March 28, 2019

Mississippi Senate Approves New Map to Boost Black Voting Power

JACKSON — Mississippi lawmakers are working to redraw the lines of a state senate district that two federal courts ruled dilutes black voting power. Senate District 22, which stretches 100 miles across six counties, is majority African American but has a white Republican senator, Buck Clarke of Hollandale.

On Tuesday, the state Senate approved a new map, which would only affect District 22 and the neighboring Senate District 13. If the House also passes the Senate's redistricting plan, it would go into effect before this year's statewide elections.

"I'm very supportive of the plan," Sen. Willie Simmons, a black Democrat who represents District 13, told his colleagues on Tuesday.

The new map would raise the black voting-age population in Clarke's District to 58 percent, up from 51 percent.

Read more: http://www.jacksonfreepress.com/news/2019/mar/27/mississippi-senate-approves-new-map-boost-black-vo/

March 28, 2019

Mississippi Closes More Bridges After Counties Don't Act

JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — The Mississippi Department of Transportation announced Wednesday that it is closing 34 local bridges that inspectors found to be unsafe, and the department's executive director Melinda McGrath said county supervisors already should have shut those down.

"This isn't something that's just based off of, you know, 'The bridge looks old.' These bridges have been inspected by professional bridge inspection teams and deemed that they are dangerous to the public," McGrath said at a news conference.

Most of the 34 bridges being closed are in Jones, Wayne and Wilkinson counties. Others are in Bolivar, Clarke, Hinds, Holmes, Washington and Yazoo counties.

Federal Highway Administration officials ordered additional inspections of many county-road bridges, focusing on those supported by timber pilings.

Read more: http://www.jacksonfreepress.com/news/2019/mar/27/mississippi-closes-more-bridges-after-counties-don/

March 28, 2019

Owners of South Carolina Company Plead Guilty To Conspiring With Employees Of One Of The Nation's

Owners of South Carolina Company Plead Guilty To Conspiring With Employees Of One Of The Nation's Largest Private Companies Relating to Extensive Bribery And Kickback Scheme


CHARLOTTE, N.C. – The two owners of a South Carolina-based company and a manager at one of the country’s largest private companies (“Victim Company”) appeared in federal court today and pleaded guilty to conspiracy, in connection with an extensive bribery and kickback scheme involving more than $35,000,000 of fraudulent overcharges, announced Andrew Murray, U.S. Attorney for the Western District of North Carolina.

Brian C. Ewert, 53, of Charlotte, Jennifer Maier, 51, of Clover, South Carolina, and Choung “Shawn” Nguyen, 47, of Wichita, Kansas, entered their guilty pleas before U.S. Magistrate Judge David S. Cayer.

John A. Strong, Special Agent in Charge of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), Charlotte Division, David M. McGinnis, Inspector in Charge of the Charlotte Division of the U.S. Postal Inspection Service, and Matthew D. Line, Acting Special Agent in Charge of the Internal Revenue Service, Criminal Investigation Division, Charlotte Field Office (IRS-CI) join U.S. Attorney Murray in making today’s announcement.

Ewert was co-owner and primary sales representative of WDS, Inc., also known as Women’s Distribution Services, Inc. (WDS), located in Lake Wylie, South Carolina. One of Ewert’s responsibilities at WDS was to set prices for the supplies WDS provided to Victim Company. Maier was co-owner and Chief Executive Officer of WDS, responsible for running the company’s day to day operations.

Read more: https://www.justice.gov/usao-wdnc/pr/owners-south-carolina-company-plead-guilty-conspiring-employees-one-nations-largest

March 28, 2019

Federal Grand Jury Returns Indictment in $300 Million Nationwide Investment Fraud and Ponzi Scheme

Greenville, South Carolina ---- United States Attorney Sherri A. Lydon announced today that a Federal Grand Jury in Greenville, South Carolina, returned an Indictment alleging a conspiracy to engage in mail and wire fraud. Scott A. Kohn, age 64, of Newport, California, and Future Income Payments, LLC (FIP), an entity organized under the laws of Nevada, are charged in the Indictment.

According to the Indictment, FIP operated a Ponzi scheme in which it actively recruited pension holders who were desperate for money, including many veterans of the United States Armed Forces. The pensioners made monthly payments to FIP in exchange for a lump sum payment or loan. The adjusted annual percentage rate on these transactions often exceeded 100%.

FIP then solicited investors to purchase “structured cash flows,” which were the pensioners’ monthly pension payments. FIP promised the investors a rate of return between 6.5% and 8%. It took active steps to conceal from the investors the usurious nature of its transactions with the pension holders. FIP diverted new investor funds flowing into the business to fund payments to earlier investors in order to keep the scheme operational. When FIP ceased doing business in early 2018, investors were owed approximately $300 million. The scheme alleged in the Indictment victimized over 2,600 individuals.

