist attacks that have killed hundreds, including U.S. citizens and military personnel. In 1997, the U.S. Department of State designated Hezbollah a Foreign Terrorist Organization, pursuant to Section 219 of the Immigration and Nationality Act, and it remains so designated today. In 2001, pursuant to Executive Order 13224, the U.S. Department of Treasury designated Hezbollah a Specially Designated Global Terrorist entity. In 2010, State Department officials described Hezbollah as the most technically capable terrorist group in the world and a continued security threat to the United States.

The Islamic Jihad Organization (IJO), which is also known as the External Security Organization and “910,” is a component of Hezbollah responsible for the planning and coordination of intelligence, counterintelligence, and terrorist activities on behalf of Hezbollah outside of Lebanon. In July 2012, an IJO operative detonated explosives on a bus transporting Israeli tourists in the vicinity of an airport in Burgas, Bulgaria. The detonation killed six people and injured 32 others. Law enforcement authorities have disrupted several other IJO attack-planning operations around the world, including the arrest of an IJO operative surveilling Israeli targets in Cyprus in 2012, the seizure of bomb-making precursor chemicals in Thailand in 2012, and a seizure of similar chemicals in May 2015 in connection with the arrest of another IJO operative. In June 2017, two IJO operatives were arrested in the U.S and charged with terrorism-related offenses in the Southern District of New York. In May 2019, a jury convicted one of those two IJO operatives on all counts, and in December 2019, he was sentenced principally to 40 years in prison.

Saab joined Hezbollah in 1996. Saab’s first Hezbollah operations occurred in Lebanon, where he was tasked with observing and reporting on the movements of Israeli and Southern Lebanese Army soldiers in Yaroun, Lebanon. Among other things, Saab reported on patrol schedules and formations, procedures at security checkpoints, and the vehicles used by soldiers. Saab also, alongside his brother, planted an improvised explosive device that detonated and hit Israeli soldiers, seriously injuring at least one.

In approximately 1999, Saab attended his first Hezbollah training. The training was focused on the use of firearms, and Saab handled and fired an AK-47, an M16 rifle, and a pistol, and threw grenades. In 2000, Saab transitioned to membership in Hezbollah’s unit responsible for external operations, the IJO, and he then received extensive training in IJO tradecraft, weapons, and military tactics, including how to construct and detonate bombs and other explosive devices and how to best use these devices in attacks. Specifically, Saab received detailed instruction in, among other things, triggering mechanisms, explosive substances, detonators, and the assembly of circuits. In pre-arrest interviews with the FBI, Saab was able to diagram multiple improvised explosive devices that would have been viable if constructed as diagrammed.

In 2000, Saab entered the United States. While living in the United States, Saab remained an IJO operative, continued to receive military training in Lebanon, and conducted numerous operations for the IJO. For example, Saab surveilled dozens of locations in New York City — including the United Nations headquarters, the Statue of Liberty, Rockefeller Center, Times Square, the Empire State Building, and local airports, tunnels, and bridges — and provided detailed information on these locations, including photographs, to the IJO. In particular, Saab focused on the structural weaknesses of locations he surveilled in order to determine how a future attack could cause the most destruction. Saab’s reporting to the IJO included the materials used to construct a particular target, how close in proximity one could get to a target, and site weaknesses or “soft spots” that the IJO could exploit if it attacked a target in the future. Saab conducted similar intelligence gathering in a variety of large American cities, including Boston and Washington, D.C., Saab admitted that his surveillance was designed to best position the IJO to attack the U.S. in the future. Saab also was tasked by Hezbollah with opening a front company that he could use to obtain fertilizer in the United States for use as an explosives precursor.

In addition to his attack-planning activities in the United States, Saab conducted operations abroad. For example, in or about 2003, Saab attempted to murder a man he later understood to be a suspected Israeli spy. Saab pointed a firearm at the individual at close range and pulled the trigger twice, but the firearm did not fire. Saab also conducted surveillance in Istanbul, Turkey, and elsewhere.

