Category: MIL-OSI

Source: United States Department of Justice Criminal Division

Today, the Justice Department opened an investigation to determine whether Pennsauken, New Jersey deprives citizens of their right to bear arms through egregious and unjust delays in issuing firearm licenses. The Second Amendment protects the right to keep and bear firearms — including the right to carry firearms. The investigation focuses on the Pennsauken Township Police’s permitting system; the investigation does not support any armed obstruction of federal or local law enforcement.

“I have directed the Civil Rights Division, through our Second Amendment Section, to defend law-abiding citizens from local authorities who infringe on the right to safely carry legal firearms,” said Assistant Attorney General Harmeet K. Dhillon of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division. “Our investigation aims to discover if allegations of unconstitutional delays in firearm permitting are true, and if so, to fix it.”

It is a violation of the Second Amendment for government officials to delay issuing permits to purchase or carry firearms. In 2022, the Supreme Court held in New York State Rifle & Pistol Ass’n, Inc. v. Bruen that a state’s permitting process is put towards “abusive ends” when “lengthy wait times in processing license applications or exorbitant fees deny ordinary citizens their right to public carry.” Here, it is alleged that Pennsauken, through the Pennsauken Township Police Department, uses just such “abusive ends” to improperly limit Second Amendment rights.

The Civil Rights Division’s Second Amendment Section enforces the Second Amendment. If you believe your right to keep and bear arms is being infringed, please submit a complaint through www.justice.gov/crt/second-amendment-section.

Source: United States Department of Justice Criminal Division

MACON, Ga. – A defendant who helped obtain and distribute large amounts of methamphetamine from Atlanta for distribution in Milledgeville, Georgia, was sentenced to prison following an Operation Take Back America investigation led by the Drug Enforcement Administration and the Baldwin County Sheriff’s Office.

Source: United States Department of Justice Criminal Division

United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, Jamie McDonald, Assistant Director in Charge of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (“FBI”), James C. Barnacle, Jr., Superintendent of the New York State Police (“NYSP”), Steven G. James, and Chief of the City of Newburgh Police Department (“CNPD”), Brandon Rola, announced today the unsealing of an Indictment charging eight defendants with conspiracy to distribute crack cocaine in the vicinity of West Parmenter Street in Newburgh, New York.  

Source: United States Department of Justice Criminal Division

U.S. Attorney Matthew L. Harvey has announced the convictions of three men as part of nationwide enforcement actions led by the Justice Department’s National Fraud Enforcement Division, Internal Revenue Service, and Internal Revenue Service Criminal Investigation targeting tax fraud and related offenses. The Northern District of West Virginia was a key participant in this surge effort. 

Source: United States Department of Justice Criminal Division

A Kenyan national and Missouri businessman was sentenced on October 5, 2026, to 51 months in prison today for willfully failing to pay over employment taxes to the IRS on behalf of the company he owned and operated.

According to documents and statements made in court, Ephantus Mwangi, 48, a resident of Missouri, owned and operated True Payment Solutions, Inc., a Kansas-based business that sold credit-card processing services and card readers to merchants. Mwangi also owned True POS Solutions, Inc, a separate business that offered similar services. 

True Payment Solutions typically employed between 20 and 30 people at a time. Because Mwangi was responsible for all financial matters at the business, Mwangi was required by law to withhold Social Security, Medicare and federal income taxes from the wages of his employees and then pay over those funds to the IRS each quarter, as well as file quarterly employment tax returns with the IRS. From at least the third quarter of 2017 through at least the fourth quarter of 2018, however, Mwangi withheld employment taxes from his employees’ wages, but he willfully failed to pay over these taxes to the IRS or file employment tax returns. In total, Mwangi withheld $331,404.33 in taxes from his employees’ wages that he did not pay over to the IRS. 

