NewzIntel.com

Category: Finance

  • MIL-OSI Security: Kansas City Man Sentenced to 12 Years for Fentanyl Trafficking, Illegal Firearms

    Source: US FBI

    KANSAS CITY, Mo. – A Kansas City, Mo., man has been sentenced in federal court for possessing fentanyl with the intent to distribute and possessing firearms in furtherance of drug trafficking.

    James Paden, 63, was sentenced by U.S. Chief District Judge Beth Phillips on Tuesday, May 27, to 12 years in federal prison without parole. Paden was sentenced as a career offender due to his prior felony convictions.

    On Nov. 18, 2024, Paden pleaded guilty to one count of possession with intent to distribute fentanyl and one count of possession of firearms in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime.

    On Feb. 22, 2024, investigators of the Kansas City, Mo. Police Department executed a search warrant on Paden’s residence after a confidential informant purchased tablets labeled “M30”, which contain fentanyl, from Paden on three occasions.  Investigators found a total of over 60 grams of fentanyl, 22 grams of cocaine, and 1 gram of methamphetamine.  Investigators also found a Smith & Wesson, .38 caliber revolver, a Taurus, G2 Millenium, 9mm semi-automatic pistol, a privately manufactured 9mm semi-automatic pistol with no serial number, with a Louis Vuitton design, and $1,000 in cash.

    This case was prosecuted by Special Assistant U.S. Attorney Jessica L. Jennings.  It was investigated by the Kansas City, Missouri Police Department and the FBI.

    Project Safe Neighborhoods

    This case is part of Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN), a program bringing together all levels of law enforcement and the communities they serve to reduce violent crime and gun violence, and to make our neighborhoods safer for everyone. On May 26, 2021, the Department launched a violent crime reduction strategy strengthening PSN based on these core principles: fostering trust and legitimacy in our communities, supporting community-based organizations that help prevent violence from occurring in the first place, setting focused and strategic enforcement priorities, and measuring the results.

    MIL Security OSI –

  • MIL-OSI Security: Missouri Man Pleads Guilty to Multimillion-Dollar Medicare Fraud Conspiracy

    Source: United States Attorneys General

    A Missouri man pleaded guilty today to orchestrating a scheme to defraud Medicare by unlawfully billing millions of dollars in claims for cancer genetic testing and cardiovascular genetic testing. 

    According to court documents, Jamie P. McNamara, 49, of Kansas City, operated several laboratories in Louisiana and Texas, which obtained doctors’ orders for genetic testing from telemarketers and call centers that used aggressive telemarketing campaigns to induce Medicare beneficiaries to agree to receive genetic testing. Orders for genetic testing were signed by purported telemedicine doctors who were not the beneficiaries’ treating physicians, did not perform consultations with the beneficiaries, and did not follow up with the beneficiaries after the testing was performed. To obtain the orders, McNamara paid illegal kickbacks and bribes, which he disguised through sham contracts. In furtherance of the scheme, he also shifted the billing between his laboratories to evade scrutiny from Medicare and law enforcement and concealed his ownership and control of the laboratories by falsely listing the names of his family members as owners and company representatives on Medicare and other documents. In approximately one and a half years, the laboratories operated by McNamara submitted over $174 million in claims to Medicare for genetic testing and received over $55 million in reimbursements. The government previously seized several luxury vehicles and over $7 million in bank accounts.

    “The defendant used illegal payments and lies to fraudulently bill Medicare over $174 million,” said Matthew R. Galeotti, Head of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division. “Health care fraud harms patients, drains government resources, and violates the public trust. The Criminal Division is fully committed to uncovering and aggressively prosecuting these schemes.”    

    “This guilty plea marks the conclusion of a meticulous and complicated prosecution,” said Acting U.S. Attorney Michael M. Simpson for the Eastern District of Louisiana. “Medicare fraud schemes profoundly erode taxpayer confidence and faith in our medical institutions. Schemes such as these must be rooted out, investigated and prosecuted, not only for the monetary loss triggered by the fraud, but also to preserve the public’s trust. Our office, along with our investigative partners, will continue to work diligently to maintain taxpayer confidence in our federal institutions and seek justice for all victims of fraud.”

    “McNamara lined his pockets by preying on vulnerable Americans concerned about their health. The genetic tests Medicare patients were lured into receiving did not provide them with any answers on their predisposition to life threatening illnesses and cost taxpayers millions of dollars,” said Special Agent in Charge Jonathan Tapp of the FBI New Orleans Field Office. “Today’s plea is the culmination of thorough investigative work and partnership between the FBI and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General (HHS-OIG) to protect the public and ensure that justice is served.”

    “Misleading patients with fraudulent genetic testing schemes to exploit the Medicare program is not just unethical — it’s criminal,” said Deputy Inspector General for Investigations Christian J. Schrank of HHS-OIG. “Today’s plea reflects HHS-OIG’s steadfast commitment to holding those who deceive patients and seek to cripple the integrity of our nation’s federal health care programs accountable. We will continue to collaborate with our law enforcement partners to investigate such schemes and bring those responsible to justice.”

    While on pretrial release, McNamara violated his bond conditions by, among other things, fleeing from a DUI arrest and cutting off an ankle monitor. He was subsequently detained.

    McNamara pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit health care fraud. He is scheduled to be sentenced on Sept. 9 and faces up to 10 years in prison. A federal district court judge will determine any sentence after considering the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.

    HHS-OIG and the FBI are investigating the case.

    Assistant Chief Justin M. Woodard and Trial Attorney Kelly Z. Walters of the Criminal Division’s Fraud Section and Assistant U.S. Attorney Nicholas Moses for the Eastern District of Louisiana are prosecuting the case.

    The Fraud Section leads the Criminal Division’s efforts to combat health care fraud through the Health Care Fraud Strike Force Program. Since March 2007, this program, currently comprised of 9 strike forces operating in 27 federal districts, has charged more than 5,800 defendants who collectively have billed federal health care programs and private insurers more than $30 billion. In addition, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, working in conjunction with HHS-OIG, are taking steps to hold providers accountable for their involvement in health care fraud schemes. More information can be found at www.justice.gov/criminal-fraud/health-care-fraud-unit.

    MIL Security OSI –

  • MIL-OSI Economics: Microsoft reaches key milestones of its 2030 sustainability goals

    Source: Microsoft

    Headline: Microsoft reaches key milestones of its 2030 sustainability goals

    Today, Microsoft published its 2025 Environmental Sustainability Report. This report covers our fiscal year 2024, and measures progress against our 2020 baseline. You can read the foreword below and explore the report in its entirety here.

    As Microsoft continues to grow and innovate, our commitment to environmental sustainability remains a core value. This year, we reflect on our progress towards our ambitious 2030 goals: to be carbon negative, water positive, and zero waste, while protecting ecosystems. As we enter the second half of the decade, Microsoft remains steadfast in our dedication to achieving the company’s 2030 environmental sustainability commitments.

    Since we announced our goals in 2020, we have made meaningful progress while seeing major changes in both the technology sector and in our understanding of what it will take to meet our goals. We are learning as we go, and we are proactively working to address sustainability challenges and accelerate solutions. We remain resolute in our commitment not only to meeting our climate goals but also to empowering others with the technology they need to build a more sustainable future.

    At the heart of our approach is an understanding that sustainability is not simply a set of isolated initiatives, but a fundamental principle that must be integrated into every aspect of our business. Our cross-company Climate Council brings together leaders from across Microsoft to drive innovation, accelerate progress, and identify ways to build sustainability into our operations, products, and partnerships.

    We remain pragmatically optimistic because of the promise of new sustainability technologies, innovations in AI, and market solutions that are emerging which can accelerate progress across challenging sectors like steel, concrete, and energy transitions. This annual report is our opportunity to share our learnings to help accelerate these markets, be transparent about our progress, and explore how we can ultimately scale solutions across our value chain.

    We are sharing details about the progress made in each of our core commitment areas: carbon negative, water positive, zero waste, and protecting ecosystems. Our report also highlights a number of our breakthrough innovations, drawing insights from the leading edge of climate innovation.

    Our progress

    In 2020, Microsoft made bold sustainability commitments. At this halfway point to our 2030 goals, we are reaching key milestones and making progress that includes:

    • Ecosystems. In 2022, we met our target of protecting more land than we use by 2025, a target we’ve since exceeded by more than 30%. AI innovation is now driving biodiversity conservation through research efforts led by the AI for Good Lab and tools like the Microsoft Planetary Computer.
    • Zero waste. We exceeded our annual target to divert 75% of construction and demolition waste six years early by diverting 85% of this waste in FY24. We have also surpassed our target for our reuse and recycling rate for servers and components, reaching 90.9%. The Surface Copilot+ PCs now feature our most sustainable packaging design yet. Packaging from over 30,000 server racks was processed through recycling programs in FY24—diverting over 2,500 metric tons of waste from landfills.
    • Water positive. We met our target to provide more than 1.5 million people with clean water and sanitation solutions. We are also on track to replenish more water than we consume across global operations and improve datacenter water use efficiency, including through a new innovative datacenter design that optimizes AI workloads and consumes zero water for cooling to avoid the use of an estimated 125,000 cubic meters annually per facility.
    • Carbon negative. To date, we have contracted 34 gigawatts (GW) of carbon-free electricity (CFE) across 24 countries, about an eighteenfold increase since 2020. We have also entered long-term agreements to procure nearly 30 million metric tons of carbon removal since the start of this program.

    Carbon negative: a marathon, not a sprint

    As we remain focused on sustained progress towards our 2030 goals, it has become clear that our journey towards being carbon negative is a marathon, not a sprint. While our total emissions (Scope 1, 2, and 3) have increased by 23.4% compared to our 2020 baseline due to growth-related factors such as AI and cloud expansion, we are encouraged by the fact that this increase has been modest compared to the 168% increase in energy use and 71% revenue growth that has taken place over the same period.

    For Microsoft to be carbon negative by 2030, we will need to reduce our value chain emissions. Starting with our direct operational emissions, as we shared earlier this year, since 2012 our carbon strategy has included a combination of procuring environmental attributes leveraging our corporate carbon fee and overall carbon emissions reduction efforts. This enabled us to decrease our Scope 1 and 2 emissions by 29.9% from our 2020 baseline in FY24. At the same time, as we shift away from procuring non-additional environmental attribute certificates, we recognize that we must also bring more carbon-free electricity onto the grids where we operate.

    We are also implementing strategies to reduce our Scope 3 emissions by 2030, which increased in FY24 by 26% from our 2020 baseline. We are prioritizing addressing these emissions through supplier engagement programs including establishing standards via our Supplier Code of Conduct. Through the latter, select large-scale Microsoft suppliers are required to transition to 100% carbon-free electricity for their delivered goods and services as well as forthcoming guidance, launching in July, to target usage of sustainable aviation fuel, where possible, for Microsoft business-related air travel by 2030. We also remain committed to developing and supporting innovative solutions to reduce emissions from key datacenter and operational inputs including building materials, chips, and fuels, focusing on long-term solutions over short-term stopgaps. To do this, we have been adapting our strategies to use new sustainability technologies and address the challenges of expanding energy demand.

    We see significant progress in several key areas, demonstrating potential for global impact:

    Powering operations with carbon-free electricity (CFE):

    In 2024, Microsoft contracted 19 GW of new renewable energy across 16 countries through power purchase agreements (PPAs), which are central to our carbon reduction strategy, driving down our Scope 2 emissions. Microsoft has taken a first-mover approach to making long-term investments to bring more CFE online.

    We continue to advocate for expanding clean energy solutions globally to support not only our power needs but also those of our supply chain. We are addressing challenges with permitting, interconnection delays, and fluctuating interest rates by innovating through circularity and contracting. For example, we signed groundbreaking PPAs with Engie requiring that 100% of photovoltaic modules will be reused or recycled.

    Transforming datacenters and campuses:

    In FY24, we launched our first datacenters constructed with mass timber, a strong, ultra-lightweight wood in a hybrid construction model. This approach is projected to reduce the embodied carbon footprint of these new datacenters by up to 65% compared to typical precast concrete. We also doubled our rate of power savings and are transitioning from traditional air-cooled datacenters to chip-level liquid cooling designs at all owned datacenters. As the World Economic Forum highlighted in Innovation and Adaptation in the Climate Crisis, “Data-driven and digital technologies are uniquely suited to build adaptive capacity.”

