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Justice Department

Trump AG Pick Matt Gaetz Withdraws From Consideration Amid Sexual Misconduct Allegations Trump AG Pick Matt Gaetz Withdraws From Consideration Amid Sexual Misconduct Allegations
Trump AG Pick Matt Gaetz Withdraws From Consideration Amid Sexual Misconduct Allegations Facing stiff opposition in the US Senate, embattled former Florida Congressman Matt Gaetz has withdrawn his name from consideration to be President-elect Donald Trump's attorney general. The 42-year-old Gaetz had been the subject of an investigation by the Justice Department involving allegations of sex trafficking and sex with a minor.  "I had excellent meetings with Senators yesterday," Gaetz posted on social media early Thursday afternoon, Nov. 21. "I appreciate their thoughtful feedback - and the incredible support of so many.  "While the momentum was strong, it is clear that…
NJ-Based TD Bank Fined $3B For Allowing Drug Dealers, Human Traffickers To Launder Money: Feds NJ-Based TD Bank Fined $3B For Allowing Drug Dealers, Human Traffickers To Launder Money: Feds
Nj-based TD Bank Fined $3B For Allowing Drug Dealers, Human Traffickers To Launder Money: Feds TD Bank has agreed to pay about $3 billion in historic penalties after its relaxed policies allowed criminals to launder their money, authorities said. The Canadian bank with U.S. headquarters in Cherry Hill pleaded guilty to charges of conspiring to not maintain an anti-money laundering program that complies with the Bank Secrecy Act, filing inaccurate currency transaction reports, and laundering money, the Justice Department said in a news release on Thursday, Oct. 10. TD Bank will pay more than $1.8 billion to resolve the DOJ's investigation and $1.3 billion in a penalty f…
Man Sentenced For 'Hate-Filled' Rampage That Injured Five Orthodox Jews In South Jersey: Feds Man Sentenced For 'Hate-Filled' Rampage That Injured Five Orthodox Jews In South Jersey: Feds
Man Sentenced For 'Hate-Filled' Rampage That Injured Five Orthodox Jews In South Jersey: Feds A Manchester Township man will spend decades in prison after a series of antisemitic attacks in Ocean County that injured five Orthodox Jewish men, authorities said. Dion Marsh, 29, was sentenced on Tuesday, July 23 to 40 years in prison, New Jersey's U.S. Attorney Philip Sellinger said in a news release. He previously pleaded guilty to five counts of violating the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act and one count of carjacking on Thursday, Feb. 1. Marsh admitted to injuring five victims because they're Jewish, attempting to kill four …
23-Year-Old Taiwanese Operator Of $100 Million Dark Web Drug Market Seized By Feds At JFK 23-Year-Old Taiwanese Operator Of $100 Million Dark Web Drug Market Seized By Feds At JFK
23-Year-Old Taiwanese Operator Of $100 Million Dark Web Drug Market Seized By Feds At JFK Federal agents at JFK Airport seized a 23-year-old Taiwanese national who the Justice Department said owned and operated a dark web drug bazaar that produced well over $100 million in sales. The “Incognito Market” created by Rui-Siang Lin enabled its users to anonymously buy and sell drugs around the globe for nearly 3½ years, US Attorney General Merrick B. Garland and other federal officials announced on Monday, May 20. Lin -- also known as Ruisiang Lin, 林睿庠, Pharoah, and faro – mastermineded a clandestine e-commerce network where buyers could browse thousands of listings for heroin, LSD, …
South Philly Cheesesteak Proprietors Get Prison Time For Tax Scheme, Feds Say South Philly Cheesesteak Proprietors Get Prison Time For Tax Scheme, Feds Say
South Philly Cheesesteak Proprietors Get Prison Time For Tax Scheme, Feds Say A father-son pair of cheesesteak shop owners were sentenced to prison last week for hiding $8 million in revenue from tax collectors, say federal prosecutors.  Nicholas Lucidonio, 57, and Anthony Lucidonio Sr., 84, the proprietors of Tony Luke's in South Philadelphia, will each spend 20 months behind bars, said the Justice Department in a release.  The Lucidonios, of New Jersey, carried out a "decade-long conspiracy to defraud the IRS" from 2006 to 2016, prosecutors said. The pair only deposited a portion of their earnings into the business's bank accounts and gave "inco…
