New York
Man pleads guilty to helping establish secret Chinese police station in NYC
NEW YORK (AP) — A Manhattan resident has pleaded guilty to helping establish a secret police station in New York City on behalf of the Chinese government.
Chen Jinping, 60, entered the guilty plea on a single count of conspiracy to act as an agent of a foreign government in Brooklyn federal court on Wednesday.
Matthew Olsen, an assistant attorney general in the U.S. Department of Justice, said Chen admitted in court to his role in “audaciously establishing an undeclared police station” in Manhattan and attempting to conceal the effort when approached by the FBI.
“This illegal police station was not opened in the interest of public safety, but to further the nefarious and repressive aims of the PRC in direct violation of American sovereignty,” he said in statement, referring to the People’s Republic of China.
Prosecutors say Chen and his co-defendant, Lu Jianwang, opened and operated a local branch of China’s Ministry of Public Security in Manhattan’s Chinatown neighborhood starting in early 2022.
The office, which occupied an entire floor of the building, performed basic services, such as helping Chinese citizens renew their Chinese driver’s licenses, but also identified pro-democracy activists living in the U.S., according to federal authorities.
The clandestine Chinese police operation was shuttered in the fall of 2022 amid an FBI investigation. But in an apparent effort to obstruct the federal probe, Chen and Lu deleted from their phones communications with a Chinese government official they reported to, prosecutors said.
China is believed to be operating such secretive police outposts in North America, Europe and other places where there are Chinese communities. The country, however, has denied that they are police stations, saying that they exist mainly to provide citizen services such as renewing driver’s licenses.
The arrest of Chen and Lu in April 2023 was part of a series of Justice Department prosecutions aimed at cracking down on “transnational repression,” in which foreign governments such as China work to identify, intimidate and silence dissidents in the U.S.
Lawyers for Chen and Lu didn’t immediately respond to emails seeking comment Wednesday. Chen faces up to five years in prison at his sentencing on May 30.
Lu, who is due back in court in February, had a longstanding relationship with Chinese law enforcement officials, according to prosecutors.
Over the years, they say, the Bronx resident, who was also known as Harry Lu, helped harass and threaten a Chinese fugitive living in the U.S. and also worked to locate a pro-democracy activist in California on behalf of China’s government.
Vermont
Military contractor will pay a $426K settlement for using foreign parts in products
BURLINGTON, Vt. (AP) — A Vermont military contractor will pay nearly half a million dollars to settle allegations that it used some foreign-sourced materials in certain protective eyewear it sold when it was required to use all domestic parts, according to the office of the U.S. attorney for Vermont.
Revision Military Ltd., in Essex Junction, Vermont, used a foreign source of carrying pouches, cases and straps for particular eyewear sold through a defense program that requires textile components be sourced in the United States, federal prosecutors said on Monday. The foreign parts were used between Jan. 1, 2016, and Dec. 31, 2020, and the company will pay $426,000 in the settlement, prosecutors said Monday.
A federal law known as the Berry Amendment requires the government to give preference to products made and sourced in America.
“In selling products that it knew to be non-compliant, Revision violated the trust placed in government contractors in furtherance of its own bottom line,” said Nikolas Kerest, U.S. attorney for Vermont, in a statement.
Revision, which sold its protective eyewear business in 2019, denied liability and said there were no damages to the government because the eyewear products performed as intended. It said in a statement that it takes such compliance issues seriously.
“In this spirit, the settlement agreement formally documents the government crediting Revision’s new ownership and management team for self-initiating improved compliance measures, for replacing former employees who were responsible for overseeing such compliance issues, and for cooperating with the government investigation,” the company said in a statement.
Washington
Rayful Edmond, notorious DC drug kingpin, dies in federal custody
WASHINGTON (AP) — Rayful Edmond, a drug kingpin once believed to control about a third of the cocaine trade in the nation’s capital during the crack epidemic of the 1980s, has died in federal custody, the Bureau of Prisons confirmed Tuesday.
Edmond, 60, was known at the height of his criminal empire as the “king of cocaine” in Washington, D.C. He oversaw a sprawling drug network that fueled the city’s devastating crack epidemic, contributing to a dramatic rise in homicides and the destruction of countless lives.
Armed enforcers, wielding Uzi submachine guns, protected Edmond’s territory as he ran an operation linked to at least 30 murders, although none were directly attributed to him.
The Bureau of Prisons did not release details about the cause of Edmond’s death. Rob Sperling, a spokesperson for the bureau, said only that Edmond had died, without elaborating on the circumstances.
