[P]owell  admitted that from around March 2019 and continuing until about Feb. 6, 2020, he conspired with others to devise a fraud scheme with the specific intent to obtain money or property by means of fraudulent representations or promises.  He agreed with his codefendants to engage in a scheme to defraud the victim by soliciting money and assets in exchange for false promises to perform work for the victim. He also admitted he engaged in a fake romantic relationship with the victim as a part of his scheme to defraud her.

He admitted that he purchased a 2019 GMC Sierra using money he received as a part of his scheme to defraud the victim.  Using money derived from criminal conduct is money laundering.  Several of the counts he pleaded guilty to relate to efforts he took to impede and obstruct the investigation of the case, including concealing cellular phones and money.

Powell also pleaded guilty to witness tampering admitting that in November 2019, he attempted to stop the victim from communicating with law enforcement officers investigating the case. Through written correspondence and phone calls, Powell and his codefendant, Faye Renteria, age 42, of Hurricane, made misleading statements and attempted to get the victim to assist them in avoiding prosecution.

. . .

Eight defendants were charged in a 10-count superseding indictment returned by a federal grand jury in January. The indictment alleged the defendants, who have family relationships, conspired to obtain money and assets from the victim in exchange for false promises to perform work on her property.

The indictment alleges that starting around March 2019 through October 2019, several of the defendants began soliciting payments from the victim by offering to perform routine repairs and odd jobs on her property. The victim created a list of requested repairs, such as painting the exterior of the house, resurfacing the driveway, doing yard work, hammering protruding nails on the roof, fixing a door handle on a car, removing grease spots on the driveway, and installing carpet on an outdoor deck.  To further advance the scheme, Frank Powell engaged in romance fraud by enticing the victim to enter into a romantic relationship. He used the romantic relationship to manipulate the victim into giving him money and assets.

According to the indictment, most of the jobs they promised to do were never completed or the quality of work was extremely poor and fell well below any expectation of professionally done work. The victim paid the defendants at least $273,849.20, both indirectly and directly, for this work.

The indictment included one count of wire fraud conspiracy, five counts of money laundering conspiracy - spending, two counts of destruction or concealment of records and tangible objects in a federal investigation, one count of concealment of a document or object, and one count of tampering with a witness or victim.

Frank Powell's mother and codefendant, Gloria Jean Powell, age 74, of St. George, was sentenced to time served on May 1, 2020, after pleading guilty to one count of concealment of a document or object, admitting she concealed or attempted to conceal U.S. currency with the intent to impair an FBI investigation.  She admitted she aided and abetted her son, Frank Powell, and her daughter, Angela McDuffie, age 53, of Lehi, in the conduct.  She also agreed to forfeit a 2010 Toyota Venza as a part of the resolution of her case.

Sentencing is set for July 15, 2020, for Renteria, who pleaded guilty May 7, 2020, to conspiracy to commit wire fraud, wire fraud, two counts of money laundering, two counts of destruction of records or tangible objects designed to impede the FBI's investigation in the case, and witness tampering.   Among other things, she admitted she engaged in misleading conduct involving the victim in the case in an attempt to prevent or delay her from communicating with law enforcement regarding the commission of a federal crime.

Renteria faces sentences of up to 20 years for conspiracy to commit wire fraud, up to 10 years for each count of money laundering, up to 20 years for each count of destruction of records or tangible objects in a federal investigation, and up to 10 years for the witness tampering conviction.  Renteria is in custody.

Bubby Mern Shepherd, age 58, of Lodi, California, and Rocky James Powell Mott, age 40, of Hurricane, also have entered guilty pleas.  Shepherd pleaded guilty last week to one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud.  Mott pleaded guilty Wednesday to the same count.  Plea agreements for Shepherd and Mott, who are both in custody, include a stipulated sentence of 21 months in prison for the conviction.  The sentence is subject to the approval of the court.

