Court Digest

Tennessee
Man convicted of bank fraud, conspiracy
JACKSON, Tenn. (AP) — A Tennessee man has been convicted in federal court of defrauding three banks in Tennessee and Alabama.

Charles Ray Smith, 71, of Crump, deposited and directed others to deposit more than $116 million in fraudulent bank checks into his companies’ bank account, defrauding Central Bank in Savannah, Tennessee, from 2009 to 2012, the U.S. attorney’s office said in a news release.

Prosecutors say Smith also defrauded Wayne County Bank in Waynesboro, Tennessee, and First Metro Bank in Muscle Shoals, Alabama, by falsifying collateral to obtain loans, stealing more than $9.9 million from the banks.

Smith owned and operated several aggregate materials businesses in Tennessee, Alabama and Louisiana.

Smith was convicted of all counts, including conspiracy to commit bank fraud and seven counts of bank fraud.

Sentencing is Jan. 5.

Georgia
Atlanta man gets 5 years in prison for running Ponzi scheme
MACON, Ga. (AP) — A former University of Georgia student who ran a Ponzi scheme and defrauded more than 100 investors has been sentenced to five years in prison, federal authorities said.

U.S. District Judge C. Ashley Royal sentenced Syed Arham Arbab, 23, of Atlanta, on Friday, U.S. Attorney Charlie Peeler said in a news release. Arbab was also ordered to pay $509,032 in restitution to his 117 victims.

Arbab pleaded guilty in October 2019 to a one-count bill of information charging him with securities fraud. Prosecutors said he preyed on inexperienced investors, including his own fellow students.

“Arbab lied about pursuing an MBA, lied about having the support of a famous UGA grad, lied about the amount of capital he raised and lied about what he was doing with investors’ money ,.. Arbab took other people’s money and spent it on lavish trips to Las Vegas, expensive clothing, fine dining, adult entertainment and luxuries for himself,” Peeler said.

Officials say Arbab’s illegal activities occurred between May 2018 and May 2019 and operated primarily through his fraternity house, while he was enrolled as an undergraduate at UGA. Arbab solicited investors, many of whom were students, to invest in his Artis Proficio Capital Management and Artis Proficio Capital Investments.

“The victims will never recover their losses,” said Chris Hacker, special agent in charge of the FBI in Atlanta. “It is a stark reminder to investors to be extremely careful where they entrust their money and be skeptical of offers that sound too good to be true.”

Pennsylvania
Police: Man angry over text from mother repeatedly stabs her
ALTOONA, Pa. (AP) — A Pennsylvania man repeatedly stabbed his mother after she sent him a text message telling him to grow up and get a job, authorities said.

Tavin McCullough, 23, faces attempted homicide and other counts stemming from Sunday’s attack at his mother’s home in Altoona, WTAJ reported. It wasn’t known Monday if he has retained an attorney.

Police went to the home around 6 a.m. and found the victim, who had been stabbed at least nine times with a 10-inch kitchen knife in her bedroom. The victim was stabbed in the face, chest, stomach and back and remained hospitalized Monday in critical condition, but she is expected to recover, authorities said.

McCullough had fled the scene on foot before police arrived, but he was soon captured without incident.

Ohio
Federal judge rejects changes to state ballot signature rules
COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — The signature-matching requirement for ballots and ballot applications in Ohio are burdensome to voters, but changing the process close to the election could be “particularly damaging,” a federal judge has ruled.

U.S. District Judge Michael H. Watson sided Sunday with Republican Secretary of State Frank LaRose when he ruled that LaRose’s July directive ensures integrity in the state’s election procedures.

“Some public officials have unfortunately regularly cast doubt on the security and legitimacy of voting by mail,” Watson wrote in his rejection of a preliminary injunction. “A federal court enjoining part of the State’s procedure for maintaining the security of mail-in voting in the weeks leading up to the election could further undermine public confidence in elections.”

He wrote, “Changing the rules regarding verification of signatures on ballots at this time would be particularly damaging.”

The ruling is the latest back-and-forth between LaRose and voting rights advocates in the presidential battleground of Ohio as the procedures for election safety and mail-in voting endures as a point contention while the nation readies to vote in the middle of a pandemic.

The League of Women Voters of Ohio, the A. Philip Randolph Institute of Ohio and two Ohio voters whose primary ballots didn’t count because of mismatched signatures brought on the lawsuit in July, arguing the state’s signature-matching requirement is unconstitutional and further disenfranchises thousands of eligible voters in Ohio.

The litigation had cited a December review by The Associated Press that found thousands of ballot applications across the state were held up or denied ahead of the 2018 general election because of missing or mismatched signatures.

Jen Miller, the Ohio league’s executive director, said the organization is in the process of reviewing the Sunday ruling with their legal team.

“While we are disappointed in the outcome, we do agree with the judge’s finding that Ohio’s signature matching protocols are burdensome on voters, but we will continue to work for more uniform and less subjective practices across all 88 counties,” Miller said in a statement.

