Tag Archives: Attorney Office

News, Politics, Government

Fla. teen faces aiding terrorists charges

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A Jacksonville, Fla., teen is facing federal charges after authorities say he traveled to the Middle East to train with terrorists.

The U.S. Attorney’s Office in Tampa announced Thursday that a grand jury has indicted 19-year-old Shelton Thomas Bell on charges of conspiring and attempting to provide material support to terrorists. He faces up to 15 years for each of the two charges.

Federal prosecutors say Bell had planned to travel to the Arabian Peninsula and join Ansar Al-Sharia, which is an alias for al-Qaida there The group has taken responsibility for multiple attacks on Yemeni forces, including a suicide bombing during a parade in May 2012.

Authorities say Bell and a juvenile traveled to Jordan and made contact with someone who could help their travel to Yemen to participate in violent jihad.

…read more

Source: FULL ARTICLE at Fox US News

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California man pretended to be African leader's son, feds say

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A San Francisco man was in federal custody Friday on charges that he defrauded a Northern California real estate agent and his girlfriend out of $1.6 million by pretending to be the son of Congo‘s president.

The U.S. Attorney’s Office in San Francisco said Blessed Marvelous Herve persuaded the couple to forward him the money over four years with promises of repayment, lucrative commissions, and multi-million bonuses and a collection of impressive-looking documents that included a certificate of recognition from a U.S. senator.

Instead, they received excuses and demands for more funds, according to an affidavit prepared by the FBI agent who investigated the case.

The affidavit states that Herve told the Marin County real estate agent that his father wanted to buy luxury homes in the San Francisco Bay area, but that first he needed help recovering millions of dollars seized by the U.S. government, advances so he could rent limousines to tour potential properties, and additional financial assistance paying IRS debts and costs associated with other legal troubles.

It said that after the agent had given Herve about $635,000 and “was financially broke,” his girlfriend stepped in and provided another $970,000. At 41, Herve is the same age as Joseph Kabila, who has been president of the Democratic Republic of Congo since 2001.

Herve’s lawyer, Assistant Federal Public Defender Edward Hu, declined to comment on the allegations.

Source: FULL ARTICLE at Fox US News

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Trial to start in Zetas cartel racehorse case

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One of Mexico‘s most powerful and violent drug cartels intended a racehorse-buying operation to be a clandestine means of laundering its illegal proceeds in the United States, prosecutors say.

But the millions of dollars spent — sometimes in the form of duffel bags stuffed with cash — on horses named with names such as Number One Cartel and Mr. Ease Cartel, it wasn’t long before authorities learned of the alleged scheme and reined it in.

The federal investigation resulted in indictments last year against 18 individuals. Now, at least four of the accused in the money laundering scheme, including the brother of two of the top leaders of the Zetas drug cartel, are set to go on trial Monday in an Austin federal courtroom.

The trial, which could last up to six weeks, is expected to offer insight into the internal workings of the Zetas, as well as highlight what some cartel experts say was a rookie mistake by an organized crime outfit: drawing attention to yourself.

“It’s just sort of flashy, ostentatious behavior that is not smart if you are involved in organized crime,” Howard Campbell, a professor of anthropology at the University of Texas at El Paso who has studied drug cartels, said of the racehorse-buying operation’s high profile.

Federal authorities have accused Miguel Angel Trevino Morales, believed to now be the leader of the Zetas drug operation, of setting up the horse operation that his younger brother, Jose Trevino Morales, ran from a sprawling ranch near Lexington, Okla. The operation spent millions of dollars buying horses in California, New Mexico, Oklahoma and Texas, prosecutors said.

Authorities allege Jose Trevino Morales and his wife, who had lived in North Texas before moving to Oklahoma, did not have the means to support the ranch operation, which bought, trained, bred and raced quarter horses throughout the Southwest, and that drug money paid for everything.

Neighbors said those who worked with the ranch spent lots of cash, bought land and made improvements at a time when others in the industry were struggling financially.

