WASHINGTON – A former Venezuelan government minister and a former officer at Venezuela’s state-owned and state-controlled electricity company, Corporación Eléctrica Nacional, S.A. (Corpoelec), were charged in an indictment returned today for their alleged roles in laundering the proceeds of violations of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) in connection with...

HAUPPAUGE, N.Y. – Seven people were arrested in connection with an alleged advance fee loan scheme that affected more than 35 identified victims across the country. The arrests are the result of a more than year-long investigation conducted by the District Attorney’s Office, Federal Bureau of Investigations, U.S. Drug Enforcement...

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. – Omil Cotto, 33, of Albuquerque, pleaded guilty in federal court yesterday to charges of methamphetamine possession with the intent to distribute and using and carrying a firearm during and in relation to a drug trafficking crime. The evidence acquired during the investigation shows that at approximately 2:39...

TAMPA, Fla. - A federal jury has found Dion Gregory Fisher (33, formerly of Seminole) guilty of conspiring to manufacture and distribute fentanyl and fentanyl analogue, and money laundering. Because Fisher was convicted of distributing more than 400 grams of fentanyl and more than 100 grams of fentanyl analogue, he...

DAYTON, Ohio – A man helping orchestrate a methamphetamine, fentanyl and heroin trafficking conspiracy was sentenced in U.S. District Court today to 180 months in prison. A federal indictment unsealed in July 2018 charged Salvador Ramirez, 24, of West Chester, along with six other people with engaging in a drug...

BEAUMONT, Texas – A 41-year-old Houston man has been sentenced to federal prison for drug trafficking and money laundering violations in the Eastern District of Texas, announced Drug Enforcement Administration Special Agent in Charge Will R. Glaspy and U.S. Attorney Joseph D. Brown today. John D. Leontaritis, owner and operator...

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. – Pawankumar Jain, 66, a former physician, was sentenced today in federal court in Las Cruces, N.M., to 108 months in prison and three years of supervised release for unlawfully dispensing controlled substances and health care fraud. The sentence was announced by U.S. Attorney John C. Anderson, DEA...

BROOKLYN, N.Y. -- Earlier today, following a two-week trial, a federal jury in Brooklyn returned a guilty verdict against Humberto Baez for conspiring to import and distribute cocaine, and for possessing with intent to distribute cocaine, in connection with his participation in a scheme responsible for smuggling 16 kilograms of...

LAS CRUCES, N.M. – Ten people are facing federal drug trafficking charges in New Mexico following an 11-month investigation led by the Drug Enforcement Administration and the Lea County Drug Task Force. Teams of federal, state, county and local law enforcement officers conducted a major law enforcement operation on Thursday...

ST. LOUIS – Dr. Philip Dean, 62, a resident of Warren County, Missouri, was sentenced today to 40 months of imprisonment and ordered to pay restitution to the Medicare and Medicaid programs in the amount of $312,377. Dr. Dean previously pled guilty today to two felony charges, illegally distributing opiate...