Source: United States Navy
The U.S. Navy proudly announces Navy Week in Eugene, Oregon, taking place Oct. 25 to Nov. 1, 2025. As part of a nationwide outreach effort, Eugene Navy Week will bring 50-75 Sailors to engage directly with the community through a week-long series of performances, educational events and service projects.
Source: United States Department of Justice Criminal Division
Defendant Allegedly Sought More than $700M in Fraudulent Refunds, Receiving More than $13M from IRS
An indictment was unsealed last week in Los Angeles charging a California man with mail fraud and various tax crimes related to a tax refund fraud scheme.
The following is according to the indictment: from 2016 through 2025, Melvin Louis Hughes, also known as “Melvin Louis Huges” and “Bandele El,” of Los Angeles County, operated a scheme to file false federal tax returns claiming millions of dollars in fraudulent tax refunds. As alleged in the indictment, Hughes submitted fraudulent Forms 1041, U.S. Income Tax Returns for Estates and Trusts, for himself and others, claiming more than $360 million in fraudulent tax refunds based on fictitious federal income tax withholdings. These tax returns allegedly attached Forms 1099, which falsely reported that major banks, online payment platforms, and other legitimate businesses made payments from which substantial amounts of tax had been withheld and paid over to the IRS. In 2024 and 2025, as a further part of the scheme, Hughes allegedly filed false IRS Forms 1040, U.S. Individual Income Tax Returns, which claimed more than $370 million in refunds based on false tax withholdings.
Hughes allegedly received approximately $6.2 million in tax refunds. He allegedly used the funds to purchase a $1.84 million house in Malibu, California, two Tesla automobiles, and approximately $500,000 in cryptocurrency.
Hughes also allegedly promoted this scheme to at least 17 other taxpayers, collecting various fees from them in exchange for his assistance. From at least five taxpayers, Hughes allegedly demanded 10% of the refund they received but instructed that the payment be made to Brother to Brother Outreach Trust, another purported trust he created and falsely characterized as a charitable donation. As alleged, Hughes received approximately $868,704.45 from the taxpayers who had utilized his scheme.
In total, Hughes is alleged to have caused a total tax loss to the IRS of approximately $13 million.
Hughes was charged with mail fraud, making a false claim, filing a false tax return, and assisting in the preparation of false tax returns. If convicted, he faces a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison for mail fraud, a maximum penalty of five years in prison for each count of making false claims for refund, a maximum penalty of three years in prison for each count of filing false tax returns, and a maximum penalty of three years in prison for each count of aiding and assisting in the preparation and presentation of false tax returns. A federal district court judge will determine any sentence after considering the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.
IRS Criminal Investigation is investigating the case.
Trial Attorneys Patrick Burns and Mahana Weidler of the Tax Division are prosecuting the case.
An indictment is merely an allegation. All defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.
Source: United States Department of Defense
Acting Assistant Secretary of Defense for Indo-Pacific Security Affairs Jedidiah P. Royal and State Department Senior Bureau Official for the Bureau of South and Central Asian Affairs Bethany P. Morrison co-chaired the virtual U.S.-India 2+2 Intersessional Dialogue.
Source: United States Department of Defense
As Russia and China seek to expand their influence in space, Space Force Gen. Stephen Whiting, commander of U.S. Space Command, urged greater international cooperation to safeguard the domain at the South American Defense Conference in Buenos Aires, Argentina.
Source: United States Department of Defense
Army Staff Sgt. Zachary Graham, a member of the South Carolina National Guard assigned to the D.C. Safe and Beautiful Task Force, Joint Task Force District of Columbia, helped a man that had been struck by a train and thrown across a Washington Metro station platform.
Source: United States Department of Justice Criminal Division
Good afternoon. My name is Matthew Galeotti, and I am the Acting Assistant Attorney General of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division, and a former Assistant United States Attorney here in the Eastern District of New York.
Today marks another milestone in the Department of Justice’s relentless efforts towards the total elimination of cartels. One of the most notorious narco-terrorists of all-time, Ismael ‘El Mayo’ Zambada, was convicted in a U. S. courtroom, having confessed to more than three decades of crime in service to the ruthless Sinaloa Cartel that he co-founded.
