Category: MIL-OSI

Source: United States Department of Justice Criminal Division

Wei Qiang Lin, of Brooklyn, New York, pleaded guilty today in U.S. District Court for the Western District of New York for falsely labeling live turtles as fake toys prior to exporting them in delivery boxes on a weeks-long journey to Hong Kong.

According to court records, between August 2023 and November 2024, Lin exported to Hong Kong approximately 222 parcels containing around 850 turtles, but he labeled the boxes as containing “plastic animal toys,” among other things. The approximate market value of the turtles was $1.4 million. Law enforcement intercepted the turtles during a border inspection and observed them bound and taped inside knotted socks within the shipping boxes. Lin also exported 11 other parcels filled with reptiles including venomous snakes. 

Lin primarily shipped eastern box turtles and three-toed box turtles, native U.S. species which feature colorful markings — a prized feature in the domestic and foreign pet market, particularly in China and Hong Kong. Both are protected by the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) as a result of the illegal export of tens of thousands of box turtles every year during the 1990s.

Lin is scheduled to be sentenced on Dec. 23. He faces a maximum penalty of five years in prison, three years of supervised release, and a fine of up to $250,000 or twice the gain or loss from the illegal activity. As part of his plea, Lin also agreed to abandon any property interest in the reptiles seized during the investigation.

Acting Assistant Attorney General Adam Gustafson of the Justice Department’s Environment and Natural Resources Division (ENRD) and U.S. Attorney Michael DiGiacomo for the Western District of New York made the announcement.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service — with help from other federal and local law enforcement entities including Customs and Border Protection, Postal Inspections Service, and Homeland Security Investigations — investigated the case.

Trial Attorney Rachel Roberts and Senior Trial Attorney Ryan Connors of ENRD’s Environmental Crimes Section and Assistant U.S. Attorney Aaron J. Mango for the Western District of New York are prosecuting the case.

Source: United States Department of Justice Criminal Division

A founder of the lender service provider Blueacorn pleaded guilty today in connection with a scheme to fraudulently obtain COVID-19 relief money guaranteed by the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) through the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP).

“During a national emergency, this defendant exploited a taxpayer-funded program that individuals and small businesses desperately needed to survive,” said Acting Assistant Attorney General Matthew R. Galeotti of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division. “This conviction demonstrates the Department’s ongoing commitment to bring to justice those who would steal from the public fisc to enrich themselves.”

“This defendant had the opportunity to help small businesses overcome tremendous financial hardships during a time of national crisis but instead exploited the system to line his own pockets with taxpayer money,” said Acting U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Texas Nancy E. Larson.  “We will continue to pursue convictions against those fraudsters who preyed upon the generosity of the American people as we struggled through the pandemic.”

“The FBI takes our responsibility to investigate and pursue those who commit fraud for personal gain very seriously,” said Assistant Director Jose A. Perez of the FBI Criminal Investigative Division. “Reis and others exploited a program meant to keep small businesses afloat during the pandemic. The FBI will continue to work tirelessly to prevent these programs from becoming targets and fight fraud wherever we find it.”

According to court documents, Nathan Reis, 47, of Rio Grande, Puerto Rico, and previously of Arizona, conspired with others to submit false and fraudulent PPP loan applications, including by fabricating documents that falsified income and payroll figures in order to receive loan funds for which they were not eligible.

Reis co-founded Blueacorn in April 2020, purportedly to help small businesses and individuals obtain PPP loans. Through Blueacorn, Reis and his co-conspirators submitted fraudulent PPP loan applications they knew contained materially false information to make more money. Reis and others fabricated documents, including tax documents and bank statements. As part of the conspiracy, Reis and his co-conspirators charged borrower’s fees based on a percentage of the funds received.

Reis pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit wire fraud. He is scheduled to be sentenced on Nov. 21 and faces a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison.  A federal district court judge will determine any sentence after considering the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.

The FBI, IRS-CI, the Special Inspector General for Pandemic Recovery, Federal Reserve Board-CFPB Office of Inspector General, and SBA OIG investigated the case. 

Acting Assistant Chief Philip Trout of the Criminal Division’s Fraud Section, Trial Attorneys Elizabeth Carr and Ryan McLaren of the Criminal Division’s Money Laundering and Asset Recovery Section, and Assistant U.S. Attorney Matthew Weybrecht for the Northern District of Texas are prosecuting the case.

The Fraud Section leads the Criminal Division’s prosecution of fraud schemes that exploit the PPP. Since the enactment of the CARES Act, the Fraud Section has prosecuted over 200 defendants in more than 130 criminal cases and has seized over $78 million in cash proceeds derived from fraudulently obtained PPP funds, as well as numerous real estate properties and luxury items purchased with such proceeds. More information can be found at www. justice. gov/criminal/criminal-fraud/cares-act-fraud

MLARS’s Bank Integrity Unit investigates and prosecutes banks and other financial institutions, including their officers, managers, and employees, whose actions threaten the integrity of the individual institution or the wider financial system.

