Federal Executive Branch
Here's a look at documents from the U.S. Executive Branch
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White House Fact Sheet: Establishing the Task Force to Eliminate Fraud
WASHINGTON, March 17 -- The White House issued the following fact sheet on March 16, 2026:
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President Donald J. Trump Establishes the Task Force to Eliminate Fraud
ESTABLISHING THE TASK FORCE TO ELIMINATE FRAUD: Today, President Donald J. Trump signed an Executive Order creating the Task Force to Eliminate Fraud, which will advise the President and coordinate government-wide efforts to combat widespread fraud, waste, and abuse in Federal benefit programs.
* The Vice President will serve as Chair of the Task Force, the Chairman of the Federal Trade Commission will serve as Vice Chairman,
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WASHINGTON, March 17 -- The White House issued the following fact sheet on March 16, 2026:
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President Donald J. Trump Establishes the Task Force to Eliminate Fraud
ESTABLISHING THE TASK FORCE TO ELIMINATE FRAUD: Today, President Donald J. Trump signed an Executive Order creating the Task Force to Eliminate Fraud, which will advise the President and coordinate government-wide efforts to combat widespread fraud, waste, and abuse in Federal benefit programs.
* The Vice President will serve as Chair of the Task Force, the Chairman of the Federal Trade Commission will serve as Vice Chairman,the Assistant to the President for Homeland Security will serve as Senior Advisor, and an Executive Director will manage daily operations. Relevant cabinet secretaries and heads of government agencies will serve as Task Force members.
* The Order directs the Task Force, on behalf of the President, to coordinate a comprehensive national strategy to stop fraud, waste, and abuse across Federal benefit programs, including housing, food, medical care, and cash assistance administered with State and local partners, in order to protect these benefits for eligible Americans.
- The Task Force will coordinate measures to improve eligibility verification, implement pre-payment controls, detect high-risk fraud trends, and disrupt and dismantle fraud networks and the mechanisms through which fraud is committed.
- The Task Force will also coordinate development of minimum anti-fraud requirements to prevent exploitation of taxpayer-funded benefits, including proof of identity and documentation requirements, risk controls, and audit and remedial actions, while each member agency' works to develop a measurable implementation plan.
* The Task Force will provide frequent updates to the President regarding its work.
STOPPING FRAUD, WASTE, AND ABUSE IN FEDERAL BENEFITS: President Trump is restoring the integrity of taxpayer-funded safety-net programs that have been exploited by illegal aliens, criminals, foreign gangs, bureaucrats, and non-governmental organizations.
* States administer many of these benefit programs funded by the Federal Government, yet some have embraced policies that avoid individual eligibility validation, permit self-certification, and expand eligibility far beyond Congressional intent, while refusing to even share enrollee data necessary for reasonable Federal oversight -- creating systemic vulnerabilities that enable fraud at massive scale.
- In July 2025, 21 states filed a lawsuit in California seeking to block the federal government from even conducting a basic review to determine whether their enrollees are in fact eligible for taxpayer-funded benefits under the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program.
* In Minnesota alone, Medicaid fraud could total billions. Nearly 9% of food stamp spending is in error, and scams like Feeding Our Future stole nearly $250 million intended for needy children.
- Hundreds of millions in Federal childcare funding were stolen by an organized ring involving Somali immigrants, spent to purchase cars, property, and luxury travel, and even allegedly funneled to one of Africa's most heinous terror groups -- all while State officials ignored or failed to detect the fraud.
* There is strong reason to believe similar vulnerabilities exist in California, Illinois, New York, Maine, and Colorado, where insufficient safeguards and weak oversight increase the risk of large-scale fraud.
* Fraud and mismanagement of these programs constitute theft from American taxpayers and eligible beneficiaries, contribute to inflation in essential goods and services, and add to the national debt.
* The Biden Administration weakened Federal oversight by reducing commonsense verification safeguards, expanding access without adequate controls, tolerating unacceptable error rates, and creating conditions in which fraud was institutionally enabled and tolerated.
* President Trump is committed to safeguarding Federal benefits for American citizens who are truly in need, rather than allowing them to become a free pass for fraud.
DELIVERING FOR TAXPAYERS: President Trump is using every tool to fight fraud, close loopholes, and ensure benefits only go to eligible Americans.
