FROM: U.S. STATE DEPARTMENT
U.S. Mission to the United Nations: Remarks at a Security Council Briefing on Post-Conflict Peace-building
01/14/2015 01:30 PM EST
Ambassador David Pressman
Alternate Representative to the UN for Special Political Affairs
New York, NY
January 14, 2015
AS DELIVERED
Thank you, Mr. President. And let me begin by thanking the Deputy Secretary General and Ambassador Patriota for your leadership on this issue and for your briefings this morning, and to you, Foreign Minister Muñoz, for your presence here today, and to Chile for convening this important discussion.
Mr. President, preventing relapse into conflict was the primary objective for the creation of the Peacebuilding Architecture in 2005. And a decade later, it remains an urgent undertaking.
It has been said by others and we know that war is not like the weather – it doesn’t just happen; it is not inevitable. And it can be stopped. But we also know that countries that have experienced conflict once have heightened risk for relapsing into conflict again, and again. And we have seen the devastating consequences of that deadly cycle of conflict, from South Sudan to the Central African Republic.
But while war or conflict should never be deemed inevitable, too often, too many adopt a cynical passivity to emerging signs of tension or indicators of potential conflict – a passivity that assumes the futility of efforts to prevent potential conflict from metastasizing into actual conflict; and a cynicism that assumes, essentially, that certain places are just destined to fight it out.
The Peacebuilding Architecture is a living challenge to that dangerous cynicism and deadly passivity. It is a challenge for us to turn expressions of concern into coordinated actions -- actions to ensure that societies recovering from conflict do not relapse back into it. And it is a commitment to the idea that our past can indeed be put behind us and that our shared future can be built, together and in peace.
We know that when the international community mobilizes in concert with national authorities, together we can change behavior and assumptions and we can stop that which may have been written off by some as “inevitable.” Peace is built through hard work and, as the Secretary-General notes in his report, we have made “significant gains” in places and countries as diverse as Cote d’Ivoire, Guinea, Tunisia in efforts to consolidate peace.
In Sierra Leone, the integrated work of successive UN missions and the country team, as well as the engagement of the Peacebuilding Commission, has been critical to breaking the cycle of violence – providing space for a country and a people hungry for peace to turn their focus from war to prosperity; from conflict to electoral contests; from isolation to sustainable development. Sierra Leone has held three peaceful, credible elections since the end of the civil war in 2002, and new institutions, supported by the international community, are finding their place in society and contributing to the important work of building a government that is responsive to its citizens. Support from the United Nations has been critical to this transition.
For instance, United Nations support for institutions such as the All Political Parties Women’s Association, with a target of 30% female participation in all political parties, has increased women’s participation in Sierra Leone’s elections, building public trust in the elections process. And we know that the full and equal participation of women – whether in forging peace agreements, electing leaders, or leading post-conflict reconstruction – is absolutely critical to sustainable peace and stability. We cannot build peace for half of a society and expect it to be meaningful or lasting.
That is why the work of entities like the United Nations Peace Fund for Nepal, which has designated 30% of their funding for projects addressing the needs of women and girls -- including projects in the domain of land reform, conflict prevention, the rule of law, and the reintegration of child soldiers -- is so important. A project on land issues ensured extensive women’s participation in consultations on land use planning, a domain from which women had traditionally been excluded. Developments in Nepal demonstrate that appreciable progress can be made with targeted funding, leadership, and capacities for gender-responsive programming.
As the Deputy Secretary General noted, in Guinea, the creation of a “Women’s Situation Room” to support a network of local women’s organizations during the 2013 parliamentary elections not only increased women’s participation in the elections, it enabled them to actively participate as elections monitors and helped build confidence in the entire electoral system. The creation of community-led, early childhood development centers in Cote d’Ivoire enhanced social cohesion by bringing together women of diverse backgrounds focused on the well-being of children.
Kyrgyz women, with training from UN Women and United Nations Development Program, have formed women’s peace committees and have become important actors in monitoring tensions and government response within their community -- again, building social cohesion as well as trust between local populations and authorities in regions affected by conflict.
Full and equal inclusion of women and girls is not something that is just “just”; it is essential to build the peace of which we speak. Yet still, the participation of women in peacebuilding receives too little attention, is too often underfunded, and is too often thought of as an “effort to be inclusive” rather than a recognition that the full participation of women is a precondition of lasting peace. We must change this mindset and, in the process, change minds. And we must build our peacebuilding efforts to ensure they are inclusive, and in doing so we will make them more effective.
The recent outbreak of Ebola presented a new kind of threat to international peace and security that has indeed demanded an unprecedented response. We commend the United Nations’ critical efforts to mobilize human, financial, and technical resources to deliver an integrated response in the post-conflict countries of Guinea, Liberia, and Sierra Leone. The Peacebuilding Commission can play an important role in bringing together key partners to coordinate assistance efforts and maximize the impact of the international community on the ground.
Unfortunately, international efforts have been less successful in producing results towards ending the enduring and daily threat to international peace and security presented in places like South Sudan. Despite a hard-won independence, South Sudan has erupted into deadly and devastating conflict, exacerbating ethnic tensions, eroding hope, and provoking a dire and man-made humanitarian crisis. Despite one of the most comprehensive UN peacekeeping mandates ever adopted by the Council and despite historic levels of international support, and despite almost infinite goodwill from international partners, political leaders in South Sudan have prioritized political power and conflict over peace and stability. Their actions have exacerbated tensions, have brought about tens of thousands of deaths, have displaced nearly 2 million innocent people, and are bringing this young nation – the United Nations’ newest member state – to the threshold of state failure. We cannot give up and we cannot allow the parties in South Sudan to abandon their people’s aspirations and right to live in peace and prosperity. And in standing with the people of South Sudan, we must be unified in our demand for the violence to end and that those responsible for this carnage be held to account.
Until recently, successive conflicts in the Central African Republic, received too little attention from the international community. A lack of vision for national reform, limited political will from the international community, and successive weak UN presences with little capacity to help develop state institutions further destabilized the country’s weak governance structure and undermined social cohesion. Our action last year in authorizing an integrated peacekeeping mission to protect civilians, facilitate humanitarian access, and support the state as it seeks to re-establish governance was a necessary action to stop the ensuing bloodshed. Bolstered by the contribution of troops from member-states from several regional organizations and humanitarian donations from around the globe, these collective actions represent the most comprehensive level of international engagement in the Central African Republic to date.
Mr. President, we must reflect on these lessons as we undertake the five-year review of the UN Peacebuilding Architecture. We have learned that peacebuilding requires the sustained, not sporadic, and coordinated commitment of national, regional, and international actors. It requires inclusivity – meaning women and girls are at the forefront and at the table, not an afterthought or excluded. It means the international community holds political actors accountable to the agreements they undertake and agreed frameworks to which they subscribe. And it means that addressing human rights abusers, hate, and discrimination head-on is the path to sustainable peace, not a diversion from it or an obstacle to it.
We hope that the Peacebuilding Architecture Review’s Advisory Group of Experts will heed these lessons and develop concrete recommendations to enhance the Peacebuilding Commission’s relevance and real-world impact by focusing on achieving results through its core competencies of coordination, resource mobilization, and advocacy.
2015, as others have noted, will also see the Secretary-General’s High Level Review of UN Peace Operations, as well as the Global Study of Security Council Resolution 1325 on Women, Peace, and Security. We must challenge ourselves not to think about these issues only in silos. Peacekeepers are essential in setting the stable foundation for peace and development and peacekeepers are increasingly and appropriately being called upon to protect civilians in dire need of protection. Protecting civilians is not only an essential element of creating space for peace, it is vital for the credibility of the United Nations in the eyes of local populations and around the world. As such, it is essential for UN peacekeepers to carry out their protection of civilian mandates robustly and in a way that gives people confidence that we mean what we say.
And in this vein, let’s mean what we say when we sit at this table and recommit ourselves to the work of the Peacebuilding Architecture. Let’s translate our commitment to the inclusion of women into the actual inclusion of women. And let’s translate our hope for peace into the hard work required of building it.
Thank you, Mr. President.
Friday, January 16, 2015
SEC FILES CHARGES ALLEGING MISAPPROPRIATION OF $16 MILLION FROM INVESTMENT FUND
FROM: U.S. SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION
Litigation Release No. 23171 / January 9, 2015
Securities and Exchange Commission v. Daniel Thibeault et al., Civil Action No. 1:15-cv-10050 (D. MA)
SEC Charges Massachusetts-Based Investment Advisers with Misappropriation of Money from an Investment Fund
The Securities and Exchange Commission announced that it has filed charges against Massachusetts-based investment advisers, their principal, and others concerning the alleged misappropriation of at least $16 million belonging to an investment fund managed by some of the defendants.
In a complaint filed today in federal court in Boston, the SEC charged as defendants:
Daniel Thibeault of Framingham, Massachusetts;
Graduate Leverage, LLC, an asset management and financial advisory firm based in Waltham, Massachusetts, of which Thibeault is the principal owner, president and Chief Executive Officer;
GL Capital Partners, LLC, an investment adviser based in Waltham, Massachusetts that is controlled by Thibeault;
GL Investment Services, LLC, an investment adviser based in Waltham, Massachusetts that is indirectly owned by Thibeault; and
Taft Financial Services, LLC, which is based in Texas and is believed to be controlled by Thibeault.
The SEC's complaint alleges that GL Capital Partners, LLC and its principal, Daniel Thibeault, were the investment advisers to a fund called the GL Beyond Income Fund, and that they misappropriated at least $16 million of the money that belonged to this fund. According to the complaint, the GL Beyond Income Fund's assets consisted primarily of individual variable rate consumer loans. According to the complaint, Thibeault and other defendants solicited investments in the GL Beyond Income Fund by representing that investors' money would be pooled and used to make or purchase consumer loans. These consumer loans would then constitute assets of the GL Beyond Income Fund, and would provide a return to the investors when interest and principal payments were made on the loans. The SEC alleges that from at least 2013 to the present, Thibeault and other defendants engaged in a scheme to create fictitious loans to divert investor money from the GL Beyond Income Fund, and to report these fake loans as assets of the GL Beyond Income Fund, thereby concealing the fact that Thibeault and the other defendants had misappropriated millions of dollars from the GL Beyond Income Fund. According to the SEC's complaint, the scheme involved the fabrication of paperwork purporting to reflect numerous six-figure consumer loans using the names and personal information of individuals who were unaware that loans were being originated in their names. The complaint further alleges that money from the GL Beyond Income Fund was disbursed to fund these fictitious loans, but the borrowed money did not go to the purported borrowers whose names appeared on the documentation. Instead, it went to Thibeault and other defendants. The SEC alleges that Thibeault and other defendants misappropriated the money from these fake loans and used it for personal expenses and to run businesses other than the GL Beyond Income Fund, as well as to perpetuate the scheme by making "interest payments" on fake loans.
The SEC alleges that the defendants violated Section 10(b) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 and Rule 10b-5 thereunder and Section 17(a) of the Securities Act of 1933 and that Thibeault, GL Capital Partners, LLC, and GL Investment Services, LLC, also violated Sections 206(1) and 206(2) of the Investment Advisers Act of 1940. The SEC seeks permanent injunctions, disgorgement of ill-gotten gains plus prejudgment interest, and civil penalties against each of these defendants.
The SEC also charged two other parties as relief defendants based on their receipt of investor funds: GL Advisor Solutions, Inc., a corporation based in the Philippines that is controlled by Graduate Leverage, LLC and Thibeault; and Shawnet Thibeault, who is Daniel Thibeault's wife. The SEC seeks disgorgement plus prejudgment interest from these relief defendants.
In addition, the SEC has asked the court to consider certain preliminary relief against the parties, including, variously, temporary restraining orders, preliminary injunctions, asset freezes, an accounting of investor funds and all assets in their possession, a prohibition from soliciting or accepting additional investments, and other preliminary relief.
Thursday, January 15, 2015
DOJ ANNOUCES 40 ARRESTED AND INDICTED FOR SOCIAL SECURITY FRAUD
Thursday, January 15, 2015
Forty Individuals Arrested and Indicted for Social Security Fraud
On Jan. 12 and 13, 2015, a federal grand jury in the District of Puerto Rico returned 39 separate indictments charging one doctor, Luis Escabi-Pérez, and 39 other individuals for fraud in the application process for Social Security Administration (SSA) disability insurance benefits in Puerto Rico, announced U.S. Attorney Rosa Emilia Rodríguez Vélez for the District of Puerto Rico.
The SSA is responsible for the implementation of the Disability Insurance Benefits Program. The SSA provides monetary benefits to workers with severe, long-term disabilities who have worked in SSA-covered employment for a required length of time. Spouses and dependent children of disabled workers may also be eligible to receive benefits.
Pursuant to SSA regulations, a claimant must prove to SSA that he or she is disabled by furnishing medical and other evidence with the application. The application and supporting evidence would then be evaluated by SSA to determine the individual’s medical impairments and determine the effect of the impairment on the claimant’s ability to work on a sustained basis.
Escabi-Pérez, a psychiatrist, submitted psychiatric medical reports to the SSA in support of applications for disability insurance benefits submitted by his patients. Escabi-Pérez charged a fee for the medical visits, typically in the amount of $100. In addition, the defendant typically charged a fee in the amount of $500 for the preparation and submittal of a psychiatric medical report to the SSA. He would at times also charge additional fees of up to $5,000 to backdate medical records in order to create the appearance of a longer history of medical treatment.
For example, on Jan. 15, 2014, Escabi-Pérez submitted a medical report to the SSA suggesting that a patient, who was generally in good health and was not suffering from any physical or mental disabling conditions, was in fact suffering from disabling psychiatric conditions, and that the first medical visit of this patient to him was in April 2013, when in truth this patient’s first visit was in November 2013.
The patient initially received $11,242 as a retroactive payment calculated from the date of entitlement through the approval date. Thereafter, the patient received monthly disability insurance benefit payments of approximately $1,536. The total amount of benefits paid to the patient from the date of entitlement through the date of this indictment is approximately $27,096. Escabi-Pérez is also facing one charge of wire fraud. As part of the manner and means of the conspiracy, the doctor faxed the psychiatric report to the SSA supporting the existence of the alleged psychiatric conditions suffered by the patient, in spite of the fact that these psychiatric conditions were contrived.
Five indictments charge five individuals along with Escabi-Pérez of conspiracy to defraud the United States, wire fraud, theft of government property, concealment of failure to disclose an event to SSA and false statement in determining rights for disability. These defendants, aiding and abetting each other, knowingly and willfully embezzled, stole and converted to their own use the social security disability insurance benefit payments to which the defendants knew that they were not entitled.
Another five defendants filed SSA applications during 2011, which indicated the defendants were unable to work due to “back problems, cervical conditions, pain, carpal tunnel, arms numbed, legs numbed, depression,” among others. These defendants are charged with theft of government property because they embezzled, stole and converted to their own use, or the use of others, social security disability insurance benefit payments to which they knew they were not entitled. These defendants are also charged with false statement in determining rights for disability because they lied in the disability report (Form SSA-3368). The defendants stated that they stopped working because of their conditions, although the defendants knew that they stopped working because of a release agreement signed with pharmaceutical companies.
A third charge is for concealment or failure to disclose an event to SSA. These defendants intentionally concealed or failed to disclose the fact that their medical conditions had improved.
Twenty-nine defendants are facing two charges: theft of government property and concealment or failure to disclose an event to SSA.
The defendants who illegally received the benefits are Wilma Bolet, Juana Concepción-Santana, Miriam Cosme-García, Yesenia De Jesús, Ramona García, María García-Reyes, Pedro Laureano-Vázquez, Juan López-Rivera, Elizabeth Maldonado-Laureano, Fernando Marrero-Padilla, Ernie Martell-Orta, Ángel Montes-Orria, Lourdes Reyes-Medina, Candi, Rojas-Molina, Ángel Román-Santana, Miguel Santana-Ríos, José Valle-Oliveras, Edna Vargas-Valdés, Agustín Vázquez-Izquierdo, Orlando Pérez-Juarbe, Jorge Fraguada-Romero, Elsie Boneta-Román, Julio César Álamo-Casiano, Manuel Rivera-Santos, Francisco Declet, Luis Reyes-Serrano, Ismael Alicea-Berdecía, Rosa Espinosa-González, Johany Díaz-Oquendo, Ángel Rivera-Adorno, Myrna Ruiz-Rosso, William Feliciano, Edwin Figueroa, Ana Morales-de Jesús, Rosa Pagán-Ramos, Alberto Sostre-Cintrón, Constancia Vega-García, Raúl Domínguez and Ana Ruiz-Rivera.
