#federal counterfeiting indictment

[beardedmrbean]

HOUSTON - According to the U.S. Attorney's Office, Sanjay Kumar was indicted by a federal grand jury for selling and shipping counterfeit cancer drugs worth tens of thousands of dollars into the United States.

Court documents state the 43-year-old from Bihar, India, along with his co-conspirators, allegedly orchestrated the sale and shipment of fake cancer treatment drugs, including counterfeit versions of Keytruda, to unsuspecting individuals in the U.S.

Keytruda is a genuine cancer immunotherapy and was approved in the U.S. for 19 different indications, treating various forms of cancer such as melanoma, lung cancer, and breast cancer. The exclusive right to manufacture and distribute Keytruda in the U.S. belongs to Merck Sharp & Dohme LLC.

Kumar was arrested on June 26 in Houston while in the U.S. to negotiate further deals aimed at expanding his illicit business of selling fake Keytruda in the American market.

Kumar faces several charges, including one count of conspiracy to traffic counterfeit drugs and four counts of trafficking counterfeit drugs.

If convicted, he could be sentenced to up to 20 years in prison for each count and fined up to $2 million.

[whavradio]

Federal Grand Jury in Boston Indicts Haverhill Man Among Others for Alleged Drug Dealing

A 30-year-old Haverhill man was one of 16 people indicted by a federal grand jury on a case related to drug dealing and money laundering that allegedly distributed tens of thousands of counterfeit prescription pills containing fentanyl and methamphetamine. David Delauri of Haverhill faces charges of conspiracy to distribute and possess with intent to distribute controlled substances that was…

[drewssam]

NFT Platform Blockparty’s Co-Founder Faces Fraud Charges

Rikesh Thapa, co-founder of Blockparty, a San Diego-based Non-Fungible Tokens (NFT) marketplace platform, has been arrested in Southern California over alleged monetary fraud charges. Thapa, who served as Blockparty's ex-Chief Technology Officer (CTO), is accused of embezzling $1 million in cash and cryptocurrency from the company.

Thapa left Blockparty in 2019 amidst allegations of wire fraud. Prosecutors claim Thapa refused to return the $1 million in company funds held in his bank account. Meanwhile, Blockparty sought alternative banking options due to its primary bank's potential cessation of support for crypto entities.

The unsealed indictment alleges Thapa spent the embezzled funds on travel, nightclub outings, and shopping. Additionally, he is accused of stealing Bitcoin from Blockparty and attempting to conceal his actions by deleting the CEO's email account.

Thapa's actions also included an attempt to sell Blockparty's native crypto without consent, resulting in counterfeit funds. If convicted, Thapa faces a potential prison sentence exceeding 20 years for wire fraud.

Neither the federal public defender’s office in San Diego nor a Blockparty representative provided comments on the matter. Blockparty, headquartered in New Jersey, launched its NFT marketplace platform in 2020.

[nbmsports]