Arizona
Phoenix man kills wife after she reports fight
PHOENIX (AP) — Phoenix police believe a man shot and killed his estranged wife and then himself just minutes after officers left her.

Sgt. Tommy Thompson says 43-year-old Syeda Sohaly Akter called police Sunday just before 9:30 a.m. to report she was the victim of domestic violence.

Akter told police she and her husband, 52-year-old Abul Ahsan Habib, argued after she told him to move out. Habib fled just before officers arrived.

Thompson says officers spoke with both Akter and her adult son. They told Akter to call if he returns and then left. Her son then also left.

Authorities say a call to 911 from Akter then came in around 9:50 a.m. She was in the process of reporting Habib had returned when the operator heard gunfire.

Officers returned and went inside the home.

They found the couple dead from gunshot wounds. A gun was recovered.

Thompson says the investigation is ongoing.

New York
Rochester man charged with inciting riot via Facebook posts
ROCHESTER, N.Y. (AP) — A Rochester man previously arrested during a protest over Daniel Prude’s death is now accused by federal prosecutors of posting incendiary messages and instructions to make a Molotov cocktail.

The U.S. Attorney’s Office in western New York on Friday charged Ryan Howe of Rochester with intending to incite a riot by making provocative Facebook posts earlier this week. The posts came after a grand jury in Louisville declined to charge police officers in the killing of Breonna Taylor.

The charges come as U.S. authorities aggressively pursue federal charges against protesters. President Donald Trump has vowed to use federal powers to crack down on unrest.

Two other men face face federal civil disorder charges related to protests in Rochester since video was released this month of Prude handcuffed and naked with a spit hood over his head as police restrained him. Prude was taken off life support a week after the March 23 incident.

Prosecutors cite Facebook postings Wednesday and Thursday in charging Howe with trying to incite a riot. One post mentioned burning things to the ground.

Prosecutors said Howe had been arrested by Rochester police for inciting a riot and resisting arrest on Sept. 2, the day Prude video was released.

Howe was being held pending a detention hearing Wednesday. The charges carry a maximum penalty of 5 years in prison and a $250,000 fine.

His federal defender declined on Saturday to comment on the charges.

The complaint said that when FBI agents showed Howe the Molotov cocktail post, he said it was a mistake and deleted it. He said he wanted law enforcement to be defunded and ultimately abolished, but he did not want to see anyone harmed.

New Hampshire
Jury finds white nationalist guilty of rape threat
CONCORD, N.H (AP) — A federal jury on Monday found a self-proclaimed white nationalist who rose to prominence during a deadly 2017 rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, guilty of threatening to rape the wife of a man who was part of a racist group he felt was harassing and bullying him.

Christopher Cantwell, a New Hampshire resident and radio host, was arrested in January on federal charges of extortion, making threats and cyberstalking. He had pleaded not guilty.

The jury found Cantwell guilty of extortion and threatening to injure property or reputation, but not guilty of cyberstalking. He faces up to 22 years in prison.

He did not show any visible reaction to the verdict.

Authorities say Cantwell used the Telegram messaging app to convey a threat last year to a Missouri man, saying that he would rape the man’s wife if he didn’t give up information about the leader of a white supremacist group of which the man was a member, authorities said.

Cantwell is also accused of threatening to expose the man’s identity if he didn’t provide the personal details about the leader of the Bowl Patrol. The group’s name was inspired by the haircut of Dylann Roof, who was sentenced to death for fatally shooting nine Black church members during a Bible study session in Charleston, South Carolina.

Authorities say Cantwell followed through on a threat to report the Missouri man, who has several children, to the state’s child division for drug use and racist views. He did call the agency. But an agency official testified at the trial that it did not feel the complaint justified further investigation.

Rather than the constant stream of insults common on the internet, prosecutors said in closing remarks that Cantwell’s threat “crossed a line” and was aimed at scaring the Missouri man into giving up personal details.

“This was a serious threat that would cause a reasonable person apprehension,” Assistant U.S. Attorney John Davis told the jury in closing arguments Friday.

Cantwell’s attorney, Eric Wolpin, asked the jury Friday to find his client not guilty. He called Cantwell’s language “obscene” and “over the top” but said it never rose to the level of an actual threat, nor was it tied to anything of value.

He portrayed Cantwell as angry over harassment and bullying from the Bowl Patrol. Members disrupted his radio show for months with pranks and defaced his website with pornography and violent content, Wolpin said.

Everyone at the trial wore a mask because of the coronavirus pandemic. The microphone was sanitized after each person spoke, and members of the public were limited in the courtroom and socially distanced.

Cantwell previously pleaded guilty to assault in 2018 after he was accused of using pepper spray during a white nationalist rally in Charlottesville in 2017. He didn’t serve additional jail time but was barred from Virginia for five years.

Cantwell also has a history of posting threatening messages over social media.

Last year, attorneys who filed a federal civil rights lawsuit in connection with the Charlottesville rally asked a judge to order Cantwell to stop making “unlawful threats” against the plaintiffs and their lead attorney.