NewzIntel.com

Category: Intelligence

  • MIL-OSI Security: FBI Boston Recovers and Returns 22 Historic Artifacts to Okinawa, Japan

    Source: US FBI

    In total, the FBI recovered 22 artifacts: six painted scrolls from the 18th-19th centuries (three of which were one piece and appear to have been divided into three pieces), a hand-drawn map of Okinawa dating back to the 19th century, and various pieces of pottery and ceramics. A typewritten letter was also found with the artifacts in Massachusetts that helped confirm they were looted during the last days of World War II. 

    “When taken together, they really represent a substantial piece of Okinawan history,” said Kelly.

    The FBI transported the artifacts from Massachusetts to Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of Asian Art in Washington, D.C., where the scrolls were unfurled for the first time in many years, revealing portraits of Okinawan royalty in vivid reds, golds, and blue accents. 

    “It’s an exciting moment when you when you watch the scroll unfurl in front of you,” said Kelly. “You witness history, and you witness something that hasn’t been seen by many people in a very long time.”

    A hand-drawn map of Okinawa dates back to the 19th century.

    MIL Security OSI –

  • MIL-OSI Security: NICS Enhanced Background Checks for Under-21 Gun Buyers Showing Results

    Source: US FBI

    Since implementing enhanced background checks for under-21 gun buyers in October 2022, the NICS Section of the FBI’s Criminal Justice Information Services (CJIS) Division in Clarksburg, West Virginia, has conducted enhanced background checks on more than 200,000 under-21 transactions. Of those, it has denied more than 600 transactions based solely on “prohibitive” information provided during the enhanced background checks.

    “Those people would have received a firearm under a traditional check,” said CJIS Division Assistant Director Michael A. Christman. He went on to say that NICS Section staff have spent the past year holding more than 500 training events and reaching more than 4,000 law enforcement agencies so they will understand why the NICS examiners may be reaching out someday soon, if they haven’t already. The outreach effort encourages agencies to respond to NICS quickly, even if it’s only to say they’re unable to assist because of local laws or privacy concerns.

    “When you’re lacking those criminal history records, particularly a disposition that evidences a conviction for prohibiting offenses—typically a felony—you’re left short-handed,” Christman said.

    The BSCA enhanced background checks for under-21 transactions began with a handful of states in late 2022 and opened fully in January 2023. The FBI’s NICS Section provides full-service background checks to federal firearms licensees in 31 states, five U.S. territories, and the District of Columbia. Fifteen states currently perform all their own background checks through the NICS application, and in the remaining four states, the FBI and the state each provide partial service, ensuring that, together, these states have full NICS access.

    Early on, state and local law enforcement and mental health agencies were generally slower to respond to NICS examiners when enhanced background checks were sent. Some people didn’t know how to respond. And many state and local agencies restrict sharing juvenile criminal histories or juvenile mental health records. The NICS Section continues to consider and pursue all viable avenues for maximizing benefits, and mitigating impacts, to prospective transferees, state and local partners, and the NICS Section itself.

    About 64%, and increasing, of the agencies contacted by NICS examiners respond. That’s up from about 30% a year ago.

    MIL Security OSI –

  • MIL-OSI Security: FBI Countering Cyber Threats Through ‘Joint, Sequenced Operations,’ Director Says

    Source: US FBI

    The conference brings together U.S. experts in cybersecurity who present research, analysis, and best practices in the field.

    In his remarks, Director Wray said the FBI works to strategically dismantle cybercriminal groups, piece by piece, by targeting the following:

    • Ransomware administrators, affiliates, and facilitators;
    • Cybercriminal group “infrastructure—like their servers and botnets;” and
    • The cryptocurrency wallets cybercriminals use to “stash their ill-gotten gains, hire associates, and lease infrastructure”

    During his remarks, Wray also noted that hostile nation-states—such as China, Russia, Iran, and the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea—are increasingly using “cyber operations” to meet their strategic goals and undermine the United States. These adversaries are “growing stealthier,” he said, and are always devising fresh methods to make their cyber operations more far-reaching and impactful.

    But the FBI is fighting back against the slew of cyber threats our nation faces by conducting joint operations with partners, he said. Wray spotlighted successes including:

    Wray said the FBI has also engaged in “a steady stream of operations” against the Chinese military and the nation’s intelligence services.  

    “As you’d expect, given that China wields a bigger hacking program than those of every major nation combined, we’re confronting them across the country and around the world, literally every day,” Wray said.

    He also discussed the FBI’s Model Cyber Squad initiative, which looks to eventually equip each of the Bureau’s 56 field offices with at least one interdisciplinary team dedicating to detecting and deterring cyber threats.

    Each Model Cyber Squad consists of about 12 FBI personnel, including special agents, intelligence analysts, and additional experts such as computer scientists and data analysts—”the perfect blend of investigative, technical, and analytical know-how to both identify cyber threats and take them down—Wray said.

    These squads will help us focus on responding to cyber incidents, assisting victims, and outpacing malign efforts by foreign adversaries and other bad cyber actors, he added.

    Finally, he encouraged the students in attendance to considering cyber careers with the FBI, since Bureau needs more technical experts to help us stay ahead of such threats. 

    He emphasized the wide range of ways budding cyber minds could help support the FBI’s efforts in this arena, including by: 

    • Planning and executing the “joint, sequenced operations” of tomorrow 
    • Serving on a Cyber Action Team 
    • Working with victims
    • Otherwise assisting with cyber incident response here at home or overseas 

    “For years, the Bureau has been laser-focused on hitting as many adversaries as we can and on getting the most bang for our buck out of every operation,” he said, “but with the cyber threat growing increasingly severe and complex, we’ve got both the room, and the need, to grow. So I hope some of you will apply to join us.” 

    MIL Security OSI –

  • MIL-OSI Security: Warrant Requirement for FBI’s Section 702 Queries Would Impede Investigations, Endanger National Security, Director Says

    Source: US FBI

    The Importance of U.S.-Persons Queries 

    According to Wray, U.S.-persons queries are usually conducted in the early stages of an investigation—when it’s usually still too early to “establish probable cause or demonstrate” urgency.  

    These queries can help the FBI connect the dots between bad actors and their intended targets—or between bad actors and their criminal networks—so the Bureau can prevent attacks before they happen.  

    And since every second counts when you’re racing to outpace a threat, any potential delay in obtaining threat intelligence could potentially cost lives.  

    For example, in 2023, the FBI was able to prevent a potential attack on U.S. critical infrastructure by a U.S. person who’d done relevant research and preparation and who’d been in touch with a foreign terrorist, Wray said. “Only by querying that U.S. person’s identifiers in our 702 collection did we find important intelligence on the seriousness and urgency of the threat,” he explained. 

    Wray said the FBI was able to disrupt the would-be attacker less than a month after it conducted its first Section 702 query related to that subject. But, he noted, this query would’ve been impossible if a warrant requirement had been in place due to probable cause and exigency. “And if we hadn’t done that query, we would’ve lost valuable time we needed to get ahead of the potential attack,” he said. 

    The Bureau’s ability to run U.S.-persons queries also allowed us to gain awareness that Chinese hackers had compromised a U.S. transportation hub’s network and flag the intrusion to hub personnel so they could respond, Wray said. 

    “Who knows how much damage those hackers could have caused—not just monetarily, but in the disruption and even the safety of Americans’ lives,” Wray said. “Effective and prompt victim notifications like those hinge on our ability to conduct U.S.-person queries of our existing 702 collection.” 

    Addressing Legal and Compliance Questions 

    Neither the Fourth Amendment, nor the law, require the FBI to obtain a warrant before it can run a search against data collected under our Section 702 authorities, Wray added. 

    “Multiple federal district courts and appellate courts have considered the issue, and no court has ever held that a warrant is required for the FBI to conduct U.S.-person queries—to blind ourselves from information already lawfully in our holdings,” he said. “And when the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court renews the 702 program every year, not once has it found that the law requires a warrant to conduct U.S.-person queries.” 

    He also stressed that a warrant requirement isn’t necessary to ensure that the FBI follows the law when it runs Section 702 queries. “We’ve proven that,” he said. “I’ve been unequivocal that the compliance incidents we’ve had in the past are unacceptable. And in response, we’ve undertaken a whole host of reforms to ensure that we’re good stewards of this authority.”  

    Both the U.S. Department of Justice and the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court “have recognized that our reforms have resulted in substantial compliance improvements, hitting compliance rates well into the high 90% range,” he noted, adding that the FBI will continue to brainstorm ways to further improve those rates. 

    Finally, he noted said that lawyers are critical to helping the general public make sense of law, policy, and the definition of a warrant, “and to help illuminate the consequences of purposefully choosing to limit the American Intelligence Community from accessing key and timely information about our foreign adversaries.” 

    Resources: 

    MIL Security OSI –

  • MIL-OSI Security: Protecting Quantum Science and Technology

    Source: US FBI

    As scientists race to develop these technologies, hostile nation-states stealing research and trade secrets is a key risk.

    Some nation-states, such as the People’s Republic of China (PRC), seek to fast-track getting these advanced tools through illegal or otherwise illicit technology transfer—for instance, illegally taking technology from companies or academic institutions and transferring it to the adversary government for its own use.

    When it comes to economic espionage, the government of China is using every possible avenue to steal U.S. companies’ innovation and is engaged in a well-resourced and systematic campaign to steal our intellectual property, compromise the integrity of our academic institutions, and put our companies out of business in pursuit of the “innovation-driven” economic growth highlighted in their Five-Year and Made in China 2025 strategic plans.

    More specifically, the PRC’s Five-Year Plan identifies major technologies China wants to develop within that period, such as semiconductors, quantum computing, artificial intelligence, machine learning, new energy, biotechnology, aerospace, robotics, and the devices and software that contribute to the manufacturing process of any of these technologies.

    In March 2023, China and Russia agreed to deepen their scientific and other cooperation, benefiting their respective militaries’ technology research goals, including nuclear programs.

    Investigating and preventing economic espionage and illicit technology transfer to adversarial governments are among the FBI’s most important work, as the United States’ economic and national security are inextricably linked. Stolen innovation is not just the theft of one idea—it could also result in lost jobs and stolen opportunities for American workers, decreased national power, and reduced leadership in the industries hostile nations seek to dominate in the decades to come.

