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Showing posts with label Federal Bureau Of Investigation. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Federal Bureau Of Investigation. Show all posts
Friday, December 27, 2013
2014 Brings Great Changes...Happy B-Day Mom..
Congress passes reform on how military handles sexual assault cases
updated 10:51 AM EST, Fri December 20, 2013
The number of service members reporting a sexual assault grew by more than 30% over the past two years.
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
- NEW: Obama tells military to "step up their game" or he'll consider other measures
- Changes to military law included in sweeping defense bill headed to President's desk
- Congress acted after report showed increase in military sexual assault complaints
- Defense bill also includes compromise to let Pentagon transfer Guantanamo detainees
(CNN) -- U.S. military commanders would no longer be permitted to overrule a court-martial judgment in sexual assault cases under reforms approved by the Senate late Thursday.
That and other steps to combat sexual assault in the armed forces were included in legislation outlining military priorities for the fiscal year ending September 30.
President Barack Obama said he was giving the military one year to implement reforms in preventing sexual assaults, saying the armed forces need to "step up their game" in dealing with the issue.
"If I do not see the kind of progress I expect, then we will consider additional reforms that may be required to eliminate this crime from our military ranks and protect our brave service members who stand guard for us every day at home and around the world," the President said in a statement issued Friday.
The National Defense Authorization Act passed on a 84-15 vote. It now goes to the White House for the President's signature.
The sweeping measure that reconciles a similar bill passed by the House last week also includes a compromise to ease limits on transferring terror suspects held at the Guantanamo Bay detention facility to other countries.
Obama wants to close Guantanamo, which began housing detainees after the 9/11 attacks.
It has been a lightning rod for criticism from civil libertarians and others and the site of high-profile hunger strikes by inmates protesting their treatment.
The legislation would continue to prohibit transfers to the United States.
Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel noted the new flexibility for detainee transfers overseas and said the Pentagon anticipates that it would "continue this effort" and "I think we're making good progress toward that objective."
The Pentagon has recently revived transfers from the facility, including two announced on Thursday to Sudan. Guantanamo now houses 158 detainees.
Another centerpiece of the bill enacts reforms and policy changes aimed at combating sexual assault in the military.
A Pentagon report earlier this year revealed a troubling increase in the number of military sexual assault cases.
The number of service members anonymously reporting a sexual assault grew by more than 30% over the past two years, according to the report released in May.
The Senate bill included more than 30 provisions or changes to military law, including one that would take away the long-held authority of commanders to dismiss a finding by a court-martial.
It also establishes minimum sentencing guidelines, requires that sexual offenses be included in military personnel records and eliminates the yearlong statute of limitations on rape and sexual assault.
Congress did not adopt a proposal pushed by Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, D-New York, to remove sexual assault prosecution from the chain of command.
Tuesday, August 28, 2012
I Am So Proud To Be A Marinchek-Marn...Thank You All
A burial site on the outskirts of Kigali, Rwanda for some of the victims of the 1994 genocide.
Photo courtesy of The U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum
Genocide and War Crimes
New Website Designed to Raise Awareness, Solicit Information
08/24/12
Kosovo…Rwanda…Srebrenica. These places will forever be associated with unspeakable, brutal acts of genocide and war crimes.
Genocide and War Crimes Program webpage
The global community has banded together to help prevent crimes like these and to bring to justice the perpetrators who commit them. The U.S. is part of this international effort—most recently through the creation of an interagency Atrocities Prevention Board. And the FBI supports the government’s efforts through its own Genocide War Crimes Program.
Today, in an effort to raise awareness about these crimes and the FBI’s part in helping to combat them, we’re announcing the launch of our Genocide War Crimes Program website. In addition to educating the public on our role, the website solicits information from victims and others about acts of genocide, war crimes, or related mass atrocities that can be submitted to us through tips.fbi.gov or by contacting an FBI field office or legal attaché office.
Why is the FBI involved, especially since these incidents primarily take place overseas? Take a look at the jurisdiction section of our new website, which explains the 1998 Presidential Executive Order 13107 and the four U.S. laws dealing with genocide, war crimes, torture, and recruitment or use of child soldiers.
In Their Own Words
“Rwandans saw accountability as the most important cornerstone to healing and continued progress.”
