MIL Security Engine-1

Source: United States Department of Justice

Thank you, Acting United States Attorney Grewell, Special Agent in Charge of HSI’s Denver Field Office, Steve Cagan, and everyone for being here. My name is Matthew Galeotti, and I am the Head of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division.

Today, the Justice Department secured the conviction of Michael Sang Correa on multiple counts of torture and one count of conspiracy to commit torture.

This verdict underscores the Justice Department’s determination to protect victims and prevent perpetrators of torture and other heinous human rights abuses abroad from seeking a new life here in America.  You cannot hide here.  We can and will prosecute you if you come to the United States after committing atrocities abroad. This country will not be a safe haven for human rights violators.

At the outset, I want to express my admiration and gratitude for the strength and courage of the victim witnesses who travelled all the way from Africa to a courtroom in Denver, Colorado, to tell the jury what Correa and his co-conspirators did to them. Reliving those horrific crimes and facing their tormenter in person again takes tremendous bravery. It must have been painful and difficult, and we thank them for enduring this ordeal in the interests of justice.

I also want to express my appreciation and commend the prosecutors from the Criminal Division’s Human Rights and Special Prosecutions Section, Assistant United States Attorneys from the District of Colorado, and agents from Homeland Security Investigations for relentlessly pursuing this case, and ensuring justice was done.

The evidence presented at trial exposed the depravity of the torture Correa committed in 2006, prior to his arrival in the United States, where he sought to escape accountability for his crimes here in Colorado.

The government’s evidence showed that Correa, along with his co-conspirators, tortured and abused victims accused of plotting a coup against the regime then in power in The Gambia, a West African country which at the time was under the regime of President Yahya Jammeh.

Correa belonged to a special unit of President Jammeh’s security forces, known as the “Junglers,” who brutally cracked down on what the regime claimed was a coup plot.

Trial testimony revealed the direct role Correa played in that torture.

With the intent to cause severe pain and suffering, Correa and his co-conspirators:

Dripped hot, molten plastic onto the bare skin of one of their victims; they put plastic bags over victims’ heads, restricting breathing; one of Correa’s co-conspirators put the barrel of a pistol into the mouth of a victim; they threatened victims with knives and stabbed one of them; they electrocuted their victims, on their hands, and on their genitals; they extinguished cigarettes into their skin; they rubbed sand into their eyes; they hit one victim in the face with a hammer; and they beat their victims ruthlessly, using fists, feet, firearms, sticks, branches, wire, and pipes, to inflict pain and cause injury.

There were virtually no bounds on their cruelty.

But, just as there were no bounds on the defendant’s cruelty, there are no bounds on how far this Justice Department, under the leadership of Attorney General Pamela Bondi, will go to hold people who commit such brutality to account.

People who have committed violent crimes — let alone human rights abuses — should not come to the United States. Period. They are not entitled to live the American Dream. They belong in prison. A core policy objective of the Justice Department is to secure our communities against criminal aliens, and today’s conviction of Correa is one more step taken in that direction.

Wherever we have jurisdiction, the Justice Department will prosecute persons who have committed atrocities abroad under the federal criminal statutes proscribing torture, war crimes, genocide, and the recruitment or use of child soldiers, among other criminal charges. The Department can also use our criminal and civil immigration and naturalization laws to revoke U.S. citizenship or obtain other criminal penalties.

The Department of Justice participates in an interagency effort to deny safe haven in the United States to human rights violators, working closely with the Department of Homeland Security, FBI and other agencies to identify such individuals and prevent them from entering the United States. This verdict today is the outcome of successful collaboration across agencies, and especially with Homeland Security Investigations and its Human Rights Violators and War Crimes Center.

My thanks also go to the Department’s prosecutors, paralegal specialists, historian/analysts, and others who have worked on the Correa case with impressive determination and skill. They did so while always putting the victims first, which is one of the Department’s core principles.

Correa’s conviction is the third time in which a defendant has been found guilty of torture in federal court, and it won’t be the last. Today’s verdict is a demonstration of our commitment to leave no stone unturned to prosecute human rights violators.

 

Source: United States Department of Justice

Thank you U.S. Attorney Leachman for the Western District of Texas, Craig Laraby, Special Agent in Charge of HSI’s San Antonio Field Office, and everyone for being here. My name is Matthew Galeotti, and I am the Acting Head of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division.

Today is a momentous day in the Department’s relentless fight against the leaders, organizers, and key facilitators of human smuggling networks – thanks to the work of our partners in the Western District of Texas and at ICE-HSI.

