Michael B. Cohen

Jessie Lee Miller Freed After 15-Year First Degree Murder Acquittal

August 1, 2014 | Michael B. Cohen, P.A.

Otto Wright’s first trial for felony first-degree murder ended in a mistrial when a jury couldn’t come to a unanimous decision. But his second trial ended with a guilty verdict when the previously self-proclaimed “look out” admitted that he participated in the robbery of a West Palm Beach Chick-Fil-A restaurant.

Nicholas Megrath, the 18-year old manager of the restaurant that was located at the now non-operational West Palm Beach Mall was shot and killed by one of the other culprits. But Wright’s taped confession stated that although he watched the robbery unfold and was a part of it he didn’t fire the fatal gunshot. There was no physical evidence placing him at the scene but after a seven hour interrogation by police Wright confessed to the robbery naming two of his accomplices as Terrance Watson and Darrell Howard. Watson and Howard were never accused by police or charged with the crime. A little more than five-hundred dollars in total was stolen from the store.

Wright’s lawyer argued that the confession obtained by police was given under duress and they manipulated his client by lying to him when they told him that they had physical evidence implicating him which was found at the crime scene. They also played a good cop, bad cop routine by utilizing the help of an officer who knew Wright for many years and had previously assumed the role of a father figure to him in order to a coerce Wright into confessing to his role in the robbery.

Boynton Beach Man Beats Prior Manslaughter Charge Walks Free Again

July 8, 2014 | Michael B. Cohen, P.A.

David Muringer appears to live a charmed life.

The Boynton Beach man was acquitted last month of misdemeanor battery and felony false imprisonment charges just short of a year and a half after he virtually walked away from manslaughter charges that could have cost him fifteen years in prison.

In this latest case against him his girlfriend, Robin Green, 26, told police that Muringer began to strangle her after the two of them had an argument and she tried to leave his apartment. She was able to get away from him and called 911. In this new case if convicted of both charges he would have faced to up to six years behind bars.

Although Muringer’s records show him to be a habitual offender based on Florida criminal records with over 80 arrests and eighteen felony convictions since the late twentieth century, the jury returned not guilty verdicts for both new charges after just a few hours of deliberations.

In October of 2010, patrons of a Delray Beach mall called police when they noticed a car parked behind a pizzeria leaking fluids and emanating an exceedingly bad odor. When police arrived at the scene they found the body of a woman crammed in a cardboard barrel in the back seat of the vehicle. Upon searching the car, a sales receipt for the purchase of a cell phone was found that was traced back to Muringer.

Muringer who worked as a carpenter was picked up by police and when questioned by them changed his story on a variety of occasions during his interviews regarding his girlfriend Doris Lopez who was the woman identified as the deceased.

He first told investigators that a man named Chile gave his girlfriend a half kilo of cocaine that the two of them were going to process and sell. He went on to tell them that the processed drugs were eventually determined to be of unsaleable quality causing Ms. Lopez to dump it. He supposedly remembered that later that week an unidentified man stopped by their apartment asking for her car keys.

However, investigators had little regard for his account and ultimately found the story to be false. He later admitted that the story he told them was indeed fictitious.

During further course of the investigation, Muringer then told detectives that Lopez went on a four-day bender, ingesting booze, coke and prescription drugs. After leaving her at the apartment and returning after approximately an hour he found her dead. He then told the investigators that he panicked because of all the drugs present in the apartment. He went on to tell them that after leaving her in bed for two days he placed her in the cardboard barrel and dumped her remains in Delray Beach, taking a bus back home after the deed was done.
As the investigation continued, detectives debunked his latest tale as well, and Muringer came up with a final alternative scenario, telling them that she was killed during an episode of rough sex.

This time he admitted to choking her during a sexual episode until she was out cold. He went on to say that he then went out for a while, only to return to find her lifeless body. He maintained that the part of his previous tale, when he told them that he left her in her bed for two days was true; before moving the body to where it was found by police.

But during the week-long trial, testifying on his own behalf Muringer said that it was another man that was responsible for his girlfriend’s death. He admitted to disposing of and the removal of the body but blamed the actual killing on a man named Thomas Byrd who he said was a friend of his.

