April 9, 2020 Since Congress passed a $2 trillion+ stimulus bill (The CARES Act) to provide financial relief to individuals and businesses during the COVID-19 pandemic, law enforcement agencies have been preparing to launch aggressive investigations into organizations and people suspected of fraud related to these federal benefits. For example, the CARES Act provides direct […]
April 9, 2020 The U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Georgia announced that it arrested a Georgia woman on federal charges of illegally importing and selling an unregistered pesticide that she marketed as protection from viruses. The pesticide was sold through eBay and had names like “Virus Shut Out” and “Stop the Virus” and […]
April 12, 2020. The past two weeks saw contrasting approaches from two blue states regarding how to manage large inmate populations during the COVID-19 pandemic. In California, the Judicial Council held an emergency meeting last week to vote on and adopt a series of measures to alleviate the judicial emergency in California. The Council passed […]
April 7, 2020 Following the decision to appoint a “coronavirus fraud coordinator” by the US Attorney’s Office in the Middle District of Georgia, a new task force has been formed by Georgia’s major prosecutors from the state and federal level. The new “Coronavirus (COVID-19) Fraud Task Force” consisted of agencies including the Governor’s Office, the […]
April 6, 2020 Federal prosecutors have now been formally instructed to consider COVID-19 when deciding whether to oppose or consent to a defendant’s release on bond. On April 6, Attorney General Barr issued a memorandum to all U.S. Attorneys instructing them to give “appropriate weight” to the fact that the COVID-19 pandemic has created a […]
March 31, 2020. The AJC reported today that the Georgia Board of Pardons and Paroles is in the process of considering the early release of up to 200 inmates in light of concerns that COV-ID-19 may spread through Georgia’s jails and prisons. The requirements for early release, so far, will likely limit most inmates from […]
March 30, 2020. The Atlanta Journal Constitution has reported that the coronavirus has reached at least 10 of Georgia’s prisons, with 22 staff and inmates testing positive for the virus. The situation is not much better at jails across the state, with 9 inmates at the Fulton County jail testing positive since Sunday. Late last […]
March 30, 2020. The Department of Justice announced its latest effort in coronavirus-related prosecutions. The U.S. Attorney for the District of New Jersey has charged Erik Santos, a resident of Georgia, with operating a kickback scheme in which he allegedly solicited and received payments in exchange for funneling patients to lab companies for coronavirus testing […]
March 27, 2020. Jails across the country have continued to release low-level offenders at an increasing rate as the coronavirus outbreak worsens. No one has beaten New Jersey’s move to release a thousand inmates, but some have come close, with Cleveland releasing more than 700 inmates from the county jail, and hundreds of other inmates […]
March 27, 2020. The Atlanta Journal Constitution has reported that an outbreak of coronavirus at the Lee State Prison in Lee County, Georgia has resulted in the death of an inmate, 49 year old Anthony Cheek. Mr. Cheek only had two more years to serve. At this point, multiple inmates and prison staff at Lee […]
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