Michael Wei Yueh Liu, 59, and Jing Dong, 47, were each found guilty on one count of conspiracy and 10 counts of international money laundering.

According to evidence presented at a four-day trial, from at least January 2012 to March 2015, Liu and Dong ran a maternity house in Rancho Cucamonga. Their pregnant Chinese clients would come to the area, and waiting for them were apartments that Liu and Dong had rented across Southern California.

In addition to housing, other services Liu and Dong provided for the women were assistance on how to obtain visas to enter the United States, customs entry guidance, and transportation in the United States, as well as assistance applying for U.S. legal documents for the babies, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.

Liu and Dong received money from their overseas clients to promote their scheme and advised the women on how to hide their pregnancies from the immigration authorities.

“Liu and Dong also knew — or deliberately avoided learning — that their customers lied on their visa applications submitted to immigration authorities to enter the U.S.,” according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.

Generally, their customers’ visa applications falsely stated that the trip to the United States was for tourism, when it was to give birth, and the length of the stay was days or weeks when it was, in fact, months. The visas also misstated the location where the pregnant women intended to stay, the Attorney’s Office alleged.

Liu and Dong or their agents also advised the women to fly to ports of entry that the pair perceived as having less customs scrutiny before flying to Los Angeles. The women were instructed to wear loose-fitting clothing and to favor certain lines at customs; they were also told how to answer customs officials’ questions, according to the Attorney’s Office.

Liu and Dong face a statutory maximum sentence of five years in federal prison for the conspiracy count and up to 20 years for each international money laundering count. They are scheduled for sentencing Dec. 9.

Homeland Security Investigations, IRS Criminal Investigation, and the FBI investigated the case. The Irvine Police Department and the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department assisted.

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The lawyers filed papers with the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals asking a three-judge panel to reverse his conviction and assign the case to a new judge for a retrial, saying the trial judge “imposed a draconian quarter-century sentence on this first-time, non-violent offender” after they contend he hurried the jury into reaching a one-day verdict to cap off a complex four-week trial.

“Sam Bankman-Fried was never presumed innocent. He was presumed guilty — before he was even charged. He was presumed guilty by the media. He was presumed guilty by the FTX debtor estate and its lawyers. He was presumed guilty by federal prosecutors eager for quick headlines. And he was presumed guilty by the judge who presided over his trial,” the lawyers wrote.

They said the passing of time has cast Bankman-Fried in a better light.

“From day one, the prevailing narrative — initially spun by the lawyers who took over FTX, quickly adopted by their contacts at the U.S. Attorney’s Office — was that Bankman-Fried had stolen billions of dollars of customer funds, driven FTX to insolvency, and caused billions in losses,” the attorney said.

“Now, nearly two years later, a very different picture is emerging — one confirming FTX was never insolvent, and in fact had assets worth billions to repay its customers. But the jury at Bankman-Fried’s trial never got to see that picture,” they added.

Bankman-Fried, 32, was convicted last November of fraud and conspiracy a year after his companies collapsed into bankruptcy as investors rushed to withdraw funds. A jury concluded that some of their money had been improperly spent on real estate, investments, celebrity endorsements, political contributions and lavish lifestyles.

At its height, FTX was treated as a pioneer and darling in the emerging cryptocurrency industry, with a Super Bowl advertisement, testimony by Bankman-Fried before Congress and endorsements from celebrities such as quarterback Tom Brady and comedian Larry David.

Bankman-Fried was arrested in December 2022 following his extradition from the Bahamas, just weeks after his company filed for bankruptcy and days after some of his former top executives began cooperating with federal prosecutors. Some of them testified against him at trial.

He initially remained under strict bail conditions at his parents’ home in Palo Alto, California, but Judge Lewis A. Kaplan in Manhattan revoked his bail shortly before the trial after concluding that Bankman-Fried was trying to influence likely witnesses, including an ex-girlfriend who had served as chief executive at Alameda Research, a crypto hedge fund.

The fallen mogul is serving a 25-year sentence after he was sentenced in March in what a prosecutor once described as one of the biggest financial frauds in U.S. history.

A prosecutor’s spokesperson declined to comment Friday.

