Author: MIL-OSI Publisher

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Defense News: 175 Years at the Front: The Fighting 69th Leads World’s Largest St. Patrick’s Day Parade once more

Source: United States Army

NEW YORK – For 175 years, Soldiers of the New York Army National Guard’s 1st Battalion, 69th Infantry Regiment, known as the “Fighting 69th,” have led the world’s largest and oldest St. Patrick’s Day Parade, celebrating Irish heritage.

On March 17, 2026, six hundred Soldiers from the battalion continued the tradition as they marched down Manhattan’s 5th Avenue.

The battalion’s morning began early as the Soldiers visited St. Patrick’s Cathedral, joining city and state leadership for the renowned St. Patrick’s Day Mass.

This year, the event was featured on the Fox and Friends national morning news show prior to the Mass. Host Steven Doocy interviewed Lt. Col. Andrew Prior, the battalion commander, and Sgt. Conner Battiste, and Spec. Daniel Pan, the battalion’s two best Soldiers..

Following Mass, the Soldiers marched to 44th Street, where they assembled with the 42nd Infantry Division band and others at the parade’s starting point. Joined by senior military leaders from the NYNG and the 42nd Inf. Div. band, the Fighting 69th then led 150,000 other parade participants up 5th Avenue, passing more than 2 million spectators along the nearly 2-mile route.

This year, officers from the Swedish military joined the New York National Guard leadership in the march. The New York National Guard has a partnership with the Swedish Military has part of the National Guard State. Partnership Program.

Reflecting on the significance of the day, Prior shared memories of growing up in the city and watching the parade as a child.

“I remember one year was different because we had tickets to watch from the steps of St. Patrick’s,” he said. “It was my first memory of this unit. I remember sitting on my father’s shoulders, staring at the Soldiers marching by, and my dad looked up and said, ‘That’s the Fighting 69th.’”

Because of the regiment’s roots in Irish American history, St. Patrick’s Day also serves as the battalion’s “Unit Day,” during which Soldiers are recognized for their accomplishments.

However, this year’s recognition ceremony saw a change of venue as the battalion’s Lexington Avenue Armory home undergoes extensive modernization. In a temporary shift of traditions, the Fighting 69th gathered instead at the historic Park Avenue Armory to honor the day’s achievements.

“Now, this isn’t Lexington Avenue; it’s not the 69th Armory, but it is still an honor to be gathered here at the Park Avenue Armory,” said Chief Warrant Officer 5 William Solmo, NYNG’s state command chief warrant officer. “We would all rather be down the block in our own historic armory, but if we’re going to be temporarily displaced, we could do worse than landing here.”

This year’s celebration focused on the citizen-Soldier legacy, as leaders recognized the accomplishments of the battalion’s Soldiers with awards, promotions, and scholarships, followed by recognizing Solmo’s retirement after 40 years of service in the ARNG.

The 69th began leading the parade in 1851 because of threats of anti-Catholic and anti-Irish attacks on the procession by nativist groups.

In 2021, when the parade was canceled because of the COVID-19 pandemic, a group of 50 Soldiers from the 69th staged an informal parade up the route to keep the tradition alive.

The 1st Battalion, 69th Infantry, supposedly earned the nickname “Fighting 69th” from Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee. He is said to have referred to the Irish American unit as “that fighting 69th regiment” following the battle of Fredericksburg in 1863.

Speaking during the recognition ceremony, Maj. Gen. Raymond Shields, the New York Adjutant General, commended the battalion on hosting Swedish officers in this year’s parade.

“In 2024, we signed an agreement with Sweden under the State Partnership Program,” he said. “Sweden is a fantastic partner, and we are thrilled they got to see something very few people experience – marching in the parade today.”

For more photos of the event, go to the NYNG’s Flickr page here: https://flic.kr/s/aHBqjCNudq.

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Orlando Man Pleads Guilty to His Role in Years-Long Off-the-Books Payroll Scheme

Source: United States Department of Justice Criminal Division

A Honduran national pleaded guilty today to conspiring with others as part of a years-long off-the-books payroll scheme that caused more than $38 million in losses to the U.S. government.

According to court documents and statements made in court, Mario Lisandro Flores Moradel operated an illegal, off-the-books cash payroll system for construction workers to avoid paying employment taxes to the IRS and to defraud workers’ compensation insurance companies. Through the scheme, Flores and his co-conspirators also facilitated the employment of illegal aliens impermissibly working in the United States.

From 2015 to 2022, Flores and his co-conspirators used a series of shell companies to run an unlicensed check cashing and cash courier service business. These businesses cashed approximately $89 million in checks from subcontractors in the construction industry, charging them a percentage of the dollar amount of the checks they cashed as a fee for this service. The scheme allowed construction contractors and subcontractors to pay their workers in cash without making required payroll taxes and without regard to whether the workers were legally authorized to work in the United States. Flores and others also caused the filing of false tax documents with the IRS to conceal the scheme. Of the total loss amount, Flores admitted to causing a tax loss to the United States of more than $9.4 million.

Flores pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to defraud the United States and one count of conspiracy to operate an unlicensed money transmitting businesses. He is scheduled to be sentenced on June 24. He faces a maximum penalty of five years in prison for each count of conspiracy. A federal district court judge will determine any sentence after considering the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.