During closing arguments, Muringer’s court appointed assistant public defender pointed suspicion on Byrd, who testified that his friend originally asked him to dispose of Lopez’s body. The defense lawyer also said the discovery of Lopez’s body alone wasn’t enough for them to convict his client of manslaughter. He was quoted as saying “To convict a man of manslaughter, you have got to bring more than this. Because this is how innocent people get convicted.”

After deliberations were concluded the jury told Circuit Judge Charles Burton that they were divided on the prosecution’s appeal for a conviction for manslaughter. But they did find Muringer guilty of the two misdemeanor counts of unlawful disposal of human remains as well as the charge of culpable negligence. Those convictions are punishable by up to sixty days in jail which literally let him walk out of court a free man as he spent more than that amount of time in jail awaiting trial. As previously pointed out, a conviction for manslaughter carries a sentence of up to fifteen years in prison as a second-degree felony.

The two prosecutors in the case told the judge that Muringer could still possibly face other charges before his release but the judge let Muringer know that if the prosecution does not bring forth any other charges deputies would be setting him free shortly with his only punishment being time served.

Deported Gay Honduran Man Fights to Return to the US to Gain Asylum

July 1, 2014 | Michael B. Cohen, P.A.

Italo Morales had lived in Hollywood, Florida for nearly ten years after he fled his native Honduras in 2005. Morales, now 27 years old is gay. He left Honduras nearly ten years ago, following his partner who also bolted from the country due to the violence against the small gay community that survives there on a daily basis.

As a country, Honduras can boast to being the murder capital of the world. The homicide rate is an alarmingly high ratio of almost one individual per every one thousand annually; earning this reprehensible label and nearly doubling its closest rival in this tragic classification, according to the United Nations. Venezuela stands at number two with a murder rate which is still at a chilling 0.5 persons per thousand. To put the above statistics into perspective, the United States has approximately one twentieth the total amount of annual homicides compared to Honduras, according to the FBI’s annual Uniform Crime Report.

Over the past five years, nearly one hundred gay persons have been murdered in the Central American Country. But nobody knows exactly how many actual murders of LGBT individuals have been committed, as being openly gay only adds to the possibility of a death sentence causing most of those with that sexual orientation to live there in the shadows.

When Morales entered the United States ten years ago it was shortly after the US changed policy in 1994 to allow people to seek asylum based on their sexual orientation. Morales took advantage of the change in policy leaving his homeland and entering the U.S. He has been seeking legal asylum ever since and was allowed to remain here under the condition that he wore an ankle bracelet.

After his arrival he found work at a Colombian restaurant in the neighboring area and had no work-related problems reported. Over the past ten years he lived a quiet life as explained by his partner Santos Quintilla.

Quintilla reportedly told the New Times “Basically what his life consisted of was going to work and coming back home and maybe the occasional weekend outing.” He also told the publication that when Honduras constitutionally barred same-sex marriage as well as adoptions by same-sex couples that was personally enough to make him leave the country.

Italo left soon after he did seeking asylum and a better life. He also mentioned during the interview, which was given in Spanish that “People like Italo don’t do well in places like Honduras. They get beat up and sometimes killed.”

Violence against gays specifically has accelerated since a coup d’état in 2009 which led to the ouster and exile of then-president Zelaya. The coup directed a suspension of many civil liberties as well as the imposition of curfews. The torture and killing of persons living in Honduras, within the LGBT community vastly increased since the change in regime. It has been alleged that some of the murders have even been committed by the nation’s police.

Morales’s wearing of an ankle bracelet was the effect of a federal pilot program that was initiated in 2003 to diminish the ongoing problem of the nationwide overcrowding of prisons and the cost to taxpayers that went into the millions while ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) was holding undocumented immigrants who were awaiting asylum cases to be heard. The program continued and is still active today.

In Morales’s case, he was living what’s been termed “a regular life” when he was summoned to appear in Immigration Court this past March. The reason for the call was to check his ankle bracelet that appeared to be malfunctioning due to its battery running low. After his appearance in court, he was deported to his native country within a few days. News reports were sketchy at best for the reasons he was sent back to Honduras.

Right now, Morales is said to be in Mexico after journeying north in an attempt to re-enter the United States. He is trying to gather enough funds to acquire assistance for finding a way to get across the border, according to informed sources. Latest reports establish that at the time of the writing of this article, he could be found just south of El Paso, Texas.

