Fwd: Friday update

Front:

Sent: Friday, January 7, 2022, 7:23 PM
To: NY All
Subject: Friday update

Good evening all,

Happy New Year! I hope you managed to enjoy today's snow day. Thanks to our team in the NYOC for dealing with the variety of weather issues we have faced recently, including the messaging for today's storm.

I also want to take a moment to thank our outstanding team in Health Services for dealing with the recent surge in Covid cases. They have done a great job working with individual employees while also helping our executive management team sort through the frequently changing policies around the pandemic. And thanks to the folks in Facilities for dealing with the continuous sanitization needs that follow every new case in the office. The numbers of Covid cases in our office are as high as they have ever been during this Pandemic. Fortunately, the cases have been mostly mild and we are not seeing the same increase in hospitalizations. We have however had some employees who were very ill so please keep them in your thoughts and prayers as they recover. The rapid spread of the new Covid variants warrants continued adherence to our safety protocols, so please be sure to use a mask in the office and if you are exhibiting any symptoms, please stay home.

We are currently collecting birthday cards for ████████████████████████ has been dealing with medical issues and has been in the hospital on and off for the past few months. This is a chance for us to let ███ and the rest of the ████████ know we are thinking of them. If you want to send ███ a card, please drop it off with ████████████ by Monday, January 10th.

Thanks to everyone who contributed to the sock drive. Our donations to the homeless were delivered last week. Thanks for your continued generosity.

Here are a few operational highlights...

On Wed, 01/05, CY-6 arrested Filippo Bernardini, who impersonated agents, editors, and other individuals involved in the publishing industry to fraudulently obtain prepublication manuscripts. These prepublication manuscripts are valuable and the unauthorized release of a manuscript can dramatically undermine the financial incentives of publishing and also harm an author's reputation. In carrying out this scheme, he created fake email accounts that were designed to impersonate real people employed as literary talent agencies, publishing houses, scouts, and others. He also engaged in a phishing scheme to surreptitiously gain access to a database maintained by a New York City-based literary scouting company. For the past two years, Bernardini's actions have captured the attention of several media outlets who have reported on his activity, and his arrest

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this week set off a flurry of media inquiries. The arrest served as a great outcome for this multi-year investigation thanks to the hard work and patience of the CY-6 case team.

Congrats to CD-20 who charged Pierre Girgis, a Capital One banker, for Acting as an Unregistered Agent of the Egyptian Government. Girgis is a dual Egyptian and US citizen who covertly gathered non-public intelligence about the activities of political opponents of Egypt's president, planned delegations at the behest of foreign officials, and took direct tasking from Egyptian officials against US interests. This five year investigation utilized almost every national security and criminal technique available. Great work CD-20.

We saw some great results in a C-11 investigation as Steven Brown, aka "BI," the leader of a violent Bronx drug crew, the Taylor Avenue Crew, was sentenced to 260 months in prison for participating in the August 2, 2009, murder of 22-year old rival gang member Derrick Moore. In addition to the prison term, Brown was sentenced to five years of supervised release and $6,445 in restitution. The Taylor Avenue Crew was a criminal enterprise that controlled crack cocaine sales principally in and around the Bronx from at least 2007 up to and including 2015. The Taylor Avenue Crew also committed acts of violence in the area against rival gangs, including assaults, attempted murder, and murder. In August 2009, after escalating violence between the Taylor Avenue Crew and a rival crew, Brown ordered the murder of Moore. To carry out the murder, Brown requested the assistance of the Creston Avenue Crew, whose members then shot and killed Moore. Great work by C-11 on this long investigation!

C-24 has been hard at work investigating a conspiracy to dope racehorses with performance enhancing drugs, which involved drug adulteration and misbranding. On January 5, 2021, in the SDNY, Kristian Rhein, a Thoroughbred veterinarian, was sentenced to three years in prison, $1,021,800 in forfeiture, and $729,716 in restitution. On January 6, 2021, Michael Kegley Jr., an executive at Medivet Equine, a drug distribution company, was sentenced to 30 months in prison and $3,310,490 in forfeiture. To date, 21defendants have pled guilty, two defendants have received deferred prosecution agreements (DPAs), one defendant is a fugitive, and 13 defendants are still going through the legal process. Notably, on December 17, 2021, Jorge Navarro, a thoroughbred racehorse trainer, was sentenced in the SDNY to five years in prison, $70,000 in forfeiture, and $25.8 million in restitution for his part in the conspiracy. On December 21, 2021, Rebecca Linke, a Standardbred racehorse veterinarian, entered into a DPA for two years of probation and a clause that forbids her from working with racehorses. This has been a complicated investigation that required a lot of creativity by C-24. Their efforts will not only hold these individuals accountable for their actions but will help to address the corruption challenges on an entire industry. Well donel

On December 29th , a jury found Ghislaine Maxwell guilty of facilitating and participating in the sexual abuse of children. She engaged in these horrific acts with her long time companion, Jeffrey Epstein. As you have likely heard, we are working with the Southern District of New York to investigate recent media reporting regarding some of the jurors in this investigation. I do not know if this will have any effect on the prosecution of Maxwell. Regardless of these issues, however, I want to commend the incredible work by C-20 to investigate both Maxwell and Epstein. C-20's efforts demonstrate clearly that we are committed to protecting the victims of crime, regardless of how much time has passed or how much effort is required. Protecting the rights of victims must always be a priority for us, in every investigation and for every violation we work This is particularly true for the work done by our Crimes Against Children task force. Thanks to C-20 for your hard work, dedication, and for helping to seek justice for these victims.

Have a great weekend.

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