Reports

BOSTON – The owner of a Sudbury accounting firm and a real estate company has been charged and has agreed to plead guilty to paying an executive more than $1.6 million in compensation and fringe benefits under the table, and to making a fraudulent application for more than $179,000 in pandemic relief, through a multi-year scheme.

BOSTON – A Los Angeles man who formerly resided in Randolph, Mass. was sentenced on Oct. 1, 2025 in federal court in Boston for submitting fraudulent Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loan applications on behalf of multiple companies he owns and controls.

Despite the recent government shutdown, federal courts across the nation utilized various resources to guarantee the continuity of justice and continued to operate on essential cases, including criminal prosecutions, immigration hearings, and civil rights violations.

Fort Myers, Florida – U.S. District Judge Sheri Polster Chappell has sentenced Jacinto Luna (54, Immokalee) and Marcelino DeLeon (45, Felda) each to 24 months in federal prison, followed by 2 years of supervised release, after they both pleaded guilty to conspiring to commit wire fraud and engaging in illegal monetary transactions in connection with the Coronavirus Food Assistance Program.

KAREN GASTON, 45, of East Granby, was sentenced today by U.S. District Judge Sarah F. Russell in New Haven to three years of probation for defrauding COVID-19 pandemic relief programs of more than $1.1 million. During her probation, Gaston was ordered to serve four weekends of incarceration, 10 months in home detention, and 500 hours of community service.

ATLANTA - Former mail carrier Vershun Weaver has pleaded guilty to stealing U.S. Government treasury checks from recipients on his U.S. Postal Service mail route and fraudulently obtaining a pandemic-era Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loan.

A Seaside, Oregon, woman pleaded guilty today to stealing more than $567,000 in pandemic unemployment benefits from the Oregon Employment Department (OED).

A 13-count indictment has now been unsealed alleging a scheme to defraud the Small Business Administration and Paycheck Protection Program-affiliated lenders during the COVID-19 pandemic

Baltimore, Maryland – Duane Watts, 46, and Donna Jones, 59, both of Baltimore, pled guilty to Conspiracy to Commit Wire Fraud and Aggravated Identity Theft in connection with an unemployment insurance (UI) fraud scheme. Watts and Jones, along with their co-conspirators, used the UI benefits, which were designated to assist unemployed or underemployed persons due to the COVID-19 national emergency, for their own personal enrichment.