A criminal complaint was unsealed today in the District of Columbia charging a Russian national with conspiracy to act as an agent of the Russian Federation within the United States without prior notification to the Attorney General.

Maria Butina, 29, a Russian citizen residing in Washington D.C., was arrested on July 15, 2018, in Washington, D.C., and made her initial appearance this afternoon before Magistrate Judge Deborah A. Robinson in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. She was ordered held pending a hearing set for July 18, 2018.

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HHS Secretary Alex Azar, DHS Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen, and Attorney General Jeff Sessions issued the following joint statement regarding reunification efforts for eligible children under 5 years old:

“Dedicated teams at the Departments of Health and Human Services, Homeland Security, and Justice have worked tirelessly to ensure the safety of Ms. L class members. As of this morning, the initial reunifications were completed. Throughout the reunification process, our goal has been the well-being of the children and returning them to a safe environment. Our agencies’ careful vetting procedures helped prevent the reunification of children with an alleged murderer, an adult convicted of child cruelty, and adults determined not to be the parent of the child. Of course, there remains a tremendous amount of hard work and similar obstacles facing our teams in reuniting the remaining families. The Trump administration does not approach this mission lightly, and we intend to continue our good faith efforts to reunify families.

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Health Quest Systems, Inc. and certain of its subsidiaries (Health Quest) and Putnam Health Center (PHC) have agreed to pay over $14.7 million to resolve allegations of violations of the False Claims Act by submitting inflated and otherwise ineligible claims for payment, the Justice Department announced today. New-York based Health Quest is a family of integrated hospitals and healthcare providers that deliver surgical, medical and home health care services. PHC is a Health Quest subsidiary hospital based in Carmel Hamlet, New York.

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Emhart Industries Inc. and Black & Decker Inc., two subsidiaries of Stanley Black & Decker Inc., have agreed to clean up dioxin contaminated sediment and soil at the Centredale Manor Restoration Project Superfund Site in North Providence and Johnston, Rhode Island.

The settlement, which includes cleanup work in the Woonasquatucket River (River) and bordering residential and commercial properties along the River, requires the companies to perform the remedy selected by EPA for the Site in 2012, which is estimated to cost approximately $100 million, and resolves longstanding litigation.

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WASHINGTON, D.C. – Members of the Congressional Western Caucus including Chairman Paul Gosar (AZ-04), Chief Infrastructure and Forestry Officer Bruce Westerman (AR-04) and Members Tom Emmer (MN-06) and Kevin Cramer (ND-At Large) released statements after President Trump announced at a rally last night in Duluth, Minnesota that he would be cancelling the Obama Administration's political mineral withdrawal in the Superior National Forest:

Congressman Emmer stated, “The President's announcement last night is great news for Minnesota. My MINER Act demonstrated strong bipartisan support for unleashing our state's mining potential and now, by reversing the politically motivated and short-sighted actions from the Obama administration on their way out the door, President Trump is stepping in to restore local control of Minnesota’s mineral rights. I am hopeful that the steps needed to ensure a full reversal of the former administration's harmful actions are taken soon, specifically ending the withdrawal proposal that has now dragged on for 18 months, to dramatically revitalize local communities and their economies.”

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The Securities and Exchange Commission has filed charges and obtained an asset freeze against the individuals and companies behind a $102 million Ponzi scheme that bilked investors throughout the U.S.

According to the SEC’s complaint, the defendants defrauded more than 600 investors through sales of securities in issuers they controlled, including First Nationle Solution LLC, United RL Capital Services, and Percipience Global Corp. The complaint alleges that investors were told that their funds would be used for the companies and some were guaranteed dividends or double-digit returns. But, according to the complaint, the defendants spent at least $20 million to enrich themselves, paid $38.5 million in Ponzi-like payments, and transferred much of the remainder in transactions that appear unrelated to the issuers’ purported businesses.

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