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TACOMA ¨C An Olympia resident pleaded guilty today in U.S. District Court in Tacoma to wire fraud in connection with his scheme to steal nearly $900,000 from his former employer ¨C the State of Washington ¨C announced Acting U.S. Attorney Teal Luthy Miller. Matthew Randall Ping pleaded guilty to wire fraud and making and subscribing a false tax return. Ping is scheduled for sentencing by U.S. District Judge Tiffany M. Cartwright on September 9, 2025.

Sept. 26, 2024 ¡ª A federal jury in San Francisco returned a guilty verdict against Dwayne Lorenzo Richardson on three counts of tax evasion, announced United States Attorney Ismail J. Ramsey and IRS Criminal Investigation (IRS-CI) Acting Special Agent in Charge Michael Mosley. The guilty verdict followed a three-day jury trial before the Honorable William Alsup, Senior U.S. District Judge. A three-count indictment was filed on June 27, 2023, charging Richardson with tax evasion.

Aug. 21, 2024 ¡ª Two additional defendants were sentenced this week in a national COVID-19 fraud, including, Toni A. Smith, who was sentenced to 15 months in prison; and Dontae Antonio Murphy, who was sentenced to 12 months in prison. Collectively, these Defendants were also ordered to pay several hundred thousand dollars in restitution to the Small Business Administration, which included interest and processing fees, for fraudulently obtaining Paycheck Protection Act (¡°PPP¡±) COVID-19 loans.

August 4, 2023 ¡ª Acting United States Attorney Susan Lehr announced that on August 3, 2023, Alma L. Zapien, of Omaha, Nebraska, was sentenced on August 3, 2023, in federal court in Omaha for money laundering conspiracy. Chief United States District Judge Robert F. Rossiter, Jr. sentenced Zapien to 60 months¡¯ imprisonment. There is no parole in the federal system. After her release from prison, she will also be subject to a three-year term of supervised release.

March 27, 2025 ¡ª Matthew Podolsky, the Acting United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, announced today that Paul Bielecki, a/k/a ¡°Paul HRH Saxe-Coburg-Gotha,¡± a Manhattan-based Franciscan friar, was sentenced to five years in prison for perpetrating a multi-year scheme to obtain donations for a fake medical charity purportedly operating in Beirut, Lebanon. Bielecki previously pled guilty to wire fraud on Nov. 11, 2024, before U.S. District Judge Vincent Briccetti, who imposed today¡¯s sentence.

April 23, 2025 ¡ª The former clerk/treasurer for the City of Morton in Lewis County is now charged federally with wire fraud in connection with her nine-year scheme to steal nearly $1 million from city coffers, announced Acting U.S. Attorney Teal Luthy Miller. Tamara (Tammy) Clevenger served as the clerk/treasurer for Morton from 2012-2022. In 2024, an audit by the Washington State Auditor uncovered years of embezzlement totaling $937,584. Clevenger is expected to enter a plea to the wire fraud charge next month.

June 22, 2022 ¡ª United States Attorney Jacqueline C. Romero, together with other federal law enforcement officials announced today charges against 19 defendants for defrauding federal programs funded by the CARES Act and designed to provide a financial safety net for Americans during the pandemic. Collectively these defendants sought to defraud the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP), the Economic Injury Disaster Loan (EIDL) program and the Pandemic Unemployment Assistance (PUA) program of over $24 million.

July 6, 2022 ¡ª United States Attorney Jacqueline C. Romero and Acting Deputy Assistant Attorney General Stuart M. Goldberg of the Justice Department¡¯s Tax Division announced that Wayne Garvin currently of Columbia, South Carolina, and a former IRS employee, was sentenced to 13 months in prison, three years of supervised release, and ordered to pay $74,662 restitution for filing false tax returns and providing fabricated records to the IRS in an attempt to obstruct an audit of those returns.

July 7, 2023 ¡ª United States Attorney Brandon B. Brown announced that Janola Massaquoi, of Shreveport, Louisiana was sentenced late yesterday by United States District Judge S. Maurice Hicks, Jr. for making false statements to a federal agency in connection with the application for a CARES Act loan. Massaquoi was sentenced to 12 months and 1 day in prison and ordered to pay restitution in the amount of $250,000. She will serve 3 years of supervised release following her release from prison.

July 6, 2023 ¡ª Lenille Mitia Woodard and Irene Nicole Edwards each pleaded guilty today to conspiracy to commit wire fraud for fraudulently obtaining a Paycheck Protection Act ("PPP") COVID-19 loans. The defendants sought relief on behalf of companies they owned purportedly being engaged in event promotion and a beauty salon. They all face up to 20 years in prison. Fifteen defendants, including Woodard and Edwards, have pled guilty in this scheme in the Eastern District of North Carolina.