FBI Top Ten Most Wanted Suspect from Kansas City Arrested

The FBI announced Wednesday that Kashawn Nicola Roper, previously of Kansas City, was arrested. Previously, she had been placed on the FBI’s Top Ten Most Wanted List  on Tuesday, April 14th. She was placed on the list for her alleged involvement in a shooting on August 23rd, 2020 in Kansas City. During an altercation, the defendant allegedly fired multiple shots at a car which struck two female victims, resulting in the death of one of them.

On September 10th, 2020, the defendant was charged with Second Degree Murder, Armed Criminal Action, and Unlawful Use of a Weapon in Jackson County. On July 1st, 2021, the defendant was charged in federal court with Unlawful Flight to Avoid Prosecution.

Charges listed are merely allegations. Evidence in support of these charges must be presented in a court of competent jurisdiction whose duty it is to determine guilt or innocence. All defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty.

The arrest occurred in High Springs (FL) by the High Springs Police Department with assistance from the Alachua County (FL) Sheriff’s Department and the US Marshall’s Office. The arrest was made following tips related to the April 14th announcement.

 

 

Five Indicted, Two from Missouri on $220 Million Cattle Fraud Scheme

Five individuals were federally indicted this week for their roles in an alleged $220 million nationwide fraud scheme involving purported cattle purchase contracts, announced United States Attorney for the Northern District of Texas Ryan Raybould.

Those indicted by a Fort Worth federal grand jury on February 11, 2026, were:

—Jed Wood of Fort Worth, Texas, charged with three counts of wire fraud, one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud, and one count of money laundering involving wiring more than $63,000 to a lender for “Home Payoff;”

—Joshua Link of Strafford, Missouri, charged with ten counts of wire fraud, one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud, and two counts of money laundering, including wiring more than $527,000 to purchase real property;

—Tia Link of Smithton, Missouri, charged with three counts of wire fraud, one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud, and one count of money laundering, including wiring more than $527,000 to purchase real property;

—Taylor Bang of Kildeer, North Dakota, charged with eight counts of wire fraud, one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud, and one count of money laundering;

—Royana Thomas of Arlington, Texas, charged with six counts of wire fraud, one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud, and one count of money laundering;

“Thousands of unwitting investors, ranchers, and others in the cattle industry nationwide were drawn in and victimized by the defendants’ multi-million dollar scheme alleged in this indictment,” said U.S. Attorney Ryan Raybould. “My office, in concert with our law enforcement partners, will hold these defendants accountable and pursue justice on behalf of the victims.”

“The defendants allegedly used false promises to lure prospective clients into their scheme and then misappropriated client funds to enrich themselves. One individual, Joshua Robert Link, remains a fugitive. We are asking the public to contact the FBI if they have any information regarding Link’s location,” said FBI Dallas Special Agent in Charge R. Joseph Rothrock.

As alleged in the indictment, each of the defendants were associated with Agridime LLC, a business headquartered in Fort Worth, Texas that offered cattle sales and meat processing and retail services to the public. Jed Wood served as the Operations Director. Joshua Link served as the Executive Director. Tia Link served as the Marketing Director. Taylor Bang served as a cattle broker, and Royana Thomas served as the financial controller.

The indictment alleges that, from January 2021 through December 2023, the five defendants, acting through Agridime, perpetrated a fraud scheme in which they falsely represented to individual cattle purchasers, cattle ranchers, and feedlots that Agridime would use their funds to purchase specific individual cattle for each victim, raise the cattle, and eventually sell the meat from the same specific individual cattle for a profit.  In reality, as the indictment charges, the defendants did not use victim funds as promised and instead used newer cattle purchaser funds to pay Agridime operating expenses, pay funds owed by Agridime to earlier cattle purchasers, pay personal expenses, and purchase real property. 

As alleged, the defendants fraudulently collected more than $220 million from over 2,200 individual victims, or around $100,000 per victim, located throughout the United States due to fraudulent misrepresentations the defendants made in public and private advertising statements.

If convicted, the defendants face up to twenty years in federal prison on each wire fraud count for which they were indicted as well as twenty years’ imprisonment for the charged wire fraud conspiracy.  Additionally, the defendants face up to ten years’ imprisonment for each money laundering count in which they are charged. 

