Jordan S. Gonzalez Admits Attempting to Weaponize Deadly Toxins and Possessing Narcotics Manufacturing Equipment

A licensed pharmacist pleaded guilty in federal court to attempting to develop, produce, and possess the potentially deadly toxins ricin and abrin for use as weapons and to possessing equipment for producing illegal narcotics, New Jersey U.S. Attorney Paul J. Fishman announced.

Jordan S. Gonzalez, 34, of New York and formerly of Jersey City, New Jersey, entered his guilty plea before U.S. District Judge Mary L. Cooper in Trenton federal court.

“Jordan Gonzalez admitted today that he worked to manufacture and deploy deadly toxins, stockpiled weapons and body armor, and acquired manuals training him for violent confrontation,” said U.S. Attorney Fishman. “We all have seen the devastation possible when these behaviors go unchecked. With today’s guilty plea, Jordan Gonzalez will face justice and will not be a threat to society.”

“The overriding focus of the FBI’s WMD Directorate and the primary focus of our overall efforts is prevention,” said FBI Newark Division Special Agent in Charge Aaron T. Ford. “To make this happen, we pull together various resources from the FBI and work closely with our law enforcement partners. In this case, the FBI worked swiftly and tirelessly with our partners to prevent and neutralize all threats posed by this defendant.”

Carl J. Kotowski, Special Agent in Charge of the Drug Enforcement Administration’s New Jersey Division, said, “The men and women of DEA are dedicated to protecting the citizens of this nation. This investigation reveals how DEA and its law enforcement partners worked together to prevent Mr. Gonzalez from doing harm to the citizens of our communities.”

According documents filed in this case and statements made in court:

• From September 18, 2011 through March 19, 2013, Gonzalez purchased thousands of seeds containing ricin and abrin and materials to extract and administer those toxins to others, including filtering equipment, respirators, glass vials, a spraying device, and projectile weapons including a crossbow pistol. Gonzalez also purchased materials for making RDX, an explosive compound used in military and commercial demolition applications. Gonzalez made the purchases through an online third-party vendor marketplace, and all the items were delivered to him at his Jersey City apartment.
• Gonzalez learned how to extract toxins from the seeds and about deployment methods from manuals he acquired. He also kept manuals teaching how to make improvised explosive devices and synthesize explosive compounds, including RDX.
• On November 8, 2013, while living in New York, Gonzalez purchased one kilogram of sodium azide, a toxic, gas-forming compound that can explode at high temperatures and is lethal if ingested or absorbed through the skin. Law enforcement officers intercepted the delivery during the investigation.
• On November 14, 2013, Gonzalez was arrested in Jersey City, and search warrants were executed at three locations he used: apartments in Manhattan and Jersey City and a storage unit in Jersey City. Collectively, material collected through the searches included thousands of seeds containing ricin and abrin; explosive precursor chemicals; manuals related to toxins, explosives, and improvised explosive devices; approximately one thousand rounds of ammunition, handguns, components for assault rifles, and high-capacity magazines; a bulletproof vest; and books and documents related to the collapse of social order and techniques for surviving in a lawless environment. Gonzalez has been in custody since his arrest.

Even small doses of ricin and abrin are potentially lethal to humans if ingested, inhaled, or injected—causing death within 36 to 72 hours from the time of exposure.

During his guilty plea, Gonzalez admitted that acquiring this knowledge and these materials were substantial steps toward developing ricin and abrin as weapons and that he acquired all the materials—including the firearms, ammunition, and body armor—in anticipation of using them in confrontations with other people in the future.

Gonzalez also acquired manuals for synthesizing controlled substances, including methylenedioxyamphetamine (MDA) and methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA), also known as Ecstasy. He bought and had delivered to the Jersey City apartment a three-neck round-bottom flask, gel capsules, and an encapsulating machine, as well as precursor chemicals used in the manufacture of MDA and MDMA. Possession of that type of flask is prohibited if intended for use in the manufacturing of controlled substances.

The toxin charge to which Gonzalez pleaded guilty carries a maximum potential penalty of any term of years or life in prison and a $250,000 fine. The narcotics charge carries a maximum potential penalty of four years in prison and a $250,000 fine. Sentencing is currently scheduled for September 17, 2014.

