Tag: DOJ

A former agent with U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) was charged in a superseding indictment, unsealed today, in the District of Arizona with three counts: a civil rights violation for sexually assaulting and kidnapping a minor victim, kidnapping a minor victim, and misleading state investigators. According to the superseding indictment, on April 25, 2022, Aaron Mitchell, 27, was employed as a CBP agent. The alleged minor victim, referred to in the indictment as M.V., was 15-years-old when the defendant…

Elmer Stewart Rhodes III, the founder and leader of the Oath Keepers, and Kelly Meggs, the leader of the Florida chapter of the organization, were found guilty by a jury today of seditious conspiracy and other charges for crimes related to the breach of the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. Their actions disrupted a joint session of the U.S. Congress that was in the process of ascertaining and counting the electoral votes related to the presidential election. Three additional…

Today, the United States filed a proposal in federal court that — if approved by the court — would appoint an Interim Third Party Manager to stabilize the city of Jackson, Mississippi’s public drinking water system, and build confidence in the system’s ability to supply safe drinking water to the system’s customers. The city and the Mississippi State Department of Health (MSDH) have signed this order and agreed to its terms. At the same time, the Justice Department, on behalf…

An indictment was unsealed today charging Ray Hunt, 69, of Madison County, Alabama, with federal offenses related to an illegal scheme to export U.S.-origin goods to Iran. The 15-count indictment charges the defendant with conspiracy to defraud the United States, sanctions violations, smuggling goods from the United States and submitting false or misleading export information. According to the indictment, since at least November 2017, the defendant conspired to export U.S.-origin parts used in the oil and gas industry, including control…

Tennessee State Senator Brian Kelsey pleaded guilty today to violating campaign finance laws and conspiring to defraud the Federal Election Commission (FEC) as part of a scheme to benefit his 2016 campaign for U.S. Congress. According to court documents, Kelsey, 44, of Germantown, admitted that he conspired to, and did, secretly and unlawfully funnel money from multiple sources, including his own Tennessee State Senate campaign committee, to his authorized federal campaign committee. Kelsey, who was a practicing attorney, and his…

Aug 10, 2022. A federal jury in the Northern District of Illinois convicted two former precious metals traders at JPMorgan Chase & Co. (JPMorgan) today of fraud, attempted price manipulation, and spoofing in a multi-year market manipulation scheme of precious metals futures contracts that spanned over eight years and involved thousands of unlawful trading sequences. According to court documents and evidence presented at trial, Gregg Smith, 57, of Scarsdale, New York, was an executive director and trader on JPMorgan’s precious…

July 13, 2022. DOJ Press Release. Brian Markus, a former employee at Aerojet Rocketdyne Inc., will be awarded $2.61 million for his role as a qui tam whistleblower in a False Claims Act case. In the U.S. Department of Justice’s (DOJ) press release, two U.S. Attorneys highlighted the importance of whistleblowers in cybersecurity enforcement. The qui tam provisions of the False Claims Act enable private citizens to file lawsuits on behalf of the government if they know of an individual…

Jun 6, 2022. A former human resources officer at Eli Lilly and Co sued the drugmaker on Monday, alleging she was terminated after pointing out poor manufacturing practices and data falsification involving one of its blockbuster diabetes drugs. The plaintiff, Amrit Mula, alleges violations of an employee protection law and seeks unspecified damages. The U.S. Department of Justice last year launched a criminal investigation into alleged manufacturing irregularities at an Eli Lilly plant in New Jersey following a Reuters story…

May 31, 2022. The Department of Justice, together with the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), announced a settlement that, if approved by a federal court, will require Twitter Inc. to pay $150 million in civil penalties and implement robust compliance measures to protect users’ data privacy. The settlement will resolve allegations that Twitter violated the FTC Act and an administrative order issued by the FTC in March 2011 by misrepresenting how it would make use of users’ nonpublic contact information. In…