Author: MIL-OSI Publisher

Source: United States Department of Justice Criminal Division

A federal grand jury in Denver returned an indictment on August 21, 2025, charging two Denver-area companies and the companies’ top executives for defrauding the federal government on sales of forklifts and conspiring to avoid paying proper tariffs on forklifts imported into the United States.

According to court documents, Endless Sales Inc. (Endless), Octane Forklifts, Inc. (Octane), current executives Brian Firkins and Jeffrey Blasdel, and former executive J.R. Antczak allegedly conspired to import forklifts from China, disguise the Chinese origin of the forklifts, and then sell the forklifts to federal government agencies by fraudulently representing the forklifts as being manufactured in the United States. The indictment also alleges that Endless, Octane, Firkins, Blasdel, and Antczak conspired with an unnamed Chinese national and a Chinese manufacturer to create fake commercial invoices that fraudulently undervalued the cost of forklifts that Endless and Octane imported into the United States, thereby defrauding the government of over $1 million in applicable tariffs, duties, and fees. Firkins, Blasdel, and Antczak are each additionally charged with separate wire fraud charges, and Blasdel is also charged with making false statements to the government.

“Defrauding the United States to profit from goods made in adversarial nations like China undermines our economic and national security,” said Attorney General Pamela Bondi. “The Justice Department is committed to protecting American taxpayer dollars, defending our national security against those who would undermine it, and holding accountable anyone who pursues illegal profits over our country.”

“Defendants fraudulently hid the origins of the products they sold the government and conspired to avoid paying tariffs,” said Assistant Attorney General Abigail Slater of the Justice Department’s Antitrust Division. “The Antitrust Division’s Procurement Collusion Strike Force and its law enforcement partners will continue to prosecute and hold accountable those who seek to fraudulently obtain taxpayer funds.”

“Today’s indictments are the result of the collaboration among the Defense Criminal Investigative Service (DCIS) and our law enforcement partners to hold accountable those who seek to violate America’s trade laws to enrich themselves,” said Acting Inspector General Steve Stebbins of the Department of Defense. “DCIS remains committed to safeguarding the integrity of the DoD contracting process.”

“Federal contractors are expected to be honest in their dealings with the government,” said Deputy Inspector General Robert Erickson of the U.S. General Services Administration Office of Inspector General. “These indictments demonstrate our special agents’ commitment to pursue allegations of procurement fraud and protect the government’s supply chain.”

“My office is committed to protecting taxpayer dollars and the integrity of federal procurement,” said Inspector General Joseph V. Cuffari, Ph.D of DHS OIG. “Octane Forklifts, Endless Sales, and their executives allegedly engaged in a brazen scheme to sell rebranded Chinese made forklifts to FEMA and the Department of Defense , all while falsely certifying their compliance with the Buy America Act. It is especially reprehensible that this alleged fraud involved a FEMA contract using disaster funds. I commend our law enforcement partners, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Colorado, and DOJ’s Antitrust Division for their steadfast commitment to holding these individuals accountable.”

“This indictment reflects the commitment of the Air Force to uphold the integrity in public contracting and protect taxpayer dollars,” said Director Jason T. Hein, Office of Procurement Fraud Investigations, Office of Special Investigations, USAF. “Procurement fraud undermines trust in government and diverts resources from maintaining our national security and missions they’re meant to serve. We will continue to pursue accountability wherever public funds are at risk.”

“Intentionally violating the Buy America Act to defraud the US Government, isn’t just a legal issue, it is a demonstration of complete disregard for US law and the safety and security of our US military.” said Special Agent in Charge Derek Tilton of the Department of the Army Criminal Investigation Division. “The US Army will not tolerate contract fraud and will vigorously pursue all available legal recourse.”

Firkins, Blasdel, Antczak, Endless, and Octane are charged with conspiring to commit wire fraud in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1349.  Firkins, Blasdel, and Antczak are similarly charged with individual counts of wire fraud in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1343. For the individuals, each count of conviction carries a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison and a fine of $250,000. For the corporations, the maximum penalty is a fine of $500,000. Firkins, Blasdel, Antczak, Endless and Octane are also charged with conspiring to enter goods into the United States by means of false or fraudulent statements. For the individuals, a count of conviction carries a maximum penalty of five years in prison and a fine of $250,000. For the corporations, the maximum penalty is a fine of $500,000, or twice the gain derived from the offense, or twice the loss caused by the offense. Finally, Blasdel is charged with making false statements to the government, which carries a maximum penalty of five years in prison and a fine of $250,000.

If convicted, a federal district court judge will determine any sentence after considering the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.

