Press Releases
If you are a member of the media with a question please send an email to Jack Gillund.
| November 2009 | |||
November 19, 2009 |
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| Ethan Farid Jinian | Indicted | Fourteen counts of wire fraud | |
November 19, 2009 |
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| Pavel Ivanovich Lazarenko | Sentenced | Ninety-seven months in prison, ordered to pay a $9 million fine and forfeit $22,851,000 and various specified assets | |
November 18, 2009 |
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| Francisco Torres-Felix | Sentenced | Fifteen years in prison, and ordered to pay a $600 fine | |
November 17, 2009 |
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| Thomas Kline | Guilty Plea | One count of mail fraud | |
November 13, 2009 |
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| Harjit Bhambra | Indicted | Charges that included filing false tax returns, false statements and unlawfully obtaining naturalization and citizenship to which he was not entitled | |
November 13, 2009 |
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| Allan Dennis Lacy | Guilty Plea | Possession of child pornography | |
November 13, 2009 |
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| Seven Individuals | Indicted | Conspiracy to commit wire fraud, wire fraud, and money laundering | |
November 9, 2009 |
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| Lydia Rose Johnson | Indicted | Tax crimes | |
November 6, 2009 |
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| Jorge Eduardo Rodriguez, Mauricio Aguilera, Leonardo Oregon Rico, Jose Carlos Cisneros, and Jorge Sanchez | Narcotics violations, including conspiring to possess with the intent to distribute cocaine and methamphetamine | ||
November 3, 2009 |
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| Alexander James Trabulse | Guilty Plea | One count of mail fraud | |
| October 2009 | |||
October 30, 2009 |
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| Michael Chou | Guilty Plea | Wire fraud conspiracy | |
October 30, 2009 |
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| Roberto Heckscher | Guilty Plea | One count of mail fraud | |
October 30, 2009 |
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| Jessie Jeffries | Sentenced | Six years in prison, followed by three years of supervised release | |
October 29, 2009 |
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| Seventeen Bay Area residents | Charged | Federal passport or entry visa offenses | |
October 29, 2009 |
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| Khalid Shaikh | Indicted | Four counts of mail fraud | |
October 29, 2009 |
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| Donald E. Nuss | Sentenced | Eighteen months in prison and ordered to pay a $6,000 fine and $5,950 in restitution | |
October 27, 2009 |
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| Misael Solorio | Sentenced | Ten years incarceration, to be followed by five years of supervised release | |
October 21, 2009 |
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| Rogelio Lowe | Indicted | Two counts of mail fraud and nine counts of making or using a false document or writing | |
October 21, 2009 |
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| Six AUSAs | Awarded | The Attorney General’s Award | |
October 16, 2009 |
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| Chuck Sivil | Guilty Plea | Violating the Clean Air Act | |
October 16, 2009 |
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| Hassan Swaid | Convicted Sentenced |
Seventy-eight months in prison for conspiring to purchase stolen merchandise from major retailers and shipping the stolen goods to out of state customers, and for structuring his finances to avoid currency transaction reports | |
October 9, 2009 |
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| Mabelle de la Rosa Dann | Convicted | Forced labor, unlawful use of documents in furtherance of servitude, harboring an illegal alien for private financial gain, conspiracy to commit visa fraud and visa fraud | |
October 8, 2009 |
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| Ranni K. Hillyer | Indicted | Three counts of tax evasion | |
October 7, 2009 |
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| David S. Cacchione | Sentenced | Sixty months in prison and ordered to pay approximately $50 million in restitution | |
October 7, 2009 |
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| Myra Holmes | Indicted | Concealment of assets and bank fraud | |
October 7, 2009 |
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| Frank J. Laereman | Indicted | Five counts of tax evasion | |
October 2, 2009 |
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| Paul Rickett | Sentenced | Thirty months in prison | |
October 1, 2009 |
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| Kevin Matthew Hoggatt | Sentenced | Five months community confinement followed by five months home detention, three years of supervised release, a $30,000 fine and ordered to pay restitution of $53,593 | |