Finally, in or about 2012, Saab entered into a fraudulent marriage in exchange for $20,000. The purpose of the marriage was for Saab’s purported wife to apply for her citizenship. Saab later falsely affirmed, under penalty of perjury, and in connection with his purported wife’s efforts to obtain status in the U.S., that the marriage was not for any immigration-related purposes.

Assistant Attorney General Matthew G. Olsen of the Justice Department’s National Security Division, U.S. Attorney Damian Williams for the Southern District of New York, and Assistant Director Robert R. Wells of the FBI Counterterrorism Division made the announcement.

The FBI and its New York Joint Terrorism Task Force, which principally consists of agents from the FBI and detectives from the New York City Police Department, investigated the case.

Assistant U.S. Attorneys Sam Adelsberg and Jason A. Richman for the Southern District of New York are prosecuting the case, with assistance from Trial Attorneys Jessica Fender and Alexandra Hughes of the National Security Division’s Counterterrorism Section.

Source: United States Department of Justice News

            WASHINGTON – Sheldon Marbley, 44, of Washington, D.C., pleaded guilty today to federal charges of distribution of fentanyl and cocaine, admitting that he distributed the drugs to customers in Southwest Washington, D.C. The guilty plea was announced by U.S. Attorney Matthew M. Graves, Special Agent in Charge Jarod A. Forget, of the Washington Division of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), and Interim Chief Ashan M. Benedict, of the Metropolitan Police Department (MPD). 

            Marbley pleaded guilty in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. U.S. District Court Judge Christopher R. Cooper scheduled a sentencing hearing for September 7, 2023. Under the terms of the plea agreement, which is subject to the Court’s approval, Marbley is to be sentenced to 240 months in prison, followed by 3 years of supervised release.

            According to evidence presented in court, Marbley admitted that he distributed fentanyl and cocaine to a male and female, both of whom subsequently died from consuming the fentanyl and cocaine that Marbley provided. Marbley also admitted that he distributed fentanyl and cocaine to another male and female, and they suffered serious bodily injury as a result of consuming the fentanyl and cocaine that Marbley provided.

            As part of his plea agreement, Marbley acknowledged that on the morning of January 28, 2022, and in the days thereafter, Emergency Medical Service and MPD officers responded to at least 13 fatal and non-fatal opioid overdoses located near the area of First and O Street, S.W. in Washington D.C. Marbley admitted that, on that morning, he had distributed fentanyl and cocaine from the driver’s seat of a vehicle in Southwest Washington. Closed-circuit television (“CCTV”) footage from that morning depicts numerous individuals approaching the front driver’s side of the vehicle and appearing to engage in narcotics purchases. 

            After the mass overdose event on January 28, 2022, Marbley went to stay at the residence of another drug user and customer, where he continued to possess with the intent to distribute narcotics until he was arrested in the customer’s apartment building on March 23, 2022. Marbley knew that his prior drug distributions resulted in several overdoses resulting in serious bodily injury and death.

            This case was investigated by the DEA Washington Division and the Metropolitan Police Department. It is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys David T. Henek and Andy Wang and Special Assistant U.S. Attorney Sarah J. Rasalam, of the Violence Reduction and Trafficking Offenses Section of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia.

Source: United States Department of Justice News

A Columbia, South Carolina, return preparer and regional manager of multiple tax preparation business locations pleaded guilty today to conspiracy to defraud the United States by preparing and filing false tax returns.

According to court documents and statements made in court, Georgina Gonzalez, formerly of Miami, Florida, worked as a tax return preparer since at least 2013. For the 2016 and 2017 tax filing seasons, Gonzalez temporarily relocated from Florida to South Carolina to prepare tax returns and manage multiple locations of a tax preparation business located in Columbia, South Carolina. At these offices, Gonzalez conspired with others to inflate client refunds by preparing returns that falsely claimed, among other things, business losses, household help income, and American Opportunity and education tax credits. Gonzalez and her co-conspirators charged clients up to $999 for preparing each return. In total, Gonzalez caused a tax loss to the IRS of more than $420,000.

