NewzIntel.com

Category: Transport

  • MIL-OSI Australia: Protect yourself against respiratory illness

    Source: Northern Territory Police and Fire Services

    There are still many Canberrans becoming unwell with influenza, whooping cough and COVID-19.

    In brief

    • Respiratory illnesses are common in winter and leading into spring.
    • Vaccination and talking to your doctor are important steps in keeping well.
    • Staying home when sick and exercising good hygiene are also key to looking after yourself and the community.

    Spring is in sight but there is still plenty of respiratory illness around.

    Throughout winter, many unwell Canberrans have presented to doctors with influenza, whooping cough and COVID-19 symptoms.

    Dr Melanie Dorrington, the ACT Chief GP and Primary Care Advisor, says there has been a high number of influenza cases in the ACT and right across Australia this year.

    She is keen to remove the perception that some of these illnesses are not that serious.

    “It’s important to know that these illnesses are more than just colds”, she said.

    “Influenza and COVID, for example, are both highly contagious viruses that can affect people of all ages. These illnesses can affect everyone differently and people with health conditions and older people are at higher risk of severe illness.

    “There are actions people can take to help keep well while also protecting others in the community”.

    It’s not too late to vaccinate

    Vaccination offers the best protection against serious illness It also helps protect the more vulnerable in the community. This includes babies too young to be vaccinated and others who can’t be vaccinated.

    If you haven’t been vaccinated yet, it’s not too late to do so.

    “It generally takes two weeks following vaccination to be protected,” Dr Mel said.

    “Given that these illnesses still hang around throughout spring, if you haven’t been vaccinated for influenza this year or had a COVID-19 vaccination, if you’re eligible, then now is the time.

    “You should talk to your GP or pharmacist about which vaccines are recommended and funded for you as it can depend on your age, health risks, and other individual circumstances.”

    Simple steps to stay well

    If you’re at higher risk of severe illness from respiratory viruses, it’s important to speak to your healthcare team before you become unwell.

    Things to ask your GP:

    • If I become unwell, what kind of tests should I have?
    • Do I need a PCR pathology request form? If so, how can I get one?
    • Am I eligible to take COVID or influenza antiviral treatments? If so, how can I access them early in my illness?

    There are actions you can take to protect yourself and others.

    “Stay home if you are unwell and don’t send your children to school or daycare if they are sick. Practise good hand and respiratory hygiene and look after your physical and mental health,” Dr Mel said.

    Find more information on how to be well this winter.

    Dr Melanie Dorrington

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    MIL OSI News –

  • MIL-OSI Australia: Increasing awareness of coercive control

    Source: Northern Territory Police and Fire Services

    People enduring coercive control can feel scared and unable to leave their partner.

    Trigger warning: this story discusses domestic violence.

    In brief:

    • Coercive control is when someone uses patterns of abusive behaviour against another person.
    • The abuse can be both physical and non-physical.
    • If you, or someone you know is experiencing coercive control, you can get help.

    The ACT Government is working to increase awareness and education around coercive control.

    Coercive control is when someone uses patterns of abusive behaviour against another person.

    People enduring coercive control can feel scared and unable to leave their partner.

    Understanding coercive control

    The abuse can be both physical and non-physical, including:

    • controlling who a person sees, what they wear, and where they go
    • tracking everything a person does
    • controlling a person’s finances, medicine, food or exercise
    • regularly criticising or blaming a person, so they doubt themselves
    • forcing someone to have sex or do sexual things
    • stopping a person from following their religion or cultural practices
    • threatening a person, their children, family or friends.

    Coercive control often underpins cases of family and domestic violence in our community. Abuse can also be targeted and subtle, and someone may not always know they are experiencing coercive control.

    Technology-facilitated coercive control

    Someone using coercive control may use digital technology as part of their abuse.

    This can include:

    • making repeated abusive, threatening or unwanted messages or calls
    • tracking someone’s location
    • checking who someone talks to online or over the phone
    • creating fake social media accounts and/or making hurtful or false posts about someone
    • controlling internet accounts or locking someone out of them – such as Wi-Fi, email, social media or banking
    • making, sharing or threatening to share intimate videos of someone without their permission
    • using cameras or recording devices to spy on someone.

    The Australian Government has developed the National Principles to Address Coercive Control in Family and Domestic Violence.

    The National Principles aim to create a shared understanding of coercive control and increase awareness of the issue.

    Read more about the seven National Principles.

    Find support

    If you, or someone you know is experiencing coercive control, you can get help.

    1800RESPECT is open 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

    You can get free counselling, information, and support:

    • call 1800RESPECT (1800 732 732)
    • visit 1800respect.org.au.

    There are also many other domestic, family or sexual violence specialist services available. Find a full list here.

    For more information about coercive control and support, and resources including videos and factsheets, visit https://bit.ly/3RFvrR4.

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    MIL OSI News –

  • MIL-OSI USA: CONGRESSWOMAN PLASKETT SHARES UPDATE ON TRUMP ADMINISTRATION’S PROPOSED FEES AT U.S. PORTS

    Source: United States House of Representatives – Congresswoman Stacey E. Plaskett (USVI)

    For Immediate Release                                          Contact: Tionee Scotland

    April 11, 2025                                                           202-808-6129

    PRESS RELEASE

    CONGRESSWOMAN PLASKETT SHARES UPDATE ON TRUMP ADMINISTRATION’S PROPOSED FEES AT U.S. PORTS

    Washington, D.C. – Congresswoman Stacey E. Plaskett shared the following update regarding President Trump’s executive order on the maritime industry:

    “This week, President Trump announced an executive order which doubles down on previous tariff directives and provides a structure to move ahead with the administration’s Section 301 tariff actions which will impose significant port fees on maritime transport operators with fleets comprised of Chinese-built vessels. If the order comes into full effect, it will result in significant port fees on maritime transport operators servicing the United States Virgin Islands. The order also directs the U.S. Trade Representative to consider imposing fees on Chinese-built cranes and other cargo-handling equipment, an action which could affect almost every port in America.

    “These actions will cause increased shipping costs, shipping delays and, in some cases, the wholesale termination of service by cargo carriers to impacted locations throughout the coast of the United States and especially places like the Virgin Islands.

    “I am particularly concerned for coastal and island communities, including the Virgin Islands, where the imposition of these punitive measures will skyrocket costs of food and other everyday items that must be imported by the maritime industry.

    “My team and I have been highly engaged with the Virgin Islands maritime industry, as well as stakeholders, including meeting with the ambassadors to the Caribbean nations, to track the implications of President Trump’s executive order on ship owners, operators, and builders.

    “Earlier this week, I had the opportunity to question US Trade Relations Ambassador Jameison Greer during a Ways & Means Committee hearing and urged the ambassador to consider the practical impacts of tariff actions on the US outlying areas and ultimately reconsider these actions. Our communities would bear tremendous undue cost, which makes clear the need for an exemption. I am also leading a letter to USTR Ambassador Greer and the Administration to make the case for this exemption and underscore the impact of these fees on the Virgin Islands, which will permeate through the Caribbean region.

    “Under the order, transport operators with fleets comprised of Chinese-built vessels will be charged up to $1.5 million per vessel entrance to an American port, as well as an ‘additional fee’ of up to $1 million per vessel entrance to an American port if the number of foreign-built vessels in the operator’s fleet is equal to or greater than 25 percent. Even vessels under the U.S. flag, operated and owned by a U.S. entity that are Chinese-built would be subject to the fees in USTR’s proposal. We continue to urge the Trump Administration to heed the feedback of elected officials, the maritime industry, and stakeholders even amidst the imposition of these actions that will have radically negative consequences for our corner of the American experience.

    “I will continue to collaborate in a bipartisan manner with my colleagues, stakeholders, and the Virgin Islands community to advance the interests of the Virgin Islands.”

    ###

    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-OSI USA: Missouri Gang Member Indicted for Murder in Aid of Racketeering and Other Crimes Including Three Murders

    Source: US State of California

    A federal grand jury in the Eastern District of Missouri returned an indictment on Wednesday charging Travis Santel Jones, 21, of St. Louis, Missouri, with one count of murder in aid of racketeering, RICO conspiracy, using a firearm during a crime of violence, and causing death with a firearm, all related to Jones’s alleged part in the Cochran Crips, a violent street gang based in St. Louis. Two victims were gunned down in the street and one victim was killed at his own home.

    “There is no place in our communities for groups that terrorize their neighbors,” said Matthew R. Galeotti, Head of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division. “This indictment alleges violent criminal acts and the tragic loss of three lives, all at the hands of a dangerous gang member. The Department of Justice’s Criminal Division will continue to pursue justice for these victims and for the people of St. Louis.”

    “The alleged activity here is exactly the type of case that the Violent Crime Initiative was designed to tackle — complex criminal conspiracies involving drugs and years of violence,” said U.S. Attorney Sayler A. Fleming for the Eastern District of Missouri. “There are severe federal consequences for anyone who is tempted to kill and maim to peddle poison.”

    “For years, FBI St. Louis has been investigating violent crimes and drug trafficking by Cochran Crips gang members. In 2020, our office surged resources to assist the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department after two innocent Saint Louis University students were gunned down simply because their vehicle was misidentified by the gang,” said Special Agent in Charge Ashley Johnson of the FBI St. Louis Field Office. “The FBI and our law enforcement partners will not stop until we bring all those involved in the murders to justice.”

    “Violence has no place in our community, and this indictment sends a clear message: we will always be a voice for victims, and we will not stop pursuing justice until there is accountability,” said St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department Chief Robert J. Tracy. “I am proud of the dedication by our investigators on this case, and we will continue to work with our federal law enforcement partners to keep our neighborhoods safe and take dangerous criminals off our streets.”

    According to court documents, Jones conspired with other Cochran Crips members to commit multiple acts of murder and multiple drug trafficking offenses. Specifically, it is alleged in July 2020, Jones and other members were driving the streets of St. Louis, armed with multiple firearms, looking for “get backs” (retaliation) against a rival gang. While searching for rival gang members, Jones and others allegedly killed two innocent people whom they mistakenly believed to be rivals. After allegedly shooting and killing the victims, Jones and other Cochran Crips allegedly sped away, fleeing the scene and endangering other motorists on the road. Just a day after the murders, it is alleged that Cochran Crips gang members glorified the murders in a rap song.

    In 2022, Jones allegedly murdered another Cochran Crips member when the gang believed that the victim had disrespected a fellow gang member. The gang members are alleged to have obtained a car, armed themselves with multiple firearms, drove to the victim’s home, and murdered him.

    If convicted of murder in aid of racketeering, Jones faces a mandatory minimum penalty of life in prison or the death penalty. All other charges carry a maximum penalty of life in prison.  

    The FBI and the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department are investigating the case.

    Trial Attorneys Jared A. Hernandez and Matthew Mattis of the Criminal Division’s Violent Crime and Racketeering Section and Assistant U.S. Attorney Nino Przulj for the Eastern District of Missouri are prosecuting the case.

    This case is part of the Criminal Division’s Violent Crime Initiative in St. Louis conducted in partnership with the U.S. Attorney’s Office in the Eastern District of Missouri and local, state, and federal law enforcement. The joint effort addresses violent crime by employing, where appropriate, federal laws to prosecute gang members and their associates in St. Louis.

    This case is also part of an Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces (OCDETF) operation. OCDETF identifies, disrupts, and dismantles the highest-level criminal organizations that threaten the United States using a prosecutor-led, intelligence-driven, multi-agency approach. Additional information about the OCDETF Program can be found at www.justice.gov/OCDETF.

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

    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-OSI USA: Two Members of a Transnational Money Laundering Organization Sentenced for Laundering Millions of Dollars in Drug Proceeds

    Source: US State of California

    A Georgia man was sentenced today to 78 months in prison for his involvement in a conspiracy to launder millions of dollars in drug proceeds on behalf of foreign drug trafficking organizations, including the Sinaloa cartel and Cartel de Jalisco Nueva Generacion (the Jalisco cartel). On Dec. 4, 2024, his co-conspirator was sentenced to 90 months in prison for his role in the money laundering scheme.

    According to court documents, Li Pei Tan, 47, of Buford, Georgia, and Chaojie Chen, 41, a Chinese national who resided in Chicago, worked for an organization that laundered millions of dollars in proceeds related to the importation and distribution of illegal drugs into the United States, primarily through Mexico. Tan, Chen, and their co-conspirators traveled throughout the United States to collect proceeds of fentanyl and cocaine trafficking, among other drugs. The defendants communicated and coordinated with co-conspirators in China and other foreign countries to arrange the laundering of these proceeds through financial transactions that were designed to conceal the illicit source of the drug money, including through a sophisticated trade-based money laundering scheme involving purchasing bulk electronics in the United States and shipping them to co-conspirators in China.

    On multiple occasions prior to Chen’s May 2024 arrest, law enforcement seized hundreds of thousands of dollars in bulk cash drug proceeds from Chen at locations across the United States. Tan was intercepted by law enforcement in South Carolina while attempting to transport over $197,000 in drug proceeds.