NJ-Bred Fugees Founder Pras Michél Convicted In Federal Foreign-Influence Trial NJ-Bred Fugees Founder Pras Michél Convicted In Federal Foreign-Influence Trial
Nj-bred Fugees Founder Pras Michél Convicted In Federal Foreign-Influence Trial UPDATE: New Jersey-bred rapper and producer Pras Michél, best known as a founding member of the Fugees, was convicted by federal jurors in what the government called a "clandestine foreign influence campaign scheme." The Grammy-winning '90s hip-hop star was found guilty of 10 counts following an influence-peddling trial in Washington, DC, that featured high-profile witnesses such as Leonardo DiCaprio and former U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions. The Justice Department accused Michél, 50, of collecting millions of dollars from Malaysian financier Low Taek Jho to launder money embezzled fro…
Fake Nursing Degrees Sold For $15K, Pair Arrested In South Jersey: Feds Fake Nursing Degrees Sold For $15K, Pair Arrested In South Jersey: Feds
Fake Nursing Degrees Sold For $15K, Pair Arrested In South Jersey: Feds A large-scale scheme to sell fake nursing degrees has been busted up by federal authorities.  Two South Jersey men were charged in the scheme that allowed thousands of prospective nurses to skip time-consuming training and licensing by purchasing credentials for up to $15,000. Those indicted collected more than $100 million peddling the bogus licenses, federal officials said. HHS-OIG, the FBI and Justice Department worked jointly on the operation, dubbed "Operation Nightingale," named after Florence Nightingale, the founder of modern nursing. The overall scheme involved the distribut…
11-Year-Old Among Hundreds Of Nationwide Sexploitation Victims Rescued By FBI, Local Agencies 11-Year-Old Among Hundreds Of Nationwide Sexploitation Victims Rescued By FBI, Local Agencies
11-Year-Old Among Hundreds Of Nationwide Sexploitation Victims Rescued By FBI, Local Agencies FBI agents based in New Jersey teamed up with local, county and state authorities to rescue five sexually exploited teenagers who were among hundreds of victims located or identified during a two-week nationwide blitz. The New Jersey joint FBI operation with State Police, the Morris County Prosecutor's Office and police from Newark, Jersey City and Morris Township was part of a nationwide enforcement campaign dubbed “Operation Cross Country.” Across the United States, similar operations the first two weeks in August identified and located a total of 84 minor victims of child sex traffickin…
Uber To Pay Millions For Penalizing Riders With Disabilities, Federal Authorities Announce Uber To Pay Millions For Penalizing Riders With Disabilities, Federal Authorities Announce
Uber To Pay Millions For Penalizing Riders With Disabilities, Federal Authorities Announce Uber will forfeit nearly $1.8 million to more than 1,000 passengers with disabilities and refund double the amount of wait time fees to more than 65,000 others to resolve a federal complaint, authorities announced. Uber will also furnish an additional $500,000 to others harmed by the practice and will also waive wait time fees for certified riders with disabilities going forward, the Justice Department said Monday. The agreement settles federal allegations that the ride-hailing giant violated the Americans with Disabilities Act, authorities said. The double-money-back part of the deal coul…
Motocross Stuntman Who Traveled Through NJ, NY, PA Charged With Raping Kids, Recording It Motocross Stuntman Who Traveled Through NJ, NY, PA Charged With Raping Kids, Recording It
