Source: United States Department of Justice Criminal Division
Earlier today in federal court in Brooklyn, a ten-count indictment was unsealed charging Puthugramam “Harish” Chidambaran, the founder and former Chief Executive Officer of iLearningEngines, Inc. (iLearning), and Sayyed Farhan Ali “Farhan” Naqvi, iLearning’s former Chief Financial Officer, with running a continuing financial crimes enterprise, conspiracy to commit securities fraud, securities fraud, conspiracy to commit wire fraud, and wire fraud. The charges arise from the defendants’ years-long scheme to defraud retail and institutional investors in iLearning, a technology company that claimed to provide artificial intelligence (AI)-driven business automation solutions, and to obtain financing for iLearning through materially false and misleading statements about the company’s financial performance. Chidambaran was arrested this morning in Potomac, Maryland, and will appear this afternoon in federal court in the District of Maryland. Naqvi was arrested this morning in San Jose, California, and will appear this afternoon in federal court in the Northern District of California. Both defendants will appear in federal court in the Eastern District of New York at a later date.
VICENZA, Italy – A three-person tiger team launched in February 2025 has helped transform U.S. Army Southern European Task Force, Africa (SETAF-AF) into the Army’s premier battle lab in Africa. The team now helps the command lead by transforming operational data into fast, actionable decisions.
The team integrates machine learning to fuse information from external sources. This platform replaces fragmented workflows with automated decision support for commanders, enhancing real-time situational awareness.
The push for this system began after an extended joint task force operation spanning multiple geographic combatant commands. A subsequent after-action review revealed severe data silos and a fractured information environment across the staff.
“Staff relied on scattered PowerPoints and inconsistent network drives, causing widespread confusion,” said U.S. Army Lt. Col. Kevin Ong, the SETAF-AF influence branch chief. “We lacked a central location for all parties to determine the actual ground truth.”
U.S. Army Capt. Josh Digulla and U.S. Army Maj. David Trinh, both members of the early entry command post assigned to U.S. Army Southern European Task Force, Africa (SETAF-AF), work inside the mobile command post during a communications exercise at Caserma Del Din, Vicenza, Italy, Sept. 3, 2025. SETAF-AF conducted a week-long joint planning process, as well as the COMMEX, both part of a contingency operations exercise which was a critical step toward validating its joint task force capabilities. (U.S. Army photo by Brian Andries) (Photo Credit: Brian Andries)VIEW ORIGINAL
In response, SETAF-AF’s G3 operations directorate tasked Ong to lead a “tiger team.” Starting with three staff members, a limited budget and no dedicated engineering support, they studied data-mature commands like U.S. Indo-Pacific Command and U.S. Central Command. The team borrowed use cases and adapted strategic-level tools to fit operational requirements.
“It felt like being a substitute teacher,” Ong said. “You read the lesson a day ahead and then try to teach the rest of the staff the next day.”
Over the past year, the team built or tailored approximately a dozen tools to make users more efficient. For example, the “Scribe” tool uses artificial intelligence to transcribe meetings, identify speakers and generate action items for staff officers.
SETAF-AF Smart Search enables staff members to query command-specific classified documents without exposing sensitive data to external AI models. Its success has prompted other commands to develop their own tailored versions.
A tailored decision support matrix gives a commander a structured, data-driven framework to evaluate operational courses of action using live feeds. Rather than sifting through disconnected reports, that commander sees competing options ranked side by side against near real-time data, enabling faster, more confident decisions.
This platform dismantles historical information silos and automates manual analytical processes. Its tools slash the time required for administrative tasks and compresses workflows that once took trained staff members days to complete into minutes.
Across every tool, Ong’s team prioritizes machine-human teaming, ensuring that automation focuses on data aggregation and pattern recognition, while the user reviews, interprets and decides.
