Criminal Proceedings

January 5, 2022

Two Florida men, Reinier Gonzalez Caballero and Alexeis Napoles Manresa, have each been sentenced to a little over four years in prison for laundering the ill-gotten proceeds of a $3 million healthcare fraud scheme against Medicare.  Over a couple months in 2019, durable medical equipment company Universal Ortho Supplies, Inc. billed Medicare for orthosis and prosthetics that were never prescribed by physicians, nor provided to patients.  The reimbursements were then turned over to the defendants, who attempted to disguise the source of the funds by setting up shell corporations and opening up fake bank accounts.  Two co-conspirators have already been convicted and sentenced; another two have pleaded guilty and await sentencing.  USAO SDFL

January 4, 2022

A rabbi who was shot at an attack on a San Diego synagogue in April 2019 has been sentenced to 14 months in prison and ordered to pay $2.8 million in restitution for defrauding the IRS, several Fortune 500 companies, and multiple public and private agencies.  In exchange for a 10% cut, Rabbi Yisroel Goldstein provided fake donation receipts from the Chabad of Poway that helped co-conspirators claim illegal tax deductions or pocket matching donations from their employers.  He also let his brother, Mendel Goldstein, conceal income from the IRS by allowing him to deposit nearly $1 million in bank accounts belonging to the Chabad.  Lastly, with co-conspirator Alexander Avergoon, the rabbi used false information and fake records to fraudulently apply for emergency funds, grants, and loans from FEMA, the California Governor’s Office of Emergency Services, and private foundations.  USAO SDCA

December 23, 2021

Military housing provider Balfour Beatty Communities LLC will pay over $65 million and plead guilty to fraud charges arising from their scheme to secure incentive payments on contracts by submitting falsified information claiming to have met performance objectives when, in fact, they had not met those objectives.  BBC employees altered or manipulated data in property management software regarding property maintenance and destroyed and falsified resident comment cards.  The settlement agreement and plea agreement includes a $33.6 million criminal fine, over $31.8 million in restitution, and $35.2 million to resolve civil liability under the False Claims Act.  BBC will be on probation for three years and be subject to independent compliance monitoring.  DOJ; USAO SD GA; USAO WD OK

December 21, 2021

Financial services firm NatWest Markets Plc has pleaded guilty to charges related to its manipulation of the market for U.S. Treasury futures contracts and for the purchase and sale of U.S. Treasury securities in the secondary (cash) market.  NatWest will pay approximately $35 million in criminal fines, restitution, and forfeiture.  The government charged that NatWest traders engaged in spoofing by placing orders with the intent to cancel those orders before execution in order to artificially push up or down the prevailing market price.  DOJ; USAO CT

December 13, 2021

Following his conviction at trial on tax fraud charges, John Barry Jr. was sentenced to 12 years in prison and ordered to pay $4.2 million in restitution.  According to evidence at trial, Barry promoted a “mortgage recovery” tax scheme, telling clients that they could extinguish mortgage debts by filing false forms with the IRS claiming that a large amount of taxes had been withheld.  These false withholding claims caused the IRS to issue more than $4 million in refunds to Barry’s clients; Barry typically charged each client a fee of between 20% to 35% of the refund obtained.  DOJ

December 13, 2021

Paul Ricky Mata, who worked as a financial advisor, was sentenced to 14 years in prison and ordered to pay $12.6 million in restitution following his guilty plea on charges related to his fraudulent solicitation of customers for investment in his companies including Secured Capital, which he claimed offered guaranteed returns through investments in “government-backed tax liens,” “asset-backed deed certificates,” and distressed commercial and residential properties.  In fact, Mata, who concealed his long history of disciplinary action by regulators, used investor funds to pay his personal expenses.  USAO CD Cal

December 9, 2021

Monsanto Company has agreed to plead guilty to charges that it used a glufosinate ammonium-based pesticide, sold as Forfeit 280, on corn fields in Hawaii, and then allowed workers to enter the fields during a six-day restricted-entry interval after the product was applied.  Monsanto will pay $12 million and undertake specified environmental compliance programs.  The government further alleged that Monsanto’s actions violated a 2019 Deferred Prosecution Agreement regarding Monsanto’s unlawful spraying of a banned pesticide, methyl parathion, the active ingredient in Penncap-M, on research crops at one of its facilities on Maui. USAO CD Cal

December 1, 2021

The former CFO of Roadrunner Transportation Systems Inc., Peter R. Armbruster, has been sentenced to two years in prison for participating in a complex accounting fraud scheme that resulted in the company filing materially false statements with the SEC, and eventually tens of millions of dollars in losses to investors.  Armbruster was found to have misrepresented Roadrunner’s expenses, which falsely inflated the company’s reported income.  DOJ