Source: United States Department of Justice
Earlier today, at the federal courthouse in Brooklyn, Catalina Corona was sentenced by United States District Judge Nicholas G. Garaufis to 48 months’ imprisonment for wire fraud in connection with a long running scheme to defraud her elderly employers. As part of her sentence, Corona was also ordered to pay $9.6 million in forfeiture. Corona pleaded guilty to the charge in April 2026.
Source: United States Department of Justice
The Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division announced today its lawsuit to stop Anne Arundel County Public Schools (AACPS) from secretly “gender transitioning” children without their parents’ knowledge or consent and blocking parents’ access to information about their children, which they are entitled to receive under federal law. The Department’s lawsuit enforces the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) and the Protection of Pupil Rights Amendment (PPRA).
“Schools should not discuss preferred pronouns or ‘gender identity’ with a student without parental notification and consent,” said Assistant Attorney General Harmeet K. Dhillon of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division. “Parents should not be lied to, stonewalled, or branded as ‘safety concerns’ when they ask to see the education records that reveal what schools are secretly doing to their children. This Department will end illegal school policies that keep parents in the dark.”
The Department’s complaint alleges that AACPS’s gender policies deny parents their rights under FERPA and PPRA. AACPS directs school staff to solicit, document, and act upon a student’s self‑identified name, pronouns, and “gender identity” without notifying parents. AACPS designates “gender identity” information as “confidential” and instructs staff to withhold it from parents based on the unilateral and unfounded assertion that informing parents would pose a “safety concern” to students. AACPS reports “gender identity” information to the Maryland State Department of Education without parental notice or an opportunity to challenge its accuracy.
The complaint also includes allegations about one anonymous family’s struggle with AACPS’s policies. During the 2025-2026 school year, AACPS questioned students, one-on-one, about their preferred names and pronouns. Thereafter, Jane and John Doe twice received emails from teachers referring to their daughter by a male name and pronouns. The Does confronted AACPS, but each time AACPS lied about helping their daughter pretend to be male at school. Although AACPS eventually admitting to lying, AACPS declined to give the Does details about their daughter’s “gender transition” and refused to turn over the child’s relevant education records.
Today’s lawsuit is the latest in a series of steps taken by the Civil Rights Division to end public school policies that trample on parental rights guaranteed under FERPA and PPRA. FERPA authorizes parents to inspect and review their children’s education records, as well as correct or delete inaccurate information within those records. Under PPRA, parents have the right to give or withhold consent before schools collect sensitive personal information from minor students.
Individuals may file FERPA and PPRA complaints with the U.S Department of Education at: studentprivacy.ed.gov/file-a-complaint.
Note: Read the Department’s Complaint here
Source: United States Department of Justice Criminal Division
DAVENPORT, Iowa – A Davenport man was sentenced on October 27, 2026, to more than 28 years in federal prison for conspiracy to distribute methamphetamine, carrying a firearm during and in relation to a drug trafficking offense, and possessing a firearm as a felon.
Source: United States Department of Justice
A contractor pleaded guilty to conspiring to commit an offense against the United States by paying over $465,000 in kickbacks.
The defendant, Ilya Zagaryuk, 40, of Damascus, Oregon, owned a company that contracted and subcontracted to perform facilities repairs on dozens of U.S. Postal Service facilities in Oregon, Idaho, Wyoming, Montana, and Washington.
According to documents filed in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of California in Sacramento, California, from May 2022 to February 2024, Zagaryuk paid his co-conspirator, who was an employee of a prime contractor on U.S. Postal Service projects, over $465,000 in illegal kickbacks as a reward for the co-conspirator directing additional work to Zagaryuk and his company. The co-conspirators intentionally inflated contracting documents, including estimates and invoices, to build in funds for the kickbacks that were not based on legitimate repair work costs.
“Collusion that harms the U.S. Postal Service, and ultimately the American taxpayer, is illegal and will not be tolerated,” said Associate Attorney General Stanley E. Woodward Jr. “This Department of Justice is committed to prosecuting those who would cheat the U.S. government out of fair prices to line their own pockets, and in this prosecution, we have done just that.”
