Category: MIL-OSI

Source: United States Department of Justice Criminal Division

COLUMBUS, Ga. – A Georgia man with a violent criminal past whose supervised release was revoked for a prior federal conviction for assaulting a law enforcement officer was found guilty by a federal jury of possessing fentanyl, methamphetamine and heroin while illegally possessing seven firearms and ammunition. Nimesh Vijay Desai, was found guilty of one count of possession of methamphetamine, one count of possession of fentanyl, one count of possession of heroin, one count of possession of a firearm and one count of possession of firearm and ammunition by a convicted felon on March 4, following a three-day trial that began on March 2, before U.S. District Clay Land. The defendant faces a maximum of 15 years in prison. A sentencing date will be scheduled by the Court. There is no parole in the federal system. 

Source: United States Department of Justice Criminal Division

LAS VEGAS – Latonia Smith of Las Vegas was sentenced in federal court today to 10 years in prison for threatening two federal judges and a probation officer, all of whom were involved in her previous federal conviction for death threats she made against lawyers in yet another case. The sentencing hearing took place in Dallas, Texas, where Smith is being detained.

Source: United States Department of Justice Criminal Division

A former California executive was charged today and has agreed to plead guilty in connection with failing to file adverse event reports with the intent to defraud and mislead the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in connection with a blood filtration device. used on cancer patients who traveled to Antigua for treatment. A plea hearing has not yet been scheduled by the court.

Separately, ExThera Medical Corporation (ExThera) has entered into a three-year deferred prosecution agreement (DPA) with the Department of Justice in connection with a criminal information filed in the District of Massachusetts charging it with failure to file adverse event reports with the intent to defraud or mislead the FDA.

According to court documents, Sanja Ilic, 58, of Carlsbad, California, was the Chief Regulatory Officer of ExThera, a Northern California-based medical technology company. ExThera manufactured a blood filtration device that removed pathogens from a patient’s bloodstream. In or around 2024, Ilic concealed reportable adverse events from the FDA with the intent to defraud and mislead, including the deaths of two patients treated with the blood filtration device at a clinic in Antigua.

Before starting the treatments at the Antigua clinic, Ilic notified some of ExThera’s leadership and regulatory staff of potential adverse events, including “life-threatening” complications, that patients could experience from using the device. Some patients at the clinic in Antigua and their treating physicians reported that they believed those patients had subsequently experienced some of these medical events after being treated with the device. In or around March and April 2024, Ilic learned of the declining health and deaths of at least two Antigua clinic patients, who died within days of each other.

Ilic understood that disclosure of the adverse events could have triggered regulatory scrutiny from the FDA, caused clinical trial partners to withdraw their participation and jeopardized ExThera’s and Ilic’s future financial prospects. At the time the clinic began treating patients in Antigua, ExThera had just secured $10 million and the potential for millions more in future distribution agreements, and Ilic was overseeing ExThera’s first U.S. clinical study involving the use of the device to treat cancer. Ilic and ExThera potentially stood to lose financially if negative adverse event reports related to the Antigua clinic were filed with the FDA. Rather than comply with her legal obligation to report the events, Ilic suppressed this critical information to defraud and mislead the FDA.

Following public reporting about the blood filtration device and after Ilic was terminated from ExThera, ExThera filed several adverse event reports with the FDA relating to use of the device to treat cancer outside the United States.

As part of the DPA, ExThera admitted that, through Ilic, the company acted with intent to defraud and mislead the FDA. The DPA requires ExThera to, among other obligations, provide ongoing cooperation with and disclosures to the Department of Justice, implement a compliance and ethics program to prevent violations of the Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act’s adverse event reporting requirements and report to the Department of Justice regarding remediation and implementation of these compliance measures. As part of the DPA, ExThera also agreed to pay a criminal penalty of $750,000, which was adjusted based on ExThera’s ability to pay.  ExThera has agreed to establish an escrow account and deposit $750,000 in the escrow account within 60 days.  In the event ExThera is not able to pay amounts owed, if any, in civil litigation, related to the conduct described in the Statement of Facts, the escrow amount shall be used to pay amounts owed.  ExThera has also agreed to consent to entry of a forfeiture order of $5,694,750.

