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Gurbir S. Grewal

NJ Police Can Now Pursue Stolen Vehicles, AG Says NJ Police Can Now Pursue Stolen Vehicles, AG Says
NJ Police Can Now Pursue Stolen Vehicles, AG Says Police in New Jersey can now pursue stolen vehicle thieves, state Acting Attorney General Matthew J. Platkin announced on Friday, April 29. Officers and officials at all levels of law enforcement in New Jersey welcomed the news -- with one caveat: A repeal or readjustment of bail reform must be next. Platkin's move, which is effective immediately, reverses a policy update made by his predecessor, Gurbir S. Grewal, in December 2020. "Based upon recommendations from Law enforcement executives, county prosecutors and OPIA (Office of Public Integrity and Accountability) staff, I have dete…
Billion-Dollar Stock Fraud: Indicted Bergen County Businessman Freed On $100M Bond Billion-Dollar Stock Fraud: Indicted Bergen County Businessman Freed On $100M Bond
Billion-Dollar Stock Fraud: Indicted Bergen County Businessman Freed On $100M Bond A Bergen County businessman was arrested by federal agents on charges of orchestrating a massive market manipulation scheme that caused one of the biggest Wall Street trading collapses in history. Sung Kook “Bill” Hwang put the entire financial system at risk by conspiring with his former chief financial officer to boost profits for his Archegos Capital Management by lying to banks to inflate the stock prices of publicly traded companies, federal prosecutors said on Wednesday, April 27. The fraud scheme ballooned Hwang’s personal fortune from $1.5 billion to more than $35 billion in a singl…
Feds: Ponzi Schemer Funded House, Car, More With $6.8M From Investors In NJ, Elsewhere Feds: Ponzi Schemer Funded House, Car, More With $6.8M From Investors In NJ, Elsewhere
Feds: Ponzi Schemer Funded House, Car, More With $6.8M From Investors In NJ, Elsewhere New Jersey residents were among more than two dozen victims who lost a combined $6.8 million to a North Carolina con man running a Ponzi scheme, federal authorities charged. David Schamens, 64, of Greensboro, NC, promised annual return rates of 12% to 30% when he began soliciting investments in 2014 in Secaucus-based TradeStream Analytics LTD, as well as in other entities with names such as TD Trading LLC, TFG Trading LLC, and Tradedesk Financial Group Inc., U.S. Attorney Philip R. Sellinger said. He then launched Tradestream Algo Fund, an algorithm-based trading pool that he clai…
NJ-Based Crypto Firm Will Pay SEC, States Unprecedented $100M Penalty NJ-Based Crypto Firm Will Pay SEC, States Unprecedented $100M Penalty
Nj-based Crypto Firm Will Pay SEC, States Unprecedented $100M Penalty A Jersey City-based cryptocurrency company will pay a record $100 million to settle alleged violations of investor-protection laws, state and federal authorities jointly announced. BlockFi Lending LLC neither admitted nor denied any wrongdoing when it agreed to the highest fine ever by a cryptocurrency company, Acting New Jersey Attorney General Matthew J. Platkin said on Monday, Feb. 14. However, it did take a different course than many of its crypto rivals by not fighting the fine. Of the total, $50 million will be paid to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, and up to $50 millio…
PA Man Offers $300, Travels To South Jersey For Sex With 14-Year-Old Girl, AG Says PA Man Offers $300, Travels To South Jersey For Sex With 14-Year-Old Girl, AG Says
PA Man Offers $300, Travels To South Jersey For Sex With 14-Year-Old Girl, AG Says A Pennsylvania construction employee was arrested on felony charges for allegedly traveling to South Jersey for sex with a 14-year-old girl, authorities said. Robert Reinhart, 52, of Telford, PA was one of 31 men arrested in a statewide crackdown of online child abuse titled "Operation 24/7," the New Jersey Attorney General’s office announced Wednesday. Reinhart allegedly texted an undercover detective who was posing as the adult sister of a fictitious 14-year-old girl, authorities said. He agreed to pay the older sister $300 to have sex with her "younger sister," autho…
HEROES: Officers Justified In Gunning Down Heavily Armed Irvington Killer, Grand Jury Finds HEROES: Officers Justified In Gunning Down Heavily Armed Irvington Killer, Grand Jury Finds
Heroes: Officers Justified In Gunning Down Heavily Armed Irvington Killer, Grand Jury Finds A New Jersey grand jury has cleared a trio of hero police officers from Irvington who gunned down a rifle-wielding man after he'd killed an unarmed civilian and wounded two of them. Kaizen Crossen, 39, had shot and killed Jason Caudle, a father of two, point-blank in the chest when responding officers confronted him in the 300 block of Myrtle Avenue on Aug. 8, 2019, state Attorney General Gurbir S. Grewal said Thursday. Crossen, who was wearing an Army fatigue vest filled with ammunition, exchanged gunfire with the officers before shots to his shoulder and thigh brought him down, Grewal sai…