    We believe technology can be a powerful tool to address some of society’s toughest challenges, including environmental sustainability. As demand for AI and cloud services grows, we are advancing how we design, build, and operate our datacenters and campuses. Decarbonizing the built environment is a crucial element in this process.

    Accelerating carbon removal initiatives:

    In FY24, Microsoft signed long-term agreements to procure more carbon removal than all previous years combined, achieving nearly 22 million metric tons in contracts for carbon removal. We are committed to helping build the markets we buy from, translating leading science into commercial innovation and regularly updating our Criteria for High-Quality Carbon Dioxide Removal. We also know we cannot accelerate this market alone, which is why we co-founded the Symbiosis Coalition with industry partners. The Symbiosis Coalition is targeting up to 20 million metric tons of high-quality, nature-based carbon removal credits by 2030.

    Improving operational efficiency and logistics:

    In FY24, among facilities that manufacture devices for Microsoft, we saw a tenfold increase over the previous year in transitions to 100% CFE. This was accomplished, in part, by partnering with 3Degrees to launch the Supplier REach portal to support suppliers making their CFE transition. Our drive to reduce datacenter emissions extends to transforming the logistics operations of these facilities.

    Through strategic partnerships and targeted initiatives, Microsoft continues to reduce emissions across transportation, warehousing, and the broader logistics supply chain, setting new benchmarks for operational efficiency and environmental impact. We adopted alternative fuels and electric vehicles to reduce emissions, collaborating with several leading logistics service providers (LSPs).

    Renewable diesel is now in use in our road freight operations in Europe and California, cutting emissions by 50% for these shipments while keeping existing equipment in use. We also have partnered with airlines and shipping lines to expand the use of sustainable aviation and marine fuels. These efforts have reduced emissions by over 17,000 metric tons of CO2 emissions, comparable to avoiding the combustion of nearly 40,000 barrels of oil.[1]

    Accelerating global solutions

    At Microsoft, we understand that driving meaningful sustainability progress goes beyond our own practices and requires global collaboration, investment, and innovation. Across our operations, we are working to empower customers, build impactful partnerships, and invest in breakthrough solutions that drive progress worldwide.

    • Investing in innovation: A hallmark of this effort has been our Climate Innovation Fund (CIF)—our $1 billion commitment set in 2020 to advance innovation beyond Microsoft’s four walls. To date, CIF has made significant investments in innovative climate technologies including commercial direct air capture technologies, sustainable aviation fuel, industrial decarbonization, and more. CIF has invested over $793 million in capital in new climate technologies, expanding to 63 investments across CFE, sustainable fuels, carbon removal, and advanced building materials.
    • Empowering customers: We help customers and organizations centralize, analyze, and act on their data with AI-powered platforms for advanced analytics and reporting insights. For example, the Howden Resilience Laboratory supported by Microsoft and our Planetary Computer uses technology and data platforms to help investors understand climate risks to critical infrastructure, improve resilience, and contribute to better-informed investment decisions.
    • Partnering for impact: Partnering to scale our impact is a critical component of our sustainability efforts. Today GitHub fosters a thriving community that is home to over 150 million developers and 60,000 climate-focused open-source projects, advancing climate technology, greener software, and device sustainability. Xbox has made significant investments not only to reduce the environmental footprint associated with the production of our devices, accessories, and console packaging, but also to reduce the energy usage of the console itself. For example, Xbox became the first console to release a dedicated energy consumption and carbon emissions measurement tool designed for game creators.
    • Accelerating AI for sustainability: Our AI for Good Lab, sustainability science, and research teams collaborate globally to accelerate solutions and develop climate resilience with AI. For example, we have partnered with the United Nations to apply AI to climate challenges through programs like the Early Warnings for All initiative, which seeks to better understand which populations may be at risk of extreme weather events and other threats. By sharing our progress, tools, and learnings with the world, we aim to accelerate the pace of innovation, improve overall operational efficiency, reduce energy consumption, and find new solutions with long-term results.

    Sustained momentum and future impact

    There is no issue today that connects everyone on the planet more than climate change. As we strive to build a more sustainable future, we remain inspired by the dedication of our employees and partners and committed to transparency, accountability, and collaboration.

    While the road to a sustainable future is challenging and not linear, we are encouraged by the progress we have made in FY24. By strategically focusing on CFE, carbon removal, water stewardship, waste reduction, and ecosystem protection, we are building an efficient, sustainable engine that drives us closer to our commitments.

    We encourage you to read further to learn more about our progress and learnings across all of these areas, and we look forward to engaging in continued dialogue as we learn and develop new ways to help us meet our goals. We will continue to adapt our strategies, utilize emerging sustainability markets, and scale innovative technologies for even greater impact.

    We recognize that achieving our ambitious goals requires sustained momentum, and we are dedicated to driving that momentum forward.

    [1] This estimate is calculated based on the EPA estimate of the typical passenger vehicle emitting 4.6 tons of carbon dioxide per year.

    Tags: Environmental Sustainability, Environmental Sustainability Report, Microsoft Sustainability Manager, sustainability

    MIL OSI Economics –

  • MIL-OSI USA: Members of Washington Delegation Demand Answers regarding ICE Raid in Kent

    Source: United States House of Representatives – Congresswoman Pramila Jayapal (7th District of Washington)

    WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Representatives Pramila Jayapal (WA-07), Adam Smith (WA-09), Suzan DelBene (WA-01), Rick Larsen (WA-02), Emily Randall (WA-06), and Marilyn Strickland (WA-10) wrote to Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, ICE Acting Director Todd Lyons, and IRS Acting Commissioner Michael Faulkender to express deep concern over the recent immigration enforcement raid in Kent, Washington and to demand immediate answers regarding the nature of the raid and individuals detained.

    The letter is copied in full below.

    Dear Secretary Noem, Acting Director Lyons, and Acting Commissioner Faulkender,

    We write to express our deep concern over the recent immigration enforcement raid in Kent, Washington and demand immediate answers regarding the nature of the raid and individuals detained.

    On May 20, officials from four federal agencies, including Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) Criminal Investigation Division, arrested 17 people at Eagle Beverage and Accessories Products in Kent. Notably, this appears to be one of the first immigration raids involving IRS personnel.

    The Trump administration has repeatedly sought to portray its immigration enforcement efforts as focused on deporting violent criminals. Yet federal authorities have not noted any sort of violent criminal connection serving as a motivating factor behind the raid. Raids like this which arbitrarily target hardworking community members only serve to tear families apart, stoke fear, and undermine trust in local law enforcement. These actions inevitably have ripple effects throughout our country, causing people to avoid going to work or school out of fear and crippling our local economies.

    We request that you immediately provide answers to the following questions:

    1. How many individuals were arrested as part of the May 20 raid in Kent? Please provide details on their gender, age, nationality, immigration status, and reason for their arrest.
    2. Were there any collateral arrests?
    3. Had any of the arrested individuals previously received a form of prosecutorial discretion?
    4. Did any of the arrested individuals have a pending asylum claim?
    5. Are the arrested individuals now in custody at Northwest ICE Processing Center (NWIPC)? If not, where are they currently being held?
    6. Have the arrested individuals been given the opportunity to contact attorneys and family members?
    7. Have the arrested individuals been scheduled for a court date?
    8. Did ICE collaborate with state or local law enforcement agencies?
    9. What role did IRS personnel play in the raid?
    10. What training did IRS personnel receive to participate in the raid?
    11. Did the IRS share the taxpayer data of any of the individuals arrested with DHS prior to the arrests?
    12. How is the IRS’s participation in immigration raids impacting the agency’s ability to carry out its mission of investigating criminal violations of the Internal Revenue Code?

    We thank you for your attention to this matter and look forward to receiving your response.

    Sincerely,

    Issues: Immigration

    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-OSI Security: Windsor — West Hants District RCMP charges a man with historical sexual offences

    Source: Royal Canadian Mounted Police

    West Hants District RCMP has charged a man with historical sexual offences that occurred over a two-year period in Windsor.

    In November 2024, RCMP officers received a report of historical sexual assault involving a teacher, who taught at King’s-Edgehill School at the time of the offences, and a youth victim. Investigators learned that the offences occurred on and off school property and between the years 2000 and 2002.

    In January 2025, as a result of the investigation, Roderick Alexander MacDonald, 48, was served a summons in British Columbia to attend court in Nova Scotia.

    MacDonald, who lives in British Columbia, has been charged with Sexual Exploitation, Invitation to Sexual Touching and Sexual Assault. He’s scheduled to return in Windsor Provincial Court on June 2, at 1:30 p.m.

    There is no information to suggest there are additional victims and others have not come forward, however, the Nova Scotia RCMP encourages anyone who may be a survivor of sexual assault to contact their local RCMP detachment or police of jurisdiction. Survivors can discuss incidents with officers before deciding to participate in an investigation and court process. To offer an anonymous tip, contact Nova Scotia Crime Stoppers, toll-free, at 1-800-222-TIPS (8477), submit a secure web tip at www.crimestoppers.ns.ca, or use the P3 Tips app.

    File #: 2024-1669687

    MIL Security OSI –

  • MIL-OSI Global: Before the bump: Can pre-pregnancy planning affect child development?

    Source: The Conversation – Canada – By Sabrina Faleschini, Assistant Professor, Université Laval

    Enhancing physical and psychological health months or even weeks before conception may have powerful positive effects on offspring. (Shutterstock)

    Anticipating the conception of a child can be accompanied by a lot of uncertainty about how to plan for pregnancy and parenthood. But relatively few people are aware that the things they do months or years before conceiving can influence the development of their future children.

    The preconception period is often overlooked by prospective parents, but is crucial as it sets the foundation for healthy pregnancies and, ultimately, thriving children. Optimizing the physical and mental health of both parents during this time can help create an environment that gives their offspring the best possible start in life.

    While it’s well known that exposure to adverse physical or psychological conditions during pregnancy can powerfully affect child development, emerging evidence suggests that factors occurring before conception can also have lasting effects on offspring.

    As professors of child development and perinatal psychiatry, our work is aimed at identifying which preconception factors have the potential to influence offspring outcomes, and how to intervene to reduce their effects to give all children the best chance to succeed and thrive.

    Enhancing the physical and mental health of both parents during this time can help create an optimal environment.
    (Shutterstock)

    Impact of the pregnancy planning period

    The period of pregnancy planning represents a critical opportunity for future parents to optimize the lives of their children. While some physical and mental health factors shift over time, others are relatively stable. Regardless, enhancing physical and psychological health months or even weeks before conception may have powerful positive effects on offspring.

    For example, public health authorities recommend that women of childbearing age take a folic acid supplement, as this can prevent neural tube defects and enhance the long-term verbal and social skills of offspring.

    Maintaining a healthy diet (for example, eating plenty of fruits, vegetables, whole grains and protein) and a healthy weight before pregnancy is also associated with a lower risk of behavioural problems, improved motor and communication skills and better academic achievement.

    Ultimately, optimizing one’s physical health has many benefits for parents and their children and paves the way for improving their mental health as well.

    Mental health and pregnancy planning

    Even though planning a pregnancy may be stressful for some, optimizing one’s mental health has benefits not only for parents, but also for their future children.

    For example, children whose mothers experience a worsening of depression from preconception to postpartum were less able to control their behaviour and attention. Furthermore, high levels of stress in mothers pre-conceptually are linked to more negative emotionality and impulsivity in children.

    As a result, increasing the focus of public health efforts on the mental health of parents could be crucial to enhancing child development as well.

    Partners are important too

    Even though the health of mothers and birthing parents can have an important impact on the development of future offspring, healthy partners can also help promote positive long-term outcomes in children.

    Healthy partners can also help promote positive long-term outcomes in children.
    (Shutterstock)

    For example, paternal mental health problems present prior to pregnancy increase the risk of pre-term delivery, which is linked to a higher likelihood of behavioural problems and academic difficulties in children later in life.

    Partners can also provide support and motivation to improve and/or maintain the healthy habits of mothers and birthing parents, which can help optimize offspring development.

    Giving future children the best start in life

    A number of practical steps can be taken by parents when planning a pregnancy to help enhance child development.

    Eating a healthy diet and engaging in regular exercise can improve your physical health.

    Optimizing mental health through exercise, nurturing relationships, building social networks, managing stress and seeking counselling and other help when needed can promote well-being during this important time.

