Carmen Corbin dreamt of serving with the United Nations from an early age. Now head of transnational organized crime, illicit trafficking and terrorism prevention programs at the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) in East Africa, she is dedicated to protecting children from shocking online exploitation.
“We won’t know who is real and who is not real. We can’t keep up. All of us, in some way, shape or form, will potentially suffer from the fact that we won’t be able to trust anyone or trust anybody that we meet, because you’re never sure if that person is truly who they say they are.”
The UNODC supports law enforcement efforts in tackling all transnational organized crime and counter terrorism, including cybercrime. In this episode, Carmen Corbin reflects on the challenges of overseeing a wide portfolio, on the psychological strain of prosecuting the worst kinds of cybercrimes and shares her advice for a successful international career.
[00:00] Introduction
[01:36] A childhood dream
[06:19] Becoming a Prosecutor
[07:52] Transitioning to international work and life in Senegal
[12:54] Combating cybercrime in West Africa
[15:00] The horrors of online child exploitation
[17:54] Challenges in prosecuting cybercrimes
[22:48] What keeps Carmen awake at night
[25:36] Strengthening crime prevention systems
[27:14] The lifelong trauma faced by survivors of exploitation
[30:15] The emotional toll
[33:56] Balancing motherhood and advocacy
[35:38] New role in Kenya
[37:46] Advice for aspiring women leaders
[39:18] Closing remarks
About Awake at Night
Hosted by Melissa Fleming, UN Under-Secretary-General for Global Communications, the podcast ‘Awake at Night’ is an in-depth interview series focusing on remarkable United Nations staff members who dedicate their career to helping people in parts of the world where they have the hardest lives – from war zones and displacement camps to areas hit by disasters and the devastation of climate change.
In accordance with the Methodology for determining the risk parameters of the stock market and deposit market of PJSC Moscow Exchange by NCO NCC (JSC), on 24.01.2025, 13-37 (Moscow time), the values of the upper limit of the price corridor (up to 774.4) and the range of market risk assessment (up to 839.55 rubles, equivalent to a rate of 25.0%) of the PIKK security (PIK JSC) were changed
Please note: This information is raw content directly from the source of the information. It is exactly what the source states and does not reflect the position of MIL-OSI or its clients.
Please Note; This Information is Raw Content Directly from the Information Source. It is access to What the Source Is Stating and Does Not Reflect
In accordance with the Methodology for determining the risk parameters of the stock market and the deposit market of PJSC Moscow Exchange by NCO NCC (JSC) on 24.01.2025, 11-26 (Moscow time), the values of the upper limit of the price corridor (up to 332.2) and the range of market risk assessment (up to 355.418 rubles, equivalent to a rate of 25.5%) of the RASP (Raspadskaya) security were changed
Please note: This information is raw content directly from the source of the information. It is exactly what the source states and does not reflect the position of MIL-OSI or its clients.
Please Note; This Information is Raw Content Directly from the Information Source. It is access to What the Source Is Stating and Does Not Reflect
In accordance with the Methodology for determining the risk parameters of the stock market and the deposit market of PJSC Moscow Exchange by NCO NCC (JSC) on 24.01.2025, 12-15 (Moscow time), the values of the lower limit of the price corridor (up to 92.97) and the range of market risk assessment (up to 941.92 rubles, equivalent to a rate of 7.5%) of the security RU000A0JT6B2 (VEB.RF 19) were changed
Please note: This information is raw content directly from the source of the information. It is exactly what the source states and does not reflect the position of MIL-OSI or its clients.
Please note; This information is raw content directly from the information source. It is accurate to what the source is stating and does not reflect the position of MIL-OSI or its clients.
In accordance with the Methodology for determining the risk parameters of the stock market and the deposit market of PJSC Moscow Exchange by NCO NCC (JSC) on 24.01.2025, 10-39 (Moscow time), the values of the upper limit of the price corridor (up to 320.15) and the range of market risk assessment (up to 343.382 rubles, equivalent to a rate of 21.25%) of the RASP (Raspadskaya) security were changed
Please note: This information is raw content directly from the source of the information. It is exactly what the source states and does not reflect the position of MIL-OSI or its clients.
Please note; This information is raw content directly from the information source. It is accurate to what the source is stating and does not reflect the position of MIL-OSI or its clients.
In accordance with the Methodology for determining the risk parameters of the stock market and the deposit market of Moscow Exchange PJSC by NCO NCC (JSC) on 24.01.2025, 10-21 (Moscow time), the values of the upper limit of the price corridor (up to 100.45) and the range of market risk assessment (up to 1102.96 rubles, equivalent to a rate of 21.25%) of the security RU000A105DN0 (FSK RS BO6) were changed
Please note: This information is raw content directly from the source of the information. It is exactly what the source states and does not reflect the position of MIL-OSI or its clients.
Please Note; This Information is Raw Content Directly from the Information Source. It is access to What the Source Is Stating and Does Not Reflect
Source: Bundesanstalt für Finanzdienstleistungsaufsicht – In English
The Federal Financial Supervisory Authority (BaFin) warns consumers about the company Strategic Assets and the services it is offering. BaFin suspects the unknown operators of the website strategicassets.pro of offering consumers financial, investment and cryptoasset services without the required authorisation.
The unknown operators are contacting consumers, claiming that their offer is from Baden-Württembergische Wertpapierbörse GmbH or Börse Stuttgart GmbH. In addition, when advertising its services, the company claims to be supervised by BaFin. However, none of this information is correct. This is a case of identity fraud. Moreover, BaFin does not supervise Strategic Assets.
BaFin is issuing this information on the basis of section 37 (4) of the German Banking Act (Kreditwesengesetz – KWG) and section 10 (7) of the German Cryptomarkets Supervision Act (Kryptomaerkteaufsichtsgesetz).
Please be aware:
BaFin, the German Federal Criminal Police Office (Bundeskriminalamt – BKA) and the German state criminal police offices (Landeskriminalämter) recommend that consumers seeking to invest money online should exercise the utmost caution and do the necessary research beforehand in order to identify fraud attempts at an early stage.
Responding to the application filed yesterday by the Office of the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC) for arrest warrants against the Taliban Supreme Leader, Haibatullah Akhundzada, and the Taliban Chief Justice, Abdul Hakim Haqqani, for their suspected responsibility for the crime against humanity of gender persecution in Afghanistan, Agnès Callamard, Secretary General at Amnesty International, said:
“The announcement by the ICC Prosecutor is an important development that gives hope, inside and outside the country to Afghan women, girls, as well as those persecuted on the basis of gender identity or expression, such as members of the LGBTQI community. This is a crucial step to hold accountable all those allegedly responsible for the gender-based deprivation of fundamental rights to education, to free movement and free expression, to private and family life, to free assembly, and to physical integrity and autonomy. Amnesty International also calls on the international community to recognize gender apartheid as a crime under international law in order to strengthen efforts to combat institutionalized regimes of systematic oppression and domination imposed on the grounds of gender.
The announcement by the ICC Prosecutor is an important development that gives hope, inside and outside the country to Afghan women, girls, as well as those persecuted on the basis of gender identity or expression, such as members of the LGBTQI community.
Agnès Callamard, Secretary General at Amnesty International
“The Prosecutor has acknowledged that the charges represent only a fraction of the victimization that has occurred all over Afghanistan for more than two years and affected much of the population. It is incumbent on the ICC and the whole international community to urgently and significantly scale-up efforts to address gender persecution and other crimes under international law committed in Afghanistan as access to justice in the country remains significantly overdue.
“Amnesty International also calls on the ICC Prosecutor to reconsider his 2021 decision to deprioritize investigations into war crimes allegedly committed by the US military, CIA personnel, and other international forces who had a presence in the country, and the former government security apparatus. This decision risks contributing to perceptions of a selective approach to international justice which prioritizes the interests of powerful states and their allies over the right to justice of victims of crimes under international law.
Background
On 23 January, the Office of the Prosecutor of the ICC issued a statement announcing the applications for arrest warrants in the situation in Afghanistan. The Prosecutor’s applications for arrest warrants will be considered by ICC Pre-Trial Chamber judges, to determine whether they establish reasonable grounds to believe that the named individuals committed the alleged crimes. The Office of the Prosecutor also stated that investigations are ongoing. This means that further applications, both for other persons and alleged crimes, could still follow.
In 2023, Amnesty International published its report, The Taliban’s war on women, on the crime against humanity of gender persecution against women and girls in Afghanistan. The 2022 report, Death in Slow Motion: Women and Girls Under Taliban Rule,alsodocumented the Taliban’s widespread, systematic, and intentional attacks on the rights of women, together with the use of torture and other ill-treatment and enforced disappearance. The discriminatory restrictions on the rights of women and girls affect all spheres of their lives, and they are institutionalized through the Taliban’s policies, decisions, and laws.
Afghanistan had been under preliminary examination by the ICC Prosecutor from 2007 to 2017. In 2022, the Prosecutor resumed its investigation into the situation of Afghanistan after the Court concluded that there was no genuine investigation at the domestic level. In fact, since the Taliban returned to power, they have destroyed avenues for access to fair trial and abolished the constitution and laws that were in force prior to their return.