Gonzalez is scheduled to be sentenced at a later date and faces a maximum sentence of five years in prison, as well as a period of supervised release, restitution, and other monetary penalties. U.S. District Judge Mary Geiger Lewis will determine any sentence after considering the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.

Acting Deputy Assistant Attorney General Stuart M. Goldberg of the Justice Department’s Tax Division and U.S. Attorney Adair F. Boroughs for the District of South Carolina made the announcement.

IRS-Criminal Investigation is investigating the case.

Trial Attorneys Ashley Stein, Francesca Bartolomey, and Jessica Kraft of the Justice Department’s Tax Division and Assistant U.S. Attorney Winston Holliday of the District of South Carolina are prosecuting the case.

Source: United States Department of Justice News

Village Home Care LLC (VHC), located in Ocala, Florida, has agreed to pay $225,000 to resolve allegations that it violated the False Claims Act (FCA) by paying kickbacks to two physicians in the form of sham medical director or sublease agreements in exchange for patient referrals. Joy Rodak (Rodak), VHC’s CEO and majority owner, has agreed separately to pay $105,000. Both settlements are based on financial ability to pay. In addition, the United States has reached agreements with Dr. Vishnu Reddy and Dr. Kuchakulla Reddy to pay $100,000 and $61,943.44, respectively, to resolve allegations that each accepted kickbacks from VHC in exchange for patient referrals.

On Jan. 15, 2021, the United States filed complaints in intervention in two whistleblower lawsuits brought under the FCA against VHC and Rodak alleging that they knowingly billed Medicare for home health services for patients referred to VHC by Dr. Vishnu Reddy from Nov. 15, 2012, through Nov. 14, 2014, while paying Dr. V. Reddy under sham medical director agreements. Although Dr. V. Reddy performed no services, VHC paid him $50,000 to induce him to refer patients to VHC. The United States further alleged that VHC and Rodak knowingly billed Medicare for home health services for patients referred to VHC by Dr. Kuchakulla Reddy from Dec. 1, 2012, through March 5, 2014, while paying Dr. K. Reddy, through his medical practice, under sham sublease agreements. Although VHC did not use the space, VHC paid Dr. K. Reddy $30,971.72 to induce him to refer patients to VHC. 

“Paying doctors to refer patients for services paid for by federal health care programs can distort medical decision-making and result in medically unnecessary care,” said Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Brian M. Boynton, head of the Justice Department’s Civil Division. “The settlements in this matter demonstrate our commitment to protecting the integrity of these programs and the taxpayer dollars that support them.”

“Medicare funds should be used to provide care for our seniors, not to induce physicians to refer business,” said U.S. Attorney Roger Handberg for the Middle District of Florida. “This office will take action against individuals who make unlawful payment to physicians in exchange for patient referrals.”

The civil settlements include the resolution of claims brought under the qui tam or whistleblower provisions of the False Claims Act by Kasey Jacobs, James Hanes, Katherine Brooks, Karen Swain, and Barbara Mellot-Yezman, all former employees of VHC. 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 cases are captioned U.S. ex rel. Jacobs, et al. v. Village Home Care, LLC, et al., No. 5:21-cv-00073-CEM-PRL (M.D. Fla.), and U.S. ex rel. Brooks, et al. v. Village Home Care, LLC, et al., No. 5:21-cv-00072-CEM-PRL (M.D. Fla.). The relators’ share of the settlements has not yet been determined.

The resolutions obtained in this matter were the result of a coordinated effort between the Justice Department’s Civil Division, Commercial Litigation Branch, Fraud Section, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of Florida, and the Department of Health and Human Services Office of the Inspector General.

The matter was investigated by Senior Trial Counsel Sarah Arni and Trial Attorney Breanna Peterson of the Civil Division’s Fraud Section and Assistant U.S. Attorney Sean Keefe for the Middle District of Florida.

The investigation and resolutions in this matter illustrate 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).

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