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Illegal Alien Sentenced in Multi-State Racketeering Conspiracy Involving the Forced Labor of Mexican Workers

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Administrator
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Four Co-Defendants Were Previously Sentenced for Their Roles in Compelling the Labor of H-2A Visa Recipients Throughout the Southeastern United States

Department of Justice (DOJ) – An illegal alien was sentenced today to 70 months in prison and three years of supervised release for his role in a federal racketeering conspiracy that relied on fraudulent submissions to immigration authorities and used fraud and coercion to victimize Mexican H-2A workers who, between 2015 and 2017, had worked in the United States harvesting fruits, vegetables, and other agricultural products. The defendant was also ordered to pay restitution to the victims.

“The defendant fraudulently used the H-2A visa program to recruit and exploit vulnerable victims for his financial gain,” said Assistant Attorney General A. Tysen Duva of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division. “This case reflects the Department’s commitment to protect the integrity of our nation’s immigration system and hold those accountable who, after engaging in visa fraud, then use deception and coercion to abuse and exploit foreign workers. We will continue to investigate and prosecute those who benefit from human trafficking here and abroad and will continue to place a high priority on those who use fraudulent submissions to immigration authorities to enable them to secure their victims’ presence in the United States.”

“The victims in this case were deceived by conspirators and subjected to deplorable conditions while being exploited for greed and profit,” said U.S. Attorney Gregory W. Kehoe for the Middle District of Florida. “Today’s judgment sends a clear message that we will leverage the resources of our law enforcement partners to uphold our nation’s immigration laws and vigorously prosecute those who engage in human trafficking.”

“Villatoro Moreno and his co-conspirators lured victims from Mexico with false promises of fair wages and good working conditions. It was all a lie,” said Special Agent in Charge Brett Skiles of the FBI Miami Field Office. “In addition to harsh and extreme working conditions, the workers were subjected to poor living conditions, charged excessive expenses, and endured humiliating treatment and threats. Not only is this wrong, but it is also against the law. Investigating this case was a team effort. I commend the Palm Beach County Human Trafficking Task Force, the Department of Labor, the Diplomatic Security Service, and numerous workers’ rights groups for their close cooperation. I especially thank the Government of Mexico for their significant assistance in the extradition of Villatoro Moreno to the United States. If you are a human trafficking victim or have information about a suspected trafficking crime, call the National Human Trafficking Resource Center (NHTRC) at 1-888-373-7888 or text 233733.”

“Today’s sentence sends a clear message that those who exploit vulnerable workers and engage in forced labor will face serious consequences,” said Acting Special Agent in Charge Jose R. Figueroa of Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) Miami Field Office. “We are committed to protecting workers, safeguarding the integrity of the H‑2A program, and relentlessly pursuing those who manipulate the immigration system. HSI will continue to leverage partnerships across the government, with private industry, and around the world to combat forced labor and disrupt crimes of victimization.”

According to court documents, Alexander Villatoro Moreno, 53, also known as “Quichi,” of Chiapas, Mexico, along with his co-defendants, operated and managed Los Villatoros Harvesting (LVH), a farm labor contracting company. Between approximately 2015 and 2017, LVH functioned as a criminal enterprise compelling victims to work in Florida, Kentucky, Indiana, Georgia and North Carolina. Villatoro Moreno and his co-defendants fraudulently recruited Mexican nationals to come into the United States on short-term, H-2A agricultural visas and misled the United States to secure valid H-2A visas for the victims. Villatoro Moreno and his co-defendants charged workers exorbitant recruitment fees to work for LVH and lied to the victims about how much they would be paid, the hours they would work, the working conditions, and the reimbursement they would receive for paying recruitment fees and other expenses. Once in the United States, Villatoro Moreno and his co-defendants then compelled the workers to provide long hours of physically demanding agricultural labor, six to seven days a week, for far less pay than they were entitled to under the law.

In addition to the work conditions, Villatoro Moreno and his co-defendants used various coercive means to compel the victims’ labor, including imposing debts on workers; confiscating the workers’ passports; subjecting workers to crowded, unsanitary and degrading living conditions; verbally abusing and humiliating the workers; threatening workers with arrest, jailtime, and deportation; isolating workers by preventing them from interacting with anyone other than LVH employees; and threatening to physically harm the workers’ family members back in Mexico if the workers failed to comply with their demands.

When officials began investigating, Villatoro Moreno obstructed the federal investigation by helping to prepare false payroll information to conceal underpayments to the workers and distributing fake reimbursement receipts to the victims to make it appear that LVH was complying with the law by reimbursing the workers for their travel-related expenses.

Villatoro Moreno pleaded guilty to conspiracy under the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) Act.

Villatoro Moreno’s four co-defendants previously pleaded guilty in connection with their roles in the scheme. Bladimir Moreno, Villatoro Moreno’s brother and a Mexican national, owned LVH and pleaded guilty in 2022 to conspiracy to violate the RICO Act and conspiracy to commit forced labor. Efrain Cabrera Rodas, an illegal alien from Mexico, and Christina Gamez, LVH supervisors, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to violate the RICO Act while Guadalupe Mendes Mendoza, another LVH supervisor, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to obstruct a federal investigation. In 2022, Bladimir Moreno was sentenced to 118 months in prison and ordered to pay over $175,000 in restitution to the victims while Rodas and Gamez were sentenced to 41 months and 37 months in prison, respectively. Mendoza was also sentenced in 2022 to serve eight months of home detention and a $5,500 fine to be paid over 24 months of supervised release.

