by Kristopher Seals
UNITED STATES: Storm Descends Upon Gulf
In a year that shows no signs of giving people a break, mother nature got in some shots on the southern U.S.
Not one, but two systems slid into the Gulf of Mexico, as systems Laura and Marco achieved name status from the National Weather Service. The whole development ended up being a good news / bad news situation. The good news: Marco eventually dissipated; the bad news: that led to Laura becoming more powerful, as it had more energy to feed upon.
By the time you read this, Laura will have likely battered the Louisiana-Texas region with high winds, storm surge, and pouring rains. Before the cyclone even touched land, President Trump issued Emergency Declarations for Louisiana, Texas, and even Mississippi.
The President’s action authorized the Department of Homeland Security, Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), to coordinate all disaster relief efforts which have the purpose of alleviating the hardship and suffering caused by the emergency on the local population, and to provide appropriate assistance for required emergency measures, authorized under Title V of the Stafford Act, to save lives and to protect property and public health and safety, and to lessen or avert the threat of a catastrophe.
EUROPE: EU in Talks with Another Vaccine Maker
On Aug. 24, the European Commission has concluded exploratory talks with Moderna to purchase a potential vaccine against COVID-19. Moderna is the fifth company with which the Commission has concluded talks, following Sanofi-GSK on July 31, Johnson & Johnson on Aug. 13, CureVac on Aug. 18, in addition to the signature of an Advance Purchase Agreement with AstraZeneca on Aug. 14.
The envisaged contract with Moderna would provide for the possibility for all EU Member States to purchase the vaccine, as well as to donate to lower and middle income countries or re-direct to European countries. It is anticipated that the Commission will have a contractual framework in place for the initial purchase of 80 million doses on behalf of all EU Member States, plus an option to purchase up to a further 80 million doses, to be supplied once a vaccine has proven to be safe and effective against COVID-19. The Commission pursues intensive discussions with other vaccine manufacturers.
Ursula von der Leyen, President of the European Commission, said, “After intense negotiations, the European Commission has now concluded talks with a fifth pharmaceutical company, to enable rapid access to a vaccine against coronavirus for Europeans. We invest in companies using diverse technologies, to increase our chances to have vaccines that are safe and effective. We continue talks with other companies – as we want to make sure that vaccines are rapidly available on the market. European investments in coronavirus vaccines will benefit the whole world and will help us beat this virus.”
Stella Kyriakides, Commissioner for Health and Food Safety, said, “Today’s outcome following the talks with Moderna show that we deliver on our commitment to get access to a safe and effective vaccine. I am pleased to see that we continue to fulfil our target of having a diversified portfolio of vaccines – a necessity to ensure eventual success and protecting our citizens against coronavirus.”
Moderna is a U.S. based company pioneering the development of a new class of vaccines based on messenger RNA (mRNA). mRNA plays a fundamental role in human biology, transferring the instructions which direct cells in the body to make proteins, including proteins that may prevent or fight disease.
The exploratory talks concluded are intended to result in an Advance Purchase Agreement to be financed with the Emergency Support Instrument, which has funds dedicated to the creation of a portfolio of potential vaccines with different profiles and produced by different companies.
CARIBBEAN: ANOTHER Puerto Rican Legislator Indicted
An On Aug. 19, a federal grand jury in the District of Puerto Rico returned an eight-count indictment against legislator Nelson Del Valle Colon (Del Valle Colon), a member of the Puerto Rico House of Representatives, as well as two of his employees, Nickolle Santos-Estrada (Santos) and her mother Mildred Estrada-Rojas (Estrada), for their alleged participation in a multi-year theft, bribery, and kickback conspiracy.
The indictment charges Del Valle Colon, Santos, and Estrada with conspiracy as well as theft, bribery, and kickbacks concerning programs receiving federal funds. Del Valle Colon is facing two additional counts of honest services wire fraud, and one count of obstruction of justice for destroying data on his cell phone.
According to the allegations in the indictment, in early 2017, Del Valle Colon fraudulently inflated the salaries of Santos, Estrada, and another individual for no legitimate reason, and corruptly agreed that out of their inflated paychecks, the employees would keep a portion for themselves and kick back the other portion, generally between approximately $500 and $2,000, to Del Valle Colon.
“Puerto Rico legislator Nelson Del Valle Colon and his employees allegedly embarked on a years-long conspiracy to enrich themselves by embezzling funds and using bribes and kickbacks to defraud the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico,” said Acting Assistant Attorney General Brian C. Rabbitt of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division. “As this case shows, the Department of Justice and our law enforcement partners are committed to holding elected officials accountable for corrupt conduct.”