Tia Link and Taylor Bang appeared for arraignment before a United States Magistrate Judge in Fort Worth Friday.  Both were released under pretrial supervision. Jed Wood and Royana Thomas are set to appear for arraignment in Fort Worth before a United States Magistrate Judge on February 25, 2026.

Joshua Robert Link remains a fugitive. The FBI requests that the public contact the FBI with any information regarding Link’s location.

https://www.fbi.gov/wanted/wcc/joshua-robert-link

The Federal Bureau of Investigation’s Fort Worth Resident Agency conducted the investigation, with assistance from the USDA-OIG.  Assistant U.S. Attorney Mark McDonald is prosecuting the case.

An indictment is merely an allegation of criminal conduct.  All defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.

 

Opinion -- Making Missouri and Kansas Safer in 2025

By the Kansas City FBI

As we bring 2025 to a close, I would like to take a few minutes to talk about what your FBI office here in Kansas City accomplished this year to make our communities throughout Missouri and Kansas safer. Reducing violent crime and drug-related violence was a top priority at our offices around Kansas and western Missouri. This year, our office conducted 55 large scale drug seizures. Each of these operations allowed us to remove a wide variety of illicit drugs out of our communities, including the seizure of tens of thousands of deadly fentanyl pills in just one operation. We also took hundreds of firearms, including fully automatic weapons, from subjects who possessed them illegally.

This summer, FBI Kansas City, along with our partners in Homeland Security Investigations, stood up Homeland Security Task Forces (HSTF) in both Kansas and Missouri. The mission of the HSTFs is to combat international drug cartels operating in the U.S. and around the world. The HSTFs will accomplish this mission the same way our Joint Terrorism Task Forces have countered terrorist threats for over three decades, by creating a whole of government approach that allows each participating federal, state and local law enforcement partner to bring their own unique authorities and capabilities to our common mission of reducing illegal drugs in our communities and the drug-related violence they bring. The HSTF has already had a positive impact on our community, and I will post links to several of our offices’ operational successes at the end of this article.

We also remained dedicated to protecting the most vulnerable among us through our multi-agency Child Exploitation and Human Trafficking Task Force (CEHTTF). Unfortunately, the CEHTTF is one of the most operationally active squads here in KC. Nearly every day, this squad is either conducting searches or arrests of subjects suspected of sexually abusing children here in our area, around the U.S., or around the world. When I speak about this threat with those outside of law enforcement, it always shocks them when they hear about the scale of this problem. I ask if you or anyone you know suspects that a child is being exploited or sexually abused, please contact your local police or our office.

While I am very proud to speak about our accomplishments countering our traditional criminal threats, I also want to acknowledge the quiet work our personnel did behind the scenes to uphold our national security mandate. Our professionals upheld our national security responsibilities by protecting the region from terrorist attacks, as well as, from our adversaries attempting to steal the technology driving our economy or attack the infrastructure critical to maintaining our way of life.

Protecting the United States from terrorism is the FBI’s number one priority. Here in Kansas City, our counterterrorism efforts resulted in the arrests and prosecution of US citizens and foreign nationals executing or planning attacks here in the US or abroad. These counterterrorism efforts will continue next year as Kansas City hosts the 2026 World Cup. The FBI’s Agents, Intelligence professionals and special capability teams will continue working with all our local, state and federal partners to protect the hundreds of thousands of visitors to the area throughout the World Cup and all of 2026.

Lastly, I’d like to mention the importance of our relationships with our law enforcement partners. While statistics are important, I prefer not to focus on numbers in this type of commentary because, without context, numbers usually mean little to the people reading them. Instead, our preferred metric for our work is the relationships we have with other law enforcement professionals and agencies that we work with every day on our common mission. In 2025, the FBI office in Kansas City endeavored to be an indispensable partner to our local, state and federal partners tasked with making our communities safer.

I hope next time you have the opportunity to speak with one of the dozens of Police Chiefs or Sheriffs throughout our region you will ask about their agency’s relationship with the FBI and the value we provide.

As we head into 2026, I will continue our office’s dedication to strengthening the relationships we have and forging new ones across both states to further reduce violent crime, get illegal drugs out of our communities, defend the most vulnerable, and protect our national security.

