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Dec. 17, 2024 ¡ª Edward Y. Kim, the Acting United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, announced today the guilty plea of Rafael Alvarez, a/k/a ¡°the Magician,¡± to a two-count Superseding Information charging Alvarez with one count of conspiracy to defraud the U.S. and steal government funds and one count of aiding and assisting in the preparation of a false and fraudulent U.S. individual income tax return.

Nov. 7, 2024 ¡ª Earlier today, in federal court in Brooklyn, Ilya Kahn, a national of the United States, Israel and Russia, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to violate the Export Control Reform Act for his role in a transnational, multimillion-dollar scheme to secure and illegally export dual-use semiconductors and other sensitive technology to Joint Stock Company Research and Development Center ELVEES (Elvees) and other entities in Russia.

Jan. 24, 2025 ¡ª A Bloomington man has been sentenced to 210 months in prison followed by three years of supervised release for his 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. The defendant was also ordered to pay restitution in the amount of $47,920,514.

Jan. 27, 2025 ¡ª Marc H. Silverman, Acting United States Attorney for the District of Connecticut, announced that Gawayne Fisher, also known as ¡°Fruit¡± and ¡°Tank,¡± of Waterbury, was sentenced today by U.S. District Judge Victor A. Bolden in New Haven to 217 months of imprisonment, followed by five years of supervised release, for heading a large-scale drug trafficking ring while on federal supervised release.

Jan. 31, 2025 ¡ª A federal grand jury has returned an indictment against a local company owner for failing to file employment tax returns and failing to pay over taxes his company withheld from employee paychecks, announced U.S. Attorney Nicholas J. Ganjei and Acting Deputy Assistant Attorney General for Criminal Matters Karen Kelly of the Justice Department¡¯s Tax Division.

Feb. 3, 2025 ¡ª On Jan. 31, 2025, a federal judge sentenced Natoshia Lashawn Crawford to 30 months in prison for making false tax returns and assisting in the filing of false tax returns, announced Acting United States Attorney Kevin Davidson and Special Agent in Charge Demetrius Hardeman with IRS Criminal Investigation¡¯s Atlanta Field Office. Federal inmates are not eligible for parole.

March 6, 2025 ¡ª A Rhode Island businesswoman who collected but failed to pay over to the government eight years¡¯ worth of employee federal withholding taxes and properly report her own personal income to the IRS has been sentenced to two years of probation, the first three months to be served in home detention, announced Acting United States Attorney Sara Miron Bloom.

March 20, 2025 ¡ª A resident of Duncansville, Pennsylvania, was sentenced in federal court to 33 months of imprisonment, to be followed by two years of supervised release, on his conviction for violating federal narcotics laws related to a six-month Title III wiretap investigation into drug trafficking in and around Blair, Cambria, Centre, and Clearfield counties of Pennsylvania, Acting United States Attorney Troy Rivetti announced today.

April 9, 2025 ¡ª Jasmine Hoyle pled guilty today to one count of health care fraud and one count of money laundering in connection with a scheme to fraudulently bill the North Carolina Medicaid program for millions of dollars of urine drug tests and office visits that were not performed, announced Randall S. Galyon, Acting United States Attorney for the Middle District of North Carolina.

April 10, 2025 ¨D Fresno residents Marcus Asay and Antonio Gastelum were sentenced today by U.S. District Judge Dale A. Drozd to five years in prison and two years in prison, respectively, for committing a long-running pension fraud scheme through their company, Agricultural Contracting Services Association dba American Labor Alliance (ALA), Acting U.S. Attorney Michele Beckwith announced.