Source: Hong Kong Government special administrative region
Two more men in connection with murder and wounding case in Yuen Long arrested Two more men in connection with murder and wounding case in Yuen Long arrested ******************************************************************************
In connection with a murder and wounding case happened in Yuen Long on January 22, Police arrested two more men, aged 23 and 26, in Tin Shui Wai for murder and wounding yesterday (January 23). In the murder and wounding case, a 24-year-old man died and a 28-year-old man was injured. Concerning the aforementioned case, Police arrested another four men, aged 19 to 29, in Tuen Mun and at the Hong Kong International Airport for murder and wounding earlier. Among the six arrested persons, Police laid holding charges against a 19-year-old man and a 27-year-old man each with one count of murder and one count of wounding. The 27-year-old man was also charged with one count of illegal possession of Part 1 poison. The case will be mentioned at Fanling Magistrates’ Courts tomorrow (January 25). The remaining four arrested persons are being detained for further enquiries. Active investigation by the Regional Crime Unit of New Territories North is under way. Anyone who witnessed the case or has any information to offer is urged to contact the investigating officers on 3661 3356.
A Coventry store has been ordered to close its doors for three months.
A Coventry store has been ordered to close its doors for three months, after a Council investigation discovered Saad Supermarket (which previously traded as Victoria Mini Market) on Primrose Hill Street, Coventry, persistently sold illegal tobacco and vaping products, as well as selling these items to persons under 18.
Costs of £4,974.26 were awarded to the Council, to be equally split between both the operator of the business and the landlord of the premises.
The Council’s Trading Standards and Legal teams applied to Coventry Magistrates Court for a Closure Order, which was granted on Wednesday 15 January 2025 under the Anti-Social Behaviour, Crime and Policing Act 2014.
The store has been ordered to close completely for three months and no-one is allowed to access or remain on the premises.
The Closure Order will remain in force until midnight on Tuesday 15 April 2025.
Those found to breach the Order may be imprisoned, fined or both.
The Court heard that despite warnings, there were continued sales of illicit products from the shop, as well as the sale of such to minors. Due to its proximity to a local school, this was a clear risk to the safety of the community and robust enforcement action was required.
Cllr Abdul Salam Khan, Deputy Council Leader, said: “Our trading standards and legal teams once again have taken the necessary action against businesses who ignore the law”.
“It’s important that we publicise this work because it will not be tolerated both by the Council or the police. In this case there was an added concern about the school being so close”.
“It’s a warning to any other businesses and I’d encourage any residents, who have similar concerns about local shops they suspect may be selling illegal vapes and tobacco and also selling to people under age, to contact us.”
The sale of illegal tobacco and vaping products has a detrimental effect on legitimate local businesses and also contributes to anti-social behaviour in the community.
It can also support organised crime, which may also be linked to modern-day slavery, human trafficking, and other serious criminality. Illegal tobacco and vaping products also present a serious public health issue with very high levels of tar, nicotine and other toxic chemicals. The lower prices at which these items can be sold also encourage children to start smoking or vaping.
Lord Michael Bichard, Chair of National Trading Standards, said: “The trade in illegal tobacco harms local communities and affects honest businesses operating within the law. Having removed 46 million illegal cigarettes, 12,600kg of hand-rolling tobacco and almost 175kg of shisha products from sale, Operation CeCe – the National Trading Standards initiative in partnership with HMRC – continues to successfully disrupt this illicit trade.”
Coventry Trading Standards will use all available powers to protect the local community and legitimate businesses.
We need information from the public to help us with issues like this. Information we receive about where and when this type of activity is happening will help us build an intelligence picture and enable us to act where necessary.
If you are concerned about similar activity happening where you live, you can send us an anonymous report – please search ‘Coventry Trading Standards’ and use the online reporting form, or find the anonymous form on the Council’s website.
Music can be so omnipresent in daily life – blasting out of tinny Bluetooth speakers at the beach, wafting through the aisles at the grocery store, filling the background of an ad on TV – that many of us give it little thought. But for neuroscientist Ed Large, director of the Music Dynamics Laboratory at UConn, music and thought are inseparable.
In November, Large was recognized at the Music Has Power Symposium in New York City, organized by The Institute for Music and Neurologic Function (IMNF), for his work in understanding the power of music to boost brain function. The symposium, which brought together scientists and musicians alike, was the perfect forum for Large, who went from playing bluegrass to being recognized for his groundbreaking work regarding the ability of musical rhythms to synchronize and train brain rhythms.
Large’s primary contribution to the field of music cognition is neural synchronization. The neuroscientist – who is also a professor in the departments of Psychological Science and Physics – derived equations that describe how the brain works when it synchronizes to rhythms, and soon enough, experiments began to support his hypotheses.
In one of those experiments, Large and Psyche Loui, a professor at Northeastern University, based their hypotheses in part on research from Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) that directly stimulated the hippocampus of mice with genetically engineered Alzheimer’s disease. Loui asked whether adding light to Large’s models of synchronization to musical rhythms could create an effective treatment for Alzheimer’s. After four years and $4.5 million in grants from the National Institutes of Health (NIH), their work has improved memory in patients with mild Alzheimer’s disease.
The type of music that best activates the brain is music that people pick themselves, Large says. Even compared to music that patients are very familiar with, Large observes, “If they chose the music themselves, it actives certain areas of the brain, more than any other kind of music.”
Large discovered his passion for the scientific field of music cognition while in graduate school. Large started his undergraduate studies as a math major, but, choosing to follow his dream of being a professional musician, switched to studying classical guitar performance. After earning his degree from Southern Methodist University and performing for a few years, he went to graduate school at Ohio State University to study artificial intelligence and cognitive science. While there, he learned about the field of music cognition and immediately knew it was what he was supposed to be doing.
“I wasn’t meant to be a performer; I was born to do this,” Large says.
The IMNF, which recognized Large’s work in New York this year, was founded by Concetta (Connie) Tomaino, a music therapist, and Oliver Sacks, a neurologist and best-selling author. Large became involved with the IMNF while he was teaching in Florida, and Tomaino asked if he would join their Scientific Advisory Board. Although hesitant at first, he went to New York to learn about the work she had been doing.
Tomaino had been treating patients with debilitating brain damage, causing aphasia, a disorder that makes it difficult to speak, read, and understand language. Large observed two main types of patients: older adults who had strokes, and younger adults who had survived gunshot wounds to the head. And it was a drum circle among these patients that was a turning point in Large’s thinking about music therapy. An atmosphere of depression and negativity, he recalls, was replaced by a sense of happiness and satisfaction following vigorous participation in the 30-minute drum circle.
“If that is all music therapy does for patients, that is enough,” Large says. “But it turns out, it can do a lot more.”
Next for his research is Phase 2 Clinical Trials. In these next trials, Large will expand his research by testing a greater number of Alzheimer’s patients. And Large continues to do basic research in the lab, looking at the synchronization of brain rhythms to musical rhythms. He aims to be able to target specific areas of the brain with specific frequencies of stimulation using music and possibly synchronized light.
“If we can do this much with what we know now, there is so much more we can do,” he says.
COLUMBIA, S.C. — A federal grand jury in Columbia returned a 22-count indictment against defendant Leon-Bobby Jones-Hubbard, 31, of Columbia, charging him with sex trafficking by force, fraud, or coercion; two counts of sex trafficking of a minor; nine counts of production and attempted production of child sexual abuse materials; nine counts of coercion and enticement of a minor into illegal sexual conduct; and one count of distribution of child sexual abuse material.
The indictment alleges that from at least June 2023 to present, Jones-Hubbard used social media platforms including Facebook to target, recruit, and exploit 10 minor victims who ranged from 5 to 16 years old and were located in Arkansas, Michigan, Alabama, Wisconsin, and Texas. The indictment further alleges the defendant paid money through Cash App, PayPal, and Meta Pay to induce and entice minors into illegal sexual conduct, including sex trafficking and the production of child sexual abuse material.
An adult with a severe developmental disorder was also targeted and exploited, according to the indictment, by Jones-Hubbard using an intermediary to coerce the victim into sex acts through physical restraint, physical force, and violence in exchange for money.
Jones-Hubbard faces a penalty of up to life in prison. He also faces mandatory minimum penalties of 15 years, 10 years, and five years in prison on various counts charged. He faces fines of up to $250,0o0 per count, a special assessment of $5,000 per count, mandatory restitution payable to any victims who suffered loss in connection with criminal conduct, court-ordered supervision of life to follow any term of imprisonment, and federal and state sex offender registration requirements.
Jones-Hubbard was arraigned in federal court on Jan. 23 and was ordered detained pending a detention hearing before United States Magistrate Judge Paige J. Gossett on Jan. 28 at 2:30 p.m.
This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative launched in May 2006 by the U.S. Department of Justice to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse. Led by the U.S. Attorneys’ Offices and the Criminal Division’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state and local resources to better locate, apprehend and prosecute individuals, who sexually exploit children, as well as to identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit http://www.justice.gov/psc.