Stephen Cyrus

Special Agent in Charge

 

FBI Forms Regional Task Force Against Crime

On Thursday, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) announced a new regional Homeland Security Task Force (HSTF) dedicated to identifying and prosecuting transnational organizations and individuals engaged in violations of federal law. The objective of the Task Force will be to end the presence of criminal cartels, foreign gangs, and transnational criminal organizations operating in America’s heartland through a collaborative and comprehensive response to the growing threat to public safety and national security. The HSTF will integrate personnel from federal agencies to combat crime in our communities.

Personnel will include law enforcement agents, intelligence analysts and professional staff. “This new HSTF model puts all agencies in the same room with one focus: crushing the presence of criminal organizations in our communities. Through interagency collaboration and surging resources to this task force, the FBI and HSI are making clear it’s priority: protect the homeland and ensure the safety and security of our community from violent criminals,” said FBI Kansas City Special Agent in Charge Stephen A. Cyrus. The HSTF will focus on violations including, but not limited to, drug trafficking, money laundering, weapons trafficking, human trafficking, alien smuggling, homicide, extortion, kidnapping, and other transnational organized crime-related violations that may be of federal investigative interest.

Additionally, the HSTF will work with state and local partners to identify violent criminal organizations and actors. “HSI is fully committed to identifying and eliminating the criminal organizations that embed themselves in our communities. This task force is a show of strength – coordinated, relentless, and unapologetic in its pursuit of justice,” said ICE Homeland Security Investigations Special Agent in Charge Mark Zito. “Alongside our federal, state, and local partners, we will expose violent offenders, shut down transnational operations, and enforce immigration and customs laws of the United States with precision and purpose. Criminal enterprises operating in this region should take heed – we will find you, and we will arrest you, and we will prosecute you.”

Through a unified framework, the HSTF will serve as a model for protecting the homeland from evolving threats presented by transnational organized crime. The Kansas City HSTF region will encompass Nebraska, Iowa, Kansas and Missouri. Each state will have a location dedicated to facilitating the HSTF, to include Kansas City (location for all of Mo.), Wichita (Kan.), Des Moines (Iowa), and Omaha (Neb.). Each location will combine federal resources and personnel to work these violations. The Regional HSTF will be co-led by the Special Agents in Charge of HSI and FBI. There will also be a regional executive committee comprised of HSTF partner agencies within the region.

Partner agencies will include the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), the Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives Agency (ATF), the US Marshals Service (USMS), the Internal Revenue Service – Criminal Investigation (IRS-CI), the US Attorney’s Offices for the District of Nebraska, the District of Kansas, the Northern District of Iowa, the Southern District of Iowa, the Western District of Missouri and the Eastern District of Missouri and other federal, state and local agencies that look to support the task force.

This Kansas City Regional HSTF has been established as a regional task force to the national Department of Justice and Department of Homeland Security’s Homeland Security Task Force Model, established by the White House in President Donald J. Trump’s Executive Order 14159 “Protecting the American People Against Invasion.” In that order, it is directed that HSTF’s, “…end the presence of criminal cartels, foreign gangs, and transnational criminal organizations throughout the United States, dismantle cross-border human smuggling and trafficking networks, end the scourge of human smuggling and trafficking, with a particular focus on such offenses involving children, and ensure the use of all available law enforcement tools to faithfully execute the immigration laws of the United States.”

 

FBI Seeking Identity of Child Sexual Assault Victim

The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is seeking the public’s assistance with obtaining identifying information regarding an unknown male who may have critical information pertaining to the identity of a child victim in an ongoing sexual exploitation investigation. Photographs and an informational poster depicting the unknown individual, known only as John Doe 48, are being disseminated to the public and can be found online at the FBI website at http://www.fbi.gov/wanted/ecap. Initial video of the unidentified male, John Doe 48, was first recorded by the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children in December of 2023. The EXIF data embedded within the video file indicated that the file was produced in October of 2023. There is no specific information to believe this individual may be residing within this area. This information is being sent out through all FBI's field division across the nation. 

 John Doe 48 is described as a White male between the ages of 45 and 65 years old, with dark hair, and a gray beard. He a tattoo on each of his forearms. He is seen in the back of a 2018-2019 Nissan NV Cargo Van wearing a blue t-shirt and a dark-colored hat. He is heard speaking English in the video. 

