The Investigative Journal’s daily review of Department of Justice enforcement activity. Every item below is drawn from DOJ press releases and court filings, linked throughout. Charges are allegations unless otherwise noted, and all defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty.
The Justice Department’s enforcement docket over the past 72 hours was dominated by an immigration-fraud takedown in Manhattan that prosecutors describe as a central component of one of the largest marriage fraud schemes ever charged in the United States. Around it, filings and settlements announced between Aug. 10 and Aug. 12 sketch the contours of the department’s current priorities: pandemic-loan clawbacks reaching a Chinese state-linked aerospace firm, a $46 million pharmaceutical kickback resolution that DOJ says includes the largest “Sunshine Act” recovery on record, an export-control guilty plea involving military satellite hardware bound for China, and criminal charges in labor trafficking and environmental cases. Corporate resolutions in the window total roughly $60 million.
Notably, four of the eight actions below have a People’s Republic of China nexus — spanning immigration fraud, forced labor, export control, and pandemic-loan fraud — a pattern consistent with the department’s sustained focus on PRC-linked schemes across multiple divisions.
11 Charged in Decade-Long Sham-Marriage Network Tied to Hundreds of Fraudulent Green Card Applications
A two-count indictment unsealed Aug. 12 in the Southern District of New York charges 11 New York-area defendants with running a nationwide and international marriage-fraud network from at least 2016 through July 2026. According to the indictment as described by DOJ, the network arranged more than 1,000 sham marriages between U.S. citizens and foreign nationals — primarily citizens of the People’s Republic of China — with ceremonies staged in states from Connecticut to Florida and as far afield as Vanuatu and China.
The filings indicate a tiered business model: foreign nationals allegedly paid facilitators as much as $100,000 per marriage, participating U.S. citizens received up to roughly $30,000 in milestone installments tied to the green card process, and recruiters earned commissions of up to $5,000 per citizen recruited. Prosecutors allege the network staged wedding photographs, opened joint financial accounts, filed joint tax returns, and coached couples to deceive U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services interviewers — causing at least hundreds of fraudulent green card applications and, DOJ says, collecting tens of millions of dollars. Search warrants were executed in Sunset Park, Brooklyn, and Flushing, Queens.
Each defendant faces one count of conspiracy to commit marriage and immigration fraud (maximum five years) and one count of conspiracy to encourage unlawful residence (maximum 10 years). The case was investigated by Homeland Security Investigations, the FBI, USCIS’s fraud directorate, Army Criminal Investigation Division, and the Westchester County DA. The indictment contains only accusations; all 11 defendants are presumed innocent.
Former Brooklyn Bank Manager Sentenced to 18 Months for Laundering Medicare Fraud Proceeds
Renat Abramov, 37, a former relationship manager at a U.S. bank branch in Sheepshead Bay, Brooklyn, was sentenced to 18 months in prison for conspiring to launder more than $8 million in health care fraud proceeds, DOJ announced Aug. 12. Abramov pleaded guilty in February 2026 to conspiracy to commit money laundering.
According to court documents cited by the department, Abramov acted as a “concierge banker” for a transnational criminal organization based in Russia and elsewhere — the same organization DOJ says spearheaded the multi-billion-dollar Medicare scheme uncovered in Operation Gold Rush, which the department describes as the largest health care fraud case it has ever prosecuted. Records indicate Abramov opened accounts for nominee owners of durable medical equipment companies — front owners, many not lawfully present in the U.S., who disguised the TCO’s control — then facilitated wire activity as more than $8 million in fraud proceeds moved through the accounts and offshore.
The sentencing is a reminder that the scheme’s plumbing ran through a U.S. retail bank branch. The case was prosecuted by the Criminal Division’s Fraud Section under the department’s new National Fraud Enforcement Division, created in April, with HHS-OIG and the FBI investigating.
Veloxis Pharmaceuticals to Pay Over $46M; DOJ Cites Largest Sunshine Act Recovery on Record
Veloxis Pharmaceuticals Inc., a Cary, North Carolina drug manufacturer, entered a deferred prosecution agreement on a criminal information filed in the District of Massachusetts charging conspiracy to violate the federal Anti-Kickback Statute, DOJ announced Aug. 10. The total resolution exceeds $46 million: a criminal penalty above $10 million, $34.45 million to settle civil False Claims Act allegations, and a $1.55 million penalty to CMS that the department calls the largest recovery under the Open Payments “Sunshine Act” since the law’s 2010 passage. The settlement agreement is posted on DOJ’s site.