“This case is the result of the continued efforts of the SSA and the FBI. Since August 2013, when 75 individuals were indicted for similar charges, including the current charges, we have filed a total of 115 indictments,” said U.S. Attorney Rodríguez-Vélez. “This is a great example of ongoing efforts by the Government to deter fraud against the social security programs. The Department of Justice is committed to investigate and prosecute those who engage in fraudulent schemes. Hopefully this round of arrests will discourage more people from getting involved in these types of schemes, because the investigation continues.”
The SSA in New York and Baltimore conducted a lengthy analysis of medical source documentation in social security’s files, wherein a pattern of fraudulent activity was discovered, initiating a full investigation. What followed was lengthy, intensive and complex investigative work—interviews, surveillances and other investigative activity.
“This fraud conspiracy scheme involving unscrupulous medical professionals and SSA disability claimants has been exposed and those involved are being brought to justice. It was only after the analysis of medical source documentation in SSA files that SSA OIG (Office of Inspector General) was able to identify the fraudulent pattern,” said Special Agent-in-Charge Edward J. Ryan of the SSA OIG’sOffice of Investigations. “This intensive and complex investigative work with the FBI and PRPD (Puerto Rico Police Department) consisted of numerous surveillances and other investigative activities that I cannot detail. This intelligence was also shared with the Health and Human Services OIG for their files. The evidence was provided to the U.S. Attorney’s Office which culminated in the additional arrests this morning. OIG will continue to work with our partners to protect the integrity of the Social Security Trust Fund.”
“This is another social security disability benefits fraud case where shameless individuals illegally obtained the benefits provided by the federal government,” said Special Agent in Charge Carlos Cases of the FBI’s San Juan Division. “This is not a victimless crime, but rather an outrageous, despicable and reprehensible act that deprives those who truly need assistance. Combating social security disability benefits fraud will continue to be a priority for the FBI in Puerto Rico.”
The case was investigated by the SSA-OIG with the collaboration of the FBI and the PRPD. The case was indicted by First Assistant U.S. Attorney María Domínguez and Special Assistant U.S. Attorney Vanessa D. Bonano-Rodríguez for the District of Puerto Rico.
Forty Individuals Arrested and Indicted for Social Security Fraud
On Jan. 12 and 13, 2015, a federal grand jury in the District of Puerto Rico returned 39 separate indictments charging one doctor, Luis Escabi-Pérez, and 39 other individuals for fraud in the application process for Social Security Administration (SSA) disability insurance benefits in Puerto Rico, announced U.S. Attorney Rosa Emilia Rodríguez Vélez for the District of Puerto Rico.
The SSA is responsible for the implementation of the Disability Insurance Benefits Program. The SSA provides monetary benefits to workers with severe, long-term disabilities who have worked in SSA-covered employment for a required length of time. Spouses and dependent children of disabled workers may also be eligible to receive benefits.
Pursuant to SSA regulations, a claimant must prove to SSA that he or she is disabled by furnishing medical and other evidence with the application. The application and supporting evidence would then be evaluated by SSA to determine the individual’s medical impairments and determine the effect of the impairment on the claimant’s ability to work on a sustained basis.
Escabi-Pérez, a psychiatrist, submitted psychiatric medical reports to the SSA in support of applications for disability insurance benefits submitted by his patients. Escabi-Pérez charged a fee for the medical visits, typically in the amount of $100. In addition, the defendant typically charged a fee in the amount of $500 for the preparation and submittal of a psychiatric medical report to the SSA. He would at times also charge additional fees of up to $5,000 to backdate medical records in order to create the appearance of a longer history of medical treatment.
For example, on Jan. 15, 2014, Escabi-Pérez submitted a medical report to the SSA suggesting that a patient, who was generally in good health and was not suffering from any physical or mental disabling conditions, was in fact suffering from disabling psychiatric conditions, and that the first medical visit of this patient to him was in April 2013, when in truth this patient’s first visit was in November 2013.
The patient initially received $11,242 as a retroactive payment calculated from the date of entitlement through the approval date. Thereafter, the patient received monthly disability insurance benefit payments of approximately $1,536. The total amount of benefits paid to the patient from the date of entitlement through the date of this indictment is approximately $27,096. Escabi-Pérez is also facing one charge of wire fraud. As part of the manner and means of the conspiracy, the doctor faxed the psychiatric report to the SSA supporting the existence of the alleged psychiatric conditions suffered by the patient, in spite of the fact that these psychiatric conditions were contrived.
Five indictments charge five individuals along with Escabi-Pérez of conspiracy to defraud the United States, wire fraud, theft of government property, concealment of failure to disclose an event to SSA and false statement in determining rights for disability. These defendants, aiding and abetting each other, knowingly and willfully embezzled, stole and converted to their own use the social security disability insurance benefit payments to which the defendants knew that they were not entitled.
Another five defendants filed SSA applications during 2011, which indicated the defendants were unable to work due to “back problems, cervical conditions, pain, carpal tunnel, arms numbed, legs numbed, depression,” among others. These defendants are charged with theft of government property because they embezzled, stole and converted to their own use, or the use of others, social security disability insurance benefit payments to which they knew they were not entitled. These defendants are also charged with false statement in determining rights for disability because they lied in the disability report (Form SSA-3368). The defendants stated that they stopped working because of their conditions, although the defendants knew that they stopped working because of a release agreement signed with pharmaceutical companies.
A third charge is for concealment or failure to disclose an event to SSA. These defendants intentionally concealed or failed to disclose the fact that their medical conditions had improved.
Twenty-nine defendants are facing two charges: theft of government property and concealment or failure to disclose an event to SSA.
The defendants who illegally received the benefits are Wilma Bolet, Juana Concepción-Santana, Miriam Cosme-García, Yesenia De Jesús, Ramona García, María García-Reyes, Pedro Laureano-Vázquez, Juan López-Rivera, Elizabeth Maldonado-Laureano, Fernando Marrero-Padilla, Ernie Martell-Orta, Ángel Montes-Orria, Lourdes Reyes-Medina, Candi, Rojas-Molina, Ángel Román-Santana, Miguel Santana-Ríos, José Valle-Oliveras, Edna Vargas-Valdés, Agustín Vázquez-Izquierdo, Orlando Pérez-Juarbe, Jorge Fraguada-Romero, Elsie Boneta-Román, Julio César Álamo-Casiano, Manuel Rivera-Santos, Francisco Declet, Luis Reyes-Serrano, Ismael Alicea-Berdecía, Rosa Espinosa-González, Johany Díaz-Oquendo, Ángel Rivera-Adorno, Myrna Ruiz-Rosso, William Feliciano, Edwin Figueroa, Ana Morales-de Jesús, Rosa Pagán-Ramos, Alberto Sostre-Cintrón, Constancia Vega-García, Raúl Domínguez and Ana Ruiz-Rivera.
“This case is the result of the continued efforts of the SSA and the FBI. Since August 2013, when 75 individuals were indicted for similar charges, including the current charges, we have filed a total of 115 indictments,” said U.S. Attorney Rodríguez-Vélez. “This is a great example of ongoing efforts by the Government to deter fraud against the social security programs. The Department of Justice is committed to investigate and prosecute those who engage in fraudulent schemes. Hopefully this round of arrests will discourage more people from getting involved in these types of schemes, because the investigation continues.”
The SSA in New York and Baltimore conducted a lengthy analysis of medical source documentation in social security’s files, wherein a pattern of fraudulent activity was discovered, initiating a full investigation. What followed was lengthy, intensive and complex investigative work—interviews, surveillances and other investigative activity.
“This fraud conspiracy scheme involving unscrupulous medical professionals and SSA disability claimants has been exposed and those involved are being brought to justice. It was only after the analysis of medical source documentation in SSA files that SSA OIG (Office of Inspector General) was able to identify the fraudulent pattern,” said Special Agent-in-Charge Edward J. Ryan of the SSA OIG’sOffice of Investigations. “This intensive and complex investigative work with the FBI and PRPD (Puerto Rico Police Department) consisted of numerous surveillances and other investigative activities that I cannot detail. This intelligence was also shared with the Health and Human Services OIG for their files. The evidence was provided to the U.S. Attorney’s Office which culminated in the additional arrests this morning. OIG will continue to work with our partners to protect the integrity of the Social Security Trust Fund.”
“This is another social security disability benefits fraud case where shameless individuals illegally obtained the benefits provided by the federal government,” said Special Agent in Charge Carlos Cases of the FBI’s San Juan Division. “This is not a victimless crime, but rather an outrageous, despicable and reprehensible act that deprives those who truly need assistance. Combating social security disability benefits fraud will continue to be a priority for the FBI in Puerto Rico.”
The case was investigated by the SSA-OIG with the collaboration of the FBI and the PRPD. The case was indicted by First Assistant U.S. Attorney María Domínguez and Special Assistant U.S. Attorney Vanessa D. Bonano-Rodríguez for the District of Puerto Rico.
SEC CHARGES UBS SUBSIDIARY WITH DISCLOSURE FAILURES
FROM: U.S. SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION
The Securities and Exchange Commission today charged a subsidiary of UBS with disclosure failures and other securities law violations related to the operation and marketing of its dark pool.
UBS Securities LLC agreed to settle the charges by paying more than $14.4 million, including a $12 million penalty that is the SEC’s largest against an alternative trading system (ATS).
An SEC examination and investigation of UBS revealed that the firm failed to properly disclose to all subscribers the existence of an order type that it pitched almost exclusively to market makers and high-frequency trading firms. The order type, called PrimaryPegPlus (PPP), enabled certain subscribers to buy and sell securities by placing orders priced in increments of less than one cent. However, UBS was prohibited under Regulation NMS from accepting orders at those prices. By doing so the firm enabled users of the PPP order type to place sub-penny-priced orders that jumped ahead of other orders submitted at legal, whole-penny prices.
Furthermore, the SEC investigation found that UBS similarly failed to disclose to all subscribers a “natural-only crossing restriction” developed to ensure that select orders would not execute against orders placed by market makers and high-frequency trading firms. This shield was only available to benefit orders placed using UBS algorithms, which are automated trading strategies. UBS did not disclose the existence of this feature to all subscribers until approximately 30 months after it was launched.
“The UBS dark pool was not a level playing field for all customers and did not operate as advertised,” said Andrew J. Ceresney, Director of the SEC’s Division of Enforcement. “Our action shows our continued commitment to policing the equity markets to ensure fairness and compliance with all laws and rules.”
In addition to UBS’s disclosure failures that violated Section 17(a)(2) of the Securities Act of 1933 as well as its acceptance of sub-penny-priced orders that violated Regulation NMS, the SEC outlined several other violations of the federal securities laws by UBS in its order instituting a settled administrative proceeding:
The Form ATS and amendments that UBS filed with the SEC included inconsistent and incomplete statements about the dark pool’s acceptance of sub-penny orders and the natural-only crossing restriction. The filing also failed to attach certain required documents.
UBS violated requirements under Regulation ATS by unreasonably prohibiting subscribers from using the natural-only crossing restriction and failing to establish written standards for granting access to subscribers.
UBS failed to preserve certain order data for the dark pool from at least August 2008 to March 2009 and August 2010 to November 2010.
UBS violated confidentiality requirements under Regulation ATS by giving full access to subscribers’ confidential trading information to 103 employees who should not have had it (primarily information technology personnel).
UBS consented to the SEC’s order without admitting or denying the findings. The order censures the firm and requires payment of $2,240,702.50 in disgorgement, $235,686.14 in prejudgment interest, and the $12 million penalty.
The SEC’s investigation, which is continuing, was conducted by Stephen A. Larson, Charles D. Riely, Mandy B. Sturmfelz, and Mathew Wong of the Market Abuse Unit and Nancy A. Brown and Thomas P. Smith Jr. of the New York Regional Office. The case was supervised by Amelia A. Cottrell of the New York office and Daniel M. Hawke of the Market Abuse Unit. The SEC’s examination of UBS was conducted by Ilan Felix, Richard Heaphy, Michael McAuliffe, Patrick McCurdy, and Genevieve Skabeikis of the New York office.
The Securities and Exchange Commission today charged a subsidiary of UBS with disclosure failures and other securities law violations related to the operation and marketing of its dark pool.
UBS Securities LLC agreed to settle the charges by paying more than $14.4 million, including a $12 million penalty that is the SEC’s largest against an alternative trading system (ATS).
An SEC examination and investigation of UBS revealed that the firm failed to properly disclose to all subscribers the existence of an order type that it pitched almost exclusively to market makers and high-frequency trading firms. The order type, called PrimaryPegPlus (PPP), enabled certain subscribers to buy and sell securities by placing orders priced in increments of less than one cent. However, UBS was prohibited under Regulation NMS from accepting orders at those prices. By doing so the firm enabled users of the PPP order type to place sub-penny-priced orders that jumped ahead of other orders submitted at legal, whole-penny prices.
Furthermore, the SEC investigation found that UBS similarly failed to disclose to all subscribers a “natural-only crossing restriction” developed to ensure that select orders would not execute against orders placed by market makers and high-frequency trading firms. This shield was only available to benefit orders placed using UBS algorithms, which are automated trading strategies. UBS did not disclose the existence of this feature to all subscribers until approximately 30 months after it was launched.
“The UBS dark pool was not a level playing field for all customers and did not operate as advertised,” said Andrew J. Ceresney, Director of the SEC’s Division of Enforcement. “Our action shows our continued commitment to policing the equity markets to ensure fairness and compliance with all laws and rules.”
In addition to UBS’s disclosure failures that violated Section 17(a)(2) of the Securities Act of 1933 as well as its acceptance of sub-penny-priced orders that violated Regulation NMS, the SEC outlined several other violations of the federal securities laws by UBS in its order instituting a settled administrative proceeding:
The Form ATS and amendments that UBS filed with the SEC included inconsistent and incomplete statements about the dark pool’s acceptance of sub-penny orders and the natural-only crossing restriction. The filing also failed to attach certain required documents.
UBS violated requirements under Regulation ATS by unreasonably prohibiting subscribers from using the natural-only crossing restriction and failing to establish written standards for granting access to subscribers.
UBS failed to preserve certain order data for the dark pool from at least August 2008 to March 2009 and August 2010 to November 2010.
UBS violated confidentiality requirements under Regulation ATS by giving full access to subscribers’ confidential trading information to 103 employees who should not have had it (primarily information technology personnel).
UBS consented to the SEC’s order without admitting or denying the findings. The order censures the firm and requires payment of $2,240,702.50 in disgorgement, $235,686.14 in prejudgment interest, and the $12 million penalty.
The SEC’s investigation, which is continuing, was conducted by Stephen A. Larson, Charles D. Riely, Mandy B. Sturmfelz, and Mathew Wong of the Market Abuse Unit and Nancy A. Brown and Thomas P. Smith Jr. of the New York Regional Office. The case was supervised by Amelia A. Cottrell of the New York office and Daniel M. Hawke of the Market Abuse Unit. The SEC’s examination of UBS was conducted by Ilan Felix, Richard Heaphy, Michael McAuliffe, Patrick McCurdy, and Genevieve Skabeikis of the New York office.
DOJ ANNOUNCES OHIO MAN ARRESTED FOR PLOTTING TO ATTACK U.S. CAPITOL
FROM: U.S. JUSTICE DEPARTMENT
Wednesday, January 14, 2015
Cincinnati-Area Man Arrested for Plot to Attack U.S. Government Officers
Assistant Attorney General for National Security John P. Carlin and Acting Special Agent in Charge John A. Barrios of the Cincinnati Division of the FBI announced today that the Joint Terrorism Task Force has arrested a Cincinnati-area man for a plot to attack the U.S. Capitol and kill government officials. Acting Special Agent in Charge Barrios noted that the public was not in danger during this investigation.
Christopher Lee Cornell, 20, of Green Township, Ohio, was charged in a criminal complaint with attempting to kill officers and employees of the United States and possession of a firearm in furtherance of a crime of violence.
Cornell was taken into custody today by the FBI Joint Terrorism Task Force (JTTF). The JTTF is made up of officers and agents from the Cincinnati Police Department, Colerain Police Department, Dayton Police Department, Ohio State Highway Patrol, United States Immigrations and Customs Enforcement, United States Secret Service, West Chester Police Department and the Xenia Police Department.
The department would also like to acknowledge the Cincinnati Police Department, Colerain Police Department, Green Township Police Department and the U.S. Capitol Police for the cooperation and assistance they provided during this investigation.
The criminal complaint was filed today before a U.S. District Court Magistrate Judge. The public is reminded that criminal complaints contain only allegations of criminal misconduct and that defendants are presumed to be innocent unless proven guilty in a court of law.
