Source: United States Department of Justice Criminal Division
ALBANY, NEW YORK – M Squared Staffing LLC, the former operator of the Vestal Coal House in Vestal, New York, and its owner, Mark Mushalla, will pay $130,000 to resolve allegations that they violated the False Claims Act by falsely certifying that the restaurant was eligible to receive funding from the federal Restaurant Revitalization Fund (RRF).
Source: United States Spaceforce
On Aug. 10, Airmen from the 355th Aircraft Maintenance Squadron, assigned to the 355th Wing but geographically located at Nellis Air Force Base, and the 88th Test and Evaluation Squadron rapidly generated and deployed two HH-60W Jolly Green II helicopters to rescue five U.S. Navy personnel following an aircraft mishap near Naval Air Weapons Station China Lake, California.
Source: United States Department of Justice Criminal Division
Today, the Civil Rights Division is monitoring polling sites in Florida and Wyoming for the states’ primary elections to ensure transparency, ballot security, and compliance with federal law.
“Election monitoring is an ongoing priority for this office,” said Assistant Attorney General Harmeet K. Dhillon of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division. “Nondiscriminatory monitoring ensures all elections remain free, fair, and accessible to all.”
The DOJ, through the Civil Rights Division, enforces federal voting laws which protect the voting rights of all eligible citizens. The DOJ regularly deploys staff to monitor compliance with federal civil rights laws in communities across the country, as it previously did in Florida and Wyoming in 2022.
The DOJ is monitoring polls in Miami-Dade County, Florida, with approximately four Civil Rights Division attorneys and in Laramie County, Wyoming, with two Civil Rights Division attorneys. Thus far the DOJ has deployed over 75 monitors across five states and over 200 polling locations this primary season. By comparison, during the 2022 midterms the DOJ sent monitors to nine states.
This monitoring initiative is aimed at promoting transparency and an open flow of communication between poll observers and election monitors. The Civil Rights Division’s Voting Section enforces various federal statutes that protect the right to vote, including the Voting Rights Act, National Voter Registration Act, Help America Vote Act, Uniformed and Overseas Citizens Absentee Voting Act, the Americans with Disabilities Act, and the Civil Rights Acts.
From now through the general election on Nov. 3, Civil Rights Division personnel will be available to receive questions and complaints from the public related to federal voting rights laws. If you have a question or complaint or would like to request election monitoring in a particular jurisdiction, please contact the Voting Section at VEM@usdoj.gov.
Source: United States Department of Justice Criminal Division
SAN DIEGO – Five alleged members and associates of the “El Cajon Locos” criminal street gang have been indicted on federal racketeering charges in connection with drug and firearms trafficking and violent crimes. A sixth defendant has been charged with witness tampering and witness harassment. The defendants are charged under the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO), which makes it a federal crime to participate in an enterprise through a pattern of racketeering activity, including drug trafficking, firearms offenses and violent crimes. All defendants are in custody.
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 New York Field Office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (“FBI”), James C. Barnacle, Jr., and Special Agent in Charge of the New York Regional Office of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General (“HHS-OIG”), Naomi D. Gruchacz, announced that RODNEY GREER, a/k/a “Christian Marchand,” appeared for arraignment today in connection with a four-count Indictment charging GREER with a scheme to impersonate doctors to obtain unauthorized prescription medications on behalf of individuals who paid him.
Source: United States Department of Justice Criminal Division
DENVER – The United States Attorney’s Office for the District of Colorado announces that Jesus Lara del Toro, 22, of Venezuela, was sentenced to 216 months in federal prison and ordered to pay restitution after pleading guilty to one count of Hobbs Act Robbery, and one count of brandishing a firearm in furtherance of a crime of violence in connection with the armed robbery of the Joyeria El Ruby Jewelry Store. Lara del Toro pleaded guilty without a plea agreement.
Source: United States Department of Justice Criminal Division
Taurian Anderson, 21, of the District of Columbia, pleaded guilty today in U.S. District Court in connection with his role in a conspiracy to commit a series of armed carjackings in Washington D.C., Maryland, and Virginia, announced U.S. Attorney Jeanine Ferris Pirro.
Source: United States Department of Justice
The Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division announced today that it is opening a compliance review into the College of William & Mary (W&M) to determine whether the school’s scholarships and student benefits include racial criteria that violate Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which prohibits discrimination on the basis of race, color, and national origin.
“Awarding scholarships or offering coveted opportunities to students based on the color of their skin is illegal and offends the guarantees of our color-blind Constitution,” said Assistant Attorney General Harmeet K. Dhillon of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division. “We will find out if scholarships or other student benefits at William & Mary favor applicants of certain races. The Department will not turn a blind eye to race-based preferences, however they are packaged or portrayed by universities.”
The “W&M Scholars” program for first-year undergraduate students includes a scholarship “covering at least the full cost of in-state tuition and fees.” Applicants with an “interest in diverse people and perspectives” receive “top consideration.”
W&M School of Education (W&M SOE) offers the need-based Martha L. Muguira Fellowship to graduate students and gives a “preference” to Hispanic or Latino women. And the W&M SOE doctoral-level Holmes Scholars program gives “future education leaders of color” mentorship, access to job fairs and position announcements, as well as national-level professional development benefits such as policy/advocacy training and opportunities to present their research.
W&M Law School (W&M Law) offers the Lemon Legal Scholars Program (LLSP), a “multifaceted financial and mentorship opportunity” for graduates of Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) who are admitted to W&M Law’s J.D. program. Through LLSP, W&M Law offers up to five full-ride scholarships — covering tuition and fees — which appear exclusively earmarked for HBCU graduates. Recipients also receive networking opportunities, one-on-one academic advising regarding course load and bar exam preparation, and access to special events with W&M Law faculty, senior administrators, and alumni.
