Information for Victims in Large Cases
| Case Name | Familiar Names and Terms | District or Division | Overview |
|---|---|---|---|
| US v. Kristijan Krstic et al. | Kristijan Krstic, Xenia Faye Atilano Krstic, Marko Pavlovic, Uros Selakovic, Haojia Miao, Nenad Krstic, Antonije Stojilkovic, Andrija Selakovic, Blazo Radulovic, Nikola Dimitrijevic, Nenad Mladenovic and Milos Mitic | USAO - Texas, Northern |
According to the indictment, the defendants were indicted on charges of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and conspiracy to commit money laundering. They allegedly helped create and market more than 20 fraudulent investing platforms, including Options Giants, Banking Option, Aeon Options, Option Riders, Bancde Options, Instant Options, Fast Options, Elite Options, Start Options, Crypto Trading World, Dragon Mining, Trinity Mining, BTC Mining Factory, Bitcoin Trading World, BTC Trader Online, BTC Falcon, Perpetual Energy, Hedger Tech, Go Solar Mining, Perfect-Options, and others. |
| United States vs. Richard Smith | Richard Smith | USAO - Connecticut |
On March 29, 2021, a federal grand jury sitting in New Haven, Connecticut returned an indictment charging Smith with receipt and possession of child pornography. If convicted of the charges, Smith faces a mandatory minimum term of imprisonment of five years and a maximum term of imprisonment of 40 years. Smith is currently detained pending trial, which is scheduled for June 3, 2021 before Judge Jeffrey Meyer in New Haven. |
| U.S. v. William N. Harwin | William N. Harwin; Florida Cancer Specialists | Antitrust Division |
Dr. William Harwin was charged with participating in a conspiracy to suppress and eliminate competition by agreeing to allocate the provision of medical and radiation oncology services. While he was President and Managing Physician Partner of Florida Cancer Specialists (FCS), Harwin and his co-conspirators agreed not to compete to provide chemotherapy and radiation treatments to cancer patients in Southwest Florida. Beginning as early as 1999 and continuing until at least 2016, Harwin entered into an illegal agreement that allocated chemotherapy treatments to FCS and radiation treatments to a competing oncology group. |
| U.S. v. Kona Jones Barbera (17-CR-00657), U.S. v. Tyler Tedrow (18-CR-00455), and U.S. v. Christian Tedrow (18-CR-00456) | Mainstream Entertainment, Inc., Volt Solar Systems, Inc | USAO - Pennsylvania, Eastern |
Securities fraud case involved a “pump and dump” scheme, as well as filing fraudulent/false documents with the SEC and failure to disclose information to the SEC and the public. For more complete information, please see the case description. |
| U.S. v. Surgical Care Affiliates, LLC and SCAI Holdings, LLC | Ambulatory Surgical Centers, Surgical Care Affiliates, SCAI Holdings | Antitrust Division |
Surgical Care Affiliates LLC and its related entity (collectively SCA) were charged with entering into and engaging in two separate bilateral conspiracies with other health care companies to suppress competition between them for the services of senior-level employees. The charged conspiracies began as early as May 2010 and continued at least as late as October 2017, and at least as early as February 2012 and continued until at least as late as July 2017, respectively. |
| U.S. v. John Edwards, et al. | Pinnacle Business Management Inc., CMKM Diamonds Inc., St. George Metals Inc., Global Diamond Exchange Inc. | USAO - Nevada |
The superseding criminal indictment in the Edwards case charged a more clearly defined group of defendants: specific insiders who engaged in fraud through shell companies. Specifically, between approximately May 1997 and April 2008, the defendants used various shell companies – including Pinnacle Business Management, Inc. (May 1997 to December 2003); CMKM Diamonds, Inc. (November 2002 to October 2005); St. George Metals, Inc. (July 2004 to July 2005); and Global Diamond Exchange, Inc. (November 2005 to April 2008) – to defraud purchasers of stock in those companies. The defendants secretly authorized increases in the number of available shares and falsely represented or hid the true number of shares from investors. At the same time, the conspirators issued billions of shares to themselves through affiliates. By falsely claiming that these shares had not been issued to company affiliates, the conspirators were able to sell these shares without restrictions imposed by law. By issuing false and misleading press releases regarding the companies’ business activities, the defendants were able to drive up demand for the companies’ stock while selling their shares at a profit. Five defendants have been convicted in this case, including Jeffrey Turino (conspiracy to commit securities fraud), and Melissa Spooner, Ginger Gutierrez, James Kinney and Jeffrey Mitchell (conspiracy to sell unregistered securities). These defendants received sentences of imprisonment and probation and terms of supervised release following service of sentence during which defendants are supervised by a U.S. Probation Officer. |
| US v. James Holston, III | USAO - Alabama, Northern |
Beginning in 2012 and continuing through in or about February 2018, JAMES HOLSTON owned and operated FBM and Associates. FBM and Associates was a for-profit business located in Jefferson County within the Northern District of Alabama that was in the business of assisting customers with improving or repairing their credit scores, with the goal of improving their abilities to obtain credit from businesses, credit card companies, and financial institutions and/or the terms under which they could obtain credit. Beginning in or about 2012 and continuing through in or about February 2018, FBM and Associates created and sent false police reports to credit reporting agencies claiming that customers were victims of identity fraud. FBM and Associates used the false and fraudulent police reports to attempt to dismiss or discharge outstanding debts and remove legal issues for numerous clients. |
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| U.S. v. Argos USA LLC, f.k.a. Argos Ready Mix LLC | Argos USA, Argos Ready Mix, Concrete | Antitrust Division |
Argos USA LLC, a producer and seller of ready-mix concrete headquartered in Alpharetta, Georgia, was charged with participating in a conspiracy to fix prices, rig bids, and allocate markets for sales of ready-mix concrete in the Southern District of Georgia and elsewhere. Specifically, employees of Argos and other ready-mix concrete companies coordinated the issuance of price increase letters to customers, allocated specific ready-mix concrete jobs in the coastal Georgia area, charged fuel surcharges and environmental fees, and submitted bids to customers at collusive and noncompetitive prices. The conspiracy began as early as 2010 and continued until in or about July 2016. |
| U.S. v. Lewis Wallach | Professional Financial Investors, “PFI” and Professional Investors Security Fund, Inc. | USAO - California, Northern |
Lewis Wallach was charged by a criminal information filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California on September 29, 2020. The information alleges that Wallach was the former CEO of a Marin-based company known as Professional Financial Investors, or PFI. Wallach is charged in the information with one count of wire fraud and one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud. |
| U.S. v. Pilgrim’s Pride Corporation | Pilgrim’s Pride, broiler chicken | Antitrust Division |
Pilgrim’s Pride engaged in a conspiracy to fix prices and rig bids for broiler chicken products. The charged conspiracy began at least as early as 2012 and continued at least until early 2019. |