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The suspects, all residents of Jurupa Valley, were identified by the Riverside County Sheriff’s Department as:

• Thomas Balandran, 50
• Sherri Alvarez, 48
• Brianna Balandran, 19
• Unidentified juvenile, 17

On April 24, deputies responded to a business in Temecula where thieves attempted to steal over $1,000 worth of merchandise.

Investigators identified the suspects and discovered they were responsible for at least 10 retail thefts throughout Riverside, San Bernardino, and Los Angeles counties. The family had reportedly stolen over $7,000 worth of items during those incidents, authorities said.

On May 13, a search warrant was served at a home in the 6800 block of Valley Way in Jurupa Valley.

During the search, deputies found a large amount of stolen merchandise with price tags still attached. Other items, including narcotics and paraphernalia, were also found in the home.

Detectives learned there were additional homes connected to the thefts that involved suspects knowingly buying stolen goods to resell for profit, also known as “fencing.”

On May 14, two additional warrants were served in Moreno Valley where over $3,000 worth of stolen items were found.

The adult family members were arrested on charges of organized retail theft, burglary, conspiracy, and grand theft. The 17-year-old juvenile was released to a family member and charges will be filed with juvenile probation.

Deputies discovered that Balandran was on probation for grand theft at the time and additional charges were added to include violation of probation and drug-related offenses.

Investigators believe there are more retail thefts involving the family that have not been reported.

Anyone with additional information can call Deputy Christina Weber at 951-696-3133.

“The Riverside County Sheriff’s Office has zero tolerance for these offenses and will continue to work proactively with our allied agencies, loss prevention partners, and the District Attorney’s Office to combat organized retail crime,” authorities said.

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File # L232200107

Details:

On Tuesday, August 8, 2023, at 6:47 p.m., Elsinore Station Patrol deputies responded to the 29000 block of Hanging Rock, Lake Elsinore, regarding suspicious person on a construction site of model homes tampering with the surveillance cameras. Deputies arrived at the location and saw three males actively loading air conditioner units from the model homes into a van. All three subjects fled, and two subjects, were immediately detained. The third suspect, who fled on foot across all lanes of the I-15 freeway, was detained a short time later by deputies. The estimated value of stolen and damaged property was $20,400. Deputies assigned to the Lake Elsinore Special Enforcement Team and Robbery/Burglary Suppression Team assumed the investigation. The suspects were identified as 40-year-old Pedro Perez Gomez, 57-year-old Armando Lopez Fitz, and 42-year-old Jose Servin Perez, all residents of Santa Ana. All three suspects were transported and booked into the Cois Byrd Detention Center for charges including grand theft, conspiracy, and obstructing/delaying an officer.

This is an ongoing investigation. Anyone with additional information is encouraged to contact Deputy Pohlman at the Lake Elsinore Sheriff’s Station (951) 245-3300.

As a reminder, “Community Policing” involves partnerships between law enforcement and community members.  Business owners and residents are encouraged to report criminal activity directly to law enforcement by calling Sheriff’s Dispatch at (951) 776-1099, or by calling 911 if the matter is an emergency.

For media inquiries regarding this incident please contact the Media Information Bureau.

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File # I230730099

Details:

On Tuesday, March 14, 2023, at 5:15 PM, deputies responded to the 340 block of Shaver Street, in San Jacinto to investigate reports of a shooting that just occurred. Upon their arrival, they discovered an occupied residential structure was struck by gunfire. Investigators responded and assumed the investigation. During their investigation they learned a group of individuals arrived in a silver Dodge sedan and had a confrontation with other individuals at the residence. During the confrontation an individual who arrived in the Dodge sedan fired several rounds from a firearm at the residence hitting the building but did not hit anyone with gunfire. During their investigation the investigators identified several persons of interest and began searching for them.

On Wednesday, March 15, 2023, at 9:25 AM, deputies located the Dodge sedan at a residence in the 600 block of Steiner Drive, Hemet. Investigators obtained a search warrant for the residence at this address and several vehicles. During the service of the search warrant at the residence and of the vehicles evidence related to the shooting was located and seized by investigators.

