Source: United States Department of Justice Criminal Division
Baltimore, Maryland – A federal judge sentenced an illegal alien from Togo, today, for his role in a money laundering scheme totaling nearly $3 million in losses. U.S. District Judge Matthew J. Maddox sentenced Gedeon “Papa Kwam” Agbeyome, 31, of Silver Spring, Maryland, to six years in prison, followed by one year of supervised release, for conspiracy to commit money laundering and aggravated identity theft.
Source: United States Department of Justice
“This is the most transparent Department of Justice in our nation’s history. Unlike prior administrations, we are dedicated to improving FOIA processes and prioritizing citizens’ access to information about their government. This Sunshine Week, I want to recognize the efforts of each and every FOIA professional across the government. Despite the ever-increasing burden placed on these professionals by a small group of prolific requestors and litigants, they remain steadfast and diligent. Our FOIA professionals are the unsung heroes of democracy, and we honor them today.”
Stanley E. Woodward
Associate Attorney General
Chief FOIA Officer
Department of Justice
The primary mission of the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) is to keep the American people apprised and knowledgeable of the activities of their government. James Madison famously stated “[a] popular Government, without popular information, or the means of acquiring it, is but a Prologue to a Farce or a Tragedy; or, perhaps, both. Knowledge will forever govern ignorance: And a people who mean to be their own Governors, must arm themselves with the power which knowledge gives.” The dedicated FOIA professionals across the government work tirelessly every day to accomplish this important mission, and today we recognize and celebrate their efforts.
On July 4, 1966, the 190th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence, President Lyndon Johnson signed into law the FOIA. This year, as we celebrate the 250th anniversary of the Declaration, the government’s commitment to the FOIA’s twin values of government transparency and the protection of sensitive governmental and private interests remain as strong as ever. The FOIA encapsulates the democratic ideal that transparency should be the general rule in government except where disclosure would foreseeably harm a legitimate interest.
Much has changed in the world of FOIA since 1966. The dedicated FOIA professionals honored today know that well. Today’s document requests yield a far greater volume of information than in President Johnson’s day, when a response consisted of little more than photocopying a few typewritten memoranda.
The level of public engagement with the FOIA, as demonstrated by the number of requests received and processed by federal agencies, is higher than at any time in history. In a span of only three years between fiscal year 2021 and 2024, the number of FOIA requests received and processed by agencies nearly doubled. Clearly, the public sees the FOIA as an effective means of learning more about the operations of their government.
However, a small group of frequent requesters accounts for an increasing volume of both total and complex FOIA requests. This concentration forces agencies to divert a disproportionate share of limited resources away from the timely processing of simpler requests submitted by individual members of the public. It is important to recognize this fact, particularly as we celebrate the work of those professionals whose workload continues to increase because of it. Those who work in the FOIA space know there is a constant struggle between keeping citizens informed and managing ever growing litigation and complex requests from a small group of requestors.
I applaud the work of all of our FOIA professionals and especially congratulate this year’s awardees. Your efforts to keep all citizens informed despite ever growing demands are admirable. Thank you for the work you do and congratulations on your awards.
Sean Glendening
Director, Office of Information Policy
Department of Justice
This award recognizes exemplary performance by a FOIA professional or team of FOIA professionals in carrying out the agency’s administration of the FOIA. This award recognizes those individuals or teams whose exceptional contributions have significantly benefited FOIA administration. These benefits include increased efficiency, greater use of technology, reduced backlogs, improved timeliness, and increased proactive disclosures. Exceptional Service awards are presented to:
This award recognizes exceptional achievements in making greater use of technology to make information more accessible. These efforts include the implementation of new and advanced technologies to increase efficiencies as well as to improve proactive disclosures and the online availability of information. Exceptional Advancements awards are presented to:
This award recognizes an agency FOIA professional with at least 20 years of work in FOIA administration who has demonstrated high standards of excellence and dedication in the administration of the FOIA throughout their career. Lifetime Service awards are presented to:
Source: United States Department of Justice Criminal Division
A three-year investigation into cocaine trafficking in Teton and surrounding counties concluded with the final defendant being sentenced. U.S. Attorney Darin Smith along with Dave Olesky, Special Agent in Charge with the DEA and Ronnie Jones, Director of the Wyoming Division of Criminal Investigation speak at a press conference.
