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Dec. 11, 2024 ¡ª A federal grand jury returned an 18-count indictment yesterday charging Michael David Barker of Foster, with mail fraud, conspiracy to commit mail fraud, theft concerning programs receiving federal funds, and money laundering. The indictment was unsealed today following Barker¡¯s arrest by law enforcement officers.

August 14, 2023 ¡ª Gholam ¡°Tony¡± Kowkabi and Karen Kowkab of Vienna, Virginia, pleaded guilty in federal court today to tax offenses relating to their failure to pay more than $1.35 million in taxes, arising from their operation of several restaurants in the Washington, D.C. area. Gholam Kowkabi also pleaded guilty to stealing more than $738,000 from the emergency small business relief funds his Georgetown restaurant¡ªRistorante Piccolo¡ªreceived during the COVID pandemic. As part of his plea, Mr. Kowkabi acknowledged having spent money, which was intended to help his business, on a waterfront condo in Ocean City, Maryland, as well as personal investments, vacations for his family, and college tuition for his child.

March 10, 2025 ¡ª On Feb. 21, Texas pharmacist Dehshid ¡°David¡± Nourian of Plano, was sentenced to 17 years and six months in prison and ordered to pay over $115 million in restitution for his role in a $145 million scheme to defraud the Department of Labor through the submission of fraudulent claims for prescription compound creams. On March 6, the court also forfeited $405 million in assets tied to Nourian¡¯s fraud and money laundering schemes.

December 18, 2023 ¡ª Gholam ¡°Tony¡± Kowkabi and Karen Kowkabi, of Vienna, Va., were sentenced in federal court today to 57 months in prison and 24 months of probation, respectively, for tax offenses relating to their failure to pay more than $1.35 million of taxes arising from their operation of several restaurants in the Washington, D.C. area. Gholam Kowkabi was also sentenced for stealing more than $738,000 from the emergency small business relief funds his Georgetown restaurant¡ªRistorante Piccolo¡ªreceived during the COVID-19 pandemic. As part of his guilty plea, Mr. Kowkabi acknowledged having spent money intended to help his business on a waterfront condo in Ocean City, Md., as well as personal investments, vacations for his family, and college tuition for his adult children.

Jan. 19, 2024 ¡ª A Long Beach man was sentenced today to life plus an additional 30 years in federal prison for building and planting a package bomb that detonated inside an Aliso Viejo day spa in May 2018, killing his ex-girlfriend, severely injuring two spa clients, and causing significant damage to a commercial office building.

Feb. 7, 2024 ¡ª The co-owner and the administrator of a Union City, New Jersey, pharmacy today admitted their roles in conspiracies to defraud pharmacy benefit managers and health care benefit providers, including Medicare and Medicaid, of more than $65 million and to pay kickbacks and bribes to health care professionals and their staffs in exchange for referrals of prescriptions, U.S. Attorney Philip R. Sellinger announced.

May 17, 2024 ¡ª Six defendants, including a former IRS revenue officer and his brother, have been sentenced to prison terms ranging from 12 to 30 months following their convictions on charges that they fraudulently obtained millions of dollars in COVID-19 pandemic relief funds through the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP), announced United States Attorney Ismail J. Ramsey; IRS Criminal Investigation (IRS-CI) Acting Special Agent in Charge Michael Mosley of the Oakland Field Office; Small Business Administration (SBA) Office of Inspector General (OIG) Special Agent in Charge Weston King of the Western Region; and Office of Inspector General for the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System and Consumer Financial Protection Bureau Special Agent in Charge Jon Ellwanger of the Western Region. The sentences were handed down by the Hon. Araceli Mart¨ªnez-Olgu¨ªn, United States District Judge.

June 28, 2022 ¡ª U.S. District Judge John A. Mendez sentenced Paulette Carpoff, of Martinez, to 11 years and three months in prison for her role in the biggest criminal fraud scheme in the history of the Eastern District of California, U.S. Attorney Phillip A. Talbert announced.

January 4, 2023 ¡ª The orchestrator of a nationwide conspiracy that facilitated cheating on college entrance exams and the admission of students as fake athletic recruits to elite universities ¨C including Georgetown, Stanford, the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), the University of Southern California (USC), the University of Texas, Wake Forest and Yale ¨C was sentenced today in federal court in Boston.

May 8, 2024 ¡ª A Japanese-language interpreter has agreed to plead guilty to federal criminal charges for illegally transferring almost $17 million from a Major League Baseball (MLB) player¡¯s bank account ¨C without the player¡¯s knowledge or permission ¨C to pay off his own substantial gambling debts incurred with an illegal bookmaking operation and for signing a false tax return, the Justice Department announced today.