The Palm Beach County Human Trafficking Task Force, which includes the FBI, HSI, and the Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office investigated the case. The Task Force received assistance from the Department of Labor Office of the Inspector General, the Department of Labor Wage and Hour Division, the U.S. Department of State’s Diplomatic Security Service, the Coalition of Immokalee Workers, Colorado Legal Services Migrant Farm Worker Division, Legal Aid Services of Oregon Farmworker Program and Indiana Legal Services Worker Rights and Protection Project.

The Government of Mexico, including the Fiscalía General de la República (FGR), provided significant assistance in the extradition of Villatoro Moreno to the United States. The Justice Department’s Office of International Affairs provided significant assistance in securing the arrest and extradition of Villatoro Moreno from Mexico.

Trial Attorney Matthew Thiman of the Criminal Division’s Human Rights and Special Prosecutions Section and Assistant U.S. Attorney Ilyssa Spergel for the Middle District of Florida prosecuted the case. Former Trial Attorney and current Assistant U.S. Attorney Maryam Zhuravitsky for the District of Maryland also prosecuted the case.

Anyone who has information about human trafficking should report that information to the National Human Trafficking Hotline toll-free at 1-888-373-7888, which is available 24 hours a day, seven days a week. For more information about human trafficking, please visit www.humantraffickinghotline.org. Information on the Justice Department’s efforts to combat human trafficking can be found at www.justice.gov/humantrafficking.

Updated June 9, 2026.
*Press release by DOJ.

National Fraud Enforcement Division’s Healthcare Fraud Unit Secures Six Trial Convictions Involving over $1.1 Billion in Fraud In Under Three Weeks: Convictions Span five Federal Districts & six Distinct Categories of Healthcare Fraud

By
Administrator
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Department of Justice (DOJ) – The Justice Department’s National Fraud Enforcement Division today announced that its Health Care Fraud Unit, one of the most active white-collar litigating components across the Department, secured federal jury trial convictions in six trials in just under three weeks. The convictions in six trials between May 13 and June 1 spanned federal courtrooms across the United States, including in Fort Lauderdale, Los Angeles, Detroit, New York and Nashville.

Six trial convictions in under three weeks ties the Health Care Fraud Unit record for number of trials to result in a conviction in a single month period. The cases behind these recent convictions, however, represent a greater level of sophistication and complexity: more than $1.1 billion in fraud losses across six distinct schemes, including a digital health platform that industrialized Medicare fraud at national scale, a proactive data-driven prosecution of a physician who out-billed every other Medicare provider in the country for Botox, and prosecutions requiring simultaneous command of health care data analytics, financial forensics, sophisticated digital evidence, and expert testimony. These results reflect not merely the volume of trials but the caliber of the Fraud Division’s trial practice that carried each one of them to conviction. The Health Care Fraud Unit has completed nine trials to date in 2026 (all of which have resulted in convictions) and 17 trials in 2025, maintaining an extraordinary pace of white-collar trial activity.

The Health Care Fraud Unit operates through an integrated team model, pairing specialized trial-ready prosecutors with data analysts, investigators, and paralegals who work together from the opening of an investigation through the return of a verdict. Leadership reinforces this specialization and emphasis on trial preparation: specialized Assistant Chiefs for Trials oversee and support trial teams across the country, facilitating trial preparedness and institutional knowledge. The results demonstrated over this period reflect a team of trial lawyers who are prepared to take cases to trial and hold accountable those who defraud our nation’s health care programs and steal from the American taxpayer.

“What sets the Fraud Division apart is not only our ability to proactively detect, investigate and dismantle fraud schemes before they cause further harm, but the depth and skill of the trial lawyers who carry those cases across the finish line. The American people should rest assured that we are prepared to seek accountability at trial for health care fraudsters, whether for a $1 million fraud in Michigan or a $1 billion fraud in South Florida,” said Colin McDonald, Assistant Attorney General for the National Fraud Enforcement Division. “The Fraud Division is providing full-spectrum accountability to any fraudster who seeks to use Americans’ hard-earned savings as their personal piggy-bank.”

United States v. Blackman Trial Conviction (Industrial-Scale Telehealth Platform Fraud, $1 Billion):

Brett Blackman was the founder and CEO of HealthSplash, which owned DMERx, an internet platform that did not facilitate legitimate medicine but instead industrialized fraud. Foreign call centers blasted spam mailers targeting hundreds of thousands of Medicare’s most vulnerable patients, pressuring elderly beneficiaries into accepting medically unnecessary orthotic braces. When patients agreed, DMERx connected the leads to telemedicine companies that took illegal kickbacks in exchange for signing bogus physicians’ orders, orders that falsely certified a doctor had personally examined the patient, when in many cases the doctor never spoke with them at all. The government’s undercover agent posed as a Medicare beneficiary and documented the scheme in real time: a foreign call center pushed the agent into multiple braces, and a DMERx doctor then signed orders claiming to have conducted in-person tests that are physically impossible to perform remotely. To conceal the conspiracy, Blackman and his co-conspirators manipulated physicians’ orders to evade Medicare audits and used sham contracts to disguise kickback flows. All told, the scheme generated more than $1 billion in false billings, of which Medicare paid more than $450 million. Blackman was convicted of health care fraud conspiracy, kickback conspiracy, and conspiracy to defraud the United States. His co-defendant Gary Cox, convicted at a prior trial, was sentenced to 15 years in prison. (Southern District of Florida)

United States v. Mailyan Trial Conviction (Proactive Data Driven Lead for Botox Billing Fraud: Obstruction, Fabricated Records, $45 Million):

