ColdWarUSAF

Over 50 Killed in Attack on Kaduna Village, Villagers Blame Boko Haram

According to the Voice of America, Hausa, an attack on the village of Kerewa in Kaduna state took place on Sunday. During the attack, over 50 people were killed.

According to locals who spoke with VOA, “These killers are Boko Haram. They stormed our village killing indiscriminately… they spared nobody… the young, the old, even Almajiris are not spared.” This large attack shows that there is still a very large insecurity issue in Nigeria.

The locals continued by saying, “They continued to shoot people, setting fire on the dead and on property. It was extremely horrific! … They went from one room to the other, a man and his children were killed, even new born babies … We have over 50 dead now,we are yet to bury them. It will take hours to bury the dead. These killers are not just bandits … they are Boko Haram..they did not steal anything, they just killed and burnt peoples’ belongings.”

If this attack was conducted by Boko Haram, then it is clear that they have more power and ability to conduct large attacks than they have had in recent years. This would be one of the most southern attacks that they have ever conducted.

If it is not Boko Haram, then it can also not be claimed as banditry. There is some attempt to displace people from land. This attack shows that attacks are not only meant to steal supplies, but to take control of land. Please pray for those who lost family and friends in this latest violence in Nigeria.

Persecution.org (March, 2020) Over 50 Killed in Attack on Kaduna Village

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U.S. Accountant Pleads Guilty in Panama Papers Investigation

A Massachusetts-based accountant who was charged along with three others in connection with a decades-long criminal scheme perpetrated by Mossack Fonseca & Co. (Mossack Fonseca), a Panamanian-based global law firm, and its related entities, pleaded guilty today to wire and tax fraud, money laundering, aggravated identity theft and other charges.

Richard Gaffey, aka “Dick Gaffey,” 75, of Medfield, Massachusetts, pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit tax evasion and to defraud the United States, one count of wire fraud, one count of money laundering conspiracy, four counts of willful failure to file Reports of Foreign Bank and Financial Accounts (Financial Crimes Enforcement Network Reports 114), and one count of aggravated identity theft.

“This defendant worked with the Mossack Fonseca law firm and exploited his role as an accountant to create fraudulent shell companies and defraud the United States of millions of dollars over decades,” said Assistant Attorney General Brian A. Benczkowski of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division. “Today’s guilty plea reflects the Department’s commitment to prosecute financial professionals and other gatekeepers to the U.S. financial system who abuse the public’s trust.”

“Richard Gaffey went to extraordinary lengths to circumvent U.S. tax laws in order to maintain Harald Joachim von der Goltz’s wealth and hide it from the IRS,” said U.S. Attorney Geoffrey S. Berman of the Southern District of New York. “Using the specialized criminal services of global law firm Mossack Fonseca, Gaffey assisted others in violating U.S. tax laws for decades.”

According to the allegations contained in the indictments, other filings in this case, and statements during court proceedings, including Gaffey’s guilty plea hearing, since at least 2000 through 2018, Gaffey conspired with others to defraud the United States by concealing his clients’ assets and investments, and the income generated by those assets and investments, from the IRS through fraudulent, deceitful, and dishonest means.

During all relevant times, while acting as an accountant, Gaffey assisted U.S. taxpayers who were required to report and pay income tax on worldwide income, including income and capital gains generated in domestic and foreign bank accounts. Gaffey helped those U.S. taxpayers evade their tax reporting obligations in a variety of ways, including by hiding the beneficial ownership of his clients’ offshore shell companies and by setting up bank accounts for those shell companies. These shell companies and bank accounts made and held investments totaling tens of millions of dollars. For one U.S. taxpayer, Gaffey advised the taxpayer how to covertly repatriate approximately $3 million to the United States by reporting to the IRS a fictitious company sale to thereby evade paying the full U.S. tax amount.

