Source: United States Department of Justice Criminal Division
Greenbelt, Maryland – A member of the Maryland National Guard acknowledged his involvement in a money laundering scheme in federal court. This conspiracy laundered funds from at least 33 different victims. Alagborenepakake Opuiyo, 32, pled guilty to a superseding information charging him with one count of conspiracy to commit money laundering.
Source: United States Department of Justice Criminal Division
Today, the U.S. Department of Justice agreed to a settlement with the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department (LCSD) regarding its procedures for issuing firearm carry permits. LCSD has agreed to bring its procedures in line with the Supreme Court’s landmark Bruen decision. This is a huge win for the residents of Los Angeles County and for the Second Amendment.
The Second Amendment requires law enforcement to have objective standards for issuing carry permits and to issue those permits without imposing lengthy delays on applicants. When the Justice Department filed this lawsuit, applicants were waiting an average of over nine months to receive their permits. In response to the lawsuit, LCSD drastically cut those waiting times and is now in compliance with statutory deadlines.
“The Justice Department supports our law enforcement partners.” said Assistant Attorney General Harmeet K. Dhillon of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division, “The sheriff acknowledged the problem and devoted substantial additional resources, including new processing software and additional personnel, to cutting waiting times dramatically. We applaud their efforts and are happy to be able to bring this litigation to a successful conclusion!”
The Second Amendment Section of the Civil Rights Division enforces the Second Amendment, the Police Pattern or Practice Act (34 U.S.C. § 12601), and Executive Order 14206. If you are a current or prospective gun owner and believe that a state or local government has infringed your right to keep or bear arms, please submit a complaint through https://www.justice.gov/crt/second-amendment-section.
Source: United States Department of Justice
U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Texas, Ryan Raybould, announced today that Samad Hamid Castro, 41, from New Jersey, was sentenced to 164 months in prison for the illicit distribution of Oxycodone to the Northern District of Texas and elsewhere. Castro pleaded guilty to distribution of a controlled substance on April 1.
Source: United States Department of Justice
One year after taking the oath of office as U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Florida, Jason A. Reding Quiñones today marked a year of institutional transformation, historic prosecutions, and measurable results across one of the nation’s largest and most complex federal districts.
Source: United States Department of Justice
BOSTON – An Ecuadorian national unlawfully residing in Milford, Mass., has been indicted by a federal grand jury for illegally reentering the United States after deportation. The defendant was previously deported from the United States and arrested four times for driving under the influence in Massachusetts.
Source: United States Department of Justice
Earlier today, at the federal courthouse in Brooklyn, a criminal complaint was unsealed charging Jonathan Arboleda and Wilson Martinez with being felons in possession of ammunition relating to a July 21, 2026 gunfight in the East New York section of Brooklyn.
Source: United States Department of Justice Criminal Division
A Cuban national pleaded guilty today to alien smuggling, asylum fraud, and money laundering.
According to court documents, Yuniel Lima-Santos, 31, of Tampa, Florida, conspired with others to operate an alien smuggling organization (ASO) which encouraged or induced thousands of Cuban aliens to enter the United States through the southern border and used fraudulent Electronic System for Travel Authorization (ESTA) and visa waivers. The defendants advertised their smuggling services and bogus visa services across multiple social media platforms to solicit Cuban nationals and other aliens to attempt to illegally enter the United States and fraudulently obtain lawful status in the United States.
The ASO advertised services included assisting Cubans with false claims of European citizenship to enter the United States on a European tourist visa waiver or ESTA, and it filed hundreds of fraudulent ESTA applications with U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) using fake addresses and fabricated documents. Cuban nationals are not eligible for the ESTA program, and the defendants falsely represented that the applicants had not been in Cuba since 2011. The defendants knew that Cubans are not eligible for the ESTA program, and that the applicants were actually in Cuba at the time the ESTA applications were submitted.
Lima-Santos furthered the conspiracy by helping move aliens from their country of origin, including Cuba, into the United States, including by purchasing international and domestic flights to transport aliens into and throughout the United States. Lima-Santos, along with co-defendant Frandy Aragon Diaz, smuggled five aliens into the United States and admitted to aiding Aragon Diaz with bringing Cuban women illegally into the United States, where they worked in strip clubs to pay off their smuggling debt. In furtherance of the conspiracy’s money laundering crimes, Lima-Santos filed articles of incorporation in Florida for a shell company that had no employees, payroll, or reported income, but were used to move money obtained from alien smuggling and conceal the true source and nature of the ill-gotten funds.