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Neal Goyal of Blue Horizon Asset Management Charged with Allegedly Defrauding 41 Investors of $11.3 Million

A Chicago investment fund manager fraudulently obtained more than $11.3 million from 41 investors and misused the funds for his own benefit, as well as to repay certain investors in a Ponzi-type scheme, according to a criminal fraud case announced by federal law enforcement officials. The defendant, Neal Goyal, was the founder and sole managing member of Blue Horizon Asset Management LLC and Caldera Advisors LLC, both of which were unregistered investment advisers.

Goyal, 33, of Chicago, was charged with one count of wire fraud in a criminal information filed in U.S. District Court, where he will be ordered to appear for arraignment on a date yet to be determined.

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission filed a parallel civil fraud lawsuit yesterday and obtained a court order freezing the assets of Goyal and his funds. The SEC suit alleges that Goyal stole his investors’ money to fund his own lavish lifestyle, to pay business expenses, and to support a variety of personal business ventures, including a bar and two children’s clothing boutiques that his wife operates in Chicago.

According to the criminal case, between June 2006 and May 2014, Goyal obtained more than $11.3 million from investors through offering and selling limited partnerships in three Blue Horizon funds and a Caldera Equity Fund by making false representations about the intended use of the funds, the investment returns generated, and the source of the investment returns and principal paid to investors. In fact, Goyal allegedly misappropriated the investors’ funds for his own benefit and concealed the fraud scheme by creating and distributing false account statements.

Beginning in early 2006, Goyal represented that funds invested in the Blue Horizon funds would be used for long and short trading in equities, options, and other securities. By June 2006, Goyal began sending false account statements to investors that inflated the financial results from trading purportedly being done by those funds, the charging document alleges. By the first half of 2008, Goyal allegedly knew that he intended to misuse the funds for himself and to make Ponzi-type payments to certain investors. By January 2009, Goyal had stopped trading for two Blue Horizon funds and had not traded at all for the third Blue Horizon fund. In February 2009, Goyal allegedly began engaging in a similar fraud scheme with investments in the Caldera Equity Fund.

Wire fraud carries a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison and a $250,000 fine or an alternate fine totaling twice the loss or twice the gain, whichever is greater, and restitution is mandatory. If convicted, the court must impose a reasonable sentence under federal statutes and the advisory United States Sentencing Guidelines.

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Robert De Niro to Join Robert Pattinson on Movie About Murdered Burglary Crew That Stole from Tony Accardo #IdolsEye

Back in 2011 actor Robert De Niro and director Olivier Assayas sat side by side on the Cannes jury. Now they’re making a movie together. Assayas has just hired De Niro to join Robert Pattinson in the film Idol’s Eye. The movie is scheduled to shoot in October in Chicago and Toronto.

The press release announcing the film doesn’t have many details, but there is speculation (via The Film Stage) that this is a retitled launch of the Assayas project Hubris. That was described in 2013 as “an action-packed crime thriller set against the backdrop of organized crime in Chicago in the 1970s.” Which would be something I’d watch the director of Carlos do in a heartbeat.

Indeed, this new film is described as a sophisticated heist action/thriller. And with that Chicago location planned, these probably are one and the same. Or at least one jumps off from the other.

Here’s a rundown. Hubris was a script by Bobby Moresco that Todd Field was going to direct back in 2011. It was based on a 2007 Playboy article called Boosting the Big Tuna, written by reporter Hillel Levin. The story was based on the murders of a crew of guys who robbed the house of Chicago mafia boss Tony Accardo’s (AKA “Big Tuna”) in 1978. After the break-in, several guys suspected of the crime were murdered with, well, let’s say extreme prejudice. Some were tortured. There’s a lot more to the story than that; it’s a hell of a gangland saga, with violence and a big multi-layered investigation. (It’s also the same material that Michael Mann was toying with shooting as Big Tuna a few years ago.)

So where does the name Idol’s Eye come from? The Idol’s Eye is a big diamond — a big famous diamond, in fact. In the ’70s it was owned by a Chicago jeweler. It was never stolen, and was not part of the Big Tuna robbery. But there’s a connection. The owner of the diamond was Harry Levinson, a mob-connected guy. And in 1977 a thief named John Mendell targeted Levinson for his diamond, and planned a huge heist of the rock that was only partially successful. John Mendell is one of the guys who broke into Big Tuna’s place a year later.