- FBI Special Agent
Read more
According to Special Agent Jeffrey VanNest, who heads up our Genocide War Crimes Unit (GWCU), our mission is to “systematically and methodically help track down perpetrators of genocide, war crimes, and other related atrocities—the worst of the worst—and apprehend them.”
These types of investigations are among the most complex ones we work. They typically involve piecing together fragmentary bits of information, interviewing overseas witnesses in conflict zones, collecting evidence in other countries, and accommodating language barriers. And the key to successfully conducting them—according to VanNest—is cooperation.
A Look Back: On the Ground in Kosovo
The FBI’s involvement in combating genocide and war crimes is nothing new. Back in 1999, the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia requested FBI forensic assistance after the indictment of former Yugoslavian president Slobodan Milosevic and four Serbian leaders for war crimes. Then-FBI Director Louis Freeh approved the deployment of a 65-person team to Kosovo, a small province between Macedonia and the Adriatic Sea, to work at what he called “the largest crime scene in history” (at that time). The team’s mission? To document and photograph crime scenes; locate, collect, and preserve evidence; and perform forensic exams on the deceased victims. Bureau investigators and forensic specialists ultimately exhumed bodies of 124 victims from 15 sites and processed six “killing” areas.
“The GWCU works shoulder-to-shoulder with our U.S. federal partners—most often with the Department of Homeland Security’s Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE)—to determine if there’s a violation of U.S law,” says VanNest. “If so, we envision working many of these cases jointly with our partners in ICE’s Homeland Security Investigations.”
Internationally—because the bulk of these investigations occur overseas—we work through our network of legal attachés who have established relationships in place with our counterparts in foreign nations and who coordinate our work with international criminal tribunals. We also cooperate with INTERPOL.
On the overview section of our new website, you can find out more about how we offer additional support to foreign authorities—such as crime scene preservation, interviewing techniques, age-enhancing photos, language services, and increasingly, victim/witness services—and who our primary domestic and international partners are.
Members of the GWCU, usually in conjunction with our ICE counterparts, coordinate our genocide/war crimes investigations. Collectively, GWCU agents and intelligence analysts in the unit are carefully selected for what they can bring to the table—subject matter expertise, interviewing skills, experience in past critical incident response, foreign language ability, and experience working with partner agencies in the U.S. and abroad.
“Our ultimate goal,” says VanNest, “is to ensure that perpetrators of these heinous crimes find no safe haven in the United States, or for that matter, no safe haven anywhere in the world.”
For more on our Genocide War Crimes Program, visit our new webpage.
Monday, August 27, 2012
This is Great Investigating..Thank You
Military Terror Plot: Murder Case Uncovers Terror Plot By 'Militia' Within U.S. Military
By RUSS BYNUM 08/27/12 03:10 PM ET
Sign Up ...Follow: Terrorism, Video, U.S. Military, Armed Forces, Crime News, Militia, Right-Wing Extremists, Soliders Plot Overthrow Federal Government, Soliders Terror Plot, Crime News . LUDOWICI, Ga. — Four Army soldiers based in southeast Georgia killed a former comrade and his girlfriend to protect an anarchist militia group they formed that stockpiled assault weapons and plotted a range of anti-government attacks, prosecutors told a judge Monday.
Prosecutors in rural Long County, near the sprawling Army post Fort Stewart, said the militia group composed of active duty and former U.S. military members spent at least $87,000 buying guns and bomb components and was serious enough to kill two people – former soldier Michael Roark and his 17-year-old girlfriend, Tiffany York – by shooting them in the woods last December in order to keep its plans secret.
"This domestic terrorist organization did not simply plan and talk," prosecutor Isabel Pauley told a Superior Court judge. "Prior to the murders in this case, the group took action. Evidence shows the group possessed the knowledge, means and motive to carry out their plans."
One of the Fort Stewart soldiers charged in the case, Army Pfc. Michael Burnett, also gave testimony that backed up many of the assertions made by prosecutors. The 26-year-old soldier pleaded guilty Monday to manslaughter, illegal gang activity and other charges. He made a deal to cooperate with prosecutors in their case against the three other soldiers.
Prosecutors said the group called itself F.E.A.R., short for Forever Enduring Always Ready. Pauley said authorities don't know how many members the militia had.