Anyone with information to provide should submit a tip online at https://tips.fbi.gov/, or call the FBI’s toll-free tip line at 1-800-CALL-FBI (1-800-225-5324). The public is reminded no charges have been filed in this case and the pictured individual is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty in a court of law.

This individual is being sought as part of the FBI’s Operation Rescue Me and Endangered Child Alert Program (ECAP) initiatives. Operation Rescue Me focuses on utilizing clues obtained through in-depth image analysis to identify the child victims depicted in child exploitation material, while ECAP seeks national and international media exposure of unknown adults (referred to as John/Jane Does) who visibly display their faces and/or other distinguishing characteristics in association with child pornography images.

Operation Rescue Me

Overview:

Operation Rescue Me (ORM) represents the FBI’s victim identification program. ORM is described as an aggressive initiative focusing on determining the identity of child victim(s) depicted in child exploitation material and capturing the perpetrator. ORM works with field offices, other government agencies (including international partners), and the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) to locate and identify victims of crimes against children. 

How it works:

Image analysis methods used by Operation Rescue Me concentrate on items seen in the backgrounds of child pornography videos or images.  Analysts attempt to answer four basic questions that will hopefully lead to the identification and rescue of child victims:

1) What useful clues are there in the background? (What’s visible on the walls, are there distinct clothes or commercial labels visible?)

2) Can a time frame for when the pictures were taken be determined?

3) What is the physical location of the children in the photos? (Country, state, hotel room, etc.)

4) Who are the children in the photos?

No clue is too small.

The FBI utilizes many clues to identify where a child may be held.  The identification of items sold exclusively in certain areas, or at certain stores which can be seen in the background of various images has led to the successful rescue of numerous child victims.  Additional techniques, such as isolating audio clips from videos to identify any names which can be heard, or even the dialect of language which is being spoken, have also led to the eventual rescue of abused children.  Through the careful scrutiny of child pornography images, the FBI has been able to use clues as small as a glimpse of a vehicle’s color seen in a reflection of one of its mirrors to rescue children from dangerous child predators.

Overall success:

Since inception, Operation Rescue Me has led to the identification of over 1,300 child victims.  The program continues to attempt to rescue those still in need.

Endangered Child Alert Program

Overview:

The FBI began its Endangered Child Alert Program (ECAP) on February 21, 2004, as a new proactive approach to identifying unknown individuals involved in the sexual abuse of children and the production of child pornography. 

How it works:

As a collaborative effort between the FBI and the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, ECAP seeks national and international exposure of unknown adults (referred to as John/Jane Does) whose faces and/or distinguishing characteristics are visible in child pornography images. These faces and/or distinguishing marks (i.e. scars, moles, tattoos, etc.) are displayed on the Seeking Information section of the FBI website as well as in various other media outlets, in hopes that someone from the public is able to provide information that can identify them.

As a result of ECAP, the faces of many Jane/John Does have been broadcast on television shows such as America’s Most Wanted: America Fights Back, The Oprah Winfrey Show, and the O’Reilly Factor. Of particular significance in these cases is the fact that for the first time, the Innocent Images program was able to obtain “John Doe” arrest warrants for several of its early John/Jane Does based solely on images acquired through undercover investigations.

Overall Success:

Since the inception of ECAP, 48 John/Jane Does have been investigated, 35 of which have been successfully identified. These investigations have led to the identification of over 50 child victims. To help locate current suspects, see the Endangered Child Alert Program Most Wanted webpage.

FBI Warns of Sextortion Schemes

The FBI is warning parents, educators, caregivers, and children about the dangers of online activity that may lead to the solicitation and enticement of a minor to engage in sexual acts. 

Sextortion involves an offender coercing a minor to create and send sexually explicit images or video. An adult offender gets sexually explicit material from the child, then threatens to release that compromising material unless the victim produces more. These offenders are seeking sexual gratification.

Financially motivated sextortion is a criminal act that involves an offender coercing a minor to create and send sexually explicit material. Offenders threaten to release that compromising material unless they receive payment, which is often requested in gift cards, mobile payment services, wire transfers, or cryptocurrency. These offenders are motivated by financial gain, not necessarily just sexual gratification.

