This digest summarizes eight federal enforcement actions announced by the Justice Department and U.S. Attorney’s Offices between October 7 and October 19, 2026. Unless a sentence or verdict is noted, every case described below involves allegations only. Charging documents are accusations, and each defendant is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty in court. The Investigative Journal (TIJ) has relied on the Justice Department’s own releases, which reflect the government’s account of events; defense counsel for the individuals named were not quoted in those releases, and TIJ will update this digest if any defendant or representative responds.
1. Health care software owner sentenced to 19 years in $1 billion Medicare scheme
Brett Blackman, 43, of Johnson County, Kansas, was sentenced on October 14 to 19 years in prison, according to a Justice Department press release dated October 15. Blackman was the CEO and owner of HealthSplash, which acquired Power Mobility Doctor Rx, LLC (DMERx) in September 2017. A jury convicted him in April 2026, after a 23-day trial, of conspiracy to commit health care fraud and wire fraud, conspiracy to pay and receive kickbacks, and conspiracy to defraud the United States and make false statements in health care matters.
The department says DMERx was an internet platform that generated doctors’ orders for durable medical equipment. According to the release, doctors were paid to sign orders with little or no interaction with the beneficiaries, telemedicine companies received kickbacks in exchange for signed orders, and Blackman and co-conspirators took a share of the referrals. Medicare was billed for orthotic braces for more than 346,000 beneficiaries, many of which were allegedly medically unnecessary. Billings exceeded $1 billion, and Medicare and other insurers paid more than $450 million, the department said. Restitution and forfeiture are to be set later. A co-defendant, Gary Cox, was sentenced to 15 years in December 2025.
Why it matters: A 19-year term is among the longest handed down in a telemedicine-era durable equipment case, and it follows a full jury trial rather than a plea. It signals that platform operators, not only the clinicians who sign orders, face substantial exposure. The case was investigated by HHS-OIG, the FBI, VA-OIG and the Defense Criminal Investigative Service and prosecuted by the Fraud Division’s Health Care Fraud Section.
2. California man indicted over alleged $300 million export of AI servers to China
Greg Lui, 38, of San Gabriel, California, was charged in an indictment returned September 29 and announced October 1, according to a Justice Department release. Lui owns Earthmade Computer Inc. of City of Industry. He faces counts of conspiracy to violate the Export Control Reform Act and Export Administration Regulations, outbound smuggling, and conspiracy to commit money laundering. The conspiracy counts each carry a maximum of 20 years, and the smuggling count carries up to 10.
The indictment alleges that from 2023 to 2024, Lui and co-conspirators bought GPU-equipped servers without required licenses, shipped them through Malaysia and Singapore and re-exported them to China, while giving U.S. manufacturers false end-user information. Prosecutors say Earthmade received more than $176 million from two Malaysia-based shipping companies between January and October 2024. In one example cited, Lui allegedly ordered 27 servers for about $7.6 million in January 2024 for shipment to Kuala Lumpur.
Why it matters: Enforcement of advanced-computing export controls is an active national security priority, and transshipment through third countries is the central evasion pattern investigators describe. The case was investigated by the Commerce Department’s Bureau of Industry and Security, the Defense Criminal Investigative Service and the FBI.
3. Fourteen indicted in North Korean remote IT worker conspiracy
The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Ohio announced on October 13 an indictment, returned October 1, naming 12 defendants, with two more under seal. Ten of those named are located in China or unknown locations. Two U.S.-based men, Michael James Bostelle of Philadelphia and Juan Cecilio Pena Carrillo of San Juan, Texas, were recently arrested. The charges are wire fraud conspiracy, money laundering conspiracy, conspiracy to commit identity theft and aggravated identity theft.
Prosecutors allege a multi-year scheme to obtain remote IT jobs at more than 70 U.S. companies, with proceeds directed to the North Korean government. U.S.-based facilitators allegedly hosted company-issued laptops at their homes, so-called laptop farms. The department says the scheme generated about $3 million that was sent to sanctioned North Korean entities. The FBI issued an alert warning businesses that such workers increasingly rely on American facilitators and sometimes subcontract jobs to third-party foreign nationals.
Why it matters: The case is a reminder that hiring-process verification is now a security control. Employers in sectors from health care to cybersecurity were among the alleged victims. Most defendants remain at large, so prosecutions of the overseas defendants are unlikely in the near term.
4. Saudi national charged after hidden recorders found at OpenAI
Abdulrahman Alfozan, 35, a Saudi national who had worked as an OpenAI engineer since July 2025, was arrested October 9 and made an initial appearance October 13, according to a Justice Department release. He is charged with using a device to intercept oral communications, which carries up to five years in prison.