Wednesday, January 14, 2015
Cincinnati-Area Man Arrested for Plot to Attack U.S. Government Officers
Assistant Attorney General for National Security John P. Carlin and Acting Special Agent in Charge John A. Barrios of the Cincinnati Division of the FBI announced today that the Joint Terrorism Task Force has arrested a Cincinnati-area man for a plot to attack the U.S. Capitol and kill government officials. Acting Special Agent in Charge Barrios noted that the public was not in danger during this investigation.
Christopher Lee Cornell, 20, of Green Township, Ohio, was charged in a criminal complaint with attempting to kill officers and employees of the United States and possession of a firearm in furtherance of a crime of violence.
Cornell was taken into custody today by the FBI Joint Terrorism Task Force (JTTF). The JTTF is made up of officers and agents from the Cincinnati Police Department, Colerain Police Department, Dayton Police Department, Ohio State Highway Patrol, United States Immigrations and Customs Enforcement, United States Secret Service, West Chester Police Department and the Xenia Police Department.
The department would also like to acknowledge the Cincinnati Police Department, Colerain Police Department, Green Township Police Department and the U.S. Capitol Police for the cooperation and assistance they provided during this investigation.
The criminal complaint was filed today before a U.S. District Court Magistrate Judge. The public is reminded that criminal complaints contain only allegations of criminal misconduct and that defendants are presumed to be innocent unless proven guilty in a court of law.
DOD REPORTS ON AIRSTRIKES IN SYRIA AND IRAQ
FROM: U.S. DEFENSE DEPARTMENT
Airstrikes Hit ISIL in Syria, Iraq
From a Combined Joint Task Force Operation Inherent Resolve News Release
SOUTHWEST ASIA, Jan. 14, 2015 – U.S. and coalition military forces continued to attack Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant terrorists in Syria, using bomber and fighter aircraft to conduct six airstrikes, Combined Joint Task Force Operation Inherent Resolve officials reported today.
Separately, U.S. and coalition military forces conducted 12 airstrikes in Iraq, using attack, fighter, and remotely piloted aircraft against ISIL terrorists, officials reported.
All strikes took place between 8 a.m., yesterday, and 8 a.m., today, local time.
Airstrikes in Syria
-- Near Kobani, six airstrikes struck an ISIL fighting position and destroyed eight ISIL fighting positions and an ISIL armored vehicle.
Airstrikes in Iraq
-- Near Bayji, an airstrike destroyed an ISIL artillery system.
-- Near Taji, an airstrike struck an ISIL tactical unit.
-- Near Ar Rutbah, two airstrikes struck an ISIL checkpoint and an ISIL tactical unit and destroyed an ISIL vehicle.
-- Near Baqubah, an airstrike struck an ISIL tactical unit and destroyed an ISIL building, an ISIL vehicle, and an ISIL recoilless rifle system.
-- Near Al Asad, an airstrike destroyed an ISIL VBIED.
-- Near Sinjar, an airstrike struck an ISIL tactical unit and destroyed an ISIL excavator.
-- Near Mosul, four airstrikes struck three ISIL tactical units, two ISIL excavators, and an ISIL bunker, and destroyed an ISIL armored vehicle and an ISIL vehicle, and
-- Near Baghdad, an airstrike struck an ISIL tactical unit.
Airstrike assessments are based on initial reports. All aircraft returned to base safely.
Part of Operation Inherent Resolve
The strikes were conducted as part of Operation Inherent Resolve, the operation to eliminate the ISIL terrorist group and the threat they pose to Iraq, Syria, the region, and the wider international community. The destruction of ISIL targets in Syria and Iraq further limits the terrorist group's ability to project terror and conduct operations.
Coalition nations conducting airstrikes in Iraq include the U.S., Australia, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, France, the Netherlands, and the United Kingdom. Coalition nations conducting airstrikes in Syria include the U.S., Bahrain, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates.
Airstrikes Hit ISIL in Syria, Iraq
From a Combined Joint Task Force Operation Inherent Resolve News Release
SOUTHWEST ASIA, Jan. 14, 2015 – U.S. and coalition military forces continued to attack Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant terrorists in Syria, using bomber and fighter aircraft to conduct six airstrikes, Combined Joint Task Force Operation Inherent Resolve officials reported today.
Separately, U.S. and coalition military forces conducted 12 airstrikes in Iraq, using attack, fighter, and remotely piloted aircraft against ISIL terrorists, officials reported.
All strikes took place between 8 a.m., yesterday, and 8 a.m., today, local time.
Airstrikes in Syria
-- Near Kobani, six airstrikes struck an ISIL fighting position and destroyed eight ISIL fighting positions and an ISIL armored vehicle.
Airstrikes in Iraq
-- Near Bayji, an airstrike destroyed an ISIL artillery system.
-- Near Taji, an airstrike struck an ISIL tactical unit.
-- Near Ar Rutbah, two airstrikes struck an ISIL checkpoint and an ISIL tactical unit and destroyed an ISIL vehicle.
-- Near Baqubah, an airstrike struck an ISIL tactical unit and destroyed an ISIL building, an ISIL vehicle, and an ISIL recoilless rifle system.
-- Near Al Asad, an airstrike destroyed an ISIL VBIED.
-- Near Sinjar, an airstrike struck an ISIL tactical unit and destroyed an ISIL excavator.
-- Near Mosul, four airstrikes struck three ISIL tactical units, two ISIL excavators, and an ISIL bunker, and destroyed an ISIL armored vehicle and an ISIL vehicle, and
-- Near Baghdad, an airstrike struck an ISIL tactical unit.
Airstrike assessments are based on initial reports. All aircraft returned to base safely.
Part of Operation Inherent Resolve
The strikes were conducted as part of Operation Inherent Resolve, the operation to eliminate the ISIL terrorist group and the threat they pose to Iraq, Syria, the region, and the wider international community. The destruction of ISIL targets in Syria and Iraq further limits the terrorist group's ability to project terror and conduct operations.
Coalition nations conducting airstrikes in Iraq include the U.S., Australia, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, France, the Netherlands, and the United Kingdom. Coalition nations conducting airstrikes in Syria include the U.S., Bahrain, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates.
DEFENSE SECRETARY HAGEL SPEAKS ABOUT TRANSITIONS
Right: Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel speaks to Marines and sailors aboard Marine Corps Air Station Miramar, Calif., Jan. 13, 2015. U.S. Marine Corps photo by Cpl. Melissa Eschenbrenner.
Hagel Discusses Transitions at Miramar Troop Event
By Jim Garamone
DoD News, Defense Media Activity
WASHINGTON, Jan. 14, 2015 – Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel spoke about transitions with Marines and sailors at the Marine Corps Air Station in Miramar, California, yesterday.
Hagel, who himself transitions upon confirmation of his successor, Dr. Ashton B. Carter, spoke about transition in Afghanistan, transition to the Asia-Pacific region and the dynamic nature of the world that requires a U.S. military that can capably perform during peace or war.
The United States is transitioning around the world, the secretary said. In Afghanistan -- where many of the Marines and sailors served -- the United States is working with Afghans as they assume control of their country. And, U.S. Marines are transitioning back to their maritime roots..
Building Capabilities, Capacities in Asia-Pacific
All service members will participate in the U.S. military’s transition to the Asia-Pacific, Hagel said. A cornerstone of that shift will be to build capabilities and capacities of allies in the region, he said. This will become “more and more a critical component of our own strategic interests as we continue to help our allies build their capabilities,” the secretary said.
The United States will support those countries, “but we can't take on all of the challenges by ourselves,” Hagel said. “They must do it as well.”
The world is a dynamic, ever-changing place, and the American military must be ready, the secretary said. A year ago, he said, no one would have forecast the advance of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant or the Ebola crisis in West Africa or the Russian actions in Ukraine.
Cybersecurity Concerns
Other actions need to be countered as well, the secretary said. Cyberspace remains vulnerable, Hagel said. The cyberattack on Sony Pictures, and the cyberattack on U.S. Central Command public sites are two of the more recent examples of the vulnerability, he said.
The Defense Department’s people are key to success, Hagel said. The secretary urged Marines and sailors in the audience to take care of each other.
“We don’t take care of each other just on the battlefield,” Hagel said. “We’ve got to take care of each other in dorms, in bars, on bases, at parties. You take care of each other, you trust each other, and you have to rely on each other, again, not just in war, but this is a family, and we let each other down if we don’t do that.”
The secretary thanked the service members for what they do for the United States every day. He also thanked the families.
“Again, I want to thank you for what you do for this country, what you’ve done for our country, what you will do for this country,” Hagel said. “It’s been a privilege to be your secretary of defense.”
CDC REPORT ON PROGRESS IN CONTROLLING INFECTION IN U.S. HOSPITALS
FROM: U.S. CENTERS FOR DISEASE CONTROL AND PREVENTION
Progress Being Made in Infection Control in U.S. Hospitals; Continued Improvements Needed
CDC report provides first snapshot of state efforts to prevent MRSA and deadly diarrheal infections
Progress has been made in the effort to eliminate infections that commonly threaten hospital patients, including a 46 percent decrease in central line-associated bloodstream infections (CLABSI) between 2008 and 2013, according to a report released today by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. However, additional work is needed to continue to improve patient safety. CDC’s Healthcare-Associated Infections (HAI) progress report is a snapshot of how each state and the country are doing in eliminating six infection types that hospitals are required to report to CDC. For the first time, this year’s HAI progress report includes state-specific data about hospital lab-identified methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) bloodstream infections and Clostridium difficile (C. difficile) infections (deadly diarrhea).
The annual National and State Healthcare-associated Infection Progress Report expands upon and provides an update to previous reports detailing progress toward the goal of eliminating HAIs. The report summarizes data submitted to CDC’s National Healthcare Safety Network (NHSN), the nation’s healthcare-associated infection tracking system, which is used by more than 14,500 health care facilities across all 50 states, Washington, D.C., and Puerto Rico. Healthcare-associated infections are a major, yet often preventable, threat to patient safety. On any given day, approximately one in 25 U.S. patients has at least one infection contracted during the course of their hospital care, demonstrating the need for improved infection control in U.S. healthcare facilities.
“Hospitals have made real progress to reduce some types of healthcare-associated infections - it can be done,” said CDC Director Tom Frieden, M.D., M.P.H. “The key is for every hospital to have rigorous infection control programs to protect patients and healthcare workers, and for health care facilities and others to work together to reduce the many types of infections that haven’t decreased enough.”
This report focuses on national and state progress in reducing infections occurring within acute care hospitals. Although not covered by the report released today, the majority of C. difficile infections and MRSA infections develop in the community or are diagnosed in healthcare settings other than hospitals. Other recent reports on infections caused by germs such as MRSA and C. difficile suggest that infections in hospitalized patients only account for about one-third of all the healthcare-associated infections.
Tracking National Progress
On the national level, the report found a:
46 percent decrease in central line-associated bloodstream infections (CLABSI) between 2008 and 2013. A central line-associated bloodstream infection occurs when a tube is placed in a large vein and either not put in correctly or not kept clean, becoming a highway for germs to enter the body and cause deadly infections in the blood.
19 percent decrease in surgical site infections (SSI) related to the 10 select procedures tracked in the report between 2008 and 2013. When germs get into the surgical wound, patients can get a surgical site infection involving the skin, organs, or implanted material.
6 percent increase in catheter-associated urinary tract infections (CAUTI) since 2009; although initial data from 2014 seem to indicate that these infections have started to decrease. When a urinary catheter is either not put in correctly, not kept clean, or left in a patient for too long, germs can travel through the catheter and infect the bladder and kidneys.
8 percent decrease in MRSA bloodstream infections between 2011 and 2013.
10 percent decrease in C. difficile infections between 2011 and 2013.
Research shows that when healthcare facilities, care teams, and individual doctors and nurses, are aware of infection control problems and take specific steps to prevent them, rates of targeted HAIs can decrease dramatically.
Data for Local Action
The report provides data that can be used by hospitals to target improvements in patient safety in their facilities. For example, together with professional partners, CDC, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) Quality Improvement Organizations and Partnership for Patients initiative, and the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality’s (AHRQ) Comprehensive Unit-based Safety Program (CUSP) increased attention to the prevention of catheter-associated urinary tract infections, resulting in a reversal of the recent increase seen in these infections. CAUTI data for early 2014 demonstrating these improvements will be publicly available on the CMS Hospital Compare website in 2015. CDC is also working to use HAI data to help identify specific hospitals and wards that can benefit from additional infection control expertise.
“Healthcare-associated infection data give healthcare facilities and public health agencies knowledge to design, implement and evaluate HAI prevention efforts,” said Patrick Conway, Deputy Administrator for Innovation and Quality and Chief Medical Officer of the Center for Medicare & Medicaid Services. “Medicare’s quality measurement reporting requires hospitals to share this information with the CDC, demonstrating that, together, we can dramatically improve the safety and quality of care for patients.”
“Successful programs such as CUSP demonstrate that combining sound HAI data with effective interventions to prevent these infections can have enormous impact,” said AHRQ Director Richard Kronick, Ph.D.
State Data
Not all states reported or had enough data to calculate valid infection information on every infection in this report. The number of infections reported was compared to a national baseline.
In the report, among 50 states, Washington, D.C., and Puerto Rico, 26 states performed better than the nation on at least two of the six infection types tracked by state (CLABSI, CAUTI, MRSA, C. difficile, and SSI after colon surgery and abdominal hysterectomy). Sixteen states performed better than the nation on three or more infections, including six states performing better on four infections. In addition, 19 states performed worse than the nation on two infections, with eight states performing worse on at least three infections.
The national baseline will be reset at the end of 2015. Starting in 2016, HAI prevention progress from 2016-2020 will be measured in comparison to infection data from 2015.
The federal government considers elimination of healthcare-associated infections a top priority and has a number of ongoing efforts to protect patients and improve healthcare quality. CDC provides expertise and leadership in publishing evidence-based infection prevention guidelines, housing the nation’s healthcare-associated infection laboratories, responding to health care facility outbreaks, and tracking infections in these facilities. Other federal and non-federal partners are actively working to accelerate the ongoing prevention progress across the country. In collaboration with CDC, these agencies use data and expertise to mount effective prevention programs and guide their work, including efforts of CMS Quality Improvement Organizations, the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality’s Comprehensive Unit-based Safety Program, and the National Action Plan to Prevent Healthcare-Associated Infections: Road Map to Elimination.
Preventing infections in the first place means that patients will not need antibiotics to treat those infections. This can help to slow the rise of antibiotic resistance and avoid patient harm from unnecessary side-effects and C. difficile infections, which are associated with antibiotic use. Continued progress and expanded efforts to prevent HAIs will support the response to the threat of antibiotic resistance.
Progress Being Made in Infection Control in U.S. Hospitals; Continued Improvements Needed
CDC report provides first snapshot of state efforts to prevent MRSA and deadly diarrheal infections
Progress has been made in the effort to eliminate infections that commonly threaten hospital patients, including a 46 percent decrease in central line-associated bloodstream infections (CLABSI) between 2008 and 2013, according to a report released today by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. However, additional work is needed to continue to improve patient safety. CDC’s Healthcare-Associated Infections (HAI) progress report is a snapshot of how each state and the country are doing in eliminating six infection types that hospitals are required to report to CDC. For the first time, this year’s HAI progress report includes state-specific data about hospital lab-identified methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) bloodstream infections and Clostridium difficile (C. difficile) infections (deadly diarrhea).
The annual National and State Healthcare-associated Infection Progress Report expands upon and provides an update to previous reports detailing progress toward the goal of eliminating HAIs. The report summarizes data submitted to CDC’s National Healthcare Safety Network (NHSN), the nation’s healthcare-associated infection tracking system, which is used by more than 14,500 health care facilities across all 50 states, Washington, D.C., and Puerto Rico. Healthcare-associated infections are a major, yet often preventable, threat to patient safety. On any given day, approximately one in 25 U.S. patients has at least one infection contracted during the course of their hospital care, demonstrating the need for improved infection control in U.S. healthcare facilities.
“Hospitals have made real progress to reduce some types of healthcare-associated infections - it can be done,” said CDC Director Tom Frieden, M.D., M.P.H. “The key is for every hospital to have rigorous infection control programs to protect patients and healthcare workers, and for health care facilities and others to work together to reduce the many types of infections that haven’t decreased enough.”
This report focuses on national and state progress in reducing infections occurring within acute care hospitals. Although not covered by the report released today, the majority of C. difficile infections and MRSA infections develop in the community or are diagnosed in healthcare settings other than hospitals. Other recent reports on infections caused by germs such as MRSA and C. difficile suggest that infections in hospitalized patients only account for about one-third of all the healthcare-associated infections.