The government reached its resolution with ExThera based on several factors, including the nature and seriousness of the offense conduct, and that the company has minimal remaining operations.  ExThera also did not voluntarily and timely self-disclose the conduct to the Department of Justice but did receive credit for clearly accepting responsibility for its criminal conduct, fully cooperating with the government’s investigation and timely implementing remedial measures.

Ilic was charged with one count of failure to report adverse events with the intent to defraud or mislead the FDA. She faces a maximum sentence of three years in prison, supervised release for one year, a fine of the greatest of $250,000 or twice the gross gain or twice the gross loss pursuant to 18 U.S.C. § 3571, forfeiture and restitution. A federal judge will determine any sentence after considering the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.

The FDA, FBI, Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General, Homeland Security Investigations and U.S. Postal Inspection Service are investigating the case.

Assistant Chiefs Kevin Lowell and William Schurmann and Trial Attorneys John Howard and Sarah Rocha of the Criminal Division’s Fraud Section and Assistant U.S. Attorneys Mackenzie Queenin, Chief of the Health Care Fraud Unit, and Sarah Hoefle for the District of Massachusetts are prosecuting the case.

Today’s announcement is the first resolution of a corporate defendant by the Health Care Fraud Unit’s New England Strike Force since it expanded to Massachusetts. More information can be found at https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/justice-department-expands-health-care-fraud-unit-target-health-care-fraud-massachusetts.

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.

Source: United States Department of Justice

Amin surrendered in Malaysia. 

A Bangladeshi national is scheduled to make his initial court appearance today in the District of Alaska to face charges that he operated an international child sexual exploitation enterprise.

According to court documents, in July 2022, Zobaidul Amin, 28, was indicted by a federal grand jury with charges related to his alleged abuse and exploitation of hundreds of minor victims in Alaska, and elsewhere in the United States and abroad. As alleged in the indictment, Amin used social media applications including Instagram and Snapchat to identify and coerce minor victims to produce images and videos of sexually explicit and sadistic conduct.

Prior to the U.S. charges, Amin was living in and attending medical school in Malaysia. In September 2022, Amin was charged by the Attorney General’s Chambers of Malaysia with 13 counts related to the possession and production of child pornography. The FBI and the Justice Department has been working in coordination with Malaysian authorities, and Amin was transferred from Malaysia to Alaska on March 4.

“Yesterday’s return from Malaysia of a Bangladeshi national who allegedly abused and sexually exploited hundreds of minor victims worldwide is another successful example of the Administration’s increased efforts to find criminals hiding abroad,” said Attorney General Pamela Bondi. “Together with our international partners and the U.S. Department of State, we are countering online child sexual exploitation, protecting our most vulnerable, and bringing these sick abusers to face justice on American soil.”

“The FBI’s commitment to protecting our children from exploitation doesn’t change whether an offender is here in the United States or overseas,” said FBI Director Kash Patel. “In collaboration with our partners, we will continue to ensure perpetrators like Amin are held accountable and brought to justice.”

“The impact of this case is that of international magnitude. It stands as one of the most prolific cases of alleged online child exploitation the United States has ever seen,” said U.S. Attorney Michael J. Heyman for the District of Alaska. “We are grateful for the steady, strong collaboration among the Justice Department’s Office of International Affairs, law enforcement agencies and Malaysian partners that made this transfer possible, enabling us to move forward and seek justice for victims.”

“Demonstrated by this significant step taken by the FBI, those who target children online cannot hide behind anonymity or borders,” said Special Agent in Charge Rebecca Day of the FBI Anchorage Field Office. “FBI Anchorage’s successful transport and arrest operation is a testament to the strength of our international law enforcement partnerships, and the FBI’s relentless pursuit of justice for victims.”

FBI Special Agents awaiting Amin’s arrival in Alaska. 

Amin is charged with conspiracy to produce child pornography, conspiracy to receive and distribute child pornography, child exploitation enterprise, production of child pornography, receipt of child pornography, cyberstalking, aggravated identity theft and wire fraud. The defendant is scheduled to make his initial court appearance today at 1:30 p.m. before U.S. Magistrate Judge Kyle F. Reardon of the U.S. District Court for the District of Alaska. If convicted, he faces a maximum penalty of 20 years to life in prison. A federal district court judge will determine any sentence after considering the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.

