Category: MIL-OSI

Source: United States Department of Justice Criminal Division

NEW ORLEANS, LOUISIANA – RYAN LAJOIE (“LAJOIE”), age 28, a resident of St. Bernard Parish, was sentenced on May 21, 2026 by United States District Judge Wendy B. Vitter to 142 months’ imprisonment, 5 years of supervised release, and $200.00 in mandatory special assessment fees after pleading guilty to possession with intent to distribute five (5) grams or more of methamphetamine, in violation of Title 21, United States Code, Sections 841(a)(1) and 841(b)(1)(B), and distribution of a quantity of methamphetamine, in violation of Title 21, United States Code, Sections 841(a)(1) and 841(b)(1)(C), announced U.S. Attorney David I. Courcelle. 

Source: United States Department of Justice Criminal Division

WASHINGTON – Today, the Department of Justice released an opinion for the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) which addresses the relationship between the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996 (PRWORA) and the Lifeline program, which offers monthly discounts on telephone and broadband internet services for qualifying low-income consumers. The Office of Legal Counsel’s interpretation finds that to receive Lifeline benefits, a non-citizen must satisfy PRWORA’s eligibility and verification requirements.

Under this finding, non-citizens are typically ineligible to enroll in Lifeline unless they have been in the United States for at least five years with qualified status. FCC must also impose additional safeguards to verify eligibility for Lifeline benefits beyond simply collecting a subscriber’s Social Security Number before enrolling them into the program. This finding creates further safeguards to protect American taxpayer resources from abuse by non-American citizens.

“Today’s opinion further protects a critical public benefit that provides discounted utility assistance to Americans struggling to make ends meet,” said Acting U.S. Attorney General Todd Blanche. “This Department will continue to put American citizens first and root out any abuse of taxpayer dollars by those in our country illegally.”

“At the FCC, our position has been clear. To receive federal subsidies like Lifeline, you must be a lawful beneficiary. The government should not be spending the money of hard working Americans to provide phone and Internet serve for ineligible recipients.” said FCC Chairman, Brendan Carr. “Today’s opinion from the Department will go a long way in putting an end to this kind of abuse. The FCC will continue to do our part, alongside DOJ, to impose additional safeguards and restore the public’s confidence in the Lifeline program.”

This action comes as a follow-on to the Office’s December opinion about the meaning of “Federal means-tested public benefits” in PRWORA, which reversed a Clinton-era interpretation that had allowed ineligible aliens to receive federal welfare benefits.

Read the full opinion here.

Source: United States Department of Justice Criminal Division

A former Hawaii County official, Alan Scott Rudo, 59, now of Cathedral City, California, was sentenced yesterday to 46 months in prison for his role in a conspiracy to receive bribes in exchange for his official actions as a Housing Specialist at the Hawaii County Office of Housing and Community Development (OHCD). The scheme involved affordable housing development agreements worth more than $11 million.

According to court documents and evidence presented at trial, Paul Joseph Sulla, 79, of Hilo, Hawaii, and Gary Charles Zamber, 56, of Keaau, Hawaii, both attorneys living on the Big Island, and Rajesh Pankaj Budhabhatti, 65, now of Morro Bay, California, a private businessman on the Big Island, conspired to pay bribes and kickbacks to Rudo in exchange for Rudo’s agreement to use his official position to ensure the County approved three affordable housing agreements (AHAs) benefitting the defendants’ development companies, Luna Loa Developments LLC, West View Developments LLC and Plumeria at Waikoloa LLC. Although Rudo’s co-conspirators promised in the AHAs to build affordable housing for the citizens of Hawaii County, their development companies never built a single unit. Through the AHAs, the defendants fraudulently obtained more than $11 million worth of land and excess affordable housing credits (AHCs). From that amount, Sulla, Zamber, and Budhabhatti paid or attempted to pay Rudo approximately $1,931,778 in bribes and kickbacks.