“Zagaryuk and his co-conspirator conspired to inflate subcontracts to build in a split between themselves,” said Acting Deputy Assistant Attorney General for Criminal Enforcement Daniel W. Glad of the Justice Department’s Antitrust Division. “They did this countless times and cheated the U.S. Postal Service out of honest contracting and invoicing. Criminals who build kickbacks into government contracts threaten the public’s confidence in government institutions and will be held accountable.”
“Protecting taxpayers and federal-agency dollars is central to our mission,” said U.S. Attorney Eric Grant for the Eastern District of California. “Schemes like this drain public resources and undermine confidence in how federal funds are managed. Our Office will continue working closely with our federal partners to uncover procurement fraud and ensure that public money is spent honestly and lawfully.”
“The USPS OIG will continue to aggressively investigate companies that engage in activities designed to defraud the Postal Service’s contracting process,” said Executive Special Agent in Charge Kevin Cloninger of the U.S. Postal Service (USPS), Office of Inspector General (OIG). “This guilty plea demonstrates that our special agents, along with the Department of Justice Antitrust Division and the United States Attorney’s Office, will pursue contractors that defraud the government and enrich themselves at the expense of USPS customers.”
Zagaryuk pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit an offense against the United States, specifically a conspiracy to pay kickbacks, and faces a maximum penalty of five years in prison and a fine of up to $250,000. Zagaryuk agreed to pay restitution of $465,347.75, jointly and severally liable with co-defendants, to the U.S. Postal Service. A federal district court judge will determine any sentence after considering the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.
The U.S. Postal Service Office of Inspector General and the FBI Sacramento Field Office are investigating this case. Assistant Chiefs Christopher Carlberg and Jeremy Goldstein and Trial Attorney Anne Veldhuis for the Antitrust Division’s San Francisco Office, and Assistant U.S. Attorney Dhruv Sharma for the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of California are prosecuting the case.
In November 2019, the Justice Department created the Procurement Collusion Strike Force (PCSF), a joint law enforcement effort to combat antitrust crimes and related fraudulent schemes that impact government procurement, grant and program funding at all levels of government — federal, state and local. To learn more about the PCSF, or to report information on bid rigging, price fixing, market allocation and other anticompetitive conduct related to government spending, go to www.justice.gov/procurement-collusion-strike-force.
Anyone with information in connection with this investigation can contact the PCSF at the link listed above. Whistleblowers who voluntarily report original information about antitrust and related offenses that result in criminal fines or other recoveries of at least $1 million may be eligible to receive a whistleblower reward. For more information on the Antitrust Whistleblower Rewards Program, visit www.justice.gov/atr/whistleblower-rewards.
Source: United States Department of Justice Criminal Division
BROOKLYN, NY – Today, a federal jury in Brooklyn convicted Halima Salman, also known as “Umm Khattab al-Muhajir,” of receiving military-type training from the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham (ISIS) in Syria. Salman, a U.S. citizen and former resident of Brooklyn, was convicted after a seven-day trial before United States District Judge Natasha C. Merle.
Source: United States Department of Justice Criminal Division
A federal jury in the Middle District of Florida convicted a Florida woman who owned a durable medical equipment (DME) company and managed several other DME companies for her role in a fraud scheme that took advantage of the elderly and disabled and caused the submission of over $8.6 million in fraudulent claims to Medicare.
According to court documents and evidence presented at trial, Sophie Dufort, 57, of Gainesville, Florida, conspired with Paula Pirone, 70, of Ocala, Florida, and others to submit fraudulent claims to Medicare based on fake doctors’ prescriptions for orthotic braces.
Dufort and her co-conspirators illegally purchased these prescriptions from purported marketing companies that engaged in high pressure and manipulative telemarketing calls to get Medicare beneficiaries’ information. When confronted with complaints that the voice on purported call recordings did not match the beneficiaries’ voice, one co-conspirator explained that “some of the calls from overseas would be faked” and used to justify a bogus prescription. The marketing companies then paid medical practitioners to sign prescriptions for orthotic braces without contacting or evaluating the patients, or stole doctor’s credentials to create forged prescriptions, and then sold those prescriptions to Dufort’s and her co-conspirators’ DME companies.