Aliens were charged between $1,500 and $40,000 for their smuggling services, and co-conspirators sometimes even chartered private planes to move groups of aliens. Lima-Santos and co-defendants conspired to regularly move funds to companies and other places outside of the United States, such as by purchasing international flights for aliens to travel into the United States. Between 2021 and 2024, Lima-Santos transmitted internationally over $600,000 from the United States to purchase flights for aliens to unlawfully enter the United States.
Yuniel Lima-Santos pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit alien smuggling for financial gain, five counts of alien smuggling for financial gain, one count of conspiracy to defraud the United States, one count of conspiracy to launder monetary instruments, and one count of conspiracy to conceal money laundering instruments.
Lima-Santos faces a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison. A sentencing hearing will be scheduled at a later date. A federal district court judge will determine any sentence after considering the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.
As part of the conspiracy, 12 individuals were charged in a superseding indictment for their roles. Liannys Yaiselys Vega-Perez, 31; Miguel Alejandro Martinez Vasconcelos, 31; Layra Libertad Treto Santos, 30; Emanuel Martinez Gonzalez, 29; Walbis Pozo-Dutel, 31; and Luis Emmanuel Escalona-Marrero, 32, have all pleaded guilty and are awaiting sentencing. Erik Ventura-Castro, 24, pleaded guilty on May 7 and was sentenced in July to 30 months in prison. Lazaro Alain Cabrera-Rodriguez, 28, and Gisleivy Peralta Consuegra, 41, are awaiting trial scheduled to begin on Sept. 21.
Assistant Attorney General A. Tysen Duva of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division, U.S. Attorney Gregory W. Kehoe for the Middle District of Florida, Special Agent in Charge Nicholas Ingegno for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), and Director Joseph Edlow of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) made the announcement.
The investigation and superseding indictment were supported and prosecuted by Joint Task Force Alpha (JTFA), the Department’s lead effort in combating high-impact human smuggling and trafficking committed by cartels and Transnational Criminal Organizations (TCOs). A highly successful partnership between the Department of Justice and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), JTFA investigates and prosecutes human smuggling and trafficking and related immigration crimes that impact public safety and border security. JTFA’s mission is to target the leaders and organizers of Cartels and TCOs involved in human smuggling and trafficking throughout the Americas. The Attorney General has elevated and expanded JTFA to target the most prolific and dangerous human smuggling and trafficking groups operating not only in Mexico and the Northern Triangle countries of Guatemala, El Salvador, and Honduras, but also in Canada, the Caribbean and the maritime border, and elsewhere. Led by the Criminal Division’s Human Rights and Special Prosecutions Section and supported by the Money Laundering, Narcotics and Forfeiture Section, the Office of International Affairs, and the Office of Enforcement Operations, among others, JTFA has dedicated Assistant U.S. Attorneys from the Southern District of California; District of Arizona; District of New Mexico; Western and Southern Districts of Texas; Southern District of Florida; Northern District of New York; and District of Vermont. JTFA also partners with other USAOs throughout the country and supports high-priority cases in any district. All JTFA cases rely on substantial law enforcement resources from DHS, including HSI and CBP U.S. Border Patrol and Office of Field Operations, as well as FBI and other law enforcement agencies. To date, JTFA’s work has resulted in more than 477 domestic and international arrests of leaders, organizers, and significant facilitators of alien smuggling and/or trafficking; more than 431 U.S. convictions; and more than 370 significant jail sentences imposed, and forfeitures of substantial assets.
HSI Tampa, U.S. Border Patrol Miami Sector, and U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS)’s Fraud Detection and National Security led U.S. investigative efforts, with substantial assistance from HSI’s Human Smuggling Unit in Washington, D.C. and CBP’s National Targeting Center International Interdiction Task Force. Authorities in the Cayman Islands provided valuable assistance.
Trial Attorney Amanda Brown of the Criminal Division’s Human Rights and Special Prosecutions Section and Assistant U.S. Attorney Courtney Derry for the Middle District of Florida are prosecuting the case.