Workers at the Ruidoso Downs Race Track and Casino in New Mexico said Jose Trevino Morales‘ stables were known as the “Zetas’ stables.”

The U.S. Attorney’s Office in San Antonio, which is handling the case, declined to comment

From: http://feeds.foxnews.com/~r/foxnews/national/~3/stmmW-fgX1g/

News, Politics, Government

American Eagle pilot charged after failing alcohol test before flight

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An American Eagle pilot was charged Tuesday with three gross misdemeanors after authorities said he failed a blood-alcohol test as he was preparing to fly a plane from Minneapolis to New York City in January.

Kolbjorn Jarle Kristiansen, 48, was arrested at the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport on Jan. 4 after airport police and a Transportation Security Administration officer said they smelled alcohol as they walked past a group of four pilots around 5:30 a.m. Authorities said a preliminary test revealed Kristiansen’s blood-alcohol content was 0.107, more than double the legal limit for pilots.

Kristiansen, of Raleigh, N.C., was charged in Minnesota’s Hennepin County District Court with three counts related to attempting to operate an aircraft under the influence of alcohol. Each count carries a maximum penalty of a year in jail and a fine of $3,000.

Kristiansen’s attorney, Peter Wold, said he hadn’t seen the charges but they were expected.

“He never operated the aircraft. He never touched the controls,” Wold said. “That’s just the fact.”

According to a criminal complaint, two officers approached Kristiansen and noted he had “glassy and watery eyes and was slow in responses to officer questions.” The complaint said Kristiansen admitted that he consumed alcohol the night before and was planning to fly.

After the preliminary test, a subsequent blood test revealed Kristiansen’s blood-alcohol level was 0.09. Pilots are prohibited from flying if they have a blood-alcohol level of 0.04 or higher, half the level allowed for motorists.

American Airlines uses American Eagle to operate shorter connecting flights. Back in January, American Eagle spokesman Matt Miller said Kristiansen had been suspended, and an internal investigation was being conducted.

“The pilot involved in this matter continues to be withheld from service,” Miller said in an email Tuesday. “American Eagle has a well-established substance abuse policy that is designed to put the safety of our customers and employees first.”

Miller declined to comment when asked about the status of the internal investigation.

A message left with the Air Lines Pilots Association, Kristiansen’s union, was not returned.

The flight, with 53 passengers, was delayed about 2 1/2 hours as the airline found a replacement pilot.

Jeanne Cooney, a spokeswoman with the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Minnesota, said that based on the circumstances of the case and the different way federal and state statutes are written, it was appropriate that the case be handled by state court.

While federal law criminalizes the operation of an aircraft while under the influence of alcohol, state statutes make it a crime if a person also makes an “attempt” to operate an aircraft while under the influence.

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Source: FULL ARTICLE at Fox US News

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Feds move on 'Mountain Man' for weapons charges

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The fugitive recently captured by Utah authorities for a series of cabin break-ins over six years is now under federal investigation for firearms violations.

Federal authorities tell The Associated Press they’re getting involved. The Bureau of Alcohol, Firearms and Explosives confirms it has joined the investigation. The U.S. Attorney’s Office in Salt Lake City says Troy James Knapp could face both federal and state charges.

Local authorities say 45-year-old Knapp survived winters by holing up inside cabins, sleeping in the owners’ beds, eating their food, stealing weapons and camping gear. Now at Sanpete County jail, he’s telling detectives where he cached the stolen goods.

Officials say a long criminal record prohibited Knapp from possessing firearms.

Knapp will make his first court appearance by video Wednesday in Manti, Utah.

…read more

Source: FULL ARTICLE at Fox US News

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Arizona authorities reportedly target synthetic drugs like 'spice,' 'bath salts'

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County attorneys in Arizona who have targeted the proliferation of legal synthetic drugs like “spice” and “bath salts” are reportedly seeing their efforts make their way into the courtroom.

The Arizona Republic reports that a federal indictment filed late last week in U.S. District Court in Phoenix reveals the international scope of the conspiracy to traffic those drugs and the large amounts of money that may be involved.

