April 2009 Archives

Royal Palm Beach, Florida resident Richard E. Hicks is filing a lawsuit today against his employer, Waterman Steamship Corporation and Maersk Line, Ltd. for knowingly sending him into pirate-infested waters near Somalia without adequate protection.

Hicks was taken hostage by Somali pirates April 8 while working as chief steward preparing food for crewmembers. When Hicks heard over the loudspeaker that pirates were on board, he and other crewmembers gathered in the engine/steering room for nearly 12 hours.

"The engine room was dark and hot, maybe 130 degrees," Says Hicks. "We were all cramping up with heat stroke symptoms when we were able to take a pirate hostage and tried to negotiate the return of our Captain."

Pirates promised to exchange the ship's Captain for the pirate hostage but

instead escaped with the Captain and their pirate crewmember.

Richard Hicks attorney, Terry Bryant says the ship owners' knowingly exposed their employees to imminent danger and took no steps to provide appropriate levels of security and safety for its employees.

"Waterman Steamship Corporation and Maersk Line Limited chose to rely on the United States Military and taxpayers to provide after-the-fact rescue operations," Says Bryant. "This choice caused substantially more cost and risk to human life than what would have been incurred by Defendants had they provided appropriate levels of security in the first place."

Hicks says he still suffers from injuries as a result of the incident and is afraid to return to his work as a chief steward.

SOURCE Terry Bryant

Attorney General Tom Corbett today announced that agents from the Attorney General's Bureau of Narcotics Investigation have filed criminal charges against four Cumberland and Dauphin County men accused of shipping as much as $750,000 worth of marijuana and cocaine cross-country, from southern California to the Harrisburg area.

Corbett identified the defendants as Edward Zimmer, 31, 37 South 39th St., Camp Hill; Kevin Hartung, 30, 107 Silver Spring Road, Mechanicsburg; Flor Rivera Jr., 29, 100 North 2nd St., Wormleysburg; and James Houser, 31, 675 Gregs Drive, Harrisburg.

Corbett said the investigation, known as "Operation Frequent Flyer," began in March 2009 after agents from the Attorney General's Office received information about a group of individuals who were reportedly involved in the large-scale shipment of drugs from California into Central Pennsylvania. The drugs were then allegedly repackaged for distribution and sale throughout Cumberland and Dauphin counties.

"This was a well-organized effort to ship bulk quantities of drugs across the country," Corbett said, "including flights to California with stacks of cash, secret drug purchases in San Diego and a specially constructed trailer designed to hide marijuana and cocaine from law enforcement."

According to the criminal complaint, Zimmer and Hartung paid associates to drive to San Diego, California, initially using rental cars and later towing a trailer that contained a hidden compartment designed to hide drugs. Zimmer and Hartung would then allegedly fly to California carrying substantial quantities of cash, purchase the drugs, load the vehicles and then arrange to have the illegal cargo driven back to Cumberland County.

Corbett said that Zimmer and Hartung are believed to have arranged at least five cross-country trips since January 2009, personally transporting cash to California and then instructing associates to drive the drugs back to Central Pennsylvania. Each of those trips allegedly involved the shipment of 50 to 80 pounds of marijuana, worth approximately $650,000, along with $100,000 worth of cocaine.

According to the criminal complaint, the marijuana was allegedly repackaged into smaller quantities and distributed in Cumberland and Dauphin counties by Zimmer, Hartung and James Houser, while the cocaine was allegedly turned over to Flor Rivera Jr. for local distribution.

"Last week, we monitored the beginning of another suspected drug trip to California, with Houser and an associate towing a trailer to California while Zimmer and Hartung flew from Harrisburg International Airport to San Diego," Corbett said. "Late Monday afternoon, a trailer loaded with approximately 70 pounds of marijuana was seized by agents from the Attorney General's office when it arrived for a pre-arraigned meeting at Rivera's residence in Wormleysburg."

Corbett said that Zimmer, Rivera and Houser were all taken into custody when the drug-laden trailer arrived at the meeting location in Cumberland County. An arrest warrant has been issued for Hartung.

