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Here is the definition from the statute, cut directly from the 11th circuit’s jury instructions:
It’s a Federal crime to commit aggravated identity theft.
The Defendant can be found guilty of aggravated identity theft only if all the following facts are proved beyond a reasonable doubt:
Once the search warrant is signed by the judge, the search warrant will be executed. Generally, the government will work to execute the warrant with local law enforcement officials. The search can take hours, and often times, questioning will occur at the same time. NEVER SPEAK TO LAW ENFORCEMENT at this juncture without a lawyer. This interview at your home or office is often recorded by body cam, audio, and other video devices. It can be difficult to get those statements excluded at trial for a variety of reasons.
After the execution of the search warrant, a copy of the search warrant inventory will be left, and it will list out exactly what was seized. In the case of the execution of the search warrant for Donald Trump, there is a search warrant, sworn affidavit, and application filed, but it is under seal. Mr. Trump also received a search warrant inventory. Hopefully, these documents will be released to the public sooner than later.
The Residential Drug Abuse Program (RDAP) and the Non-Residential Abuse Program (NRDAP) are offered by the Federal Bureau of Prisons (FBOP) to assist inmates suffering from substance abuse issues.
RDAP consists of 3 intensive phases, totaling over 500-hours of voluntary individual and group treatment, and it is about 9-12 months long. This program offers prisoners to live in a modified prosocial community within the prison, separate from the general population. They split their day in half with vocational, work, or school activities and the other half in treatment/programs. Prisoners must meet specific requirements to be considered for this program, and space is often limited. The prisoner must have at least 24 months remaining in their sentence to complete the program.
Since some inmates may have less than a 24-month sentence, the FBOP also offers a Non-Residential Drug Abuse Program (NRDAP), where prisoners can participate in 12-24 weeks of Cognitive-Behavioral Treatment. This treatment consists of skill-building within communication, rational thinking, and institution adjustment. NRDAP is often offered in a group setting and is more accessible to prisoners because of the less strict qualifications. NRDAP differs from RDAP because offenders may join this program if they have short sentences, are not eligible for RDAP, or awaiting availability.
On April 11, 2022, the Northern District of Georgia in Atlanta announced the creation of a new pretrial diversion court, the Accountability, Treatment, and Leadership Court “ATL Court“. It is formed with the Northern District of Georgia, the U.S. Probation Office, the U.S. Attorney’s Office, and the Federal Defender Program, and will be run by folks from each of these agencies who will be known as the ATL Court Team. Please note: The ATL Court is in addition to, and not a replacement of, the Northern District of Georgia’s existing Pretrial Diversion Program.
“THE ATL COURT MISSION: Our mission is to provide the opportunity to avoid some of the consequences of aberrant criminal conduct to certain individuals charged with non-violent crimes in the Northern District of Georgia who would most greatly benefit from intense supervision, education, or treatment.”
HOW ATL COURT WORKS
Manhattan federal agents arrested Archegos Capital Management founder Sung Kook “Bill” Hwang on April 27, 2022 on fraud charges, roughly one year after the investment firm’s huge losses back in March 2021. Department of Justice prosecutors are charging both Hwang and Patrick Halligan, the firm’s chief financial officer, with racketeering conspiracy, securities fraud and wire fraud offenses as part of schemes allegedly designed to “unlawfully manipulate” the price of publicly traded securities.
The 59-page indictment, filed in federal court in Manhattan, alleges the men and others at Archegos sometimes timed their trades to drum up the interest of other investors, while borrowing money to make bigger and bigger bets. The Department of Justice states, “Hwang and his co-conspirators invested in stocks mostly through special contracts with banks and brokers called “swaps.” As alleged, these swaps allowed Hwang to cause massive buying of certain stocks, including at carefully selected days and times, to artificially pump up stock prices. Hwang, Halligan, and their co-conspirators lied to banks and used a series of manipulative trading techniques to keep those prices high and prevent them from falling. The lies fed the inflation, and the inflation led to more lies. The scale of this alleged fraud was stunning. In one year, Hwang turned a $1.5 billion portfolio and fraudulently pumped it up into a $35 billion portfolio.” The effective size of the firm’s stock positions swelled to $160 billion — rivaling some of the biggest hedge funds in the world. The case marks the biggest financial-crime charges to come out of the Southern District of New York under the leadership of Mr. Damian Williams, who was sworn in October 10, 2021.
