GREAT FALLS – A Kalispell man who conspired to distribute drugs on the Blackfeet Indian Reservation was sentenced today to 128 months in prison to be followed by 5 years of supervised release, U.S. Attorney Kurt Alme said.
Cameron Lee Richard Carr, 34, pleaded guilty in September 2024 to possession with intent to distribute methamphetamine and fentanyl.
Chief U.S. District Judge Brian Morris presided.
The government alleged in court documents that in early November 2023, law enforcement received information Carr was trafficking illegal drugs from Kalispell, Montana to Browning, Montana. On November 28, 2023, Carr was observed leaving the Going to the Sun Inn in Browning. A Blackfeet Law Enforcement Services officer saw Carr run a stop sign and attempted to conduct a traffic stop. Carr fled before eventually stopping his vehicle and attempting to run away on foot. He was apprehended by the officer and arrested. The officer saw Carr reach for his waistband when he was arrested, so the officer searched him for weapons before placing him in a patrol vehicle. The officer recovered suspected meth and fentanyl from and noticed a 9 mm Ruger handgun on the ground near the area where Carr was apprehended.
Law enforcement searched Carr’s vehicle and seized 11 additional firearms, 500 grams of methamphetamine, 168 grams of fentanyl in pill and powder form, and small amounts of heroin, oxycodone, morphine, and cocaine. On December 1, 2023, during an interview with law enforcement, Carr admitted distributing drugs in Browning.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office prosecuted the case and the investigation was conducted by the FBI, DEA, Blackfeet Law Enforcement Services, and the Glacier County Sheriff’s Office.
The case was investigated under the Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces (OCDETF). OCDETF identifies, disrupts, and dismantles the highest-level criminal organizations that threaten the United States using a prosecutor-led, intelligence-driven, multi-agency approach. For more information about Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces, please visit Justice.gov/OCDETF.
DENVER — A former member of the Gambian military was convicted April 15 on torture charges, following his involvement in crimes committed while the West African country’s then-President, Yahya Jammeh, was still in power.
Michael Sang Correa, 46, was indicted in 2020 and is the first non-United States citizen to be convicted under the U.S. criminal torture law. He was found guilty of inflicting torture on specific individuals as well as conspiring to commit torture against suspected opponents of Jammeh’s while serving in a military unit within the Gambia Armed Forces known as the “Junglers.”
“Correa’s crimes caught up with him today,” said U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Homeland Security Investigations Denver Special Agent in Charge Steve Cagen, who also oversees Colorado, Montana and Wyoming. “Correa chose the wrong country to try to escape from justice. HSI actively investigates and apprehends human rights violators who run from their criminal pasts and come here. We have a zero-tolerance policy for human rights violators.”
“Michael Sang Correa tried to evade responsibility for his crimes in The Gambia by coming to the United States and hiding his past,” said Matthew R. Galeotti, Head of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division. “But we found him, we investigated him, and we prosecuted him. The lesson is: if you commit violent crimes — let alone torture or other human rights violations — do not come to the United States. If you do, the Department of Justice, together with its law enforcement partners, will leave no stone unturned to see that your crimes are exposed and justice is served. I thank the jurors for their service and the witnesses for the courage to relive the horror they experienced at Correa’s hands.”
“The torture inflicted by Michael Sang Correa and his co-conspirators is abhorrent,” said acting U.S. Attorney J. Bishop Grewell for the District of Colorado. “Today’s verdict shows you can’t get away with coming to Colorado to hide from your past crimes. The jurors are to be commended for their service throughout this trial and the witnesses for traveling so far to serve the interests of justice.”
Evidence presented at trial proved that in March 2006, shortly after a failed coup attempt, Correa and his co-conspirators transported the victims to Gambia’s main prison, known as Mile 2 Prison, where they subjected the victims to severe physical and mental abuses.
For the rest of the month of March and well into April 2006, Correa and his co-conspirators beat, stabbed, burned and electrocuted the victims, among other horrific acts. One victim testified that he had his thigh burned by hot, molten plastic; the Junglers also placed the victim in a large bag, suspended him in the air, and dropped him to the ground. Another victim testified that Correa and his co-conspirators suffocated him with a plastic bag and put the barrel of a pistol in his mouth. In addition to suffocation from plastic bags, another victim testified that Correa and his co-conspirators electrocuted him on his body, including his genitals; hanged him upside down and beat him in that position; and stabbed him in the shoulder. A fourth victim endured electrocution and was hit in the head with a pistol. A fifth victim testified that he had cigarettes extinguished into his skin, experienced electrocution, and that he was struck in the face with a hammer.
Correa came to the U.S. in December 2016, eventually settling in Denver. Having overstayed his visa, ICE arrested Correa in 2019 and subsequently placed him in removal proceedings.
Correa faces a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison for each of the five torture counts and the count of conspiracy to commit torture. He will remain in U.S. custody pending his sentencing.
ICE HSI Denver investigated this case, with support from HSI agents in Dakar, Senegal, as well as personnel at the U.S. Embassy in Banjul and the FBI Legal Attaché in Dakar. The Human Rights Violators and War Crimes Center also provided significant support. Established in 2009, the HRVWCC leverages the expertise of criminal investigators, attorneys, historians, intelligence analysts and federal partners to provide a whole of government approach to prevent the U.S. from becoming a haven for individuals who commit war crimes, genocide, torture and other human rights abuses around the globe.
Currently, ICE has more than 180 active investigations into suspected human rights violators and is pursuing more than 1,945 leads and removals cases involving suspected human rights violators from 95 different countries. The center has issued more than 79,000 lookouts since 2003, for potential perpetrators of human rights abuses and stopped over 390 human rights violators and war crimes suspects from entering the U.S.
Members of the public who have information about foreign nationals suspected of engaging in human rights abuses or war crimes are urged to call the ICE Tip Line at 1-866-DHS-2-ICE (1-866-347-2423) or internationally at 001-1802-872-6199. You can also email HRV.ICE@ice.dhs.gov or complete the online tip form.
Microsoft maintains a continuous effort to protect its platforms and customers from fraud and abuse. From blocking imposters on Microsoft Azure and adding anti-scam features to Microsoft Edge, to fighting tech support fraud with new features in Windows Quick Assist, this edition of Cyber Signals takes you inside the work underway and important milestones achieved that protect customers.
Blocked about 1.6 million bot signup attempts per hour.
The evolution of AI-enhanced cyber scams
AI has started to lower the technical bar for fraud and cybercrime actors looking for their own productivity tools, making it easier and cheaper to generate believable content for cyberattacks at an increasingly rapid rate. AI software used in fraud attempts runs the gamut, from legitimate apps misused for malicious purposes to more fraud-oriented tools used by bad actors in the cybercrime underground.
AI tools can scan and scrape the web for company information, helping cyberattackers build detailed profiles of employees or other targets to create highly convincing social engineering lures. In some cases, bad actors are luring victims into increasingly complex fraud schemes using fake AI-enhanced product reviews and AI-generated storefronts, where scammers create entire websites and e-commerce brands, complete with fake business histories and customer testimonials. By using deepfakes, voice cloning, phishing emails, and authentic-looking fake websites, threat actors seek to appear legitimate at wider scale.
According to the Microsoft Anti-Fraud Team, AI-powered fraud attacks are happening globally, with much of the activity coming from China and Europe, specifically Germany due in part to Germany’s status as one of the largest e-commerce and online services markets in the European Union (EU). The larger a digital marketplace in any region, the more likely a proportional degree of attempted fraud will take place.
E-commerce fraud
Fraudulent e-commerce websites can be set up in minutes using AI and other tools requiring minimal technical knowledge. Previously, it would take threat actors days or weeks to stand up convincing websites. These fraudulent websites often mimic legitimate sites, making it challenging for consumers to identify them as fake.
Using AI-generated product descriptions, images, and customer reviews, customers are duped into believing they are interacting with a genuine merchant, exploiting consumer trust in familiar brands.
AI-powered customer service chatbots add another layer of deception by convincingly interacting with customers. These bots can delay chargebacks by stalling customers with scripted excuses and manipulating complaints with AI-generated responses that make scam sites appear professional.
In a multipronged approach, Microsoft has implemented robust defenses across our products and services to protect customers from AI-powered fraud. Microsoft Defender for Cloud provides comprehensive threat protection for Azure resources, including vulnerability assessments and threat detection for virtual machines, container images, and endpoints.
Microsoft Edge features website typo protection and domain impersonation protection using deep learning technology to help users avoid fraudulent websites. Edge has also implemented a machine learning-based Scareware Blocker to identify and block potential scam pages and deceptive pop-up screens with alarming warnings claiming a computer has been compromised. These attacks try to frighten users into calling fraudulent support numbers or downloading harmful software.
Job and employment fraud
The rapid advancement of generative AI has made it easier for scammers to create fake listings on various job platforms. They generate fake profiles with stolen credentials, fake job postings with auto-generated descriptions, and AI-powered email campaigns to phish job seekers. AI-powered interviews and automated emails enhance the credibility of job scams, making it harder for job seekers to identify fraudulent offers.
To prevent this, job platforms should introduce multifactor authentication for employer accounts to make it harder for bad actors to take over legitimate hirers’ listings and use available fraud-detection technologies to catch suspicious content.
Fraudsters often ask for personal information, such as resumes or even bank account details, under the guise of verifying the applicant’s information. Unsolicited text and email messages offering employment opportunities that promise high pay for minimal qualifications are typically an indicator of fraud.
Employment offers that include requests for payment, offers that seem too good to be true, unsolicited offers or interview requests over text message, and a lack of formal communication platforms can all be indicators of fraud.
Tech support scams
Tech support scams are a type of fraud where scammers trick victims into unnecessary technical support services to fix a device or software problems that don’t exist. The scammers may then gain remote access to a computer—which lets them access all information stored on it, and on any network connected to it or install malware that gives them access to the computer and sensitive data.
Tech support scams are a case where elevated fraud risks exist, even if AI does not play a role. For example, in mid-April 2024, Microsoft Threat Intelligence observed the financially motivated and ransomware-focused cybercriminal group Storm-1811 abusing Windows Quick Assist software by posing as IT support. Microsoft did not observe AI used in these attacks; Storm-1811 instead impersonated legitimate organizations through voice phishing (vishing) as a form of social engineering, convincing victims to grant them device access through Quick Assist.
Quick Assist is a tool that enables users to share their Windows or macOS device with another person over a remote connection. Tech support scammers often pretend to be legitimate IT support from well-known companies and use social engineering tactics to gain the trust of their targets. They then attempt to employ tools like Quick Assist to connect to the target’s device.
Quick Assist and Microsoft are not compromised in these cyberattack scenarios; however, the abuse of legitimate software presents risk Microsoft is focused on mitigating. Informed by Microsoft’s understanding of evolving cyberattack techniques, the company’s anti-fraud and product teams work closely together to improve transparency for users and enhance fraud detection techniques.
The Storm-1811 cyberattacks highlight the capability of social engineering to circumvent security defenses. Social engineering involves collecting relevant information about targeted victims and arranging it into credible lures delivered through phone, email, text, or other mediums. Various AI tools can quickly find, organize, and generate information, thus acting as productivity tools for cyberattackers. Although AI is a new development, enduring measures to counter social engineering attacks remain highly effective. These include increasing employee awareness of legitimate helpdesk contact and support procedures, and applying Zero Trust principles to enforce least privilege across employee accounts and devices, thereby limiting the impact of any compromised assets while they are being addressed.
