Category: US Department of Justice

Source: United States Department of Justice

Marvin Pompilus, 40, of Stoughton, Massachusetts, was sentenced today to 13 years in prison, followed by 60 months of supervised release. The court will order restitution at a later date. A federal judge earlier accepted Pompilus’s guilty plea in October 2024 to four counts of conspiracy to commit sex trafficking by force, fraud or coercion, and one count of possession of cocaine and fentanyl with the intent to distribute.

“Marvin Pompilus is a criminal recidivist and vile perpetrator who deserves a significant sentence to protect our community. His prior conviction did nothing to deter further acts of violence on women and continuing to push drugs onto our streets,” said U.S. Attorney Leah B. Foley for the District of Massachusetts. “Today’s sentence highlights our ongoing efforts to hold those accountable who prey on vulnerable victims and denigrate human dignity.”

“The cruelty and inhumanity displayed by Marvin Pompilus is overwhelming. This twice convicted felon forced four women into sexual servitude, unleashing significant physical and emotional abuse for his own financial gain,” said Special Agent in Charge Jodi Cohen of the FBI Boston Field Office. “While it’s gratifying to see Mr. Pompilus receive a lengthy prison term, no sentence can make up for the significant harm he inflicted on these women. We hope the victims in this case continue to heal with each new day that passes. The FBI will continue to work with our law enforcement partners to remove sex traffickers from our communities.”

In February 2018, in a separate case by the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, a Suffolk Superior Court jury convicted Pompilus of multiple counts of trafficking a person for sexual servitude and deriving support from prostitution. He was sentenced to six years in prison and was released in October 2021. In the weeks following his release, Pompilus conspired with others to again target vulnerable women suffering from substance abuse disorders. Once Pompilus identified the victims he could target, he exploited their vulnerabilities — including the fear of suffering from opioid withdrawal — and created a climate of fear to compel these women to engage in commercial sex acts multiple times a day every day of the week. The investigation revealed that sex buyers paid the victims between $100-$200 per commercial sex act, and Pompilus kept all the proceeds for himself.  

At his October 2024 plea hearing, Pompilus admitted to conspiring to exploit four Boston-area women who were suffering with substance abuse disorders and compelled them to engage in commercial sex by using drugs, intimidation, threats of violence and actual physical violence as means to control them. Pompilus also admitted to possessing quantities of cocaine and fentanyl with the intent to distribute these drugs in and around the Boston area.

The FBI Boston Field Office investigated the case, with assistance from the Massachusetts State Police and the Boston and Randolph Police Departments.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Elizabeth Riley for the District of Massachusetts and former Trial Attorney Meghan Tokash of the Civil Rights Division’s Human Trafficking Protection Unit prosecuted the case.

Anyone who has information about human trafficking should report that information to the National Human Trafficking Hotline toll-free at 1-888-373-7888, which is available 24 hours a day, seven days a week. For more information about human trafficking, please visit www.humantraffickinghotline.org. Information on the Justice Department’s efforts to combat human trafficking can be found at www.justice.gov/humantrafficking.

Source: United States Department of Justice Criminal Division

Note: View the indictment here.

The Justice Department today announced the indictment of North Korean nationals Jin Sung-Il (진성일) and Pak Jin-Song (박진성), Mexican national Pedro Ernesto Alonso De Los Reyes, and U.S. nationals Erick Ntekereze Prince and Emanuel Ashtor for a fraudulent scheme to obtain remote information technology (IT) work with U.S. companies that generated revenue for the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK or North Korea).

“The Department of Justice remains committed to disrupting North Korea’s cyber-enabled sanctions-evading schemes, which seek to trick U.S. companies into funding the North Korean regime’s priorities, including its weapons programs,” said Supervisory Official Devin DeBacker of the Justice Department’s National Security Division. “Our commitment includes the vigorous pursuit of both the North Korean actors and those providing them with material support. It also includes standing side-by-side with U.S. companies to not only disrupt ongoing victimization, but also to help them independently detect and prevent such schemes in the future.”

“FBI investigation has uncovered a years-long plot to install North Korean IT workers as remote employees to generate revenue for the DPRK regime and evade sanctions,” said Assistant Director Bryan Vorndran of the FBI’s Cyber Division. “The indictments announced today should highlight to all American companies the risk posed by the North Korean government. As always, the FBI is available to assist victims of the DPRK. Please reach out to your local FBI field office should you have any questions or concerns.”