The Antitrust Division’s Chicago Office is prosecuting the case, which was investigated with the assistance of the United States Army Criminal Investigative Division, Defense Criminal Investigative Service, U.S. Air Force Office of Special Investigation, U.S. General Services Administration Office of Inspector General, Department of Homeland Security Office of Inspector General, and U.S. Defense Contract Audit Agency. The Westminster, Colorado, Police Department provided valuable assistance.

In November 2019, the Justice Department created the Procurement Collusion Strike Force (PCSF), a joint law enforcement effort to combat antitrust crimes and related fraudulent schemes that impact government procurement, grant and program funding at all levels of government — federal, state and local. To learn more about the PCSF, or to report information on bid rigging, price fixing, market allocation and other anticompetitive conduct related to government spending, go to www.justice.gov/procurement-collusion-strike-force. Anyone with information in connection with this investigation can contact the PCSF at the link listed above.

An indictment is merely an allegation and all defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.

Source: United States Department of Justice Criminal Division

CAMDEN, N.J. – A Mays Landing woman admitted to conspiring to defraud the Internal Revenue Service by filing false employment tax returns that concealed a company’s cash payroll, Acting U.S. Attorney and Special Attorney Alina Habba announced.

Denise Davis, 52, of Mays Landing, New Jersey, pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge Karen M. Williams in Camden federal court to an information charging her with one count of conspiring to defraud the IRS.

According to documents filed in this case and statements made in court:

Davis worked at Davis Brothers Chimney Sweep & Masonry (“Davis Brothers”), a business located in Egg Harbor Township, New Jersey, owned by Davis’s spouse.  Davis admitted that between January 1, 2018 and April 30, 2024, she conspired with Henry Collins, the business’s bookkeeper, to defraud the IRS.  As part of the conspiracy, Collins utilized a commercial check casher to negotiate a substantial amount of Davis Brothers’s gross receipts checks.  Collins used some of the resulting cash to pay himself and other Davis Brothers employees in cash.  Collins provided the rest of the cash to Davis and her spouse.  Davis and Collins then provided false and misleading information to the business’s outside accounting firm that resulted in the preparation and filing of false payroll tax returns that omitted the employees paid in cash and their cash wages.  Davis also admitted that she failed to file individual income tax returns for herself and her spouse during the same time period.  Davis admitted that the conspiracy resulted in a tax loss of approximately $1.18 million.

The count of conspiracy carries a maximum penalty of 5 years in prison and a fine of up to $250,000.  Sentencing is scheduled for February 4, 2026.

Collins previously pleaded guilty for his role in the conspiracy and is scheduled to be sentenced in December 2025.

Acting U.S. Attorney and Special Attorney Habba credited special agents of IRS-Criminal Investigation, under the direction of Special Agent in Charge Jenifer Piovesan in Newark, with the investigation leading to today’s guilty plea.

The government is represented by Assistant U.S. Attorney Jeffrey Bender of the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Camden.

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Defense counsel: Michele Finizio, Esq., Moorestown, New Jersey

Source: United States Department of Justice Criminal Division

HARLOTTE, N.C. – Kelly Lee Setzer, 64, of Hickory, N.C., was sentenced to 50 years in prison today for producing and transporting child sexual abuse material (CSAM) in what the sentencing judge called “horrendous torture of babies,” announced Russ Ferguson, U.S. Attorney for the Western District of North Carolina. In addition to the prison term imposed, Setzer was ordered to serve a lifetime of supervised release and to register as a sex offender after he is released from prison. Setzer was ordered to pay $84,000 in restitution. The Court also ordered forfeiture of, among other things, Setzer’s primary residence in Hickory, where he produced and transported the CSAM.

James C. Barnacle, Jr., Special Agent in Charge of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), Charlotte Division, and Chief Bryan Adams of the Hickory Police Department, join U.S. Attorney Ferguson in making today’s announcement.

“Setzer committed some of the most depraved crimes imaginable: preying on young children and producing horrific abuse material,” said U.S. Attorney Ferguson. “Fifty years behind bars ensures he will never harm a child again. I hope it is a message to others so future children are spared from similar actions.”

“There are no words to describe the lasting impact of Mr. Setzer’s vile behavior on his victims. At his age, a 50-year sentence is effectively a life sentence. Thankfully, he can never harm another child again. The FBI and our law enforcement partners will relentlessly pursue predators who victimize innocent children,” said Special Agent in Charge Barnacle.   