Anyone with information on this case is encouraged to call Investigator Ray Ghiliotty at the Hemet Sheriff’s Station by calling 951-791-3400.

The following persons were arrested:

Jordan Lee Wade 33 years of age from Hemet booked for conspiracy to commit assault with a firearm and felon in possession of a firearm

Jessica Woolridge 31 years of age from Hemet booked for attempted murder

Rose Satele-Maifea 23 years of age from Hemet booked for conspiracy to commit assault with a firearm

For media inquiries regarding this incident please contact the Media Information Bureau.

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MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Federal authorities charged 47 people in Minnesota with conspiracy and other counts in what they said Tuesday was the largest fraud scheme yet to take advantage of the COVID-19 pandemic by stealing $250 million from a federal program that provides meals to low-income children.

Prosecutors say the defendants created companies that claimed to be offering food to tens of thousands of children across Minnesota, then sought reimbursement for those meals through the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s food nutrition programs. Prosecutors say few meals were actually served, and the defendants used the money to buy luxury cars, property and jewelry.

“This $250 million is the floor,” Andy Luger, the U.S. attorney for Minnesota, said at a news conference. “Our investigation continues.”

Many of the companies that claimed to be serving food were sponsored by a nonprofit called Feeding Our Future, which submitted the companies’ claims for reimbursement. Feeding Our Future’s founder and executive director, Aimee Bock, was among those indicted, and authorities say she and others in her organization submitted the fraudulent claims for reimbursement and received kickbacks.

Bock’s attorney, Kenneth Udoibok, said the indictment “doesn’t indicate guilt or innocence.” He said he wouldn’t comment further until seeing the indictment.

In interviews after law enforcement searched multiple sites in January, including Bock’s home and offices, Bock denied stealing money and said she never saw evidence of fraud.

Earlier this year, the U.S. Department of Justice made prosecuting pandemic-related fraud a priority. The department has already taken enforcement actions related to more than $8 billion in suspected pandemic fraud, including bringing charges in more than 1,000 criminal cases involving losses in excess of $1.1 billion.

Federal officials repeatedly described the alleged fraud as “brazen,” and decried that it involved a program intended to feed children who needed help during the pandemic. Michael Paul, special agent in charge of the Minneapolis FBI office, called it “an astonishing display of deceit.”

Luger said the government was billed for more than 125 million fake meals, with some defendants making up names for children by using an online random name generator. He displayed one form for reimbursement that claimed a site served exactly 2,500 meals each day Monday through Friday — with no children ever getting sick or otherwise missing from the program.

“These children were simply invented,” Luger said.

He said the government has so far recovered $50 million in money and property and expects to recover more.

The defendants in Minnesota face multiple counts, including conspiracy, wire fraud, money laundering and bribery. Luger said some of them were arrested Tuesday morning.

According to court documents, the alleged scheme targeted the USDA’s federal child nutrition programs, which provide food to low-income children and adults. In Minnesota, the funds are administered by the state Department of Education, and meals have historically been provided to kids through educational programs, such as schools or day care centers.

The sites that serve the food are sponsored by public or nonprofit groups, such as Feeding Our Future. The sponsoring agency keeps 10% to 15% of the reimbursement funds as an administrative fee in exchange for submitting claims, sponsoring the sites and disbursing the funds.

But during the pandemic, some of the standard requirements for sites to participate in the federal food nutrition programs were waived. The USDA allowed for-profit restaurants to participate, and allowed food to be distributed outside educational programs. The charging documents say the defendants exploited such changes “to enrich themselves.”

The documents say Bock oversaw the scheme and that she and Feeding Our Future sponsored the opening of nearly 200 federal child nutrition program sites throughout the state, knowing that the sites intended to submit fraudulent claims.

“The sites fraudulently claimed to be serving meals to thousands of children a day within just days or weeks of being formed and despite having few, if any staff and little to no experience serving this volume of meals,” according to the indictments.

One example described a small storefront restaurant in Willmar, in west-central Minnesota, that typically served only a few dozen people a day. Two defendants offered the owner $40,000 a month to use his restaurant, then billed the government for some 1.6 million meals through 11 months of 2021, according to one indictment. They listed the names of around 2,000 children — nearly half of the local school district’s total enrollment — and only 33 names matched actual students, the indictment said.