Victims are typically males between the ages of 14 to 17, but any child can become a victim. For financially motivated sextortion, offenders are usually located outside the United States and primarily in west African countries such as Nigeria and Ivory Coast, or Southeast Asian countries such as the Philippines.

These crimes can lead victims to self-harm and has led to suicide. From October 2021 to March 2023, the FBI and Homeland Security Investigations received over 13,000 reports of online financial sextortion of minors. The sextortion involved at least 12,600 victims—primarily boys—and led to at least 20 suicides. (Editor – If you or someone you know is contemplating suicide, please call 988, the National Suicide Hotline. It is open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year.)

In the six-month period from October 2022 to March 2023, the FBI observed at least a 20% increase in reporting of financially motivated sextortion incidents involving minor victims compared to the same time period the previous year.

“The increase in incidents is staggering and heartbreaking – and this increase reflects only what has been reported. As parents and guardians, we must protect and educate our children on the dangers of the Internet. We must understand these dangers, and that this crime does not discriminate – any child, anywhere can be a potential target for these online predators. It must be clear to our youth that they are not to blame, they are not alone and there is help,” said Special Agent in Charge Stephen Cyrus of the FBI’s Kansas City Field office.

If you or someone you know believes that they are a victim of sextortion or financially motivated sextortion, immediately report the activity to law enforcement. You can report it to the FBI by calling 1-800-CALL-FBI or visiting tips.fbi.gov.

Report. Don’t pay. It’ll be OK.

Editorial -- No President is Above the Law

Recently, the FBI took the step of raiding the home of former President Donald Trump, looking for classified documents that the former President brought with him when he left office. The object should not be to go after one’s political opponent. The object should be to uphold the law. While people, including Mr. Trump, are presumed innocent until proven guilty, the FBI was within its rights to execute a search warrant on his property, provided that it was properly done, and signed off on by a judge.

This action was not taken against Hillary Clinton, who allegedly illegally deleted 33,000 emails from her private server. This action was not taken against Hunter Biden. If there was probable cause to believe that either Mrs. Clinton or Mr. Biden committed a crime of some kind, then the FBI would be derelict in its duty not to get a search warrant. 

This needs to be the start of a new era, in which no president is above the law. It cannot just be a partisan witch hunt against a former President that Joe Biden does not like. 

And it is really interesting that Senator Josh Hawley, who doubtless helped lead the “lock her up” chants in 2016, is now portraying Mr. Trump as the victim. That’s the whole problem. For partisans like Mr. Hawley, if it is Hillary Clinton who is the subject, she should be locked up because she is a Democrat and he is a Republican. But if the FBI does the same thing to Donald Trump, then he is a victim.

Mr. Hawley actually calls for the Attorney General, Merrick Garland, to be impeached over this warrant and for FBI Director Christopher Wray to be fired. The problem is that impeachment is reserved for high crimes and misdemeanors. For Congress to impeach Mr. Garland, we need a set of high crimes and misdemeanors, and they must be convincing enough to get two thirds of US Senators to go along. They cannot just be based on partisan bickering.

Editorial -- Politicians Playing Off Law Enforcement Agencies Against Each Other

Recently, we have noticed a deeply disturbing pattern of politicians playing off state and federal law enforcement against each other. And that’s just wrong.

In 2021, the Missouri Legislature passed the Second Amendment Preservation Act, which says that federal laws and regulations that infringe on the people’s right to keep and bear arms as guaranteed by the Second Amendment must be invalid in Missouri. Missouri is within their rights to litigate against certain federal gun laws in court. The Supreme Court is showing a willingness to explore the issue. But states cannot simply pass nullification acts against federal laws that they don’t like. Furthermore, the law prohibits state and local law enforcement from cooperating in the enforcement of such laws. This is the part which is disturbing, because given the rampant rise of crime, cooperation between federal and state law enforcement agencies is essential. This includes getting guns out of the hands of felons, which is still on the books in Missouri and is still being enforced.

The US Constitution’s Supremacy Clause says that federal law is supreme over state law. We litigated this issue in the 1800’s. It was settled by the Civil War. States cannot simply pass nullification acts against laws they don’t like. 