This case was investigated by the FBI Columbia Field Office. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Elliott B. Daniels and E. Elizabeth Major are prosecuting the case.
U.S. Attorney Adair F. Boroughs stated that all charges in the indictment are merely accusations and that defendants are presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.
EVANSVILLE, Ind., Jan. 24, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — In recognition of Data Privacy Week, First Federal Savings Bank and the Independent Community Bankers of America® (ICBA) are reminding customers to take steps to safeguard their sensitive data and shield against financial losses in the event of a compromise or data breach. The global average cost of a data breach in 2024 was $4.88 million, a 10 percent increase over 2023 and the highest ever recorded.
“While there’s no fool-proof method to safeguard sensitive data, at First Federal Savings Bank, we believe that an important step in the fight against such attacks is arming customers with the proper protocols to reduce their exposure,” said Christy McBride, Chief Operations Officer & Information Security Officer, EVP. “As a community bank, First Federal Savings Bank uses sophisticated technology and monitoring techniques, intricate firewalls, and other methods to secure customer data. Additionally, we maintain stringent privacy policies and educate employees to treat confidential information with the utmost care.”
Reducing Your Risk As a consumer you also can help minimize your risk by:
Restricting use of public wi-fi and computers—These networks may be convenient but are not as secure. If you make purchases while away from your home or work network, use a virtual private network or mobile hotspot.
Limiting disclosed information—Never respond to requests for personal information such as your banking ID, account number, username, or password, even if they appear to originate from your bank, government agencies or officials, or companies with which you have a relationship.
Taking advantage of security features—Update your computer security software and apply software updates to your computer system, mobile devices, web browsers, and operating system regularly to defend against viruses, malware, and other online threats.
Monitoring account activity—Carefully review bank statements, card transactions, and check your credit report regularly for unusual or unexplained charges, unknown accounts in your name, or unexpected denials on your card and report any suspicious activity to your bank immediately.
Protecting each accountwith a unique, complex password—Use numbers and symbols at least 12 characters long along with using a password manager. Use multifactor authentication for accounts that allow it.
Responding to a Data Breach In the unfortunate event of a data breach, to minimize your risk:
Set up a fraud alert, which directs banks to verify your identity before opening a new account, issuing an additional card, or increasing the credit limit on an existing account.
Shred documents with personal or sensitive information and change your passwords.
Report stolen finances or identities and other cybercrime to the Internet Crime Complaint Center and to your local law enforcement and/or state attorney general.
Learn more about how to protect your digital life by visiting the Stay Safe Online website and spreading the word on social media with the hashtag #BeCyberSmart.
About First Federal Savings Bank Member FDIC
First Federal Savings Bank was established on Evansville, Indiana’s Westside in 1904. A community bank offering eight locations in Posey, Vanderburgh, Warrick, and Henderson County. First Federal Savings Bank is also proud to offer Home Building Savings Bank locations in Daviess and Pike County.
About ICBA
The Independent Community Bankers of America® has one mission: to create and promote an environment where community banks flourish. We power the potential of the nation’s community banks through effective advocacy, education, and innovation.
As local and trusted sources of credit, America’s community banks leverage their relationship-based business model and innovative offerings to channel deposits into the neighborhoods they serve, creating jobs, fostering economic prosperity, and fueling their customers’ financial goals and dreams. For more information, visit ICBA’s website at icba.org.
For over a century, presidents have pursued initiatives to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of government, couching those efforts in language similar to Trump’s.
Many of these, like Trump’s Department of Government Efficiency, which he appointed billionaire Elon Musk to run, have been designed to capitalize on the expertise of people outside of government. The idea often cited as inspiration for these efforts: The private sector knows how to be efficient and nimble and strives for excellence; government doesn’t.
But government, and government service, is about providing something that the private sector can’t. And outsiders often don’t think about the accountability requirements that the laws and Constitution of the United States impose on government workers and agencies.
Congress, though, can help address these problems and check inappropriate proposals. It can also stand in the way of reform.
Charles E. Merriam, left, and Louis Brownlow, members of the President’s Reorganization Committee, leave the White House after discussing government reorganization with President Franklin D. Roosevelt on Sept. 23, 1938. Harris & Ewing, photographer, Library of Congress
Proposing reform is nothing new
Perhaps the most famous group to work with a president on improving government was President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s Committee on Administrative Management, established in 1936.
That group, commonly referred to as the Brownlow Committee, noted that while critics predicted Roosevelt would bring “decay, destruction, and death of democracy,” the executive branch – and the president who sat atop it – was one of the “very greatest” contributions to modern democracy.
The committee argued that the president was unable to do his job because the executive branch was badly organized, federal employees lacked skills and character, and the budget process needed reform. So it proposed a series of changes designed to increase presidential power over government to enhance performance. Congress went along with some of these proposals, giving the president more staff and authority to reorganize the executive branch.
Since then, almost every president has put together similar recommendations. For example, Presidents Harry S. Truman and Dwight D. Eisenhower appointed former President Herbert Hoover to lead advisory commissions designed to recommend changes to the federal government. President Jimmy Carter launched a series of government improvement projects, and President George W. Bush even created scorecards to rank agencies according to their performance.
In his first term, Trump issued a mandate for reform to reorganize government for the 21st century.
Most presidential proposals generally fail to come to fruition. But they often spark conversations in Congress and the media about executive power, the effectiveness of federal programs, and what government can do better.
Most presidents have tried the same thing
Historically, most presidents and their advisers – and indeed most scholars – have agreed that government bureaucracy is not designed in ways that promote efficiency. But that is intentional: Stanford political scientist Terry Moe has written that “American public bureaucracy is not designed to be effective. The bureaucracy arises out of politics, and its design reflects the interests, strategies, and compromises of those who exercise political power.”
A common presidential response to this practical reality is to propose government changes that make it look more like the private sector. In 1982, President Ronald Reagan brought together 161 corporate executives overseen by industrialist J. Peter Grace to make recommendations to eliminate government waste and inefficiency, based on their experiences leading successful corporations.
In 1993, President Bill Clinton authorized Vice President Al Gore to launch an effort to reinvent the federal government into one that worked better and cost less.
The Clinton administration created teams in every major federal agency, modeled after the private sector’s efficiency standards, to move government “From Red Tape to Results,” as the title of the administration’s plan said.
An introductory page from the 1993 National Performance Review executive summary, commissioned by the Clinton administration. CIA.gov
Presidential attempts to make government look and work more like people think the private sector works often include adjustments to the terms of federal employment to reward employees who excel at their jobs.
In 1905, for example, President Theodore Roosevelt established a Committee on Department Methods to examine how the federal government could recruit and retain highly qualified employees. One hundred years later, federal agencies still experienced challenges](https://www.gao.gov/assets/gao-03-2.pdf) related to hiring and retaining people who could effectively achieve agency missions.
President Bill Clinton applauds as Vice President Al Gore speaks at a press conference on March 3, 1994, at which Gore gave Clinton a report of the National Performance Review. Paul J. Richards/AFP via Getty Images
So why haven’t these plans worked?
At least the past five presidents have faced problems in making long-term changes to government.
In part, this is because government reorganizations and operational reforms like those contemplated by Trump require Congress to make adjustments to the laws of the United States, or at least give the president and federal agencies the money required to invest in changes.
Consider, for example, presidential proposals to invest in new technologies, which are a large part of Trump and Musk’s plans to improve government efficiency. Since at least 1910, when President William Howard Taft established a Commission on Economy and Efficiency to address the “unnecessarily complicated and expensive” way the federal government handled and distributed government documents, presidents have recommended centralizing authority to mandate federal agencies’ use of new technologies to make government more efficient.
But transforming government through technology requires money, people and time. Presidential plans for government-wide change are contingent upon the degree to which federal agencies can successfully implement them.
To sidestep these problems, some presidents have proposed that the government work with the private sector. For example, Trump announced a joint venture with technology companies to invest in the government’s artificial intelligence infrastructure.
Yet as I have found in my previous research, government investment in new technology first requires an assessment of agencies’ current technological skills and the impact technology will have on agency functions, including those related to governmental transparency, accountability and constitutional due process. It’s not enough to go out and buy software that tech giants recommend agencies acquire.
The things that government agencies do, such as regulating the economy, promoting national security and protecting the environment, are incredibly complicated. It’s often hard to see their impact right away.
Recognizing this, Congress has designed a complex set of laws to prevent political interference with federal employees, who tend to look at problems long term. For example, as I have found in my work with Paul Verkuil, former chairman of the Administrative Conference of the United States, Congress intentionally writes laws that require certain government positions to be held by experts who can work in their jobs without worrying about politics.
Congress also writes the laws the federal employees administer, oversees federal programs and decides how much money to appropriate to those programs each year.
So by design, anything labeled a “presidential commission on modernizing/fixing/refocusing government” tells only part of the story and sets out an impossible task. The president can’t make it happen alone. Nor can Elon Musk.