    We’re still learning about the preconception period

    Research aimed at understanding the long-term effects of preconception conditions on later child development is still relatively new. Our work is attempting to expand this knowledge base by developing a cohort study that begins in the preconception phase and follows parents throughout pregnancy and into the postpartum period.

    So far, more than 500 women across Canada have joined the study, and we are continuing to enrol new participants until the end of August 2025. Please note that the web page is in French, but English speakers are welcome to join the study. However, since all research materials are in French, participants must be able to understand written French to take part in the study.

    Our work will examine how parents’ mental health evolves across the perinatal period. This study is intended to help us understand the transition to parenthood and how factors present before conception can influence children’s development.

    The pregnancy planning period is a time when parents can make positive changes in their lives that can benefit their health and the development of their future children. Investing in the physical and mental health of both parents is critical for preparing them to welcome a healthy child and can benefit both their family and society.

    Sabrina Faleschini receives funding from the Fonds de recherche du Québec – Société et culture.

    Ryan Van Lieshout does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

    – ref. Before the bump: Can pre-pregnancy planning affect child development? – https://theconversation.com/before-the-bump-can-pre-pregnancy-planning-affect-child-development-250335

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-OSI USA: ICE Los Angeles, multiagency taskforce case results in 14 arrests on complaints alleging more than $25 million in COVID-19 relief, small business loans fraudulently obtained

    Source: US Immigration and Customs Enforcement

    LOS ANGELES — Fourteen defendants — including San Fernando Valley and Glendale residents — were arrested May 28, on two federal criminal complaints alleging they fraudulently obtained more than $25 million in taxpayer-funded COVID-19 relief funds and federally-guaranteed small business loans.

    This case is being investigated by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the Department of Homeland Security’s Office of Inspector General and El Camino Real Financial Crimes Task Force, a multiagency task force that includes federal and state investigators who are focused on financial crimes in Southern California.

    “This transnational criminal network sought to defraud the government of millions of dollars and almost succeeded,” said ICE Homeland Security Investigations Los Angeles acting Special Agent in Charge John Pasciucco. “Through the diligent work of the El Camino Real Financial Crimes Task Force and our federal partners, ICE HSI is continuing to identify these criminal groups looking to profit from the pandemic and will use all available resources to hold them accountable, to include removing them from the country when applicable.”

    The 18 total defendants named in the complaints — four defendants are believed to be in Armenia — are charged with conspiracy to defraud the government with respect to claims; false, fictitious, or fraudulent claims; wire fraud and attempted wire fraud; bank fraud and attempted bank fraud; money laundering conspiracy; laundering of monetary instruments; engaging in monetary transactions in property derived from specified unlawful activity; and/or structuring financial transactions to evade reporting requirements.

    The defendants arrested May 28 include:

    • Vahe Margaryan, aka “William McGrayan,” 42, of Tujunga, who allegedly orchestrated a scheme to defraud numerous banks and the Small Business Administration’s Preferred Lender Program, a program designed to help small businesses that otherwise might not obtain financing. McGrayan allegedly directed owners of sham corporations to open bank accounts, make false statements, and concoct documents, including phony resumes and financial statements, to support loan applications to buy other sham corporations. McGrayan allegedly paid for phony tax returns that falsely reported millions in revenue and tens of thousands in tax due and owing. McGrayan, whose alleged criminal activity lasted from 2018 until January 2025, then directed the laundering of millions in fraud proceeds through various bank accounts.
    • Sarkis Gareginovich Sarkisyan, 37, aka “Samuel Shaw,” of Glendale, who allegedly, among other offenses, submitted a false application and bogus documents to obtain a loan under the Paycheck Protection Program which provided low-interest, forgivable loans to help small businesses retain their workforce and cover expenses. Sarkisyan allegedly applied in April 2021 on behalf of a fake business that received more than $700,000 in PPP funds.
    • Mery Babayan, 32, aka “Mery Diamondz,” of Van Nuys, together with co-defendants Margaryan and Hovannes Hovannisyan, 48, aka “John Harvard,” of Panorama City, in May 2021 allegedly defrauded a bank by representing the nonexistent sale of a sham business to another sham company to obtain an approximately $3 million federally guaranteed loan through the SBA’s Preferred Lending Program.
    • Felix Parker, 77, of North Hollywood, who in January 2023 allegedly made false statements and submitted fraudulent documents, including fake tax returns that falsely reported that his shell company, Canmar Promo, earned millions of dollars annually and owed tens of thousands in federal income taxes. Parker allegedly obtained more than $2 million in government-guaranteed funds earmarked to help small businesses.
    • Axsel Markaryan, 47, aka “Axel Mark,” of Pacoima, who in June 2023 allegedly fraudulently obtained more than $5 million in SBA loans via the submission of false statements and the submission of fake documents, including bogus tax returns. After the loans were obtained, Markaryan and his co-schemers in November 2023 laundered the money, including sending at least $100,000 to a co-schemer in Armenia.

    Law enforcement seized approximately $20,000 in cash, two money-counting machines, paper cash bands or currency straps in denominations of $2,000 and $10,000, multiple cell phones, multiple laptops, two loaded semi-automatic 9mm handguns, and boxes of 9mm ammunition.

    “Today’s enforcement action is intended to send a message to all criminals who take advantage of government programs designed to help those who need them most,” said United States Attorney Bill Essayli. “If you took COVID-19 or SBA money you weren’t entitled to, your door could be the next one we visit. Together with our law enforcement partners, my office will aggressively prosecute individuals who cheat the system meant to protect and support law-abiding citizens.”

    “Scheming to fraudulently obtain federal funds that were meant to provide assistance to the nation’s small businesses is unacceptable,” said the U.S. Small Business Administration Office of Inspector General Western Region acting Special Agent in Charge Jonathan Huang. “OIG will continue to ardently investigate fraudulently obtained SBA program funds, including COVID-19 pandemic-related loans, to protect taxpayers from fraud, waste, and abuse. I want to thank the U.S. Attorney’s Office and our law enforcement partners for their dedication and pursuit of justice.”

    “Today, 14 individuals were arrested in connection with a fraudulent loan scheme in which they allegedly obtained in excess of $25 million through the SBA Paycheck Protection Program, Economic Injury Disaster Loan programs, and other federal funding programs,” said IRS Criminal Investigation Special Agent in Charge Tyler Hatcher, Los Angeles Field Office. “These programs were established to assist individuals and businesses in need of financial assistance and instead were pilfered by the named defendants. IRS-CI is dedicated to identifying and dismantling criminal organizations that prey on assistance programs set up for the benefit of our law-abiding citizens.”

    A criminal complaint contains allegations. All defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.

    If convicted, each defendant would face a statutory maximum sentence of decades in federal prison.

    Anyone with information about allegations of attempted fraud involving COVID-19 can report it by calling the Department of Justice’s National Center for Disaster Fraud Hotline at 866-720-5721 or via the NCDF Web Complaint Form.

    Assistant United States Attorneys Mark Aveis and Gregg E. Marmaro of the Major Frauds Section and Maxwell Coll of the Cyber and Intellectual Property Crimes Section are prosecuting these cases.

    Individuals across the world can report suspicious criminal activity to the ICE Tip Line 24 hours a day, seven days a week at 866-DHS-2-ICE. Highly trained specialists take reports from both the public and law enforcement agencies on more than 400 laws enforced by ICE.

    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-OSI USA: ICE Los Angeles, multiagency taskforce case results in freight forwarding company exec arrest on federal indictment alleging massive scheme to avoid customs duties payments

    Source: US Immigration and Customs Enforcement

    LOS ANGELES – The chief financial officer at a downtown Los Angeles-based shipping company was arrested May 27 on a 22-count federal grand jury indictment charging him and the company’s CEO with using fraudulent documents, shell companies, bribes to public officials, and kickbacks to Mexican drug cartels to smuggle billions of dollars’ worth of goods from the United States into Mexico, repeatedly lying to U.S. customs officials and defrauding Mexico out of hundreds of millions of dollars’ worth of duties owed. U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, U.S. Customs and Border Protection, IRS Criminal Investigation and the DEA are investigating this matter.

    Ralph Olarte, 55, of Glendale, the CFO of Sport LA Inc., was arrested May 27 at Los Angeles International Airport. He made his initial appearance and was arraigned May 28 in United States District Court in downtown Los Angeles.

    Also charged in the indictment is Humberto Lopez Belmonte, 53, of Mexico City, who was arrested and arraigned on May 27 in Los Angeles federal court. Lopez pleaded not guilty to the charges against him and a July 21 trial date was scheduled. A federal magistrate judge ordered Lopez released on $100,000 bond.

    Olarte and Lopez are charged with one count of conspiracy to smuggle goods from the United States. Both defendants and their company, Sport LA Inc., also are charged with one count of smuggling goods from the United States, three counts of knowingly submitting false and misleading export information, five counts of wire fraud for false information submitted to CBP, one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud against Mexico, one count of conspiracy to commit money laundering, and seven counts of international promotional and concealment money laundering.

    Sport LA is charged with three counts of making false statements to a government agency. The other defendant companies — H&R Logistics Inc. and Olarte Transport Service Inc. — are charged with one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and one count of conspiracy to commit money laundering.

    According to the indictment returned on April 30 and unsealed May 27, Olarte and Lopez, from at least 2013 to the present, operated a lucrative international shipping enterprise. Through shipping companies they controlled, Olarte and Lopez smuggled billions of dollars’ worth of goods from and through the United States into Mexico. Many times, they concealed the nature of the shipped goods, some of which contained contraband.

    The companies allegedly submitted millions of false and misleading statements to U.S. customs officials, used shell companies in Mexico to shield their true customers, and created and presented false documents – including sham certificates for paid Mexican import taxes. They also bribed Mexican customs officials, paid kickbacks to drug cartels — including the Jalisco New Generation Cartel — to operate the scheme and smuggled bulk cash into the U.S. to avoid reporting requirements.

    Olarte and Lopez then laundered the proceeds of their scheme back from the true Mexican customers, through the shell companies, and ultimately into the companies’ U.S. bank accounts. As a result of the conspiracy, Olarte and Lopez personally received millions of dollars in illicit proceeds.

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

    If convicted, Olarte and Lopez would face a statutory maximum sentence of 20 years in federal prison for each count of wire fraud- and money laundering-related count, up to five years in federal prison for each smuggling- and false statements-related count, and up to two years in federal prison for each count of knowingly submitting false and misleading export information.

    This investigation is led by HSI’s El Camino Real Financial Crimes Task Force, a multiagency task force that includes federal and state investigators who are focused on financial crimes in Southern California.

    The Transnational Organized Crime Section is prosecuting this case.

    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-OSI USA: Missouri Man Pleads Guilty to Multimillion-Dollar Medicare Fraud Conspiracy

    Source: US State Government of Utah

    A Missouri man pleaded guilty today to orchestrating a scheme to defraud Medicare by unlawfully billing millions of dollars in claims for cancer genetic testing and cardiovascular genetic testing. 

    According to court documents, Jamie P. McNamara, 49, of Kansas City, operated several laboratories in Louisiana and Texas, which obtained doctors’ orders for genetic testing from telemarketers and call centers that used aggressive telemarketing campaigns to induce Medicare beneficiaries to agree to receive genetic testing. Orders for genetic testing were signed by purported telemedicine doctors who were not the beneficiaries’ treating physicians, did not perform consultations with the beneficiaries, and did not follow up with the beneficiaries after the testing was performed. To obtain the orders, McNamara paid illegal kickbacks and bribes, which he disguised through sham contracts. In furtherance of the scheme, he also shifted the billing between his laboratories to evade scrutiny from Medicare and law enforcement and concealed his ownership and control of the laboratories by falsely listing the names of his family members as owners and company representatives on Medicare and other documents. In approximately one and a half years, the laboratories operated by McNamara submitted over $174 million in claims to Medicare for genetic testing and received over $55 million in reimbursements. The government previously seized several luxury vehicles and over $7 million in bank accounts.

    “The defendant used illegal payments and lies to fraudulently bill Medicare over $174 million,” said Matthew R. Galeotti, Head of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division. “Health care fraud harms patients, drains government resources, and violates the public trust. The Criminal Division is fully committed to uncovering and aggressively prosecuting these schemes.”    

    “This guilty plea marks the conclusion of a meticulous and complicated prosecution,” said Acting U.S. Attorney Michael M. Simpson for the Eastern District of Louisiana. “Medicare fraud schemes profoundly erode taxpayer confidence and faith in our medical institutions. Schemes such as these must be rooted out, investigated and prosecuted, not only for the monetary loss triggered by the fraud, but also to preserve the public’s trust. Our office, along with our investigative partners, will continue to work diligently to maintain taxpayer confidence in our federal institutions and seek justice for all victims of fraud.”