Microsoft has taken action to mitigate attacks by Storm-1811 and other groups by suspending identified accounts and tenants associated with inauthentic behavior. If you receive an unsolicited tech support offer, it is likely a scam. Always reach out to trusted sources for tech support. If scammers claim to be from Microsoft, we encourage you to report it directly to us at https://www.microsoft.com/reportascam.
Building on the Secure Future Initiative (SFI), Microsoft is taking a proactive approach to ensuring our products and services are “Fraud-resistant by Design.” In January 2025, a new fraud prevention policy was introduced: Microsoft product teams must now perform fraud prevention assessments and implement fraud controls as part of their design process.
Recommendations
Strengthen employer authentication: Fraudsters often hijack legitimate company profiles or create fake recruiters to deceive job seekers. To prevent this, job platforms should introduce multifactor authentication and Verified ID as part of Microsoft Entra ID for employer accounts, making it harder for unauthorized users to gain control.
Monitor for AI-based recruitment scams: Companies should deploy deepfake detection algorithms to identify AI-generated interviews where facial expressions and speech patterns may not align naturally.
Be cautious of websites and job listings that seem too good to be true: Verify the legitimacy of websites by checking for secure connections (https) and using tools like Microsoft Edge’s typo protection.
Avoid providing personal information or payment details to unverified sources: Look for red flags in job listings, such as requests for payment or communication through informal platforms like text messages, WhatsApp, nonbusiness Gmail accounts, or requests to contact someone on a personal device for more information.
Using Microsoft’s security signal to combat fraud
Microsoft is actively working to stop fraud attempts using AI and other technologies by evolving large-scale detection models based on AI, such as machine learning, to play defense by learning from and mitigating fraud attempts. Machine learning is the process that helps a computer learn without direct instruction using algorithms to discover patterns in large datasets. Those patterns are then used to create a comprehensive AI model, allowing for predictions with high accuracy.
We have developed in-product safety controls that warn users about potential malicious activity and integrate rapid detection and prevention of new types of attacks.
Our fraud team has developed domain impersonation protection using deep-learning technology at the domain creation stage, to help protect against fraudulent e-commerce websites and fake job listings. Microsoft Edge has incorporated website typo protection, and we have developed AI-powered fake job detection systems for LinkedIn.
Microsoft Defender Smartscreen is a cloud-based security feature that aims to prevent unsafe browsing habits by analyzing websites, files, and applications based on their reputation and behavior. It is integrated into Windows and the Edge browser to help protect users from phishing attacks, malicious websites, and potentially harmful downloads.
Furthermore, Microsoft’s Digital Crimes Unit (DCU) partners with others in the private and public sector to disrupt the malicious infrastructure used by criminals perpetuating cyber-enabled fraud. The team’s longstanding collaboration with law enforcement around the world to respond to tech support fraud has resulted in hundreds of arrests and increasingly severe prison sentences worldwide. The DCU is applying key learnings from past actions to disrupt those who seek to abuse generative AI technology for malicious or fraudulent purposes.
Quick Assist features and remote help combat tech support fraud
To help combat tech support fraud, we have incorporated warning messages to alert users about possible tech support scams in Quick Assist before they grant access to someone approaching them purporting to be an authorized IT department or other support resource.
Windows users must read and click the box to acknowledge the security risk of granting remote access to the device.
Microsoft has significantly enhanced Quick Assist protection for Windows users by leveraging its security signal. In response to tech support scams and other threats, Microsoft now blocks an average of 4,415 suspicious Quick Assist connection attempts daily, accounting for approximately 5.46% of global connection attempts. These blocks target connections exhibiting suspicious attributes, such as associations with malicious actors or unverified connections.
Microsoft’s continual focus on advancing Quick Assist safeguards seeks to counter adaptive cybercriminals, who previously targeted individuals opportunistically with fraudulent connection attempts, but more recently have sought to target enterprises with more organized cybercrime campaigns that Microsoft’s actions have helped disrupt.
Our Digital Fingerprinting capability, which leverages AI and machine learning, drives these safeguards by providing fraud and risk signals to detect fraudulent activity. If our risk signals detect a possible scam, the Quick Assist session is automatically ended. Digital Fingerprinting works by collecting various signals to detect and prevent fraud.
For enterprises combating tech support fraud, Remote Help is another valuable resource for employees. Remote Help is designed for internal use within an organization and includes features that make it ideal for enterprises.
By reducing scams and fraud, Microsoft aims to enhance the overall security of its products and protect its users from malicious activities.
Consumer protection tips
Fraudsters exploit psychological triggers such as urgency, scarcity, and trust in social proof. Consumers should be cautious of:
Impulse buying—Scammers create a sense of urgency with “limited-time” deals and countdown timers.
Trusting fake social proof—AI generates fake reviews, influencer endorsements, and testimonials to appear legitimate.
Clicking on ads without verification—Many scam sites spread through AI-optimized social media ads. Consumers should cross-check domain names and reviews before purchasing.
Ignoring payment security—Avoid direct bank transfers or cryptocurrency payments, which lack fraud protections.
Job seekers should verify employer legitimacy, be on the lookout for common job scam red flags, and avoid sharing personal or financial information with unverified employers.
Verify employer legitimacy—Cross-check company details on LinkedIn, Glassdoor, and official websites to verify legitimacy.
Notice common job scam red flags—If a job requires upfront payments for training materials, certifications, or background checks, it is likely a scam. Unrealistic salaries or no-experience-required remote positions should be approached with skepticism. Emails from free domains (such as johndoehr@gmail.com instead of hr@company.com) are also typically indicators of fraudulent activity.
Be cautious of AI-generated interviews and communications—If a video interview seems unnatural, with lip-syncing delays, robotic speech, or odd facial expressions, it could be deepfake technology at work. Job seekers should always verify recruiter credentials through the company’s official website before engaging in any further discussions.
Avoid sharing personal or financial information—Under no circumstances should you provide a Social Security number, banking details, or passwords to an unverified employer.
Microsoft is also a member of the Global Anti-Scam Alliance (GASA), which aims to bring governments, law enforcement, consumer protection organizations, financial authorities and providers, brand protection agencies, social media, internet service providers, and cybersecurity companies together to share knowledge and protect consumers from getting scammed.
Recommendations
Remote Help: Microsoft recommends using Remote Help instead of Quick Assist for internal tech support. Remote Help is designed for internal use within an organization and incorporates several features designed to enhance security and minimize the risk of tech support hacks. It is engineered to be used only within an organization’s tenant, providing a safer alternative to Quick Assist.
Digital Fingerprinting: This identifies malicious behaviors and ties them back to specific individuals. This helps in monitoring and preventing unauthorized access.
Blocking full control requests: Quick Assist now includes warnings and requires users to check a box acknowledging the security implications of sharing their screen. This adds a layer of helpful “security friction” by prompting users who may be multitasking or preoccupied to pause to complete an authorization step.
Kelly Bissell: A cybersecurity pioneer combating fraud in the new era of AI
Kelly Bissell’s journey into cybersecurity began unexpectedly in 1990. Initially working in computer science, Kelly was involved in building software for healthcare patient accounting and operating systems at Medaphis and Bellsouth, now AT&T.
His interest in cybersecurity was sparked when he noticed someone logged into a phone switch attempting to get free long-distance calls and traced the intruder back to Romania. This incident marked the beginning of Kelly’s career in cybersecurity.
“I stayed in cybersecurity hunting for bad actors, integrating security controls for hundreds of companies, and helping shape the NIST security frameworks and regulations such as FFIEC, PCI, NERC-CIP,” he explains.
Currently, Kelly is Corporate Vice President of Anti-Fraud and Product Abuse within Microsoft Security. Microsoft’s fraud team employs machine learning and AI to build better detection code and understand fraud operations. They use AI-powered solutions to detect and prevent cyberthreats, leveraging advanced fraud detection frameworks that continuously learn and evolve.
“Cybercrime is a trillion-dollar problem, and it’s been going up every year for the past 30 years. I think we have an opportunity today to adopt AI faster so we can detect and close the gap of exposure quickly. Now we have AI that can make a difference at scale and help us build security and fraud protections into our products much faster.”
Previously Kelly managed the Microsoft Detection and Response Team (DART) and created the Global Hunting, Oversight, and Strategic Triage (GHOST) team that detected and responded to attackers such as Storm-0558 and Midnight Blizzard.
Prior to Microsoft, during his time at Accenture and Deloitte, Kelly collaborated with companies and worked extensively with government agencies like the Department of Homeland Security’s Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) and the Federal Bureau of Investigation, where he helped build security systems inside their operations.
His time as Chief Information Security Officer (CISO) at a bank exposed him to addressing both cybersecurity and fraud, leading to his involvement in shaping regulatory guidelines to protect banks and eventually Microsoft.
Kelly has also played a significant role in shaping regulations around the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and Payment Card Industry (PCI) compliance, which helps ensure the security of businesses’ credit card transactions, among others.
Internationally, Kelly played a crucial role in helping establish agencies and improve cybersecurity measures. As a consultant in London, he helped stand up the United Kingdom’s National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC), which is part of the Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ), the equivalent of CISA. Kelly’s efforts in content moderation with several social media companies, including YouTube, were instrumental in removing harmful content.
That’s why he’s excited about Microsoft’s partnership with GASA. GASA brings together governments, law enforcement, consumer protection organizations, financial authorities, internet service providers, cybersecurity companies, and others to share knowledge and define joint actions to protect consumers from getting scammed.
“If I protect Microsoft, that’s good, but it’s not sufficient. In the same way, if Apple does their thing, and Google does their thing, but if we’re not working together, we’ve all missed the bigger opportunity. We must share cybercrime information with each other and educate the public. If we can have a three-pronged approach of tech companies building security and fraud protection into their products, public awareness, and sharing cybercrime and fraudster information with law enforcement, I think we can make a big difference,” he says.
Next steps with Microsoft Security
To learn more about Microsoft Security solutions, visit our website. Bookmark the Security blog to keep up with our expert coverage on security matters. Also, follow us on LinkedIn (Microsoft Security) and X (@MSFTSecurity) for the latest news and updates on cybersecurity.
Methodology: Microsoft platforms and services, including Azure, Microsoft Defender for Office, Microsoft Threat Intelligence, and Microsoft Digital Crimes Unit (DCU), provided anonymized data on threat actor activity and trends. Additionally, Microsoft Entra ID provided anonymized data on threat activity, such as malicious email accounts, phishing emails, and attacker movement within networks. Additional insights are from the daily security signals gained across Microsoft, including the cloud, endpoints, the intelligent edge, and telemetry from Microsoft platforms and services. The $4 billion figure represents an aggregated total of fraud and scam attempts against Microsoft and our customers in consumer and enterprise segments (in 12 months).
SALT LAKE CITY, Utah – A federal grand jury returned an indictment today charging a previously convicted felon with gun charges after he allegedly possessed and discharged an AR-15 style rifle within a school zone. The defendant is restricted from possessing firearms and ammunition.
Carson Moffitt, 40, of Salt Lake County, Utah, was charged by complaint on April 3, 2025.