    According to the Drug Enforcement Administration’s (DEA’s) National Drug Threat Assessment, the Sinaloa and Jalisco cartels are at the heart of the fentanyl crisis in the United States.

    Matthew R. Galeotti, Head of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division; U.S. Attorney Erik S. Siebert for the Eastern District of Virginia; and Special Agent in Charge Louis A. D’Ambrosio of the Drug Enforcement Administration’s (DEA) Special Operations Division made the announcement.

    The DEA’s Special Operations Division, Bilateral Investigations Unit investigated the case, with assistance from the DEA’s Office of Special Intelligence, Document and Media Exploitation Unit and the DEA’s offices in Chicago, Atlanta, Charlotte, North Carolina, and Charleston, South Carolina.

    This case is part of Operation Take Back America, a nationwide initiative that marshals the full resources of the Department of Justice to repel the invasion of illegal immigration, achieve the total elimination of cartels and transnational criminal organizations, 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).

    Trial Attorney Mary K. Daly of the Criminal Division’s Money Laundering and Asset Recovery Section and Assistant U.S. Attorney Edgardo J. Rodriguez of the United States Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Virginia prosecuted the case.

    This effort is part of an Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces (OCDETF) operation.  OCDETF identifies, disrupts, and dismantles the highest-level criminal organizations that threaten the United States, using a prosecutor-led, intelligence-driven, multi-agency approach.  Additional information about the OCDETF Program can be found at www.justice.gov/OCDETF.

    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-OSI USA: Labrador Letter: How Idaho is Taking Legal Action Against Illegal Immigration

    Source: US State of Idaho

    Dear Friends,
    Illegal immigration isn’t just a problem for South Texas, Arizona, or California. It’s a national crisis—and Idaho is feeling the impact. Trafficking routes stretch from both the southern and northern borders into every region of the country, and our communities are not immune.
    Here in Idaho, we’ve seen the consequences of the last four years: cartel-linked drug operations, the exploitation of minors through human trafficking, and illegal labor that drives down wages and strains schools, hospitals, and law enforcement. These aren’t distant policy debates—they are real threats to the safety of Idaho families, the economy, and our state sovereignty.
    As your Attorney General, I want to speak plainly about what my office is doing, what state law gives us the authority to do, and why understanding those boundaries is essential to having a serious conversation about public safety and immigration enforcement.
    Under current Idaho law, the Attorney General does not have general authority to investigate or prosecute immigration-related crimes. Unlike local prosecutors and sheriffs, whose jurisdiction is county-based, my office may only act where specific authority has been granted by state law.
    For example, the Legislature has authorized my office to investigate internet crimes against children statewide under Idaho Code section 67-1410. But state law does not currently authorize my office to investigate or prosecute most crimes like human trafficking or crimes included in the Idaho ICE Act. This isn’t a matter of discretion—it’s the legal framework we’re required to follow.
    That distinction matters. While we partner closely with local and federal law enforcement whenever possible, our jurisdiction is defined by the authority granted to us in state law. Until that law changes, we will continue to use every legal tool available and authorized to protect Idahoans.
    And that’s exactly what we’re doing.
    Over the past two years, my office has joined multiple lawsuits to stop the Biden Administration’s unlawful immigration policies. We partnered with Texas in defending its sovereign right to secure its own border. And just this week, I joined a coalition of states in an amicus brief defending the Trump Administration’s authority to enforce federal immigration law and block sanctuary policies in states like Illinois.
    At the same time, we’re actively defending Idaho’s legislative efforts to safeguard public safety. That includes House Bill 83, recently enacted to strengthen our state’s ability to cooperate with federal immigration authorities. Predictably, the ACLU filed suit almost immediately after the bill was signed into law. This week, my office appeared in federal court to defend the law and Idaho’s authority to play a meaningful role in enforcing immigration policy. While the court issued a narrow temporary restraining order blocking two provisions—those that would create state-level offenses for unlawful entry or re-entry into the U.S. when tied to a separate criminal investigation or detention—it allowed the rest of the law to temporarily take effect immediately while we await the judge’s full decision. That’s a significant step forward in Idaho’s ongoing effort to work alongside federal partners to protect our state.
    With a new administration in Washington ready to restore the rule of law and national security, Idaho has a partner in the federal government willing to enforce immigration policy instead of undermining it. My office is engaged, coordinated, and committed to using every authority granted to us under Idaho law to defend our state’s sovereignty and protect our communities.
    Best regards,

    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-OSI USA: Justice Department Surpasses $12 Billion in Compensation to Crime Victims Since 2000

    Source: US State of North Dakota

    To commemorate the 2025 National Crime Victims’ Rights Week, the Department of Justice reaffirms its steadfast commitment to compensate crime victims with federally forfeited assets. The Justice Department’s Asset Forfeiture Program has surpassed $12 billion in compensation to crime victims.

    In fiscal year 2024 and the beginning of fiscal year 2025 alone, more than $735.3 million has been returned to victims of human trafficking; romance, investment, and healthcare fraud; business email compromise and government imposter schemes; drug diversion; and cryptocurrency-related thefts and frauds.

    “This extraordinary milestone demonstrates the effectiveness of the Asset Forfeiture Program in taking the profit out of crime and compensating victims,” said Matthew R. Galeotti, Head of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division. “While the Criminal Division is deeply proud of these efforts, we recognize that crime victims often lose much more than money. We hope that victims, from exploited children to older Americans targeted by sophisticated criminal schemes, can move forward in their recovery through this compensation. This milestone was made possible by the Justice Department’s Money Laundering and Asset Recovery Section, which manages the Asset Forfeiture Program, U.S. Attorneys’ Offices across the country, and the many federal, state, local, and tribal law enforcement agencies that have dedicated their time and resources to these investigations.”  

    Recent cases in which victims were compensated for their losses with forfeited assets in 2024 or 2025 include:

    $4.3 Billion to Victims of Bernie Madoff

    United States v. Bernard L. Madoff (Southern District of New York)

    In December 2024, the Justice Department announced that the Madoff Victim Fund (MVF) would make its 10th and final distribution of over $131.4 million to victims of the Bernard L. Madoff fraud scheme. These funds were forfeited by the U.S. government in connection with the Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securities LLC (BLMIS) fraud scheme. Through its 10 distributions, MVF paid over $4.3 billion from forfeited funds to 40,930 victims in 127 countries for losses they suffered from the collapse of BLMIS, bringing recovery for victims to nearly 94% of their fraud loss. According to court documents and information presented in related proceedings, for decades, Madoff used his position as chairman of Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securities LLC, the investment advisory business he founded in 1960, to steal billions from his clients. On March 12, 2009, Madoff pleaded guilty to 11 federal felonies, admitting that he had turned his wealth management business into the world’s largest Ponzi scheme, benefitting himself, his family, and select members of his inner circle.

    $420 Million to Victims of Fraud Schemes Facilitated by Western Union

    United States v. The Western Union Company (Middle District of Pennsylvania)

    In 2017, Western Union entered into a deferred prosecution agreement (DPA) with the United States. Pursuant to the DPA, Western Union acknowledged responsibility for its criminal conduct, which included violations of the Bank Secrecy Act and aiding and abetting wire fraud.  Western Union agreed to forfeit $586 million, which has been made available to compensate victims of the international consumer fraud scheme through the remission process. Western Union simultaneously resolved a parallel civil investigation with the Federal Trade Commission. To date, the Criminal Division has disbursed more than $420 million to approximately 175,000 victims.

    $8 Million Returned to Victims of Email Business Compromise Scams

    United States v. Olalekan Jacob Ponle (Northern District of Illinois)

    Olalekan Jacob Ponle worked with co-schemers to engage in numerous business email compromise schemes. The co-schemers used phishing links to gain unauthorized access to email accounts and then created false instructions directing employees of the victim companies to wire money to bank accounts opened by money mules at Ponle’s direction. After unwitting employees wired money, in some cases millions of dollars, to the bank accounts, Ponle instructed the money mules to convert the proceeds to Bitcoin and send them to him. As a result of Ponle’s scheme, victim companies suffered more than $8.03 million in actual losses. The government seized the Bitcoin, obtained a final order of forfeiture, liquidated the cryptocurrency, and used the proceeds to compensate the victims of Ponle’s fraud.

    $5.6 Million to the Small Business Administration

    United States v. Aydin Kalantarov, et al. (Northern District of Ohio)

    According to court documents, from May 2020 through October 2020, Aydin Kalantarov, along with his two brothers, Zaur Kalantarli and Ali Kalantarli, conspired to defraud the U.S. Small Business Association (SBA) of nearly $7 million in Economic Injury Disaster Loans (EIDL). As part of the scheme the brothers created 70 fictious Ohio corporations with agriculture sounding names. Once the fictitious corporations were created, the brothers submitted fraudulent EIDL loan applications to the SBA claiming that their business was adversely affected by the pandemic. The SBA funded 47 of the applications for a total of approximately $7 million. $5.6 million in forfeited funds was transferred to the clerk of the court for payment to the SBA.

    $2.28 Million Returned to Victims of Two Business Email Compromise Schemes

    United States v. Contents of TD Bank Account, Account Ending 7684, Held in the Name of O’Shane K. Malcolm, et al. (District of Connecticut)

    United States v. Contents of Truist Bank Account Ending 5792, Held in The Name of Quest Freight LLC (District of Connecticut)

    In the first scam, criminal actors compromised an email account associated with a member of the management team of a city’s Board of Education.  In June 2023, these actors created a fake email account that mimicked the email of a bus company that held a contract with the Board of Education for bussing. Using the fake bus company email address, the criminal actors then were able to change the bus company’s payment information from the real bus company to an account held by the criminal actors, and the city sent approximately $5.9 million dollars to the account.  The government successfully seized and forfeited approximately $1,187,691 of the stolen money, which was returned to the city through remission.

    The second forfeiture action involved a healthcare company that was a victim of a business email compromise (BEC) attack.  In April 2023, the company’s yearly medical malpractice insurance payment was set to be paid.  Shortly before the due date, the company received a fraudulent email, purportedly from its malpractice insurance company, with new wire instructions.  The company sent approximately $1,652,254 via a wire transfer using the newly provided instructions. The government successfully seized and forfeited approximately $1,100,694 remaining in the account, which was returned to the healthcare company through remissions.

    $328,500 to an Elderly Victim of a Computer Support Scam

    United States v. Discovery Bank Account Ending in 2237 (District of Connecticut)

    According to court documents, in February 2024, an elderly woman who was tricked by a computer support scheme that mimicked Microsoft customer support transferred approximately $550,000 to the scammers in two wire transfers. Within two days of the transfers, the victim and a family member reported the incident to a local police department, who then partnered with Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) to investigate the crime. Fortunately, one of the wire transfers, in the amount of $221,000, was reversed by the bank and returned to the victim. HSI traced the remaining money, totaling approximately $328,573, and seized it. The U.S. Attorney’s Office then filed a civil asset forfeiture action to forfeit the money to the government, and the U.S. Attorney’s Office and HSI then worked with the Department of Justice’s Money Laundering and Asset Recovery Section to return the money to the victim.

    $6.4 Million to the Internal Revenue Service

    United States v. Michael Little (Middle District of Florida)

    From 2019 to 2021, Michael Little filed a series of false tax returns claiming massive, bogus fuel tax credits. He filed the false returns in his own name and in the names of co-conspirators and identity theft victims. As a result of this scheme, Little and his co-conspirators obtained at least $12.3 million in fraudulent tax refunds and attempted to obtain at least $27 million more. Little and his co-conspirators also conspired to launder their ill-gotten gains and used significant portions of the fraudulent tax refunds to purchase real estate and other assets.  Over $6.4 million in forfeited funds were transferred to the clerk of court for payment to the IRS.

    $52,000 to a Survivor of Human Trafficking

    United States v. Thuy Tien Luong (Western District of North Carolina)

    Thuy Tien Luong was convicted of forced labor and ordered to serve 15 years in prison for compelling the labor of one of her nail technicians at a salon she owned and operated. From October 2016 to June 2018, Luong forced the survivor’s labor by, among other things, physically assaulting the survivor, threatening to ruin the survivor’s reputation with her family, and falsely claiming that the survivor owed Luong a fictitious debt. In addition to resulting in the return of funds seized from Luong to the Clerk of Court to pay the survivor, the case also resulted in the return to the survivor of a seized bracelet that Luong had held as “payment” towards the survivor’s fictitious debt.

    $6.3 Million Returned to Estate Victims of an Embezzlement Scheme

    United States v. Richard J. Sherwood, et al. (Northern District of New York)

    Starting in 2006, Richard J. Sherwood and Thomas K. Lagan provided estate planning and related legal services to Capital Region philanthropists Warren and Pauline Bruggeman, and to Pauline’s sister, Anne Urban, all of Niskayuna, New York.  They were advising the Bruggemans when, in 2006, the Bruggemans signed wills directing that all their assets go to churches, civic organizations, a local hospital, and a local university scholarship fund, aside from bequests to Urban and Julia Rentz, Pauline’s sisters.

