obÌåÓý

November 16, 2023 ¡ª A Sussex County, New Jersey, man was sentenced to 36 months in prison for defrauding several financial institutions and illegally obtaining more than $2 million in COVID-19 funding meant to help small businesses impacted by the pandemic, U.S. Attorney Philip R. Sellinger announced today.

April 29, 2024 ¡ª Two former executives of a Springfield, Missouri-based charity were sentenced for their roles in a multimillion-dollar public corruption scheme that involved embezzlement and bribes paid to multiple elected public officials in the State of Arkansas.

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.

Jan. 7, 2025 ¡ª Earlier today, in federal court in Brooklyn, Marat Lerner, the former president of a debt relief services business, was sentenced by United States District Judge Nicholas G. Garaufis to 135 months in prison for conspiracy to commit wire fraud and wire fraud.

Sept. 30, 2024 ¡ª The U.S. Attorney¡¯s Office for the Southern District of Florida remains a leader in COVID-19 pandemic relief prosecutions, holding a range of actors accountable for these crimes. Over this summer alone, the district has charged 17 individuals with COVID-19 relief fraud cases, with scheme amounts totaling over $21 million.