COURT PROCEEDINGS

Trial is scheduled to begin on July 22, 2013, before U.S. District Judge Catherine C. Blake, in courtroom 7D, U.S. District Court in Baltimore, against Makushamari Gozo, age 40, of Baltimore, Maryland, on charges that he filed claims for more than $23 million in fraudulent tax refunds. The indictment alleges that beginning in 2009, Gozo re-incorporated or reinstated five businesses previously forfeited by the State of Maryland, then used those entities to file fraudulent claims for tax refunds, including approximately $22,657,137 in alternative fuel tax refunds and credits. Gozo is also charged in a bank fraud scheme in which he allegedly submitted fraudulent loan applications for the purchase of four luxury automobiles that Gozo never actually bought, as well as a fraudulent application for an $8 million business line of credit. If convicted, Gozo faces a maximum sentence of five years in prison on each of the 18 counts of making a false claim; and a maximum of 30 years in prison on each of the five counts of bank fraud. The trial is expected to last two to three weeks.

Trial is scheduled to begin on July 22, 2013, before U.S. District Judge Ellen L. Hollander, in courtroom 5B, U.S. District Court in Baltimore, against Manoj Kumar Jha, age 45, of Severn, Maryland, on charges of wire fraud, mail fraud and falsification of records, in connection with a scheme to fraudulently obtain research grants from the National Science Foundation (NSF). The seven count indictment alleges that from January 2008 through July 2009, Jha, a full time professor at Morgan State University, fraudulently obtained $200,000 in grant funds from the National Science Foundation’s (NSF) Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) program to fund a highway project, and attempted to obtain another $500,000 though the same program, and converted the funds to his personal use. If convicted, Jha faces a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison for each of five counts of wire fraud, and for one count each of mail fraud and falsification of records. The trial is expected to last two weeks.