Jennifer L. Selin has received funding and/or support for her research on the executive branch from the Administrative Conference of the United States. The views in this piece are those of the author and do not represent the position of the Administrative Conference or the federal government.
Source: Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) State Crime Alerts (b)
LOS ANGELES – A Wisconsin man pleaded guilty today to participating in a one-week nationwide “swatting” spree that gained access to Ring home security door cameras, placed bogus emergency phone calls designed to elicit an armed police response, then livestreamed the events on social media, sometimes while taunting responding police officers in communities such as West Covina and Oxnard.
Kya Christian Nelson, 23, of Racine, Wisconsin, pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy and two counts of unauthorized access to a protected computer to obtain information.
Nelson, who is doing time in a Kentucky state prison after being convicted in an unrelated case, has been in federal custody since August 2024.
“Swatting puts innocent lives in danger,” said Acting United States Attorney Joseph T. McNally. “Today’s guilty plea demonstrates that individuals who engage in this dangerous conduct will be held accountable through federal prosecutions.”
“The defendant’s malicious actions traumatized his victims and put their lives – and the lives of responding officers – at risk,” said Akil Davis, Assistant Director in Charge of the FBI Los Angeles Field Office. “Swatting hoaxes drain crucial law enforcement resources at the expense of taxpayers and diverts police officers from responding to actual crisis situations. This case is a good reminder for security doorbell users that it’s important to practice strict cyber hygiene by using difficult passwords and by employing two-factor authentication.”
According to his plea agreement, from November 7, 2020, to November 13, 2020, Nelson and co-conspirators gained access to home security door cameras sold by Ring LLC, a Santa Monica-based home security technology company. Nelson acquired without authorization the username and password information for Yahoo! email accounts belonging to victims throughout the United States.
The conspirators then determined whether the owner of each compromised Yahoo! account also had a Ring account using the same email address and password that could control associated internet-connected Ring doorbell camera devices. Using that information, they identified and gathered additional information about their victims.
Then, the conspirators placed false emergency reports or telephone calls to local law enforcement in the areas where the victims lived. These reports or calls were intended to elicit an emergency police response to the victim’s residence. The conspirators then accessed without authorization the victims’ Ring devices and transmitted the audio and video from those devices on social media during the police response. They also taunted responding police officers and victims through the Ring devices during several of the incidents.
For example, on November 8, 2020, Nelson and a co-conspirator accessed without authorization Yahoo! and Ring accounts belonging to a victim in West Covina. A hoax telephone call was placed to the West Covina Police Department purporting to originate from the victim’s residence and posing as a minor child reporting her parents drinking and shooting guns inside the residence. The caller claimed that her parents had multiple firearms and had fired approximately seven gunshots inside the house. Based on this hoax call, West Covina Police Department officers made an emergency response to the house and cleared the residents from the home at gunpoint.
During the police response, Nelson accessed the Ring doorbell camera located at the West Covina residence and used it to verbally threaten and taunt the police officers who responded to the reported incident.
In another incident, on November 11, 2020, Nelson illegally possessed the Yahoo! and Ring login credentials of a victim living in Oxnard. Nelson then used those credentials to access the victim’s Ring account. Nelson or a co-conspirator made a hoax call to the Oxnard Police Department purporting to be coming from inside the victim’s home.
The caller told the police that they were a child whose father was wielding a handgun inside the residence. Nelson made a second hoax call to Oxnard Police to report hearing shots fired at the victim’s residence. Based on these hoax calls, Oxnard Police officers made an emergency response to the house and cleared the residents from the home at gunpoint.
Nelson accessed the Ring doorbell camera located at the Oxnard residence and used it to threaten and taunt the police officers who had responded to the reported incident.
United States District Judge John A. Kronstadt scheduled a May 1 sentencing hearing, at which time Nelson will face a statutory maximum sentence of five years in federal prison for each count.
One of Nelson’s indicted co-conspirators, James Thomas Andrew McCarty, 22, of Kayenta, Arizona, was sentenced in June 2024 to seven years in federal prison both for his role in this case, and on additional charges in the District of Arizona. In connection with the Ring swatting incidents, McCarty pleaded guilty to the same conspiracy as Nelson.
McCarty further admitted to illegally accessing a victim’s Ring camera in Florida and making a call to the North Port Florida Police Department, in which he purported to be the victim’s husband who had just killed her, was holding a hostage, and had rigged explosives at the residence. McCarty then livestreamed the law enforcement response and posted a message on social media taking credit for the swatting incident and stating that he thought it was amusing.
The FBI investigated this matter.
Assistant United States Attorney Khaldoun Shobaki of the Cyber and Intellectual Property Crimes Section is prosecuting this case.
Source: Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) State Crime Alerts (b)
RIVERSIDE, California – Three San Gabriel Valley residents and one San Bernardino County man have been found guilty by a jury of participating in an armed robbery and carjacking of a car repair business last year in Bloomington in which one victim was pistol-whipped into near unconsciousness, the Justice Department announced today.
At the conclusion of a 13-day trial, a federal jury on late Wednesday returned a guilty verdict on all counts against the following defendants:
Marcos Guerrero, 49, of Glendora;
Elijah Gafare, 35, of West Covina;
Cinthia Leal, 39, of Glendora; and
Vincent Solarez, 58, of Upland.
All four defendants were found guilty of one count of conspiracy to interfere with commerce by robbery (Hobbs Act), one count of Hobbs Act robbery, and one count of carjacking.
Guerrero, Gafare, and Leal also were found guilty of witness tampering and using, carrying, and brandishing a firearm in furtherance of and in relation to a crime of violence. Guerrero further was found guilty of being a felon in possession of a firearm and ammunition.
“Violent crime tears at the fabric of our communities,” said Acting United States Attorney Joseph T. McNally. “The verdict reached in this case highlights our office’s ongoing efforts to root out and punish criminals who use guns to harm innocent people.”
According to evidence presented at trial, Guerrero, Gafare, Leal, and Solarez participated in an armed robbery of a car repair shop in Bloomington in the early morning hours of March 12, 2024. During the robbery, two of the defendants brandished firearms and one of the defendants pistol-whipped one of the victims into near unconsciousness.
The defendants kept the victims hostage and threatened to kill them if the victims did not hand over cash, their car, and if they ever called law enforcement. In total, defendants stole several thousand dollars in cash and the business surveillance system, in addition to the victim’s car and other property.
Law enforcement tracked the defendants down and arrested them in May and June of 2024.
On May 30, 2024, Guerrero illegally possessed a .45-caliber firearm and dozens of rounds of ammunition. He is not permitted to possess firearms and ammunition because his criminal history includes convictions in San Bernardino County Superior Court for home invasion robbery, first-degree residential burglary, false imprisonment by violence, possession of a firearm by a felon, and evading a police officer.
United States District Judge Jesus G. Bernal scheduled an April 21 sentencing hearing, at which Guerrero, Gafare, and Leal will face a mandatory minimum sentence of seven years in federal prison and a statutory maximum sentence of life imprisonment.
Solarez will face a statutory maximum sentence of 65 years in federal prison.
The FBI Inland Violent Crimes Suppression Task Force and the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department investigated this matter.
Assistant United States Attorneys Joshua J. Lee and Neil P. Thakor of the General Crimes Section, and Tritia L. Yuen of the Riverside Branch Office, are prosecuting this case.
TULSA, Okla. – U.S. District Judge John D. Russell sentenced Lucas Anthony Walker, 22, for two counts of Second Degree Murder in Indian County. Judge Russell ordered Walked to serve 420 months for each count, followed by five years of supervised release.
In January 2023, Washington County Sheriff’s deputies began investigating the disappearance of Deborah and Larry Dutton. After searching the Dutton’s home, deputies found Deborah and Larry deceased in a shallow grave in the backyard. Walker confessed to shooting and stabbing Deborah and stabbing Larry to death.
Walker is a citizen of the Cherokee Nation and will remain in custody pending transfer to the U.S. Bureau of Prisons.
The FBI, Washington County Sheriff’s Office, the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation, and the Oklahoma Highway Patrol investigated the case. Assistant U.S. Attorney Eric O. Johnston prosecuted the case.
A murder investigation has been launched following the death of a 75-year-old man in Putney.
On Friday, 24 January at 03:36hrs police were called to an address in Deodar Road, SW15 following reports of a stabbing.
Officers attended the scene alongside the London Ambulance Service who treated a man for stab injuries.
Sadly, despite the emergency services best efforts, he was pronounced dead on scene.
His next of kin have been made aware although we currently await formal identification. They are currently being supported by specialist officers.
A special post-mortem examination is due to take place today.
A 30-year-old man was arrested on suspicion of murder, he remains in police custody. It is believed he was known to the victim.
Detective Superintendent Amanda Mawhinney from the South West Command Unit which covers Putney said: “We are currently supporting the family of a man who was sadly killed in the early hours of this morning.
“I am aware that people in the community may feel shocked following this – we believe this to be an isolated incident and there is no wider threat to the public.