Gaffey was assisted in this scheme through the use of Mossack Fonseca law firm, including Ramses Owens, a Panamanian lawyer who previously worked at the Mossack Fonseca.

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Gaffey was the U.S. accountant for co-defendant Harald Joachim von der Goltz. From 2000 until 2017, von der Goltz was a U.S. resident and was subject to U.S. tax laws, which required him to report and pay income tax on worldwide income. In furtherance of von der Goltz’s efforts to conceal his assets and income from the IRS, Gaffey falsely claimed that von der Goltz’s elderly mother was the sole beneficial owner of the shell companies and bank accounts at issue because, at all relevant times, she was a Guatemalan citizen and resident, and – unlike von der Goltz – was not a U.S. taxpayer. In support of this fraudulent scheme, Gaffey submitted the name, date of birth, government passport number, address, and other means of identification of von der Goltz’s elderly mother to a U.S. bank in Manhattan.

Gaffey is scheduled to be sentenced by Judge Berman on June 29, 2020. Von der Goltz, who pleaded guilty on Feb. 18, 2020, is scheduled to be sentenced by Judge Berman on June 24, 2020.

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

Assistant Attorney General Benczkowski praised the outstanding investigative work of IRS-Criminal Investigation and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Homeland Security Investigations, and thanked the Justice Department’s Tax Division and the FBI for their significant assistance in the investigation. Assistant Attorney General Benczkowski also thanked the Criminal Division’s Office of International Affairs as well as law enforcement partners in France, the United Kingdom and Germany for their assistance in the case.

The Criminal Division’s Money Laundering and Asset Recovery Section (MLARS), working in partnership with the Southern District of New York’s Complex Frauds and Cybercrime Unit and Money Laundering and Transnational Criminal Enterprises Unit are handling this case. MLARS Trial Attorneys Michael Parker and Parker Tobin, along with Assistant U.S. Attorneys Eun Young Choi and Thane Rehn, are in charge of the prosecution.

Justice.gov (March, 2020) U.S. Accountant Pleads Guilty in Panama Papers Investigation

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Five Sentenced in South Florida to Prison Terms for Their Roles in Tricare and Medicare Fraud Scheme

U.S. District Judge Cecilia M. Altonaga has sentenced five defendants, including a doctor, to federal prison terms for their roles in a scheme that defrauded Tricare and Medicare out of more than $9.6 million. The defendants tricked beneficiaries into having the federal health care programs pay for medically unnecessary compounded prescription medicines and cancer genetic tests. Their sentences are as follows:

Dr. Mangala Ramamurthy, 64, of Texas was sentenced to 34 months for her role in the scheme: prescribing compounded pain creams and referring Genetic Cancer tests that were medically unnecessary. Dr. Ramamurthy earlier pled guilty to conspiracy to defraud the U.S. and conspiracy to receive healthcare kickbacks.
John Scholtes, 56 of Boca Raton, Florida, was sentenced to 97 months for his role in the scheme. Scholtes earlier pled guilty to conspiracy to commit healthcare fraud, conspiracy to defraud the U.S., and conspiracy to receive healthcare kickbacks.
Anthony Mauzy, 43, of California, was sentenced to 49 months for his role in the scheme. Mauzy earlier pled guilty to conspiracy to commit healthcare fraud.
Thomas Sahs, 41, of California, was sentenced to 45 months for his role in the scheme. Sahs earlier pled guilty to conspiracy to commit healthcare fraud.
Rajesh Mahbubani, 46, of Texas, was sentenced to 49 months for his role in the scheme. Mahbubani earlier pled guilty to conspiracy to commit healthcare fraud.

On January 31, 2020, a sixth co-conspirator, Senthil Kumar Ramamurthy, 38, of Texas, was sentenced to 121 months in federal prison for his role in the scheme. S.K. Ramamurthy earlier pled guilty to conspiracy to commit healthcare fraud, conspiracy to defraud the US, and conspiracy to receive healthcare kickbacks. S.K. Ramamurthy is the son of Dr. Ramamurthy.

