New Jersey United States Attorney Paul J. Fishman Announces Office Restructuring and Changes in Leadership

NEWARK, NJ—United States Attorney Paul J. Fishman today announced the restructuring of the Criminal Division of the U.S. Attorney’s Office, including the creation of new units, the reorganization of existing units, and the appointment of new supervisors. The adjustments reflect the general law enforcement priorities of the District of New Jersey and the specific problems facing the state.

The creation of a new Health Care and Government Fraud Unit highlights the priority of health care fraud investigations and prosecutions for the Department of Justice and for the District of New Jersey, which is home to many of the world’s largest pharmaceutical companies as well as major healthcare industry. The Economic Crimes Unit combats the types of financial fraud targeted by the President’s Financial Fraud Enforcement Task Force—securities fraud, mortgage fraud, financial institution fraud, and Recovery Act fraud. Additionally, the U.S. Attorney has established a General Crimes Unit to handle fast-paced, reactive cases and to provide training to all new Assistant United States Attorneys (“AUSAs”). A stand-alone Asset Forfeiture and Money Laundering Unit has also been established to further the Office’s goal of recovering forfeitable assets. Additional revisions have been made to the mandates of other units, as detailed below.

Other of the Office’s divisions, Special Prosecutions, Appeals, and Civil—the Office’s three divisions that traditionally have fallen outside the Criminal Division umbrella—will continue to report directly to the Executive Office, which consists of First Assistant U.S. Attorney J. Gilmore Childers; Executive Assistant U.S. Attorney Michael Martinez; William E. Fitzpatrick, Deputy U.S. Attorney for the Southern Vicinages of Camden and Trenton; and Sabrina G. Comizzoli as Acting Counsel.

Fishman also announced that two new Criminal Division Deputy Chiefs – Rachael Honig and Thomas Eicher – serve under the Criminal Division Chief, Nancy Hoppock. In addition, Fishman named five Assistant U.S. Attorneys as new Senior Litigation Counsel (“SLC”): John M. Fietkiewicz, J Fortier Imbert, Margaret Ann Mahoney, V. Grady O’Malley, and Leslie F. Schwartz. In addition to handling some of the Office’s most significant cases, these highly experienced lawyers play a significant role in training new AUSAs.

National Security

The National Security Unit, formerly known as the Terrorism Unit, works closely with the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s Joint Terrorism Task Force (“JTTF”) and other law enforcement agencies to prevent, disrupt, and defeat terrorist operations before they occur, and to investigate and prosecute any planned, threatened, or executed acts of terrorism. The National Security Unit also oversees investigations and prosecutions of threats to critical infrastructure, violations of export control laws, defense contractor fraud, and large-scale immigration offenses. Additionally, the National Security Unit works with the JTTF to identify, collect, and disseminate both foreign and domestic intelligence relevant to ongoing threat assessments and threat mitigation. To that end, the National Security Unit works with the U.S. Attorney to oversee the Anti-Terrorism Advisory Council for the District of New Jersey, which is a large consortium of federal, state, county, and local law enforcement agencies and organizations with national security interests, to promote and foster intelligence sharing and response preparedness. Michael Hammer, Chief of the former Terrorism Unit, continues to head the unit in its new form.

Economic Crimes

The Economic Crimes Unit conducts large-scale, complex financial fraud investigations and prosecutions, including bank, mortgage, and corporate fraud; securities and commodities fraud; Recovery Act, TARP, and other federal funding fraud; and identity theft. This unit also includes the Computer Hacking and Intellectual Property (“CHIP”) Section, which focuses on cyber attacks, such as data breaches, botnets, malicious computer viruses, logic bombs, and computer intrusions, as well as intellectual property-related crimes, such as theft of trade secrets, copyright, and trademark violations. Having doubled in size with this reorganization, the CHIP Section will increase its outreach in an effort to build on existing partnerships with private industry to investigate and prosecute cybercrimes. Judith Germano and Erez Liebermann serve as Chief and Deputy Chief of the Economic Crimes Unit, respectively. Lieberman also serves as Chief of the CHIP Section. Germano previously headed the Office’s Commercial Crimes Unit.