Motocross Stuntman Who Traveled Through NJ, NY, PA Charged With Raping Kids, Recording It A motocross stunt rider who frequented New Jersey, New York and Pennsylvania raped children and made videos of it while barnstorming the country in a traveling circus, federal authorities charged. Ryan Meyung, 30, “engaged six different minor victims in sexually explicit conduct to produce images of child sexual abuse” between 2019 and 2021, the Justice Department said. Meyung had already been charged locally in Georgia with child rape, aggravated kidnapping, tampering with evidence and criminal conspiracy. A federal indictment returned this week accuses him of producing, transporting and p…
NYC Businessman Indicted For Evading Taxes From $4.1M NJ Company Buyout NYC Businessman Indicted For Evading Taxes From $4.1M NJ Company Buyout
NYC Businessman Indicted For Evading Taxes From $4.1M NJ Company Buyout A shareholder with a New Jersey-based home warranty company ducked more than $250,000 in taxes from the sale of his stock, federal authorities charged. In exchange for his shares, the Edison company agreed to pay David Seruya, 42, of Brooklyn more than $4.1 million, the Justice Department said. The deal included a lump sum payment and installment payments spread out over 24 months, federal authorities said. On three straight tax returns, from 2014 through 2016, Seruya gave his return preparer “false and incomplete income information,” underreporting the income he received from the sale, a…
NJ Woman In Wheelchair, 74, Among Group Charged By Feds Following DC Anti-Abortion Protest NJ Woman In Wheelchair, 74, Among Group Charged By Feds Following DC Anti-Abortion Protest
NJ Woman In Wheelchair, 74, Among Group Charged By Feds Following DC Anti-Abortion Protest A 74-year-old North Jersey woman in a wheelchair was among a group of anti-abortion activists charged with federal civil rights violations for blocking access to a reproductive health clinic in Washington, D.C. The arrest of Joan Andrews-Bell of Montague and eight other demonstrators was originally live-streamed on Facebook during an October 2020 protest that they dubbed “The Pink Rose Rescue” and federal authorities called an “invasion." Justice Department officials on Wednesday, March 30 announced the return of an indictment charging the defendants with criminally conspiring to “injure, …
Feds Charge Clifton Doc With Randomly Doling Out Large Doses Of Oxy, Xanax, More Feds Charge Clifton Doc With Randomly Doling Out Large Doses Of Oxy, Xanax, More
Feds Charge Clifton Doc With Randomly Doling Out Large Doses Of Oxy, Xanax, More A Clifton orthopedic surgeon was charged by federal authorities with prescribing high doses of addictive opioid painkillers to patients who abused, sold or otherwise didn't need them. Evangelos Megariotis, 68, prescribed Oxycodone, Xanax, cough syrup with codeine and stimulants “outside the usual course of professional practice and without a legitimate medical purpose,” U.S. Attorney Philip R. Sellinger said. Megariotis, who owned and operated Clifton Orthopedic Associates, already has been banned by the state from ever again practicing medicine or prescribing drugs in New Jersey. State au…
Federal Judge In NJ Orders Duo To Stop Selling Supposed COVID 'Cure' Federal Judge In NJ Orders Duo To Stop Selling Supposed COVID 'Cure'
Federal Judge In NJ Orders Duo To Stop Selling Supposed COVID 'Cure' UPDATE: A federal judge has issued a final order to a retired New Jersey lawyer and formerly licensed psychiatrist from Westchester to stop selling unapproved and misbranded drugs advertised as a cure for COVID-19. Ralph Fucetola of Newton and his partner, Rima Laibow, formerly of Croton-on-Hudson, sold a product that they claimed would "cure, mitigate, treat or prevent" the coronavirus, the Justice Department said Tuesday. They claimed that anyone who ingested one capful a day of "Dr. Rima Recommends Nano Silver 10PPM" should have "no fear or concern" about the coronavirus, a complaint on …
Pedophile Gets 50 Years, No Parole, For Soliciting Child Porn From Female Facebook 'Friends' Pedophile Gets 50 Years, No Parole, For Soliciting Child Porn From Female Facebook 'Friends'
