of justice charges Sharpe James (2008) - Conviction of former Newark mayor on corruption charges Robert C. Janiszewski (2002) - Guilty plea of Hudson County Executive for tax evasion and bribery John V. Kenny - Conviction of former Jersey City mayor and chairman of Hudson County Democratic Party on conspiracy, bribery, and extortion charges Charles Kushner (2004) - Guilty plea of real estate developer—and largest campaign donor to former New Jersey Governor James E. McGreevey—for filing false tax returns and for attempting to retaliate against a witness in a federal criminal case Hemant Lakhani (2005) - Conviction of black market arms dealer attempting to sell shoulder-fired missiles Gene Levoff (2019) - indicted former Corporate secretary and Director of corporate law at Apple Inc. for orchestrating a five-year insider trading scheme. John A. Lynch, Jr. - Guilty plea of former president of New Jersey Senate for mail fraud and tax evasion Newark Violent Crime Initiative (VCI) (2018-2020) - awarded an Attorney General’s Award in October 2019 as the model for cooperative law enforcement among federal, state, county and city agencies. The VCI led to a 30 percent reduction in the number of shooting victims city-wide between 2017 and 2018 and another 39 percent decline in 2019. In 2020, a year in which violent crime spiked in various places across the country, Newark maintained the same low in the number of murders. Novartis/Alcon (2020) - Two deferred prosecution agreements regarding significant violations of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act at Greek and Vietnamese subsidiaries of the Swiss pharmaceutical company Novartis, resulting in penalties of $345 million, representing the second largest criminal and regulatory fine imposed against pharmaceutical companies under the FCPA. Operation Bid Rig (2002–2009) - Multi-stage political corruption sweep, resulting in arrest of Hoboken Mayor Peter Cammarano, Secaucus Mayor Dennis Elwell, New Jersey Assemblymen Daniel Van Pelt and L. Harvey Smith, and Jersey City Council President Mariano Vega Operation Brace Yourself (2019) - Investigation and prosecution of sweeping durable medical equipment kickback schemes that resulted in the largest healthcare fraud takedown yet pursued by the Department. Purdue Pharma (2020) - prosecution of opioid manufacturer Purdue Pharma L.P. for three felonies, including conspiracy to defraud the DEA and Anti-Kickback Statute violations—for its gross misconduct in misbranding and mismarketing OxyContin that amounted to over $8 billion in penalties. Samsam Ransomware (2018) - Indicted two Iranians—Faramarz Shahi Savandi and Mohammad Mehdi Shah Mansouri—for conducting the