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Casino magnate Sheldon Adelson dies at 87

Posted on by kmurali@biometrica.com

By a Biometrica staffer

Sheldon Adelson, the casino magnate who helped turn Las Vegas into a convention capital, died on Monday night from complications related to non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma. Adelson was 87.

He went from a teenager selling newspapers on a street corner to becoming a successful entrepreneur. Adelson founded Las Vegas Sands, an internationally renowned developer and operator of integrated resorts.

“In Las Vegas, Macao and Singapore, Mr. Adelson’s vision for integrated resorts transformed the industry, changed the trajectory of the company he founded, and reimagined tourism in each of those markets.  His impact on the industry will be everlasting,” the company said in a statement on its website.

Las Vegas Sands, which created the meetings, incentives, convention and exhibition (MICE)-based integrated resort, operates iconic properties like the Marina Bay Sands in Singapore, and the Venetian and Sands Expo in Las Vegas.

“Mr. Adelson was the first employee of Las Vegas Sands – “Team Member Number One” he liked to say.  Today, more than 50,000 Sands team members have Dr. Adelson and the entire Adelson family in their thoughts and prayers and are grateful to have had their lives touched by a true force of nature,” the company added about its chairman and CEO, who had either started or been involved in over 50 different enterprises through his life.

When the pandemic disrupted daily routines and dramatically impacted his business, Adelson was adamant that his ‘Team Members’ across the globe continue to receive full pay and health care benefits, even while the buildings in which they worked were closed, Las Vegas Sands said.

“Sheldon was the love of my life… He was my soulmate… Visit any of our hotels and you will immediately notice the extraordinarily high ceilings, exquisitely designed by Sheldon at a sacrifice of lucrative space. He wanted all of our guests – no matter their means – to feel like kings, to breathe free in gorgeous tranquility,” his wife Dr Miriam Adelson said in a statement.

The family asks for privacy as they mourn Adelson’s passing, Las Vegas Sands added.

US Capitol Hill police officer dies of injuries from riot

Posted on by kmurali@biometrica.com

By a Biometrica staffer

A US Capitol Police officer died from injuries sustained while physically engaging with rioters who descended on the Capitol the day before, the US Capitol Police (USCP) said in a statement.

The officer, Brian D. Sicknick, was the fourth member of the force to be killed in the line of duty since its founding two centuries ago, the New York Times reported. Officer Sicknick joined the USCP in July 2008, and most recently served in the Department’s First Responder’s Unit.

He was responding to the riots on Wednesday, January 6, 2021, at the US Capitol and was injured while physically engaging with protesters. He returned to his division office and collapsed. He was taken to a local hospital where he succumbed to his injuries.

It was the fifth fatality linked to the chaos that engulfed the nation’s capital, the New York Times report said, citing authorities. The Capitol Police force is charged solely with protecting the Capitol and surrounding grounds, New York Times said in its report. Over the course of two centuries, the force has evolved, its mission shifting and growing with the nature of the threats to the institution.

In the statement, the Capitol Police expressed its deepest sympathies to Officer Sicknick’s family and friends for their loss. His death will be investigated by the Metropolitan Police Department’s Homicide Branch, the USCP, and other federal partners.

Hundreds of law enforcement officers from scores of agencies lined the streets to pay tribute to their fallen comrade late on Thursday. They stood in lines on Constitution Avenue and 3rd Street, saluting in silence as a police motorcade for Officer Sicknick passed through the city, according to videos from local reporters at the scene.

Lawmakers in both chambers and from both parties vowed to find out how those responsible for Capitol security had allowed a violent mob to infiltrate the building. Three of Congress’s top security officials — Capitol Police Chief Steven A. Sund, House Sergeant at Arms Paul D. Irving and Senate Sergeant at Arms Michael C. Stenger — announced their resignations on Thursday.

“This tragic loss is a reminder of the bravery of the law enforcement who protect us every day,” Representative Tim Ryan of Ohio, a Democrat who runs the House Appropriations subcommittee that oversees the Capitol Police’s budget, said in a Tweet on Friday.

