Source: United States Department of Justice
Fort Myers, Florida – Frederick Taylor (38, North Fort Myers) has been sentenced by U.S. District Judge Kyle Dudek to 27 years in federal prison for distributing methamphetamine. Taylor pleaded guilty on March 9, 2026. U.S. Attorney Gregory W. Kehoe made the announcement.
Source: United States Department of Justice Criminal Division
The United States Department of Justice’s Civil Rights Division, in partnership with the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, announced they have secured a $5,000,000 settlement with Maplebear Inc., doing business as Instacart, a San Francisco, California-based online delivery service. The settlement addresses allegations that Instacart discriminated against U.S. and American workers based on citizenship status and national origin in violation, respectively, of the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA) and Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (Title VII). Specifically, the agencies uncovered evidence that Instacart’s hiring and recruitment practices undertaken as part of the Permanent Labor Certification (PERM) process intentionally discriminated against U.S. and American workers by preferring workers with temporary employment visas. A summary of the settlement terms may be found here.
“This significant resolution marks the fifteenth settlement agreement the Civil Rights Division has reached under my leadership to protect U.S. workers,” said Assistant Attorney General Harmeet K. Dhillon of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division. “Our record demonstrates that the Justice Department is holding companies who prefer workers with temporary employment visas accountable. We will not stop fighting for U.S. workers until there is a fair playing field.”
“Today’s settlement makes clear that when employers erect unlawful barriers that harm American workers, the EEOC will act decisively,” said Chair Andrea Lucas of the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. “The EEOC is committed to holding companies accountable when they deny equal work opportunities to U.S. workers by preferring temporary visa holders for jobs. Discrimination against workers based on their American national origin has no place in our economy.”
The Justice Department’s investigation found that Instacart created additional burdens on U.S. workers to apply for job opportunities by requiring that applications be physically mailed for positions advertised as part of PERM recruitment. EEOC’s investigation uncovered similar evidence. This practice departed from Instacart’s standard recruitment process, which allowed electronic applications. As a result, many of the U.S. workers who applied were not timely considered.
Under the terms of the settlement, Instacart will establish a settlement fund of up to $4,000,000 to compensate Instacart applicants as well as deterred applicants affected by the discriminatory practices from December 2023 to February 2026. A claims administrator will contact potential aggrieved individuals and will determine eligibility for back pay and compensatory damages. Until the claims administrator establishes a contact email for potential victims, the DOJ and EEOC encourage applicants, as well as deterred applicants, to email Instacart@eeoc.gov if they believe they may be aggrieved so that agencies can share this information with the claims administrator.
In addition, Instacart will pay $1,000,000 in civil penalties to the United States. Instacart is also required to give U.S. workers fair opportunities to apply for jobs as part of the PERM recruitment process by posting the positions on its public career website and accepting electronic applications. The agreement also requires Instacart to train personnel on its anti-discrimination obligations, revise its employment policies, and be subject to monitoring and reporting requirements, to prevent future discrimination.
The PERM program allows employers to sponsor temporary visa holders for permanent resident status after performing good-faith recruitment for U.S. workers. However, during this recruitment process, companies cannot illegally discriminate on the basis of citizenship status or national origin by creating additional burdens for U.S. and American workers; publishing job advertisements that disfavor, limit, specify, or otherwise discriminate against U.S. and American workers; or use processes that limit, segregate, or classify applicants in any way that tends to deprive U.S. and American applicants of employment opportunities.
This settlement is the fifteenth reached since the Justice Department re-launched its Protecting U.S. Workers Initiative in 2025 to enforce the INA’s prohibition on citizenship status discrimination against employers that illegally favor workers with employment visas over U.S. workers. Since the original launch of the Protecting U.S. Workers Initiative during President Trump’s first administration, the Department has secured over $34 million in back pay for U.S. workers and obtained over $16 million in civil penalties from employers who discriminated against U.S. workers. Under these settlements, the Justice Department obtains civil penalties for each violation and will continue to seek the maximum penalty permitted by law. The settlements also involve awards of back pay, when warranted, and require employers to conduct comprehensive training for relevant staff and recruiters and cease restricting consideration for job opportunities based on workers’ citizenship status without a lawful reason. For information about additional settlements under the Protecting U.S. Workers Initiative, visit IER’s website.
As part of its work related to Project Firewall, the EEOC is protecting American workers by enforcing Title VII’s prohibition on national origin discrimination against employers that illegally favor foreign workers over workers of American national origin. In addition to five lawsuits currently pending in federal court, this is the fourth public settlement reached by EEOC involving anti-American national origin discrimination since 2025.
For more information about EEOC’s work combatting anti-American national origin discrimination, visit EEOC’s website.
For informal assistance, the public can call IER’s free hotline at 1-800-255-7688 for workers or at 1-800-255-8155 for employers (1-800-237-2515, TTY for hearing impaired) between 9am and 5pm Eastern Time, Monday through Friday; sign up for a live webinar or watch an on-demand presentation; email IER@usdoj.gov; or visit www.justice.gov/ier.
Source: United States Department of Justice
A federal grand jury in the Northern District of Illinois returned an indictment yesterday charging Rajesh “Raj” Patel, 52, of Schaumburg, Illinois, with a $66.2 million fraud scheme in which Patel allegedly billed for hundreds of thousands of COVID-19 tests that were never performed.