Per company admissions filed with the DPA, from 2016 through roughly June 2023 Veloxis courted transplant physicians with lavish dinners, expensive alcohol, resort trips styled as “advisory boards,” and consulting payments for work never performed — all to drive prescriptions of Envarsus XR, its kidney-transplant immunosuppressant, against a cheaper generic. Employees falsified expense reports to hide attendees and dodge Sunshine Act reporting. In one exchange quoted in the filings, a Veloxis employee told a surgeon he “need[ed] scripts. Lots of them.” The company also admitted paying specialty pharmacies per-patient fees disguised as “enhanced services” contracts from 2017 to 2023.
Veloxis received cooperation credit, terminated employees responsible, and entered a five-year Corporate Integrity Agreement with HHS-OIG. The civil claims trace in part to a whistleblower suit in the District of Massachusetts.
Chinese State-Linked Aerospace Firm Pays $11.8M Over Pandemic Loan
Continental Aerospace Technologies Inc., an aircraft-engine maker that DOJ says was part of a multinational group partially owned by the Aviation Industry Corporation of China (AVIC) — itself wholly owned by an arm of the PRC’s State Council — agreed to pay $11,772,680 to resolve False Claims Act allegations over a Paycheck Protection Program loan, the department announced Aug. 11.
The United States alleged Continental was ineligible twice over: counting its global affiliates, it exceeded the SBA’s employee-size standard for its industry, and SBA rules barred loans to companies ultimately owned by a government entity. The settlement resolves two whistleblower suits, in the Eastern District of Wisconsin and Southern District of Alabama; relator GNGH2 Inc. will receive about $1.77 million. As DOJ notes, the claims resolved are allegations only, and there has been no determination of liability.
The case is a data point worth tracking: prosecutors in Wisconsin said it “is just one of many cases” holding foreign-government-owned corporations accountable for pandemic-relief claims, which records suggest means additional PPP actions against state-owned enterprises remain in the pipeline.
Forced-Labor Indictment Names Flooring-Factory Managers in Cartersville, Ga.
A federal grand jury in the Northern District of Georgia on Aug. 12 indicted Zhu Chen, 60, and Jiayi Chen, 31, both U.S. citizens, and Jianjun Lu, 55, a Chinese national, on forced labor, conspiracy, and alien-harboring charges, according to DOJ. All three reside in Cartersville, Georgia.
The indictment alleges the defendants recruited Chinese nationals under false pretenses to enter the U.S. on B-1 and L-1 visas to work at Wellmade Industries, a flooring manufacturer in Cartersville. Filings indicate the defendants confiscated the workers’ immigration documents, imposed 12-hour shifts six days a week, paid less than promised with no overtime or health benefits, threatened deportation and debt, and subjected workers to verbal, psychological, and physical abuse — while housing them in company-owned residences despite their lack of work-authorized status.
Each defendant faces up to 20 years in prison if convicted. The charges are allegations, and the defendants are presumed innocent. The case pairs the Criminal Division’s Human Rights and Special Prosecutions Section with HSI — and raises broader questions about visa-program abuse inside U.S. manufacturing supply chains.
Chinese National Admits Bid to Smuggle U.S. Military Satellite Modems
Dingwei Chen, 29, a PRC citizen, pleaded guilty in federal court in Salt Lake City on Aug. 10 to violating the Arms Export Control Act, DOJ said. Court records show Chen and co-conspirators in China tried to buy military-grade satellite modems and radios built for the U.S. military — hardware that cannot be exported without a State Department license that is generally never granted for China.
The plea documents describe a procurement tradecraft playbook: the group first weighed transshipment through Switzerland, then a pickup in Saipan, before settling on smuggling through Mexico. After an initial down payment of more than $40,000, they switched to roughly $30,000 in USDT cryptocurrency, reasoning — in their words, per court records — that “cold wallets are essentially anonymous bank accounts.” Communicating over an encrypted app, Chen claimed backing to buy tens of millions of dollars’ worth of additional U.S. military equipment beyond the initial 10 modems.