Feeding Our Future received nearly $18 million in federal child nutrition program funds as administrative fees in 2021 alone, and Bock and other employees received additional kickbacks, which were often disguised as “consulting fees” paid to shell companies, the charging documents said.

According to an FBI affidavit unsealed earlier this year, Feeding Our Future received $307,000 in reimbursements from the USDA in 2018, $3.45 million in 2019 and $42.7 million in 2020. The amount of reimbursements jumped to $197.9 million in 2021.

Court documents say the Minnesota Department of Education was growing concerned about the rapid increase in the number of sites sponsored by Feeding Our Future, as well as the increase in reimbursements.

The department began scrutinizing Feeding Our Future’s site applications more carefully, and denied dozens of them. In response, Bock sued the department in November 2020, alleging discrimination, saying the majority of her sites were based in immigrant communities. That case has since been dismissed.

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File # E222110030

Details:

On Saturday, July 30, 2022, deputies from the Jurupa Valley Station responded to the 4000 block of Main Street in the city of Riverside, regarding the report of vandalism to the Riverside County Historic Courthouse. The Riverside Police Department had initially received the call for service and upon their arrival, detained numerous suspects near the building who were believed to have defaced the property. Once the crime was confirmed to have occurred on county property, the Riverside County Sheriff’s Department assumed the investigation, which revealed demonstrators were at the location in support of abortion rights. With the assistance of the Riverside Police Department, the investigation determined eight suspects vandalized the building’s facade, doors, and windows, under the guise of civil disobedience, causing approximately $10,000 in damage.

The following suspects were arrested and booked into the Robert Presley Detention Center for vandalism and conspiracy to commit vandalism:

Alexandria Fite, a 22-year-old resident of Upland

Idil Aston, a 25-year-old resident of Moreno Valley

Christian Rangel, a 23-year-old resident of Placentia

Elise Kelder, a 28-year-old resident of Corona

Aida Aston, a 32-year-old resident of Moreno Valley

Oliver Solares, a 24-year-old resident of Bellflower

Alexandria Ortega, a 18-year-old resident of Apple Valley

Alexander Castro, a 22-year-old resident of Fullerton

The Riverside County Sheriff’s Department has a responsibility to ensure the Constitutional Rights of our community members are protected and we take that commitment very seriously. However, the transition from peaceful demonstration to protest and then to criminal behavior of any kind, will always be met with zero tolerance. We will arrest and charge offenders to the fullest extent of the law. Anyone with additional information regarding this investigation is encouraged to contact Deputy Petersen of the Jurupa Valley Station at 951-955-2600.

The Jurupa Valley Station continuously strives to ensure the citizens of Riverside County live comfortably and their quality of life is unimpeded. As a reminder, “Community Policing” involves partnerships between law enforcement and community members. Business owners and residents are encouraged to report criminal activity directly to law enforcement by calling Sheriff’s Dispatch at (951) 776-1099, or by calling 911 if the matter is an emergency. Criminal activity can also be reported through the We-Tip Crime Reporting Hotline, (909) 987-5005 or our online tip form.

For media inquiries regarding this incident please contact the Media Information Bureau.

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WASHINGTON (AP) — The former top leader of the far-right Proud Boys extremist group and other members were charged with seditious conspiracy for what federal prosecutors say was a coordinated attack on the U.S. Capitol to stop Congress from certifying President Joe Biden’s 2020 electoral victory.

The latest indictment against Henry “Enrique” Tarrio, the former Proud Boys chairman, and four others linked to the group comes as the U.S. House committee investigating the Jan. 6 riot prepares to begin public hearings this week to lay out its findings.

The indictment Monday alleges that the Proud Boys conspired to forcibly oppose the lawful transfer of presidential power. Tarrio and the others — Ethan Nordean, Joseph Biggs, Zachary Rehl and Dominic Pezzola — were previously charged with different conspiracy counts.

They are scheduled to stand trial in August in Washington, D.C.’s federal court.

