1. Atlanta: Twenty-Six MS-13 Gang Members Indicted on Racketeering Charges
A federal indictment was unsealed charging 26 MS-13 gang members with federal racketeering and related crimes in metropolitan Atlanta. The 29-count indictment alleges that the defendants conspired to participate in the affairs of MS-13, an international violent criminal organization, through a pattern of racketeering activity including multiple crimes of murder, attempted murder, kidnapping, and robbery. Full Story
2. Washington Field: BAE Systems plc Pleads Guilty, Ordered to Pay $400 Million Criminal Fine
BAE Systems plc pleaded guilty to conspiring to defraud the United States by impairing and impeding its lawful functions, to make false statements about its Foreign Corrupt Practices Act compliance program, and to violate the Arms Export Control Act and International Traffic in Arms Regulations. BAE Systems plc was sentenced to pay a $400 million criminal fine, one of the largest criminal fines in the history of DOJ’s ongoing effort to combat overseas corruption in international business and enforce U.S. export control laws. Full Story
3. Miami: Owner of Health Care Company Sentenced for Threatening Investigators and Defrauding Medicare
Yamill Ramos Perez was sentenced to concurrent prison terms of 112 months for health care fraud and 60 months for harassing Medicare investigators. He was also ordered to pay more than $5.8 million in restitution. According to court documents, Ramos Perez owned, through intermediaries, two health care clinics that fraudulently billed Medicare approximately $20 million and received approximately $6 million in fraudulent reimbursements. After both clinics were placed under review for suspected fraud, Ramos Perez began a campaign to harass Medicare fraud investigators and a Medicare executive. Full Story
4. Chicago: New Federal Charges against Canopy Financial Co-Founders
Jeremy Blackburn and Anthony Banas, two co-founders of Canopy Financial, Inc., a bankrupt health care transaction software company, were charged with allegedly defrauding investors of approximately $75 million and misappropriating approximately $19 million from client custodial accounts intended for health care savings and expenses. Blackburn, Canopy’s former president and chief operating officer, was initially charged last December in connection with the investment fraud aspect of the case, while charges were filed for the first time against Banas, Canopy’s chief technology officer. Full Story
5. Newark: Four Indicted in $25 Million Scheme Defrauding and Hacking Ticket Vendors
Three men who used fraud, deceit, and computer hacking to make more than $25 million by acquiring and reselling more than 1.5 million of the most coveted tickets to concerts, sporting events, and live entertainment throughout the United States surrendered to federal authorities after being charged in an indictment. The 43-count indictment describes a scheme in which the defendants and their company, Wiseguy Tickets, Inc., targeted Ticketmaster, Tickets.com, MLB.com, MusicToday, and other online ticket vendors. Full Story
6. Columbia: Two Former Executives of Medical Manager Found Guilty in Securities Fraud Scheme
John H. Kang, the former president of Medical Manager Health Systems Inc., and John P. Sessions, the company’s former vice president and chief operating officer, were convicted of conspiracy to commit mail, wire, and securities fraud for their roles in a securities fraud scheme. The two conspired to fraudulently inflate the reported earnings of Medical Manager, a former subsidiary of WebMD Corporation, by more than $16.8 million between 1997 and 2003. Full Story
7. New York: Former Executive Pleads Guilty to Insider Trading with Hedge Fund Manager
Ali Hariri, a former executive at Atheros Communications, Inc., pleaded guilty to a two-count Information charging him with conspiracy and securities fraud stemming from his involvement in the largest hedge fund insider trading case in history. Full Story
8. San Antonio: Somali Charged with Making False Statements on Asylum Application
A federal grand jury indicted 24-year-old Ahmed Muhammed Dhakane, a citizen of Somalia, on two counts of making false statements under penalty of perjury to federal authorities concerning his association with global terrorist organizations. The indictment alleges that in 2008, Dhakane falsely omitted on an application for asylum that from a time prior to September 11, 2001 until January 2003, he was a member of, or was associated with, al-Barakat and Al-Ittihad Al-Islami. Both organizations have been designated by the Department of Treasury as Specially Designated Global Terrorists. Full Story
9. Portland: Man Indicted for Operating Illegal Money Transmitting Business
Victor Kaganov was indicted for operating an unlicensed money transmitting business. Kaganov established multiple shell corporations in Oregon on behalf of Russian clients. He allegedly used the shell corporations to move more than $172 million in and out of the United States to more than 50 countries. Full Story
10. Philadelphia: Norristown Man Charged in Multi-Million-Dollar Fraud Case
Michael G. Spada was charged by information with wire fraud, bank fraud, filing a false tax return, and making a false statement to the federal government in a fraud case involving more than $6 million. Spada is accused of embezzling funds from his former employer and hiding that embezzlement from both a bank, that extended him a $3.2 million line of credit, and from the Internal Revenue Service. Full Story
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