This month saw new signs that the federal government is escalating its war on the opioid epidemic. First, ProPublica reported on new developments in a lawsuit against Walmart and other companies that revealed that Walmart has been hiding that the company was previously under criminal investigation regarding its opioid dispensing practices. The lawyers representing the […]
The Marshall Project has recently reported that few inmates in BOP custody have been released since Attorney General issued a memorandum urging the BOP to maximize the number of inmates it releases to home confinement in order to curb the significant outbreak of COVID-19 among its facilities. The BOP website currently discloses that the BOP […]
April 10, 2020 An Atlanta man was arrested and charged by federal prosecutors in D.C. with wire fraud charges. The man is accused of attempting to sell millions of non-existent respirator masks to the Department of Veterans Affairs in exchange for upfront payments. According to prosecutors, the defendant had promised the VA and others that […]
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 […]
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