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Oct. 21, 2024 ¡ª Vanessa R. Waldref, United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Washington, announced a federal grand jury has an indicted a Spokane dermatologist, and his associated businesses, for fraudulently obtaining and using approximately $1.5 million dollars in COVID-19 relief funds to purchase luxury sports cars, buy real estate, and pay off personal debt.

Jan. 27, 2025 ¡ª On Jan. 24, Martinez Builders Supply, d/b/a East Coast Trust (ECT) and Kelly Yanira Del Valle of Fort Pierce, Florida, were sentenced after pleading guilty to conspiring to harbor aliens by means of employment in August and October 2024. Del Valle also pleaded guilty for filing false tax returns and aiding the filing of false tax returns.

July 2, 2024 ¡ª Peter Anthony Thomas, formerly of Charlotte and now a resident of Miami, Florida, pleaded guilty today to failing to account for and pay over to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) the trust fund taxes due and owing on behalf of the employees of PT Media, LLC for the quarter ending June 30, 2021, announced Dena J. King, U.S. Attorney for the Western District of North Carolina.

March 20, 2025 ¡ª A Belgium national and the owner of K & K Strategies is facing federal charges after he allegedly operated a $5 million Ponzi scheme. The Utah investment owner, who was not licensed to sell securities, allegedly defrauded approximately 75 investors, and used at least $3 million on real estate purchases, investor payouts, a personal chef, a 2002 Chevrolet Corvette, and other personal expenses.

Aug. 22, 2024 ¡ª Ryan Palmer, of Sanpete County, was sentenced today to 50 months¡¯ imprisonment, a term of five years¡¯ supervised release, and ordered by the court to pay $1,216,884.49 in restitution after he admitted to bank fraud, wire fraud, and money laundering. Palmer took more than $1.2 million from trusting farmers who were deceived into thinking he would help them buy and sell farm equipment.

April 28, 2023 ¡ª Denise Coit Alston, Monica Faye Barnes, Terron Cortez Parker, and Kami D. Woodard each pleaded guilty earlier this week to conspiracy to commit wire fraud for fraudulently obtaining Paycheck Protection Act (¡°PPP¡±) COVID-19 loans. The defendants requested relief for various companies they owned including companies listed as being engaged in catering, trucking and real estate. They all face up to 20 years in prison.

August 15, 2023 ¡ª Today, the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN), in coordination with IRS Criminal Investigation (CI), issued a Notice to financial institutions calling attention to a concerning increase in state and federal payroll tax evasion and workers¡¯ compensation insurance fraud in the U.S. residential and commercial real estate construction industries. Every year, state and federal tax authorities lose hundreds of millions of dollars to these schemes, which are perpetrated by illicit actors primarily through banks and check cashers.

May 31, 2022 ¡ª United States Attorney Bob Murray announced today that Curtis Alan Perry, of Windsor, Colorado, was sentenced on 12 counts of failure to account for and pay trust fund taxes. He appeared before United States District Court Judge Nancy D. Freudenthal on May 23, 2022. The court sentenced Perry to 18 months¡¯ imprisonment followed by 3 years of supervised release and ordered Perry to pay $356,280.37 in restitution and a $1,200 special assessment.

June 26, 2024 ¡ª A former city of Newark official who served as deputy mayor and director of the Newark Department of Economic and Housing Development (DEHD) and served as executive vice president and chief real estate officer of the Newark Community Economic Development Corporation (NCEDC) today admitted conspiring with two Newark business owners to obtain corrupt payments intended to influence and reward him for assisting the business owners with the acquisition and redevelopment of various Newark-owned properties, U.S. Attorney Philip R. Sellinger announced.

June 4, 2025 ¡ª The following is according to court documents and statements made in court: for tax years 2015 and 2016, Matthew Tucci, of West Long Branch, filed tax returns that stated he owed more than $2 million in taxes for both years. Despite admitting that he owed those taxes, Tucci did not fully pay them when they were due. Instead, Tucci purchased real estate and engaged in a series of transactions designed to conceal his interest in those properties.