Agents executed search warrants at the homes of all four defendants, seizing approx. 70 pounds of marijuana; 300 grams of cocaine; $17,400 in cash; seven firearms; seven cars, trucks and SUV's; three motorcycles; and various drug packaging materials.

Corbett said that Zimmer, Rivera and Houser were all preliminarily arraigned via video link on April 20th and lodged in the Cumberland County Jail in lieu of $250,000 bail apiece. Preliminary hearings are scheduled for April 29th before Camp Hill Magisterial District Judge Roger A. Estep.

Hartung is charged with one count of possession with intent to deliver cocaine, three counts of possession with intent to deliver marijuana, two counts of criminal conspiracy, two counts of participating in a corrupt organization and one count of possession with intent to use drug paraphernalia.

Zimmer is charged with one count of possession with intent to deliver cocaine, three counts of possession with intent to deliver marijuana, two counts of criminal conspiracy and two counts of participating in a corrupt organization.

Flor Rivera Jr. is charged with two counts of possession with intent to deliver cocaine, two counts of possession with intent to deliver marijuana, two counts of criminal conspiracy and two counts of participating in a corrupt organization and one count of possession with intent to use drug paraphernalia.

James Houser is charged with one count of possession with intent to deliver cocaine, three counts of possession with intent to deliver marijuana, two counts of criminal conspiracy and one count of participating in a corrupt organization.

Corbett thanked the Cumberland and Dauphin County Drug Task Forces and the U.S. Marshall's Office for their cooperation and assistance with this investigation.

The defendants will be prosecuted in Cumberland County by Senior Deputy Attorney General Heather L. Adams of the Attorney General's Drug Strike Force Section.

Growing Threat

Corbett noted a growing trend across Pennsylvania involving hidden compartments in vehicles used by drug dealers.

"Our agents are seeing a steady growth in the use of hidden compartments in drug vehicles, along with an increased use by lower level drug dealers," Corbett said. "Something once limited to major drug traffickers in the largest cities is now working its way into small towns all across the state -- posing a clear threat to law enforcement and the general public because these compartments can be used to conceal weapons along with drugs and cash."

Corbett said the increased use of hidden compartments in drug vehicles parallels the steady growth of small-town drug organizations across Pennsylvania.

"These compartments can be large or small, crude or sophisticated," Corbett said. "Most of these vehicles are used to move large quantities of drugs or cash back-and-forth across the state, while others serve as movable 'safe houses' -- used to conceal drug supplies from law enforcement or competitors -- and some of the more elaborate hidden compartments become a type of status symbol among drug dealers."

Corbett said that agents and technical specialists from the Attorney General's Office have discovered more than 50 hidden compartments in drug vehicles since 2005, with additional hidden items being discovered by State Police and local police officers.

Corbett noted that agents from the Attorney General's Office provide training and technical assistance to other law enforcement organizations across the state, demonstrating how compartments are concealed in vehicles and teaching police officers what to look for when searching a vehicle. He added that officer safety is the major emphasis of this training.

SOURCE Pennsylvania Office of Attorney General

Tax return preparer Lawrence Sperling pleaded guilty today to aiding in the preparation of false tax returns, the Justice Department and Internal Revenue Service (IRS) announced. Sperling was scheduled to begin trial on April 14, 2009 before Judge Deborah Chasanow in Greenbelt, Md.

According to the indictment and the plea agreement, Sperling, who is a disbarred former attorney, owned and operated a tax preparation business in Silver Spring, Md., from at least 2002 through 2003. The business operated under several names, including American Tax Service, American Tax Institute, JAMAR LLC, and American Tax Professional Associates Inc. (ATPA).

According to the indictment and the plea agreement, Sperling knowingly prepared tax returns for his clients that contained false and fraudulent items, including inflated medial expenses, charitable contributions, miscellaneous employment-related expenses, and child care credits. The tax loss associated with false returns prepared by Sperling is $804,335.