According to filed documents and the sentencing hearing, on November 3, 2023, officers with the Hickory Police Department executed a search warrant at Setzer’s residence for suspected CSAM activity. The officers seized two computers and other electronic devices from the residence. A forensic examination of the seized devices revealed that on at least four occasions Setzer sexually abused a prepubescent child and produced videos depicting the abuse. Setzer also possessed an extensive CSAM library that contained over 48,000 videos and images of children being sexually abused, some as young as infants and toddlers. During the investigation, law enforcement also determined that Setzer had developed an online relationship with a minor and had induced the minor to send him CSAM on multiple occasions.

Setzer pleaded guilty to four counts of production, one count of transportation, and one count of possession and access with intent to distribute child pornography. He remains in custody pending placement at a federal facility by the Federal Bureau of Prisons.

In announcing Setzer’s very significant sentence, U.S. District Judge Kenneth D. Bell said, “we are talking about babies here and horrendous torture of babies.”

The FBI and the Hickory Police Department investigated the case.

Assistant U.S. Attorneys Daniel Cervantes and Benjamin Bain-Creed of the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Charlotte handled the prosecution and forfeiture proceedings in this case, respectively.

This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse, launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice. Led by U.S. Attorneys’ Offices and the Criminal Division’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section (CEOS), Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state and local resources to better locate, apprehend and prosecute individuals who exploit children via the Internet, as well as to identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit https://www.justice.gov/psc.

 

 

Source: United States Department of Justice Criminal Division

The Department of Justice, together with the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), announced today that a federal court has entered a stipulated order resolving a case alleging that China-based toy maker Apitor Technology Co., Ltd. (Apitor) violated the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act and its implementing regulations (COPPA) in connection with its programmable robotic toys.

“The Justice Department will vigorously work to ensure businesses respect parents’ rights to decide when their children’s personal information can be collected and used,” said Assistant Attorney General Brett A. Shumate of the Justice Department’s Civil Division. “We will continue to work with the FTC to stop unlawful intrusions on children’s privacy.”

COPPA prohibits operators of online services from knowingly collecting, using, or disclosing personal information from children under the age of 13 (hereinafter, children), unless they provide notice to and obtain consent from those children’s parents. In a civil complaint filed in the United States District Court for the Northern District of California, the government alleges Apitor collected geolocation data from children who used Apitor’s app to control its robotic toys, without notifying parents or obtaining parental consent.

The stipulated order resolving this case enjoins Apitor from collecting or using data from children without making reasonable efforts to directly notify parents and obtaining verifiable parental consent, and it also requires Apitor to delete children’s personal information that was previously collected without parental consent. The order additionally imposes a $500,000 civil penalty, which is suspended due to Apitor’s inability to pay.

This matter is being handled by Trial Attorney David Crockett, Senior Trial Attorney Daniel Crane-Hirsch, and Assistant Director Zachary Dietert from the Civil Division’s Consumer Protection Branch, as well as Assistant U.S. Attorney Sapna Mehta for the Northern District of California and Shining Hsu and Evan Rose from the FTC’s Bureau of Consumer Protection.

For more information about the Consumer Protection Branch and its enforcement efforts, visit its website at www.justice.gov/civil/consumer-protection-branch.

Source: United States Department of Justice Criminal Division

CAPE GIRARDEAU – U.S. District Judge Stephen N. Limbaugh Jr. on Tuesday sentenced a man who helped steal a pistol from a Cape Girardeau County gun store to 40 months in prison.

Danaje Raymond Webster and his co-defendant, Dayvion Jyraud Parker, will also have to pay restitution of $1,999. Parker was sentenced in March to 70 months in prison.

On June 17, 2024, Webster, of Cape Girardeau, removed a Sig Sauer 9mm pistol from the display case at a federally licensed firearm dealer in Cape Girardeau County and handed it to Parker. Parker first hid the pistol under his jacket before handing it to Webster, who hid it between Parker’s back and the back of Parker’s wheelchair. Parker then bought ammunition and a magazine for a different firearm and both men left the store. After store employees noticed the missing pistol, they discovered the culprits by reviewing surveillance video.

On June 25, law enforcement officers performing a court-approved search of a home in Cape Girardeau found Parker, who is a felon, lying on a bed with two pistols between the bed frame and the wall. Both pistols were equipped with auto sears, or “switches,” converting them into fully automatic weapons.

Webster, 24, pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court in Cape Girardeau in July to one count of stealing a firearm from a licensed dealer. Parker, now 22, pleaded guilty in October of 2024 to five felonies: stealing a firearm from a licensed dealer, two counts of being a felon in possession of a firearm and two counts of possession of a machine gun.

The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, the U.S. Marshals Service and the Cape Girardeau County Sheriff’s Office investigated the case. Assistant U.S. Attorney Timothy Willis prosecuted the case.