    Warren Bruggeman died in April 2009, and Pauline died in August 2011. In each pleading guilty, Sherwood and Lagan admitted that they conspired to steal, and did steal, millions of dollars from Pauline Bruggeman’s estate as well as from the estate of Urban, who died in 2013. The co-conspirators admitted that they stole $11,831,563 and Sherwood also admitted that he transferred to himself the Bruggeman family camp located on Galway Lake, in Saratoga County.

    For additional information about the Department of Justice’s victim compensation program, please visit: Criminal Division | Victims.

    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-OSI Security: Two Foreign Nationals With Prior Convictions For Illegally Reentering The United States

    Source: Office of United States Attorneys

    LAS VEGAS – Mexican and Salvadorian nationals residing in Las Vegas made their initial court appearances Thursday to face charges of illegally reentering the United States after previously being removed from the country.

    David Cristales-Machado, 35, and Juan Manuel Lopez-Mendez, 35, are both charged with one count of deported alien found in the United States. Preliminary hearings for both defendants are scheduled for April 24, 2025, before United States Magistrate Judge Daniel J Albregts.

    According to allegations contained in the criminal complaints and statements made during court proceedings, Cristales-Machado, a citizen and national of El Salvador, and Lopez-Mendez, a citizen and national of Mexico, were both previously deported and removed from the United States and reentered the United States illegally.

    On March 22, 2025, Cristales-Machado was remanded to the custody of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), from the Clark County Detention Center, based on an ICE detainer after he had twice been arrested and convicted of carry a concealed weapon without permit. Cristales-Machado had previously been deported on or about October 8, 2014. Cristales-Machado has three prior felony convictions: two for attempt possession of a stolen vehicle, and one attempt burglary.

    On March 28, 2025, Lopez-Mendez was remanded to the custody of ICE, from the Clark County Detention Center, based on an ICE detainer after he been arrested for Possession of a Controlled Substance, by Las Vegas Metropolitan Police. Lopez-Mendez had previously been deported to Mexico on July 12, 2018. Lopez-Mendez has two prior felony convictions: one for transport of a controlled substance, and another for attempt possession of a stolen vehicle.

    If convicted, Cristales-Machado faces a maximum statutory penalty of 10 years in prison, a three-year term of supervised release, a $250,000 fine, and a $100 special assessment.

    If convicted, Lopez-Mendez faces a maximum statutory penalty of two years in prison, a one-year term of supervised release, a $250,000 fine, and a $100 special assessment.

    United States Attorney Sigal Chattah for the District of Nevada and Salt Lake City Field Office Director Michael Bernacke made the announcement.

    The ICE Salt Lake City, Las Vegas Sub-Office investigated the case; and the United States Attorney’s Office for the District of Nevada is prosecuting the case.

    Members of the public can report crimes and suspicious activity by dialing 866-DHS-2-ICE (866-347-2423) or completing the online tip form.

    A complaint is merely an accusation, and a defendant is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.

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    MIL Security OSI –

  • MIL-OSI Security: Adam Gordon Sworn in as U.S. Attorney

    Source: Office of United States Attorneys

    SAN DIEGO – Adam Gordon, a career prosecutor who became a nationally-recognized expert on prosecutorial strategies to combat the fentanyl epidemic, was sworn in today as U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of California, one of the busiest federal districts in the nation. Mr. Gordon, 43, was appointed by Attorney General Pamela Bondi.

    U.S. District Court Chief Judge Cynthia A. Bashant administered the oath of office to Gordon in the presence of his senior leadership team, office colleagues, friends and family.

    “Thank you to President Trump and Attorney General Bondi for the opportunity to serve as the United States Attorney for the Southern District of California,” Mr. Gordon said. “I am deeply honored to lead this office and protect the people of this district. For too long, criminal organizations have exploited the chaos at our border. That chaos of criminality and lack of consequences cannot prevail. Together with our dedicated law enforcement partners, we will focus our resources on the Operation Take Back America priorities including securing the border, prosecuting cartel leaders, and removing dangerous offenders from our communities.”

    The U.S. Attorney’s Office enforces federal criminal laws in the Southern District of California, which includes San Diego and Imperial counties, and represents the federal government in civil litigation.  The office is one of the nation’s largest, comprised of approximately 300 attorneys and staff members.  As the U.S. Attorney, Gordon is the chief federal law enforcement official for the district.

    Mr. Gordon is a veteran prosecutor who has served as an Assistant U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of California since 2019. He most recently worked in the Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces Unit. Prior to that assignment, he was the office’s Criminal Division Opioid Coordinator for approximately three years.

    Gordon was instrumental in creating the Fentanyl Abatement and Suppression Team (“FAST”) in San Diego County which is now a national model. Formed in September 2022, FAST is a multi-agency task force led by Homeland Security Investigations working in conjunction with federal partners, along with state and local agencies to target significant fentanyl distributors in San Diego County to reduce the overdose death rate. He also has personally prosecuted many of resulting in death cases, achieving justice for the families of victims of fentanyl poisonings, including the drug dealer responsible for the death of a 13-year-old in Coronado.

    Prior to serving as a federal prosecutor, Mr. Gordon was a Deputy District Attorney in San Diego County where he prosecuted a variety of criminal matters but focused on violent crimes. From 2014 to 2018, Adam was in private practice in San Diego. Gordon received his bachelor’s degree in economics in 2004 from Harvard University, and his law degree from the University of Virginia School of Law in 2008.

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  • MIL-OSI Security: U.S. Attorney’s Office Filed 116 Border-Related Cases This Week

    Source: Office of United States Attorneys

    SAN DIEGO – Federal prosecutors in the Southern District of California filed 116 border-related cases this week, including charges of transportation of illegal aliens, bringing in aliens for financial gain, receipt of bribes by public official, reentering the U.S. after deportation, deported alien found in the United States, and importation of controlled substances.

    The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of California is the fourth-busiest federal district, largely due to a high volume of border-related crimes. This district, encompassing San Diego and Imperial counties, shares a 140-mile border with Mexico. It includes the San Ysidro Port of Entry, the world’s busiest land border crossing, connecting San Diego (America’s eighth largest city) and Tijuana (Mexico’s second largest city).

    In addition to reactive border-related crimes, the Southern District of California also prosecutes a significant number of proactive cases related to terrorism, organized crime, drugs, white-collar fraud, violent crime, cybercrime, human trafficking and national security. Recent developments in those and other significant areas of prosecution can be found here.

    A sample of border-related arrests this week, includes:

    • On April 10, six Mexican nationals were arrested and charged with various immigration crimes. According to complaints, they were apprehended by Border Patrol agents while attempting to illegally enter the U.S. about three miles east of the Otay Mesa Port of Entry. While an agent turned his attention to two other suspected illegal border crossers, the six defendants absconded after being placed in handcuffs. Jose Lastra Palafox, Pedro Orlando Aguilar-Vazquez, Javier Eduardo Jimenez Gonzalez, Jose Javier Solis Jardon, Joel Alonso Soria-Garcia, and Lazaro Velazquez Morales were later recaptured.
    • On April 6, Jose Manuel Guzman, a United States citizen, was arrested and charged with Importation of a Controlled Substance. According to a complaint, he was intercepted by U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers when a drug detection dog alerted to his vehicle as he attempted to cross the border at the Otay Mesa Port of Entry. Officers found 115 packages of methamphetamine weighing 125 pounds, concealed in the quarter panels, gas tank and doors of the vehicle, the complaint said.
    • On April 7, Raul Vallejo-Isordia, Victor Manuel Quintero Sanez, Noe Avila, Jose Juan Cisneros-Cisneros and Valentin Gonzalez-Elizalde – all Mexican nationals – were arrested and charged with Attempted Bringing in Aliens for Financial Gain and Attempted Entry after Deportation. According to a complaint, the defendants were taken into custody in connection with the smuggling of 17 undocumented immigrants who were intercepted by the U.S. Coast Guard 12 miles west of Point Loma.
    • Also on April 7, Dennis Geovanny Marquez-Cordova of Honduras was arrested and charged with Deported Alien Found in the United States. According to a complaint, the defendant had been previously deported.

    Federal law enforcement has focused immigration prosecutions on undocumented aliens who are engaged in criminal activity in the U.S., including those who commit drug and firearms crimes, who have serious criminal records, or who have active warrants for their arrest. Federal authorities have also been prioritizing investigations and prosecutions against drug, firearm, and human smugglers and those who endanger and threaten the safety of our communities and the law enforcement officers who protect the community.

    The immigration cases were referred or supported by federal law enforcement partners, including Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Enforcement and Removal Operations (ICE ERO), Customs and Border Protection, U.S. Border Patrol, the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), the U.S. Marshals Service (USMS), and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF), with the support and assistance of state and local law enforcement partners.

    Indictments and criminal complaints are merely allegations and all defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.

    MIL Security OSI –

  • MIL-OSI Security: Mexican National Sentenced to More Than 4 Years in Federal Prison for Smuggling and Labor Trafficking Scheme

    Source: United States Department of Justice (Human Trafficking)

    Marc H. Silverman, Acting United States Attorney for the District of Connecticut, announced that MARIA DEL CARMEN SANCHEZ POTRERO, also known as Maria Carmela Sanchez, 71, a citizen of Mexico last residing in Hartford, was sentenced today by U.S. District Judge Kari A. Dooley in Bridgeport to 51 months of imprisonment for her involvement in a scheme to smuggle aliens into the U.S., harbor them at Hartford area residences, force them to work, and threaten to harm them in various ways if they failed to pay exorbitant fees, interest, and other living expenses.

    According to court documents and statements made in court, beginning in September 2022, the FBI and Hartford Police interviewed several Mexican nationals who disclosed that they were smuggled from Mexico into the U.S. and transported to Hartford.  The investigation revealed that victims typically arranged with Sanchez and others in Connecticut and Mexico to cross the border into the U.S. in exchange for a fee of between $15,000 and $20,000 that each would need to pay once they were in the U.S.  In most cases, the victims were required to turn over a property deed as collateral before leaving Mexico.  They were then smuggled across the border and transported to Hartford area residences, including Sanchez’s residence on Madison Street in Hartford, often at a substantial risk of bodily injury or death.

    After the victims arrived in Connecticut, they were told that they would have to pay approximately $30,000, with interest, and that they would have to pay Sanchez and her co-coconspirators for rent, food, gas and utilities.  Sanchez and her co-conspirators created false documents for the victims, including Permanent Residence cards and Social Security cards, and helped the victims find employment in the Hartford area.  In addition to their own jobs, some victims were required to perform housework and yardwork without compensation and without having their debt reduced.

    Victims were rarely provided with an accounting of their debt.  If victims failed to make regular payments, or in amounts that Sanchez and her co-conspirators expected, they were sometimes threatened, including with threats to harm family members in Mexico, to take property in Mexico that had been secured as collateral, to reveal victims’ immigration status to U.S. authorities, and to raise their interest payments.

    To date, investigators have identified 19 victims of this scheme. Multiple victims were minors, and at least two were smuggled into the U.S. unaccompanied by a relative or legal guardian.

    Sanchez has been detained since her arrest on March 1, 2023.  On October 24, 2024, she pleaded guilty to conspiracy to encourage and induce, bring in, transport, and harbor aliens.

    Judge Dooley ordered Sanchez to pay restitution of $574,608.

    Sanchez faces immigration when she completes her prison term.

    This investigation has been conducted by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Hartford Police Department, U.S. Department of Labor – Office of Inspector General, U.S. Customs and Border Protection, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.  The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Angel Krull and Shan Patel.

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  • MIL-OSI Security: Philadelphia Man Convicted at Trial of Sex Trafficking of a Minor and Child Pornography Offenses

    Source: United States Department of Justice (Human Trafficking)

    PHILADELPHIA – United States Attorney David Metcalf announced that Walter Tharrington, aka “Black” and “Roaadblock,” 32, of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, was convicted this week at trial of sex trafficking and child pornography offenses.

    Tharrington was charged by indictment in August of 2024, and convicted on Wednesday, April 9, of sex trafficking of a minor, advertising child pornography, and possession of child pornography.

    As detailed in court filings and proven at trial, in or about the summer of 2023, the defendant asked Minor 1, then 14 years old, to help him make money. In order to do so, Tharrington directed Minor 1 to engage in commercial sex, with the defendant facilitating the commercial sex by soliciting customers through online advertisements.

    Tharrington used his cellular phone to post explicit content of Minor 1 to accompany the online advertisements. The defendant set the prices for the encounters and instructed Minor 1 on what sexual acts to perform in exchange for money.

    At the defendant’s direction, Minor 1 engaged in sexual encounters with buyers. The evidence established that Tharrington kept and controlled the profits from the encounters, while providing shelter for Minor 1, who lived at Tharrington’s house during the summer of 2023.