Officials have said that about 50 police officers were injured as the mob swarmed barricades, threw objects, battered doors, smashed windows and overwhelmed some of the officers who tried to resist the advancing crowd.

The Capitol Police reported 14 arrests during the incursion, including two people accused of assaulting a police officer. The local police arrested dozens of others, mostly in connection with unlawful entry and violations of the city’s Wednesday night curfew.

Samuel Little, America’s most prolific serial killer is dead

Posted on by kmurali@biometrica.com

By a Biometrica staffer

The man authorities say was the most prolific serial killer in US history with nearly 60 confirmed victims died on Wednesday, the Associated Press reported.

Samuel Little was 80, and had diabetes, heart trouble and other ailments. He died at a California hospital, according to the state Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation. Little was serving a life sentence for multiple counts of murder.

A career criminal who had been in and out jail for decades, he denied he’d ever killed anyone for years. Then, in 2018, he opened up to Texas Ranger James Holland, who had been asked to question him about a killing it turned out Little didn’t commit. During roughly 700 hours of interviews, however, Little provided details of scores of slayings only the killer would know.

He even provided Holland with dozens of paintings and drawings of his victims, sometimes scribbling their names when he could remember them, as well as details such as the year and location of the murder and where he’d dumped the body.

California corrections department spokeswoman Vicky Waters said there was no sign of foul play in Little’s death, and the cause will be determined by a coroner.

By the time of his death, Little had confessed to killing 93 people between 1970 and 2005. The numbers dwarf those of Green River killer Gary Ridgeway (49), John Gacy (33) and Ted Bundy (36).

Most of the slayings took place in Florida and Southern California. Authorities, who continue to investigate his claims, said they have confirmed nearly 60 killings and have no reason to doubt the others.

“Nothing he’s ever said has been proven to be wrong or false,” Holland told the CBS news magazine “60 Minutes” in 2019.

Almost all of Little’s victims were women, many of them prostitutes, drug addicts or poor people living on the edges of society. They were individuals, he said he believed, who would leave few people behind to look for them and not much evidence for police to follow.

Indeed, local authorities in states across the country initially classified many of the deaths as accidents, drug overdoses or the result of unknown causes.

Little strangled most of his victims, usually soon after meeting them during chance encounters.

His last killing was in 2005, he said, in Tupelo, Mississippi. He also killed people in Tennessee, Texas, Ohio, Kentucky, Nevada, Arkansas and other states. Kentucky authorities finally caught up with him in 2012 after he was arrested on drug charges and his DNA linked him to three California killings.

When he began recounting the other slayings, authorities were astounded at how much he remembered. His paintings, they said, indicated he had a photographic memory.

Maryland man guilty of diverting Afghan reconstruction funds

Posted on by kmurali@biometrica.com

By a Biometrica staffer

A man from Maryland pleaded guilty to his role in a scheme that involved diverting hundreds of thousands of dollars meant for the reconstruction of Afghanistan for his own use instead, the Department of Justice said in a statement.

Oyetayo Fagbenro admitted to filing a false document with the State Department for one of the grants he had received towards reconstruction efforts in Afghanistan, in which he stated he had spent all the funds properly and needed more to finish the project.

Fagbenro admitted he was awarded three grants to build media centers at Afghan universities, as part of the US’ continuing efforts in Afghan reconstruction. As part of his guilty plea, he also stated that between September 2010 and August 2012 he received around $6.9 million in advances for part of the work on the projects.

He further admitted that in that same period he sent roughly $1.38 million from Afghan accounts funded by the State Department to persons he knew and entities he controlled in the US and other countries, all outside of Afghanistan.

About $775,000 of the funds he sent outside Afghanistan went to relatives, friends, and corporate entities he controlled with no connection to the purposes of the grants. In December 2012, Fagbenro filed the document seeking more funds.

His sentencing has been scheduled for February 12, 2021, before Chief Judge Howell.