    The FBI and our NCITF partners have developed security partnerships with technology developers, investors, and end-users to thwart adversaries’ efforts to steal quantum innovations. To aid in keeping the quantum field safe, we are increasing outreach to government research agencies, private sector companies, and academic institutions to help bolster the industry’s cybersecurity defenses and to coordinate any counterintelligence investigations associated with quantum technology.

    Partnerships are vital—the threat from foreign intelligence adversaries has become increasingly complex as they employ an all-tools approach that includes non-traditional collectors, economic and academic influence, and other asymmetric intelligence operations. As a result, no single U.S. counterintelligence agency can fully understand or mitigate these operations on its own. The NCITF, which comprises over 45 government agencies, was born out of this idea. A component of its mission is to protect the quantum research and development landscape, covering all efforts across and within government, academia, and the private sector.

    Within NCITF, the Quantum Information Science Counterintelligence Protection Team (QISCPT) is an interagency unit tasked with protecting the quantum information science technology developed by the U.S. and like-minded nations. This team was created as a result of the National Quantum Initiative Act of 2018, which established a coordinated federal program to provide and support accelerated quantum research for the economic and national security of the U.S.

    The QISCPT puts the FBI and our intelligence and security agency partners within arm’s reach of representatives from all government agencies—not just the law enforcement and intelligence communities—and in contact with key players in the quantum information science and technology ecosystem. This access allows us strategic agility and deep insight into the strengths and vulnerabilities of the field, allowing us to form a nuanced threat picture and positions us to help protect vital U.S. innovation and security.

    The FBI and our NCITF intelligence and security partners understand the value and importance of a diverse workforce, especially in research and innovation environments. International collaboration in emerging technology fields is a boon to U.S. industry and academia. The issue arises when talented foreign researchers, investors and end users are exploited by adversary governments to commit illegal or otherwise illicit acts. It is our mission to stop innocent people from being victimized by an adversary nation state—no matter the nationality of the person transferring the information.

    MIL Security OSI –

  • MIL-OSI Security: Director Addresses Birmingham Civil Rights Conference

    Source: US FBI

    The Director has long stood “shoulder to shoulder” with law enforcement, but said when those charged with protecting people commit criminal acts it’s particularly egregious. 

    “It’s a discredit to those scores and scores of brave men and women who do the job the right way, each and every day,” Wray said. “When law enforcement or corrections officers operate as though they’re above the law, they’re not just depriving victims of their civil rights; they’re degrading the public’s trust in everyone else in law enforcement, and in our criminal justice system as a whole, one violation at a time.”

    There were more hate crimes charges last year than in any year since turn of century, the Director said. In the case examples he provided, Wray described outcomes that showed justice ultimately prevailing. 

    The shooter in the Tops Supermarket case received multiple life sentences and still faces 27 federal charges, including 13 for hate crimes. The six police officers in Mississippi who mercilessly tortured two men and then tried to cover it up pleaded guilty last August amid a mountain of evidence collected in the color-of-law investigation by our Jackson Division. Their sentences, handed down just a few weeks ago, range from 10 to 40 years. FBI Birmingham’s investigation of the corrections officer who beat a 60-year-old inmate to death uncovered a trail of evidence that compelled him to plead guilty last December. He is now behind bars in a federal prisoner serving a seven-year sentence.

    “Hate crimes are messenger crimes. They intend to incite terror,” Kristen Clarke, Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights, said in her remarks. “Our prosecutions are sending a louder message that hate crimes will not be tolerated.” 

    “No one is above the law,” Wray said, “And the FBI will continue investigating color-of-law abuses as one of our most important responsibilities.”

    MIL Security OSI –

  • MIL-OSI Security: Investigating Torture: FBI-HSI Investigation Leads to U.S. Citizen’s Conviction for Human Rights Violations in Iraq

    Source: US FBI

    Seeking Victims and Witnesses

    In the meantime, O’Donnell and Burke continued their investigation. They believed that interviews with Roggio’s former employees—largely Estonians, but also other Europeans who’d been handpicked by his special assistant—could help strengthen the case. And that gut feeling proved right.

    When the duo learned that a former female employee of Roggio’s—an Estonian citizen—was slated to travel through John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York, they worked with Estonia’s Internal Security Service to interview her about her experience with Roggio. The woman turned out to be the first international employee of Roggio’s weapons facility. She shared enough information with O’Donnell and Burke to justify a trip to Estonia to conduct a more in-depth interview with her in a friendlier setting.

    Investigators hoped that the interview could help them put the finishing touches on their counterproliferation investigation. But that trip yielded more than just a follow-up conversation.

    It also gave investigators the chance to meet a second former weapons factory employee, who surprised the investigators with a six-year-old cellphone recording that captured Roggio making threats of torture, confessing to that and other crimes, and even speaking to motive.

    This was the first time they’d heard torture allegations concerning Roggio.

    After interviewing these and other former employees, investigators returned to the U.S. with a case, having identified a new and urgent objective: to seek guidance and expertise from the FBI’s International Human Rights Unit to seek a potential prosecution for torture violations.

    The FBI is responsible for investigating torture if the victim is a U.S. person, or if the perpetuator is either a U.S. person or if they’re physically located within our country’s borders. This jurisdiction comes from 18 USC, Section 2340A.

    The agents knew they had to act quickly—and carefully.

    Careful collaboration between the case team, the FBI’s International Human Rights Unit (part of our Criminal Investigative Division), federal victim services providers, multiple FBI legal attaché offices, the U.S. Department of Justice, and our Estonian law enforcement partners enabled the case team to travel to Estonia to conduct forensic interviews with these subjects.

    The investigators got the greenlight to take a joint trip with DOJ prosecutors to explore the matter of torture in great detail. The investigative team leveraged their agencies’ resources and connections, as well as international partnerships, to locate and interview multiple former employees of Roggio’s who may have witnessed or been victims of torture.

    FBI Supervisory Child-Adolescent Forensic Interviewer Jacqueline Goldstein—who, at the time, held a similar role at HSI—helped ensure these conversations were cognizant of the trauma that these people’s experiences with Roggio may have left them with, while still being admissible in court and supporting investigative needs.

    “It’s designed to pass judicial scrutiny,” she said. “So it’s non-leading, non-suggestive. But it’s also trauma-informed so that the investigative interviewing process is uniquely suited to the developmental, cognitive, clinical needs of that individual, and we’re not creating additional trauma in that investigative process.”

    And with that, in August 2021, investigators were finally able to interview Roggio’s victim: a man who’d been held in captivity and subjected to physical and mental torture—including physical beatings, suffocation, and choking—for more than a month.

    “He had very vivid recollection,” O’Donnell said. “Some people blacked out everything. This guy remembered every detail of a lot of what happened.”

    Law enforcement also captured statements from a wider group of former employees who’d been forced to witness Roggio’s brutality against the victim. They also convinced the witnesses to travel to the United States to testify against Roggio in federal court.

    As a result of these efforts, a federal grand jury returned a superseding indictment in 2022—which added a charge of torture and a charge of conspiracy to commit torture to Roggio’s already long list of alleged crimes—and he was again arrested.

    MIL Security OSI –

  • MIL-OSI Security: El Salvadoran National Indicted for Firearm Possession

    Source: US FBI

    NEW ORLEANS, LOUISIANA – Acting United States Attorney Michael M. Simpsonannounced that EDGAR YOVANI PEREZ-GUTIERREZ (“PEREZ-GUTIERREZ”), age 27, a native of El Salvador, was indicted on April 24, 2025, for being an illegal alien in possession of a firearm, in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Sections 922(g)(5)(A) and 924(a)(8).

    According to court documents, on or about April 10, 2025, PEREZ-GUTIERREZ, an individual unlawfully present in the United States, was found in possession of a Glock handgun.  He was arrested by the New Orleans Police Department, Federal Bureau of Investigation, and Immigration and Customs Enforcement – Enforcement and Removal Operations officers, for violating immigration and federal gun control laws.

    If convicted, PEREZ-GUTIERREZ faces a maximum penalty of 15 years of imprisonment, up to a $250,000 fine, up to three years of supervised release, and a $100 mandatory special assessment fee.

    Acting U.S. Attorney Simpson reiterated that an indictment is merely a charge and that the guilt of the defendant must be proven beyond a reasonable doubt.

    Acting U.S. Attorney Simpsonpraised the work of the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement – Enforcement and Removal Operations, the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the New Orleans Police Department in investigating this matter. Assistant United States Attorney Spiro G. Latsis of the General Crimes Unit is in charge of the prosecution.

    This case is part of Operation Take Back America [link], 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 USA: PSI Chairman Johnson Requests Transparency from Biden Cabinet Officials Regarding the Former President’s Cognitive Decline

    US Senate News:

    Source: United States Senator for Wisconsin Ron Johnson

    WASHINGTON – U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.), chairman of the Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations (“the Subcommittee”), sent letters to 28 former Biden Cabinet members regarding their knowledge of President Biden’s cognitive and health decline during his time in office and while running for reelection. Chairman Johnson requested that these former public officials appear voluntarily before the Subcommittee for interviews by June 6, 2025.

    A recent book detailing the former president’s cognitive and health decline while in office revealed that members of President Biden’s inner circle were alarmed by the state of his health. One Cabinet secretary was reportedly left “upset and disturbed” after meeting with President Biden due to his “mumbly and incoherent” speech. As the chairman’s letter noted, the reported behind-the-scenes concerns stand in stark contrast to Cabinet officials’ public statements portraying the former president as healthy and mentally sharp.    

    “The discrepancy between what Cabinet officials were telling the public about the former president’s health and what they were apparently witnessing and saying privately is astonishing, particularly considering that the former president was seeking reelection. After years of being lied to and kept in the dark, the public deserves full and complete transparency about what was known and when concerning President Biden’s health,” Chairman Johnson wrote. 