Ariana Fajardo Orshan, U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Florida, Cynthia Bruce, Special Agent in Charge, Defense Criminal Investigative Service (DCIS), Southeast Field Office, and SAC Omar Pérez Aybar, Special Agent in Charge for Health and Human Services, Office of Inspector General (HHS-OIG) made the announcement.

Tricare is the health care program for the U.S. military that pays the health care costs of active and retired military personnel and their families, including the costs of medically necessary prescription medications. Medicare is a federally-funded program that provides free or below-cost health care benefits to certain individuals, primarily the blind, elderly, and disabled.

According to court records, the co-conspirators targeted Tricare for about 10 months, starting in 2014. After making their way onto U.S. military bases, co-conspirators convinced Tricare beneficiaries to sign-up for compounded prescription medications that the beneficiaries did not need. To encourage sign-up, co-conspirators falsely told the beneficiaries that the pharmacies would custom-design their medications or that the medications were free. In fact, the medications were not custom-designed and the patients had co-payments. Compounding pharmacies paid the co-conspirators millions of dollars in kickbacks in exchange for sending the pharmacies expensive prescription orders.

In mid-2015, Tricare scaled back its reimbursements for compounded medications. The defendants turned to Medicare. They paid doctors to refer Medicare beneficiaries to a lab in Georgia for cancer genetic screening testing, even though the doctors had never examined the beneficiaries. As with the compounded medications, the cancer genetic screening tests were not medically necessary.

The owner of the Georgia lab, Minal Patel, 40, was indicted in the Southern District of Florida in September 2019. An indictment is an accusation and a defendant is innocent until proven guilty.

To date, fraudulent compounding pharmacy schemes have caused estimated losses to Tricare in excess of $2 billion. Fraudulent genetic testing lab schemes have caused estimated losses to Medicare of approximately $2.1 billion.

U.S. Attorney Fajardo-Orshan commended the investigative efforts of DCIS and HHS-OIG. Assistant United States Attorneys Kevin J. Larsen, Anna Maria Martinez, and John C. Shipley prosecuted the case. Assistant United States Attorney Daren Grove is handling the asset forfeiture matters.

Related court documents and information may be found on the website of the District Court for the Southern District of Florida at www.flsd.uscourts.gov or at http://pacer.flsd.uscourts.gov.

Justice.gov (February, 2020) Five Defendants Sentenced in South Florida to Prison Terms for Their Roles in Tricare and Medicare Fraud Scheme

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Niger: Police rescue 232 victims of human trafficking

Police in Niger have rescued 232 victims of human trafficking, including 46 under the age of 18, during an INTERPOL-supported operation targeting organized crime groups in West Africa.

46 minors have been saved from forced begging and sexual exploitation

Police in Niger have rescued 232 victims of human trafficking, including 46 under the age of 18, during an INTERPOL-supported operation targeting organized crime groups in West Africa.

Operation Sarraounia, which means queen or female chief in the Hausa language, mobilized more than 100 officers from the Nigerien National Police to various hotspots in Niamey, leading to the arrest of 18 individuals on charges of human trafficking and crimes against children.

As part of the pre-operational phase, officers from INTERPOL’s Vulnerable Communities unit provided training on how to conduct victim interviews in cases of human trafficking and child sexual exploitation.

During the operation (21-31 January), the INTERPOL team on the ground helped national authorities make best use of INTERPOL’s policing capabilities, such as its databases and system of international Notices.

Of the 46 young people rescued, 37 girls aged between 10 and 17 had been forced into sexual exploitation out of hostels or the makeshift camps on the outskirts of Niamey. Other children had been taken from their families and forced to beg at markets and bus stations.

The young victims were safeguarded and received immediate medical attention, revealing a number of serious physical conditions, including advanced human papillomavirus infections.