* President Trump: "The first duty of the American government is to protect American citizens, not illegal aliens."
* In February 2025, President Trump signed an Executive Order to ensure taxpayer resources are not used to incentivize or support illegal immigration.
* In March 2025, President Trump signed an Executive Order eliminating information silos in the Federal Government to stop waste, fraud, and abuse.
* In March 2025, President Trump signed an Executive Order to improve the Department of the Treasury's ability to screen for improper payments and fraud, track transactions, and manage the Government's disbursements.
* In April 2025, President Trump signed a Presidential Memorandum aimed at stopping illegal aliens and other ineligible people from obtaining Social Security Act benefits.
* In January 2026, Vice President JD Vance announced a new division at the Department of Justice dedicated to national fraud enforcement.
* The Administration has taken extensive action to dismantle Minnesota's fraud epidemic, including temporarily pausing certain Medicaid funding to the State to prevent payment of questionable claims while further investigation occurs.
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Original text here: https://www.whitehouse.gov/fact-sheets/2026/03/fact-sheet-president-donald-j-trump-establishes-the-task-force-to-eliminate-fraud/
State Department Issues Public Schedule for March 17, 2026
WASHINGTON, March 17 -- The U.S. Department of State issued the daily public schedule for March 17, 2026:
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SECRETARY MARCO RUBIO
Secretary Rubio attends meetings and briefings at the Department of State and the White House.
DEPUTY SECRETARY OF STATE CHRISTOPHER LANDAU
1:00 p.m. Deputy Secretary Landau meets with Guatemalan Foreign Minister Carlos Ramiro Martinez and Defense Minister Henry Saenz Ramos at the Department of State.
(CLOSED PRESS COVERAGE)
DEPUTY SECRETARY OF STATE FOR MANAGEMENT AND RESOURCES MICHAEL J. RIGAS
Deputy Secretary Rigas attends meetings and briefings at the
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WASHINGTON, March 17 -- The U.S. Department of State issued the daily public schedule for March 17, 2026:
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SECRETARY MARCO RUBIO
Secretary Rubio attends meetings and briefings at the Department of State and the White House.
DEPUTY SECRETARY OF STATE CHRISTOPHER LANDAU
1:00 p.m. Deputy Secretary Landau meets with Guatemalan Foreign Minister Carlos Ramiro Martinez and Defense Minister Henry Saenz Ramos at the Department of State.
(CLOSED PRESS COVERAGE)
DEPUTY SECRETARY OF STATE FOR MANAGEMENT AND RESOURCES MICHAEL J. RIGAS
Deputy Secretary Rigas attends meetings and briefings at theDepartment of State.
UNDER SECRETARY FOR POLITICAL AFFAIRS ALLISON M. HOOKER
4:30 p.m. Under Secretary Hooker meets with Republic of Korea Ambassador to the United States Kang Kyung-wha at the Department of State.
(CLOSED PRESS COVERAGE)
BRIEFING SCHEDULE
No Department Press Briefing.
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Original text here: https://www.state.gov/releases/office-of-the-spokesperson/2026/03/public-schedule-march-17-2026/
SEC Commissioner Issues Traveling Back From the Road Wrongly Taken: Statement on the Proposed Amendments to Exchange Act Rule 15c2-11
WASHINGTON, March 17 -- The Securities and Exchange Commission issued the following remarks on March 16, 2026, by Commissioner Hester M. Peirce on the Proposed Amendments to Exchange Act Rule 15c2-11:
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Today, the Commission proposed amendments to revise Rule 15c2-11 to refer only to equity securities. While I am pleased to support these amendments, I regret the protracted and unnecessarily burdensome process that led us here.
By its terms, the text of Rule 15c2-11 always has applied to quotations of a "security." Market participants and other observers including me, however, understood
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WASHINGTON, March 17 -- The Securities and Exchange Commission issued the following remarks on March 16, 2026, by Commissioner Hester M. Peirce on the Proposed Amendments to Exchange Act Rule 15c2-11:
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Today, the Commission proposed amendments to revise Rule 15c2-11 to refer only to equity securities. While I am pleased to support these amendments, I regret the protracted and unnecessarily burdensome process that led us here.