    The letters went out to the following former Biden Cabinet-level members:

    1. Lloyd Austin, former Secretary of Defense;
    2. Xavier Becerra, former Secretary of Health and Human Services;
    3. Jared Bernstein, former Chair of the Council of Economic Advisers;
    4. Antony Blinken, former Secretary of State;
    5. William J. Burns, former Director of the Central Intelligence Agency;
    6. Pete Buttigieg, former Secretary of Transportation;
    7. Miguel Cardona, former Secretary of Education;
    8. Marcia Fudge, former Secretary of Housing and Urban Development;
    9. Merrick Garland, former Attorney General;
    10. Jennifer Granholm, former Secretary of Energy;
    11. Isabel Guzman, former Administrator of the Small Business Administration;
    12. Deb Haaland, former Secretary of the Interior;
    13. Avril Haines, former Director of National Intelligence;
    14. Kamala Harris, former Vice President;
    15. Ronald Klain, former White House Chief of Staff;
    16. Alejandro Mayorkas, former Secretary of Homeland Security;
    17. Denis McDonough, former Secretary of Veterans Affairs;
    18. Arati Prabhakar, former Director of the Office of Science and Technology Policy;
    19. Gina Raimondo, former Secretary of Commerce;
    20. Michael Regan, former Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency;
    21. Julie Su, former Acting Secretary of Labor;
    22. Katherine Tai, former United States Trade Representative;
    23. Linda Thomas-Greenfield, former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations;
    24. Adrianne Todman, former Acting Secretary of Housing and Urban Development;
    25. Tom Vilsack, former Secretary of Agriculture;
    26. Janet Yellen, former Secretary of the Treasury;
    27. Shalanda Young, former Director of the Office of Management and Budget; and
    28. Jeff Zients, former White House Chief of Staff.

    The letters from Chairman Johnson can be found here.

    Read more about the chairman’s letters here: Axios, Fox News, and Washington Examiner. 

    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-OSI Security: Virginia Woman Pleads Guilty to Bank Fraud Conspiracy

    Source: US FBI

    Indictment Charges Nigerian Citizens Living in the New York City Area with Orchestrating Multi-Million Dollar Bank Fraud Conspiracy Using Stolen Identities from Across the U.S.

    ALBANY, NEW YORK – Sherry Ozmore, age 56, of Richmond, Virginia, pled guilty today to conspiracy to commit bank fraud in connection with her role as a “runner” for a nationwide conspiracy to impersonate customers of financial institutions to fraudulently obtain cash, checks, loans, and credit.  United States Attorney Carla B. Freedman and Craig L. Tremaroli, Special Agent in Charge of the Albany Field Office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), made the announcement.

    Ozmore was indicted in October 2024 as part of a superseding indictment charging the alleged ringleader of the conspiracy, Oluwaseun Adekoya, 39, a Nigerian citizen living in New Jersey, as well as David Daniyan, 60, a Nigerian citizen who according to prosecutors has lived in the United States under stolen identities for decades, with orchestrating a conspiracy to steal the identities of people who resided all over the country and impersonate those people at banks and credit unions to fraudulently obtain cash, checks, loans, and credit. According to documents previously filed in court, the conspirators also allegedly opened bank accounts in the names of identity theft victims, which were then used to deposit and access the funds from checks they had fraudulently obtained from banks and credit unions by impersonating other individuals.  The conspirators’ conduct allegedly involved nearly $3 million in intended losses, over $1.7 million of which was successful.

    Ozmore admitted that she was recruited to join the conspiracy as a runner in or around January 2023 and fraudulently obtained over $195,000 over a five-month period that year from banks and credit unions by impersonating identity-theft victims whose personal identifying information was supplied to her by supervisors.  Ozmore was paid a small portion of the money she fraudulently obtained.

    The following defendants are charged as follows in the superseding indictment: 

    • Adekoya is charged with conspiracy to commit bank fraud, money laundering conspiracy, and nine counts of aggravated identity theft;
    • Daniyan is charged with conspiracy to commit bank fraud, money laundering conspiracy, and four counts aggravated identity theft;
    • Kani Bassie, 36, of Brooklyn, New York, is charged with conspiracy to commit bank fraud and two counts of aggravated identity theft;
    • Davon Hunter, 27, of Richmond, Virginia, is charged with conspiracy to commit bank fraud and aggravated identity theft;
    • Jermon Brooks, 20, of Richmond, Virginia, is charged with conspiracy to commit bank fraud and aggravated identity theft;
    • Christian Quivers, 20, of Richmond, Virginia, is charged with conspiracy to commit bank fraud and aggravated identity theft; and
    • Crystal Kurschner, 44, of Brooklyn, is charged with conspiracy to commit bank fraud and aggravated identity theft.

    The prosecution is the result of an ongoing investigation by the U.S. Attorney’s Office and FBI-Albany, which began after the May 2022 arrest of Daniyan, Gaysha Kennedy, 46, of Brooklyn, and Victor Barriera, 64, of the Bronx, by the Cohoes Police Department after the trio had allegedly traveled to the Capital Region to commit bank fraud. 

    Adekoya, Daniyan, Kennedy, and Barriera were originally indicted, along with coconspirators Jerjuan Joyner, 50, of Brooklyn, Akeem Balogun, 56, of Brooklyn, Danielle Cappetti, 46, of the Bronx, and Lesley Lucchese, 53, of Brooklyn.

    At sentencing on May 6, 2025, Ozmore faces a maximum term of 30 years’ incarceration, an order of restitution in the amount of $195,500, and a term of supervised release of up to 5 years.

    Kennedy, Barriera, Joyner, Balogun, Cappetti, and Lucchese have pled guilty to bank fraud conspiracy and are pending sentencing.

    The charges in the superseding indictment are merely accusations. The remaining defendants are presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.

    FBI Albany is investigating the case, with assistance from the FBI Field Offices in New York, Newark, Richmond and Resident Agencies in Westchester, New York; Brooklyn/Queens, New York; Garrett Mountain, New Jersey; and Fort Walton Beach, Florida.  Additional assistance was provided by other law enforcement agencies, including Immigration and Customs Enforcement – Enforcement & Removal Operations (New York Field Office & Albany sub-office); U.S. Department of State Diplomatic Security Service (Buffalo Field Office & St. Albans Resident Office); U.S. Social Security Administration – Office of the Inspector General; New York law enforcement agencies including the New York State Police; Cohoes PD; Colonie PD; Elmira PD; Corning PD; Plattsburgh PD; Florida law enforcement agencies including the Okaloosa County Sheriff’s Office and Escambia County Sheriff’s Office; the Pennsylvania State Police; Alabama law enforcement agencies including the Calhoun County Sheriff’s Office, Gasden PD, and Rainbow City PD; Georgia law enforcement agencies including the Georgia State Patrol, Bartow County Sheriff’s Office, and Morrow PD; Kansas law enforcement agencies including Lawrence PD and Overland Park PD; New Hampshire law enforcement agencies including Rochester PD, Manchester PD, and Amherst PD; the Delaware State Police; Maryland law enforcement agencies including the Maryland State Police, Harford County Sheriff’s Office and Baltimore County Sheriff’s Office; Wisconsin law enforcement agencies including Onalaska PD and Eau Claire PD; and Indiana law enforcement agencies including the Allen County Sheriff’s Office.

    Assistant United States Attorneys Benjamin S. Clark and Joshua R. Rosenthal are prosecuting this case.

    MIL Security OSI –

  • MIL-OSI Security: Two Consulting Companies and Its Owners Plead Guilty to Bid Rigging Scheme Involving New York City Public Schools

    Source: US FBI

    Four defendants, two companies and their owners, have pleaded guilty in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, for their roles in a bid rigging scheme involving budget and procurement consulting services for New York City (NYC) Public Schools.

    On March 19 and 20, Transcend BS LLC (Transcend), a procurement and training consultant company, and its owner, Victor A. Garrido of Peekskill, New York; and Clark & Garner LLC (C&G), an educational programming consultant for schools and non-profit organizations, and its owner, Donald Clark Garner II, of Brooklyn, New York, pleaded guilty to a violation of Section 1 of the Sherman Act.

    “Defendants targeted the nation’s largest school system with their scheme, undermining the rights of New York City taxpayers to benefit from fair and honest competition,” said Director of the Procurement Collusion Strike Force Daniel Glad of the Justice Department’s Antitrust Division. “The Antitrust Division and its PCSF partners remain steadfast in our commitment to root out fraud, waste, and abuse in procurement processes at any level of government, as we have since 2019.”

    According to court documents, from approximately November 2020 through at least January 2023, Garrido and his co-conspirators, including Garner and C&G, created and submitted artificially high “competitor” bids to make it appear as if Transcend was the lowest bidder for consulting services contracts to circumvent NYC Department of Education’s (DOE) requirement for a competitive bidding process. C&G never provided any of the same services that Transcend provided. Rather, the co-conspirators rigged the bidding process for Transcend to continue to obtain lucrative work orders from New York City public schools without competing fairly. This scheme affected more than $707,000 in work orders to NYC Public Schools and resulted in estimated losses to the NYC DOE of $141,511.

    Prior to forming Transcend and C&G, Garrido and Garner were employed by NYC Public Schools. Garrido was a business manager, providing substantially similar consulting services to various schools, and Garner was a former teacher recruitment manager

    In addition, both Garrido and Garner agreed to pay restitution to New York State Department of Labor for unemployment benefits they improperly received.

    “Victor Garrido and Donald Clark Garner admitted their guilt in scheming to use their companies to artificially control the bidding process for a New York City Department of Education contract,” said Acting Assistant Director in Charge Leslie Backshies of the FBI New York Field Office. “Garrido and Garner will now rightly face justice for attempting to personally benefit at the expense of the New York City taxpayers. The FBI will continue to enforce antitrust laws to ensure a fair and competitive bidding process for government contracts.”

    “SCI is grateful for the opportunity to work alongside our partners at the DOJ Anti-trust Division, the Office of the Inspector General for the Department of Labor, and the FBI in bringing this important case to justice,” said Special Commissioner of Investigation Anatasia Coleman of the Office of the Special Commissioner of Investigation for the NYC School District. “SCI is also pleased to recover tax dollars for New York City taxpayers. Bid-rigging is a serious crime that deprives the school district of vital funds and deprives students of a stable learning environment — and it is a crime that SCI will continue to tirelessly root out.”

    “These guilty pleas underscore the U.S. Department of Labor, Office of Inspector General’s unwavering commitment to safeguard the American workplace from corruption and illegal influence,” said Special Agent-in-Charge Jonathan Mellone of the U.S. Department of Labor, Office of Inspector General Northeast Region. “We will continue to work closely with our law enforcement partners to pursue those who engage in the exploitation of governmental programs within our jurisdiction.”

    The maximum penalty for bid rigging for individuals is 10 years in prison and a $1 million criminal fine. The maximum penalty for corporations is a $100 million criminal fine. The fine may be increased to twice the gain derived from the crime or twice the loss suffered by the victims of the crime if either amount is greater than the statutory maximum fine. A federal district court judge will determine any sentence after considering the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.

