A Maryland man was found guilty by a federal jury yesterday and sentenced today to serve 30 years in prison for his participation in a global online child pornography conspiracy.

Attorney General Eric Holder announced today that the Department of Justice has filed a civil lawsuit against the credit rating agency Standard &s Ratings Services alleging that S&P engaged in a scheme to defraud investors in structured financial products known as Residential Mortgage-Backed Securities and Collateralized Debt Obligations.

Antoinette Djonret was sentenced today to 144 months in prison for her involvement in two separate tax fraud schemes.

Gilbert T. Lopez Jr., the former chief accounting officer of Stanford Financial Group Company, and Mark J. Kuhrt, the former global controller of Stanford Financial Group Global Management, were each sentenced today to 20 years in prison for their roles in helping Robert Allen Stanford perpetrate a fraud scheme involving Stanford International Bank (SIB). Both were convicted by a Houston federal jury on Nov. 19, 2012.

A co-owner and operator of three Miami discount pharmacies was sentenced today to 168 months in prison for his role in a health care fraud scheme that submitted more than $23 million in false claims to Medicare.

Bryan Underwood, a former civilian guard at a U.S. Consulate compound under construction in China, was sentenced today to nine years in prison in connection with his efforts to sell for personal financial gain classified photographs, information and access related to the U.S. Consulate to China’s Ministry of State Security (MSS).

A New York man was sentenced today in Buffalo to serve 11 years in prison for committing mail fraud and attempting to escape the charges by exerting pressure on a U.S. Attorney’s spouse and candidate for office, the Justice Department announced.

A Texas man was sentenced today to serve 30 years in prison for producing and distributing material relating to the sexual exploitation of children.

Aurelio Cano Flores, a Mexican national and high ranking member of the Gulf Cartel, was sentenced today to serve 35 years in prison for conspiring to import multi-ton quantities of cocaine and marijuana into the United States.

Larreka Jackson was sentenced yesterday to 48 months in prison for her role in a multi-million dollar conspiracy to use stolen identities to obtain tax refunds, the Department of Justice and the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) announced today. Jackson was also ordered to pay restitution in the amount of $721,519.12. In January 2013, Jackson pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to file false claims and one count of aggravated identity theft.

A Pennsylvania man was sentenced today to serve 12 years in prison for coercing and enticing a minor and possessing child pornography.

Manssor Arbabsiar, aka “Mansour Arbabsiar,” was sentenced today in New York City federal court to 25 years in prison for participating in a plot to murder the Saudi Arabian Ambassador to the U.S. while the Ambassador was in the U.S..

Steven Patrick Garcia, Jr., 36, of San Jose, Calif., was sentenced today in federal court in Billings, Mont., to 24 months in prison to be followed by one year of supervised release for selling and offering to sell migratory bird parts in violation of the Migratory Bird Treaty Act (MBTA) and the Lacey Act, the Department of Justice announced today. Garcia had pleaded guilty to the charge on January 16, 2013.

A former executive of Lender Processing Services Inc. (LPS) – a publicly traded company based in Jacksonville, Fla. – was sentenced today to serve five years in prison for her participation in a six-year scheme to prepare and file more than 1 million fraudulently signed and notarized mortgage-related documents with property recorders’ offices throughout the United States.

The chief executive officer of a Virginia-based security contracting firm was sentenced today to serve four years in prison for serving as a figurehead owner of a front company created to obtain more than $31 million intended for disadvantaged small businesses through the Small Business Administration’s (SBA) Section 8(a) program, which allows qualified small businesses to receive sole-source and competitive-bid contracts set aside for minority-owned and disadvantaged small businesses.

The owner and operator of a durable medical equipment (DME) supply company was sentenced today to serve five years in prison in connection with a health care fraud scheme involving Latay Medical Services, a DME company based in Gardena, Calif.

A former supervisor at defunct health provider Health Care Solutions Network Inc. (HCSN) was sentenced today in Miami to serve 10 years in prison for her central role in a fraud scheme that resulted in more than $63 million in fraudulent claims to Medicare and Florida Medicaid.

