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Tag: US Attorney's Office
9 NY, NJ Spas Selling Sex For Cash Exposed In Federal Investigation, US Attorney Says
Four people have been charged with offering sexual favors at nine different massage parlors and spas across North Jersey and New York, federal officials said.
Zhejun Piao, 37, a Chinese national, Miyeon Choi, 37, a South Korean national, Shangxian Cui, 36, Chinese national, and Meixiang Jin, 34, of Palisades Park, New Jersey, are charged by complaint with one count of conspiracy to commit interstate travel or transportation in aid of a racketeering enterprise., U.S. Attorney Philip R. Sellinger announced Friday, Aug. 9.
The following nine spas and massage parlors owned and operated by …
Controller From NJ Who Embezzled $2.37M From Madison Avenue Firm Gets 27 Months In Fed Pen
UPDATE: A controller from Middlesex County was sentenced to more than two years in federal prison for embezzling $2.37 million from his Madison Avenue employer.
Gerard Beauzile, 63, South Plainfield, conducted an elaborate, long-running scheme to issue bogus checks to himself that he then deposited into his bank account, U.S. Attorney Philip R. Sellinger said.
Beginning a decade ago and continuing through the end of 2020, Beauzile admitted issuing 140 checks to himself from the Manhattan-based company, which offers news, analysis, research and data for the "global energy industry," accordin…
Man Who Drove 12 Pounds Of Heroin, Fentanyl All The Way From Cali Busted In Bergen County: Feds
A California man was minutes from a dropoff after driving more than a dozen pounds of fentanyl and heroin cross country to New Jersey when he was stopped in Fort Lee for running a stop sign, authorities said.
Timothy Alan Blank, 54, of Reseda, CA, made it 2,800 miles before Fort Lee police pulled his SUV over in Englewood Cliffs north of Sylvan and Myrtle avenues last Friday, March 8, according to a federal complaint.
A Bergen County Sheriff's K-9 directed officers to the trunk, where it says they found the five kilos wrapped in five bricks.
Blank collected the wrapped $195,000 of heroin a…
Elderly Bergen Couple's Trusted Personal Assistant Stole $2.9M Of Their Money, Feds Charge
An elderly Bergen County couple had $2.9 million stolen by a now-former Ridgewood Public Library tech administrator whom they'd hired to be a part-time assistant at their home, federal authorities said following his arrest.
Charles Gallo, 34, of Hawthorne, was responsible for managing the victims’ monthly bills, handling their banking and helping them with email and other issues involving technology after being hired in 2018, U.S. Attorney Philip R. Sellinger said.
The couple trusted Gallo with their personal bank accounts, credit card accounts, online retail accounts and email, the U.S. at…
NY Man Who Assaulted Female Passenger On Flight To Newark Gets 2 Years, No Parole
UPDATE: An upstate New York man who admitted assaulting a fellow passenger on a flight from Denver to Newark must spend two plea-bargained years in federal prison.
Ryan Manuella, 30, of Erie County, “moved to a vacant center seat next to a female passenger, who was sitting in a window seat” on the April 16, 2021 flight, U.S. Attorney Philip R. Sellinger said.
Manuella, who didn't know the woman, then "touched the passenger without her consent," Sellinger said.
"The victim then yelled at him and left the row of seats," the U.S. attorney said.
Defense attorney Andrew Olesnyck…
FBI Seizes Jersey Shore Man Accused Of Enticing Kids Into Making, Sending Sex Videos
An Ocean County man enticed children into producing and sending him sex videos, federal authorities charged.
A federal judge in Trenton ordered Daniel Nilla, 35, Brick, held following his arrest by the FBI, U.S. Attorney Philip R. Sellinger said on Friday, Aug. 4.
Nilla received "images and videos containing child exploitation material from five minor victims" he communicated with on an instant messenger app, the U.S. attorney said.
"Nilla induced at least two of those minor victims to send him images and videos of themselves engaging in sexually explicit conduct," Sellinger added.
Nilla,…
Colombian Nationals Nabbed After NJ Home Break-In Nets Jewelry, Furs, Cash, More
Three Colombian nationals remain in federal custody and a fourth has already been deported after the government said they stole jewelry, a Rolex, an antique rifle, furs and cash in a home burglary in Union County.
The quartet also took a stamp collection, luxury bags and more after breaking into the Cranford home shortly before 5 p.m. last Nov. 30, U.S. Attorney Philip R. Sellinger said.
They then loaded the valuables into a red Honda Accord that they'd driven there, an FBI complaint on file in U.S. District Court in Newark says.
Sellinger, who put the total value of the loss at more than …
NJ Deli Fraud Scheme Mastermind Arrested In Thailand: Feds
An international company chairman charged over a purported scheme to manipulate the stock market — one that resulted in a bogus $100M valuation for a Gloucester County deli despite minimal sales — was arrested in Thailand, the feds confirmed.