U.S. Army Master Sgt. Ramon Curiel, left, an operations watch officer assigned to U.S. Army Southern European Task Force, Africa (SETAF-AF), and U.S. Army Sgt. 1st Class Erin Guy, the Ready and Resilient Performance Center program manager for SETAF-AF, work inside the tactical operations center at Caserma Del Din, Vicenza, Italy, Sept. 3, 2025. SETAF-AF conducted a week-long, joint planning process in the TOC part of a contingency operations exercise, which was a critical step toward validating its joint task force capabilities. (U.S. Army photo by Brian Andries) (Photo Credit: Brian Andries)VIEW ORIGINAL
“We created tools that flag important activity in near real time, cutting analyst time from hours to minutes,” Ong said. “The commander gets intelligence while it is still actionable.”
The team’s solutions have reached far beyond SETAF-AF, and U.S. Africa Command has since explored integrating Scribe into key meetings across its staff.
Ong’s team also acts as a force multiplier for subordinate units. When a unit under U.S. Army Europe and Africa identified a meeting-transcription requirement, the SETAF-AF tiger team built and delivered the capability. According to Ong, fulfilling this capability request saved the unit over 40 hours of internal development time.
“Our mission requires us to stay adaptable,” Ong said. “Handling multiple operations at once forces us to find smarter ways to work.”
By December 2025, internal demand outpaced the original mandate of the tiger team. The team transitioned into a permanent subordinate component of the newly established Advanced Capabilities Directorate, where it was rebranded as the Operations Data Division. The overall directorate serves as the command’s front door for the innovation ecosystem, translating senior-leader vision into battlefield-ready capabilities through technical scouting and coordination with industry and academia.
The U.S. Army Southern European Task Force, Africa (SETAF-AF) insignia hangs inside the tactical operations center at Caserma Del Din, Vicenza, Italy, Sept. 3, 2025. SETAF-AF conducted a week-long joint planning process in the TOC, part of a contingency operations exercise, which was a critical step toward validating its joint task force capabilities. (U.S. Army photo by Brian Andries) (Photo Credit: Brian Andries)VIEW ORIGINAL
Today, the Operational Data Division comprises five people organized into two sections: operations research and systems analysis officers who verify and structure incoming data, and platform builders who develop applications. To extend its reach, the team supports dedicated platform builders within each staff section across the command, creating a distributed network that ensures continuity and operational ownership.
During the upcoming African Lion 26 exercise, the team will use the system to build shared situational awareness with over 40 partners and allies. This massive multinational effort validates the sensor-to-shooter loop, features multilanguage reporting generation and reinforces interoperability across Africa.
“The idea is to have all our partners and allies in one room looking at the same sheet of music,” Ong said.
For a command managing missions from crisis response to multinational exercises, the Advanced Capabilities Directorate proves the value of bottom-up innovation.
African Lion 2026 is U.S. Africa Command’s largest annual joint exercise, designed to strengthen collective security capabilities of the U.S., African nations and global allies. Co-led by U.S. Army Southern European Task Force, Africa (SETAF-AF) from April 20 to May 8, 2026, and hosted in Ghana, Morocco, Senegal and Tunisia, AL26 involves over 5,600 personnel from more than 40 nations, using innovation to drive partner-led regional security.
U.S. Army Southern European Task Force, Africa (SETAF-AF) prepares Army forces, executes crisis response, enables strategic competition and strengthens partners to achieve U.S. Army Europe and Africa and U.S. Africa Command campaign objectives.
Source: United States Department of Justice Criminal Division
Attorney for the United States, Acting under Authority Conferred by 28 U.S.C. § 515, Sean S. Buckley, announced that ALI RASHAN, a medical doctor and the CEO and founder of ClearMD LLC, a provider of COVID-19 testing services in New York City, pled guilty to fraudulently billing insurance companies for COVID-19 testing services and submitting fraudulent medical records in furtherance of his scheme, causing at least $24 million in losses.
Source: United States Department of Justice Criminal Division
GOTEC Plus Sun LLC (GOTEC), a Delaware company, pleaded guilty today to illegal storage of hazardous waste. GOTEC was sentenced to pay a $275,000 fine and to serve a one-year term of probation.
On March 30, the court sentenced Natalie Fehse, the former general manager of the GOTEC facility, to five years of probation, including a special condition of 10 months of home confinement, and a $5,000 fine for her role in the illegal storage of hazardous waste.