Federal prosecutors allege Nicholas Pascal Zizzo and Michael Rocky Lane shopped around the world for someone who could supply them with a legal version of MDPV, a chemical that the federal government had recently prohibited and was used in the manufacture of bath salts. The men secured the chemicals legally from China and made a few other cosmetic changes to remain on the right side of the law, according to court documents.

“After October of 2011, defendant Zizzo and others ceased using the name ‘Eight Ballz Bath Salts‘ and started utilizing the name ‘Eight Ballz Ultra Premium Glass Cleaner,’ ” according to the indictment.

The new chemicals were legal, but a 1986 law makes it illegal to manufacture, distribute or possess substances that have a similar effect on the nervous system as banned drugs, the newspaper reports.

By late 2011, when the federal Drug Enforcement Administration took action to outlaw three chemicals commonly found in bath salts, the potential dangers of synthetic drugs were already well-known. Nearly a year earlier, federal officials had banned five chemicals commonly found in the synthetic marijuana-like substance commonly called spice amid reports of frantic teens showing up in emergency rooms around the nation strung out on the legal chemicals.

And invoking that law in criminal prosecutions in Arizona is unique, said Bruce Feder, an attorney for Lane who has practiced for 35 years and is aware of one other case where the Analogue Act was cited.

“Something must have happened in the Justice Department to precipitate these indictments,” Feder said.

The U.S. Attorney’s Office in Arizona did not respond to a request for comment about this case or the government‘s efforts to target synthetic drugs in general, the newspaper reports.

The federal sting that originally took down Lane, Zizzo and three others was part of a nationwide undercover operation in late July known as “Operation Logjam.” The local defendants were done in by federal agents posing as Hells Angels who purchased 2,500 powder packets of “Eight Ballz” from one of the defendants, Benjamin J. Lowenstein, in a late June meeting at a parking lot on Thunderbird Road, according to a federal affidavit.

Federal officials have speculated that the Arizona suspects generated “tens of millions of dollars” in profits.

Click for more from the Arizona Republic.

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Source: FULL ARTICLE at Fox US News

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American who fought with Al Qaeda against Syria's Assad arrested in Virginia

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A former Army soldier from Phoenix who joined rebels fighting the Syrian government and boasted to FoxNews.com of his exploits as a Muslim soldier of fortune earlier this month was arrested Wednesday in Virginia and could face life in prison.

Eric Harroun, 30, who left the Army in 2003 on full disability pay after a truck accident, was charged with conspiring to use a rocket-propelled grenade while fighting with the al-Nusrah Front, an organization also known as Al Qaeda in Iraq. Harroun, who was in Syria or Turkey when he spoke to FoxNews.com by Skype, was nabbed shortly after flying in to Dulles International Airport after a voluntary interview with FBI agents, according to a criminal complaint filed Thursday.

Harroun could not be reached for comment, and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Virginia could not say if an attorney had been assigned to him. His father told FoxNews.com he was unaware his son was even back in the U.S.

“I was worried that he was dead,” Darryl Harroun said. “I don’t know anything about this.”

Harroun told FoxNews.com in an exclusive report March 11 that he considers himself a Muslim freedom fighter fighting the regime of Bashar Assad, which the U.S. also opposes. But breaking the law cited by prosecutors who charged him carries a possible life sentence.

“Any national of the United States who, without lawful authority, uses, or threatens, attempts, or conspires to use, a weapon of mass destruction outside of the United States shall be imprisoned for any term of years or for life, and if death results, shall be punished by death, or by imprisonment for any term of years or for life,” reads the law.

According to court documents, FBI agents conducted three interviews with Harroun this month after he voluntarily came to the U.S. Consulate in Istanbul. Harroun allegedly told the FBI that he wound up with the Al Qaeda affiliate after his rebel group was attacked, and was treated like a prisoner before being accepted. He told agents he shot at least 10 people in Syria, but said he didn’t know how many, if any, were killed, according to prosecutors.

Harroun was last interviewed in Istanbul on March 25, and two days later flew back to the U.S. where he was arrested at Dulles International Airport after telling the FBI he had used an RPG to take down a tower on “at least one occasion.”