In 1989, at the age of 24, Edmond was arrested and later sentenced to life in prison for his role in running a vast drug distribution network. His operation was estimated to be moving up to 1,700 pounds of cocaine per month, generating millions of dollars each week. At the time, Edmond was a household name in D.C., living a lavish lifestyle that included sponsoring local basketball tournaments and frequent trips to Las Vegas for high-profile boxing matches.
His trial was marked by unprecedented security measures, and jury members were kept anonymous for their protection. He received a sentence of life without parole and was sent to a maximum-security prison in Pennsylvania. He continued to run a drug distribution network from inside the prison, and when he was caught, Edmond received an additional 30-year sentence.
He began cooperating with authorities. Federal prosecutors, in a motion to reduce his life sentence, said Edmond helped jail dozens of other drug dealers and break up distribution rings and even taught prison authorities how to better prevent trafficking inside the prison system.
Illinois
Man charged with mass shooting at parade loses bid to ban statements he made to police
WAUKEGAN, Ill. (AP) — A judge declined Wednesday to throw out statements made by a man charged with killing seven people at an Independence Day parade in suburban Chicago in 2022.
Robert Crimo III willingly waived his right to remain silent while speaking to police, and there was no “coercion, deceit or intimidation” to prevent him from talking to a lawyer, Lake County Judge Victoria Rossetti said.
Crimo’s defense team had argued that a lawyer hired by his family was at the police station following the shooting but that investigators wouldn’t let them meet, a violation of constitutional rights.
The judge, however, noted that video shows Crimo saying he didn’t want to stop the police interview to speak to a lawyer. Rossetti described the interview as “conversational and non-threatening with an informal and relaxed atmosphere.”
“I’ve heard them a million times,” Crimo said at one point about his rights.
Authorities have said Crimo, 24, confessed to the Highland Park shooting. He has pleaded not guilty to all charges, including multiple first-degree murder counts. Jury selection in the trial is scheduled to start Feb. 24.
Dozens of people were wounded, including an 8-year-old boy who was left partially paralyzed. There was panic as families fled the parade through downtown Highland Park, a suburb of about 30,000 people near Lake Michigan.
Those killed in the attack were Katherine Goldstein, 64; Jacquelyn Sundheim, 63; Stephen Straus, 88; Nicolas Toledo-Zaragoza, 78; Eduardo Uvaldo, 69; and married couple Kevin McCarthy, 37, and Irina McCarthy, 35.
Florida
AG pursues charge against suspect in Trump assassination attempt for a crash after arrest
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) — Florida authorities announced Wednesday that they’re pursuing a criminal case against a man accused of trying to assassinate President-elect Donald Trump for a car crash that occurred after law enforcement stopped traffic to catch him.
Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody said she obtained an arrest warrant for Ryan Wesley Routh, who already is being held on federal charges in the assassination attempt.
Moody said she is pursuing a charge of attempted felony murder for a crash that seriously injured a 6-year-old girl after officials shut down traffic on Interstate 95 as they tried to apprehend the suspect. A spokesperson for Moody said prosecutors will file the new charge when Routh is in state custody.
The multivehicle crash happened about 30 minutes after Routh’s arrest on I-95, according to the state’s investigation, but Moody said it was a result of his actions.
The girl, who was traveling with her family, had serious injuries, Moody said.
“When you couple those terrible injuries, together with his other criminal conduct, which we believe rises to the level of domestic terrorism, it turns his actions into an attempted felony murder case,” she told reporters.
Routh’s attorney declined to comment Wednesday through a representative.
Routh is being held on federal charges of attempted assassination of a major presidential candidate and gun crimes. He has pleaded not guilty.
Prosecutors say Routh methodically plotted to kill Trump for weeks before aiming a rifle through the shrubbery as Trump played golf at his West Palm Beach country club on Sept. 15. Before Trump came into view, Routh was spotted by a Secret Service agent. Routh allegedly aimed his rifle at the agent, who opened fire, causing Routh to drop his weapon and flee without firing a shot.
Routh’s arrest came two months after Trump was shot and wounded in the ear in an assassination attempt during a campaign rally in Pennsylvania. The Secret Service acknowledged failings leading up to that shooting but has said security worked as it should have to thwart the potential Florida attack.
Days after the Florida assassination attempt, Gov. Ron DeSantis announced the state would carry out its own investigation parallel to the federal probe, with prosecutors pursuing the most serious charges available under state law.
It’s not uncommon for state and federal law enforcement agencies to run simultaneous investigations into crimes, as states may be able to bring charges that are unavailable at the federal level — and vice versa.