This case is part of Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN), a program bringing together all levels of law enforcement and the communities they serve to reduce violent crime and gun violence, and to make our neighborhoods safer for everyone. 

Source: United States Department of Justice Criminal Division

The Department of Justice, together with the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), announces the filing of a civil lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California against Iconic Hearts Holdings Inc. and its founder and CEO Hunter Rice for violations of the FTC Act, the Restore Online Shoppers’ Confidence Act (ROSCA), and the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act and its implementing regulations (COPPA) in connection with the social media messaging app known as Sendit.

“The Department of Justice is committed to preventing companies from using unfair and misleading business practices to profit off of American children,” said Assistant Attorney General Brett A. Shumate of the Justice Department’s Civil Division. “We will continue to work with the FTC to enforce federal consumer protection laws to protect young people from such conduct.”

In a complaint filed in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California, the United States alleges that Defendants generated and sent millions of anonymous and often provocative, romantic, or sexual messages to users of the Sendit app, many of whom are children or teenagers. As alleged, Defendants, in violation of the FTC Act’s prohibition on unfair and deceptive business practices, falsely led users to believe the messages were from their social media contacts rather than the Sendit app itself, and that purchasing a “Diamond Membership” would reveal the senders’ identities. The Complaint also alleges Defendants violate COPPA by collecting personal information from app users who are children under the age of 13 while failing to provide notice to their parents or obtain verifiable parental consent. Additionally, as alleged, Defendants violate ROSCA by failing to clearly and conspicuously disclose the material terms of their Diamond Memberships, which automatically renew and cost as much as $9.99 per week.

Defendants allegedly generated tens of millions of dollars in revenue from Diamond Membership purchases. The complaint seeks civil penalties, restitution for consumers, and injunctive relief.

The United States is represented in this action by Trial Attorney Marcus P. Smith and Assistant Director Zachary A. Dietert of the Civil Division’s Consumer Protection Branch. Siobhan C. Amin, Miles D. Freeman, and John D. Jacobs represent the FTC.

For more information about the Consumer Protection Branch and its enforcement efforts, visit www.justice.gov/civil/consumer-protection-branch.

The claims made in a complaint are allegations that, if the case were to proceed to trial, the government must prove by a preponderance of the evidence.

Source: United States Department of Justice Criminal Division

PITTSBURGH, Pa. – A resident of Chicago, Illinois, and Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, has been sentenced in federal court to 48 months of imprisonment, to be followed by 10 years of supervised release, on his conviction of violating federal law regarding the sexual exploitation of minors, Acting United States Attorney Troy Rivetti announced today.

United States District Judge Christy Criswell Wiegand imposed the sentence on Ashok Panigrahy, 54. Judge Wiegand also ordered Panigrahy to pay a $25,000 fine, a $17,000 assessment pursuant to the Amy, Vicky, and Andy Child Pornography Victim Assistance Act of 2018 (AVAA), a $5,000 assessment pursuant to the Justice for Victims of Trafficking Act (JVTA), and $10,000 in restitution to his minor victims.

According to information presented to the Court, from on or about November 21, 2022, through on or about November 22, 2022, Panigrahy knowingly possessed material depicting the sexual exploitation of minors. At the time of his criminal conduct, Panigrahy was a children’s physician in the Western District of Pennsylvania.

The Sentencing Memo submitted by the United States explained the following: “The nature and circumstances of the Defendant’s offense is extremely serious. While Panigrahy did not possess a vast collection of child sexual abuse material, the circumstances of Panigrahy’s possession demonstrated that he obtained his material through online conversations on an encrypted platform with other like-minded individuals. The child sexual abuse material Panigrahy saved was all video content, which is arguably more egregious, and included some depictions of very young victims, including toddlers and prepubescent minors being sexually abused. Such conduct is unacceptable, period. However, it is more reprehensible when it is committed clandestinely by an individual who is entrusted with caring for children and is given privileged access to a facility dedicated to helping and treating children. Thus, beyond victimizing the children whose depictions of sexual abuse he possessed, the Defendant’s conduct represents a disturbing betrayal of trust to our community of children and their families in the Western District of Pennsylvania.”

Assistant United States Attorney Heidi M. Grogan prosecuted this case on behalf of the government.

Acting United States Attorney Rivetti commended Homeland Security Investigations (Pittsburgh and Chicago) for the investigation leading to the successful prosecution of Panigrahy.

This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse. Led by the United States Attorneys’ Offices and the Criminal Division’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state, and local resources to locate, apprehend, and prosecute individuals who sexually exploit children, and to identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.justice.gov/psc.