Tracking National Progress
On the national level, the report found a:
46 percent decrease in central line-associated bloodstream infections (CLABSI) between 2008 and 2013. A central line-associated bloodstream infection occurs when a tube is placed in a large vein and either not put in correctly or not kept clean, becoming a highway for germs to enter the body and cause deadly infections in the blood.
19 percent decrease in surgical site infections (SSI) related to the 10 select procedures tracked in the report between 2008 and 2013. When germs get into the surgical wound, patients can get a surgical site infection involving the skin, organs, or implanted material.
6 percent increase in catheter-associated urinary tract infections (CAUTI) since 2009; although initial data from 2014 seem to indicate that these infections have started to decrease. When a urinary catheter is either not put in correctly, not kept clean, or left in a patient for too long, germs can travel through the catheter and infect the bladder and kidneys.
8 percent decrease in MRSA bloodstream infections between 2011 and 2013.
10 percent decrease in C. difficile infections between 2011 and 2013.
Research shows that when healthcare facilities, care teams, and individual doctors and nurses, are aware of infection control problems and take specific steps to prevent them, rates of targeted HAIs can decrease dramatically.
Data for Local Action
The report provides data that can be used by hospitals to target improvements in patient safety in their facilities. For example, together with professional partners, CDC, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) Quality Improvement Organizations and Partnership for Patients initiative, and the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality’s (AHRQ) Comprehensive Unit-based Safety Program (CUSP) increased attention to the prevention of catheter-associated urinary tract infections, resulting in a reversal of the recent increase seen in these infections. CAUTI data for early 2014 demonstrating these improvements will be publicly available on the CMS Hospital Compare website in 2015. CDC is also working to use HAI data to help identify specific hospitals and wards that can benefit from additional infection control expertise.
“Healthcare-associated infection data give healthcare facilities and public health agencies knowledge to design, implement and evaluate HAI prevention efforts,” said Patrick Conway, Deputy Administrator for Innovation and Quality and Chief Medical Officer of the Center for Medicare & Medicaid Services. “Medicare’s quality measurement reporting requires hospitals to share this information with the CDC, demonstrating that, together, we can dramatically improve the safety and quality of care for patients.”
“Successful programs such as CUSP demonstrate that combining sound HAI data with effective interventions to prevent these infections can have enormous impact,” said AHRQ Director Richard Kronick, Ph.D.
State Data
Not all states reported or had enough data to calculate valid infection information on every infection in this report. The number of infections reported was compared to a national baseline.
In the report, among 50 states, Washington, D.C., and Puerto Rico, 26 states performed better than the nation on at least two of the six infection types tracked by state (CLABSI, CAUTI, MRSA, C. difficile, and SSI after colon surgery and abdominal hysterectomy). Sixteen states performed better than the nation on three or more infections, including six states performing better on four infections. In addition, 19 states performed worse than the nation on two infections, with eight states performing worse on at least three infections.
The national baseline will be reset at the end of 2015. Starting in 2016, HAI prevention progress from 2016-2020 will be measured in comparison to infection data from 2015.
The federal government considers elimination of healthcare-associated infections a top priority and has a number of ongoing efforts to protect patients and improve healthcare quality. CDC provides expertise and leadership in publishing evidence-based infection prevention guidelines, housing the nation’s healthcare-associated infection laboratories, responding to health care facility outbreaks, and tracking infections in these facilities. Other federal and non-federal partners are actively working to accelerate the ongoing prevention progress across the country. In collaboration with CDC, these agencies use data and expertise to mount effective prevention programs and guide their work, including efforts of CMS Quality Improvement Organizations, the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality’s Comprehensive Unit-based Safety Program, and the National Action Plan to Prevent Healthcare-Associated Infections: Road Map to Elimination.
Preventing infections in the first place means that patients will not need antibiotics to treat those infections. This can help to slow the rise of antibiotic resistance and avoid patient harm from unnecessary side-effects and C. difficile infections, which are associated with antibiotic use. Continued progress and expanded efforts to prevent HAIs will support the response to the threat of antibiotic resistance.
WHITE HOUSE FACT SHEET ON CUTTING METHANE EMISSIONS
FROM: THE WHITE HOUSE
FACT SHEET: Administration Takes Steps Forward on Climate Action Plan by Announcing Actions to Cut Methane Emissions
The Obama Administration is committed to taking responsible steps to address climate change and help ensure a cleaner, more stable environment for future generations. As part of that effort, today, the Administration is announcing a new goal to cut methane emissions from the oil and gas sector by 40 – 45 percent from 2012 levels by 2025, and a set of actions to put the U.S. on a path to achieve this ambitious goal.
U.S. oil production is at the highest level in nearly 30 years, providing important energy security and economic benefits. The U.S. is also now the largest natural gas producer in the world, providing an abundant source of clean-burning fuel to power and heat American homes and businesses. Continuing to rely on these domestic energy resources is a critical element of the President’s energy strategy. At the same time, methane – the primary component of natural gas – is a potent greenhouse gas, with 25 times the heat-trapping potential of carbon dioxide over a 100-year period.
Methane emissions accounted for nearly 10 percent of U.S. greenhouse gas emissions in 2012, of which nearly 30 percent came from the production transmission and distribution of oil and natural gas. Emissions from the oil and gas sector are down 16 percent since 1990 and current data show significant reductions from certain parts of the sector, notably well completions. Nevertheless, emissions from the oil and gas sector are projected to rise more than 25 percent by 2025 without additional steps to lower them. For these reasons, a strategy for cutting methane emissions from the oil and gas sector is an important component of efforts to address climate change.
The steps announced today are also a sound economic and public health strategy because reducing methane emissions means capturing valuable fuel that is otherwise wasted and reducing other harmful pollutants – a win for public health and the economy. Achieving the Administration’s goal would save up to 180 billion cubic feet of natural gas in 2025, enough to heat more than 2 million homes for a year and continue to support businesses that manufacture and sell cost-effective technologies to identify, quantify, and reduce methane emissions.
ADMINISTRATION ACTIONS TO REDUCE METHANE EMISSIONS
Building on prior actions by the Administration, and leadership in states and industry, today the Administration is announcing a series of steps encompassing both commonsense standards and cooperative engagement with states, tribes and industry to put us on a path toward the 2025 goal. This coordinated, cross-agency effort will ensure a harmonized approach that also considers the important role of FERC, state utility commissions and environmental agencies, and industry. Administration actions include:
Propose and Set Commonsense Standards for Methane and Ozone-Forming Emissions from New and Modified Sources
In 2012, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) laid a foundation for further action when it issued standards for volatile organic compounds (VOC) from the oil and natural gas industry. These standards, when fully implemented, are expected to reduce 190,000 to 290,000 tons of VOC and decrease methane emissions in an amount equivalent to 33 million tons of carbon pollution per year. The standards not only relied on technologies and practices already in widespread use in the oil and gas sector, but also incorporated innovative regulatory flexibility. Along with a rule to streamline permitting of oil and gas production on certain tribal lands, this approach ensured that important public health and environmental protections could be achieved while oil and gas production continued to grow and expand.
Building on five technical white papers issued last spring, the peer review and public input received on these documents, and the actions that a number of states are already taking, EPA will initiate a rulemaking effort to set standards for methane and VOC emissions from new and modified oil and gas production sources, and natural gas processing and transmission sources. EPA will issue a proposed rule in the summer of 2015 and a final rule will follow in 2016. In developing these standards, EPA will work with industry, states, tribes, and other stakeholders to consider a range of common-sense approaches that can reduce emissions from the sources discussed in the agency’s Oil and Gas White Papers, including oil well completions, pneumatic pumps, and leaks from well sites, gathering and boosting stations, and compressor stations. As it did in the 2012 standards, the agency, in developing the proposal and final standards, will focus on in-use technologies, current industry practices, emerging innovations and streamlined and flexible regulatory approaches to ensure that emissions reductions can be achieved as oil and gas production and operations continue to grow.
New Guidelines to Reduce Volatile Organic Compounds
EPA will develop new guidelines to assist states in reducing ozone-forming pollutants from existing oil and gas systems in areas that do not meet the ozone health standard and in states in the Ozone Transport Region. These guidelines will also reduce methane emissions in these areas. The guidelines will help states that are developing clean air ozone plans by providing a ready-to-adopt control measure that they can include in those plans.
Consider Enhancing Leak Detection and Emissions Reporting
EPA will continue to promote transparency and accountability for existing sources by strengthening its Greenhouse Gas Reporting Program to require reporting in all segments of the industry. In addition to finalizing the updates to the program EPA has already proposed by the end of 2015, EPA will explore potential regulatory opportunities for applying remote sensing technologies and other innovations in measurement and monitoring technology to further improve the identification and quantification of emissions and improve the overall accuracy and transparency of reported data cost-effectively.
Lead by Example on Public Lands
The Department of Interior’s Bureau of Land Management (BLM) will update decades-old standards to reduce wasteful venting, flaring, and leaks of natural gas, which is primarily methane, from oil and gas wells. These standards, to be proposed this spring, will address both new and existing oil and gas wells on public lands. This action will enhance our energy security and economy by boosting America’s natural gas supplies, ensuring that taxpayers receive the royalties due to them from development of public resources, and reducing emissions. BLM will work closely with EPA to ensure an integrated approach.
Reduce Methane Emissions while Improving Pipeline Safety
The Department of Transportation’s Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) will propose natural gas pipeline safety standards in 2015. While the standards will focus on safety, they are expected to lower methane emissions as well.
Drive Technology to Reduce Natural Gas Losses and Improve Emissions Quantification
The President’s FY16 Budget will propose $15 million in funding for the Department of Energy (DOE) to develop and demonstrate more cost-effective technologies to detect and reduce losses from natural gas transmission and distribution systems. This will include efforts to repair leaks and develop next generation compressors. The President’s budget will also propose $10 million to launch a program at DOE to enhance the quantification of emissions from natural gas infrastructure for inclusion in the national Greenhouse Gas Inventory in coordination with EPA.
Modernize Natural Gas Transmission and Distribution Infrastructure
DOE will continue to take steps to encourage reduced emissions, particularly from natural gas transmission and distribution, including:
Issuing energy efficiency standards for natural gas and air compressors;
Advancing research and development to bring down the cost of detecting leaks;
Working with FERC to modernize natural gas infrastructure; and
Partnering with NARUC and local distribution companies to accelerate pipeline repair and replacement at the local level.
Release a Quadrennial Energy Review (QER)
The Administration will soon release the first installment of the QER, which focuses specifically on policy actions that are needed to help modernize energy transmission, storage, and distribution infrastructure. This installment of the QER will include additional policy recommendations and analysis on the environmental, safety, and economic benefits of investments that reduce natural gas system leakage.
INDUSTRY ACTIONS TO REDUCE METHANE EMISSIONS.
The Administration’s actions represent important steps to cut methane emissions from the oil and gas sector. Fully attaining the Administration’s goal will require additional action, particularly with respect to existing sources of methane emissions. Several voluntary industry efforts to address these sources are underway, including EPA’s plans to expand on the successful Natural Gas STAR Program by launching a new partnership in collaboration with key stakeholders later in 2015. EPA will work with DOE, DOT, and leading companies, individually and through broader initiatives such as the One Future Initiative and the Downstream Initiative, to develop and verify robust commitments to reduce methane emissions. This new effort will encourage innovation, provide accountability and transparency, and track progress toward specific methane emission reduction activities and goals to reduce methane leakage across the natural gas value chain.
Voluntary efforts to reduce emissions in a comprehensive and transparent manner hold the potential to realize significant reductions in a quick, flexible, cost-effective way. Achieving significant methane reductions from these voluntary industry programs and state actions could reduce the need for future regulations. The Administration stands ready to collaborate with these and other voluntary efforts, including in the development of a regime for monitoring, reporting and verification.
BUILDING ON PROGRESS
Today’s announcement builds on the “Strategy to Reduce Methane Emissions” released in March 2014. Since its release, the Administration has taken a number of actions to set us on a course to reduce methane emissions from the oil and gas sector and other sources:
DOE has launched a new initiative that will make up to $30 million available to develop low-cost highly sensitive technologies that can help detect and measure methane emissions from oil and gas systems. Just last month, DOE announced the 11 innovative projects selected.
DOE convened a series of roundtable discussions with leaders from industry, environmental organizations, state regulators, consumer groups, academia, labor unions, and other stakeholders. The meetings culminated in July 2014, with the creation of an Initiative to Modernize Natural Gas Transmission and Distribution Infrastructure that laid out a series of executive actions, partnerships, and stakeholder commitments to help modernize the nation’s natural gas transmission and distribution systems, increase safety and energy efficiency and reduce methane emissions.
The US Department of Agriculture (USDA), EPA and DOE, in partnership with the dairy industry, released a Biogas Opportunities Roadmap in August 2014 highlighting voluntary actions to reduce methane emissions through the use of biodigesters.
BLM released an Advanced Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (ANPRM) in April 2014 to gather public input on the development of a program for the capture and sale, or disposal, of waste methane from coal mines on public lands.
EPA proposed updates to its 1996 New Source Performance Standards for new municipal solid waste landfills and sought public feedback on whether EPA should update guidelines for existing landfills in June 2014, which they anticipate finalizing this year.
FACT SHEET: Administration Takes Steps Forward on Climate Action Plan by Announcing Actions to Cut Methane Emissions
The Obama Administration is committed to taking responsible steps to address climate change and help ensure a cleaner, more stable environment for future generations. As part of that effort, today, the Administration is announcing a new goal to cut methane emissions from the oil and gas sector by 40 – 45 percent from 2012 levels by 2025, and a set of actions to put the U.S. on a path to achieve this ambitious goal.
U.S. oil production is at the highest level in nearly 30 years, providing important energy security and economic benefits. The U.S. is also now the largest natural gas producer in the world, providing an abundant source of clean-burning fuel to power and heat American homes and businesses. Continuing to rely on these domestic energy resources is a critical element of the President’s energy strategy. At the same time, methane – the primary component of natural gas – is a potent greenhouse gas, with 25 times the heat-trapping potential of carbon dioxide over a 100-year period.
Methane emissions accounted for nearly 10 percent of U.S. greenhouse gas emissions in 2012, of which nearly 30 percent came from the production transmission and distribution of oil and natural gas. Emissions from the oil and gas sector are down 16 percent since 1990 and current data show significant reductions from certain parts of the sector, notably well completions. Nevertheless, emissions from the oil and gas sector are projected to rise more than 25 percent by 2025 without additional steps to lower them. For these reasons, a strategy for cutting methane emissions from the oil and gas sector is an important component of efforts to address climate change.
The steps announced today are also a sound economic and public health strategy because reducing methane emissions means capturing valuable fuel that is otherwise wasted and reducing other harmful pollutants – a win for public health and the economy. Achieving the Administration’s goal would save up to 180 billion cubic feet of natural gas in 2025, enough to heat more than 2 million homes for a year and continue to support businesses that manufacture and sell cost-effective technologies to identify, quantify, and reduce methane emissions.
ADMINISTRATION ACTIONS TO REDUCE METHANE EMISSIONS
Building on prior actions by the Administration, and leadership in states and industry, today the Administration is announcing a series of steps encompassing both commonsense standards and cooperative engagement with states, tribes and industry to put us on a path toward the 2025 goal. This coordinated, cross-agency effort will ensure a harmonized approach that also considers the important role of FERC, state utility commissions and environmental agencies, and industry. Administration actions include:
Propose and Set Commonsense Standards for Methane and Ozone-Forming Emissions from New and Modified Sources
In 2012, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) laid a foundation for further action when it issued standards for volatile organic compounds (VOC) from the oil and natural gas industry. These standards, when fully implemented, are expected to reduce 190,000 to 290,000 tons of VOC and decrease methane emissions in an amount equivalent to 33 million tons of carbon pollution per year. The standards not only relied on technologies and practices already in widespread use in the oil and gas sector, but also incorporated innovative regulatory flexibility. Along with a rule to streamline permitting of oil and gas production on certain tribal lands, this approach ensured that important public health and environmental protections could be achieved while oil and gas production continued to grow and expand.
Building on five technical white papers issued last spring, the peer review and public input received on these documents, and the actions that a number of states are already taking, EPA will initiate a rulemaking effort to set standards for methane and VOC emissions from new and modified oil and gas production sources, and natural gas processing and transmission sources. EPA will issue a proposed rule in the summer of 2015 and a final rule will follow in 2016. In developing these standards, EPA will work with industry, states, tribes, and other stakeholders to consider a range of common-sense approaches that can reduce emissions from the sources discussed in the agency’s Oil and Gas White Papers, including oil well completions, pneumatic pumps, and leaks from well sites, gathering and boosting stations, and compressor stations. As it did in the 2012 standards, the agency, in developing the proposal and final standards, will focus on in-use technologies, current industry practices, emerging innovations and streamlined and flexible regulatory approaches to ensure that emissions reductions can be achieved as oil and gas production and operations continue to grow.
