MAN RECEIVES SENTENCE OF 87 MONTHS IN PRISON FOR IDENTITY THEFT AND TAX FRAUD

FROM:  U.S. JUSTICE DEPARTMENT 

Friday, April 25, 2014

Alabama Man Sentenced for Tax Fraud and Identity Theft

Nakia Jackson, of Montgomery, Alabama, was sentenced to serve 87 months in prison today for conspiring to defraud the United States and one count of aggravated identity theft for his role in a stolen identity refund fraud scheme, announced Assistant Attorney General Kathryn Keneally of the Justice Department's Tax Division, U.S. Attorney George L. Beck Jr. for the Middle District of Alabama and the Internal Revenue Service (IRS).

According to court documents, between January 2009 and March 2011, Jackson obtained stolen identities from an Alabama state employee and used those identities to file false tax returns.  Jackson recruited a bank employee, LaQuanta Clayton, to assist him in depositing the false income tax refunds into various bank accounts.  He obtained permission from several individuals to use their bank accounts to receive false refunds and when a false refund was deposited, Jackson would direct the individuals to withdraw the money and give the money to him.  In total, Jackson filed over 100 false tax returns and requested over $400,000 in refunds.

In addition, Jackson was ordered to serve three years of supervised release and pay $212,856 in restitution.

IRS-Criminal Investigation agents investigated this case and Trial Attorneys Charles M. Edgar Jr. and Michael Boteler for the Tax Division and Assistant U.S. Attorney Todd Brown are prosecuting the case.

U.S. MARSHALS ARREST ARMY DESERTER AWOL SINCE 2012

FROM:  U.S. MARSHALS SERVICE 
Edward Holst, Supervisory Deputy United States Marshal
Middle District of Pennsylvania 

U.S. Marshals Task Force Arrests U.S. Army Deserter in Lebanon County
Harrisburg, PA – Today, U.S. Marshal Martin J. Pane announced that the United States Marshals Service (USMS) Task Force arrested Captain Beniah Nwankwo – a 33-year old man in Lebanon County.

In June of 2009, Captain Nwankwo entered the United States Army as a Medical Physician Resident. On June 20, 2012, Captain Nwankwo went absent without leave (AWOL) from his unit located at the Brooke Army Medical Center, Fort Sam Houston, Texas. Captain Nwankwo remained AWOL until his arrest earlier today.

On July 23, 2012, the United States Army listed Captain Nwankwo as a deserter. An investigative lead was sent to the United States Marshals Service in the Middle District of Pennsylvania on February 18, 2014 with information that Nwankwo might be in south central Pennsylvania working as a physician.

On the morning of February 19, 2014, Deputy U.S. Marshals and Task Force Officers arrested Nwankwo without incident in the 400 block of East Lincoln Way in Myerstown. At the time of his arrest, Captain Nwankwo was working at the Stone Ridge Nursing and Retirement Center.

Captain Nwankwo will be seen by a Federal Magistrate Judge tomorrow morning, and awaits further transfer to the United States Army for final disposition.

United States Marshal Martin J. Pane stated, “Assisting the U.S. Military in bringing persons charged with desertion is a responsibility the U.S. Marshals Service bears. Persons charged as such deserve to have their day facing justice.”

The USMS worked jointly in this investigation with personnel from the York City Police Department, York County Sheriff’s Office, and the Pennsylvania State Police. These agencies participate in the U.S. Marshals Service Fugitive Task in the Middle District of Pennsylvania.

TWO INDIVIDUALS SENTENCED TO PRISON FOR PARTICIPATING IN KICKBACK SCHEME

FROM:  U.S. DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE
A Pennsylvania Company and Two New York Companies Sentenced to Pay a Total of $3 Million in Criminal FinesWASHINGTON — Two individuals and three corporations were sentenced in the U.S. District Court in Manhattan by Judge George B. Daniels to serve time in prison and to pay criminal fines for their participation in an eight-year conspiracy involving kickbacks in excess of $2.3 million to defraud New York Presbyterian Hospital (NYPH), the Department of Justice announced. The individuals and the corporations were convicted after a four-week trial in February 2012.

Michael Yaron, the owner of two of the companies convicted for their roles in the conspiracy—Cambridge Environmental & Construction Corp, doing business as National Environmental Associates (Cambridge/NEA) and Oxford Construction & Development Corp.—was sentenced to serve 60 months in jail, and to pay a $500,000 criminal fine. Cambridge/NEA and Oxford Construction were each sentenced to pay a $1 million criminal fine.

Moshe Buchnik, the president of an asbestos abatement company that also did business at NYPH, was sentenced to serve 48 months in jail, and to pay a $500,000 criminal fine for his role in the conspiracy.

Artech Corp., a company owned by a relative of Santo Saglimbeni, a former vice president of facilities operations at NYPH, was also sentenced to pay a $1 million criminal fine.

Two additional charged co-conspirators, Saglimbeni and Emilio "Tony" Figueroa, a former director of facilities operations at NYPH, who were convicted along with Yaron, Buchnick, Cambridge/NEA, Oxford Construction and Artech, are scheduled to appear in court on July 31, 2012.