The FBI Anchorage Field Office’s Child Exploitation and Human Trafficking Task Force investigated the case, with support from the following agencies: Alaska State Troopers; Anchorage Police Department; Royal Malaysia Police; Laramie Police Department (Wyoming); Wyoming Division of Criminal Investigation; Wyoming Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force; Yamhill County Sheriff’s Office (Oregon); Mercer County Sheriff’s Office (West Virginia); Raleigh County Sheriff’s Office (West Virginia); Kanawha County Sheriff’s Office (West Virginia); Guernsey County Sheriff’s Department (Oregon); Clay County Sheriff’s Office (Florida); Deschutes County Sheriff’s Office (Oregon); Homeland Security Investigations Wenatchee, Washington/Bend, Oregon; and the FBI Field Offices in Atlanta, Cincinnati, Denver, Detroit, Jacksonville, Los Angeles, Milwaukee, Minneapolis, Newark, Oklahoma City, Pittsburgh, Portland, Sacramento, Salt Lake City and Seattle.

The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Alaska thanks the Government of Malaysia, the Justice Department’s Office of International Affairs and the FBI’s Law Enforcement Attaché in Kuala Lumpur for working collaboratively to secure Amin’s appearance in the District of Alaska.

Assistant U.S. Attorneys Adam Alexander and Jennifer Ivers for the District of Alaska are prosecuting the case.

This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice. Led by U.S. Attorneys’ Offices and the Criminal Division’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section (CEOS), Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state, and local resources to better locate, apprehend and prosecute individuals who exploit children via the Internet, as well as to identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit Justice.gov/PSC.

An indictment is merely an allegation, and all defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.

Source: United States Department of Justice Criminal Division

Earlier today, a federal jury in Brooklyn convicted Brandon Nudelman on all three counts of a second superseding indictment charging him with firearms trafficking conspiracy, firearms trafficking, and conspiracy to obstruct justice.  The charges relate to the defendant’s participation in a scheme to manufacture and sell untraceable ghost guns in Staten Island and Pennsylvania.  The verdict followed a six-day trial before United States District Judge Ann M. Donnelly.  When sentenced, the defendant faces up to 30 years in prison.

Source: United States Department of Justice Criminal Division

BOSTON – A Brockton man associated with Brockton-based Harvard Street Gang (HSG) was sentenced today in federal court in Boston for selling fentanyl to a cooperating witness during multiple controlled purchases. At the time of the controlled purchases, the defendant was on probation for a 2019 fentanyl conviction and on pretrial release for a separate March 2024 drug arrest.

Source: United States Department of Justice Criminal Division

United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, Jay Clayton, announced the settlement of a lawsuit against the VILLAGE OF SPRING VALLEY (“SPRING VALLEY”), which will result in the completion of 22 units of affordable rental housing within the Village over the next five years. 

Source: United States Department of Justice Criminal Division

Orlando, Florida – Craig Stevens (34, Daytona Beach) has been sentenced by U.S. District Judge Roy B. Dalton, Jr. to four years and six months in federal prison for conspiracy and aggravated identity theft. As part of his sentence, the court also entered an order of forfeiture in the amount of $19,762.38, the proceeds Stevens obtained from the scheme. Stevens pleaded guilty on October 23, 2025. U.S. Attorney Gregory W. Kehoe made the announcement.

Source: United States Department of Justice Criminal Division

NEW ORLEANS – IRVIN C. FRANCOIS, III (“FRANCOIS”), age 54, of New Orleans, was sentenced by United States District Judge Jay C. Zainey, after previously pleading guilty to making false statements, and money laundering related to the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (CARES Act), announced U.S. Attorney David I. Courcelle. 

Source: United States Department of Justice Criminal Division

BOSTON – A New York woman has been indicted by a federal grand jury for allegedly smuggling more than eight kilograms of cocaine in duty-free alcohol boxes via a commercial flight from the Dominican Republic to Boston Logan International Airport.