    “McNamara lined his pockets by preying on vulnerable Americans concerned about their health. The genetic tests Medicare patients were lured into receiving did not provide them with any answers on their predisposition to life threatening illnesses and cost taxpayers millions of dollars,” said Special Agent in Charge Jonathan Tapp of the FBI New Orleans Field Office. “Today’s plea is the culmination of thorough investigative work and partnership between the FBI and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General (HHS-OIG) to protect the public and ensure that justice is served.”

    “Misleading patients with fraudulent genetic testing schemes to exploit the Medicare program is not just unethical — it’s criminal,” said Deputy Inspector General for Investigations Christian J. Schrank of HHS-OIG. “Today’s plea reflects HHS-OIG’s steadfast commitment to holding those who deceive patients and seek to cripple the integrity of our nation’s federal health care programs accountable. We will continue to collaborate with our law enforcement partners to investigate such schemes and bring those responsible to justice.”

    While on pretrial release, McNamara violated his bond conditions by, among other things, fleeing from a DUI arrest and cutting off an ankle monitor. He was subsequently detained.

    McNamara pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit health care fraud. He is scheduled to be sentenced on Sept. 9 and faces up to 10 years in prison. A federal district court judge will determine any sentence after considering the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.

    HHS-OIG and the FBI are investigating the case.

    Assistant Chief Justin M. Woodard and Trial Attorney Kelly Z. Walters of the Criminal Division’s Fraud Section and Assistant U.S. Attorney Nicholas Moses for the Eastern District of Louisiana are prosecuting the case.

    The Fraud Section leads the Criminal Division’s efforts to combat health care fraud through the Health Care Fraud Strike Force Program. Since March 2007, this program, currently comprised of 9 strike forces operating in 27 federal districts, has charged more than 5,800 defendants who collectively have billed federal health care programs and private insurers more than $30 billion. In addition, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, working in conjunction with HHS-OIG, are taking steps to hold providers accountable for their involvement in health care fraud schemes. More information can be found at www.justice.gov/criminal-fraud/health-care-fraud-unit.

    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-OSI USA: SEC Investor Advisory Committee to Examine Pass-Through Voting and Other Means of Reaching the Ultimate Beneficial Owner; Discuss Market Perspectives on Non-GAAP Financial Disclosures at June 5 Meeting

    Source: Securities and Exchange Commission

    The Securities and Exchange Commission’s Investor Advisory Committee will hold a public meeting at the SEC Headquarters in Washington D.C. on June 5, 2025, at 10 a.m. ET. The meeting will also be webcast on the SEC website.

    The committee will host two panels:

    • Engaging with Beneficial Owners: Exploring Pass-Through Voting and Other Means of Reaching the Ultimate Beneficial Owner; and
    • Beyond the GAAP: Market Perspectives on Non-GAAP Financial Disclosures

    The committee will also discuss a potential recommendation from the committee’s disclosure subcommittee regarding Examining the Use of Mandatory Arbitration Clauses by SEC Registered Investment Advisers.

    The Investor Advisory Committee, which focuses on investor-related interests, advises the Commission on regulatory priorities and various initiatives to help protect investors and promote the integrity of the U.S. securities markets. Established by statute, the committee is authorized by Congress to submit findings and recommendations to the Commission.

    For morning information about the Investor Advisory Committee and the full agenda for the meeting, visit the committee’s webpage.

    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-OSI Africa: Woodside Energy Joins African Energy Week (AEW) 2025 with Focus on Driving Senegal’s Offshore Expansion

    Source: Africa Press Organisation – English (2) – Report:

    African Energy Week (AEW) 2025: Invest in African Energies is proud to announce the participation of Terry Gebhardt, Vice President of Exploration at Woodside Energy, as a featured speaker at this year’s event in Cape Town. With over two decades of global exploration experience and a leadership role at one of the world’s most active independent energy companies, Gebhardt brings a timely and valuable perspective to the continent’s evolving upstream landscape – particularly as Woodside delivers major milestones offshore West Africa.

    Woodside Energy’s successful startup of the Sangomar Field Development Phase 1 in 2024 marked a transformative moment for Senegal’s hydrocarbon sector. The company, in partnership with PETROSEN, brought the country’s first offshore oil project online, establishing Senegal as a new oil-producing nation. This milestone not only affirms the resource potential of the MSGBC Basin, but also highlights Africa’s ability to execute technically complex, deepwater projects with strong returns. As Gebhardt joins AEW 2025, attention turns to what’s next. Phase 2 of the Sangomar development – currently under planning – aims to build on the momentum of Phase 1 by expanding production capacity, leveraging existing infrastructure and maximizing value creation.

    A defining feature of Woodside’s approach in Africa is its emphasis on local content and capacity building. In Senegal, the company has worked closely with PETROSEN and other stakeholders to embed skills development, supplier participation and knowledge transfer into every stage of the project lifecycle. These efforts signal Woodside’s commitment not just to accelerating project delivery, but embedding local expertise across its African operations and building sustainable, inclusive energy ecosystems.

    While Woodside continues to pursue high-impact opportunities in Africa, the company is also demonstrating strategic discipline. Its recent decision not to farm into PEL 87 in Namibia’s Orange Basin reflects a measured, portfolio-based approach to exploration and capital deployment. At AEW 2025, Gebhardt is expected to share insights on how the company balances opportunity, risk and value across its African footprint.

    “Woodside’s success with the Sangomar project reflects Africa’s readiness to execute large-scale, high-impact developments and signals a new era of upstream growth in the MSGBC Basin. Their leadership and commitment to local partnerships embody the kind of long-term investment Africa needs to unlock its full energy potential, and we look forward to welcoming them at AEW 2025,” says NJ Ayuk, Executive Chairman of the African Energy Chamber. 

    With its strategic success in Senegal, continued engagement in West Africa’s LNG narrative and commitment to high-impact, high-value exploration, Woodside Energy remains a key player in Africa’s energy future. Gebhardt’s participation at AEW 2025 reinforces that commitment and promises to add depth to discussions around investment, partnership and unlocking Africa’s full energy potential.

    Distributed by APO Group on behalf of African Energy Chamber.

    AEW: Invest in African Energies:
    AEW: Invest in African Energies is the platform of choice for project operators, financiers, technology providers and government, and has emerged as the official place to sign deals in African energy. Visit www.AECWeek.com for more information about this exciting event.

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    MIL OSI Africa –

  • MIL-OSI USA: Smith and Members of Washington Delegation Demand Answers regarding ICE Raid in Kent

    Source: United States House of Representatives – Congressman Adam Smith (9th District of Washington)

    WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Representatives Adam Smith (D, WA-09), Suzan DelBene (D, WA-01), Pramila Jayapal (D, WA-07), Rick Larsen (D, WA-02), Emily Randall (D, WA-06), and Marilyn Strickland (D, WA-10) wrote to Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, ICE Acting Director Todd Lyons, and IRS Acting Commissioner Michael Faulkender to express deep concern over the recent immigration enforcement raid in Kent, Washington and to demand immediate answers regarding the nature of the raid and individuals detained.

    The letter is copied in full below.

    Dear Secretary Noem, Acting Director Lyons, and Acting Commissioner Faulkender,

    We write to express our deep concern over the recent immigration enforcement raid in Kent, Washington and demand immediate answers regarding the nature of the raid and individuals detained.

    On May 20, officials from four federal agencies, including Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) Criminal Investigation Division, arrested 17 people at Eagle Beverage and Accessories Products in Kent. Notably, this appears to be one of the first immigration raids involving IRS personnel.

    The Trump administration has repeatedly sought to portray its immigration enforcement efforts as focused on deporting violent criminals. Yet federal authorities have not noted any sort of violent criminal connection serving as a motivating factor behind the raid. Raids like this which arbitrarily target hardworking community members only serve to tear families apart, stoke fear, and undermine trust in local law enforcement. These actions inevitably have ripple effects throughout our country, causing people to avoid going to work or school out of fear and crippling our local economies.

    We request that you immediately provide answers to the following questions:

    1. How many individuals were arrested as part of the May 20 raid in Kent? Please provide details on their gender, age, nationality, immigration status, and reason for their arrest.
    2. Were there any collateral arrests?
    3. Had any of the arrested individuals previously received a form of prosecutorial discretion?
    4. Did any of the arrested individuals have a pending asylum claim?
    5. Are the arrested individuals now in custody at Northwest ICE Processing Center (NWIPC)? If not, where are they currently being held?
    6. Have the arrested individuals been given the opportunity to contact attorneys and family members?
    7. Have the arrested individuals been scheduled for a court date?
    8. Did ICE collaborate with state or local law enforcement agencies?
    9. What role did IRS personnel play in the raid?
    10. What training did IRS personnel receive to participate in the raid?
    11. Did the IRS share the taxpayer data of any of the individuals arrested with DHS prior to the arrests?
    12. How is the IRS’s participation in immigration raids impacting the agency’s ability to carry out its mission of investigating criminal violations of the Internal Revenue Code?

    We thank you for your attention to this matter and look forward to receiving your response.

    Sincerely,

    ###

    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-OSI: Invest529 Launches Smart Start Giveaway to Celebrate 529 Day with $25 Contribution

    Source: GlobeNewswire (MIL-OSI)

    Richmond, Va., May 29, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — The cost of higher education is on the rise, and Invest529 is helping families across the country take the first step toward saving for their children’s future with its “Smart Start”Giveaway.

    For one day only (May 29), get a $25 contribution when you open a new Invest529 account.

    May 29 is recognized nationally as 529 Day, a chance to remind people of how important it is to plan for a loved one’s higher education costs and to raise awareness of the benefits 529 accounts offer in helping individuals and families save.

    Visit Invest529.com for more information about Invest529 and to read the “Smart Start” Giveaway official terms and conditions. 

    About Invest529℠:
    Invest529 helps make education more accessible and affordable for families and individuals. With more than $107.4 billion in assets under management and 3.1 million accounts as of April 30, 2025, Invest529 is the largest 529 plan in the country. The program includes two flexible, affordable, tax-advantaged options—Invest529 and CollegeAmerica®—as well as the early commitment scholarship program, SOAR Virginia®, all designed to support students of any age in achieving their higher education goals. To learn more about education savings options from Invest529, visit Invest529.com or call 1-888-567-0540 to request program materials. These materials include information about Virginia529 programs, including investment objectives, risks, charges, expenses and other important details. Please read them carefully before investing. All investments involve risk, including the possible loss of principal. Invest529 recommends that prospective participants consult with a financial, tax, or legal advisor regarding the implications of opening an account. For non-Virginia residents: Before investing, consider whether your or your beneficiary’s home state offers state tax or other benefits—such as financial aid, scholarship opportunities, or creditor protection—that may only be available through that state’s qualified tuition program. ©2025 Invest529. All rights reserved.

    The MIL Network –

  • MIL-OSI Security: New Orleans Man Guilty Of Federal Drug and Gun Crimes

    Source: Office of United States Attorneys

    NEW ORLEANS, LOUISIANA – Acting United States Attorney Michael M. Simpson announced that on May 27, 2025, BRANDON TURNER (“TURNER”), age 39, a resident of New Orleans, pled guilty to Counts One, Two, and Three of the indictment pending against him.  Count One charged TURNER with possession with the intent to distribute controlled substances, in violation of Title 21, United States Code, Sections 841(a)(1), 841(b)(1)(B), and 841(b)(1)(C).  Count Two charged TURNER with possession of a firearm in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime, in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Section 924(c)(1)(A)(i).  Count Three charged TURNER with being a felon in possession of firearm and ammunition, in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Sections 922(g)(1) and 924(a)(8).

    According to court documents, on January 30, 2024, TURNER was arrested for suspected narcotics trafficking.  Law enforcement officers searched TURNER’s apartment and found a detectable amount of fentanyl.  Law enforcement officers also found ammunition and a Glock, Model 43, nine-millimeter caliber pistol.  TURNER knew he was a convicted felon and prohibited from possessing the firearm and ammunition.