Burnett, 26, said he knew the group's leaders from serving with them at Fort Stewart. He agreed to testify against fellow soldiers Pvt. Isaac Aguigui, identified by prosecutors as the militia's founder and leader, Sgt. Anthony Peden and Pvt. Christopher Salmon.
All are charged by state authorities with malice murder, felony murder, criminal gang activity, aggravated assault and using a firearm while committing a felony. A hearing for the three soldiers was scheduled Thursday.
Prosecutors say Roark, 19, served with the four defendants in the 4th Brigade Combat Team of the Army's 3rd Infantry Division and became involved with the militia. Pauley said the group believed it had been betrayed by Roark, who left the Army two days before he was killed, and decided the ex-soldier and his girlfriend needed to be silenced.
Burnett testified that on the night of Dec. 4, he and the three other soldiers lured Roark and York to some woods a short distance from the Army post under the guise that they were going target shooting. He said Peden shot Roark's girlfriend in the head while she was trying to get out of her car. Salmon, he said, made Roark get on his knees and shot him twice in the head. Burnett said Aguigui ordered the killings.
"A loose end is the way Isaac put it," Burnett said.
Aguigui's attorney, Daveniya Fisher, did not immediately return a phone call from The Associated Press. Attorneys for Peden and Salmon both declined to comment Monday.
Also charged in the killings is Salmon's wife, Heather Salmon. Her attorney, Charles Nester, did not immediately return a call seeking comment.
Pauley said Aguigui funded the militia using $500,000 in insurance and benefit payments from the death of his pregnant wife a year ago. Aguigui was not charged in his wife's death, but Pauley told the judge her death was "highly suspicious."
She said Aguigui used the money to buy $87,000 worth of semiautomatic assault rifles, other guns and bomb components that were recovered from the accused soldiers' homes and from a storage locker. He also used the insurance payments to buy land for his militia group in Washington state, Pauley said.
In a videotaped interview with military investigators, Pauley said, Aguigui called himself "the nicest cold-blooded murderer you will ever meet." He used the Army to recruit militia members, who wore distinctive tattoos that resemble an anarchy symbol, she said. Prosecutors say they have no idea how many members belong to the group.
"All members of the group were on active-duty or were former members of the military," Pauley said. "He targeted soldiers who were in trouble or disillusioned."
The prosecutor said the militia group had big plans. It plotted to take over Fort Stewart by seizing its ammunition control point and talked of bombing the Forsyth Park fountain in nearby Savannah, she said. In Washington state, she added, the group plotted to bomb a dam and poison the state's apple crop. Ultimately, prosecutors said, the militia's goal was to overthrow the government and assassinate the president.
The Army brought charges against the four accused soldiers in connection with the slayings of Roark and York in March, but has yet to act on them. Fort Stewart spokesman Kevin Larson said he could not comment immediately on the militia accusations that emerged in civilian court Monday.
District Attorney Tom Durden said his office has been sharing information with federal authorities, but no charges have been filed in federal court. Jim Durham, an assistant U.S. attorney for the Southern District of Georgia, would not comment on whether a case is pending.
By RUSS BYNUM 08/27/12 03:10 PM ET
Sign Up ...Follow: Terrorism, Video, U.S. Military, Armed Forces, Crime News, Militia, Right-Wing Extremists, Soliders Plot Overthrow Federal Government, Soliders Terror Plot, Crime News . LUDOWICI, Ga. — Four Army soldiers based in southeast Georgia killed a former comrade and his girlfriend to protect an anarchist militia group they formed that stockpiled assault weapons and plotted a range of anti-government attacks, prosecutors told a judge Monday.
Prosecutors in rural Long County, near the sprawling Army post Fort Stewart, said the militia group composed of active duty and former U.S. military members spent at least $87,000 buying guns and bomb components and was serious enough to kill two people – former soldier Michael Roark and his 17-year-old girlfriend, Tiffany York – by shooting them in the woods last December in order to keep its plans secret.
"This domestic terrorist organization did not simply plan and talk," prosecutor Isabel Pauley told a Superior Court judge. "Prior to the murders in this case, the group took action. Evidence shows the group possessed the knowledge, means and motive to carry out their plans."