This prosecution began not with a witness or a complaint, but with a data anomaly. The Health Care Fraud Unit’s Data Analytics Team identified Dr. Violetta Mailyan as a statistical extreme: she had been paid more by Medicare for Botox injections than any other physician in the United States, collecting more than $24 million over four years, roughly six times the next-highest provider group, all neurologists. What the data predicted, the trial evidence confirmed. Mailyan billed for thousands of Botox injections that were never administered, including while she was on vacation in Cabo, Mexico; Maui, Hawaii; Las Vegas; Pennsylvania; and New York. She billed for a patient who was federally incarcerated at the time of the purported injection. She submitted more than $19 million in claims on days when her clinic was closed. She back-dated claims to bill for injections purportedly provided before patients had even contacted her clinic to request an appointment. When federal investigators closed in and a grand jury subpoena arrived, Mailyan fabricated and back-dated patient consent forms and medical records and delivered the altered documents to agents, adding obstruction charges to the fraud counts. Post-verdict, the jury found a Tesla Model X, a Tesla Cybertruck, brokerage accounts valued at over $7.3 million, and four California properties subject to forfeiture as proceeds of the fraud. (Central District of California)

United States v. Scott Trial Conviction (Home Health Kickback Network: Hospital Nurse Bribed via CashApp, Stolen Patient Identities):

Ruby Scott, a licensed nurse and owner of Delta Home Health Care LLC in Michigan, built her patient pipeline by corrupting a hospital discharge nurse, a relationship she had first cultivated at a prior employer and then carried with her when she launched Delta. The nurse used her hospital access to identify Medicare patients and fax their confidential records to Delta without their knowledge or consent. Scott transmitted over $130,000 in illegal kickbacks to the nurse through CashApp, PayPal, check, and cash. Scott then used those stolen patient profiles to bill Medicare for home health services, falsely certifying that physicians had evaluated and cleared the patients as homebound, when in fact no physician had ever seen them for that purpose. Scott went further, appropriating the identities of real doctors to fabricate the existence of physician certifications those doctors never performed. A witness testified that one patient for whom Delta collected thousands of dollars in payments had never received any services from the company at all. Delta failed to maintain records for over one-third of its billed patients, patients for whom Medicare paid more than $1.2 million. Total losses exceeded $1.6 million. Scott was convicted of five counts of health care fraud, conspiracy, and four counts of paying illegal kickbacks. (Eastern District of Michigan)

United States v. Brown-Arkah Trial Conviction (Substance Abuse Clinic as Narcotics Hub: Narcotics Diversion, Undercover Video, $52 Million):

Tony Brown-Arkah owned American Medical Centers, a Brooklyn clinic nominally offering substance abuse treatment that functioned in practice as a vehicle for drug diversion, kickbacks, and large-scale fraud against Medicare and Medicaid. The clinic lured patients by prescribing Suboxone, a Schedule III narcotic used to treat opioid use disorder that, as a trial witness testified, is commonly abused by prison inmates by boiling the medication and administering it as eye drops, then directed patients who did not want their prescriptions to a van parked on the clinic steps where they could sell them for cash. Prescriptions were signed by a nurse practitioner who lived in Florida and never saw or spoke with patients. Laboratory results showing the absence of Suboxone in patients’ systems, a significant clinical red flag for diversion, were ignored. Brown-Arkah billed Medicare and Medicaid for office visits where he, a non-clinician, was the only person who met with the patient, and for services that were never provided at all. He paid patients cash kickbacks to recruit additional patients and received thousands of dollars monthly from a laboratory in exchange for referring patients to unnecessary testing, concealing those payments through a shell company and sham contracts, and then lying to law enforcement about them. A confidential source captured Brown-Arkah on undercover video offering an illegal cash kickback, during which he described competitors who engage in the same conduct and observed, apparently without self-awareness: “that’s why they go to jail.” Total fraud losses exceeded $52 million across Medicare and Medicaid. (Eastern District of New York)

United States v. Popovych Trial Conviction (Physical Therapy Clinic Kickback Ring: Ambulette Drivers, Coded Texts, Falsified Records)

Olga Popovych managed a network of Brooklyn physical therapy clinics whose patient referral pipeline ran not through physician referrals but through cash payments to ambulette drivers, the operators who transported Medicare patients from their homes to therapy appointments. Popovych was personally involved in distributing the kickbacks and communicated about them with co-conspirators through coded text messages, having suspected law enforcement was watching the clinics. To conceal who was actually providing care, Popovych falsified medical records to indicate that licensed physical therapists had treated patients on days those therapists were not present at the clinic. Between 2018 and 2020, Medicare paid the clinics more than $8 million on the strength of those fabricated records. Evidence at trial also showed Popovych took steps to conceal the scheme when she suspected surveillance, communicating in code with co-conspirators about the payment of kickbacks. After a one-week trial, the jury convicted Popovych of conspiracy to commit health care fraud, conspiracy to make false statements, four counts of health care fraud, and three counts of making false statements relating to health care matters. (Eastern District of New York)

United States v. Marks Trial Conviction (Nurse Prescribed Nearly 1 Million Highly Addictive Opioid Pills to Tennessee Community)