“Although we have made significant progress by making an arrest, I would like to make it clear that our investigation does not stop here. We need the local community to help us understand what happened in the early hours of this morning.
“We are appealing for anyone who was in the area at around 3am and that saw or heard anything unusual to contact us as soon as possible.
“You may notice a higher police presence within the area today whilst we carry out our enquiries. A scene is in place as well as road closures. If you feel the need to raise anything with our officers, then please feel free to speak with them whilst they are in the area.”
Enquiries remain ongoing.
Anyone with information which could assist with the investigation is asked to call 101 stating CAD721/24JAN. Alternatively you can contact the independent charity Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111 or by submitting an online form.
A federal jury convicted a Maryland man yesterday for conspiracy to commit insurance fraud, money laundering, filing false tax returns and identity theft.
According to court documents and evidence presented at trial, James Wilson, of Owings Mills, conspired with others to defraud insurance companies by obtaining over 30 life insurance policies for applicants by mispresenting their health, wealth and existing life insurance coverage. The total death benefits from these policies exceeded $20 million.
Wilson also conspired to defraud individual investors to obtain funds that he then used to pay premiums on fraudulently-obtained life insurance policies. To conceal the fraud, Wilson transferred the fraud through multiple bank accounts, including accounts in the name of trusts. Wilson filed false individual income tax returns for 2018 and 2019, which concealed approximately $5.7 million and $2 million respectively of fraud proceeds.
Wilson is scheduled to be sentenced on May 1. He faces a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison for each count of conspiracy, wire fraud, mail fraud and money laundering; and a maximum penalty of three years in prison for each count of filing a false tax return. Wilson also faces a maximum penalty of two years in prison for each count of aggravated identity theft. 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, U.S. Attorney Erek L. Barron for the District of Maryland and Special Agent in Charge Kareem A. Carter of IRS Criminal Investigation (IRS-CI)’s Washington, D.C. Field Office made the announcement.
IRS-CI investigated the case, with assistance from the Maryland Insurance Administration and Maryland Attorney General.
Trial Attorneys Shawn Noud and Richard Kelley of the Tax Division and Assistant U.S. Attorneys Matthew Phelps and Philip Motsay for the District of Maryland are prosecuting the case.
A federal jury convicted a Maryland man yesterday for conspiracy to commit insurance fraud, money laundering, filing false tax returns and identity theft.
According to court documents and evidence presented at trial, James Wilson, of Owings Mills, conspired with others to defraud insurance companies by obtaining over 30 life insurance policies for applicants by mispresenting their health, wealth and existing life insurance coverage. The total death benefits from these policies exceeded $20 million.
Wilson also conspired to defraud individual investors to obtain funds that he then used to pay premiums on fraudulently-obtained life insurance policies. To conceal the fraud, Wilson transferred the fraud through multiple bank accounts, including accounts in the name of trusts. Wilson filed false individual income tax returns for 2018 and 2019, which concealed approximately $5.7 million and $2 million respectively of fraud proceeds.
Wilson is scheduled to be sentenced on May 1. He faces a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison for each count of conspiracy, wire fraud, mail fraud and money laundering; and a maximum penalty of three years in prison for each count of filing a false tax return. Wilson also faces a maximum penalty of two years in prison for each count of aggravated identity theft. 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, U.S. Attorney Erek L. Barron for the District of Maryland and Special Agent in Charge Kareem A. Carter of IRS Criminal Investigation (IRS-CI)’s Washington, D.C. Field Office made the announcement.
IRS-CI investigated the case, with assistance from the Maryland Insurance Administration and Maryland Attorney General.
Trial Attorneys Shawn Noud and Richard Kelley of the Tax Division and Assistant U.S. Attorneys Matthew Phelps and Philip Motsay for the District of Maryland are prosecuting the case.
A New Hampshire man was sentenced yesterday to two-and-a-half years in prison for willfully failing to pay more than $14 million in payroll taxes and not filing personal tax returns.
According to court documents and statements made in court, Andrew Park, 49, of Bedford, was the co-founder and CEO of a startup technology company. Park was responsible for all financial matters related to the company, including for filing the company’s quarterly employment tax returns and collecting and paying over Social Security, Medicare and income taxes withheld from the employees’ wages to the IRS, as well as the matching Social Security and Medicare taxes the company owed.
From the company’s founding in 2014 through the third quarter of 2021, Park withheld federal taxes from the wages of the company’s employees but did not pay them over as required by law. He also did not pay over the portion of the employment taxes that the company owed. Park willfully failed to do so even though a payroll service company that he hired to process the employees’ payroll regularly notified him that the taxes were due, and in more than one instance was notified by an employee that the amount paid to Social Security listed on her W-2 did not match what was reported by the Social Security Administration.
From 2013 through 2020, Park also did not file individual tax returns as required by law, despite the fact that he paid himself a salary of approximately $250,000 each year.
In total, Park caused a tax loss to the IRS exceeding $14 million.
In addition to the term of imprisonment, U.S. District Chief Judge Landya B. McCafferty for the District of New Hampshire ordered Park to serve three years of supervised release and to pay $639,821.78 in restitution to the United States and a fine of $15,000.
Acting Deputy Assistant Attorney General Karen E. Kelly of the Justice Department’s Tax Division and Acting U.S. Attorney John J. McCormack for the District of New Hampshire made the announcement.
IRS Criminal Investigation investigated the case.
Assistant Chief Eric Powers of the Tax Division and Assistant U.S. Attorney Matthew Hunter for the District of New Hampshire prosecuted the case.
A New Hampshire man was sentenced yesterday to two-and-a-half years in prison for willfully failing to pay more than $14 million in payroll taxes and not filing personal tax returns.
According to court documents and statements made in court, Andrew Park, 49, of Bedford, was the co-founder and CEO of a startup technology company. Park was responsible for all financial matters related to the company, including for filing the company’s quarterly employment tax returns and collecting and paying over Social Security, Medicare and income taxes withheld from the employees’ wages to the IRS, as well as the matching Social Security and Medicare taxes the company owed.
From the company’s founding in 2014 through the third quarter of 2021, Park withheld federal taxes from the wages of the company’s employees but did not pay them over as required by law. He also did not pay over the portion of the employment taxes that the company owed. Park willfully failed to do so even though a payroll service company that he hired to process the employees’ payroll regularly notified him that the taxes were due, and in more than one instance was notified by an employee that the amount paid to Social Security listed on her W-2 did not match what was reported by the Social Security Administration.
From 2013 through 2020, Park also did not file individual tax returns as required by law, despite the fact that he paid himself a salary of approximately $250,000 each year.
In total, Park caused a tax loss to the IRS exceeding $14 million.
In addition to the term of imprisonment, U.S. District Chief Judge Landya B. McCafferty for the District of New Hampshire ordered Park to serve three years of supervised release and to pay $639,821.78 in restitution to the United States and a fine of $15,000.
Acting Deputy Assistant Attorney General Karen E. Kelly of the Justice Department’s Tax Division and Acting U.S. Attorney John J. McCormack for the District of New Hampshire made the announcement.
IRS Criminal Investigation investigated the case.
Assistant Chief Eric Powers of the Tax Division and Assistant U.S. Attorney Matthew Hunter for the District of New Hampshire prosecuted the case.
Source: Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) State Crime News
Defendant allegedly posted digitally altered images of victim to social media accounts and programmed artificial intelligence-driven chatbots to mimic human conversation with other unknown users of social media platforms
BOSTON – A Plymouth, Mass. man has agreed to plead guilty to charges relating to cyberstalking numerous Massachusetts victims through social media, email and various online platforms. The defendant allegedly programmed multiple artificial intelligence-driven chatbots to mimic human conversation through text or voice interactions with unknown users of social media platforms and used generative artificial-intelligence tools to create pornographic images of the victims in order to post them online to websites that focus on shaming and degrading women.
James Florence Jr., 36, has agreed to plead guilty to seven counts of cyberstalking and one count of possession of child pornography. Florence was arrested and charged by criminal complaint in September 2024. According to the charging documents, on or about January of 2014 through September of 2024, Florence engaged in an extensive cyberstalking campaign targeting victims and those associated with them. Florence used a variety of techniques and methods to allegedly harass and intimidate his victims and others in the community, including making fake nude images of the victims, doxing or exposing victims’ personal information, creating vulgar fake accounts in the victims’ names and accessing online accounts without authorization (i.e. “hacking”) the victims’ accounts.
Florence’s cyberstalking campaigns allegedly included obtaining, -and then widely distributing, private information about the victims, such as private photographs or photographs shared amongst friends on social media. These photographs were frequently doctored to appear sexual or pornographic in nature. According to court documents Florence also allegedly accessed online accounts without authorization; created accounts in the name of his victims; and solicitated fantasy sexual encounters on their behalf. In the case of one victim, those fabricated sexual encounters allegedly included building a profile of the victim on an interactive platform with information about the victim’s apparent underwear preference, information that the victim was sexually adventurous, used sex toys and had a sex swing in her home. Florence allegedly listed the victims home address; posed as his victims by creating impersonation accounts in their names and then posted or sent various harmful content from those accounts; encouraged others to extort, shame, defame and intimidate victims for pornographic material; and stole victims’ underwear and used photos of the underwear to both harass those victims or engage with others on the internet to further mutual sexual fantasies.