| September 2009 | |||
September 30, 2009 |
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| Froilan Alix Roldan | Sentenced | Eighteen years in prison and ordered to pay $90,594.99 in restitution | |
September 29, 2009 |
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| W. Scott Harkonen, M.D. | Convicted | Wire fraud for the creation and dissemination of false and misleading information | |
September 28, 2009 |
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| Kristy S. Watts | Guilty Plea | Wire fraud and tax evasion | |
September 24, 2009 |
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| Seth Sundberg | Indicted | Mail fraud, filing a false tax return, and false claims against the United States | |
September 24, 2009 |
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| Cornelio Mata Espinoza, Anthony Johnston, Josefina Rodriguez | Guilty Plea | Conspiring to distribute methamphetamine and heroin. In addition, Johnston pleaded guilty to possession of firearm by a convicted felon | |
September 23, 2009 |
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| Donald Daniels, Martin William Washburn, Irina Rebegeneau, Tapani Koivunen, Sergei Shkurkin | Conspiracy to commit mail and wire fraud, wire fraud, a money laundering conspiracy and substantive money laundering counts, in conjunction with a scheme to defraud the Overseas Private Investment Corporation | ||
September 21, 2009 |
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| Rafael Franco Perez | Guilty Plea | Conspiring to distribute over six kilograms of methamphetamine | |
September 21, 2009 |
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| Gregory Scott Dixon | Guilty Plea | Wire fraud and tax evasion | |
September 21, 2009 |
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| James Burge | Sentenced | Seven years in prison, and ordered to pay $30,941 in restitution | |
September 18, 2009 |
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| Elisa Lipkins | Sentenced | Eight years in prison | |
September 18, 2009 |
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| Malcolm McVickar, Jr. | Guilty Plea | Mail fraud and wire fraud | |
September 14, 2009 |
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| Cheryl Hernandez Camus | Sentenced | Sixty-three months in prison, and ordered to pay $1,457,255 in restitution | |
September 11, 2009 |
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| Brusco Tug & Barge, Inc | Sentenced | $1.5 million | |
September 11, 2009 |
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| Kenneth E. Hayes | Sentenced | Time served, with six months home confinement followed by three years of supervised release, and ordered to pay restitution in the amount of $20,754.90 | |
September 10, 2009 |
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| David Arthur Nilsen and Manoel Antonio Errico | Indicted | Conspiracy to commit mail and wire fraud, mail fraud, wire fraud and securities fraud | |
September 10, 2009 |
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| Jason Ribeiro | Sentenced | Ten years in prison, and ordered to forfeit $30,348 in cash | |
September 8, 2009 |
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| William J. “Boots” Del Biaggio | Sentenced | Ninety-seven months in prison, and ordered to pay approximately $67.5 million in restitution | |
September 8, 2009 |
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| Brice Carrington | Guilty Plea | Wire fraud and tax evasion as part of an investment fraud scheme | |
September 3, 2009 |
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| Carlos Ivan Vargas, Sr | Charged | Conspiracy, Mail Fraud, Wire Fraud and Conspiracy to Commit Money Laundering | |
| August 2009 | |||
August 26, 2009 |
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| Harry Warren Green | Charged | Four counts of filing false tax return | |
August 25, 2009 |
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| Yu Fen Huang | Sentenced | Six months probation with a condition of home detention for that period, a fine of $8,000 and ordered to pay restitution of $23,026 | |
August 21, 2009 |
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| John A. Bui | Guilty Plea | Wire fraud conspiracy, destruction of records in a federal investigation and witness tampering | |
August 21, 2009 |
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| B Iris Lai Hung Tam | Sentenced | Seven days in custody with credit for time served, followed by 2 years of supervised release, and ordered to pay a special assessment fee of $100 | |
August 21, 2009 |
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| Paquale Iannetti | Charged | Mail fraud and wire fraud | |
August 18, 2009 |
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| Kwan Tsoi | Sentenced | Nineteen months in prison, followed by three years of supervised release, and ordered to forfeit $250,000 | |
August 17, 2009 |