According to court documents, on April 2, 2025, South Salt Lake City Police Department officers responded to a call of shots fired at Granite Park Junior High School in South Salt Lake, Utah, at 7:15 p.m. After officers arrived, they discovered AR-15 style shell casings in the middle of the road near the school. Surveillance cameras, provided by Granite School District law enforcement, captured the suspect’s vehicle, a Subaru WRX. Shortly after, a Utah Highway Patrol trooper observed a Subaru WRX speeding more than 100 miles per hour near 6000 South and I-15. UHP attempted to conduct a traffic stop, but the driver, later identified as Moffitt, fled and continued speeding up to 130 miles per hour before exiting Redwood Road and I-215 in Taylorsville. The pursuit was terminated. A run of the vehicles license plate showed the vehicle was registered to Moffitt. UHP troopers responded to the address on the vehicle’s registration and while troopers were working to make contact with Moffit, multiple shots were fired from inside the residence. A witness inside the home advised law enforcement Moffitt had a rifle. Moffitt eventually opened the garage door and fled in the Subaru. A Taylorsville City Police Department Officer intercepted and crashed into Moffitt’s Subaru, disabling the vehicle. Moffit was taken into custody. Officers seized an AR-15 style rifle with a drum magazine and ammunition from inside the vehicle.
Moffitt is charged with felon in possession of a firearm, possession of a firearm within a school zone, and discharge of a firearm within a school zone. His initial appearance on the indictment is scheduled for April 17, 2025, at 1:30 p.m. in courtroom 8.4 before a U.S. Magistrate Judge at the Orrin G. Hatch United States District Courthouse in downtown Salt Lake City.
Acting United States Attorney Felice John Viti for the District of Utah made the announcement.
The case is being investigated by the Utah State Bureau of Investigation (SBI). Valuable assistance was provided by the Granite School District law enforcement, South Salt Lake Police Department, Utah Highway Patrol, and Taylorsville City Police Department.
Assistant United States Attorney Carlos A. Esqueda of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Utah is prosecuting the case.
This case is part of Operation Take Back America, a nationwide initiative that marshals the full resources of the Department of Justice to repel the invasion of illegal immigration, achieve the total elimination of cartels and transnational criminal organizations (TCOs), and protect our communities from the perpetrators of violent crime. Operation Take Back America streamlines efforts and resources from the Department’s Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces (OCDETF) and Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN).
An indictment is merely an allegation and all defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.
NEW ORLEANS, LOUISIANA – Acting United States Attorney Michael M. Simpson announced the April 9, 2025, unsealing of an indictment against KYRIN HUDSON (“HUDSON”), age 29, of Tangipahoa Parish, charging him with distribution of a substance containing a detectable amount of fentanyl, resulting in the death of a victim, in violation of Title 21, United States Code, Sections 841(a)(1) and 841(b)(1)(C).
If convicted, HUDSON faces a mandatory minimum term of imprisonment of twenty years and up to a maximum term of imprisonment of life, a fine of up to $1,000,000.00, at least three years of supervised release following imprisonment, and a mandatory $100 special assessment fee.
Acting United States Attorney Simpson praised the work of the Drug Enforcement Administration Fentanyl Overdose Response Team (FORT), the Tangipahoa Parish Sheriff’s Office, and the Hammond Police Department. The prosecution is being handled by Assistant United States Attorneys Lauren Sarver and Rachal Cassagne of the Narcotics Unit.
This case is part of Operation Take Back America, a nationwide initiative that marshals the full resources of the Department of Justice to repel the invasion of illegal immigration, achieve the total elimination of cartels and transnational criminal organizations (TCOs), and protect our communities from the perpetrators of violent crime. Operation Take Back America streamlines efforts and resources from the Department’s Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces (OCDETFs) and Project Safe Neighborhood (PSN).
ST. LOUIS – Four people, including a former U.S. Postal Service employee, have pleaded guilty to federal charges and admitted to involvement in a conspiracy that stole checks from the mail to commit bank fraud.
Johnathan Barnett, 29, of University City, was sentenced Tuesday in U.S. District Court in St. Louis to 80 months in prison by U.S. District Judge Matthew T. Schelp, who also ordered him to pay restitution of $44,135.
Barnett pleaded guilty in December to one count of conspiracy to commit bank fraud, one count of possession of stolen mail and one count of being a felon in possession of a firearm. He admitted participating in a conspiracy from January of 2022 to September of 2023 to steal checks from the mail and alter the checks to defraud banks.
Barnett bought a key to U.S. Postal Service collection boxes from a U.S. Postal Service mail carrier, Wynter Hinton, and then he and others, including Ryan McKinney and Jayden Burklow, used that key to open collections boxes in St. Louis County and steal mail. Hinton also stole checks from the mail while on her postal route.
Barnett, Burklow and McKinney altered personal and business checks they found in the mail to create counterfeit checks. They recruited others to allow their bank accounts to be used to deposit the fraudulent checks. The conspirators then withdrew the money before the banks realized the checks were fraudulent. Barnett, Burklow and McKinney admitted trying to commit at least $800,000 worth of fraud this way.
On Sept. 15, 2023, when investigators were conducting a court-approved search of Barnett’s home, he tried to flee through a window with an AR-15-style rifle with a high-capacity drum magazine loaded with 76 rounds. Four other firearms were found in his home, as well as check-making equipment. Barnett was convicted of a 2014 drug charge and charges of first-degree assault and armed criminal action in 2020.
Hinton, 29, of St. Ann, and McKinney, 24, of St. Louis, both pleaded guilty Wednesday. Hinton pleaded guilty to unlawful use of a mail key and McKinney pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit bank fraud and one count of possession of stolen mail. They are scheduled to be sentenced in July.
Burklow, 21, of O’Fallon, Illinois, pleaded guilty in March to one count of conspiracy to commit bank fraud and one count of possession of stolen mail. He is scheduled to be sentenced in June.
“The sentencing in this case illustrates that individuals who engage in mail theft will be held accountable for their actions,” stated Inspector in Charge, Ruth Mendonça, who leads the Chicago Division of the U.S. Postal Inspection Service, which includes the St. Louis Field Office. “The Inspection Service is proud to work with our local, state and federal partners to bring Mail Theft perpetrators to justice and prevent financial crimes targeting local citizens, postal customers, and financial institutions.”
This sentencing and guilty pleas represent the hard work and dedication by USPS OIG Special Agents working with the U.S. Attorney’s Office to bring charges on this significant mail theft investigation,” said Special Agent in Charge Dennus Bishop, U.S. Postal Service Office of Inspector General, Central Area Field Office. “The USPS OIG, along with our law enforcement partners, remain committed to safeguarding the U.S. Mail and ensuring the accountability and integrity of U.S. Postal Service employees.”
The U.S. Postal Inspection Service, the U.S. Postal Service Office of Inspector General, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, the Creve Coeur Police Department and the University City Police Department investigated the case. Assistant U.S. Attorney Gwen Carroll is prosecuting the case.
A woman who illegally purchased multiple guns for her boyfriend, a convicted felon who was prohibited from possessing firearms, was sentenced on April 15, 2025, to 18 months’ imprisonment.
Daniella Maldonado-Paraday, age 29, from Palos Hills, Illinois, received the prison term after a December 4, 2024 guilty plea to making a false statement during the purchase of a firearm.
From 2021 through 2024, Maldonado purchased multiple firearms for her boyfriend, who was a felon. Maldonado was also a drug user, but represented when purchasing firearms that she was not an unlawful user of marijuana.
Maldonado was sentenced in Cedar Rapids by United States District Court Chief Judge C.J. Williams. Maldonado was sentenced to 18 months’ imprisonment. She must also serve a three-year term of supervised release after the prison term. There is no parole in the federal system.
The case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Nicole L. Nagin, and it was investigated by the Cedar Rapids Police Department, the Marion Police Department, the Iowa State Patrol, and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.
This case is part of Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN), a program bringing together all levels of law enforcement and the communities they serve to reduce violent crime and gun violence, and to make our neighborhoods safer for everyone. On May 26, 2021, the Department launched a violent crime reduction strategy strengthening PSN based on these core principles: fostering trust and legitimacy in our communities, supporting community-based organizations that help prevent violence from occurring in the first place, setting focused and strategic enforcement priorities, and measuring the results.
Source: Federal Bureau of Investigation FBI Crime News (b)
GALVESTON, Texas – A 46-year-old Texas City resident has been ordered to federal prison for possession with intent to distribute fentanyl, announced U.S. Attorney Nicholas J. Ganjei.
John Earl Edwards pleaded guilty Sept. 24, 2024.
U.S. District Judge Jeffrey V. Brown has now ordered Edwards to serve 156 months to be immediately followed by three years of supervised release.
“Taking fentanyl off the street is good, but taking a fentanyl dealer off the street is even better,” said Ganjei. “This is one less person who makes their living off of the misery of their fellow citizens.”
On July 22, 2021, Edwards negotiated the sale of a small amount of fentanyl and arranged to have it delivered on July 22, 2021.
The investigation revealed Edwards’ drug distribution also included cocaine, cocaine base and methamphetamine.
He was permitted to remain on bond and voluntarily surrender to a Federal Bureau of Prisons facility to be determined in the near future.
The FBI’s Safe Streets and Violent Crimes Task Force and the La Marque Police Department conducted the investigation. Assistant U.S. Attorney Kenneth A. Cusick prosecuted the case.
Source: United States Senator for Washington Maria Cantwell
04.16.25
Cantwell Joins WA Small Business Owners at Port of Seattle to Explain Harms of Trump Trade Wars
Trump’s chaotic tariffs drive up costs for local companies and threatens to put them out of business; “Congress needs to get back in the game,” says Cantwell; her bipartisan bill would reassert Congressional role in U.S. trade policy
SEATTLE – Today, U.S. Senator Maria Cantwell (D-WA), ranking member of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation and senior member of the Senate Finance Committee, joined nine local business owners and leaders at the Port of Seattle to push back against the Trump administration’s tariffs-first trade policy.
“These businesses here today are reminding us what we already should know: that this kind of tariff policy disrupts an integrated economy, hurts small businesses, and basically disrupts what is an important opportunity for the United States to grow more jobs for the future,” said Sen. Cantwell. “Building alliances and [strengthening] our innovation economy is what we should be doing.”
“In my 32 years of designing and manufacturing KAVU has survived tough times, but nothing close to this,” said Barry Barr, CEO of KAVU. “Due to the extreme spikes in prices, we are expecting that many if not all of our 2,000 independent outdoor retailers … will cancel their orders, leaving us with no sales and at the precipice of shutting down.”
“I never thought geopolitics would get in the way of making delicious pizza, yet here were are,” said Joe Fugere, CEO of Tutta Bella. “People in the United States should not have to travel overseas to enjoy the religious experience of great Italian pizza. We can have it right here at home. But only if we’re smart about how we unlock access to the world’s best products.”
“Last month we brought in a container with a value of about $200,000, and we had to pay an extra $20,000 to bring that in with the 10% [tariff],” said Jeff Demir, COO of SwaddleDesigns. “This month we’re bringing in another container, that container will cost us an extra $40,000 because the China tariffs went from 10% to 20%. … We have a container that’s right now sitting in China ready to ship, that container would cost us $300,000 of extra tariffs given the 145% [tariff]. Obviously that container is going to stay in China and it’s not going to be brought over here. Our company will have to operate with the product that we have until this gets resolved.”
Also appearing at today’s event were: Northwest Seaport Alliance and Northwest Seaport Alliance Co-Chair and Port of Tacoma Commissioner John McCarthy; Port of Seattle Commissioner Sam Cho; Gordon Bluechel, CEO of Access Laser; Chris Stone, Deputy Director of the Washington State Wine Commission; Blas Alfaro, Partner at Fulcrum Coffee Roasters; and Molly Neitzel, CEO of Molly Moon’s.