By its terms, the text of Rule 15c2-11 always has applied to quotations of a "security." Market participants and other observers including me, however, understoodthe rule to apply only to quotations of over-the-counter ("OTC") equity securities.[1] This tension between the rule's text and its application came to a head after the Commission amended Rule 15c2-11 in 2020. As the compliance date of those amendments approached, the Commission began signaling that the rule encompassed fixed-income securities and surprised market participants sought clarity from the Commission.[2] They pointed out that many of the rule's requirements and exemptions were clearly written with equity markets in mind. They highlighted that the 2020 rule amendments relied entirely on OTC equity data and did not even mention the term "fixed income" once. They noted that they were unaware of Rule 15c2-11 ever being applied to fixed income securities. And they warned that the application of the rule would gravely harm the fixed income market and investors, with no discernable reduction in fraud.
At that point, the Commission should have granted long-term no-action relief while we assessed whether the application of the rule to the fixed income market was appropriate and then amended the rule as necessary. Instead, the Commission, mostly through a series of staff no-action letters, granted several rounds of limited relief, sometimes for as short a period as three months, that were claimed to provide the fixed income industry with sufficient time to come into compliance with the rule. Eventually, the Commission issued permanent exemptive relief from Rule 15c2-11 for some fixed income securities[3] and the staff issued permanent no-action relief for another subset of fixed income securities. But by then, we had fostered uncertainty in this market and wasted the resources of the industry, and our staff, for multiple years and for no good reason.
Staff, who were following the bizarre directive of the Commission to start reading the rule with a breadth at odds with historical understanding and market reality, are not at fault. I continue to blame myself for failing to ensure that we made the scope of the rule's application crystal clear during the adoption of amendments to Rule 15c2-11.[4] The staff have been constructive throughout, and I thank the Division of Trading and Markets, the Division of Economic and Risk Analysis, and the Office of General Counsel for their diligent work on this corrective proposing release. I encourage commenters to write in and convey their views as to whether this proposal, if adopted, would resolve the tension between the rule text and the appropriate application of this rule to certain markets. I am particularly interested in commenters' views as to the questions about the definition of "equity security," the rule's application to crypto assets, and the appropriate next steps with respect to the formation of an "expert market."
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[1] Commissioner Hester M. Peirce, Statement on Staff No-Action Letter Regarding Amended Rule 15c2-11 in Relation to Fixed Income Securities (Sept. 24, 2021) ("2021 Statement"), https://www.sec.gov/newsroom/speeches-statements/peirce-nal-rule-15c2-11-2021-09-24.
[2] Letter from Asset Management Group of the Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association, the Investment Company Institute, the Investment Adviser Association, the Managed Funds Association, and the U.S. Chamber's Center for Capital Markets Competitiveness (Sept. 23, 2021), https://www.sifma.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/Investor-15c2-11-letter-final-2021-09-23.pdf.
[3] Order Granting Broker-Dealers Exemptive Relief, Pursuant to Section 36(a) and Rule 15c2-11(g) under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, from Rule 15c2-11 for Fixed-Income Securities Sold in Compliance with the Safe Harbor of Rule 144A under the Securities Act of 1933, Exchange Act Release No. 98819 (Oct. 30, 2023), 88 FR 75343 (Nov. 2, 2023), https://www.sec.gov/files/rules/exorders/2023/34-98819.pdf.
[4] See 2021 Statement ("I acknowledge that I thought of the rule's application only in the OTC equity context. I ought to have solicited comment on the rule's broader application. However, my failure to do so, the failure of the Commission to highlight this issue for active consideration by the public, and the failure of the relevant market participants to identify the issue during the rulemaking process, is not a reason for us now to move forward robotically and apply the rule to fixed income markets without proper deliberation.").
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Original text here: https://www.sec.gov/newsroom/speeches-statements/peirce-statement-exchange-act-rule-15c2-11-031626
President Trump Issues Statement on Birthday of President James Madison
WASHINGTON, March 17 -- President Trump issued the following statement on March 16, 2026, on the birthday of President James Madison:
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Today, we celebrate the birthday of President James Madison--the Father of our Constitution and intellectual architect of the American Founding, whose wisdom and commitment to the common good breathed life into our Republic 250 years ago.
