Press Releases

Following a two-week trial, a federal jury in Minneapolis convicted three Minnesota men yesterday for their involvement in the Highs — a violent Minneapolis street gang — and a gang-related murder on Aug. 7, 2021.

A federal grand jury in Central Islip, New York, returned an indictment April 22 and unsealed today charging a New York man with lying on his applications for a green card and United States citizenship by concealing his past role as a leader and perpetrator of the genocide in Rwanda in 1994.

Roberto Gustavo Cortes Ripalda (Cortes), 58, the co-founder, co-owner, and CEO of international advisory firm Biscayne Capital, was sentenced earlier today in Brooklyn, New York to 10 years in prison for conspiracy to commit wire fraud. 

A federal grand jury in Florence, South Carolina, returned an indictment on Tuesday, April 22, charging Nasir Ullah, 28, and Naim Ullah, 32, both of Sumter, South Carolina, and Puquan Huang, 49, of Buford, Georgia, with conspiring to launder millions of dollars of proceeds derived from drug trafficking.

A Florida man was sentenced to 50 months in prison for not paying taxes withheld from his employees’ wages and filing a false tax return.

A former U.S. Army intelligence analyst was sentenced today to 84 months in prison for conspiring to collect and transmit national defense information, including sensitive, non-public U.S. military information, to an individual he believed was affiliated with the Chinese government.

Isaiah McCoy, 38, of Honolulu, Hawaii, was convicted of multiple counts of sex trafficking by a federal jury in the District of Hawaii. Specifically, the jury convicted McCoy of four counts of sex trafficking three adults and one minor, two counts of obstructing a sex trafficking investigation, seven counts of interstate and foreign travel or transportation in aid of racketeering enterprises, and one count of interstate travel for prostitution purposes.

Today, an indictment was unsealed in the District of Columbia charging eWorldTrade LLC (eWorldTrade), a U.S. company, with conspiracy to distribute synthetic opioids for unlawful importation into the United States.

The Justice Department announced that it reached an agreement with California towing company Tony’s Auto Center to resolve allegations that it illegally auctioned a deployed Navy Lieutenant’s car, in violation of the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act (SCRA).  Under the settlement agreement, U.S. Navy Lieutenant Jonathan Liongson will receive $7,500 in damages. The United States will also receive a $2,000 civil penalty, and Tony’s Auto Center must implement new policies to prevent future violations of the SCRA.

A federal judge in Oregon sentenced the two companies responsible for the operation of the J.H. Baxter wood treatment facility in Eugene, Oregon, and their president, for hazardous waste and Clean Air Act violations. Collectively, they were ordered to pay a total of $1.5 million in criminal fines. In addition, the court ordered the companies to serve five years of probation and the companies’ president, Georgia Baxter-Krause, of Deschutes, Oregon, to serve 90 days in prison and one year of supervised release.

A five-count superseding indictment has been unsealed today charging a Venezuelan national and alleged high-ranking member of the designated foreign terrorist organization Tren de Aragua (TdA).  

Dale Britt Bendler, 68, of Miami, Florida, pleaded guilty today to, while being a public official at the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), acting as a foreign agent required to register under the Foreign Agents Registration Act and removing classified material, classified up to the SECRET//NOFORN level, from authorized locations without authority and with the intent to retain such material at an unauthorized location.