As Attorney General Pamela Bondi has announced, the Department is committed to the total elimination of cartels and transnational criminal organizations. To help meet this goal, the Department is laser-focused on dismantling human smuggling networks. Working with our U.S. Attorneys’ Offices and law enforcement partners, the Criminal Division is on the front lines of that fight.

You have already heard from U.S. Attorney Leachman on the extraordinary work in this case, but let me take a moment to recognize the victims and the extraordinary efforts of the prosecution team that bring us all here today.

As you heard, in June 2022, 64 aliens, from Guatemala, Honduras, and Mexico were loaded into a tractor-trailer without functioning air conditioning by members of an alien smuggling organization for the three-hour drive from Laredo to San Antonio, ultimately leading to the deaths of 53 people, including children and one pregnant woman. Eleven others were hospitalized.

Today, two of the people responsible, Felipe Orduna-Torres and Armando Gonzalez-Ortega, were held accountable for this tragedy by a United States jury. In total, eight members of this alien smuggling organization have now been convicted for their roles in this horrific event. This investigation and prosecution are the direct result of the hard work of the United States Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Texas and the dedicated special agents of Homeland Security Investigations, in close coordination with Joint Task Force Alpha and the Criminal Division.

The crimes committed — and the tragedy caused — by this type of pernicious alien smuggling organization epitomize why the Attorney General is elevating Joint Task Force Alpha to be run directly out of her Office. The goal is to eliminate the scourge of human smuggling.

Joint Task Force Alpha’s mission is to target and prosecute the leaders and organizers of transnational criminal organizations engaged in human smuggling and human trafficking throughout the Americas.

Since its creation, Joint Task Force Alpha has tirelessly pursued significant smuggling indictments and extradition efforts across the country. In just the past seven weeks, the Department has charged more than 760 defendants involved in human smuggling.

And we’re not done – not even by a long shot.

In fact, we are continuing to prosecute those responsible for this mass casualty alien smuggling event.

Just yesterday, Rigoberto Miranda-Orozco made his first court appearance here in the Western District of Texas after his extradition from Guatemala. His detention hearing is on Thursday. This Joint Task Force Alpha case will be prosecuted by trial attorneys from the Criminal Division’s Human Rights and Special Prosecutions Section and Assistant United States Attorneys from the Western District of Texas.

Miranda-Orozco was indicted and has been charged for allegedly conspiring with other smugglers to facilitate the travel of four aliens from Guatemala through Mexico, and ultimately, to the United States. He allegedly charged the aliens, or their families and friends, approximately $12,000 to $15,000 for the journey. The indictment alleges that three of these aliens passed away in the tractor-trailer in June 2022, and the fourth suffered serious bodily injury. For his actions, Miranda-Orozco is charged with six counts related to migrant smuggling resulting in death or serious bodily injury and he faces a maximum penalty of life in prison.

This extradition sends the message that the Department of Justice will pursue human smugglers who violate U.S. law no matter where they are.

I want to express my deep appreciation to our key law enforcement partners who built this investigation: HSI San Antonio and the HSI Human Smuggling Unit in Washington, D.C., along with U.S. Customs and Border Protection’s National Targeting Center; U.S. Border Patrol; ATF; the San Antonio Police Department; and the Palestine Police Department. I would also like to thank our Criminal Division trial attorneys from the Office of International Affairs and resident legal advisors from the Office of Overseas Prosecutorial Development, Assistance and Training (OPDAT) who provided significant assistance in coordinating with our foreign partners.

I also want to thank our foreign law enforcement partners, especially Guatemalan law enforcement, for their assistance with this investigation and extradition.

As I mentioned, the Department is vigorously prosecuting human smugglers to the fullest extent of the law.

The Department of Justice has been working with members of Congress to advance a proposal to increase the sentencing guidelines in such cases to accurately account for the full scope of harm that can result from human smuggling.

People around the country may not be familiar with the prevalence and seriousness of human smuggling cases. This case exemplifies why we all must pay attention. Human smuggling is dehumanizing, dangerous and it can be deadly. Smuggling victims are often subject to rape, kidnapping, extortion, exploitation and more. It will not stand.

Our resolve in tackling these crimes will not waver. Joint Task Force Alpha, along with our partners, will continue to pursue the leaders and organizers of human smuggling and trafficking networks wherever they operate, with an enhanced focus on alien smuggling and trafficking by cartels and transnational criminal organizations.

Source: United States Department of Justice

Thank you to Global Competition Review for putting together today’s program. I am grateful for the opportunity to close out what I imagine has been a full day of interesting discussions.

Let me cut to the chase. As I’m sure you are all aware, like the rest of the federal government, we at the Antitrust Division are in the midst of a transition. I know from my experience at the Division through previous transitions that these periods always raise questions about our enforcement levels and priorities going forward, about how we’ll deploy our finite resources. And I know you all are eager for answers on whether and how our enforcement priorities might shift. Of course, I won’t attempt to speak for our new and incoming leadership team at the Department, but what I can say is that I fully expect robust antitrust enforcement to continue, with cartel enforcement being no exception.