For decades, the Sinaloa Cartel – under El Mayo’s leadership – made billions of dollars by importing dangerous drugs to the United States – intensifying the drug epidemic in our communities by flooding our streets with cocaine, heroin, and deadly fentanyl.
Today, El Mayo admitted to crimes of a staggering scope, including leading a sprawling criminal enterprise that distributed more than 1. 5 million kilograms of cocaine, in addition to the various other drugs he sent over our border, made corrupt payments in order to operate with impunity, and protected Sinaloa’s operations by ordering acts of extreme violence, leaving a trail of human suffering, including innocent victims who became collateral damage. Pursuant to his guilty plea, El Mayo will spend the rest of his life in prison and forfeit $15 billion to the United States.
Results like this are not possible without the prosecutors and agents who have done an extraordinary job building the case, piece-by-piece, and following it through to completion.
This is another significant result, under Attorney General Bondi’s leadership, in the Department’s unparalleled drive to eliminate cartels. As part of that effort, we have seen:
More than 50 high-ranking cartel leaders expelled to face justice in American courtrooms — collectively, one of the greatest takedowns in history by U. S. law enforcement.
The leaders of foreign terrorist organizations, such as the United Cartels, have been indicted.
Leaders of the CJNG cartel have been convicted, and others have been charged with new crimes, including material support to terrorism.
Today’s guilty plea is a credit to the collaboration between the Criminal Division’s Narcotic and Dangerous Drug Section, the U. S. Attorney’s Offices for the Eastern District of New York, the Southern District of Florida, and the Western District of Texas, and our law enforcement partners, among others around the country. In particular, I’d like to recognize Trial Attorneys Jayce Born and Kirk Handrich as well as Supervisory Paralegal Angela Jimenéz, from the Criminal Division’s Narcotics and Dangerous Drug Section, for their exceptional work on this case.
The Attorney General has made clear that the Department’s goal is eradicating the harms caused by cartels from American communities. And the Department is quickly making historic progress towards achieving just that.
Thank you.
Source: United States Department of Justice Criminal Division
Ismael Zambada Garcia also known as El Mayo, 75, of Sinaloa, Mexico, pleaded guilty today to being a principal leader of a continuing criminal enterprise — the Sinaloa Cartel (the Cartel), one of the most violent and powerful drug trafficking organizations in the world — in addition to a Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) charge.
“This foreign terrorist committed horrific crimes against the American people — he will now pay for those crimes by spending the rest of his life behind bars in an American prison,” said Attorney General Pamela Bondi. “Today marks a crucial victory in President Trump’s ongoing fight to completely eliminate foreign terrorist organizations and protect American citizens from deadly drugs and violence.”
“Today’s plea is a proud moment for the FBI and its partners as the founders of a notoriously violent drug trafficking organization, one that engages in an array of illegal activity including murder and corruption, face the consequences of their actions,” said FBI Director Kash Patel. “Our work does not end here. We will continue to relentlessly leverage everything at our disposal in our efforts to thwart the Sinaloa Cartel and put an end to their drug trafficking operations and the carnage that goes along with it.”
“Ismael ‘El Mayo’ Zambada led one of the world’s deadliest cartels, pumping fentanyl, cocaine, heroin, and meth into our communities,” said Administrator Terrance Cole of the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA). “His guilty plea proves no cartel boss is beyond the reach of justice. By taking him down, we are protecting American families and cutting off a pipeline of poison. DEA and our partners will not stop until every cartel network is dismantled.”
“After years of painstaking work, Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) New York secured a superseding indictment last year charging Ismael Zambada with fentanyl trafficking,” said Acting Immigration and Customs Enforcement Director Todd M. Lyons. “Now, one of the world’s most prolific and dangerous drug traffickers is going to face justice for the lives he’s stolen and the illicit profits he’s raked in. This is more than a win for HSI. It’s a win for the American people.”