Amazon seller consultant avoids jail in employee bribery scheme

A prominent Amazon consultant has avoided jail time for his involvement in an elaborate scheme to bribe company employees to give his clients an upper hand on the e-retailer's sprawling online marketplace.Ephraim "Ed" Rosenberg in March plead guilty to a criminal charge, stemming from a Sept. 2020 indictment that charged six people with conspiring to pay Amazon employees bribes in exchange for confidential information that would benefit third-party merchants selling goods on the company's marketplace.Rosenberg was sentenced Friday in a federal court to two years of probation, and 12 months of house arrest. He was also ordered to pay a $100,000 fine.Rosenberg, 48, is a well-known figure in the world of Amazon third-party sellers. He runs a consultancy business that advises entrepreneurs on how to sell products on the online marketplace, and navigate unforeseen issues with their accounts. Rosenberg's Facebook group for sellers, ASGTG, has over 70,000 members, and he hosts a popular conference for sellers each year in his hometown of Brooklyn.The case provides an unfiltered glimpse into the cottage industry of consultants and brokers that has flourished alongside the growth of Amazon's third-party marketplace. Since its launch in 2000, the marketplace has become a lucrative and competitive platform for millions of sellers to market their wares. From May 2019 to May 2020, U.S. small and medium businesses selling on the marketplace had an average of over $160,000 in sales, according to a report issued by Amazon.While the marketplace has helped Amazon haul in tens of billions of dollars in sales, it's also become a notorious host to counterfeit, unsafe and expired goods. Behind the scenes, scammers have for years resorted to illicit tactics to squash competitors, artificially boost their listings or bypass Amazon's marketplace rules.The case isn't the first time Amazon has dealt with issues of company employees leaking confidential information or manipulating the site in exchange for payments. In 2018, the company investigated claims that employees, primarily based in China, who received payments worth $80 to more than $2,000, in exchange for access to internal data, The Wall Street Journal reported.Amazon has said it invests hundreds of millions of dollars per year to ensure products are safe and compliant. The provision of internal data to sellers by employees violates Amazon's seller policies and code of conduct.Rosenberg's punishment is far less severe than what other defendants have faced. A former Amazon employee was sentenced last year to 10 months in prison, while a consultant who also sold products on Amazon is serving 20 months in prison.Prosecutors recommended a lesser sentence for Rosenberg because there was no evidence he initiated attacks on competitors' product listings like some of his conspirators, who allegedly lodged false complaints to Amazon, and bought fake negative reviews for rivals' products. Other defendants also pleaded guilty to tax evasion charges in addition to the bribery scheme.Between July 2017 and Sept. 2020, Rosenberg paid bribes directly and indirectly to Amazon employees in order to steal confidential data, as well as gain access to internal systems. In one case, Rosenberg made 33 different PayPal payments worth $18,650 to an Amazon employee in Seattle in exchange for confidential information about third-party seller accounts.Most of his payments were for account "annotations," or an internal Amazon employee log of infractions on a sellers' account, which Rosenberg and another defendant, Joe Nilsen, covertly referred to as "fruit" in email correspondence."Sellers who had been suspended from selling on Amazon could use this internal information to see exactly what Amazon had figured out about the sellers' infractions and to tailor their appeals for reinstatement accordingly," prosecutors alleged.Nilsen bragged to Rosenberg over email about the services he had gained access to by bribing employees."I am not trying to make it seem like we have all the abilities in the world, but even though it took some time and some face to face meetings, we obtained abilities that still blow my mind," Nilsen wrote in a Jan. 2018 email to Rosenberg, referring to his internal contacts as "high up 'flick the switch' type guys.""I don't want to have a little menu floating around but if you are in need of anything, just run it by me and I will let you know," Nilsen continued.Previously unsealed court documents said Rosenberg allegedly sent a "veiled threat" to an Amazon employee at the company's Seattle headquarters as part of the bribery scheme, Bloomberg reported. The documents also detailed the defendants' elaborate efforts to dodge detection by authorities, including allegedly stuffing a llama-shaped ottoman with cash believed to be bribes, according to Bloomberg.Rosenberg's guilty plea in March marked a reversal of his position on the case. He repeatedly denied prosecutors' allegations and claimed in LinkedIn messages to CNBC he was being framed, as well as in posts on Reddit forums and Facebook groups. He later admitted he made false statements about the case and admitted to bribing Amazon employees in a public apology posted online.An attorney for Rosenberg, Jacob Laufer, wrote in a sentencing memo that while Rosenberg's conduct was illegal, it was a symptom of a marketplace ruthlessly governed by Amazon wherein merchants could be arbitrarily booted off the marketplace at any time, and struggling to get their businesses reinstated, turned to illicit tactics."Given that these sellers were in the dark about their alleged wrongdoing, how to correct the problem, and when Amazon might recognize its error, sellers were frequently desperate and sometimes would resort to illegal means to obtain the information necessary to accomplish the goal of saving their businesses," according to the memo. "The 'information necessary' was the annotations." Source link Read the full article

[chasenews]

New York Man Indicted in St. Louis, Accused of Selling Counterfeit Xanax on Dark Web

ST. LOUIS – A man from New York state has been indicted in federal court in St. Louis and accused of selling counterfeit Xanax on the dark web. John Cruz, 29, of Rochester, New York, was indicted March 1 on one count of conspiracy to misbrand, introduce misbranded drugs and sell counterfeit drugs. He was arrested March 15 and appeared in U.S. District Court in St. Louis Friday by Zoom. He has…

[notbryanray]

Quote: How widespread public immorality might be

The following is a long footnote that spans pages 339-340 of THE POWER ELITE by C. Wright Mills, a book that was published in 1956.

A few years ago at West Point—center of the higher military life in America—some of the carefully selected young men were caught cheating to get by examinations. In other schools of higher learning college men have played dishonest basketball at moneyed requests of crooked gamblers. In New York City, girls from quite respectable homes have been bought, for a few hundred dollars, by holidaying corporate executives from playboys of very rich families in the business of procuring. In Washington, as well as in other major cities, men in high places have accepted bribes and yielded to pull. By September 1954, some 1400 cases of windfall profits, appropriated during the later ’forties, had been turned up: corporations that had built for or invested in the Federal Housing Administration’s rental housing got mortgages for more than the cost of the building, pocketing the difference, which came to hundreds of millions. Government officials and business contractors, as well as party girls—three for $400—and paid-for fishing trips were part of the operating procedure. During the late war, of course, anyone with smart money and the right connections could have all the black-market meat and gasoline he cared for. And in one recent Presidential campaign, public distrust reached a shrill and cynical tone, when, in an unprecedented gesture, each of the leading candidates for the highest offices in the land felt it necessary to make public an accounting of his personal income.