According to the indictment and the plea agreement, beginning in 1988, Sperling failed to file tax returns for eleven years. In 2001, the IRS penalized Sperling and fined him $10,000 for "willful or reckless understatement of taxpayer's tax liability" with respect to his tax preparation business. The IRS sent him more than two dozen notices of taxes and penalties due, notice of intent to levy, and other warning letters.

Beginning in at least 1998, Sperling arranged for another individual (the nominee) to file the tax returns of Sperling's clients and to collect Sperling's preparation fees. The nominee subsequently held these funds in bank accounts in the nominee's name. The nominee made disbursements of these funds to Sperling or others at Sperling's request. Sperling never declared or paid taxes on these funds, although he used a portion of them to pay business expenses. As a result of this conduct, Sperling caused an additional tax loss of $130,847.

Judge Chasanow scheduled sentencing of Sperling for July 31, 2009. Sperling faces a maximum sentence of three years in prison and a fine of $250,000 for the aiding in the preparation of false returns conviction.

Acting Assistant Attorney General John A. DiCicco thanked the special agents from IRS-Criminal Investigation who investigated the case, as well as Tax Division trial attorneys Jerrod Patterson, Shawn Noud, and Tino Lisella, who prosecuted the case.

SOURCE U.S. Department of Justice

The Software & Information Industry Association (SIIA), the principal trade association for the software and digital content industries, announced today that in March it paid nearly $90,000 to ten sources who reported cases of corporate end-user software piracy to SIIA.

Through its Anti-Piracy Reward Program, SIIA offers rewards - ranging from $500 for a settlement of $10,000 to $1 million for cases with settlement amounts over $20 million - to eligible individuals who report verifiable instances of corporate software piracy.

SIIA pursues cases of software and content piracy taking place within an organization. This occurs when software has been installed or content is being copied and/or distributed by an organization without the proper license from the publisher. SIIA's Corporate Anti-Piracy program is driven by source reports, involving a person referred to as "the source" who notifies SIIA that a particular company is using illegal software.

Sources can contact SIIA about a company's alleged non-compliance in three ways: by e-mail (at piracy@siia.net), a telephone call (1.800.388.7478), or a web-based form (www.siia.net/piracy/report). Usually the source is a current or former employee of the firm, an SIIA member company representative, vendor, or other person with first-hand knowledge about a company's IT operations.

Since the initiation of SIIA's anti-piracy reward program in 2003, no trade association has given out more rewards or larger amounts per reward, in an effort to thwart software and content piracy.

According to Keith Kupferschmid, Senior Vice President for Intellectual Property Policy and Enforcement, "We value the extensive cooperation and information provided by our sources and the reward program is a significant way in which we show our appreciation for their efforts to help us combat corporate end-user piracy while also ensuring that we obtain the most accurate and reliable information."

About SIIA's Corporate Anti-Piracy Hotline/Reporting Mechanisms

Individuals interested in learning more about the SIIA Anti-Piracy Reward Program or in submitting a piracy report can do so through SIIA's hotline: 800.388.7478.

SOURCE Software & Information Industry Association

Consultores De Navegacion, a Spanish company that operates the M/T Nautilus, an ocean-going chemical tanker ship, pleaded guilty today in U.S. District Court in Boston and has agreed to pay a fine of $2.5 million for criminal violations related to the overboard discharge of oil-contaminated bilge waste on the high seas, the Justice Department announced.

The company pleaded guilty to conspiracy, falsification of records, false statements, obstruction, and two violations of the Act to Prevent Pollution from Ships for failing to maintain an accurate oil record book. The practice of improperly handling and disposing of oil-contaminated waste from the tanker as charged in the indictment took place from at least June 2007 until March 2008.

As part of the plea agreement, Consultores De Navegacion will serve three years of probation and implement a comprehensive environmental compliance plan to ensure there are no future violations of the law. The charges against Cyprus-based Iceport Shipping Co., the owner of the ship, have been dismissed. U.S. District Court Judge Douglas P. Woodlock scheduled sentencing for June, 30, 2009.