“The scheme alleged in this Indictment took advantage of pensioners facing difficult financial situations – including veterans of the U.S. Armed Forces – and preyed upon innocent investors to the tune of roughly $300 million,” said U.S. Attorney Lydon. “Along with our federal, state, and local partners, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of South Carolina will continue to aggressively prosecute those who seek to line their own pockets by robbing individuals of their hard-earned money.”

Read more: https://www.justice.gov/usao-sc/pr/federal-grand-jury-returns-indictment-300-million-nationwide-investment-fraud-and-ponzi

March 28, 2019

Former Manager Of Bulk Mailing Company Admits $1.5 Million Mail Fraud Conspiracy

CAMDEN, N.J. – The former manager of a Gloucester County, New Jersey, bulk mailing company today admitted defrauding the U.S. Postal Service (USPS) of more than $1.5 million in postage, U.S. Attorney Craig Carpenito announced.

Steven Kaczorowski, 46, of Sicklerville, New Jersey, pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge Renée Marie Bumb in Camden federal court to an information charging him with one count of mail fraud.

According to documents filed in this case and statements made in court:

Steven Kaczorowski managed a business that prepared bulk mail, typically for shipping mass mailings on behalf of other businesses, educational institutions and charitable organizations. With the assistance of the company owner, Anthony L. Bucolo, Kaczorowski defrauded the USPS of more than $1.5 million in postage while billing clients as if such postage had been paid. Kaczorowski and Bucolo committed the fraud by various means, including by underreporting the volume of mail pieces actually mailed, altering USPS forms, and adding mail onto pallets, trays, tubs or sacks after the mail had been accepted and postage assessed and collected by a postal employee. Bucolo pleaded guilty to the conspiracy on Nov. 18, 2018, before Judge Bumb, but died prior to sentencing. The bulk mailing business is no longer operational.

Read more: https://www.justice.gov/usao-nj/pr/former-manager-bulk-mailing-company-admits-15-million-mail-fraud-conspiracy

March 28, 2019

Ithaca-Area Accountant Pleads Guilty to Bankruptcy Fraud, Mail Fraud, and Money Laundering

BINGHAMTON, NEW YORK - Andrew N. LaVigne, age 66, of Lansing, New York, pled guilty today in federal court in Binghamton to bankruptcy fraud, mail fraud, and money laundering, announced United States Attorney Grant C. Jaquith, James Hendricks, Special Agent in Charge of the Albany Field Office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), and Jonathan D. Larsen, Acting Special Agent in Charge of the Internal Revenue Service, Criminal Investigations (IRS-CI), New York Field Division.

LaVigne, a Certified Public Accountant (“CPA”) who practiced in the Ithaca, New York, area for more than 30 years, filed for personal bankruptcy in 2004. At the time, he owed approximately $7.6 million to over 80 unsecured creditors following a failed scheme to use their money to purchase sports and entertainment memorabilia and resell it for a profit. During the course of LaVigne’s own years‑long bankruptcy, he claimed his home as his only asset, and he did not pay back his 80 investors. In pleading guilty today, LaVigne admitted that during his bankruptcy he used his CPA practice’s bank accounts to conceal between $3.5 and $9.5 million in assets from the United States Bankruptcy Court and the Office of the United States Trustee. LaVigne laundered money by depositing funds unrelated to his CPA practice into his business accounts and then used that money for his own benefit and that of his family. In doing so, LaVigne used this money to purchase sports memorabilia, and wrote checks to himself that he never disclosed in his bankruptcy proceeding as required by law.

LaVigne also admitted to defrauding a client of $1 million as part of a mail fraud scheme. Between 2014 and 2016, LaVigne convinced the victim, a senior citizen, to pay $3.6 million for shares of a company that LaVigne created, which he (LaVigne) claimed would develop a piece of waterfront property at 101 Pier Road in Ithaca. After the victim bought 90% of the company, LaVigne obtained an additional $1 million from her, purportedly to invest in the company. LaVigne did not use the $1 million to invest in the company, and never developed the property. Instead, he used the victim’s money for his own purposes, which included writing checks to himself, paying for the construction of a house for a family member, and funding payroll for his accounting practice. LaVigne also laundered payments he received from this scheme through his CPA practice accounts.

LaVigne will be sentenced in Binghamton on July 30, 2019 by Senior U.S. District Judge Thomas J. McAvoy. At sentencing, LaVigne faces a maximum term of imprisonment of twenty years on the mail fraud count, ten years on the money laundering count, and five years on the bankruptcy fraud count. The defendant also can be sentenced to pay a fine of up to $250,000 on each count, and a term of supervised release of up to 3 years. A defendant’s sentence is imposed by a judge based on the particular statute the defendant is charged with violating, the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines, and other factors.

Read more: https://www.justice.gov/usao-ndny/pr/ithaca-area-accountant-pleads-guilty-bankruptcy-fraud-mail-fraud-and-money-laundering

March 28, 2019

Former CFO of New Haven Biotech Firm Who Embezzled $1 Million Sentenced to 2 Years in Federal Prison

John H. Durham, United States Attorney for the District of Connecticut, announced that THOMAS MALONE, 49, of New Haven, was sentenced today by U.S. District Judge Janet Bond Arterton in New Haven to 24 months of imprisonment, followed by three years of supervised release, for embezzling approximately $1 million from a New Haven biotech company that receives federal research grants.