Man pleads guilty to helping establish secret Chinese police station in NYC
NEW YORK (AP) — A Manhattan resident has pleaded guilty to helping establish a secret police station in New York City on behalf of the Chinese government.
Chen Jinping, 60, entered the guilty plea on a single count of conspiracy to act as an agent of a foreign government in Brooklyn federal court on Wednesday.
Matthew Olsen, an assistant attorney general in the U.S. Department of Justice, said Chen admitted in court to his role in “audaciously establishing an undeclared police station” in Manhattan and attempting to conceal the effort when approached by the FBI.
“This illegal police station was not opened in the interest of public safety, but to further the nefarious and repressive aims of the PRC in direct violation of American sovereignty,” he said in statement, referring to the People’s Republic of China.
Prosecutors say Chen and his co-defendant, Lu Jianwang, opened and operated a local branch of China’s Ministry of Public Security in Manhattan’s Chinatown neighborhood starting in early 2022.
The office, which occupied an entire floor of the building, performed basic services, such as helping Chinese citizens renew their Chinese driver’s licenses, but also identified pro-democracy activists living in the U.S., according to federal authorities.
The clandestine Chinese police operation was shuttered in the fall of 2022 amid an FBI investigation. But in an apparent effort to obstruct the federal probe, Chen and Lu deleted from their phones communications with a Chinese government official they reported to, prosecutors said.
China is believed to be operating such secretive police outposts in North America, Europe and other places where there are Chinese communities. The country, however, has denied that they are police stations, saying that they exist mainly to provide citizen services such as renewing driver’s licenses.
The arrest of Chen and Lu in April 2023 was part of a series of Justice Department prosecutions aimed at cracking down on “transnational repression,” in which foreign governments such as China work to identify, intimidate and silence dissidents in the U.S.
Lawyers for Chen and Lu didn’t immediately respond to emails seeking comment Wednesday. Chen faces up to five years in prison at his sentencing on May 30.
Lu, who is due back in court in February, had a longstanding relationship with Chinese law enforcement officials, according to prosecutors.
Over the years, they say, the Bronx resident, who was also known as Harry Lu, helped harass and threaten a Chinese fugitive living in the U.S. and also worked to locate a pro-democracy activist in California on behalf of China’s government.
Vermont
Military contractor will pay a $426K settlement for using foreign parts in products
BURLINGTON, Vt. (AP) — A Vermont military contractor will pay nearly half a million dollars to settle allegations that it used some foreign-sourced materials in certain protective eyewear it sold when it was required to use all domestic parts, according to the office of the U.S. attorney for Vermont.
Revision Military Ltd., in Essex Junction, Vermont, used a foreign source of carrying pouches, cases and straps for particular eyewear sold through a defense program that requires textile components be sourced in the United States, federal prosecutors said on Monday. The foreign parts were used between Jan. 1, 2016, and Dec. 31, 2020, and the company will pay $426,000 in the settlement, prosecutors said Monday.
A federal law known as the Berry Amendment requires the government to give preference to products made and sourced in America.
“In selling products that it knew to be non-compliant, Revision violated the trust placed in government contractors in furtherance of its own bottom line,” said Nikolas Kerest, U.S. attorney for Vermont, in a statement.
Revision, which sold its protective eyewear business in 2019, denied liability and said there were no damages to the government because the eyewear products performed as intended. It said in a statement that it takes such compliance issues seriously.
“In this spirit, the settlement agreement formally documents the government crediting Revision’s new ownership and management team for self-initiating improved compliance measures, for replacing former employees who were responsible for overseeing such compliance issues, and for cooperating with the government investigation,” the company said in a statement.
Washington
Rayful Edmond, notorious DC drug kingpin, dies in federal custody
WASHINGTON (AP) — Rayful Edmond, a drug kingpin once believed to control about a third of the cocaine trade in the nation’s capital during the crack epidemic of the 1980s, has died in federal custody, the Bureau of Prisons confirmed Tuesday.
Edmond, 60, was known at the height of his criminal empire as the “king of cocaine” in Washington, D.C. He oversaw a sprawling drug network that fueled the city’s devastating crack epidemic, contributing to a dramatic rise in homicides and the destruction of countless lives.
Armed enforcers, wielding Uzi submachine guns, protected Edmond’s territory as he ran an operation linked to at least 30 murders, although none were directly attributed to him.
The Bureau of Prisons did not release details about the cause of Edmond’s death. Rob Sperling, a spokesperson for the bureau, said only that Edmond had died, without elaborating on the circumstances.