The seditious conspiracy charges are among the most serious filed so far, but aren’t the first of their kind. Eleven members or associates of the anti-government Oath Keepers militia group, including its founder and leader Stewart Rhodes, were indicted in January on seditious conspiracy charges in a serious escalation in the largest investigation in the Justice Department’s history.

Three Oath Keepers have already pleaded guilty to the rarely used Civil War-era charge that calls for up to 20 years in prison. The indictment alleges that the Oath Keepers and their associates prepared in the weeks leading up to Jan. 6 as if they were going to war, discussing things like weapons and training.

Tarrio, the group’s top leader, wasn’t in Washington, D.C., when the riot erupted on Jan. 6, 2021, but authorities say he helped put into motion the violence that day.

Police arrested Tarrio in Washington two days before the riot and charged him with vandalizing a Black Lives Matter banner at a historic Black church during a protest in December 2020. Tarrio was released from jail on Jan. 14 after serving his five-month sentence for that case.

An attorney for Tarrio said his client “is going to have his day in court.”

“And we intend to vigorously represent him through that process,” said Nayib Hassan.

Defense attorney Carmen Hernendez, who represents Rehl, said her client is “as innocent of these charges as the ones that had already been pending against him.”

“Seditious conspiracy requires the use of force, and he never used any force nor thought about using any force,” Hernandez said.

More than three dozen people charged in the Capitol siege have been identified by federal authorities as leaders, members or associates of the Proud Boys, whose members describe it as a politically incorrect men’s club for “Western chauvinists.”

They have brawled with antifascist activists at rallies and protests. Vice Media co-founder Gavin McInnes, who founded the Proud Boys in 2016, sued the Southern Poverty Law Center for labeling it as a hate group.

The indictment alleges that the Proud Boys held meetings and communicated over encrypted messages to plan for the attack in the days leading up to Jan. 6. On the day of the riot, authorities say Proud Boys dismantled metal barricades set up to protect the Capitol and mobilized, directed and led members of the crowd into the building.

Prosecutors have said the Proud Boys arranged for members to communicate using specific frequencies on Baofeng radios. The Chinese-made devices can be programmed for use on hundreds of frequencies, making it difficult for outsiders to eavesdrop.

Shortly before the riot, authorities say Tarrio posted on social media that the group planned to turn out in “record numbers” on Jan. 6, but would be “incognito” instead of donning their traditional clothing colors of black and yellow.

Around the same time, an unnamed person sent Tarrio a document that laid out plans for occupying a few “crucial buildings” in Washington on Jan. 6, including House and Senate office buildings around the Capitol, the indictment says. The nine-page document was entitled “1776 Returns” and called for having as “many people as possible” to “show our politicians We the People are in charge,” according to the indictment.

Nordean, of Auburn, Washington, was a Proud Boys chapter president and a member of the group’s national “Elders Council.” Biggs, of Ormond Beach, Florida, is a self-described Proud Boys organizer. Rehl was president of the Proud Boys chapter in Philadelphia. Pezzola is a Proud Boy member from Rochester, New York.

A New York man pleaded guilty in December to storming the U.S. Capitol with fellow Proud Boys members. Matthew Greene was the first Proud Boys member to publicly plead guilty to conspiring with other members to stop Congress from certifying the Electoral College vote. Greene agreed to cooperate with authorities investigating the attack.

Another Proud Boy, Charles Donohoe, of Kernersville, North Carolina, pleaded guilty in April to conspiracy and assault charges and also agreed to cooperate in the Justice Department’s cases against other members of the extremist group.

In December, a federal judge refused to dismiss an earlier indictment charging alleged leaders of the Proud Boys with conspiring to block the certification of Biden’s electoral college win. U.S. District Judge Timothy Kelly rejected defense attorneys’ arguments that the men were charged with conduct that is protected by the First Amendment right to free speech.

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SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — A Northern California couple pleaded guilty Tuesday to forcing a Guatemalan relative and her two daughters to work long hours under poor conditions while keeping the girls out of school with threats that they would be deported.

Nery Martinez Vasquez and his wife, Maura Martinez, both age 53 and both of Shasta Lake, near Redding, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit forced labor.