    The Antitrust Division’s New York Office is prosecuting the case, which was investigated with the assistance of the FBI New York Field Office, the SCI for the New York City School District, and the Department of Labor Office of Inspector General.

    Anyone with information about this investigation or other procurement fraud schemes should notify the PCSF at www.justice.gov/atr/webform/pcsf-citizen-complaint. The Justice Department created the PCSF in November 2019. It is a joint law enforcement effort to combat antitrust crimes and related fraudulent schemes that impact government procurement, grant and program funding at all levels of government – federal, state, and local. For more information, visit www.justice.gov/procurement-collusion-strike-force.

    MIL Security OSI –

  • MIL-OSI Security: Convicted Sex Offender is Sentenced to 37 Years for Producing Child Sexual Abuse Material

    Source: US FBI

    The Defendant Used a Minor Victim’s Snapchat Account to Victimize Other Children

    CHARLOTTE, N.C. – A convicted sex offender was sentenced today to 37 years in prison and a lifetime of supervised release for producing child sexual abuse material (CSAM), announced Lawrence J. Cameron, Acting U.S. Attorney for the Western District of North Carolina. Jesse Thomas Cunningham, 30, of Morven, N.C., was also ordered to register as a sex offender after he is released from prison.

    Robert M. DeWitt, Special Agent in Charge of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), Charlotte Division,  Cardell T. Morant, Special Agent in Charge of Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) in North Carolina and South Carolina, Roger “Chip” Hawley, Director of the North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation (SBI), and Sheriff Scott Howell of the Anson County Sheriff’s Office, join Acting U.S. Attorney Cameron in making this announcement.

    According to court documents and court proceedings, in 2021, Cunningham assumed the identity of a minor on Snapchat to communicate with an 11-year-old female. Court records show that Cunningham induced the minor to send him sexually explicit images and videos of herself via Snapchat. Over the course of his communications with the minor victim, Cunningham gained access to the victim’s Snapchat account and used it to persuade two other minor females to create and send him images and videos of themselves engaged in sexually explicit conduct.

    According to court records, on December 7, 2021, law enforcement obtained a search warrant for Cunningham’s phone. A forensic examination of the phone revealed that Cunningham possessed CSAM, including images and videos of the three minor victims he had contacted via Snapchat. During the investigation, law enforcement also found evidence that Cunningham had coerced the minor victims, threatening to expose them publicly online if they did not comply with his demands for additional CSAM. Cunningham has prior criminal convictions of Possessing Obscenity With Intent to Disseminate, Attempting to Extort Another, Felony Secret Peeping, and Indecent Liberties with a Child.

    On October 11, 2024, Cunningham pleaded guilty to producing CSAM. Cunningham will remain in federal custody until he is transferred to the custody of the Federal Bureau of Prisons.

    The FBI, HSI, SBI and the Anson County Sheriff’s Office investigated the case.

    Assistant U.S. Attorney Nick J. Miller with the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Charlotte prosecuted the case.

    This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse launched in May 2006 by the Justice Department. Led by U.S. Attorneys’ Offices and CEOS, Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state and local resources to better locate, apprehend and prosecute individuals who exploit children via the Internet, as well as to identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, visit www.justice.gov/psc.

    MIL Security OSI –

  • MIL-OSI Security: Businesswoman Sentenced for Orchestrating $1.5 Million Fraudulent Disaster Relief Loan Scheme

    Source: US FBI

    CHARLOTTE, N.C. – Jeannetta Blackmon, also known as Jeannetta Regan, 50, of Charlotte, was sentenced today to 30 months in prison followed by two years of supervised release for obtaining more than $1.5 million in fraudulent Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) and Economic Injury Relief Disaster Loan (EIDL) Program loans for her and her customers, announced Lawrence J. Cameron, Acting U.S. Attorney for the Western District of North Carolina. Blackmon was also ordered to pay $1,549,737 in restitution.

    Robert M. DeWitt, Special Agent in Charge of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) in North Carolina joins Acting U.S. Attorney Cameron in making today’s announcement.

    “Blackmon defrauded loan programs put in place to support businesses fighting to survive during the COVID-19 pandemic. Her scheme was not a lapse in judgment, but a pervasive and deceitful course of conduct. This Office stands ready to identify and prosecute those who exploit government assistance programs for personal gain,” said Acting U.S. Attorney Cameron.

    “Not only did Blackmon prepare fraudulent loan applications for herself, she also charged others to fake their applications as well. The FBI will make every effort to ensure federal relief funds are used as intended,” said Special Agent in Charge DeWitt.  

    According to court records, filed plea documents, and court proceedings, from April 2020 to November 2021, Blackmon executed a scheme to defraud the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) and SBA-backed lenders by obtaining fraudulent COVID-19 disaster relief funds for her businesses, J Renee Enterprises, Jeannetta Renee Girls Talk, and Jrenee Investments. To obtain the relief funds, Blackmon submitted applications and supporting documents that contained false and fraudulent information regarding her businesses’ income, number of employees, gross revenues, and expenses. Blackmon also created and submitted fabricated bank statements and checks, in furtherance of the scheme. As a result of the fraudulent loan applications, Blackmon received more than $319,000 in disaster relief funds.

    Blackmon also obtained over $300,000 in fees from customers who paid her to prepare and submit on their behalf fraudulent PPP and EIDL applications that contained false and fictitious information on employment data, business income, expenses, and tax information. Based on the fraudulent loan applications, Blackmon’s customers received more than $1.2 million in disaster relief funds. To avoid detection, Blackmon directed her customers to pay her loan preparation fees in checks or peer-to-peer payments.

    On July 25, 2023, Blackmon pleaded guilty to wire fraud and money laundering. She is released on bond and will be ordered to report to the Federal Bureau of Prisons upon designation of a federal facility.

    The FBI handled the investigation.

    Assistant U.S. Attorneys Caryn Finley and Benjamin Bain-Creed prosecuted the case.

    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 www.justice.gov/disaster-fraud/ncdf-disaster-complaint-form.

     

     

    MIL Security OSI –

  • MIL-OSI Security: Recidivist Sex Offender is Sentenced to 10 Years for Possession of Child Sexual Abuse Material

    Source: US FBI

    CHARLOTTE, N.C. – A registered sex offender was sentenced to 120 months in prison for possession of child sexual abuse material (CSAM) yesterday, announced Lawrence J. Cameron, Acting U.S. Attorney for the Western District of North Carolina. Thomas Robert Boehm III, 36, of Charlotte, was also ordered to register, again, as a sex offender after his release from prison and to pay restitution to his victims.

    Robert M. DeWitt, Special Agent in Charge of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), Charlotte Division, and Chief Johnny Jennings of the Charlotte Mecklenburg Police Department (CMPD), join Acting U.S. Attorney Cameron in making this announcement.

    According to court documents and court proceedings, the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) referred a tip to law enforcement that a Dropbox account user had uploaded and maintained several video files containing CSAM.  Law enforcement determined that the Dropbox user was Boehm.  Law enforcement executed a search warrant for Boehm’s Dropbox account, and a forensic analysis of Boehm’s files revealed that Boehm possessed the equivalent of over 6,000 images depicting the sexual abuse of children, including children under the age of 12.  Some of the materials maintained by Boehm portrayed sadistic or masochistic conduct or other depictions of violence.  Court documents show that Boehm was a registered sex offender for state convictions related to taking indecent liberties with a child.

    On February 22, 2024, Boehm pleaded guilty to possession and access with intent to view child pornography involving prepubescent minors.  Boehm remains in federal custody.  He will be transferred to the custody of the Federal Bureau of Prisons upon designation of a federal facility.

    The FBI and CMPD investigated the case.

    Assistant U.S. Attorney Katherine Armstrong with the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Charlotte prosecuted the case.

    This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse launched in May 2006 by the Justice Department. Led by U.S. Attorneys’ Offices and CEOS, Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state and local resources to better locate, apprehend and prosecute individuals who exploit children via the Internet, as well as to identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, visit www.justice.gov/psc.

    MIL Security OSI –

  • MIL-OSI Security: Richlands Man Sentenced to 30 Years for Production of Child Pornography

    Source: US FBI

    WILMINGTON, N.C. – A Richlands man was sentenced today to 360 months in prison followed by 10 years of supervised release for production of child pornography.  Additionally, $74,000 in restitution was ordered to nine victims and he was fined $5000.  On September 17, 2024, Albert Suniga, age 37, pled guilty to the charge.

    According to court documents and other information presented in court, Suniga was investigated by the Department of Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) after receiving two cybertips related in which Google reported to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children one of its users had uploaded nine images and videos of child pornography, also known as child sexual abuse material (CSAM), to their Google Drive account.  Agents with HSI obtained the internet protocol (IP) address associated with the Google Drive account and then obtained search warrants for the email accounts associated with the IP address and determined they belonged to Suniga.

    The search of Suniga’s email resulted in the discovery of several images and videos of a minor victim that appeared to have been produced by Suniga. Believing a child to be in imminent danger, agents executed a search warrant at the residence associated with the IP address, which was also Suniga’s residence.  When questioned by agents, Suniga admitted to taking images constituting child sexual abuse images of a child in his residence, as well as possessing images of child sexual abuse unrelated to that child.  A digital forensic examination of his email account and his digital devices revealed numerous images and videos.

    Daniel P. Bubar, Acting U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of North Carolina made the announcement after sentencing by Chief U.S. District Judge Richard E. Myers II. The Department of Homeland Security Investigations, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the State Bureau of Investigation and Onslow County Sheriff’s Office investigated the case and Assistant U.S. Attorney Charity Wilson  prosecuted the case.

    Related court documents and information can be found on the website of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of North Carolina or on PACER by searching for Case No. 7:24-CR-00008-M.

    ###

    MIL Security OSI –

  • MIL-OSI Security: Two Men from Ohio and Colorado Arrested for Assaulting Law Enforcement and Other Offenses During January 6 Capitol Breach

    Source: US FBI

                WASHINGTON — Two men from Ohio and Colorado have been arrested for allegedly assaulting law enforcement and other offenses related to their alleged conduct during the Jan. 6, 2021, breach of the U.S. Capitol. Their alleged actions and the actions of others disrupted a joint session of the U.S. Congress convened to ascertain and count the electoral votes related to the 2020 presidential election.