In addition to having received threatening messages from social media and email accounts believed to be controlled by Florence, the victims also allegedly received harassing and extorting communications that are believed to be from users who messaged the victims as a result of Florence’s posts encouraging them to do so. Florence allegedly created and posted photo collages of one of the victims to a website, including images edited to make her appear nude or semi-nude along with all her personal identifying information and captions that encouraged viewers to “Post & Share Her Everywhere. Make The Whore Famous.”
The charge of stalking by electronic means provides for a sentence of up to five years in prison, three years of supervised release and a fine of $250,000. The charge of possession of child pornography provides for a sentence of 20 years in prison, a mandatory minimum of five years and up to life of supervised release and a $250,000 fine. Sentences are imposed by a federal district court judge based upon the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.
United States Attorney Leah B. Foley and Jodi Cohen, Special Agent in Charge of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Boston Division made the announcement today. The Plymouth Police Department and Plymouth Fire Department provided valuable assistance in the investigation. Assistant U.S. Attorney Luke A. Goldworm of the Major Crimes Unit is prosecuting the case.
ALBUQUERQUE – A U.S. Army soldier has been charged with multiple federal sex crimes involving a minor, including interstate travel for sexual conduct and production of child sexual abuse material, following an investigation by federal authorities.
The indictment alleges that between November 2022, and May 2024, Victor Barnett Lane allegedly coerced a minor into sexual activity, traveled from South Korea to New Mexico for purposes of sexual activity, and produced child sexual abuse imagery.
Lane has been ordered to remainin custody pending trial. If convicted, Lane faces a minimum of 15 years and up to life in prison.
U.S. Attorney Alexander M.M. Uballez and Jason T. Stevens, Acting Special Agent in Charge of Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) El Paso, made the announcement today.
Homeland Security Investigations investigated this case with assistance from the U.S. Army Criminal Investigations Division and Albuquerque Police Department. Assistant U.S. Attorney Jaymie L. Roybal is prosecuting the case as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice. Led by U.S. Attorneys’ Offices and CEOS, Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state, and local resources to better locate, apprehend and prosecute individuals who exploit children via the Internet, as well as to identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit Justice.gov/PSC.
An indictment is merely an allegation. All defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.
NEWARK, NJ. – A New Jersey man was arrested today and charged with engaging in a scheme to defraud an elderly victim investor out of out of more than $880,000, after entrusting him to invest her money on her behalf, Acting U.S. Attorney Vikas Khanna announced today.
Antonio Petrosino, a/k/a Anthony Petrosino, 59, of Union City, New Jersey, is charged by complaint with one count of wire fraud and one count of money laundering. He is scheduled to have his initial appearance this afternoon before U.S. Magistrate Judge Michael A. Hammer in Newark federal court.
According to documents filed in the case and statements made in court:
Between March 2018 and March 2024, Petrosino fraudulently induced the victim investor to transfer approximately $916,000 to Petrosino based on his misrepresentations that he would invest those funds in brokerage accounts and other investment products for the benefit of the victim investor. To perpetuate his fraud, Petrosino provided the victim investor with falsified investment statements that purported to show that she had hundreds of thousands of dollars deposited in various investment accounts in her name. Petrosino also provided the victim investor with payments in the approximate range of $4000-$8000 that he claimed was the interest that the victim investor had earned on her investments.
In reality, Petrosino failed to invest the victim investor’s funds for her benefit as promised. Instead, he misappropriated the money to pay for his personal expenses, including gambling, credit card payments, and rent on his luxury apartment unit. Petrosino also caused the transfer of the victim investor’s funds without her knowledge or consent, including transfers directly from the victim investor’s bank account to Petrosino’s landlord. Additionally, Petrosino told the victim investor he would assist her with preparing her tax returns and told her to send him approximately $40,000 that he claimed she owed in taxes, which he misappropriated for his personal benefit. In total, Petrosino stole more than approximately $888,000 from the victim investor.
The wire fraud charge carries a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison. The money laundering charge carries a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison. Both counts carry a $250,000 fine, or twice the gross amount of gain or loss from the offense, whichever is greatest.
Acting U.S. Attorney Vikas Khanna credited special agents of the FBI, under the direction of Acting Special Agent in Charge Terence G. Reilly in Newark, with the investigation leading to today’s arrest.
The government is represented by Assistant U.S. Attorney Jennifer Kozar of the U.S. Attorney’s Office Economic Crimes Unit in Newark.
The charges and allegations contained in the complaint are merely accusations, and the defendant is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.
Donald Trump returned to the US presidency on January 20 with a flurry of executive orders. This included the designation of criminal gangs and drug cartels operating south of the Mexico border as “foreign terrorist organisations” – a first for a US president. The state department will now decide which groups are added to the list.
Trump’s disdain for the criminal fraternity in Latin America is not new. When announcing his first run for the presidency in 2015, Trump claimed the Mexican government was deliberately sending drugs, rapists and criminals to the US.
To keep them out, he floated and later implemented a rigorous border protection programme. This led not only to mass deportations, but also the building of a concrete and metal wall along the US-Mexico border that spans hundreds of miles.
In his new order, Trump claimed the “cartels have engaged in a campaign of violence and terror throughout the western hemisphere that has not only destabilised countries with significant importance for our national interests but also flooded the US with deadly drugs, violent criminals, and vicious gangs”.
How will this order, if it eventually becomes law, impact the people towards whom it is directed?
Fears of military action
A terrorist designation expands the government’s ability to collect military intelligence on the cartels and prosecute people deemed to be offering any “material support” to these groups. However, some fear the designation will also make it politically easier for the US government to order direct military intervention against the cartels without having to go through Congress.
During Trump’s first term, for instance, Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps was designated as a foreign terrorist organisation. Its head, General Qasem Soleimani, was killed by a US drone strike less than a year later. The Trump Administration cited its foreign terrorist organisation order as justification for its actions.
Trump has not yet ruled out similar military action in Mexico. On January 20, while signing executive orders in the Oval Office, Trump was asked whether he would send the special forces to confront Mexico’s cartels. “Could happen. Stranger things have happened”, he replied. In the past, Trump has also apparently suggested a missile attack on Mexican drug labs.
The idea of unilateral US military action against the cartels has always faced stiff opposition from Mexico. And in December, as plans to designate the cartels as terrorist organisations gathered steam, Trump’s Mexican counterpart Claudia Sheinbaum said: “We collaborate, we coordinate, we work together, but we will never subordinate ourselves … Mexico is a free, sovereign, independent country and we do not accept interference.”
However, US military operations in Mexico may not be so far-fetched. The US has previously staged armed interventions in Latin America when it has felt its national interests were under threat. The ousting of Panama’s leader, Manuel Noriega, in 1989 is a good example.
That year, the then US president George H.W. Bush ordered 20,000 American troops to invade Panama in an operation to “protect the lives of American citizens”. Noriega, who was arrested after spending days hiding in Panama City’s Vatican embassy, was wanted by US authorities for racketeering and drug trafficking.
The invasion resulted in the deaths of 514 Panamanian soldiers and civilians (though the unofficial count is closer to 1,000), and three American servicemen.
Power of persuasion
The terrorist designation could, on the other hand, simply be a tactic to pressure governments across Latin America into taking tougher action against the gangs. We have already seen the likes of El Salvador’s iron-fisted president, Nayib Bukele, do the heavy lifting for the US, so far as countering criminal gangs is concerned.
With US assistance, El Salvador currently operates the infamous Terrorism Confinement Center, a maximum security jail that holds high-ranking members of the country’s main criminal gangs. Its critics consider it a “black hole of human rights” and one of the harshest prisons in the world.
Over the past few weeks, Trump has rebuked Sheinbaum for not doing enough to curtail the power of cartels operating in her country. He claimed earlier in January that Mexico was “essentially run by the cartels”.
Trump’s proposed appointment of Colonel Ronald Johnson, a former Green Beret with extensive experience in US military intelligence, as ambassador to Mexico signals a potential shift in US strategy toward direct confrontation with the region’s governments to step in line.
Trump can also buy compliance from governments in Latin America to do his bidding against the cartels, as was the case with Plan Colombia. Launched in 2000, the US-funded US$1 billion project (equivalent to roughly £1.5 billion today) provided foreign and military aid to Colombia in an attempt to fight the production and trafficking of illegal narcotics in the country.
Plan Colombia was subject to considerable controversy. Its critics claim it led to gross human rights violations as well as the destruction of the environment and people’s livelihoods. But successive US administrations have maintained that Plan Colombia, which came to an end in 2015, was a success.
The terrorist designation will usher in seismic changes in Latin America. Should Sheinbaum embrace Trump’s initiative, in part or in its entirety, then it is likely to lead to a civil war-like situation in Mexico, given the firepower and deep pockets the cartels have.