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| Janusz Lament | Guilty Plea | Making false financial claims against the United States Department of Defense, wire fraud, and transporting money out of the United States to further unlawful activity | |
August 13, 2009 |
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| Fleet Management Ltd | Guilty Plea | Criminal violation of the Oil Pollution Act of 1990 | |
August 6, 2009 |
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| Brice Carrington | Charged | Five counts of wire fraud and four counts of tax evasion | |
| July 2009 | |||
July 30, 2009 |
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| Sheng Qiang | Arrested | Conspiracy to commit mail fraud, multiple counts of mail fraud, conspiracy to commit money laundering, multiple counts of money laundering and multiple counts of international money laundering | |
July 29, 2009 |
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| Lydia Hernandez | Guilty Plea | Tax evasion and aiding and assisting in the preparation of false tax returns | |
July 27, 2009 |
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| Sholeh A. Hamedani, Nasser V. Hamedani | Charged | Securities fraud, false statements to accountants, falsifying books and records, obstruction of justice, and conspiracy relating to a fraudulent investment scheme in which the defendants made profits in excess of $2.8 million | |
July 23, 2009 |
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| Waddell Williams | Indicted | Felony charges of failure to surrender for service of sentence and contempt of court | |
July 17, 2009 |
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| Marco Antonio Barbosa, Maria Guadalupe Barbosa | Indicted | Making false statements to obtain more than $200,000 in crop disaster relief | |
July 17, 2009 |
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| Gregory Alexander | Indicted | Unauthorized access of the private email account of a member of a not-for-profit organization’s board of directors | |
July 17, 2009 |
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| John Joseph Cota | Sentenced | 10 months in federal prison | |
July 14, 2009 |
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| Shore Terminals LLC | Sentenced | Pay $2.5 million | |
July 9, 2009 |
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| Kurtis Thorsted | Guilty Plea | Knowingly and willfully communicating a false distress message to the United States Coast Guard | |
July 8, 2009 |
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| Froilan Alix Roldan | Guilty Plea | Three counts of armed bank robbery, and to brandishing a firearm during the commission of one of those robberies | |
July 8, 2009 |
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| Mark Guinn | Indicted | Violating the Clean Water Act | |
July 7, 2009 |
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| Angelica Sagote | Sentenced | Forty-six months in prison, followed by three years of supervised release | |
| June 2009 | |||
June 29, 2009 |
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| Damian Prescott | Guilty Plea | Defrauding Cisco Systems Inc. of computer networking equipment through Cisco’s SMARTnet warranty program | |
June 26, 2009 |
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| Dennis Cyrus, Jr | Sentence Recommended | Life imprisonment without the possibility of release | |
June 25, 2009 |
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| Thomas J. Kline | Charged | Five counts of mail fraud | |
June 25, 2009 |
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| Nwadinaume Uba | Sentenced | Eighteen months in prison, followed by one year of supervised release, a fine of $5,000 and ordered to pay $258,741 in restitution | |
June 23, 2009 |
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| County of Mendocino | Agreed | Repay the Department of Justice more than $1.7 million | |
June 22, 2009 |
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| Robert Scott West | Sentenced | Ten months home confinement, ordered to pay $100,000 in restitution to Phillips Lumileds Light Company and $5,000 in fines | |
June 18, 2009 |
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| Roger L. Hollins Roberts | Guilty Plea | Distributing drugs purported to be Viagra and Cialis without a prescription | |
June 18, 2009 |
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| John Kevin Thompson | Sentenced | Twenty-seven months in prison, followed by three years of supervised release and ordered to pay restitution of $595,833.34 | |
June 18, 2009 |
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| Yu-Fen Huang | Guilty Plea | One count of aiding or assisting in causing a false return to be filed | |
June 15, 2009 |
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| Sefo Sagote | Sentenced | Eleven years and one month in prison, followed by five years of supervised release | |
June 12, 2009 |
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| Jason Vassil | Sentenced | One hundred months in prison | |