But even if he does make it across, with or without help, he intends to continue his journey until he reaches his ultimate destination of Hollywood, Florida. However, when also interviewed by the New Times his lawyer explained that as an officer of the court, he’d have no choice but to hand him over to immigration officials if he came to his office.

But, the attorney believes that his client has a solid case. He was quoted as saying “It’s a very good case, according to case law,” and believes that if he can prove that it’s likely his client could face injury or death if again sent back to Honduras, there’s a good chance asylum may be granted. He also stated that proving those facts shouldn’t be too difficult.

To find out more about this topic, and read more about it, click here to go to the Immigration page on my Website.

Owner/Operator of South Florida Home Health Firm Pleads Guilty to Paying Health Care Kickbacks

June 24, 2014 | Michael B. Cohen, P.A.

Nestor’s Health Services, Inc. is now non-operational. This seems to be the story with most articles I’ve featured on my blog dealing with Health Care Fraud that’s taken place in the South Florida area over the past year. The word “defunct” seems to come up a lot.

With this latest article, the total amount of money I’ve reported which has been reimbursed by Medicare for fraudulent billing is fast approaching the $100 million dollar mark. But in all fairness, one of the stories posted here involved a reimbursement of $33 million by itself. So when Cruz Sonia Collado, the owner/operator of Nestor’s admitted to swindling Medicare out of $6.5 Million it seemed to be a small portion of the overall pot.

And that’s just a minuscule cut of the more than $100 billion (with a B) dollars in fraudulent claims paid out by Medicare to the dark side of the health care industry on an annual basis. And those in the know say that the actual total may be three times that amount.

But even looking at the big picture, the government still doesn’t take kindly to instances of finding owners of Home Health Care Companies ripping off the federal health insurance program.

This particular case handed down justice rather quickly. It was only three months ago when federal authorities, in a nation-wide sting charged fifty residents of the Sunshine State for various Medicare fraud swindles. The total amount of persons charged across the country added up to ninety, of which sixteen were doctors, leaving South Florida Health Care Executives and associated workers as the area with the most, accounting for more than half of the suspects that were rounded up in May.

Tallying it up, twenty-six individual criminal cases were files with a total of close to seventy- million dollars in fraudulent Medicare claims involved. Cruz Sonia Collado was one of the many caught in the widespread net.

Yesterday, Collado pleaded guilty to one count each of conspiracy to offer and pay health care kickbacks and offering and paying health care kickbacks in front of U.S. District Judge Robert N. Scola in Florida Federal Court. The sum of the submissions to Medicare by Collado’s company totaled $6.5 million of which $6.1 million was paid out over a five year period between 2009 and this current year.

The investigation was conducted by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) in tandem with the Office of Inspector General, Department of Health & Human Services (HHS-OIG) and was brought as part of the Medicare Fraud Strike Force. Locally, it was under the direction of the Criminal Division’s Fraud Section as well as the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Florida.

Since the Medicare Fraud Strike Force was sanctioned seven years ago, it has charged more than 1,800 suspects who have as a group fraudulently billed Medicare for over $6 billion.

To find out more about this topic, and read more about it, click here to go to the general Fraud Cases page on my Website.

To read about my qualifications and what you should do if you are arrested and charged with this or any other crime, click here.

There are a myriad of fraud cases which can be bought in both the State and federal Courts for instance, fraud can be charged as a simple third degree felony in Florida for which a defendant can face up to five years maximum in jail or the fraudulent conduct involved may be charged as an organized scheme to defraud and depending on the amount involved may result in a statutory maximum punishment of 15 or 30 years in jail

In the federal courts fraud can be brought under the mail fraud, wire fraud securities fraud or bank, mortgage or housing fraud statutes. The elements of such crimes can be based upon a scheme to defraud where the wires (i.e. telephone computers and the like) are used or mail fraud (where the mail is used to perpetuate the fraud). Securities fraud charges can result from pump and dump schemes where based on false information an individual may circulate fraudulent news on the internet about a stock to “pump” up its value and then dump it after he has purchased the inflated stock at a discounted value well before the majority of investors are hurt while the fraudulent actor makes out “like a bandit” with the profit from the grossly inflated stock price.

To read other articles on this topic posted on my blog, click here
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Staten Island Man Charged with Double Murder

February 5, 2014 | Michael B. Cohen, P.A.

