Search

U.S. Attorney Michael DiGiacomo announced today that Roberto Soliman, 43, of Niagara Falls, NY, pleaded guilty before Judge Meredith A. Vacca to conspiracy to commit wire fraud and bank fraud, which carry a maximum penalty of 30 years in prison and a $1,000,000 fine.

Following a weeklong trial, Carl Delano Torjagbo, a/k/a Karl Lucius Delano, was convicted by a federal jury of bank fraud, wire fraud, and money laundering after obtaining a fraudulent $9.6 million Paycheck Protection Program (“PPP”) loan and filing fraudulent tax returns that generated a $3.4 million IRS refund.

The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Oregon announced today that more than $2.5 million was collected from a real estate developer and part-time resident of Vancouver, Washington, for fraudulently obtained Covid-relief program funds.

U.S. Attorney Michael DiGiacomo announced today Hormoz Mansouri, 71, of Amherst, NY, who was convicted of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and bank fraud, and bank fraud, was sentenced to time served and five years’ supervised release, to include one year of home detention. He was also ordered to pay restitution totaling $3,197,562 and to forfeit $1,888,603.

SHARHABEEL SHREITEH, an accountant in Palos Hills, Ill., and TRACY MITCHELL, the owner of a business in Joliet, Ill., allegedly engaged in fraud related to the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP).

Irvin Coats and Pamela S. Hubbard fraudulently submitted applications that resulted in three loans.

As part of a coordinated nationwide effort to fight COVID-19 fraud, the Southern District of Georgia has taken action against individuals who illegally obtained nearly $11 million in funds intended to help struggling small businesses during the global pandemic.

BOSTON – A former North Shore resident was sentenced today in connection with filing fraudulent applications for more than $660,000 in Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loan funds and using those funds for personal expenses, including the purchase of an alpaca farm in Vermont.

A Freeman man had his initial appearance today on charges of wire fraud, filing a false tax return, tax evasion, and making false statements to a financial institution.

NEWARK, N.J. B A New York man was arrested this morning on charges he fraudulently obtained more than $1 million in a COVID-19 scheme.

A federal grand jury returned an indictment charging Reginald Davis, age 40, of Baltimore, Maryland, for wire fraud and money laundering relating to the submission of fraudulent COVID-19 CARES Act loan applications. Davis is the former Chief Executive Officer of Strong City Baltimore (“SCB”), established in Maryland in 2015 as a non-profit organization serving individuals, community associations, institutions, and businesses in Baltimore. The indictment was returned on August 3, 2023, and unsealed today upon the arrest of the defendant.

NEWARK, NJ. – Two New York men today admitted their roles in a fentanyl distribution conspiracy, and one of the men also admitted conspiring with seven separately charged individuals to defraud multiple states to obtain COVID-19 unemployment benefits.

FLORENCE, SOUTH CAROLINA —Troy Benjamin Bittner, 54, of Myrtle Beach, has pleaded guilty in federal court to wire fraud and filing a false tax return.

SAN DIEGO – Constantin Sandu of Romania pleaded guilty in federal court today, admitting that he masterminded a scheme to steal more than $5 million in California unemployment insurance benefits intended to help workers impacted by the pandemic.

MIAMI – Samuel Harris, 43, who was a police officer with the Miami-Dade Police Department (“MDPD”), has pleaded guilty to wire fraud in connection with his fraudulent applications

Salt Lake City, Utah – A federal jury convicted a Salt Lake County woman Thursday of two counts of making false statements designed to influence a bank, one count of money laundering, and one count of contempt.

Damian Williams, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, announced that KONRAD BICHER pled guilty today to wire fraud in connection with his fraudulent operation of real estate companies, including by entering lease agreements for residential apartment units in Manhattan on false and fraudulent pretenses and by making false statements to obtain loans guaranteed by the United States government.

The Department of Justice today announced criminal charges against 18 defendants in nine federal districts across the United States for their alleged participation in various fraud schemes involving health care services that exploited the COVID-19 pandemic and allegedly resulted in over $490 million in COVID-19 related false billings to federal programs and theft from federally funded pandemic programs.