Source: United States Department of Justice Criminal Division
DICKSON ALORWORNU, also known as “Dixon Al,” 36, a citizen of Ghana residing in Greenwich, was sentenced yesterday by U.S. District Judge Sarala V. Nagala in Hartford to 48 months of imprisonment and two years of supervised release for operating a tuition refund scheme using stolen identities.
Source: United States Department of Justice Criminal Division
Seattle – A Mercer Island, Washington, man was sentenced today in U.S. District Court in Seattle to two years in prison for four counts of wire fraud for taking and misusing some $35 million from his former employer, announced First Assistant U.S. Attorney Charles Neil Floyd.
Source: United States Department of Justice Criminal Division
Seattle – One of two brothers from Mexico, who were both caught with a total of more than 30 pounds of fentanyl powder and pills and a kilo of heroin, was sentenced today in U.S. District Court in Seattle to 42 months in prison, announced First Assistant U.S. Attorney Charles Neil Floyd.
Source: United States Army
Ramstein Air Base, Germany – In a powerful display of the enduring alliance between Germany and the United States, approximately 400 U.S. service members gathered to test their military skills and physical prowess in the 2026 German Armed Forces Proficiency Badge competition. The demanding five-day event, held from February 23-27 as a highlight of the German American Friendship Day festivities, concluded with around 220 participants earning the coveted badge.
The competition was more than just a test of individual skill; it was a symbol of the deep partnership forged over decades between the two nations. Co-hosted by U.S. Army Public Health Command Europe and the U.S. Air Force’s 86th Airlift Wing, the event brought together U.S. Army Soldiers, U.S. Airmen and German Bundeswehr soldiers in a spirit of camaraderie.
Master Sergeant Benjamin Angel, the Senior German Officer of the German element at NATO’s Allied Air Command, reflected on the event’s remarkable growth.
“Initially, it was a small event between Landstuhl Regional Medical Center and one of the Bundeswehr troops stationed at Ramstein,” Angel said. “We started out with a handful of people and this year more than 300 people stepped up to earn the coveted badge. It is great seeing everyone together and being an ambassador for their country.”
This sentiment was echoed by event planners, who emphasized the competition’s role in fostering friendship and improving interoperability.
“What makes this event special is that participants aren’t competing against each other; they are competing against themselves,” said 1st Sgt. Dana Cavazos from Veterinary Readiness Activity, Rheinland Pfalz. “Watching them push past what they thought were their limits while everyone cheers them on is an incredible sight.”
The Six Pillars of Proficiency
To earn the GAFPB, candidates had to prove their competence in a series of grueling events designed to test their comprehensive military readiness:
Showcasing Excellence and Determination
The competition showcased the outstanding readiness of both U.S. and German troops.
Among the standout performers were Sgt. Brody Kufahl, veterinary technician from the Veterinary Readiness Activity, Rheinland Pfalz, who earned the title of fastest swimmer with a remarkable time of 2:02 min and Sgt. 1st Class Marissa Henson, Food Inspection Noncommissioned officer in charge at Veterinary Readiness Activity, Rheinland Pfalz, who was the top overall female performer.
The event also highlighted stories of personal determination.
Air Force Master Sgt. Deborah Townsend decided to compete on a whim after seeing a poster for a swim class. “I signed up for the GAFPB the day before registration and made it onto the waitlist,” she explained. “Based on luck, I was able to get a spot. I’ve come across the opportunity to earn the GAFPB only a few times in my career, but when I came across it in Germany, I had to try. It’s extra special earning it here.”
Ultimately, the annual competition serves as a testament to the unwavering commitment to security that has defined the transatlantic alliance for decades. The demanding standards of the GAFPB ensure that those who earn it represent the peak of military preparedness, embodying the shared strength and dedication of the Allied Nations.
Source: United States Army
FUJISAWA, Japan – “This was a gateway to a new life overseas.”
Staff Sgt. Paulo Dasilva, recently assigned to U.S. Army Medical Department Activity – Japan at Camp Zama, had that to say after participating in the installation’s “Step Into Japan” program.
The program, part of the installation’s suicide prevention efforts, is meant to guide newly assigned Soldiers and their families outside the gates and into Japan. Moving beyond traditional classroom briefings, the program is designed to transform the anxiety of being in a new place into connection by having participants familiarize themselves with Japan’s railway system and explore their community.
Leslie Noel, Camp Zama’s Army Substance Abuse Program specialist, said the ASAP team recognized a silent challenge in the community: For some Soldiers and families, the world beyond Camp Zama could feel out of reach. Isolation and the stress of a foreign environment were more than just inconveniences, Noel said — they could become risks to mental health and resilience.