Heather Marks was an Advanced Registered Nurse Practitioner who was licensed by the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) to distribute controlled substances. Marks prescribed controlled substances to patients seeking pain treatment at Lifeforce Pain and Wellness (Lifeforce), a pain clinic located in Carthage, Tennessee. Lifeforce was a small, rural clinic that purported to provide pain treatment. Marks and others overprescribed highly addictive opioids, including oxycodone and oxymorphone, to Lifeforce patients from September 2016 through May 2018. Marks herself prescribed nearly a million opioid pills to almost 1,000 Lifeforce patients over the course of the conspiracy. These patients were often addicted to illegal drugs and the opioids Marks and others prescribed to them at Lifeforce. Marks ignored obvious signs of Lifeforce patients taking illegal drugs at the time she prescribed them opioids, which put these patients in danger of overdosing. Marks further prescribed opioids to Lifeforce patients who she knew were likely selling the opioids on the street. Lifeforce patients would often travel hundreds of miles to obtain opioid prescriptions at Lifeforce because they knew Marks would prescribe the opioids they needed to either abuse or sell on the street. The jury convicted Marks of conspiracy to illegally distribute controlled substances and eight counts of illegally distributing controlled substances. (Middle District of Tennessee)

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On April 7, the Department of Justice announced the creation of the National Fraud Enforcement Division (Fraud Division). The Fraud Division is laser-focused on investigating and prosecuting those who commit fraud against the American people. The Department’s work to combat fraud supports President Trump’s Task Force to Eliminate Fraud, a whole-of-government effort chaired by Vice President J.D. Vance to eliminate fraud, waste, and abuse within Federal benefit programs.

Since March 2007, the National Fraud Division’s Health Care Strike Force program, currently comprised of nine strike forces operating in federal districts across the country, has charged more than 6,200 defendants who collectively billed federal health care programs and private insurers more than $45 billion. In addition, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, working in conjunction with the Office of the Inspector General for the Department of Health and Human Services, are taking steps to hold providers accountable for their involvement in health care fraud schemes. More information can be found at www.justice.gov/criminal-fraud/health-care-fraud-unit.

*Press release by DOJ.

Justice Department Expands Admissions Investigations into 15 Additional Medical Schools

By
Administrator
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Department of Justice (DOJ) – The Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division announced today that it opened fifteen new investigations into potential race discrimination in medical school admissions. The Division recently announced its findings that the University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA) and Yale University both illegally used race in medical school admissions.

“Many of America’s top medical schools appear more concerned about the demographics of their incoming classes than training students to succeed in the profession,” said Assistant Attorney General Harmeet K. Dhillon of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division. “Under this Justice Department, we will continue to protect American students from discriminatory and illegal preferences in admissions — especially in professions as critical as medicine, where quality of training should be the top priority.”

The Division opened the investigations to enforce compliance with federal law and ensure the students become doctors based on their merit, not their race.  Each of the fifteen schools under investigation receives millions of dollars in federal taxpayer funding. The investigations will examine whether these medical schools follow Title VI of the Civil Rights Act as interpreted by the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in Students for Fair Admissions, Inc. v. President & Fellows of Harvard College.

The Civil Rights Division has not reached any conclusions about the subject matter of the investigations.

*Press release by DOJ.

Aspiration Partners Co-Founder Sentenced to Prison for $248M Scheme to Defraud Investors and Lenders

By
Editor
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Department of Justice (DOJ) – A California man who was a co-founder and former board member of Aspiration Partners, Inc., a financial technology and sustainability services company, was sentenced yesterday to 14 years in prison for a five-year scheme to defraud multiple lenders and investors of at least $248 million.

“Joseph Sanberg preyed on investors and lenders who believed in his vision of environmentally conscious fintech,” said Assistant Attorney General A. Tysen Duva of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division. “Instead of delivering on Aspiration’s promises, he orchestrated a multi-year scheme involving fake clients, sham payments, and deceptive loan collateral that caused at least $248 million in losses to numerous victims. This sentence holds him accountable and serves as a clear warning to others who abuse trust for personal gain and obtain loans from the financial industry based on lies and misrepresentations.”

“This serial fraudster used his Cinderella-like background, impressive educational credentials, and virtue signaling skills to swindle investors and lenders out of hundreds of millions of dollars,” said First Assistant U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli of the Central District of California. “This criminal case serves as a warning: Anyone can get duped by a con man.”

“As evidenced by this case, Mr. Sanberg selfishly put businesses and clients at risk who expected him to provide a valuable service to protect their interests” said Assistant Director in Charge Patrick Grandy of the FBI Los Angeles Field Office. “Along with our law enforcement partners, the FBI will continue to allocate expert resources to investigate and prosecute all those who take advantage of a position of trust to defraud American businesses.”

“Yesterday’s sentencing reflects our commitment to the public,” said Inspector in Charge Eric Shen of the U.S. Postal Inspection Service (USPIS) Criminal Investigations Group. “The reward for lying, stealing, and falsifying records, is jail time.”

According to court documents, Joseph Neal Sanberg, 46, of Orange, California, devised a scheme that began in 2020 and continued into 2025 to use his significant share of Aspiration stock to defraud various lenders and investors. Between 2020 and 2021, Sanberg and Ibrahim AlHusseini, who were both members of Aspiration’s board of directors, fraudulently obtained $145 million in loans from two lenders by pledging shares of Sanberg’s Aspiration stock. In order to secure the loans, Sanberg and AlHusseini falsified AlHusseini’s bank and brokerage statements to fraudulently inflate AlHusseini’s assets by tens of millions of dollars.

Beginning in 2021, Sanberg concealed from investors that he was the source of millions of dollars of purported revenue paid to Aspiration through, or purportedly on behalf of, sham customers.  Court documents indicate that Sanberg personally recruited companies and individuals to enter agreements with Aspiration in which they committed to pay tens of thousands of dollars per month for tree planting services. The money for these customers’ payments was supplied by Sanberg himself. Sanberg concealed that these payments came from him rather than from the customers.

Aspiration booked revenue from these sham customers between March 2021 and November 2022, at the same time Sanberg concealed that he was the source of the payments. As a result, Aspiration’s financial statements falsely and fraudulently reflected much higher revenue than the company in fact received. Nonetheless, Sanberg continued to solicit investors to invest in Aspiration securities into 2025.