Harroun appeared in federal court Thursday in Alexandria, Va., before U.S. Magistrate Judge Theresa Buchanan.

In the March 11, report, FoxNews.com chronicled Harroun’s transition from U.S. soldier to jihadist.

“I was separated in a battle and most of my group was KIA and Al-Nusra picked me up,” Harroun told FoxNews.com during one ofseveralbrief interviews conducted via Skype.

Harroun at the time shrugged off a question about fighting alongside Al Qaeda terrorists who have joined the Syrian rebellion, saying, “the U.S. plays both sides, too.” He said the offshoot of the terror group behind the 9/11 attacks welcomed him.

“Getting into Al-Nusra is not rocket science,” he …read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at Fox World News

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2 shipping firms admit to illegal ocean dumping

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Two international shipping firms pleaded guilty Thursday to obstruction and other charges in connection with what the U.S. Attorney’s Office characterized as a pattern of falsifying records to hide the illegal dumping of engine sludge and oil-contaminated waste into the ocean.

The four ships in question docked in New Jersey, Delaware and California, but the criminal cases were consolidated in New Jersey.

The German firm Columbia Shipmanagement and Cyprus-based Columbia Shipmanagement Ltd. agreed to pay a combined $10.4 million penalty, U.S. Attorney Paul Fishman said. Of that, $2.6 million will go to addressing environmental damage caused by Superstorm Sandy in New Jersey and Delaware.

The two companies also will be placed on probation for four years. They are affiliates owned by the same holding company, Fishman said.

According to the U.S. Attorney’s Office, whistleblowers played key roles in the various investigations.

The New Jersey probe into one of the Hamburg-based company’s ships, the King Emerald, began after crew members approached Coast Guard officers with cell phone photos during a routine inspection in Carteret last May. The company eventually admitted it had illegally discharged oil waste off the coast of Central America, including within 45 miles of a national park area in Costa Rica.

Crew members of another ship, the Nordic Passat, prompted the Delaware investigation last October when they provided the Coast Guard with a thumb drive that contained photos and video showing how the ship’s sewage system was rigged to send illegal discharges overboard. Similarly, whistleblowers alerted authorities to two others ships, one destined for New Jersey and another that docked in San Francisco.

“In this particular instance the whistleblowers were enormously helpful,” Fishman said Thursday.

Under federal law, oil-contaminated waste can be discharged overboard only if it contains less than 15 parts of oil per million parts of water. To achieve this, large vessels are required to have a pollution control device called an oily water separator. Engine sludge, produced by the process of purifying fuel oil and lubricating oil, must be burned in a ship’s incinerator or off-loaded on shore for disposal. At least one of the ships dumped sludge into the ocean and another falsified records to claim it incinerated sludge when it hadn’t, authorities said.

In their guilty pleas, the shipping companies admitted bypassing the oily water …read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at Fox US News

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Authorities Charge Raj Rajaratnam's Brother With Insider Trading

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By Jordan Maglich, Contributor

Facing an expiring statute of limitations, authorities filed criminal and civil charges against Rajarengan “Rengan” Rajaratnam for his role in the massive insider trading scheme masterminded by his brother, Raj Rajaratnam, who is is currently serving the longest prison sentence handed down for an insider trading conviction.  In parallel actions, the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York (“USAO”) accused Rengan Rajaratnam of pocketing more than $3 million in profits by trading on material non-public information in several companies, including Polycom, Hilton Hotels, and Clearwire.  The SEC charged Rajaratnam with violations of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, while the extent of the criminal charges was not yet known. …read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at Forbes Latest

Business, Finance, Occupation & Industry

These Stocks Need a Bailout of Their Own

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By Rich Duprey, The Motley Fool

Filed under:

The tremor sent through the global financial system was almost palpable. The prospects of seizing the bank accounts of individual Cypriot customers in exchange for a bailout could unleash a wave of bank runs around the world before world governments in equally shaky financial zones could seize them, too. Of course, everyone says that won’t happen, but the slippery slope the EU put itself on had the Dow Jones Industrial Average frozen in place, rising a barely perceptible three points yesterday.