In illegal enterprises, the small investment with the quick, fantastic return flourishes. Dozens of such industries flourish in the boomtown flush of the post-Korean crime increase. The world bankers have formed an association to fight the rise of embezzlement: ‘Put bluntly,’ reports The New York Times, ‘more people are stealing more money from banks.’ Narcotics and hijacking, embezzlements and counterfeiting, tax cheating and shoplifting—all have paid off handsomely.

Put bluntly, crime, if organized on a proper business-like basis, pays. American gangsters, we now know, are the specialized personnel of nationwide businesses, having syndicated connections with one another and with local public authorities. But more important than the fact that illegal businesses are now well-organized industries is the fact that the ‘hoods’ of the ’twenties have in the ’forties and ’fifties become businessmen who own hotels and distilleries, resorts and trucking companies. Among such members of the fraternity of success, to have a police record means merely that you did not know the right people.

Organized crime in the underworld raises to an extreme the individualistic philosophy of predatory success, the indifference to the public weal, the fetish of the profit motive and of the laissez-faire state. As an integral part of American culture, the ‘underworld . . . serves to meet demands for goods and services which are defined as illegitimate, but for which there is nevertheless a strong demand from respectable people . . . It is implicit in our economic, political, legal and social organization . . . It is in this sense that we have the criminals we deserve.’

For the New Jersey banker, Harold G. Hoffman, crime paid. He became mayor, Congressman, Governor of his state; only upon his death in 1954 was it discovered that for over a decade he had gotten away with $300,000 of state funds and in addition, in the morality play of state politics, had been deep in a network of corruption involving respected banks, insurance companies and highly placed individuals. Army Px’s have sold ‘such unmilitary items as mink coats and expensive jewelry’ at prices well below retail levels. Charities have been discovered to be rackets for private profit. Eighteen persons and seven corporation were indicted in February 1954 on charges of defrauding the government in surplus ship deals, among them Julius C. Holmes, former Minister in the United States embassy in London and special assistant to the Secretary of State. Czars of local labor unions have enriched themselves by extortion and shakedown, by bribery and the union welfare fund. Respected administrators of private hospitals have bought aspirin in wholesale lots for $9.83, selling it to patients for $600. Major General Roderick Allen in March 1954 caused $1,200 of army money to be spent on a dog house for his Siberian Huskies. Those who read business manuals, in addition to newspapers, know that, by 1954, some 214 internal revenue employees and friends of the middle ‘forties had been indicted, 100 convicted—including the head tax-collector of the Federal government. And all over the country, upper-middle and upper-class tax dodgers personally treat each spring as an invitation to a game of ingenious lying and skillful deception. Revelations from the upper depths reached some sort of climax during the spring of 1954 when the Secretary of the Army and his assistant tangled with a Senator and his assistants: the McCarty-Army hearings, as we have already noted, stripped from high officials and a number of Senators all dignity and status. All the official masks were ripped off and two sets of top circles were shown to be prime examples of the petty immorality, the substantial charges of both appearing as quite true.

[creepingsharia]

Ohio: Muslim sentenced for illegal halal slaughterhouse and discharge of animals into waterways

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Tuesday, July 7, 2020

Westlake man sentenced for illegal slaughter and discharge of animals

Justin Herdman, U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Ohio, announced today that Amin M. Salem, age 61, of Westlake, was sentenced to 33-months imprisonment after entering a plea of guilty to money laundering, unpermitted discharged into a waterway of the United States, and the slaughter of animals for commercial use without a permit on December 17, 2019. According to court documents, Amin Salem operated an unregulated slaughterhouse in Elyria and polluted a stream by dumping animal blood and other fluids. Salem then laundered the profits from the illegal slaughterhouse operation at Cleveland-area gas stations. 

"Salem's blatant disregard for the rules and regulations governing our food and water supply put the health of countless people at risk, all so he could make a quick profit," said U.S. Attorney Justin Herdman. "These actions, combined with his admitted money laundering activities, all show that Salem's sentenced was earned and justified."

“Amin Salem attempted to conceal the profits from the illegal sale of lamb through his legitimate gas station bank accounts, but the financial expertise of IRS Criminal Investigation and the joint investigative efforts of our federal, state and local counterparts unraveled this money laundering scheme,” said Bryant Jackson, Special Agent in Charge, IRS Criminal Investigation, Cincinnati Field Office.

“The defendants blatantly disregarded environmental laws by discharging animal waste directly into a local stream,” said Special Agent in Charge Jennifer Lynn of EPA’s criminal investigation program in Ohio. “This sentencing demonstrates that EPA and its law enforcement partners will not tolerate actions that endanger communities and natural resources.”

According to the indictment, from September 2014 through March 2016, Salem owned two properties in Elyria, Ohio where he, and others, slaughtered animals for commercial sale and personal consumption without any licenses or permits. As part of the slaughterhouse operation, Salem discharged blood and other bodily fluids into Engle Ditch, a waterway that emptied into Beaver Creek and Lake Eire. In total, Salem slaughtered at least 400 lambs or goats weighing approximately 25,000 pounds.