                Joseph Charles Valentour, 66, of Centerville, Ohio, and Jonathan Wayne “Duke” Valentour, 26, of Boulder, Colorado, are each charged in a criminal complaint filed in the District of Columbia with felony offenses of assaulting, resisting, or impeding certain officers and obstruction of law enforcement during a civil disorder.

                In addition to the felonies, both men are charged with five misdemeanor offenses, including entering and remaining in a restricted building or grounds, disorderly and disruptive conduct in a restricted building or grounds, engaging in physical violence in a restricted building or grounds, disorderly conduct in a Capitol building, and act of physical violence in the Capitol grounds or buildings.

                The FBI arrested Joseph Valentour on Friday, January 3, 2025, in Ohio, where he made his initial appearance in the Southern District of Ohio. Jonathan Wayne Valentour was arrested on Monday January 6, 2025, in Colorado and made his initial appearance in the District of Colorado.

                According to court documents, police body-worn camera footage shows Joseph Valentour approaching a police line on the Lower West Terrace of the U.S. Capitol building on Jan. 6, 2021, appearing to purposefully back into it. It is alleged that after Valentour made contact with the police line, an officer attempted to push him back, but other rioters grabbed the officer’s baton and dragged the officer into the crowd.  Shortly thereafter, amid the ensuing chaos, additional body-worn camera video captured Valentour pushing against the police line. It is alleged that Valentour touched an unknown police officer’s shield multiple times and appeared to be working with other rioters to disarm the officer of the shield. Court documents say that Valentour’s efforts were eventually successful, causing the officer to fall down a flight of stairs.

                Another officer then responded to the incident and went to assist the fallen officer; however, it is alleged that Valentour impeded the assisting officer’s forward movement by lowering his shoulder to hip height and forcibly using his body weight to charge at and push the assisting officer. Valentour’s efforts were successful as he moved the assisting officer away from the other officers. Additional police body-worn camera footage showed Valentour pushing the police line and making purposeful contact with yet another officer. Valentour then disengaged and moved into the crowd of rioters.

                Court documents say that Valentour’s son, Duke, was roughly in the same area as his father. Police body-worn camera footage showed Duke, at about 2:04 p.m., allegedly charging through other rioters toward the police line. As Duke approached police, he interfered with, and resisted officers along the police line by forcibly pushing other rioters in front of him into the police line. It is alleged that Duke simultaneously attempted to grab and interfere with the officers at this location. Officers eventually successfully repelled Duke down a flight of stairs.

                Shortly thereafter, it is alleged that Duke ran back up the stairs behind another rioter (who was carrying what appeared to be a police shield). Duke appeared to use this rioter for protection as he, again, attempted to interfere with officers along the police line by pushing this rioter into the officers. A nearby police officer deployed pepper spray in Duke’s direction, and Duke quickly retreated back down the stairs and into the mob.

                This case is being prosecuted by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia and the Department of Justice National Security Division’s Counterterrorism Section. Valuable assistance was provided by the U.S. Attorney’s Offices for the Southern District of Ohio and the District of Colorado.

                This case is being investigated by the FBI’s Cincinnati, Denver and Washington Field Offices. The FBI identified Joseph Valentour as BOLO AFO (Be on the Lookout Assault on Federal Officer) #494 on its seeking information images. Valuable assistance was provided by the United States Capitol Police and the Metropolitan Police Department.

                In the 48 months since Jan. 6, 2021, more than 1,583 individuals have been charged in nearly all 50 states for crimes related to the breach of the U.S. Capitol, including more than 600 individuals charged with assaulting or impeding law enforcement, a felony. The investigation remains ongoing.

                Anyone with tips can call 1-800-CALL-FBI (800-225-5324) or visit tips.fbi.gov.

                A complaint is merely an allegation, and all defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.

    MIL Security OSI –

  • MIL-OSI Security: Former Columbus Police Officer Sentenced to More Than Four Years in Prison for Stealing Cocaine From Crime Scenes, Police Evidence Room

    Source: US FBI

    COLUMBUS, Ohio – A former Columbus police officer was sentenced in federal court here today to 50 months in prison for crimes involving more than 15 kilograms of cocaine and money laundering.

    Joel M. Mefford, 35, of London, Ohio, was a Columbus police officer assigned to investigate drug crimes. On three occasions between February and April 2020, Mefford worked with another officer to steal and traffic cocaine.

    “Crimes like those that Mefford committed undermine the integrity of the criminal justice system. Mefford abused his official position for personal gain,” said U.S. Attorney Kenneth L. Parker. “Today’s substantial prison sentence is necessary to reflect the gravity of his offenses and to promote respect for the law. Corrupt public servants will be held accountable.”

    According to court documents, in February 2020, Mefford and the other officer were investigating a drug crime and unlawfully gained access to a detached garage belonging to the subject of the investigation. Without a warrant, they entered the garage and discovered two kilograms of cocaine in the rafters. They unlawfully seized one of the kilograms and left the other to be found during the execution of a search warrant the next morning. The other officer gave the stolen narcotics to another individual to sell.

    Similarly, in February and March 2020, Mefford and the other officer were investigating drug-trafficking activity at houses on Ambleside Drive and Kilbourne Avenue in Columbus. On March 7, 2020, the officers took a bag containing multiple kilograms of cocaine from the house on Ambleside Drive and arrested an individual there. They then traveled to the house on Kilbourne Avenue and removed a kilogram of cocaine. That same day, Mefford turned in one kilogram of cocaine to evidence, and the officers stole the other kilograms to be sold.

    In April 2020, Mefford and the other officer stole between 10 and 20 kilograms of cocaine from the Columbus police property room and replaced it with fake cocaine. Mefford transported the stolen cocaine in a police cruiser and the other officer later gave the drugs to another individual to sell. The drug proceeds were then given to the other officer, who provided Mefford his cut. Mefford personally received a total of approximately $130,000 from cocaine sales.

    Mefford deposited more than $72,000 of the cash derived from the cocaine sales into his personal bank account.

    A federal grand jury indicted Mefford in December 2023 and he pleaded guilty in August 2024 to two counts of possessing with intent to distribute 500 grams or more of cocaine, one count of possessing with intent to distribute five kilograms or more of cocaine, and one count of money laundering.

    Kenneth L. Parker, United States Attorney for the Southern District of Ohio; and Elena Iatarola, Special Agent in Charge, Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), Cincinnati Division, announced the sentence imposed today by U.S. District Judge Edmund A. Sargus Jr.

    Assistant United States Attorneys Peter K. Glenn-Applegate and Elizabeth A. Geraghty are representing the United States in this case.

    The case was investigated by the FBI’s Southern Ohio Public Corruption Task Force, which includes special agents and officers from the FBI, Ohio Attorney General’s Bureau of Criminal Investigation, the Ohio Auditor of State’s Office and the Columbus Division of Police.

    # # #

    MIL Security OSI –

  • MIL-OSI Security: Belmont County Man Pleads Guilty to Child Exploitation Crimes in Plea Agreement That Calls for 30-to-60-Year Prison Sentence

    Source: US FBI

    COLUMBUS, Ohio – Dennis Stopar, 65, of Flushing, Ohio, pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court today to sexually exploiting minors and possessing child pornography. The plea agreement includes a sentence recommendation of 30 to 60 years in prison. 

    According to court documents, between 2022 and 2023, Stopar sexually assaulted multiple female minor victims, forced a minor male victim to engage in sexual activity with another child and created hundreds of videos and images of the horrific abuse.

    In December 2023, Dropbox, Inc. submitted a cyber tipline to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) regarding child pornography being uploaded to a Dropbox account. Dropbox identified the IP address associated with the account within 24 hours. Further investigation revealed Stopar, a convicted sex offender, lived in a trailer on the property identified as the IP address.

    On December 28, Belmont County Sheriff’s Office deputies executed a local search warrant and seized Stopar’s electronic devices. Stopar’s electronic devices were subsequently processed via a federal search warrant, and he was charged federally in April 2024.

    Stopar’s prior sex offense is a rape conviction for sexually abusing a victim beginning when the victim was approximately 6 years old until the victim was 16 years old.

    Kenneth L. Parker, United States Attorney for the Southern District of Ohio; Elena Iatarola, Special Agent in Charge, Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), Cincinnati Division; and Belmont County Sheriff David L. Lucas announced the guilty plea entered today before U.S. District Judge Michael H. Watson. Assistant United States Attorneys Emily Czerniejewski and Jennifer M. Rausch are representing the United States in this case.

    # # #

    MIL Security OSI –

  • MIL-OSI Security: Member of Multimillion-Dollar Ponzi Scheme Involving Off-the-Road Tires Pleads Guilty

    Source: US FBI

    COLUMBUS, Ohio – A member of a $50 million, multi-state Ponzi scheme conspiracy pleaded guilty in federal court here today. 

    John K. Eckerd, Jr., 60, of Dallas, admitted to conspiring to commit wire fraud and tax crimes. In total, Eckerd received at least $14 million from the tire sales scheme. Eckerd’s plea agreement includes a sentence recommendation of 36 to 109 months in prison.

    Conspiring with previously convicted and sentenced defendant Jason E. Adkins, 47, of Jackson, Ohio, Eckerd and others participated in a multi-million-dollar Ponzi scheme.

    According to court documents, Eckerd and other members of the conspiracy portrayed to investors that they were in the business of buying and selling off-the-road tires. Off-the-road tires are over-sized tires that are used on earth moving equipment and/or mining equipment.

    Eckerd recruited investors and represented to investors that he worked with Adkins in tire sales. Few if any transactions were completed as designed. Instead, investor funds were used for the personal use of Eckerd and other members of the conspiracy, and to repay other victims. On multiple occasions, investors who were solicited by Eckerd invested in purported tire deals and then either lost money in tire deals that fell apart or were paid back some or all of their investments with other victims’ money, or both.

    Eckerd also conspired with Adkins to evade the payment of income taxes. Beginning in mid-2016, Eckerd made attempts with Adkins to re-classify payments from Adkins as loans, to avoid tax consequences. He also concealed income through shell entities and nominees. Eckerd has admitted evading the payment of $1,028,454 in taxes.

    A final restitution amount will be set by the Court at sentencing. The plea includes the forfeiture of $14 million, which will be satisfied in part by the forfeiture of Eckerd’s home in McKinney, Texas.