“Whether it’s children, men or women, traffickers show little regard for the health and well-being of victims, they are simply a commodity to make money,” said Jürgen Stock, INTERPOL Secretary General.

“As vital as it is to track and arrest those behind these crimes, we also need to ensure that those rescued are protected and respected throughout the police process,” he concluded.

All of the victims were provided assistance and returned to their families, with follow-up to be carried out by social services and NGOs.

As a result of the operation, Nigerien authorities requested six INTERPOL Green Notices warning of the danger posed by the individuals who recruited and sexually exploited the young girls.

Following an investigative lead, police officers from the Special Investigations Division of the Directorate of Territorial Surveillance conducted a raid on a house in the centre of Niamey. There, they found 115 men whose travel documents had been confiscated by traffickers. Victim interviews revealed that after a bus trip from Ghana, they were met by individuals who led them to the compound and refused to let them out.

Two days later, 65 more men arrived.

All of the men had been recruited online from Ghana and promised ‘decent work’. However, their travel fees and all costs relating to their recruitment, including commissions, would be deducted from future wages.

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Three INTERPOL Blue Notices seeking more information on the arrested traffickers have been published as part of the ongoing investigation.

Speaking about the operation, Barka Dankassoua, Commissaire de police and Head of NCB Niger said “Operation Sarraounia has shed much light on several criminal groups and trafficking routes. The skills our officers have learned will be put to good use as we follow up on a number of leads.”

Operation Sarraounia was carried out thanks to support from the Human Dignity Foundation, the INTERPOL Foundation for a Safer World and Project Flyway.

Interpol.int (February, 2020) Niger: Police rescue 232 victims of human trafficking

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U.S. Will Not Let China, Russia Deny Its Space Superiority, DOD Officials Say

Space systems underpin virtually every weapon system in the Defense Department’s arsenal, a senior DOD official told Congress.

But many systems were designed for an era when there were few threats in space, Dr. James H. Anderson, performing the duties of deputy undersecretary of defense for policy, said today at a hearing of the House Armed Services Committee’s strategic forces subcommittee. This is not the case today, he added, as China and Russia both seek to be able to deny the United States and its allies the advantages of space.

China and Russia are developing sophisticated on-orbit capabilities and an array of counter-space weapons capable of targeting nearly every class of U.S. space asset, Anderson told the House panel. They are expanding their space capabilities, he said, and have created military space forces that they are training and equipping to prevail in future crises and conflicts.

The United States is responding by “transforming its space enterprise, fielding resilient architectures, developing space warfighting expertise and working closely with allies in combined operations,” he said.

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The fiscal year 2021 defense budget request provides $18 billion for space programs, including $111 million to support stand-up of the U.S. Space Force, Anderson said. It also provides funding for the new space combatant command — U.S. Space Command — and the Space Development Agency, which will accelerate the development and fielding of military space capabilities necessary to ensure U.S. and allied technological and military advantages.

In his written testimony, Anderson said the United States is actively pursuing opportunities with allies and partners to build combined space operations and interoperable, or even integrated, architecture. The flagship of this integration is the Combined Space Operations Center at Vandenberg Air Force Base, California, with embedded British, Canadian and Australian exchange personnel working side by side with U.S. personnel.

“We have recently added Germany and France to the Combined Space Operations initiative,” he noted.

Space Force Gen. John W. “Jay” Raymond, chief of space operations, also testified.

“We can no longer assume that our space superiority is a given,” he said. “If deterrence fails, we must be ready to fight for space superiority.”

U.S. Space Command, along with the Space Force will deter aggression from conflict and do so from a position of strength, the general said. “Accordingly,” he added, “we will remain ready to defend U.S. and allied freedom of action in space. We will deliver space combat power for the joint and coalition force and we’re going to develop joint warfighters to serve in, to and from the space domain.”

Defense.gov (February, 2020) U.S. Will Not Let China, Russia Deny Its Space Superiority, DOD Officials Say

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