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Source: United States Department of Justice Criminal Division

Today, the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division sought intervention in a lawsuit against the David Geffen School of Medicine at the University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA) over the school’s continued use of race in its admissions policies and practices. The underlying lawsuit against UCLA was brought by several groups, including Students for Fair Admissions (SFFA). In 2023, SFFA won a historic victory against Harvard University and the University of North Carolina, in which the Supreme Court determined that U.S. universities were no longer allowed to use race as a factor in admissions decisions. SFFA, and now the United States, allege in this lawsuit that UCLA has continued to use race in its admissions decisions after the Supreme Court’s decision in SFFA v. Harvard.

“As the Supreme Court has made clear, admission into our nation’s educational institutions cannot be based on discriminatory racial policies,” said Attorney General Pamela Bondi. “Today’s intervention is the Department of Justice’s latest effort to hold our universities accountable for unlawful policy — especially in the state of California.”

“Even after the Supreme Court banned race-balancing, the Geffen School kept discriminating by using illegal DEI preferences in admissions,” said Assistant Attorney General Harmeet K. Dhillon of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division. “As the Supreme Court stated more than 80 years ago, a free people, founded on the doctrine of equality, regard distinctions between citizens solely because of their ancestry as inherently odious. This Civil Rights Division will not tolerate such conduct and welcomes the Court’s role in ensuring justice.”

“The law is clear: Discrimination on the basis of race is illegal and immoral,” said First Assistant U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli for the Central District of California. “As a state where so many of its leaders pride themselves on being on the ‘right side of history,’ California can and must do better.”

The lawsuit, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California, notes that the Geffen School gathers data on the race of its applicants, and uses racial preferences to illegally balance its admissions classes by race such that they will “look like” America.

The United States’ complaint notes that, based on admissions data obtained from the Geffen School, large disparities exist between the academic preparation of minority applicants and non-minority applicants. This invidious racism not only violates the U.S. Constitution, but stigmatizes minority applicants as less qualified, and causes the medical school to admit applicants who are substantially less qualified to become medical doctors.

This case is brought by the Educational Opportunities Section of the Department of Justice’s Civil Rights Division.

You can view the complaint here.

Source: United States Department of Justice Criminal Division

United States Attorney Ron Parsons announced that a jury has convicted Joseph Lafferty, age 68, of Eagle Butte, South Dakota, of one count of Threatening a Federal Official following a 3-day jury trial in federal district court in Pierre, South Dakota.  The verdict was returned on January 23, 2026.

Source: United States Department of Justice Criminal Division

The Justice Department announced today the successful completion of reforms required under an agreement with the Arizona statewide prison system, the Arizona Department of Corrections, Rehabilitation, and Reentry (ADCRR). The Department concluded its Nov. 16, 2023 agreement with ADCRR, which resolved the Justice Department’s findings that ADCRR violated Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) by discriminating against incarcerated individuals with vision disabilities, including those who are blind or have low vision.

“The Civil Rights Division continues its commitment to upholding the Americans with Disabilities Act,” said Assistant Attorney General Harmeet K. Dhillon of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division. “We commend ADCRR for its work to protect the ADA rights of people with disabilities, including those who are blind or have other vision disabilities, incarcerated in state facilities.”

Under the agreement, ADCRR implemented a series of reforms, including revising policies and practices, training personnel, providing necessary modifications, aids, and services, and providing assistive technology to people with vision disabilities in ADCRR custody. ADCRR also implemented screening and documentation procedures and appointed ADA coordinators to facilitate implementation of the agreement across the state.

The Justice Department plays a central role in advancing the ADA’s goals of equal opportunity, and full participation for people with disabilities, including people who are incarcerated. For more information on the Civil Rights Division, please visit www.justice.gov/crt. For more information on the ADA, please call the department’s toll-free ADA Information Line at 1-800-514-0301 (TTY 1-833-610-1264) or visit www.ADA.gov.

Source: United States Department of Justice Criminal Division

In Fiscal Year 2025, the Affirmative Civil Enforcement Unit (ACE Unit) of the United States Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of West Virginia (USAO NDWV) reached a major milestone by recovering over a quarter of a billion dollars in False Claims Act (FCA) and Controlled Substances Act (CSA) damages and civil penalties since the unit formed and actively began tracking this data in 2003.

Source: United States Department of Justice Criminal Division

SALIM SAKAL, 55, of Brooklyn, New York, waived his right to be indicted and pleaded guilty yesterday before U.S. District Judge Kari A. Dooley in Bridgeport to an offense related to his buying and selling jewelry stolen from mall-based stores and kiosks across the country.