Now, we have the actions of FBI Director Christopher Wray, who is snooping around. He wants to know the personal information of people in Missouri who have concealed carry permits. Under Missouri state law, sheriffs cannot turn this information over to anyone, even the feds. Privacy is a right that is contained in the US Constitution, and the ruling on privacy was left intact by the Supreme Court when it overturned Roe vs. Wade. 

When Senator Josh Hawley asked Director Wray questions about the nature and scope of the audit, Director Wray cut and run from the questions and refused to answer them. We all agree on the need to keep guns out of the hands of people who are a threat to themselves and others. Missouri has a law against felons possessing firearms, and red flag laws have been passed in Republican controlled states. But Director Wray’s actions go far beyond efforts to keep guns out of the hands of people who are a threat to themselves and others. They are a blatant effort to harass law abiding gun owners, and they are a blatant effort to play off federal, state, and local law enforcement against each other.

While he was appointed by Donald Trump, President Joe Biden has the authority to fire the FBI Director. The fact that he has not done so and has failed to direct Mr. Wray to back off tells me he is OK with the FBI snooping on the records of law abiding gun owners. And then Joe Biden wonders why nobody likes him.

Prison Guard Charged with Distributing Heroin

Alejandro Smith, 21, has been arrested following the filing of a criminal complaint alleging he knowingly and intentionally conspired to possess with intent to distribute heroin, United States Attorney José Angel Moreno announced today. Smith, who was arrested yesterday, is a guard with the Texas Department of Criminal Justice (TDCJ) Institutional Division.
According to the complaint, in May 2011, FBI and Texas Rangers obtained information from a confidential source that Smith, a TDCJ Institutional Division guard at the Eastham Unit, was providing contraband to prisoners in the unit. In order to corroborate the information received, a sting operation was initiated that involved the use of a law enforcement undercover officer.
On June 1, 2011, a meeting was arranged in which the undercover officer was present when Smith picked up narcotics at a Target store parking lot, in Huntsville, Texas. Law enforcement personnel from the FBI, Texas Rangers, Walker County Sheriff’s Office, Huntsville Police Department, and the TDCJ Institutional Division - Office of Inspector General were involved in physical surveillance of the meeting, as well as a Texas Department of Public Safety air surveillance team. According to the complaint, Smith was observed getting out of his vehicle and entering the passenger side compartment of the undercover vehicle. Once inside the truck, Smith was allegedly given a purple duffle bag containing a kilogram of heroin. Smith was arrested after he retrieved the bag and exited the undercover vehicle.
Smith is expected to appear in federal court in Houston on Friday, June 3, 2011, before U.S. Magistrate Judge Mary Milloy. The statutory punishment range for conspiring to possess with intent to distribute heroin is no less than five and up to 40 years in federal prison and a $5 million fine.
The investigation leading to the charges was conducted by the FBI and Texas Rangers with the assistance of the aforementioned agencies.
A criminal complaint is a formal accusation of criminal conduct, not evidence.
A defendant is presumed innocent unless convicted through due process of law.

John Edwards Indicted for Concealing Campaign Contributions

A federal grand jury today returned a six-count indictment against former U.S. Senator and Presidential candidate John Edwards for allegedly participating in a scheme to violate federal campaign finance laws, announced Assistant Attorney General Lanny A. Breuer of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division and U.S. Attorney George E.B. Holding for the Eastern District of North Carolina.

The indictment, returned in the Middle District of North Carolina, charges Johnny Reid Edwards, 57, of Chapel Hill, N.C., with one count of conspiracy to violate the federal campaign finance laws and to make false statements to the Federal Election Commission (FEC); four counts of accepting and receiving illegal campaign contributions from two donors in 2007 and 2008; and one count of concealing those illegal donations from the FEC. Edwards is scheduled to make his initial appearance in federal court in Winston-Salem, N.C., at 2:30 p.m. EDT before U.S. Magistrate Judge Patrick Auld.

“Today, a federal grand jury returned a six-count indictment against former Senator John Edwards for violating federal election laws during his campaign for President of the United States,” said Assistant Attorney General Breuer. “Mr. Edwards is alleged to have accepted more than $900,000 in an effort to conceal from the public facts that he believed would harm his candidacy. As this indictment shows, we will not permit candidates for high office to abuse their special ability to access the coffers of their political supporters to circumvent our election laws. Our campaign finance system is designed to preserve the integrity of democratic elections – for the presidency and all other elected offices – and we will vigorously pursue abuses of the kind alleged today.”

