Author: MIL-OSI Publisher

Source: United States Department of Justice Criminal Division

A grand jury indictment was unsealed today charging two individuals for their alleged involvement with bypassing treatment processes and tampering with a monitoring device at a Nashville waste treatment facility.

The indictment alleges that Randall Ray Stark, of Texas, and Caleb Warren Randall, of Tennessee, conspired to defraud the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and to violate the Clean Water Act. According to court documents, Stark was the Facility Operations Manager and Randall was the Plant Supervisor at the facility operated by Allwaste Onsite, doing business as Onsite Environmental (Onsite). As part of the alleged conspiracy, Stark and Randall directed Onsite employees to bypass treatment processes and discharge untreated and partially treated wastewater into the Nashville sewer system in December 2022 and in January 2023. The indictment further alleges that Stark and Randall tampered with and caused Onsite employees to tamper with a sampling device that the Metropolitan Government of Nashville and Davidson County placed to monitor Onsite’s compliance with its pretreatment permit.

On Aug. 5, Onsite pleaded guilty in Nashville to federal charges relating to the discharges.

If convicted, the defendants face a total sentence of up to 17 years in prison, as well as fines, restitution, and supervised release.

Acting Assistant Attorney General Adam Gustafson of the Justice Department’s Environment and Natural Resources Division (ENRD) and Acting U.S. Attorney Robert McGuire for the Middle District of Tennessee made the announcement.

The EPA’s Criminal Investigation Division and Office of Inspector General investigated the case.  

Senior Trial Attorney Matthew T. Morris of ENRD’s Environmental Crimes Section and Assistant U.S. Attorney Ahmed A. Safeeullah for the Middle District of Tennessee are prosecuting the case. 

Source: United States Department of Justice Criminal Division

A dual U.K.-Nigerian national who was extradited to the United States from the United Kingdom was sentenced to 90 months in prison for his role in a transnational inheritance fraud scheme. With today’s sentencing, all three defendants who were extradited from the United Kingdom in connection with this matter have been sentenced. 

According to court documents, Iheanyichukwu Jonathan Abraham, 44, was part of a group of fraudsters that sent personalized letters to elderly victims in the United States, falsely claiming that the sender was a representative of a bank in Spain and that the recipient was entitled to receive a multi-million-dollar inheritance left for the recipient by a family member who had died years before in Portugal. Victims were told that before they could receive their purported inheritance, they were required to send money for delivery fees and taxes and were instructed to make other payments. Victims sent money to the defendants through a complex web of U.S.-based former victims. Abraham and his co-conspirators also convinced former victims to receive money from new victims and then forward the fraud proceeds to others. 

The other two defendants who were extradited from the United Kingdom also received prison sentences. On June 21, the Honorable Kathleen M. Williams sentenced Emmanuel Samuel to 82 months in prison, and on July 25, Judge Williams sentenced Jerry Chucks Ozor to 87 months in prison for their roles in the scheme. Two other co-defendants, who were extradited to the United States from Spain, have also pleaded guilty and are scheduled to be sentenced in October and November.

“The Justice Department’s Consumer Protection Branch will continue to pursue, prosecute, and bring to justice transnational criminals responsible for defrauding U.S. consumers, wherever they are located,” said Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Brian M. Boynton, head of the Justice Department’s Civil Division. “We thank our colleagues at the United Kingdom’s National Crime Agency and Crown Prosecution Service for assisting with the successful investigation and extradition of these defendants and the United Kingdom’s National Trading Standards Scams Team for its help in identifying this and other transnational fraud schemes.”

“The U.S. Postal Inspection Service (USPIS) has a long tradition of protecting American citizens from these types of schemes and bringing those responsible to justice,” said Inspector in Charge Juan A. Vargas of the USPIS Miami Division. “This result is a testament to the dedicated partnership between the Justice Department’s Consumer Protection Branch, Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), and the USPIS, to protect our citizens from these scams.”

“International criminal organizations using schemes that target and steal from the elderly will be held responsible for their despicable actions,” said Special Agent in Charge Scott Brown of HSI Arizona. “This case demonstrates HSI’s commitment, with our partner law enforcement agencies domestically and abroad, to prove wrong those who believe they are beyond the reach of the law. I thank all the law enforcement agencies that dedicated countless hours in making this investigation a significant success.”

The Consumer Protection Branch, USPIS, and HSI are investigating the case.

Senior Trial Attorney Phil Toomajian and Trial Attorneys Josh Rothman and Brianna Gardner of the Justice Department’s Consumer Protection Branch are prosecuting the case. The Justice Department’s Office of International Affairs, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Florida, Europol, and authorities from the United Kingdom, Spain, and Portugal all provided critical assistance.