“For decades, under El Mayo’s leadership, the Sinaloa Cartel made billions of dollars by importing poisonous drugs to the United States, flooding our streets with cocaine, heroin, and fentanyl,” said Acting Assistant Attorney General Matthew R. Galeotti of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division. “El Mayo’s conviction is the latest milestone in the Department’s historic efforts to eliminate the harms wrought by cartels and bring their leaders to justice in American courtrooms. The Criminal Division and our partners will continue our relentless pursuit of these notorious criminal organizations to ensure that they are held accountable and to make our communities safer.”
“With today’s guilty pleas, ‘El Mayo’ Zambada Garcia and “El Chapo” Guzman, the two co-founders of the Sinaloa Cartel — one of the largest, most violent and most destructive cartels in history — will live out the rest of their days in U.S. federal prison cells without the possibility of parole,” said U.S. Attorney Joseph Nocella for the Eastern District of New York (EDNY). “Zambada Garcia has now been held accountable for the tons of illegal narcotics, including cocaine and fentanyl, that he and his organization trafficked for decades, and the murders and other acts of violence committed in furtherance of that enterprise. Today’s guilty plea was possible because of the work of law enforcement personnel in the United States, Mexico and elsewhere. We hope that their hard work and the pleas can provide a measure of solace to the countless victims of Zambada Garcia’s narcotics trafficking and violence and their families.”
“After years of evading justice, Zambada Garcia has been brought to account,” said U.S. Attorney Jason A. Reding Quiñones for the Southern District of Florida (SDFL). “With his conviction, his reign of violence and terror is over. He will never again direct a cartel that fueled addiction, spread violence, and tore apart families and communities on both sides of our border. This outcome was made possible by the tireless work of our law enforcement partners in the United States and abroad, whose courage and persistence dismantled the Sinaloa Cartel’s operations and delivered long-overdue justice to its victims.”
“For decades, the Western District of Texas has been on the front lines in the fight against the Sinaloa Cartel,” said U.S. Attorney Justin R. Simmons for the Western District of Texas. “Under Zambada Garcia’s leadership, the Sinaloa Cartel produced and trafficked thousands of kilograms of narcotics through our border, effectively infiltrating every city in our country, leading to thousands of deaths in our communities, imprisoning millions within the grey walls of addiction, and enriching himself in the process. Under Zambada Garcia’s leadership, the Sinaloa Cartel engaged in a years-long war with the Juarez Cartel, a war which directly affected not just the citizens of Juarez, Mexico, but also the citizens of El Paso, Texas, with multiple residents, including at least one U.S. citizen, being kidnapped, tortured, and killed by Sinaloa Cartel members. Now, like his co-conspirator El Chapo Guzman, Zambada Garcia will pay the price for a life of lawlessness, and using the ‘whole of government’ approach employed in this case, we will continue to systematically eradicate Mexican drug cartels and bring others to justice who enrich themselves to the detriment of Americans.”
Zambada Garcia was previously charged by indictments filed in the Eastern District of New York (EDNY), the Western District of Texas (WDTX), the District of Columbia, the Northern District of Illinois, the Southern District of California, and the Central District of California.
Today’s plea is the result of a joint prosecution by the U.S. Attorney’s Offices in Brooklyn and Miami and the Narcotic and Dangerous Drug Section of the Criminal Division (NDDS).
Pursuant to a plea agreement, Zambada Garcia agreed to the transfer of the WDTX indictment for plea and sentencing in the Eastern District of New York. Zambada Garcia is thus being held accountable in the Eastern District of New York for the criminal conduct in both indictments. The remaining indictments will be dismissed at the time of sentencing.
The EDNY/SDFL/NDDS indictment charged Zambada Garcia with, among other things, being a principal leader of a continuing criminal enterprise from January 1989 through January 2024. The WDTX Indictment charged Zambada Garcia with, among other things, RICO conspiracy for his participation in money laundering, murder and drug conspiracies, and violations of state law for murder and kidnapping for conduct between Jan. 1, 2000, and April 11, 2012.
Zambada Garcia’s rise to power began with the Cartel’s inception and ended with his arrest in July 2024. Previously known as the Mexican Federation, the Cartel is a drug trafficking organization based in Sinaloa, Mexico, that since approximately the late 1980s has imported lethal quantities of narcotics — including, among others, cocaine, heroin, methamphetamine, and fentanyl — into the United States and laundered billions of dollars in drug proceeds back to Mexico.
