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Source: United States Department of Justice Criminal Division

A Florida man was sentenced today to 55 months in prison and three years of supervised release for possessing approximately 450 fraudulent, stolen or counterfeit access devices, which included others’ credit card numbers, social security numbers, and means to gain access to bank accounts.

Mckenzie Levar Monestine, 33, of Miami, pleaded guilty in December 2025 to one count of possessing 15 or more unauthorized access devices and one count of aggravated identity theft. Monestine pleaded guilty to these charges based on conduct stemming from a 2020 FBI investigation.

According to court documents, on or about June 22, 2020, law enforcement agents executed a search warrant at Monestine’s home. That search uncovered a trove of fraud evidence inside Monestine’s padlocked room, including mechanisms to access the banking information of other people, such as personally identifying information (PII), social security numbers, account passwords, driver’s license numbers, phone numbers, bank account numbers, credit card numbers, debit card numbers, and dates of birth belonging to other persons. Because much of the fraudulent activity was committed online and using social media and email, the evidence of how Monestine committed the fraud was found on numerous electronic devices, such as cellphones and a Macbook laptop. Monestine kept information consisting of the PII in various forms and locations on his devices including in a spreadsheet containing approximately 450 access devices and in notes maintained on his MacBook Pro. Monestine exchanged numerous text messages on his phone that contained PII as well, including logins for banking information, pin numbers for credit and debit cards, and data used to access other people’s bank accounts.

In addition, the search uncovered physical evidence of fraud, including over $11,000 in U.S. currency; a large number of credit, debit, and gift cards, in the names of other people; fake identification cards; Western Union money orders; a credit card re-encoder that the information encoded in a credit card’s chip or magnetic strip and mail in other people’s names.

The estimated loss to victims in this case is between $250,000 and $550,000.

Assistant Attorney General A. Tysen Duva of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division; U.S. Attorney Jason A. Reding Quiñones for the Southern District of Florida; and Special Agent in Charge Brett D. Skiles of FBI Miami Field Office made the announcement.

The FBI Miami Field office investigated the case.

Trial Attorneys Jinah Chang and Jennifer E. Burns of the Criminal Division’s Violent Crime and Racketeering Section and Assistant U.S. Attorney Lindsey Maultasch for the Southern District of Florida prosecuted the case.

Source: United States Department of Justice Criminal Division

Ovid Gabriel, 21, was indicted this week on charges related to the stabbing of a D.C. Jail corrections officer on August 3, 2025, and threats against a separate corrections officer on August 11, 2025, announced U.S. Attorney Jeanine Ferris Pirro.

Source: United States Department of Justice Criminal Division

COLUMBIA, S.C. — Scott Robert Tardy, 32, of Seymour, Connecticut, has been sentenced to 80 months in federal prison for cyberstalking, providing false statements to the FBI, and obstruction of justice in a scheme that targeted a South Carolina FBI agent and his family.

Source: United States Department of Justice Criminal Division

Today, the Justice Department and the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) filed a statement of interest in Collision Communications Inc. v. Samsung Electronics Co., et al. in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas. The statement reaffirms the importance of preserving incentives to innovate, which are key to growth and dynamic competition in the U.S. economy and fundamental to the U.S. patent system.

“Innovation is core to dynamic competition, and vigorous competition is central to the success of the American economy. Policies that preserve incentives to innovate are therefore vital to safeguarding competition,” said Deputy Assistant Attorney General Dina Kallay of the Justice Department’s Antitrust Division. “We are pleased to partner with our USPTO colleagues to address these critical issues and support innovators, both big and small.”

“The USPTO again joined the Justice Department in filing a statement of interest because a thorough evaluation as to whether a patent owner is entitled to injunctive relief is foundational to the exclusionary right a patent confers,” said John A. Squires, Under Secretary of Commerce for Intellectual Property and Director of the United States Patent and Trademark Office. “Injunctions prevent ongoing and irreparable harm to innovators and the innovation economy, and ensure that legal remedies can stop unlawfully copied inventions from continuing to harm innovators.”

Today’s statement of interest explains that unduly limiting patentees’ ability to seek injunctive relief to block patent infringement undermines the incentive to innovate. A patentee’s right to exclude is grounded in the U.S. Constitution. Non-practicing patentees should not be categorically denied the opportunity for injunctive relief and, under certain circumstances, such patentees can demonstrate irreparable harm and the inadequacy of monetary damages to compensate for the harm of continuing infringement. The statement was filed in support of neither party and does not take a position on the merits or the ultimate outcome of the questions at issue in the case.

The Antitrust Division routinely files statements of interest and amicus briefs in federal court. These statements are available on the Division’s website.