W&M Law also advertises the “Reaching Back Scholarship” — a need-based scholarship that has a “preference” for HBCU graduates or those “who contribute to the diversity” of W&M Law.
The Civil Rights Division has not reached any conclusions about the subject matter of the investigation.
Note: Read the Department’s Notice Letter here.
Source: United States Department of Justice Criminal Division
A South Carolina man pleaded guilty today to conspiracy to commit sex trafficking between January and August 2023.
According to court documents, Alexander Smalls, 27, of Beaufort, South Carolina, conspired with co-defendant Christy Parker, 28, and others to use physical beatings, threats, intimidation, sleep deprivation, starvation, and other means to coerce at least one adult victim to engage in repeated commercial sex acts in and around Fall River, Massachusetts between January and August 2023. Starting in January 2023, Smalls and Parker forced and coerced the adult victim to engage in repeated commercial sex acts by physically beating, threatening, and verbally abusing her. They also imposed manufactured debts on the victim, gave and withheld alcohol causing the victim to experience seizures, and threatened to have the authorities take the victim’s minor child away from her. When Smalls was incarcerated on unrelated charges in March 2023, he continued coordinating with Parker and participating in the sex trafficking conspiracy from jail until Parker’s arrest in August 2023.
“This defendant used deplorable means to compel the victim to perform commercial sex acts for the financial benefit of himself and his codefendants,” said Assistant Attorney General A. Tysen Duva of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division. “His conduct was cruel and predatory in multiple ways, which included physical beatings and threatening to separate her from her child. This partnership between the Criminal Division and the District of Massachusetts will ensure that those who victimize people through human trafficking in Massachusetts will be investigated and prosecuted.”
“Smalls and his associates brutally trafficked women, using every cruel and inhumane tool they could to coerce them into commercial sex for their financial benefit,” aid Acting Special Agent in Charge Jeffrey Grimming of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) New England. “This case shows the insidious tactics traffickers use, slowly gaining the trust of their victims before brutally betraying them. With cases like this, we choose to focus not solely on the cruelty of the perpetrators, but also on the resilience of the survivors. We hope today’s plea brings a measure of justice and sense of closure to those Smalls victimized as they continue to heal.”
Five of Smalls’s co-defendants were previously convicted, and four have been sentenced. Tyreik Reid, 22, and Cory Primo, 44, were convicted of one count of conspiracy to commit sex trafficking and sentenced to 70 months in prison, followed by 60 months of supervised release. Avvani Jeffers, 24, was convicted of two counts of forced labor and sentenced to 18 months in prison, followed by 24 months of supervised release. Tre’sean Reid, 23, was convicted of one count of forced labor and sentenced to time served, followed by 24 months of supervised release. Christy Parker pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit sex trafficking, two counts of sex trafficking by force, fraud or coercion, and one count of sex trafficking of a minor. Parker is awaiting sentencing.
Smalls pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit sex trafficking and is scheduled to be sentenced on Dec. 9. He faces a mandatory minimum penalty of 15 years and maximum penalty of life in prison. A federal district court judge will determine any sentence after considering the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.
The HSI Boston Field Office and the Fall River Police Department are investigating the case.
Trial Attorney Francisco Zornosa of the Criminal Division’s Human Rights and Special Prosecutions Section and Assistant U.S. Attorney Elizabeth Riley-Cunniffe for the District of Massachusetts are prosecuting the case.
Source: United States Department of Justice Criminal Division
A Colombian national pleaded guilty today to a seven-year money laundering conspiracy involving the purchase of consumer electronics using drug proceeds.
According to court documents, Andrelio Castaño Rojas, 55, of Colombia, from January 2018 through March 2025, conspired to launder drug trafficking proceeds using a currency exchange scheme. Rojas opened U.S. bank accounts for two of his U.S. companies and arranged for his business accounts to receive drug proceeds through bank wires and bulk cash deposits. Rojas used these funds to purchase consumer electronics that he exported to Colombia.
Rojas pleaded guilty to a money laundering conspiracy. Sentencing is set for Jan. 22, 2027. He faces a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison. A federal district court judge will determine any sentence after considering the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.
Assistant Attorney General A. Tysen Duva of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division; First Assistant U.S. Attorney Theophani K. Stamos for the Eastern District of Virginia; and Chief of Operations Matthew Allen of the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) made the announcement.
The DEA Norfolk Resident Office and Miami Field Division are investigating the case.
Trial Attorneys Yuliana Reyes and Mark Irish of the Criminal Division’s Money Laundering, Narcotics and Forfeiture Section (MNF) and Assistant U.S. Attorney Kevin Hudson for the Eastern District of Virginia are prosecuting the case.
The Money Laundering, Narcotics and Forfeiture Section’s (MNF) mission is to take the profit out of crime, eliminate drug cartels, and protect the U.S. financial system. MNF pursues criminal prosecutions and criminal and civil asset recovery actions involving: financial facilitators who launder profits for criminals; financial institutions and their officers and employees whose actions threaten the U.S. financial system and financial institutions; international money launderers who support transnational organized crime; and the top command and control of international drug trafficking organizations.
MNF’s Money Laundering and Forfeiture Unit investigates and prosecutes sophisticated money laundering schemes involving financial facilitators, gatekeepers, and other individuals and entities laundering criminal proceeds, and litigates complex civil forfeiture cases to recover assets on behalf of victims.