Source: United States Department of Justice Criminal Division
Greenbelt, Maryland – A Maryland man learned his fate in federal court, today, in connection with a drug-trafficking conspiracy. U.S. District Judge Paula Xinis sentenced Norville Clarke, 56, of Clarksburg, Maryland, to 40 months in prison, followed by three years of supervised release, for conspiracy to distribute controlled substances.
Source: United States Department of Justice
Today, the Justice Department, on behalf of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), and the Arkansas Department of Energy & Environment, Division of Environmental Quality (ADEQ) lodged a proposed settlement with Domtar A.W. LLC resolving alleged Clean Air Act and Arkansas Water and Air Pollution Control Act violations involving the company’s kraft pulp and paper facility in Ashdown, Arkansas.
Under the proposed consent decree, Domtar will pay a $1.5 million civil penalty, divided between the United States and the state of Arkansas. In addition, the company will implement projects to address excess emissions from its operations and correct its inadequate inspection and monitoring practices. The projects include installing the proper pollution controls on Domtar’s brown stock washer, updating leak detection and repair procedures to ensure compliance with the regulations, increasing the frequency of monitoring for leaks, and conducting performance testing on the boilers. The estimated cost to complete the required injunctive relief and bring operations into compliance is at least $2.6 million.
“Today’s settlement demonstrates the Justice Department’s commitment to protecting public health and the environment,” said Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Adam Gustafson of the Justice Department’s Energy and Natural Resources Division (ENRD). “Domtar is moving in the right direction to resolve its Clean Air Act violations by committing to properly control pollution and monitor for leaks and substandard facility performance.”
“This settlement ensures that Domtar will take the necessary precautions to maintain and control its facility’s pollution controls among other corrective actions,” said Administrator Scott Mason of EPA Region 6. “I would like to thank the DOJ and ADEQ for their coordination on this matter and we appreciate Domtar’s cooperation in adhering to environmental laws.”
This settlement resolves Domtar’s failure to follow federal and state requirements to capture and control air emissions from its brown stock washer. A brown stock washer is used in the pulp and paper industry to separate and wash the waste liquid from pulp fibers. The complaint filed in the case alleges that Domtar did not install the appropriate pollution controls (required under the Clean Air Act’s New Source Performance Standards and the National Emissions Standards for Hazardous Air Pollutants) on its brown stock washer. Without the proper controls, the brown stock washer can leak hydrogen sulfide into the air. Hydrogen sulfide has a strong rotten egg smell and is harmful to human health.
The complaint also alleges that Domtar did not follow mandatory inspection and monitoring requirements. The complaint alleges that, in one instance, Domtar failed to inspect for 53 days and failed to detect a leaking valve emitting uncontrolled and illegal amounts of pollutants. Domtar also did not conduct adequate performance testing for two of its boilers. Without proper monitoring and performance testing, the extent of the excess hazardous air pollutants (HAPs) that Domtar emitted into the air is unknown. The HAPs include volatile organic compounds (VOCs), methanol, carbon monoxide, and chlorinated compounds, including chlorine dioxide and hydrochloric acid.
Under the settlement, Domtar is taking the necessary steps to ensure that its systems control pollutants from the brown stock washer. The settlement also requires a third-party to review and revise the leak detection and repair plan to ensure Domtar’s compliance with environmental regulations. These actions will significantly reduce harmful emissions from the company’s operations.
Domtar is also undertaking two emission reduction projects to mitigate the environmental and public health harm attributable to its violations. First, Domtar will install capping valves to help prevent VOC and HAP emissions leaks. Domtar will also update its biological wastewater treatment system to capture HAPs and VOCs before they are emitted to the air.
Domtar A.W. LLC is limited liability company registered in Delaware and a wholly owned subsidiary of Domtar Corporation. Domtar is a manufacturer of diversified forest products, which includes production of pulp, paper, packaging, and tissue. Domtar describes its Ashdown Mill as one of the largest fluff pulp production facilities in the world.
The consent decree was filed with the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Arkansas and is subject to a 30-day comment period. The complaint and the proposed consent decree are available at www.justice.gov/enrd/consent-decrees.
The EPA and Arkansas Department of Energy & Environment, Division of Environmental Quality, investigated this matter.
Attorneys with ENRD’s Environmental Enforcement Section are handling this matter.
Source: United States Department of Justice Criminal Division
United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, Jay Clayton, and Assistant Director in Charge of the New York Field Office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (“FBI”), James C. Barnacle, Jr., announced today the unsealing of an Indictment charging MICHAEL STAMP and MARCUS PLANK with securities fraud.
Source: United States Department of Justice Criminal Division
A federal grand jury in the District of Idaho returned an indictment yesterday charging Miran Kostic, 66, of Boise, Idaho, a national of Bosnia and Herzegovina, with lying while attempting to obtain U.S. citizenship.