The Cartel’s operations initially focused on cocaine distribution based on cooperative arrangements and close coordination with South American sources of supply and distribution networks. This changed in the 2000s when the Colombians, seeing increased law enforcement activity, started to abandon their U.S. distribution businesses in favor of permitting Mexican traffickers to invest in cocaine shipments at wholesale prices, which those Mexican traffickers would then distribute in the United States. As a result, Mexican traffickers and the Cartel began to take a more integral role in moving cocaine from Colombia into and throughout the United States. Under Zambada Garcia’s leadership, the Cartel also recently branched out into the production and trafficking of fentanyl, including by purchasing fentanyl precursor chemicals from Chinese companies and producing many thousands of kilograms of fentanyl in laboratories both in rural areas and major cities in Mexico for distribution in the United States.
The Cartel’s distribution networks also have supported money laundering efforts that have delivered billions of dollars in illegal profits generated from drug sales in the United States back to the Cartel. Increased profits allowed the Cartel’s operations to grow a large-scale narcotics transportation network involving the use of land, air, and sea transportation assets, which eventually led to the Cartel shipping multi-ton quantities of cocaine from South America, through Central America and Mexico, and finally into the United States.
Zambada Garcia has devoted his efforts over decades to growing, increasing, and enhancing the power of the Cartel, and to growing his individual power and position in the Cartel after his partner El Chapo was captured in 2016. Under Zambada Garcia’s leadership, the Cartel regularly used brutal violence, intimidation, and murder to silence potential witnesses and dissuade law enforcement from performing its duties. Zambada Garcia has operated with impunity at the highest levels of the Mexican drug trafficking world while being assured of his continued success and safety from arrest through his payment of bribes to Mexican government officials and law enforcement officers. He controlled those corrupt officials and officers who protected his workers and drug shipments as his drugs were transported across Mexico and into the United States. Numerous witnesses have testified, including at the trials of El Chapo and corrupt former Mexican Secretary of Public Security Genaro García Luna, that corruption at all levels was necessary to allow the Zambada Garcia’s criminal enterprise to function so effectively at such a large scale: from local police officers who escorted the drugs through Mexico, to corrupt officials who informed the Cartel of military actions, thwarted capture operations, and consulted with the Cartel about proceedings and investigations against it.
Zambada Garcia’s sentencing is set for Jan. 13, 2026. Zambada Garcia will face a mandatory minimum term of life in prison for leading a continuing criminal enterprise, and a maximum sentence of life in prison on the RICO count. As part of the plea agreement, Zambada Garcia also agreed to the entry at sentencing of a $15 billion forfeiture money judgment.
FBI, HSI, and DEA investigated the case.
Trial Attorneys Jayce Born and Kirk Handrich are leading the prosecution for the Criminal Division’s Narcotic and Dangerous Drug Section, along with the Eastern District of New York’s International Narcotics and Money Laundering Section as part of the work of EDNY’s Transnational Criminal Organizations Strike Force and the Southern District of Florida’s International Narcotics and Money Laundering Section. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Francisco J. Navarro, Robert M. Pollack, Adam Amir, Lauren A. Bowman, and Rebecca M. Urquiola are leading the prosecution for the Eastern District of New York. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Andrea Goldbarg and Monique Botero are leading the prosecution for the Southern District of Florida. The U.S. Attorneys’ Offices for the Northern District of Illinois, Central District of California, and Southern District of California provided substantial assistance. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Antonio Franco and Kyle Myers are leading the prosecution for the Western District of Texas.
This case is part of Operation Take Back America, a nationwide initiative that marshals the full resources of the Department of Justice to repel the invasion of illegal immigration, achieve the total elimination of cartels and transnational criminal organizations (TCOs), and protect our communities from the perpetrators of violent crime. Operation Take Back America streamlines efforts and resources from the Department’s Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces (OCDETFs) and Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN).
Source: United States Navy
CLEVELAND BAY, Australia – The Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer USS Higgins (DDG 76) simulated an expeditionary reload of a Standard Missile (SM) 2 while anchored in the vicinity of Townsville, Australia, July 28.