Cases are pending against McDuffie, Terrence Quincy Powell, age 24, of St. George, and Martell Taz Powell, age 25, of Cedar City.  A Sept. 22, 2020, trial date is set in the case.

[I]n 2013, Taylor, a resident of Jacksonville, Arkansas, was hired as a systems administrator for a lumber and building materials wholesaler. In early 2018, a large Atlanta-based building products distributor acquired the company. Taylor kept his job as a senior systems engineer after the merger, but he was unhappy with the newly combined company and resigned in July 2018.

A month after his departure, Taylor conducted a multi-stage sabotage campaign targeting the company's network. Using information he gained in his employment, Taylor logged into the network remotely without authorization and used encryption methods to hide his network connections. In mid-August 2018, Taylor changed passwords for network routers located at dozens of company warehouses. Company employees were unable to access the routers, and the company replaced them shortly thereafter at a cost of roughly $100,000.

Days later, Taylor issued a shutdown command for a central command server on the company's network, crippling internal communications at the company. As the company worked to restore its network over a two-day period, employees at several of its branches were forced to take customer orders by hand and field incoming orders using their personal cell phones. In total, the server sabotage cost the company over $700,000 dollars in lost profits and remediation costs.

[F]rom June to November 2017, BitClave raised over $25 million by selling its Consumer Activity Tokens (CAT) to approximately 9,500 investors, including investors in the U.S.  The order finds that, as explained in its offering materials, BitClave planned to use the ICO proceeds to develop, administer, and market a blockchain-based search platform for targeted consumer advertising.  BitClave emphasized its expectation that the tokens would increase in value, and took steps to make the tokens available for trading on third-party digital asset trading platforms after the ICO.  The order finds that BitClave failed to register their offers and sales of CAT, which constituted securities.  CAT has since been removed from many of the third-party trading platforms, and BitClave is currently winding down its operations and does not plan to continue developing or supporting the platform. 

Petition Process for Additional Candidates

A person who has not been nominated by the Nominating Committee for election to the FINRA Board may be included on the ballot for the election of governors if:

a. within 45 days after the date of this Election Notice (Monday, June 22, 2020), such person presents to FINRA's Corporate Secretary petitions in support of his or her nomination, duly executed by at least 3 percent of FINRA member firms entitled to vote for such nominee's election. If, however, a candidate's name appears on a petition in support of more than one nominee, the petition must be endorsed by 10 percent of FINRA member firms entitled to vote for such nominees' election; and

b. the Corporate Secretary certifies that such petitions have been duly executed by the executive representatives of the requisite number of FINRA member firms entitled to vote for such person's election, and the person being nominated satisfies the classification of the governorship to be filled.

As of the close of business on Thursday, May 7, 2020, the number of FINRA large firms was 166, and the number of small firms was 3,165. Therefore, the requisite number of petitions for a large firm petitioner is 5, and the requisite number of petitions for a small firm petitioner is 95.

Firms may only endorse one petitioner for the same firm size seat as their own. No firm may endorse more than one such petitioner.

Petitioners must submit sufficient information to determine the person's status with respect to the category for which he or she is petitioning to be nominated. Individuals seeking nomination for election as a Large Firm Governor or a Small Firm Governor have an obligation to satisfy the firm-size classification on the date the petition is circulated, the date the petitions are certified by FINRA's Corporate Secretary, and the date of the annual meeting. Individuals who fail to meet this requirement will be disqualified from election. 

Petitioners must also provide information sufficient for the Corporate Secretary to determine that the petitions are duly executed by the executive representatives of the requisite number of applicable size firm members. In addition, to assist in the process of verifying petitions, FINRA requests that all petitions submitted be dated by their signatory.

Petitions must be submitted no later than Monday, June 22, 2020.

The names of persons obtaining the requisite number of valid petitions will be included on the appropriate proxy mailed to eligible firms in advance of the annual meeting. . .