    Tharrington physically assaulted Minor 1 on multiple occasions. Minor 1’s injuries were observed by another minor female, who corroborated Minor 1’s account and confirmed that the defendant had solicited her to work for him, as well.

    The defendant will be sentenced at a later date and faces a maximum possible sentence of life in prison.

    “Walter Tharrington made money by sexually exploiting a child, advertising her for sex with strangers,” said U.S. Attorney Metcalf. “Putting anyone through that, let alone a vulnerable minor, is unconscionable. Know that my office and the FBI are working every day to put traffickers like this defendant behind bars and ensure some justice for their victims.”

    “Sex trafficking — especially when it involves a child — is among the most heinous crimes the FBI investigates,” said Wayne A. Jacobs, Special Agent in Charge of the FBI’s Philadelphia Field Office. “This conviction is a powerful testament to the tireless efforts of the FBI and our dedicated law enforcement partners to protect the most vulnerable among us. It reaffirms our unwavering commitment to pursuing justice for victims and holding predators accountable.”

    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 Department of Justice. Led by United States Attorneys’ Offices and the Criminal Division’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section (CEOS), Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state, and local resources to better locate, apprehend, and prosecute individuals who exploit children via the internet, as well as to identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit projectsafechildhood.gov.

    This case was investigated by the FBI Philadelphia Violent Crimes Against Children and Human Trafficking Task Force and the Delaware County District Attorney’s Office Criminal Investigation Division. The case is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorneys Justin Ashenfelter and Amanda McCool.

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  • MIL-OSI Security: Key West Man Pleads Guilty in D.C. to Smuggling Firearms from Florida to Haiti

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

               WASHINGTON – Jean Wiltene Eugene, 57, of Key West, Florida, pleaded guilty today in U.S. District Court to one count of smuggling for his role in a gun running operation that illegally exported firearms to Haiti.

               The plea was announced by U.S. Attorney Edward R. Martin, Jr., Sue J. Bai, head of the Justice Department’s National Security Division, and FBI Acting Special Agent in Charge Justin Fleck of the Miami Field Office. Sentencing is scheduled for July 22.

               According to court documents, Eugene is a U.S. citizen who was born in Haiti and resides in Key West, Florida. On or about September 23, 2021, Eugene knowingly exported more than two firearms from the United States to Haiti without having first obtained the required license from the Bureau of Industry and Security, located in the District of Columbia. Any person who exports a firearm without proper authorization may be fined up to $1 million and imprisoned for up to 20 years.

               According to court records, Eugene arranged to ship vehicles to Haiti through a Florida-based export company. Eugene signed the company’s terms and conditions of shipments, which required the shipper to affirm that the vehicles did not contain any firearms or ammunition. In a subsequent interview with law enforcement, Eugene admitted that, in 2020 and 2021, he shipped two vehicles to Haiti with firearms hidden inside. Eugene stated that he placed food and other items around the bins holding the firearms so border authorities would not find the weapons.

               In a later interview with federal agents Eugene stated that nine firearms he purchased in Key West under his name were currently located at his gas station in Haiti and that none of those firearms remained in the United States. He admitted that he knew it was illegal to ship weapons to Haiti when confronted by the federal agents.

               Pursuant to an active arrest warrant, Eugene was arrested at a traffic stop on May 4, 2024, in Key West.

               This case is being investigated by the FBI Miami Field Office with assistance from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and the Department of Commerce’s Office of Export Enforcement. It is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Kimberly Paschall and Trial Attorney Beau Barnes of the National Security Division.

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    MIL Security OSI –

  • MIL-OSI Australia: Hit and run at Brooklyn Park

    Source: New South Wales – News

    A woman was lucky to escape serious injury after being struck by a car at Brooklyn Park last night.

    About 9.40pm on Friday 11 April a grey SUV was conducting a U-turn on Henley Beach Road, Brooklyn Park and struck a woman crossing the road.

    The grey SUV drove off.

    The 43-year-old Ridleyton woman was taken by ambulance to hospital for treatment.  Fortunately, her injuries are not believed to be life-threatening.

    Police are still looking for the male driver and the grey SUV.

    Investigations are continuing, but it is believed that the people involved in this incident are known to each other.

    Anyone who witnessed the collision or has any dashcam or CCTV footage that may assist the investigation is asked to contact Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000 or online at www.crimestopperssa.com.au

    MIL OSI News –

  • MIL-OSI Australia: Driver and passenger arrested at Salisbury Heights

    Source: New South Wales – News

    Two people have been arrested after a Volkswagen failed to stop for police in the northern suburbs last night.

    At 8.15pm on Friday 11 April patrols spotted a Volkswagen sedan on Haydown Road, Elizabeth East and attempted to stop the vehicle however the driver sped off.

    Patrols called in the assistance of PolAir who tracked the vehicle as it travelled through Elizabeth East.

    The vehicle was seen to travel on the wrong side of the road on Midway Road and through a red light at the intersection of Main North Road and Black Top Road.

    Patrols successfully spiked the vehicle’s tyres on Stanford Road, Salisbury Heights.  The car turned into St Albans Drive, Salisbury Heights, and the male passenger was seen to run from the vehicle.

    The car continued for a short distance onto Featherstone Place, where the female driver abandoned the car and ran off.

    The driver was found a short time later, hiding in the rear yard of a Stanford Road address.

    A 22-year-old Elizabeth Grove woman was arrested and charged with drive dangerously to escape police pursuit, drive unlicensed, drive unregistered, trespass and unlawfully on premises.  She was bailed to appear in the Elizabeth Magistrates Court on 12 May.

    Her vehicle was impounded for 28 days.

    Her passenger, a 35-year-old Renown Park man, was arrested and charged with breach of bail and outstanding warrants.  He was refused police bail and will appear in court on Monday.

    MIL OSI News –

  • MIL-OSI USA: FDA Honored to Welcome HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. to FDA Campus

    Source: US Department of Health and Human Services – 3

    For Immediate Release:
    April 11, 2025

    The U.S. Food and Drug Administration today welcomed HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. to its headquarters in Silver Spring, Maryland, a visit that included remarks to FDA employees, meetings with agency leadership, and a tour of several medical device innovation laboratories on the FDA’s White Oak campus.
    The visit, which comes just days after Martin A. Makary, M.D. was sworn in as Commissioner of Food and Drugs, indicates the high priority that the Secretary has placed on the public health work of the FDA.
    During his remarks to FDA staff, Secretary Kennedy charged employees with the responsibility of responding to and ending the chronic health care crisis plaguing our nation’s children. “I really want to empower you,” Secretary Kennedy said. He noted that public health needs “an inspired and engaged workforce. And you’re the leaders in that workforce.”
    In introducing Secretary Kennedy, Commissioner Makary thanked the Secretary for the confidence “you and the President have placed on me to lead this essential public health agency.” He pledged to build on the agency’s “long and distinguished history” to forge a new and even more effective path for public health by “applying the gold standard of scientific research” to help us find new cures for diseases and ending the “epidemic of chronic illness we face in our nation today.”
    The tour included visits to several laboratories that are part of the FDA’s Center for Devices and Radiological Health. The first stop of the tour was at the Home as a Health Care Hub, an FDA initiative to help foster person-centered, innovative medical devices for use in the home, a critical component of the future delivery of health care. He also participated in a virtual reality demonstration of the tool that simulates the patient experience managing diabetes with devices in the home. Among others are a laboratory that focuses on 3-D printing and Additive Manufacturing, a technology that enables manufacturers and designers to create devices matched to a patient’s anatomy, or for very complex internal structures, and to make changes easily without the need to set up additional equipment or tools. The Secretary also visited a cardiovascular lab, in which he saw cardiovascular device performance simulation and other advanced testing methodologies and computational models developed by FDA scientists being used by medical device innovators in the development and assessment of their technology across different clinical conditions, resulting in reduced risk and accelerated innovation. 
    ###

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    The FDA, an agency within the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, protects the public health by assuring the safety, effectiveness, and security of human and veterinary drugs, vaccines and other biological products for human use, and medical devices. The agency also is responsible for the safety and security of our nation’s food supply, cosmetics, dietary supplements, radiation-emitting electronic products, and for regulating tobacco products.

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    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-OSI Security: Two Members of a Transnational Money Laundering Organization Sentenced for Laundering Millions of Dollars in Drug Proceeds

    Source: United States Attorneys General

    A Georgia man was sentenced today to 78 months in prison for his involvement in a conspiracy to launder millions of dollars in drug proceeds on behalf of foreign drug trafficking organizations, including the Sinaloa cartel and Cartel de Jalisco Nueva Generacion (the Jalisco cartel). On Dec. 4, 2024, his co-conspirator was sentenced to 90 months in prison for his role in the money laundering scheme.

    According to court documents, Li Pei Tan, 47, of Buford, Georgia, and Chaojie Chen, 41, a Chinese national who resided in Chicago, worked for an organization that laundered millions of dollars in proceeds related to the importation and distribution of illegal drugs into the United States, primarily through Mexico. Tan, Chen, and their co-conspirators traveled throughout the United States to collect proceeds of fentanyl and cocaine trafficking, among other drugs. The defendants communicated and coordinated with co-conspirators in China and other foreign countries to arrange the laundering of these proceeds through financial transactions that were designed to conceal the illicit source of the drug money, including through a sophisticated trade-based money laundering scheme involving purchasing bulk electronics in the United States and shipping them to co-conspirators in China.

    On multiple occasions prior to Chen’s May 2024 arrest, law enforcement seized hundreds of thousands of dollars in bulk cash drug proceeds from Chen at locations across the United States. Tan was intercepted by law enforcement in South Carolina while attempting to transport over $197,000 in drug proceeds.

    According to the Drug Enforcement Administration’s (DEA’s) National Drug Threat Assessment, the Sinaloa and Jalisco cartels are at the heart of the fentanyl crisis in the United States.

    Matthew R. Galeotti, Head of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division; U.S. Attorney Erik S. Siebert for the Eastern District of Virginia; and Special Agent in Charge Louis A. D’Ambrosio of the Drug Enforcement Administration’s (DEA) Special Operations Division made the announcement.

    The DEA’s Special Operations Division, Bilateral Investigations Unit investigated the case, with assistance from the DEA’s Office of Special Intelligence, Document and Media Exploitation Unit and the DEA’s offices in Chicago, Atlanta, Charlotte, North Carolina, and Charleston, South Carolina.

    This case is part of Operation Take Back America, a nationwide initiative that marshals the full resources of the Department of Justice to repel the invasion of illegal immigration, achieve the total elimination of cartels and transnational criminal organizations, 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).

    Trial Attorney Mary K. Daly of the Criminal Division’s Money Laundering and Asset Recovery Section and Assistant U.S. Attorney Edgardo J. Rodriguez of the United States Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Virginia prosecuted the case.

    This effort is part of an Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces (OCDETF) operation.  OCDETF identifies, disrupts, and dismantles the highest-level criminal organizations that threaten the United States, using a prosecutor-led, intelligence-driven, multi-agency approach.  Additional information about the OCDETF Program can be found at www.justice.gov/OCDETF.

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  • MIL-OSI Security: Justice Department Surpasses $12 Billion in Compensation to Crime Victims Since 2000

    Source: United States Attorneys General 1

    To commemorate the 2025 National Crime Victims’ Rights Week, the Department of Justice reaffirms its steadfast commitment to compensate crime victims with federally forfeited assets. The Justice Department’s Asset Forfeiture Program has surpassed $12 billion in compensation to crime victims.

    In fiscal year 2024 and the beginning of fiscal year 2025 alone, more than $735.3 million has been returned to victims of human trafficking; romance, investment, and healthcare fraud; business email compromise and government imposter schemes; drug diversion; and cryptocurrency-related thefts and frauds.

    “This extraordinary milestone demonstrates the effectiveness of the Asset Forfeiture Program in taking the profit out of crime and compensating victims,” said Matthew R. Galeotti, Head of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division. “While the Criminal Division is deeply proud of these efforts, we recognize that crime victims often lose much more than money. We hope that victims, from exploited children to older Americans targeted by sophisticated criminal schemes, can move forward in their recovery through this compensation. This milestone was made possible by the Justice Department’s Money Laundering and Asset Recovery Section, which manages the Asset Forfeiture Program, U.S. Attorneys’ Offices across the country, and the many federal, state, local, and tribal law enforcement agencies that have dedicated their time and resources to these investigations.”  

