Russian national was indicted for helping an oligarch evade US sanctions by financing multimillion dollar properties in Manhattan, the Hamptons and Florida – the latest sign that prosecutors continue to put pressure on wealthy businessmen with ties to the Kremlin. Vladimir Voronchenko, an art dealer and childhood friend of sanctioned Russian oligarch Viktor Vekselberg, was charged with violating US sanctions, international money laundering, conspiracy, and contempt of court for not complying with a grand jury subpoena. Voronchenko left the US in May after receiving the subpoena for ..read more

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico – The former mayor of the Municipality of Trujillo Alto, Puerto Rico, José Luis Cruz-Cruz, was sentenced today to 24 months in prison for his involvement in a bribery scheme in which he received cash payments in exchange for directing municipal employees to execute municipal contracts for the benefit of an asphalt and paving company and a trash removal company. José Luis Cruz-Cruz, 63, pleaded guilty in June 2022 to one count of conspiracy to engage in a bribery scheme. According to court documents and statements made in connection with his plea and sentencing, Cruz ..read more

A former U.S. Navy captain who was caught up in a massive contracting scandal was sentenced Thursday to 2 1/2 years in federal prison for taking nearly $91,000 in bribes. Retired Capt. David Haas also was ordered to make restitution and to pay a $30,000 fine. Prosecutors said Haas, 54, of Kailua, Hawaii, was among dozens of Navy officials who were bribed to help obtain defense contracts for a man known as “Fat Leonard” Francis. Francis owned Singapore-based Glenn Defense Marine Asia Ltd., or GDMA, which supplied food, water and fuel to vessels for decades. He has acknowledged overbi ..read more

U.S. District Judge Kristine Baker on Friday sentenced Jeremy Hutchinson, the former Republican senator, to 46 months in prison. Hutchinson, son of former U.S. Sen. Tim Hutchinson and nephew of former Gov. Asa Hutchinson, has been all over the news in recent years for charges of bribery, submitting false income taxes and being a deadbeat dad who doesn’t pay child support. Baker set a consecutive sentence of 46 months, which broke down into 18 months for bribery and 28 months for tax fraud. Through his attorney, Timothy Dudley, Hutchinson  ..read more

The United States Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of Pennsylvania announced today that Robert Semenza, Jr., age 47, of Old Forge, Pennsylvania, was sentenced by United States District Judge Malachy E. Mannion, to 12 months of imprisonment for committing bribery. According to United States Attorney Gerard M. Karam, Semenza, the former President of the Old Forge Borough Council, pleaded guilty to soliciting, demanding, and accepting cash payments in exchange for performing and promising to perform official acts, between January 2019 and February 2020. The official acts were in connect ..read more

A gambling company was fined £6.1 million for social responsibility and money laundering failings. The Gambling Commission assessed In Touch Games – which operates 11 websites including bonusboss.co.uk, cashmo.co.uk and slotfactory.com – in March last year. It is the third time the firm, based in Birmingham, has faced regulatory action. It paid a £2.2 million settlement in 2019 and received another £3.4 million fine and warning for further failures two years later in 2021. Kay Roberts, executive director of operations at the Gambling Commission, said: ‘Considering this operator ..read more

U.S. authorities said on Wednesday they have arrested the majority shareholder and cofounder of Hong Kong-registered virtual currency exchange Bitzlato Ltd for allegedly processing $700 million in illicit funds. Anatoly Legkodymov, a Russian national living in China, was arrested in Miami on Tuesday on charges that he operated the exchange as an unlicensed money exchange business that “in his own words, catered to ‘known crooks,'” a top Justice Department official said. Prosecutors said Bitzlato exchanged more than $700 million in cryptocurrency with Hydra Market, which they described as an i ..read more

An ex-analyst at asset manager Janus Henderson Group Plc and four other individuals were charged with a £1.5 million ($1.8 million) conspiracy to commit insider dealing and money laundering by UK financial prosecutors. The Financial Conduct Authority said Redinel Korfuzi, 35, accessed confidential inside information in his while working at Janus Henderson to enable “timely and profitable” trading in 49 companies. Korfuzi and the other individuals all indicated that they plan to plead not guilty, the FCA said Wednesday. The five defendants saw profits of around £1.5 million by betting the valu ..read more

Former Hidalgo County Commissioner Arturo “A.C.” Cuellar Jr., 69, was sentenced to 20 years in prison. Ricardo Quintanilla, 57, is sentenced to 16 and a half years, and John F. Cuello, 60, gets three years. Prosecutors say the men conspired to bribe two Weslaco, Texas, commissioners. Arturo Cuellar and Quintanilla agreed to bribe his cousin John Cuellar and Gerardo Tafolla, two Weslaco commissioners, in exchange for “official actions favorable to engineering companies seeking large contracts for the city,” prosecutors said. “From approximately March 2008 through December 2015, one of the pa ..read more

Former Los Angeles City Councilman José Huizar pleaded guilty Friday to two federal charges stemming from a City Hall-based bribery and money laundering scheme in which he took more than $1.5 million in cash, gambling trips and escorts in exchange for his support of a planned downtown hotel project. Huizar pleaded guilty to racketeering conspiracy and tax evasion in downtown L.A. The charges could carry a sentence of up to 25 years behind bars, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office. The plea agreement, which was filed Thursday in Los Angeles federal court, says the ex-councilman agreed to a ..read more