One of the Fort Stewart soldiers charged in the case, Army Pfc. Michael Burnett, also gave testimony that backed up many of the assertions made by prosecutors. The 26-year-old soldier pleaded guilty Monday to manslaughter, illegal gang activity and other charges. He made a deal to cooperate with prosecutors in their case against the three other soldiers.
Prosecutors said the group called itself F.E.A.R., short for Forever Enduring Always Ready. Pauley said authorities don't know how many members the militia had.
Burnett, 26, said he knew the group's leaders from serving with them at Fort Stewart. He agreed to testify against fellow soldiers Pvt. Isaac Aguigui, identified by prosecutors as the militia's founder and leader, Sgt. Anthony Peden and Pvt. Christopher Salmon.
All are charged by state authorities with malice murder, felony murder, criminal gang activity, aggravated assault and using a firearm while committing a felony. A hearing for the three soldiers was scheduled Thursday.
Prosecutors say Roark, 19, served with the four defendants in the 4th Brigade Combat Team of the Army's 3rd Infantry Division and became involved with the militia. Pauley said the group believed it had been betrayed by Roark, who left the Army two days before he was killed, and decided the ex-soldier and his girlfriend needed to be silenced.
Burnett testified that on the night of Dec. 4, he and the three other soldiers lured Roark and York to some woods a short distance from the Army post under the guise that they were going target shooting. He said Peden shot Roark's girlfriend in the head while she was trying to get out of her car. Salmon, he said, made Roark get on his knees and shot him twice in the head. Burnett said Aguigui ordered the killings.
"A loose end is the way Isaac put it," Burnett said.
Aguigui's attorney, Daveniya Fisher, did not immediately return a phone call from The Associated Press. Attorneys for Peden and Salmon both declined to comment Monday.
Also charged in the killings is Salmon's wife, Heather Salmon. Her attorney, Charles Nester, did not immediately return a call seeking comment.
Pauley said Aguigui funded the militia using $500,000 in insurance and benefit payments from the death of his pregnant wife a year ago. Aguigui was not charged in his wife's death, but Pauley told the judge her death was "highly suspicious."
She said Aguigui used the money to buy $87,000 worth of semiautomatic assault rifles, other guns and bomb components that were recovered from the accused soldiers' homes and from a storage locker. He also used the insurance payments to buy land for his militia group in Washington state, Pauley said.
In a videotaped interview with military investigators, Pauley said, Aguigui called himself "the nicest cold-blooded murderer you will ever meet." He used the Army to recruit militia members, who wore distinctive tattoos that resemble an anarchy symbol, she said. Prosecutors say they have no idea how many members belong to the group.
"All members of the group were on active-duty or were former members of the military," Pauley said. "He targeted soldiers who were in trouble or disillusioned."
The prosecutor said the militia group had big plans. It plotted to take over Fort Stewart by seizing its ammunition control point and talked of bombing the Forsyth Park fountain in nearby Savannah, she said. In Washington state, she added, the group plotted to bomb a dam and poison the state's apple crop. Ultimately, prosecutors said, the militia's goal was to overthrow the government and assassinate the president.
The Army brought charges against the four accused soldiers in connection with the slayings of Roark and York in March, but has yet to act on them. Fort Stewart spokesman Kevin Larson said he could not comment immediately on the militia accusations that emerged in civilian court Monday.
District Attorney Tom Durden said his office has been sharing information with federal authorities, but no charges have been filed in federal court. Jim Durham, an assistant U.S. attorney for the Southern District of Georgia, would not comment on whether a case is pending.
Welcome Home Soldiers...
Aug. 27, 2012
SOLDIERS MISSING FROM VIETNAM WAR IDENTIFIED
The Department of Defense POW/Missing Personnel Office (DPMO) announced today
that the remains of three U.S. servicemen, missing in action from the Vietnam War, were recently
identified and are being returned to their families for burial with full military honors.
Army Sgt. 1st Class William T. Brown, 24, of La Habra, Calif., Sgt. 1st Class Donald M. Shue, 20,
of Kannapolis, N.C., and Sgt. 1st Class Gunther H. Wald, 25, of Palisades Park, N.J., will be
buried as a group on Aug. 30, in a single casket representing the three soldiers, in Arlington
National Cemetery near Washington, D.C. Brown and Shue were each individually buried on
Sept. 26, 2011, at Arlington and May 1 in Kannapolis, N.C.
