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Chipotle Paying Feds Record $25 Million Fine For Foodborne Virus That Sickened Customers Chipotle Paying Feds Record $25 Million Fine For Foodborne Virus That Sickened Customers
Chipotle Paying Feds Record $25 Million Fine For Foodborne Virus That Sickened Customers Chipotle Mexican Grill has agreed to pay the federal government an unprecedented $25 million to resolve criminal charges stemming from a foodborne virus outbreak that sickened more than 1,100 customers nationwide, the Justice Department announced. The fine -- the largest ever in a federal food safety case -- is part of a three-year deferred prosecution agreement that will allow the California-based company to avoid a criminal conviction if it complies with an improved food safety program, DOJ officials said Tuesday. Papers filed in federal court in Los Angeles on Tuesday charge Chipotle wit…

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by Jerry DeMarco
Police & Fire
Feds: 192,000 Respirator Masks, More Seized From Black Market Dealer Sent To NJ, NY Front Lines Feds: 192,000 Respirator Masks, More Seized From Black Market Dealer Sent To NJ, NY Front Lines
Feds: 192,000 Respirator Masks, More Seized From Black Market Dealer Sent To NJ, NY Front Lines A total of 192,000 N95 respirator masks and other personal protective equipment seized from a black market dealer busted by the FBI is being sent to the front lines of the fight against the coronavirus in New Jersey and New York, federal authorities announced Thursday. The distributed equipment also includes 130,000 surgical masks, procedure masks, N100 masks, surgical gowns, disinfectant towels, particulate filters, bottles of hand sanitizer, and bottles of spray disinfectant, they said. The equipment was seized from Baruch Feldheim, 43, who federal authorities said had enough black market…

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by Jerry DeMarco
Police & Fire
Western Union Paying $153M In Compensation To Seniors Who Lost Money In Phone Scams Western Union Paying $153M In Compensation To Seniors Who Lost Money In Phone Scams
Western Union Paying $153M In Compensation To Seniors Who Lost Money In Phone Scams Western Union “turned a blind eye” to money transfers made by elderly phone scam victims and is now paying for it to the tune of $153 million to more than 109,000 people in the U.S. and abroad, the Justice Department announced Tuesday. The payment “brings some measure of justice for the elderly and other victims,” Assistant Attorney General Brian A. Benczkowski of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division said. It’s only just a start, though. Before it’s done, Western Union must pony up $586 million, which the government is making available to compensate victims of international consumer …

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by Jerry DeMarco
Police & Fire
Southern Gun Runner Who Supplied Newark Buyers Gets 2½ Years In Fed Pen Southern Gun Runner Who Supplied Newark Buyers Gets 2½ Years In Fed Pen
Southern Gun Runner Who Supplied Newark Buyers Gets 2½ Years In Fed Pen A weapons trafficker from South Carolina was sentenced Tuesday in Newark to a plea-bargained 2½ years in federal prison, part of a new Justice Department initiative aimed at reducing gun violence nationwide. Richard Lowman, 31, was at times accompanied by his uncle, ex-con Reginald Moultrie of Newark, during several meetings with one of the buyers, U.S. Attorney Craig Carpenito said. In another instance, he sold an assault rifle on a Newark street, Carpenito said. Lowman later sold six firearms in a city home after bringing them to New Jersey from South Carolina, the U.S. attorney said. …

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by Jerry DeMarco
Police & Fire
Feds Smash World's Largest Dark Web Child Porn Network By Following Bitcoin Trail Feds Smash World's Largest Dark Web Child Porn Network By Following Bitcoin Trail
Feds Smash World's Largest Dark Web Child Porn Network By Following Bitcoin Trail Federal authorities have smashed the world’s largest dark web child porn marketplace, arresting a whopping 337 people around the world – some of them in New Jersey, New York and Connecticut -- all thanks to bitcoin. To sniff out the network, investigators used a unique strategy. "Welcome to Video" was one of the first websites of its kind to monetize exploitation videos of infants, toddlers and other children, "one of the worst forms of evil imaginable," one federal prosecutor said. The network used bitcoin because of the difficulty in tracing it, the Justice Department said in a complaint…

