Northern District Federal Employees Garner National Awards; Jury Convicts Advance Scheme Con-Woman in Un-related Story
December 4, 2009
ATLANTA, GA– The Department of Justice held its 26th annual Executive Office for United States Attorneys (EOUSA) Director’s Awards Ceremony in Washington D.C. today, during which 146 award recipients from more than 30 districts were recognized for their dedication to carrying out the Department of Justice’s mission.
Among the award recipients were the Northern District of Georgia’s Criminal Chief F. Gentry Shelnutt, Deputy Chief of the Economic Crime Section Barbara Nelan, Special Assistant United States Attorney Richard Reed, and Information Technology Specialist Michael Laskowski. Recipients nationwide included Assistant United States Attorneys, law enforcement agents, litigation teams and others who have made outstanding contributions in federal, state and local law enforcement.
“These award recipients have been honored for their service and commitment to our country, as well as to their local communities,” said Attorney General Eric Holder. “Each of these dedicated servants has carried out the important mission of the Department of Justice. Their accomplishments have advanced the interests of justice on behalf of the American people.”
Acting United States Attorney Sally Quillian Yates, who attended today’s ceremony in Washington said, “Our office is proud of the innovative and dedicated work of our four award winners and all of our employees in Atlanta are proud to work alongside of these dedicated individuals every day in the common goal of justice.”
The awards are described as follows:
● F. Gentry Shelnutt, Jr., Criminal Chief for Northern District of Georgia, received a Director’s Award for Superior Performance in a Managerial or Supervisory Role. Mr. Shelnutt joined the USAO in Atlanta in 1987 after several years as a local prosecutor. He served as a line AUSA in the Violent Crimes Section for eight years and then as chief of that section for three years. In 1998, he was promoted to Criminal Chief, a position he has held ever since, under three Presidentially-appointed and two Acting United States Attorneys.
During this time, the Criminal Division grew significantly to include nearly 70 prosecutors, and the district itself grew to over 6 million residents, with all the law enforcement challenges that accompany a major metropolitan area like Atlanta. Under his leadership, the ! Criminal Division has prosecuted mortgage fraud; pursued numerous multi-million dollar investment frauds; aggressively prosecuted public corruption; vigorously prosecuted serious gang cases; established productive Project Safe Neighborhoods and Project Safe Childhood programs; and vigilantly pursued civil rights and human trafficking cases. The quality and importance of the work that Mr. Shelnutt has overseen has been repeatedly recognized with Attorney General and Director’s Awards, including awards just in the last three years for the Eric Rudolph Olympic Park bombing case; the City of Atlanta corruption case; a 26-defendant international black market peso exchange case; a serial arson case; an investment fraud case that victimized dozens of African-American churches; and a massive mortgage fraud case.
â—Ź Barbara Nelan, Deputy Chief of the Economic Crime Section, and Richard Reed, Special Assistant United States Attorney, received a Director’s Award for Superior Performance By an Assistant United States Attorney for their remarkably hard and diligent work in the complex investigation and successful prosecution of a massive, $112 million mortgage fraud scheme that resulted in the conviction of 27 defendants, including the scheme’s mastermind, Phillip E. Hill. The Hill case was the largest single mortgage fraud case in metro Atlanta history and among the largest mortgage fraud cases in the nation.
The message sent by the convictions was an important component of an integrated prosecution, education, and outreach strategy with our state, local, and community partners that has helped move metro Atlanta and Georgia steadily down in the national mortgage fraud rankings after several years in the unfortunate top position. The Hill case was originally indicted in June 2005, with several superseding indictments in the following years.
The investigative effort to unravel the massive Hill mortgage fraud scheme and the subsequent prosecutions of the main case and related cases required the team of prosecutors, agents, and paralegals to obtain, organize and review hundreds of thousands of pages of documents including bank records, appraisal files, loan files, lender files, and loan closing files, and to interview hundreds of witnesses. The trial of Phillip Hill and 11 co-conspirators lasted for two months.
To accommodate the numerous trial participants, the trial had to be held in the district’s ceremonial courtroom with extra computers, audiovisual equipment and leased furniture. The government called over 90 witnesses in its case-in-chief, and offered 2,400 exhibits that filled eight five-drawer file cabinets. The evidence was so voluminous that when it came time for the jury to deliberate, a moving company was used to transfer the evidence from the courtroom to the jury room.
In March 2007, Phillip Hill was found guilty on 166 counts of conspiracy, fraud and money laundering. In sentencing Hill, the court found that his fraud scheme had an intended loss of more than $112 million. Hill was sentenced to serve 28 years in prison – a remarkable sentence for a white-collar criminal – and ordered to pay restitution for actual losses of $41,764,244.40. Nine of the 11 defendants who went to trial with Hill were also found guilty, including three lieutenants, two appraisers, a loan officer, and three recruiters. In a subsequent trial, another Hill lieutenant was found guilty. Sixteen defendants pleaded guilty, including three closing attorneys, seven loan officers, an appraiser, and five recruiters.
â—Ź Michael (Mike) Laskowski, Information Technology Specialist, Northern District of Georgia, received a Director’s Award for Superior Performance in Administration for his outstanding work migrating the district’s intranet onto a SharePoint platform and creating “USATube,” a true web 2.0 video blog site, designed to encourage collaboration and provide clear, simple and effective training for employees on issues relating to information and litigation technology.
The Justice Department later made USATube a national resource for United States Attorney’s Offices. Other United States Attorneys’ Office personnel, like the Litigation Support Manager in the Southern District of California, have now followed Mr. Laskowski’s lead in creating their own USATube videos, and other Districts are in the process of using Mr. Laskowski’s innovative ideas.
