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Feds: NJ Firm Pays $345G For Short-Changing Foreign Nationals In Trump-Opposed Visa Program Feds: NJ Firm Pays $345G For Short-Changing Foreign Nationals In Trump-Opposed Visa Program
Feds: NJ Firm Pays $345G For Short-Changing Foreign Nationals In Trump-Opposed Visa Program A Middlesex County staffing firm has agreed to pony up $345,000 to settle federal allegations that it underpaid highly-skilled foreign nationals who were brought to the U.S. to work under a special visa program currently under fire from the Trump Administration. Edison-based Savantis Solutions didn’t admit or deny the Justice Department’s allegations, U.S. Attorney for New Jersey Craig Carpenito said. Instead, it agreed to pay back wages and interest to current and former company employees who entered the United States on H-1B visas. Although federal authorities didn’t specify their nation…

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by Jerry DeMarco
News
Justice Department Considers Whether Murphy, Cuomo COVID Nursing Home Policies Killed Thousands Justice Department Considers Whether Murphy, Cuomo COVID Nursing Home Policies Killed Thousands
Justice Department Considers Whether Murphy, Cuomo COVID Nursing Home Policies Killed Thousands U.S. Justice Department officials said they are trying to determine whether COVID-19 policies of New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy and New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo “may have resulted in the deaths of thousands of elderly nursing home residents." Federal authorities said they hadn't launched an investigation. Rather, they said, they're conducting preliminary inquiries into COVID policies in New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania and Michigan while considering a possible civil rights investigation under a federal law that protects the rights of residents in state-run nursing homes, among others. Letters…

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by Jerry DeMarco
Police & Fire
NJ Landlord Demanded Sex For Housing, Lower Rents, Justice Department Charges NJ Landlord Demanded Sex For Housing, Lower Rents, Justice Department Charges
NJ Landlord Demanded Sex For Housing, Lower Rents, Justice Department Charges For at least 15 years, an Elizabeth landlord has demanded sexual favors from tenants to get or keep apartments while offering reduced rent to others in exchange for sex, federal authorities charged. Joseph Centanni, who owns hundreds of rental units in and around Elizabeth, “initiated or threatened to initiate eviction actions against tenants who objected to or refused his sexual advances,” U.S. Attorney Craig Carpenito said Wednesday. The U.S. Justice Department took the case because Centanni -- who is married and lives in West Mountainside -- receives roughly $102,000 a month in Section 8…

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by Jerry DeMarco
News
Instructor At NJ Women's Prison Charged With Witness Tampering Day Of Inmate Testimonies Instructor At NJ Women's Prison Charged With Witness Tampering Day Of Inmate Testimonies
Instructor At NJ Women's Prison Charged With Witness Tampering Day Of Inmate Testimonies A trade instructor at the Edna Mahan Correctional Facility in Hunterdon County was charged with witness tampering in an undisclosed 2018 crime. Devon E. Vassell, 54, of East Orange, was arrested Wednesday in connection with the incident, Acting Hunterdon County Prosecutor Michael J. Williams and Chief of Detectives Frank R. Crisologo said. Vassell's arrest occurred the same day six former inmates shared details of abuse by prison guards during a Trenton hearing. The women said they were sexually assaulted and groped by guards. One guard was dubbed "King of the Cottage," who would…

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by Cecilia Levine
News
Strip-Search Groping, Sex Exchanged For Sanitary Pads: Female NJ Inmates Detail Abuse By Guards Strip-Search Groping, Sex Exchanged For Sanitary Pads: Female NJ Inmates Detail Abuse By Guards
Strip-Search Groping, Sex Exchanged For Sanitary Pads: Female NJ Inmates Detail Abuse By Guards Groped. Sexually assaulted. Ordered to perform sexual favors in exchange for basic needs. That's how guards at the Edna Mahan Correctional Facility for Women in Hunterdon County treated female inmates, six former inmates testified during a hearing Wednesday in Trenton. The hearing was the fourth held by the Workgroup on Harassment, Sexual Assault and Misogyny in New Jersey Politics, founded in January by Senate Majority Leader Loretta Weinberg (D-Bergen). The U.S. Justice Department found decades-long sexual abuse at the prison, according to a report released earlier this year. Despite th…