If you or someone you know is age 60 or older and has been a victim of financial fraud, help is standing by at the National Elder Fraud Hotline: 1-833-FRAUD-11 (1-833-372-8311).  This Justice Department hotline, managed by the Office for Victims of Crime, is staffed by experienced professionals who provide personalized support to callers by assessing the needs of the victim and identifying relevant next steps. Case managers will identify appropriate reporting agencies, provide information to callers to assist them in reporting, connect callers directly with appropriate agencies, and provide resources and referrals, on a case-by-case basis. Reporting is the first step. Reporting can help authorities identify those who commit fraud and reporting certain financial losses due to fraud as soon as possible can increase the likelihood of recovering losses. The hotline is open Monday through Friday from 10:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. ET. English, Spanish, and other languages are available.

More information about the department’s efforts to help American seniors is available at its Elder Justice Initiative webpage. For more information about the Consumer Protection Branch and its enforcement efforts, visit its website at www.justice.gov/civil/consumer-protection-branch. Elder fraud complaints may be filed with the FTC at www.ftccomplaintassistant.gov or at 877-FTC-HELP. The Justice Department provides a variety of resources relating to elder fraud victimization through its Office for Victims of Crime, which can be reached at www.ovc.gov.

Source: United States Department of Justice Criminal Division

A Louisiana chiropractor was sentenced today to seven years in prison for his role in health care fraud and unemployment insurance fraud schemes.

According to court documents and evidence presented at trial, Dr. Benjamin Tekippe, 40, of New Orleans, was a chiropractor and owner of Metairie Chiropractic & Rehab in New Orleans. Tekippe solicited patients with insurance from Blue Cross Blue Shield of Louisiana (BCBSLA) to visit his clinic by misleadingly offering “free” chiropractic massages for BCBSLA members. Tekippe would typically bill their insurance for the massage, which was generally a full-body massage performed by a massage therapist, and which was not covered. Tekippe would also routinely bill BCBSLA for several other chiropractic services that were either not performed or not performed as billed, including thousands of false and fraudulent claims for chiropractic services he purportedly provided to patients while he was out of the office, including on vacation in Aruba and incarcerated in Arizona and Washington in connection with state charges. When audited by BCBSLA, Tekippe fabricated patient records and instructed his staff to rewrite them in their own handwriting to make it falsely appear that services had been performed as billed. In total, Tekippe submitted over $2.3 million in claims to BCBSLA, and was paid approximately $740,000. Evidence at trial showed that Tekippe spent the fraudulent proceeds on luxury goods and gambling, including over $90,000 at Harrah’s Casino in New Orleans, among other things.

In addition, during the COVID-19 pandemic, Tekippe submitted weekly certifications falsely claiming that he was unemployed when he was billing for chiropractic services purportedly performed during his claimed unemployment. Through this scheme, Tekippe received $12,952 in unemployment insurance benefits to which he was not entitled.

In April 2025, Tekippe was convicted by a federal jury of six counts of health care fraud and one count of wire fraud. In addition to the prison sentence, he was ordered to pay$753,794.36 in restitution.

Acting Assistant Attorney General Matthew R. Galeotti of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division; Acting U.S. Attorney Michael M. Simpson for the Eastern District of Louisiana; and Special Agent in Charge Jason Meadows of the Department of Health and Human Service Office of the Inspector General (HHS-OIG) Dallas Region, Baton Rouge Field Office made the announcement.

The FBI and HHS-OIG investigated the case.

Trial Attorneys Kelly Z. Walters and Samantha Usher of the Criminal Division’s Fraud Section prosecuted the case.

The Fraud Section leads the Criminal Division’s efforts to combat health care fraud through the Health Care Fraud Strike Force program. Since March 2007, this program, currently comprised of 9 strike forces operating in 27 federal districts, has charged more than 5,800 defendants who collectively have billed federal health care programs and private insurers more than $30 billion. In addition, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, working in conjunction with HHS-OIG, are taking steps to hold providers accountable for their involvement in health care fraud schemes. More information can be found at www.justice.gov/criminal-fraud/health-care-fraud-unit.

Source: United States Department of Justice Criminal Division

A Tennessee man pleaded guilty on Wednesday to tax crimes and wire fraud for his role in a scheme to claim fraudulent refunds based on false COVID-19 employment tax credits.

The following is according to court documents and statements made in court: Edward Zanes, of Kingsport, Tennessee, conspired with others to file false tax returns seeking fraudulent refunds based on the employee retention credit and paid sick and family leave credit, both of which were created by Congress to aid struggling businesses during the COVID-19 global pandemic. Zanes and co-conspirators created phony businesses, which lacked any employees or operations, for the sole purpose of claiming the bogus credits. Zanes aided in filing numerous false tax returns for those phony businesses and directed the tax returns to be mailed to addresses he and co-conspirators controlled.

In total, Zane and his co-conspirators filed false tax returns that claimed over $3.4 million in tax refunds and received over $1.8 million from the IRS.