    Recent cases in which victims were compensated for their losses with forfeited assets in 2024 or 2025 include:

    $4.3 Billion to Victims of Bernie Madoff

    United States v. Bernard L. Madoff (Southern District of New York)

    In December 2024, the Justice Department announced that the Madoff Victim Fund (MVF) would make its 10th and final distribution of over $131.4 million to victims of the Bernard L. Madoff fraud scheme. These funds were forfeited by the U.S. government in connection with the Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securities LLC (BLMIS) fraud scheme. Through its 10 distributions, MVF paid over $4.3 billion from forfeited funds to 40,930 victims in 127 countries for losses they suffered from the collapse of BLMIS, bringing recovery for victims to nearly 94% of their fraud loss. According to court documents and information presented in related proceedings, for decades, Madoff used his position as chairman of Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securities LLC, the investment advisory business he founded in 1960, to steal billions from his clients. On March 12, 2009, Madoff pleaded guilty to 11 federal felonies, admitting that he had turned his wealth management business into the world’s largest Ponzi scheme, benefitting himself, his family, and select members of his inner circle.

    $420 Million to Victims of Fraud Schemes Facilitated by Western Union

    United States v. The Western Union Company (Middle District of Pennsylvania)

    In 2017, Western Union entered into a deferred prosecution agreement (DPA) with the United States. Pursuant to the DPA, Western Union acknowledged responsibility for its criminal conduct, which included violations of the Bank Secrecy Act and aiding and abetting wire fraud.  Western Union agreed to forfeit $586 million, which has been made available to compensate victims of the international consumer fraud scheme through the remission process. Western Union simultaneously resolved a parallel civil investigation with the Federal Trade Commission. To date, the Criminal Division has disbursed more than $420 million to approximately 175,000 victims.

    $8 Million Returned to Victims of Email Business Compromise Scams

    United States v. Olalekan Jacob Ponle (Northern District of Illinois)

    Olalekan Jacob Ponle worked with co-schemers to engage in numerous business email compromise schemes. The co-schemers used phishing links to gain unauthorized access to email accounts and then created false instructions directing employees of the victim companies to wire money to bank accounts opened by money mules at Ponle’s direction. After unwitting employees wired money, in some cases millions of dollars, to the bank accounts, Ponle instructed the money mules to convert the proceeds to Bitcoin and send them to him. As a result of Ponle’s scheme, victim companies suffered more than $8.03 million in actual losses. The government seized the Bitcoin, obtained a final order of forfeiture, liquidated the cryptocurrency, and used the proceeds to compensate the victims of Ponle’s fraud.

    $5.6 Million to the Small Business Administration

    United States v. Aydin Kalantarov, et al. (Northern District of Ohio)

    According to court documents, from May 2020 through October 2020, Aydin Kalantarov, along with his two brothers, Zaur Kalantarli and Ali Kalantarli, conspired to defraud the U.S. Small Business Association (SBA) of nearly $7 million in Economic Injury Disaster Loans (EIDL). As part of the scheme the brothers created 70 fictious Ohio corporations with agriculture sounding names. Once the fictitious corporations were created, the brothers submitted fraudulent EIDL loan applications to the SBA claiming that their business was adversely affected by the pandemic. The SBA funded 47 of the applications for a total of approximately $7 million. $5.6 million in forfeited funds was transferred to the clerk of the court for payment to the SBA.

    $2.28 Million Returned to Victims of Two Business Email Compromise Schemes

    United States v. Contents of TD Bank Account, Account Ending 7684, Held in the Name of O’Shane K. Malcolm, et al. (District of Connecticut)

    United States v. Contents of Truist Bank Account Ending 5792, Held in The Name of Quest Freight LLC (District of Connecticut)

    In the first scam, criminal actors compromised an email account associated with a member of the management team of a city’s Board of Education.  In June 2023, these actors created a fake email account that mimicked the email of a bus company that held a contract with the Board of Education for bussing. Using the fake bus company email address, the criminal actors then were able to change the bus company’s payment information from the real bus company to an account held by the criminal actors, and the city sent approximately $5.9 million dollars to the account.  The government successfully seized and forfeited approximately $1,187,691 of the stolen money, which was returned to the city through remission.

    The second forfeiture action involved a healthcare company that was a victim of a business email compromise (BEC) attack.  In April 2023, the company’s yearly medical malpractice insurance payment was set to be paid.  Shortly before the due date, the company received a fraudulent email, purportedly from its malpractice insurance company, with new wire instructions.  The company sent approximately $1,652,254 via a wire transfer using the newly provided instructions. The government successfully seized and forfeited approximately $1,100,694 remaining in the account, which was returned to the healthcare company through remissions.

    $328,500 to an Elderly Victim of a Computer Support Scam

    United States v. Discovery Bank Account Ending in 2237 (District of Connecticut)

    According to court documents, in February 2024, an elderly woman who was tricked by a computer support scheme that mimicked Microsoft customer support transferred approximately $550,000 to the scammers in two wire transfers. Within two days of the transfers, the victim and a family member reported the incident to a local police department, who then partnered with Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) to investigate the crime. Fortunately, one of the wire transfers, in the amount of $221,000, was reversed by the bank and returned to the victim. HSI traced the remaining money, totaling approximately $328,573, and seized it. The U.S. Attorney’s Office then filed a civil asset forfeiture action to forfeit the money to the government, and the U.S. Attorney’s Office and HSI then worked with the Department of Justice’s Money Laundering and Asset Recovery Section to return the money to the victim.

    $6.4 Million to the Internal Revenue Service

    United States v. Michael Little (Middle District of Florida)

    From 2019 to 2021, Michael Little filed a series of false tax returns claiming massive, bogus fuel tax credits. He filed the false returns in his own name and in the names of co-conspirators and identity theft victims. As a result of this scheme, Little and his co-conspirators obtained at least $12.3 million in fraudulent tax refunds and attempted to obtain at least $27 million more. Little and his co-conspirators also conspired to launder their ill-gotten gains and used significant portions of the fraudulent tax refunds to purchase real estate and other assets.  Over $6.4 million in forfeited funds were transferred to the clerk of court for payment to the IRS.

    $52,000 to a Survivor of Human Trafficking

    United States v. Thuy Tien Luong (Western District of North Carolina)

    Thuy Tien Luong was convicted of forced labor and ordered to serve 15 years in prison for compelling the labor of one of her nail technicians at a salon she owned and operated. From October 2016 to June 2018, Luong forced the survivor’s labor by, among other things, physically assaulting the survivor, threatening to ruin the survivor’s reputation with her family, and falsely claiming that the survivor owed Luong a fictitious debt. In addition to resulting in the return of funds seized from Luong to the Clerk of Court to pay the survivor, the case also resulted in the return to the survivor of a seized bracelet that Luong had held as “payment” towards the survivor’s fictitious debt.

    $6.3 Million Returned to Estate Victims of an Embezzlement Scheme

    United States v. Richard J. Sherwood, et al. (Northern District of New York)

    Starting in 2006, Richard J. Sherwood and Thomas K. Lagan provided estate planning and related legal services to Capital Region philanthropists Warren and Pauline Bruggeman, and to Pauline’s sister, Anne Urban, all of Niskayuna, New York.  They were advising the Bruggemans when, in 2006, the Bruggemans signed wills directing that all their assets go to churches, civic organizations, a local hospital, and a local university scholarship fund, aside from bequests to Urban and Julia Rentz, Pauline’s sisters.

    Warren Bruggeman died in April 2009, and Pauline died in August 2011. In each pleading guilty, Sherwood and Lagan admitted that they conspired to steal, and did steal, millions of dollars from Pauline Bruggeman’s estate as well as from the estate of Urban, who died in 2013. The co-conspirators admitted that they stole $11,831,563 and Sherwood also admitted that he transferred to himself the Bruggeman family camp located on Galway Lake, in Saratoga County.

    For additional information about the Department of Justice’s victim compensation program, please visit: Criminal Division | Victims.

    MIL Security OSI –

  • MIL-OSI Security: Security News: Justice Department Surpasses $12 Billion in Compensation to Crime Victims Since 2000

    Source: United States Department of Justice 2

    To commemorate the 2025 National Crime Victims’ Rights Week, the Department of Justice reaffirms its steadfast commitment to compensate crime victims with federally forfeited assets. The Justice Department’s Asset Forfeiture Program has surpassed $12 billion in compensation to crime victims.

    In fiscal year 2024 and the beginning of fiscal year 2025 alone, more than $735.3 million has been returned to victims of human trafficking; romance, investment, and healthcare fraud; business email compromise and government imposter schemes; drug diversion; and cryptocurrency-related thefts and frauds.

    “This extraordinary milestone demonstrates the effectiveness of the Asset Forfeiture Program in taking the profit out of crime and compensating victims,” said Matthew R. Galeotti, Head of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division. “While the Criminal Division is deeply proud of these efforts, we recognize that crime victims often lose much more than money. We hope that victims, from exploited children to older Americans targeted by sophisticated criminal schemes, can move forward in their recovery through this compensation. This milestone was made possible by the Justice Department’s Money Laundering and Asset Recovery Section, which manages the Asset Forfeiture Program, U.S. Attorneys’ Offices across the country, and the many federal, state, local, and tribal law enforcement agencies that have dedicated their time and resources to these investigations.”  

    Recent cases in which victims were compensated for their losses with forfeited assets in 2024 or 2025 include:

    $4.3 Billion to Victims of Bernie Madoff

    United States v. Bernard L. Madoff (Southern District of New York)

    In December 2024, the Justice Department announced that the Madoff Victim Fund (MVF) would make its 10th and final distribution of over $131.4 million to victims of the Bernard L. Madoff fraud scheme. These funds were forfeited by the U.S. government in connection with the Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securities LLC (BLMIS) fraud scheme. Through its 10 distributions, MVF paid over $4.3 billion from forfeited funds to 40,930 victims in 127 countries for losses they suffered from the collapse of BLMIS, bringing recovery for victims to nearly 94% of their fraud loss. According to court documents and information presented in related proceedings, for decades, Madoff used his position as chairman of Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securities LLC, the investment advisory business he founded in 1960, to steal billions from his clients. On March 12, 2009, Madoff pleaded guilty to 11 federal felonies, admitting that he had turned his wealth management business into the world’s largest Ponzi scheme, benefitting himself, his family, and select members of his inner circle.

    $420 Million to Victims of Fraud Schemes Facilitated by Western Union

    United States v. The Western Union Company (Middle District of Pennsylvania)

    In 2017, Western Union entered into a deferred prosecution agreement (DPA) with the United States. Pursuant to the DPA, Western Union acknowledged responsibility for its criminal conduct, which included violations of the Bank Secrecy Act and aiding and abetting wire fraud.  Western Union agreed to forfeit $586 million, which has been made available to compensate victims of the international consumer fraud scheme through the remission process. Western Union simultaneously resolved a parallel civil investigation with the Federal Trade Commission. To date, the Criminal Division has disbursed more than $420 million to approximately 175,000 victims.

    $8 Million Returned to Victims of Email Business Compromise Scams

    United States v. Olalekan Jacob Ponle (Northern District of Illinois)

    Olalekan Jacob Ponle worked with co-schemers to engage in numerous business email compromise schemes. The co-schemers used phishing links to gain unauthorized access to email accounts and then created false instructions directing employees of the victim companies to wire money to bank accounts opened by money mules at Ponle’s direction. After unwitting employees wired money, in some cases millions of dollars, to the bank accounts, Ponle instructed the money mules to convert the proceeds to Bitcoin and send them to him. As a result of Ponle’s scheme, victim companies suffered more than $8.03 million in actual losses. The government seized the Bitcoin, obtained a final order of forfeiture, liquidated the cryptocurrency, and used the proceeds to compensate the victims of Ponle’s fraud.

    $5.6 Million to the Small Business Administration

    United States v. Aydin Kalantarov, et al. (Northern District of Ohio)

    According to court documents, from May 2020 through October 2020, Aydin Kalantarov, along with his two brothers, Zaur Kalantarli and Ali Kalantarli, conspired to defraud the U.S. Small Business Association (SBA) of nearly $7 million in Economic Injury Disaster Loans (EIDL). As part of the scheme the brothers created 70 fictious Ohio corporations with agriculture sounding names. Once the fictitious corporations were created, the brothers submitted fraudulent EIDL loan applications to the SBA claiming that their business was adversely affected by the pandemic. The SBA funded 47 of the applications for a total of approximately $7 million. $5.6 million in forfeited funds was transferred to the clerk of the court for payment to the SBA.

    $2.28 Million Returned to Victims of Two Business Email Compromise Schemes

    United States v. Contents of TD Bank Account, Account Ending 7684, Held in the Name of O’Shane K. Malcolm, et al. (District of Connecticut)

    United States v. Contents of Truist Bank Account Ending 5792, Held in The Name of Quest Freight LLC (District of Connecticut)

    In the first scam, criminal actors compromised an email account associated with a member of the management team of a city’s Board of Education.  In June 2023, these actors created a fake email account that mimicked the email of a bus company that held a contract with the Board of Education for bussing. Using the fake bus company email address, the criminal actors then were able to change the bus company’s payment information from the real bus company to an account held by the criminal actors, and the city sent approximately $5.9 million dollars to the account.  The government successfully seized and forfeited approximately $1,187,691 of the stolen money, which was returned to the city through remission.