From October 2010 through March 2016, Salem owned several Cleveland area gas stations where he sold his adulterated and uninspected meat. Proceeds from the sales of the meat were deposited into gas station bank accounts in an attempt to conceal their source and further facilitate the illegal slaughtering operation. In total, over $695,000 was deposited into the banks accounts for the gas station located at 3934 West 117th Street in Cleveland, Ohio, with approximately $88,000 coming from the illegal sale of meat.

Also indicted in this matter were Mohamed Salem (Amin Salem's son), age 34, of Westlake and Zahran Al-Qadan, age 57, of Cleveland. Al-Qadan was sentenced to two years of probation, the first four months as home confinement. Mohamed Salem is awaiting sentencing.

This case was investigated by the FBI, IRS-Criminal Investigations, USDA-OIG, USDA-FSIS, EPA-CID, Ohio Investigative Unit, Ohio Department of Taxation, Ohio Department of Agriculture, BCI, Ohio EPA, Lorain County Sheriff's Office, Guernsey County Sheriff's Department, Cleveland Division of Police, Westlake Police Department and Strongsville Police Department.

This case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Duncan Brown and Brad Beeson.

--------------------------

Back story: Ohio: Muslim and Son Arrested in $2.7M Food Stamp Fraud and Running Illegal Slaughterhouse

Diversity alert!

Source: Westlake Man Accused Of Running Illegal Slaughterhouse | Westlake, OH Patch

WESTLAKE, OH — A Westlake man is being accused of running an illegal slaughterhouse and dumping animal blood into a stream, polluting the water. He is also accused of engaging in food stamp fraud.

The indictments against Amin Salem, 59, of Westlake, said he owned several Cleveland-area gas stations. The gas stations reportedly accepted Electronic Benefits Transactions (EBT), as part of the SNAP program (formerly called food stamps). Amin’s son, Mohamed, managed the gas station’s benefits on behalf of his father, the indictments said.

Both the gas stations and the EBT terminals were in the Mohamed’s name, because Amin had been previously convicted of food stamp fraud and related crimes, the Department of Justice said. The indictments said the gas station terminals were used by both Salems to process more than $2.7 million in fraudulent SNAP transactions between 2010 and 2016.

Salem is also accused of slaughtering lambs and goats at his property on Stang Road in 2015 and 2016. The indictments said he then sold the meat, without inspection. He also caused the discharge of blood and other bodily fluids, from the slaughtered animals, into Engle Ditch, which flows into the Black River and then Lake Erie, the indictments said.

“The defendant is alleged to have illegally discharged waste from an animal slaughtering operation into a local stream,” said Special Agent in Charge Jennifer Lynn of EPA’s criminal enforcement program in Ohio. “This case demonstrates that EPA and its law enforcement partners will pursue those who violate laws designed to protect the health of our communities and the environment.”

Mohamed then sold the meat, letting customers pay for the uninspected lamb and goat using SNAP cards, the indictment said. The money was then deposited into accounts controlled by the Salems.

Salem was indicted on one count each of conspiracy to launder money and engaging in real estate transactions using laundered funds. He is also being charged with making unpermitted discharges into a waterway, one count of distribution of adulterated, misbranded, or uninspected meat and one count of being in possession of a stolen firearm.

Amin’s son, Mohamed, is also being charged with trafficking in counterfeit goods.

The Department of Justice said Salem has a history of food stamp fraud, and some of his charges stem from accepting food stamps at Cleveland-area gas stations and then laundering profits.

“This father and son duo engaged in various illegalities to include stealing from every taxpaying citizen by engaging in food stamp fraud, a program designed to help those in need,” said FBI Acting Special Agent in Charge Robert E. Hughes. “Salem put others at risk by selling unsanitary, unregulated food. The FBI will continue to work with our federal and local law enforcement partners to ensure fraudsters like these are held accountable.”

But the FBI and other government agencies are doing nothing. The Salem’s are repeat offenders who still own multiple properties from which they commit their fraudulent activities to plunder taxpayers.

via Diseased meat may have been sold to at least four businesses

Several gas station managers across Cleveland seemed to be confused yesterday when federal agents stormed their businesses unannounced.

But what they may also have in common are Amin and Mohamed Salem, a father and son, who own many of those stations and who are once again at the center of a federal investigation.

Documents released Thursday reveal that they are being looked at for illegally processing food stamps.

They are also suspected of illegally processing food, by running a slaughterhouse in Lorain County that allegedly sold diseased meat to at least four local businesses.

According to an affidavit, the family owns dozens of acres in Elyria which include a farm on Stang Road where federal agents found two slaughtered lambs earlier this year.

Investigators believe the Salems sold their meat to Kan Zaman Restaurant on West 25th Street, Kebab Station on Lorain Road in Cleveland, the Yahala Bakery and Grill in North Olmsted, and the Olive Tree Food Corporation in North Olmsted.

Yet Olive Tree’s owner tells WKYC Channel 3 News that it must be a mistake, since she claims their meat comes from Columbus and not Elyria.