According to the documents, Sanberg also defrauded other lenders and investors using fraudulent materials describing Aspiration’s financial condition, including a fabricated letter from Aspiration’s audit committee that falsely stated Aspiration had $250 million in available cash and equivalents at a time that Aspiration only had less than $1 million in available cash. Sanberg used these fraudulent financial materials to obtain millions of dollars in additional loans and investments in Aspiration securities. Sanberg’s victims sustained at least $248 million in losses.

Sanberg pleaded guilty in October 2025 to two counts of wire fraud.

The FBI and USPIS investigated the case.

Trial Attorneys Theodore Kneller and Adam L.D. Stempel of the Criminal Division’s Fraud Section and Assistant U.S. Attorneys Nisha Chandran and Alexander Su for the Central District of California prosecuted the case.

*Press release by DOJ.

California Man Sentenced to 65 Months in Prison for Trafficking At Least 1,700 Animals into the United States from Mexico

By
Editor
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Department of Justice (Press Release) – A California man was sentenced yesterday to 65 months in prison for smuggling at least 1,700 reptiles into the United States from Mexico, Hong Kong, and elsewhere over a six-year period.

Jose Manuel Perez, of Oxnard, pleaded guilty in August 2022 to one count of smuggling goods into the United States and one count of wildlife trafficking. From January 2016 to February 2022, Perez and other co-conspirators smuggled wildlife into the United States without obtaining the permits required by the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) and without declaring any wildlife imported into the United States.

reptiles in mesh bags
reptiles in mesh bags

 

Perez and his co-conspirators used social media to buy and to negotiate the terms of the sale and delivery of wildlife in the United States. The defendants advertised for sale on social media the animals smuggled from Mexico into the United States, posting photos and video that depicted the animals being collected from the wild.

For the animals smuggled from Mexico, Perez’s co-conspirators retrieved the wildlife — which included Yucatán box turtles, Mexican box turtles, baby crocodiles, and Mexican beaded lizards — from Cuidad Juárez International Airport in Mexico and eventually shipped the animals by car to El Paso, Texas. Perez paid his co-conspirators a “crossing fee” for each border crossing, the amount of which depended on the number of animals transported, the size of the package, and the risk of being detected by the authorities.

On other occasions, Perez and a co-conspirator traveled to Mexico to purchase live animals that had been taken from the wild so that the animals could be smuggled into the United States. Once the animals had been shipped to the United States, they were transported to Perez’s residence (which was originally in Missouri and then in California after he moved).

In total, Perez caused the illegal smuggling and importation of at least 1,700 animals with a fair market value of more than $739,000.

Prior to today’s sentencing, Jose Perez had been serving a nine-year prison sentence after pleading guilty in May 2023 to three counts of being a felon in possession of firearms. He is not legally permitted to possess firearms because his criminal record includes felony convictions in Ventura County Superior Court for street terrorism and assault with a deadly weapon.

Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Adam Gustafson of the Justice Department’s Environment and Natural Resources Division (ENRD), First Assistant U.S. Attorney Bilal A. Essayli for the Central District of California, and Assistant Director Doug Ault of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) Office of Law Enforcement made the announcement.

USFWS investigated the case. The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of California, the ENRD’s Environmental Crimes Section, U.S. Customs and Border Protection, and Homeland Security Investigations provided substantial assistance.

Senior Trial Attorney Gary Donner of ENRD’s Environmental Crimes Section and Assistant U.S. Attorneys Matthew W. O’Brien and Juan M. Rodriguez for the Central District of California prosecuted the case.

*Press release by DOJ.

**Images: by DOJ.

Fraudster Who Sold Personal Information of Over 7 Million Elderly Americans to Jamaican Scammers Sentenced to Prison

By
Editor
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Department of Justice (Press Release) – Today, a North Carolina man was sentenced to 121 months in prison and three years of supervised release for running a seven-year scheme where he victimized millions of elderly Americans by selling their personal information to Jamaican lottery fraud scammers. He was also ordered to pay forfeiture in the amount of $5,214,688.48.

According to court documents, Troy Murray, 57, of Hickory, North Carolina, devised a scheme where he organized, maintained, and sold lists containing the names, phone numbers, physical addresses, and, in some cases, ages and email addresses, of elderly Americans to individuals in Jamaica involved in lottery fraud schemes. From 2016 to 2023, Murray sold these lists to Jamaican scammers, who perpetrated lottery fraud on elderly American consumers, earning Murray hundreds of thousands of dollars each year.

Murray was a prolific and well-known lead list broker for Jamaican scammers. To complete the transactions, scammers would typically call email, or text Murray for a list of names. Murray then provided a price per list, typically $500, for 100 to 300 names. Initially, Murray instructed scammers to provide payment via wire transfer; however, after multiple monetary wire transmission services blocked him from using their services, he instructed scammers to send him pre-paid gift cards to pay for the lists instead. Murray’s list broker service was so well known in Jamaica that that his pseudonym, “Steve Dixon,” was referenced by a Jamaican musical artist in a 2022 song lyric.

After receiving payment from the Jamaican scammers, Murray used the funds to purchase farm equipment, vehicles, and collectibles like bars and coins made of precious metals. Murray also sent money he made from the scheme to one of his sons to purchase personal property and pay for his business and living expenses.

During the scheme, Murray sent at least 22,000 lead lists to scammers. These lists contained the names and personal information of over seven million elderly Americans and garnered Murray over $5.2 million. Victim losses exceeded $9.5 million.