Born on March 16, 1751, in Port Conway, Virginia, Madison was deeply devoted to the pursuit of knowledge. Through his intense study of history, philosophy, and the classics, he nurtured the ideas that would help guide a
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WASHINGTON, March 17 -- President Trump issued the following statement on March 16, 2026, on the birthday of President James Madison:
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Today, we celebrate the birthday of President James Madison--the Father of our Constitution and intellectual architect of the American Founding, whose wisdom and commitment to the common good breathed life into our Republic 250 years ago.
Born on March 16, 1751, in Port Conway, Virginia, Madison was deeply devoted to the pursuit of knowledge. Through his intense study of history, philosophy, and the classics, he nurtured the ideas that would help guide ayoung Nation toward liberty and self-government. In 1776, he was elected to the Fifth Virginia Convention, where he helped draft the State Constitution and the foundational Virginia Declaration of Rights, which would later inspire the opening paragraphs of the Declaration of Independence.
As a member of the Second Continental Congress, Madison played a key role in the debates that led to the Philadelphia Constitutional Convention, and when he gathered with other delegates in the sweltering summer of 1787, Madison's depth of study of both classical and Enlightenment texts on the nature and history of republican governance helped define the contours of the debates that followed. His proposed government--grounded in the separation of powers, popular representation, and structural accountability--helped shape our Constitution, which so famously in final form begins with the revolutionary sentence that forever changed the world: "We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America."
During the ratification debates that followed, Madison penned 29 essays of the legendary Federalist Papers, in which he laid out and defended the philosophy and principles lying at the heart of our new constitutional order. And he helped ensure ratification of the Constitution at the contentious ratification debates in Virginia. Madison's role in defining our form of government did not end there, though. As a member of the House of Representatives in the First United States Congress, Madison drafted the Bill of Rights, balancing the constitutional framework he established with a list of stated rights and guarantees that have become central to our constitutional order.
Madison would go on to serve as Secretary of State under President Thomas Jefferson, where he played a key role in bringing about the Louisiana Purchase, which doubled the size of our new Nation. As the fourth President of the United States, Madison defended American sovereignty during the War of 1812, and ushered in the "Era of Good Feelings" thereafter, helping to define the civic character of the United States.
Following his presidency, Madison returned home to his beloved Montpelier estate in Virginia, where he remained a titan in American public life for years to come. He served as the rector of the University of Virginia, which he helped to establish, and played a decisive role in resolving the Nullification Crisis. At the age of 78, Madison was a representative to the Virginia Constitutional Convention of 1829 to 1830.
In his honor, as we celebrate 250 glorious years of American independence, my Administration reaffirms the sacred principles that James Madison spent his life defending--including rule by the people, freedom of religion, and the constitutional rule of law. On what would have been his 275th birthday, we salute the great James Madison for his integral role in securing our birthright of liberty.
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Original text here: https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefings-statements/2026/03/america-250-presidential-message-on-the-birthday-of-president-james-madison/
FEMA Approves Six-Month Extension of Direct Housing and Rental Assistance for Helene Survivors
WASHINGTON, March 17 -- The U.S. Department of Homeland Security Federal Emergency Management Agency issued the following news release:
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FEMA Approves Six-Month Extension of Direct Housing and Rental Assistance for Helene Survivors
ASHEVILLE, N.C. - FEMA has approved six-month extensions of direct temporary housing and rental assistance for survivors of Tropical Storm Helene in North Carolina.
The direct temporary housing extension allows eligible residents to remain in FEMA-provided temporary housing until September 30, 2026, on a month-to-month basis as they work toward permanent housing
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WASHINGTON, March 17 -- The U.S. Department of Homeland Security Federal Emergency Management Agency issued the following news release:
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FEMA Approves Six-Month Extension of Direct Housing and Rental Assistance for Helene Survivors
ASHEVILLE, N.C. - FEMA has approved six-month extensions of direct temporary housing and rental assistance for survivors of Tropical Storm Helene in North Carolina.
The direct temporary housing extension allows eligible residents to remain in FEMA-provided temporary housing until September 30, 2026, on a month-to-month basis as they work toward permanent housingsolutions. As part of the program eligibility requirements, FEMA representatives will continue to meet with residents to assess their progress toward permanent housing solutions.
