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Orlando, Florida – Verlynn Horne has been sentenced by U.S. District Judge Julie S. Sneed to two years and six months in federal prison for wire fraud and willful failure to file tax returns. Horne pleaded guilty on April 7, 2026. As part of her sentence, the court also entered an order of forfeiture in the amount of $2,517,930, the proceeds of the wire fraud scheme and for Horne’s real property located in Winter Garden. U.S. Attorney Gregory W. Kehoe made the announcement.

Today, the Justice Department’s National Fraud Enforcement Division along with the Small Business Administration (SBA) and the SBA Office of Inspector General, as part of a Heartland Fraud Surge announced the results of Operation No Doze, a surge of criminal enforcement actions targeting fraud in SBA’s small business COVID-era loan programs.

Attallah Williams, a former U.S. Small Business Administration and Internal Revenue Service employee, has been sentenced to federal prison for taking bribes to submit and approve more than $3.5 million in fraudulent pandemic relief payments.

BOSTON – The Massachusetts State Representative for the 16th Essex District, representing Lawrence and Methuen, was arrested today and charged with fraudulently obtaining over $700,000 in COVID unemployment insurance benefits and small-business loans, and using the proceeds to buy real estate and loan money to clients of his mortgage business, before he was elected to public office.

BOSTON – The Mayor of Lawrence, Mass., has been indicted by a federal grand jury in Boston. The 11-count indictment, unsealed today, charges the Mayor with allegedly obtaining over $1.5 million in COVID small-business loans. It is alleged that the money was used to fund his campaign account, pay personal taxes and pay more than $880,000 in high-interest, hard-money mortgages on properties he owned in Lawrence.

Jurors deliberated for about an hour before finding Kenneth C. Sparks III guilty of 20 counts.

ANCHORAGE, Alaska - An Anchorage businesswoman was sentenced today to 3.8 years in prison for lying on federal loan applications and stealing identities to fraudulently obtain nearly $1 million in COVID-19 relief funds.

A Bergen County man, who orchestrated a scheme to fraudulently obtain approximately $670,292 in COVID-19 relief funding, was sentenced on August 12, 2026, to 24 months imprisonment.

A jailed South Los Angeles gang leader, music label owner, and purported anti-gang activist awaiting a federal trial was charged today with seven additional federal felonies, including that he solicited two fellow jail inmates to murder or seriously injure a witness against him and attempting to tamper with that witness’s testimony.

PHOENIX, Ariz. – Mohammed Maio, 43, of Phoenix, Arizona, pleaded guilty earlier this month to Conspiracy to Commit Wire and Bank Fraud and Conspiracy to Commit Money Laundering. Mohammed Maio also pleaded guilty in a second matter to Felon in Possession of a Firearm, and Aiding Another in Making a Materially False Statement to Purchase a Firearm.