Christopher Parris of Atlanta, Georgia has been arrested and charged with wire fraud for attempting to sell millions of nonexistent respirator masks to the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) in exchange for large upfront payments. Parris made a series of misrepresentations in an attempt to get the VA to secure orders for up to 125 million face mask and other personal protective equipment (PPE) which would have totaled over $750 million.

A federal complaint has been filed against a San Antonio man for perpetuating a hoax related to the COVID-19 outbreak. Christopher Charles Perez has been charged with one count of violating a US law which criminalizes false information and hoaxes related to weapons of mass destruction.

The Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI), as part of the Department of Justice's (DOJ) COVID-19 Hoarding and Price Gouging Task Force, has recovered a significant number of N95 respirator masks from price gougers looking to exploit the COVID-19 pandemic. Now, the DOJ and Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) are working together to redistribute the items to medical centers in need.

The Department of Justice (DOJ) announced on Sunday that it has issued its first action in federal court to combat fraud related to the coronavirus. The DOJ previously announced it is prioritizing the detection, investigation, and prosecution of illegal conduct related to the pandemic.

Merdad Ansar, an Iranian citizen and resident of the United Arab Emirates, was extradited from Georgia to the United States this week to face federal charges in connection with a scheme to obtain military sensitive parts for Iran in violation of the Iranian Trade Embargo. Ansar and his codefendant were charged in a federal grand jury indictment returned in June 2012 with conspiracy to violate the Iranian Transactions Regulations (ITR), conspiracy to launder money, and conspiracy to commit wire fraud.

The Department of Justice announced this week that a Drug Enforcement Administration-led effort entitled Project Python resulted in more than 600 arrests targeting activities by the Cártel de Jalisco Nueva Generación (CJNG). CJNG is considered one of the fastest growing transnational criminal organizations and one of the most prolific methamphetamine producers in the world.

An immigration judge in Memphis, Tennessee has issued a removal order against a German citizen and Tennessee resident based on his service in Nazi Germany in 1945. Friedrich Karl Berger served as an armed guard at a concentration camp in the Neuengamme Concentration Camp system.

A former executive director of the South Arkansas Youth Services (SAYS), an Arkansas based non-profit, was sentenced to 30 months in prison followed by three years of supervised release for unlawfully diverting more than $380,00 from the charity he operated to a state senator and the lobbying firm of a convicted lobbyist. The former executive director, Jerry Walsh, must also pay $515,631.56 in restitution.

A federal jury issued a guilty verdict against four defendants for their roles in running “pill mills” in Knoxville, Tennessee. A federal jury convicted Sylvia Hofstetter of Miami, Florida and Courtney Newman, Cynthia Clemons, and Holli Womack, all of Knoxville, Tennessee. The jury returned guilty verdicts against Hofstetter for a Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organization (RICO) conspiracy, a drug conspiracy, money laundering, and maintaining drug-involved premises. The guilty verdicts against Newman, Clemons, and Womack were for maintaining drug-involved premises.

The Department of Justice has announced an indictment charging four individuals serving in the Chinese military with the Equifax breach that stole sensitive information from nearly 150 million Americans. The individuals hacked into the computer systems of the credit reporting agency Equifax, stealing Americans’ personal data and Equifax’s valuable trade secrets.

The Department of Justice (DOJ) has secured the denaturalization of a convicted terrorist who sought to help al Qaeda destroy the Brooklyn Bridge in 2003. Iyman Faris, a native of Pakistan, was convicted in 2003 of providing material support to al Qaeda and sentenced to 20 years in prison. On Monday, a District Court judge ordered the revocation of Faris’s naturalized U.S. citizenship.

Four members of the United Blood Nation (Bloods) street gang were sentenced in Charlotte, North Carolina this week after pleading guilty to federal Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) conspiracy charges. Three of the individuals were sentenced to 35 years each followed by three years of supervised release and the final individual was sentenced to 15 years followed by three years of supervised release.

Darryl Gartley of Oregon pled guilty in August to two counts of sex trafficking minors. Gartley was sentenced this week to 149 months and 12 days in federal prison, followed by a lifetime of supervised release.

A federal jury found a Texas rheumatologist guilty for his role in a $325 million health care fraud scheme in which he falsely diagnosed patients with lifelong diseases and treated them with toxic medications.

When the two defendants were arrested, law enforcement seized propane gas tanks, soldering tools, car bomb instructions, jihadist literature, machetes and several knives from their residences.

Darryl Gartley of Oregon pled guilty in August to two counts of sex trafficking minors. Gartley was sentenced this week to 149 months and 12 days in federal prison, followed by a lifetime of supervised release.

U.S. law enforcement has arrested former head of the Mexican Federal Investigation Agency for taking millions in bribes from Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman, a well-known leader of the Sinaloa drug cartel. Genaro García Lunas, the official arrested, previously worked to root out drug corruption from Mexican law enforcement.

Attorney General William Barr and law enforcement partners announced this week the conclusion of a national effort to halt money mule activity. According to the Department of Justice (DOJ), money mules assist fraud schemes by receiving money from victims, many of them elderly, and forwarding proceeds to foreign-based perpetrators. The two-month initiative resulted in disrupted mule networks from Hawaii to Florida and from Alaska to Maine.

A former law enforcement officer from the Westminster Police Department (WPD) has pled guilty to sexually assaulting a woman while on duty. Curtis Arganbright pled guilty in federal court in Denver, Colorado to one count of violating the civil rights of a female in his care whom he sexually assaulted.

Two Massachusetts men have been arrested and charged in a nationwide scheme to take over victims’ social media accounts and steal their cryptocurrency information. The individuals charged used a technique called “SIM swapping” to hack into the accounts and steal the information.