Two Staten Island men fought for their lives but their assailant finally won out when he shot each of the men, one in the head, the other in the leg and torso. The victims of the attack, Kenrick Gray, 34, and Noland (DJ) Whistleton, 41, both died of their injuries a short time later after police responded to an emergency 911 call that conveyed the shooting which occurred on Park Hill Avenue. The call came in at 6:17 p.m. Gray who was shot in the head was pronounced dead on arrival at Richmond University Medical Center and Whistleton suffered the same fate when his lifeless body arrived at Staten Island University Hospital shortly after the violence concluded.

Gray, of Stapleton, may well have had an inadvertent hand in the events that transpired which led to the attack that caused his death and that of Whistleton. A few years ago he won a settlement against the City of New York that totaled $132,500.00 from a federal civil rights lawsuit. The city shelled out $125,000.00 and police officer Michael Daragjati had to personally pay $7,500.00. Additionally, the police officer is in the midst of serving an almost 5 year prison sentence for violating Gray’s rights as well as a conviction for an unconnected case. He had numerous other civil-rights grievances lodged against him at the time of the settlement.

According to court documents, the police officer arrested Gray in early April 2011 because he protested about being stopped and frisked in a “rough” manner at the intersection of Laurel Avenue and Targee Street in Staten Island. The following day, an intercepted phone conversation caught the police officer, speaking to an associate saying that he had “fried another [n-word].” This condemning statement led to the settlement in tandem by the City and personally by the police officer.

Unfortunately, Gray was not tight-lipped about his monetary windfall.

As has been par for the course this year in the Metropolitan area, it was a snowy night when Darren “True Story” Brown, 27 of Mariner’s Harbor, confronted Gray and Whistleton. He apparently heard the story of Gray’s good fortune and decided that Gray was a prime target for a robbery. After approaching the two men and pulling his gun, the two victims’ began to fight with their attacker, trying to separate Brown’s firearm from his person. Brown suffered a gunshot wound but law enforcement believe that it may have been self-inflicted during the scuffle and in the end he remained the only one of the three men still breathing.

Although Gray was the victim of the robbery he was well-known in the neighborhood to be a small-time drug dealer. According to police records he had twenty-two drug related arrests.

Brown was arrested and indicted a few days later after being found hiding in the shower of his girlfriend’s home by the Staten Island Warrants Unit. It wasn’t known if he made off with any money that Gray might have been carrying during the fatal shootout.

He now faces a potential penalty of life in prison if convicted of the first-degree murder charges in the double homicide. He was also charged with attempted robbery. He pleaded not guilty to all charges through his attorney.

According to silive.com (Staten Island Live Online), Whistleton’s sister said that he and Gray were friends. Her brother just happened to be “in the wrong place at the wrong time.”

“My brother, he tried to save Kendrick, and that’s how he ended up getting shot,” as shown on the online news source. “Knowing my brother, knowing how he is, he wasn’t going to stand there.”

A source close to the investigation told the New York Post that Gray had spoken about using the money he made from the settlement to start a music business.

In a telephone interview, a female relative said “Word gets around about that type of thing… People knew he had a little money and he just wasn’t as quiet about it as he should have been… it’s just sad.”

New Jersey Pharmacist Charged for Federal Healthcare Program Anti-Kickback Scheme

January 10, 2014 | Michael B. Cohen, P.A.

Vladimir Kleyman, 42, a pharmacist and president of a compounding pharmacy in Lakewood, N.J., was charged by New Jersey authorities with being in violation of the federal healthcare program anti-kickback statute.

A compounding pharmacy is defined as a pharmacy where certain manufactured products are mixed to fit the distinctive necessities of certain patients’ requirements. This is achieved by the pharmacist combining suitable ingredients using several diverse tools. These medications are usually prepared for reasons of medical necessity. Examples of this process are altering a form of an existing medicine from a solid item such as a pill to a liquefied product also avoiding any non-essential ingredients that may cause an allergic reaction. This process is also used for obtaining exact dosages required or considered to be the best combination of a precise active ingredient or varying ingredients. The process can also be done for the purpose of adding a flavor or altering a texture of a specific prescription.

According to U.S. Attorney Paul J. Fishman’s office, Kleyman was arrested after being found to be in cahoots with a doctor from Toms River, N.J with one of his employees acting as an agent for the transactions. He is charged with paying the physician more than $50,000 in kick, encouraging him to refer prescriptions to his pharmacy.