“The program aims to strengthen protective factors such as connections, a sense of being understood and supported, reduced isolation, and a sense of belonging and purpose,” Noel said. “It is in direct alignment with the garrison commander’s priority of building community trust.”
As Noel observed during last month’s “Step Into Japan” trip, the impact was visible. Attendees exchanged contact information with each other and began building the very support systems Noel says help prevent high-risk behaviors.
Noel said the program serves the dual purposes of “providing practical skills to navigate a new country while fostering community trust.”
“I signed up to bridge the gap between the familiar and the unknown, seeking to immerse my family in their new surroundings,” Dasilva said. “In doing this, we gained more comfort and confidence in using the rail system that Japan offers.”
The experience proved to be transformative, Dasilva said. While the breathtaking scenery of Enoshima Island captured their hearts, the true value laid in the newfound confidence he said he and his family gained.
“The ‘Step Into Japan’ program showed us that there is an abundance to do in Japan, and we are truly blessed to be here to experience the culture,” he said. “Exposure to the world instead of what’s familiar is a treasure that we cherish that our son is getting to see.”
Capt. Britney Gray, assigned to the 765th Transportation Battalion since October 2025, said the program provided her with the meaningful first step necessary to begin her tour in Japan in earnest.
Through the trip, Gray said she gained many connections while also enjoying the sightseeing and gaining a deeper understanding of things like Japanese etiquette. More importantly, the value of the program for her came with the realization that she is part of a community that cares.
“This program is proof to me that there are people in this community who care enough to educate others on what’s around them,” she said. “It was an introduction to the life I can enjoy here in Japan for the next few years.”
“‘Step Into Japan’ is more than a tour,” Staff Sgt. Joshua Nelson, the co-organizer of the program, said. “The purpose is to help integrate new and existing community members into the Camp Zama community, build confidence, develop relationships, explore destinations in Japan, and educate people on the culture of Japan.”
Since the program’s inception in March 2025, Nelson has watched the program transform many formerly hesitant people into those who are now eager to explore.
This was on full display during the most recent tour in early February. Despite a forecast of snow and freezing temperatures on the day, a record-breaking 24 participants joined the journey. Nelson said he witnessed a powerful shift as both newcomers, long-term residents and volunteers started to shed their apprehensions and began bonding with each other.
“The best part of the event was witnessing the smiles, laughs and the ‘Wow!’ expressions throughout the day as the participants saw the unique landscapes, shrines, temples and architecture, and truly ‘stepped into Japan,’” he said.
In bringing the community together and breaking down the barriers of rank, culture and language, the program has successfully empowered community members to find support systems, friends and the courage to navigate their new home, Nelson said.
Source: United States Department of Justice Criminal Division
A federal jury in Honolulu convicted a Hawaii couple for their roles in a nationwide tax fraud scheme that involved deceiving the IRS into issuing a nearly $200,000 tax refund and then using shell bank accounts and frivolous legal filings to prevent the government from getting it back.
“The defendants made a deliberate choice to participate in a criminal conspiracy — they paid for false documents, fraudulently claimed an enormous tax refund and then spent years obstructing the IRS’s efforts to get it back,” said Assistant Attorney General A. Tysen Duva of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division. “Schemes like this are not victimless — every dollar fraudulently paid out by the IRS is a dollar stolen from the U.S. Treasury and from the hardworking Americans who fund it. The Criminal Division will deliver accountability for the American taxpayer by continuing to aggressively prosecute those who seek to defraud the IRS.”
“Co-conspirators moved the proceeds of this scheme through business entities, hid it in trusts and invested it across the country. But, every time money moves, there’s a receipt,” said Special Agent in Charge Carrie Nordyke of IRS Criminal Investigation’s Seattle Field Office. “Our agents work to expose tax fraud so that public funds can continue to benefit the public.”
According to court documents and evidence presented at trial, from approximately February 2015 through November 2018, Beverly Braumuller-Hawver and Scott Hawver, of Ewa Beach, Hawaii, engaged in a fraudulent tax refund scheme by paying a promoter a series of fees in exchange for fraudulent tax paperwork. Armed with those materials, the Hawvers filed an amended 2014 tax return attaching a fabricated IRS Form 1099-MISC — a document that falsely claimed a mortgage company had paid Hawver $749,163 in income and withheld $424,163 of that amount in federal taxes. The fictitious withholding claim prompted the IRS to issue the Hawvers a tax refund for $192,845 — a refund that Braumuller-Hawver was not entitled to receive.