With that said, I will offer some thoughts on our recent and ongoing criminal enforcement work and our core mission.

I’ll start with a few simple truths.

First, our country relies on free markets.

Second, vigorous antitrust enforcement is essential to protect free markets and ensure that we all receive the benefits of competition.

Third, that enforcement mission has a critical criminal prosecution component. If we did not prosecute those who commit antitrust crimes like price fixing and monopolization schemes, unchecked collusion, consolidation, and anticompetitive crimes would distort our markets and raise prices — including on everyday products we all rely on, as well as for vital goods and services the government needs to ensure our national security and provide critical infrastructure. This is why areas like healthcare, defense spending, agriculture and food supply, infrastructure and housing, and technology for just a few examples, continue to be staples of our work.

So, it is not surprising that we are continuing to investigate and charge criminal cases — across a wide array of sectors and across all levels of the economy. These investigations and cases have significant impacts on key areas of public procurement and private spending.

We are not even through the first quarter of 2025, and already our statistics are tangible evidence that our enforcement is not letting up. Thus far this year, our teams have charged 15 defendants — one company and 14 individuals — and have obtained 24 guilty pleas — two from companies and 22 from individuals. I would be the first to acknowledge that numbers aren’t the whole story. Much of our work goes on behind the scenes, in a covert posture, and the public filings are merely the tip of a vast iceberg.

But the numbers can certainly tell you something about our priorities. I think you can take away two things from these statistics: first, we are not shying away from enforcement; and second, we remain deeply committed to individual accountability — never forgetting the essential, unique deterrent role that prison sentences serve.

The recent charges include a slate of guilty pleas in US v. Martinez, a case where 12 individuals were charged with using anticompetitive and violent means to monopolize the market for transmigrante forwarding services in the Los Indios, Texas, area, and to enforce a price fixing and market allocation conspiracy. The majority of defendants have now pleaded guilty, including to landmark criminal monopolization conspiracy charges.

I’ll note that it was just about three years ago when Antitrust Division officials began observing in public fora like this one that Section 2 of the Sherman Act, like Section 1, is a felony offense and that the Antitrust Division had a long and storied record — albeit interrupted by a half century of underenforcement — of prosecuting monopolization crimes. Several years ago, some may have thought it remarkable to hear from an enforcer that if the facts and the law lead us to the conclusion that a criminal charge based on Section 2 of the Sherman Act is warranted, we’ll charge it. But from where we stand today, the landscape has changed. Several years on, the Division has done exactly what was previewed: we have charged several criminal monopolization cases, using the statute as Congress wrote and intended it to punish those who seek to monopolize markets through anticompetitive means.

The charges in Martinez are also illustrative for another reason — they show that antitrust crimes occur at all levels of the economy and that antitrust crime can also occur alongside and be carried out with other crimes — including extortion and acts of violence.

Beyond Martinez, the Division’s recent guilty pleas include defendants charged with conspiracies and schemes targeting government procurement, which our teams investigated with our law enforcement partners through the Procurement Collusion Strike Force. For example, four defendants pleaded guilty to fraud and conspiracy charges arising from schemes targeting IT sales to the Department of Defense and intelligence community. Those pleas included a former government official who admitted to accepting bribes in exchange for ensuring that another defendant received government contracts at inflated prices.

And within the last month, three individuals and one company admitted to rigging bids in the Division’s ongoing investigation into widespread bid rigging and fraud targeting sports equipment for schools that has, in total, resulted in six defendants charged to date, all of whom have pleaded guilty. At least 100 schools throughout Mississippi and elsewhere have been victimized by these conspiracies. And in a different investigation, another defendant recently pleaded guilty to obstruction for destroying evidence, demonstrating yet again that we will pursue cases where defendants seek to obstruct or impede criminal or civil antitrust investigations by destroying evidence or lying to agents and enforcers.

Additional recent successes relate to our continued pursuit of bid rigging and collusion in construction and infrastructure industries. In an ongoing investigation, four individuals and a company recently admitted rigging bids for commercial roofing services in Florida — a vital industry given that safe, affordable roofing is critical to Florida communities prone to hurricanes. And two more individuals pleaded guilty in a long running investigation of bid rigging of asphalt paving services in the Detroit area. In total seven individuals and three companies have been charged and admitted guilt in that investigation.