Sen. Cantwell recently introduced the bipartisan Trade Review Act of 2025 to reaffirm Congress’ key role in setting and approving U.S. trade policy, and reestablish limits on the president’s ability to impose unilateral tariffs. Since the introduction, Sen. Cantwell has appeared on CNN International, CNBC , CBS’s Face the Nation, MSNBC’s All In with Chris Hayes, MSNBC’s The Last Word with Lawrence O’Donnell, to discuss the bill.
Sen. Cantwell’s bill has since picked up 12 additional cosponsors – an equal mix of Republicans and Democrats – and been endorsed by multiple major U.S. business organizations, including the National Retail Federation, which is the largest retail trade association in the world. Last week, a bipartisan House companion bill was introduced.
In Washington state, two out of every five jobs are tied to trade and trade-related industries. More information about how those tariffs will affect consumers and businesses in the State of Washington can be found HERE.
For the past three months, President Trump has been sowing economic chaos across the country with unpredictable and ever-changing tariff announcements. His back-and-forth announcements and actions, which have whipsawed American businesses and consumers, as well as close neighbors and allies, include:
On January 31 — citing punishment for failing to crack down on fentanyl trafficking — the Trump administration announced plans to impose a 25% tax on many goods imported into the U.S. from Canada and Mexico and a 10% tax on goods imported from China, then abruptly postponed those tariffs.
In February, he doubled down, announcing an additional 25% tax on all steel and aluminum imports.
At 12:01 a.m. ET on March 4, President Trump’s long-promised 25% tariffs on goods from Mexico and Canada and 10% tariff increase on goods from China took effect, causing stock prices in the United States to plummet.
Then, on March 5, he announced that automobiles from Canada and Mexico would be exempt from his tariffs for one month.
The morning of March 6, he announced that he would suspend the tariffs for some products from Mexico. Then, later that same afternoon, he announced he was suspending most new tariffs on products from both Mexico and Canada until April 2.
On March 11, Trump threatened to double tariffs on Canadian steel and aluminum – increasing them to 50% – before reversing himself later the same day.
On March 13, he threatened 200% tariffs on alcoholic products from the European Union, including all wine and Champagne.
On March 27, he announced plans to impose a 25% tax on all imported sedans, SUVs, crossovers, minivans, cargo vans, and light trucks, as well as some auto parts, beginning on April 2.
On March 29, President Trump said, “I couldn’t care less,” if automakers raise the price of cars in response to his tariffs.
On April 2, he announced a “National Economic Emergency,” and signed an executive order declaring a 10% minimum baseline tariff on all countries as well as additional tariffs on nearly 60 countries.
On April 7, he threatened to impose an additional 50% tariff on China.
On April 9, he announced a rollback of his April 2 tariffs down to the 10% baseline across the board, with the exception of China, which he increased to 125%.
On April 11, the administration announced that electronics, including smartphones and laptops, would be exempt from the 125% rate.
Video of today’s press conference is HERE; photos are HERE; video of Sen. Cantwell’s remarks is HERE; audio of Sen. Cantwell’s remarks is HERE; and a transcript of Sen. Cantwell’s remarks is HERE.
Michael McMahon, a Retired New York City Police Department (NYPD) Sergeant, and Two Co-Conspirators Were First Defendants Convicted After a U.S. Trial in Connection with Repatriation Program ‘Operation Fox Hunt’
Today, in federal court in Brooklyn, New York, Michael McMahon, 57, of Mahwah, New Jersey, was sentenced to 18 months in prison and ordered to pay an $11,000 fine for acting as an illegal agent of the government of the People’s Republic of China (PRC) and interstate stalking and conspiracy to commit the same, for his participation in a scheme to coerce repatriation of a U.S. resident to the PRC as part of its international repatriation effort known as “Operation Fox Hunt.” McMahon and co-defendants Zhu Yong, 68, of East Elmhurst, New York, and Congying Zheng, 29, of Brooklyn, were convicted by a federal jury in June 2023 following a three-week trial. In January 2025, Zhu and Zheng were sentenced respectively to 24 months and 16 months in prison.
As proven at trial, between approximately 2016 and 2019, the defendants and their co-conspirators participated in an international campaign to threaten, harass, surveil, and intimidate John Doe #1 and his family in order to force him and his wife, Jane Doe #1, to return to the PRC to face purported corruption charges. Beginning in 2012, John Doe #1 and Jane Doe #1 had been targeted for repatriation as part of the PRC’s transnational repression programs known as “Operation Fox Hunt” and “Operation Sky Net.” John Doe #1 and his family had accordingly sought to keep their address out of public records.
Zhu hired McMahon, a retired NYPD sergeant working as a private investigator, to locate John Doe #1. McMahon obtained sensitive information about John Doe #1, which he then reported back to Zhu and others, including a PRC police officer. McMahon also conducted surveillance outside the New Jersey home of John Doe #1’s relative and provided Zhu and PRC officials with detailed reports of what he observed. The operation was supervised and directed by several PRC officials, including a PRC police officer and a PRC prosecutor.
As McMahon knew, the operation was intended not only to locate John Doe #1, but to coerce him to return to the PRC by exerting pressure on his family members. In April 2017, PRC officials threatened to jail John Doe #1’s sister, who lived in the PRC, in order to coerce John Doe #1’s then-82-year-old father to travel from the PRC to their relative’s home in New Jersey. John Doe #1’s father, who had recently suffered a brain hemorrhage, was so frail that a doctor accompanied him for the trip. McMahon followed John Doe #1’s father from the relative’s New Jersey home, and, by doing so, was able to learn John Doe #1’s address. McMahon immediately provided this information to a PRC operative.
On Sept. 4, 2018, Zheng and another co-conspirator drove to the New Jersey residence of John Doe #1 and Jane Doe #1 – at the address that McMahon had provided – where they pounded on the front door, attempted to enter the house, and then peered through the windows in the back of the home. They left a note on the front door informing John Doe #1 that his “wife and children will be okay” if John Doe #1 surrendered himself to face a ten-year prison term in the PRC.
McMahon knew that the subjects of his investigation were wanted by the PRC government, a fact that he texted about with another investigator he contracted to help him. Following his arrest, McMahon acknowledged knowing that his employers wanted to get the victim back to China “so they could prosecute him.” After providing the victims’ address, McMahon told his surveillance partner that he was “waiting for a call” to find out what to do next. McMahon’s partner responded, “Yeah. From NJ State Police about an abduction,” to which McMahon responded “Lol.” McMahon later suggested to a PRC co-conspirator that they “harass” John Doe #1 by “[p]ark[ing] outside his home and let[ting] him know we are there.” McMahon took other investigative steps designed to harass the victims, such as researching their daughter’s university residence and college major. McMahon was paid more than $19,000 in total for his role in the illegal repatriation scheme. In an apparent attempt to conceal the source, McMahon deposited payments from his PRC clients into his son’s bank account, the only time he had done so with client payments.
Previously, three co-defendants pleaded guilty in connection with their roles in the PRC-directed harassment and intimidation campaign. They are awaiting sentencing.
Sue J. Bai, head of the Justice Department’s National Security Division, U.S. Attorney John J. Durham for the Eastern District of New York, and Assistant Director Roman Rozhavsky of the FBI’s Counterintelligence Division made the announcement.
The FBI New York Field Office investigated the case, with valuable assistance provided by the Department of State’s Diplomatic Security Service.
Assistant U.S. Attorneys Meredith A. Arfa and Irisa Chen for the Eastern District of New York and Trial Attorney Christine A. Bonomo of the National Security Division’s Counterintelligence and Export Control Section are prosecuting the case. Paralegal Specialist Rebecca Roth for the Eastern District of New York provided valuable assistance.
The FBI has created a website for victims to report efforts by foreign governments to stalk, intimidate, or assault people in the United States. If you believe that you are or have been a victim of transnational repression, please visit the FBI’s website.
Former Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) contractor Abouzar Rahmati, 42, a naturalized U.S. citizen and resident of Great Falls, Virginia, pleaded guilty today to conspiring to act and acting as an agent of the Iranian government in the United States without prior notification to the Attorney General.
According to court documents, from at least December 2017 through June 2024, Rahmati worked with Iranian government officials and intelligence operatives to act on their behalf in the United States, including by meeting with Iranian intelligence officers in Iran, communicating with Iranian intelligence officers and government officials using a cover story to hide his conduct, obtaining employment with an FAA contractor with access to sensitive non-public information about the U.S. aviation sector, and obtaining open-source and non-public materials about the U.S. solar energy industry and providing it to Iranian intelligence officers.
In August 2017, Rahmati offered his services to the Iranian government through a senior Iranian government official who previously worked in Iran’s Ministry of Intelligence and Security and with whom Rahmati had previously attended university. Four months later, in December 2017, Rahmati traveled to Iran, where he met with Iranian intelligence operatives and government officials and agreed to obtain information about the U.S. solar energy industry, to provide that information to Iranian officials, and to conduct future communications under a cover story based on purported discussions about research with fellow academics.
Upon returning to the United States in early 2018, Rahmati obtained various private and open-source materials related to the U.S. solar energy industry and provided them to an official from the office of Iran’s Vice President for Science and Technology in response to tasking from Iranian government officials.
In response to tasking from Iranian officials, and in furtherance of his role as an agent of the Government of Iran, Rahmati exploited his employment as an FAA contractor, working for U.S. COMPANY 1, by downloading at least 172 GB of U.S. COMPANY 1 files, which included sensitive access-controlled FAA documents related to the National Aerospace System (NAS), NAS Airport Surveillance Radar systems, and radio frequency data. Rahmati stored those files on removable media, which he took to Iran, where he provided sensitive documents to the Government of Iran in April 2022.
Also in April 2022, in response to tasking from Iranian government officials, Rahmati sent additional information relating to solar energy, solar panels, the FAA, U.S. airports, and U.S. air traffic control towers to his brother, who lived in Iran, so that he would provide those files to Iranian intelligence on Rahmati’s behalf.
Sentencing is scheduled for Aug. 26. Rahmati faces a maximum statutory penalty of 10 years in prison for acting as an agent of a foreign government without prior notification to the Attorney General, and up to five years in prison for conspiracy. A federal district court judge will determine any sentence after considering the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.
Sue Bai, head of the Justice Department’s National Security Division, U.S. Attorney Edward R. Martin Jr. for the District of Columbia, and Assistant Director Roman Rozhavsky of the FBI’s Counterintelligence Division made the announcement.
The FBI’s Washington Field Office is investigating the case, with significant assistance from the FAA’s Office of Counterintelligence and Technical Operations.
Assistant U.S. Attorneys Christopher Tortorice and Kimberly Paschall for the District of Columbia and Trial Attorneys Beau Barnes and Alexander Wharton of the National Security Division’s Counterintelligence and Export Control Section are prosecuting the case, with significant assistance from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Virginia.
Continues commitment to protecting Californians’ privacy rights
OAKLAND — California Attorney General Rob Bonta today announced an agreement of formal collaboration between six states and the California Privacy Protection Agency (CPPA) to promote collaboration and information sharing in the bipartisan effort to safeguard the privacy rights of consumers. Known as the Consortium of Privacy Regulators, the group regularly discusses developments in privacy law, shared priorities, and coordinates enforcement, as appropriate, based on the members’ common interest. In forming the Consortium of Privacy Regulators, Attorney General Bonta joins the CPPA and the attorneys general of Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Indiana, and Oregon.