Yuri Khandrius, 50, of Brooklyn, N.Y., was sentenced today to eight years in prison for his role in a $77 million Medicare fraud scheme.

A former Michigan resident was sentenced today in Miami to 165 years in prison, followed by a lifetime of supervised release, for child sex tourism offenses, announced Acting Assistant Attorney General Mythili Raman of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division, U.S. Attorney Wifredo A. Ferrer of the Southern District of Florida, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Deputy Director Daniel Ragsdale, and Special Agent in Charge Alysa D. Erichs of the ICE Homeland Security Investigation’s (HSI) Miami Office.

Paul S. Kruse, 60, of Jacksonville, Fla., was sentenced late yesterday to serve 30 years in prison for wire fraud, wire fraud conspiracy, attempting to murder a government witness and murder-for-hire.

Christian Fernando Borda, a major narcotics trafficker aligned with paramilitary groups in Colombia, was sentenced today to serve 25 years in prison for conspiring to import ton-quantities of cocaine into the United States, announced Acting Assistant Attorney General Mythili Raman of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division and Administrator Michele M. Leonhart of the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA).

Anthony K. Mastrogiovanni, 30, of Crofton, Md., was sentenced today to serve 25 years in prison for sexually exploiting more than 30 male juveniles – ranging from 9 to 16 years of age – in Maryland and Louisiana to produce child pornography.

Jason Glenn Thomas, 35, a former City of Tuscaloosa Police sergeant in Tuscaloosa, Ala., was sentenced today to serve ten years in federal prison followed by three years of supervised release for sexually assaulting a Tuscaloosa woman in violation of federal civil rights laws. A special assessment of $100.00 was also imposed.

A former medical doctor was sentenced today to serve 20 years in prison for engaging in illicit sexual conduct with minors in Kenya.

The former president of Sea Star Line LLC, a Jacksonville, Fla.-based water freight carrier, was sentenced to serve five years in prison and to pay a $25,000 criminal fine for his participation in a conspiracy to fix rates and surcharges for freight transported by water between the continental United States and Puerto Rico.

One of the world’s most prolific cybercriminals was sentenced today to serve 18 years in prison for his role in co-founding the notorious website CarderPlanet. At the time of his arrest, Vega possessed more than half a million stolen credit card numbers

Terrance Anderson, aka Scooby, was sentenced to serve 25 years in a federal prison on charges of sex trafficking of a minor and two counts of transporting adults in interstate commerce for prostitution.

U.S. District Court Judge Susan C. Bucklew sentenced Andrew Blane Fields, 62, of Lutz, Fla., to serve 33 years and nine months in prison followed by five years of supervised release, the Justice Department announced today.

Robert Patrick Hoffman II, 40, of Virginia Beach, Va., was sentenced today to serve 30 years in prison for attempting to commit espionage against the United States.

Jose A. Santiago, 36, of Springfield, Mass., was sentenced yesterday in Providence, R.I., to serve 40 years in prison for his role in the September 2010 armed robbery and murder of Woonsocket, R.I., gas station manager David D. Main.

Richard Castle, 47, a resident of the United Kingdom, has been sentenced to serve 192 months in prison in connection with a trip he made to Ohio from his home in the United Kingdom to have illicit sexual activity with a minor in June 2011.

As the April 15 tax filing deadline approaches, Attorney General Eric Holder warned U.S. tax filers to beware a “rising threat” of scammers seeking fraudulent refunds based on stolen identities, and vowed aggressive enforcement against the practice. Speaking in a recorded video message released on the Justice Department’s website, Attorney General Holder explained that a growing pool of criminals are engaged in the activity, including gangs and drug sellers seeking quick access to cash.

A Phoenix man convicted after a jury trial last December of conspiracy and racketeering offenses for his involvement in a sophisticated cybercrime organization was sentenced today to serve 20 years in prison.