“It is wrong, we never have meat from them,” she said. “It is a surprise.”

She believes the father and son own the building they rent, which might explain how her store ended up in the affidavit.

Sam, who owns the Yahala Bakery and Grill across the street, tells Channel 3 News that his meat comes from Michigan.

The affidavit states the father and son obtained their livestock from a farm in Quaker City, Ohio and indicates they may have purchased as many as 525 sheep there.

Amin Salem has already served time twice for tampering with the food stamp program.

His family owns at least 7 gas stations across Cleveland in addition to 4 farms in Lorain County.

----------------------------------------

Not the first or only illegal halal slaughter and food stamp fraud by Muslims in Ohio.

Ohio: Muslim charged in illegal halal slaughterhouse, dumping animal blood in waterways

Mahmoud Abukhalil, a Lakewood resident, and Bernard Whiting, who lives in Cleveland, are charged with causing un-permitted discharges into a waterway, as well as slaughtering animals for commercial use without a permit.

Social Media Bias is Real. Please Click & Share.

[arraignmentcriminallawyer-blog]

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[beardedmrbean]

Federal authorities and the NYPD have seized thousands of knock-off designer handbags and shoes with a street value of just over $1 billion, making it the largest bust in U.S. history, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York announced Wednesday.

The massive raid took place inside a storage facility in Manhattan, New York, where around 219,000 counterfeit bags, clothes, shoes and other luxury products were confiscated.

Authorities said that the total estimated manufacturer’s suggested retail price (MSRP) of the fake goods tops $1.03 billion, although the street value of such counterfeit goods is typically much lower than the MSRP. 

HOW TO RECOGNIZE RAMPANT FAKE TECH IN ONLINE MARKETPLACES

Photos released by the U.S. Attorney’s Office show shelves and a floor area jammed full of faux designer bags counterfeiting various brands, while another area is completely brimming with more bags as some clothes hang from pipes.

In another photo, a storage area can be seen full of dozens of unopened boxes on pallets.

"The seizures announced today consist of merchandise with over a billion dollars in estimated retail value, the largest-ever seizure of counterfeit goods in U.S. history," U.S. Attorney Damian Williams said.  

Two men, Adama Sow, 38, of Queens, and Abdulai Jalloh, 48, of Manhattan, were arrested in relation to the bust on Wednesday and have been charged with trafficking in counterfeit goods, according to an unsealed indictment. They face a maximum of 10 years in prison.

Authorities said the duo used the storage facility as a distribution center for the massive amounts of knock-off designer goods.

Sow and Jalloh ran a large-scale counterfeit goods trafficking operation out of the storage facility from January 2023 through Oct. 20, according to the allegations contained in the indictment and other publicly available information.

They also allegedly trafficked counterfeit goods out of an offsite location in Manhattan, authorities said. 

"The trafficking of counterfeit goods is anything but a victimless crime because it harms legitimate businesses, governments, and consumers," NYPD Commissioner Edward Caban said.

"Today’s indictments show how seriously the NYPD and our federal partners take this offense, and we will continue to work hard to hold accountable anyone who seeks to benefit by selling such items on the black market."

[affirmedcriminallawyer-blog]

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[jewish-privilege]

When neo-Nazi and alt-right demonstrators attacked counterprotesters in Charlottesville, Va., [in August 2017], killing one and injuring several others, many Americans responded with surprise that white supremacists were suddenly in their midst. But white-power activism is not new, nor has it been part of an underground history. We knew. And we forgot.

Twenty-three years ago, on April 19, 1995, a Ryder rental truck filled with fertilizer exploded in front of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City. The bombing killed 168 people, including 19 children — the largest deliberate mass casualty event on American soil between Pearl Harbor and the Sept. 11 attacks.

And yet, in these 23 years, the bombing remains misunderstood as an example of “lone wolf” terrorism. People repeat the words of the bomber Timothy McVeigh, an avowed white-power advocate who before his execution pointed out how scary it was that one man could wreak “this kind of hell.”

But in fact, the bombing was the outgrowth of decades of activism by the white-power movement, a coalition of Ku Klux Klan, neo-Nazis, skinheads and militias, which aimed to organize a guerrilla war on the federal government and its other enemies.

Its network of activists spanned regional, generational, gender and other divides. Membership numbers are hard to pin down, but scholars estimate that in the 1980s the movement included around 25,000 hard-core members, 160,000 more who bought white-power literature and attended movement events, and 450,000 who read the literature secondhand.

These hundreds of thousands of adherents were knit tightly together. As a historian of the movement, I have spent a decade connecting threads among thousands of documents, including original correspondence and ephemera of activists, government surveillance documents, court records and newspaper reports.

From the formal unification in 1979 of previously antagonistic groups under a white-power banner, through its revolutionary turn to declare war on the government in 1983, through its militia phase in the early 1990s, the white-power movement mobilized through a cohesive social network using commonly held beliefs. Its activists operated with discipline and clarity, training in paramilitary camps and undertaking assassinations, mercenary soldiering, armed robbery, counterfeiting and weapons trafficking.