    The second forfeiture action involved a healthcare company that was a victim of a business email compromise (BEC) attack.  In April 2023, the company’s yearly medical malpractice insurance payment was set to be paid.  Shortly before the due date, the company received a fraudulent email, purportedly from its malpractice insurance company, with new wire instructions.  The company sent approximately $1,652,254 via a wire transfer using the newly provided instructions. The government successfully seized and forfeited approximately $1,100,694 remaining in the account, which was returned to the healthcare company through remissions.

    $328,500 to an Elderly Victim of a Computer Support Scam

    United States v. Discovery Bank Account Ending in 2237 (District of Connecticut)

    According to court documents, in February 2024, an elderly woman who was tricked by a computer support scheme that mimicked Microsoft customer support transferred approximately $550,000 to the scammers in two wire transfers. Within two days of the transfers, the victim and a family member reported the incident to a local police department, who then partnered with Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) to investigate the crime. Fortunately, one of the wire transfers, in the amount of $221,000, was reversed by the bank and returned to the victim. HSI traced the remaining money, totaling approximately $328,573, and seized it. The U.S. Attorney’s Office then filed a civil asset forfeiture action to forfeit the money to the government, and the U.S. Attorney’s Office and HSI then worked with the Department of Justice’s Money Laundering and Asset Recovery Section to return the money to the victim.

    $6.4 Million to the Internal Revenue Service

    United States v. Michael Little (Middle District of Florida)

    From 2019 to 2021, Michael Little filed a series of false tax returns claiming massive, bogus fuel tax credits. He filed the false returns in his own name and in the names of co-conspirators and identity theft victims. As a result of this scheme, Little and his co-conspirators obtained at least $12.3 million in fraudulent tax refunds and attempted to obtain at least $27 million more. Little and his co-conspirators also conspired to launder their ill-gotten gains and used significant portions of the fraudulent tax refunds to purchase real estate and other assets.  Over $6.4 million in forfeited funds were transferred to the clerk of court for payment to the IRS.

    $52,000 to a Survivor of Human Trafficking

    United States v. Thuy Tien Luong (Western District of North Carolina)

    Thuy Tien Luong was convicted of forced labor and ordered to serve 15 years in prison for compelling the labor of one of her nail technicians at a salon she owned and operated. From October 2016 to June 2018, Luong forced the survivor’s labor by, among other things, physically assaulting the survivor, threatening to ruin the survivor’s reputation with her family, and falsely claiming that the survivor owed Luong a fictitious debt. In addition to resulting in the return of funds seized from Luong to the Clerk of Court to pay the survivor, the case also resulted in the return to the survivor of a seized bracelet that Luong had held as “payment” towards the survivor’s fictitious debt.

    $6.3 Million Returned to Estate Victims of an Embezzlement Scheme

    United States v. Richard J. Sherwood, et al. (Northern District of New York)

    Starting in 2006, Richard J. Sherwood and Thomas K. Lagan provided estate planning and related legal services to Capital Region philanthropists Warren and Pauline Bruggeman, and to Pauline’s sister, Anne Urban, all of Niskayuna, New York.  They were advising the Bruggemans when, in 2006, the Bruggemans signed wills directing that all their assets go to churches, civic organizations, a local hospital, and a local university scholarship fund, aside from bequests to Urban and Julia Rentz, Pauline’s sisters.

    Warren Bruggeman died in April 2009, and Pauline died in August 2011. In each pleading guilty, Sherwood and Lagan admitted that they conspired to steal, and did steal, millions of dollars from Pauline Bruggeman’s estate as well as from the estate of Urban, who died in 2013. The co-conspirators admitted that they stole $11,831,563 and Sherwood also admitted that he transferred to himself the Bruggeman family camp located on Galway Lake, in Saratoga County.

    For additional information about the Department of Justice’s victim compensation program, please visit: Criminal Division | Victims.

    MIL Security OSI –

  • MIL-OSI USA: Wyden, Salinas, Pingree, Tokuda Lead Colleagues in Slamming Trump Administration for Censoring Agricultural Research Crucial to Rural Communities

    US Senate News:

    Source: United States Senator Ron Wyden (D-Ore)

    April 11, 2025

    Leaked Agricultural Research Service memo contains a sweeping list of banned words, including “climate,” “affordable housing,” and “safe drinking water.”

    Washington, D.C. — U.S. Senator Ron Wyden, D-Ore., and U.S. Representatives Andrea Salinas, D-Ore., Chellie Pingree, D-Maine, and Jill Tokuda, D-Hawai’i, warned the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) that Donald Trump’s politically motivated list of banned words – including “climate,” “affordable housing,” and “safe drinking water” — in research agreements being considered for federal funding would harm rural communities facing wildfires, drought, food insecurity, among other environmental agricultural challenges.

    In the letter to USDA Secretary Brooke Rollins, the lawmakers emphasized, “The exclusion of these terms from consideration for funding opportunities demonstrates an intentional effort to hinder, distort, and improperly steer federal scientific work in the name of political expediency, and the American people deserve far better than that.”

    The USDA has operated more than 600 research projects with a $1.7 billion budget. Banning terms like “runoff” or “soil pollution” from playing a role in funding these agricultural and environmental projects would stall opportunities to advance the agency’s core mission to carry out scientific work that bolsters lives, careers, and the overall wellbeing of communities across rural America. As Oregon’s climate changes, farmers are being exposed to emerging pest and disease threats, which could wipe out entire crops or even threaten human health. Climate change is a scientifically established threat to agricultural productivity, food security, and rural economies.

    The lawmakers continued, “The American people deserve transparency and integrity from federal research agencies, not political interference and outright censorship. The farmers and ranchers who rely on sound science to navigate environmental and economic challenges should not have their livelihoods undercut by unscientific, bureaucratic gatekeeping. Critical research proposals to reduce pollution, increase irrigation efficiency, or address emerging pest and disease threats should not be denied solely because they used a word that Donald Trump does not like.”

    Joining Wyden, the letter is cosigned in the Senate by Senators Tammy Baldwin, D-Wis., Tammy Duckworth, D-Ill., Martin Heinrich, D-N.M., Mazie Hirono, D-Hawai’i, Jeff Merkley, D-Ore., Peter Welch, D-Vt., Tina Smith, D-Minn., Cory Booker, D-N.J., and Bernie Sanders, I-Vt.

    Joining Salinas, Pingree, and Tokuda, the letter is cosigned in the House by Representatives Janelle Bynum, D-Ore., Ed Case, D-Hawai’i, Emanuel Cleaver, D-Mo., Angie Craig, D-Minn., Jim Costa, D-Calif., Shomari Figures, D-Ala., Valerie Foushee, D-N.C., Jared Huffman, D-Calif., Jonathan Jackson, D-Ill., Betty McCollum, D-Minn., Eleanor Norton, D-D.C., Jimmy Panetta, D-Calif., Terri Sewell, D-Ala., Shri Thanedar, D-Mich., Rashida Tlaib, D-Mich., and Maxine Waters, D-Calif.

    Wyden demands immediate answers clarifying the implications of this politically motivated censorship to the following questions no later than April 18, 2025:

    1. Has the USDA conducted any review to determine whether this policy violates federal transparency laws, scientific integrity policies, or anti-discrimination statutes? If so, please share the documentation. If not, please explain why a review has not been done.
    2. The USDA has confirmed the existence of the ARS memo that has been publicly reported. Please provide any other lists of key words that the USDA is using to evaluate federal agreements, contracts, grants, loans, and other programs.
    3. For each list provided under question 2, please explain the purpose of each list, including any relevant laws, regulations, Executive Orders, or memoranda that the USDA is seeking to comply with.
    4. What safeguards have you put in place to ensure that these restrictions do not lead to biased or politically motivated decision-making at the expense of merit, scientific integrity, and public welfare?
    5. Have these restrictions resulted in the rejection of agreements that would have directly benefited farmers, food supply security, or rural economies? If so, what processes does the USDA have in place to allow for the appeal of decisions and evaluations made based off key word lists for federal agreements, contracts, grants, loans, or other programs? Provide an itemized list of all agreements under all impacted programs that were rejected because they included one or more of these banned terms, as outlined in the directive, as well as a full justification for each rejection.
    1. In the case of the ARS banned word list, if an ongoing research agreement is focused on biofuels, for example, the ARS website lists 29 research projects containing the word biofuel.[3] Will funding for these projects be revoked? Will ongoing research be halted? Will USDA require projects to rephrase their contracts? If a project cannot be rephrased without using a banned word, will the contract be terminated?
    2. What are the consequences for researchers or other agency employees who identify serious risks related to any of these banned terms, such as, for example, the expanded range of certain pests and diseases due to changing climate conditions, or nitrate contamination in the drinking water supply from fertilizer runoff?
      1. Will research proposals and agreements to address these critical issues – and others that include banned terms – be considered under this policy?
      2. If so, through what process are they getting around the banned terms list, and how is that decided? If not, how do you justify such negligence?
      3. Are career scientists, policy experts, and agency staff being pressured to remove or avoid these terms in their work? If not, explain how USDA plans to enforce these restrictions. If so, how does that not constitute political coercion?
    3. Does the USDA deny that climate change, pollution, and the accessibility of federal funding impact the safety and security of the American food supply? If so, provide your justification. If not, then why are these issues being censored?
    4. Will you release all internal communications regarding the creation, justification, and enforcement of this policy to ensure full transparency? If so, when? If not, why?

    This year, Wyden led colleagues in demanding a halt to the Environmental Protection Agency’s attempt to roll back decades of scientific findings on greenhouse gases. In February, Wyden called on the U.S. Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins to reverse harmful firings at the USDA that have harmed Oregon farmers and families.

    The text of the letter is here.

    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-OSI USA: Senators Paul, Hassan, Lee, and Hickenlooper Reintroduce Bill to Lower Prescription Drug Prices by Streamlining Generic Drug Approvals

    US Senate News:

    Source: United States Senator for Kentucky Rand Paul

    FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

    April 11th, 2025

     Contact: Press_Paul@paul.senate.gov, 202-224-4343

    Washington, D.C. – Today, U.S. Senators Rand Paul (R-KY), Maggie Hassan (D-NH), Mike Lee (R-UT), and John Hickenlooper (D-CO) reintroduced bipartisan legislation to streamline the approval process for generic drugs, which will help expedite generic entrance in the market and lower prescription drug prices for patients. Last Congress, this legislation advanced from the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee with a bipartisan 19-2 vote.

    “No one should have to play a complicated guessing game with the FDA simply to bring a safe, effective, and affordable drug to market. The Increasing Transparency in Generic Drug Applications Act will help low-cost generics get to American consumers faster,” said Dr. Paul.

    “Skyrocketing prescription drug prices are forcing too many Granite Staters to choose between their health and their financial security. This commonsense, bipartisan legislation will help address a critical obstacle in the generic drug approval process that keeps affordable alternatives off pharmacy shelves. By requiring more transparency from the FDA and streamlining the drug approval process, this bill will help deliver lower-cost medications to Americans faster,” said Senator Hassan.

    “Generic drugs have made the prescription drug market much more competitive, offering cheaper alternatives to their brand name counterparts. Streamlining the generic drug approval process by eliminating the pointless guessing game manufacturers are forced to play would eliminate red tape and bring down costs for American families,” said Senator Lee. 

    “More generic drugs means lower health care costs for Americans. Unnecessary and unclear FDA approval processes delay them from reaching the shelves. Our bill speeds up the process to help Americans save more,” said Senator Hickenlooper.

    Currently, the FDA requires certain generic drug manufacturers to demonstrate that they have the same active and inactive ingredients in the same concentration as the reference brand-name drug. However, when a generic drug contains the wrong amount of inactive ingredient, the FDA cannot disclose the exact error, forcing manufacturers to engage in an often lengthy guessing game to reach the right balance.

    This legislation would require the FDA to identify the specific differences more clearly between the generic and brand-name drug, thereby streamlining the approval process, helping more generics reach the market more quickly, and lowering prescription drug prices overall. 

    You can read it HERE.

     

    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-OSI USA: Durbin, Duckworth Lead Illinois Democratic Delegation In Message To Secretary Kennedy: The Dismantling Of HHS Does Nothing To ‘Make America Healthy Again’

    US Senate News:

    Source: United States Senator for Illinois Dick Durbin

    April 11, 2025

    In a letter to the HHS Secretary, the lawmakers pushed back against the destruction of HHS and its impact on the state

    SPRINGFIELD – U.S. Senate Democratic Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL) and U.S. Senator Tammy Duckworth (D-IL) today led the Illinois Democratic Delegation in sending a letter to U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS) Robert F. Kennedy Jr. expressing frustration and concern that HHS has slashed critical federal funding for the state’s public health programs and infrastructure.

    “We write to express our real concern about the Department and Health and Human Services’ (HHS) actions to terminate federal funds for state and local health departments, fire critical public health staff, dismantle health agencies, and close regional offices, including the HHS Region 5 office in Chicago, Illinois.  Your decision puts the health and well-being of our people at risk, and will do nothing to ‘Make America Healthy Again,’” the lawmakers wrote.