“Democracy demands that our election system be protected, and without vigorously enforced campaign finance laws, the people of this country lose their voice,” said U.S. Attorney Holding. “The U.S. Attorney’s Office and the Department of Justice are committed to the prosecution of individuals who abuse the very system of which they seek to become a part.”

“Public servants are held to the same laws as everyone else in this country. The position sought does not exempt anyone, even those running for President of the United States,” said Chris Briese, Special Agent in Charge of the FBI in North Carolina.
“Public officials hold positions of trust and get no free pass to ignore the law,” said Victor S. O. Song, Chief, Internal Revenue Service (IRS) Criminal Investigation (CI). “Today’s indictment demonstrates IRS’ commitment to work with our law enforcement partners to ensure our public officers remain trustworthy and adhere to the highest levels of integrity.”

According to the indictment, while a candidate for President of the United States, Edwards conspired with other individuals to accept and receive campaign contributions in excess of limits imposed by the Federal Election Act in an effort to protect and advance his candidacy from disclosure of an ongoing extra-marital affair and the resulting pregnancy. The indictment alleges that between 2007 and 2008, Edwards accepted and received more than $900,000 as part of this effort.

The Federal Election Act limits the amount an individual may contribute to any candidate for federal elected office in order to limit the influence any one individual may have on the outcome of a federal election. The Federal Election Act established that the most one individual could contribute for the 2008 presidential primary election was $2,300. According to the indictment, the Federal Election Act’s contribution limit applies to anything of value provided for the purpose of influencing a federal election, including contributions to a candidate and his/her campaign; expenditures made in cooperation, consultation or concert with, or at the request or suggestion of, a candidate or his/her campaign; and payments for personal expenses of a candidate unless those payments would have been made irrespective of his/her candidacy.

The Federal Election Act, according to the indictment, also requires each presidential campaign committee to file periodic campaign finance reports with the FEC, which are made available to the public. In these reports, the committees were required to identify each person who, during the relevant reporting period, contributed more than $200 to the committee, along with the date and the amount of the contribution. According to the indictment, these reports are intended to provide citizens with a transparent record of the amount and sources of all campaign contributions and to assist voters in making informed decisions at the polls.

According to the indictment, the payments at issue were used to facilitate Edwards’ extra-marital affair, and to conceal it and the resulting pregnancy from the public. The indictment alleges that the funds were used to pay for the living and medical expenses of the individual with whom Edwards was having the affair, and to pay for the travel and accommodations necessary to hide this individual from the news media and the public so that Edwards’ candidacy would not be damaged. According to the indictment, Edwards knew that the public revelation of the affair and pregnancy would undermine his image and force his campaign to divert personnel and resources away from campaign activities to respond to criticism and media scrutiny.

The indictment alleges that Edwards and his co-conspirators concealed the alleged unlawful contributions from the FEC and the public by causing the John Edwards for President Committee to file with the FEC false and misleading campaign finance reports that failed to disclose the illegal contributions.

A defendant is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.

If convicted, Edwards faces a maximum penalty of five years in prison and a $250,000 fine on the conspiracy charge. He faces five years in prison and a $250,000 fine on each count of accepting and receiving illegal campaign contributions, and a maximum of five years in prison and a $250,000 fine on the charge of concealing the alleged illegal donations.

The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Robert J. Higdon Jr. and Brian S. Meyers of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of North Carolina, as well as Deputy Chief Justin V. Shur and Trial Attorneys David V. Harbach II and Jeffrey E. Tsai of the Public Integrity Section in the Justice Department’s Criminal Division. The case is being investigated by the FBI and IRS-CI.

Departments of Justice and HHS team up to crack down on health care fraud

Attorney General Eric Holder and Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Kathleen Sebelius visited Detroit today to participate in the fifth regional health care fraud prevention summit. These summits bring together a wide array of federal, state and local partners, beneficiaries, providers and other interested parties to discuss innovative ways to eliminate fraud within the U.S. health care system.