New Guidelines to Reduce Volatile Organic Compounds
EPA will develop new guidelines to assist states in reducing ozone-forming pollutants from existing oil and gas systems in areas that do not meet the ozone health standard and in states in the Ozone Transport Region. These guidelines will also reduce methane emissions in these areas. The guidelines will help states that are developing clean air ozone plans by providing a ready-to-adopt control measure that they can include in those plans.
Consider Enhancing Leak Detection and Emissions Reporting
EPA will continue to promote transparency and accountability for existing sources by strengthening its Greenhouse Gas Reporting Program to require reporting in all segments of the industry. In addition to finalizing the updates to the program EPA has already proposed by the end of 2015, EPA will explore potential regulatory opportunities for applying remote sensing technologies and other innovations in measurement and monitoring technology to further improve the identification and quantification of emissions and improve the overall accuracy and transparency of reported data cost-effectively.
Lead by Example on Public Lands
The Department of Interior’s Bureau of Land Management (BLM) will update decades-old standards to reduce wasteful venting, flaring, and leaks of natural gas, which is primarily methane, from oil and gas wells. These standards, to be proposed this spring, will address both new and existing oil and gas wells on public lands. This action will enhance our energy security and economy by boosting America’s natural gas supplies, ensuring that taxpayers receive the royalties due to them from development of public resources, and reducing emissions. BLM will work closely with EPA to ensure an integrated approach.
Reduce Methane Emissions while Improving Pipeline Safety
The Department of Transportation’s Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) will propose natural gas pipeline safety standards in 2015. While the standards will focus on safety, they are expected to lower methane emissions as well.
Drive Technology to Reduce Natural Gas Losses and Improve Emissions Quantification
The President’s FY16 Budget will propose $15 million in funding for the Department of Energy (DOE) to develop and demonstrate more cost-effective technologies to detect and reduce losses from natural gas transmission and distribution systems. This will include efforts to repair leaks and develop next generation compressors. The President’s budget will also propose $10 million to launch a program at DOE to enhance the quantification of emissions from natural gas infrastructure for inclusion in the national Greenhouse Gas Inventory in coordination with EPA.
Modernize Natural Gas Transmission and Distribution Infrastructure
DOE will continue to take steps to encourage reduced emissions, particularly from natural gas transmission and distribution, including:
Issuing energy efficiency standards for natural gas and air compressors;
Advancing research and development to bring down the cost of detecting leaks;
Working with FERC to modernize natural gas infrastructure; and
Partnering with NARUC and local distribution companies to accelerate pipeline repair and replacement at the local level.
Release a Quadrennial Energy Review (QER)
The Administration will soon release the first installment of the QER, which focuses specifically on policy actions that are needed to help modernize energy transmission, storage, and distribution infrastructure. This installment of the QER will include additional policy recommendations and analysis on the environmental, safety, and economic benefits of investments that reduce natural gas system leakage.
INDUSTRY ACTIONS TO REDUCE METHANE EMISSIONS.
The Administration’s actions represent important steps to cut methane emissions from the oil and gas sector. Fully attaining the Administration’s goal will require additional action, particularly with respect to existing sources of methane emissions. Several voluntary industry efforts to address these sources are underway, including EPA’s plans to expand on the successful Natural Gas STAR Program by launching a new partnership in collaboration with key stakeholders later in 2015. EPA will work with DOE, DOT, and leading companies, individually and through broader initiatives such as the One Future Initiative and the Downstream Initiative, to develop and verify robust commitments to reduce methane emissions. This new effort will encourage innovation, provide accountability and transparency, and track progress toward specific methane emission reduction activities and goals to reduce methane leakage across the natural gas value chain.
Voluntary efforts to reduce emissions in a comprehensive and transparent manner hold the potential to realize significant reductions in a quick, flexible, cost-effective way. Achieving significant methane reductions from these voluntary industry programs and state actions could reduce the need for future regulations. The Administration stands ready to collaborate with these and other voluntary efforts, including in the development of a regime for monitoring, reporting and verification.
BUILDING ON PROGRESS
Today’s announcement builds on the “Strategy to Reduce Methane Emissions” released in March 2014. Since its release, the Administration has taken a number of actions to set us on a course to reduce methane emissions from the oil and gas sector and other sources:
DOE has launched a new initiative that will make up to $30 million available to develop low-cost highly sensitive technologies that can help detect and measure methane emissions from oil and gas systems. Just last month, DOE announced the 11 innovative projects selected.
DOE convened a series of roundtable discussions with leaders from industry, environmental organizations, state regulators, consumer groups, academia, labor unions, and other stakeholders. The meetings culminated in July 2014, with the creation of an Initiative to Modernize Natural Gas Transmission and Distribution Infrastructure that laid out a series of executive actions, partnerships, and stakeholder commitments to help modernize the nation’s natural gas transmission and distribution systems, increase safety and energy efficiency and reduce methane emissions.
The US Department of Agriculture (USDA), EPA and DOE, in partnership with the dairy industry, released a Biogas Opportunities Roadmap in August 2014 highlighting voluntary actions to reduce methane emissions through the use of biodigesters.
BLM released an Advanced Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (ANPRM) in April 2014 to gather public input on the development of a program for the capture and sale, or disposal, of waste methane from coal mines on public lands.
EPA proposed updates to its 1996 New Source Performance Standards for new municipal solid waste landfills and sought public feedback on whether EPA should update guidelines for existing landfills in June 2014, which they anticipate finalizing this year.
U.S. TRIES TO RECOVER OVER $1.5 MILLION IN BRIBES GIVEN TO HONDURAN OFFICIAL
FROM: U.S. JUSTICE DEPARTMENT
Tuesday, January 13, 2015
Department of Justice Seeks Recovery of Approximately $1,528,000 in Bribes Paid to a Honduran Official
The Department of Justice filed today a civil forfeiture complaint seeking the forfeiture of nine properties worth approximately $1,528,000 that were allegedly purchased with funds traceable to a $2 million bribe paid by a Honduran information-technology company to the former Executive Director of the Honduran Institute of Social Security.
Assistant Attorney General Leslie R. Caldwell of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division, U.S. Attorney Kenneth Polite, Jr. of the Eastern District of Louisiana and Executive Associate Director Peter T. Edge of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) made the announcement.
“Mario Zelaya was the director of Honduras’s social security agency, but instead of building a social safety net for his country’s citizens, he allegedly used his position of public trust to steal public money for himself,” said Assistant Attorney General Caldwell. “Our action today highlights how the Criminal Division’s Kleptocracy Initiative, with our network of law enforcement partners around the globe, will trace and recover the ill-gotten gains of corrupt officials. Criminals should make no mistake: the United States is not a safe haven for the proceeds of your crimes. If you hide or invest your stolen money here, we will use all the legal tools we have to find it and seize it.”
“The United States Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Louisiana is committed to working with our law enforcement partners, both domestically and internationally, to ensure that this district is not used to launder corruptly obtained funds, no matter the source of the corruption,” said U.S. Attorney Polite.
“ICE’s Homeland Security Investigations will continue to work in cooperation with our international law enforcement partners to ensure that our country is not used as a safe haven for corrupt foreign officials to hide their assets,” said HSI Executive Associate Director Edge.
From 2010 to 2014, Dr. Mario Roberto Zelaya Rojas, 46, of Tegucigalpa, Honduras, served as the Executive Director of the Honduran Institute of Social Security (HISS), a Honduran Government agency that provides social security services, including workers’ compensation, retirement, maternity, and death benefits. According to allegations in the forfeiture complaint, Zelaya solicited and accepted $2.08 million in bribes from Compania De Servicios Multiples, S. de R. L. (COSEM) in exchange for prioritizing and expediting payments owed to COSEM under a $19 million contract with HISS. Zelaya also allegedly instructed COSEM to make bribe payments to two members of the Board of Directors of HISS charged with overseeing the COSEM contract. To conceal the illicit payments, COSEM allegedly sent the bribes through its affiliate company, CA Technologies.
As further alleged in the complaint, the bribe proceeds were then laundered into the United States and used by Zelaya and his brother, Carlos Alberto Zelaya Rojas, to acquire real estate in the New Orleans area. Certain properties were titled in the name of companies nominally controlled by Zelaya’s brother in an effort to conceal the illicit source of the funds as well as the beneficial owner. The current action seeks forfeiture of nine properties acquired with the proceeds of Zelaya’s alleged bribery scheme.
The investigation was conducted by HSI’s New Orleans and Miami Field Offices. The case is being handled by Trial Attorneys Stephen A. Gibbons and Marybeth Grunstra of the Criminal Division’s Asset Forfeiture and Money Laundering Section and Assistant U.S. Attorney Daniel P. Friel of the Eastern District of Louisiana. Substantial assistance was provided by the Public Ministry of the Republic of Honduras and the HSI Attaché Tegucigalpa.
This case was brought under the Kleptocracy Asset Recovery Initiative. Under that initiative, dedicated prosecutors in the Criminal Division’s Asset Forfeiture and Money Laundering Section work in partnership with U.S. Attorneys’ Offices and federal law enforcement agencies to forfeit the proceeds of foreign official corruption and, where possible and appropriate, put forfeited corruption proceeds to use for the benefit of the people of the country harmed by the abuse of public office.
Tuesday, January 13, 2015
Department of Justice Seeks Recovery of Approximately $1,528,000 in Bribes Paid to a Honduran Official
The Department of Justice filed today a civil forfeiture complaint seeking the forfeiture of nine properties worth approximately $1,528,000 that were allegedly purchased with funds traceable to a $2 million bribe paid by a Honduran information-technology company to the former Executive Director of the Honduran Institute of Social Security.
Assistant Attorney General Leslie R. Caldwell of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division, U.S. Attorney Kenneth Polite, Jr. of the Eastern District of Louisiana and Executive Associate Director Peter T. Edge of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) made the announcement.
“Mario Zelaya was the director of Honduras’s social security agency, but instead of building a social safety net for his country’s citizens, he allegedly used his position of public trust to steal public money for himself,” said Assistant Attorney General Caldwell. “Our action today highlights how the Criminal Division’s Kleptocracy Initiative, with our network of law enforcement partners around the globe, will trace and recover the ill-gotten gains of corrupt officials. Criminals should make no mistake: the United States is not a safe haven for the proceeds of your crimes. If you hide or invest your stolen money here, we will use all the legal tools we have to find it and seize it.”
“The United States Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Louisiana is committed to working with our law enforcement partners, both domestically and internationally, to ensure that this district is not used to launder corruptly obtained funds, no matter the source of the corruption,” said U.S. Attorney Polite.
“ICE’s Homeland Security Investigations will continue to work in cooperation with our international law enforcement partners to ensure that our country is not used as a safe haven for corrupt foreign officials to hide their assets,” said HSI Executive Associate Director Edge.
From 2010 to 2014, Dr. Mario Roberto Zelaya Rojas, 46, of Tegucigalpa, Honduras, served as the Executive Director of the Honduran Institute of Social Security (HISS), a Honduran Government agency that provides social security services, including workers’ compensation, retirement, maternity, and death benefits. According to allegations in the forfeiture complaint, Zelaya solicited and accepted $2.08 million in bribes from Compania De Servicios Multiples, S. de R. L. (COSEM) in exchange for prioritizing and expediting payments owed to COSEM under a $19 million contract with HISS. Zelaya also allegedly instructed COSEM to make bribe payments to two members of the Board of Directors of HISS charged with overseeing the COSEM contract. To conceal the illicit payments, COSEM allegedly sent the bribes through its affiliate company, CA Technologies.
As further alleged in the complaint, the bribe proceeds were then laundered into the United States and used by Zelaya and his brother, Carlos Alberto Zelaya Rojas, to acquire real estate in the New Orleans area. Certain properties were titled in the name of companies nominally controlled by Zelaya’s brother in an effort to conceal the illicit source of the funds as well as the beneficial owner. The current action seeks forfeiture of nine properties acquired with the proceeds of Zelaya’s alleged bribery scheme.
The investigation was conducted by HSI’s New Orleans and Miami Field Offices. The case is being handled by Trial Attorneys Stephen A. Gibbons and Marybeth Grunstra of the Criminal Division’s Asset Forfeiture and Money Laundering Section and Assistant U.S. Attorney Daniel P. Friel of the Eastern District of Louisiana. Substantial assistance was provided by the Public Ministry of the Republic of Honduras and the HSI Attaché Tegucigalpa.
This case was brought under the Kleptocracy Asset Recovery Initiative. Under that initiative, dedicated prosecutors in the Criminal Division’s Asset Forfeiture and Money Laundering Section work in partnership with U.S. Attorneys’ Offices and federal law enforcement agencies to forfeit the proceeds of foreign official corruption and, where possible and appropriate, put forfeited corruption proceeds to use for the benefit of the people of the country harmed by the abuse of public office.
Wednesday, January 14, 2015
U.S. NAVY VIDEO: NAVY'S ELECTROMAGNETIC RAILGUN GOES ON DISPLAY AT FUTURE FORCE EXPO IN WASHINGTON D.C.
The Navy’s electromagnetic railgun will be displayed for the first time in the Eastern U.S. early next month at the Future Force Expo in Washington D.C.
SECRETARY KERRY'S REMARKS WITH UN SPECIAL ENVOY FOR SYRIA STAFFAN DE MISTURA
FROM: U.S. STATE DEPARTMENT
Remarks With UN Special Envoy for Syria Staffan de Mistura After Their Meeting
Remarks
John Kerry
Secretary of State
Geneva, Switzerland
January 14, 2015
SECRETARY KERRY: Thank you, all. It’s a great privilege for me to have a chance to meet with Staffan de Mistura, who is engaged in a very complicated but very, very important effort to try to move the process of Syria, and starting with an effort focused on Aleppo. The United States is particularly concerned about the continued catastrophe that is unfolding in Syria where nearly three-quarters of the entire country are displaced people today. It is time for President Assad, the Assad regime to put their people first and to think about the consequences of their actions, which are attracting more and more terrorists to Syria, basically because of their efforts to remove Assad.
So we hope that the Russian efforts could be helpful. We hope that the UN efforts led by Special Envoy de Mistura can have effect, and we wanted to meet today to talk about this, and I wish him well. He’s heading to Damascus next week, and this issue still remains very much on our front burner and we will continue to work with you.
MR. DE MISTURA: Thank you, thank you. Thank you, very much. I really appreciate it. The UN (inaudible) the opportunity of going through the issue of Syria, because sometimes there is a feeling that Syria is getting into backburner, and you are confirming to me it’s not. After all, this is the fourth year, and we need to find a solution and a political solution. I will continue, I can tell you, pushing for Aleppo because Aleppo has become an iconic example of where things could start sending the best signal. In other words, that bombing, shelling, barrel bombing, mortar shelling would stop, and bring some humanitarian aid, which means giving some hope to the Syrian people. You know very well – we have been hearing it (inaudible) – the Syrian people are just saying, enough. And we should not let them down, and we will continue pushing in that direction with the Secretary. Thank you for your support.
SECRETARY KERRY: Yeah, absolutely. And thank you for your efforts.
MR. DE MISTURA: Thank you, thank you.
Remarks With UN Special Envoy for Syria Staffan de Mistura After Their Meeting
Remarks
John Kerry
Secretary of State
Geneva, Switzerland
January 14, 2015
SECRETARY KERRY: Thank you, all. It’s a great privilege for me to have a chance to meet with Staffan de Mistura, who is engaged in a very complicated but very, very important effort to try to move the process of Syria, and starting with an effort focused on Aleppo. The United States is particularly concerned about the continued catastrophe that is unfolding in Syria where nearly three-quarters of the entire country are displaced people today. It is time for President Assad, the Assad regime to put their people first and to think about the consequences of their actions, which are attracting more and more terrorists to Syria, basically because of their efforts to remove Assad.
So we hope that the Russian efforts could be helpful. We hope that the UN efforts led by Special Envoy de Mistura can have effect, and we wanted to meet today to talk about this, and I wish him well. He’s heading to Damascus next week, and this issue still remains very much on our front burner and we will continue to work with you.
MR. DE MISTURA: Thank you, thank you. Thank you, very much. I really appreciate it. The UN (inaudible) the opportunity of going through the issue of Syria, because sometimes there is a feeling that Syria is getting into backburner, and you are confirming to me it’s not. After all, this is the fourth year, and we need to find a solution and a political solution. I will continue, I can tell you, pushing for Aleppo because Aleppo has become an iconic example of where things could start sending the best signal. In other words, that bombing, shelling, barrel bombing, mortar shelling would stop, and bring some humanitarian aid, which means giving some hope to the Syrian people. You know very well – we have been hearing it (inaudible) – the Syrian people are just saying, enough. And we should not let them down, and we will continue pushing in that direction with the Secretary. Thank you for your support.