    At sentencing, TURNER faces a minimum 5-year term of imprisonment up to 40 years’ imprisonment, up to a $5,000,000 fine, and up to 4 years of supervised release for Count One; a minimum 5-year term of imprisonment up to life imprisonment, up to a $250,000 fine, and up to 5 years of supervised release for Count Two; and up to 15 years’ imprisonment, up to a $250,000 fine, and up to 3 years of supervised release for Count Three.  TURNER also faces payment of a $100 mandatory special assessment fee as to all three counts.

    This case is part of Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN), a program bringing together all levels of law enforcement and the communities they serve to reduce violent crime and gun violence, and to make our neighborhoods safer for everyone.  On May 26, 2021, the department launched a violent crime reduction strategy strengthening PSN based on these core principles: fostering trust and legitimacy in our communities, supporting community-based organizations that help prevent violence from occurring in the first place, setting focused and strategic enforcement priorities, and measuring the results.

    Acting United States Attorney Simpson praised the work of the Federal Bureau of Investigation the New Orleans Police Department, and the Jefferson Parish Sheriff’s Office in investigating this case.  The case is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Troy Bell of the Violent Crime Unit. 

    MIL Security OSI –

  • MIL-OSI Security: St. Bernard Parish Man Sentenced on Federal Gun and Drug Charges

    Source: Office of United States Attorneys

    NEW ORLEANS, LOUISIANA – ABE JYLES (“JYLES”), age 44, a resident of St. Bernard Parish, pled guilty on February 4, 2025, before U.S. District Judge Wendy Vitter to possession of a firearm in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime, in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Section 924(c); possession with the intent to distribute a quantity of a mixture or substance containing a detectable amount of methamphetamine, marijuana, heroin, and cocaine, in violation of Title 21 USC § 841(a)(1) and 841(b)(1)(C); and being a felon in possession of a firearm and ammunition, in violation of Title 18 USC § 922(g)(1) and 924(a)(8).

    On May 27, 2025, Judge Vitter sentenced JYLES to a total of 130 months imprisonment, 5 years of supervised release, and payment of a $300 mandatory special assessment fee.

    Additionally, since JYLES was on federal supervised release stemming from a 2006 federal drug trafficking conviction when he committed the above-described crimes, his term of federal supervised release was revoked by United States District Judge Jay Zainey.  Judge Zainey then sentenced JYLES on May 27, 2025, to serve 27 months of imprisonment to run consecutive to the sentence imposed by Judge Vitter.

    The facts of this case revealed that on February 29, 2024, JYLES was involved in a traffic stop by the St. Bernard Sheriff’s Office.  During the stop, JYLES was identified as the driver and sole occupant of the vehicle.  Law enforcement personnel detected the odor of marijuana emanating from the vehicle.  JYLES was then detained, and following a search of the vehicle, law enforcement discovered multiple illegal narcotics, a scale, drug paraphernalia, and four firearms inside the vehicle.

    This case is part of Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN), a program bringing together all levels of law enforcement and the communities they serve to reduce violent crime and gun violence, and to make our neighborhoods safer for everyone.  On May 26, 2021, the Department launched a violent crime reduction strategy strengthening PSN based on these core principles: fostering trust and legitimacy in our communities, supporting community-based organizations that help prevent violence from occurring in the first place, setting focused and strategic enforcement priorities, and measuring the results.

    This case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the St. Bernard Parish Sheriff’s Office.  The prosecution was handled by Assistant United States Attorney Maurice E. Landrieu, Jr. of the Narcotics Unit.

    MIL Security OSI –

  • MIL-OSI Security: Preston County Man Sentenced for Drug Charge

    Source: United States Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco Firearms and Explosives (ATF)

    CLARKSBURG, WEST VIRGINIA – Steven Sharps, age 45, of Kingwood, West Virginia, was sentenced to 100 months in federal prison for possession with intent to distribute methamphetamine. 

    According to court documents and statements made in court, Sharps worked with others to sell methamphetamine in Monongalia County. Sharps has prior convictions that include drug trafficking and domestic battery.

    Sharps will serve three years of supervised release following his prison sentence.

    Assistant U.S. Attorney Zelda Wesley is prosecuting the case on behalf of the government.

    This case was investigated by the Mon Metro Drug Task Force, a HIDTA-funded initiative. The task force consists of the Federal Bureau of Investigation; the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives; the Drug Enforcement Administration; the West Virginia State Police; the Monongalia County Sheriff’s Office; the Monongalia County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office; the Morgantown Police Department; the WVU Police Department; the Granville Police Department; and the Star City Police Department.

    Chief U.S. District Judge Thomas S. Kleeh presided.

    This case is part of Operation Take Back America, a nationwide initiative that marshals the full resources of the Department of Justice to repel the invasion of illegal immigration, achieve the total elimination of cartels and transnational criminal organizations (TCOs), and protect our communities from the perpetrators of violent crime. Operation Take Back America streamlines efforts and resources from the Department’s Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces (OCDETFs) and Project Safe Neighborhood (PSN).

    MIL Security OSI –

  • MIL-OSI: Matador Technologies Inc. Enters Binding LOI to Partner with Indian Digital Asset Product Strategy Firm

    Source: GlobeNewswire (MIL-OSI)

    TORONTO, May 29, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Matador Technologies Inc. (“Matador” or the “Company”) (TSXV: MATA, OTCQB: MATAF) is pleased to announce that it has entered into a binding letter of intent (“LOI“) to invest in a publicly traded Indian technology company, tentatively named HODL Systems (“HODL”), that implements a treasury strategy which includes investing into digital assets.

    Under the terms of the LOI, Matador will commit to invest up to USD$3,200,000 (“Investment Amount”) in a share warrant structure that would provide Matador up to 24.95% ownership stake in HODL, assuming full exercise of the warrants. This investment aligns with Matador’s strategy to increase its exposure to the global digital asset ecosystem.

    As part of the transaction, Matador also expects to enter into a licensing agreement with HODL in due course to distribute its proprietary digital gold product and other Ordinals technology in the Indian market. The agreement is intended to support Matador’s expansion into new markets within the digital asset sector. Both the LOI and the licensing agreement remain subject to the approval of the TSX Venture Exchange (the “Exchange”), and the investment is subject to Exchange acceptance of the Change of Business.

    The first tranche of the aforesaid warrant investment is expected to close on or before July 10, 2025, subject to customary conditions and regulatory approvals.

    Key Highlights & Strategic Rationale

    • Expansion into the Indian Market: India is a large and growing market for technology and digital assets. This investment allows Matador to establish a foothold in this dynamic region.
    • Balance Sheet Strategy: HODL’s business model aligns with Matador’s broader investment thesis around the adoption of digital assets and the integration of decentralized financial assets.
    • Licensing Agreement for Digital Gold & Ordinals Technology: By bringing its proprietary digital gold product and Ordinals technology to India through HODL, Matador aims to broaden access to its blockchain-based products through this partnership.
    • Capturing a Digitally Native Gold Market: India is the largest private gold-owning country in the world, with households holding more than 25,000 tonnes of gold (World Gold Council). At the same time, over 65% of India’s population is under the age of 35, with a growing middle class increasingly adopting mobile-first, digital investment platforms (UNDP India). Matador and HODL plan to offer blockchain-based investment products tailored to younger, tech-savvy investors in India.
    • Potential for Long-Term Value Creation: Through this investment and licensing arrangement, Matador may participate in HODL’s future growth and expansion into digital asset markets.

    Additional Information from the Letter of Intent

    • Date of Agreement: May 29, 2025 (“Effective Date”)
    • Investment Timelines: 25% of the Investment Amount on or before July 10, 2025, and the remaining 75% of the Investment Amount on or before 18 months from the date of allotment of the share warrants.
    • Valuation Report: HODL will obtain a valuation report from an independent registered valuer, acceptable to Matador, to ensure compliance with applicable regulations and provide transparency in the transaction.
    • Conversion Terms of Share Warrants: The Share Warrants are convertible into equity shares of HODL at a 1:1 ratio at any time within 18 months from the date of allotment, at Matador’s discretion.
    • Conditions of Offer:
      • The board of directors of HODL are expected to accept the LOI as of the Effective Date.
      • As a pre-requisite to the proposed transaction, shareholders of HODL must approve the proposed subscription.
      • The share warrants must be issued and allotted to Matador in dematerialized form within 15 days of shareholders’ approval, which time period may be extended for receipt of regulatory approvals as permitted under law.
      • The post-issue shareholding of Matador will not exceed 24.95% on a fully diluted basis unless waived in writing.

    Deven Soni, CEO of Matador Technologies Inc., commented: “This strategic investment in HODL underscores our commitment to expanding our footprint in high-growth markets and advancing the adoption of digital asset-centric financial strategies. By partnering with HODL, we are poised to deliver innovative digital asset solutions to the Indian market, aligning with our mission to drive global financial inclusion through decentralized technologies.”

    Mark Moss, Chief Visionary Officer of Matador Technologies Inc., commented: “At Matador, we believe the next wave of global financial infrastructure will be built on digital assets. By aligning with HODL, we’re not just expanding geographically—we’re expanding the reach of the digital assets’ ecosystem into a key innovation hub.”

    For additional information, please contact:

    Media Contact:
    Sunny Ray
    President
    Email: sunny@matador.network
    Phone: 647-496-6282

    About Matador Technologies Inc.
    Matador Technologies Inc. is a publicly traded Bitcoin ecosystem company that holds Bitcoin as its primary treasury asset and builds products to enhance the Bitcoin network. Through a self-reinforcing model that combines strategic Bitcoin accumulation, Bitcoin-native product development, and participation in digital asset infrastructure, Matador aims to grow long-term shareholder value without dilution.

    The Company’s flagship offering, the Digital Gold Platform, allows users to buy, sell, and trade 1-gram gold units inscribed as Bitcoin Ordinals—bridging traditional value with decentralized technology. With a Bitcoin-first strategy, a debt-free balance sheet, and a clear focus on innovation, Matador is helping shape the future of financial infrastructure on Bitcoin.

    Cautionary Statement Regarding Forward-Looking Information

    NEITHER THE TSX VENTURE EXCHANGE NOR ITS REGULATION SERVICES PROVIDER (AS THAT TERM IS DEFINED IN THE POLICIES OF THE TSX VENTURE EXCHANGE) ACCEPTS RESPONSIBILITY FOR THE ADEQUACY OR ACCURACY OF THIS RELEASE.

    This news release does not constitute an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to buy any securities in any jurisdiction.

    Forward Looking Statements – Certain information set forth in this news release may contain forward-looking statements that involve substantial known and unknown risks and uncertainties, including risks associated with the implementation of the Company’s treasury management strategy, risks relating to whether the transaction with HODL will be concluded as currently proposed or at all, risks relating to the receipt of applicable regulatory approvals and the launch of the Company’s mobile application as currently proposed or at all. These forward-looking statements are subject to numerous risks and uncertainties, certain of which are beyond the control of the Company, including with respect to the potential acquisition of digital assets and/or US dollars, the pricing of such acquisitions and the timing of future operations. Readers are cautioned that the assumptions used in the preparation of such information, although considered reasonable at the time of preparation, may prove to be imprecise and, as such, undue reliance should not be placed on forward-looking statements.

    The MIL Network –

  • MIL-OSI Africa: Cabinet welcomes reset of SA-US Relations

    Source: South Africa News Agency

    Cabinet has welcomed the reset of strategic relationships between South Africa (SA) and the United States (US) during President Cyril Ramaphosa’s working visit to the United States of America.

    Speaking during a post-Cabinet briefing in Cape Town on Thursday, Minister in The Presidency Khumbudzo Ntshavheni said the SA and US teams will finalise the details of the trade deal between the two countries. 

    “It is safe to emphasise that the objectives that SA had set for the trip have been met. Cabinet looks forward to the continued participation of the US administration in the G20, including the possible attendance of President Trump to the G20 Leaders’ Summit,” the Minister said.

    President Cyril Ramaphosa concluded a working visit to Washington DC in the United States last week Wednesday. The meeting at the Oval House was attended by senior US and South African officials. 

    READ I SA and US have ‘everything to gain’ from closer relations

    The South African delegation consisted of several Cabinet Ministers, notable business figures, and prominent South Africans.

    President Ramaphosa was flanked by the Minister of International Relations and Cooperation Ronald Lamola, Minister Ntshavheni, Minister of Trade, Industry and Competition Parks Tau, and Minister of Agriculture John Steenhuisen. 

    In addition, the President was accompanied by Johann Rupert, the Founder of Richemont and Chairman of Remgro. Vice President of Business Unity South Africa (BUSA) Adrian Gore and President of the Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU) Zingiswa Losi also formed part of the delegation.