The criminal complaint alleges that company staff found a hidden audio recorder on or about September 30 in a USB port behind a television in a San Francisco executive conference room, and that a second similar device was found in a bag Alfozan had left in another room. The complaint further alleges that a chatbot account linked to his spouse received prompts about building and installing audio recorders and encrypting storage. The FBI is investigating, and the National Security Division’s Counterintelligence and Export Control Section is assisting the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of California. The release does not allege a motive, and TIJ is not drawing one.
Why it matters: Insider access at leading AI developers is a counterintelligence concern, but the public record so far consists of one complaint with a single wiretap-statute charge. The next filings will show whether prosecutors expand the case.
5. Alleged Venezuelan bribery launderer arrested in Florida
The department announced October 11 the arrest of Alvaro Pulido Vargas, 62, a Colombian national also known as “German Enrique Rubio Salas,” with an initial appearance set for October 13 in the Southern District of Florida. He is charged in two indictments. A 2021 indictment alleges that from about 2015 through 2020 he and co-conspirators paid bribes to Venezuelan officials to win contracts in the CLAP food and medicine program, inflated costs and received about $1.6 billion, with roughly $180 million moving through or to the United States. A 2019 indictment, tied to Alex Nain Saab Moran, alleges laundering of about $350 million from a currency exchange bribery scheme.
The case was investigated by DEA Miami, FBI Miami and HSI Miami under the Homeland Security Task Force initiative. Why it matters: It shows long-dormant foreign corruption indictments being executed when defendants are located, and it highlights how U.S. banking channels become the jurisdictional hook for overseas schemes.
6. Minnesota Medicaid housing program fraud conviction
A federal jury in St. Paul convicted Sharmaine Meadows, 45, of Lake Elmo, on three counts of health care fraud on October 7, according to a release dated October 8. The department said her company billed Minnesota’s Housing Stabilization Services program for services not provided, instructed employees to maximize billed hours up to the 150-hour cap, and billed in-person hours supposedly worked by staff in Illinois and the Philippines. The program paid her company more than $3.6 million from 2020 to 2025 into accounts she controlled. Each count carries up to 10 years; sentencing is set for a later date. The HSS program has since shut down.
Why it matters: The conviction is a data point in the continuing scrutiny of Minnesota’s Medicaid-funded housing and social service programs. It was investigated by the FBI, HHS-OIG and IRS Criminal Investigation.
7. Ransomware remediation firm owner accused of secretly paying attackers
Zohar Pinhasi, 50, owner of Florida-based MonsterCloud, was arraigned October 7 in the Eastern District of New York on two counts of wire fraud and one count of wire fraud conspiracy, per a Justice Department release. The indictment alleges he told clients his firm used proprietary decryption tools when it instead paid the attackers for keys and concealed that fact. In one example, he allegedly paid about $8,200 in ransom and charged a client about $150,000. Prosecutors allege clients were charged more than $19 million while more than $8 million in ransoms was paid. Each count carries up to 20 years.
Why it matters: Victims of ransomware are vulnerable to intermediaries, and the case may prompt companies to ask harder questions of incident-response vendors.
8. Election-crime charges widen: 16 announced October 12, then a California sweep
The department announced charges against 16 individuals across 11 districts on October 12, mostly lawful permanent residents accused of voting as noncitizens, along with a case of alleged voting on behalf of a deceased spouse and one alleged double vote across two states. On October 19, KPBS reported that 28 foreign nationals in California were charged with offenses including false statements on naturalization applications and fraudulent voter registration, and that officials said 113 people in 20 states had been charged in recent weeks. KPBS also reported that the department sued California over a list of about 20,000 names of suspected noncitizens, that the state secretary of state said no evidence has been provided that those individuals are noncitizens, and that data shows noncitizen voting is rare. Acting Deputy Attorney General Trent McCotter called the 20,000 figure “just the floor.”
Why it matters: With the November 3 election two weeks away, these cases and the pending litigation over the list will draw close attention. The individual charges are unproven, and the 20,000-name list is disputed by state officials; TIJ has not independently reviewed it.
Cases warranting deeper TIJ investigation
Several threads merit follow-up reporting. First, the HealthSplash/DMERx restitution and forfeiture determination should show how much of the more than $450 million paid is recoverable and which telemedicine firms and physicians remain uncharged. Second, in the Lui export case, the Malaysian shipping companies that allegedly sent $176 million to Earthmade are not named in the release; court filings may identify them. Third, the Northern District of Ohio laptop-farm case raises the question of which of the 70-plus victim companies have disclosed the incident. Fourth, the Alfozan complaint’s account of AI-chatbot prompts as evidence is a novel use that may be tested in court. Finally, the status of the California voter list litigation and any court findings on how the 20,000 names were assembled deserve a public-records review.
Right of reply: TIJ invites responses from any person or entity named here and will publish or update them. Contact the editors via tij.news.
Sources: Justice Department press releases linked above; KPBS (October 19, 2026).