SECRETARY KERRY: Yeah, absolutely. And thank you for your efforts.
MR. DE MISTURA: Thank you, thank you.
CO. SETTLES WITH FTC REGARDING ALLEGED DECEPTIVE CLAIMS ABOUT CHILDREN'S DIETARY SUPPLEMENTS
FROM: U.S. FEDERAL TRADE COMMISSION
Company That Touted Products’ Ability to Treat Children’s Speech Disorders Settles FTC Charges It Deceived Consumers
An Illinois company and its owner will stop making allegedly deceptive claims that their dietary supplements are proven effective at treating childhood speech disorders, including those associated with autism, in order to settle Federal Trade Commission charges. Under the FTC settlement, the defendants also will pay $200,000 and are required to disclose any material connections with their endorsers.
“Parents of children with speech disorders need accurate information about products that may be able to help,” said Jessica Rich, Director of the Bureau of Consumer Protection. “This company took advantage of parents’ trust.”
Since at least 2008, NourishLife, LLC and its owner, Mark Nottoli, have sold Speak softgels and capsules and Speak Smooth liquid children’s supplements online and through a network of distributors for more than $70 per bottle. The supplements -- which contain Omega-3 and Omega-6 fatty acids and Vitamins E and K -- were advertised via the Internet, including search engine ads such as Google sponsored links and on websites, and at conferences on autism spectrum disorders.
For example, a Google sponsored link for Speak products, which could display if consumers searched on the term “toddler speech problems,” contained the statement, “Healthy Speech for Child – SpeechNutrients speak Supplement” and linked to a web page claiming the supplements were developed by a pediatrician to support “normal and healthy speech development and maintenance.” That web page also included a statement from a parent endorsing the product, who said “[my daughter] is speaking in more complex sentences and she is less gittery [sic], more focused.” Other statements from parent endorsers appeared in product brochures and on speechnutrients.com, such as:
“Speak vitamins have made my little boy talk. He is five years old and has not spoken until I began giving him the vitamins.”
“We were really amazed when Ben started singing along with a song on the radio . . . . and he was singing 3+ word phrases, not just one word here & there.”
According to the FTC’s complaint,between 2008 and late 2013, ads for Speak products made unsupported claims that the supplements develop and maintain normal, healthy speech and language capabilities in children, including those with verbal apraxia -- a motor speech disorder affecting the ability to utter sounds, syllables, and words.
These ads, the complaint asserts, also falsely claimed that Speak products are scientifically proven to improve children’s speech. In addition, the complaint charges that ads for Speak products deceptively claimed that the supplements are effective in treating or mitigating verbal apraxia and communication and behavioral difficulties in children with an autism spectrum disorder.
The FTC’s complaint also charges that the defendants provided promotional materials making these false and deceptive claims for Speak products to third-party distributors that sold the supplements.
In addition, the FTC’s complaint charges that the defendants misrepresented a website called apraxiaresearch.com, which they owned and operated, to be an independent resource for research and other information relating to the treatment of apraxia. In fact, according to the FTC’s complaint, that website advertised the health benefits of defendants’ Speak products. The complaint also asserts that the defendants failed to disclose their affiliation with the Apraxia Research website and with parent endorsers of Speak products who received free supplements.
The proposed order settling the FTC’s charges would prohibit NourishLife and Nottoli from making false or unsubstantiated claims about the effectiveness of any dietary supplement, food, or drug, including but not limited to their Speak products. The proposed order also would bar the defendants from providing third-party distributors with deceptive marketing materials or otherwise providing others with the means to make these prohibited claims.
In addition, it would prohibit the defendants from misrepresenting the independence of any website or other publication that advertises their products, and would require them to clearly and prominently disclose any material connections to any such website or publication, or to any person endorsing their products.
The proposed order imposes a judgment of $3.68 million, which will be partially suspended – based on the defendants’ inability to pay -- after they pay $200,000.
The Commission vote approving the complaint and proposed final order was 5-0. The complaint was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, Eastern Division, on January 7, 2015. A motion for the court to enter the proposed final order was filed on January 9, 2015. The case is part of the FTC’s work to challenge false and deceptive claims about cognitive products for adults and children.
Information for Consumers
When it comes to treatments for health and fitness, it can be tough to tell useful products and services from those that don’t work or aren’t safe. For more information, see the FTC’s guidance on Treatments & Cures.
The FTC is a member of the National Prevention Council, which provides coordination and leadership at the federal level regarding prevention, wellness, and health promotion practices. This case advances the National Prevention Strategy’s goal of increasing the number of Americans who are healthy at every stage of life.
NOTE: The Commission files a complaint when it has “reason to believe” that the law has been or is being violated and it appears to the Commission that a proceeding is in the public interest. Stipulated orders have the force of law when approved and signed by the District Court judge.
Company That Touted Products’ Ability to Treat Children’s Speech Disorders Settles FTC Charges It Deceived Consumers
An Illinois company and its owner will stop making allegedly deceptive claims that their dietary supplements are proven effective at treating childhood speech disorders, including those associated with autism, in order to settle Federal Trade Commission charges. Under the FTC settlement, the defendants also will pay $200,000 and are required to disclose any material connections with their endorsers.
“Parents of children with speech disorders need accurate information about products that may be able to help,” said Jessica Rich, Director of the Bureau of Consumer Protection. “This company took advantage of parents’ trust.”
Since at least 2008, NourishLife, LLC and its owner, Mark Nottoli, have sold Speak softgels and capsules and Speak Smooth liquid children’s supplements online and through a network of distributors for more than $70 per bottle. The supplements -- which contain Omega-3 and Omega-6 fatty acids and Vitamins E and K -- were advertised via the Internet, including search engine ads such as Google sponsored links and on websites, and at conferences on autism spectrum disorders.
For example, a Google sponsored link for Speak products, which could display if consumers searched on the term “toddler speech problems,” contained the statement, “Healthy Speech for Child – SpeechNutrients speak Supplement” and linked to a web page claiming the supplements were developed by a pediatrician to support “normal and healthy speech development and maintenance.” That web page also included a statement from a parent endorsing the product, who said “[my daughter] is speaking in more complex sentences and she is less gittery [sic], more focused.” Other statements from parent endorsers appeared in product brochures and on speechnutrients.com, such as:
“Speak vitamins have made my little boy talk. He is five years old and has not spoken until I began giving him the vitamins.”
“We were really amazed when Ben started singing along with a song on the radio . . . . and he was singing 3+ word phrases, not just one word here & there.”
According to the FTC’s complaint,between 2008 and late 2013, ads for Speak products made unsupported claims that the supplements develop and maintain normal, healthy speech and language capabilities in children, including those with verbal apraxia -- a motor speech disorder affecting the ability to utter sounds, syllables, and words.
These ads, the complaint asserts, also falsely claimed that Speak products are scientifically proven to improve children’s speech. In addition, the complaint charges that ads for Speak products deceptively claimed that the supplements are effective in treating or mitigating verbal apraxia and communication and behavioral difficulties in children with an autism spectrum disorder.
The FTC’s complaint also charges that the defendants provided promotional materials making these false and deceptive claims for Speak products to third-party distributors that sold the supplements.
In addition, the FTC’s complaint charges that the defendants misrepresented a website called apraxiaresearch.com, which they owned and operated, to be an independent resource for research and other information relating to the treatment of apraxia. In fact, according to the FTC’s complaint, that website advertised the health benefits of defendants’ Speak products. The complaint also asserts that the defendants failed to disclose their affiliation with the Apraxia Research website and with parent endorsers of Speak products who received free supplements.
The proposed order settling the FTC’s charges would prohibit NourishLife and Nottoli from making false or unsubstantiated claims about the effectiveness of any dietary supplement, food, or drug, including but not limited to their Speak products. The proposed order also would bar the defendants from providing third-party distributors with deceptive marketing materials or otherwise providing others with the means to make these prohibited claims.
In addition, it would prohibit the defendants from misrepresenting the independence of any website or other publication that advertises their products, and would require them to clearly and prominently disclose any material connections to any such website or publication, or to any person endorsing their products.
The proposed order imposes a judgment of $3.68 million, which will be partially suspended – based on the defendants’ inability to pay -- after they pay $200,000.
The Commission vote approving the complaint and proposed final order was 5-0. The complaint was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, Eastern Division, on January 7, 2015. A motion for the court to enter the proposed final order was filed on January 9, 2015. The case is part of the FTC’s work to challenge false and deceptive claims about cognitive products for adults and children.
Information for Consumers
When it comes to treatments for health and fitness, it can be tough to tell useful products and services from those that don’t work or aren’t safe. For more information, see the FTC’s guidance on Treatments & Cures.
The FTC is a member of the National Prevention Council, which provides coordination and leadership at the federal level regarding prevention, wellness, and health promotion practices. This case advances the National Prevention Strategy’s goal of increasing the number of Americans who are healthy at every stage of life.
NOTE: The Commission files a complaint when it has “reason to believe” that the law has been or is being violated and it appears to the Commission that a proceeding is in the public interest. Stipulated orders have the force of law when approved and signed by the District Court judge.
COUNTERFEIT DVD SUPPLIER TO SERVE 21 MONTHS IN PRISON
FROM: U.S. JUSTICE DEPARTMENT
Tuesday, Januay 13, 2015
Counterfeit DVD Movie Supplier Sentenced to Federal Prison
A Brooklyn man was sentenced yesterday in Honolulu for his involvement in a counterfeit DVD movie ring, announced Assistant Attorney General Leslie R. Caldwell of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division and U.S. Attorney Florence T. Nakakuni of the District of Hawaii.
Yakov Meir Chazanow, 41, was sentenced yesterday by U.S. District Judge Leslie E. Kobayashi of the District of Hawaii to serve 21 months in prison for conspiring to commit criminal copyright infringement, manufacturing counterfeit goods and to traffic in goods bearing counterfeit Dolby trademarks and counterfeit labels.
According to the evidence set forth in the record and at sentencing, from 2004 to 2011, Chazanow supplied over 30,000 high-quality pirated DVDs containing infringing copies of copyright-protected Asian action movies and corresponding counterfeit labels and packaging. He then distributed them to co-conspirators, who in turn sold them to consumers in stores and online.
Chazanow, Sharon Josef and Jeffrey Alan Stockton were all charged in June 2013, and Stockton pleaded guilty to the charged conspiracy and two counts of trafficking in counterfeit labels on Sept. 19, 2013. On Feb. 3, 2014, Chazanow pleaded guilty to the above charges, and Josef pleaded guilty to misdemeanor copyright infringement. On May 12, 2014, the court sentenced Stockton to 21 months in prison, ordered him to pay restitution of $150, and entered a preliminary order directing Stockton to forfeit $250,000 in illegal proceeds, $32,154 in U.S. currency, a 2003 Toyota Tundra, 29 gold bars, 62 gold coins, six palladium coins and five silver coins. Josef, who supplied pirated DVDs from 2011 to 2012, was sentenced yesterday to serve four months in prison.
The case was investigated by Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Homeland Security Investigations. Assistance was provided by the Motion Picture Association of America, Dolby Laboratories, Inc. and DVD Format/Logo Licensing Corporation. The case was prosecuted by Assistant Deputy Chief for Litigation John H. Zacharia of the Criminal Division’s Computer Crime and Intellectual Property Section and Assistant U.S. Attorneys Andrea W. Hattan and Leslie E. Osborne, Jr. of the District of Hawaii.
Tuesday, Januay 13, 2015
Counterfeit DVD Movie Supplier Sentenced to Federal Prison
A Brooklyn man was sentenced yesterday in Honolulu for his involvement in a counterfeit DVD movie ring, announced Assistant Attorney General Leslie R. Caldwell of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division and U.S. Attorney Florence T. Nakakuni of the District of Hawaii.
Yakov Meir Chazanow, 41, was sentenced yesterday by U.S. District Judge Leslie E. Kobayashi of the District of Hawaii to serve 21 months in prison for conspiring to commit criminal copyright infringement, manufacturing counterfeit goods and to traffic in goods bearing counterfeit Dolby trademarks and counterfeit labels.
According to the evidence set forth in the record and at sentencing, from 2004 to 2011, Chazanow supplied over 30,000 high-quality pirated DVDs containing infringing copies of copyright-protected Asian action movies and corresponding counterfeit labels and packaging. He then distributed them to co-conspirators, who in turn sold them to consumers in stores and online.
Chazanow, Sharon Josef and Jeffrey Alan Stockton were all charged in June 2013, and Stockton pleaded guilty to the charged conspiracy and two counts of trafficking in counterfeit labels on Sept. 19, 2013. On Feb. 3, 2014, Chazanow pleaded guilty to the above charges, and Josef pleaded guilty to misdemeanor copyright infringement. On May 12, 2014, the court sentenced Stockton to 21 months in prison, ordered him to pay restitution of $150, and entered a preliminary order directing Stockton to forfeit $250,000 in illegal proceeds, $32,154 in U.S. currency, a 2003 Toyota Tundra, 29 gold bars, 62 gold coins, six palladium coins and five silver coins. Josef, who supplied pirated DVDs from 2011 to 2012, was sentenced yesterday to serve four months in prison.
The case was investigated by Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Homeland Security Investigations. Assistance was provided by the Motion Picture Association of America, Dolby Laboratories, Inc. and DVD Format/Logo Licensing Corporation. The case was prosecuted by Assistant Deputy Chief for Litigation John H. Zacharia of the Criminal Division’s Computer Crime and Intellectual Property Section and Assistant U.S. Attorneys Andrea W. Hattan and Leslie E. Osborne, Jr. of the District of Hawaii.
SCIENTISTS FIND CONSEQUENCES FOR DISEASE REMEDIES
FROM: THE NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION
Treatment for parasitic worms helps animals survive infectious diseases--and spread them
Scientists discover unanticipated consequences of some disease remedies
Parasitic worms, which infect millions of people and other animals around the world, influence how the immune system responds to diseases like HIV and tuberculosis.
In a new study of African buffalo, University of Georgia (UGA) ecologist Vanessa Ezenwa has found that de-worming drastically improves an animal's chances of surviving bovine tuberculosis--but with the consequence of increasing the spread of TB in the population.
"Health interventions can sometimes have unexpected and unwelcome outcomes," said Sam Scheiner, National Science Foundation (NSF) director for the Ecology and Evolution of Infectious Diseases (EEID) program, which funded the research. NSF, the National Institutes of Health and the U.S. Department of Agriculture support the EEID program.
"By examining such outcomes, we can design better intervention strategies for infectious diseases."
The findings, published this week in the journal Science, have implications for human health.
"If you think about humans in this context, this is what we'd like to do--to figure out how to help people who get infected by something live longer and be less sick," Ezenwa said. "But here we found that doing exactly that can have unanticipated consequences."
Testing buffalo for parasitic worms
Ezenwa and co-author Anna Jolles of Oregon State University conducted the research in South Africa's Kruger National Park.
In 2008, with the assistance of the park's Veterinary Wildlife Services Department, they captured 216 African buffalo and tested them for parasitic worms, known as helminths, and for bovine TB.
Half the buffalo received treatment for helminths; the rest were left untreated as a control group.
For the next four years, the scientists recaptured and retested each buffalo approximately once every six months.
They found that animals treated for worms were nine times more likely to survive TB infections than untreated animals; with the worms gone, their immune systems were able to mount a stronger defense against TB.
According to Ezenwa, this finding confirmed predictions about the effects of worms on the immune system based on an earlier study of TB and helminth infections in African buffalo.
"We'd done a one-off, short-term experiment to see if we could replicate, in this wild animal, the immunological results seen in laboratory experiments treating helminths in mice," she said. "That led to this larger experiment in a much bigger population over a longer time."
Treatment not always a plus
Ezenwa said that the previous work also suggested that treatment would reduce the rate at which individuals acquire TB infection and therefore the TB transmission rate.
"We expected it would be a net positive for the individual and for the population," she said. "But in fact when you carry out an experiment at this larger scale, in a real population, you see it's not all positive outcomes."
The improved survival rate allows infected buffalo to continue to spread TB within the herd, Ezenwa said.
Since they still get infected at the same rate there is an unexpected negative result for the population as a whole.
"Because coinfection is such a complicated area, laboratory studies are really essential in telling us about the detailed mechanisms of how immunological interactions work," she said.
"But we will never understand the real implications if all the work concentrates in the lab."
Need to look at similar animals to humans
Ezenwa said that in order to address human infectious disease problems, researchers need to also look at coinfection in populations that bear more similarity to humans.
