The Karen Read Trial got underway Monday 29th of April and is likely to continue for 6-8 weeks. Judge Beverly Cannone allowed the defense to pursue a third party culprit defense, a theory that other people are responsible for John O’ Keefe’s death. However, the defense was not allowed to share their theory in opening statements to the jury. The defense shared that they believe Karen Read had been framed. They introduced disparaging text messages from State Trooper John Proctor towards Karen Read, and said that State Trooper Proctor had said he had attempted to look through Read’s phone for nud ..read more

The founder of the largest cryptocurrency exchange, Binance, was sentenced to four months in prison for violating the Bank Secrecy Act by failing to comply with anti-money-laundering laws. Changpeng Zhao, known as “CZ,” is the first person to serve prison time for similar violations of the Bank Secrecy Act. Cryptocurrency, Anti-Money Laundering and the Bank Secrecy Act The Bank Secrecy Act (1970) requires financial institutions to implement customer due diligence to monitor customer activity. Since the Anti Money Laundering Act of 2020, cryptocurrency exchanges have been classified as money se ..read more

Commercial sex trafficking of any person, especially a minor, is treated extremely seriously by Federal and State Prosecutors due to the intense nature of the crime. Recently, Jimall Dawn Brown, 35, of Boston plead guilty to both sex trafficking a minor, and to persuading and coercing several women to travel across state lines to engage in prostitution. Brown’s first victim, known as Victim 1, was approached in 2022 when she was 17 years old. He coerced the teenager, whom he met on social media, with promises of a “better lifestyle,” and persuaded her to fly to Boston. Once in Boston, he poste ..read more

The Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) was implemented as a program to help small business owners affected by the Coronavirus pandemic. It assisted them by providing up to 8 weeks of payroll including benefits, and helped to hire back employees who may have been let go. PPP funds were also intended to be used for interest for mortgages, rent, and utilities of the business. PPP Loan funds were part of The CARES (Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security) Act, implemented by the Small Business Association, where $659 billion was designated for the program.  However, some people have tak ..read more

Shohei Ohtani, the famous Los Angeles Dodgers baseball player, was recently swindled by his former interpreter, Ippei Mizuhara. Mizuhara stole over $16 million from the two time MVP over the course of 3 years. He is being charged with Bank Fraud.  Mizuhara began sports betting in 2021 and quickly began losing money to the sum of $40 million dollars. His betting history was extensive with over 19,000 wagers placed between 2021 and 2024. His average was around 25 bets a day. Mizuhara gained access to a bank account of Ohtani’s and then transferred funds to cover his gambling debts, and impe ..read more

Christina Lua, a California woman, recently pleaded guilty to money laundering charges in Massachusetts. She assisted her husband by laundering proceeds of methamphetamine and marijuana distribution. There were a total of eleven defendants charged in this case. Reshat Alkayisi, Lua’s husband, will be sentenced on July 11, 2024. In October 2020, reports were first made involving the drug trafficking of a large-scale methamphetamine supplier in the Boston area. Later that year, Alkayisi was identified as a supplier of methamphetamine to customers across New England. Investigators identified Lua ..read more

An open warrant is a court order that allows police to arrest you at any time. When police arrest you with an open warrant they can bring you to court. Bail is set in court rather than at the police station. Having an open warrant out against you brings many undesirable consequences, such as having your license suspended, being unable to travel or return to the United States and losing benefits such as unemployment and Medicare. If you are stopped in your vehicle and arrested while your license is suspended due to an open warrant, you can also be charged with driving without a license. What is ..read more

Many people are not aware that if you are convicted of conspiracy to commit a crime you often receive the same punishments as if you had carried out the crime. Methamphetamine trafficking conspiracy charges are serious because methamphetamine is a Schedule II controlled substance, which means the federal government punishes any crime involving methamphetamine very severely. In recent news, Jacob Parlin, 44, from Maine was convicted by a federal jury of one count of conspiracy to distribute and to possess with intent to distribute 50 grams or more of methamphetamine, and one count of distributi ..read more

The US Attorney’s Office in Boston filed a civil forfeiture action to recover cryptocurrency that was allegedly to be part of the results of a “pig butchering” fraud scheme. The scheme targeted a Massachusetts resident as part of a romance scam, where the victim of the scam was tricked into investing into cryptocurrency and then giving additional funds.   The cryptocurrency was seized from two accounts located at Binance, a cryptocurrency exchange and custodian and authorities estimate the value at approximately $2,300,000. Investigations by federal authorities allege that the accoun ..read more

Are you a Massachusetts teacher, coach or (former teacher or former coach) that has been accused of serious sex crimes related to electronic communications, like sextortion or cyber stalking, indecent assault, possession of obscene material? Then it is important to speak with an expert on the defense of these types of sex crime cases with the reputation and experience to defend your reputation and freedom.  Have you been accused of sexual assault or possessing inappropriate images of students or young adults that were in your care? Very often these cases involve complex circumstances and ..read more