Several of Flores’ co-conspirators previously pleaded guilty for their roles in the scheme. Michael Mayorga and Francisco Alvarez pleaded guilty on May 22, 2025.  Iris Villafranca and Osman Zapata pleaded guilty on Oct. 9, 2025.

Assistant Attorney General A. Tysen Duva of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division and U.S. Attorney Gregory W. Kehoe for the Middle District of Florida made the announcement.

IRS Criminal Investigation is investigating the case with assistance from Homeland Security Investigations. ICE ERO Miami (Orlando sub-office), Florida Highway Patrol, U.S. Customs and Border Protection, U.S. Marshals Service, State Department and the Florida Department of Law Enforcement have assisted in arrest operations.

Senior Litigation Counsel Sean Beaty and Trial Attorney Kavitha Bondada of the Criminal Division’s Tax Section and Assistant U.S. Attorney Diane Hu of the Middle District of Florida are prosecuting the case.

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Buffalo man pleads guilty to attacking postal carrier

Source: United States Department of Justice Criminal Division

U.S. Attorney Michael DiGiacomo announced today that a Jacob D. Ortiz, 34, of Buffalo, NY, pleaded guilty before U.S. Magistrate Judge Jeremiah J. McCarthy to assaulting a federal employee resulting in bodily injury, which carries a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison and a $250,000 fine.  

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Russian Citizen Sentenced to Prison for Hacking into U.S. Companies and Enabling Major Cybercrime Groups to Extort Tens of Millions of Dollars

Source: United States Department of Justice

A court in the Southern District of Indiana today sentenced a Russian citizen, Aleksei Volkov, to 81 months in prison for assisting major cybercrime groups, including the Yanluowang ransomware group, in carrying out numerous attacks against U.S. companies and other organizations. Volkov facilitated dozens of ransomware attacks throughout the United States, causing over $9 million in actual losses and over $24 million in intended losses. Volkov was indicted for this activity in both the Southern District of Indiana and Eastern District of Pennsylvania. Police in Rome, Italy, then arrested Volkov, and he was extradited to the United States. He pleaded guilty to charges from both indictments.

According to court documents, Volkov, 26, of St. Petersburg, Russia, was an “initial access broker,” that is, a person who specializes in gaining unauthorized access to computer networks and systems of corporations and organizations and selling that access to other cyber threat actors such as ransomware groups. Volkov found vulnerabilities in computer networks and systems, identified ways to access those networks and systems without authorization, and sold that illicit access to conspirators who were also cybercriminals.

Volkov’s co-conspirators then used the access Volkov provided to infect the affected computer networks and systems with malware. This malware encrypted the victims’ data and prevented the victims from accessing it, damaging their business operations. The conspirators then demanded that the victims pay them a ransom in cryptocurrency — sometimes in the tens of millions of dollars — in exchange for restoring the victims’ access to the data and promising not to publicly disclose the hack or release victims’ stolen data on a “leak” website. In some cases, the victims paid the ransom and in others the conspirators posted the victims’ confidential data on the leak site. If the victims paid the ransom, Volkov received a share of the money.

On Nov. 25, 2025, Volkov pleaded guilty to four counts from the Southern District of Indiana indictment, namely, unlawful transfer of a means of identification, trafficking in access information, access device fraud, and aggravated identity theft; as well as two counts from the Eastern District of Pennsylvania indictment, namely, conspiracy to commit computer fraud and conspiracy to commit money laundering after the  two cases were consolidated in the Southern District of Indiana. As part of his plea, Volkov admitted that he and his co-conspirators hacked into numerous victims’ computer networks, stole their data, deployed ransomware, demanded payment in cryptocurrency to exchange for restoring access to the data, and divided the ransom payments among themselves. In fact, they demanded tens of millions of dollars in ransom and received millions. Volkov agreed to pay full restitution to victims including at least $9,167,198.19 to known victims to compensate them for their actual losses as well as to forfeit equipment he used for his crimes.

Assistant Attorney General A. Tysen Duva of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division, U.S. Attorney Thomas E. Wheeler II for the Southern District of Indiana, U.S. Attorney David Metcalf for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, Special Agent in Charge Timothy O’Malley of the FBI Indianapolis Field Office, and Special Agent in Charge Wayne A. Jacobs of the FBI Philadelphia Field Office made the announcement.

The FBI is investigating the case.

Senior Counsel Matthew A. Lamberti of the Criminal Division’s Computer Crime and Intellectual Property Section (CCIPS), Assistant U.S. Attorney for the District of Connecticut Edward Chang (on detail to CCIPS), Assistant U.S. Attorneys MaryAnn T. Mindrum and Matthew B. Miller for the Southern District of Indiana, and Assistant U.S. Attorney Sarah Wolfe for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania are prosecuting the case. The Justice Department’s Office of International Affairs worked with the Government of Italy to secure the arrest and extradition from Italy of Volkov.

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Defense News in Brief: ‘VIBRaNT’ Display: ONR, NIWC Pacific Host Virtual Bridge Training Exercise

Source: United States Navy

The Office of Naval Research Global (ONR Global) TechSolutions and Naval Information Warfare Center (NIWC) Pacific recently hosted a virtual navigation training demonstration showcasing the Virtual Bridge and Nautical Trainer (VIBRaNT).

The event involved Sailors from Afloat Training Group Atlantic in Norfolk, Virginia, and the aircraft carrier USS Theodore Roosevelt (CVN 71), which was located pierside at Naval Air Station North Island in San Diego, California.