Source: United States Department of Justice Criminal Division
A former Maui Police Department officer pleaded guilty Friday to one count of using unreasonable force against an arrestee. According to the plea agreement, on Jan. 6, 2024, Carlos Frate, 40, repeatedly tased the arrestee, even though the arrestee was not resisting or posing any threat. Frate admitted that he knew that his force was unjustified, but he nonetheless continued to tase the arrestee despite the arrestee’s pleas for him to stop.
“Officers who abuse their position of authority to inflict excessive force must be held accountable,” said Assistant Attorney General Harmeet K. Dhillon of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division. “The Civil Rights Division will continue to work with our law enforcement partners to investigate — and where appropriate, prosecute — alleged police misconduct.”
“Our police officers are entrusted to protect our citizens and perform their duties professionally, and it is the norm here in Hawaii that our law enforcement officers faithfully serve and protect us. In those rare instances where an officer abuses the public trust by using excessive force, that officer will be held accountable and prosecuted,” said Acting U.S. Attorney Ken Sorenson for the District of Hawaii. “This Office will continue to safeguard the constitutional rights of all of Hawaii’s citizens, including individuals under arrest.”
“We entrust our law enforcement officers with vast power and authority, and when they abuse it, they’re not just depriving victims of their civil rights, but they are also degrading the public’s trust in our criminal justice system,” said Special Agent in Charge David Porter of the FBI Honolulu Field Office. “The FBI will continue to investigate and hold accountable anyone who violates federal law, regardless of their position.”
Frate faces a maximum penalty of ten years in prison. His final sentence will be determined at a hearing scheduled for Jan. 6, 2026 by U.S. District Judge Micah W. J. Smith based on the advisory sentencing guidelines and other statutory factors.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation is investigating the case based on a referral from the Maui Police Department. The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Michael F. Albanese for the District of Hawaii and Trial Attorney Julia White of the Civil Rights Division’s Criminal Section.
Source: United States Department of Justice Criminal Division
Today, the Office of Information Policy (OIP) announces new dates for FOIA training during for the first half of Fiscal Year 2026. As part of its responsibility to encourage agency compliance with the FOIA, OIP offers numerous training opportunities throughout the year for agency FOIA professionals and individuals with FOIA responsibilities.
These courses are designed to offer training opportunities for personnel from all stages of the FOIA workforce, from new hires to the experienced FOIA professionals or FOIA managers. OIP will continue to offer virtual training sessions that will be taught in real-time by OIP instructors. We will announce more training opportunities for the spring and summer at a later date. As Fiscal Year 2026 quickly approaches, we are excited to announce our upcoming virtual training courses. You can find these courses listed on OIP’s Training page.
The courses and dates scheduled so far for Fiscal Year 2026 are:
Virtual Annual FOIA Report Refresher and Quarterly Report Training
October 7, 2025
Virtual Chief FOIA Officer Report Refresher Training
October 15, 2025
Virtual Introduction to the Freedom of Information Act
November 5, 2025
Virtual Litigation Seminar
November 12, 2025
Virtual Procedural Requirements and Fees Training
December 2, 2025
Virtual Exemption 1 and Exemption 7 Training
December 10, 2025
Virtual Exemption 4 and Exemption 5 Training
January 13, 2026
Virtual Privacy Considerations Training
January 21, 2026
Virtual Administrative Appeals, FOIA Compliance, and Customer Service Training
January 28, 2026
Virtual Advanced Freedom of Information Act Training
February 4, 2026
Training courses are open to all federal government employees. Descriptions of each course can be found on the Training page of OIP’s site. Registration links are available for each course on the Key Dates page. OIP manages all training registration through WebEx. Please register by providing your name and email address at the WebEx link for the desired course. Each attendee must register separately using their own government email address. Once you are registered, you will be sent a confirmation email from WebEx. Please note that these training sessions are open to government personnel and contractors only.
For questions or more information regarding any of OIP’s training opportunities, please contact OIP’s Training Coordinator at DOJ.OIP.FOIA@usdoj.gov.