Source: United States Department of Justice Criminal Division
Old Dutch Mustard, a mustard and vinegar manufacturing company, has entered into a consent decree, lodged today with the U.S. District Court for the District of New Hampshire, requiring it to implement a comprehensive water pollution compliance program to resolve allegations that it violated the Clean Water Act at its facility in Greenville, New Hampshire.
The United States’ complaint, filed on behalf of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) at the same time as the consent decree, alleged that Old Dutch Mustard violated the Clean Water Act on more than 1,700 days between November 2019 and February 2026 by discharging acidic pollutants into a tributary to the Souhegan River. The complaint also alleges that Old Dutch Mustard failed to comply with its stormwater discharge permit and failed to timely provide compliance information upon EPA’s request. Old Dutch Mustard has been the subject of repeated enforcement efforts over the last two decades, including most recently for separate criminal violations of the Clean Water Act, for which the company and its President were sentenced in April.
“Today’s consent decree will ensure that this company comes into compliance with the Clean Water Act, leveling the playing field for American businesses,” said Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Adam Gustafson of the Justice Department’s Energy and Natural Resources Division (ENRD). “We are committed to upholding the rule of law, including the Clean Water Act.”
“This action demonstrates that EPA will pursue repeat violators and hold them accountable through formal enforcement in court,” said Assistant Administrator Jeffrey A. Hall of EPA’s Office of Enforcement and Compliance Assurance. “This consent decree finally resolves decades of noncompliance with the Clean Water Act by ensuring that the company will comprehensively identify and address all sources of pollution into the tributary that runs through the facility. EPA will achieve compliance with the law.”
“Old Dutch Mustard spent years polluting the Souhegan River,” said U.S. Attorney Erin Creegan for the District of New Hampshire. “State and federal government agencies repeatedly attempted to secure the company’s cooperation in keeping the river clean, and those efforts were met with schemes and deception that resulted in both a criminal prosecution and the civil violations set forth in today’s action. Enough is enough. Today’s consent decree will mean close monitoring of the Old Dutch Mustard Company so that we can protect a treasured New Hampshire waterway, and the public, from further pollution.”
The Clean Water Act prohibits the discharge of any pollutant into navigable waters of the United States without a permit. According to the complaint, Old Dutch Mustard has a two-decade long history of unlawfully discharging its acidic wastewater and stormwater into a stream that flows underneath and in front of the company’s facility in Greenville, New Hampshire. As a result, the company has been subject to enforcement actions by the EPA, New Hampshire Department of Environmental Services (NH DES), and the New Hampshire Attorney General’s Office. The EPA and NH DES have required Old Dutch Mustard to continually monitor the stream at their facility, which flows into the Souhegan River. The Souhegan River is one of 19 New Hampshire rivers that the State of New Hampshire has designated as an important natural resource.
According to the complaint, the company’s monitoring results show that, on 1,728 days between November 2019 and February 2026, the stream had high levels of acidity, indicating unauthorized waste- and/or stormwater discharges from the facility. To resolve these violations and ensure that the facility does not continue to unlawfully discharge acidic material from its facility, the consent decree requires Old Dutch Mustard to improve its monitoring to provide for real-time data, thoroughly investigate any future discharges to determine their cause, and implement corrective measures to stop them.
The proposed consent decree was filed in U.S. District Court for the District of New Hampshire and is subject to a 30-day public comment period. The complaint and the proposed consent decree are available on the Justice Department’s website at www.justice.gov/enrd/consent-decrees.
EPA’s Region 1 investigated this case.
Special Assistant U.S. Attorney John Osborn for the District of New Hampshire handled this matter with assistance from Assistant Section Chief Eric Albert of ENRD’s Environmental Enforcement Section.
Source: United States Department of Justice Criminal Division
CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. – A federal grand jury indictment was unsealed today charging a Fluvanna County pharmacist with diverting liquid hydromorphone for his own use and replacing it with water. According to the indictment, Joshua Joseph Walden, 52, who previously worked at Jefferson Pharmacy in Palmyra, Virginia, is charged with one count of tampering with consumer products and attempt to tamper with a consumer product, two counts of theft of pre-retail medical products, and one count of acquiring a controlled substance by fraud.
Source: United States Department of Justice Criminal Division
BOSTON – A Brazilian national, unlawfully residing in the United States on an expired visa, has been indicted by a federal grand jury in connection with the armed robbery of a cash courier in Framingham, Mass., in November 2025, which resulted in the theft of approximately $200,000.