Dufort and her co-conspirators then shipped braces to the Medicare beneficiaries and billed Medicare for millions of dollars in claims, despite the fact that the beneficiaries did not want or need the braces and no doctor had examined the beneficiary to determine if they needed the braces. And, as one medical expert testified, use of these combinations of braces could be “very dangerous” for the elderly Medicare population. When people complained and wanted to return the braces, “they would just tell [them] to just get rid of them or . . . just pass them down” so Dufort and her co-conspirators would not have to pay Medicare back.
The defendant was convicted of conspiracy to commit health care fraud and wire fraud, two counts of health care fraud, one count of conspiracy to defraud the United States and to offer and pay illegal kickbacks, and one count of offering and paying illegal kickbacks. Dufort faces a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison for conspiracy to commit health care fraud and wire fraud, 10 years in prison for each health care fraud count and kickback count, and 5 years in prison for conspiracy to defraud the United States and to offer and pay illegal kickbacks. A sentencing hearing is scheduled in Jan. 2027. A federal district court judge will determine any sentence after considering the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.
Assistant Attorney General Colin M. McDonald of the Justice Department’s National Fraud Enforcement Division and Middle District of Florida U.S. Attorney Gregory W. Kehoe made the announcement. The case was investigated by the Department of Health and Human Services, Office of Inspector General (HHS-OIG) and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI).
Trial Attorney Jody King of the Fraud Division’s Health Care Fraud Section and Assistant U.S. Attorney William Hamilton for the Middle District of Florida are 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.
Source: United States Department of Justice Criminal Division
Baltimore, Maryland – The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Maryland announced, today, that it filed an information against an illegal alien for unlawful voting. Mohammad Hachibur Rahman, 33, an illegal alien from Bangladesh, is charged by information with unlawful voting.
Source: United States Department of Justice Criminal Division
Baltimore, Maryland – A federal grand jury indicted a Cecil County man and woman in connection with child sexual abuse charges. Donald Samuel Haubrick, 48, of Elkton, Maryland, is charged with advertising CSAM, distribution of CSAM, receipt of CSAM, and possession of CSAM. Breann Michele Lively, 26, of North East, Maryland, is charged with production of CSAM and distribution of CSAM.
Source: United States Department of Justice Criminal Division
Donelfert Monterroso Vasquez, 51, a Guatemalan national, pleaded guilty today to conspiring to import more than 450 kilograms of cocaine into the United States.
According to court documents, Monterroso Vasquez coordinated the movement of multi-hundred-kilogram quantities of cocaine from Colombia through his location in Guatemala and on to Mexico. A network of associates further transported the cocaine into the United States, where the distribution of the cocaine would generate the highest profit. The defendant and his co-conspirators communicated over an encrypted platform. At one point, Monterroso Vasquez sent an image of a brick of cocaine with “USA” stamped on it, indicating it was destined for the United States.
Monterroso Vasquez was arrested upon landing at an airport in the United States in June 2026 and has remained in custody since then.
Monterroso Vasquez is scheduled to be sentenced on Jan. 26, 2027, and faces a minimum penalty of 10 years in prison and a 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.
Assistant Attorney General A. Tysen Duva of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division; U.S. Attorney Theophani K. Stamos for the Eastern District of Virginia; and Special Agent in Charge Jim Scott of the Drug Enforcement Administration’s (DEA) Louisville Field Division made the announcement.
DEA Memphis investigated the case, with assistance from DEA’s Special Operations Division; DEA’s offices in Guatemala and Colombia; and the Guatemalan National Police.
Trial Attorney Claire Galasso of the Criminal Division’s Money Laundering, Narcotics and Forfeiture Section (MNF) and Assistant U.S. Attorneys Edgardo J. Rodriguez and Christopher M. Carter for the Eastern District of Viriginia are prosecuting the case.
MNF’s 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.
Source: United States Department of Justice Criminal Division
COLUMBUS, Ohio – A woman who participated in a large-scale operation involving the mailing of methamphetamine from California and Las Vegas to central Ohio was sentenced in U.S. District Court today to 188 months in prison. The government seized approximately 83 pounds of methamphetamine in this case.