In 2007, under the so-called Mérida Initative, the US donated at least US$1.5 billion to help the then Mexican president, Felipe Calderón, launch his “war on drugs”. The outcome of that war was disastrous, with tens of thousands of lives lost and its effects still being felt today.
Amalendu Misra is a recipient of British Academy and Nuffield Foundation Grants.
Source: The Conversation – UK – By Jean Boase-Beier, Emeritus Professor, School of Literature, Drama and Creative Writing, University of East Anglia
On Holocaust Memorial Day we remember the victims of the Nazi Holocaust in 1940s Europe and all those affected by later genocides.
I believe that reading poetry is an important way to commemorate these victims because it is such a personal form.
The events of the Holocaust are familiar to many people as dates and numbers. The first concentration camp opened in Dachau in 1933. In 1942 the infamous meeting at the Wannsee took place in Berlin to decide upon the “final solution” to the perceived problem of Jewish people in Germany and beyond.
Some 6 million Jewish people were murdered, some 200,000 disabled and ill people were killed in Germany alone and 400,000 people were forcibly sterilised because they possessed traits the Nazis deemed undesirable.
Such statistics are well documented by Holocaust historians. But behind these numbers, overwhelming in their sheer vastness, are individuals, those whose voices we hear especially clearly in poems.
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People wrote poetry as realisation grew of their likely fate even before the murderous events that later came to be called the Holocaust. Many wrote poetry about the Holocaust later, because they survived and wanted the world to hear their stories, or because they lost family members and wanted to remember them.
Among those who wrote after the Holocaust was German poet Volker von Törne, who was wracked with vicarious guilt for his father’s Nazi past.
But it is the poems written as the events of the Holocaust were unfolding that strike a particular chord. These are poems by prisoners facing execution, by Jewish members of society forced to live in overcrowded ghettos, by those in camps and those about to be transported to camps. Often such poems were written on odd scraps of paper, carefully hidden or buried in the ground, or smuggled out of prison, ghetto or camp.
Almost none of them wrote in English, so English speakers read them via translators who can speak their words for them, fashioning new versions that aim to capture the style of the originals with all its resonances and as much of their immediacy and impact as possible.
Poets of the Holocaust
Some Holocaust poets became famous, and their work has been translated many times. One of the best known, Paul Celan, was a Romanian-German poet. His parents died in the Holocaust. He died by suicide in 1970, having written some of the most memorable poems about the Holocaust, including Death-Fugue (1948), which described the repetitive and deadly rhythm of camp life and death.
German poet Nelly Sachs, who escaped at the last minute to Sweden, won the Nobel prize in 1966. Her work is readily available in a number of excellent recent translations.
But the stories told by these famous poets, important though they are, can only give a partial picture. Often the fine details of everyday experience, the fears and hopes of individual women, men and children, have a particular resonance in the work of lesser-known poets.
Romanian-German poet Selma Meerbaum-Eisinger was only 17 when she wrote her poetry of fearful anticipation. She was transported to a concentration camp where she died a year later.
Lithuanian poet Matilda Olkinaitė was murdered at 19. How would their poetry have developed had they lived? We will never know. But what they have left us, recreated through their translators, is a highly sensitive view of life in the chaos of approaching catastrophe.
Voices in anthologies
For readers who want a fuller picture of Holocaust poetry, anthologies are invaluable. They usually have an introduction, or notes, providing the context that is so crucial to understanding the poems.
More recently, I co-edited the anthology Poetry of the Holocaust (2019), which arose from a research project funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council. Our aim was to collect less well-known Holocaust poetry, and, with the help of 35 translators from languages as varied as Yiddish, Norwegian, Japanese and Hungarian, to present the poems in original and translation, with a contextual note for each.
We tried to include a broader range of poems than earlier anthologies have tended to do. The anonymous Song of the Roma, for example, laments the fate of the more than 200,000 Gypsy, Roma and Traveller victims of the Nazis.
Many poems in the anthology document very specific events, such as French writer Andrė Sarcq’s To the Twice-Murdered Men, which depicts the dreadful detail of his lover’s death at the hands of the Nazis, who treated gay men with unfathomable barbarity.
Polish Resistance member Irena Bobowska suffered the cruel removal of the wheelchair upon which she depended. She imagined the world she has lost in So I Learn Life’s Greatest Art.
German poet Alfred Schmidt-Sas wrote with extreme difficulty, as his hands were bound. He reflected on his imminent beheading in Strange Lightness of Life. And in My God, French poet Catherine Roux told of the horrifying and mundane details of her arrival in a concentration camp: “I’ve no hair / I’ve no hanky.”
It is only by listening to these individual voices that we can really begin to understand what the many millions of Holocaust victims went through, and what victims of genocides all over the world have suffered and are suffering at this moment. Poetry helps us to do this.
Jean Boase-Beier acts as Translations Editor for Arc Publications. She has received funding from the Arts and Humanities Research Council for research relevant to this article.
The Justice Department announced today that KBWB Operations LLC, which did business as Atrium Health and Senior Living (KBWB-Atrium), and former Chief Executive Officer and Managing Member Kevin Breslin of KBWB-Atrium, both pleaded guilty to one count of health care fraud and one count of tax conspiracy related to the operation of numerous skilled nursing facilities.
“Americans rely on skilled nursing facilities to care for themselves, family members and other loved ones, and the operators of these institutions must live up to their obligations and the law,” said Acting Assistant Attorney General Brett A. Shumate of the Justice Department’s Civil Division. “The Department of Justice will continue to work closely with its law enforcement partners to help ensure the safety and dignity of our must vulnerable citizens.”
Breslin, 58, of Hoboken, New Jersey, pleaded guilty in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Wisconsin on Dec. 17, 2024. KBWB-Atrium pleaded guilty in the same court on Jan. 21. Breslin is one of six owners of KBWB-Atrium. KBWB-Atrium’s corporate headquarters was located in Little Falls, New Jersey, and its Midwest corporate office was located in Appleton, Wisconsin. KBWB-Atrium operated and owned nursing facilities in New Jersey, Wisconsin, and Michigan.
On Feb. 1, 2023, a Wisconsin grand jury returned a 12-count indictment against defendants Breslin and KBWB-Atrium (collectively the defendants) charging health care fraud and tax conspiracy, among other charges. According to court documents, from approximately Jan. 1, 2015, to in or about September 2018, KBWB-Atrium operated and owned 23 skilled nursing facilities in Wisconsin, and Breslin was responsible for overseeing all of KBWB-Atrium’s operations. The primary source of income for the KBWB-Atrium Wisconsin skilled nursing facilities was federal Medicare and Medicaid funds from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS).
According to court documents, the defendants’ alleged health care fraud scheme involved unlawfully diverting CMS funds intended for the operation, management, maintenance, and care of the residents of the KBWB-Atrium Wisconsin skilled nursing facilities for other purposes and personal expenses. The defendants allegedly prioritized distributions and guaranteed payments to KBWB-Atrium’s owners regardless of KBWB-Atrium’s financial situation. The defendants’ alleged actions resulted in failing to meet the required federal regulations governing skilled nursing facilities, including not operating the KBWB-Atrium Wisconsin skilled nursing facilities in a manner that would enhance residents’ quality of life. According to court documents, the defendants also knew that vendors were not being paid for extended periods of time or some were not paid at all for their services. Additionally, defendants allegedly failed to pay third-party administrators monies deducted from KBWB-Atrium employees’ paychecks for insurance premiums and 401(k) plan contributions.
As a part of the tax conspiracy alleged in court documents, Breslin, acting on behalf of KBWB-Atrium, directed that income taxes and employment taxes withheld from KBWB-Atrium Wisconsin employees’ paychecks not be paid over to the IRS. This caused employees to prepare tax returns listing those withholdings as having been paid to the IRS, which was false.
The defendants are scheduled to be sentenced on May 7 before U.S. District Judge William M. Conleyfor the Western District of Wisconsin. Breslin faces a maximum penalty of up to 10 years in prison for the health care fraud count and five years in prison for the conspiracy to commit an offense against the United States count, along with a period of supervised release. Both defendants face restitution and other monetary penalties. A federal district court judge will determine the sentence of each defendant after considering the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.
“Healthcare fraud affects every American,” said U.S. Attorney Timothy M. O’Shea for the Western District of Wisconsin. “My office was proud to partner with the Justice Department’s Civil Division to help prosecute these individuals who harmed seniors and exploited our health care benefits programs for personal gain.”
“This guilty plea demonstrates our unwavering commitment to holding individuals accountable who exploit vulnerable populations and defraud the healthcare system for personal gain,” said Assistant Director Chad Yarbrough of the FBI Criminal Investigative Division. “Breslin’s actions not only eroded public trust but endangered the well-being of patients who rely on our health care system. The FBI will continue to work tirelessly with our partners to investigate and bring to justice those who abuse positions of trust.”