    South African pro golfers Ernie Els and Retief Goosen were also in attendance. 

    President Trump was flanked by several key officials including Vice President JD Vance, Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, Deputy Secretary of State Christopher Landau, Chief of Staff Susie Wiles, Special Government Employee Elon Musk, and Dr Massad Boulos, who serves as a Senior Advisor for Africa as well as on Arab and Middle Eastern Affairs.

    South Africa – France Relations

    Cabinet has also welcomed the working visit by Deputy President Paul Mashatile aimed at strengthening relations between South Africa and France. 

    READ I Deputy President concludes working visit to France

    The Deputy President and the SA delegation also attended the SA-France Investment Conference with a view to improving investments by French Companies into South Africa and vice versa and also establishing partnerships between South African and French companies in joint investments through the African Continental Free Trade Area. – SAnews.gov.za

    MIL OSI Africa –

  • MIL-OSI Africa: Cabinet affirms its support for the 2025 National Budget

    Source: South Africa News Agency

    Thursday, May 29, 2025

    Cabinet has affirmed its support for the 2025 National Budget tabled by the Minister of Finance on Wednesday, 21 May 2025, which details key spending priorities over the next three years within the country’s fiscal envelope.

    Speaking during a post-cabinet briefing on Thursday, Minister in The Presidency Khumbudzo Ntshavheni said the National Budget has demonstrated government’s commitment to fiscal discipline. 

    “We have shown that we are steering the economy in a way that looks after the most vulnerable in our society, while investing in economic activity through investment of R1 trillion towards infrastructure over the coming three years.

    “This pro-poor budget, means on every Rand, 61 cents of consolidated, non-interest expenditure funds will be spent on free basic services like electricity, water, education, healthcare, affordable housing, as well as social grants for those in need,” the Minister said in Cape Town.

    Finance Minister, Enoch Godongwana, returned to Parliament last week to re-table the 2025 Budget Review. 

    This decision follows the Minister’s recent announcement and subsequent request to the Speaker of the National Assembly to maintain the Value-Added Tax rate at its current level of 15 percent, reversing the previously proposed 0.5 percentage point increase presented in the 12 March budget.

    The National Treasury previously said that the revised budget will adhere to all established technical processes and consultations as set out in the Money Bills and Related Matters Act.

    This includes formal consultations with the Financial and Fiscal Commission, thorough consultations with all political parties within the Government of National Unity as well as Cabinet approval before presentation to Parliament.  – SAnews.gov.za

    MIL OSI Africa –

  • MIL-OSI Canada: The NFB at the 2025 Annecy International Animation Film Festival. An opening-night film, three shorts in official competition, activities at the film market and more.

    Source: Government of Canada News (2)

    May 28, 2025 – Montreal – National Film Board of Canada (NFB)

    The National Film Board of Canada (NFB) is back at the Annecy International Animation Film Festival (June 8–14), with a strong presence throughout the event. Three NFB short films have been selected for the official competition, including the eagerly awaited The Girl Who Cried Pearls (La jeune fille qui pleurait des perles) by the Oscar-nominated duo of Chris Lavis and Maciek Szczerbowski (Madame Tutli-Putli). It will screen as a world premiere on the festival’s opening night.

    The NFB will also be taking part in the Annecy International Animation Film Market (MIFA).

    The NFB at the 2025 Annecy festival

    • The Girl Who Cried Pearls (La jeune fille qui pleurait des perles) by Chris Lavis and Maciek Szczerbowski (opening-night film, official competition, world premiere)
    • Two other films in official competition: Bread Will Walk (Le pain se lève) by Alex Boya and Hairy Legs (Poil aux jambes) by Andrea Dorfman
    • MIFA: Telefilm Canada / NFB networking event and panel on Canadian animation, with Suzanne Guèvremont, Government Film Commissioner and Chairperson of the NFB, in attendance

    SHORT FILMS – OFFICIAL COMPETITION

    The Girl Who Cried Pearls (La jeune fille qui pleurait des perles) by Chris Lavis and Maciek Szczerbowski (NFB, 16 min) – OPENING-NIGHT FILM AND WORLD PREMIERE
    Press kit: mediaspace.nfb.ca/epk/the-girl-who-cried-pearls
    First screening: Sunday, June 8, 8:30 p.m. (Short Films Official 1)

    • A haunting fable about a girl overwhelmed by sorrow, the boy who loves her, and how greed leads good hearts to wicked deeds. The film was presented at a Work in Progress at Annecy in 2023. With the voice of: Colm Feore. Original Music: Patrick Watson. Sound Designer: Olivier Calvert. Artistic Director: Brigitte Henry.

    Bread Will Walk by Alex Boya (NFB, 11 min 18 s)
    Press kit: mediaspace.nfb.ca/epk/bread-will-walk
    First screening: Friday, June 13, 3:30 p.m. (Short Films Official 6)

    • A devoted sister flees with her brother, a benevolent, bread-turned zombie. A mob pursues, mouths agape. Streets twist into mazes, reason dissolves, hunger reigns. Can love defy appetite? The film was just featured as part of the Directors’ Fortnight in Cannes. Actor Jay Baruchel voices all the characters in the original English version.

    Hairy Legs (Poil aux jambes) by Andrea Dorfman (NFB, 17 min)
    Press kit: mediaspace.nfb.ca/epk/hairy-legs
    First screening: Wednesday, June 11, 3:30 p.m. (Short Films Official 4)

    • Deciding not to shave her legs at 13 led a young Andrea Dorfman to question and ultimately defy society’s expectations. The film received an Honourable Mention for the DGC Award for Best Canadian Animation at the Ottawa International Animation Festival (2024).

    MIFA

    Telefilm Canada / NFB networking event: Canada, Your Next Animation Partner
    Tuesday, June 10, 7 to 9 p.m.

    This soirée will underscore the presence of Canadian animation at Annecy and provide opportunities to develop new partnerships. With Suzanne Guèvremont, NFB Chairperson, and Julie Roy, Executive Director and CEO of Telefilm Canada, in attendance. By invitation only.

    Panel – Investing in the Future: Canadian Animation at the Forefront
    Wednesday, June 11, 10:45 to 11:45 a.m.

    This panel will bring together leaders from the Canadian animation industry as well as filmmakers presenting their projects. With Suzanne Guèvremont of the NFB and filmmakers Chris Lavis and Maciek Szczerbowski, among others, in attendance.

    WOMEN AND ANIMATION, 10 YEARS
    Thursday, June 12, 5:30 p.m.

    • Affairs of the Art (L’art dans le sang) by Joanna Quinn (Beryl Productions International Ltd/NFB, 2021, 16 min 23 s)
    • How to Be at Home (À la maison) by Andrea Dorfman (NFB, 2021, 4 min 51 s)

    HONORARY CRISTAL RECIPIENT JOANNA QUINN

    The NFB congratulates filmmaker Joanna Quinn, who this year is a recipient of the Annecy Festival’s prestigious Honorary Cristal. She will also lead a captivating masterclass during the festival, talking about her passion for drawing and animation, and sharing secrets of how she brings her characters to life.

    – 30 –

    Stay Connected

    Online Screening Room: NFB.ca
    NFB Facebook | NFB X | NFB Instagram | NFB Blog | NFB YouTube | NFB Vimeo
    Curator’s perspective | Director’s notes

    About the NFB

    MIL OSI Canada News –

  • MIL-OSI USA: CFTC Adds 43 Unregistered Foreign Entities to RED List

    Source: US Commodity Futures Trading Commission

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — As part of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission’s ongoing efforts to help protect Americans from fraud, today the CFTC added 43 unregistered foreign entities to its Red List, a tool that provides information to U.S. market participants about foreign entities that are acting in an unregistered capacity and to help them make more informed decisions about trading. The Red List, which stands for Registration Deficient List, launched in 2015 [See CFTC Press Release No. 7224-15], and now contains almost 300 entities.
    A firm is added to the RED List when the CFTC determines, from investigative leads and questions from the public, that it is not registered with the Commission and appears to be acting in a capacity that requires registration, such as trading binary options, foreign currency (forex), or other products. The Commodity Exchange Act generally requires intermediaries in the derivatives industry to register with the CFTC. An “intermediary” is a person or firm that acts on behalf of another person in connection with trading futures, swaps, or options. Depending on the nature of its activities, an intermediary may also be subject to various financial, disclosure, reporting, and recordkeeping requirements. There are some exceptions or exemptions where an intermediary does not require registration.
    The RED List is circulated to financial industry partners, including other regulators, consumer groups, industry participants, self-regulatory organizations, exchanges, and industry associations. It complements registration information provided by the National Futures Association. 

    Abnas Global Corp.
    Abnas Global Securities Co. Ltd. 
    Abnas Global PLC
    abnasglobal.cc
     

    OX Securities Pty LtdOX Securities Limited (SV) 
    oxsecurities.com
     

    Apex Number 
    apexnumber.com

    PO Trade Ltd
    m.po.life
     

    BF Traders
    G-P Ltd.
    bftraders.com
     
     

    Prowins Binary
    www.prowins.live

    Binary Golden Options 
    bnrygoldenopts.com
     

    Smart Magnetic Ltd.
    smartmagnetic.net [email protected]
     

    Blueberry Markets 
    blueberrymarkets.com
     

    Stealth Finex
    stealthfinex.com [email protected]
     

    ElixirVest Ltd. 
    elixirvest.com

    StocktrademarketX
    Stocktrademarketx.com
     

    Equity Price Ltd. 
    equityprice.live
     

    SublimeFX
    sublimefx.comsublimefx.ca
     

    Firephoenix.com 
    [email protected]
     

    SunFX Investment Company 
    sunfx.org

    Forex4Money Trading Ltd.Forex International Gain
    forex4money.com
     

    Sway Markets
    swaymarkets.com

    ForexcellForexcellsForeXcells MKT LimitedForexcells M Group LLCForexcells Markets Ltd.AbileXAG
    forcexcells.com
     

    SwipeCoin
    swipecoin.live

    Global Buck Invest 
    globalbuckinvest.com
     

    Trade Xtix Coins Ltd. 
    tradextixcoins.com

    Global Official Trade 
    Globalofficialtrade.com

    TradeplugxTradeplugx Capital Group 
    trustplusfx.com
     

    Hotbglobal Finance Limited
    www.hotbgl.io
     

    TruBlueFX
    TruBlue FX
    Ares Global Ltd.  
    trubluefx.biz
     

    NASDAQK Limited
    nasdaqkfx.com
     

    trustplusfx.net  
    trustplusfx.net

    Optimaltradeinfo
    optimaltradeinfo

    UltimateStock
    ultimatestock.org

    See the complete list at https://www.cftc.gov/LearnAndProtect.
    The following CFTC staff members are responsible for the RED List: the Office of Customer Education and Outreach staff, and Division of Enforcement staff Michelle Bougas, and Rick Glaser, as well as former staff Erica Bodin.
    *  *  * *  *  *  *
    See CFTC’s Binary Options Customer Fraud Advisory
    The CFTC has issued a Consumer Alert to warn about fraudulent schemes involving binary options and their trading platforms.  The Alert warns customers that the perpetrators of these unlawful schemes typically refuse to credit customer accounts, deny fund reimbursement, commit identity theft, and manipulate software to generate losing trades.
    Customers can report suspicious activities or information, such as possible violations of commodity trading laws, to the CFTC Division of Enforcement via a Toll-Free Hotline 866-FON-CFTC (866-366-2382) or file a tip or complaint online.

    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-OSI Security: Illegal Alien and Prolific Drug Trafficker Convicted Following Thwarted Robbery of Rival Cocaine Supplier

    Source: United States Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco Firearms and Explosives (ATF)

    ATLANTA – Adan Macedo-Rios, 52, of Mexico, who is an alien unlawfully present in the United States, has been convicted of charges related to trafficking in illegal drugs, money laundering, robbery, and unlawful possession of firearms.

    “Macedo-Rios, an illegal alien, distributed large amounts of dangerous drugs and laundered his ill-gotten gains through the purchase of a Georgia horse ranch. His callous and dangerous behavior—highlighted by his involvement in a plot to rob a rival cocaine supplier—was disrupted by the tireless work of our law enforcement partners,” said U.S. Attorney Theodore S. Hertzberg. “Through our combined efforts, we foiled the robbery plan and dismantled the drug trafficking and money laundering organization that Macedo-Rios supplied, thereby eliminating a significant threat of violent crime in our community.”