In January 2026, Murray pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud.

Assistant Attorney General A. Tysen Duva of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division made the announcement.

The U.S. Postal Inspection Service investigated the case.

Senior Litigation Counsel David Sullivan and Trial Attorney Ryan Norman of the Criminal Division’s Fraud Section prosecuted the case.

*Press release by DOJ. 

Clinic Manager Convicted of $8M Medicare Fraud Scheme

By
Editor
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Department of Justice (Press Release) – A federal jury in the Eastern District of New York convicted a New York woman today for her role in an $8 million health care fraud conspiracy.

According to court documents and evidence presented at trial, Olga Popovych, 43, of New York, New York, was an office manager of several physical therapy clinics that paid cash kickbacks to ambulette drivers who recruited Medicare patients to bring to the clinics. As the evidence at trial showed, the defendant was personally involved with paying the ambulette drivers cash kickbacks. She also falsified medical records to indicate that physical therapists who were not actually at the clinic treated the patients.  Between 2018 and 2020, Medicare paid these clinics over $8 million.

Witnesses testified at trial that the defendant exchanged text messages with her co-conspirators that discussed the payment of kickbacks through the use of code words. The evidence also showed that the defendant suspected that the clinics were being watched by law enforcement and took steps to conceal the scheme.

The jury convicted Popovych of conspiracy to commit health care fraud, conspiracy to make false statements relating to health care matters, 4 counts of health care fraud, and 3 counts of making false statements relating to health care matters. She faces a statutory maximum penalty of 10 years for each health care fraud conviction and 5 years for each false statements conviction. A federal district court judge will determine any sentence after considering the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.

Assistant Attorney General Colin M. McDonald of the Justice Department’s National Fraud Enforcement Division; U.S. Attorney Joseph Nocella, Jr. for the Eastern District of New York; Special Agent in Charge Naomi Gruchacz for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Office of Inspector General (HHS-OIG); and Assistant Director in Charge James C. Barnacle for the FBI New York Field Office made the announcement.

HHS-OIG and FBI investigated the case.

Trial Attorneys Patrick J. Campbell and John Howard of the Criminal Division’s Fraud Section prosecuted the case. Trial Attorney Miriam Glaser Dauermann assisted in the prosecution.

On April 7, the Department of Justice announced the creation of the National Fraud Enforcement Division (“Fraud Division”). The Fraud Division is laser-focused on investigating and prosecuting those who commit fraud against the American people. The Department’s work to combat fraud supports President Trump’s Task Force to Eliminate Fraud, a whole-of-government effort chaired by Vice President J.D. Vance to eliminate fraud, waste, and abuse within Federal benefit programs.

The Department of Justice’s Health Care Fraud Strike Force Program, currently comprised of nine strike forces operating in federal districts across the country, has charged more than 6,200 defendants who collectively billed federal health care programs and private insurers more than $45 billion since 2007. In addition, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, working in conjunction with the Office of the Inspector General for the Department of Health and Human Services, are taking steps to hold providers accountable for their involvement in health care fraud schemes. More information can be found at www.justice.gov/criminal-fraud/health-care-fraud-unit.

*Press release by DOJ.

SEC Charges 21 Individuals With Alleged Wide-Reaching Insider Trading Scheme

By
Editor
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Washington D.C., May 6, 2026 — The Securities and Exchange Commission today charged 21 individuals for their alleged involvement in a decade-long insider trading scheme that used information misappropriated from multiple global law firms and resulted in millions of dollars in illicit profits.

According to the SEC’s complaint, between 2018 and 2024, Nicolo Nourafchan, a mergers and acquisitions attorney based in Los Angeles, California, orchestrated a global scheme with his partner Robert Yadgarov, of Long Beach, New York. The complaint alleges that Nourafchan misappropriated material nonpublic information from his firm’s clients pertaining to more than twelve pending corporate transactions. The complaint further alleges that he or Yadgarov tipped that information to other scheme participants who agreed to kick back a portion of their trading profits, or who, in turn, tipped others who traded.

Nourafchan and Yadgarov allegedly recruited an additional corporate lawyer who also misappropriated material nonpublic information about additional deals and tipped that information to Nourafchan and Yadgarov.

“Today’s action highlights the SEC’s unwavering commitment to uncovering sprawling schemes, like the one alleged here, and holding individuals up and down the tipping chain accountable for their fraudulent conduct,” said Joseph G. Sansone, Chief of the Division of Enforcement’s Market Abuse Unit.

The SEC’s complaint, brought by the Division of Enforcement’s Market Abuse Unit and filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts, charges the defendants with violating the antifraud provisions of the federal securities laws and seeks injunctive relief, disgorgement with prejudgment interest, and civil penalties.

In a parallel action, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Massachusetts announced criminal charges against all of the defendants in this case.

The SEC appreciates the assistance of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Massachusetts, the FBI, the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, the Danish Financial Supervisory Authority, the United Kingdom Financial Conduct Authority, the Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission, the Mauritius Financial Services Commission, and the Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority.

*Press release by SEC.

Digital forensics firm says affidavit filed in Hadari Oshri court case “altered,” not authentic

By
Aitana Vargas
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Digital forensics firm says affidavit filed in Hadari Oshri court case “altered,” not authentic

AN IMPORTANT NOTE: On June 22, 2021, Hadari Oshri –Marc Lubaszka’s business partner– filed a civil harassment restraining order (CHRO) against Investor News reporter Aitana Vargas to stop the publication of her investigative series “A Special Report: The Harrowing Impunity of White-Collar crime,” and any subsequent installments or future media coverage. On August 3, 2021, Vargas filed an anti-SLAPP motion to strike Oshri’s CHRO petition. In a hearing held on September 13, 2021, Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Doreen Boxer granted Vargas’s anti-SLAPP motion and denied Oshri’s civil harassment petition for failure to sustain the applicable burden of proof. CA’s powerful anti-SLAPP statute demands that the prevailing defendant be granted attorney’s fees for filing a frivolous case. The Israeli entrepreneur also declined to go on a recorded interview or provide statements via email.