The three stocks below faced a run of a different sort as investors turned tail, but don’t go running over the cliff with them like a bunch of lemmings just yet: This could just be a temporary situation. Let’s first see whether they had good reason to fall as panic-fueled routs can sometimes lead to excellent buying opportunities.

Company

% Change

Harvest Natural Resources

(32.6%)

Star Scientific

(17.2%)

Glu Mobile

(9.1%)

Thank you, sir, may I have another?!
I’m no accountant, so the arcana of accounting rules is all Greek to me, and apparently also to the bookkeepers at oil and gas producer Harvest Natural Resources, which said it may have to restate its financials going back several years because of a whole slew of accounting errors it found.

According to its SEC filing, Harvest Natural said not only were there errors related to incorrect capitalization of some lease maintenance costs as well as for internal SG&A costs, but the company’s cash-flow presentation also had an error and some of its long-lived assets have been impaired. Oops. Moreover, it just might also be able to identify “additional material weaknesses.” You think?

On top of everything else, the Venezuelan oil and gas operator said it was going to report a loss of $0.26 per share for all of 2012, a tad worse than the $0.87 per share profit that analysts had been expecting. Oh, and its auditor issued a “going concern” notice, which suggests it has substantial doubt about the driller surviving.

Everything is spinning out of control at Harvest ever since India‘s government rejected its planned $725 million sale of Venezuelan assets to the state-owned Petrodelta. Considering the surprise nature of the disclosures, investors were right to sell en masse. As they say, where there’s one cockroach there’s usually more, and Harvest Natural Resources sounds like it’s in need of an exterminator.

In the spotlight
Dietary supplement maker Star Scientific is also under the magnifying glass following the disclosure that the U.S. Attorney’s Office served it with subpoenas in January and February regarding private stock placements that the company made since 2006, along with various related party transactions.

Star didn’t disclose any more information than that in the annual report it filed yesterday — the last day possible to file it — but the muckraking analysts at Street Sweeper had noted a couple of years ago the uncanny timing of …read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at DailyFinance

News, Politics, Government

Prosecutors Wanted LIFE Sentence for Mortgage Broker in Pittsburgh

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By Walter Pavlo, Contributor

According to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Pennsylvania, the longest prison terms doled out from June 2012 until October 2012 were for soliciting minors to engage in sexual activity (2 cases that resulted in sentences of 14 and 20 years prison), trafficking more than 100 grams of heroin (1 case that resulted in 17 years prison) and shooting at FBI agents (1 case resulted in 15 years prison).  There was also the case in the same district, which I wrote about in January 2011, regarding Gregory Podlucky (LeNature) who was sentenced to 20 years in prison for a scheme that ripped off over $800 million from investors and banks.  So what did Vasilia “Lia” Berger do that would make U.S. prosecutor Bendan Conway ask for a sentence of 24-30 years?  She was a bad mortgage broker. …read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at Forbes Latest

News, Politics, Government

US AG meets with Caribbean leaders in Haiti

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U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder discussed regional crime with Caribbean leaders on Monday during a summit in Haiti.

Holder talked with the leaders of mostly English-speaking Caribbean countries about crime problems, efforts to curb weapons and drug trafficking and a need to alert countries in the region about imminent deportations at the conference of the Caribbean Community, known as Caricom, held at a hotel in the Haitian capital.

Hundreds of thousands of people from Haiti, Jamaica, Mexico and other nations have been deported to homelands they barely know since the U.S. Congress mandated in 1996 that every non-citizen sentenced to a year or more in prison be booted from the country upon release.

“With regard to deportees, I think what we need to do is make sure that we give as much notice as we possibly can before people are to be released and deported from the United States,” Holder told reporters. “As we increase the more general capacity, law enforcement capacity, security capacity of the nations of Caricom, they will be in a much better position to deal with these deportees from the United States.”