White-power violence was discussed in major newspapers, on public access television, on talk shows and morning news shows, on the radio, and portrayed in television mini-series and movies. How, then, were white-power activists so misunderstood by so many Americans so that today we are once again stunned to find them marching in our streets?

One answer is Fort Smith, Ark. In 1987, prosecutors indicted 13 white supremacists on federal charges, including seditious conspiracy. Jurors heard testimony about 30 gallons of cyanide seized just before it could be used to poison the water of a major city; assassinations of a talk-radio personality, fellow group members and state troopers; and endless paramilitary training, parading and harassment of various enemies. They saw two huge laundry hampers of the movement’s military-grade weapons pushed through the courtroom. Witnesses described how separatist compounds manufactured their own Claymore-style land mines and trained in urban warfare.

But at the end of the Fort Smith trial, all 13 defendants were acquitted. Court records show that the weapons in the two laundry hampers were returned to them.

The trial was flawed from the start. Two jurors developed romantic pen-pal relationships with defendants, and one of those couples married after the trial. Large swaths of evidence were excluded, as were jurors familiar with white-power activity in the area, which had been widely reported. One juror later spoke of a belief that the Bible prohibited race mixing.

It was such an embarrassment that — along with the calamities that were also public relations disasters at Ruby Ridge, Idaho, and Waco, Tex., in the early 1990s — it clouded prosecutors’ approach to Oklahoma City and other instances of white-power violence. Framing such acts as part of a movement, they decided, was too risky; easier to go after defendants individually.

Indeed, the F.B.I. established a policy to pursue only individuals in white-power violence, with, according to F.B.I. internal documents, “no attempts to tie individual crimes to a broader movement.” This strategy not only obscured the Oklahoma City bombing as part of a social movement but, in the years after McVeigh’s execution, also effectively erased the movement itself from public awareness.

After a brief wave of copycat violence and subsequent small-scale crackdowns, white-power activism largely relocated to the internet. There, it gathered strength even as much of the country came to believe in a colorblind, multicultural or post-racial United States. But the white-power movement reveals a sustained current of overt racism and violence in the years we thought of as peaceful, one that is resurgent today.

White-power activity in the United States is not new, nor has it been as shadowy as we may have imagined. It was known and then forgotten. We must, collectively, recognize its strength and history, or our amnesia will make it impossible to respond to such activism and violence in the present.

[governmentagencynews]

WASHINGTON — Federal, state, and local law enforcement partners from across the United States, including Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), executed a nationwide, coordinated takedown Nov. 2 of leaders and associates of a national network of thieves, dealers, and processors for their roles in conspiracies involving stolen catalytic converters sold to a metal refinery for tens of millions of dollars.Arrests, searches, and seizures took place in California, Minnesota, New Jersey, New York, Nevada, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Virginia, and Wyoming. In total, 21 individuals in five states have been arrested and/or charged for their roles in the conspiracy. The 21 defendants are charged in two separate indictments that were unsealed Nov. 2 in the Eastern District of California and the Northern District of Oklahoma, following extensive law enforcement arrest and search operations. In addition to the indictments, over 32 search warrants were executed, and law enforcement seized millions of dollars in assets, including homes, bank accounts, cash, and luxury vehicles. “The success of this national takedown highlights the importance and necessity of dynamic law enforcement partnerships that we foster at DHS every single day," said Deputy Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security John K. Tien. “This calculated, cooperative whole-of-government approach across multiple states illustrates our commitment to protecting the homeland from those who seek to profit from sophisticated schemes. HSI will continue to focus its efforts on keeping these types of criminal elements off our streets while dismantling the groups behind these and other thefts.” “This level of organized criminal activity is extremely costly and detrimental to victims and taxpayers – organized theft groups are sophisticated networks that profit from illegally obtained goods and are often involved in various other crimes further funded by proceeds from illicit operations,” said U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Acting Deputy Director Patrick J. Lechleitner. “We cannot overemphasize enough that these are not victimless crimes, and that the increased number of these crimes poses a very legitimate threat to the U.S. economy. Our HSI special agents continue to work tirelessly to disrupt these criminal organizations and bring those who seek to profit from counterfeit or stolen products to justice.” Catalytic converters are components of an automotive vehicle’s exhaust system that reduce toxic gases and pollutants from a vehicle's internal combustion engine into safe emissions. Catalytic converters use precious metals in their center, or “core”, and are regularly targeted for theft due to the high value of these metals, especially palladium, platinum, and rhodium. Some of these precious metals are more valuable per ounce than gold and their value has increased in recent years. The black-market price for catalytic converters can be more than $1,000 each, depending on the type of vehicle. Additionally, catalytic converters often lack unique serial numbers, VIN information, or other distinctive identification features, making them difficult to trace to lawful owners. Thus, the theft of catalytic converters has become increasingly popular because of their value, relative ease to steal, and lack of identifying markings. The process to remove the precious metals from the catalytic converters is complex and may release toxic gases. Therefore, catalytic converters are typically sold intact to an extraction company. The extraction company will remove the core from the catalytic converter using a “de-canning” process that crushes the honeycomb structure (or brick) inside the core, resulting in precious metal powders. The process of de-canning crushes the brick inside the catalytic converters; new bricks are not available for sale to the public. The precious metal powders are then sold to a metal refinery for further processing. Eastern District of California Case A federal