“Public corruption destroys the trust we have in our elected officials, which is essential for democracy to thrive,” said U.S. Attorney W. Stephen Muldrow for the District of Puerto Rico. “In this case, the citizens of Puerto Rico were betrayed by legislator Del Valle Colon, an elected official who abused his position for personal gain, and who must be held accountable for violating one of the basic tenets of public trust, that is, serving his constituents with integrity and honesty. The U.S. Attorney’s Office, and our law enforcement partners, will continue to relentlessly investigate and prosecute anyone who tries to undermine our system of government.”
“As we have said numerous times, public corruption is and will continue to be a priority for the FBI,” said Special Agent in Charge Rafael Riviere of the FBI’s San Juan Field Office. “May today be a reminder that we will not tolerate corruption and we will act swiftly to remove those who would violate public trust. Special thanks to our DOJ partners for their support of our mission.”
The indictment further alleges that the defendants used a variety of means to transfer the kickbacks to Del Valle Colon. Allegedly, Santos, Estrada, and the other individual would sometimes transfer cash by hand to Del Valle Colon. The defendants would also sometimes transfer kickbacks in approximately $500 increments to Del Valle Colon using ATH Móvil, a mobile phone application that allows individuals who bank at certain financial institutions to send money to each other through an interface on their cell phones.
The honest services wire fraud counts against Del Valle Colon involve WhatsApp messages sent by Del Valle Colon that furthered the scheme to defraud and deprive the citizens and the government of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico of their right to Del Valle Colon’s honest services.
This indictment also charges Del Valle Colon with obstruction of justice. After becoming aware of the investigation into illegal activities at his legislative office in or about July 2020, Del Valle Colon deleted data on his cell phone including communications between himself and Santos, and between himself and Estrada.
The indictment is the result of an ongoing investigation by the FBI and is being prosecuted by Trial Attorney Jonathan E. Jacobson of the Criminal Division’s Public Integrity Section and Assistant U.S. Attorney Scott Anderson from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Puerto Rico.
An indictment is merely an allegation and all defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.
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AFRICA: Online Crime Draws Concern
A new INTERPOL report on online organized crime in Africa shows how digitalization is transforming almost every major crime area across the continent.
“Online crime now represents a bigger security issue for law enforcement in Africa than ever before,” reads the report, which goes on to detail how the different layers of the Internet (surface web, deep web and dark web) are being used by organized crime groups in Africa to perpetuate crimes.
Africa continues to rank lowest in rates of Internet connectivity in the world. In 2019, only 28% of Africans were reportedly using the Internet, compared to 83% in Europe, according to figures from the International Telecommunications Union cited in the INTERPOL report.
However, relatively low rates of online connectivity have not stopped organized crime groups from taking advantage of the Internet.
Malware incidents are increasingly prevalent in Africa. In one East African country alone, the cost of cyber fraud more than doubled between 2017 and 2018, reaching nearly USD 6.5 million.
Even the criminal activities that have longed formed the ‘bread and butter’ of organized crime groups are being digitalized.
Social media is used to facilitate migrant smuggling, as evidenced by the INTERPOL-supported Operation Sarraounia, which saw the rescue of 232 victims of human trafficking in Niger, 46 of whom were minors. The operation revealed that 180 male victims had been recruited online with messages that promised “decent work.”
As in other world regions, organized crime groups in Africa also use the Internet to facilitate the sexual exploitation and abuse of children, leveraging digital tools to contact and solicit victims as well as sell child sexual abuse materials.
The African continent is also a growing global transit hub for the trafficking of drugs and a range of illicit commodities, with narcotics, pharmaceuticals, stolen motor vehicles and other goods sold and bought online on the surface, deep and dark web.
A key factor driving the increase in Internet-enabled crime in Africa is that many countries lack comprehensive policies and strategies to combat cybercrime, the report argues.
While the African Union (AU) adopted the Convention on Cybersecurity and Personal Data Protection in 2014. By January 2020, only 14 out of 55 AU member countries had signed the convention by January 2020.
The convention needs to be ratified by at least 15 member countries to enter into force. As of January 2020, only seven countries had ratified it.
“This shows that cybersecurity is still not perceived as a necessity by many African countries, which further exacerbates the problem,” the report reads.
Through ENACT, INTERPOL assists police in Africa to adopt proactive strategies to combat organized crime threats, facilitate information exchange and enhance analytical skills.
Project ENACT is the first initiative of its kind to cover the entire African continent in analyzing the scale of organized crime and its impact on security, governance and development. This analysis serves to inform decision-makers and strengthen law enforcement cooperation at regional and continental levels.
