May 2023

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Monday, May 22, 2023
Man Convicted of Torture and Exporting Weapons Parts and Related Services to Iraq
A federal jury convicted a Pennsylvania man on May 19 for numerous crimes, including the torture of an Estonian citizen in 2015 in the Kurdistan region of Iraq, in connection with the operation of an illegal weapons manufacturing plant in Kurdistan.

According to court documents and evidence presented at trial, Ross Roggio, 54, of Stroudsburg, arranged for Kurdish soldiers to abduct and detain the victim at a Kurdish military compound where Roggio suffocated the victim with a belt, threatened to cut off one of his fingers, and directed Kurdish soldiers to repeatedly beat, tase, choke, and otherwise physically and mentally abuse the victim over a 39-day period. The victim was employed at a weapons factory that Roggio was developing in the Kurdistan region of Iraq that was intended to manufacture M4 automatic rifles and Glock 9mm pistols.

In connection with th..

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Monday, May 22, 2023
Justice Department Secures Settlement with New Jersey IT Recruiting Firm to Resolve Immigration-Related Discrimination Claims
The Justice Department announced today that it has secured a settlement agreement with Infosoft Solutions Inc., a New Jersey IT recruiting and contracting company operating as KForce Tech LLC. The settlement resolves the department’s determination that Infosoft violated the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA) by posting six discriminatory job advertisements that solicited applications only from non-U.S. citizens who needed visa sponsorship and, in one case, also sought applicants only from India.

“When employers advertise jobs only to applicants from a certain country or who need temporary visas, they discourage all other eligible workers and deny them a fair chance to be considered,” said Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division. “The Civil Rights Division will..

Remarks as Prepared for Delivery

Good morning, everyone. I am honored to be here with such a huge crowd of passionate first responders and advocates and experts and survivors.

If you don’t know the Office on Violence Against Women (OVW), we are a less huge but equally passionate crowd of first responders and advocates and experts and survivors.

We administer the Violence Against Women Act, which this year means we have $700 million to invest in the work you all are doing on the front lines making change in your communities.

We want our grants and our policy work to be truly effective. And to be effective, we must be guided by the people who are on the ground, the real experts, who are building community-based responses – basically, guided by the people who are represented here in this room today and united by the same mission.

You are among the first people a survivor encounters in the aftermath of violence, and the way you respond can make the difference between a survivor gettin..

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Monday, May 22, 2023
U.S. Law Enforcement Disrupts Networks Used to Transfer Fraud Proceeds, Taking Over 4,000 Actions in Fifth Campaign
Over 12,000 Actions Taken Since Campaigns Began
The Justice Department, FBI, U.S. Postal Inspection Service (USPIS), and other federal law enforcement agencies announced today the completion of a three-month campaign that disrupted networks used by foreign fraudsters to obtain fraud proceeds. Multiple law enforcement actions addressed conduct by individuals sometimes referred to as “money mules,” who have been providing critical services to fraudsters by receiving money from fraud victims and forwarding the fraud proceeds to the perpetrators (many of whom are based overseas). Some individuals knew they were facilitating fraud, while others first interacted with fraudsters as victims and may have been unaware that their activity furthered criminal activity.

Over approximately the last three months, law enforcement took over ..