Kleyman’s pharmacy, Prescriptions R US, also located in Lakewood utilized a middle-man to deliver recurring payments in cash that totaled into amounts of five figures to a N.J. doctor during a time frame of numerous months.

Mr. Kleyman appeared in Newark federal court in front of U.S. Magistrate Judge James Clark III on January 9 after an Indictment was unsealed containing allegations of his delivery of cash payments amounting to totals of no less than tens of thousands of dollars. The Indictment went on to specify that commencing in February of last year, Kleyman provided bribes in the amount of at least $50,000 in checks or cash by way of an individual in his employ who delivered the funds to a physician for the purpose of having the doctor authorize referral prescriptions, specifically for a pain cream made up of a blend of Ketamine, a Schedule III non-narcotic, Diclofenac, and Lidocaine as well as other compounded components which were prepared at Kleyman’s pharmacy, Prescriptions R US.

The complaint revealed the names of sixty-three patients that the pain cream had been prescribed for that was sent by the physician. The computer-generated list included at least 33 of 63 patients that were Medicare beneficiaries. The form was prepared by Kleyman or another individual who he employed or worked with in the scheme. Prescriptions R US did receive reimbursements from Medicare for the billing of more than $40,000 of the prescriptions which were referred by the induced physician separately and apart from other funds the pharmacy acquired from additional insurance providers from the health care industry.

Moreover, according to the complaint, in November and December 2013 there were a sequence of meetings held when the unnamed employee was given in excess of fifty thousand dollars in checks or cash from either Mr. Kleyman or his wife who also is an employee of the pharmacy knowing that the greater part of those funds were to be used to tempt the physician into accepting bribes for the purpose of referring the prescriptions to Prescriptions R US.

A conviction of the charges can levy a fine of up to twenty-five thousand dollars and a term of up to five years in prison.

24-count Indictment Reveals Widespread NYC Construction Industry Corruption

December 31, 2013 | Michael B. Cohen, P.A.

Indictment, Arrests and Sentencing
A three-year investigation looking into widespread commercial bribery and fraud in the electrical contracting industry led by the Inspector General for the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey jointly with the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office exposed the involvement of fifteen New York area companies and seventeen individuals as part of a 24-count indictment charging those involved with paying and receiving bribes, as well as falsifying business records.

In early December, two officers of Long Island City-based IG Federal Electrical Supply Corporation entered into a Deferred Prosecution Agreement. Chief Executive Officer and Vice President of Operations, Ira Friedman, 52, of Larchmont, pleaded guilty to falsifying business records. Friedmam falsely categorized as expenses; in excess of $1 million of their salaries. Consequently, by under-reporting the company payroll records through this salary scheme, IGF underpaid the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (Local 3) employee benefit fund by approximately $150,000.

Furthermore, the company acknowledged violating New York State Law by committing commercial bribery, fraud, and theft for disbursing bribes to purchasing agents of electrical contracting companies and receiving kickbacks from purchasing agents, in addition to fraudulently filing paperwork claiming to be a woman-owned business (WOSB Program). According to the U.S. Small business Association, filing a company as a “woman-owned business” offers certain advantages. The Federal government is required to award five percent of its subcontract and prime monies to these businesses. The Program sanctions contracting officers to limit competition setting aside various requirements for competition, specifically among small businesses owned by women.

Sentencing for Friedman is anticipated to be carried out in late January 2014. He is expected to pay approximately $260,000 in back taxes and forfeit $650,000 in addition to serving six months in prison.

Two weeks after the Friedman’s sentence was decided, Alan Brite, 65, of Huntington, the president of Benfield Electric Supply Company, Inc. in the Bronx, was charged with disbursing bribes to purchasers at a number of companies to gain business, including raising the price of bids to Unity Electric Company with the intention of paying a kickback to Donald Russo, 54, of Huntington, who was a purchasing agent for that company, according to Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance Jr.

Benfield Data Company and Benfield Controls which are divisions of the Benfield Electrical Supply Company by itself and together with Brite are now charged with an assortment of felonies and misdemeanors. Mr. Brite is personally charged with two counts of the class C felony: Grand Larceny in the Second Degree, three counts of the Class E felony: Falsifying Business Records in the First Degree as well as three counts and one count respectively of the class A misdemeanors: Commercial Bribery in the Second Degree, and Commercial Bribe Receiving in the Second Degree.

