New York
U.S. charges 8 in online advertising fraud scheme
NEW YORK (AP) - The U.S. Justice Department charged eight people Tuesday in connection with the takedown of two international cybercriminal rings that cost advertisers tens of millions of dollars.
"As alleged in court filings, the defendants in this case used sophisticated computer programming and infrastructure around the world to exploit the digital advertising industry through fraud," said U.S. Attorney Richard Donoghue.
The ads were never viewed by human internet users, prosecutors said. "In fact, the defendants faked both the users and the webpages: they programmed computers they controlled to load advertisements on fabricated webpages, via an automated program, in order to fraudulently obtain digital advertising revenue," prosecutors said in an indictment unsealed in federal court in Brooklyn.
In one of the schemes, prosecutors said, the defendants accessed more than 1.7 million computers belonging to ordinary individuals and businesses in the U.S. and elsewhere by using a global "botnet," a network of malware-infected computers.
"Meanwhile, the owners of the infected computers were unaware that this process was running in the background on their computers," prosecutors said.
Most of the defendants are from Eastern Europe. Three were arrested overseas and are awaiting extradition. Two are from Russia and the other is from Kazakhstan. The others remain at large. Charges include wire fraud, computer intrusions, aggravated identity theft and money laundering.
As part of their efforts, prosecutors said seizure warrants authorized the FBI to take control of 31 internet domains and information from 89 computer servers.
"The FBI, working with private sector partners, redirected the internet traffic going to the domains (an action known as 'sinkholing') in order to disrupt and dismantle these botnets," prosecutors said.
Google and Microsoft helped the U.S. and other international law enforcement agencies unravel the digital schemes, prosecutors said.
Massachusetts
Judge: Jail must provide man with opioid addict meds
BOSTON (AP) - A Massachusetts jail must provide methadone to a man recovering from opioid addiction, a federal judge in Boston has ordered.
U.S. District Judge Denise Casper, in a preliminary decision Monday, said 32-year-old Geoffrey Pesce would likely prevail in his lawsuit against the Essex County House of Correction in Middleton.
The Ipswich man could face jail for violating his probation and driving on a suspended license. He argues in his lawsuit that the jail's policy of denying certain addiction medications to inmates violates the Eighth Amendment and the Americans with Disabilities Act.
Pesce argues that the jail's policy runs counter to his doctor's recommendations for dealing with his opioid addiction. It would also force him to deal with the pain and discomfort of drug withdrawal, he argues.
Pesce says he's been taking methadone daily since 2016 because he hasn't been able to stay sober using other addiction medications.
Essex County Sheriff Kevin Coppinger said his office is weighing its options as the order could have "far-ranging effects" for correctional systems.
"In a prison setting, administering these drugs raises many security, logistical and fiscal concerns, that are not issues for individuals who are not incarcerated," he said in a statement.
The American Civil Liberties Union filed the lawsuit in September on Pesce's behalf. The civil rights organization has filed similar lawsuits in Maine and Washington state.
Most correctional facilities in the state do not offer methadone to inmates; an exception is typically made for pregnant women already on methadone since withdrawal can be harmful to the child.
But more jails and prisons nationally are starting to provide methadone and other addiction medications to inmates.
Massachusetts lawmakers this year required six county jails to start offering more medication options by next September.
Essex County wasn't one of them, but the jail does offer inmates an injection of the addiction medication naltrexone shortly before they're released.
Pennsylvania
Former AG Kane ordered to jail, 2 years later
A judge in suburban Philadelphia on Tuesday gave former Pennsylvania Attorney General Kathleen Kane less than two days to report to jail to begin serving a perjury sentence that she received two years ago.
Judge Wendy Demchick-Alloy said there is no longer any reason for Kane to remain free, one day after the state Supreme Court declined to take up her appeal.
Kane, a Democrat, has been out on $75,000 bail since her October 2016 sentencing to 10 to 23 months for leaking grand jury information and lying about it.
"Given that the rationale for (the) defendant remaining at liberty pending appeal has expired, post-sentence bail is revoked," the judge wrote, imposing a 9 a.m. Thursday deadline for Kane to report to the Montgomery County Correctional Facility.
Kane's lawyer, Joshua Lock, has not responded to multiple messages seeking comment.
Demchick-Alloy directed the Lackawanna County sheriff to serve a copy of her order on Kane, who lives in Scranton.
The Montgomery County district attorney's office formally requested the order earlier Tuesday, arguing the Supreme Court decision was the end of the legal road for the 52-year-old Kane.
"Two different appellate courts have reviewed her case, yet her judgment of sentence remains," wrote District Attorney Kevin Steele. "She received a fair trial, her guilt was proven beyond a reasonable doubt and now it is time for her to serve her sentence."
Steele's bail revocation motion to Demchick-Alloy anticipated that Kane may have argued the judge had discretion to keep Kane out on bail while she "seeks further state review."
Steele said that was only possible under a motion for the high court to reconsider its decision turning down her appeal, which he said could not be done simply to delay the sentence. He said a reconsideration application could only have been for delay purposes. "The Pennsylvania Supreme Court's denial of discretionary review should be considered the conclusion of (Kane's) avenues for direct appeal in state court," Steele argued.
Kane was convicted of two counts of felony perjury and seven misdemeanors, including obstruction and conspiracy.
The first woman and first Democrat to be elected as Pennsylvania's attorney general, Kane resigned from office after her 2016 conviction.
She had argued before Superior Court that she should have been allowed to use evidence of a pornographic email scandal that rocked the state's judicial community as well as evidence related to the Jerry Sandusky child molestation case that her former office prosecuted.
The lower appeals court also rejected her argument that she should have been allowed to prevent all Montgomery County judges from handling her case, as well as her claims that evidence against her was illegally obtained and that she had been the victim of selective and vindictive prosecution.
Published: Thu, Nov 29, 2018
