Press Releases

Associate Attorney General Stanley E. Woodward Jr. of the U.S. Department of Justice issued the following statement today in connection with the closing of the Antitrust Division’s investigation into the proposed merger between Seismic Software, Inc. (Seismic) and Highspot Inc. (Highspot):

A deputy with the Kanawha County Sheriff’s Office was charged yesterday in an indictment with one count of alleged deprivation of rights under color of law arising out of his alleged sexual assault of a female inmate in his custody.

Kyle William Spitze, 27, of Friendsville, TN was sentenced today to 77 years in prison for production of child sexual abuse material (CSAM), abetting the distribution of animal crushing videos, and possessing and accessing with the intent to view CSAM.

A federal grand jury in the Northern District of Alabama returned an indictment today charging an Alabama man with preparing false and fraudulent tax returns for others and filing false and fraudulent tax returns for himself.

The Department of Justice announced today that Larry Montes was charged with two counts of committing hate crimes in connection with his race- and religious-based assaults of a congregant and a security guard during a Shabbat service at a synagogue in Manhattan on Aug. 14, as well as one count of destruction of religious property resulting in bodily injury. Montes is currently in state custody and will be transported to and presented in Manhattan federal court at a later date to face the federal charges filed in the Southern District of New York.

A Chinese national was sentenced today in the Western District of North Carolina by U.S. District Judge Susan C. Rodriguez to 15 years in prison and ordered to forfeit $25 million for his role in a Chinese money laundering organization (CMLO) that laundered over $92 million in illicit funds, including proceeds from the importation and distribution of illegal drugs into the United States, primarily through Mexico.

Today, the Civil Rights Division is monitoring polling sites in Florida and Wyoming for the states’ primary elections to ensure transparency, ballot security, and compliance with federal law.

The Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division announced today that it is opening a compliance review into the College of William & Mary (W&M) to determine whether the school’s scholarships and student benefits include racial criteria that violate Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which prohibits discrimination on the basis of race, color, and national origin.

A Colombian national pleaded guilty today to a seven-year money laundering conspiracy involving the purchase of consumer electronics using drug proceeds.

A South Carolina man pleaded guilty today to conspiracy to commit sex trafficking between January and August 2023.