grand jury in the Eastern District of California returned a 40-count indictment charging nine defendants with conspiracy to transport stolen catalytic converters, conspiracy to commit money laundering, and other related charges. According to court documents, brothers Tou Sue Vang, 31, and Andrew Vang, 27, and Monica Moua, 51, all of Sacramento, allegedly operated an unlicensed business from their personal residence in Sacramento where they bought stolen catalytic converters from local thieves and shipped them to DG Auto Parts LLC in New Jersey for processing. The Vang family allegedly sold approximately $38 million in stolen catalytic converters to DG Auto. Defendants Navin Khanna, aka Lovin Khanna, 39; Tinu Khanna, aka Gagan Khanna, 35; Daniel Dolan, 44; Chi Mo, aka David Mo, 37; Wright Louis Mosley, 50; and Ishu Lakra, 24, all of New Jersey, operated DG Auto in multiple locations in New Jersey. They knowingly purchased stolen catalytic converters and extracted the precious metal powders to sell to a metal refinery. DG Auto sold the precious metal powders it processed from California and elsewhere to a metal refinery for over $545 million. Northern District of Oklahoma Case A federal grand jury in the Northern District of Oklahoma returned a 40-count indictment charging 13 defendants with conspiracy to transport stolen catalytic converters, conspiracy to commit money laundering, and other related charges. According to court documents, together the defendants bought stolen catalytic converters from thieves on the street, then re-sold and shipped them to DG Auto in New Jersey for processing. Over the course of the conspiracy, defendant Tyler James Curtis received over $13 million in wired funds from DG Auto for the shipment of catalytic converters and received over $500,000 from Capital Cores for catalytic converters. Defendant Adam G. Sharkey received over $45 million in wired funds from DG Auto. And defendant Martynas Macerauskas received over $6 million in payments from DG Auto for catalytic converters. In all these incidents, most of the catalytic converters sold to DG Auto were stolen, and DG Auto knew or should have known that when they paid for them. The 13 defendants are Navin Khanna, 39, of Holmdel, New Jersey; Adam Sharkey, 26, of West Islip, New York; Robert Gary Sharkey, 57, of Babylon, New York; Tyler James Curtis, 26, of Wagoner, Oklahoma; Benjamin Robert Mansour, 24, of Bixby, Oklahoma; Reiss Nicole Biby, 24, of Wagoner, Oklahoma; Martynas Macerauskas, 28, of Leila Lake, Texas; Kristina McKay Macerauskas, 21, of Leila Lake, Texas; Parker Star Weavel, 25, of Tahlequah, Oklahoma; Shane Allen Minnick, 26, of Haskell, Oklahoma; Ryan David LaRue 29, of Broken Bow, Oklahoma; Brian Pate Thomas, 25, of Choteau, Oklahoma; and Michael Anthony Rhoden, 26, of Keifer, Oklahoma. Trial Attorney Danbee C. Kim of the Criminal Division’s Organized Crime and Gang Section, Assistant U.S. Attorney Veronica M.A. Alegría for the Eastern District of California, and Assistant U.S. Attorneys Reagan Reininger and David Nasar for the Northern District of Oklahoma are prosecuting the cases. HSI, the FBI, and the IRS-Criminal Investigation are investigating the cases. FBI Las Vegas (NV), FBI Richmond (VA), FBI Charlotte (NC), FBI Newark (NJ), FBI Dallas (TX), HSI Dallas (TX), HSI Houston (TX), HSI Amarillo (TX), HSI St. Paul (MN), HSI Long Island (NY), HSI Newark (NJ), IRS-CI Chicago Field Office (IL), IRS-CI Oakland Field Office (CA), IRS-CI Dallas Field Office (TX), IRS-CI Newark Field Office (NJ), Tulsa Police Department (OK), Tulsa County Sheriff’s Office (OK), Oklahoma Highway Patrol (OK), Oklahoma Attorney General’s Office (OK), Wagoner County Sheriff’s Office (OK), Houston Police Department (TX), Amarillo Police Department (TX), Broken Arrow Police Department (OK), Sacramento County Sheriff’s Department (CA), Sacramento Police Department (CA), Davis Police Department (CA), Auburn Police Department (CA), Livermore Police Department

