Source: United States Department of Justice Criminal Division
SAN DIEGO – Brothers Eduardo and Francisco Mendoza were sentenced in federal court to 15 years and 10 years in prison, respectively, for leading a fentanyl and methamphetamine distribution network supplied by the Sinaloa Cartel. Eduardo Mendoza was sentenced today; Francisco Mendoza was sentenced April 17.
Source: United States Department of Justice Criminal Division
Laura Lee Dudley, 45, of the District of Columbia, was sentenced today in U.S. District Court to 11 months in prison for her role in a years-long conspiracy to steal more than $393,340 from her nonprofit employer by making unauthorized personal purchases on the organization’s corporate credit card.
Source: United States Spaceforce
The Space Force announced that 247 Air Force Reservists in space-related career fields were selected for transfer into the service in part-time work roles. The announcement marks an important milestone in the implementation of the Space Force Personnel Management Act.
Source: United States Department of Justice Criminal Division
Tacoma – The 64-year-old owner of a small Tacoma market was arraigned today in U.S. District Court in Tacoma for multiple counts of wire fraud and SNAP benefit fraud, announced First Assistant U.S. Attorney Charles Neil Floyd.
Source: United States Department of Justice Criminal Division
The Justice Department filed a civil forfeiture complaint today in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California seeking the forfeiture of a mansion located in Beverly Hills, California, alleged to have been purchased and renovated with approximately $30 million in proceeds of a scheme to defraud the U.S. Department of Defense’s Defense Logistics Agency (DLA), pay bribes to an official of the Kurdistan Region of Iraq, and violate U.S. money laundering laws.
As alleged in the complaint, from 2016 through 2020, a Virginia-based defense contractor and others engaged in a corrupt scheme to obtain more than $700 million from DLA for fuel deliveries to the U.S. military during Operation Inherent Resolve, the U.S. campaign against the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria. The Erbil International Airport (EIA) located in Kurdistan, where Kurdish Peshmerga forces provided internal security and controlled entry to the facility, served as a critical delivery point for fuel used by the U.S. military in Iraq and Syria during the campaign.
The complaint alleges that officers of the contractor agreed to pay General Mansour Barzani, a senior Peshmerga official, a bribe of $0.25 per liter for exclusive access to deliver jet fuel in Kurdistan for the U.S. military and coalition forces and received hundreds of millions of dollars under DLA contracts. During the same period, the contractor’s competitors were blocked from accessing EIA for jet fuel deliveries on behalf of DLA, and DLA issued one-time-buy contracts to the contractor often at noncompetitive and greatly inflated prices.
According to the civil forfeiture complaint, funds that the contractor received from DLA as a result of the scheme were transferred to NYJD Trust No.1, a trust established in Virginia for the private benefit of Barzani. In 2018, approximately $30 million of those funds were transferred from Barzani’s trust to purchase the Beverly Hills mansion as well as the renovation and improvement of the property from 2019 to 2022.
This case was investigated by the FBI Washington Field Office, the Defense Criminal Investigative Service, and IRS Criminal Investigation.
Deputy Chief Michael B. Redmann and Senior Trial Attorney Steven Parker of the Criminal Division’s Money Laundering, Narcotics and Forfeiture Section (MNF) are handling the case. The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Central District of California and the Justice Department’s Office of International Affairs also provided significant support.
The Money Laundering, Narcotics and Forfeiture Section’s mission is to take the profit out of crime, eliminate drug cartels, and protect the U.S. financial system. MNF pursues criminal prosecutions and criminal and civil asset recovery actions involving: financial facilitators who launder profits for criminals; financial institutions and their officers and employees whose actions threaten the U.S. financial system and financial institutions; international money launderers who support transnational organized crime; and the top command and control of international drug trafficking organizations.
MNF’s International Unit investigates and prosecutes cross-border money laundering schemes involving transnational criminal organizations, cartels, foreign official corruption and related money laundering affecting the U.S. financial system and prosecutes criminal cases and civil forfeiture matters to recover the proceeds of those crimes.
A civil complaint is merely an allegation. The government has the burden of establishing the assets are subject to forfeiture by a preponderance of the evidence.
Source: United States Department of Justice Criminal Division
PHOENIX, Ariz. – A Pinal County man was sentenced last week in federal court for distribution of child pornography from 2016 to 2017. James Stacey Porter, 59, was sentenced April 13, 2026, by U.S. District Judge John J. Tuchi to 129 months in prison. Porter previously pleaded guilty to Distribution of Child Pornography on Oct. 10, 2025.
Source: United States Department of Justice Criminal Division
U.S. Attorney Michael DiGiacomo announced today that Kavon A. Wilson, 32, of Elmira, NY, who was convicted of possession with intent to distribute five grams or more of methamphetamine, and possession of firearms in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime, was sentenced to serve 151 months in prison by Chief U.S. District Judge Elizabeth A. Wolford. Wilson was also ordered to forfeit two firearms and 14 rounds of ammunition.
Source: United States Department of Justice Criminal Division
U.S. Attorney Michael DiGiacomo announced today that David Martinez, 58, of Cheektowaga, NY, pleaded guilty before U.S. Magistrate Judge Michael J. Roemer to embezzlement by union officials, which carries a maximum sentence of five years in prison, and a fine of $250,000.
Source: United States Department of Justice Criminal Division
Tampa, Florida – Brandon Bernard Williams (41, Palmetto) has been charged by federal indictment for possession of ammunition by a convicted felon. If convicted, Williams faces a maximum penalty of 15 years in federal prison. U.S. Attorney Gregory W. Kehoe made the announcement.
Source: United States Department of Justice Criminal Division
Baltimore, Maryland – A Baltimore man pled guilty in federal court, today, to bank-fraud charges in connection with a real-estate scheme. Jacob Rappaport, 41, is charged with conspiracy to commit bank fraud. Rappaport, an attorney, represented Alexander Schultz, 31, formerly of Pikesville, Maryland and Schultz’s company, Limitless Management — a company that bought, sold, and managed real estate in Maryland — on various real estate transactions.