Sentencing is set for Oct. 19; Chen faces up to 20 years. The case, prosecuted by the National Security Division’s Counterintelligence and Export Control Section, illustrates how crypto payments and encrypted messaging now sit at the center of PRC-linked procurement networks.
Puerto Rico Slaughterhouse Charged With Pumping Waste Into Caribbean-Bound Creek
An indictment unsealed Aug. 12 charges Ganaderos Borges Inc., a Naguabo, Puerto Rico slaughterhouse and meat processor, and four individuals — including the company’s president and operator — with conspiracy and four felony violations of the Clean Water Act, per DOJ.
According to the indictment, from August 2018 through at least September 2025 the defendants used a submersible pump and hose to move waste — animal blood, tissue, hair, feces, grease, and cleaning chemicals — from the plant’s retention lagoon into an adjacent creek that runs a half-mile to the Caribbean Sea at Tropical Beach. The company’s permit was strictly non-discharge (waste was to be hauled off-site) and expired in July 2019. Prosecutors allege the defendants hid the pump between uses and gave authorities false statements and documents. Filings put the motive at avoiding millions of dollars in annual waste-removal costs.
Individuals face up to five years and $250,000 in fines per charge; the company faces up to $500,000 per charge. The defendants are presumed innocent. EPA’s Criminal Investigation Division and the FBI investigated — a sign that felony environmental prosecution remains active under the department’s Energy and Natural Resources Division.
Tenant-Screening Firm RentGrow Hit With $2.25M Penalty and Injunction
A federal court in the District of Columbia entered a stipulated order requiring RentGrow Inc., a consumer-reporting company that screens tenants for landlords and property managers, to pay a $2.25 million civil penalty, DOJ announced Aug. 12 in a case referred by the FTC.
The government’s complaint alleged RentGrow failed to maintain reasonable procedures to ensure maximum possible accuracy in tenant-screening reports, failed to disclose report contents and sources to consumers on request, and mishandled disputes — violations of the Fair Credit Reporting Act — and deceptively told applicants that corrections of inaccurate information were being passed to landlords. The order imposes an injunction plus compliance reporting, monitoring, and recordkeeping obligations. The resolution addresses allegations; the order was entered by consent.
For renters, the significance is practical: screening reports can decide housing applications, and this is one of the larger recent FCRA penalties in the tenant-screening space.
What TIJ Is Watching
Several threads from this window warrant deeper reporting. First, the marriage-fraud indictment references a professional ecosystem — attorneys, tax preparers, insurance providers, and officiants who serviced the network — none of whom are named among the 11 charged; the SDNY docket bears watching for follow-on charges. Second, DOJ has not named the U.S. bank whose Sheepshead Bay branch processed the Operation Gold Rush proceeds, and filings to date leave open whether other bank insiders face exposure. Third, the Continental Aerospace settlement — with a U.S. attorney’s office describing it as one of many such cases — suggests a broader review of PPP disbursements to affiliates of foreign state-owned enterprises; the universe of similar recipients is a documents story waiting to be built from SBA loan data. Finally, Wellmade Industries’ ownership, customer relationships, and any government supply contracts merit scrutiny as the forced-labor case proceeds.
Editorial notes: This digest is compiled from the DOJ press releases and court documents linked above. Indictments contain allegations only, and all charged defendants are presumed innocent; civil settlements described here resolve allegations without a determination of liability except where companies made admissions as noted. The Investigative Journal has not yet sought comment from counsel for the defendants or the companies named; any responses received will be added to this article.
Photo: Robert F. Kennedy Department of Justice Building, Washington, D.C. Credit: APK via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 4.0.
Sources: DOJ: Marriage fraud indictment (8/12) | DOJ: Abramov sentencing (8/12) | DOJ: Veloxis resolution (8/10) | Veloxis settlement document | DOJ: Continental Aerospace FCA settlement (8/11) | DOJ: Forced labor indictment (8/12) | DOJ: Export-control guilty plea (8/10) | DOJ: Clean Water Act indictment (8/12) | DOJ: RentGrow order (8/12) | DOJ: Operation Gold Rush takedown