"African buffalo are long-lived, they're in the wild in social groups, they're genetically variable--that's a little bit closer to people than laboratory mice, which have the same genetic background and live under artificial conditions," she said.
And understanding bovine TB-helminth coinfection in African buffalo is particularly relevant for human health because helminths are known to influence human immune responses to TB.
"The number of human cases of bovine TB worldwide is unknown, but where it's studied, it appears to be a substantial fraction of the total," said Frederick Quinn, head of the UGA Department of Infectious Diseases in the College of Veterinary Medicine.
"It's also unknown if bovine TB bacteria transmit more efficiently than other TB bacteria, what traits this pathogen possesses that allow infection of so many different species of mammals, and what happens when the host is co-infected with parasites or HIV.
"This work is a tremendous start in answering some of the fundamental questions about this disease and how best to control it in humans and other animals."
-NSF-
Media Contacts
Cheryl Dybas, NSF
Treatment for parasitic worms helps animals survive infectious diseases--and spread them
Scientists discover unanticipated consequences of some disease remedies
Parasitic worms, which infect millions of people and other animals around the world, influence how the immune system responds to diseases like HIV and tuberculosis.
In a new study of African buffalo, University of Georgia (UGA) ecologist Vanessa Ezenwa has found that de-worming drastically improves an animal's chances of surviving bovine tuberculosis--but with the consequence of increasing the spread of TB in the population.
"Health interventions can sometimes have unexpected and unwelcome outcomes," said Sam Scheiner, National Science Foundation (NSF) director for the Ecology and Evolution of Infectious Diseases (EEID) program, which funded the research. NSF, the National Institutes of Health and the U.S. Department of Agriculture support the EEID program.
"By examining such outcomes, we can design better intervention strategies for infectious diseases."
The findings, published this week in the journal Science, have implications for human health.
"If you think about humans in this context, this is what we'd like to do--to figure out how to help people who get infected by something live longer and be less sick," Ezenwa said. "But here we found that doing exactly that can have unanticipated consequences."
Testing buffalo for parasitic worms
Ezenwa and co-author Anna Jolles of Oregon State University conducted the research in South Africa's Kruger National Park.
In 2008, with the assistance of the park's Veterinary Wildlife Services Department, they captured 216 African buffalo and tested them for parasitic worms, known as helminths, and for bovine TB.
Half the buffalo received treatment for helminths; the rest were left untreated as a control group.
For the next four years, the scientists recaptured and retested each buffalo approximately once every six months.
They found that animals treated for worms were nine times more likely to survive TB infections than untreated animals; with the worms gone, their immune systems were able to mount a stronger defense against TB.
According to Ezenwa, this finding confirmed predictions about the effects of worms on the immune system based on an earlier study of TB and helminth infections in African buffalo.
"We'd done a one-off, short-term experiment to see if we could replicate, in this wild animal, the immunological results seen in laboratory experiments treating helminths in mice," she said. "That led to this larger experiment in a much bigger population over a longer time."
Treatment not always a plus
Ezenwa said that the previous work also suggested that treatment would reduce the rate at which individuals acquire TB infection and therefore the TB transmission rate.
"We expected it would be a net positive for the individual and for the population," she said. "But in fact when you carry out an experiment at this larger scale, in a real population, you see it's not all positive outcomes."
The improved survival rate allows infected buffalo to continue to spread TB within the herd, Ezenwa said.
Since they still get infected at the same rate there is an unexpected negative result for the population as a whole.
"Because coinfection is such a complicated area, laboratory studies are really essential in telling us about the detailed mechanisms of how immunological interactions work," she said.
"But we will never understand the real implications if all the work concentrates in the lab."
Need to look at similar animals to humans
Ezenwa said that in order to address human infectious disease problems, researchers need to also look at coinfection in populations that bear more similarity to humans.
"African buffalo are long-lived, they're in the wild in social groups, they're genetically variable--that's a little bit closer to people than laboratory mice, which have the same genetic background and live under artificial conditions," she said.
And understanding bovine TB-helminth coinfection in African buffalo is particularly relevant for human health because helminths are known to influence human immune responses to TB.
"The number of human cases of bovine TB worldwide is unknown, but where it's studied, it appears to be a substantial fraction of the total," said Frederick Quinn, head of the UGA Department of Infectious Diseases in the College of Veterinary Medicine.
"It's also unknown if bovine TB bacteria transmit more efficiently than other TB bacteria, what traits this pathogen possesses that allow infection of so many different species of mammals, and what happens when the host is co-infected with parasites or HIV.
"This work is a tremendous start in answering some of the fundamental questions about this disease and how best to control it in humans and other animals."
-NSF-
Media Contacts
Cheryl Dybas, NSF
MAN SENTENCED FOR ROLE IN ILLEGAL IMPORTATION AND TRAFFICKING IN NARWHAL TUSKS
FROM: U.S. JUSTICE DEPARTMENT
Monday, January 12, 2015
New Jersey Man Sentenced to 33 Months in Prison for Trafficking in Illegally-Imported Narwhal Tusks and Money Laundering
Andrew J. Zarauskas, a New Jersey resident, was sentenced to 33 months in prison for illegally importing and trafficking in narwhal tusks and associated money laundering crimes, announced Assistant Attorney General John C. Cruden for the Environment and Natural Resources Division. Zarauskas was also ordered to forfeit $85,089, six narwhal tusks and one narwhal skull. In addition, Zarauskas was ordered to pay a fine of $7,500. His prison sentence will be followed by three years of supervised release.
On Feb. 14, 2014, a federal jury in Bangor, Maine, convicted Zarauskas on six counts, including conspiracy, smuggling violations for buying and illegally importing narwhal tusks into the United States and money laundering violations associated with the illegal importations. The market value of the teeth and tusks illegally imported by Zarauskas was determined to be between $120,000 and $200,000.
Narwhals are listed as “threatened” under the Endangered Species Act (ESA) and are covered by the international Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES). It is illegal to import parts of the narwhal into the United States without a permit and without declaring the parts at the time of importation to U.S. Customs and Border Protection and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
“The Justice Department is committed to the fight to save the world’s protected wildlife species, many of which are under sustained attack by poachers and wildlife traffickers,” said Assistant Attorney General Cruden. “We are particularly grateful to our federal and Canadian law enforcement partners for unraveling this scheme to traffic in narwhal tusks and for bringing Zarauskas and his co-conspirators to justice.”
“The significant penalties imposed today for Mr. Zarauskas send a powerful message to any individual that decides to engage in the trade of illegal wildlife,” said Deputy Assistant Director for Law Enforcement Edward Grace of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. “We will continue to work closely with our international, federal and state partners to root out those individuals who exploit protected wildlife species for their own financial gain.”
“This is yet another case where dedicated investigators helped stop an international smuggling ring attempting to profit from the illegal exploitation and trade of vulnerable and threatened marine species,” said Assistant Administrator Eileen Sobeck for National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Fisheries. “NOAA will continue to work in collaboration with our international, federal and state law enforcement partners to make sure marine resources are protected now and into the future.”
According to the evidence presented a trial, Zarauskas purchased approximately 33 narwhal tusks over nearly six years from two Canadian co-defendants. The Canadian co-defendants purchased the narwhal tusks in Canada and subsequently brought them into the United States illegally by concealing the narwhal tusks either under their truck or under a utility trailer and not declaring the wildlife to border officials as required. Once in the United States, a Canadian co-defendant shipped the narwhal tusks to Zarauskas from Bangor, Maine. Zarauskas knew that the co-defendants lived in Canada and had illegally imported the narwhal tusks into the United States.
The case was investigated by agents from the Law Enforcement Offices of NOAA, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and Environment Canada. The case was prosecuted by Trial Attorneys Todd S. Mikolop and James B. Nelson of the Department of Justice’s Environmental Crimes Section.
Monday, January 12, 2015
New Jersey Man Sentenced to 33 Months in Prison for Trafficking in Illegally-Imported Narwhal Tusks and Money Laundering
Andrew J. Zarauskas, a New Jersey resident, was sentenced to 33 months in prison for illegally importing and trafficking in narwhal tusks and associated money laundering crimes, announced Assistant Attorney General John C. Cruden for the Environment and Natural Resources Division. Zarauskas was also ordered to forfeit $85,089, six narwhal tusks and one narwhal skull. In addition, Zarauskas was ordered to pay a fine of $7,500. His prison sentence will be followed by three years of supervised release.
On Feb. 14, 2014, a federal jury in Bangor, Maine, convicted Zarauskas on six counts, including conspiracy, smuggling violations for buying and illegally importing narwhal tusks into the United States and money laundering violations associated with the illegal importations. The market value of the teeth and tusks illegally imported by Zarauskas was determined to be between $120,000 and $200,000.
Narwhals are listed as “threatened” under the Endangered Species Act (ESA) and are covered by the international Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES). It is illegal to import parts of the narwhal into the United States without a permit and without declaring the parts at the time of importation to U.S. Customs and Border Protection and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
“The Justice Department is committed to the fight to save the world’s protected wildlife species, many of which are under sustained attack by poachers and wildlife traffickers,” said Assistant Attorney General Cruden. “We are particularly grateful to our federal and Canadian law enforcement partners for unraveling this scheme to traffic in narwhal tusks and for bringing Zarauskas and his co-conspirators to justice.”
“The significant penalties imposed today for Mr. Zarauskas send a powerful message to any individual that decides to engage in the trade of illegal wildlife,” said Deputy Assistant Director for Law Enforcement Edward Grace of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. “We will continue to work closely with our international, federal and state partners to root out those individuals who exploit protected wildlife species for their own financial gain.”
“This is yet another case where dedicated investigators helped stop an international smuggling ring attempting to profit from the illegal exploitation and trade of vulnerable and threatened marine species,” said Assistant Administrator Eileen Sobeck for National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Fisheries. “NOAA will continue to work in collaboration with our international, federal and state law enforcement partners to make sure marine resources are protected now and into the future.”
According to the evidence presented a trial, Zarauskas purchased approximately 33 narwhal tusks over nearly six years from two Canadian co-defendants. The Canadian co-defendants purchased the narwhal tusks in Canada and subsequently brought them into the United States illegally by concealing the narwhal tusks either under their truck or under a utility trailer and not declaring the wildlife to border officials as required. Once in the United States, a Canadian co-defendant shipped the narwhal tusks to Zarauskas from Bangor, Maine. Zarauskas knew that the co-defendants lived in Canada and had illegally imported the narwhal tusks into the United States.
The case was investigated by agents from the Law Enforcement Offices of NOAA, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and Environment Canada. The case was prosecuted by Trial Attorneys Todd S. Mikolop and James B. Nelson of the Department of Justice’s Environmental Crimes Section.
Tuesday, January 13, 2015
WHITE HOUSE READOUT: PRESIDENT OBAMA'S MEETING WITH CONGRESSIONAL LEADERSHIP
FROM: THE WHITE HOUSE
January 13, 2015
Readout of the President’s Meeting with Members of the Congressional Leadership
This morning, the President and the Vice President hosted the bipartisan, bicameral leadership of Congress in the Cabinet Room. The leaders discussed a wide range of issues, and the President highlighted areas where Republicans and Democrats can work together to protect our national security and continue the progress we have seen in the economy. The President underscored there are priorities that rise above politics – including keeping Americans safe by promptly and fully funding the Department of Homeland Security without delay so the men and women working there can operate with the confidence they need, and working together to pass legislation to combat the cyber security threats we face. The President committed to working with members of both parties on text for an AUMF that Congress can pass to show the world America stands united against ISIL. The President also underscored the importance of our diplomatic efforts aimed at preventing Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon, reiterating his strong opposition to additional sanctions legislation that could derail the negotiations and isolate the United States from our international coalition. Coming off the strongest year for private-sector job growth since the 1990s, the President asked that leaders from both parties work together to build on our growth. The President looks forward to working with Congress to make progress for the middle class, and ensure every American feels like they’re part of their country’s comeback.
January 13, 2015
Readout of the President’s Meeting with Members of the Congressional Leadership
This morning, the President and the Vice President hosted the bipartisan, bicameral leadership of Congress in the Cabinet Room. The leaders discussed a wide range of issues, and the President highlighted areas where Republicans and Democrats can work together to protect our national security and continue the progress we have seen in the economy. The President underscored there are priorities that rise above politics – including keeping Americans safe by promptly and fully funding the Department of Homeland Security without delay so the men and women working there can operate with the confidence they need, and working together to pass legislation to combat the cyber security threats we face. The President committed to working with members of both parties on text for an AUMF that Congress can pass to show the world America stands united against ISIL. The President also underscored the importance of our diplomatic efforts aimed at preventing Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon, reiterating his strong opposition to additional sanctions legislation that could derail the negotiations and isolate the United States from our international coalition. Coming off the strongest year for private-sector job growth since the 1990s, the President asked that leaders from both parties work together to build on our growth. The President looks forward to working with Congress to make progress for the middle class, and ensure every American feels like they’re part of their country’s comeback.
SEC ANNOUNCES IT'S 2015 EXAMINATION PRIORITIES
FROM: U.S. SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION
SEC Announces 2015 Examination Priorities
The Securities and Exchange Commission today announced its Office of Compliance Inspections and Examinations’ (OCIE) priorities for 2015 which focus on three areas: protecting retail investors, especially those saving for or in retirement; assessing market-wide risks; and using data analytics to identify signs of potential illegal activity.
“Our examination program collects information for the Commission on a range of important trends, issues, and risks,” said SEC Chair Mary Jo White. “OCIE helps us to maintain a strong presence with SEC registrants and to make a positive impact for the benefit of investors and our markets.”
“We share our annual examination priorities to promote compliance,” said Andrew J. Bowden, OCIE’s Director. “We have observed that when we share our areas of focus, many industry participants independently review their controls in the areas we have identified.”
The 2015 examination priorities address issues across a variety of financial institutions, including investment advisers, investment companies, broker-dealers, transfer agents, clearing agencies, and national securities exchanges. Areas of examination include:
Retail Investors – Retail investors are being offered products and services that were formerly characterized as alternative or institutional, including private funds, illiquid investments, and structured products. Additionally, financial services firms are offering a broad array of information, advice, products, and services to help retail investors plan for and live in retirement. OCIE will assess risks to retail investors that can arise from these trends.
Market-Wide Risks – OCIE will examine for structural risks and trends that involve multiple firms or entire industries, including: monitoring large broker-dealers and asset managers in coordination with the SEC’s policy divisions, conducting annual examinations of clearing agencies as required by the Dodd-Frank Act, assessing cybersecurity controls across a range of industry participants, and examining broker-dealers’ compliance with best execution duties in routing equity order flow.
Data Analytics – Over the last several years, OCIE has made significant enhancements that enable exam staff to analyze large amounts of data efficiently and effectively. OCIE will use these capabilities to focus on registrants and registered representatives that appear to be potentially engaged in illegal activity.
The published priorities for 2015 are not exhaustive and may be adjusted in light of market conditions, industry developments, and ongoing risk assessment activities. OCIE selected the priorities in consultation with the Commission, the SEC’s policy divisions and regional offices, the enforcement division, the SEC’s Investor Advocate, and other regulators.
SEC Announces 2015 Examination Priorities
The Securities and Exchange Commission today announced its Office of Compliance Inspections and Examinations’ (OCIE) priorities for 2015 which focus on three areas: protecting retail investors, especially those saving for or in retirement; assessing market-wide risks; and using data analytics to identify signs of potential illegal activity.
“Our examination program collects information for the Commission on a range of important trends, issues, and risks,” said SEC Chair Mary Jo White. “OCIE helps us to maintain a strong presence with SEC registrants and to make a positive impact for the benefit of investors and our markets.”
“We share our annual examination priorities to promote compliance,” said Andrew J. Bowden, OCIE’s Director. “We have observed that when we share our areas of focus, many industry participants independently review their controls in the areas we have identified.”
The 2015 examination priorities address issues across a variety of financial institutions, including investment advisers, investment companies, broker-dealers, transfer agents, clearing agencies, and national securities exchanges. Areas of examination include:
Retail Investors – Retail investors are being offered products and services that were formerly characterized as alternative or institutional, including private funds, illiquid investments, and structured products. Additionally, financial services firms are offering a broad array of information, advice, products, and services to help retail investors plan for and live in retirement. OCIE will assess risks to retail investors that can arise from these trends.
Market-Wide Risks – OCIE will examine for structural risks and trends that involve multiple firms or entire industries, including: monitoring large broker-dealers and asset managers in coordination with the SEC’s policy divisions, conducting annual examinations of clearing agencies as required by the Dodd-Frank Act, assessing cybersecurity controls across a range of industry participants, and examining broker-dealers’ compliance with best execution duties in routing equity order flow.