According to court documents, Kostic was a high-level official in the so-called Autonomous Province of Western Bosnia (APZB). In that role, he pistol-whipped prisoners, beat them with wooden clubs, stakes, and his fists, and kicked them, causing them to lose consciousness. He forced prisoners to beat each other, and he also ordered other members of the APZB to beat prisoners. In his applications to become a U.S. citizen and in interviews with the FBI and U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), he repeatedly lied about the abuse he participated in and ordered, and failed to disclose charges filed against him in Bosnia and Herzegovina for war crimes, among other lies.
Kostic is charged with attempted naturalization fraud and making material false statements to law enforcement agents. If convicted, he faces a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison for each charge of attempted naturalization fraud, and five years in prison for the false statements charge.
“Miran Kostic benefited from U.S. residency for decades and ultimately attempted to become a naturalized citizen, all while concealing the human rights abuses he committed in Bosnia and Herzegovina.” said Assistant Attorney General A. Tysen Duva of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division. “Individuals who commit atrocities abroad and lie to immigration authorities to seek safe haven in the United States will be investigated and prosecuted. The integrity of our naturalization process and the enforcement of our immigration laws are paramount concerns.”
“The U.S. Attorney’s Office is proud to work with our partners to ensure federal immigration laws are followed and are properly enforced,” said U.S. Attorney Bart M. Davis for the District of Idaho.
“Citizenship is a privilege that must be earned with honesty and integrity,” said Acting Special Agent in Charge April Miller of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) Seattle. “HSI will not allow the naturalization process to be undermined by fraud. We remain steadfast in our commitment to investigate and prosecute those who conceal their criminal backgrounds to illegally obtain status.”
“Kostic’s attempt to conceal his violent history in order to obtain U.S. citizenship will not be tolerated,” said Assistant Director Heith Janke of the FBI’s Criminal Division. “We will continue working with our law enforcement partners to investigate fraud and hold individuals accountable for violating our nation’s laws.”
HSI and FBI are investigating the case, with coordination provided by the Department of Homeland Security’s Human Rights Violators and War Crimes Center and U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services’ Office of Fraud Detection and National Security (FDNS), along with the FBI’s International Human Rights Unit. The Justice Department’s Office of International Affairs (OIA) provided significant assistance by securing the evidence for prosecution of Kostic. The Justice Department thanks the Ministry of Justice of Bosnia and Herzegovina and the United Nations International Residual Mechanism for Criminal Tribunals, which were instrumental in furthering the investigation.
Trial Attorney Elizabeth Nielsen of the Criminal Division’s Human Rights and Special Prosecutions and Assistant U.S. Attorney Kate Horwitz for the District of Idaho are prosecuting the case.
Members of the public who have information about human rights violators in the United States are urged to contact the FBI at 1-800-CALLFBI (1-800-225-5324) or through the FBI’s online tip form at www.tips.fbi.gov/, or Homeland Security Investigations at 1-866-DHS-2-ICE (1-866-347-2423) or through ICE’s online tip form at www.ice.gov/webform/ice-tip-form.
An indictment is merely an allegation. 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
United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, Jay Clayton, announced today that JAY LUCAS, the founder and managing partner of Lucas Brand Equity LLC (“LBE”), a private equity fund based in Manhattan, pled guilty to securities fraud, investment adviser fraud, wire fraud, and money laundering in connection with a scheme to raise over $50 million from investors by falsely representing that their money would be invested in early-stage health and wellness companies.
Source: United States Department of Justice Criminal Division
As part of a Homeland Security Task Force case, a federal grand jury in Del Rio, Texas, returned an indictment this week charging 11 defendants for their alleged involvement in an attempted alien smuggling operation that resulted in multiple illegal aliens being found dead inside a shipping container in May.
The 11 defendants charged are:
According to the indictment, from at least April 2023 through May 12, 2026, the defendants and others operated a human smuggling organization that illegally used cargo trains to smuggle aliens further into the United States after illegally crossing them from Mexico.Each smuggled alien, or their families and friends, paid smugglers in Honduras, Mexico, the United States, and elsewhere between $1,500 and $10,000.
Container opened with deceased smuggled aliens inside. Case number 26-CR-02066 in U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas.
The indictment alleges that, toward the end of April 2026, the organization began facilitating the smuggling of at least seven aliens from Acuña, Mexico into Del Rio. On or about May 9, after the smugglers illegally crossed the seven aliens from Mexico into the Del Rio area, the organization transported the aliens to an area near the Union Pacific train tracks in Del Rio. From approximately 1:18 p.m. to 1:25 p.m., while a Union Pacific train was stationary, smugglers, using red bolt cutters, allegedly cut the lock off a Conex shipping container’s door, loaded the aliens into the container, and then shut the door.
Red bolt cutters used to open the Conex shipping container’s door. From the indictment in case number 26-CR-02066 in U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas.
Photo depicting broken seal from the Conex shipping container’s door. From the indictment in case number 26-CR-02066 in U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas.
