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January 2, 2024 — Vanessa Roberts Avery, United States Attorney for the District of Connecticut, announced that John Matava of Coventry, pleaded guilty today before U.S. District Judge Kari A. Dooley in Bridgeport to offenses related to his receipt of COVID-19 relief funds.

January 10, 2023 — Vanessa Roberts Avery, United States Attorney for the District of Connecticut, Joleen D. Simpson, Special Agent in Charge of IRS Criminal Investigation in New England, and, Jean Pierre Njock, Acting Special Agent in Charge of the New Haven Division of the Federal Bureau of Investigation today announced that John Matava, of Coventry, has been charged by federal criminal complaint with offenses related to his receipt of COVID-19 relief funds.

June 28, 2022 — The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Colorado announces Ronald Philip Wallace and Stace Yater Wallace were indicted by a federal grand jury on June 22, 2022 on charges of wire fraud, money laundering, and bank fraud. Both defendants appeared in front of U.S. District Court Magistrate Judge Nina Wang on June 27, 2022 and were released on bond.

June 5, 2025 — A Wheeling attorney has been indicted for allegedly fraudulently handling client funds and using client funds to conduct unlawful monetary transactions.

March 29, 2024 — Vanessa Roberts Avery, United States Attorney for the District of Connecticut, announced that John Matava of Coventry, was sentenced today by U.S. District Judge Kari A. Dooley in Bridgeport to 24 months of imprisonment, followed by three years of supervised release, for offenses related to his receipt of COVID-19 relief funds.

September 15, 2023 — The Justice Department today announced that the Western Union Remission Fund began a distribution of approximately $40 million in funds forfeited to the United States from the Western Union Company (Western Union) to approximately 25,000 victims located in the United States and abroad. These victims stand to recover the full amount of their losses.

Jan. 13, 2025 — United States Attorney Roger B. Handberg announces the unsealing of an indictment charging Teresa Brady (Jacksonville) and Ruby George (Jacksonville) with conspiracy to commit wire fraud and mail fraud, eight counts of aiding and abetting wire fraud, and three counts of aiding and abetting mail fraud.

August 16, 2022 — Moustapha Diakhate of Stamford, was sentenced today by U.S. District Judge Michael P. Shea in Hartford to 42 months of imprisonment, followed by three years of supervised release, for fraudulent receiving more than $4 million in COVID-19 relief funds guaranteed by the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) under the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act. Judge Shea also ordered Diakhate to serve three months in home detention when he is released from prison, and to perform 75 hours of community service while on supervised release.

May 2, 2024 — Damian Williams, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York; and Kareem A. Carter, the Executive Special Agent in Charge of the Washington, D.C. Field Office of the Internal Revenue Service, Criminal Investigation (“IRS-CI”); James Smith, the Assistant Director in Charge of the New York Field Office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (“FBI”); and Ivan J. Arvelo, the Special Agent in Charge of the New York Field Office of Homeland Security Investigations (“HSI”); announced the unsealing of a superseding indictment charging Maximilien de Hoop Cartier, Leonardo de Jesus Zuluaga Duque, a/k/a “Rey,” Erica Milena Lopez Ortiz, and Felipe Estrada Echeverry, a/k/a “Pepe,” with conspiring to commit money laundering based on their alleged participation in a network that laundered millions in Tether (a stablecoin connected to the U.S. dollar), which constituted the proceeds of drug trafficking, through the U.S. to Colombia. Cartier is also charged with money laundering, bank fraud, engaging in a monetary transaction in property derived from bank fraud, and operating an unlicensed money transmitting business based on Cartier's system of U.S.-based shell companies and bank accounts that he used to operate an unlicensed over-the-counter cryptocurrency exchange. In addition, the superseding indictment charges Zuluaga Duque, Lopez Ortiz, Alexander Egidio Areiza Ceballos, and Adrian Fernando Areiza Ceballos with conspiring to import more than 100 kilograms of cocaine into the U.S.

June 10, 2025 — A Colombian man was sentenced today in federal court in Boston for his involvement in a sophisticated international money laundering organization that laundered more than $6 million in drug trafficking proceeds from Colombian cartels through the United States, Caribbean and European banking systems.