Both are naturalized U.S. citizens originally from Guatemala who promised their relative a “better life” if she came to America in September 2016, federal prosecutors said.

Instead, they forced the family members to overstay their visas and work long hours for little to no pay at their restaurant, called Latino’s, and at their Redding Carpet Cleaning & Janitorial Services, which served area businesses including multiple car dealerships.

“This case highlights how the dream of coming to the United States to begin a new, promising life can become a nightmare,” Sean Ragan, special agent in charge of the FBI‘s Sacramento field office, said in a statement. The three worked in public view, he said, “yet were imprisoned by fear and the lies they had been told by their exploiters.”

As part of the plea agreement, prosecutors dropped charges filed in June alleging that in 1997 the couple conspired to kidnap a 13-year-old girl from her Las Vegas home, then held her against her will for nearly two years while Martinez Vasquez repeatedly raped and sexually molested the girl.

The forced labor conviction carries a sentence of up to 20 years in federal prison, but prosecutors also agreed to recommend a sentence of 6 1/2 years, said defense attorney Mark Reichel.

“We were able to make an agreement that everyone could live with,” Reichel said. ”Going to trial in federal court is always an extreme gamble.”

Prosecutors said the couple told the woman and her daughters that they couldn’t leave until they paid a fictitious debt in full. They threatened to have them arrested for overstaying their visas and told the daughters they couldn’t go to school because they would be deported.

Instead, the girls worked for the couple’s businesses until February 2018, where Martinez Vasquez would sometimes hit them with a stick when he was angry, prosecutors said.

They and their mother were forced to live in what prosecutors described as “dilapidated, unheated trailer with no running water.”

Prosecutors did not disclose the girls’ ages, nor would they give the family’s current circumstances.

The couple agreed to pay the family and other victims $300,000 in restitution as part of their plea agreement.

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NEW YORK (AP) — The chair of former President Donald Trump’s 2017 inaugural committee pleaded not guilty Monday and said he was “100% innocent” of charges that he secretly lobbied the U.S. on behalf of the United Arab Emirates.

Tom Barrack, 74, appeared in Brooklyn federal court for the first time, days after he was freed on $250 million bail following his arrest in California. His lawyer entered his plea for him.

“As you’d expect, the system is working. I think what you’ll find is that … over time, you’ll all see that I’m 100% innocent,” Barrack said as he left the courthouse.

Prosecutors say Barrack used his multi-decade friendship with Trump to influence the Republican’s policy, starting when Trump was a candidate in 2016 and continuing after he was sworn in as president.

At the time, the UAE was in a tense diplomatic conflict with Qatar. Prosecutors said that, among other things, Barrack provided Emirati government officials with information about how senior U.S. officials viewed the dispute. A group of countries, including Saudi Arabia, Egypt, the UAE and Bahrain, launched a blockade against Qatar in mid-2017.

Prosecutors said Barrack boasted to contacts in the Emirates that he could help them gain influence with the then-new administration, even as he was seeking a post as ambassador to the UAE or as special envoy to the Middle East.

Federal authorities say Barrack broke the law by failing to disclose his UAE ties to the U.S. government.

On Friday, a Los Angeles magistrate judge approved a $250 million bail deal negotiated between Barrack’s lawyers and federal prosecutors. The arrangement required Barrack to give up passports and submit to electronic monitoring. It also imposed a curfew.

Barrack is charged with conspiracy, obstruction of justice and making false statements during a June 2019 interview with federal agents.

Matthew Grimes, 27, an Aspen, Colorado-based former executive at Barrack’s company, and Rashid al Malik, 43, an Emirati businessman who prosecutors said acted as a conduit to that nation’s rulers, were also charged in the seven-count indictment returned in Brooklyn federal court.

Grimes also appeared Monday in the same court, where his lawyer entered a not guilty plea for him.

Al Malik fled the U.S. three days after an April 2018 interview by law enforcement and remains at large, authorities said. He is believed to be living somewhere in the Middle East.

Barrack was an informal adviser to Trump’s 2016 campaign before becoming the inaugural committee chair.

The indictment against Barrack made no allegations of wrongdoing by the inaugural committee or by Trump.

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