Source: United States Department of Justice Criminal Division
ALBANY, Ga. – The last member of a Tift County, Georgia, drug trafficking ring, who helped orchestrate the operation from behind prison bars which authorities estimate distributed hundreds of kilograms of methamphetamine and cocaine, has been sentenced to serve more than 13 years in federal prison.
Source: United States Department of Justice Criminal Division
The former Chief Executive Officer of Nodus International Bank (Nodus Bank), a Puerto Rican international bank, pleaded guilty yesterday for leading a scheme to fraudulently obtain at least $24.9 million from Nodus Bank and conspiring to evade U.S. sanctions against Venezuela.
“The defendant abused his position as CEO, turning the bank he managed into his own personal ATM and unlawfully transacting with a sanctioned individual,” said Assistant Attorney General A. Tysen Duva of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division. “The defendant’s crimes undermine the integrity of our financial system, threaten economic prosperity, and harm national security. The Criminal Division will investigate and prosecute fraudsters to protect financial markets and promote safety and prosperity for all Americans.”
“This defendant used his position as CEO to siphon more than $24 million, hide conflicts of interest, and help drive the bank’s collapse,” said U.S. Attorney Jason A. Reding Quiñones for the Southern District of Florida. “The scheme also involved efforts to evade U.S. sanctions tied to Venezuela’s state-owned oil company, PDVSA. As a career prosecutor and former state trial judge, I’ve learned that following the money reveals the truth. Here, it exposed both fraud and sanctions violations. We will hold accountable anyone who abuses our financial system for personal gain.”
“Corporate titles don’t place anyone above the law,” said Ron Loecker, Special Agent in Charge, IRS Criminal Investigation, Florida Field Office. “Executive level fraud has real victims, and yesterday’s outcome is a step toward restoring accountability and confidence in the banking system. IRS Special Agents, alongside our partners, will keep bringing transparency to complex financial crimes and delivering results.”
According to court filings, Tomás Niembro Concha, 64, of Miami, Florida, conspired with others to siphon money from Nodus Bank, ultimately leading to the bank’s failure in 2023. Niembro and his co-conspirators concealed from other Nodus Bank board members and executives and the bank’s regulator that certain investments and loans were for the benefit of Niembro and Board Chairman Juan Ramirez, in violation of Puerto Rican law. From 2017 to 2023, Niembro, Ramirez and others caused Nodus Bank to invest $11 million in a Miami-based lender so those funds could be loaned to Niembro and Ramirez for their own benefit. Niembro and his co-conspirators knew that these transactions were illegal and concealed their conduct through the sham investments.
Between January 2018 and September 2021, Niembro and Ramirez also fraudulently induced Nodus Bank’s board and comptroller to agree to buy at least 47 promissory notes totaling approximately $25.3 million from Nodus Finance, a Miami-based company that Niembro and Ramirez jointly owned, so they could use the proceeds of the transactions for themselves.
In early March 2023, Nodus’s regulator, the Office of the Commissioner of Financial Institutions of Puerto Rico (OCIF), notified the bank it would be placed into liquidation. Niembro and Ramirez fraudulently caused Nodus Bank to accept a loan portfolio from Nodus Finance to pay down the debt from the 47 promissory notes.
Moreover, between 2021 and 2023, Niembro conspired with others to conduct prohibited financial transactions with an individual designated as a Specially Designated National (SDN) by the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) for providing material support to Venezuela’s state-owned oil company, Petróleos de Venezuela, S.A. (PDVSA). To satisfy an outstanding loan of approximately $2.5 million that the SDN’s company had with Nodus Bank prior to the imposition of sanctions, Niembro and the SDN devised a scheme to cause Nodus Bank to foreclose on the SDN’s home in Southampton, NY — for which they obtained OFAC authorization — but separately reached a “private” agreement to induce Nodus Bank to sell the property back to the SDN for $4 million through a front company — a transaction that was strictly prohibited by U.S. sanctions and not otherwise licensed by OFAC.
Niembro pleaded guilty to a two-count Information charging conspiracy to commit wire fraud and conspiracy to violate the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA). Each charge carries a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison. Niembro’s sentencing has been scheduled for June 8. As part of his plea agreement, Niembro agreed to forfeit at least $16.9 million, which represents the value of the proceeds he derived from the wire fraud conspiracy. A federal judge will determine any sentence after considering the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.