    “DEA strives every day to keep the American public safe from transnational criminal organizations,” said Jae W. Chung, Acting Special Agent in Charge of the DEA Atlanta Division. “This investigation demonstrates DEA’s commitment to destroying these drug trafficking and money laundering organizations.”

    “For all the innocent residents who are trying to raise families in safe communities, the FBI wants you to know that we are here for you through arrests like this,” said Paul Brown, Special Agent in Charge of FBI Atlanta. “Macedo-Rios repeatedly disregarded the law to enrich himself. The FBI and our partners are firmly committed to ensuring that our communities are protected from the extreme violence and lawlessness displayed by individuals like him.”

    “The conviction of Adan Macedo-Rios, an illegal alien from Mexico and prolific drug trafficker, highlights our unwavering commitment to dismantling drug trafficking organizations that threaten our communities,” said Steven N. Schrank, the Special Agent in Charge of Homeland Security Investigations in Georgia and Alabama. “Thanks to the hard work of our federal, state, and local law enforcement partners, we’ve turned his ‘stable’ of crime into a one-way ticket to accountability!”

    According to U.S. Attorney Hertzberg, the charges, public record, and other information presented in court: Macedo-Rios, a large-scale drug trafficker, supplied other Atlanta-based drug distributors with at least 123 kilograms of cocaine destined for distribution throughout multiple states. In 2023, Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) special agents obtained federal court authorization to intercept communications over cellphones used by Macedo-Rios and others. These intercepts led to the seizure of multiple kilograms of cocaine and other narcotics, and drug proceeds, from drug transporters working for Macedo-Rios and his conspirators. 

    Macedo-Rios remitted drug payments to his narcotics suppliers in Mexico and used proceeds of his criminal activity to fraudulently purchase an eight-acre ranch with a 24-horse stable and farmhouse in Loganville, Georgia. With his conspirators, Macedo-Rios planned the robbery of another drug supplier who was storing 65 kilograms of cocaine in his residence. Macedo-Rios and his conspirators even conducted their own surveillance of the target, including by placing a tracker on the rival’s car, and plotted to use firearms to facilitate the robbery. But their plan was timely thwarted by DEA agents, who intercepted communications about the robbery.

    When agents arrested Macedo-Rios at the horse ranch, they discovered a loaded Colt .38 pistol and a Ruger 9mm semi-automatic handgun in his bedroom, even though he was prohibited from possessing firearms due to his unlawful presence in the United States and status as a convicted felon. Macedo-Rios, a Mexican citizen, has a history of multiple deportations from the United States.

    Adan Macedo-Rios appeared before United States District Judge J. P. Boulee on May 28, 2025, and pleaded guilty to conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute cocaine, conspiracy to commit Hobbs Act Robbery, unlawful possession of a firearm by an alien illegally present in the United States, and conspiracy to commit money laundering.

    As to his drug trafficking conviction, Macedo-Rios faces a mandatory minimum sentence of 10 years and up to life in prison, a maximum $10,000,000 fine, and a minimum of five years of supervised release. For the Hobbs Act Robbery conviction, he faces up to 20 years in prison, up to a $250,000 fine, and up to three years of supervised release. For the firearm conviction, Macedo-Rios faces a maximum term of imprisonment of 15 years, a maximum fine of $250,000, and up to three years of supervised release. The money laundering conviction carries a sentence of up to 20 years in prison, up to a $500,000 fine, and forfeiture of property involved in the offense. 

    In determining the actual sentence, the Court will consider the United States Sentencing Guidelines, which are not binding but provide appropriate sentencing ranges for most offenders.

    Sentencing is scheduled for August 26, 2025, at 1 pm before Judge Boulee.

    This case is being investigated by the Drug Enforcement Administration, Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, Federal Bureau of Investigation, and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Homeland Security Investigations, with assistance from Georgia State Patrol and the Gwinnett County Sheriff’s Office.

    Assistant United States Attorneys John T. DeGenova and Rebeca M. Ojeda are prosecuting the case.

    This case is part of Operation Take Back America a nationwide initiative that marshals the full resources of the Department of Justice to repel the invasion of illegal immigration, achieve the total elimination of cartels and transnational criminal organizations (TCOs), and protect our communities from the perpetrators of violent crime. Operation Take Back America streamlines efforts and resources from the Department’s Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces (OCDETFs) and Project Safe Neighborhood (PSN).

    This prosecution is part of an Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces (OCDETF) Strike Force Initiative, which provides for the establishment of permanent multi-agency task force teams that work side-by-side in the same location. This co-located model enables agents from different agencies to collaborate on intelligence-driven, multi¬ jurisdictional operations to eliminate the most significant drug traffickers, money launderers, gangs, and transnational criminal organizations.

    The specific mission of the David G. Wilhelm Atlanta OCDETF Strike Force (Atlanta Strike Force) is to eliminate transnational organized crime syndicates and major drug trafficking and money laundering organizations in the Atlanta metropolitan area and the Northern District of Georgia. To accomplish this mission, the Atlanta Strike Force will target these organizations’ leaders, focusing on targets designated as Consolidated Priority Organization Targets, Regional Priority Organization Targets, and their associates.  The Atlanta Strike Force is comprised of agents and officers from ATF, DEA, FBI, HSI, USMS, USPIS, and IRS, as well as numerous state and local agencies; and the prosecution is being led by the Office of the United States Attorney for the Northern District of Georgia.

    For further information please contact the U.S. Attorney’s Public Affairs Office at USAGAN.PressEmails@usdoj.gov or (404) 581-6280.  The Internet address for the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Georgia is http://www.justice.gov/usao-ndga.

    MIL Security OSI –

  • MIL-OSI Africa: International Islamic Trade Finance Corporation (ITFC) and Société Internationale des Hydrocarbures de Djibouti (SIHD) Strengthen Djibouti’s Hydrocarbon Sector through Capacity-Building Training Workshops

    Source: Africa Press Organisation – English (2) – Report:

    DJIBOUTI CITY, Djibouti, May 29, 2025/APO Group/ —

    The International Islamic Trade Finance Corporation (ITFC) (www.ITFC-IDB.org), the trade finance arm of the Islamic Development Bank (IsDB) Group, in collaboration with its longstanding partner, the Société Internationale des Hydrocarbures de Djibouti (SIHD), has successfully conducted two back-to-back training workshops aimed at strengthening operational efficiency within Djibouti’s hydrocarbon sector. In total, 20 participants benefited from this initiative, demonstrating a commitment to both technical excellence and gender inclusion

    The first workshop, themed “Sales and Supply Chain Management”, took place from 8th to 10th April 2025 and addressed key issues including the optimization of procurement strategies and the development of competitive pricing models. The second workshop, held from 15th to 17th April 2025, focused on “Profitability Study and Risk Analysis of Downstream Oil Projects”, covering investment evaluation and corporate purchasing processes. These sessions were conducted by IFP Training, experts in the provision of professional development and capacity-building in energy and process industries. 

    Through this partnership, ITFC and SIHD aim to empower professionals with the essential skills and tools to strengthen procurement strategies in the petroleum sector, implement competitive export pricing, effectively evaluate investments and manage large-scale projects, enhance leadership and team supervision, and improve compliance and efficiency within public procurement processes. These training workshops form part of broader efforts to align with Djibouti Vision 2035, the nation’s long-term development strategy aimed at positioning Djibouti as Africa’s leading trade and logistics hub. 

    Over the years, ITFC has maintained a strong and prevailing partnership with the Republic of Djibouti, approving a total of US$1.6 billion across 33 operations, primarily focused on the energy and health sectors. This program is in line with ITFC’s integrated approach to Trade Finance and Development which reaffirms ITFC’s vision of a leading trade solutions provider for its member countries. 

    MIL OSI Africa –

  • MIL-OSI Europe: Discurso do presidente António Costa na sessão de abertura do Primeiro Fórum de Investimento União Europeia-Brasil

    Source: Council of the European Union

    O presidente do Conselho Europeu António Costa proferiu o discurso de abertura do Fórum de Investimento UE-Brasil em São Paulo. O fórum constitui a plataforma para o lançamento formal do diálogo estruturado sobre investimento entre a UE e o Brasil.

    MIL OSI Europe News –

  • MIL-OSI Security: Guatemalan National Previously Convicted and Deported for Drug Trafficking Pleads Guilty to a Charge of Illegal Reentry

    Source: Office of United States Attorneys

    PROVIDENCE – A Guatemalan national deported in 2015 after having been convicted for drug trafficking in Connecticut today pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court in Rhode Island to a charge of illegal re-entry, announced Acting United States Attorney Sara Miron Bloom.

    According to court records, Pedro Andony Alvarado Aguilar, 46, was convicted in federal court in Connecticut in November 2014 on charges of conspiracy to import 5,000 grams or more of cocaine and conspiracy to import 1,000 grams or more of heroin. He was deported on July 1, 2015.

    On April 10, 2025, Immigration Officers learned through an automated biometric fingerprint match of fingerprints entered into the National Crime Information Center that the defendant was arrested in Rhode Island for driving on a suspended license and on an obstruction charge. Alvarado admitted to a federal judge today that he illegally reentered the United States.

    Alvarado is scheduled to be sentenced on June 25, 2025. The sentence imposed will be determined by a federal district judge after consideration of the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.

    The case is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Peter I. Roklan.

    The matter was investigated by Homeland Security Investigations Immigration and Custom Enforcement.

    This case is part of Operation Take Back America (https://www.justice.gov/dag/media/1393746/dl?inline), a nationwide initiative that marshals the full resources of the Department of Justice to repel the invasion of illegal immigration, achieve the total elimination of cartels and transnational criminal organizations (TCOs), and protect our communities from the perpetrators of violent crime. Operation Take Back America streamlines efforts and resources from the Department’s Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces (OCDETFs) and Project Safe Neighborhood (PSN).

    ###

    MIL Security OSI –

  • MIL-OSI Russia: Vladimir Stroyev joined the presidium of the International Movement for Financial Security

    Translation. Region: Russian Federal

    Source: State University of Management – Official website of the State –

    On May 27, 2025, within the framework of the 42nd Plenary Week of the Eurasian Group on Combating Money Laundering and Financing of Terrorism (EAG), the 22nd meeting of the Council of the International Network Institute in the field of AML/CFT and the conference of the International Movement for Financial Security were held with the participation of the management, teachers and students of the State University of Management, headed by Vice-Rector Dmitry Bryukhanov.

    In 2025, GUU officially joined the International Movement for Financial Security, created on the initiative of a student from Brazil, Augusto Lemmertz, during a meeting between Russian President Vladimir Putin and the finalists of the III International Financial Security Olympiad in 2023. And on May 27, as part of the next conference of the International Movement for Financial Security, GUU Rector Vladimir Stroyev joined the Presidium of the movement. The Chairman of the Presidium of the movement is Deputy Prime Minister of the Russian Federation Dmitry Chernyshenko, and the Deputy Chairman is Director of Rosfinmonitoring Yuri Chikhanchin.

    Let us recall that the State University of Management has been a member of the ISI in the field of AML/CFT since 2014, and has been actively participating in the Olympiad movement since the selection events of the 1st International Financial Security Olympiad in 2021. Since 2023, it has been actively working in the field of promoting the financial security Olympiad movement in historical territories, in particular, in 2023 it organized the selection of participants in the Olympiad finals among students and schoolchildren from the DPR, LPR, Zaporizhia and Kherson regions, in the same year it organized a summer school for finalists from historical territories and annually participates in the training of teachers of historical territories to conduct a thematic lesson on financial security.

    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.

    MIL OSI Russia News –

  • MIL-OSI USA: ICE Newark arrests Guatemalan unaccompanied alien child sponsor wanted overseas for attempted aggravated homicide

    Source: US Immigration and Customs Enforcement

    NEWARK, N.J. — U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement arrested a Guatemalan fugitive wanted for two counts of attempted aggravated homicide in his home country.

    ICE Homeland Security Investigations Newark administratively arrested Adelso Garcia Martinez, 29, a Guatemalan native, May 13 for violations of the Immigration and Naturalization Act.

    “It is deplorable to imagine that a wanted fugitive would find illegal shelter in the United States with a child in tow and later go on to sponsor another alien,” said ICE HSI Newark Special Agent in Charge Ricky Patel. “Our investigation into this alien is part of our agency’s staunch effort to ensure unaccompanied alien children released from the care of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of Refugee Resettlement are not subjected to crimes of trafficking and exploitation.”

