MARYLAND NEWS

Source: WMAR -2 News

The Defendant Used His Law Firm Escrow Account to Launder Drug Proceeds. Source: US Attorney, District of Maryland

Source: Maryland Attorney General

The former Chief Information Officer of the Maryland Department of Human Resources, while employed as a government agent, from December 2011 to January 2013,  received financial benefits from two senior members of an IT Company  in exchange for influence in connection with the performance of favorable official acts.  In the process of influencing contracts, the Annapolis woman used her own company, to facilitate contracts and favorable business dealings. Source: US Attorney, District of Maryland

The U.S. Attorney’s Office is partnering with Project SAFE and the PROTECT Week Coalition to help seniors in Maryland avoid falling victim to financial exploitation.  PROTECT Week, held June 13-17, 2022, offers opportunities to learn about the many forms of abuse, neglect, and financial e2xploitation of older Marylanders. Source: US Attorney, District of Maryland

The Department of Justice, pursuant to a court-ordered default judgment and final order of forfeiture entered on May 24, has secured the forfeiture of a Potomac, Maryland, property acquired with approximately $3.5 million in alleged corruption proceeds by the former President Yahya Jammeh of The Gambia, through a trust set up by his wife, Zineb Jammeh.

The judgment is the result of a civil forfeiture complaint filed by the United States in July 2020 seeking the forfeiture of the Maryland property. As alleged in the complaint, Yahya Jammeh corruptly obtained millions of dollars through the misappropriation of stolen public funds and the solicitation of bribes from businesses seeking to obtain monopoly rights over various sectors of the Gambian economy. Jammeh conspired with his family members and close associates to utilize a host of shell companies and overseas trusts to launder his alleged corrupt proceeds throughout the world, including through the purchase of a multimillion-dollar mansion in Potomac, Maryland. Source: U.S. DOJ

The acting Social Security commissioner will begin an inquiry of the inspector general’s oversight of an anti-fraud program. The program piled huge fines on the poor and disabled. Inflated fees were set in motion  when attorneys in charge of a little-known anti-fraud program run by the Social Security inspector general’s office levied unprecedented fines more than 100 beneficiareis without due process. After repeated urging to have cases reexamined an penalties lowered, two officials were escorted out of the headquarters in Woodlawn, MD in 2019 and placed on paid leave. In May an administrative law judge ruled in the case of one of the officials it was a “prima facie case of whistleblower reprisal.” Following the front page story in the Washington Post the acting Social Security commissioner was expected to launch a n  investigation sof the anti-fraud program.  Source: Washington Post.com

The Maryland General Assembly’s Joint Committee on Fair Practices and State Personnel Oversight found former Environmental Service director "abused his position." Source: WUSA9CBS

On Mary 17, 2022, the Baltimore City Council was considering a bill for a proposed charter amendment that would take IG oversight away from elected officials.  Among other things in the bill the ethics board chair would randomly select two members of the IG oversight board from candidates submitted by the Baltimore City Bar Association,  the Association of Fraud Examiners, or the Association of Certified Public Accountants. Source: “Proposed charter amendment would take IG oversight away from elected officials” in the Baltimore Brew and Charter Amendment- Inspector General-Advisory Board bill.