“The illegal accumulation and storage of hundreds of containers of hazardous waste at GOTEC posed a substantial danger to plant workers, emergency responders, and the general public,” said Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Adam Gustafson of the Justice Department’s Environment and Natural Resources Division (ENRD). “This prosecution sends the message that hazardous waste generators must properly handle hazardous wastes or potentially face felony prosecution for their illegal conduct.
“Unpermitted storage of hazardous waste that endangers Kentuckians will not be tolerated,” said First Assistant U.S. Attorney Jason Parman for the Eastern District of Kentucky. “I want to commend the collaborative efforts of the Kentucky Department of Environmental Protection and EPA’s Criminal Investigation Division on the investigation of the illegal conduct of GOTEC and its General Manager, which averted a potential disaster.”
“Companies that cut corners by accumulating hazardous wastes — such the hundreds of drums of flammable and toxic solvents hidden around the site in this case — rather than disposing of them properly endanger communities, workers, and first responders,” said EPA’s Assistant Administrator for Enforcement and Compliance Assurance Jeffrey A. Hall. “Such dangerous neglect is precisely what the law forbids. This case demonstrates cooperative federalism in action. The Kentucky Department for Environmental Protection’s inspection program found persistent, intentional violations of the law while EPA’s criminal investigative and forensic expertise ensured that the company was held criminally accountable.”
GOTEC produced parts for the use of manufacturing vehicles in Williamstown, Kentucky. As part of the production process, it applied coatings and adhesives to metal parts and generated hazardous waste, including spent solvents listed under the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA).
RCRA establishes a comprehensive cradle-to-grave program to regulate the generation, transportation, treatment, and disposal of hazardous wastes to protect human health and the environment. It prohibits the storage of hazardous waste at industrial facilities for extended periods of time without a permit. According to court documents, on June 27, 2024, the Kentucky Department of Environmental Protection conducted an inspection at GOTEC’s plant and discovered semi-trailers, shipping containers, and an abandoned warehouse containing 249, 55-gallon drums of hazardous waste and approximately 27 cubic yards of hazardous waste stored in cardboard, wooden crates, and yellow totes.
GOTEC admitted that between January 2022 and November 2024 it did not properly dispose of all the hazardous waste it was generating, including hazardous waste that had been accumulating at the facility since 2022. GOTEC admitted that it stopped properly disposing of hazardous due to staffing issues, and decreased revenue during the COVID-19 pandemic. Rather, it improperly accumulated and stored hazardous waste at the facility without a RCRA hazardous waste storage permit.
EPA’s Criminal Investigation Division investigated the case.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Emily Greenfield for the Eastern District of Kentucky and Senior Trial Attorney Matthew Morris of ENRD’s Environmental Crimes Section prosecuted the case.
Source: United States Department of Justice Criminal Division
Baltimore, Maryland – A Baltimore man is headed to federal prison for more than seven years for possessing a loaded ghost gun and ammunition as a convicted felon. U.S. District Judge Julie R. Rubin sentenced Sequan Branch-Green, 29, to 90 months in prison, followed by three years of supervised release, in connection with the charge.
The Department of Justice’s U.S. Trustee Program (USTP) recently obtained a judgment requiring a nationwide consumer law firm to refund a total of $196,527 in legal fees to dozens of clients based on the firm’s deficient services and other violations of the Bankruptcy Code.
On March 17, the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of Oregon entered a stipulated judgment against Recovery Law Group APC (RLG); its owner, Nicholas Wajda; and one of its partners, Grover Peters III. As part of the judgment, RLG agreed to refund fees to a debtor who nearly lost her home because of the firm’s poor services and to refund fees paid by 98 clients in Oregon for whom the firm had not yet filed a case. The judgment also bars RLG, Wajda, and Peters from advertising legal services or filing bankruptcy cases in the district for 18 months.
“Consumer debtors’ attorneys who provide substandard services endanger their clients’ pursuit of a fresh start,” said Acting U.S. Trustee Jonas Anderson for Region 18, which includes the District of Oregon. “The USTP will continue to hold these attorneys responsible for their abusive conduct.”