So what story is Assayas telling? We’d assume that De Niro is going to play Accardo, and Pattinson will be Mendell. But the title suggests this could be more about the attempt to steal the Idol’s Eye than the Accardo robbery. Both are big, great stories, with potential for some excellent cinematic flavor.

Regaardless, I’ll watch it. Assayas had a good year at Cannes this year, too. While his current film, The Clouds of Sils Maria — a film about film — didn’t win the Palme d’Or, it earned a lot of appreciation while playing on the Croisette. We’re looking forward to seeing that, and having Idol’s Eye on the horizon is a bonus.

Variety adds that Rachel Weisz is now also in talks to join the cast, and confirms that this is a relaunch of the old Hubris project.

Thanks to Russ Fischer.

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Juan Alberto Ortiz-Lopez, High-Ranking Guatemalan Drug Trafficker, Extradited to Face Federal Drug Charges #OperationPanamaExpress

Juan Alberto Ortiz-Lopez, a/k/a “Chamale,” a/k/a “Juanito,” (43, San Marcos, Guatemala) has been extradited to the Middle District of Florida to face federal drug trafficking charges. If convicted, he faces a maximum penalty of life in federal prison. The indictment also notifies Ortiz-Lopez that the United States intends to forfeit any and all properties, which are traceable to proceeds of the offenses. Ortiz-Lopez was indicted on February 1, 2011 and arrested on March 30, 2011, by Guatemalan authorities.

Count one of the indictment charges Ortiz-Lopez with conspiring with other persons, including persons who were on board a vessel subject to the jurisdiction of the United States and who were first brought into the United States, at a point in the Middle District of Florida, to possess with the intent to distribute and distribute five kilograms or more of cocaine. Count two charges Ortiz-Lopez with conspiring with other persons to distribute five kilograms or more of cocaine, knowing and intending that such substance would be unlawfully imported into the United States.

Ortiz-Lopez’s indictment was obtained following a long-term investigation by the Operation Panama Express Strike Force—a multi-agency task force targeting large-scale drug trafficking organizations involved in smuggling shipments of narcotics into the United States. Ortiz-Lopez was designated under the Department of Justice’s Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force (OCDETF) program as a Consolidated Priority Organization Target (CPOT) and was considered by the DEA to be the highest-ranking drug trafficker currently operating in Guatemala. For over a decade, Ortiz-Lopez’s drug organization received multi-ton cocaine shipments in Guatemala, which would then be transported through Mexico to the United States, where the cocaine would be further distributed.

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Patricia M. Syling Pleads Guilty to Wire Fraud

Patricia M. Syling (44, Lutz) pleaded guilty to wire fraud. She faces a maximum penalty of 20 years in federal prison. As part of her plea agreement, Syling also agreed to forfeit a residence in Lutz.

According to the plea agreement and other court documents, Syling gained employment in October 2007 with Citrus Health Care Inc. (CHC), a health maintenance organization located in Tampa. Her title was director of Compliance. To secure the position with CHC, Syling used a false name (Patricia Dunne) and other false personal information in her CHC employment application, including a false Social Security number, prior work history, and education history. Syling used the false information because at the time, she was under federal indictment in the District of Hawaii, charged with eight counts of mail fraud.

Shortly after securing employment at CHC, Syling opened a bank account at Regions Bank in the name of Health Solutions Group LLC (HSG), a company created and controlled by her. Thereafter, she created fraudulent documentation to support bogus invoices submitted by HSG and other like-sounding names to CHC, which Syling then approved for payment. For example, in July 2007, using her position at CHC and still posing as Patricia Dunne, Syling provided fraudulent information to a member of the CHC Board of Directors in order to cause that person to initiate an interstate wire transfer of $395,000 from CHC’s SunTrust bank account to the HSG bank account controlled by the Syling at Regions Bank. Syling then used a portion of the proceeds from the wire transfer to purchase a home in Lutz, Florida.

In March 2009, Syling pleaded guilty to the eight mail fraud charges in the District of Hawaii. On June 3, 2009, she was sentenced to 40 months in federal prison. She was released in June 2013. A superseding indictment was returned in the Middle District of Florida case in July 2013.

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