Zamber, Budhabhatti, and Sulla were charged with conspiracy to commit honest services wire fraud and nine counts of honest services wire fraud. Sulla was also charged with money laundering. Rudo, who was charged separately with one count of conspiracy to commit honest services wire fraud, pleaded guilty and testified at the trial of his co-conspirators. On June 4, 2025, a federal jury in the District of Hawaii convicted Sulla, Zamber, and Budhabhatti on all counts in a superseding indictment.

Earlier this year, the court sentenced Rudo’s co-conspirators in the bribery scheme. Zamber was sentenced on Jan. 30 to 70 months in prison; Budhabhatti was sentenced on Feb. 6 to 90 months in prison; and Sulla was sentenced on April 23 to 60 months in prison. Zamber’s and Sulla’s law licenses are currently suspended, prohibiting them from practicing law in Hawaii. 

Assistant Attorney General A. Tysen Duva of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division, U.S. Attorney Ken Sorenson for the District of Hawaii, and Special Agent in Charge David K. Porter of the FBI Honolulu Field Office made the announcement.

The FBI Honolulu Field Office investigated the case.

Trial Attorney William J. Gullotta of the Criminal Division’s Public Integrity Section and Assistant U.S. Attorneys Mohammad Khatib and Margaret Nammar for the District of Hawaii are prosecuting the case.

Source: United States Department of Justice Criminal Division

The owner of a company that produced and sold renewable fuel and fuel credits was sentenced today to serve 18 months in prison followed by two years of supervised release, and to pay $2,857,029 in restitution and a $150,000 fine, for his role in a scheme that generated over $7 million in fraudulent Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) renewable fuel credits and sought over $6 million in fraudulent tax credits connected to the purported production of biodiesel.

Source: United States Department of Justice Criminal Division

Earlier today, in federal court in Brooklyn, Daryl Campbell was sentenced by United States District Judge Nicholas G. Garaufis to 37 months in prison for orchestrating a scheme to smuggle contraband into the Metropolitan Detention Center (the MDC).  Campbell pleaded guilty in September 2025 to conspiracy to possess contraband.  The sentence imposed today will run consecutive to the 35-year term he is serving for a manslaughter conviction in New York County.  Campbell’s co‑defendants and fellow MDC inmates Ian Diez, Jonathan Guerrero, Abel Mora, and Mayovanex Rodriguez were previously sentenced to terms of incarceration ranging from six months to 30 months.  A sixth co-conspirator, Carl Kelly, is awaiting sentencing.

Source: United States Department of Justice Criminal Division

The owner of a company that produced and sold renewable fuel and fuel credits was sentenced today to serve 18 months in prison followed by two years of supervised release, and to pay $2,857,029 in restitution and a $150,000 fine, for his role in a scheme that generated over $7 million in fraudulent Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) renewable fuel credits and sought over $6 million in fraudulent tax credits connected to the purported production of biodiesel.

According to court documents, Christopher Burdett owned a biofuel company based in Fort Pierce, Florida, that claimed to turn various feedstocks into biodiesel. However, when reporting the number of gallons they produced to the IRS and EPA, Burdett and General Manager Royce Gillham vastly overstated their production volume to generate more credits. When auditors sought more information from the company, Burdett and Gillham provided false information about their fuel production and customers. 

Burdett previously pleaded guilty to conspiring to commit wire fraud and to file false claims. For his role in the scheme, Gillham was previously sentenced to 37 months in prison.

Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Adam Gustafson of the Justice Department’s Environment and Natural Resources Division (ENRD), U.S. Attorney Jason A Reding Quiñones for the Southern District of Florida, Assistant Administrator Jeffrey Hall of the EPA’s Office of Enforcement and Compliance Assurance, and Special Agent in Charge Ron Loecker of IRS Criminal Investigation (IRS-CI)’s Florida Field Office made the announcement. 

The EPA’s Criminal Investigation Division and IRS-CI investigated the case.