Health Care and Government Fraud

The Health Care and Government Fraud Unit investigates and prosecutes crimes involving fraud and abuse in the health care industry. The principal focus of the unit is prosecuting major fraud directed at federal programs, including Medicare, Medicaid, and hospitals run by the Veterans Administration. These matters include the sale of unapproved or altered drugs, illegal marketing of drugs for unapproved uses, illegal kickbacks, improper billing, and improper diversion of controlled substances. Frequently, these matters arise from qui tam complaints filed by whistle blowers and require close coordination with the Civil Divisions of this Office and the Department of Justice. Assistant U.S. Attorney Maureen Ruane has recently returned to the Office from private practice to head the new unit.

Organized Crime/Gangs

The Organized Crime/Gangs Unit combines elements of the former Strike Force and Violent Crimes Units. The newly combined unit investigates and prosecutes organized crime groups for, among other things, labor racketeering, human trafficking, homicide, illegal gambling, and loan sharking. Like the former Strike Force Unit, the Organized Crime/Gangs Unit handles investigations and prosecutions of members of traditional organized crime groups – such as the seven La Cosa Nostra organized crime families in the New York City, New Jersey, and Philadelphia area – as well as emerging organized crime groups, such as Russian/Eastern European and Asian criminal organizations. The unit also investigates and prosecutes local and national gangs, such as the Bloods, Crips, Latin Kings, and MS 13. The Organized Crime/Gangs Unit is led by John Gay, who previously headed the OCDETF Unit.

Narcotics/Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force (“OCDETF”)

The Narcotics/OCDETF Unit investigates and prosecutes significant drug trafficking and money laundering organizations. Targets include individuals who organize, direct, finance, or are otherwise engaged in high-level illegal drug trafficking, as well as those who use otherwise legitimate businesses to facilitate the distribution of drugs and disbursal of drug proceeds. In conjunction with the Drug Enforcement Administration (“DEA”), Department of Homeland Security U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (“ICE”), Federal Bureau of Investigation (“FBI”), and Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (“ATF”), members of the unit commonly conduct court-authorized wiretap and financial investigations. In addition, the Narcotics/OCDETF Unit works cooperatively with many state, county, and local drug enforcement agencies. Fishman has appointed Andrew Carey as Chief of the unit.

Asset Forfeiture and Money Laundering

The Asset Forfeiture and Money Laundering Unit provides support to the Criminal and Special Prosecutions Divisions in forfeiting assets that are the proceeds of criminal activity or were used to facilitate criminal activity. In addition, the unit prosecutes defendants for money laundering, violating currency reporting requirements, and conducting illegal money transmitting businesses. The unit is also responsible for civil asset forfeitures, in which the government utilizes civil in rem actions, rather than criminal prosecutions, to seek the forfeiture of the proceeds of criminal activity and property used to facilitate criminal activity. Fishman has appointed Marion Percell as Chief of the new unit.

General Crimes

All new Assistant U.S. Attorneys in the Criminal Division will start in the new General Crimes Unit. The unit’s diverse caseload includes bank robberies, child exploitation, firearms offenses, airport crimes, counterfeit currency offenses, and a variety of federal program offenses.

U.S. Attorney Fishman appointed Serina M. Vash as the Chief and David E. Malagold as the Deputy Chief of the General Crimes Unit.

Camden and Trenton Branch Offices

The Camden and Trenton Branch Offices prosecute all criminal offenses arising in the southern, central, and western areas of New Jersey. The branch offices are staffed by 19 Criminal Division AUSAs and two AUSAs from the Appellate Division. Of the Criminal Division AUSAs, two are specially designated to handle National Security matters, two are members of the Special Prosecutions Division, and one is assigned to investigate traditional organized crime. The remaining AUSAs investigate and prosecute economic crimes, violent crimes, child exploitation offenses, and drug trafficking and weapons offenses—as well as all other violations of federal criminal law. The Camden and Trenton Branch Offices work in coordination with the satellite offices of the FBI, DEA, Bureau of ATF, ICE, and the U.S. Secret Service—which are located throughout New Jersey—as well as with other federal, state and local law enforcement agencies. The Camden Office is led by James P. Lynch and R. Stephen Stigall; the Trenton Office is supervised by David A. Bocian.

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U.S. Attorney Fishman said, “I am confident that this restructuring of the Criminal Division will give us the flexibility to respond quickly to existing and emerging law enforcement priorities, and to focus our energy and attention on the most serious crimes and offenders.”