    Kenneth L. Parker, United States Attorney for the Southern District of Ohio; Karen Wingerd, Special Agent in Charge, Internal Revenue Service (IRS) Criminal Investigation; and Elena Iatarola, Special Agent in Charge, Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), Cincinnati Division, announced the guilty plea entered today before U.S. District Judge Algenon L. Marbley, Jr. Assistant United States Attorneys S. Courter Shimeall, Peter K. Glenn-Applegate and David J. Twombly are representing the United States in this case.

    # # #

    MIL Security OSI –

  • MIL-OSI Security: Businessman Indicted for Manipulating Five Publicly Traded Companies and Defrauding Investors of More Than $200 Million

    Source: US FBI

    Note: A copy of the indictment can be found here.

    A federal grand jury in Dallas, Texas, returned an indictment yesterday charging a Texas businessman for his role in a yearslong scheme involving at least five publicly traded companies.

    According to court documents, Philip Verges, 59, of Dallas, controlled five publicly traded companies, which he used to engage in an investment fraud scheme from approximately January 2017 through August 2022. As part of the alleged scheme, Verges concealed his involvement in these five companies from the investing public by appointing trusted friends to serve as nominees. Verges then allegedly entered into sham consulting agreements with the companies that allowed the companies to execute convertible notes, which could be converted to shares at a steep discount from their fair market value. Verges allegedly artificially inflated the price and trading volume of shares by, among other things, issuing false public press releases and financial statements. As further alleged, Verges then sold his convertible notes to intermediaries who converted the notes into shares at below-market prices, sold the shares into the market for a profit, and shared the proceeds from the sales with Verges. In total, the alleged scheme resulted in approximately $211 million in losses to the public.

    Verges is charged with one count of securities fraud and two counts of money laundering. If convicted, he faces a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison on the securities fraud count and 10 years in prison on each money laundering count. A federal district court judge will determine any sentence after considering the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.

    Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Nicole M. Argentieri, head of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division, and Special Agent in Charge Gregory D. Nelsen of the FBI Cleveland Field Office made the announcement.

    The FBI is investigating the case.

    Trial Attorneys Brandon Burkart and Matt Kahn of the Criminal Division’s Fraud Section are prosecuting the case.

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

    MIL Security OSI –

  • MIL-OSI Security: USAO Ends 2024 with Notable Achievements to Combat Elder Fraud

    Source: US FBI

    CLEVELAND – Combatting elder fraud continues to be a top priority for the United States Attorney’s Office (USAO) for the Northern District of Ohio, in 2024 and beyond. The office is responsible for prosecuting federal law violations that occur in any of the 40 northern counties in the state of Ohio which the district serves.

    Prosecutors in the USAO’s White Collar Crimes Unit carry out the Department of Justice’s Elder Justice Initiatives, which include a commitment to combatting elder abuse, neglect, financial fraud, and other scams that target our nation’s senior citizens. Elder fraud schemes take a variety of forms that range from small-scale identity thefts to mass mail fraud schemes that steal money and other assets from thousands of elderly victims. Annually, these fraud schemes bilk seniors out of billions of dollars throughout the country.

    “Many fraud crimes that target our elderly population involve criminals taking advantage of this group’s trusting nature. Fraudsters falsely claim to be government officials or promise to help with computer issues, persuading victims to provide fraudsters with access to their personal information,” said U.S. Attorney Rebecca Lutzko for the Northern District of Ohio. “Our office prioritizes prosecuting those who prey on the elderly members of our communities in an attempt to steal their savings.”

    Notable cases in 2024 that involved elder fraud include:

    U.S. v. Alahmad – A caregiver forged a power of attorney document and used it to apply for, and receive, credit and debit cards in the name of the victim who was an elderly adult. The victim was in a nursing home rehabilitation facility while the defendant made unauthorized withdrawals and purchases using the victim’s credit and debit cards. Alahmad was sentenced to 30 months in prison and ordered to pay restitution of $46,064.30.

    U.S. v. Xie – A Chinese national college student on an F‐1 Visa traveled across the country, worked as a “money mule” who picked up cash from older victims, and then transferred the funds to his handler. Xie was sentenced to 16 months in prison and ordered to pay $188,000 in restitution.

    U.S. v. Wehman – The defendant was charged with wire fraud for stealing from his grandfather by using credit cards, debit cards, and a line of credit. He was sentenced to 37 months in prison and ordered to pay $376,069.46 in restitution.

    U.S. v. Turnipseede – The defendant defrauded approximately 72 investors out of more than $8.5 million through a Ponzi scheme that promised investors double-digit profits achieved through a purported algorithm designed to generate double-digit returns through various sports wagering businesses. Defendant used investor money to maintain the business, seek new sources of funds, pay off earlier investors, and fund personal expenses. He is scheduled to be sentenced March 3, 2025.

    U.S. v. Alexander – The defendant and other involved individuals engaged in a cold‐calling scheme that targeted older investors throughout the United States. They used aggressive and deceptive tactics and promised large returns if the victims participated in wine and whiskey investments. The court sentenced Alexander to three years of probation and ordered him to pay $202,195.58 in restitution.

    U.S. v. Mangukia – Defendants were charged in a conspiracy for falsely posing as customer service employees at a company or bank. Co-conspirators contacted a victim and falsely claimed that the victim’s account was at risk or had been compromised by a hacking event or similar computer intrusion. The conspirators directed the victim to make a wire transfer, convert cash to cryptocurrency at a Bitcoin ATM, and withdraw cash to purchase gold coins and bars. Defendants then traveled to Ohio to pick up the gold bars.

    U.S. v. Chaudhary – Defendants were charged as part of a conspiracy for falsely posing as customer service employees at a company or bank. Co-conspirators contacted a victim and falsely claimed that the victim’s account was at risk or had been compromised by a hacking event or similar computer intrusion. The conspirators directed the victim to withdraw cash and had a conspirator pick up the cash from the victim’s home.

    U.S. v. Kai – The defendant approached victims through social media to invest money into cryptocurrency. Victims were instructed to deposit their money through a “service director” affiliated with a cryptocurrency business. The service director informed the victims that deposits were to be made in person and in cash-only transactions. During one of these transactions, Kai was identified as the individual in a vehicle scheduled to take the victims’ money.

    Additionally, USAO staff conducted numerous public outreach efforts to educate the community to be aware of elder fraud scams including:

    • “Courier and Grandparent Scams,” National Consumer Protection Week Meeting
    • “Tops Scams for 2024,” St. Mary of the Woods Senior Living Community, FBI Organized Crime Conference, and Parma Snow Branch Library
    • “Elder Fraud Scams and Robocalls,” St. Mary of the Woods Independent Living
    • “Elder Fraud and Cold Calling Investment Scams,” AARP Podcast interview

    To report crimes, visit https://tips.fbi.gov/home or https://www.justice.gov/elderjustice/financial-exploitation .

    MIL Security OSI –

  • MIL-OSI Security: New USAO Task Force to Target Government Contract Fraud

    Source: US FBI

    CLEVELAND – The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Ohio is spearheading a new, interagency Supply Chain Oversight and Procurement Enforcement (SCOPE) Task Force, created in 2024, to ensure supply chain integrity and prevent procurement fraud. The task force will serve to support the work of the Government Supply Chain Investigations Unit (GSCIU), led by the Department of Homeland Security – Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), based in Washington, D.C.

    The GSCIU investigates procurement and government contract fraud in connection with military, law enforcement, and public health and safety. Examples include investigations into substandard or fraudulent vaccines or medications that are supplied to veterans through Veterans Affairs. Other investigations have focused on faulty electronics and software provided to NASA or the military supply chain, and counterfeit and faulty armor and munitions provided to law enforcement and military personnel.

    “As the first of its kind in the district, this task force brings together the USAO’s white collar crime unit, Homeland Security Investigations, and numerous other federal investigative agencies to address large-scale supply chain and procurement fraud in government contracting,” said U.S. Attorney Rebecca Lutzko for the Northern District of Ohio. “We also must be vigilant about products entering the government supply chain stemming from prohibited sources or foreign countries of concern, which presents a national security issue that may potentially sabotage or compromise systems put in place to protect our country, our servicemen and servicewomen, and our citizens.” 

    The task force will hold its first meeting in early February. Topics of discussion will emphasize public health and safety, vaccine and medicine fraud, counterfeit goods, intellectual property theft, and national security. Regional federal agencies that have committed to the USAO-NDOH-led task force include the FBI, NASA, HSI, NCIS, Intellectual Property Rights Center, Defense Criminal Investigative Services, Air Force Office of Special Investigations, Veterans Affairs, General Services Administration, Customs and Border Protection, IRS-Criminal Investigation, U.S. ARMY, and Defense Finance Accounting Service.

    MIL Security OSI –

  • MIL-OSI Security: USAO’s Organized Crime and Drug Enforcement Task Force Unit Ends 2024 with Notable Achievements

    Source: US FBI

    CLEVELAND – The Organized Crime and Drug Enforcement Task Force (OCDETF) Unit of the United States Attorney’s Office (USAO) for the Northern District of Ohio is responsible for prosecuting criminal organizations whose members violate federal laws in any of the 40 northern counties in the state of Ohio that the district serves.

    As an independent component of the U.S. Department of Justice, OCDETF is the largest anti-crime task force in the country. Its mission is to disrupt and dismantle criminal organizations using a nationwide strategy, led by prosecutors, that combines targeting, coordination, intelligence-sharing, and directed resourcing to have the greatest impact in disrupting the operations of organized crime.

    The task force approach facilitates coordination among various federal and local agencies to solve crimes, with agents and officers working side-by-side in the same location, led by a federal prosecutor. This co-located model enables agents from different agencies to share information and collaborate on intelligence-driven, multi­-jurisdictional operations to disrupt and dismantle large-scale criminal operations. Such criminal networks include all forms of transnational crime, including but not limited to drug cartels, racketeering organizations, and other groups engaged in illicit activities that present a threat to public safety and national security.  They may involve, among other illegal activity, the illegal smuggling and trafficking of narcotics or other controlled substances, weapons, humans, or the illegal concealment or transfer of proceeds derived from such illicit activities in the Northern District of Ohio.

    In the Northern District of Ohio, agents and officers from the FBI, DEA, ATF, Homeland Security Investigations, USMS, U.S. Postal Inspection Service, Internal Revenue Service, and USBP investigate OCDETF cases with ties to the District, working with task force officers from numerous local law enforcement agencies, including the Cleveland Division of Police. Prosecutions are led by the Office of the United States Attorney for the Northern District of Ohio.

