Announcements, information & updates from
the Attorney General Alliance Members and Associates
October 20, 2023
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GINSBURG/SCALIA INITIATIVE
ISRAEL
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This week, Utah Attorney General Sean Reyes and former District of Columbia Attorney General Karl Racine sent a joint letter to The Honorable Meshal Al-Thani, the Qatari Ambassador to the United States, recounting prior cooperative work done to combat human trafficking, strengthen anti-money laundering efforts, and reinforce the Rule of Law. Further, they encouraged the State of Qatar to continue its ongoing efforts to assist in negotiating the release of hostages taken by Hamas.
Ambassador Al-Thani responded to the letter on October 18. Both letters can be found below.
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A group of 136 former state attorneys general issued a statement of support for Israel. |
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Virginia Attorney General Jason Miyares requested that the Attorney General Alliance and the National Association of Attorneys General share his recent efforts on behalf of Israel with all state attorneys general should any want to join an effort to collect surplus body armor, protective gear, and tactical equipment from Sheriffs’ offices across their states to send to Israel. Specifically, the effort collects expired equipment which is required to be donated or discarded, which will then be forwarded by the AG Miyares' office to Israeli Defense Forces. Please reach out directly to AG Miyares and his office if you have any questions.
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New York Attorney General Letitia James sent a series of letters to social media companies requesting they provide detailed explanations of the steps they are taking to stop the spread of hateful content encouraging violence against Jewish and Muslim people and institutions in the wake of terrorist attacks in Israel. |
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Attorney General Ashley Moody sent a memo to Florida college and university police chiefs calling for a zero-tolerance policy for hate crimes, and reminded campus law enforcement leaders about laws protecting Jewish students in Florida. |
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South Dakota Attorney General Marty Jackley announced that the office’s Medicaid Fraud Control Unit has recouped more than $477,000 in Medicaid and Veterans Affairs overpayments which has led to the indictment of one person in the theft of those funds. |
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Maryland Attorney General Anthony G. Brown announced that the State has filed suit against Metropolitan Washington High School and its Principal Gamaliel Onyemaobi-Prince for submitting a fraudulent application for COVID-related aid. |
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New Jersey Attorney General Matthew Platkin announced the third year of the Racial Justice Initiative. A new part of the Initiative is the Attorney General’s Racial Justice Speaker Series, which is open to all of Department of Law and Public Safety employees and various community stakeholders. It will feature prominent national leaders who are at the forefront of the racial justice movement in the United States and around the world. |
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California Attorney General Rob Bonta issued an enforcement advisory letter to manufacturers, distributors, and sellers of food packaging and cookware, alerting them to their obligations under Assembly Bill 1200 (AB 1200). AB 1200 is a recently enacted statute that restricts the presence of PFAS in food packaging and imposes labeling disclosure requirements for cookware. |
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Connecticut Attorney General William Tong led a coalition of 50 states and territories and announced a $20 million settlement with payment processor ACI Worldwide over a 2021 testing error that led to the unauthorized withdrawal of $2.3 billion from Nationstar Mortgage (also known as Mr. Cooper) customers. |
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Maryland Attorney General Anthony G. Brown announced the guilty plea and sentencing of Curtis Bay Energy, LP (Curtis Bay Energy), the owner and operator of a special medical waste incinerator facility located in south Baltimore City, to a forty-count criminal information that resulted from a long-term investigation conducted by the Office’s Environmental and Natural Resources Crimes Unit. |
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District of Columbia Attorney General Brian Schwalb announced that two companies – cleaning business Commercial Real Estate Consulting Group and drywall contractor T&A Construction – will cumulatively pay more than $193,000 to misclassified DC workers who were deprived of wages and benefits. |
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Massachusetts Attorney General Andrea Campbell announced settlements with two applied behavioral analysis (ABA) providers totaling more than $2.5 million to resolve allegations that the providers submitted fraudulent claims to MassHealth. ABA services are principally designed to treat children with autism spectrum disorder. |
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Washington Attorney General Bob Ferguson announced that his office has recovered more than $2 million from nearly three dozen debt adjusters who preyed on student borrowers. |
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Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison announced that his Office has filed 23 civil lawsuits seeking to shut down Minnesota nonprofit corporations that were created or revived to defraud the Federal Child Nutrition Program, primarily by acting as fraudulent “sites” tasked to administer meals to children in need. |
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COMBATING HUMAN TRAFFICKING AND CHILD EXPLOITATION
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Arkansas Attorney General Tim Griffin hosted the inaugural Human Trafficking Summit this week. At it, he announced the creation of the Statewide Tactical Operations Partnership (STOP) to combat human trafficking in Arkansas. |