At trial, the jury heard evidence that the Hawvers moved quickly to put the money out of the government’s reach. They deposited the U.S. Treasury check into a newly opened bank account and then, within days, transferred $170,000 into a separate account held in the name of BeverlyB Music LLC, an unrelated music business the Hawvers operated. On that same day, the Hawvers paid co-conspirators more than $70,000 from the BeverlyB Music account for their roles in the scheme. Braumuller-Hawver later wired $22,000 from that account to a jeweler to purchase gold and silver coins. When the IRS began seeking to recover the fraudulent refund, the Hawvers did not simply ignore the notices — they sent scripted, frivolous correspondence to the IRS, filed a petition in U.S. Tax Court to thwart collection and participated as plaintiffs in multiple frivolous civil RICO lawsuits against IRS employees who were doing their jobs.
The jury convicted Braumuller-Hawver and Hawver of conspiring to defraud the IRS. The jury also convicted Braumuller-Hawver of filing a false tax return and money laundering. Both are scheduled to be sentenced on June 25 and face a maximum penalty of five years in prison for the conspiracy conviction. Braumuller-Hawver also faces maximum penalties of 10 years in prison for each count of money laundering and a maximum penalty of three years in prison for filing a false tax return. A federal district court judge will determine any sentence after considering the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.
The Hawvers’ convictions are among the latest in a series of prosecutions arising from a nationwide tax fraud scheme that drew in more than 200 participants across at least 19 states. In 2022, the main promoters of the scheme were sentenced to 11 years in prison, more than 8 years in prison, and 51 months in prison. In Hawaii, the scheme was organized and led by Rosemarie Lastimado-Dradi, who marketed the operation as the “Escrow Trust Refund” program, recruited clients (including the Hawvers) and directed her cut of their fraudulent refunds — between 25 and 40 percent — into accounts held in the name of fictitious business entities and purported trusts. In January 2026, Lastimado-Dradi was sentenced to a total of nine years in prison. Other Hawaii participants in the scheme have also received significant sentences, including Elvah Miranda (48 months in prison), Marciaminajuanequita Dumlao (33 months in prison), Daniel Miranda (30 months in prison), Brigida Chock (27 months in prison) and Lazerrick Lawrence (20 months in prison).
IRS Criminal Investigation is investigating the case.
Trial Attorneys Sarah A. Kiewlicz and Megan L. Jones of the Criminal Division’s Tax Section are prosecuting the case.
Source: United States Department of Justice Criminal Division
MUSKOGEE, OKLAHOMA – The United States Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Oklahoma announced that Jose Ramon Lopez, 30, of Yuma, Arizona, was sentenced to 120 months in prison for one count of Possession with Intent to Distribute Fentanyl.On August 4, 2025, Lopez pleaded guilty to the charge in federal district court. According to investigators, on May 2, 2021, a trooper conducting a traffic stop on Interstate 40 in Sequoyah County discovered Lopez in possession over 5,000 counterfeit OxyContin pills containing a combined net weight of 562 grams of fentanyl. Law enforcement arrested Lopez and charged him in Sequoyah County District Court, but Lopez posted bond and fled to Mexico. The United States indicted Lopez in February 2022. On December 30, 2024, U.S. Marshals apprehended Lopez coming through the port of entry into Arizona and returned him to Oklahoma to face federal drug trafficking charges.
Source: United States Department of Justice
Indian national Sanjay Kumar, 45, was sentenced today to 43 months in prison and one year of supervised release for conspiring to sell tens of thousands of dollars’ worth of counterfeit oncology pharmaceuticals into the United States. Kumar pleaded guilty last year to one count of conspiracy to traffic in counterfeit goods.
According to court documents, between approximately August 2018 and June 2024, Sanjay Kumar, with the aid of co-conspirators, arranged for the sale of counterfeit versions of the prescription drug, Keytruda, used to treat cancer to undercover law enforcement agents. Keytruda is a cancer immunotherapy treatment that is approved in the United States for a variety of different conditions, including certain types of melanomas, lung cancer, head and neck cancer, Hodgkin lymphoma, gastric cancer, cervical cancer, and breast cancer. Merck Sharp & Dohme LLC has the exclusive right to authorize the manufacture of Keytruda for introduction into interstate commerce.
Kumar and his co-conspirators sold fake Keytruda that bore counterfeit marks. The medication that Kumar pled guilty to trafficking was chemically inconsistent with real Keytruda, and did not contain the active ingredient necessary for the drug to serve its medical purpose, thereby making it wholly ineffective. Kumar and his co-conspirators received approximately $89,268 for their sales of purported Keytruda with counterfeit marks to undercover investigators.
Before his arrest in Houston, Kumar attempted to arrange for additional sales and shipments of Keytruda into the United States when meeting in-person with undercover law enforcement agents. Kumar made it clear in this meeting that he understood the risks posed by counterfeit pharmaceuticals, explaining that counterfeit Keytruda would not work to treat cancer and was “just like water.”