The shipping container was stacked on top of another and had no ventilation or cooling system. Based on the investigation, the recorded outside temperatures for that day ranged from 88 to 92 degrees Fahrenheit. In total, seven aliens were loaded into the container, including one 14-year-old child. It was secured from the outside and could not be opened from the inside. The train then departed Del Rio and traveled east along U.S. highway 90 to San Antonio.
Map depicting US-90 and the Union Pacific Railroad system between Del Rio to San Antonio. From the indictment in case number 26-CR-02066 in U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas.
Once the train arrived in San Antonio, smugglers opened the door to the Conex container and discovered the aliens in peril. The smugglers then fled the scene, allegedly leaving one of the deceased aliens near the railroad tracks. Smugglers left the remaining aliens in the shipping container. The next day, the train departed south along its route to Laredo.
On May 10, a worker at the Union Pacific Rail Yard in Laredo saw a leg sticking out from a Conex shipping container. Upon inspection, six aliens were discovered deceased in the shipping container. Laredo law enforcement contacted San Antonio agents for assistance. Later, San Antonio law enforcement discovered the seventh alien deceased and abandoned by the railroad tracks in San Antonio. Ultimately, seven aliens died from being in the Conex shipping container—four were Mexican nationals and three were Honduran nationals. One of the aliens was a 14-year-old child. The investigation revealed that at least one alien messaged a loved one, pleading for help.
Mayra Alejandra Huerta was arrested May 12 in Del Rio and initially charged with one count of harboring illegal aliens. She has remained in federal custody and now faces two charges in today’s indictment. Last week, eight other defendants were arrested over a multi-day HSTF operation across central and south Texas. Two defendants, Karina Garcia and Seferino Huerta-Casillas, remain at large.
All 11 defendants are charged with one count of conspiracy to transport illegal aliens resulting in death and one count of aiding and abetting transport of illegal aliens resulting in death. If convicted, the defendants would each face maximum penalties of life in prison. A federal district court judge will determine any sentence after considering the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.
Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche and U.S. Attorney Justin R. Simmons for the Western District of Texas made the announcement.
Assistant U.S. Attorneys Sarah Spears, Todd Keagle, and Ashley Ellis-Dotson for the Western District of Texas are prosecuting the case.
This case 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 comprises agents and officers from FBI; ICE HSI; DEA; ATF; U.S. Border Patrol; USMS; U.S. Postal Inspection Service; Department of Transportation; IRS Criminal Investigation; Texas Department of Public Safety; as well as local police departments and sheriff’s offices, with the prosecution being led by the United States Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Texas.
An indictment is merely an allegation and all defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.
Photos of Karina Garcia, a U.S. Citizen, and Seferino Huerta Casillas, a Mexican national, who remain at large.
Source: United States Department of Justice Criminal Division
ANCHORAGE, Alaska – U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Alaska announced today the allocation of funds from the Justice Department to hire a permanent criminal Assistant U.S. Attorney (AUSA) specifically focused on prosecuting federal cases impacting rural Alaska and our Tribal communities. This position allocation is a direct result of Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche’s recent trip to Alaska.
Source: United States Department of Justice
ANCHORAGE, Alaska – U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Alaska announced today the allocation of funds from the Justice Department to hire a permanent criminal Assistant U.S. Attorney (AUSA) specifically focused on prosecuting federal cases impacting rural Alaska and our Tribal communities. This position allocation is a direct result of Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche’s recent trip to Alaska.
Source: United States Department of Justice Criminal Division
An illegal alien from Mexico, a convicted felon, and an Austell man appeared in federal court to answer criminal complaints charging them with narcotics offenses following operations across metro Atlanta that resulted in the seizure of more than 280 pounds of methamphetamine, over four pounds of fentanyl, and two illegally possessed firearms.
Source: United States Department of Justice Criminal Division
The Justice Department today announced that Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General (PDAAG) Adam Gustafson of the Energy and Natural Resources Division (ENRD) will serve as the head of the United States’ delegation for a Ministerial Meeting on Forestry, which is part of a 2026 senior officials’ meeting of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC). Over the next week, PDAAG Gustafson will represent U.S. interests in emphasizing the importance of investigating and prosecuting timber trafficking crimes.
APEC economies account for over half of the world’s forests and approximately 80% of the international trade in forest products. The Forestry Ministerial meets every two or three years, and this is the first time the Justice Department will serve as head of the U.S. delegation, which will also include representatives from the State Department, Fish and Wildlife Service, and the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative.
“Timber trafficking is the third most profitable form of transnational crime, with revenue estimates ranging between $52 billion to $157 billion annually,” said PDAAG Gustafson. “The illegal timber trade is an economic and security threat to the United States and all APEC members. It hurts American businesses and revenue, market share, and good paying jobs. By sharing enforcement strategies at home and abroad, and by improving collaboration across the U.S. government, we are fighting the illegal harvest and trade of forest products. My message at APEC is simple: member economies should enforce their own laws — many of which are modeled off of the Lacey Act in the U.S. — to curtail timber trafficking.”