    Last month, it was reported that HHS would terminate $11.4 billion in federal funding for state and local health departments, including more than $125 million in funding for the Illinois Department of Public Health.  Lawmakers were also told that Illinois would lose access to an additional $324 million in anticipated federal funding that was already allocated to protect Illinois residents from infectious diseases.  Further, Illinois could lose up to $28 million in Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) grants for mental health and substance use disorder treatment.

    In an effort to combat the Trump Administration’s destructive funding rescissions, a 24-state coalition, which included Illinois, filed a lawsuit against HHS for the rollback of public health funding.  Earlier this month, a federal court barred HHS from terminating these funds for a 14-day period.

    “The state’s [Illinois’] efforts to prepare for future public health emergencies—which could include the worsening avian flu situation, measles outbreaks, and other respiratory illness challenges—will be severely hampered if HHS rescinds this essential federal funding.  Now that a federal court has blocked HHS from terminating these funds, we urge you to abandon these ill-conceived and dangerous plans,” the lawmakers continued their letter.

    In addition to ripping away billions in promised federal funding, Secretary Kennedy has overseen the destruction of HHS’ workforce and infrastructure, putting thousands of dedicated career civil servants out of a job while gutting critical federal agencies.  Since President Trump’s inauguration, 10,000 HHS employees have left the agency or been fired.  A couple weeks ago, HHS announced that an additional 10,000 public health workers will be fired, including 3,500 from the Food and Drug Administration, 2,400 workers from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 1,200 workers from the National Institutes of Health, and 300 workers from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. 

    “A reduction in force of this magnitude threatens the ability of HHS to ensure the safety of our nation’s foods, drugs, and medical devices; to inspect and regulate nursing homes; to develop breakthrough cures and treatments for patients with cancer, ALS, and heart disease; and to respond quickly when a public health crisis emerges,” the lawmakers wrote.

    The lawmakers continued their letter, emphasizing that closing regional health offices and shutting out states from federal resources does nothing to support the health and safety of Americans.

    “Finally, it was reported that HHS would dismantle and consolidate several health agencies under an ‘Administration for a Healthier America,’ and close several regional offices, including the HHS Region 5 office in Chicago.  HHS Region 5 has been an essential partner in implementing and coordinating federal resources and initiatives.  It has worked with state, local, and tribal governments in Illinois to address a range of public health concerns, including infectious disease outbreaks, mental and behavioral health needs, food recalls, and more,” the lawmakers wrote.  “Eliminating this office or consolidating it into another regional office risks reducing access to agency personnel and HHS resources for Illinois.”

    The lawmakers concluded their letter by reminding Secretary Kennedy of his responsibility to improve public health, not destruct the institution that ensures Americans have the resources to stay healthy.

    “It is one thing to undertake efforts to address waste, fraud, and abuse in government.  It is quite another to cite these reasonable goals as an excuse to instead decimate our nation’s public health infrastructure.  HHS has provided no details on its plans or any explanation of how these steps will improve HHS’ ability to carry out its mission to enhance the health and well-being of all Americans.  The complete lack of transparency on these critical decisions supports the logical conclusion that these decisions were made for political purposes without considering their real-world impact,” the lawmakers wrote.

    “As HHS Secretary, you are tasked with the serious responsibility of protecting our nation’s health and you have the opportunity to make a positive difference in the lives of millions of Americans.   Do not neglect this responsibility, and do not waste this opportunity,” the lawmaker concluded their letter.

    A copy of the letter is available here and below:

    April 11, 2025

    Dear Secretary Kennedy,

                We write to express our real concern about the Department and Health and Human Services’ (HHS) actions to terminate federal funds for state and local health departments, fire critical public health staff, dismantle health agencies, and close regional offices, including the HHS Region 5 office in Chicago, Illinois.  Your decision puts the health and well-being of people at risk, and will do nothing to “Make America Healthy Again.”

    In March, it was reported that HHS would be terminating $11.4 billion in federal funding for state and local health departments, including more than $125 million for Illinois.  We also have been informed that Illinois will not be able to access an additional $324 million in anticipated federal funding for future work to prevent and address infectious disease.  The Illinois Department of Public Health has leveraged these federal funds to improve its technologies and laboratories, support the public health workforce, and strengthen local health departments.  However, the state’s efforts to prepare for future public health emergencies—which could include the worsening avian flu situation, measles outbreaks, and other respiratory illness challenges—will be severely hampered if HHS rescinds this essential federal funding.  Now that a federal court has blocked HHS from terminating these funds, we urge you to abandon these ill-conceived and dangerous plans. 

    It also was announced that an additional 10,000 public health workers will be fired from HHS, including 3,500 from the Food and Drug Administration, 2,400 workers from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 1,200 workers from the National Institutes of Health, and 300 workers from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.  This is on top of the reported 10,000 HHS employees who have already left the agency since January 20, including probationary employees who were fired earlier this year, many of whom were not rehired, despite two court rulings ordering their reinstatement.  A reduction in force of this magnitude threatens the ability of HHS to ensure the safety of our nation’s foods, drugs, and medical devices; to inspect and regulate nursing homes; to develop breakthrough cures and treatments for patients with cancer, ALS, and heart disease; and to respond quickly when a public health crisis emerges.

    Finally, it was reported that HHS would dismantle and consolidate several health agencies under an “Administration for a Healthier America,” and close several regional offices, including the HHS Region 5 office in Chicago.  HHS Region 5 has been an essential partner in implementing and coordinating federal resources and initiatives.  It has worked with state, local, and tribal governments in Illinois to address a range of public health concerns, including infectious disease outbreaks, mental and behavioral health needs, food recalls, and more.  Eliminating this office or consolidating it into another regional office risks reducing access to agency personnel and HHS resources for Illinois.

    It is one thing to undertake efforts to address waste, fraud, and abuse in government.  It is quite another to cite these reasonable goals as an excuse to instead decimate our nation’s public health infrastructure.  HHS has provided no details on its plans or any explanation of how these steps will improve HHS’ ability to carry out its mission to enhance the health and well-being of all Americans.  The complete lack of transparency on these critical decisions supports the logical conclusion that these decisions were made for political purposes without considering their real-world impact.  

    As HHS Secretary, you are tasked with the serious responsibility of protecting our nation’s health and you have the opportunity to make a positive difference in the lives of millions of Americans.   Do not neglect this responsibility, and do not waste this opportunity. 

    Thank you for your attention to this matter.  We look forward to your timely response.

    Sincerely,

    -30-

    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-OSI USA: Durbin, Hirono, Warren, Lead Colleagues In Urging DOJ To Reverse Decisions Greenlighting Cryptocurrency-Based Crime

    US Senate News:

    Source: United States Senator for Illinois Dick Durbin

    April 11, 2025

    Senators: “These are grave mistakes that will support sanctions evasion, drug trafficking, scams, and child sexual exploitation.”

    WASHINGTON – U.S. Senate Democratic Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL), Ranking Member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, along with U.S. Senators Mazie K. Hirono (D-HI), a senior member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, and Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), Ranking Member of the Senate Banking Committee led six Senators in urging Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche to reverse the Department of Justice’s (DOJ) recent decisions to effectively terminate the Department’s cryptocurrency investigations and prosecutions. The memo, sent to staff earlier this week, also stated that DOJ will disband its National Cryptocurrency Enforcement Team (NCET), which was established to investigate and prosecute criminal misuse of cryptocurrencies and digital assets. In their letter, the Senators also raise concerns about the potential connections between DOJ’s actions and the cryptocurrency ventures of President Trump and his family.

    “We write in response to your April 7, 2025 memo announcing your decision to give a free pass to cryptocurrency money launderers and to disband the DOJ’s National Cryptocurrency Enforcement Team (“NCET”),” the Senators wrote. “These are grave mistakes that will support sanctions evasion, drug trafficking, scams, and child sexual exploitation.”

    Specifically, the DOJ memo announced that the Department would no longer be enforcing a number of federal laws against entities that handle digital assets, including mixing and tumbling services. Mixers are often used to launder stolen cryptocurrency and used by drug traffickers, those who trade child sexual abuse material, and even North Korea, which uses mixers to evade sanctions and fund weapons of mass destruction.

    “It makes no sense for DOJ to announce a hands-off approach to tools that are being used to support such terrible crimes,” wrote the lawmakers.

    “Drug traffickers, terrorists, fraudsters, and adversaries will exploit this vulnerability on a large scale,” the Senators continued. “Further increasing the risks posed by bad actors is your decision to disband NCET, which has coordinated a Department-wide effort to prosecute illicit activity involving cryptocurrency.”

    Since its creation in 2021, NCET has worked with U.S. Attorneys’ offices to prosecute illicit activity involving cryptocurrency, including prosecuting cases involving hundreds of millions worth of digital assets.Despite this proven record of success, Blanche’s memo stated that the disbandment of NCET will allow the DOJ to “focus on other priorities, such as immigration and procurement frauds.”

    The Senators also warned about the proliferation of cryptocurrency scams and fraud. In 2023 alone, the Federal Bureau of Investigation estimated that $5.6 billion were lost to cryptocurrency fraud—an increase of 45 percent from 2022.

    “You claim in your memo that DOJ will continue to prosecute those who use cryptocurrencies to perpetrate crimes. But allowing the entities that enable these crimes—such as cryptocurrency kiosk operators—to operate outside the federal regulatory framework without fear of prosecution will only result in more Americans being exploited,” wrote the Senators.

    “Your decisions give rise to concerns that President Trump’s interest in selling his cryptocurrency may be the reason for easing law enforcement scrutiny,” the Senators concluded. “We urge you to reconsider these decisions.”

    In addition to Senators Hirono, Warren, and Durbin, this letter was also signed by Senators Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI), Chris Coons (D-DE), and Richard Blumenthal (D-CT).

    The full text of the letter is available here and below.

    Dear Deputy Attorney General Blanche:

    We write in response to your April 7, 2025 memo announcing your decision to give a free pass to cryptocurrency money launderers and to disband the Department of Justice’s (DOJ’s) National Cryptocurrency Enforcement Team (“NCET”). These are grave mistakes that will support sanctions evasion, drug trafficking, scams, and child sexual exploitation.

    Your memo announces that pursuant to Executive Order 14178, DOJ will generally “no longer target . . . virtual currency exchanges [and] mixing and tumbling services . . . for the acts of their end users or unwitting violations of regulations.” As you know, a cryptocurrency mixer (or tumbler) is a service that blends the cryptocurrencies of many users together to obfuscate the origins and owners of the funds. “[M]ixers are . . . ‘go-to tools for cybercriminals’ seeking to launder stolen cryptocurrency.” Nearly a quarter of the funds sent to mixers in 2022 were tied to money laundering efforts.” Mixers are a favorite tool of North Korea—which uses them to launder the illicit proceeds of its state-sponsored cybercrime and then uses the proceeds to fund its weapons programs—and of sanctioned Russian oligarchs, who already benefit from DOJ disbanding TaskForce KleptoCapture. Mixers are also a favorite tool of drug traffickers and those who trade child sexual abuse material. It makes no sense for DOJ to announce a hands-off approach to tools that are being used to support such terrible crimes.

    Similarly nonsensical is your announcement that DOJ will no longer prosecute a host of crimes involving digital assets, including violations of the Bank Secrecy Act. Congress imposed anti-money laundering and countering the financing of terrorism (AML/CFT) obligations on a wide range of domestic and foreign entities to combat fraud, drug trafficking, and terrorism, among other crimes. By abdicating DOJ’s responsibility to enforce federal criminal law when violations involve digital assets, you are suggesting that virtual currency exchanges, mixers, and other entities dealing in digital assets need not fulfill their AML/CFT obligations, creating a systemic vulnerability in the digital assets sector. Drug traffickers, terrorists, fraudsters, and adversaries will exploit this vulnerability on a large scale.

    Cryptocurrency-related fraud has exploded in recent years. The Federal Bureau of Investigation estimated losses associated with cryptocurrency fraud at $5.6 billion in 2023 alone—an increase of 45 percent from 2022. You claim in your memo that DOJ will continue to prosecute those who use cryptocurrencies to perpetrate crimes. But allowing the entities that enable these crimes—such as cryptocurrency kiosk operators—to operate outside the federal regulatory framework without fear of prosecution will only result in more Americans being exploited.