    “No one group or agency can effectively combat organized crime, and particularly transnational organized crime, while working in a silo. The OCDETF framework allows our federal investigative agents to coordinate with each other and local law enforcement, sharing both resources and intelligence,” said U.S. Attorney Rebecca Lutzko for the Northern District of Ohio. “This model allows us to come together and build the best cases possible that put the members of large-scale criminal networks behind bars and bring their criminal operations to a halt.”

    Notable operations and cases prosecuted by the OCDETF Unit in 2024 include:

    U.S. v. Ojeda-Elenes, et al. – Four individuals, including two individuals with direct connections to the Sinaloa Cartel based in Culiacán, Mexico, were sentenced to prison for a drug conspiracy involving more than 240 pounds of fentanyl and nearly 100 pounds of cocaine.

    U.S. v. Mullins, et al. –Twenty-one members and associates of a Cleveland-based, violent street gang known as the Fully Blooded Felons were arrested and charged between December 2023 and November 2024. The defendants are alleged to have committed numerous federal crimes, including Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) conspiracy, murder in aid of racketeering, kidnapping in aid of racketeering, assault in aid of racketeering, firearms violations, conspiracy, and drug trafficking.  To date, three defendants have pled guilty.

    U.S. v. Whittaker, et al. – Fifteen people in Lorain County were charged in a 19-count indictment after authorities seized large quantities of fentanyl that included more than 42,000 fentanyl pills.

    U.S. v. Bryant, et al. – According to court documents, Brandon Bryant was one of 24 members of a large-scale fentanyl trafficking organization that operated on Cleveland’s eastside between September 2019 and February 2022. He was sentenced to more than 30 years in prison after pleading guilty to conspiracy to distribute and possess with intent to distribute controlled substances, distribution of controlled substances, possession with intent to distribute controlled substances, and use of a communications facility in furtherance of a drug felony. Bryant was also ordered to serve a lifetime term of supervised release following his release from prison. The other 23 co-defendants have also been convicted and sentenced. Some of the more notable prison sentences for his co-defendants include the following: Devon Fair, 35 years; Ramel Drew, 27 years; and Branea Bryant, 24 years.

    U.S. v. Lumbus et al. – Eleven people were charged in an international drug trafficking conspiracy that involved the importation of fentanyl, synthetic opioids, and synthetic cannabinoids into the United States, and the distribution of those drugs in Ohio and other states.

    To report crimes, visit https://tips.fbi.gov/home.

    MIL Security OSI –

  • MIL-OSI Security: Ohio Man Sentenced to Prison for Unemployment Insurance and Bank Fraud

    Source: US FBI

    CLEVELAND – Darmani Hawkins, 21, of Aurora, was sentenced to 60 months in prison by U.S. District Judge Donald Nugent after pleading guilty to conspiracy to commit wire fraud and mail fraud; conspiracy to commit bank fraud; and mail theft, as part of schemes to fraudulently obtain coronavirus disease (COVID)-era state unemployment benefits and, separately, to steal checks from the mail, alter them, and deposit them. He was also ordered to pay $681,114.14 in restitution and serve three years of supervised release after imprisonment.

    According to court documents, from 2020 through 2021, Hawkins conspired to fraudulently obtain COVID pandemic unemployment insurance benefits by submitting fake claims, and in 2023, he conspired to steal checks out of the United States mail, deposit them, and keep the proceeds.

    In the COVID fraud scheme, Hawkins and his co-conspirators exploited the CARES Act (Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security), which had been established to assist people who were out of work because of the COVID-related shutdown. They submitted false unemployment applications to multiple states, making it appear as if they were eligible to receive benefits when, in fact, they were not. Once a state’s unemployment agency approved the applications, the state mailed the unemployment benefits to Hawkins and his co-conspirators in the form of debit cards, which they used to withdraw cash for their personal benefit.

    In the bank fraud and mail theft scheme, Hawkins used a social media platform to recruit postal workers to steal checks from the U.S. Postal Service in exchange for a fee. Hawkins also offered to pay people to use their established bank accounts to deposit the checks stolen from the mail. Those who agreed to participate in mail theft deposited the stolen checks into bank accounts that Hawkins had paid others to allow him to access.  Hawkins then withdrew or received the stolen deposited funds. 

    “Mr. Hawkins shamelessly exploited federal resources intended to help those who became unemployed as a result of an uncontrollable, life-changing world event. His deceitful actions were selfish and heartless, diverting much-needed funds away from those who lost their jobs through no fault of their own,” said U.S. Attorney Rebecca Lutzko for the Northern District of Ohio. “He also manipulated others to steal checks and misuse our banking system in a greedy effort to make easy money. Those, like Mr. Hawkins, who seek to capitalize on the misfortune of others by abusing federal safety nets established to protect the needy, and who steal from the U.S. taxpayer and private citizens, will be held to account and brought to justice.”

    “The sentencing of Mr. Hawkins should send a strong message to anyone who believes they can deceive government programs designed to help the American public in times of need. As part of our mission, postal inspectors will aggressively work to protect the public and prevent criminal misuse of the mail,” said Postal Inspector in Charge Lesley Allison of the U.S. Postal Inspection Service’s Pittsburgh Division. “We value our relationships with the U.S. Attorney’s Office and the law enforcement partners involved in bringing Mr. Hawkins to justice.”

    During the investigation, officials determined that Hawkins had caused a loss of approximately $425,000 in the COVID fraud scheme and more than $700,000 in the stolen check scheme.  

    This case was investigated by the U.S. Department of Labor, the U.S. Postal Inspection Service, the Social Security Administration Office of the Inspector General, and the FBI Cleveland Division. The case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Erica Barnhill for the Northern District of Ohio.

    To report fraud, visit https://www.dol.gov/agencies/eta/unemployment-insurance-payment-accuracy/UIFraudReporting or https://www.uspis.gov/report. 

    MIL Security OSI –

  • MIL-OSI Security: United States Attorney’s Office Announces District Election Officer

    Source: US FBI

    PORTLAND, Ore.—United States Attorney Natalie Wight announced today that Assistant United States Attorney (AUSA) Ethan Knight will lead the efforts of this office in connection with the Justice Department’s nationwide Election Day Program for the upcoming November 5, 2024, general election.

    AUSA Ethan Knight, Cyber and National Security Unit Chief, has been appointed to serve as the District Election Officer (DEO) for the District of Oregon, and in that capacity is responsible for overseeing the district’s handling of election day complaints of voting rights concerns, threats of violence to election officials or staff, and election fraud, in consultation with Department of Justice Headquarters in Washington, D.C.

    “The Department of Justice and U.S. Attorney’s Office will always work tirelessly to protect the integrity of the election process,” said Natalie Wight, United States Attorney for the District of Oregon.

    The Justice Department has an important role in deterring and combatting discrimination and intimidation on Election Day, threats of violence directed at election officials and workers, and election fraud. The department will address these violations wherever they occur. The department’s longstanding Election Day Program furthers these goals and also seeks to ensure public confidence in the electoral process by providing local points of contact within the department for the public to report possible federal election law violations.

    Federal law protects against such crimes as threatening violence against election officials or staff, intimidating or bribing voters, buying and selling votes, impersonating voters, altering vote tallies, stuffing ballot boxes, and marking ballots for voters against their wishes or without their input. It also contains special protections for the rights of voters, and provides that they can vote free from interference, including intimidation, and other acts designed to prevent or discourage people from voting or voting for the candidate of their choice. The Voting Rights Act protects the right of voters to mark their own ballot or to be assisted by a person of their choice (where voters need assistance because of disability or inability to read or write in English).   

    If you or someone you know is in immediate danger, please call 911.

    The FBI will have special agents available in each field office and resident agency throughout the country to receive allegations of election fraud and other election abuses on election day. To report allegations, contact 1-800-CALL-FBI (225-5324) or www.tips.fbi.gov.

    Complaints about possible violations of the federal voting rights laws can be made directly to the Civil Rights Division in Washington, DC by complaint form at https://civilrights.justice.gov/ or by phone at 800-253-3931.

    If you have questions about the Justice Department’s Election Day Program in Oregon or need assistance directing election-related complaints to the proper authorities, District Election Officer Knight can be reached by calling (503) 727-1000.

    Please note, however, in the case of a crime of violence or intimidation, please call 911 immediately and before contacting federal authorities. State and local police have primary jurisdiction over polling places, and almost always have faster reaction capacity in an emergency.

    MIL Security OSI –

  • MIL-OSI Security: FBI Philadelphia Commemorates National Crime Victims’ Rights Week

    Source: US FBI

    This year, National Crime Victims’ Rights Week is observed from April 6 to 12, 2025. FBI Philadelphia joins our federal, state, and local partners in honoring crime victims and survivors, along with recognizing the professionals and volunteers who provide critical victim services. 

    With this observance, we are shining a light on a vital piece of our Bureau mission that the public may be unfamiliar with—the work of our Victim Services Division (VSD).  

    VSD’s mission is to inform, support, and assist victims in navigating the aftermath of crime and the criminal justice process with dignity and resilience. Our victim services professionals strive to provide victims with empowerment, dignity, and justice.  

    Each of the FBI’s 55 field offices have Victim Specialists. As a vital partner in the FBI’s response to crime, Victim Specialists work directly with Special Agents and serve as the critical link to ensure that victims of crimes investigated by the FBI are provided their rights and are connected to the necessary support, services, and resources.  

    The Victim Services Division also manages several specialized resources, including the FBI’s Crisis Response Canine program, the Victim Services Response Team, and Trauma Notification Training. 

    “When crimes occur, our job is to pursue justice—but it doesn’t end with making an arrest,” said Wayne A. Jacobs, Special Agent in Charge of FBI Philadelphia. “Protecting the American people means standing with victims every step of the way. Our Victim Specialists do this critical work every day, and National Crime Victims’ Rights Week is a powerful reminder of our ongoing commitment to ensure victims receive the support, resources, and respect they deserve.”

    Since its inception in 2001, the FBI’s victim assistance program has provided services—such as crisis intervention, emergency travel assistance, and local referrals for counseling, housing, and other services—to nearly 2 million victims. For more information about FBI resources available to crime victims, please visit https://www.fbi.gov/how-we-can-help-you/victim-services.  

    For more information about the rights of federal crime victims, please visit https://www.fbi.gov/how-we-can-help-you/victim-services/rights-of-federal-crime-victims.  