Anyone with information about allegations of attempted fraud involving COVID-19 can report it by calling the Justice Department’s National Center for Disaster Fraud (NCDF) Hotline via the NCDF Web Complaint Form at www. justice. gov/disaster-fraud/ncdf-disaster-complaint-form. 

Source: United States Department of Justice Criminal Division

The U.S. Department of Justice’s Office of International Affairs, with the assistance of the Department’s Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP), transferred 14 Mexican nationals serving prison sentences for drug distribution-related convictions in the United States to their home country on Friday. The transfer was made pursuant to the United States’ prisoner transfer treaty with the Government of Mexico.

“Friday’s transfer of 14 federal inmates to correctional authorities in Mexico has saved the United States over $4 million by eliminating the need to pay incarceration costs for the 96 years remaining on their combined sentences,” said Acting Assistant Attorney General Matthew R. Galeotti of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division. “The Justice Department will continue such transfers – pursuant to our treaty with Mexico – to reduce incarceration costs and relieve overcrowding in our federal prisons.”

All 14 inmates transferred Friday were serving sentences relating to the distribution of controlled substances. The inmates will complete the remainder of their sentences in Mexico pursuant to the treaty. The inmates requested to be transferred to their home country, and the governments of both the United States and Mexico approved these transfers.

The transfer was part of the United States’ congressionally enacted International Prisoner Transfer Program. The Justice Department’s Office of International Affairs’s International Prisoner Transfer Unit (IPTU) administers the program and coordinates all treaty-based international prisoner transfers.

Under the program, approved foreign national inmates in federal and state prisons are transferred, under certain circumstances, to complete their prison sentences in their native countries’ prisons. The United States has entered into 10 additional bilateral transfer agreements and two multilateral transfer conventions. These international agreements give the United States transfer treaty relationships with more than 85 countries.

To learn more about the International Prisoner Transfer Program, visit: www.justice.gov/criminal/criminal-oia/iptu 

Source: United States Department of Justice Criminal Division

The Justice Department announced today that Dallas Humber, 35, of Elk Grove, California — leader of the Terrorgram Collective, a transnational terrorist group — pleaded guilty to all charges against her, including soliciting hate crimes, soliciting the murder of federal officials, and conspiring to provide material support to terrorists.

District Court Judge Dena Coggins found that Humber’s plea was knowing and voluntary, and deferred acceptance of the plea agreement until the sentencing hearing, which is scheduled for Dec. 5. Humber faces a penalty of 25 to 30 years in federal prison.

“Hate and terror have no place in this country or abroad,” said Assistant Attorney General Harmeet K. Dhillon of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division. “By securing this conviction, my office makes clear that purveyors of these heinous crimes will be brought to justice.”

“Humber led a transnational terrorist group promoting white supremacy, hate crimes, and violence, including soliciting the murder of U.S. government officials,” said Assistant Attorney General for National Security John A. Eisenberg. “Her actions posed a direct threat to our citizens and national security, and the National Security Division will hold her, as well as others who commit these illegal acts, accountable for their terrorist aims.”

“Humber solicited murders and hate crimes based on the race, religion, national origin, sexual orientation, and gender identity of others,” said Acting U.S. Attorney Kimberly A. Sanchez for the Eastern District of California. “The U.S. Attorney’s office will continue to work tirelessly with our partners in law enforcement and in the U.S. Department of Justice to investigate and prosecute those who commit such violations of federal criminal law and keep our people and public officials safe from hate-fueled crimes of violence.”

With her guilty plea, Humber admitted the following facts: from July 2022 until her arrest in September 2024, she served as a leader of the Terrorgram Collective, a white supremacist transnational terrorist group. To achieve their ends, she and other members of the Terrorgram Collective solicited individuals to commit hate crimes, terrorist attacks on critical infrastructure, and assassinations; and provided technical, inspirational, and operational guidance to equip those individuals to plan, prepare for, and successfully carry out those attacks.

Inspired and guided by Humber and the Terrorgram Collective, individuals committed attacks or plotted to commit attacks in the United States and elsewhere, including: plotting to attack an energy facility in New Jersey; plotting to bomb an energy facility in Tennessee; murdering two people in Wisconsin in furtherance of plans to assassinate a federal official; and attempting to assassinate an Australian official.  In addition, individuals led by Humber and the Terrorgram Collective have committed acts of violence internationally, including shooting three people, killing two, at an LGBT bar in Bratislava, Slovakia; shooting eleven people, killing four, at two schools in Aracruz, Brazil; and stabbing five people outside of a mosque in Eskişehir, Turkey.

The FBI Sacramento Field Office investigated the case, with assistance from a variety of foreign and domestic law enforcement agencies.

The Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division, National Security Division, and U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of California are prosecuting the case.