The original 18-month housing period was set to end on March 29, 2026. With this extension, residents will have additional time to secure permanent housing solutions as recovery efforts continue.
In accordance with FEMA housing program rules and regulations, residents occupying FEMA temporary housing units after March 29, 2026, will be required to pay monthly rent. Rental rates will vary based on unit size and location but will not exceed the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development's (HUD) Fair Market Rate. To reduce the financial burden on remaining occupants, rental rates will be offered on the following schedule:
* April and May: 25% of the HUD Fair Market Rate
* June and July: 50% of the HUD Fair Market Rate
* August and September: 75% of the HUD Fair Market Rate
* October: Full HUD Fair Market Rate
The rental assistance extension allows survivors receiving rental assistance to continue receiving financial support to cover the cost of rent through September 30, 2026, as needed. The original 18-month financial assistance period was scheduled to end March 29, 2026. With this extension, survivors will have additional time to complete repairs to their damaged home, finalize insurance settlements, or secure permanent housing.
Since Tropical Storm Helene, FEMA has provided 243 families with mobile homes, travel trailers and other ready-to-occupy units. On February 2, 2026, North Carolina requested an extension of direct housing assistance, which FEMA approved on March 12, 2026. FEMA, the state, disaster case management and all stakeholders will continue to coordinate the housing mission throughout the extension period.
Additionally, on February 2, 2026, North Carolina requested an extension of rental assistance to help displaced survivors temporarily cover the cost of rent. FEMA approved the extension on March 13, 2026. To date, FEMA has provided $23.6 million in grants to more than 6,100 displaced households to help with the cost of rent.
FEMA, the state and all stakeholders will continue to coordinate the housing mission throughout the extension period. FEMA remains committed to supporting North Carolina survivors of Tropical Storm Helene.
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Original text here: https://www.fema.gov/press-release/20260316/fema-approves-six-month-extension-direct-housing-and-rental-assistance
Department of Justice: Owners and CEO of Wholesale Pharmaceutical Company Sentenced for Distributing More Than $92M of Black-Market HIV Drugs
WASHINGTON, March 17 -- The U.S. Department of Justice issued the following news release on March 16, 2026:
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Owners and CEO of Wholesale Pharmaceutical Company Sentenced for Distributing More Than $92M of Black-Market HIV Drugs
Two owners of a pharmaceutical wholesale company were sentenced Friday to a total of 38 years in prison for orchestrating a complex, nationwide drug diversion scheme that harmed vulnerable HIV-positive patients, placed countless others at risk, and corrupted the supply chain for prescription drugs in the United States.
"Patrick and Charles Boyd did not just commit
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WASHINGTON, March 17 -- The U.S. Department of Justice issued the following news release on March 16, 2026:
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Owners and CEO of Wholesale Pharmaceutical Company Sentenced for Distributing More Than $92M of Black-Market HIV Drugs
Two owners of a pharmaceutical wholesale company were sentenced Friday to a total of 38 years in prison for orchestrating a complex, nationwide drug diversion scheme that harmed vulnerable HIV-positive patients, placed countless others at risk, and corrupted the supply chain for prescription drugs in the United States.
"Patrick and Charles Boyd did not just commitfraud and cost taxpayers millions of dollars, they preyed upon some of the most vulnerable members of our society: HIV patients who depend on life-saving treatments to manage their disease," said Assistant Attorney General A. Tysen Duva of the Justice Department's Criminal Division. "Fraud schemes like this one undermine the integrity of our supply chain for necessary prescription drugs. These defendants will rightly spend years in prison for their reprehensible conduct, which took advantage of people for illicit profit. This case is another example of how the Criminal Division, our United States Attorney partner in the Southern District of Florida, and law enforcement will pursue and seek convictions of those who defraud our systems, endanger our citizens, and seek to line their pockets with fraud proceeds."
"These defendants treated life-saving HIV medication like street contraband," said U.S. Attorney Jason A. Reding Quinones for the Southern District of Florida. "They bought drugs off the street from black-market suppliers, shipped them in dirty boxes and discarded packaging, falsified paperwork, and pushed those medications back into the legitimate pharmaceutical supply chain. The consequences were real. HIV patients received bottles containing the wrong drugs, and at least one patient lost consciousness after ingesting medication that should never have been in that bottle. As a former military prosecutor, federal prosecutor, and trial judge, I have seen how greed can drive dangerous schemes. When criminals gamble with patient safety for profit, federal prison is the result."