Interpol issues global alert on mafia threat to covid-19 vaccine

Posted on by kmurali@biometrica.com

By a Biometrica staffer

Interpol issued a global alert to law enforcement across its 194 member countries warning them to gear up for organized crime networks targeting covid-19 vaccines. The group’s Orange Notice warned the international community to prepare for possible infiltration of the vaccine’s supply chains, both physically and online.

The notice also warns about the sale of fraudulent covid-19 vaccines.

“As governments are preparing to roll out vaccines, criminal organizations are planning to infiltrate or disrupt supply chains. Criminal networks will also be targeting unsuspecting members of the public via fake websites and false cures, which could pose a significant risk to their health, even their lives. It is essential that law enforcement is as prepared as possible for what will be an onslaught of all types of criminal activity linked to the covid-19 vaccine, which is why Interpol has issued this global warning,” said Jürgen Stock, the group’s Secretary General.

It’s not just the vaccines that could come under increased threat. Interpol said it is likely that a parallel production of unauthorized and falsified testing kits could also become important for law enforcement, especially as international travel gradually resumes.

The group has also advised that members of the public take special care while browsing online to search for medicines and medical equipment.

Around 1,700 of 3,000 websites associated with online pharmacies suspected of selling illicit medicines and medical devices contained cyber threats, especially phishing and spamming malware, an analysis by the group’s Cybercrime Unit found. This is in addition to the dangers of ordering potentially life-threatening products, Interpol added in its statement.

Interpol classifies its notices into seven categories. For more on that, click here.

DoJ sues Alabaman housing authority for racial discrimination

Posted on by kmurali@biometrica.com

By a Biometrica staffer

The Housing Authority of Ashland, Alabama, violated the Fair Housing Act by intentionally discriminating on the basis of race or color against applicants for housing, the US Department of Justice alleged in a lawsuit.

In its lawsuit, the department alleged that the Housing Authority denied African-American applicants the opportunity to live in overwhelmingly White housing complexes, while steering White applicants away from properties whose residents were predominantly African-American.

Southern Development Company of Ashland Ltd, Southern Development Company of Ashland #2 Ltd and Southern Development Company LLC, which are the private owners and managing agent of one of those housing complexes, have also been named as defendants, the department said in a statement.

Since at least 2012, the defendants have maintained segregated housing properties by denying African-American housing applicants the opportunity to live at three overwhelmingly White housing complexes – known as Ashland Heights, Clay Circle and East Side.

At the same time, they were denying White applicants the opportunity to live at West Side and Pine View, two properties whose residents are predominantly African-American. All of these complexes are located in Ashland, Alabama.

The lawsuit seeks damages to compensate victims, civil penalties to the government to vindicate the public interest, and a court order barring future discrimination and requiring action to correct the effects of the defendants’ discrimination.

“On April 11, 1968, one week after the assassination of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., the United States enacted the Fair Housing Act to outlaw race, color, and other forms of discrimination in housing. Denying people housing opportunities because of their race or color is a shameful and blatant violation of the Fair Housing Act.

The United States has made great strides toward Dr. King’s dream of a nation where we will be judged by content of our character and not by the color of our skin. The dream remains at least partially unfulfilled because we have not completely overcome the scourge of racial bias in housing,” said Assistant Attorney General Eric Dreiband of the Civil Rights Division.

Indian national sentenced to 20 yrs for scam costing millions

Posted on by kmurali@biometrica.com

By a Biometrica staffer

An Indian national was sentenced to 20 years in prison, followed by three years of supervised release, for his role in operating a scam that defrauded US victims out of millions of dollars between 2013 and 2016.

Hitesh Madhubhai Patel, aka Hitesh Hinglaj, was sentenced by District Judge David Hittner on charges of wire fraud conspiracy and general conspiracy to commit identification fraud, access device fraud, money laundering, and impersonation of a federal officer or employee. Patel, 44, was also ordered to pay restitution of $8.9 million to identified victims of his crimes, the US Department of Justice said in a statement.

Patel and his co-conspirators perpetrated a complex scheme in which employees from call centers in Ahmedabad in India – where he is from – impersonated US officials. These employees would impersonate IRS and US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) officials, and engaged in other telephone call scams designed to defraud victims throughout the country. Victims were threatened with arrest, imprisonment, fines or deportation if they did not pay alleged monies owed to the government.