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by Jerry DeMarco
Police & Fire
Feds: Northeast Opioid 'Pill Mill' Takedown Nets Paramus Pharmacy Owner, Clifton Surgeon Feds: Northeast Opioid 'Pill Mill' Takedown Nets Paramus Pharmacy Owner, Clifton Surgeon
Feds: Northeast Opioid 'Pill Mill' Takedown Nets Paramus Pharmacy Owner, Clifton Surgeon The arrests of a Paramus pharmacy owner and a Clifton orthopedic surgeon earlier this month by federal agents were part of a massive crackdown involving the distribution of over 3.25 million opioid doses in “pill mill” clinics and doctors’ offices throughout the Northeast, the Justice Department said Thursday. A total of 54 defendants – 15 of them doctors -- have been charged for their roles in submitting nearly $800 million in bogus health insurance claims, the Justice Department said. Others include marketing executives, pharmacists, and the owners and operators of a genetic testing labor…

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by Jerry DeMarco
Police & Fire
Chinese Nationals Used Newark Business To Avoid N. Korea Sanctions: Feds Chinese Nationals Used Newark Business To Avoid N. Korea Sanctions: Feds
Chinese Nationals Used Newark Business To Avoid N. Korea Sanctions: Feds Four citizens of China used front companies to conceal their business relationships with North Korean businesses that have been sanctioned by the U.S. government for dealing in weapons of mass destruction and other offenses, U.S. Attorney for New Jersey Craig Carpenito said. An indictment returned Monday by a federal grand jury in Newark charges Ma Xiaohong; her company, Dandong Hongxiang Industrial Development Co. Ltd.; and three of its top executives – general manager Zhou Jianshu, deputy general manager Hong Jinhua and financial manager Luo Chuanxu – with violating U.S. law, conspiracy an…

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by Paul Milo
News
Top Coaches, Actresses Lori Loughlin, Felicity Huffman Charged In College Admissions Scheme Top Coaches, Actresses Lori Loughlin, Felicity Huffman Charged In College Admissions Scheme
Top Coaches, Actresses Lori Loughlin, Felicity Huffman Charged In College Admissions Scheme Click here for an updated story - ‘A Catalog Of Wealth And Privilege’: Details Emerge In Takedown Of College Bribery Scam Dozens of people, including coaches at top universities around the country and a pair of Hollywood actresses, have been charged in a college admissions bribery takedown, federal authorities announced late Tuesday morning, March 12. Actresses Felicity Huffman and Lori Loughlin are two of the 33 parents and nearly 50 people charged in the largest college admissions scandal ever prosecuted by the Justice Department.  Private admissions counselors and Div…

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by Joe Lombardi
News
Feds Grant Mahwah $300,000 To Help Fight Opioid Abuse Feds Grant Mahwah $300,000 To Help Fight Opioid Abuse
Feds Grant Mahwah $300,000 To Help Fight Opioid Abuse The federal government has granted Mahwah $299,360 for anti-opioid programs, training and initiatives, as authorities increase their attention to synthetic drugs – particularly fentanyl. The Justice Department Comprehensive Addiction and Recovery grant will help township police and the Mahwah Municipal Alliance “not only build on existing [community-based] programs but also introduce new and innovative programs to deter substance abuse,” Mayor Bill Laforet said Thursday. Those programs include prescription-drug monitoring to prevent recipients from abusing or passing on medications, he said…

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by Jerry DeMarco
Police & Fire
Feds: BMW To Pay $2.2M+ To Service Members For Early Lease Terminations Feds: BMW To Pay $2.2M+ To Service Members For Early Lease Terminations
Feds: BMW To Pay $2.2M+ To Service Members For Early Lease Terminations WOODCLIFF LAKE, N.J. -- BMW Financial Services has agreed to pay more than $2.2 million to settle charges that it refused to refund certain up-front car lease payments to 492 service members when they were deployed or re-deployed. The case is the first case brought by the Justice Department involving a motor vehicle lessor’s failure to refund lease amounts to those service members who exercised their rights to do so early. The agreement requires BMW FS to refund to each service member portions of the pre-paid CCR amount based on how many days were remaining in their individual leases. BMW…

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by Jerry DeMarco