“This defendant allegedly exploited a global crisis for personal gain, fabricating hundreds of thousands of COVID-19 tests – then billing the taxpayer for it,” said Assistant Attorney General Colin M. McDonald of the Justice Department’s Fraud Division. “Every dollar taken from a federal health care program is a dollar taken from the American people. The Fraud Division will find those who steal from taxpayers, and we will prosecute them.”
“Fighting financial fraud and holding accountable those who unlawfully obtain federal assistance for personal profit remains a top priority for the FBI,” said FBI Chicago Special Agent in Charge Ryan Whalen. “Pandemic assistance programs were designed to provide a lifeline to vulnerable members of society. Those who are entrusted with federal healthcare dollars have a responsibility to bill honestly and accurately, and the FBI and our partners will stop at nothing to ensure that those who deceive and steal taxpayer dollars for their own purposes face full justice.”
“The COVID-19 pandemic required an unprecedented investment of public resources to protect the health and well-being of our communities. As alleged, this scheme exploited a federally funded program created to ensure uninsured individuals had access to critical testing services during a national emergency,” said Special Agent in Charge Thomas Ethridge of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General (HHS-OIG). “HHS-OIG is committed to holding accountable those who seek to profit through fraud and abuse of government health care programs. We will continue working closely with our law enforcement partners to protect taxpayer dollars and safeguard the integrity of programs designed to serve the public.”
According to court documents, Patel was the co-owner and Chief Operating Officer of a clinical laboratory located in Hillside, Illinois, that processed polymerase chain reaction (PCR) tests during the COVID-19 pandemic. In around March 2021, Patel’s laboratory entered into an agreement with Meridian Medical Staffing Inc. (Meridian). The laboratory paid Meridian tens of millions of dollars for collecting test specimens and providing the laboratory with the specimens and biological information of the purported patients. In reality, many of these patients never existed or never provided test specimens to Meridian.
Between May 2021 and April 2022, Patel allegedly created fake “negative” test results for at least 380,000 PCR tests on specimens provided by Meridian. The laboratory never actually performed these tests. Patel allegedly created the fake “negative” test results so that the laboratory could fraudulently bill the U.S. Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) Uninsured Program, a federally funded program that covered the costs of COVID-19 tests for individuals without health insurance coverage. Patel’s laboratory submitted approximately $66.2 million in fraudulent claims to HRSA as a result of Patel’s scheme, and HRSA paid the laboratory approximately $44.1 million due to these fraudulent claims. Patel personally obtained approximately $28 million in proceeds from the scheme.
Patel is charged with five counts of wire fraud. If convicted, he faces a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison on each count.
Assistant Attorney General Colin M. McDonald of the Justice Department’s National Fraud Enforcement Division (Fraud Division); Special Agent in Charge Ryan Whalen of the FBI Chicago Field Office; and Special Agent in Charge Thomas Ethridge of the Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General (HHS-OIG) made the announcement.
The FBI Chicago Field Office and HHS-OIG investigated the case.
Trial Attorney Claire Sobczak Pacelli of the Fraud Division’s Health Care Fraud Section is prosecuting the case.
On April 7, the Department of Justice announced the creation of the 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.
The Department of Justice’s Health Care Fraud Strike Force Program, currently comprised of nine 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 since 2007. 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.
Source: United States Department of Justice Criminal Division
Tallahassee, Florida – Johnny L. Robinson, 34, of Melbourne, Florida, was sentenced to 10 years in federal prison after previously pleading guilty in federal court to conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute 50 grams or more of methamphetamine. The plea was announced by John P. Heekin, United States Attorney for the Northern District of Florida.
Source: United States Department of Justice Criminal Division
Pensacola, Florida – Willie Curtis Slack Jr., 50, of Milton, Florida, was sentenced to fifteen years in federal prison after having previously pleaded guilty to two counts of possession of firearms and ammunition by a convicted felon. The plea was announced by John P. Heekin, United States Attorney for the Northern District of Florida.
Source: United States Department of Justice Criminal Division
Pensacola, Florida – Deshawn I. Donson, 23, of Pensacola, Florida, was convicted in federal court on charges related to fourteen armed robberies of gas stations and convenience stores in Escambia County. John P. Heekin, United States Attorney for the Northern District of Florida announced the verdict.
Source: United States Department of Justice Criminal Division
CHEYENNE, Wyo. — Aaron Michael Underwood, 40, of Arapahoe, Wyoming, was sentenced to 60 months in federal prison, followed by three years of supervised release, for being a felon in possession of a firearm. U.S. District Court Judge Alan B. Johnson imposed the sentence on Oct. 13, 2026.
Source: United States Department of Justice Criminal Division
BOSTON – Two Brockton men were sentenced today in federal court in Boston for the Sept. 24, 2024 robbery of Energy Credit Union in West Roxbury. The defendants stole $197,146 from the Credit Union where one brother was employed as a teller.
Source: United States Department of Justice Criminal Division
DENVER – The United States Attorney’s Office for the District of Colorado announces that Joshua Lybolt, 47, Castle Rock, was sentenced to 20 months in federal prison, $5,346,802.61 in restitution, and a $50,000 fine after pleading guilty to one count of wire fraud and one count of money laundering.
Source: United States Department of Justice
BOSTON – Two Brockton men were sentenced today in federal court in Boston for the Sept. 24, 2024 robbery of Energy Credit Union in West Roxbury. The defendants stole $197,146 from the Credit Union where one brother was employed as a teller.