According to court documents and statements made in court, Malone was the chief financial officer (CFO) of Artificial Cell Technologies, Inc. (ACT) of New Haven, a small biotech company that is currently working on developing better ways to deliver malaria and Respiratory Syncytial Virus vaccines to affected populations. In addition to receiving funding from private investors, ACT has received approximately $4.1 million in grants from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) since 2008. As the CFO, Malone’s responsibilities included collecting, posting and depositing investor and grant funds; tracking and reporting grant expenditures; managing accounts payable and cash disbursements; facilitating payroll; reconciling ACT credit card and bank accounts; and providing overall financial management.

In November 2016, ACT’s chief executive officer discovered that Malone was paying himself approximately $660,000 in annual salary, far above the approximately $281,000 in salary he was entitled to receive. Upon further review of payroll and other financial records, ACT’s CEO discovered that, for several years, Malone had been writing checks to himself that were disguised as bonuses, that he had been giving himself unauthorized additional salary payments, that he had been using the ACT credit card for personal expenditures, and that he had used ACT’s funds to make unauthorized donations to an organization that Malone personally supported. A subsequent forensic audit revealed that, between 2012 and 2016, Malone had embezzled nearly $1 million from ACT.

Judge Arterton ordered Malone to pay restitution of $1,031,508.07.

Read more: https://www.justice.gov/usao-ct/pr/former-cfo-new-haven-biotech-firm-who-embezzled-1-million-sentenced-2-years-federal

March 28, 2019

Multi-Agency Investigation Results in Charges Against 18 Members and Associates of Violent White

Multi-Agency Investigation Results in Charges Against 18 Members and Associates of Violent White Supremacist Gang


Multiple members and associates of a white supremacist gang known as the 1488s, have been arrested and charged for their alleged roles in a racketeering enterprise involving narcotics distribution, firearms trafficking, and acts of violence including murder, assault, and kidnapping.

Assistant Attorney General Brian A. Benczkowski of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division, U.S. Attorney Bryan Schroder for the District of Alaska, Special Agent in Charge Jeffery Peterson of FBI’s Anchorage Division and Alaska State Troopers (AST) Captain David Hanson, Commander of Alaska Bureau of Investigation made the announcement.

In a recently unsealed indictment, Filthy Fuhrer, (formerly Timothy Lobdell), 42; Roy Naughton, aka “Thumper,” 40; Glen Baldwin, aka “Glen Dog,” 37; Craig King, aka “Oakie,” 53; Beau Cook, 32; and Colter O’Dell, 26, have each been charged with murder in aid of racketeering, kidnapping in aid of racketeering, assault in aid of racketeering, kidnapping, and conspiracy to commit assault and kidnapping in aid of racketeering. Two other key members, Nicholas M. Kozorra, aka “Beast,” 29, and Dustin J. Clowers, 34, previously pleaded guilty to murder in aid of racketeering in recently unsealed court documents.

“The defendants allegedly participated in the heinous murder of Michael Staton, with the goal of impressing their vile and racist gang,” said Assistant Attorney General Benczkowski. “The Criminal Division is committed to bringing the 1488s to justice, and holding accountable those who further its agenda of violence and hatred.”

Read more: https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/multi-agency-investigation-results-charges-against-18-members-and-associates-violent-white

March 28, 2019

Killeen coach pleads guilty to assaulting a minor during college visit in Tulsa

A Killeen private track coach pleaded guilty to transporting a minor with intent to engage in criminal sexual activity during a college visit in June 2017, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Oklahoma.

Retired Sgt. 1st Class Kerry Sloan, 56, of Harker Heights, admitted that when he drove the victim from Killeen to Tulsa for meetings with college coaches, he intended to engage in sexual activity with the victim without her consent at a Tulsa hotel, according to U.S. Attorney Trent Shores in a news release. Sloan also admitted that he ultimately did sexually assault the victim, Shores said.

Northern Oklahoma U.S. District Judge Claire V. Eagan accepted Sloan’s plea Tuesday and scheduled his sentencing for June 26.

After a 911 call was made on Sloan’s return trip, the vehicle the two were traveling in was stopped by Pittsburg County Sheriff’s deputies, who rescued the victim, according to Shores news release.

Read more: http://kdhnews.com/news/crime/killeen-coach-pleads-guilty-to-assaulting-a-minor/article_9c3a410a-50d4-11e9-85c0-1346bf573eb8.html
(Killeen Daily Herald)

DOJ press release:
Texas Track Coach Pleads Guilty to Assaulting a Minor during College Visit to Tulsa
https://www.justice.gov/usao-ndok/pr/texas-track-coach-pleads-guilty-assaulting-minor-during-college-visit-tulsa

March 28, 2019

Jimmy Kimmel Live: Team Trump Basking in Glow of Mueller Report

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