Prosecutors Tie Alleged Spymaster Yangun Xu to Malware Attack on French Aviation Company in 2014
Prosecutors tied accused Chinese spymaster Yanjun Xu to other espionage cases on Tuesday, trying to persuade a jury that he was part of a wide-reaching conspiracy to attack aviation companies worldwide and steal their trade secrets.
Frederic Hascoet, a project manager with French aviation company Safran, testified that his laptop computer was infected with malware during a visit to China in January 2014. He had traveled there to oversee a joint venture between Safran and a Chinese company to assemble jet engine parts.
Two Sentenced for Embezzling Over $777,000 from Native American Addiction & Counseling Center
Timothy M. O’Shea, Acting United States Attorney for the Western District of Wisconsin, announced that Fredericka DeCoteau, 63, Cloquet, Minnesota, and Edith Schmuck, 77, Rice Lake, Wisconsin, were sentenced today in federal court in Madison, Wisconsin for theft of federal program funds.
DeCoteau and Schmuck pleaded guilty to one count of theft of federal funds on July 15 and June 24, 2021, respectively. They worked at Ain Dah Ing (ADI) which has operated as a non-profit halfway house in Spooner, Wisconsin since 1971. DeCoteau worked as the Executive Director at ADI from 2002 to 2017. Schmuck worked as the bookkeeper from 1990 to 2017. They were fired after the thefts were discovered.
Two Former Silicon Valley Executives Charged with Defrauding Tech Company Through Kickback Scheme
Kevin Chao and Richard Sze, who worked together as executives at a prominent Silicon Valley technology company, were arrested and each charged today in separate federal criminal complaints with conspiracy to commit honest services wire fraud and money laundering based on a kickback scheme that defrauded their technology company. Chao was additionally charged with substantive wire fraud and honest services wire fraud in the complaint against him.
Colorado Man Sentenced to Prison for Investment Fraud and Securities Fraud
Mitchell previously pleaded guilty to mail fraud in connection with a scheme to defraud investors in a Wyoming natural gas production venture. According to court records, Mitchell solicited investments he claimed would be used to create a publicly traded, natural gas production company in Wyoming. Instead of developing any company or safeguarding the investors’ money as promised, Mitchell used the money to pay his personal expenses and to finance the scheme. Mitchell stole over $1.3 million dollars from about three dozen investors, most of whom lived in and around Gillette, Wyoming. For this crime, Mitchell was sentenced to 65 months in prison.
Convicted Corporate Securities Fraudsters Sentenced To 22 And 12 Months In Prison
Nathaniel A. Brown and Benjamin J. Wylam and were sentenced to 22 months and 366 days in prison, respectively, for their separate roles in a scheme to engage in transactions in corporate securities using material nonpublic information about Sunnyvale-based Infinera Corporation (“Infinera”).
Winter Springs Woman Sentenced To Eight Years In Federal Prison For More Than $1 Million In Fraud
U.S. District Judge Roy B. Dalton has sentenced Justina Maria Holland – now known as Justina Maria Rummel – (36, Winter Springs) to eight years in federal prison and ordered her to pay $1,161,185.64 in restitution. Holland had previously pleaded guilty to mail fraud, wire fraud, access device fraud, aggravated identity theft, false use of a Social Security number, and theft of government property.
Holland was employed at a local business where she had access to the bank and credit accounts of the business and its owner. From March 2015 through June 2018, Holland used her position to embezzle more than $1 million from her employer and the employer’s owner.