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by Cecilia Levine
Police & Fire
Justice Department Sues Contractor For Fraud In $39M NJ Road Project Justice Department Sues Contractor For Fraud In $39M NJ Road Project
Justice Department Sues Contractor For Fraud In $39M NJ Road Project A construction company lied to the federal government to get a $39 million subcontract on a New Jersey road project, authorities said Friday. C. Abbonizio Contractors Inc., based in Sewell, “defrauded the government by claiming to use disadvantaged entities” when, in fact, it didn’t, U.S. Attorney Craig Carpenito said. Companies must use disadvantaged business entities (DBE) for a specified percentage of the work in order to secure federal contracts for New Jersey Department of Transportation (NJDOT) projects, Carpenito said. Abbonizio Contractors obtained a $39 million subcontract from PK…

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by Jerry DeMarco
Police & Fire
US Government Sues Jersey Shore Town For Discriminating Against Orthodox Schools US Government Sues Jersey Shore Town For Discriminating Against Orthodox Schools
US Government Sues Jersey Shore Town For Discriminating Against Orthodox Schools Jackson Township is discriminating against Orthodox Jews through zoning ordinances that “intentionally restrict the operation of religious schools and housing associated with such schools,” including yeshivas, the U.S. Justice Department said Wednesday. The ordinances were enacted and used “against a backdrop of extreme [animosity] by Jackson residents and township decision makers toward the Orthodox Jewish community and a movement by residents to keep Orthodox Jewish community members from settling in Jackson,” the government contends in a lawsuit. Jackson’s planning board applied a pair o…

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by Jerry DeMarco
News
Feds: Ex-Reality Star Uses $2 Million Business Pandemic Loan For Jewelry, Child Support Feds: Ex-Reality Star Uses $2 Million Business Pandemic Loan For Jewelry, Child Support
Feds: Ex-Reality Star Uses $2 Million Business Pandemic Loan For Jewelry, Child Support Former “Love & Hip Hop: Atlanta” star Maurice “Arkansas Mo” Fayne used a $2,045,800 coronavirus pandemic loan on jewelry for himself – including a 5.73-carat diamond ring – and child support, among other illegal purposes, said federal authorities who charged him with bank fraud. Federal agents who raided Fayne’s Georgia home this week said they seized roughly $80,000 in cash -- including $9,400 that they said he had in his pockets. The 37-year-old Fayne secured the loan in the name of a corporation that he called Flame Trucking to support 107 employees and an average monthly payroll of …

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by Jerry DeMarco
Police & Fire
DON'T BE FOOLED: Feds Bust Website Selling Bogus Coronavirus "Vaccine" Kits DON'T BE FOOLED: Feds Bust Website Selling Bogus Coronavirus "Vaccine" Kits
DON'T BE Fooled: Feds Bust Website Selling Bogus Coronavirus "Vaccine" Kits A federal judge ordered a company to stop selling bogus coronavirus vaccine kits online, said the U.S. Justice Department, while warning Americans to beware of phony COVID-19 "cures." Operators of the website “coronavirusmedicalkit.com” were ripping off customers by capitalizing on the "confusion and widespread fear surrounding COVID-19," Assistant Attorney General Jody Hunt of the Department of Justice’s Civil Division said Sunday. Information published on the Austin, TX-based website claimed to offer consumers access to World Health Organization (WHO) vaccine kits in exchange fo…

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by Jerry DeMarco
Police & Fire
Morris County Hezbollah Scout Was Looking For Terror Attack Spots In NYC, Feds Say Morris County Hezbollah Scout Was Looking For Terror Attack Spots In NYC, Feds Say
Morris County Hezbollah Scout Was Looking For Terror Attack Spots In NYC, Feds Say A longtime Hezbollah member from Morristown man has spent the past 22 years scouting terror-attack locations in NYC for the organization, according to new federal indictments against him. Alexei Saab, 42, on Thursday was charged in a nine-count indictment for offenses related to supporting the organization, the U.S. Justice Department announced. A Hezbollah member since 1996, Saab provided the organization with photos and intelligence on landmarks across New York City including the Port Authority, Grand Central Terminal, the Empire State Building, New York Stock Exchange, New York City…

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by Cecilia Levine
Police & Fire
Justice Department: Ramapough Indians' Denial Of Religious Freedom Complaint Should Proceed Justice Department: Ramapough Indians' Denial Of Religious Freedom Complaint Should Proceed
Justice Department: Ramapough Indians' Denial Of Religious Freedom Complaint Should Proceed A denial of religious freedom complaint filed by the Ramapough Mountain Indians against the township of Mahwah is ready to be heard, the U.S. Justice Department said Monday. Township officials claimed the Ramapoughs did not “exhaust the variance process at the local level" before filing a federal lawsuit against the township for preventing them from having religious services and educational instruction on 13.5 acres of ceremonial land off Halifax Road -- an area known as “Sweet Water.” The Justice Department disagreed, saying the tribe should be able to proceed with its complaint&…

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by Jerry DeMarco