Zanes is set to be sentenced on Jan. 7, 2026. He faces a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison for conspiring to commit mail and wire fraud, a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison for each count of mail fraud, and a maximum penalty of 3 years in prison for each count of aiding and assisting in the filing of a false tax return. A federal district court judge will determine any sentence after considering the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.

IRS Criminal Investigation and the U.S. Secret Service investigated the case.

Trial Attorney Zachary A. Cobb of the Justice Department’s Tax Division and Assistant U.S. Attorney Mac Heavener for the Eastern District of Tennessee are prosecuting the case.

Source: United States Department of Justice Criminal Division

Defendant Evaded Taxes on Millions Earned from Selling Internet to American Soldiers

Source: United States Department of Justice

An indictment was unsealed yesterday in the Eastern District of Virginia charging two men with orchestrating a securities fraud scheme utilizing Ostin Technology Group Co. Ltd. (OST) stock to target American retail investors. The charged scheme netted over $100 million for the defendants and their co-conspirators, who siphoned OST shares in non-bona fide securities transactions and then dumped their stock amidst a coordinated social media campaign to pump OST’s share price from April to June 2025. The Department of Justice has already seized nearly $10 million in assets from co-conspirators’ accounts.

“The defendants targeted American retail investors through a predatory pump and dump scheme to take advantage of the artificial inflation of the price of OST shares,” said Acting Assistant Attorney General Matthew R. Galeotti of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division. “Today’s charges show the Criminal Division’s focus on aggressively protecting Americans from foreign actors seeking to exploit U.S. markets. Through the hard work of our prosecutors and law enforcement partners, we will continue to act quickly to seize the proceeds of these crimes and mitigate losses for victims.”

“Protecting the integrity of our financial markets remains a top priority,” said U.S. Attorney Erik S. Siebert for the Eastern District of Virginia. “Anyone who picks the pockets of American investors in violation of the law will be aggressively prosecuted. The Department of Justice has established whistleblower programs to encourage corporations and individuals to come forward with timely information regarding misconduct and criminal behavior. Failing to do so invites serious consequences.”

“Securities fraud by foreign actors not only exploits fair investment practices, but also defrauds American investors and harms U.S. markets,” said Assistant Director Jose A. Perez of the FBI’s Criminal Investigative Division. “Today’s charges demonstrate the FBI’s continued commitment, alongside our partners, to combatting financial crime and bringing perpetrators to justice.”

“The SEC-Office of Inspector General (SEC-OIG) will relentlessly investigate individuals who submit false filings with the SEC,” said Inspector General Kevin Muhlendorf of the SEC. “Comprehensive investigative oversight to protect investors, the global markets, and the operational integrity of the SEC’s programs, systems, and operations is a top priority for our office.”

According to the indictment, Lai Kui Sen is the co-CEO of OST, and Yan Zhao, who goes by the aliases Hank Shi and Hank Shu, among others, is a financial advisor. OST is a Cayman Islands company with its principal operations in China, that claimed to be a manufacturer of display modules used in consumer electronics, commercial LCD displays, and automotive displays. OST is publicly traded on NASDAQ and operated, at one point, with a variable interest entity (VIE) investment structure, which is often used by Chinese companies.

According to the indictment, Sen, Zhao, and others allegedly engaged in a complex scheme to first provide a group of fifteen co-conspirators with tens of millions of OST shares through two non-bona fide securities transactions. In one of these transactions, these co-conspirators paid nothing to OST for more than 70 million OST shares. 

The indictment alleges that, on April 15, 2025, the same day that the select investors received their first tranche of heavily discounted OST shares, a fraudulent campaign began to artificially inflate the price and trading volume of the OST stock. This included promoting the stock by impersonating real investment advisors, among others, promoting the stock on social media, and creating a false impression of market-wide buying momentum.  To capitalize on OST’s artificial price inflation and to harm the victim investors, Zhao and Sen facilitated the opening of brokerage accounts for certain select investors and orchestrated the selling of the shares that they had received either heavily discounted or for no remuneration. These sales generated substantial profits of approximately more than $110 million.  Ultimately, according to the indictment, unwitting investors suffered significant losses when, on June 26, 2025, OST lost over $950 million in market capitalization, representing over 94% of its value. 

Both defendants are charged with conspiracy to commit securities fraud and wire fraud, securities fraud, and wire fraud. If convicted, the defendants face a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison for conspiracy and wire fraud, 25 years in prison for Title 18 securities fraud, and 20 years in prison for Title 15 securities fraud. A federal judge will determine any sentence after considering the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.

The FBI and SEC-OIG investigated the case. The Department of Justice appreciates the efforts of FINRA’s Surveillance and Market Intelligence – Market Abuse Group who referred this matter.

Trial Attorney Kashan K. Pathan of the Criminal Division’s Fraud Section and Assistant U.S. Attorney Avi Panth for the Eastern District of Virgina are prosecuting the case.

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