Engine room operations on board large oceangoing vessels such as the M/T Nautilus generate large amounts of waste oil and oil-contaminated bilge waste. International and U.S. law prohibit the discharge of waste containing more than 15 parts per million of oil and without treatment by an oily water separator -- a required pollution prevention device. Federal law also requires ships to accurately record each disposal of oil-contaminated bilge water in an oil record book and to have the Oil Record Book available for inspection by the U.S. Coast Guard within the internal waters of the United States.

According to the government, between June 2007 and March 2008, senior engineers on the M/T Nautilus directed subordinate engine room crew members to use a metal pipe to bypass the ship's oil water separator and instead to discharge oil-contaminated waste directly overboard. On two occasions in August 2007, Vadym Tumakov, a Ukrainian who at that time served as chief engineer of the M/T Nautilus, directed the discharge of pollution overboard. In addition, in February 2008, Carmelo Oria, a Spanish citizen who served as chief engineer at that time, directed a discharge directly overboard from the ship's bilge wells.

The government's investigation began in March 2008, when inspectors from the U.S. Coast Guard conducted an examination of the M/T Nautilus, following the ship's arrival in St. Croix, U.S. Virgin Islands, and subsequently in the Port of Boston. The inspections uncovered evidence that crewmembers aboard the ship had improperly handled and disposed of the ship's oil-contaminated bilge water and falsified entries in the ship's official oil record book to conceal these activities.

Oria, who was the chief engineer on the M/T Nautilus between January and March 2008 pleaded guilty on March 9, 2009, to maintaining an oil record book that concealed the improper discharge of untreated waste directly from the ship's bilges. Vadym Tumakov, who was the chief engineer on the M/T Nautilus in August 2007 pleaded guilty to using falsified records that concealed improper discharges of oil-contaminated bilge waste from the ship. They are both scheduled to be sentenced on April 13, 2009 and face up to 6 years in prison, three years of supervised release and a fine of up to $250,000.

As chief engineers, Oria and Tumakov were responsible for all engine room operations. Charges against Tumakov were originally filed in the District of New Jersey and the case was subsequently transferred to the District of Massachusetts.

"Corporate entities and individual crewmembers that deliberately bypass required environmental controls and pump untreated bilge water directly into the ocean should expect to be investigated and prosecuted. Consultores De Navegacion violated the law and today they are facing the consequences," said John C. Cruden, Acting Assistant Attorney General for the Justice Department's Environment and Natural Resources Division. "As long as individuals and maritime companies ignore this nation's environmental laws, the Justice Department will continue to bring cases and seek justice for those involved."

"We remain committed to protecting our precious natural resources, and hope that today's conviction sends a clear message to everyone in the worldwide maritime community that the Government will investigate and prosecute anyone who attempts to circumvent our nation's anti-pollution laws," said U.S. Attorney Michael J. Sullivan.

"This is a clear victory in our ongoing effort to stop intentional or negligent pollution and ensure those responsible are brought to justice," said Rear Admiral Dale G. Gabel, Commander of the First Coast Guard District in Boston, MA. "The Coast Guard remains committed to working with the maritime industry and federal, state and local law enforcement partners to protect the environmental resources of our nation."

The case was investigated by the U.S. Coast Guard, Coast Guard Investigative Service. It was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Linda M. Ricci of the U.S. Attorney's Economic Crimes Unit, Trial Attorney Todd Mikolop of the Justice Department's Environmental Crimes Section, and Special Assistant U.S. Attorney Christopher Jones of the U.S. Coast Guard First District Legal Office.

Source: U.S. Department of Justice

A federal grand jury in San Francisco returned an indictment today charging an executive at Hitachi Displays Ltd. with participating in a global conspiracy to fix the prices of Thin Film Transistor-Liquid Crystal Display (TFT-LCD) panels sold to Dell Inc., the U.S. Department of Justice announced today.

The indictment, filed in U.S. District Court in San Francisco, charges Sakae Someya with conspiring with unnamed co-conspirators to suppress and eliminate competition by fixing the price of TFT-LCD panels sold to Dell for use in notebook computers. Someya participated in the conspiracy from on or about Jan. 1, 2001, to on or about Dec. 31, 2004. In 2006, the worldwide market for TFT-LCD panels was approximately $70 billion.