The Oregon judgment marks the USTP’s third successful enforcement action against RLG in about a year for their actions affecting debtors throughout the country. Last April, the USTP obtained an order from the Bankruptcy Court for the Eastern District of Virginia imposing $48,000 in sanctions and other relief against RLG and an affiliated attorney for their deficient legal services and violations of court orders. And in September, the USTP won a judgment in the Eastern District of Michigan imposing more than $392,000 in penalties and a three-year suspension against RLG for its false and misleading disclosures in more than 200 bankruptcy cases.
The USTP’s Oregon enforcement action stemmed from a case in which an elderly woman sought RLG’s help filing for bankruptcy to resolve debts she incurred as the victim of a fraud scheme. After a consultation from Wajda, who is not licensed to practice law in Oregon, the debtor paid a $1,838 fee to the firm to represent her in a chapter 7 bankruptcy case, and RLG had its non-attorney staff prepare the debtor’s bankruptcy documents.
RLG filed the case as a chapter 7 liquidation despite the debtor having nonexempt equity in her house that would be at risk for sale by the private trustee overseeing the case to pay creditors. The debtor was eligible for chapter 13, which would allow her to keep the house while paying her debts through a repayment plan, but Peters did not seek to convert the case to chapter 13 until after the chapter 7 trustee took steps to sell the debtor’s house. Peters — who also acknowledged at a hearing that the case never should have been filed under chapter 7 — continued to put the house at risk by failing to file documents on time and by filing documents that required multiple amendments as they were incompetently prepared by RLG’s non-attorney staff. In November 2025, nearly two-and-a-half years after the case was filed, the bankruptcy court confirmed the debtor’s chapter 13 repayment plan.
The USTP’s mission is to promote the integrity and efficiency of the bankruptcy system for the benefit of all stakeholders — debtors, creditors and the public. The USTP consists of 21 regions with 82 field offices nationwide and an Executive Office in Washington, D.C. Learn more about the USTP at www.justice.gov/ust.
Source: United States Department of Justice Criminal Division
A Mercer County man was sentenced yesterday to 260 months’ imprisonment for possessing quantities of fentanyl and cocaine with intent to distribute it, for possessing a firearm in furtherance of his drug trafficking, and for his unlawful possession of firearms as a previously convicted felon.
Source: United States Department of Justice Criminal Division
A fifth superseding indictment was filed yesterday in federal court in Brooklyn against Jobanis de Jesus Avila Villadiego, also known as “Chiquito” and “Chiquito Malo,” which added new charges of narcoterrorism conspiracy, conspiracy to provide material support to a foreign terrorist organization, and providing or attempting to provide material support to a foreign terrorist organization. Avila Villadiego was previously charged in multiple superseding indictments with operating a continuing criminal enterprise, international cocaine trafficking, and using firearms in furtherance of drug trafficking crimes, as well as other drug-related crimes, through his continuing leadership of the Clan del Golfo (CDG), one of the most violent and powerful drug trafficking organizations in the world. The fifth superseding indictment extends the end-dates of the continuing criminal enterprise and multiple conspiracies from October 2021 to April 2026. Avila Villadiego remains at large.
EDGEWOOD, Md. — Maryland Army National Guard Soldiers conducted medical evacuation training with two UH-60 Black Hawk helicopters assigned to the 29th Combat Aviation Brigade, integrating local law enforcement K-9 units during an exercise at Lauderick Creek Military Reservation, April 1.
The training brought together about 30 participants from Company C, 1st Battalion, 169th Aviation Regiment, the Cecil County Sheriff’s Office and Montgomery County Police, along with eight police dogs. The exercise aimed to improve interagency coordination and prepare medics and aviators to treat both handlers and K-9s in complex emergency scenarios — a capability not routinely trained for.