Those who fell victim were instructed how to provide payment, including by purchasing general purpose reloadable (GPR) cards or wiring money. Upon payment, the call centers would immediately turn to a network of “runners” based in the US to liquidate and launder the fraudulently obtained funds.

Patel admitted to operating and funding several India-based call centers from which the fraud schemes were perpetrated, including the call center HGLOBAL, in his plea agreement. He corresponded by email and WhatsApp messages frequently with his co-defendants to exchange credit card numbers, telephone scam scripts, and call center operations instructions. The scripts included IRS impersonation, USCIS impersonation, Canada Revenue Agency impersonation, Australian Tax Office impersonation, payday loan fraud, US Government grant fraud, and debt collection fraud.

A co-defendant described Patel as “the top person in India and the boss for whom most of the other defendants worked,” and the owner of multiple call centers. Another co-defendant stated that Patel was arrested in India in 2016, but then paid a bribe and was released. Additionally, Patel admitted that a reasonably foreseeable loss of more than $25 million but less than $65 million was attributable to him, based on the government’s evidence against him.

Patel was prosecuted in the US after being extradited from Singapore in April 2019 to face charges in this large-scale telefraud and money laundering scheme. Singapore authorities apprehended Patel at the request of a provisional arrest warrant issued by the US in September 2018, after Patel flew there from India.

The indictment in this case, which was unsealed in October 2016, charged Patel and 60 other individuals and entities with general conspiracy, wire fraud conspiracy and money laundering conspiracy. A total of 24 domestic defendants associated with this transnational criminal scheme were previously convicted and sentenced to terms of imprisonment of up to 20 years in the Southern District of Texas, District of Arizona and Northern District of Georgia. The defendants were also ordered to pay millions of dollars in victim restitution and money judgments and to forfeit seized assets.

Some defendants were ordered to be deported based on their illegal immigration status, with another defendant having his U.S. citizenship revoked due to a separate conviction for immigration fraud. Charges remain pending for other India-based defendants. They are presumed innocent unless and until convicted through due process of law. 

Massachusetts man charged with possession of child pornography

Posted on by kmurali@biometrica.com

By a Biometrica staffer

A man from Massachusetts was arrested and charged with possession of child pornography, the US Department of Justice said in a statement. Oliver Smith, 45, was charged by criminal complaint and detained pending a detention hearing scheduled for December 3 2020.

Federal agents executed a search warrant at the Sutton residence of Smith, a citizen of Sweden and the United States, and seized several devices on November 15 2020. They did so after receiving investigative information from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) and Swedish law enforcement authorities, and after conducting their own investigation.

A preliminary forensic review of the seized devices revealed images and videos of child pornography.  Smith admitted that he had downloaded child pornography after returning to the US from Sweden, in an interview with federal agents.

Jessica Urban of the Criminal Division’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section (CEOS) and Assistant U.S. Attorney Kristen Noto of the District of Massachusetts’ Worcester Branch Office are prosecuting the case. The case is being investigated by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) in Boston, and the Sutton Police Department.

The case is part of Project Safe Childhood. Launched in May 2006 by the DoJ, Project Safe Childhood is a nationwide initiative to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse. Led by US Attorneys’ Offices and the Criminal Division’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state and local resources to better locate, apprehend and prosecute individuals who exploit children online, as well as to identify and rescue victims.

OxyContin maker Purdue Pharma to plead guilty to charges

Posted on by kmurali@biometrica.com

By a Biometrica staffer

Drugmaker Purdue Pharma LP will plead guilty to federal criminal charges as part of a settlement of more than $8 billion, the US Department of Justice said in a statement. Purdue is the company behind the powerful prescription painkiller OxyContin that experts say helped touch off an opioid epidemic, the Associated Press reported.

The company has agreed to plead guilty to a three-count felony – one count of dual-object conspiracy to defraud the US and violate the Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act, and two counts of conspiracy to violate the Federal Anti-Kickback Statute.