IRS Criminal Investigation (IRS-CI) investigated the case with support from OCIF and the Treasury Executive Office for Asset Forfeiture (TEOAF).
Trial Attorneys Javier Urbina and Samir Paul of the Criminal Division’s Money Laundering, Narcotics and Forfeiture Section (MNF) and Assistant U.S. Attorney Felipe Plechac-Diaz for the Southern District of Florida are prosecuting the case.
This prosecution is part of the Homeland Security Task Force (HSTF) initiative established by Executive Order 14159, Protecting the American People Against Invasion. The HSTF is a whole-of-government partnership dedicated to eliminating criminal cartels, foreign gangs, transnational criminal organizations, and human smuggling and trafficking rings operating in the United States and abroad. Through historic interagency collaboration, the HSTF directs the full might of United States law enforcement towards identifying, investigating, and prosecuting the full spectrum of crimes committed by these organizations, which have long fueled violence and instability within our borders. In performing this work, the HSTF places special emphasis on investigating and prosecuting those engaged in child trafficking or other crimes involving children. The HSTF further utilizes all available tools to prosecute and remove the most violent criminal aliens from the United States. HSTF Miami comprises agents and officers from IRS Criminal Investigation with the prosecution being led by Bank Integrity Unit of the Money Laundering Narcotics and Forfeiture Section of the Department of Justice and by the United States Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Florida.
MNF’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 Bank Integrity Unit investigates and prosecutes banks and other financial institutions, including their officers, managers and employees whose actions threaten the integrity of the individual institution or the wider financial system.
Source: United States Department of War
In support of the White House Task Force to Restore American Airspace Sovereignty, the Justice Department, Department of Homeland Security, Federal Aviation Administration and War Department warn that any individual or group found operating an unauthorized drone within designated restricted airspace will face severe consequences.
Source: United States Department of Justice Criminal Division
Pensacola, Florida – Scott Oranje, 52, of Mary Esther, Florida, pleaded guilty in federal court to possession with intent to distribute more than 40 grams of fentanyl, possession of a firearm in furtherance of a drug trafficking offense, and possession of a firearm by a convicted felon.
Source: United States Department of Justice Criminal Division
A former Wheeling business owner has admitted to fraud totaling nearly $300,000 in COVID relief funds, announced U.S. Attorney Matthew L. Harvey. Bradley Temple, 48, of Delray Beach, Florida (formerly of Wheeling, WV) pled guilty to unlawful money transactions.
Source: United States Department of Justice Criminal Division
U.S. Attorney Michael DiGiacomo announced today that Andres Carrillo-Hernandez, 27, a citizen of Mexico, was arrested and charged by criminal complaint with alien smuggling, which carries a mandatory minimum penalty of three years in prison, and a maximum of 10 years.
Source: United States Department of Justice Criminal Division
The Department of Justice announced that Jonathan Andrew Felkel, 34, entered a plea of guilty today before United States District Judge Mary Geiger Lewis for violating the housing rights of his Black neighbor, J.M., in violation of 42 U.S.C. §. 3631.
As the defendant admitted at the plea hearing, on July 17, 2025, Felkel, while driving into the community where both he and J.M. lived, fired a gun and shouted at J.M., “You better keep running, boy!” while J.M. was standing at the community gate. Felkel further admitted that, during the investigation, he told law enforcement officers that he believed Black people were committing crimes in his neighborhood, that he had assumed J.M. was a criminal due to his race, and that he had hoped to convey to J.M. that he should “leave” and “not be around this area.”
“The defendant’s actions were deeply disturbing and completely unacceptable,” said Assistant Attorney General Harmeet K. Dhillon. “We hope his conviction brings a sense of peace to the victim and greater security to Black communities across the country.”
Assistant Attorney General Harmeet K. Dhillon of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division; U.S. Attorney Bryan P. Stirling for the District of South Carolina; and Special Agent in Charge Kevin Moore of the FBI Columbia Field Office made the announcement.
Felkel will be sentenced at a later date. The maximum penalty is 10 years in prison.
The FBI Columbia Field Office and the Richland County Sheriff’s Department investigated the case.
Assistant U.S. Attorneys Elle Klein and Lamar Fyall of the District of South Carolina and Trial Attorney Sarah Armstrong of the Civil Rights Division’s Criminal Section are prosecuting the case.