Data Analytics – Over the last several years, OCIE has made significant enhancements that enable exam staff to analyze large amounts of data efficiently and effectively. OCIE will use these capabilities to focus on registrants and registered representatives that appear to be potentially engaged in illegal activity.
The published priorities for 2015 are not exhaustive and may be adjusted in light of market conditions, industry developments, and ongoing risk assessment activities. OCIE selected the priorities in consultation with the Commission, the SEC’s policy divisions and regional offices, the enforcement division, the SEC’s Investor Advocate, and other regulators.
CHAIRMAN JOINT CHIEFS SAYS CREDIBILITY PROBLEM WILL CAUSE COLLAPSE OF ISIL
FROM: U.S. DEFENSE DEPARTMENT
Dempsey: Lack of Credibility Will Aid Terrorist Group ISIL’s Collapse
By Amaani Lyle
DoD News, Defense Media Activity
WASHINGTON, Jan. 11, 2015 – Though U.S. and coalition airstrikes are destroying facilities and equipment controlled by the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, the terrorist group ultimately will fail because the people it’s trying to control will reject its ideology, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff said in an interview broadcast today.
Appearing on “Fox News Sunday With Chris Wallace,” Army Gen. Martin E. Dempsey noted that the new Iraqi government is reaching out to Iraq’s Sunni tribes and has made inroads in the strategic effort against ISIL.
“A group that embraces such a radical ideology has to maintain momentum in order to succeed, in order to maintain its credibility with the very people it's trying to influence,” Dempsey said.
ISIL’s Fate is Inevitable
Tactically, U.S. and allies forces have destroyed ISIL equipment, reversed some of its territorial gains and affected the terror group’s leadership, command and control and logistics, the chairman noted. But the fate of the terrorist regime is inevitable, he added, simply because people won’t accept it.
“It will collapse under its own contradictions, frankly, when the populations in which it tries to maneuver realize that ideology is not to their future benefit,” Dempsey said.
Though military efforts get the most attention, the chairman said, strides other areas such as in countering ISIL’s financing and messaging may be more important in thwarting the organization, Dempsey noted.
Campaign in Iraq Will Take Time
The campaign in Iraq will take time, Dempsey said, pointing out that U.S. and coalition forces are enabling the Iraqi government’s strategy. “It's not our strategy,” he said. “And I'm telling you, that is an extraordinarily important distinction.”
Before it can mount its own offensive against ISIL, the chairman explained, the Iraqi government, with the help of trainers and advisors, must accumulate the appropriate level of force and have it followed by reconstruction and humanitarian relief so the government is providing real governance and not simply security. This, he added, could take months.
Syrian Opposition Under Pressure
Meanwhile, in Syria, the opposition to Bashar Assad’s regime is under “enormous pressure,” particularly in the north, Dempsey, said. That region brings the greatest concern in regard to the ability to attract, recruit and vet a moderate opposition, he added.
“And Iraq, because we have a credible partner there, is the most important thing for us right now,” Dempsey said, “while maintaining pressure through disruptive airstrikes inside of what was a safe haven in Syria.
“As that issue evolves in Iraq, we will then adapt the campaign,” he continued. “And in the meantime, we're trying to build a credible partner on the ground in Syria … to take advantage of airstrikes should we ever turn our attention elsewhere. So it's really about a bit of choreography to get this right and not find ourselves potentially doing more harm if we create vacuums and voids and greater instability in the region.”
Dempsey: Lack of Credibility Will Aid Terrorist Group ISIL’s Collapse
By Amaani Lyle
DoD News, Defense Media Activity
WASHINGTON, Jan. 11, 2015 – Though U.S. and coalition airstrikes are destroying facilities and equipment controlled by the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, the terrorist group ultimately will fail because the people it’s trying to control will reject its ideology, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff said in an interview broadcast today.
Appearing on “Fox News Sunday With Chris Wallace,” Army Gen. Martin E. Dempsey noted that the new Iraqi government is reaching out to Iraq’s Sunni tribes and has made inroads in the strategic effort against ISIL.
“A group that embraces such a radical ideology has to maintain momentum in order to succeed, in order to maintain its credibility with the very people it's trying to influence,” Dempsey said.
ISIL’s Fate is Inevitable
Tactically, U.S. and allies forces have destroyed ISIL equipment, reversed some of its territorial gains and affected the terror group’s leadership, command and control and logistics, the chairman noted. But the fate of the terrorist regime is inevitable, he added, simply because people won’t accept it.
“It will collapse under its own contradictions, frankly, when the populations in which it tries to maneuver realize that ideology is not to their future benefit,” Dempsey said.
Though military efforts get the most attention, the chairman said, strides other areas such as in countering ISIL’s financing and messaging may be more important in thwarting the organization, Dempsey noted.
Campaign in Iraq Will Take Time
The campaign in Iraq will take time, Dempsey said, pointing out that U.S. and coalition forces are enabling the Iraqi government’s strategy. “It's not our strategy,” he said. “And I'm telling you, that is an extraordinarily important distinction.”
Before it can mount its own offensive against ISIL, the chairman explained, the Iraqi government, with the help of trainers and advisors, must accumulate the appropriate level of force and have it followed by reconstruction and humanitarian relief so the government is providing real governance and not simply security. This, he added, could take months.
Syrian Opposition Under Pressure
Meanwhile, in Syria, the opposition to Bashar Assad’s regime is under “enormous pressure,” particularly in the north, Dempsey, said. That region brings the greatest concern in regard to the ability to attract, recruit and vet a moderate opposition, he added.
“And Iraq, because we have a credible partner there, is the most important thing for us right now,” Dempsey said, “while maintaining pressure through disruptive airstrikes inside of what was a safe haven in Syria.
“As that issue evolves in Iraq, we will then adapt the campaign,” he continued. “And in the meantime, we're trying to build a credible partner on the ground in Syria … to take advantage of airstrikes should we ever turn our attention elsewhere. So it's really about a bit of choreography to get this right and not find ourselves potentially doing more harm if we create vacuums and voids and greater instability in the region.”
WHITE HOUSE FACT SHEET: "SAFEGUARDING AMERICAN CONSUMERS & FAMILIES"
FROM: THE WHITE HOUSE
FACT SHEET: Safeguarding American Consumers & Families
Today, President Obama will build on the steps he has taken to protect American companies, consumers, and infrastructure from cyber threats, while safeguarding privacy and civil liberties. These actions have included the President’s 2012 comprehensive blueprint for consumer privacy, the BuySecure initiative—launched last year— to safeguard Americans’ financial security, and steps the President took earlier this year by creating a working group of senior administration officials to examine issues related to big data and privacy in public services and the commercial sector.
In an increasingly interconnected world, American companies are also leaders in protecting privacy, taking unprecedented steps to invest in cybersecurity and provide customers with precise control over the privacy of their online content. But as cybersecurity threats and identity theft continue to rise, recent polls show that 9 in 10 Americans feel they have in some way lost control of their personal information — and that can lead to less interaction with technology, less innovation, and a less productive economy.
At the Federal Trade Commission offices today, President Obama will highlight measures he will discuss in the State of the Union and unveil the next steps in his comprehensive approach to enhancing consumers’ security, tackling identity theft, and improving privacy online and in the classroom. These steps include:
Improving Consumer Confidence by Tackling Identity Theft
The Personal Data Notification & Protection Act: The President is putting forward a new legislative proposal to help bring peace of mind to the tens of millions of Americans whose personal and financial information has been compromised in a data breach. This proposal clarifies and strengthens the obligations companies have to notify customers when their personal information has been exposed, including establishing a 30-day notification requirement from the discovery of a breach, while providing companies with the certainty of a single, national standard. The proposal also criminalizes illicit overseas trade in identities.
Identifying and Preventing Identity Theft: To give consumers access to one of the best early indicators of identity theft, as well as an opportunity to improve their credit health, JPMorganChase and Bank of America, in partnership with Fair Isaac Corporation (FICO), will join the growing list of firms making credit scores available for free to their consumer card customers. USAA and State Employees’ Credit Union will also offer free credit scores to their members, and Ally Financial is further widening the community of companies taking this step by making credit scores available to their auto loan customers. Through this effort over half of all adult Americans with credit scores will now have access to this tool to help spot identity theft, through their banks, card issuers, or lenders.
Safeguarding Student Data in the Classroom and Beyond
The Student Digital Privacy Act: The President is releasing a new legislative proposal designed to provide teachers and parents the confidence they need to enhance teaching and learning with the best technology — by ensuring that data collected in the educational context is used only for educational purposes. This bill, modeled on a landmark California statute, builds on the recommendations of the White House Big Data and Privacy review released earlier this year, would prevent companies from selling student data to third parties for purposes unrelated to the educational mission and from engaging in targeted advertising to students based on data collected in school – while still permitting important research initiatives to improve student learning outcomes, and efforts by companies to continuously improve the effectiveness of their learning technology products.
New Commitments from the Private Sector to Help Enhance Privacy for Students: Today 75 companies have committed to the cause, signing a pledge to provide parents, teachers, and kids themselves with important protections against misuse of their data. This pledge was led by the Future of Privacy Forum and the Software & Information Industry Association, and today the President challenged other companies to follow their lead.
New Tools from the Department of Education to Empower Educators Around the Country and Protect Students: The Department of Education and its Privacy Technical Assurance Center play a critical role in protecting American children from invasions of privacy. Today, we are announcing a forthcoming model terms of service, as well as teacher training assistance that will enhance our ability to help ensure educational data is used appropriately and in accordance with the educational mission.
Convening the Public and Private Sector to Tackle Emerging Privacy Issues
Voluntary Code of Conduct for Smart Grid Customer Data Privacy: Today the Department of Energy and the Federal Smart Grid Task Force are releasing a new Voluntary Code of Conduct (VCC) for utilities and third parties aimed at protecting electricity customer data — including energy usage information. This Code reflects a year of expert and public consultation, including input from industry stakeholders, privacy experts, and the public. As companies begin to sign on, the VCC will help improve consumer awareness, choice and consent, and controls on access.
Promoting Innovation by Improving Consumers Confidence Online
Consumer Privacy Bill of Rights Legislation: Online interactions should be governed by clear principles — principles that look at the context in which data is collected and ensure that users’ expectations are not abused. Those were the key themes of the Administration’s 2012 Consumer Privacy Bill of Rights, and today the Commerce Department announced it has completed its public consultation on revised draft legislation enshrining those principles into law. Within 45 days, the Administration will release this revised legislative proposal and today we call on Congress to begin active consideration of this important issue.
These actions build on steps the President has already taken to support consumer privacy and fight identity theft, including:
Making Federal Payments More Secure to Help Drive the Market Forward: In October, as part of his BuySecure Initiative, the President issued an Executive Order laying out a new policy to secure payments to and from the Federal government by applying chip and PIN technology to newly issued and existing government credit cards, as well as debit cards like Direct Express, and upgrading retail payment card terminals at Federal agency facilities to accept chip and PIN-enabled cards. This accompanied an effort by major companies like Home Depot, Target, Walgreens, and Walmart to roll out secure chip and PIN-compatible card terminals in stores across the country.
New Measures to Prevent Identity Theft: The President also announced new steps by the government to assist victims of identity theft, including supporting the Federal Trade Commission in their development of a new one-stop resource for victims at IdentityTheft.gov and expanding information sharing to ensure Federal investigators’ ability to regularly report evidence of stolen financial and other information to companies whose customers are directly affected.
FACT SHEET: Safeguarding American Consumers & Families
Today, President Obama will build on the steps he has taken to protect American companies, consumers, and infrastructure from cyber threats, while safeguarding privacy and civil liberties. These actions have included the President’s 2012 comprehensive blueprint for consumer privacy, the BuySecure initiative—launched last year— to safeguard Americans’ financial security, and steps the President took earlier this year by creating a working group of senior administration officials to examine issues related to big data and privacy in public services and the commercial sector.
In an increasingly interconnected world, American companies are also leaders in protecting privacy, taking unprecedented steps to invest in cybersecurity and provide customers with precise control over the privacy of their online content. But as cybersecurity threats and identity theft continue to rise, recent polls show that 9 in 10 Americans feel they have in some way lost control of their personal information — and that can lead to less interaction with technology, less innovation, and a less productive economy.
At the Federal Trade Commission offices today, President Obama will highlight measures he will discuss in the State of the Union and unveil the next steps in his comprehensive approach to enhancing consumers’ security, tackling identity theft, and improving privacy online and in the classroom. These steps include:
Improving Consumer Confidence by Tackling Identity Theft
The Personal Data Notification & Protection Act: The President is putting forward a new legislative proposal to help bring peace of mind to the tens of millions of Americans whose personal and financial information has been compromised in a data breach. This proposal clarifies and strengthens the obligations companies have to notify customers when their personal information has been exposed, including establishing a 30-day notification requirement from the discovery of a breach, while providing companies with the certainty of a single, national standard. The proposal also criminalizes illicit overseas trade in identities.
Identifying and Preventing Identity Theft: To give consumers access to one of the best early indicators of identity theft, as well as an opportunity to improve their credit health, JPMorganChase and Bank of America, in partnership with Fair Isaac Corporation (FICO), will join the growing list of firms making credit scores available for free to their consumer card customers. USAA and State Employees’ Credit Union will also offer free credit scores to their members, and Ally Financial is further widening the community of companies taking this step by making credit scores available to their auto loan customers. Through this effort over half of all adult Americans with credit scores will now have access to this tool to help spot identity theft, through their banks, card issuers, or lenders.
Safeguarding Student Data in the Classroom and Beyond
The Student Digital Privacy Act: The President is releasing a new legislative proposal designed to provide teachers and parents the confidence they need to enhance teaching and learning with the best technology — by ensuring that data collected in the educational context is used only for educational purposes. This bill, modeled on a landmark California statute, builds on the recommendations of the White House Big Data and Privacy review released earlier this year, would prevent companies from selling student data to third parties for purposes unrelated to the educational mission and from engaging in targeted advertising to students based on data collected in school – while still permitting important research initiatives to improve student learning outcomes, and efforts by companies to continuously improve the effectiveness of their learning technology products.
New Commitments from the Private Sector to Help Enhance Privacy for Students: Today 75 companies have committed to the cause, signing a pledge to provide parents, teachers, and kids themselves with important protections against misuse of their data. This pledge was led by the Future of Privacy Forum and the Software & Information Industry Association, and today the President challenged other companies to follow their lead.
New Tools from the Department of Education to Empower Educators Around the Country and Protect Students: The Department of Education and its Privacy Technical Assurance Center play a critical role in protecting American children from invasions of privacy. Today, we are announcing a forthcoming model terms of service, as well as teacher training assistance that will enhance our ability to help ensure educational data is used appropriately and in accordance with the educational mission.
Convening the Public and Private Sector to Tackle Emerging Privacy Issues
Voluntary Code of Conduct for Smart Grid Customer Data Privacy: Today the Department of Energy and the Federal Smart Grid Task Force are releasing a new Voluntary Code of Conduct (VCC) for utilities and third parties aimed at protecting electricity customer data — including energy usage information. This Code reflects a year of expert and public consultation, including input from industry stakeholders, privacy experts, and the public. As companies begin to sign on, the VCC will help improve consumer awareness, choice and consent, and controls on access.
Promoting Innovation by Improving Consumers Confidence Online
Consumer Privacy Bill of Rights Legislation: Online interactions should be governed by clear principles — principles that look at the context in which data is collected and ensure that users’ expectations are not abused. Those were the key themes of the Administration’s 2012 Consumer Privacy Bill of Rights, and today the Commerce Department announced it has completed its public consultation on revised draft legislation enshrining those principles into law. Within 45 days, the Administration will release this revised legislative proposal and today we call on Congress to begin active consideration of this important issue.
These actions build on steps the President has already taken to support consumer privacy and fight identity theft, including:
Making Federal Payments More Secure to Help Drive the Market Forward: In October, as part of his BuySecure Initiative, the President issued an Executive Order laying out a new policy to secure payments to and from the Federal government by applying chip and PIN technology to newly issued and existing government credit cards, as well as debit cards like Direct Express, and upgrading retail payment card terminals at Federal agency facilities to accept chip and PIN-enabled cards. This accompanied an effort by major companies like Home Depot, Target, Walgreens, and Walmart to roll out secure chip and PIN-compatible card terminals in stores across the country.
New Measures to Prevent Identity Theft: The President also announced new steps by the government to assist victims of identity theft, including supporting the Federal Trade Commission in their development of a new one-stop resource for victims at IdentityTheft.gov and expanding information sharing to ensure Federal investigators’ ability to regularly report evidence of stolen financial and other information to companies whose customers are directly affected.
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