    Garcia unlawfully entered the United States in Rio Grande, Texas on May 19, 2021. He was released into the United States by U.S. Border Patrol the same day.

    According to the investigation, in April 2025, HSI Newark encountered Garcia pursuant to records checks. During this encounter, HSI Newark with the assistance of HSI Guatemala City identified that Garcia-Martinez has an outstanding and active arrest warrant issued Feb. 18, 2021, in his home country for attempted aggravated homicide.

    Garcia was issued a notice to appear after ICE arrested him May 13. He is currently detained at the Delaney Hall Detention Facility in New Jersey, pending removal proceedings.

    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-OSI Australia: Giant crane arrives in Canberra

    Source: Northern Territory Police and Fire Services

    More than 100 semi-trailers were needed to deliver the crane pieces, and it took almost three weeks to build.

    In brief:

    • A giant crane is helping to build the new Molonglo River Bridge.
    • The crane will reach heights of up to 143-metres, it is one of the tallest cranes to ever come to Canberra.
    • This article provides more information on the crane.

    A giant crane has arrived in Canberra to work on the Molonglo River Bridge project.

    The crane is one of the tallest to ever come to Canberra.

    A crane enthusiasts dream

    Standing at up to143 metres tall, the crane is taller than Parliament House, which is 107 metres high.

    More than 100 semi-trailers were needed to deliver the crane pieces, and it took almost three weeks to build.

    The crane is:
    -capable of lifting steel beams up to 80 metres long – nearly the length of four basketball courts
    -has a capacity of 1,600 tonnes, or the weight of 260 elephants.

    To aid in the construction of the new bridge, Coppins Crossing Road is now closed for up to three weeks.

    This will allow the crane to lift the steel girders into place.

    To safely view the crane in action, park at the Namarag Reserve carpark off Thancoupie Crescent. Please do not go beyond barriers or stop on Coppins Crossing Road.

    The Molonglo River Bridge Project

    When completed, the 200-metre-long Molonglo River Bridge will be the longest weathering steel bridge in Australia and the tallest road bridge in Canberra.

    It will support the growing region and better connect suburbs in the Molonglo Valley to Belconnen and the rest of Canberra.

    Construction began in January 2024. Initial works included the realignment of the northern approach road to Coppins Crossing. The new temporary road opened in May 2024.

    The bridge’s foundation and substructure are now complete. The superstructure of the bridge is being constructed.

    The Australian and ACT governments jointly fund the project under the Commonwealth’s Investment Road and Rail Program.

    For more information visit the Built for CBR website.

    Get ACT news and events delivered straight to your inbox, sign up to our email newsletter:


    MIL OSI News –

  • MIL-OSI USA: 14 Arrested on Complaints Alleging More Than $25 Million in COVID-19 Relief and Small Business Loans Were Fraudulently Obtained

    Source: United States Small Business Administration

    Click Here to View the Original U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) Press Release

    Fourteen defendants – including San Fernando Valley and Glendale residents – were arrested on two federal criminal complaints alleging they fraudulently obtained more than $25 million in taxpayer-funded COVID-19 relief funds and federally-guaranteed small business loans.

    The 18 total defendants named in the complaints – four defendants are believed to be in Armenia – are charged with conspiracy to defraud the government with respect to claims; false, fictitious, or fraudulent claims; wire fraud and attempted wire fraud; bank fraud and attempted bank fraud; money laundering conspiracy; laundering of monetary instruments; engaging in monetary transactions in property derived from specified unlawful activity; and/or structuring financial transactions to evade reporting requirements.

    The defendants arrested today include:

    • Vahe Margaryan, a.k.a. “William McGrayan,” 42, of Tujunga, who allegedly orchestrated a scheme to defraud numerous banks and the Small Business Administration’s (SBA) Preferred Lender Program, a program designed to help small businesses that otherwise might not obtain financing. McGrayan allegedly directed owners of sham corporations to open bank accounts, make false statements, and concoct documents, including phony resumes and financial statements, to support loan applications to buy other sham corporations. McGrayan allegedly paid for phony tax returns that falsely reported millions in revenue and tens of thousands in tax due and owing. McGrayan, whose alleged criminal activity lasted from 2018 until January 2025, then directed the laundering of millions in fraud proceeds through various bank accounts.
    • Sarkis Gareginovich Sarkisyan, 37, a.k.a. “Samuel Shaw,” of Glendale, who allegedly, among other offenses, submitted a false application and bogus documents to obtain a loan under the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP), which provided low-interest, forgivable loans to help small businesses retain their workforce and cover expenses. Sarkisyan allegedly applied in April 2021 on behalf of a fake business that received more than $700,000 in PPP funds.
    • Mery Babayan, 32, a.k.a. “Mery Diamondz,” of Van Nuys, together with co-defendants Margaryan and Hovannes Hovannisyan, 48, a.k.a. “John Harvard,” of Panorama City, in May 2021 allegedly defrauded a bank by representing the nonexistent sale of a sham business to another sham company to obtain an approximately $3 million federally guaranteed loan through the SBA’s Preferred Lending Program.
    • Felix Parker, 77, of North Hollywood, who in January 2023 allegedly made false statements and submitted fraudulent documents, including fake tax returns that falsely reported that his shell company, Canmar Promo, earned millions of dollars annually and owed tens of thousands in federal income taxes. Parker allegedly obtained more than $2 million in government-guaranteed funds earmarked to help small businesses.
    • Axsel Markaryan, 47, a.k.a. “Axel Mark,” of Pacoima, who in June 2023 allegedly fraudulently obtained more than $5 million in SBA loans via the submission of false statements and the submission of fake documents, including bogus tax returns. After the loans were obtained, Markaryan and his co-schemers in November 2023 laundered the money, including sending at least $100,000 to a co-schemer in Armenia.

    As a result of today’s takedown, law enforcement seized approximately $20,000 in cash, two money-counting machines, paper cash bands or currency straps in denominations of $2,000 and $10,000, multiple cell phones, multiple laptops, two loaded semi-automatic 9mm handguns, and boxes of 9mm ammunition.

    “Today’s enforcement action is intended to send a message to all criminals who take advantage of government programs designed to help those who need them most,” said United States Attorney Bill Essayli. “If you took COVID-19 or SBA money you weren’t entitled to, your door could be the next one we visit. Together with our law enforcement partners, my office will aggressively prosecute individuals who cheat the system meant to protect and support law-abiding citizens.”

    “Scheming to fraudulently obtain federal funds that were meant to provide assistance to the nation’s small businesses is unacceptable,” said the U.S. Small Business Administration Office of Inspector General (SBA-OIG) Western Region Acting Special Agent in Charge Jonathan Huang. “OIG will continue to ardently investigate fraudulently obtained SBA program funds, including COVID-19 pandemic-related loans, to protect taxpayers from fraud, waste, and abuse. I want to thank the U.S. Attorney’s Office and our law enforcement partners for their dedication and pursuit of justice.”

    “This transnational criminal network sought to defraud the government of millions of dollars and almost succeeded,” said Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) Los Angeles Acting Special Agent in Charge John Pasciucco. “Through the diligent work of the El Camino Real Financial Crimes Task Force and our federal partners, HSI is continuing to identify these criminal groups looking to profit from the pandemic and will use all available resources to criminally prosecute or remove them from the country.”

    “Today, 14 individuals were arrested in connection with a fraudulent loan scheme in which they allegedly obtained in excess of $25 million through the SBA Paycheck Protection Program, Economic Injury Disaster Loan programs, and other federal funding programs,” said IRS Criminal Investigation Special Agent in Charge Tyler Hatcher, Los Angeles Field Office. “These programs were established to assist individuals and businesses in need of financial assistance and instead were pilfered by the named defendants. IRS-CI is dedicated to identifying and dismantling criminal organizations that prey on assistance programs set up for the benefit of our law-abiding citizens.”

    A criminal complaint contains allegations. All defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.

    If convicted, each defendant would face a statutory maximum sentence of decades in federal prison.

    On May 17, 2021, the Attorney General established the COVID-19 Fraud Enforcement Task Force to marshal the resources of the Department of Justice in partnership with agencies across government to enhance efforts to combat and prevent pandemic-related fraud. The Task Force bolster efforts to investigate and prosecute the most culpable domestic and international criminal actors and assists agencies tasked with administering relief programs to prevent fraud by, among other methods, augmenting and incorporating existing coordination mechanisms, identifying resources and techniques to uncover fraudulent actors and their schemes, and sharing and harnessing information and insights gained from prior enforcement efforts. For more information on the department’s response to the pandemic, please visit https://www.justice.gov/coronavirus.

    On September 15, 2022, the Attorney General selected the U.S. Attorney’s Offices for the Central and Eastern Districts of California to jointly head one of the three national COVID-19 Fraud Strike Force Teams. The Department of Justice established the Strike Force to enhance existing efforts to combat and prevent COVID-19 related financial fraud. The Strike Force combines law enforcement and prosecutorial resources and focuses on large-scale, multistate pandemic relief fraud perpetrated by criminal organizations and transnational actors, as well as those who committed instances of pandemic relief fraud. The Strike Force uses prosecutor-led and data analyst-driven teams to identify and bring to justice those who stole pandemic relief funds. Additional information regarding the Strike Force may be found at https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/justice-department-announces-covid-19-fraud-strike-force-teams.

    Anyone with information about allegations of attempted fraud involving COVID-19 can report it by calling the Department of Justice’s National Center for Disaster Fraud (NCDF) Hotline at (866) 720-5721 or via the NCDF Web Complaint Form at https://www.justice.gov/disaster-fraud/ncdf-disaster-complaint-form.

    SBA-OIG, IRS Criminal Investigation, and HSI are investigating these matters.

    The cases announced today were investigated by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s Office of Inspector General and Homeland Security Investigations’ (HSI) El Camino Real Financial Crimes Task Force, a multi-agency task force that includes federal and state investigators who are focused on financial crimes in Southern California.

    Assistant United States Attorneys Mark Aveis and Gregg Marmaro of the Major Frauds Section and Maxwell Coll of the Cyber and Intellectual Property Crimes Section are prosecuting these cases.

    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-OSI USA: U.S. Attorney’s Office Secures Nearly $9 Million in Fraud and Money Laundering Proceeds from Fraudulently Obtained Paycheck Protection Program Loans

    Source: United States Small Business Administration

    Click Here to View the Original U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) Press Release

    On May 14, 2025, U.S. District Judge Michael E. Farbiarz entered a final judgment forfeiting to the United States approximately $7 million in fraud and money laundering proceeds, as well as a real property purchased with laundered fraud proceeds that has an estimated market value of nearly $2 million, United States Attorney Alina Habba announced.

    On May 6, 2024, the U.S. Attorney’s Office filed a civil forfeiture complaint against approximately $7 million in seized and frozen U.S. currency, as well as a real property in Cresskill, New Jersey, that was purchased with nearly $1 million in laundered fraud proceeds, alleging that the assets were the proceeds of fraud and money laundering offenses. As alleged in the complaint, between April 2020 and August 2020, Jae H. Choi (“Choi”) fraudulently obtained Paycheck Protection Program (“PPP”) loans totaling approximately $8,971,457, and then laundered those fraud proceeds through various financial accounts held in the names of Choi’s nominees, including Choi’s relative and various corporate entities that Choi controlled. According to the civil forfeiture complaint, Choi then spent the laundered fraud proceeds on personal expenses and purchased the Cresskill real property.

    United States Attorney Habba credited special agents of the Internal Revenue Service –Criminal Investigation, under the direction of Special Agent in Charge Jenifer L. Piovesan, special agents of the Social Security Administration, Office of the Inspector General’s Boston New York Field Division, under the direction of Special Agent in Charge Amy Connelly, postal inspectors of the U.S. Postal Inspection Service, under the direction of Inspector in Charge Christopher A. Nielsen, and special agents of the U.S. Small Business Administration, Office of Inspector General’s Eastern Region, under the direction of Special Agent in Charge Amaleka McCall-Braithwaite, with the investigation.

    The government is represented by Assistant U.S. Attorney Peter A. Laserna of the Bank Integrity, Money Laundering, and Recovery Unit of the Criminal Division in Newark.

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    choi.complaint.pdf

    Related programs: Pandemic Oversight, PPP

    MIL OSI USA News –