I think it’s also worth noting that these charges continue to expose individuals to real prison sentences — leading to significant general deterrence. Take as one example the most recent criminal antitrust case that went to trial — against two executives, Greg and David Melton, who were convicted of fixing prices, rigging bids, and allocating jobs in the sale of ready-mix concrete in the Savannah, Georgia area. They were sentenced to 41 and 26 months in prison.

At that sentencing hearing — I will quote from the transcript because it is an important reminder of how courts view these violations — the judge observed that the crime of conviction was, in effect, “years of decisions that stole from the American people, from our economy.”

The judge went on to say: “That’s what antitrust is. It’s like thievery, because at the bedrock of the greatest economy in the history of the world is competition. That’s what we’ve always been founded on. I have naturalization ceremonies in our courtrooms, and I tell new citizens, welcome to the country where you have the greatest potential and opportunity that you’ll ever have, because we’re a meritocracy. You come here; you do a good job, and you can obtain anything. That’s the American dream.

When we rig a system, when we rig government or we rig the economy, we steal from that dream.

It’s very, very serious conduct; and that’s why we have serious consequences for it.”

And this is precisely why our work continues. Teams are preparing for three trials in the coming months. The first of these, scheduled to begin March 24 in Las Vegas, charges an individual with wage fixing and fraud in the healthcare industry. Next up, is another individual trial, set for April in the District of Idaho, on charges of market allocation in wildfire fighting services sold to the U.S. Forest Service, part of our ongoing work prosecuting procurement collusion through the PCSF. And in May, a team is heading to Oklahoma to try a case against two executives and a company charged with rigging bids and fixing prices in erosion control products and services for highway construction.

These cases, like so many others we have brought, have a direct impact on the livelihood of regular Americans and are a vital part of our government’s work to safeguard the public’s tax dollars. Their variety — in terms of industry and geography — reflect the breadth of our work and its importance to our country.

Beyond those cases, our covert and nonpublic work is ongoing. We have more grand jury investigations open now than at any time in my career, more than twice as many investigations as we had a decade ago. I expect to be able to share developments in some of these investigations in the near future.

In sum, our criminal enforcement work is continuing.

I want to conclude by recognizing the work that the Antitrust Division does cannot happen without its people — the beating heart of the organization. Fundamentally, the Antitrust Division is its people, who make significant sacrifices to perform their public service roles. They continue to operate at the highest level as they investigate and prosecute cases to protect American consumers and our open markets. I’m so proud of the work they do, and I remain incredibly grateful that I have the opportunity to work alongside them every day. Thank you.

Source: United States Navy

CNO discussed the Navy’s Navigation Plan and Project 33 with Adm. (Ret.) James Foggo at the 3rd annual “America’s Future Fleet Symposium,” hosted by the Naval War College Foundation and the Center for Maritime Strategy, at the Navy League Headquarters in Arlington, Va. 

 

Source: United States Navy

CNO discussed the Navy’s Navigation Plan and Project 33 with Adm. (Ret.) James Foggo at the 3rd annual “America’s Future Fleet Symposium,” hosted by the Naval War College Foundation and the Center for Maritime Strategy, at the Navy League Headquarters.

Source: United States Navy

The Expeditionary Sea Base (ESB) ship class is a highly flexible platform used across various military operations. ESB ships are mobile sea-based assets and are a part of the critical access infrastructure that supports the deployment of forces, equipment, supplies, and warfighting capability.

Source: United States Navy

Attack submarines are designed to seek and destroy enemy submarines and surface ships; project power ashore with Tomahawk cruise missiles and Special Operation Forces (SOF); carry out Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance (ISR) missions; support battle group operations; and engage in mine warfare.

Source: United States Navy

The Littoral Combat Ship (LCS) is a fast, agile, mission-focused warship designed to operate in near-shore environments to counter 21st-century threats. It is a class of small surface combatants armed with capabilities to defeat challenges in the world’s littorals. LCS can operate independently or in high-threat scenarios as part of a networked battle force that includes larger, multi-mission surface combatants such as cruisers and destroyers.

Source: United States Navy

Amphibious warships are designed to support the Marine Corps tenets of Operational Maneuver From the Sea (OMFTS) and Ship to Objective Maneuver (STOM). They must be capable of sailing in harm’s way and enable rapid combat power buildup ashore in the face of opposition. Because of their inherent capabilities, these ships have been and will continue to be called upon to also support humanitarian and other contingency missions on short notice. The United States maintains the largest and most capable amphibious force in the world.

Source: United States Navy

House Appropriations Subcommittee on Defense Holds Posture Hearing with Secretary of the Navy Carlos Del Toro, Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Mike Gilday, and Commandant of the Marine Corps Gen. David Berger on the Fiscal Year 2024 Navy and Marine Corps Budget Request, March 29, 2023.