Investigative Press Releases
Thursday, July 7, 2022
SAN DIEGO—Today Jesus Vazquez Padilla and his sister Monica Vazquez were indicted for laundering more than $42 million of drug trafficking proceeds through the financial system in the United States.
Wednesday, July 6, 2022
Wednesday, July 6, 2022
LOS ANGELES – Law enforcement today arrested six defendants charged in a federal grand jury indictment alleging they fraudulently obtained more than $2 million in COVID-19-related unemployment insurance (UI) benefits by submitting fraudulent applications in the names of others that falsely asserted, among other things, that the claimants were salon and barbershop workers rendered jobless because of the pandemic.
Wednesday, July 6, 2022
LOS ANGELES – A rapper who boasted in a YouTube music video about getting rich by committing pandemic-related unemployment benefits fraud has agreed to plead guilty to federal fraud and firearms charges, the Justice Department announced today.
Fontrell Antonio Baines, 33, a.k.a. “Nuke Bizzle,” of Memphis, Tennessee, has agreed to plead guilty to one count of mail fraud and one count of unlawful possession of a firearm and ammunition by a convicted felon.
Wednesday, July 6, 2022
RALEIGH, N.C. – A Raleigh woman pleaded guilty today to Healthcare Fraud.
Wednesday, July 6, 2022
SALT LAKE CITY – Dino A. Rende, 19, of Los Angeles, California, and Francis J. Rende II, 29, of La Mesa, California, were both sentenced to 36 months of probation and ordered to pay $500 dollars in restitution after pleading guilty to misdemeanor conspiracy to steal or convert government property charges stemming from the theft of Centers for Disease Control (CDC) COVID-19 Vaccination Record Cards.
Wednesday, July 6, 2022
SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Eric Lemoyne Willis, 46, of West Sacramento, was sentenced today to four years in prison for conspiracy to defraud the United States, theft of government property, and aggravated identity theft, U.S. Attorney Phillip A. Talbert announced.
Wednesday, July 6, 2022
Wednesday, July 6, 2022
CHICAGO — A federal judge today sentenced a Chicago attorney to four months in prison for false statement and tax offenses in connection with funds he received from the failed Washington Federal Bank for Savings.