Assistant Attorney General A. Tysen Duva of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division, U.S. Attorney Nicholas Ganjei for the Southern District of Texas, Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) Houston acting Special Agent in Charge Erin Burke, and Acting Special Agent in Charge Jonathan Lamb of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Office of Criminal Investigations, Kansas City Field Office made the announcement.
HSI investigated the case with assistance provided by the FDA.
Trial Attorneys Ethan Cantor and Bryce Rosenbower of the Justice Department’s Computer Crime and Intellectual Property Section (CCIPS) and Assistant U.S. Attorney Jay Hileman for the Southern District of Texas prosecuted the case. CCIPS Trial Attorney Jeff Pearlman also provided valuable assistance.
CCIPS investigates and prosecutes cybercrime and intellectual property crime in coordination with domestic and international law enforcement agencies, often with assistance from the private sector. Since 2020, CCIPS has secured the conviction of over 180 cybercriminals and IP criminals, and court orders for the return of over $350 million in victim funds.
Source: United States Department of Justice Criminal Division
Louis Geri, 41, of Vineland, New Jersey, pleaded guilty today in U.S. District Court in connection with threatening to detonate more than 100 homemade explosive devices on the steps of St. Matthew’s Cathedral during the annual Red Mass attended by U.S. Supreme Court Justices and other senior government officials.
Source: United States Department of Justice Criminal Division
A Russian national made his initial appearance in Houston, Texas, today on a charge that he laundered over $1.2 million derived from a health care fraud scheme that targeted Medicare Advantage Organizations (MAOs) that administer Medicare Part C.
According to court documents, Nikolai Buzolin, 38, formerly of Houston, Texas, and originally of Tyumen, Russia, established Verisola, Inc. in Houston and registered it as a durable medical equipment (DME) company in July 2025. Over the course of just nine days from July through August 2025, Buzolin allegedly opened six different bank accounts in the name of Verisola at six different financial institutions. He opened an additional two bank accounts at two other financial institutions in September and October 2025. To disguise the true ownership and control of Verisola, Buzolin allegedly submitted false documentation to these financial institutions listing himself as the sole owner, member or president, when in fact he did not have beneficial ownership or control of Verisola.
From August 2025 through January 2026, Verisola allegedly submitted over $400 million in false and fraudulent claims to MAOs for DME, including orthotic braces and glucose monitors that were never actually provided to patients. Based on these fraudulent claims, the MAOs collectively reimbursed Verisola at least $1.7 million, which was deposited into the various Verisola bank accounts that Buzolin opened. Buzolin then allegedly moved these fraud proceeds between bank accounts for no legitimate business purpose. Buzolin and his co-conspirators wired at least $1.2 million of fraud proceeds to overseas entities and bank accounts.
According to the indictment, after Verisola wound down its fraudulent billing scheme, Buzolin traveled from Houston, Texas, to Los Angeles, California, where he purchased a same-day airline ticket for a one-way flight to Moscow, Russia. The FBI arrested Buzolin before he boarded the flight, and he remains detained pending trial.
Buzolin is charged with conspiracy to commit money laundering by concealing and disguising the true nature, location, source and ownership of the fraud proceeds and by engaging in financial transactions greater than $10,000 knowing that they involved the proceeds of unlawful activity. If convicted, he faces a statutory maximum penalty of 20 years in prison.
Assistant Attorney General A. Tysen Duva of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division; U.S. Attorney Nicholas J. Ganjei for the Southern District of Texas; Acting Deputy Inspector General for Investigations Scott J. Lampert of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Office of Inspector General (HHS-OIG); Acting Special Agent in Charge Jason M. Hudson of the FBI’s Houston Field Office; Chief William Marlowe of the Texas Attorney General’s Medicaid Fraud Control Unit; and Commissioner Amanda Crawford of the Texas Department of Insurance made the announcement.
HHS-OIG, FBI, the Texas Medicaid Fraud Control Unit and the Texas Department of Insurance are investigating the case.
Trial Attorneys Andrew Tamayo and Emily Reeder-Ricchetti of the Criminal Division’s Fraud Section are prosecuting the case.
The Fraud Section leads the Criminal Division’s efforts to combat health care fraud through the Health Care Fraud Strike Force Program. Since March 2007, this program, currently comprised of eight strike forces operating in federal districts across the country, has charged more than 6,200 defendants who collectively billed federal health care programs and private insurers more than $45 billion. In addition, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, working in conjunction with the Office of the Inspector General for the Department of Health and Human Services, are taking steps to hold providers accountable for their involvement in health care fraud schemes. More information can be found at www.justice.gov/criminal-fraud/health-care-fraud-unit.
An indictment is merely an allegation. All defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.