Pedophile Gets 50 Years, No Parole, For Soliciting Child Porn From Female Facebook 'Friends' A registered sex offender was sentenced Friday to 50 years in federal prison for getting women he met on Facebook to take and send him sexually explicit photos of pre-teens and even infants. Because there's no parole in the federal prison system, Lorenzo Johnson will have to live to 83 to see freedom again, under the sentence imposed by a U.S. District Court judge in Indiana. Johnson, 33, of Hammond, IN took his chances at a trial rather than accept a plea deal from the government. Jurors, in turn, convicted him in August of two pornography-related counts as well as with being a convicted f…
Long Island Man, 79, Charged in $13M 'Cash Prize' Mail Scam That Duped Seniors Nationwide Long Island Man, 79, Charged in $13M 'Cash Prize' Mail Scam That Duped Seniors Nationwide
Long Island Man, 79, Charged in $13M 'Cash Prize' Mail Scam That Duped Seniors Nationwide A 79-year-old Long Island man and two accomplices scammed mostly elderly victims out of $13 million through a pair of bogus "cash prize" direct-mail scams, federal authorities charged. Hundreds of thousands of mailings claimed the victims were "specially chosen" to receive a large cash prize, the government said. All they had to do was pay a "fee" of from $20 to $40 to collect their prize, a federal indictment says. Many unfortunately fell for it, authorities said. The indictment returned in U.S. District Court in Brooklyn names Shawn Phillips, 52, of British Columbia, Canada, as the ring…
Ex-Hedge Fund Manager From NY, FL Admits $6.8M COVID-19 Scam In NJ Federal Court Ex-Hedge Fund Manager From NY, FL Admits $6.8M COVID-19 Scam In NJ Federal Court
Ex-Hedge Fund Manager From NY, FL Admits $6.8M Covid-19 Scam In NJ Federal Court A dual New York/Florida resident admitted in federal court in Newark that he schemed to steal more than $6.8 million in COVID-19 payroll protection loans -- $3 million of which the government said he flushed away in the stock market. Gregory J. Blotnick applied to 13 lenders for 21 loans over a period of nearly a year, beginning in March 21, 2020, lying about the number of employees at nine companies whom he supposedly needed to pay, federal authorities said. Blotnick, 34, dumped the money into a personal brokerage account instead, then poured nearly 45% of it into losing stock trades, Acti…
$10 EACH: Pharmacist Charged With Selling COVID Vax Cards On eBay, Feds Warn Against Fakes $10 EACH: Pharmacist Charged With Selling COVID Vax Cards On eBay, Feds Warn Against Fakes
$10 Each: Pharmacist Charged With Selling COVID Vax Cards On eBay, Feds Warn Against Fakes A licensed pharmacist was arrested by federal agents Tuesday for selling COVID-19 vaccination cards on eBay as government warnings against buying cards increased. Tangtang Zhao, 34, of Chicago worked for a pharmacy that distributed and administered vaccines – and with them the vax cards -- at its locations nationwide, Justice Department Assistant Attorney General Kenneth A. Polite Jr. said. Zhao got his hands on 125 authentic Centers for Disease Control and Prevention vaccination cards that he sold to nearly a dozen different buyers for $10 each, Polite said. “Knowingly selling COVID vacc…
Private Eye From Mahwah Among Group Indicted On Charges Of Stalking NJ Couple For China Private Eye From Mahwah Among Group Indicted On Charges Of Stalking NJ Couple For China
Private Eye From Mahwah Among Group Indicted On Charges Of Stalking NJ Couple For China A former NYPD sergeant turned Bergen County private investigator is among a group of defendants accused in a federal indictment of stalking and harassing an expatriated couple in New Jersey to return to China to face prosecution there. Michael McMahon, 53, of Mahwah helped “gather intelligence about and locate” the husband, who was wanted by People’s Republic of China for “embezzlement, abuse of power [and] acceptance of bribes,” the indictment returned by a grand jury in Brooklyn alleges. Two of the defendants pounded on the couple’s front door the night of Sept. 4, 2018, tried to force th…
Clifton Ortho Doc Who State Said Freely Doled Out Opioids Permanently Barred From Practice Clifton Ortho Doc Who State Said Freely Doled Out Opioids Permanently Barred From Practice
