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July 1, 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 Joseph Smith formerly of Fishkill, New York, was sentenced to three years and six months in prison, three years of supervised release, and ordered to pay $2,100,450 in restitution by Unites States District Court Judge Gerald J. Pappert for his scheme to defraud prospective franchisees of more than $2.1 million, collectively.

August 24, 2022 ¡ª Acting United States Attorney Nicholas Vassallo announced today that Jin Chen Liang, of Corona, California, was sentenced for conspiracy to defraud the government in a hearing on August 16, 2022, before Chief United States District Court Judge Scott W. Skavdahl. Liang was sentenced to five years¡¯ probation, with the first six months under home confinement, and was ordered to pay a $200 special assessment and over $700,000 in restitution to the State of Wyoming and the IRS. The United States recommended a sentence of 30 months¡¯ incarceration.

May 25, 2023 ¡ª Aydin Kalantarov, 38, of Willoughby Hills, Ohio, was sentenced yesterday to 33 months in prison by U.S. District Judge Pamela A. Barker, after he pleaded guilty to defrauding the Small Business Administration (¡°SBA¡±) of approximately $1.2 million in Economic Injury Disaster Loan (¡°EIDL¡±) program under Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (¡°CARES¡±) Act. Kalantarov was also sentenced to 3 years of supervised release, a $200 special assessment, and agreed to pay up to $1.2 million in restitution.

April 11, 2023 ¡ª Scott Norris Johnson, a Sacramento attorney and filer of thousands of disability discrimination lawsuits, was sentenced today to 18 months home detention as part of a 30-month term of probation, and ordered to pay $250,000 in restitution and a $50,000 fine, for filing a false tax return on which he underreported the income he earned from many of those lawsuits, U.S. Attorney Phillip A. Talbert and Acting Deputy Assistant Attorney General Stuart M. Goldberg of the Justice Department's Tax Division announced.

Aug. 8, 2024 ¡ª Jose Vicente Badillo and Jessica Elizabeth Najarro appeared in federal court today to face mail fraud, wire fraud, and money laundering charges related to a scheme to defraud an auto insurance company, announced United States Attorney Ismail J. Ramsey; IRS Criminal Investigation (IRS CI) Acting Special Agent in Charge Michael Mosley of the Oakland Field Office; and FBI Special Agent in Charge Robert K. Tripp. The case has been assigned to the Hon. Rita F. Lin, United States District Judge.

Aug. 8, 2024 ¡ª Jose Vicente Badillo and Jessica Elizabeth Najarro appeared in federal court today to face mail fraud, wire fraud, and money laundering charges related to a scheme to defraud an auto insurance company, announced United States Attorney Ismail J. Ramsey; IRS Criminal Investigation (IRS CI) Acting Special Agent in Charge Michael Mosley of the Oakland Field Office; and FBI Special Agent in Charge Robert K. Tripp. The case has been assigned to the Hon. Rita F. Lin, United States District Judge.

Jan. 29, 2025 ¡ª A resident of New Castle, Pennsylvania, and a resident of Florida, Puerto Rico, were sentenced in federal court for their convictions of conspiracy to distribute and possess with intent to distribute cocaine and related charges, Acting United States Attorney Troy Rivetti announced today. The defendants were among 17 individuals from Lawrence County, Pennsylvania; Puerto Rico; and Youngstown, Ohio, indicted in March 2024 for violating federal narcotics, firearms, and racketeering laws by conspiring to distribute cocaine throughout Western Pennsylvania and Youngstown (read the Indictment news release here).

Feb. 7, 2025 ¡ª Sharon Denise Ross of Willernie, Minnesota, has been sentenced to 43 months in prison followed by three years of supervised release for her role in a $250 million fraud scheme that exploited a federally funded child nutrition program during the COVID-19 pandemic, announced Acting U.S. Attorney Lisa D. Kirkpatrick. Ross was also ordered to pay restitution in the amount of $2,434,360. Ross was further ordered to forfeit to the United States all property derived from fraud proceeds, including her house in Willernie.

April 7, 2025 ¡ª A Fox Island, Washington man was indicted late last month by a federal grand jury for four counts of wire fraud, two counts of mail fraud, four counts of money laundering, and four counts of making and subscribing a false tax return, announced Acting U.S. Attorney Teal Luthy Miller. John S. Winslow, a former financial advisor at a national financial services firm, allegedly stole over $920,000 in life savings and inheritance from a former client, a widow in her 70s.

November 28, 2023 ¡ª Joseph Nubla and Henry Ku were sentenced today to 36 months and 30 months in prison, respectively, following their convictions by a jury at trial in April 2023 on charges of conspiracy to defraud the United States and tax evasion, announced United States Attorney Ismail J. Ramsey and Internal Revenue Service Criminal Investigation (CI) Acting Special Agent in Charge Mark Silva of the Oakland Field Office. The sentences were handed down by the Hon. Richard Seeborg, Chief U.S. District Court Judge for the Northern District of California.