On Nov. 3, 1969, the men and six Vietnamese soldiers were part of a Special Forces
reconnaissance patrol operating in Quang Tri Province, near the Vietnam-Laos border. The patrol
was ambushed by enemy forces and all three Americans were wounded. Brown was reported to
have suffered a gunshot wound to his side. Due to heavy enemy presence and poor weather
conditions the search-and-rescue team was not able to reach the site until eight days later. At that
time, they found military equipment belonging to Shue, but no other signs of the men.
Between 1993 and 2010, joint U.S./Socialist Republic of Vietnam (S.R.V.) teams, led by
the Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command (JPAC), conducted multiple interviews on nine
different occasions in Quang Tri Province. Additionally, the S.R.V. unilaterally investigated this
case, but was unable to develop new leads. Among those interviewed by the joint teams were
former Vietnamese militiamen who claimed in 1969 they ambushed three Americans in the area
near the Laos-Vietnam border. In 2007, a Vietnamese citizen led investigators to human remains
that he had discovered and buried near the site of the ambush. In 2008, a military identification
tag for Brown was turned over to the U.S. Government from a U.S. citizen with ties to Vietnam.
Finally, in April 2010, joint teams excavated a hilltop area near Huong Lap Village, recovering
additional human remains, and military equipment, another military identification tag for Brown,
and a “Zippo” lighter bearing the name ”Donald M. Shue” and the date “1969.”
Scientists from the JPAC and the Armed Forces DNA Identification Laboratory used
circumstantial and material evidence, along with mitochondrial DNA—which matched that of
some of the soldiers’ family members—in the identification of the remains.
Saturday, August 25, 2012
Great Job ICE...
ICE arrests 28 during 5-day operation targeting criminal aliens, immigration fugitives in northeastern Wisconsin
MILWAUKEE — As part of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's (ICE) ongoing commitment to prioritizing the removal of criminal aliens and egregious immigration law violators, 28 convicted criminal aliens, immigration fugitives and immigration violators were arrested during a five-day operation in northeastern Wisconsin which ended Tuesday.
This operation was conducted by ICE's Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO) Fugitive Operations teams in Milwaukee.
Of the 28 arrested, 26 had prior convictions for crimes, such as: sexually assaulting a minor, theft, possessing cocaine, domestic abuse, carrying a concealed weapon, battery, criminal trespass and drunken driving. Four of the 28 were immigration fugitives who had been previously ordered to leave the country but failed to depart; all of those are convicted criminals in addition to having outstanding deportation orders. Four of the 28 – also all convicted criminals – had been previously deported and illegally re-entered the United States, which is a felony.
Following is the nationality breakdown of the 27 men and one woman arrested: Mexico (23), Laos (3) and Honduras (2). The arrests were made in the following northeast Wisconsin communities: Appleton (3), Bailey's Harbor (1), Casco (4), Fond de Lac (1), Gillette (1), Green Bay (6), Manitowoc (5), New London (1), Oshkosh (1), Reedsville (1), Sheboygan (2), Two Rivers (1) and Wrightstown (1).
Following are summaries of two individuals arrested during this operation:
A 25-year-old Laotian national was previously convicted of two counts of sexually assaulting a minor, fleeing an officer and theft. He was arrested Aug. 17 in Oshkosh and is currently in ICE custody pending removal proceedings.
A 21-year-old Mexican national has an extensive criminal history that includes convictions for carrying a concealed weapon, battery using a dangerous weapon, criminal damage to property, domestic abuse and resisting law enforcement. He was arrested Aug. 21 in Sheboygan and remains in ICE custody pending removal proceedings.
"The results of this targeted enforcement operation underscore ICE's ongoing commitment to strengthening and protecting public safety," said Ricardo Wong, field office director of ERO Chicago. "By focusing our efforts on arresting and removing convicted criminal aliens, we immediately improve the safety of our communities."
These arrests were coordinated with ICE's National Fugitive Operations Program, which is responsible for investigating, locating, arresting and removing at-large criminal aliens and immigration fugitives — aliens who have ignored final orders of deportation handed down by federal immigration courts. ICE's Fugitive Operations teams give top priority to cases involving aliens who pose a threat to national security and public safety, including members of transnational street gangs and child sex offenders.