June 5, 2009 |
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| Shore Terminals LLC | Guilty Plea | One felony count of submitting a false annual report to the Bay Area Air Quality Management District and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency regarding the facility’s compliance with the Clean Air Act | |
June 4, 2009 |
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| Matthew Charles Dehn, Lisa Monique Zamorano | Sentenced | Dehn: 146 months in prison, and ordered him to pay $26,907; Zamorano: 48 months in prison and ordered to pay $5,712 | |
June 2, 2009 |
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| Dr. Ramon Scruggs | Guilty Plea | One count of conspiracy to illegally distribute anabolic steroids and illegally smuggle human growth hormone into the United States, and one count of money laundering | |
June 2, 2009 |
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| Alex Yan | Sentenced | Twenty-seven months in prison and ordered to pay $235,695.31 in restitution | |
| May 2009 | |||
May 29, 2009 |
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| Jesse Carter & Cherie Hokamura | Charged | Use of multiple false identifications and counterfeit credit cards, along with the possession of counterfeit document-making equipment | |
May 28, 2009 |
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| Jordan Pyhtila & Jessie Jeffries | Guilty Plea | Maintaining a place to manufacture marijuana and conspiracy to launder money | |
May 22, 2009 |
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| Ralph E. King & Raphael King | Indicted | Conspired to fraudulently obtain almost $35,000 in federal disability payments | |
May 21, 2009 |
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| Emile Fort | Sentenced | 496 months in prison, five years of supervised release, and ordered to pay a $2,000 fine to the Victim’s of Crime Fund | |
May 21, 2009 |
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| Francisco Torres-Felix | Guilty Plea | Conspiring to possess with intent to distribute and possessing with intent to distribute cocaine, carrying and possessing a firearm in relation to these crimes, being an illegal alien in possession of two firearms, and illegal re-entry following deportation | |
May 20, 2009 |
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| Gary Ray Bassett | Arraigned | Ten counts of wire and mail fraud | |
May 20, 2009 |
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| Juan Antonio Cardenas | Sentenced | 120 months in prison | |
May 15, 2009 |
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| Luke D. Brugnara | Guilty Plea | Filing a false tax return | |
May 13, 2009 |
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| Jubilee Restoration, Inc | Guilty Plea & Sentenced | Submitting false claims to HUD and was sentenced to five years probation and $177,381.28 in restitution | |
May 13, 2009 |
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| Bai Lin Huang | Arrested | Charges stemming from his alleged smuggling of Asian arowanas | |
May 13, 2009 |
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| Patrick Paul Brennan | Indicted | Three counts of income tax evasion | |
May 08, 2009 |
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| Randall C. Cover | Guilty Plea | Five counts of using the mails to engage in a fraud scheme to deprive the people of the City of Sonoma to their right to honest services | |
May 07, 2009 |
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| Qing Song | Guilty Plea | One felony count of violating the Lacey Act | |
May 05, 2009 |
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| Philip Gabriel Pettersson | Indicted | Intrusion and trade secret theft charges | |
May 01, 2009 |
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| Elisa M. Lipkins | Guilty Plea | Robbing $7,020 from the Bank of America branch in San Francisco’s Laurel Village | |
May 01, 2009 |
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| Paul Hirsohn | Sentenced | Ninety-seven months in prison and ordered to pay a $25,000 fine | |
May 01, 2009 |
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| Diana Hojsak | Sentenced | Twenty-seven months in prison and ordered to pay $557,363 in restitution | |
| April 2009 | |||
April 30, 2009 |
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| Maher Fayez Kara, Mounir Fayez Kara, Emile Youssef Jilwan | Indicted | Securities fraud and conspiracy relating to an insider trading scheme | |
April 29, 2009 |
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| Peter Franklin Klein | Indicted | Eleven counts of armed bank robbery | |
April 28, 2009 |
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| Jeremy Esperante | Sentenced | Fourteen years in prison for distributing child pornography | |
April 28, 2009 |
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| Dr. Sydney Shaber | Guilty Plea | Unlawfully converting employee pension funds | |
April 27, 2009 |