According to the indictment, over the course of their scheme, from approximately April 2018 through August 2024, the defendants and their unindicted co-conspirators obtained work from at least sixty-four U.S. companies. Payments from ten of those companies generated at least $866,255 in revenue, most of which the defendants then laundered through a Chinese bank account. As part of this prosecution, the FBI arrested Ntekereze and Ashtor and executed a search of Ashtor’s residence in North Carolina, where he previously operated a “laptop farm” that hosted victim company-provided laptops to deceive companies into thinking they had hired U.S.-located workers. Alonso was arrested in the Netherlands on Jan. 10, pursuant to an arrest warrant from the United States.

The DPRK has dispatched thousands of skilled IT workers to live abroad, primarily in China and Russia, with the aim of deceiving U.S. and other businesses worldwide into hiring them as freelance IT workers to generate revenue for the regime. DPRK IT worker schemes involve the use of pseudonymous email, social media, payment platform and online job site accounts, as well as false websites, proxy computers, and witting and unwitting third parties located in the United States and elsewhere. As described in a May 2022 tri-seal public service advisory released by the FBI, and State and Treasury Departments, such IT workers have been known individually earn up to $300,000 annually, generating hundreds of millions of dollars collectively each year, on behalf of designated entities, such as the North Korean Ministry of Defense and others directly involved in the DPRK’s weapons of mass destruction programs.

According to the indictment, the defendants used forged and stolen identity documents, including U.S. passports containing the stolen personally identifiable information of a U.S. person, to conceal the true identities of Jin, Pak, and other North Korean co-conspirators, so that these North Korean nationals could circumvent sanctions and other laws to obtain employment with U.S. companies. Ntekereze and Ashtor received laptops from U.S. company employers at their residences, downloading and installing remote access software on them, without authorization, to facilitate IT worker access and to perpetuate the deception of U.S. companies. The defendants further conspired to launder payments for the remote IT work through a variety of accounts designed to promote the scheme and conceal its proceeds.

All five defendants are charged with conspiracy to cause damage to a protected computer, conspiracy to commit wire fraud and mail fraud, conspiracy to commit money laundering, and conspiracy to transfer false identification documents. Jin and Pak are charged with conspiracy to violate the International Emergency Economic Powers Act. If convicted, the defendants face a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison. A federal district court judge will determine the sentence of each defendant after considering the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.

Under the Department-wide “DPRK RevGen: Domestic Enabler Initiative,” launched in March 2024 by the National Security Division and the FBI’s Cyber and Counterintelligence Divisions, Department prosecutors and agents are prioritizing the identification and shuttering of U.S.-based “laptop farms” – locations hosting laptops provided by victim U.S. companies to individuals they believed were legitimate U.S.-based freelance IT workers – and the investigation and prosecution of individuals hosting them. Today’s announcement follows successful actions taken by the Department in October 2023, May 2024, August 2024, and December 2024, which targeted similar and related conduct.

The FBI Miami Field Office is investigating the case.

Assistant U.S. Attorneys Jonathan Stratton and Sean Cronin for the Southern District of Florida and Trial Attorney Gregory J. Nicosia, Jr. of the National Security Division’s National Security Cyber Section are prosecuting the case. Substantial assistance was also provided by Tracy Varghese and Menno Goedman of the National Security Division’s Counterintelligence and Export Control Section and the Justice Department’s Office of International Affairs.

The FBI, in conjunction with the State and Treasury Departments, issued a May 2022 advisory to alert the international community, private sector, and public about the North Korea IT worker threat. Updated guidance was issued in October 2023 by the United States and the Republic of Korea (South Korea) and in May 2024 by the FBI, which include indicators to watch for that are consistent with the North Korea IT worker fraud and the use of U.S.-based laptop farms. Today, the FBI issued additional guidance regarding extortion and theft of sensitive company data by North Korean IT workers, along with recommended mitigations.

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

A Colorado businesswoman pleaded guilty today to not paying employment taxes.

According to documents and statements made in court, Shandel Arkadie, of Agate, Colorado, operated a home health care business, Alternative Choice Home Care Nursing LLC. Arkadie was responsible for withholding Social Security, Medicare and income taxes from Alternative Choice’s employees’ wages and paying those funds over to the IRS each quarter. She was also responsible for paying over Alternative Choice’s portion of Social Security and Medicare taxes. Between January 2015 and December 2020, the company withheld over $1,000,000 from its employees’ wages but did not pay the funds over to the IRS or file the requisite quarterly tax returns. In addition, the company owed approximately $500,000 in Social Security and Medicare taxes, which Arkadie did not pay.