It is a saga that appears to never see its end, and surely, there had to be new twists.
On May 11, 2021, serial entrepreneur Hadari Oshri filed a declaration with the Los Angeles Superior Court that included a notarized 3-page affidavit bearing the name and logo of Digital Forensics Corp. (DFC), an Ohio-based company offering a wide range of services, including cybersecurity, IP theft, forensic analysis and cyber blackmail, according to its website.
Oshri submitted the affidavit as evidence in her restraining order case against one of this reporter’s sources (a separate case from the anti-SLAPP case mentioned above). But DFC has maintained for years that the filed document was “altered.”
The 3-pager listed multiple email addresses, domains, and links to articles and referenced a report of findings dated April 5, 2021, allegedly produced by DFC. The report, however, was not attached to Oshri’s declaration and affidavit.
According to the affidavit, “Hadari Oshri (the “Client”), retained DFC services on or about February 23″, 2021 (DFC Case 287656).”
However, in a May 2022 email to this outlet, DFC stated that “Digital Forensics Corp (“DFC”) cannot provide any service details or company work product as we are bound to a non-disclosure provision with all of our clients. We can confirm, however, that the name in your email and in the affidavit (“Hadari Oshri”) is not a listed client of DFC.
It appears that the affidavit you provided in your email is not an original affidavit produced by our Company, as it has been altered. We are conducting a further investigation into this matter and cannot provide you with any further comments at this time.”
The company added: “It does not appear that our company has had any contact with the attorney referenced in your email.”
In a phone call on May 26, 2026, DFC, through attorney Jeromy Simonovic, reaffirmed its 2022 position that the affidavit is “not authentic,” but clarified that the notary stamp is real.
In an interview on the evening of April 30, 2021 –the date of the initial hearing and before any stipulation was entered–, the respondent had stated that Oshri’s attorney argued in court her client had paid $40,000 for the investigation conducted by DFC. Court records show that, during that hearing, the judge ordered both parties to exchange evidence. In the April 30th interview, the respondent said that Oshri’s attorney handed him the affidavit during that exchange.
The respondent filed a 251-page response with the court, rebutting Oshri’s claims and attaching documents tying Oshri to an alleged PPE (Personal Protective Equipment) scheme also involving businessman and gold investor Marc Lubaszka and his now-defunct Fly Private X.
Investor News previously reported Lubaszka is also linked to Buy Gold Brightly, whose publicly listed owner was rapper Dylan Raw (Dylan Rottkov).
A screenshot taken on December 15, 2020, of the now-defunct Fly Private X, formerly owned by Marc Lubaszka.
A screenshot taken on May 17, 2021, of Buy Gold Brightly, formerly owned by Dylan Raw and linked to Marc Lubaszka.
From around 2021, Oshri and her attorney sought to suppress reporting on this issue. In 2021, her attorney sent this reporter and her source a written cease-and-desist demand regarding coverage. For years, this outlet has led the media’s investigative efforts into this matter.

Cyberattacks & suspicious leads

The affidavit is not the only document in Oshri’s legal battles to face scrutiny. It also isn’t the only time suspicious tips about Oshri landed in this reporter’s inbox.
On December 2, 2024, this reporter received an unsolicited email from an individual identified as Julia Lane, encouraging me to look into mushroom supplements sold by Gula World, Oshri’s latest business company. The sender used a Gmail account that did not match her stated name. When asked about her connection to Oshri, she replied:
“I don’t know her personally but through mutual connections.” No clients, no complaints or firsthand harm were provided.
The exchange indicated the emails were an attempt to induce this reporter to publish a story about Oshri without evidence or fact-checked claims of harm to anybody. I declined to pursue a story.
The suspicious December 2024 email fits a years-long pattern. Between the end of 2020 and 2023, this reporter, Investor News, aitanavargas.com and sources received fake leads, cyberattacks and phishing emails from fake accounts like ‘Alex Alex’ and ‘Michaela Lake,’ and others. Some contained tracking pixels.
Screenshot of Elitefashion.Fund captured on May 24, 2021. Elitefashion.fund is no longer active.
The night of December 31, 2020 (going into January 1, 2021), this reporter received an unsolicited Guerrillamail email from an alleged investor offering compensation for “researching” Elite Fashion Fund. The sender identified as Thomas A. Moffett, but this reporter was unable to verify his identity. Unrelated individuals matching this name died decades ago. The sender also listed a MN street address. No records show the sender is linked to the MN address provided in the email or point to any other similarly named individuals. Investor News previously reported that Lubaszka has used pseudonyms and aliases in his personal and professional life in the past.
A social media search on June 13, 2021 revealed that Hadari Oshri identified as the Managing Director of Elitefashion.Fund on her Facebook account. The website (elitefashion.fund) is no longer active.
A screenshot of Hadari Oshri’s Facebook account captured on June 13, 2021. The URL and third parties were cropped on June 2, 2026.
In May 2022, Investor News received an unsolicited tip from an individual whose identity and email address this reporter was unable to verify.
Over 12 emails were exchanged regarding Oshri and Fly Private X, five of which contained email tracking software. The sender repeated unverifiable accusations. When asked to provide specific details, the sender stated: “it’s been so long and so much in life happened since then I honestly don’t remember the details of what she did.”
During the exchange, the sender claimed to have been in touch via text with an individual he described as “rude.”  The phone number volunteered by the sender matched a number for Lubaszka. 
“…he has this way of turning it around that by requesting the money owed its somehow extortion to get money from him,” the sender wrote. 
In the exchange, the sender also asked this reporter: “Do you have anyone who has a legal case against them that can prove what they do?” 
No information was provided to the sender. 
*Oshri’s LA Superior Court Case # 21STRO01697. The parties signed a stipulation with a confidentiality clause. 
*CLICK HERE TO VIEW THE GUERRILLA EMAIL.
**CLICK HERE TO VIEW HADARI OSHRI’S FILED DECLARATION AND AFFIDAVIT. The declaration and affidavit were filed by Hadari Oshri in LA Superior Court on 5/11/2021. Investor News has redacted third-party telephone numbers, email addresses and signatures to prevent doxxing and preserve privacy. All redactions are shown in solid black. No other changes were made. The unredacted document is publicly available via the court under case No. 21STRO01697.
***After this reporter survived in 2021 an anti–SLAPP motion against Ms. Oshri, as a matter of policy, this outlet no longer reaches out to Ms. Oshri and her then-attorney, John Tamborelli, for comment. But we remain fully committed to hearing and sharing their opinion should they decide to reach out to us by email. Email: aitana_investigations@protonmail.com
****This story will be updated as more information becomes available. This story was last updated on June 7, 2026 to reflect additional information in the Cyberattacks and Suspicious Leads section, including the email exchanges in May-June 2022. The email address of Julia Lane and other third-party details have been redacted or omitted for privacy reasons. The Guerrillamail email was received the night of Dec. 31, 2020 going into January 1, 2021. 
For news tips and story ideas, please contact investigative reporter Aitana Vargas at aitana_investigations@protonmail.com.

