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February 21, 2023 ¡ª A federal grand jury in the District of Puerto Rico returned a seven-count indictment charging 20 men and four women with trafficking cocaine in the District of Puerto Rico, beginning in 2017. The Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) oversees the investigation, with the collaboration of the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP), the Puerto Rico Police Bureau (PRPB), Ponce Municipal Police, and the Puerto Rico Department of Treasury. The United States Marshals Service also collaborated during the arrests.

June 6, 2022 ¡ª A Dallas-Fort Worth nightclub magnate was sentenced to 16 years in federal prison for operating an empire of clubs in which drugs were sold openly, announced Acting U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Texas Chad E. Meacham.

August 30, 2022 ¡ª An Arizona man and a California man were sentenced to 15 years and 5 months and 13 years in prison, respectively, for conspiracy to commit mail and wire fraud, wire fraud, and money laundering, in connection with a nationwide investment scheme involving fraudulent wireless spectrum and dental franchise investments.

September 12, 2022 ¡ª Damian Williams, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, announced that Ariel Jimenez, a/k/a "Melo," was sentenced to 12 years in prison in connection with his leading role in a broad tax fraud and identity theft conspiracy and his actions to launder the proceeds of his crimes. United States District Judge Sidney H. Stein imposed today's sentence.

June 5, 2023 ¡ª Damian Williams, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, announced today that Reginald Fowler was sentenced to 75 months in prison for arranging to process more than $700 million of unregulated transactions on behalf of cryptocurrency exchanges, in violation of federal anti-money laundering laws, lying to U.S. banks to do so, and defrauding the Alliance of American Football (¡°AAF¡±), a short-lived professional football league, in connection with his acquisition of a significant ownership stake in the league.

November 22, 2023 ¡ª A Pennsylvania doctor and his wife have admitted their roles in schemes to solicit and receive kickbacks and bribes in exchange for ordering genetic tests, U.S. Attorney Philip R. Sellinger announced today.

December 1, 2023 ¡ª A SeaTac, Washington, man was sentenced today to one year and one day in prison and three years of supervised release for a money laundering conviction related to his participation in a call center scheme to defraud elderly victims across the country, announced Acting U.S. Attorney Tessa M. Gorman. Arifkhan Pathan was arrested on January 4, 2021. Between August 2020 and January 2021, Pathan played a key role in defrauding 28 victims of more than $700,000. The restitution amount will be determined by U.S. District Judge Robert S. Lasnik at a later date.

Feb. 1, 2024 ¡ª U.S. District Judge Charlene Edwards Honeywell has sentenced Phillip Roy Wasserman (Sarasota) to 15 years in federal prison for conspiracy to commit wire fraud and mail fraud, substantive counts of wire fraud and mail fraud, and evasion of payment of income taxes. As part of his sentence, the court also entered an order of forfeiture in the amount of $6,318,299.75, the proceeds of the criminal conduct.

March 18, 2024 ¡ª Four men were sentenced last week for participating in an eight-year investment fraud and money laundering scheme that defrauded over a dozen victims around the world out of more than $18 million.

April 21, 2023 ¡ª United States Attorney Roger B. Handberg announces that a federal jury today found Kristopher Justinboyer Ervin (Orange Park) and Matthew Raymond Hoover (Wisconsin) guilty of conspiring to transfer unregistered machinegun conversion devices that they referred to as "Auto Key Cards." Additionally, Ervin was convicted of seven counts of transferring unregistered machinegun conversion devices, three counts of possessing unregistered machinegun conversion devices, and one count of structuring cash transactions to avoid currency transaction reporting requirements. Hoover was also convicted of four counts of transferring unregistered machinegun conversion devices. Ervin faces a maximum penalty of 110 years in federal prison and Hoover faces a maximum penalty of 45 years in federal prison. The sentencing hearing is scheduled for July 31, 2023. Ervin was first charged on March 2, 2021, and Hoover on January 26, 2022. Both Ervin and Hoover have been remanded to the custody of the U.S. Marshals Service.