Holder also met privately with Haiti‘s President Michel Martelly, who assumed the chair of the Caricom group in January and will hold the title for six months.

It’s the first time Haiti has hosted a Caricom conference. The gathering ends Tuesday afternoon.

Holder flew Monday afternoon to Thomas, Virgin Islands, where he is to meet with the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of the U.S. Virgin Islands.

…read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at Fox World News

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Wife: Alaska man innocent in Coast Guard deaths

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The wife of an Alaska man arrested in last year’s shooting deaths of two employees at a Coast Guard air station said Saturday that her husband is innocent.

Nancy Wells told The Associated Press she expects her husband “will be fully exonerated.”

“I have full faith in my husband’s innocence,” she said. “I have no faith in the quality of the investigation.”

James Michael Wells of Kodiak is accused in a federal murder complaint of killing Petty Officer 1st Class James Hopkins and retired Chief Boatswain’s Mate Richard Belisle on Kodiak Island on April 12.

Another Coast Guard member found the victims shortly after the two would have arrived for work at the station, which monitors radio traffic from ships and planes. Their bodies were found in the rigger building, where antennas are repaired.

The 61-year-old Wells was arrested Friday. He’s expected to appear in court next week in Anchorage. Jail records show he is in custody at the Anchorage Jail.

Coast Guard spokeswoman Sara Francis said Friday from Kodiak that, at the time of the incident, Wells was working with the victims as a civilian Coast Guard employee at the communications station. Francis added that she didn’t know his current employment status.

FBI spokesman Eric Gonzalez in Anchorage declined to discuss specifics of the case Friday evening. He has said the complaint and underlying affidavit are under court seal. He said he expected those documents to be unsealed next week.

The U.S. attorney in Alaska announced the arrest late Friday. A message left with the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Anchorage Saturday wasn’t immediately returned.

Hopkins, 41, was an electronics technician from Vergennes, Vt. Belisle, 51, was a former chief petty officer who continued service to the Coast Guard as a civilian employee.

Amy Belisle told the Kodiak Daily Mirror Friday she knew an arrest would come eventually in her father’s death.

She said her mother, Nicola Belisle, was overjoyed when they learned of the arrest. “My sisters are not in the state, but they’re also super excited because it’s a little bit more closure, but it’s also sad,” she told the Daily Mirror.

…read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at Fox US News

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Feds: Ohio man ordered drilling waste dumped

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Prosecutors are charging a northeast Ohio man with violating the federal Clean Water Act, saying he told an employee to dump gas-drilling wastewater into a storm sewer.

The U.S. Attorney’s Office announced the charge Thursday against 62-year-old Ben Lupo of Poland, near Youngstown. He pleaded not guilty.

Lupo owns Hardrock Excavating LLC. He faces up to three years in prison, a $250,000 fine and a year of supervised release if convicted.

Authorities allege Lupo on Jan. 31 directed that at least 20,000 gallons of drilling mud and brine be discharged into a sewer that empties into the Mahoning River watershed.

The Ohio Department of Natural Resources revoked the permits of Hardrock, a brine hauler, and D&L Energy after workers at the companies’ Youngstown headquarters reported seeing the material being dumped.

…read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at Fox US News

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Ex fire chief's son gets prison for LAX pot scheme

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The son of the former Los Angeles fire chief has been sentenced to a year in federal prison and fined $6,000 for heading a marijuana-smuggling ring in which he bribed security officers to get pot-filled suitcases on flights from LA to Boston.

The U.S. Attorney’s Office says 24-year-old Millage Peaks IV received the sentence Monday. He also was given three years’ probation.

Co-defendant Randy Littlefield is one of two former Transportation Security Administration officers who pleaded guilty to conspiracy in the case. Littlefield received eight months in prison and three years’ probation. The other agent is awaiting sentencing.

Prosecutors say Peaks paid between $200 and $500 to get at least 10 shipments of pot through security at Los Angeles International Airport in 2010 and 2011.

Peaks’ father, Millage Peaks III, retired as LA‘s fire chief 2011.

Source: FULL ARTICLE at Fox US News