Story originally published on May 27, 2026.

RELATED COVERAGE
Read Hadari Oshri sued for $225,000 in alleged COVID-19 i-home test kit fraud.
Read The Legal Bullies Club – The SLAPPers: Featuring Hadari Oshri.
Read Hadari Oshri loses anti-SLAPP court battle against journalist Aitana Vargas.
Read Hadari Oshri’s losses mount up as she fails again to silence her victims.
Read La reportera Aitana Vargas pide 23.000 dólares en honorarios tras pulverizar la querella mordaza de Hadari Oshri.
Read Hadari Oshri sued for copyright infringement in 2017.
Read Hadari Oshri deactivates LinkedIn account following PPE exposé.
Read “A Special Report: The Harrowing Impunity of White-Collar Crime (Part I): Marc Lubaszka, the ultimate white-collar conman on the run: From a Hollywood Hills mansion to Venezuela’s illegal gold mines and back.” 
Read “A Special Report: The Harrowing Impunity of White-Collar Crime (Part II): Marc Lubaszka’s nonexistent private jets failed to deliver PPE amid the COVID-19 pandemic.”
Read “A Special Report: The Harrowing Impunity of White-Collar Crime (Part III): Pursuing flash money, rapper Dylan Raw partners with conman Marc Lubaszka and becomes his patsy.”
Read “A Special Report: The Harrowing Impunity of White-Collar Crime (Part IV): Hadari Oshri allegedly linked to attempted $370M nonexistent PPE COVID-19 scheme.”

SEC Clarifies the Application of Federal Securities Laws to Crypto Assets

By
Editor
-

 

Washington D.C., March 17, 2026 — The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) today issued an interpretation clarifying how the federal securities laws apply to certain crypto assets and transactions involving crypto assets. This is a major step in the Commission’s efforts to provide greater clarity regarding the Commission’s treatment of crypto assets, and complements Congressional endeavors to codify a comprehensive market structure framework into statute. The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) joined the interpretation to provide guidance that the CFTC and its staff will administer the Commodity Exchange Act consistent with the Commission’s interpretation.

“After more than a decade of uncertainty, this interpretation will provide market participants with a clear understanding of how the Commission treats crypto assets under federal securities laws. This is what regulatory agencies are supposed to do: draw clear lines in clear terms,” said SEC Chairman Paul S. Atkins. “It also acknowledges what the former administration refused to recognize – that most crypto assets are not themselves securities. And it reflects the reality that investment contracts can come to an end. This effort serves as an important bridge for entrepreneurs and investors as Congress works to advance bipartisan market structure legislation, which I look forward to implementing with Chairman Selig in the near future.”

“For far too long, American builders, innovators, and entrepreneurs have awaited clear guidance on the status of crypto assets under the federal securities and commodity laws,” said CFTC Chairman Michael S. Selig. “With today’s interpretation, the wait is over. Chairman Atkins and I are committed to fostering a regulatory environment that allows the crypto industry to flourish in the United States with clear and rational rules of the road. Today’s joint agency action reflects a shared commitment to developing workable, harmonized regulations for the new frontier of finance.”

The Commission interpretation:

  • Provides a coherent token taxonomy for digital commodities, digital collectibles, digital tools, stablecoins, and digital securities.
  • Addresses how a “non-security crypto asset”—which is a crypto asset that itself is not a security—may become subject to, and how it may cease to be subject to, an investment contract.
  • Clarifies the application of federal securities laws to airdrops, protocol mining, protocol staking, and the wrapping of a non-security crypto asset.

Market participants—from innovators and issuers to individual investors—should review this interpretation to better understand the regulatory jurisdiction between the SEC and CFTC. The interpretation will be published on SEC.gov and in the Federal Register.

*Press release by the SEC.

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