Clifton Ortho Doc Who State Said Freely Doled Out Opioids Permanently Barred From Practice UPDATE: A Clifton orthopedic surgeon who prescribed addictive opioid painkillers to patients who abused, sold or otherwise didn't need them was permanently barred from practicing medicine or prescribing drugs in New Jersey, state authorities announced Monday. Evangelos Megariotis – who owned and operated Clifton Orthopedic Associates -- told one patient that "anything that drugs can do on the street, my medications will do better and safer,” state Attorney General Gurbir S. Grewal said. "Just call me,” Grewal quoted him as saying. Megariotis also treated patient complaints of hypertension…
Feds Raid Giuliani's Manhattan Apartment Feds Raid Giuliani's Manhattan Apartment
Feds Raid Giuliani's Manhattan Apartment Federal agents on Wednesday raided the Manhattan apartment of former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani as part of an investigation into his activities in Ukraine, according to multiple reports. Guiliani, who was ex-President Donald Trump’s personal lawyer, didn’t immediately comment, nor did the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of New York in Manhattan. No charges had been filed against the 76-year-old former federal prosecutor as of Wednesday afternoon. Agents earlier in the day seized electronic devices during a warranted search as part of a months-long investigation, acco…
Fugitive NJ Ex-Con Captured After Weapons Seizure Faces Federal Charges Fugitive NJ Ex-Con Captured After Weapons Seizure Faces Federal Charges
Fugitive NJ Ex-Con Captured After Weapons Seizure Faces Federal Charges Cedric Lewis had been out of state prison all of two months when detectives who’d been watching him moved in and found several weapons – including a rifle loaded with 30 rounds of ammo – along with crack and heroin that they said belonged to him. With the heat on, the Bloomfield ex-con headed south but was captured by U.S. marshals in Atlanta three months later. Lewis, 29, will be headed to federal prison for a much longer stretch than before depending on the outcome of a grand jury indictment returned in U.S. District Court in Newark that charges him with being a convicted felon in possess…
Justice Department Accuses Walmart Of Fueling Opioid Crisis, Seeks Billions In Penalties Justice Department Accuses Walmart Of Fueling Opioid Crisis, Seeks Billions In Penalties
Justice Department Accuses Walmart Of Fueling Opioid Crisis, Seeks Billions In Penalties The Trump Administration sued Walmart on Tuesday for producing what it alleges is an illegal flow of pain killers that has fueled America’s opioid crisis. Ignoring “red flag” warnings against suspicious prescriptions from its own pharmacists, Walmart turned a network of 5,000 national in-store pharmacies into a pipeline of highly addictive painkillers, the Justice Department’s alleges in its lawsuit. Walmart understaffed those pharmacies while pressuring workers to fill prescriptions quickly – enabling widespread drug abuse -- in order to increase profits, the suit filed in US District Cour…
Feds Charge Architect, Owners of Housing Complexes in NJ, PA, CT With Disability Discrimination Feds Charge Architect, Owners of Housing Complexes in NJ, PA, CT With Disability Discrimination
Feds Charge Architect, Owners of Housing Complexes in NJ, PA, CT With Disability Discrimination The architects and owners of multi-family developments in Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Connecticut failed to build units and facilities accessible to people with disabilities, the federal government charged Friday. J. Randolph Parry Architects, P.C. and eight owners of 15 multifamily properties designed by the architectural firm violate both the Fair Housing Act (FHA) and the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), the Justice Department alleged. “[T]here is no excuse for owners and architects to continue developing properties that fail to comply with the accessibility requirements of these …