Wednesday, June 27, 2012

Nigerian Fugitive Returned to Houston to Face Charges


HOUSTON— June 27-  Godwin Chiedo Nzeocha, 45, a naturalized United States citizen 
originally from the Federal Republic of Nigeria, has been returned to the United States to stand trial in a $45 million health care fraud case.
Nzeocha was charged October 19, 2009 with conspiracy to commit health care fraud, 39 counts of health care fraud, three counts of mail fraud, and three counts of money laundering in relation to his role in the City Nursing Services of Texas Inc. health care fraud conspiracy.
Agents were unable to arrest Nzeocha after he was charged in 2009. He was later arrested in Nigeria and arrived back in Houston Wednesday. He is expected to make an initial appearance this morning before U.S. Magistrate George C. Hanks, Jr., at which time the United States will request he remain in federal custody pending further criminal proceedings.
According to the indictment, Nzeocha signed patient file documents as the provider of physical therapy services he was not qualified to provide and, according to evidence provided during trial of his alleged co-conspirators, which were not, in fact, provided to Medicare beneficiaries. The indictment also alleges Nzeocha handed out cash payments to recruiters who brought Medicare beneficiaries to City Nursing and to Medicare beneficiaries in return for signatures on blank patient treatment forms.
To date, five people have been convicted in this massive health care fraud conspiracy, including City Nursing’s owner, Umawa Oke Imo, who is now serving 27 years in prison.
Nzeocha faces up to 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine for each of the health care fraud, conspiracy to commit health care fraud, and money laundering charges, upon conviction. A conviction for mail fraud carries an additional maximum punishment of up to 20 years in prison.
Source:EKOW SHALDERS,IDPF/ABS NEWS,USA.

Wednesday, June 13, 2012

MEDIA ADVISORY



MEDIA ADVISORY

DATE: June 10, 2012

Contact:       Ekow Shalders (Media Relations Officer) idemocracypf@journalist.com


WHO:              Malaika Media Network: Event organizers and Artiste management and Investment promoters. Speakers: Kojo Ampah Sahara, President ,Malaika Media Network, Darius Wobil, (Saint Wobil)Fashion Designer and Business man and Mayor Ernest Davis, City of Mt.Vernon

WHAT:            Media launch of Ghana International Trade and Investment Fair (Ghana /New York Expo 2012)

WHERE:           MOUNT VERNON CITY HALL, 1 ROOSEVELT SQUARE
                             Mount Vernon, New York 10550


WHEN:             June 19 2012:@ 11:30 AM

WHY:               Ghana as a country has proven itself as a beacon of hope and prosperity in Africa as well as the Gateway to the West African sub region. Its peaceful democratic elections and good business climate makes it a great destination for investment and business. Taking all these into account, City of Mt.Vernon,”A CITY THAT BELIEVES” is opening its doors for more than three (300) hundred Ghanaian small and medium scale companies to exhibit their wares at Our Arts on Third Street Festival, Westchester’s premiere art and music festival.
                             This will help spur economic and social development for Ghana, the City of Mount Vernon and State of New York.

                        The Media’s participation is highly needed as it would help make the Expo a success and also whip up the desired interest amongst the public.

Friday, June 8, 2012

JAMAICAN DRUG LORD ,GETS 23 YEARS IN PRISON



(MANHATTAN, NY)  Preet Bharara, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York and Wilbert L. Plummer, Acting Special Agent in Charge of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration’s New York Field Division (DEA) announced that CHRISTOPHER MICHAEL COKE, the leader of the Jamaica-based international criminal organization, the “Shower Posse,” also known as the “Presidential Click,” was sentenced today to 23 years in prison. COKE pled guilty on August 31, 2011 to one count of racketeering conspiracy and one count of conspiracy to commit assault with a dangerous weapon in aid of racketeering. He was sentenced today by U.S. District Judge Robert P. Patterson.
Manhattan U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara stated: “From his home base in Jamaica, Christopher Coke presided over an international drug and weapons trafficking organization that he controlled through violence and intimidation for nearly two decades; enlisting an army of ‘soldiers’ to do his bidding. With his conviction, he is no longer able to traffick drugs in the U.S., move guns across our border, or terrorize people, and with today’s sentence; he will now spend a very long time in prison for his crimes.”
DEA Acting Special Agent in Charge Wilbert Plummer stated, “This sentencing shows the tenacity that law enforcement has upheld in order to identify, arrest and prosecute Christopher Coke and those like him who have been ‘untouchable’ criminals.  For years, Coke has overseen cocaine and marijuana distribution as well as illegally traffic in firearms throughout the United States. Through concerted law enforcement efforts he has finally seen the consequences of his actions and has been sentenced to 23 years behind bars.” 

Since the early 1990s, COKE led the Presidential Click, which had members in Jamaica, the United States, and other countries. He was based in the Tivoli Gardens area, a neighborhood in inner-city Kingston, Jamaica, that he controlled. Tivoli Gardens was guarded by a group of gunmen who acted at COKE’s direction. They were armed with illegally trafficked firearms from the United States that COKE imported into Jamaica.

Since 1994, members of the Presidential Click have been involved in drug trafficking in locations throughout the world, including New York City, Miami, and Kingston, Jamaica. At COKE’s direction and on his behalf, members distributed marijuana, cocaine, and crack cocaine and sent him the proceeds. They also supplied COKE with firearms that they obtained in the United States.
 The Presidential Click members relied on COKE to provide them with protection and to assist them in their drug businesses, including resolution of narcotics related disputes. For example, in May 2007, COKE and others agreed to assault a narcotics trafficker in the Bronx, New York, when the trafficker failed to pay a drug debt owed to another member of the Presidential Click. COKE has been designated by the U.S. Department of Justice as a Consolidated Priority Organization Target (“CPOT”). The CPOT list includes the world’s most dangerous narcotics traffickers. COKE was arrested by Jamaican authorities on June 22, 2010, near Kingston, Jamaica, and arrived in the Southern District of New York on June 24, 2010.

In addition to his prison term, COKE, 43, was sentenced to four years of supervised release and ordered to pay $1.5 million in forfeiture.

Mr. Bharara praised the investigative work of the DEA’s New York Field Division and Caribbean Division’s Kingston Office. He also thanked the Office of International Affairs in the Justice Department’s Criminal Division for their significant assistance in this case, as well as the U.S. Embassy in Kingston and the Office of the Legal Adviser at the Department of State.

 Source:Ekow Shalders/Joel Shalders(IDPF/ABS,USA)