Donald Russo, 54, of Syosset, NY, thought he had it all figured out. As a purchasing agent for Unity he was the recipient of the bribes paid by Brite’s firm as well as those with the ability to do so from other companies in the construction industry. He didn’t know that an investigation was underway until he and his company were jointly indicted two weeks ago

Russo’s Bar Electrical, located in Plainview, NY is a shell company that was exclusively set up to accept bribes, according to the District Attorney’s office.

According to the Indictment, as his take for steering contracts to them, Russo received more than $600,000 from five separate electrical supply companies, including Brite’s company during the years of 2008 through 2012. Prosecutors explained that Russo would bloat the costs of contracts he was in charge of so that a percentage of the proceeds were directed his way in exchange for permitting Unity’s business to be the recipient of companies that would agree to the inflated terms.

Russo was charged with five counts of falsifying business records, two counts and four counts respectively of grand larceny and offering a false instrument for filing, three counts of receiving commercial bribes, as well as four counts of criminal tax fraud.

US Organized Gang Violence: MS-13 Member Gets Life Sentence plus 60 Years

November 28, 2013 | Michael B. Cohen, P.A.

The name they use sounds like they could be a secret government agency or espionage unit but in reality MS-13 is a ferocious, violent street gang with its roots established in Los Angeles via Central America which has been infiltrating many U.S. cities over the past three decades.

It was just a few months ago, in early September when one of their members, Adalberto Ariel Guzman, a/k/a Gringo was convicted for the 2010 murder of Vanessa Argueta, a 19-year-old mother along with her 2-year-old son Diego Torres in Central Islip, New York. Guzman, 21, bolted to El Salvador after the shooting but was arrested when he reentered the United States later that same year. A total of twenty-five members and acquaintances of the gang were charged in a 70-count indictment in March 2011 that led to his conviction. According to prosecutors, Guzman shot the woman for the sole reason that he believed she had shown disrespect toward the gang. The child was killed simply for being with his mother at the wrong place at the wrong time. Guzman was the last of three defendants in this particular case, the others being Heriberto Martinez, and Rene Mendez Mejia who were previously convicted for their role in the mob-style murders.

Last week, Carlos Ortega, a/k/a Silencio, a leader of the Sitios Locos Salvatruchas faction of MS-13 received a life sentence plus sixty years for all counts listed in an indictment against him including murder, conspiracy relating to racketeering, as well as assault with dangerous weapons, and related firearms and conspiracy charges. The sentence was handed down in the Central Islip federal courthouse following a six-week trial concluding with Ortega’s conviction, this past March 21.

MS-13, the known pseudonym for Mara Salvatrucha or MS for short, was founded in Los Angeles’s Pico-Union neighborhood in 1980 by immigrants from the Central American country of El Salvador. The word “Mara” refers to the Spanish word for gang and “Salvatrucha” is a term noted in Spanish slang as a Salvadoran army ant. Another rendition of the word Salvatrucha translates to Salvadoran peasant guerrilla which was a good part of who the gang’s early manpower consisted of.

The reference to the number 13 in MS-13 is credited to the gang “Los Emes” shortened in English to “The M’s” which is the thirteenth letter of the alphabet. The M’s were a similar gang that also originated in Los Angeles.

Besides operating in numerous cities in the United States, the gang has offshoots’ mostly in Central America but has also been known to operate in South America and Canada as well. They were originally fashioned to safeguard Salvadoran immigrants from rival Mexican gangs that were victimizing them and were made up of Salvadorans, Guatemalans, Hondurans, and Nicaraguans. They have been branded the most dangerous and violent gang in the United States, as well as one of the most organized. Over the years they have been considered to be the only street gang of their type that can be mirrored to a true organized crime enterprise.

The gang’s strongholds have generally been on the West Coast and in Southwest cities but over the past decade their influence has widened on the East Coast to New York including its suburb of Long Island, Washington DC, Maryland, Virginia, Georgia and Florida. Midway through the first decade of the twenty-first century it was believed that their membership had grown in excess of 50,000 members.

