obÌåÓý

April 13, 2023 ¡ª On April 11, 2023, Judge Ralph Beistline of the U.S. District Court for the District of Alaska sentenced a Mexican national to 14 years imprisonment followed by five years of supervised release for his role as the head of a drug trafficking organization that spanned multiple states. Judge Beistline also sentenced a lower-level coconspirator based in Alaska to a term of seven years of imprisonment on April 12, 2023.

April 20, 2023 ¡ª Five individuals, including two certified nurse midwives, one licensed practical nurse and two health care business owners, have been charged for their participation in separate schemes that fraudulently distributed more than 2,600 fake COVID-19 vaccination records cards and defrauded the Paycheck Protection Program and Economic Injury Disaster Loan Program of more than $1.7 million. The charges filed in federal court in Brooklyn, New York, are part of a nationwide COVID-19 enforcement action led by the Criminal Division¡¯s Fraud Section, which resulted in criminal charges against 18 individuals for their alleged participation in health care fraud schemes involving approximately $490 million in fraudulent claims.

April 26, 2023 ¡ª A federal grand jury indicted Mariama Wilson, William Payne, and Terrance Hardiman, all of Evansville, on five counts of wire fraud and conspiracy to commit wire fraud. Hardiman was also charged with one count of money laundering. The indictment was unsealed on April 26, 2023, following the three defendants' arrests and initial appearances.

May 3, 2023 ¡ª An indictment was unsealed today charging four people, including two lawyers, with conspiring to defraud thousands of distressed homeowners who thought they were hiring a legal firm to help them avoid foreclosure. The defendants, some of whom were licensed to practice law in Washington, D.C., New Jersey, and Florida, allegedly reaped millions of dollars in ill-gotten gains.

May 5, 2023 ¡ª A federal jury in Chicago has convicted a member of a violent Chicago street gang of participating in a racketeering conspiracy that included murder and attempted murder. The multi-district investigation previously resulted in the convictions of 20 other defendants.

May 11, 2023 ¡ª Damian Williams, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, and Thomas M. Fattorusso, the Special Agent in Charge of the New York Field Office of the Internal Revenue Service, Criminal Investigation ("IRS-CI"), announced the unsealing today of an Indictment charging James Ellingson, a/k/a "redandwhite," with narcotics trafficking and money laundering offenses in connection with his sale of large quantities of narcotics on the "Silk Road" online marketplace. In connection with his drug trafficking on Silk Road, Ellingson claimed to have arranged for the murder of five people for Silk Road founder Ross Ulbricht, a/k/a "Dread Pirate Roberts," for which he was paid hundreds of thousands of dollars in Bitcoin. Law enforcement does not possess any evidence that the purported murders actually took place. Ellingson was previously arrested in Canada. The case is assigned to U.S. District Judge Jennifer L. Rochon.

March 24, 2023 ¡ª A federal District Court judge sentenced an Anchorage man to 21 years imprisonment followed by six years of supervised release on March 22, 2023, for his role in a drug trafficking organization that spanned multiple states.

December 15, 2022 ¡ª Dr. David J. Smith, a pain management physician, and his office manager, Julia Ann Oertle,?are charged in a federal grand jury indictment with perpetuating a long-running scheme to commit?health care fraud and to manufacture and distribute adulterated fentanyl.

May 15, 2025 ¡ª A four-count superseding indictment, unsealed today in U.S. District Court, charges 12 additional people ¨C Americans and foreign nationals ¨C for allegedly participating in a cyber-enabled racketeering conspiracy throughout the United States and abroad that netted them more than $263 million.

May 21, 2025 ¡ª A former defense contractor pleaded guilty today to tax crimes related to his scheme to defraud the United States and evade taxes on income that he earned from his contracts with the U.S. Department of Defense.