Predators, Pedophiles And Perverts: Horror Stories Abound In NJ Online Child-Sex Abuse Roundup Predators, Pedophiles And Perverts: Horror Stories Abound In NJ Online Child-Sex Abuse Roundup
Predators, Pedophiles And Perverts: Horror Stories Abound In NJ Online Child-Sex Abuse Roundup A mail carrier, a train conductor and a retired corrections officer are among 31 men charged amid a massive roundup that produced some horrifying stories about online child sex abuse in the age of COVID, New Jersey authorities announced Wednesday. One of them offered money and other prizes through a social media “game” that he created to convince underage girls to send him nude photos, state Attorney General Gurbir S. Grewal said. Another got victims between 7 and 15 years old to send him sexual photos, then pressured them to send more by threatening to share those he had online, he said. …
New Jersey AG Releases Bodycam Video Of Knife-Wielding Bayonne Man Shot Dead By Police New Jersey AG Releases Bodycam Video Of Knife-Wielding Bayonne Man Shot Dead By Police
New Jersey AG Releases Bodycam Video Of Knife-Wielding Bayonne Man Shot Dead By Police VIDEO: New Jersey's chief law enforcement official on Tuesday released video from three different body cameras that he said captured the shooting death by Bayonne police of a knife-wielding man in his home. Uniformed officers had gone to the West 1st Street home on a 6:30 a.m. call of a domestic disturbance on June 7, state Attorney General Gurbir S. Grewal said. Video shows them being met by a woman whom sources said was the mother of Lee Waskiewicz, 47, with whom she lived. She escorts the officers in and calls Waskiewicz down from the third floor. Seeing police, Waskiewicz  goes "…
Jersey Shore Man Forced Girl, 14, To Carve His Initials Above Her Breast, Indictment Charges Jersey Shore Man Forced Girl, 14, To Carve His Initials Above Her Breast, Indictment Charges
Jersey Shore Man Forced Girl, 14, To Carve His Initials Above Her Breast, Indictment Charges A Jersey Shore man who convinced a 14-year-old girl he met online to carve his initials above her breast with a razor blade threatened to hurt her and her family if she didn’t meet his demands, an indictment returned Wednesday by a state grand jury alleges. Jason Berry, 40, of Keansburg also “demanded that the girl photograph herself engaging in acts of sexual penetration,” then sent some of the images to her mother, the indictment returned in Trenton charges. He also sent the girl “sexually explicit photos and videos of himself,” it adds. The case “demonstrates how powerful online predato…
State Attorney General Reviews Death Of Trenton Man, 21, In Scooter Crash State Attorney General Reviews Death Of Trenton Man, 21, In Scooter Crash
State Attorney General Reviews Death Of Trenton Man, 21, In Scooter Crash New Jersey Attorney Gurbir S. Grewal said his office was reviewing the death of a 21-year-old Trenton man in a scooter crash because it somehow involved law enforcement. The man, who wasn't identified, was riding a Yamaha scooter without a helmet near the intersection of Route 33 and Whitehorse-Mercerville Road in Hamilton Township when a township officer in an unmarked car spotted him shortly after 9 p.m. on May 25, Grewal said. A release issued by Grewal on Thursday doesn't say whether the officer initiated a pursuit. What it does say is: "Before the officer could stop the scooter opera…
'Birthday Party Turned Deadly': Arrest Made In South Jersey Mass Shooting, 2 Victims ID'd 'Birthday Party Turned Deadly': Arrest Made In South Jersey Mass Shooting, 2 Victims ID'd
'Birthday Party Turned Deadly': Arrest Made In South Jersey Mass Shooting, 2 Victims ID'd A 36-year-old man was arrested in a mass shooting that left two people dead and 12 others injured at a South Jersey birthday party over the weekend, authorities said Monday (scroll to bottom for video of full press briefing). Kevin Dawkins, of Bridgeton, was charged with multiple weapons offenses in connection with the Saturday night shooting during a party with hundreds of people in Cumberland County, state and county officials announced. Kevin Elliot, 30, and Asia Hester, 25 -- both of Bridgeton -- were killed in the shooting, with one of the other 12 people shot in critical condition, a…
Married State Police Couple Lied About Jersey Shore Bar Brawl, NJ Attorney General Charges Married State Police Couple Lied About Jersey Shore Bar Brawl, NJ Attorney General Charges