    Further increasing the risks posed by bad actors is your decision to disband NCET, which has coordinated a Department-wide effort to prosecute illicit activity involving cryptocurrency. DOJ formed NCET in 2021 “to tackle complex investigations and prosecutions of criminal misuses of cryptocurrency, particularly crimes committed by virtual currency exchanges, mixing and tumbling services, and money laundering infrastructure actors.” NCET combined the expertise and resources of the Criminal Division’s Money Laundering and Asset Recovery and Computer Crimes and Intellectual Property Sections with Assistant U.S. Attorneys from around the country. Since its formation, NCET has worked with U.S. Attorneys’ offices to:

    • secure the conviction of the operator of a cryptocurrency exchange that laundered over $9 billion in proceeds from hacking, ransomware attacks, identity theft schemes, and narcotics distribution rings;
    • obtain a guilty plea from a man who processed more than $700 million worth of illicit funds in support of online drug trafficking;
    • secure the conviction of a man who operated a $110 million manipulative trading scheme on a cryptocurrency exchange;
    • seize over $112 million in funds linked to cryptocurrency investment schemes; and
    • seize nearly $9 million in cryptocurrency that resulted from the exploitation of over 70 victims through romance scams and cryptocurrency confidence schemes, among many other cases.

    Further, NCET operates as a critical resource for state and local law enforcement who often lack the technical knowledge and skill to investigate cryptocurrency related crimes.  Disbanding NCET will make the work of these state and local law enforcement agents that much harder.

    Why would you dismantle a team that is such an important player in fighting cryptocurrency-based crime? Your decisions give rise to concerns that President Trump’s interest in selling his cryptocurrency may be the reason for easing law enforcement scrutiny.

    We urge you to reconsider these decisions. In addition, we request a staff-level briefing no later than May 1, 2025, providing detailed information on the rationale behind these decisions and their anticipated impacts on the Department’s ability to enforce the law and protect Americans from cryptocurrency-based crimes.

    -30-

    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-OSI USA: Fiscal Year 2026 Hospice Wage Index and Payment Rate Update Proposed Rule CMS-1835-P Fact Sheet

    Source: US Department of Health and Human Services

    On April 11, 2025, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) issued a proposed rule that proposes updates to Medicare payment policies and rates for hospices under the Fiscal Year (FY) 2026 Hospice Wage Index and Payment Rate Updated Proposed Rule (CMS-1835-P). CMS is publishing this proposed rule consistent with the legal requirements to update Medicare payment policies for hospices annually. This fact sheet discusses the major provisions of the proposed rule.

    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-OSI USA: Fiscal Year 2026 Inpatient Rehabilitation Facility Prospective Payment System Proposed Rule CMS-1829-P Fact Sheet

    Source: US Department of Health and Human Services

    On April 11, 2025, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) issued a proposed rule that proposes updates to Medicare payment policies and rates for inpatient rehabilitation facilities under the Inpatient Rehabilitation Facility (IRF) Prospective Payment System (PPS) and the IRF Quality Reporting Program (QRP) for fiscal year (FY) 2026. CMS is publishing this proposed rule consistent with the legal requirements to update Medicare payment policies for IRFs annually. This fact sheet discusses the major provisions of the proposed rule.

    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-OSI USA: CMS Seeks Public Input on Inpatient Hospital Whole-Person Care, Proposes Updates to Medicare Payments

    Source: US Department of Health and Human Services

    Today, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) issued a proposed rule that would update Medicare payments and policies for inpatient and long-term care hospitals. The agency is also seeking public input on ways to improve the quality of care provided by inpatient hospitals. The feedback received will help advance CMS’ commitment to Making America Healthy Again by reprioritizing patients’ activity, nutrition, and overall wellness.

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  • MIL-OSI USA: FY 2026 Hospital Inpatient Prospective Payment System (IPPS) and Long-Term Care Hospital Prospective Payment System (LTCH PPS) Proposed Rule — CMS-1833-P Fact Sheet

    Source: US Department of Health and Human Services

    On April 11, 2025, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) issued a proposed rule that would update Medicare payment policies and rates for inpatient and long-term care hospitals under the Medicare hospital Inpatient Prospective Payment System (IPPS) and Long-Term Care Hospital Prospective Payment System (LTCH PPS) proposed rule for fiscal year (FY) 2026. CMS is publishing this proposed rule consistent with the legal requirements to update Medicare payment policies for inpatient and long-term care hospitals annually. This fact sheet discusses the major provisions of the proposed rule.

    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-OSI USA: Do Not Drink Notice Issued for North Smithfield Elementary School Drinking Water Consumers

    Source: US State of Rhode Island

    The North Smithfield Elementary School public water system (2214 Providence Pike North Smithfield, RI) was required to issue a do not drink notice on April 10, 2025, for consumers because manganese was found in the distribution system over the Environmental Protection Agencies (EPA) health advisory. Manganese is an unregulated contaminant. Unregulated contaminants are those that don’t yet have a drinking water standard set by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). The results of manganese collected from a drinking water sample on March 25, 2025 from North Smithfield Elementary School’s distribution system was 1.28 mg/L. This level exceeds EPAs Health Advisory (HA). EPA’s 10-day HA for bottle fed infants younger than 6 months old is 0.3 mg/L. EPAs one day and 10-day value for adults and children older than 6 months old is 1 mg/L, and EPAs Lifetime HA is 0.3mg/L.

    Manganese is a naturally occurring element found in rocks, soil, water, and air. It is commonly found in the food such as nuts, legumes, seeds, grains, and green leafy vegetables. It is also found in drinking water. Manganese is an essential nutrient. Consuming drinking water with manganese above the lifetime HA are not necessarily harmful to a majority of the population. An individual’s nutritional requirements for manganese and potential for harmful health effects may be highly variable.

    Bottle-fed infants who drink water containing more than 0.3 mg/L of manganese over a period of 10 days may have negative neurological effects.

    The following guidance listed below provides actions consumers should take to reduce their exposure to manganese in drinking water over the EPAs Health Advisory: –Do not use the tap water to prepare bottles or food for infants. –Do not boil tap water that you intend to drink. Boiling, freezing, or letting water stand does not reduce manganese levels. Boiling can increase levels of manganese because manganese remains behind (i.e., is concentrated) when the water evaporates. –Infants, the elderly, and those with liver disease should avoid food made with tap water such as soup. The tap water may be used to prepare foods, such as pasta, where the water is discarded prior to consumption. –Consumers, especially infants and the elderly, and those with liver disease should avoid consuming the water which includes using the water to make drinks or ice.

    Contact your doctor if you have specific health concerns. You may wish to consult with a medical professional. The do not drink notice will remain in effect until RIDOH determines that the drinking water in the distribution system has returned to consistent and safe manganese levels under EPAs Health Advisory and RIDOH approves the do not drink notice to be lifted. Customers with questions should contact Alan Sepe at 401-765-6410.

    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-OSI Security: Missouri Gang Member Indicted for Murder in Aid of Racketeering and Other Crimes Including Three Murders

    Source: United States Attorneys General 2

    A federal grand jury in the Eastern District of Missouri returned an indictment on Wednesday charging Travis Santel Jones, 21, of St. Louis, Missouri, with one count of murder in aid of racketeering, RICO conspiracy, using a firearm during a crime of violence, and causing death with a firearm, all related to Jones’s alleged part in the Cochran Crips, a violent street gang based in St. Louis. Two victims were gunned down in the street and one victim was killed at his own home.

    “There is no place in our communities for groups that terrorize their neighbors,” said Matthew R. Galeotti, Head of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division. “This indictment alleges violent criminal acts and the tragic loss of three lives, all at the hands of a dangerous gang member. The Department of Justice’s Criminal Division will continue to pursue justice for these victims and for the people of St. Louis.”

    “The alleged activity here is exactly the type of case that the Violent Crime Initiative was designed to tackle — complex criminal conspiracies involving drugs and years of violence,” said U.S. Attorney Sayler A. Fleming for the Eastern District of Missouri. “There are severe federal consequences for anyone who is tempted to kill and maim to peddle poison.”

    “For years, FBI St. Louis has been investigating violent crimes and drug trafficking by Cochran Crips gang members. In 2020, our office surged resources to assist the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department after two innocent Saint Louis University students were gunned down simply because their vehicle was misidentified by the gang,” said Special Agent in Charge Ashley Johnson of the FBI St. Louis Field Office. “The FBI and our law enforcement partners will not stop until we bring all those involved in the murders to justice.”

    “Violence has no place in our community, and this indictment sends a clear message: we will always be a voice for victims, and we will not stop pursuing justice until there is accountability,” said St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department Chief Robert J. Tracy. “I am proud of the dedication by our investigators on this case, and we will continue to work with our federal law enforcement partners to keep our neighborhoods safe and take dangerous criminals off our streets.”

    According to court documents, Jones conspired with other Cochran Crips members to commit multiple acts of murder and multiple drug trafficking offenses. Specifically, it is alleged in July 2020, Jones and other members were driving the streets of St. Louis, armed with multiple firearms, looking for “get backs” (retaliation) against a rival gang. While searching for rival gang members, Jones and others allegedly killed two innocent people whom they mistakenly believed to be rivals. After allegedly shooting and killing the victims, Jones and other Cochran Crips allegedly sped away, fleeing the scene and endangering other motorists on the road. Just a day after the murders, it is alleged that Cochran Crips gang members glorified the murders in a rap song.

    In 2022, Jones allegedly murdered another Cochran Crips member when the gang believed that the victim had disrespected a fellow gang member. The gang members are alleged to have obtained a car, armed themselves with multiple firearms, drove to the victim’s home, and murdered him.

    If convicted of murder in aid of racketeering, Jones faces a mandatory minimum penalty of life in prison or the death penalty. All other charges carry a maximum penalty of life in prison.  

    The FBI and the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department are investigating the case.

    Trial Attorneys Jared A. Hernandez and Matthew Mattis of the Criminal Division’s Violent Crime and Racketeering Section and Assistant U.S. Attorney Nino Przulj for the Eastern District of Missouri are prosecuting the case.

    This case is part of the Criminal Division’s Violent Crime Initiative in St. Louis conducted in partnership with the U.S. Attorney’s Office in the Eastern District of Missouri and local, state, and federal law enforcement. The joint effort addresses violent crime by employing, where appropriate, federal laws to prosecute gang members and their associates in St. Louis.

    This case is also part of an Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces (OCDETF) operation. OCDETF identifies, disrupts, and dismantles the highest-level criminal organizations that threaten the United States using a prosecutor-led, intelligence-driven, multi-agency approach. Additional information about the OCDETF Program can be found at www.justice.gov/OCDETF.

    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 USA: LaLota Bill Aimed at Expanding VA Care for Vietnam Veterans Passes House

    Source: US Representative Nick LaLota (NY-01)

    Legislation Builds on Northport VA Study Linking Parasite Exposure and Bile Duct Cancer

    WASHINGTON, D.C. – Rep. Nick LaLota (R-Suffolk County),  an 11-year Navy Veteran and Member of the Military Construction and VA Appropriations Subcommittee, released the following statement after his bipartisan Vietnam Veterans Liver Fluke Cancer Study Act passed the House. The legislation, which is co-led by Rep. Pat Ryan (D-NY), an Army Veteran and Member of the House Armed Services Committee, instructs the VA to conduct a comprehensive study to determine the prevalence of bile duct cancer among those who served in the Vietnam War and whether it may be connected to exposure to a parasite known as liver fluke during their service. 

    “This week, the House took bipartisan action to do what the VA has refused to for more than six years—acknowledge the suffering of Vietnam Veterans exposed to liver fluke in Southeast Asia. My bill, the Vietnam Veterans Liver Fluke Cancer Study Act, passed with broad support because both sides agree: these heroes deserve answers, not more delay,” said LaLota. “Too many have already died waiting. It’s past time we matched our words with action and gave these Veterans the care and recognition they’ve earned.”

    To read the full text of the bipartisan Vietnam Veterans Liver Fluke Cancer Study Act, click HERE.  

     

    Background:

    LaLota initially introduced the bill during the 118th Congress and it passed the House in September 2024. The Senate failed to act. 

    To watch LaLota’s remarks ahead of the bill’s passage in the House, click HERE.

    In 2018, the Northport Veterans Affairs Medical Center in New York conducted a groundbreaking study on liver fluke infection among Vietnam Veterans, using a 50-Veteran sample size. Although the study was smaller than most, its findings highlighted an urgent need for a larger-scale investigation, the development of standardized treatment protocols, and expanded access to care for affected Veterans at VA facilities nationwide.

    Following this, the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) initiated the Vietnam Era Veterans Mortality Study, comparing mortality rates from cholangiocarcinoma (bile duct cancer) between Veterans deployed to the Vietnam War theater and those who served elsewhere. The study suggests a potential link between exposure to parasitic infections, contracted through contaminated freshwater fish, and a heightened risk of cholangiocarcinoma among Vietnam Veterans.

    Despite this evidence, during a Legislative Hearing before the House Veterans Affairs Subcommittee on Health, the Veterans Health Administration (VHA) indicated that the VA does not support further research on the topic. Additionally, the VA has yet to designate cholangiocarcinoma as a service-connected condition, despite the findings of the Vietnam-era study.

    The Liver Fluke Cancer Study Act seeks to address this gap by requiring the VA, in collaboration with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), to conduct a comprehensive study on the prevalence of liver fluke infections among Vietnam Veterans. This legislation aims to ensure that Vietnam Veterans receive the care and recognition they deserve for this debilitating condition.

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