"Friday's sentence underscores the extreme danger these defendants created," said Acting Deputy Inspector General for Investigations Scott J. Lampert of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Office of Inspector General (HHS OIG). "They took life threatening actions that showed an alarming disregard for human life in service of nothing more than a payday. Their criminal scheme endangered vulnerable patients, put entire communities at risk, and undermined the integrity of Medicare and Medicaid. HHS OIG will continue working with our law enforcement partners -- and using every tool in our arsenal -- to pursue and dismantle illegal black market rings that seek to corrupt the nation's drug supply and exploit taxpayer funded health care programs."
According to court documents and evidence presented at trial, brothers Patrick Boyd, 47, and Charles Boyd, 43, of Easton, Maryland, founded and owned Safe Chain Solutions, a wholesale distributor of pharmaceutical medications located in Maryland. Charles Boyd was the CEO, while Patrick Boyd served as a Managing Partner who oversaw the company's sales division. The evidence presented at trial showed that Patrick and Charles Boyd conspired with at least five black-market suppliers to purchase HIV drugs obtained through patient "buyback schemes" at steep discounts. One of their suppliers testified at trial that he purchased HIV drugs from patients on the street, removed the original prescription labels, and packaged the bottles in cardboard boxes -- sometimes scavenged from trash on pick-up days -- before shipping them to the defendants. On one occasion, this supplier used a diaper box he found on the street to ship the drugs. Many of these bottles were dirty, unsealed, and showed obvious signs they had previously been dispensed, such as the two depicted below:
Trial evidence showed that pharmacies complained to Safe Chain Solutions about their illicit conduct. For example, pharmacies reported to Safe Chain Solutions that they received bottles with entirely different drugs in them as early as August 2020.
In another documented complaint, one of their pharmacy customers sent the defendants a photo of the condition in which he received HIV drugs from them:
The customer informed Patrick and Charles Boyd that these bottles of HIV drugs did not meet "safety standards . . . and may present risk for our patients" and returned the drugs.
Evidence admitted at trial included an article shared between the defendants discussing these serious risks, just days before the customer complained. According to the article, "The schemes hurt individuals with HIV, cost taxpayers millions of dollars and drive up the viral load in communities, exposing others to the illness and spoiling the city and state's mission to drive the number of new HIV diagnoses to zero."
Despite these early complaints, Patrick and Charles Boyd continued buying cheap, diverted HIV drugs from the same black-market suppliers for many months, and continued selling the drugs to pharmacies along with falsified paperwork designed to fool their customers and regulatory agencies.
A patient who received a bottle of prescribed HIV medication sold to a pharmacy by the defendants testified at trial that Seroquel, an anti-psychotic drug, was actually in his bottle. He testified that he unwittingly ingested the Seroquel and lost consciousness for 24 hours. Evidence at trial established that missing even a single dose of HIV medication can increase a patient's viral load and heighten community transmission risk in areas with high HIV infection rates. There was at least one additional documented complaint where another HIV patient unwittingly ingested a different drug that was in his bottle.
The trial evidence also established the many elaborate steps Patrick and Charles Boyd took to conceal their criminal conduct from detection. They worked with the black-market suppliers behind the back of their own Director of Compliance, who testified that she repeatedly raised concerns throughout the conspiracy but was ignored. They also enlisted attorneys as part of their cover-up. One of those attorneys testified at trial, describing how the Boyd brothers concealed and misrepresented material information while seeking legal advice about pharmacy complaints and reporting obligations to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). According to the evidence, the defendants failed to report numerous incidents to the FDA involving pharmacies that had received incorrect or tampered medications.
Between April 2020 and September 2021, Patrick and Charles Boyd bought and resold more than 28,000 bottles of these black-market HIV drugs. They paid more than $92.8 million for the drugs, which they sold to pharmacies for a profit. Medicare, Medicaid and commercial insurers were billed and paid for these illicit drugs.