“Data knows no borders — state and nationwide coordination is vital for protecting consumers’ rights, especially in our data-driven world,” said Attorney General Bonta. “Collaborating with partners across the country provides another tool in the toolbox for my office to tackle enforcement priorities and continue safeguarding the privacy rights of Californians.”
Privacy matters because when information or data falls into the wrong hands, it can harm people, businesses, and organizations, often financially. The risk of harm continues to grow as more consumers conduct essential tasks online, like banking, shopping, or managing medical care. Businesses that collect this personal information also create the risk of data breaches when they fail to safeguard it. Lapses in upholding privacy laws can threaten to disclose information like our financial condition, health status, and sensitive aspects of our personal lives. Anyone can become vulnerable.
California’s Landmark Privacy Law: The CCPA
The California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) secures increased privacy rights for California consumers, such as the right to know how businesses collect, share, and disclose their personal information. Businesses that are subject to the CCPA have specific responsibilities, including responding to consumer requests to exercise these rights and giving consumers certain notices explaining their privacy practices. Under the CCPA’s right to opt-out, businesses that sell personal data or share personal information for targeted advertising must permit consumers the right to opt-out. Exercising this right should be easy and involve minimal steps.
Our Recent Work to Protect Californians’ Privacy
Attorney General Bonta is committed to educating California consumers about their right to privacy and enforcing the nation’s toughest data privacy law.
Last month, Attorney General Bonta issued a consumer alert to customers of 23andMe, reminding Californians of their right to direct the deletion of their genetic data under the Genetic Information Privacy Act (GIPA) and the CCPA. Also last month, Attorney General Bonta announced an ongoing investigative sweep into the location data industry, which collect and share detailed data on consumers’ location. The risk posed by the widespread collection and sale of location data has become particularly relevant given federal threats to California’s immigrant communities, and to reproductive and gender-affirming healthcare. In January, Attorney General Bonta reminded Californians of their right to stop or “opt-out” of the sale and sharing of their personal information under the CCPA.
Attorney General Bonta has filed three enforcement actions involving alleged violations of the CCPA:
In 2022, he announced a settlement with Sephora resolving allegations that it failed to disclose to consumers that it was selling their personal information and failed to process opt-out requests via user-enabled global privacy controls in violation of the CCPA.
In 2023, he secured a settlement with DoorDash after it sold the personal information of its customers without providing notice or the opportunity to opt-out.
In 2024, he worked with local partners to secure a settlement with video game developer Tilting Point Media for violating state and federal privacy laws by illegally collecting and sharing children’s data.
For more information about the CCPA, visit www.oag.ca.gov/ccpa. To report a violation of the CCPA to the Attorney General, consumers can submit a complaint online at www.oag.ca.gov/report.
Former Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) contractor Abouzar Rahmati, 42, a naturalized U.S. citizen and resident of Great Falls, Virginia, pleaded guilty today to conspiring to act and acting as an agent of the Iranian government in the United States without prior notification to the Attorney General.
According to court documents, from at least December 2017 through June 2024, Rahmati worked with Iranian government officials and intelligence operatives to act on their behalf in the United States, including by meeting with Iranian intelligence officers in Iran, communicating with Iranian intelligence officers and government officials using a cover story to hide his conduct, obtaining employment with an FAA contractor with access to sensitive non-public information about the U.S. aviation sector, and obtaining open-source and non-public materials about the U.S. solar energy industry and providing it to Iranian intelligence officers.
In August 2017, Rahmati offered his services to the Iranian government through a senior Iranian government official who previously worked in Iran’s Ministry of Intelligence and Security and with whom Rahmati had previously attended university. Four months later, in December 2017, Rahmati traveled to Iran, where he met with Iranian intelligence operatives and government officials and agreed to obtain information about the U.S. solar energy industry, to provide that information to Iranian officials, and to conduct future communications under a cover story based on purported discussions about research with fellow academics.
Upon returning to the United States in early 2018, Rahmati obtained various private and open-source materials related to the U.S. solar energy industry and provided them to an official from the office of Iran’s Vice President for Science and Technology in response to tasking from Iranian government officials.
In response to tasking from Iranian officials, and in furtherance of his role as an agent of the Government of Iran, Rahmati exploited his employment as an FAA contractor, working for U.S. COMPANY 1, by downloading at least 172 GB of U.S. COMPANY 1 files, which included sensitive access-controlled FAA documents related to the National Aerospace System (NAS), NAS Airport Surveillance Radar systems, and radio frequency data. Rahmati stored those files on removable media, which he took to Iran, where he provided sensitive documents to the Government of Iran in April 2022.
Also in April 2022, in response to tasking from Iranian government officials, Rahmati sent additional information relating to solar energy, solar panels, the FAA, U.S. airports, and U.S. air traffic control towers to his brother, who lived in Iran, so that he would provide those files to Iranian intelligence on Rahmati’s behalf.
Sentencing is scheduled for Aug. 26. Rahmati faces a maximum statutory penalty of 10 years in prison for acting as an agent of a foreign government without prior notification to the Attorney General, and up to five years in prison for conspiracy. A federal district court judge will determine any sentence after considering the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.
Sue Bai, head of the Justice Department’s National Security Division, U.S. Attorney Edward R. Martin Jr. for the District of Columbia, and Assistant Director Roman Rozhavsky of the FBI’s Counterintelligence Division made the announcement.
The FBI’s Washington Field Office is investigating the case, with significant assistance from the FAA’s Office of Counterintelligence and Technical Operations.
Assistant U.S. Attorneys Christopher Tortorice and Kimberly Paschall for the District of Columbia and Trial Attorneys Beau Barnes and Alexander Wharton of the National Security Division’s Counterintelligence and Export Control Section are prosecuting the case, with significant assistance from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Virginia.
Tampa, Florida – U.S. District Judge Thomas Barber has sentenced Randall Alderman (61, Lakeland) to 18 years in federal prison, followed by a lifetime of supervised release, for production and receipt of child sexual abuse material. Alderman pled guilty on September 16, 2024.
According to court documents, beginning in 2021, Alderman engaged in sexually explicit communications with a 13-year-old victim through a social media application. Alderman requested and received child sexual abuse material from the victim. During an interview with the FBI, Alderman admitted to communicating with and receiving sexual abuse material from the victim. The FBI located 10 videos and 7 images of child sexual abuse involving the victim on Alderman’s phone.
This case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation. It was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Courtney Derry.
This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse. Led by United States Attorneys’ Offices and the Criminal Division’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section (CEOS), Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state, and local resources to locate, apprehend, and prosecute individuals who sexually exploit children, and to identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.justice.gov/psc.
CAPE GIRARDEAU – U.S. District Judge Stephen N. Limbaugh, Jr. on Wednesday sentenced a man who was caught in a stolen car with methamphetamine and marijuana to 87 months in prison.
On August 17, 2024, Darryl Duane Jackson, now 23, of Cairo, Illinois, was stopped by a Charleston Police Department officer on Interstate 57 in Mississippi County, Missouri. The vehicle’s license plate matched that of a stolen vehicle. Jackson, the driver and sole occupant, had $1,670 in cash. He also had 78 grams of marijuana and 752 grams of meth, or more than 1.6 pounds, in a backpack.
Jackson pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court in Cape Girardeau in January to one count of possession with intent to distribute methamphetamine. This is his third felony conviction involving drug sale offenses.
The Charleston Police Department and the Drug Enforcement Administration investigated the case. Assistant U.S. Attorney Julie Hunter prosecuted the case.
Source: Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) State Crime Alerts (b)
CONCORD – A Florida woman pleaded guilty today in federal court in Concord in connection with her role in a conspiracy to defraud Medicare of $3.3 million, Acting U.S. Attorney Jay McCormack announces.
Yolanda Dupont, 38, of New Port Richey, Florida, pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit health care fraud. U.S. District Court Judge Paul Barbadoro scheduled sentencing for July 22, 2025.
According to court documents, Dupont and her co-conspirators owned and operated Allstar Medical Supply Corp., a purported durable medical equipment business in New Hampshire selling orthotic braces. As part of the conspiracy, Dupont served as the nominee owner of the business to conceal the identities of the true owners. Dupont certified that neither she nor Allstar would not submit false claims to Medicare. However, during the conspiracy, Dupont and her co-conspirators submitted, or caused the submission of, approximately $3.3 million in false and fraudulent claims for orthotic braces to Medicare. Medicare paid at least $1.6 million to Dupont and her co-conspirators for these claims. Ultimately, Medicare beneficiaries received orthotic braces that were medically unnecessary, ineligible for reimbursement, and often not wanted or needed.
The charging statute provides a sentence of no greater than 10 years in prison, 3 years of supervised release, and a fine of $250,000 or twice the pecuniary gain. Sentences are imposed by a federal district court judge based upon the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and statutes which govern the determination of a sentence in a criminal case.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General led the investigation. Assistant U.S. Attorney Geoffrey Ward is prosecuting the case.
Source: Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) State Crime Alerts (b)
CONCORD – An indictment has been unsealed charging eight defendants in connection with an international scheme to bill $10 million in fraudulent market survey data, Acting U.S. Attorney Jay McCormack announces.
Each of the following defendants has been indicted on one count of Conspiracy to Commit Wire Fraud:
Frank Hayden, 57, of Evanston, Illinois.
Daniel Harriman, 38, of Huntsville, Alabama.
Frank Nappo, 55, of Rye, New Hampshire.
Ryan Stoudt, 38, of Dallas, Texas.
Katarina Grubljesic, 46, of Belgrade, Serbia.
Strahinja Grubljesic, 38, of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
Archie Ignacio, 46, of Verona, New Jersey.
Arvind Iyer, a/k/a S. Aravindan, of Delhi, India.
According to the indictment, Op4G and Slice were market research companies based in the United States. Clients would hire the companies to conduct market research surveys. As part of their business model, Op4G and Slice maintained “panels” consisting of individuals potentially eligible to take surveys. In 2014, Hayden, Harriman, and Nappo, who were senior leaders at Op4G, decided to increase company revenues by generating fabricated survey data. To execute the scheme, some of the defendants recruited “ants”, who pretended to be legitimate survey takers but instead were paid a nominal fee for completing surveys that produced fraudulent market research data. Some of the defendants even served as “ants” and fraudulently took large quantities of surveys themselves and received significant payment for their “ant” work.
In or around 2018, Nappo, Hayden and others, decided that Op4G should move the fraudulent survey operation to a new company, which became Slice. By 2019, Op4G and Slice began conspiring with Iyer, a senior leader at an international company, SNWare. By 2021, Katarina Grublijesic left Op4G, but she continued to conspire with the defendants using her international company, Bright Analytic Consulting.
To evade detection, the defendants, including Stoudt and Ignacio, exchanged instructions with each other and the “ants.” These instructions included directions on how to answer survey screener questions, provided parameters on how long “ants” should remain on surveys, and encouraged the use of virtual private network (VPN) services to conceal real IP addresses.
Hayden, Harriman, Nappo, Stoudt, and Ignacio will appear in federal court at a later date.
The charging statute provides a sentence of no greater than 20 years in prison, up to three (3) years of supervised release, and a maximum fine of $250,000 or twice the gross gain or loss, whichever is greater. Sentences are imposed by a federal district court judge based upon the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and statutes which govern the determination of a sentence in a criminal case.
The FBI led the investigation. Assistant U.S. Attorney Alexander S. Chen is prosecuting the case.