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| James Linville | Sentenced | Forty-five months in prison for assuming the identity of another person and possessing more than 15 credit cards in that person’s name | |
April 22, 2009 |
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| Fritz Brunz | Guilty Plea | One count of Introducing Misbranded Drugs into Interstate Commerce | |
April 10, 2009 |
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| Deisy Valdovinos Pacheco | Indicted | Two counts of distributing controlled substances | |
April 10, 2009 |
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| Michael A. Daly | Guilty Plea | Defrauding Cisco Systems, Inc. of computer networking equipment and engaging in money laundering | |
April 8, 2009 |
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| Fu-Tain Lu | Indicted | Conspired to violate United States export regulations | |
April 3, 2009 |
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| Edmund Jew | Sentenced | Sixty-four months in prison for bribery, extortion, and mail fraud by deprivation of honest services | |
| March 2009 | |||
March 27, 2009 |
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| Qing Song | Indicted | Illegal trade of endangered sea turtle parts | |
March 25, 2009 |
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| Maurice Allen | Sentenced | Fifteen years in prison for being a felon in possession of a firearm | |
March 24, 2009 |
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| David Scott Cacchione | Charged | One count of aiding and abetting securities fraud | |
March 20, 2009 |
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| Carlos Coronado, Jerry Kahue, David Siharath | Sentenced | One year and one day in prison and ordered him to pay $496,055 to his former employer Systron Donner and $485,000 to the Internal Revenue Service,one year home confinement and ordered him to pay $80,000 to his former employer Systron Donner and $16,221 to the Internal Revenue Service,three years probation and ordered him to pay $18,500 to his former employer Systron Donner | |
March 18, 2009 |
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| David Marion Simcho | Sentenced | Twenty-seven months in prison, followed by three years of supervised release and ordered to pay restitution in the amount of $111,769 | |
March 18, 2009 |
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| Albert Ke-Jeng Hu | Arrested | Related to six counts of wire fraud | |
March 18, 2009 |
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| Luong Hue Tieu | Sentenced | Eighty months of imprisonment for attempting to obstruct commerce and to a consecutive seven months of imprisonment for failure to appear for sentencing | |
March 17, 2009 |
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| Nwadinaume Uba | Guilty Plea | Three counts of filing a false tax return | |
March 16, 2009 |
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| Michael Burge | Guilty Plea | Nine counts of unarmed bank robbery | |
March 13, 2009 |
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| Edward S. Ehee | Guilty Plea | Wire fraud, tax evasion and making and subscribing a false tax return | |
March 13, 2009 |
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| Yan Ru Chu | Sentenced | Twenty-four months imprisonment, and three years probation | |
March 13, 2009 |
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| Robert Terrell Pleasant | Sentenced | Seventy-seven months in prison for selling crack cocaine | |
March 12, 2009 |
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| San Mateo County | Settlement | $6.8 million to resolve allegations that the San Mateo Medical Center submitted false claims to the United States | |
March 11, 2009 |
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| J. Douglas Wilson, Brad Wiegmann | Appointed | Task forces calling for a review of the government’s interrogation and transfer policies, as well as a review of detention policy | |
March 6, 2009 |
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| John Joseph Cota | Guilty Plea | Negligently causing the discharge of approximately 53,000 gallons of oil into San Francisco Bay in violation of the Oil Pollution Act of 1990 | |
March 5, 2009 |
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| David Foster Crane | Indicted | Ten counts of mail fraud and Thirteen counts of money laundering | |
March 2, 2009 |
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| Anthony Vincent Piazza | Indicted | Robbing a Citibank branch | |
March 2, 2009 |
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| Sefo Sagote, Angelica Sagote, Elisara Taito | Guilty Plea | Armed bank robbery of the Pacific Postal Credit Union in San Francisco | |
| February 2009 | |||
February 26, 2009 |
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| John Kevin Thompson | Mail fraud | ||
February 26, 2009 |
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| Sixteen Individuals | Prosecuted | Federal passport offenses between December 2008 and February 2009 | |