"The sentences imposed today are consistent with the seriousness of the crimes for which the individuals and companies were found guilty," said Acting Assistant Attorney General Joseph Wayland in charge of the Department of Justice’s Antitrust Division. "Today’s sentences hold accountable the unlawful conduct of those involved in illegal kickback conspiracies."

The department said the scheme to defraud NYPH centered on Saglimbeni, who with the assistance of Figueroa, awarded asbestos abatement, air monitoring and general construction contracts to Yaron, Buchnik and their companies in return for more than $2.3 million in kickbacks. The kickbacks were funneled by Yaron to Saglimbeni through Artech Corp., a sham company Saglimbeni created in his mother’s name in order to conceal the kickbacks.

Yaron, Buchnik, Saglimbeni, Figueroa, Cambridge/ NEA, Oxford Construction and Artech, were each convicted of conspiracy to defraud NYPH. Additionally, Yaron, his companies, Buchnik, Saglimbeni and Artech were also convicted of a substantive wire fraud violation.

The sentences announced today resulted from a federal antitrust investigation of bid rigging, fraud, bribery and tax-related offenses in the award of construction, maintenance and service contracts to the facilities operations department of NYPH. Including today’s sentencings, 14 individuals and six companies have been convicted of or pleaded guilty to charges arising out of this investigation.

CONTRACTOR SENTENCED TO PRISON FOR EXPOSING UNKNOWING WORKERS TO ABSBETOS

The following excerpt is from an EPA e-mail:

“WASHINGTON – After a two day hearing in federal court in Rochester, U.S. District Court Judge Charles J. Siragusa sentenced Keith Gordon-Smith, 54, of Rochester, N.Y., to six years in prison late yesterday for knowingly violating the Clean Air Act and making false statements to a federal inspector. Gordon-Smith was also sentenced to serve a three year term of supervised release to follow his prison term and was ordered to pay a $1,100 special assessment. Gordon Smith’s now defunct company was sentenced to pay a special assessment of $44,000. No level of exposure to asbestos is safe, so removal by untrained workers, performed without the necessary safeguards, threatens the health of those workers and the public.

“Ensuring Clean Air Act work practice standards for asbestos are followed when renovating or razing a building is critical to protecting workers and the public,” said Cynthia Giles, assistant administrator for EPA’s Office of Enforcement and Compliance Assurance. “This sentence shows that when employers fail to adhere to the requirements of the law to make a profit, the consequences are serious.”

“The court’s sentence properly punishes Gordon-Smith and his company for the egregious crimes that placed workers and their families at risk and for his complete disregard of the environmental laws that protect human health and the environment,” said Ignacia S. Moreno, assistant attorney general for the Environment and Natural Resources Division of the Department of Justice. “The court’s sentence should send a strong message to asbestos abatement contractors that they will be held accountable to the fullest extent of the law.”

“The highly dangerous actions of Keith Gordon-Smith exposed both workers and the public to hazardous materials,” said U.S. Attorney William J. Hochul, Jr. “Those in the asbestos removal industry are well compensated for their work, but in return are under legal and moral obligation to perform the job correctly. When a company cuts corners - or worse - intentionally exposes workers and the public to harm - our Office will act quickly and decisively.”

Gordon-Smith hired a number of workers who had no training in asbestos removal and did not know they were being exposed to the asbestos while removing the copper pipes. Evidence at sentencing showed that when workers questioned Gordon-Smith, he lied and told them the areas did not contain asbestos. Gordon-Smith ultimately lied to an Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) inspector who came to the site in September and October 2007 to investigate allegations of illegal asbestos removal.

When the workers removed the pipes and scrap metal, they were repeatedly exposed to asbestos, and described that the asbestos fell on them “like snow.” The workers were not provided with any protective clothing or respirators while tearing out the asbestos-contaminated pipes and wore their asbestos-contaminated clothing back to their homes and families after work.

The jury also convicted Gordon-Smith and his company, Gordon-Smith Contracting, Inc. (GSCI), of causing GSCI workers to illegally remove and dispose of asbestos during the actual asbestos abatement at the west wing of the Genesee Hospital complex, from May 2007 until February 2009. The asbestos was allowed to flow from upper floors through drains and holes in containment. Large amounts of asbestos were left hidden in the west wing. Gordon-Smith was fired from the site in February 2009. The building was subsequently cleaned of asbestos before it was demolished in September 2010.

Gordon-Smith and his company were also convicted by the jury of six counts of failing to provide required notices to EPA prior to commencing asbestos abatement projects at six different sites in the Rochester area, between 2005 and June 2008. The sites included the west wing of the Genesee Hospital complex, Cobbles Elementary School in Penfield, Bloomfield Elementary School in East Bloomfield, the Al Sigl Center in Rochester, and the Hillside Children’s Center in Varick.

Asbestos work practice standards under the Clean Air Act require that all asbestos must be removed from any structure where it may be disturbed, such as the west wing of the Genesee Hospital complex, where Gordon-Smith ordered the workers to remove pipes contaminated with asbestos. While asbestos is removed during abatement, it must be wetted and kept adequately wet at all times and disposed of as soon as practical at an EPA-approved site.

The case was prosecuted by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Western District of New York with the Environmental Crimes Section of the Natural Resources Division of the Department of Justice.”