The summits are part of a larger effort on behalf of the Obama Administration to root out waste, fraud and abuse within the U.S. health care system. In Detroit, the joint efforts of the Departments of Justice (DOJ) and HHS have achieved significant results in an area with major health care fraud problems. Since May 2009, this collaboration has resulted in charges against 120 defendants, in 18 separate criminal cases, for fraud schemes totaling approximately $120 million in taxpayer funds. So far, eight of these individuals have been convicted at trial and 63 have pleaded guilty.

"Here in Detroit and communities across this region, many of you have witnessed the devastating effects of health care fraud," said Attorney General Holder. "Through a collaborative DOJ-HHS effort, we are working in partnership with government, law enforcement and industry leaders to protect taxpayer dollars, control health care costs and ensure the strength and integrity of our most essential health care programs. The results are clear: thanks to our efforts, health care fraud schemes throughout this region and across the country are being aggressively and permanently shut down. And as we renew our commitment to this work today, I am committed to building on the progress we've made, continuing to collaborate with each of you, and seeking new ways to expand our operations to fight health care fraud."

"Thanks to provisions in the Affordable Care Act, the prospects for a criminal thinking about targeting our health care system have gotten a lot gloomier," said Secretary Sebelius. "Here in Detroit, we are honoring our commitment to America's seniors, meeting our obligation to taxpayers, and standing up to criminals who, in the past, have gotten away with far too much." In addition to remarks by the Attorney General and the Secretary, the summit featured three educational panels aimed at identifying best practices for providers, law enforcement and beneficiaries in preventing health care fraud.

The summits are integral to the overall health care fraud-fighting effort undertaken jointly by DOJ and HHS through the Health Care Fraud Prevention and Enforcement Action Team (HEAT). As one part of HEAT's efforts, Medicare Fraud Strike Force operations have expanded from South Florida and Los Angeles to a total of nine health care fraud hot spots including Houston, T.X.; Detroit, M.I.; Brooklyn, N.Y.; Baton Rouge, L.A..; Tampa, F.L.; Chicago, I.L.; and Dallas, T.X.. The Strike Force is a partnership between the Criminal Division's Fraud Section, U.S. Attorneys' Offices, HHS' Office of Inspector General, Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and other federal, state and local law enforcement partners.

Since their inception in 2007, Strike Force operations have charged more than 1,000 defendants for Medicare fraud involving more than $2.3 billion in claims. In addition, the Affordable Care Act provides new tools and resources to fight fraud in federal health care programs by providing an additional $350 million over the next 10 years through the Health Care Fraud and Abuse Control Account. The law toughens sentencing for criminal activity, enhances screenings and enrollment requirements, encourages increased sharing of data across government, expands overpayment recovery efforts and provides greater oversight of private insurance abuses.

For information on the Health Care Fraud and Abuse Control Program Report for Fiscal Year 2010, please visit: http://oig.hhs.gov/publications/docs/hcfac/hcfacreport2010.pdf. For a summary of new tools and resources the Affordable Care Act has put in place to help fight fraud, visit: www.HealthCare.gov/news/factsheets/fraud03152011a.html. Investments in fraud detection and enforcement have been shown to pay for themselves many times over, and the Administration's tough stance against fraud is already yielding results. In FY 2010, more than $4 billion was returned to the Medicare Health Insurance Trust Fund, the U.S. Department of the Treasury and others as a result of enforcement activities targeting false claims and fraud perpetrated against government health care programs. This was an increase of $1.4 billion, or 56 percent, over FY 2009.

The $4 billion recovered in FY 2010 includes recoveries from the $2.5 billion in settlements and judgments obtained in FY 2010 by the Department of Justice in False Claims Act matters alleging health care fraud. This is an unprecedented level of funds obtained in a single year and represents a 53 percent increase over FY 2009, in which $1.63 billion was obtained. On June 8, 2010, President Obama announced this nationwide series of regional fraud prevention summits as part of a multi-faceted effort to crack down on health care fraud. The Detroit summit was the fifth in a series, with additional summits to follow in the coming months. Previous summits were held in Miami (July 16, 2010), Los Angeles (Aug. 26, 2010), Brooklyn, N.Y. (Nov. 5, 2010) and Boston (Dec. 16, 2010).