After catching the attention of federal law enforcement agencies, an initiative named Operation Community Shield was set up as a joint effort by the FBI and ICE. In 2005 during the first year of operation OCS was responsible for more than 600 arrests against suspected gang member throughout the United States including many from MS-13 and in 2005 began a campaign of cracking down on the growing street gang. Since then, thousands of gang members, many of them members of MS-13, have been rounded up, arrested and convicted of crimes relating to diverse varieties of street violence and murder.

But in the case against “Gringo” and “Silencio” it was investigations led by the FBI Long Island Gang Task Force, which was comprised of officers and agents of the Nassau County Police Department and Sheriff’s Department, along with the Suffolk County Sheriff’s Department and Department of Probation as well as the Rockville Centre Police Department that led to the downfall of Adalberto Ariel Guzman who awaits sentencing in January for his conviction, for the two murders that was powerfully described as “brutal, cold-blooded executions.” by United States District Judge Joseph F. Bianco, and Carlos Ortega who’s conviction resulted in the life sentence plus 60 years for the “heinous acts of violence in the name of MS-13, cutting a swath of murder from Brentwood to Far Rockaway, all within the span of a few weeks,” as stated by U.S. Attorney Lynch.

Iranian National Sentenced in Manhattan Federal Court for Export Conspiracy

November 25, 2013 | Michael B. Cohen, P.A.

The International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA), sanctioned in October 1977, is a United States federal law empowering the regulation of commerce after a National emergency is declared in reaction to any uncommon and/or extraordinary threat to the Nation which originates from a non-American (foreign) source.

Subsequent to the terrorist attacks which included the bombing of the World Trade Center in New York City and the Pentagon in Washington, D.C., President George W. Bush enacted an Executive Order under the IEEPA to block assets of any persons or organizations deemed to have terrorist ties. He delegated blocking powers led by the U.S. Treasury to various federal agencies.

Additionally, in 2006, the United Nations Security Council passed a Resolution to impose sanctions on Iran after the government refused to suspend its uranium enrichment program.

On October 3, 2012, Seyed Ghorashi Sarvestani, an Iranian National, was arrested under the IEEPA. He pled guilty for conspiring to export merchandise from the U.S. to Iran on May 8 of this year and was sentenced to 30 months in federal prison this week in front of U.S. District Judge Paul G. Gardephe who also accepted his guilty plea. Among the items that were transported abroad over the past 7 years was sensitive satellite-related equipment that Sarvestani had been exporting through his companies. In addition to the two and one half year period of incarceration Sarvestani was also fined $100,000 and commanded to forfeit $54,000. He was also ordered to pay a $100 special assessment by Judge Gardephe.

According to a press release published by the Department of Justice, the Complaint, specifies, that the Information to which Sarvestani pled guilty and the testimony delivered during the action against him is as follows.

“Sarvestani, an Iranian national, was an owner of, and served as a managing director and director of, two related companies based in the United Arab Emirates. In that capacity, he worked with others to export electronic equipment used for satellite communications and data transfer, as well as other goods, from the United States to Iran, without the requisite approval from the U.S. Department of Treasury, Office of Foreign Assets Control.

Sarvestani and others conspired to acquire satellite technology and hardware from a supplier based in the United States, for shipment to Iran. To conceal the true destination of the goods from the U.S. supplier, Sarvestani and his co-conspirators arranged for the items to be shipped first to the United Arab Emirates and subsequently shipped to Iran.”

Sarvestani’s actions are a clear violation of the Iran Trade Embargo. Similar cases prosecuted this year involving the transport and the exporting of American manufactured industrial products to Iran include an indictment by a federal grand jury of Ali Saboonchi, 32, a United States citizen from Parkville, Maryland, who was partnering with Arash Rashti Mohammad, 31, an Iranian resident.

Saboonchi, through his companies shipped merchandise to the United Arab Emirates (UAE) which was then relayed to Iran. Selected items that were shipped are described as cyclone separators which are used in the refining process of oil. They also exported thermocouples which are used to measure the temperatures of gas and oil products. Mohammad was stationed in the United Arab Emirates. He and Saboonchi conspired to create Saboonchi’s company, Ace Electric, for the purpose of selling the prohibited goods using the UAE as a transit point before they continued on to buyers in Iran.