Senior Trial Attorney Adam Cullman of ENRD’s Environmental Crimes Section and Assistant U.S. Attorney Daniel Funk for the Southern District of Florida are prosecuting the case on behalf of the government.

On April 7, the Department of Justice announced the creation of the National Fraud Enforcement Division (Fraud Division). The Fraud Division is laser-focused on investigating and prosecuting those who commit fraud against the American people. The Department’s work to combat fraud supports President Trump’s Task Force to Eliminate Fraud, a whole-of-government effort chaired by Vice President J.D. Vance to eliminate fraud, waste, and abuse within Federal benefit programs.

Source: United States Department of Justice Criminal Division

An indictment was filed today in U.S. District Court charging Michael Marx, 45, of Midland, Texas, in connection with the May 4 shooting near the Washington Monument in which a civilian bystander was struck by gunfire, announced U.S. Attorney Jeanine Ferris Pirro.  

Source: United States Department of Justice

A California man was sentenced yesterday to 65 months in prison for smuggling at least 1,700 reptiles into the United States from Mexico, Hong Kong, and elsewhere over a six-year period. 

Jose Manuel Perez, of Oxnard, pleaded guilty in August 2022 to one count of smuggling goods into the United States and one count of wildlife trafficking. From January 2016 to February 2022, Perez and other co-conspirators smuggled wildlife into the United States without obtaining the permits required by the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) and without declaring any wildlife imported into the United States.

Perez and his co-conspirators used social media to buy and to negotiate the terms of the sale and delivery of wildlife in the United States. The defendants advertised for sale on social media the animals smuggled from Mexico into the United States, posting photos and video that depicted the animals being collected from the wild.

For the animals smuggled from Mexico, Perez’s co-conspirators retrieved the wildlife — which included Yucatán box turtles, Mexican box turtles, baby crocodiles, and Mexican beaded lizards — from Cuidad Juárez International Airport in Mexico and eventually shipped the animals by car to El Paso, Texas. Perez paid his co-conspirators a “crossing fee” for each border crossing, the amount of which depended on the number of animals transported, the size of the package, and the risk of being detected by the authorities.

On other occasions, Perez and a co-conspirator traveled to Mexico to purchase live animals that had been taken from the wild so that the animals could be smuggled into the United States. Once the animals had been shipped to the United States, they were transported to Perez’s residence (which was originally in Missouri and then in California after he moved).

In total, Perez caused the illegal smuggling and importation of at least 1,700 animals with a fair market value of more than $739,000.

Prior to today’s sentencing, Jose Perez had been serving a nine-year prison sentence after pleading guilty in May 2023 to three counts of being a felon in possession of firearms. He is not legally permitted to possess firearms because his criminal record includes felony convictions in Ventura County Superior Court for street terrorism and assault with a deadly weapon.

Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Adam Gustafson of the Justice Department’s Environment and Natural Resources Division (ENRD), First Assistant U.S. Attorney Bilal A. Essayli for the Central District of California, and Assistant Director Doug Ault of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) Office of Law Enforcement made the announcement.

USFWS investigated the case. The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of California, the ENRD’s Environmental Crimes Section, U.S. Customs and Border Protection, and Homeland Security Investigations provided substantial assistance.

Senior Trial Attorney Gary Donner of ENRD’s Environmental Crimes Section and Assistant U.S. Attorneys Matthew W. O’Brien and Juan M. Rodriguez for the Central District of California prosecuted the case.

Source: United States Department of Justice Criminal Division

Jacksonville, Florida – Drew Geer (42, Lake Butler), Anthony Crosby (42, Keystone Heights), and Leroy Halbert (53, Lake Butler) have each been charged by indictment with three counts of possession of dogs for dog fighting ventures. In addition, Geer and Crosby were charged with possession of a firearm by a convicted felon. Geer and Crosby each face a maximum sentence of 30 years in federal prison. Halbert faces a maximum sentence of 15 years in federal prison. U.S. Attorney Gregory W. Kehoe made the announcement.