February 25, 2009 |
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| Huy Quoc Nguyen | Sentenced | Fifteen months in prison, followed by three years supervised release, and ordered him to pay restitution in the amount of $549,000 plus interest and penalties for tax evasion | |
February 25, 2009 |
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| Juan Paulo Depakakibo Garcia & Ian Carl Depakakibo Garcia | Indicted | One count of conspiracy to commit bulk cash smuggling, and one count of bulk cash smuggling | |
February 24, 2009 |
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| Thomas Edward Green Jr | Guilty Plea | Two felony counts of transmitting and possessing child pornography | |
February 19, 2009 |
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| United States | Intervened | Suits against the drug manufacturer Scios Inc. and its parent company, Johnson & Johnson Inc | |
February 13, 2009 |
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| APL Limited | Agreed | Pay the government $26.3 million to resolve allegations that it submitted false claims to the United States in connection with contracts to transport cargo in shipping containers to support U.S. troops in Iraq and Afghanistan | |
February 9, 2009 |
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| Mabelle de la Rosa Dann | Indicted | Criminal violations of forced labor, unlawful conduct regarding documents in furtherance of servitude, visa fraud, conspiracy to commit visa fraud, and harboring an illegal alien for private financial gain | |
February 5, 2009 |
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| Six individuals | Charged | Drug trafficking and firearms offenses | |
February 5, 2009 |
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| Nine individuals | Charged | Multiple drug trafficking offenses | |
February 5, 2009 |
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| Charles Edward Pullen | Sentenced | Twelve months and one day in prison, followed by one year of supervised release | |
February 5, 2009 |
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| William “Boots” Del Biaggio, III | Guilty Plea | One count of securities fraud | |
February 5, 2009 |
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| Matthew Charles Dehn | Guilty Plea | Ten bank robberies and one attempted bank robbery | |
February 3, 2009 |
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| Nine organizations | Receive | Project Safe Neighborhood/Anti-Gang Initiative grants of $28,000 each | |
| January 2009 | |||
January 30, 2009 |
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| Mei Ling Chen | Sentenced | Thirty-three months in prison and ordered to pay a $4,300 fine and $3,200 in restitution | |
January 30, 2009 |
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| County of San Mateo | Repay | More than $1.5 million for grant funds it improperly received through the Department’s Southwest Border Prosecution Initiative | |
January 29, 2009 |
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| County of San Benito | Repay | $397,984 for funds it improperly requested and received through the Department’s Southwest Border Prosecution Initiative | |
January 29, 2009 |
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| Fawzi M. Swalim | Sentenced | Fourteen days in prison, three years supervised release, a $5,000 fine, and restitution of $7,326 | |
January 28, 2009 |
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| Abdol Hossein Novin, Zohreh Ahghari | Indicted | Four counts of filing false tax returns and two counts of assisting in the preparation of false tax returns | |
January 26, 2009 |
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| Cristina L. Warthen | Guilty Plea | Tax evasion | |
January 20, 2009 |
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| Robin Bruce McNabb | Indicted | Nine counts of bank fraud and nine counts of wire fraud | |
January 20, 2009 |
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| Stephen Joseph Heuer | Charged | Conspiracy, distribution of HGH, distribution of misbranded drugs, and mail fraud | |
January 20, 2009 |
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| Christopher Reynolds | Sentenced | Eleven years and eight months imprisonment, followed by five years of supervised release | |
January 9, 2009 |
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| Digna Roldan Garrett | Sentenced | Eighteen months in prison and ordered to pay a $4,000 fine and $138,784.17 in restitution | |
January 9, 2009 |
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| Christian Pantages, Jamie Harmon | Indicted | Pantages on charges of conspiracy to buy stolen goods constituting an interstate shipment, and conspiracy to commit money laundering; and Harmon for conspiracy to commit money laundering and five individual counts of money laundering | |
January 8, 2009 |
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| Ausaf Umar Siddiqui | Indicted | Five counts of wire fraud and four counts of money laundering | |