The International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) was raised in other cases dealing with foreign governments over the past two decades including the countries listed below:
Myanmar, since 1997 for its repression of democratic opposition, the Sudan, since 1997 for human rights violations and sponsoring terrorism, Russia, which was initiated in 2000 to prevent export of weapons-grade uranium, Zimbabwe, since 2003 for the destabilization of democratic institutions, Syria, since 2004 for funding and support of terrorism and later for abuses of human rights, Belarus, since 2006 for undermining democratic organizations and North Korea, since 2008 for displaying the risk of the proliferation of weapon-usable fissile material

In the Sarvestani case, Preet Bharara, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York praised the investigative work of the New York Offices of the FBI, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Homeland Security Investigations, the Defense Criminal Investigative Service of the Department of Defense, and the Office of Export Enforcement. He also expressed thanks to U.S. Customs and Border Protection for their help with the investigation.

Real Housewives Cast Members Charged With Mortgage Fraud and Related Charges

November 23, 2013 | Michael B. Cohen, P.A.

Conflict and personal drama are the traditional themes in the programming of reality TV shows. These television shows have become exceedingly popular since the onset of the twenty-first century and can be found on the major television networks as well as those viewed on cable TV. They deal with a theme of unscripted situations and actual happenings and usually feature a cast that was previously unfamiliar to the viewer.

The Real Housewives of New Jersey which can be seen on the Bravo network is an offshoot of the original show; the Real Housewives of Orange County. The inspiration for these shows was the fictional Desperate Housewives which first appeared on ABC in 2004. Other spinoffs include The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills, The Real Housewives of Atlanta, and those from many other American cities. Most of these shows have aired for multiple seasons, and are in production for future episodes with many new major cities targeted to host them.

In a case of life imitating art, two of the members of the New Jersey rendition of the show have found their own illustrations of personal drama and conflict.

U.S. Attorney Paul J. Fishman announced that two cast members of the show, Giuseppe (Joe) Giudice, 43, and his wife Teresa Giudice, 41 have been indicted on bankruptcy fraud and bank fraud which are federal offenses. A federal grand jury returned a 39-count indictment in which they were named. The indictment also carried charges of conspiracy to commit mail and wire fraud, and making false statements on loan applications. Additionally, the indictment charges that Giuseppe Giudice meaningfully did not file tax returns for the four year period of 2004 through 2008. It is alleged that Mr. Giudice earned close to $1 million during that time-frame.

The charges the couple faces were allegedly enacted between September 2001 and late 2008. Throughout that time period, the couple from Towaco, New Jersey, submitted fraudulent mortgage and loan applications, according to the indictment. One example demonstrated that in 2001, in an attempt to defraud the lender, Mrs. Giudice applied for a mortgage loan in an amount exceeding $120,000. She allegedly submitted fabricated pay stubs and falsified W-2 forms. She listed her occupational title as an executive assistant which was also a bogus claim. Also included in the indictment are charges of precise occasions where the couple was guilty of loan application fraud and bank fraud during the time they obtained loans from a number of banks.

The two are also accused of not divulging assets when they petitioned for bankruptcy in 2009. In October of that year they filed for Chapter Seven bankruptcy protection. Included in those effects was the non-disclosure of truthful facts and figures regarding rental properties, businesses they owned, and Mrs. Giudice’s actual compensation from the television show’s broadcasts.

Being convicted of any of the charges against them convey steep punishments A conviction for loan application fraud and bank fraud hold a penalty of a $1 million fine as well as each count carrying a maximum potential penalty of 30 years of incarceration. The fine for conspiracy to commit wire and/or mail fraud is $250,000 and each count carries a maximum prospective penalty of 20 years behind bars. The bankruptcy fraud carries a maximum penalty of five years in prison for each count and a $250,000 fine. In regard to failing to file tax returns, the penalties carry maximums of one year in prison for each count as well as a fine of $100,000.

Unrelated to the fraud charges, Mr. Giudice is also awaiting trial for charges of impersonation and wrongfully using identification information of another individual. According to NJ.com he was arrested in 2011 and faces up to 10 years of incarceration if convicted of those unrelated charges. The case against him alleges that he used his brother’s identity to attain a driver’s license. In this separate action, Giudice has rebutted any misconduct.

To make matters worse at the time, the couple was hit with two additional charges of loan application fraud and bank fraud, adding two more counts to the indictment that was raised against them in July.