Including today's indictment, four companies and eight individuals have been charged in the Department's ongoing antitrust investigation into the TFT-LCD industry. To date, more than $585 million in fines have been imposed as a result of the TFT-LCD investigation.

"Practically every American consumer has been impacted by the TFT-LCD conspiracies," said Scott D. Hammond, Acting Assistant Attorney General in charge of the Department's Antitrust Division. "Today the Department is holding a high-level executive accountable for his conduct."

Someya was charged with participating with co-conspirators in a conspiracy accomplished by the following means:

• Attending bilateral meetings and engaging in conversations and communications in Japan, Korea and the United States to discuss the prices of TFT-LCD panels sold to Dell;
• Agreeing during those meetings, conversations and communications to charge prices of TFT-LCD panels sold to Dell at certain levels;
• Exchanging information on sales of TFT-LCD panels sold to Dell, for the purpose of monitoring and enforcing adherence to the agreed-upon prices;
• Authorizing, ordering and consenting to the participation of subordinate employees in the conspiracy;
• Issuing price quotations in accordance with the agreements reached;
• Accepting payment for the supply of TFT-LCD panels sold at collusive, noncompetitive prices to Dell; and
• Taking steps to conceal the conspiracy and conspiratorial contacts through various means.

Someya is charged with violating the Sherman Act, which carries a maximum fine of $1 million and 10 years imprisonment for individuals. The fine may be increased to twice the gain derived from the crime, or twice the loss suffered by the victims, if either of those amounts is greater than the statutory maximum.

On Dec. 15, 2008, LG Display Co. (LG) pleaded guilty to participating in a worldwide conspiracy to fix the price for TFT-LCD panels and was sentenced to pay a $400 million criminal fine -- the second-largest fine in Antitrust Division history. On Dec. 16, 2008, Sharp Corp. pleaded guilty to participating in three separate conspiracies to fix the prices of TFT-LCD panels sold to Dell, Apple Computer Inc. and Motorola Inc. and was sentenced to pay a $120 million criminal fine. On Jan. 14, 2009, Chunghwa Picture Tubes Ltd. (Chunghwa) pleaded guilty to participating in the same worldwide conspiracy as LG, and was sentenced to pay a $65 million criminal fine.

In February 2009, former Chunghwa CEO Chieng-Hon "Frank" Lin and two Chunghwa executives, Chih-Chun "C.C." Liu and Hsueh-Lung "Brian" Lee, pleaded guilty to and were sentenced for participating in the same conspiracy as LG and Chunghwa. Lin was sentenced to serve nine months in prison and pay a $50,000 criminal fine. Liu was sentenced to serve seven months in prison and pay a $30,000 criminal fine. Lee was sentenced to serve six months in prison and pay a $20,000 criminal fine. Also in February 2009, LG executive Chang Suk "C.S." Chung pleaded guilty for his role in the same conspiracy as LG and Chunghwa. Chung was sentenced to serve seven months in prison and pay a $25,000 criminal fine.

On Feb. 3, 2009, a federal grand jury in San Francisco returned an indictment charging two former Chunghwa executives, Cheng Yuan Lin, aka C.Y. Lin, and Wen Jun Cheng, aka Tony Cheng, and one former executive from LG, Duk Mo Koo, for their participation in the same conspiracy as LG and Chunghwa. Warrants have been issued for the arrest of all three individuals.

On March 10, 2009, Hitachi Displays Ltd. agreed to plead guilty and pay a $31 million fine for its participation in a conspiracy to fix the prices of TFT-LCD panels sold to Dell for use in notebook computers from April 1, 2001, to March 31, 2004.

Someya's indictment is the result of a joint investigation by the Department of Justice Antitrust Division's San Francisco Field Office and the Federal Bureau of Investigation in San Francisco. Anyone with information concerning illegal conduct in the TFT-LCD industry is urged to call the San Francisco Field Office of the Antitrust Division at 415-436-6660.

SOURCE U.S. Department of Justice