Source: United States Department of Justice Criminal Division

Tampa, Florida – Joshua Allen (34, Houston, TX) has been sentenced by U.S. District Judge Thomas Barber to 15 years in federal prison, followed by 15 years of supervised release, for two counts of enticing or coercing a minor to engage in illegal sexual activity. The court also ordered Allen to forfeit a cellular phone, which was used in the commission of the offense, and to register as a sex offender. Allen pleaded guilty in August 2025. 

Source: United States Department of Justice Criminal Division

Tampa, Florida – Temeko Evans (47, Brandon) has been sentenced by U.S. District Judge Thomas P. Barber to four years in federal prison for conspiracy to distribute and the distribution of cocaine and 50 grams or more of methamphetamine. Evans pleaded guilty on October 2, 2025. 

Source: United States Department of Justice Criminal Division

Four Columbus, Georgia, men have now been sentenced for their roles in a drug trafficking organization centered in Columbus. The prosecution stemmed from Operation Sweet Silence, a multi-agency investigation into drug trafficking in the Columbus area.

The defendants were sentenced as follows:

Undrae Hayes, also known as Skizite, 38, was sentenced to 96 months’ imprisonment after pleading guilty to possession with intent to distribute methamphetamine;

Malik Williams, also known as YSN Bird, 27, was sentenced to 51 months’ imprisonment after pleading guilty to possession with intent to distribute cocaine;

Dahvontay Richardson, 28, was sentenced to 33 months’ imprisonment after pleading guilty to conspiracy to distribute marijuana and cocaine; and

Jeffrey Kimbrough, 29, also known as YSN Trap, was sentenced to three years’ probation after pleading guilty to conspiracy to distribute marijuana.

The investigation into these defendants and their drug dealing included court authorized wiretaps on co-defendant Fernando Brown’s cellular telephone, physical surveillance and other investigative techniques.

According to filed court documents:

On April 14, 2023, law enforcement conducted physical surveillance at 2403 Garden Drive, Columbus, Georgia. This address had been previously identified, through both physical and pole camera surveillance, as a location from which co-defendant Fernando Brown distributed narcotics. At approximately 10:00pm, Agents observed a silver Honda sedan arrive at the location. The passenger of the vehicle entered the residence, returned to the vehicle several minutes later with an unknown object/bag in his hand, and left. The Muscogee County Sheriff’s Office (MCSO) conducted a traffic stop of the silver Honda sedan and the passenger, later identified as Hayes, exited the car and fled on foot. Officers witnessed Hayes carrying a small backpack in his hands which he discarded. He was apprehended a short time later and the bag was retrieved. A search of the bag revealed eight clear plastic baggies containing 208.863 grams of methamphetamine, one clear plastic baggie containing nine grams of a brownish powder substance suspected to be heroin, a digital scale, and a box of plastic baggies.

On June 2, 2023, Fernando Brown contacted Williams about conducting a drug transaction in the parking lot of Pyramid Food Mart in Columbus. Brown informed Williams he was “dry” and needed some product for his “play” at Pyramid. The FBI set up surveillance and observed Brown meeting with an individual who matched the physical description of Williams. Brown was observed interacting with the driver of a pick-up truck parked next to his vehicle and briefly appeared to place something into the pick­up truck.

Following the transaction, law enforcement attempted a traffic stop on Williams’ car, from which Williams fled. Intercepted calls captured Williams speaking with Brown during the pursuit with Williams repeatedly asking Brown for his location and saying that he was traveling towards Brown. Williams’ Toyota Camry was found abandoned. Agents searched the Camry and located about 2,992 grams of marijuana divided into 13 plastic bags, along with cocaine.

Additionally, based on intercepted calls during a court authorized Title III wiretap on co-conspirator Fernando Brown’s phone, agents with the FBI and DEA determined Richardson distributed cocaine and marijuana on behalf of Brown. On May 24, 2023, intercepted calls showed Richardson sold an ounce of cocaine to a customer at a Dollar Tree in Columbus, Georgia at the behest of co-conspirator Brown.

Calls were also intercepted between co-defendant Fernando Brown and Kimbrough facilitating the distribution of narcotics. On June 11, 2023, FBI and DEA intercepted calls where Kimbrough and Brown were discussing “zips.”

On that same date, Brown advised Kimbrough to “grab that mambo serve them a cutie out of the mambo go in the closet in the bathroom.” Agents believed “mambo” was in reference to marijuana and “cutie” typically denotes a quarter pound of drugs.

The case was investigated by the FBI, the DEA, and the Muscogee County Sheriff’s Office, with critical assistance from the Harris County Sheriff’s Office; the Russell County, Alabama Sheriff’s Office; the Coweta County Sheriff’s Office; the Sacramento, California Sheriff’s Office; and the Muscogee County District Attorney’s Office.

Trial Attorney Matthew Mattis of the Criminal Division’s Violent Crime and Racketeering Section and Assistant U.S. Attorney Veronica Hansis for the Middle District of Georgia are prosecuting the case.