Find Your Daily Voice
Alleged Russian Ransomware Mastermind Extradited From South Korea To Maryland
A Russian national accused of running a global ransomware operation that extorted more than $16 million from victims worldwide has been extradited from South Korea to Maryland to face federal charges, authorities announced.
Evgenii Ptitsyn, 42, is charged with operating and administering the sale, distribution, and deployment of the notorious Phobos ransomware, which targeted over 1,000 public and private organizations globally, including schools, hospitals, and critical infrastructure.
Ptitsyn made his first appearance in U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland earlier this …
South Philly Cheesesteak Proprietors Get Prison Time For Tax Scheme, Feds Say
A father-son pair of cheesesteak shop owners were sentenced to prison last week for hiding $8 million in revenue from tax collectors, say federal prosecutors.
Nicholas Lucidonio, 57, and Anthony Lucidonio Sr., 84, the proprietors of Tony Luke's in South Philadelphia, will each spend 20 months behind bars, said the Justice Department in a release.
The Lucidonios, of New Jersey, carried out a "decade-long conspiracy to defraud the IRS" from 2006 to 2016, prosecutors said. The pair only deposited a portion of their earnings into the business's bank accounts and gave "inco…
Motocross Stuntman Who Traveled Through NJ, NY, PA Charged With Raping Kids, Recording It
A motocross stunt rider who frequented New Jersey, New York and Pennsylvania raped children and made videos of it while barnstorming the country in a traveling circus, federal authorities charged.
Ryan Meyung, 30, “engaged six different minor victims in sexually explicit conduct to produce images of child sexual abuse” between 2019 and 2021, the Justice Department said.
Meyung had already been charged locally in Georgia with child rape, aggravated kidnapping, tampering with evidence and criminal conspiracy. A federal indictment returned this week accuses him of producing, transporting and p…
NYC Businessman Indicted For Evading Taxes From $4.1M NJ Company Buyout
A shareholder with a New Jersey-based home warranty company ducked more than $250,000 in taxes from the sale of his stock, federal authorities charged.
In exchange for his shares, the Edison company agreed to pay David Seruya, 42, of Brooklyn more than $4.1 million, the Justice Department said.
The deal included a lump sum payment and installment payments spread out over 24 months, federal authorities said.
On three straight tax returns, from 2014 through 2016, Seruya gave his return preparer “false and incomplete income information,” underreporting the income he received from the sale, a…
Feds Charge Clifton Doc With Randomly Doling Out Large Doses Of Oxy, Xanax, More
A Clifton orthopedic surgeon was charged by federal authorities with prescribing high doses of addictive opioid painkillers to patients who abused, sold or otherwise didn't need them.
Evangelos Megariotis, 68, prescribed Oxycodone, Xanax, cough syrup with codeine and stimulants “outside the usual course of professional practice and without a legitimate medical purpose,” U.S. Attorney Philip R. Sellinger said.
Megariotis, who owned and operated Clifton Orthopedic Associates, already has been banned by the state from ever again practicing medicine or prescribing drugs in New Jersey.
State au…
Long Island Man, 79, Charged in $13M 'Cash Prize' Mail Scam That Duped Seniors Nationwide
A 79-year-old Long Island man and two accomplices scammed mostly elderly victims out of $13 million through a pair of bogus "cash prize" direct-mail scams, federal authorities charged.
Hundreds of thousands of mailings claimed the victims were "specially chosen" to receive a large cash prize, the government said.
All they had to do was pay a "fee" of from $20 to $40 to collect their prize, a federal indictment says.
Many unfortunately fell for it, authorities said.
The indictment returned in U.S. District Court in Brooklyn names Shawn Phillips, 52, of British Columbia, Canada, as the ring…
