Press Releases

Yesterday a federal district court in the Southern District of Florida accepted the guilty pleas of two men to conspiring to obstruct, delay or affect commerce through extortion in connection with ransomware attacks occurring in 2023.

Cholo Abdi Abdullah was sentenced to two consecutive life terms in prison following his conviction for multiple crimes that included conspiring to provide — and providing — material support to a foreign terrorist organization, and conspiring to murder U.S. nationals, commit aircraft piracy, destroy aircraft, and commit acts of terrorism transcending national boundaries. Today’s sentencing followed Abdullah’s conviction after a jury trial that concluded on Nov. 4, 2024.

An Arizona man was sentenced Friday to 15 years in prison and ordered to pay more than $452 million in restitution for conspiring to defraud Medicare and other federal health care benefit programs of more than $1 billion by operating a platform that generated false doctors’ orders used to support fraudulent claims for various medical items.

The Justice Department today announced the seizure of a web domain and database used in furtherance of a scheme to target and defraud Americans through bank account takeover fraud.

WASHINGTON – The Department of Justice announced the results of Operation Relentless Justice, a coordinated enforcement effort to identify, track, and arrest child sex predators. The nationwide crackdown resulted in over 205 child victims being located and the arrests of over 293 child sexual abuse offenders. The coordinated effort was executed over the course of two weeks by all 56 FBI field offices, the Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section (CEOS) in the Department’s Criminal Division, and U.S. Attorneys' offices around the country. 

Two Colombian nationals made their initial appearance in court in El Paso, Texas yesterday after being extradited from Colombia to face charges relating to their roles in a dangerous human smuggling conspiracy that left 40 aliens and two boat captains missing.

A Ukrainian national pleaded guilty today to one count of conspiracy to commit computer fraud for his role in a series of international ransomware attacks.

Wilson Arturo Constanza-Galdomez, also known as Humilde, also known as Marco Saravia, 26, of El Salvador, Edis Omar Valenzuela-Rodriguez, also known as Little Felon, 24, of Honduras, and Jonathan Pesquera-Puerto, also known as Truney, 24, of Honduras were each sentenced today to life in prison for their convictions at trial of Racketeering (RICO) Conspiracy involving murder and Racketeering Murder, all related to their association with La Mara Salvatrucha, commonly known as MS-13, a designated Foreign Terrorist Organization.

A Ukrainian-Israeli national pleaded guilty today to wire fraud in connection with his participation in a large-scale, fake stock-brokerage organization. Yaroslav Shilkloper, 49, a dual citizen of Ukraine and Israel, was a member of a criminal organization that used a sophisticated phony brokerage business to scam U.S. citizens out of millions of dollars.

A dual Canadian-American citizen made his initial appearance in court in Plattsburg, New York, today after being extradited from Canada to face charges relating to his role in a deadly human smuggling conspiracy that left a family of four, including two small children, dead in the St. Lawrence River.

Highs gang member Dantrell Johnson was sentenced today to life imprisonment for his role in a racketeering conspiracy and gang-related murder. On Dec. 16, Highs gang member Gregory Hamilton was also sentenced to life imprisonment.

Registered sex offender Scott Lee Dye, 47, of Baltimore, Maryland, was sentenced today to 270 months imprisonment and a lifetime of supervised release for attempted coercion and enticement after he used multiple messaging applications — including WhatsApp and Kik — to attempt to meet and have sexual intercourse with individuals he believed to be minors.