In 1989, at the age of 24, Edmond was arrested and later sentenced to life in prison for his role in running a vast drug distribution network. His operation was estimated to be moving up to 1,700 pounds of cocaine per month, generating millions of dollars each week. At the time, Edmond was a household name in D.C., living a lavish lifestyle that included sponsoring local basketball tournaments and frequent trips to Las Vegas for high-profile boxing matches.
His trial was marked by unprecedented security measures, and jury members were kept anonymous for their protection. He received a sentence of life without parole and was sent to a maximum-security prison in Pennsylvania. He continued to run a drug distribution network from inside the prison, and when he was caught, Edmond received an additional 30-year sentence.
He began cooperating with authorities. Federal prosecutors, in a motion to reduce his life sentence, said Edmond helped jail dozens of other drug dealers and break up distribution rings and even taught prison authorities how to better prevent trafficking inside the prison system.
Illinois
Man charged with mass shooting at parade loses bid to ban statements he made to police
WAUKEGAN, Ill. (AP) — A judge declined Wednesday to throw out statements made by a man charged with killing seven people at an Independence Day parade in suburban Chicago in 2022.
Robert Crimo III willingly waived his right to remain silent while speaking to police, and there was no “coercion, deceit or intimidation” to prevent him from talking to a lawyer, Lake County Judge Victoria Rossetti said.
Crimo’s defense team had argued that a lawyer hired by his family was at the police station following the shooting but that investigators wouldn’t let them meet, a violation of constitutional rights.
The judge, however, noted that video shows Crimo saying he didn’t want to stop the police interview to speak to a lawyer. Rossetti described the interview as “conversational and non-threatening with an informal and relaxed atmosphere.”
“I’ve heard them a million times,” Crimo said at one point about his rights.
Authorities have said Crimo, 24, confessed to the Highland Park shooting. He has pleaded not guilty to all charges, including multiple first-degree murder counts. Jury selection in the trial is scheduled to start Feb. 24.
Dozens of people were wounded, including an 8-year-old boy who was left partially paralyzed. There was panic as families fled the parade through downtown Highland Park, a suburb of about 30,000 people near Lake Michigan.
Those killed in the attack were Katherine Goldstein, 64; Jacquelyn Sundheim, 63; Stephen Straus, 88; Nicolas Toledo-Zaragoza, 78; Eduardo Uvaldo, 69; and married couple Kevin McCarthy, 37, and Irina McCarthy, 35.
Florida
AG pursues charge against suspect in Trump assassination attempt for a crash after arrest
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) — Florida authorities announced Wednesday that they’re pursuing a criminal case against a man accused of trying to assassinate President-elect Donald Trump for a car crash that occurred after law enforcement stopped traffic to catch him.
Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody said she obtained an arrest warrant for Ryan Wesley Routh, who already is being held on federal charges in the assassination attempt.
Moody said she is pursuing a charge of attempted felony murder for a crash that seriously injured a 6-year-old girl after officials shut down traffic on Interstate 95 as they tried to apprehend the suspect. A spokesperson for Moody said prosecutors will file the new charge when Routh is in state custody.
The multivehicle crash happened about 30 minutes after Routh’s arrest on I-95, according to the state’s investigation, but Moody said it was a result of his actions.
The girl, who was traveling with her family, had serious injuries, Moody said.
“When you couple those terrible injuries, together with his other criminal conduct, which we believe rises to the level of domestic terrorism, it turns his actions into an attempted felony murder case,” she told reporters.
Routh’s attorney declined to comment Wednesday through a representative.
Routh is being held on federal charges of attempted assassination of a major presidential candidate and gun crimes. He has pleaded not guilty.
Prosecutors say Routh methodically plotted to kill Trump for weeks before aiming a rifle through the shrubbery as Trump played golf at his West Palm Beach country club on Sept. 15. Before Trump came into view, Routh was spotted by a Secret Service agent. Routh allegedly aimed his rifle at the agent, who opened fire, causing Routh to drop his weapon and flee without firing a shot.
Routh’s arrest came two months after Trump was shot and wounded in the ear in an assassination attempt during a campaign rally in Pennsylvania. The Secret Service acknowledged failings leading up to that shooting but has said security worked as it should have to thwart the potential Florida attack.
Days after the Florida assassination attempt, Gov. Ron DeSantis announced the state would carry out its own investigation parallel to the federal probe, with prosecutors pursuing the most serious charges available under state law.
It’s not uncommon for state and federal law enforcement agencies to run simultaneous investigations into crimes, as states may be able to bring charges that are unavailable at the federal level — and vice versa.