As part of the resolution, Purdue is admitting that it impeded the Drug Enforcement Administration by falsely representing that it had maintained an effective program to avoid drug diversion and by reporting misleading information to the agency to boost the company’s manufacturing quotas.

Purdue is also admitting to violating federal anti-kickback laws by paying doctors, through a speaking program, to induce them to write more prescriptions for its opioids and for using electronic health records software to influence the prescription of pain medication, according to the officials.

The pharma company will make a direct payment to the government of $225 million, which is part of a larger $2 billion criminal forfeiture. In addition, it also faces a $3.54 billion criminal fine, though that money probably will not be fully collected because it will be taken through a bankruptcy, which includes a large number of other creditors, including thousands of state and local governments. Purdue will also agree to $2.8 billion in damages to resolve its civil liability.

Part of the money from the settlement will go to aid in medication-assisted treatment and other drug programs to combat the opioid epidemic. That part of the arrangement echoes the plan the company is pushing in bankruptcy court and which about half the states oppose, AP reported. The resolutions with Purdue are subject to the approval of the bankruptcy court.

The deal does not release any of the company’s executives or owners — members of the wealthy Sackler family — from criminal liability, and a criminal investigation is ongoing. Family members said they acted “ethically and lawfully,” but some state attorneys general said the agreement fails to hold the Sacklers accountable, AP added in its report.

With this deal, Purdue will become a public benefit company and the Sacklers will lose all control over it – a move already in the works. A public benefit company refers to one that will be governed by a trust that has to balance the trust’s interests against those of the American public and public health.

The settlement is the highest-profile display yet of the federal government seeking to hold a major drugmaker responsible for an opioid addiction and overdose crisis linked to more than 470,000 deaths in the country since 2000, AP reported.

“With criminal guilty pleas, a federal settlement of more than $8 billion, and the dissolution of a company and repurposing its assets entirely for the public’s benefit, the resolution in today’s announcement re-affirms that the Department of Justice will not relent in its multi-pronged efforts to combat the opioids crisis,” said Deputy Attorney General Jeffrey A. Rosen.

CBP leads second-largest meth bust on southern border

Posted on by kmurali@biometrica.com

By a Biometrica staffer

US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officers seized more than 3,100 pounds of methamphetamine, fentanyl powder, fentanyl pills, and heroin at the Otay Mesa commercial facility on Friday. This was part of the second largest methamphetamine bust along the southwest border in the history of the CBP, based on information developed by the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), working jointly with the Homeland Security Investigations (HSI).

On October 9, at about 9:45 a.m., a driver arrived at the cargo border crossing with a tractor-trailer shipment that was manifested as medical supplies. The officer referred the driver, truck, and shipment for a more intensive inspection, the DEA said in a statement on Sunday.

CBP officers screened the truck using the port’s imaging system, similar to an x-ray, and found anomalies with the rear of the trailer. The conveyance was sent to the dock and a canine alerted to the boxes inside the trailer. Officers offloaded the shipment and discovered 1,816 packages comingled with the medical supplies, which were mainly clear plastic pipette tips, spray bottles of surface decontaminate, and calibrated pipette tools used for sampling and dispensing liquid.

The officers later extracted around 3,014 pounds of methamphetamine, 64 pounds of heroin, 29 pounds of fentanyl powder, and almost 37 pounds of fentanyl pills, worth an estimated $7.2 million.  CBP officers seized the narcotics and conveyance.

“This massive seizure is a testament of what law enforcement agencies can do when we combine forces – prevent over $7 million worth of deadly drugs from entering our country; thus, saving countless lives from addiction and overdose deaths,” said DEA Special Agent in Charge John W. Callery.

The driver, a 47–year-old male Mexican citizen, was arrested and turned over the custody of the joint investigative team from US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), HSI and DEA. He will face criminal charges. “Smugglers will try every way possible to try and get their product across the border and because of the partnership between CBP, Homeland Security Investigations, and DEA, this significant seizure occurred and we stopped them,” said Anne Maricich, acting CBP director of field operations in San Diego.