MILWAUKEE — As part of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's (ICE) ongoing commitment to prioritizing the removal of criminal aliens and egregious immigration law violators, 28 convicted criminal aliens, immigration fugitives and immigration violators were arrested during a five-day operation in northeastern Wisconsin which ended Tuesday.
This operation was conducted by ICE's Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO) Fugitive Operations teams in Milwaukee.
Of the 28 arrested, 26 had prior convictions for crimes, such as: sexually assaulting a minor, theft, possessing cocaine, domestic abuse, carrying a concealed weapon, battery, criminal trespass and drunken driving. Four of the 28 were immigration fugitives who had been previously ordered to leave the country but failed to depart; all of those are convicted criminals in addition to having outstanding deportation orders. Four of the 28 – also all convicted criminals – had been previously deported and illegally re-entered the United States, which is a felony.
Following is the nationality breakdown of the 27 men and one woman arrested: Mexico (23), Laos (3) and Honduras (2). The arrests were made in the following northeast Wisconsin communities: Appleton (3), Bailey's Harbor (1), Casco (4), Fond de Lac (1), Gillette (1), Green Bay (6), Manitowoc (5), New London (1), Oshkosh (1), Reedsville (1), Sheboygan (2), Two Rivers (1) and Wrightstown (1).
Following are summaries of two individuals arrested during this operation:
A 25-year-old Laotian national was previously convicted of two counts of sexually assaulting a minor, fleeing an officer and theft. He was arrested Aug. 17 in Oshkosh and is currently in ICE custody pending removal proceedings.
A 21-year-old Mexican national has an extensive criminal history that includes convictions for carrying a concealed weapon, battery using a dangerous weapon, criminal damage to property, domestic abuse and resisting law enforcement. He was arrested Aug. 21 in Sheboygan and remains in ICE custody pending removal proceedings.
"The results of this targeted enforcement operation underscore ICE's ongoing commitment to strengthening and protecting public safety," said Ricardo Wong, field office director of ERO Chicago. "By focusing our efforts on arresting and removing convicted criminal aliens, we immediately improve the safety of our communities."
These arrests were coordinated with ICE's National Fugitive Operations Program, which is responsible for investigating, locating, arresting and removing at-large criminal aliens and immigration fugitives — aliens who have ignored final orders of deportation handed down by federal immigration courts. ICE's Fugitive Operations teams give top priority to cases involving aliens who pose a threat to national security and public safety, including members of transnational street gangs and child sex offenders.
Thursday, August 23, 2012
Sentencing in Major International Cyber Crime Prosecution
Sentencing in Major International Cyber Crime Prosecution
Supervisor of Chicago Cashing Crew Imprisoned
U.S. Attorney’s Office
August 21, 2012 Northern District of Georgia
(404) 581-6000
ATLANTA—Sonya Martin, 45, of Nigeria and Chicago, Illinois, a manager of a Chicago cell in one of the most sophisticated and organized computer hacking and ATM cashout schemes ever perpetrated, was sentenced today by United States District Judge Steve C. Jones to serve two years and six months in federal prison on charges of conspiracy to commit wire fraud.
“This case demonstrates the growing expertise and reach of law enforcement in combating international cyber criminals,” said United States Attorney Sally Quillian Yates. “We will continue to work with our law enforcement partners throughout the world to investigate and prosecute those who defraud victims in the United States, wherever the perpetrators may be.”
Brian D. Lamkin, Special Agent in Charge, FBI Atlanta Field Office, stated: “While this was a complex, internationally coordinated crime with many different players and components, it would not have gotten very far without the cashing crews. Today’s sentencing sends a cautionary message to those here in the U.S. who would aid and abet those individuals abroad in such criminal schemes that you will be held accountable.”
Martin was sentenced to two years and six months in prison to be followed by five years’ supervised release, and $89,120.25 restitution.
According to United States Attorney Yates, the charges, and other information presented in court: During November 2008, an elite group of hackers obtained unauthorized access into the computer network of WorldPay US, Inc., then-known as RBS WorldPay, a payment processor located in Atlanta. The hackers used sophisticated techniques to compromise the data encryption that was used by WorldPay to protect customer data on payroll debit cards. Payroll debit cards are used by various companies to pay their employees. By using a payroll debit card, employees are able to make purchases or withdraw their salaries from an ATM.