Mwangi also willfully failed to pay over employment taxes due from True Payment Solutions. Instead, from 2016 to 2019, Mwangi transferred more than $1.5 million from the corporate bank accounts of True Payment Solutions and True POS Solutions Inc. to his personal bank accounts. During this time, he spent more than $200,000 on loan payments for various luxury vehicles, including a Hummer H2, a Cadillac Escalade, two Range Rovers, two Mercedes, and a Lexus. He also used these funds to rent an 11,000 sq. ft. mansion as a second home in San Antonio for $13,000 per month and to pay for private school tuition for his children. Additionally, between 2016 and 2019, Mwangi transferred a total of $763,000 in funds to “TRUE PAYMENT SOLUTIONS, EA LTD,” in Kenya, Africa. Mwangi also frequently visited a casino for 10 to 12 hours at a time. 

Mwangi also willfully failed to file individual income tax returns for the years 2017 and 2020, and he filed 2018 and 2019 individual income tax returns after the deadline had passed. Mwangi did not file corporate income tax returns for Mwangi also willfully failed to file individual income tax returns for the years 2017 and 2020, and he filed 2018 and 2019 individual income tax returns after the deadline had passed. For the years 2017 through 2019, Mwangi did not file corporate income tax returns for True Payment Solutions or True POS Solutions, Inc.

In total, Mwangi caused a tax loss to the U.S. government exceeding $1.5 million.

Mwangi was previously scheduled to be sentenced on April 27, 2026. He failed to appear in court on this date and remained a fugitive from justice for approximately six weeks, until he was arrested during a traffic stop. During the stop, Mwangi falsely identified himself to law enforcement by providing a false name and birth date. 

In addition to the term of imprisonment, U.S. District Judge Daniel D. Crabtree ordered Mwangi to serve 3 years of supervised release and pay $1,597,835.24 in restitution to the United States.

Assistant Attorney General Colin M. McDonald of the Justice Department’s National Fraud Enforcement Division and U.S. Attorney Ryan A. Kriegshauser for the District of Kansas made the announcement.

IRS Criminal Investigation investigated the case with the assistance of the U.S. Marshals Service and the Texas State Police. 

Trial Attorney J. Parker Gochenour of the National Fraud Enforcement Division’s Tax Section and Assistant U.S. Attorney Ryan Huschka of the District of Kansas prosecuted 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.

Source: United States Department of Justice Criminal Division

Gustavo Rojano Salazar, Gabriel Rojano Salazar, and Andres Huerta Rendon – all Mexican nationals living in the Atlanta metro area – were arrested today on federal charges for allegedly operating a massive fraud scheme that resulted in the theft of more than $74 million from the U.S. Treasury. 

Source: United States Department of Justice Criminal Division

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico – The United States Attorney’s Office for the District of Puerto Rico, Héctor Ramírez-Carbó, Acting United States Attorney, in conjunction with our partner agencies in the Homeland Security Task Force (“HSTF”) announce the following prosecutorial results for the week of October 5 through October 9, 2026. The HSTF is a permanent, interagency law enforcement task force created by executive order to combat transnational criminal organizations—including cartels, trafficking networks, and foreign terrorist organizations. 

Source: United States Department of Justice Criminal Division

Greenbelt, Maryland – The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Maryland announced, today, that a Maryland man is facing indictment as part of a nationwide enforcement action led by the Justice Department’s National Fraud Enforcement Division, Internal Revenue Service, and Internal Revenue Service – Criminal Investigation targeting tax fraud and related offenses. 

Source: United States Department of Justice Criminal Division

United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, Jamie McDonald, and Assistant Attorney General of the National Fraud Enforcement Division, Colin M. McDonald, announced today that STEVEN HOLTZ, ISRAEL PELLOT, and ALTON SCOTT have pled guilty in connection with their operation of a tax preparation firm owned and controlled by HOLTZ and known as the Holtz Group. Tax preparers at the Holtz Group, including HOLTZ, PELLOT, and SCOTT, falsified information on Holtz Group clients’ federal income tax returns in order to fraudulently reduce the tax liability of the clients and improperly increase the tax refunds they claimed from the Internal Revenue Service (“IRS”).  This, in turn, allowed HOLTZ to charge tax preparation fees that were, at times, tens of thousands of dollars and, in some instances, more than one hundred thousand dollars for certain clients.