Earlier today, William S. Gazafi, age 44, of Lusby, Maryland, was sentenced to 120 years in prison, for six counts of sexually exploiting a minor to produce child pornography

Deputy Assistant Attorney General Ronald A. Cimino for the Tax Division of the Department of Justice and U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara for the Southern District of New York announced that Paul M. Daugerdas, 63, a tax attorney and certified public accountant, was sentenced today in Manhattan federal court to serve 15 years in prison for orchestrating a massive fraudulent tax shelter scheme in which he and his co-conspirators designed, marketed and implemented fraudulent tax shelters used by wealthy individuals to evade over $1.6 billion in taxes owed to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS).

Robert Eugene Revay, 79, of Oakland Park, Florida, was sentenced to serve 15 years in prison for conspiring to produce child pornography and for possession of child pornography

U.S. District Court Judge Paul W. Grimm sentenced Jean Claude Roy, aka Dredd the Don, 31, of Germantown, Maryland, to serve 240 months in prison to be followed by 10 years of supervised release, the Justice Department announced today

Marcellus Williams, aka “Math,” “P-Shooter” and “Manny,” 27, of Newport News, Virginia, was sentenced today to serve 30 years in prison, followed by five years of supervised release, for engaging in numerous gang-related crimes as a ranking member of the Black P-Stones, including shootings of rival gang members, robberies and drug dealing

An associate of the Armenian Power gang, who was convicted at trial for his role in a racketeering conspiracy that included stealing personal and financial information of elderly bank customers for accounts valued at more than $25 million, was sentenced to serve 160 months in prison today in federal court in Los Angeles

A Tennessee Bloods gang member was sentenced today to serve 10 years in prison, to be followed by three years of supervised release for his role in a violent racketeering conspiracy

A Louisiana psychiatrist was sentenced in federal court in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, today to serve 86 months in prison for his role in a $258.5 million Medicare fraud scheme involving partial hospitalization psychiatric services. He was further ordered to pay $43.5 million in restitution and to forfeit all proceeds from the fraudulent scheme

A U.S. citizen living in Amsterdam, Netherlands, was sentenced today to serve 35 years in prison for sexually exploiting a minor in California and elsewhere and producing images of that abuse.

A co-owner of Professional Medical Home Health LLC was sentenced today to serve 70 months in prison and ordered to pay $6.2 million in restitution for her participation in a health care fraud scheme involving the now defunct home health care company

Eduardo Santiago-Rivera, 45, admitted that in June and July 2012, he caused at least three minors, who ranged in age from 12 to 15, to engage in sexual activity for the purpose of creating videos.

John P. Carlin, Assistant Attorney General for National Security and Wifredo A. Ferrer, United States Attorney for the Southern District of Florida, announced today that U.S. District Judge Marcia Cooke re-sentenced Jose Padilla to serve 21 years in prison for his 2007 conviction for conspiracy to murder, kidnap and maim individuals in a foreign country; conspiracy to provide material support to terrorists; and providing material support to terrorists.

A 26-year-old man from Newport News, Virginia, was sentenced today to serve 255 months in prison, followed by five years of supervised release, for engaging in numerous gang-related crimes as a member of the Black P-Stones, including the shooting of a rival gang member, marijuana dealing and lying to a federal grand jury.

An East Side Bloods (ESB) gang member from Scottsdale, Arizona, was sentenced late yesterday to serve 30 years in prison for his role in the violent street gang, which operated on the Salt River Pima-Maricopa Indian Community reservation.

Organicell Regenerative Medicine Inc. (BPSR.OB) has received FDA clearance to initiate a phase I/II multi-center clinical trial of Organicell Flow in patients diagnosed with moderate to severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) due to COVID-19 infection.

Los Angeles County, which continues to be the hardest hit area in California, announced 51 additional deaths linked to COVID-19 on Thursday.

Reopening California begins -- but very slowly, cautiously and under the shadow of a second wave.