In total, Arkadie caused a tax loss to the IRS of about $1,500,000.

Arkadie is scheduled to be sentenced on May 15. She faces a maximum penalty of five years in prison, a period of supervised release, restitution and monetary penalties. A federal district court judge will determine any sentence after considering the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.

Acting Deputy Assistant Attorney General Karen E. Kelly of the Justice Department’s Tax Division made the announcement.

IRS Criminal Investigation is investigating the case.

Trial Attorneys Julia Rugg and Mahana Weidler of the Tax Division are prosecuting the case.

Source: United States Department of Justice

Shannima Yuantrell Session, also known as Shalamar, 47, of Lake Placid, Florida, was sentenced today to life in prison for trafficking nearly a dozen women and girls. Previously, a jury in the Southern District of Florida found him guilty of 10 counts of sex trafficking by force, fraud or coercion and three counts of sex trafficking of a minor. The court has set a restitution hearing date of April 17.

“Protecting victims of human trafficking and child exploitation is a top priority for the U.S. Attorney’s Office,” said Acting U.S. Attorney Michael S. Davis for the Southern District of Florida. “We are committed to aggressively combating these exploitative crimes that victimize the most vulnerable people in our society. Human beings are not commodities to be bought and sold, but rather demand our united protection. Our dedicated team of prosecutors, victim witness coordinators, and support personnel will continue to work with our law enforcement partners to combat human trafficking and child exploitation to bring these offenders to justice.”

“This substantial sentence is indicative of the egregious sexual exploitation committed by Shannima Yuantrell Session on numerous juveniles and women in Highlands County, Florida,” said Special Agent in Charge Jeffrey B. Veltri of the FBI Miami Field Office. “It is a testament to the cooperation and commitment of several law enforcement agencies including the Highlands County Sheriff’s Office, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Florida and the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division. We will continue working with these and other partners to dismantle human trafficking networks that operate in the shadows and brutalize their victims.”

The evidence presented at the nine-day trial in September 2024 demonstrated that Session compelled victims to commit commercial sex acts between July 2011 and July 2013 as well as between February 2016 and February 2019. Session made promises of legitimate work and housing assistance to women and girls struggling with unstable living accommodations, substance abuse and neglect or who otherwise led unstable lives. Session’s promises were often false and empty, designed to provide him with the opportunity to learn about a victim’s vulnerabilities while misrepresenting himself as caring and empathetic. Session then exploited the victims’ vulnerabilities to compel their commercial sex acts.

At times, Session used food and housing to control and coerce the victims. For example, he would not permit one of his victims to eat if the victim did not follow his instructions. Often, Session required his victims to engage in sexual activity with him after they had spent a night having compelled sexual intercourse with up to 18 men.

Further, the evidence presented during the trial demonstrated that Session resorted to extreme physical violence to compel and intimidate certain victims. He violently punched some of the victims in the back of their heads in order not to leave marks on their bodies. Once, Session dragged a victim to a shower and beat her in the back of her head with a metal object until she fell limp to the floor. Session also choked another victim to the point that she lost consciousness, beat another victim with a bat and brutalized yet another so badly that her nose ring fell out due to the force of the assault. In addition, Session took multiple victims to a nearby lake, where he held two of their heads underwater and threatened to drown them if they did not do as he ordered.

The evidence also showed that Session used a firearm to intimidate and control his victims. He consistently kept a firearm in his possession and frequently displayed it to victims or referred to it when talking with them. Once, Session pointed a firearm at a victim while he was driving and threatened to “kill” her after she asked him how he would feel if someone treated his daughter the way he treated her.

Finally, the evidence indicated that Session manipulated and took advantage of some victims’ substance abuse problems to compel their commercial sex services. For example, Session provided victims with cocaine and methamphetamine to give them sufficient energy to engage in commercial sex acts and force them to lose weight.

The FBI Miami Field Office, Ft. Pierce Resident Agency, investigated the case, with assistance from the Highlands County, Florida, Sheriff’s Office.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Justin Hoover for the Southern District of Florida and Trial Attorneys Leah Branch and Matthew Thiman of the Civil Rights Division’s Human Trafficking Prosecution Unit prosecuted the case.