(CA), San Bernardino County Sherriff’s Department (CA), Customs and Border Protection (NJ), Port Authority Police Department of New York and New Jersey (NY; NJ), Hudson County Sheriff’s Office (NJ), Monmouth County Prosecutor’s Office (NJ), Monmouth County Sheriff’s Office (NJ), Morris Township Police Department (NJ), Springfield Police Department (NJ), New Jersey State Police (NJ), Union County Prosecutor’s Office (NJ), Port Authority of NY & NJ (NY; NJ), Howell Police Department (NJ), Warren Township Police Department (NJ), Freehold Borough Police Department (NJ), Middletown Police Department (NJ), Marlboro Police Department (NJ), Manalapan Police Department (NJ), Ocean County Sheriff’s Office (NJ), Burlington Police Department (NJ), Willingboro Police Department (NJ), Waterfront Commission of NY Harbor (NY), Nassau County Police Department (NY), Suffolk County Police Department (NY), Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department (NV), Greensville County Sheriff’s Office (VA), Emporia Police Department (VA), Brunswick County Sheriff’s Office (VA), Halifax County Sheriff’s Office (NC), Saint Paul Police Department (MN), Minnesota Commerce Fraud Bureau (MN), Blaine Police Department (MN), McLeod County Sheriff’s Office (MN), Anoka County Sheriff’s Office (MN), Carver County Sheriff’s Office (MN), Roseville Police Department (MN), Plymouth Police Department (MN), Bloomington Police Department (MN), Eagan Police Department (MN), Woodbury Police Department (MN), Brown County Sheriff’s Office (MN), Brooklyn Park Police Department (MN), Fridley Police Department (MN), Mendota Heights Police Department (MN), Chaska Police Department (MN), and Coon Rapids Police Department (MN) provided assistance. An indictment is merely an allegation. All defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law. HSI is the principal investigative arm of DHS, responsible for investigating transnational crime and threats, specifically those criminal organizations that exploit the global infrastructure through which international trade, travel, and finance move. HSI’s workforce of over 10,400 employees consists of more than 6,800 special agents assigned to 225 cities throughout the United States, and 93 overseas locations in 56 countries. HSI’s international presence represents DHS’s largest investigative law enforcement presence abroad and one of the largest international footprints in U.S. law enforcement. Learn more about HSI’s mission @HSI_HQ.

[chasenews]

Two North Shore Men Indicted for Drug Conspiracy Involving Tens of Thousands of Counterfeit Pills

One defendant indicted for firearm offense BOSTON – Two men from the North Shore have been indicted by a federal grand jury in Boston in connection with a drug conspiracy involving tens of thousands of counterfeit pills containing methamphetamine and fentanyl. Charles Bates, 31, of Reading, and Aaron Lenardis, 36, of Saugus, were indicted on one count each of conspiracy to possess with intent…

[ustimes]

Games consoles at centre of US terror case

A Miami businessman is facing terrorism-related charges for selling a consignment of Sony PlayStations to a shopping centre in Paraguay that US authorities say is a fundraising front for Hizbollah, the militant Lebanese Shia movement. The case against Khalid Safadi, a Paraguayan national with US residency, and two Florida associates follows a three-year joint investigation by US antiterrorism agencies. The federal trial is expected to shed light on the so-called tri-border area between Paraguay, Brazil and Argentina that western intelligence agencies have long maintained is a haven for smugglers and counterfeiters funding militant Muslim groups. A shipment of PlayStation consoles and Sony cameras that Mr Safadi is alleged to have exported, using fake documentation, were destined for the Galeria Page, a mall in Paraguay's commercial town of Ciudad del Este, just across the river Parana from the Brazilian town of Foz do Iguacu and Argentina's Puerto Iguazu.

The shopping centre is owned by Assad Ahmad Barakat and blacklisted by the US and other countries as an alleged Hizbollah associate. All US sales to the place were banned in 2006 under an executive order to curb terrorist financing signed by then president George W. Bush less than two weeks after the al-Qaeda attacks of September 2001.

Mr Barakat was released from jail in Paraguay last year after serving six years for tax fraud.

Brazilian and Paraguayan authorities co-operated with the Miami investigation. The tri-border region is the hub of a thriving “informal” economy run, among others, by members of the Lebanese and Palestinian immigrant communities.

Ana Sverdlick, an Argentine criminal lawyer, has described Ciudad del Este, with 250,000 people, as the “third largest commercial city in the world, only surpassed by Hong Kong and Miami”.

The Rand Corporation, the US risk analyst, has said that Hizbollah-linked networks in the area raise millions of dollars from pirating DVDs and CDs.

Mr Safadi was released from jail on Monday on $1.5m (€1.1m, £1m) bail, pending trial at which the defendants face 20 years in jail. Michael Tein, Mr Safadi’s lawyer, told the bail hearing his client was innocent. “Terrorism?” Mr Tein said. “More like The Great Sony PlayStation Caper. The indictment literally charges them with selling PlayStation 2 video games to Paraguay. That’s some weapon of mass destruction.”