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Georgia Attorney General Chris Carr accepted the inaugural Wellspring Living Courage Award at the annual Wellspring Living Gala presented by Delta Air Lines and UPS. This award recognizes those who have made impactful contributions to the fight for justice for sex trafficking victims. |
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Pennsylvania Attorney General Michelle Henry announced that collaboration with law enforcement partners halted a multi-state human trafficking ring and resulted in the arrest of the alleged trafficker in Ohio. |
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South Carolina Attorney General Alan Wilson announced the arrest of an individual on four charges connected to the sexual exploitation of minors. |
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Wisconsin Attorney General Josh Kaul announced the Wisconsin Anti-Human Trafficking Task Force (WAHTTF) will continue to operate for another three years with a newly awarded $2 million grant from the United States Department of Justice Office for Victims of Crime. |
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CYBERSECURITY AND DATA PRIVACY |
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Indiana Attorney General Todd Rokita led a coalition of 33 states in a settlement with health care technology company Inmediata for their role in exposing the protected health information of approximately 1.5 million consumers. Under the settlement, Inmediata has agreed to overhaul its data security and breach notification practices and make a $1.4 million payment to states. |
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Attorney General Ashley Moody announced her Office of Statewide Prosecution secured a seven-and-a-half-year prison sentence and a $300,000 restitution order for the ringleader of an organized retail theft ring. |
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Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel announced the sentencing for an individual who pled guilty to three counts for operating a theft and resale scheme of KitchenAid brand stand mixers from metro Detroit Target stores. |
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ILLICIT DRUGS AND OPIOIDS |
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California Attorney General Rob Bonta announced that the California Department of Justice has joined the Fentanyl Abatement and Suppression Team (FAST), a joint effort by U.S. Attorney’s Office and Homeland Security Investigations, as well as other law enforcement agencies, to target fentanyl being trafficked through the Southern Border and into San Diego County. |
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Georgia Attorney General Chris Carr announced that the office’s Gang Prosecution Unit has secured a 52-count indictment in Fulton County charging three individuals with Violation of the Street Gang Terrorism and Prevention Act, Trafficking Oxycodone, Possession with Intent to Distribute Amphetamine, Possession of a Firearm During the Commission of a Felony, and other drug and weapons offenses. |
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New York Attorney General Letitia James led a multistate coalition of 24 attorneys general in filing an amicus brief in Food and Drug Administration v Alliance for Hippocratic Medicine.
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Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul led a coalition of 15 state attorneys general in filing an amicus brief in Property Casualty Insurers Association of America v. United States Department of Housing and Urban Development.
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Arkansas Attorney General Tim Griffin led a 16-state coalition of state attorneys general in fining an amicus brief in the matter of Muldrow v. City of St. Louis. |
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South Carolina Attorney General Alan Wilson led 18 other states in a letter to Eventbrite requesting clarification on its event screening policies. |
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Virginia Attorney General Jason Miyares led a coalition of 23 attorneys general in filing an amicus brief in the case of Mahmoud v.McKnight. |
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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY |
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Indiana Attorney General Todd Rokita, Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost, and West Virginia Attorney General Patrick Morrisey filed an application at the U.S. Supreme Court seeking a stay of the administrative action related to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s ‘Good Neighbor Plan’ for the 2015 Ozone Ambient Air Quality—a plan for regulating downwind emissions. |
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NATIONAL HIGHWAY TRAFFIC SAFETY ADMIN |
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West Virginia Attorney General Patrick Morrisey led a coalition of 26 states in a letter to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration making comments regarding proposed Corporate Average Fuel Economy standards. |
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Nebraska Attorney General Mike Hilgers announced Bebe Strnad will serve as his new Chief of the Consumer Protection Bureau. |
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Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost announced that Elliot Gaiser, an Ohio native, will serve as Ohio’s 11th Solicitor General, the state’s lead attorney for appeals in state and federal courts. |
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A group of online retailers - including Amazon, Booking.com, Expedia Group, Glassdoor, Tripadvisor, and Trustpilot - launched the global Coalition for Trusted Reviews, a cross-industry collaboration committed to protecting access to trustworthy consumer reviews worldwide. Members will define best practices for hosting online reviews and sharing methods of fake review detection, aiming to stop fake reviews at the source. |
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Attorney General Alliance
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