Anyone who has information about human trafficking should report that information to the National Human Trafficking Hotline toll-free at 1-888-373-7888, which is available 24 hours a day, seven days a week. For more information about human trafficking, visit www.humantraffickinghotline.org. Information on the Justice Department’s efforts to combat human trafficking can be found at www.justice.gov/humantrafficking.

Source: United States Department of Justice

An indictment was unsealed today in Central Islip, New York, charging seven individuals with operating a multi-state conspiracy in which they attempted to defraud the United States of more than $600 million by filing more than 8,000 false tax returns claiming COVID-19-related employment tax credits. 

In response to the COVID-19 pandemic and its economic impact, Congress authorized a tax credit that incentivized businesses to keep employees on their payroll, also known as the “Employee Retention Credit” or ERC.

Congress also authorized a credit that reimbursed businesses for the wages paid to employees who were on sick or family leave and could not work because of COVID-19. This “paid sick and family leave credit,” or SFLC, was equal to the wages the business paid the employees during their leave.

According to the indictment, from November 2021 to June 2023, defendants Keith Williams, Jamari Lewis, Morais Dicks, Janine Davis, Tiffany Williams, James Hames Jr. and Ewendra Mathurin, all current or former New York residents, repeatedly exploited these programs that were intended to help businesses impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. The scheme was allegedly headquartered at Credit Reset, a purported credit repair business Keith Williams owned and operated. Acting as tax preparers, the defendants allegedly filed more than 8,000 false employment tax returns with the IRS claiming COVID-related tax credits on behalf of themselves and their clients. Each of these returns were allegedly fraudulent in that they claimed SFLC in excess of the amount of wages reported on the tax return, listed the same wages as both qualified sick leave wages and qualified family leave wages or claimed the SFLC and ERC for the same wages, none of which was permitted by law. The defendants allegedly profited from the scheme by receiving tax refund checks from the U.S. Treasury and by charging clients a fee or a percentage of the tax refund the client received. The defendants also allegedly recruited others into the scheme who were compensated by receiving a percentage of fraudulently obtained U.S. Treasury checks.

In total, the defendants sought more than $600 million of which the IRS paid approximately $45 million to the defendants and their clients. 

Additionally, the defendants allegedly concealed their preparation of the false tax returns by not listing themselves as the paid preparer on the tax returns and by using Virtual Private Networks (VPNs) to obscure their IP addresses while filing the false returns. If a client did not have a business, members of the conspiracy allegedly would sometimes sell shell companies to them in order to file false tax returns. After noticing discrepancies in the filed returns, the IRS and Social Security Administration (SSA) allegedly requested additional information regarding the tax returns the defendants prepared. In response, members of the conspiracy allegedly would often transmit false information to the IRS and SSA.

Some of the defendants also allegedly submitted false Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loan applications.

In total, the defendants were charged with 45 counts relating to the scheme including conspiracy to defraud the United States, wire fraud and aiding and assisting in the preparation of false tax returns.  Keith Williams, Lewis, Mathurin, Davis, Tiffany Williams and Dicks were also charged with wire fraud in relation to fraudulent PPP applications they submitted.

If convicted, the defendants face a maximum penalty of five years in prison for the conspiracy to defraud the United States charge, a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison for each wire fraud charge arising out of the ERC scheme, a maximum penalty of 30 years in prison for each wire fraud charge arising out of the PPP fraud and a maximum penalty of three years in prison for each charge of aiding and assisting in the preparation of false return charge. A federal district court judge will determine the sentence of each defendant after considering the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.

Acting Deputy Assistant Attorney General Karen E. Kelly of the Justice Department’s Tax Division, U.S. Attorney John J. Durham for the Eastern District of New York, Acting Inspector in Charge Brendan Donahue of the U.S. Postal Inspection Service (USPIS)’s New York Division and Special Agent in Charge Harry T. Chavis Jr. of IRS-Criminal Investigation (IRS-CI) New York made the announcement.

IRS-CI and USPIS are investigating the case.

Trial Attorney Richard Kelley of the Tax Division and Assistant U.S. Attorneys Adam Toporovsky and James Simmons for the Eastern District of New York are prosecuting the case. Former Tax Division Trial Attorney Samuel Bean assisted with the investigation. 

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