Companies that purchased survey data from Op4G or Slice between 2014-2024 are encouraged to contact the U.S. Attorney’s office at usanh.webmail@usdoj.gov with the subject line “Slice”.
The details contained in the indictment are allegations. The defendants are presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.
Source: Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) State Crime Alerts (c)
LAREDO, Texas – Three men are in custody on charges related to the discovery of various weapons and ammunition at a Laredo residence linked to another crime, announced U.S. Attorney Nicholas J. Ganjei.
Erick Lopez-Rivera Sr., 37, and Marcos Lora-Morales, 24, both illegal aliens unlawfully residing in Laredo, and Erick Lopez Jr., 18, Laredo, are expected to make their appearances before a U.S. magistrate judge in the near future.
The investigation began March 21 when law enforcement discovered the location of a firearm allegedly used in a crime, according to the charges. During execution of search warrant at the residence, authorities allegedly discovered two machine gun conversion devices (MCDs) and a backpack that contained magazines and ammunition that Lopez had been storing.
MCDs convert semi-automatic handguns into fully automatic weapons.
According to the complaint, authorities also located .38 special and .22LR ammunition linked to Lopez-Rivera Sr.
Upon further investigation, they allegedly found a grey backpack containing a 9mm S&W handgun Lora-Morales had purchased and a Mexican passport that belonged to him in a detached structure on the property. According to the complaint, Lora-Morales had overstayed his visa and was unlawfully present in the United States.
Lopez-Rivera Jr. is charged with possession of a machine gun, while Lopez-Rivera Sr. and Lora-Morales are facing charges of alien in possession of ammunition and alien in possession of a firearm and ammunition, respectively. Lopez-Rivera Sr. is also charged with felony reentry of an alien.
Possession of a machine gun carries a possible 10-year prison sentence, while alien in possession of ammunition and alien in possession of a firearm and ammunition have maximum penalties of 15 years. Illegal reentry after removal has a maximum 20-year-term of imprisonment. All three men could also be ordered to pay up to $250,000 in fines, upon each count of conviction.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement – Homeland Security Investigations, FBI and Laredo Police Department conducted the investigation. Assistant U.S. Attorney Andrew P. Hakala-Finch is prosecuting the case.
An indictment is a formal accusation of criminal conduct, not evidence. A defendant is presumed innocent unless convicted through due process of law.
MIDLAND, Texas, April 16, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Diamondback Energy, Inc. (NASDAQ: FANG) (“Diamondback” or the “Company”) provided an operational update for the first quarter of 2025.
The Company is releasing this information to provide flexibility to opportunistically continue its stock repurchase program given the current market volatility.
FIRST QUARTER 2025 HIGHLIGHTS
Average production of 475.9 MBO/d (850.7 MBOE/d)
Average unhedged realized prices of $70.95 per barrel of oil, $23.94 per barrel of natural gas liquids and $2.11 per Mcf of natural gas
Average hedged realized prices of $70.06 per barrel of oil, $23.94 per barrel of natural gas liquids and $3.34 per Mcf of natural gas
Realized hedge gain of $85 million, with unrealized hedge gain of $141 million, resulting in total gain on derivatives of $226 million
Cash capital expenditures of $942 million
Repurchased 3,656,044 shares of common stock in Q1 2025 for $575 million, excluding excise tax (at a weighted average price of $157.15 per share); repurchased 1,560,200 shares of common stock to date in Q2 2025 for $200 million, excluding excise tax (at a weighted average price of $128.19 per share)
Q1 2025 weighted average basic and diluted shares outstanding (in thousands) of 289,612
Giving effect to the closing of the Double Eagle acquisition and share repurchases to date in the second quarter, Diamondback currently has approximately 293 million shares outstanding
2025 OPERATING PLAN UPDATE
Given recent market volatility, Diamondback is closely monitoring the macro environment and is actively reviewing its operating plan for the remainder of 2025. Should low commodity prices persist or worsen, Diamondback has the flexibility to reduce activity to maximize free cash flow generation. Additionally, Diamondback believes it can further lower its breakeven oil price through capital and operating cost reductions.
The following table sets forth selected operating data for the three months ended March 31, 2025:
Three Months Ended March 31, 2025
Production Data:
Oil (MBbls)
42,835
Natural gas (MMcf)
100,578
Natural gas liquids (MBbls)
16,961
Combined volumes (MBOE)(1)
76,559
Daily oil volumes (BO/d)
475,944
Daily combined volumes (BOE/d)
850,656
Average Prices:
Oil ($ per Bbl)
$
70.95
Natural gas ($ per Mcf)
$
2.11
Natural gas liquids ($ per Bbl)
$
23.94
Combined ($ per BOE)
$
47.77
Oil, hedged ($ per Bbl)(2)
$
70.06
Natural gas, hedged ($ per Mcf)(2)
$
3.34
Natural gas liquids, hedged ($ per Bbl)(2)
$
23.94
Average price, hedged ($ per BOE)(2)
$
48.89
(1)
Bbl equivalents are calculated using a conversion rate of six Mcf per Bbl.
(2)
Hedged prices reflect the effect of our commodity derivative transactions on our average sales prices and include gains and losses on cash settlements for matured commodity derivatives, which we do not designate for hedge accounting. Hedged prices exclude gains or losses resulting from the early settlement of commodity derivative contracts.
Derivative Activity
For the first quarter of 2025, Diamondback anticipates a net gain on cash settlements for derivative instruments of $85 million and a net non-cash gain on derivative instruments of $141 million as detailed in the table below (in millions):
Gain (loss) on derivative instruments, net:
Commodity contracts
$
214
Interest rate swaps
11
2026 WTI Contingent Liability
2
Treasury locks(1)
(1
)
Total
$
226
Net cash received (paid) on settlements:
Commodity contracts
$
86
Treasury locks(1)
(1
)
Total
$
85
(1)
Loss on 10 year treasury locks executed prior to, and fully settled upon, pricing of the senior notes issued in March 2025.
Weighted Average Basic and Diluted Shares Outstanding
For the first quarter of 2025, basic and diluted weighted average shares outstanding are as follows (in thousands):
Basic weighted average shares outstanding
289,612
Diluted weighted average shares outstanding
289,612
About Diamondback Energy, Inc.
Diamondback is an independent oil and natural gas company headquartered in Midland, Texas focused on the acquisition, development, exploration and exploitation of unconventional, onshore oil and natural gas reserves in the Permian Basin in West Texas.
Forward-Looking Statements
This news release contains “forward-looking statements” within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act and Section 21E of the Exchange Act, which involve risks, uncertainties, and assumptions. All statements, other than statements of historical fact, including statements regarding Diamondback’s: future performance; business strategy; future operations (including drilling plans and capital plans); estimates and projections of revenues, losses, costs, expenses, returns, cash flow, and financial position; reserve estimates and its ability to replace or increase reserves; anticipated benefits or other effects of strategic transactions (including the recently completed Endeavor merger, the recently completed Double Eagle acquisition and other acquisitions or divestitures); and plans and objectives of management (including plans for future cash flow from operations and for executing environmental strategies) are forward-looking statements. When used in this news release, the words “aim,” “anticipate,” “believe,” “continue,” “could,” “estimate,” “expect,” “forecast,” “future,” “guidance,” “intend,” “may,” “model,” “outlook,” “plan,” “positioned,” “potential,” “predict,” “project,” “seek,” “should,” “target,” “will,” “would,” and similar expressions (including the negative of such terms) as they relate to Diamondback are intended to identify forward-looking statements, although not all forward-looking statements contain such identifying words. Although Diamondback believes that the expectations and assumptions reflected in its forward-looking statements are reasonable as and when made, they involve risks and uncertainties that are difficult to predict and, in many cases, beyond Diamondback’s control. Accordingly, forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance and Diamondback’s actual outcomes could differ materially from what Diamondback has expressed in its forward-looking statements.
Factors that could cause the outcomes to differ materially include (but are not limited to) the following: changes in supply and demand levels for oil, natural gas, and natural gas liquids, and the resulting impact on the price for those commodities; the impact of public health crises, including epidemic or pandemic diseases and any related company or government policies or actions; actions taken by the members of OPEC and Russia affecting the production and pricing of oil, as well as other domestic and global political, economic, or diplomatic developments, including any impact of the ongoing war in Ukraine and the Israel-Hamas war on the global energy markets and geopolitical stability; instability in the financial markets; inflationary pressures; higher interest rates and their impact on the cost of capital; regional supply and demand factors, including delays, curtailment delays or interruptions of production, or governmental orders, rules or regulations that impose production limits; federal and state legislative and regulatory initiatives relating to hydraulic fracturing, including the effect of existing and future laws and governmental regulations; physical and transition risks relating to climate change; those risks described in Item 1A of Diamondback’s Annual Report on Form 10-K, filed with the SEC on February 26, 2025, and those risks disclosed in its subsequent filings on Forms 10-K, 10-Q and 8-K, which can be obtained free of charge on the SEC’s website at http://www.sec.gov and Diamondback’s website at www.diamondbackenergy.com/investors.
In light of these factors, the events anticipated by Diamondback’s forward-looking statements may not occur at the time anticipated or at all. Moreover, Diamondback operates in a very competitive and rapidly changing environment and new risks emerge from time to time. Diamondback cannot predict all risks, nor can it assess the impact of all factors on its business or the extent to which any factor, or combination of factors, may cause actual results to differ materially from those anticipated by any forward-looking statements it may make. Accordingly, you should not place undue reliance on any forward-looking statements. All forward-looking statements speak only as of the date of this letter or, if earlier, as of the date they were made. Diamondback does not intend to, and disclaims any obligation to, update or revise any forward-looking statements unless required by applicable law.
Investor Contact: Adam Lawlis +1 432.221.7467 alawlis@diamondbackenergy.com
The Correspondent is a film every journalist should see.
There are no spoiler alerts. It is based on the globally-publicised jailing in Cairo in 2013 of Australian journalist Peter Greste (played by Richard Roxburgh) and his Al Jazeera English colleagues, Canadian journalist Mohamed Fahmy (Julian Maroun) and local reporter Baher Mohamed (Rahel Romahn).
Skilfully directed by Kriv Stenders, The Correspondent follows Greste’s 2017 memoir. Roxburgh’s performance as the embattled journalist is breathtaking and career defining. With a tight screenplay by Peter Duncan, the film is a masterclass in political subtlety.
Authenticity in truth telling
At its world premiere at Adelaide Film Festival in October, Greste said The Correspondent “paid huge respect” to his memoir.
The film begins with Greste’s surprise arrest in 2013 by Egyptian authorities at the Marriott hotel in Cairo. This is juxtaposed with historical snippets of the Arab Spring uprising in Tahrir Square in January 2011, which ended the 30-year dictatorship of President Hosni Mubarak.
The next president after Mubarak was Mohamed Morsi, leader of the Freedom and Justice Party. This party was affiliated with the Brotherhood, the country’s oldest and largest Islamist organisation.
In June 2013, a militarised coup d’état in Egypt was led by Abdel Fattah al-Sisi’s regime. Morsi was jailed by the freshly minted President al-Sisi. By December, the Brotherhood was blacklisted and declared a terrorist organisation.
The Correspondent argues the Al Jazeera English journalists were political pawns for the new Egyptian regime. The regime had a problematic relationship with its wealthy neighbour, Qatar, a country that partially funds Al Jazeera and publicly supported the Muslim Brotherhood.