In October 2025, Patrick and Charles Boyd were convicted at trial of conspiracy to introduce misbranded drugs into interstate commerce; conspiracy to traffic in medical products with false documentation; conspiracy to commit wire fraud; two counts of introducing misbranded drugs into interstate commerce; and two counts of wire fraud. Patrick Boyd was sentenced to 18 years in prison. Charles Boyd was sentenced to 20 years in prison. In addition to the prison sentences, the defendants were ordered to pay $21,850,000 in forfeiture.
A third defendant, Adam Brosius, previously pleaded guilty to conspiring to commit wire fraud with the Boyds and was sentenced to 97 months in prison in connection with his role in the scheme.
HHS-OIG and FBI investigated the case.
Assistant U.S. Attorneys Jacqueline Zee DerOvanesian and Alexander Thor Pogozelski for the Southern District of Florida, with the assistance of Assistant Chief James V. Hayes of the Criminal Division's Fraud Section, prosecuted the case. Assistant U.S. Attorney Nicole Grosnoff for the Southern District of Florida handled asset forfeiture.
The Fraud Section leads the Criminal Division's efforts to combat health care fraud through the Health Care Fraud Strike Force Program. Since March 2007, this program, currently comprised of eight strike forces operating in federal districts across the country, has charged more than 6,200 defendants who collectively billed federal health care programs and private insurers more than $45 billion. In addition, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, working in conjunction with the Office of the Inspector General for the Department of Health and Human Services, are taking steps to hold providers accountable for their involvement in health care fraud schemes. More information can be found at www.justice.gov/criminal-fraud/health-care-fraud-unit.
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Original text here: https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/owners-and-ceo-wholesale-pharmaceutical-company-sentenced-distributing-more-92m-black-market
DOE Argonne National Laboratory: Nanodiamonds and Beyond - Designing Carbon Materials With Artificial Intelligence at Exascale
ARGONNE, Illinois, March 17 (TNSjou) -- The U.S. Department of Energy Argonne National Laboratory issued the following news release:
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Nanodiamonds and beyond: designing carbon materials with artificial intelligence at exascale
Argonne scientists discover how extreme conditions shape carbon into advanced materials for medicine, energy and defense
Argonne researchers use supercomputers and artificial intelligence to predict how carbon transforms under extreme heat and pressure, paving the way for revolutionary materials.
Key Takeaways
* Carbon is one of nature's most versatile elements,
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ARGONNE, Illinois, March 17 (TNSjou) -- The U.S. Department of Energy Argonne National Laboratory issued the following news release:
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Nanodiamonds and beyond: designing carbon materials with artificial intelligence at exascale
Argonne scientists discover how extreme conditions shape carbon into advanced materials for medicine, energy and defense
Argonne researchers use supercomputers and artificial intelligence to predict how carbon transforms under extreme heat and pressure, paving the way for revolutionary materials.
Key Takeaways
* Carbon is one of nature's most versatile elements,capable of forming materials that are stronger than steel, lighter than plastic and adaptable to countless applications.
* Using powerful supercomputers and artificial intelligence and drawing on expertise in multiple disciplines, Argonne scientists are learning to predict and control how tiny carbon crystals respond under extreme conditions.
* Their work, published in the journal Carbon, could lead to breakthroughs in medicine, energy storage and national security while showcasing the power of supercomputing and artificial intelligence in modern science.
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Carbon is everywhere. It forms the graphite in pencils, the diamonds in jewelry and the molecules that make up every living thing. But under extreme conditions -- like the heat and pressure of intense explosions -- carbon can transform into exotic nanometer-sized structures called nanocarbons. These materials are often stronger than steel, lighter than plastic and adaptable for uses in medicine, energy and national security.
Scientists at the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) Argonne National Laboratory and partner universities are uncovering how carbon behaves in extreme environments. By combining physics, chemistry, supercomputers and artificial intelligence (AI), researchers are learning to predict and control the ways that carbon atoms rearrange themselves under intense heat and pressure. Their discoveries open the door to designing materials before they are ever made in a laboratory.
Their findings are now out in the journal Carbon (https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0008622326001405).
"Carbon is remarkably versatile, and under extreme conditions, it reveals entirely new structures," said Eliu Huerta, lead for translational AI in Argonne's Data Science and Learning division. "By integrating physics-based modeling, AI and exascale computing, we can predict how carbon assembles at the nanoscale and use that insight to design advanced carbon materials with properties tailored for real-world applications."