Once they compromised the encryption, the hackers raised the balances and ATM withdrawal limits on compromised accounts, and provided a network of lead “cashers” with 44 debit card account numbers and their associated PINs, which were used to withdraw more than $9 million from over 2,100 ATMs in at least 280 cities worldwide, including cities in the United States, Russia, Ukraine, Estonia, Italy, Hong Kong, Japan, and Canada. The $9 million loss occurred within a span of less than 12 hours on November 8, 2008.
Throughout the cashout, the hackers monitored the fraudulent ATM withdrawals in real-time from within the computer systems of WorldPay. Once the withdrawals were completed, the hackers sought to destroy data stored on the card processing network in order to conceal their illegal activity. WorldPay nevertheless discovered the unauthorized activity and immediately reported the breach.
Defendant Sonya Martin worked with one of the lead cashers and supervised a cashing crew in Chicago. Martin was given a payroll card number and PIN code, and manufactured counterfeit debit cards based on that information. She gave the counterfeit cards to underlings she recruited and supervised, and together they fraudulently withdrew approximately $80,000 from various Chicago ATMs during the early morning hours of November 8, 2008. Martin, whose primary residence is in Nigeria, was arrested in March 2011 outside JFK airport in New York on her way to London.
This case was investigated by special agents of the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Assistance was provided by numerous domestic and international law enforcement partners. WorldPay immediately reported the crime and substantially assisted in the investigation.
Assistant United States Attorneys Lawrence R. Sommerfeld and Nicholas Oldham, and Trial Attorney Carol Sipperly of the Department of Justice Computer Crime and Intellectual Property Section prosecuted the case, with substantial assistance from the Department of Justice Office of International Affairs.
Supervisor of Chicago Cashing Crew Imprisoned
U.S. Attorney’s Office
August 21, 2012 Northern District of Georgia
(404) 581-6000
ATLANTA—Sonya Martin, 45, of Nigeria and Chicago, Illinois, a manager of a Chicago cell in one of the most sophisticated and organized computer hacking and ATM cashout schemes ever perpetrated, was sentenced today by United States District Judge Steve C. Jones to serve two years and six months in federal prison on charges of conspiracy to commit wire fraud.
“This case demonstrates the growing expertise and reach of law enforcement in combating international cyber criminals,” said United States Attorney Sally Quillian Yates. “We will continue to work with our law enforcement partners throughout the world to investigate and prosecute those who defraud victims in the United States, wherever the perpetrators may be.”
Brian D. Lamkin, Special Agent in Charge, FBI Atlanta Field Office, stated: “While this was a complex, internationally coordinated crime with many different players and components, it would not have gotten very far without the cashing crews. Today’s sentencing sends a cautionary message to those here in the U.S. who would aid and abet those individuals abroad in such criminal schemes that you will be held accountable.”
Martin was sentenced to two years and six months in prison to be followed by five years’ supervised release, and $89,120.25 restitution.
According to United States Attorney Yates, the charges, and other information presented in court: During November 2008, an elite group of hackers obtained unauthorized access into the computer network of WorldPay US, Inc., then-known as RBS WorldPay, a payment processor located in Atlanta. The hackers used sophisticated techniques to compromise the data encryption that was used by WorldPay to protect customer data on payroll debit cards. Payroll debit cards are used by various companies to pay their employees. By using a payroll debit card, employees are able to make purchases or withdraw their salaries from an ATM.
Once they compromised the encryption, the hackers raised the balances and ATM withdrawal limits on compromised accounts, and provided a network of lead “cashers” with 44 debit card account numbers and their associated PINs, which were used to withdraw more than $9 million from over 2,100 ATMs in at least 280 cities worldwide, including cities in the United States, Russia, Ukraine, Estonia, Italy, Hong Kong, Japan, and Canada. The $9 million loss occurred within a span of less than 12 hours on November 8, 2008.
Throughout the cashout, the hackers monitored the fraudulent ATM withdrawals in real-time from within the computer systems of WorldPay. Once the withdrawals were completed, the hackers sought to destroy data stored on the card processing network in order to conceal their illegal activity. WorldPay nevertheless discovered the unauthorized activity and immediately reported the breach.