Mr. Shelnutt, Ms. Nelan, Mr. Reed, and Mr. Laskowski’s extraordinary work has helped the Department of Justice to continue its mission to enforce all of our nation’s laws, including prosecuting civil rights violations, gang violence and drug crimes, as well as representing our client agencies, conducting civil enforcement, and assisting victims of crime.
The Executive Office for United States Attorneys provides oversight, general executive assistance, and direction to the 94 United States Attorneys’ offices around the country. For more information on EOUSA and its mission, visit http://www.usdoj.gov/usao.
For further information please contact Sally Q. Yates, Acting United States Attorney, or Charysse L. Alexander, Executive Assistant United States Attorney, through Patrick Crosby, Public Affairs Officer, U.S. Attorney’s Office, at (404) 581-6016. The Internet address for the HomePage for the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Georgia is www.usdoj.gov/usao/gan.
JURY CONVICTS TWIGG IN ADVANCE FEE INVESTMENT SCHEME
December 4, 2009
ATLANTA, GA–KATHERINE TWIGG, 48, of Hoschton, Georgia, has been convicted by a federal jury late this afternoon on one count of conspiracy to commit mail and wire fraud, and three counts of wire fraud. The trial lasted for four days. The jury reached its verdict after five hours of deliberation.
Atlanta United States Secret Service Special Agent in Charge Jeffrey Gilbert said, “The Secret Service has established a long history of protecting American entrepreneurs and small business owners from con artists who defraud victims with elaborate advance fee scams. Our agency, in conjunction with our law enforcement partners, will continue to investigate these crimes, bringing to justice anyone who receives upfront fees under false pretenses.”
Martin Phanco, Inspector in Charge, Atlanta Division, United States Postal Inspection Service, said, “The U.S. Postal Inspection Service is very pleased with the guilty verdict returned today. This clearly demonstrates the hard work and commitment by U.S. Postal Inspectors and other law enforcement agencies when it comes to investigating crimes involving the fraudulent use of the U.S. Mail. We will continue to vigorously protect the American public from becoming victimized by those who are responsible for this type of criminal activity.”
Joe Doyle, Administrator of the Governor’s Office of Consumer Affairs, said of today’s guilty verdict, “The Governor’s Office of Consumer Affairs is gratified that this joint investigative effort has taken criminals off the streets and put them in prison where they belong. We are proud of our role in this case. People like Twigg and Tobin, should not be allowed to prey upon the citizens of Georgia, or any other state, and always need to be brought to justice.”
A co-defendant in the case, ANTHONY TOBIN, 52, of Atlanta, Georgia, previously pleaded guilty to federal charges of conspiracy to commit mail and wire fraud and one count of wire fraud. TOBIN testified against TWIGG at her trial.
According to Acting United States Attorney Yates and information presented at trial: TWIGG was indicted in March 2009 as a co-conspirator in an advance fee fraud scheme that was operated between January 2004 and June 2008. Specifically, TWIGG combed the internet for business owners and entrepreneurs who were seeking funding for their business projects. TWIGG sent them letters, inviting them to Atlanta to meet with her co-conspirators to discuss their potential projects and how they could best obtain funding for their business ideas.
After identifying and luring potential victims into the scheme, TWIGG and her co-conspirators said that they had access to investment funds and venture capital through TOBIN’s companies’ consortium of private investors. Victims were told they should come to Atlanta for purpose of presenting their business proposals to receive funding from the consortium. As a precondition to this funding, the victims were required to pay non-refundable advance expenses and fees.
TWIGG also served as a reference, purporting to be the owner of “Atlanta Health and Fitness” which she claimed had already successfully obtained $2 million in such funding. At trial, one specific victim, identified as “G.W.,” testified that she directly spoke to TWIGG and believed TWIGG’s story of obtaining $2 million, and that TWIGG’s reference and recommendation were the prime reasons why “G.W.” sent over $24,000 to the co-conspirators in hopes of growing her business. In fact, “G.W.” did not receive any investor or venture capital funding. Testimony at trial showed no victim received any such funding. Instead, the evidence showed that the incoming monies from the victims went to TWIGG and her co-conspirators for their personal enrichment.
TOBIN admitted organizing the conspiracy. Over three dozen victims lost money in the scheme. Total losses were estimated to be approximately $3.7 million.
The third co-defendant in the case, EYAL DULIN, 40, of Snellville, Georgia, remains a fugitive, possibly in South Africa. Anyone with information on DULIN is asked to call the United States Secret Service or the United States Postal Inspection Service.
Sentencing for TWIGG has been set for February 17, 2010, at 10:30a.m., before United States District Judge Timothy C. Batten, Sr. No sentencing date has been set for TOBIN. TWIGG faces a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison on each count and a fine of up to $1 million on each count. In determining the actual sentence, the Court will consider the United States Sentencing Guidelines, which are not binding but provide appropriate sentencing ranges for most offenders.
This case is being investigated by Special Agents of the United States Secret Service, Postal Inspectors from the U.S. Postal Inspection Service and the (Georgia) Governor’s Office of Consumer Affairs.
Assistant United States Attorneys Bernita Malloy and Robert McBurney prosecuted the case.
For further information please contact Sally Q. Yates, Acting United States Attorney, or Charysse L. Alexander, Executive Assistant United States Attorney, through Patrick Crosby, Public Affairs Officer, U.S. Attorney’s Office, at (404) 581-6016. The Internet address for the HomePage for the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Georgia is www.usdoj.gov/usao/gan.
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