Source: United States Department of Justice Criminal Division
U.S. Attorney Michael DiGiacomo announced today that Phillip Digennaro, 38 of Greece, NY, was arrested and charged by criminal complaint with conspiracy, wire fraud, aggravated identity theft, and money laundering, which carry a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison.
Source: United States Department of Justice Criminal Division
PHOENIX, Ariz. – Carlos Jobany Castaneda Lechuga, 38, of Laredo, Texas, pleaded guilty yesterday to five counts of Producing Child Pornography involving five minor age girls. Sentencing is scheduled for September 15, 2026, before United States District Judge Diane J. Humetewa.
Source: United States Department of Justice Criminal Division
Seattle – A 38-year-old Seattle man was sentenced today in U.S. District Court in Seattle to 20 years in prison for five federal felonies connected to his sex trafficking of a minor and an adult woman, announced First Assistant U.S. Attorney Charles Neil Floyd.
Source: United States Department of Justice Criminal Division
LAS VEGAS – An illegal alien from Mexico was sentenced today by United States District Judge Cristina D. Silva to 13 months and one day in prison to be followed by three years of supervised release for illegally reentering the United States after having been removed from the country on three prior occasions. The government recommended a sentence of 13 months and one day imprisonment.
Source: United States Department of Justice Criminal Division
LAS VEGAS – A California man was sentenced today to 78 months in prison and three years of supervised release for perpetrating an elaborate bank fraud scheme that took in approximately $39 million from multiple financial institutions over the course of nearly 10 years. He was also ordered to pay over $19.4 million in restitution and $21.8 million in forfeiture.
Source: United States Department of Justice Criminal Division
A California man was sentenced today to 78 months in prison and three years of supervised release for perpetrating an elaborate bank fraud scheme that took in approximately $39 million from multiple financial institutions over the course of nearly 10 years. He was also ordered to pay over $19.4 million in restitution and $21.8 million in forfeiture.
According to court documents, Gary Topolewski, 64, of Northridge, engaged in the nearly decade-long scheme to defraud multiple financial institutions through the submission of false and fraudulent commercial loan applications on behalf of his purported companies, Topolewski America Inc., Morrison Knudsen Services Inc., and Metal Jeans Inc. As a result, these entities received more than $39 million in fraudulently obtained loan proceeds, with Topolewski unsuccessfully seeking millions more.
Topolewski falsely represented in the loan applications that the loans were for the purchase of large, industrial earth-moving construction equipment, and for business working capital purposes. In reality, Topolewski and his companies did not use the proceeds as represented and instead diverted, laundered, and misappropriated the proceeds for other purposes, including for the purchase of properties and to make Ponzi-like payments to financial lenders to perpetuate the scheme by using loan proceeds from newer loans to pay down the balance of other loans. Topolewski used several aliases, including the stolen identity of a victim, and company names that were similar to those of established companies in the construction and equipment industries.
In December 2025, Topolewski pleaded guilty to one count of bank fraud.
Assistant Attorney General A. Tysen Duva of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division, First Assistant U.S. Attorney Sigal Chattah for the District of Nevada, and Special Agent in Charge Christopher Delzotto of the FBI Las Vegas Field Office made the announcement.
The FBI investigated the case.
Trial Attorney Sara Hallmark of the Criminal Division’s Fraud Section and Assistant U.S. Attorney Tony Lopez for the District of Nevada prosecuted the case.
Source: United States Department of Justice
Earlier today, in federal court in Brooklyn, Justin Chen was sentenced by United States District Judge Orelia E. Merchant to 27 months in prison for insider trading conspiracy. Chen was previously employed at an EDGAR filing company and was responsible for reviewing draft securities filings before they were filed on the Securities and Exchange Commission’s EDGAR filing system. Chen misused material non-public information taken from his employer to trade in the securities of 13 publicly traded companies, making at least $2.38 million in profits. In addition to the custodial sentence, Judge Merchant ordered Chen to forfeit $1,828,442.00 in ill-gotten gains and pay $115,437.19 in restitution. A co-defendant, Jun Zhen, pleaded guilty in October 2025 for his role in the insider trading conspiracy and is awaiting sentencing.
Source: United States Department of Justice
Rhondell Williams, 39, a previously convicted felon residing in the District of Columbia, was sentenced today in U.S. District Court to 14 months in prison in connection with his illegal possession of a loaded ghost gun while intoxicated on a residential road in Southeast, announced U.S. Attorney Jeanine Ferris Pirro.
Source: United States Department of Justice
PHOENIX, Ariz. – Andre Anthony Miller, 33, of Parker, Ariz., was sentenced on June 23, by United States District Judge Diane J. Humetewa to 336 months in prison, followed by five years of supervised release. Miller previously pleaded guilty to Second Degree Murder.
Source: United States Department of Justice
SAN DIEGO – Former San Diego County Sheriff’s Deputy Jeremiah Manuyag Flores was sentenced in federal court today to 57 months in prison for violating the civil rights of a pretrial detainee by using excessive force that caused a spinal injury, then lying in a report to cover up his illegal conduct.