Maryland Army National Guardsmen assigned to the 29th Aviation Brigade administer medical care, alongside Cecil County Sheriff’s Office K-9s and their handlers, during a simulated MEDEVAC event on a UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter above Lauderick Creek Military Reservation, Edgewood, Maryland, April 1, 2026. Maryland Army National Guard soldiers conducted medical evacuation training with two UH-60 Black Hawk helicopters assigned to the 29th Combat Aviation Brigade, collaborating with local police K-9 units. (Photo Credit: Senior Airman Sarah Hoover)VIEW ORIGINAL
“While I was deployed to Kosovo in 2021, there was a K-9 unit there, and I had been tasked with creating a K-9 medical bag. I remember feeling that the training I had up to that point was inadequate for what I would need if there was an actual emergency involving a K-9,” said Maryland Army National Guard Staff Sgt. Joanna Adams, flight medic noncommissioned officer assigned to Company C, 1-169th Aviation Regiment. “After I came back from deployment, I started looking into getting training for my unit with K-9s.”
Two scenarios were conducted simultaneously, exposing participants to a range of operational and medical challenges.
One scenario focused on familiarizing K-9s with helicopter operations, including noise, rotor wash and environmental stressors. Guardsmen executed hoist operations with Montgomery County officers using a rescue seat and a plastic stretcher for non-ambulatory patients, while ground crews controlled a tagline to stabilize the load.
Maryland Army National Guardsmen of the 29th Combat Aviation Brigade lift a rescue seat into a UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter at Lauderick Creek Military Reservation, Edgewood, Maryland, April 1, 2026. Maryland Army National Guard soldiers conducted medical evacuation training with two UH-60 Black Hawk helicopters assigned to the 29th Combat Aviation Brigade, collaborating with local police K-9 units. (Photo Credit: Senior Airman Sarah Hoover)VIEW ORIGINAL
The second scenario introduced a complex tactical medical situation involving Cecil County officers and their K-9s. In the simulation, a K-9 and its handler were injured by a hostile drone strike, while a detained suspect sustained a bite wound during an escape attempt. Medics assessed and triaged patients under stress before evacuating them by air. During the flight, crews treated the handler’s injuries and dressed the K-9’s simulated wounds.
“Our medics and crew chiefs enjoyed being able to use skills that we do not get to use very often, and we thoroughly enjoyed working with these civilian units,” said Adams. “The most rewarding thing I learned was that even when things were not going 100% the way I had planned, everyone was still learning, and sometimes the deviations were better than what the original plan was in the first place.”
The event built on previous collaboration with the Cecil County Sheriff’s Office last summer, when K-9 teams received initial aircraft familiarization and practiced hoist operations using a basket lift.
Maryland Army National Guard Staff Sgt. Colin Winand, flight paramedic non-commissioned officer for Company C, 1st Battalion, 169th Aviation Regiment, bandages a Cecil County Sheriff’s K-9 during a simulated MEDEVAC event at Lauderick Creek Military Reservation, Edgewood, Maryland, April 1, 2026. Maryland Army National Guard soldiers conducted medical evacuation training with two UH-60 Black Hawk helicopters assigned to the 29th Combat Aviation Brigade, collaborating with local police K-9 units. (Photo Credit: Senior Airman Sarah Hoover)VIEW ORIGINAL
During the training, law enforcement officers also shared techniques for safely disengaging a K-9 from a bite and responding if a medic is accidentally bitten while rendering aid.
“Not only do we have the fortune of building strong foundations in the units we serve in and are able to effect change over many years, but we also directly impact the community we live in,” said Maryland Army National Guard Staff Sgt. Colin Winand, flight paramedic noncommissioned officer assigned to Company C, 1-169th Aviation Regiment. “Knowing that I can assist my neighbors while completing missions makes the desired outcome that more important.”
Treating both K-9s and their handlers requires specialized knowledge, including assessing vital signs and understanding the effectiveness of medications for working dogs. The training gave medics and aviators a rare opportunity to practice those skills in realistic conditions.
“It was really great to work with the police dogs and their handlers before a real-world emergency,” said Adams. “Knowing what works and what doesn’t is really important when working with animals before a bad day happens. I was really impressed with the dogs and the officers. They are very well-trained, so it makes it easy to work with them and determine best practices so we can be ready to respond for our state and nation when we are needed.”