Attorney General Merrick Garland made recent comments about what he considered to be the Department of Justice’s top priorities for 2022. Since taking office in March 2021, Garland has tried to combat crime in a tumultuous time. He has been criticized for his handling of January 6 investigation and has stated it’s the most urgent probe in history.
With all of this going on, the US Attorney’s office increased its prosecutions of individuals of white collar crimes in the year 2021. White collar charges like fraud, theft, corruption, bribery, environmental crime, tax fraud, health care fraud, procurement fraud, money laundering, PPP loan fraud, etc will continue to get more attention from the Department of Justice.
What does this mean? It means that investigations of any sort need to be taken seriously and that you should contact a lawyer immediately if any wrongdoing is alleged.
When the PPP program was first created, it was meant to assist business left struggling by the Covid-19 pandemic. One of the key provisions of the program, was that the Small Business Administration (SBA) would guarantee the loan which meant that borrowers could secure loans more easily. As mentioned in a previous blog, the government in the spring of 2020 started to go after the most egregious and problematic PPP loan applications and payments and really ramped up prosecutions.
But now, the DOJ, IRS, SEC etc are shifting their focus to more complex investigations. We have clients where the government is scrutinizing every aspect of the loan application such as
-was the box checked stating that you only had one entity
As is the case with most people in Atlanta, the thought of committing a federal offense has never even crossed your mind. The thought of playing a prank, however, may just have. You have probably heard before that damaging or destroying public mailboxes is a crime. Yet what you (and likewise many of those who have come to see us here at Conaway& Strickler, PC) may not be aware of is that it is a federal crime, and one that authorities take very seriously.
Indeed, according to the Cornell Law School, destroying a mailbox is a federal offense that is punishable by either fines or imprisonment of up to three years (or a combination of both). Per the US Postal Service, the fines associated with this defense can be up to $250,000. Not only is damaging, defacing or destroying a mailbox punishable under this statute, but so too is entering or breaking open a mailbox (that is not yours) to gain access to others’ mail.
You have probably seen or heard of stories of rowdy teens or young adults hitting mailboxes with baseball bats or putting firecrackers inside of them. You likely dismiss these as childish pranks, yet the damage that they cause and the impact that such an act can have is very real. Thus, it is not an acceptable defense to a charge of destroying a mailbox that you or someone you know was simply trying to play a joke.
If you are actively employed in Georgia and are a recipient of income each on a consistent basis, you are required to fill out a tax return each year. The information you provide will be processed and verified by officials with the Internal Revenue Service who will verify that you are not missing anything on your forms that could indicate you are not filing your taxes properly. At Conaway & Strickler, PC Attorneys at Law, we are committed to advocating for people who have been accused of federal crimes.
Tax evasion is an example of a federal crime that can leave you facing serious legal consequences for failing to properly file and claim your taxes with the IRS. While seemingly insignificant, your decision to avoid paying your taxes can actually have detrimental consequences. According to Financial Web, if you miscalculate your taxes or fudge numbers in your favor and what you are reporting cannot be effectively backed by supporting receipts, you could be accused of tax fraud or evasion. For this reason, it is critical that you double-check your work if you are filing your own taxes, and even compare your records with the paperwork you have received if you had your taxes filed by a professional.
If you have deliberately refrained from paying your taxes, you could be fined anywhere from $100,000, to $25,000 for every year that you were delinquent on your taxes. Additionally, depending on the length or severity of your crimes, you could be sentenced to serve time in prison.
The thought of paying taxes may not be anyone’s idea of a good time, and some people in Georgia make decisions to purposely report improper information on their tax returns so they do not owe as much money. This is known as tax evasion. This is different than tax avoidance, and there may be serious federal charges for those who intentionally fool the Internal Revenue Service.
According to Investopedia, tax evasion, also known as tax fraud, costs the government millions of dollars every year. As a result, the consequences for getting caught may include fines, interest, penalties and potential imprisonment. The IRS understands the tax code can be complicating and confusing, and they know some tax preparers make mistakes, so this is not the same as tax evasion. Examples of fraud include:
Georgia Criminal Defense Lawyers Blog