    MIL Security OSI –

  • MIL-OSI Security: FBI Media Alert: New Mexico High School Students Invited to Apply to FBI Teen Academy

    Source: US FBI

    High school students interested in spending time with the FBI in Albuquerque or Las Cruces are encouraged to apply for the agency’s 2025 Teen Academy.

    The Las Cruces Teen Academy will take place on June 23rd and 24th 2025.

    The Albuquerque Teen Academy will take place from July 7th through July 11th 2025.

    Applications will be accepted through the end of business on May 16th 2025.

    The FBI Teen Academy allows students who will be in high school during the 2025/2026 school year an opportunity to experience the inner workings of today’s FBI.

    Students will receive a comprehensive look into the FBI as they are provided presentations and activities on topics such as terrorism, cybercrime, and SWAT. Discussions will include investigative tactics, gathering evidence and assisting with cases. They will also learn about the FBI’s mission and how it serves citizens, the community, and the nation from FBI special agents, intelligence analysts, language specialists, and professional staff.

    The application form and additional details can be found at: Community Outreach — FBI Anyone with questions about the program can email the FBI Community Outreach Specialist (AQ.Outreach@fbi.gov).

    MIL Security OSI –

  • MIL-OSI Security: Former Teacher Going to Prison for Possession of Child Pornography

    Source: US FBI

    BUFFALO, N.Y.-U.S. Attorney Trini E. Ross announced today that Anthony V. Giambrone, 41, of Kenmore, NY, who was convicted of possession of child pornography involving prepubescent minors, was sentenced to serve 60 months in prison by U.S. District Judge Richard J. Arcara. Giambrone was also ordered to pay restitution totaling $16,000 to victims in the case. 

    Assistant U.S. Attorney Aaron J. Mango, who handled the case, stated that in April 2020, Giambrone, a former teacher with Erie One BOCES working at Maryvale Intermediate School, possessed images of child pornography on two separate laptop computers. Giambrone possessed approximately 1,052 images and 381 videos of child pornography, some of which included prepubescent minors.

    The sentencing is the result of an investigation by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, under the direction of Special Agent-in-Charge Matthew Miraglia and the Town of Tonawanda Police Department, under the direction of Chief James Stauffiger.

    # # # #

    MIL Security OSI –

  • MIL-OSI Security: Federal Jury Convicts Pharaoh’s Owner of Multiple Charges, Including Bribery, Sex Trafficking Conspiracy and Witness Tampering

    Source: US FBI

    BUFFALO, N.Y. – U.S. Attorney Trini E. Ross announced today that a federal jury has convicted Peter Gerace, 57, of Clarence, NY, of conspiracy to defraud the United States, bribery, sex trafficking conspiracy, maintaining a drug involved premises, narcotics conspiracy, witness tampering, and distribution of cocaine, which carry a maximum of life in prison.

    Assistant U.S. Attorneys Joseph M. Tripi, Nicholas T. Cooper, and Casey L. Chalbeck, stated that between 2005, and 2019, Gerace, owner and operator of Pharaoh’s Gentlemen’s Club, conspired to defraud the United States and paid cash bribes to Drug Enforcement Administration special agent Joseph Bongiovanni. In exchange for payments he received, Bongiovanni protected Gerace and utilized his position to dissuade other members of law enforcement from conducting investigations into Gerace’s activities at Pharaoh’s. Bongiovanni was previously convicted and is awaiting sentencing.

    In addition, between 2006, through 2019, Gerace knowingly maintained Pharaoh’s Gentlemen’s Club as a drug involved premises, where he and others distributed cocaine, Adderall, marijuana, and heroin. Gerace and others distributed controlled substances and used other methods to coerce Pharaoh’s dancers to engage in sex acts inside Pharaoh’s. Gerace also, acting with others, sent threatening Facebook messages to a witness in order to prevent her from testifying and providing information in an official proceeding.

    “Peter Gerace preyed on the most vulnerable victims, using them to grow his business and his profits,” stated U.S. Attorney Ross. “Peter Gerace did not want to be caught and have his crimes exposed. However, this investigative and prosecutorial team worked tirelessly, gathering the evidence, and connecting the dots and Peter Gerace now stands convicted of some of the most heinous crimes.”

    “This case showcased the reality of trafficking in Western New York and across the country. It revealed the interplay between drugs, human trafficking, how powerful men, like Peter Gerace, used victims’ drug addictions to coerce them into acts of commercial sex for pure profit,” stated Matthew Miraglia, Special Agent-in-Charge of the FBI’s Buffalo Field Office. “Today’s verdict is a win for victims of human trafficking and hope to those who don’t have a voice. The FBI remains committed to eradicating human trafficking and providing victims with resources. We encourage any victim to come forward. Call 1-800-CALL-FBI or report online at tips.fbi.gov.”

    “With his conviction, Peter Gerace must face the reality that he is not above the law, nor can he escape its consequences. Homeland Security Investigations, in collaboration with our law enforcement partners, is committed to safeguarding the vulnerable from those who use bribery, manipulation, and fear for their own personal gain,” said HSI Buffalo Special Agent-in-Charge Erin Keegan. “The welfare of the public is our highest priority, and HSI Buffalo will take every necessary measure to protect the safety and wellbeing of Western New Yorkers.”

    “Today, a jury found that Gerace was guilty of engaging in drug and sex trafficking, preying on vulnerable victims. He also paid hundreds of thousands of dollars to corrupt Drug Enforcement Administration special agent Joseph Bongiovanni in an attempt to skirt the law and avoid accountability,” said Ryan T. Geach, Special Agent-in-Charge of the U.S. Department of Justice Office of the Inspector General Northeast Region. “I would like to thank the jury for their time and careful consideration of the facts.”

    The verdict is the result of an investigation by Homeland Security Investigations, under the direction of Special Agent-in-Charge Erin Keegan, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, under the direction of Special Agent-in-Charge Matthew Miraglia, and the U.S. Department of Justice Office of the Inspector General, under the direction of Special-Agent-In-Charge Ryan T. Geach, Northeast Region.

    Sentencing is scheduled for August 15, 2025, at 9:30 a.m., before Judge Lawrence J. Vilardo, who presided over the trial of the case.   

    # # # #

    MIL Security OSI –

  • MIL-OSI Security: Los Angeles Director and Writer Charged with $11 Million Fraud in Connection with Streaming Science Fiction Television Show

    Source: US FBI

    Carl Erik Rinsch Used the Stolen Funds to Speculate on Securities and Cryptocurrency

    Matthew Podolsky, the Acting United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, and Leslie Backschies, the Assistant Director in Charge of the New York Field Office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (“FBI”), announced the unsealing of a seven-count Indictment charging CARL ERIK RINSCH for engaging in a scheme to defraud a subscription video on-demand streaming service (“Streaming Company-1”) in connection with a planned science fiction television show called “White Horse.”  RINSCH was arrested today in West Hollywood, California, and will be presented later today in the Central District of California.  The case is assigned to U.S. District Judge Jed S. Rakoff.

    Acting U.S. Attorney Matthew Podolsky said: “As alleged, Carl Erik Rinsch orchestrated a scheme to steal millions by soliciting a large investment from a video streaming service, claiming that money would be used to finance a television show that he was creating. But that was fiction. Rinsch instead allegedly used the funds on personal expenses and investments, including highly speculative options and cryptocurrency trading. Rinsch’s arrest is a reminder that this Office and our partners at the FBI remain vigilant in the fight against fraud and will bring those who cheat and steal to justice.”

    FBI Assistant Director Leslie Backschies said: “Carl Rinsch allegedly stole more than $11 million from a prominent streaming platform to finance lavish purchases and personal investments instead of completing a promised television series. The FBI will continue to reel in any individual who seeks to defraud businesses.”

    As alleged in the Indictment:[1]

    RINSCH is a film and television writer and director who partially completed a science fiction television show called “White Horse.”  In 2018, RINSCH reached an agreement with Streaming Company-1 in which Streaming Company-1 would both pay RINSCH for the existing episodes of White Horse and also fund completion of the rest of the show.  Between 2018 and 2019, Streaming Company-1 paid approximately $44 million for White Horse.

    Between late 2019 and early 2020, RINSCH demanded even more money from Streaming Company-1 to complete White Horse.  Streaming Company-1 ultimately agreed to pay another $11 million, and transferred those funds to a company RINSCH controlled on or about March 6, 2020.  The entirety of those funds was to be spent on the completion of White Horse.

    But RINSCH did not use those funds to complete White Horse.  Instead, within days, RINSCH began transferring the funds he received through a number of different bank accounts before consolidating them in a personal brokerage account.  RINSCH then used those funds to make a number of personal and speculative purchases of securities.  His trading was unsuccessful, and in less than two months after receiving $11 million from Streaming Company-1, RINSCH had lost more than half of those funds.

    Even after losing most of the $11 million, RINSCH still did not spend the remaining funds he had stolen on White Horse.  Instead, he used the money to speculate on cryptocurrency, and on personal expenses and luxury items, including approximately $1,787,000 on credit card bills; approximately $1,073,000 on lawyers to sue Streaming Company-1 for even more money, and for lawyers related to his divorce; approximately $395,000 to stay at the Four Seasons hotel and at various luxury rental properties; approximately $3,787,000 on furniture and antiques, including approximately $638,000 to purchase two mattresses and approximately $295,000 on luxury bedding and linens; approximately $2,417,000 to purchase five Rolls-Royces and one Ferrari; and approximately $652,000 on watches and clothing.

    *               *                *

    RINSCH, 47, of Los Angeles, California, is charged with one count of wire fraud, which carries a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison; one count of money laundering, which carries a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison; and five counts of engaging in monetary transactions in property derived from specified unlawful activity, each of which carries a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison. 

    The maximum potential sentences are prescribed by Congress and are provided here for informational purposes only, as any sentencing of the defendant will be determined by a judge.

    Mr. Podolsky praised the outstanding work of the FBI and Internal Revenue Service – Criminal Investigation. 

    The case is being prosecuted by the Office’s Complex Frauds and Cybercrime Unit. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Jackie Delligatti, David A. Markewitz, and Kevin Mead are in charge of the prosecution.

    The charges contained in the Indictment are merely accusations, and the defendant is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.

    [1] As the introductory phrase signifies, the entirety of the text of the Indictment, and the description of the Indictment set forth herein, constitutes only allegations, and every fact described therein should be treated as an allegation.

    MIL Security OSI –