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☆ Massachusetts pizza shop owner is sentenced to 8.5 years for forced labor and threats of deportation
▼ + stars: | 2024-10-29 | by ( Hanna Park | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +2 min

CNN —The owner of two Boston-area pizza shops has been sentenced to more than eight years in prison for subjecting employees to years of violence and intimidation, according to prosecutors. In June, he was convicted on three counts of forced labor and three counts of attempted forced labor. Authorities discovered that Papantoniadis operated his pizza shops with a skeletal staff, forced workers to perform grueling shifts of 14 hours or more, often seven days a week. Papantoniadis violently choked a worker who expressed his intention to quit, causing the victim to flee in fear, investigators found. “Today’s significant sentence sends a message to employers — employees deserve to work in safety, free from harassment and abuse.”

Persons: Stavros Papantoniadis, Papantoniadis, ”, Joshua Levy, ” Papantoniadis, Levy, Papantoniadis “, ” Michael J, “ Organizations: CNN, US, Office, District of Massachusetts, Labor, Authorities, Homeland Security Investigations Locations: Boston, Norwood , Massachusetts

☆ US sting operation catches crypto firms 'wash trading' to boost token values
▼ + stars: | 2024-10-10 | by ( Kelly Cloonan | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

A tip from the SEC led federal prosecutors to set up a fake company to bust crypto market manipulators. The firms are charged with "wash trading," artificially increasing trade volume to boost token prices. The case marks the first such charges against crypto firms, prosecutors say. The charges are the first in the crypto industry related to "wash trading." The sting charged ZM Quant, CLS Global, and MyTrade with wash trading related to their communications with NexFundAI.

Persons: —, Jodi Cohen, cryptocurrency –, Joshua Levy Organizations: SEC, Service, Securities and Exchange Commission, FBI, CLS Global, NexFundAI, Boston, United Locations: Boston, Saitama

☆ eBay to pay $3 million after former employees sent live insects and a bloody pig mask to harass a couple
▼ + stars: | 2024-01-11 | by ( Samantha Delouya | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +3 min

New York CNN —eBay will pay a $3 million criminal penalty for a harassment campaign, including sending live cockroaches, of a Massachusetts-based couple who ran a newsletter that was sometimes critical of the company. eBay was charged with six criminal offenses, including stalking, witness tampering and obstruction of justice, after several of the company’s employees sent disturbing packages to the home of Ina and David Steiner in 2019, including a bloody pig mask, a fetal pig, live insects and a funeral wreath. “The company’s employees and contractors involved in this campaign put the victims through pure hell, in a petrifying campaign aimed at silencing their reporting and protecting the eBay brand,” Levy said. According to the US attorney’s statement, eBay employees, including Jim Baugh, eBay’s senior director of safety and security at the time, were frustrated with the tone of the Steiners’ newsletter, which aimed to provide information to eBay sellers. eBay said it terminated all involved employees in 2020, including the company’s former chief communications officer.

Persons: Ina, David Steiner, Joshua Levy, ” Levy, Jamie Iannone, ” Iannone, Jim Baugh, eBay’s, “, Baugh, Levy, ” Organizations: New, New York CNN, eBay, Massachusetts US, DOJ, Craigslist Locations: New York, Massachusetts

☆ Two South Koreans accused of running US ‘high-end’ brothel ring to appear in court Monday
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-13 | by ( Holmes Lybrand | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +6 min

He is accused of running part of the financial side of the brothels – renting out apartments in his or fake identities and operating numerous businesses to allegedly launder money through. The website advertised “models” – pictured on the sites in underwear in provocative poses – for photographers to hire, the affidavit says. Junmyung, investigators say, was born in Korea and is in the US on a student visa, which started in 2018. The confidential source, working with investigators, contacted James to set up a brothel in Connecticut, the affidavit says. He also mentioned during the call that he worked with a “Hana in Boston,” according to the affidavit.

Persons: Han Lee, Junmyung Lee, James Lee, Zachary Mitlitsky, Han, Junmyung, James, –, James laundered, Massachusetts Joshua Levy, ” Levy Organizations: CNN, Homeland Security, TSA, Hana Locations: Boston, Washington, Worchester , Massachusetts, California, Las Vegas and Virginia, Eastern Virginia, Virginia, Cambridge , Massachusetts, Korea, Tysons , Virginia, Connecticut, Massachusetts

☆ DOJ announces arrests in ‘high-end brothel network’ used by elected officials, military officers and others
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-08 | by ( Holmes Lybrand | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +3 min

CNN —Three individuals have been arrested on charges of operating a “high-end brothel network” in Massachusetts and Virginia with a clientele that included elected officials, military officers and government contractors with security clearances, the Justice Department announced Wednesday. “Pick a profession,” Joshua Levy, acting US attorney for Massachusetts, said of the sprawling client list during a press conference in Boston. The three individuals, Levy said, transported women and advertised them online for pre-approved clients to choose from through several websites and ran the brothels out of apartments they rented. The agent said about 20 sex buyers were interviewed in connection with the multiyear investigation. One customer described getting a text of available options at a brothel, including the women available, the sexual services and the hourly rate.

Persons: “, ” Joshua Levy, “ They’re, ” Levy, Han Lee, James Lee, Junmyung Lee, Levy Organizations: CNN, Justice Department, Homeland Security Investigations Locations: Massachusetts, Virginia, Boston, Massachusetts , California, Cambridge , Massachusetts, Torrance , California, Dedham , Massachusetts

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