Married State Police Couple Lied About Jersey Shore Bar Brawl, NJ Attorney General Charges Video shows that a married New Jersey State Police detective couple lied when they claimed they weren’t involved in a North Wildwood bar fight early last year, Attorney General Gurbir S. Grewal said Thursday. Detective Sgt. 1st Class Gregory Ogden, 52, and Detective Sgt. Dorothy Ogden, 46, both of Hammonton, received summonses Thursday charging them with falsifying or tampering with records, Grewal said. Video from the bar shows Gregory Ogden pushing people and trying to get at a man who bouncers were escorting out of the Exit 6 bar on Feb. 20, 2020, the attorney general said. Ogen is seen…
FBI: Middlesex Man Admits Trying To Torch Trenton Police Car Following Floyd Protest FBI: Middlesex Man Admits Trying To Torch Trenton Police Car Following Floyd Protest
FBI: Middlesex Man Admits Trying To Torch Trenton Police Car Following Floyd Protest UPDATE: A Middlesex County man admitted Tuesday that he stuffed a rag into the gas tank of a police cruiser and set it on fire during a riot in Trenton following what had been a peaceful protest last year over the death of George Floyd. Justin Spry, 22, of South Plainfield took a deal from the government rather than go to trial, becoming the second of three men involved in the incident to admit their roles. Spry originally tried claiming on Twitter that he was brutalized by police, but federal authorities produced surveillance video showing otherwise. “Law enforcement officers on scene ob…
Indictment: NJSP Trooper Put Female Motorist In Fear By Stopping Her Twice, Following Her Home Indictment: NJSP Trooper Put Female Motorist In Fear By Stopping Her Twice, Following Her Home
Indictment: Njsp Trooper Put Female Motorist In Fear By Stopping Her Twice, Following Her Home A New Jersey state trooper accused of pulling over a female motorist twice and then following her home to hit on her was indicted Thursday by a grand jury in Trenton. Michael Patterson, 29, of Bayonne first the victim for an unspecified offense on the New Jersey Turnpike on Jan. 28, 2020, state Attorney General Gurbir S. Grewal said. After letting her go with a warning, Paterson “conducted a second, unwarranted stop of her vehicle a few minutes later when she exited the Turnpike at Exit 11….in order to make unwanted advances on the woman,” Grewal said. Patterson “put the victim in fear by …
Four More NJ Prison Officers Charged In Vicious Beatings Of Female Inmates Four More NJ Prison Officers Charged In Vicious Beatings Of Female Inmates
Four More NJ Prison Officers Charged In Vicious Beatings Of Female Inmates UPDATE: Four more correctional officers have been charged in the brutal beating and pepper-spraying of inmates at a New Jersey women’s prison, bringing the total to eight, authorities announced Thursday. Of the four officers newly charged for the January incident at the Edna Mahan Correctional Facility, one is from Maywood, another from Paterson, a third from Somerset and the other from East Piscataway. All four senior officers “purposely or knowingly attempted to cause serious bodily injury to inmates as an accomplice or as a principal by using force beyond what was objectively reasonable …
Trouble Collecting Unemployment? Working NJ Man Pocketed $96,437 Before COVID, Authorities Say Trouble Collecting Unemployment? Working NJ Man Pocketed $96,437 Before COVID, Authorities Say
Trouble Collecting Unemployment? Working NJ Man Pocketed $96,437 Before COVID, Authorities Say Before the coronavirus pandemic drove claims to unprecedented heights, a South Jersey man collected $96,437 in unemployment benefits from the state while holding down a job, said authorities who charged him with theft. Brian Peyton, 50, of Vineland had worked for a major food packaging company in Cumberland County for 27 years, in fact, records show. A state grand jury in Trenton indicted Peyton late last week after prosecutors said he had the benefits directly deposited from July 2010 through January 2017 while remaining employed the entire time, state Attorney General Gurbir S. Grewal sai…
Three Prison Officers Charged Criminally In Vicious Beating Of Inmates At NJ Women’s Prison Three Prison Officers Charged Criminally In Vicious Beating Of Inmates At NJ Women’s Prison
Three Prison Officers Charged Criminally In Vicious Beating Of Inmates At NJ Women’s Prison One of three correctional police officers charged with severely beating and pepper-spraying inmates at New Jersey’s notorious women’s prison last month punched one of them in the face 28 times, state authorities said Thursday.  And it was all caught on video, they said. Sgt. Amir Bethea, Sgt. Anthony Valvano and Officer Lisando “Luis” Garcia were all charged with official misconduct for what Attorney General Gurbir S. Grewal described as a vicious and unrelenting attack on several inmates at the Edna Mahan Correctional Facility for Women in Hunterdon County beginning shortly before mid…