Working from a media bunker in the Marriott because their offices were subject to a series of raids and closed down by local police, the trio were accused of illegally mastering a grand conspiracy against al-Sisi’s authoritarian regime.
Struggle for justice and risky business
Set between the grimy underworld of the Egyptian jail and the endless circus of Egyptian court trials, The Correspondent is a look into the psychological torment of Greste and his colleagues.
Between card playing, sarcastic humour and planned hunger strikes, the ritual reality of cell life sets in. Friendships are tested and forged between the journalists, student activist detainees and prison authorities.
Greste spent decades writing headlines from conflict zones before becoming a headline himself.
A repetitive motif in The Correspondent is Greste’s flashbacks to his BBC
days during 2005 in Mogadishu, Somalia, where his producer Kate Peyton (Yael Stone) was killed outside the Sahafi Hotel. In these flashbacks, we are privy to Greste’s guilt-driven internal monologues.
Roxburgh’s performance as the embattled journalist is breathtaking and career defining. Maslow Entertainment
In three studies, I examined the reportage by the ABC, the BBC and the Al Jazeera network about Greste’s case. Across these publications, the safety of journalists received minimal coverage.
Coverage focused on the innocence of the trio, impact of Greste’s sentencing on his ageing parents and press freedom. All these facets of the story are reflected in The Correspondent.
This month, the International Federation of Journalists said at least 156 journalists and media workers have been killed in the current war in Palestine. In December, the Committee to Protect Journalists put the number at more than 137, “making it the deadliest period for journalists since [the committee] began gathering data in 1992”.
Imprisonment of a Western foreign correspondent often generates international headlines, but most journalists who are imprisoned are local journalists. Foreign correspondents rely on these local journalists, wrote Greste, “when they land in a new, dangerous environment”.
In focusing tightly on Greste, the film omits the story of the local journalists imprisoned at the same time. Maslow Entertainment
Local journalists hold power to account, as Greste describes it in “ways far more dangerous than any of us in more secure environments could possibly imagine”.
In focusing tightly on Greste’s story, The Correspondent fails to shine a light on the dozens of local journalists imprisoned at the same time.
Rarely have so many of us been imprisoned and beaten up, intimidated or murdered in the course of our duties.
The Correspondent is an extraordinary film about human resilience and the importance of global diplomacy in the ongoing fight for press freedom.
The Correspondent is in cinemas from today.
Andrea Jean Baker does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.
Today, in federal court in Brooklyn, New York, Michael McMahon, 57, of Mahwah, New Jersey, was sentenced to 18 months in prison and ordered to pay an $11,000 fine for acting as an illegal agent of the government of the People’s Republic of China (PRC) and interstate stalking and conspiracy to commit the same, for his participation in a scheme to coerce repatriation of a U.S. resident to the PRC as part of its international repatriation effort known as “Operation Fox Hunt.” McMahon and co-defendants Zhu Yong, 68, of East Elmhurst, New York, and Congying Zheng, 29, of Brooklyn, were convicted by a federal jury in June 2023 following a three-week trial. In January 2025, Zhu and Zheng were sentenced respectively to 24 months and 16 months in prison.
As proven at trial, between approximately 2016 and 2019, the defendants and their co-conspirators participated in an international campaign to threaten, harass, surveil, and intimidate John Doe #1 and his family in order to force him and his wife, Jane Doe #1, to return to the PRC to face purported corruption charges. Beginning in 2012, John Doe #1 and Jane Doe #1 had been targeted for repatriation as part of the PRC’s transnational repression programs known as “Operation Fox Hunt” and “Operation Sky Net.” John Doe #1 and his family had accordingly sought to keep their address out of public records.
Zhu hired McMahon, a retired NYPD sergeant working as a private investigator, to locate John Doe #1. McMahon obtained sensitive information about John Doe #1, which he then reported back to Zhu and others, including a PRC police officer. McMahon also conducted surveillance outside the New Jersey home of John Doe #1’s relative and provided Zhu and PRC officials with detailed reports of what he observed. The operation was supervised and directed by several PRC officials, including a PRC police officer and a PRC prosecutor.
As McMahon knew, the operation was intended not only to locate John Doe #1, but to coerce him to return to the PRC by exerting pressure on his family members. In April 2017, PRC officials threatened to jail John Doe #1’s sister, who lived in the PRC, in order to coerce John Doe #1’s then-82-year-old father to travel from the PRC to their relative’s home in New Jersey. John Doe #1’s father, who had recently suffered a brain hemorrhage, was so frail that a doctor accompanied him for the trip. McMahon followed John Doe #1’s father from the relative’s New Jersey home, and, by doing so, was able to learn John Doe #1’s address. McMahon immediately provided this information to a PRC operative.
On Sept. 4, 2018, Zheng and another co-conspirator drove to the New Jersey residence of John Doe #1 and Jane Doe #1 – at the address that McMahon had provided – where they pounded on the front door, attempted to enter the house, and then peered through the windows in the back of the home. They left a note on the front door informing John Doe #1 that his “wife and children will be okay” if John Doe #1 surrendered himself to face a ten-year prison term in the PRC.
McMahon knew that the subjects of his investigation were wanted by the PRC government, a fact that he texted about with another investigator he contracted to help him. Following his arrest, McMahon acknowledged knowing that his employers wanted to get the victim back to China “so they could prosecute him.” After providing the victims’ address, McMahon told his surveillance partner that he was “waiting for a call” to find out what to do next. McMahon’s partner responded, “Yeah. From NJ State Police about an abduction,” to which McMahon responded “Lol.” McMahon later suggested to a PRC co-conspirator that they “harass” John Doe #1 by “[p]ark[ing] outside his home and let[ting] him know we are there.” McMahon took other investigative steps designed to harass the victims, such as researching their daughter’s university residence and college major. McMahon was paid more than $19,000 in total for his role in the illegal repatriation scheme. In an apparent attempt to conceal the source, McMahon deposited payments from his PRC clients into his son’s bank account, the only time he had done so with client payments.
Previously, three co-defendants pleaded guilty in connection with their roles in the PRC-directed harassment and intimidation campaign. They are awaiting sentencing.
Sue J. Bai, head of the Justice Department’s National Security Division, U.S. Attorney John J. Durham for the Eastern District of New York, and Assistant Director Roman Rozhavsky of the FBI’s Counterintelligence Division made the announcement.
The FBI New York Field Office investigated the case, with valuable assistance provided by the Department of State’s Diplomatic Security Service.
Assistant U.S. Attorneys Meredith A. Arfa and Irisa Chen for the Eastern District of New York are in charge of the prosecution, with assistance from Trial Attorneys Christine A. Bonomo and Scott A. Claffee of the National Security Division’s Counterintelligence and Export Control Section. Paralegal Specialist Rebecca Roth for the Eastern District of New York provided valuable assistance.
The FBI has created a website for victims to report efforts by foreign governments to stalk, intimidate, or assault people in the United States. If you believe that you are or have been a victim of transnational repression, please visit the FBI’s website.
Pearl River, N.Y. – 4/15/2025… Today, Congressman Mike Lawler (NY-17) released the following statement to reflect on his first 100 days in office during the 119th Congress, highlighting key legislative successes, community engagement, and ongoing work to deliver results for the people of the Hudson Valley.
In his first 100 days, Congressman Lawler introduced 21 pieces of legislation and cosponsored 232 bills. Some of his most significant legislative achievements include the Laken Riley Act, which was signed into law, and the Enhanced Iran Sanctions Act and Remote Access Security Act, which passed through the House Foreign Affairs Committee (HFAC) with unanimous support. Additionally, he was appointed Vice Chair of Communications for the Financial Services Committee and Chairman of the Middle East and North Africa Subcommittee of HFAC, chairing his first full HFAC hearing on the return to ‘Maximum Pressure’ on Iran.
Congressman Lawler’s efforts extend beyond legislative work. He played a pivotal role in working with the White House to fight to end congestion pricing in New York City and is actively leading efforts to lift the SALT Cap, directly involved in the House negotiations on the tax bill.
In addition to his legislative work, Congressman Lawler has been active in the community, making dozens of visits to events throughout the district. He also hosted a record-breaking teletown hall where over 4,000 participants joined in live to ask hundreds of questions. He has also helped close over 800 constituent cases, bringing $2.5 million back to constituents in the district. He also announced four in-person, countywide town halls, which will bring him to a total of 12 through his first two and a half years in Congress.
“I’m proud of the progress we’ve made in these first 100 days,” said Congressman Lawler. “From introducing key legislation to advancing bills through committee, I am delivering on my commitments to the people of NY-17.”
“I won’t stop fighting for the Hudson Valley, and I look forward to more bipartisan wins for my constituents in the coming weeks and months,” concluded Lawler.
Congressman Lawler is one of the most bipartisan members of Congress and represents New York’s 17th Congressional District, which is just north of New York City and contains all or parts of Rockland, Putnam, Dutchess, and Westchester Counties. He was rated the most effective freshman lawmaker in the 118th Congress, 8th overall, surpassing dozens of committee chairs.
Washington, D.C. – 4/15/2025… Today, Congressman Mike Lawler (NY-17) sent a letter to Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr. expressing concern about the reported layoffs of staff responsible for administering the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP), which is a service that plays a vital role in assisting Hudson Valley families with their energy costs, particularly during the winter and summer months.
The letter primarily sought to address concerns about any potential disruption of funding distribution to states, territories, and tribal organizations, with an emphasis on the impact any disruptions could have on New York’s most vulnerable populations.
“Although the approximately 20 to 24 LIHEAP staff members represent only a small portion of the broader HHS layoffs, their departure raises serious concerns about the program’s capacity to operate effectively,” wrote Congressman Lawler (NY-17).
“In FY2023, LIHEAP staff within the Office of Community Services helped to administer $600 Million in vital funds to New Yorkers — providing energy assistance to approximately 1.1 million households, including 492,572 households with seniors, 391,776 households with individuals with disabilities, and 182,696 households that included a young child,” continued Lawler.
“I respectfully urge you to ensure that the necessary personnel and resources remain in place to support LIHEAP’s continued success,” the lawmaker concluded.
Congressman Lawler is one of the most bipartisan members of Congress and represents New York’s 17th Congressional District, which is just north of New York City and contains all or parts of Rockland, Putnam, Dutchess, and Westchester Counties. He was rated the most effective freshman lawmaker in the 118th Congress, 8th overall, surpassing dozens of committee chairs.
Washington, D.C. – 4/16/2025… Today, Congressman Mike Lawler (NY-17), Chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee’s Middle East and North Africa Subcommittee, sent a letter to U.S. Envoy to the Middle East Steve Witkoff, urging him to reject any nuclear agreement with Iran that allows the regime to retain enrichment capabilities or reverts to the failed policies of the past.
The letter was sent in response to Witkoff’s recent appearance on Fox News, where he appeared to entertain the idea of allowing Iran to enrich uranium up to 3.67% under a future agreement, with verification mechanisms in place. In his letter, Lawler condemned such a framework as dangerously reminiscent of the failed Obama-era Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA).
“‘Peace through strength’ and ‘maximum pressure’ require the complete dismantling of Iran’s nuclear and missile programs, as well as the full implementation of sanctions on Iran and Iran’s enablers. Anything less would be appeasement and a betrayal of U.S. national security interests and the security of our partners in the region, including Israel and Saudi Arabia,” wrote Chairman Lawler.
“A return to the JCPOA or a similar arrangement will hurt our long-term goals in the Middle East and enable the Iranian regime to further develop and fund its malign activities. The stakes could not be higher,” Chairman Lawler concluded in his letter.