Defendant Sonya Martin worked with one of the lead cashers and supervised a cashing crew in Chicago. Martin was given a payroll card number and PIN code, and manufactured counterfeit debit cards based on that information. She gave the counterfeit cards to underlings she recruited and supervised, and together they fraudulently withdrew approximately $80,000 from various Chicago ATMs during the early morning hours of November 8, 2008. Martin, whose primary residence is in Nigeria, was arrested in March 2011 outside JFK airport in New York on her way to London.
This case was investigated by special agents of the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Assistance was provided by numerous domestic and international law enforcement partners. WorldPay immediately reported the crime and substantially assisted in the investigation.
Assistant United States Attorneys Lawrence R. Sommerfeld and Nicholas Oldham, and Trial Attorney Carol Sipperly of the Department of Justice Computer Crime and Intellectual Property Section prosecuted the case, with substantial assistance from the Department of Justice Office of International Affairs.
Everything I Do--I Do For "The Recovery Of Missing Children"..
FBI Brings CODIS Software to Mauritius
Washington, D.C.
August 22, 2012 FBI National Press Office
(202) 324-3691
Today, the FBI announced plans to share the Combined DNA Index System (CODIS) technology with our law enforcement partners in Mauritius. The initiative demonstrates and reaffirms the FBI’s commitment to assist international law enforcement agencies in combating violent crime.
A letter of agreement will allow the Mauritius Forensic Science Laboratory to operate a DNA database, utilizing the same platform as many of its South American, Mexican, and Caribbean counterparts.
Once CODIS is installed, the Mauritius Forensic Science Laboratory will join more than 70 international laboratories that are using the software for the management of its DNA data. The CODIS system provided will have no connectivity to the U.S. National DNA database.
The FBI Laboratory sponsors CODIS as part of a technical assistance program to international law enforcement forensic laboratories. CODIS blends forensic science and computer technology into an effective tool for solving violent crimes. The software allows laboratories to store, compare, and match DNA records from offenders, crime scene evidence, unidentified human remains, and relatives of missing persons. Centralized DNA data enables law enforcement to benefit from new information in previously unrelated investigations.
In 1998 the National DNA database, known as the National DNA Index System (NDIS), was established in the United States. Currently, NDIS has over 11 million searchable profiles and has aided over 177,000 investigations.
DNA databases have proven to be invaluable to the law enforcement community and the victims of violent crimes and their families. They have been particularly helpful to investigations that are very old and no longer producing new leads. Decades ago, crimes from cold cases would have remained unsolved.
With the participation of more than 260 laboratories in over 35 countries, CODIS software has been instrumental in solving violent crimes throughout the world.
The FBI is pleased that our law enforcement partners in Mauritius are joining the CODIS team.
Washington, D.C.
August 22, 2012 FBI National Press Office
(202) 324-3691
Today, the FBI announced plans to share the Combined DNA Index System (CODIS) technology with our law enforcement partners in Mauritius. The initiative demonstrates and reaffirms the FBI’s commitment to assist international law enforcement agencies in combating violent crime.
A letter of agreement will allow the Mauritius Forensic Science Laboratory to operate a DNA database, utilizing the same platform as many of its South American, Mexican, and Caribbean counterparts.
Once CODIS is installed, the Mauritius Forensic Science Laboratory will join more than 70 international laboratories that are using the software for the management of its DNA data. The CODIS system provided will have no connectivity to the U.S. National DNA database.
The FBI Laboratory sponsors CODIS as part of a technical assistance program to international law enforcement forensic laboratories. CODIS blends forensic science and computer technology into an effective tool for solving violent crimes. The software allows laboratories to store, compare, and match DNA records from offenders, crime scene evidence, unidentified human remains, and relatives of missing persons. Centralized DNA data enables law enforcement to benefit from new information in previously unrelated investigations.
In 1998 the National DNA database, known as the National DNA Index System (NDIS), was established in the United States. Currently, NDIS has over 11 million searchable profiles and has aided over 177,000 investigations.
DNA databases have proven to be invaluable to the law enforcement community and the victims of violent crimes and their families. They have been particularly helpful to investigations that are very old and no longer producing new leads. Decades ago, crimes from cold cases would have remained unsolved.
With the participation of more than 260 laboratories in over 35 countries, CODIS software has been instrumental in solving violent crimes throughout the world.
The FBI is pleased that our law enforcement partners in Mauritius are joining the CODIS team.
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