“The guilty pleas of Kevin Breslin and KBWB Operations LLC serve as a reminder that healthcare fraud is not only a direct violation of patient care, but also an attack on the financial systems that underpin public and private trust,” said Acting Special Agent in Charge Ramsey E. Covington of the IRS Criminal Investigation (IRS-CI) Chicago Field Office. “IRS-CI and its law enforcement partners remain dedicated to investigating and prosecuting individuals and businesses who seek to exploit public and private institutions for personal gain.”
“HHS-OIG is dedicated to protecting Medicare and Medicaid funds and ensuring that health care providers uphold their responsibility to serve vulnerable populations with integrity,” said Special Agent in Charge Mario M. Pinto of the Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General (HHS-OIG). “The actions of those involved in this scheme erode the trust placed in our nation’s health care system, and we will continue working with our law enforcement partners to hold accountable those who misuse public funds for personal gain.”
“Employers placing profit over upholding their legal fiduciary responsibilities when managing health benefit plans will not be tolerated,” said Regional Director Ruben R. Chapa of the Employee Benefits Security Administration in Chicago. “The Employee Benefits Security Administration remains committed to ensuring that those who knowingly break the law are held fully accountable.”
The IRS-CI Chicago Field Office; HHS-OIG – Office of Investigations, Milwaukee Field Office; U.S. Department of Labor, Employee Benefits Security Administration, New York and Chicago Regional Offices; FBI Milwaukee Field Office; and the State of Wisconsin Department of Justice, Division of Criminal Investigation, Medicaid Fraud Control and Elder Abuse Unit investigated the case.
Trial Attorneys with the Civil Division’s Consumer Protection Branch are prosecuting the case with assistance from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Wisconsin.
The Justice Department announced today that KBWB Operations LLC, which did business as Atrium Health and Senior Living (KBWB-Atrium), and former Chief Executive Officer and Managing Member Kevin Breslin of KBWB-Atrium, both pleaded guilty to one count of health care fraud and one count of tax conspiracy related to the operation of numerous skilled nursing facilities.
“Americans rely on skilled nursing facilities to care for themselves, family members and other loved ones, and the operators of these institutions must live up to their obligations and the law,” said Acting Assistant Attorney General Brett A. Shumate of the Justice Department’s Civil Division. “The Department of Justice will continue to work closely with its law enforcement partners to help ensure the safety and dignity of our must vulnerable citizens.”
Breslin, 58, of Hoboken, New Jersey, pleaded guilty in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Wisconsin on Dec. 17, 2024. KBWB-Atrium pleaded guilty in the same court on Jan. 21. Breslin is one of six owners of KBWB-Atrium. KBWB-Atrium’s corporate headquarters was located in Little Falls, New Jersey, and its Midwest corporate office was located in Appleton, Wisconsin. KBWB-Atrium operated and owned nursing facilities in New Jersey, Wisconsin, and Michigan.
On Feb. 1, 2023, a Wisconsin grand jury returned a 12-count indictment against defendants Breslin and KBWB-Atrium (collectively the defendants) charging health care fraud and tax conspiracy, among other charges. According to court documents, from approximately Jan. 1, 2015, to in or about September 2018, KBWB-Atrium operated and owned 23 skilled nursing facilities in Wisconsin, and Breslin was responsible for overseeing all of KBWB-Atrium’s operations. The primary source of income for the KBWB-Atrium Wisconsin skilled nursing facilities was federal Medicare and Medicaid funds from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS).
According to court documents, the defendants’ alleged health care fraud scheme involved unlawfully diverting CMS funds intended for the operation, management, maintenance, and care of the residents of the KBWB-Atrium Wisconsin skilled nursing facilities for other purposes and personal expenses. The defendants allegedly prioritized distributions and guaranteed payments to KBWB-Atrium’s owners regardless of KBWB-Atrium’s financial situation. The defendants’ alleged actions resulted in failing to meet the required federal regulations governing skilled nursing facilities, including not operating the KBWB-Atrium Wisconsin skilled nursing facilities in a manner that would enhance residents’ quality of life. According to court documents, the defendants also knew that vendors were not being paid for extended periods of time or some were not paid at all for their services. Additionally, defendants allegedly failed to pay third-party administrators monies deducted from KBWB-Atrium employees’ paychecks for insurance premiums and 401(k) plan contributions.
As a part of the tax conspiracy alleged in court documents, Breslin, acting on behalf of KBWB-Atrium, directed that income taxes and employment taxes withheld from KBWB-Atrium Wisconsin employees’ paychecks not be paid over to the IRS. This caused employees to prepare tax returns listing those withholdings as having been paid to the IRS, which was false.
The defendants are scheduled to be sentenced on May 7 before U.S. District Judge William M. Conleyfor the Western District of Wisconsin. Breslin faces a maximum penalty of up to 10 years in prison for the health care fraud count and five years in prison for the conspiracy to commit an offense against the United States count, along with a period of supervised release. Both defendants face restitution and other monetary penalties. A federal district court judge will determine the sentence of each defendant after considering the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.
“Healthcare fraud affects every American,” said U.S. Attorney Timothy M. O’Shea for the Western District of Wisconsin. “My office was proud to partner with the Justice Department’s Civil Division to help prosecute these individuals who harmed seniors and exploited our health care benefits programs for personal gain.”
“This guilty plea demonstrates our unwavering commitment to holding individuals accountable who exploit vulnerable populations and defraud the healthcare system for personal gain,” said Assistant Director Chad Yarbrough of the FBI Criminal Investigative Division. “Breslin’s actions not only eroded public trust but endangered the well-being of patients who rely on our health care system. The FBI will continue to work tirelessly with our partners to investigate and bring to justice those who abuse positions of trust.”
“The guilty pleas of Kevin Breslin and KBWB Operations LLC serve as a reminder that healthcare fraud is not only a direct violation of patient care, but also an attack on the financial systems that underpin public and private trust,” said Acting Special Agent in Charge Ramsey E. Covington of the IRS Criminal Investigation (IRS-CI) Chicago Field Office. “IRS-CI and its law enforcement partners remain dedicated to investigating and prosecuting individuals and businesses who seek to exploit public and private institutions for personal gain.”
“HHS-OIG is dedicated to protecting Medicare and Medicaid funds and ensuring that health care providers uphold their responsibility to serve vulnerable populations with integrity,” said Special Agent in Charge Mario M. Pinto of the Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General (HHS-OIG). “The actions of those involved in this scheme erode the trust placed in our nation’s health care system, and we will continue working with our law enforcement partners to hold accountable those who misuse public funds for personal gain.”
“Employers placing profit over upholding their legal fiduciary responsibilities when managing health benefit plans will not be tolerated,” said Regional Director Ruben R. Chapa of the Employee Benefits Security Administration in Chicago. “The Employee Benefits Security Administration remains committed to ensuring that those who knowingly break the law are held fully accountable.”
The IRS-CI Chicago Field Office; HHS-OIG – Office of Investigations, Milwaukee Field Office; U.S. Department of Labor, Employee Benefits Security Administration, New York and Chicago Regional Offices; FBI Milwaukee Field Office; and the State of Wisconsin Department of Justice, Division of Criminal Investigation, Medicaid Fraud Control and Elder Abuse Unit investigated the case.
Trial Attorneys with the Civil Division’s Consumer Protection Branch are prosecuting the case with assistance from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Wisconsin.
Additional information about the Consumer Protection Branch and its enforcement efforts may be found at www.justice.gov/civil/consumer-protection-branch. For more information about the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Wisconsin, visit its website at www.justice.gov/usao-wdwi.
A federal jury convicted a Maryland man yesterday for conspiracy to commit insurance fraud, money laundering, filing false tax returns and identity theft.
According to court documents and evidence presented at trial, James Wilson, of Owings Mills, conspired with others to defraud insurance companies by obtaining over 30 life insurance policies for applicants by mispresenting their health, wealth and existing life insurance coverage. The total death benefits from these policies exceeded $20 million.
Wilson also conspired to defraud individual investors to obtain funds that he then used to pay premiums on fraudulently-obtained life insurance policies. To conceal the fraud, Wilson transferred the fraud through multiple bank accounts, including accounts in the name of trusts. Wilson filed false individual income tax returns for 2018 and 2019, which concealed approximately $5.7 million and $2 million respectively of fraud proceeds.
Wilson is scheduled to be sentenced on May 1. He faces a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison for each count of conspiracy, wire fraud, mail fraud and money laundering; and a maximum penalty of three years in prison for each count of filing a false tax return. Wilson also faces a maximum penalty of two years in prison for each count of aggravated identity theft. 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, U.S. Attorney Erek L. Barron for the District of Maryland and Special Agent in Charge Kareem A. Carter of IRS Criminal Investigation (IRS-CI)’s Washington, D.C. Field Office made the announcement.
IRS-CI investigated the case, with assistance from the Maryland Insurance Administration and Maryland Attorney General.
Trial Attorneys Shawn Noud and Richard Kelley of the Tax Division and Assistant U.S. Attorneys Matthew Phelps and Philip Motsay for the District of Maryland are prosecuting the case.