The research team focused on nanodiamonds, tiny diamond crystals only a few millionths of a millimeter across. Thousands of these crystals could fit inside the width of a human hair. The particles form in explosive environments, where temperatures soar higher than the surface of the sun and pressures rise to millions of times that of Earth's atmosphere.
What happens next -- how the material cools and how the pressure drops -- determines whether the nanodiamond stays a diamond or transforms into other carbon forms, such as layered sheets or hollow structures.
Instead of relying solely on conducting costly and dangerous experiments to understand nanodiamond behavior, the team used Argonne's Aurora supercomputer to simulate these transformations atom by atom. Aurora is the flagship computer of the Argonne Leadership Computing Facility, a DOE Office of Science user facility. They also used the Frontier supercomputer at DOE's Oak Ridge National Laboratory. The Delta and DeltaAI systems at the National Center for Supercomputing Applications at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign were also used to perform some of the simulations of the carbon structures.
The computer models act like ultrahigh-speed cameras, letting scientists watch carbon atoms move and bond in slow motion as conditions change.
The researchers' simulations revealed that the "recipe" of cooling and pressure release strongly influences the final structure of the material. Rapid cooling tends to preserve the diamond form, while slower cooling allows carbon atoms to rearrange into layered shells and curved structures.
To turn these discoveries into a practical design tool, the scientists trained AI models on the massive simulation data they produced. The models learned to recognize patterns between temperature, pressure and the final shape of the carbon material. With this approach, the computer could predict what kind of nanocarbon will form from a given set of conditions. This means scientists can design new materials on a computer first, rather than relying on lengthy trial-and-error experiments in the lab, saving both time and research funds.
"Understanding how carbon atoms form various nanoparticles has long been a fundamental scientific question for me, and Aurora enables us to explore along this path atom by atom and condense that knowledge into mathematical models," said Xiaoli Yan, a postdoctoral researcher in Argonne's Data Science and Learning division.
Different carbon structures have different uses. Nanodiamonds can be used in quantum sensors and medical imaging. Onion-like carbon particles made of layered shells are promising for storing electrical energy. Other tiny carbon forms can glow under light and may be useful in light-sensitive devices or biological imaging.
Or consider hollow carbon shells. Compared to solid particles or flat flakes of carbon, hollow shells are better at carrying microscopic cargo and slipping inside cells. The shape makes them perfect for one day carrying medicines directly into diseased cells.
By understanding how to guide carbon into specific shapes, scientists can tailor these materials for specific applications.
"What's exciting is that supercomputers let us simulate extreme conditions, and AI turns that knowledge into the ability to design extraordinary, tailorable materials," said Millie Firestone, a senior scientist in Argonne's Physics division.
This research also has important implications for national security. Carbon plays a key role in many defense and industrial technologies, especially those involving high-energy environments. Knowing how carbon behaves under extreme conditions helps improve models of explosives and protective materials. It also supports the design of stronger coatings, lighter armor and more resilient components for use in harsh environments, from deep underground to outer space.
"At its heart, this work blends several fields into one powerful approach. Physics explains how atoms move. Chemistry explains how bonds form and break. Computer science provides the tools to simulate millions of atoms at once. AI ties everything together by learning from the data and making predictions," Huerta said.
While computer-aided materials design has existed for years, the integration of AI now allows computers to actively learn, adapt and help drive discovery.
The Argonne Leadership Computing Facility provides supercomputing capabilities to the scientific and engineering community to advance fundamental discovery and understanding in a broad range of disciplines. Supported by the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE's) Office of Science, Advanced Scientific Computing Research (ASCR) program, the ALCF is one of two DOE Leadership Computing Facilities in the nation dedicated to open science.
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Argonne National Laboratory seeks solutions to pressing national problems in science and technology by conducting leading-edge basic and applied research in virtually every scientific discipline. Argonne is managed by UChicago Argonne, LLC for the U.S. Department of Energy's Office of Science.
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The U.S. Department of Energy's Office of Science is the single largest supporter of basic research in the physical sciences in the United States and is working to address some of the most pressing challenges of our time. For more information, visit https://energy.gov/science.
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Original text here: https://www.anl.gov/article/nanodiamonds-and-beyond-designing-carbon-materials-with-artificial-intelligence-at-exascale