Congressman Lawler is one of the most bipartisan members of Congress and represents New York’s 17th Congressional District, which is just north of New York City and contains all or parts of Rockland, Putnam, Dutchess, and Westchester Counties. He was rated the most effective freshman lawmaker in the 118th Congress, 8th overall, surpassing dozens of committee chairs.
April 16, 2025 – Bath, Ontario – Correctional Service Canada
On April 15, 2025, an inmate was the victim of an assault at Millhaven Institution, a maximum-level security federal institution.
The injured inmate was evaluated by staff members and transported to an outside hospital to receive treatment.
The Ontario Provincial Police and the institution are currently investigating.
No staff members or other inmates were injured during this incident.
The safety and security of institutions, their staff, and the public remains the highest priority in the operations of the federal correctional system.
In order to improve practices aimed at preventing this type of incident, the Correctional Service of Canada will review the circumstances of the incident and take the appropriate measures.
DENVER — A former member of the Gambian military was convicted April 15 on torture charges, following his involvement in crimes committed while the West African country’s then-President, Yahya Jammeh, was still in power.
Michael Sang Correa, 46, was indicted in 2020 and is the first non-United States citizen to be convicted under the U.S. criminal torture law. He was found guilty of inflicting torture on specific individuals as well as conspiring to commit torture against suspected opponents of Jammeh’s while serving in a military unit within the Gambia Armed Forces known as the “Junglers.”
“Correa’s crimes caught up with him today,” said U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Homeland Security Investigations Denver Special Agent in Charge Steve Cagen, who also oversees Colorado, Montana and Wyoming. “Correa chose the wrong country to try to escape from justice. HSI actively investigates and apprehends human rights violators who run from their criminal pasts and come here. We have a zero-tolerance policy for human rights violators.”
“Michael Sang Correa tried to evade responsibility for his crimes in The Gambia by coming to the United States and hiding his past,” said Matthew R. Galeotti, Head of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division. “But we found him, we investigated him, and we prosecuted him. The lesson is: if you commit violent crimes — let alone torture or other human rights violations — do not come to the United States. If you do, the Department of Justice, together with its law enforcement partners, will leave no stone unturned to see that your crimes are exposed and justice is served. I thank the jurors for their service and the witnesses for the courage to relive the horror they experienced at Correa’s hands.”
“The torture inflicted by Michael Sang Correa and his co-conspirators is abhorrent,” said acting U.S. Attorney J. Bishop Grewell for the District of Colorado. “Today’s verdict shows you can’t get away with coming to Colorado to hide from your past crimes. The jurors are to be commended for their service throughout this trial and the witnesses for traveling so far to serve the interests of justice.”
Evidence presented at trial proved that in March 2006, shortly after a failed coup attempt, Correa and his co-conspirators transported the victims to Gambia’s main prison, known as Mile 2 Prison, where they subjected the victims to severe physical and mental abuses.
For the rest of the month of March and well into April 2006, Correa and his co-conspirators beat, stabbed, burned and electrocuted the victims, among other horrific acts. One victim testified that he had his thigh burned by hot, molten plastic; the Junglers also placed the victim in a large bag, suspended him in the air, and dropped him to the ground. Another victim testified that Correa and his co-conspirators suffocated him with a plastic bag and put the barrel of a pistol in his mouth. In addition to suffocation from plastic bags, another victim testified that Correa and his co-conspirators electrocuted him on his body, including his genitals; hanged him upside down and beat him in that position; and stabbed him in the shoulder. A fourth victim endured electrocution and was hit in the head with a pistol. A fifth victim testified that he had cigarettes extinguished into his skin, experienced electrocution, and that he was struck in the face with a hammer.
Correa came to the U.S. in December 2016, eventually settling in Denver. Having overstayed his visa, ICE arrested Correa in 2019 and subsequently placed him in removal proceedings.
Correa faces a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison for each of the five torture counts and the count of conspiracy to commit torture. He will remain in U.S. custody pending his sentencing.
ICE HSI Denver investigated this case, with support from HSI agents in Dakar, Senegal, as well as personnel at the U.S. Embassy in Banjul and the FBI Legal Attaché in Dakar. The Human Rights Violators and War Crimes Center also provided significant support. Established in 2009, the HRVWCC leverages the expertise of criminal investigators, attorneys, historians, intelligence analysts and federal partners to provide a whole of government approach to prevent the U.S. from becoming a haven for individuals who commit war crimes, genocide, torture and other human rights abuses around the globe.
Currently, ICE has more than 180 active investigations into suspected human rights violators and is pursuing more than 1,945 leads and removals cases involving suspected human rights violators from 95 different countries. The center has issued more than 79,000 lookouts since 2003, for potential perpetrators of human rights abuses and stopped over 390 human rights violators and war crimes suspects from entering the U.S.
Members of the public who have information about foreign nationals suspected of engaging in human rights abuses or war crimes are urged to call the ICE Tip Line at 1-866-DHS-2-ICE (1-866-347-2423) or internationally at 001-1802-872-6199. You can also email HRV.ICE@ice.dhs.gov or complete the online tip form.
VEGA BAJA, Puerto Rico — U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, with support from the FBI, the Drug Enforcement Administration, U.S. Marshals Service, U.S. Customs and Border Protection’s Air and Marine Operations, Office of Field Operations, U.S. Border Patrol, Vega Baja Municipal Police, and the Puerto Rico Police Bureau, arrested five illegal aliens April 10 during a targeted worksite enforcement operation in Vega Baja.
The multiagency operation took place at a construction worksite where one Haitian national and four Dominican nationals were taken into custody. All five individuals are currently being held by ICE pending removal proceedings.
“Through worksite enforcement investigations, ICE often uncovers more than just unauthorized employment — many cases reveal serious crimes like document fraud, human smuggling, and human trafficking,” said ICE Homeland Security Investigations San Juan Special Agent in Charge Rebecca González-Ramos. “Following the president’s executive order, ICE San Juan will continue enforcing the immigration laws in Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands.”
ICE officials emphasized the agency’s continued focus to identifying public safety and national security threats. Individuals unlawfully present in the United States who are encountered during enforcement operations may be taken into custody and processed for removal in accordance with federal law.
Members of the public with information about suspected immigration violations or related criminal activity are encouraged to contact the ICE Tip Line at 866-DHS-2-ICE (866-347-2423) or submit information online via the ICE tip form.
For more information about ICE HSI San Juan and its efforts to enhance public safety in Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands, follow: Instagram: @HSISanJuan Facebook: @HSISanJuanPR X: @HSISanJuan
CHARLESTON, W.Va. – Acting United States Attorney Lisa G. Johnston announced today that Horne LLP, of Ridgeland, Mississippi, has agreed to pay the United States $1,207,600 to resolve civil allegations that it received improper payments from federal disaster recovery grant funds in connection with disaster recovery services it provided in 2017 and 2018 in West Virginia.
On June 23, 2016, portions of the Southern District of West Virginia experienced extreme levels of rainfall, resulting in historic flooding over a vast swath of the region. Flood waters rushing across West Virginia’s mountainous landscape damaged or swept away thousands of homes, businesses, bridges and other infrastructure, leaving thousands of West Virginia residents homeless and at least 23 dead. Following a presidential disaster declaration issued in response to the flooding, Congress appropriated funds for disaster recovery in West Virginia to be administered by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) in the form of Community Development Block Grant – Disaster Recovery (CDBG-DR) funds. These funds were made available to fund an array of recovery needs in West Virginia including housing rehabilitation and replacement for low income homeowners.
Soon after CDBG-DR funds were appropriated, Horne was selected by the West Virginia Development Office (WVDO) to develop the state’s Action Plan for use of the disaster recovery grant funds. Horne is an accounting and professional services firm specializing in administering state and federal disaster recovery programs across the United States. Horne’s contract with the State of West Virginia included task orders requiring Horne to assist the WVDO in developing a CDBG-DR Action Plan which were to be used to secure additional project funding and to provide program guidance, design and development services. The contract which provided for total compensation of $900,000 was approved by the West Virginia Department of Administration Purchasing Division (WVDAPD).
Although the contract provided for total compensation of $900,000,additional “task orders” were added to the contract that inflated the cost of the contract to more than $18,000,000. As a result of these additions, Horne was awarded responsibility for the housing rehabilitation program, which was later re-branded as “Rise West Virginia Housing Restoration Program” (WV-HRP or “RISE”).
The RISE program came under scrutiny in late 2017 when Horne’s contract was reviewed by the West Virginia Department of Administration Purchasing Division. During the review, it was discovered that Horne’s original contract price had ballooned from $900,000 to more than $18,000,000 without competitive bidding, review, or approval by the WVDAPD or the West Virginia Attorney General’s Office.
The administration of then-Gov. Jim Justice declared the additional work orders to be illegal, and that Horne could not be paid for any services competed under them. This prompted Horne to seek to sell the data it had generated through its operations in West Virginia to the government at a price intended to reflect the value of its prior services. Horne submitted an invoice totaling $6,739,575, and the invoice was paid on November 6, 2018, from the federal CDBG-DR funds.
After Horne transmitted its project data to state officials, investigators discovered that many of the services sold to the sate were problematic. In particular, investigators discovered that many of the “personal consultations,” included on Horne’s invoice at $950 each, were for cold calls that resulted in a finding of “no unmet need.” Despite a quick call confirming the homeowner had no need of Horne’s services, Horne created an applicant file for each person, complete with fictitious birthdates, social security numbers, and fake signatures on legal documents. Investigators also found that in some cases these personal consultations were actually performed by staff for Voluntary Organizations Active in Disaster (VOAD), not Horne. Investigators found that approximately 48 of the physical property inspections, costing the government $1,850 each, were for vacant lots where an inspection was not required. Similarly, Horne billed $1,650 for each of 72 repair estimates where there was nothing to repair.
The Settlement Agreement announced today requires Horne to pay $1,207,600 to resolve the government’s claims.
“Thousands of West Virginians remained in need after historic flooding damaged or destroyed their homes, and the Horne firm took advantage of the situation,” said Acting United States Attorney Lisa G. Johnston. “This settlement agreement is a result of the excellent work by HUD-OIG and the West Virginia Commission on Special Investigations, our office’s Affirmative Civil Enforcement and Health Care Fraud Investigative Specialist Tyler E. Japhet, and Assistant United States Attorney Gregory P. Neil.”
“The alleged actions of Horne, LLP undermine the mission of HUD’s disaster recovery efforts and takes critical resources away from those who need them the most,” said Special Agent-in-Charge Shawn Rice with the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), Office of Inspector General (OIG). “HUD OIG is committed to partnering with the U.S. Attorney’s Office to pursue accountability for those who seek to exploit federal programs.”
“The Commission on Special Investigations began investigating the handling of flood related disaster assistance in December of 2018,” said West Virginia Commission on Special Investigations Director Rick Eplin. “Investigators conducted interviews and documented conditions throughout 12 counties in West Virginia touched by the flooding. Investigators documented tragic stories from the families whose homes were destroyed by flood waters. They were struck by the resiliency of the citizens and their commitment to their communities. In the course of the investigation, it was determined that data collected by Horne did not accurately reflect the conditions and circumstances observed by CSI investigators. In partnership with the HUD Office of Inspector General and the United States Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of West Virginia a positive resolution was achieved.”
A copy of this press release is located on the website of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of West Virginia.