Three Memphis men have been sentenced following their convictions at trial on Nov. 12, 2025.
A jury convicted Darius Moore, 39; Mervin Anderson, 40; and Mario Gardner, 49, all of Memphis, of conspiracy to distribute fentanyl. Yesterday, the court sentenced Moore to 210 months in prison. Anderson and Gardner were previously sentenced to 150 months and 51 months in prison respectively. Moore was designated a career offender, having been twice convicted of the sale of hydromorphone in 2005 and 2008, and was on supervised release when he committed this crime. In 2019, Moore was convicted of possession with intent to distribute fentanyl within 1000 feet of a playground and after serving his prison term was placed on supervised release. Moore was also sentenced yesterday to an additional 1 year in prison for violating the conditions of his supervised release.
According to court documents and evidence presented at trial, the defendants were members or associates of the Memphis street gang, Young Mob Military or Young Mob. One of the leaders of Young Mob, co-defendant Brian Lackland, was central to the running of the drug conspiracy that distributed fentanyl within the Western District of Tennessee. Evidence presented during trial included seizures of thousands of fentanyl pills that were sent through the United States Postal Service addressed to Lackland’s residence. The fentanyl pills had been designed to mimic Oxycodone with pressed symbols on the blue pills. Members of the conspiracy would refer to the fentanyl pills as “blues” or “blues clues.”
Fentanyl pills
The surveillance caught members of the conspiracy exchanging large quantities of pills at gas stations, grocery stores, and other locations within feet of unsuspecting citizens of Memphis.
“These three defendants mailed thousands of dangerous and potentially fatal fentanyl laced pills through the United States mail and openly sold them on the streets of Memphis, ultimately endangering end users,” said Assistant Attorney General A. Tysen Duva of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division. “Dangerous opiates like fentanyl are a scourge to our communities, and leave a wake of death, ruined lives, and sorrow. Dedicated work by law enforcement took this drug trafficking organization down. We will continue to stand with our partners and remove dangerous drug dealers from the streets.”
“Because illicit fentanyl is closer to a chemical weapon than a narcotic, President Trump has designated fentanyl as a weapon of mass destruction (WMD),” said U.S. Attorney D. Michael Dunavant for the Western District of Tennessee. “Its lethality is significant, and those who traffic fentanyl must be severely punished and incapacitated. This sentence will ensure that this recidivist ‘not-so-young’ mob member will grow old in a federal prison.”
“ATF will not tolerate violent gangs that fuel their criminality by distributing danger drugs like fentanyl on our streets,” said Special Agent in Charge Jamey VanVliet of The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) Nashville Field Office. “This sentencing underscores the collective efforts of our local, state, and federal partners and the unwavering commitment to maintaining public safety. Through persistent investigation, collaboration, and enforcement, we will continue to dismantle these criminal networks and protect the safety and security of our citizens.”
While detained pending trial for the drug conspiracy, Anderson was charged and convicted at trial of possessing two sharpened, handmade knives, commonly referred to as “shanks” while at the Shelby County Detention Center. Video from the jail showed Anderson threatening another inmate while swinging and thrusting the knives. When the shanks were taken from Anderson, he stated, “God is on his side, I was about to kill that boy.” Anderson then continued to make threats against the other inmate, stating, “I’m going to kill that boy when I get out.”
Anderson with shank
Other alleged members of the drug conspiracy, including the leader of the Young Mob, are charged in separate indictment with racketeering conspiracy, as well as narcotics and firearm offenses.
The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF) and the Memphis Police Department investigated the case.
Trial Attorneys Amanda J. Kotula and Cesar Rivera-Giraud of the Criminal Division’s Violent Crime and Racketeering Section (VCRS) prosecuted the case. Brian P. Leaming of VCRS and Assistant U.S. Attorney P. Neal Oldham for the Western District of Tennessee provided substantial assistance with the investigation and prosecution.
This case is part of the Criminal Division’s Violent Crime Initiative in Memphis conducted in partnership with the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Tennessee and local, state, and federal law enforcement. The joint effort addresses violent crime by employing, where appropriate, federal laws to prosecute gang members and their associates in Memphis.