Peter Coker Jr., 54, had been a fugitive since September when prosecutors filed 12 federal charges against him, his father, Peter Coker Sr., 80, and associate James Patten, 63.
The trio allegedly boosted the share prices of Hometown International Inc. and another firm, E-Waste Corp.
Matthew Reilly, a spokesperson for the New Jersey US Attorney’s Offic…
Burlington County Man Admits Bank Fraud Totaling $523K, Feds Say
A Burlington County man admitted his role in a conspiracy to steal bank customer identities, authorities said.
He used that information to steal more than $520,000, according to U.S. Attorney Philip R. Sellinger.
Jamere Hill-Birdsong, 33, of Mount Holly, pleaded guilty on Tuesday, Nov. 1 to an indictment charging him with conspiracy to commit bank fraud, Sellinger said.
According to documents filed in this case and statements made in court:
From August 2016 through August 2017, Hill-Birdsong conspired with Lamar Melhado, of the Bronx, and others to defraud a Mount Laurel bank.
Hill…
2 Men Restrained Female Workers With Zipties To Rob $578K From NJ Check Cashers At Gunpoint: DA
Two men from New York City were arrested and jailed after they were apparently connected to a series of gunpoint robberies at check cashing services throughout New Jersey and Pennsylvania that involved female workers being restrained with zipties, authorities announced.
Ramel Harris, 40, and Neville Brown, 38, both of Brooklyn, were charged by complaint with one count of conspiracy to commit Hobbs Act robbery, three counts of Hobbs Act robbery, and one count of using, carrying, and brandishing a firearm during and in relation to a crime of violence, U.S. Attorney Philip R. Sellinger announce…
Owners Of Popular Philly Cheesesteak Joint Plead Guilty In Tax Fraud Scheme
The owners of a popular Philadelphia cheesesteak joint pleaded guilty Monday, May 9 to federal charges in a tax fraud scheme, authorities said.
Anthony Lucidonio, Sr., 84, of Philadelphia, and Nicholas Lucidonio, 56, of New Jersey, the owners of Tony Luke’s on Oregon Avenue were accused of hiding more than $8 million from the IRS for around a decade, according to the US Attorney's Office.
Federal prosecutors say the father-son duo did this by paying their employees in cash to avoid withholding payroll taxes between 2006 and 2016. The pair were indicted in 2020.
The pros…
Nationwide Hotel Chain's Corporate Credit Chief From NJ Admits Embezzling $300,000
A New Jersey employee who ran the company’s corporate credit card program for a nationwide hotel chain admitted embezzling $300,000, federal authorities said.
Marco Alvarez, 46, of Bloomfield, admitted that he “knowingly opened and used corporate credit cards to make $317,582 in unauthorized personal purchases” from April 2014 through January 2020, U.S. Attorney Philip R. Sellinger said.
Alvarez, who worked as a senior analyst for strategic sourcing, tried to hide the thefts by “transferring credits owed to the hotel to these credit cards to offset the unauthorized charges made,” Sellinger …
$150M Bank Fraud: Teaneck Landlord Gets 8 Years, No Parole
A Teaneck landlord must spend the next eight years in federal prison -- without parole -- for orchestrating a $150 million bank and securities fraud scheme.
Seth Levine, 53, was the founding partner, owner, and managing member of Norse Holdings, the parent company to more than 70 subsidiaries, U.S. Attorney Philip R. Sellinger said.
Each of the subsidiary companies owned one or more multifamily buildings, mostly in New Jersey, he said.
Beginning in 2009, Levine directed a scheme for nearly a decade to fraudulently refinance the multifamily properties by lying on refinancing appli…
Career Criminal From Connecticut, 73, Admits Committing Murder-For-Hire Of Jersey City Politico
A hardened ex-con from Connecticut admitted that he and a longtime criminal pal from Philadelphia stabbed a political consultant to death and then torched his Jersey City apartment in a murder-for-hire attack.
George Bratsenis, 73, of Monroe, CT said he and his partner were paid to whack Michael Galdieri, the son of former State Sen. James Galdieri (D-Jersey City) and a prominent figure in local Hudson County politics.
Bratsenis and the other killer, Bomani Africa, 61, were hired by onetime political operative Sean Caddle, who’d been an aide to former State Sen. Ray Lesniak (D-Elizabeth) a…
Convicted NJ Child Porn Trafficker Gets 20+ Years In Fed Pen, No Parole, For Enticing Minors
A convicted child porn trafficker from Union County must spend no fewer than 20 years in federal prison for doing it again while soliciting two children to "engage in sexually explicit conduct online," authorities said.
Christopher Gardiner, 39, of Cranford, must serve out just about all of the plea-bargained 20 years and eight months that he was sentenced to on Tuesday, Feb. 8, because there's no parole in the federal prison system.
Gardiner, who'd been convicted of similar charges in Union County in 2007, conducted an "ongoing sexually graphic conversation on a web-based social media appl…
