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Press releases published by IRS Criminal Investigation during July 2024.

Feb. 12, 2025 ¡ª Earlier today, a federal jury in Brooklyn returned guilty verdicts against licensed pharmacists Yousef Ennab and Mohamed Hassan on all counts of a superseding indictment charging them with conspiracies to dispense and distribute oxycodone, as well as distribution and possession with intent to distribute oxycodone. The verdict followed a three-week trial before United States District Judge Ann M. Donnelly. When sentenced, the defendants each face up to 60 years in prison.

December 5, 2022 ¡ª Suspended plaintiffs¡¯ lawyer Michael John Avenatti was sentenced today to 168 months in federal prison for stealing millions of dollars from his clients ¨C one of whom was a paraplegic with mental health issues ¨C and for obstructing the IRS¡¯s efforts to collect more than $3 million in payroll taxes from an Avenatti-owned coffee business.

May 21, 2025 ¡ª Earlier today, at the federal courthouse in Brooklyn, a federal jury convicted Braden John Karony on all counts of a three-count indictment charging him with conspiracy to commit securities fraud, wire fraud, and money laundering. The charges arose from the defendant¡¯s and his co-conspirators¡¯ roles in defrauding investors in a decentralized finance digital asset called ¡°SafeMoon,¡± issued by their company SafeMoon LLC. As alleged, the defendant agreed with his co-conspirators to lie to SafeMoon investors about whether SafeMoon executives could access the liquidity pool and whether they were using the assets from the liquidity pool for their personal benefit.

IR-2023-67, April 3, 2023 ¡ª Today the Internal Revenue Service closed out the 2023 Dirty Dozen campaign with a warning for taxpayers to beware of promoters peddling bogus tax schemes aimed at reducing taxes or avoiding them altogether.

July 26, 2024 ¡ª A Monroe County, Missouri church official was arrested Friday after having been indicted and accused of participating in a more than $1.2 million pandemic loan fraud scheme.

September 15, 2023 ¡ª A Jersey City attorney today admitted defrauding his clients of more than $2 million dollars and other crimes, U.S. Attorney Philip R. Sellinger announced.

September 18, 2023 ¡ª A former Orange County social worker was sentenced today to 57 months in federal prison for stealing the Social Security numbers and other personal identifying information (PII) from clients then using the stolen information to fraudulently obtain tax refunds, welfare benefits, and credit cards.

Jan. 31, 2025 ¡ª A Los Angeles man who ran a Beverly Hills luxury watch consignment business and was known as ¡°The Timepiece Gentleman¡± was sentenced today to 70 months in federal prison for swindling dozens of his customers of out a total of at least $5.6 million.

January 19, 2023 ¡ª Three Texas men were sentenced yesterday for their roles in a conspiracy to pay bribes to two city commissioners in Weslaco in exchange for their official actions in connection with city contracts worth tens of millions of dollars.