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On September 21, 2022, Dwayne Bent pleaded guilty in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania to wire fraud. Bent was indicted in July 2022 in connection with a scheme to defraud the Social Security Administration (SSA) in order to obtain Disability Insurance Benefits (DIB) by false and fraudulent pretenses. In October 2014, Bent submitted an application for SSA DIB and was approved in January 2017 with a retroactive disability date of May 21, 2013.
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10.04.2022
On September 19, 2022, in the U.S. District Court for the District of Montana, the U.S. Attorney filed an information charging Nathan Zito, president and owner of a paving and asphalt company, with attempted monopolization. As early as January 2020, Zito knowingly engaged in anticompetitive conduct with the intent to gain monopoly power in the highway crack sealing services markets in Montana and Wyoming.
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10.04.2022
On September 19, 2022, in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, the U.S. Attorney filed an information charging Emil Jones III, an Illinois Senator, with theft or bribery concerning programs receiving Federal funds, interstate and foreign travel or transportation in aid of racketeering enterprises, and making false statements. Jones allegedly agreed to oppose Illinois legislation regarding the operation of red light cameras in exchange for financial gifts and benefits.
 
DOT-OIG is conducting this investigation with the FBI.
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10.04.2022
On September 16, 2022, Jonathan Vasquez was sentenced in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California, to 50 months of incarceration, 3 years of supervised release, and a $100 special assessment. Vasquez allegedly operated or attempted to operate a drone to deliver illegal contraband, including cellular phones and an mp3 player, to the Deuel Vocational Institute, a former State prison in unincorporated San Joaquin County, California.
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10.04.2022
On September 15, 2022, Avraham Zano and Sofein Mlayah, owner and employee of Zano Moving and Storage, LLC, were indicted by a Federal grand jury in the Southern District of Florida for conspiring to steal household goods from victims who hired the company for interstate moving services.
 
DOT-OIG is conducting this investigation with the FBI-Miami Division and the Sunny Isles Police Department.
 
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10.04.2022

On September 13, 2022, in the U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey, Lola Larios was sentenced to 3 years of probation, including 1 year of home detention, and a $100 special assessment. Larios was also ordered to forfeit $282,634 to the United States. Between January 2016 and January 2019, Larios, an employee of a number of New Jersey based moving companies, conspired with the company's owner to regularly extort customers by quoting "low-ball" estimates for moving household goods.

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10.04.2022
On September 13, 2022, the Lake County Illinois State Attorney’s Office filed an information charging Gregory Swanson, retired Lake County Sheriff Deputy, with official misconduct and theft related to falsifying timesheets. Swanson allegedly falsified the number of hours worked on National Highway Traffic Safety Administration-funded traffic detail programs and submitted false time sheets for hours of work from April 2018 through November 2020.
 
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10.04.2022
On September 8, 2022, in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California, Amplify Energy Corp. and its subsidiaries, Beta Operating Co. LLC (d/b/a Beta Offshore) and San Pedro Bay Pipeline Co. pleaded guilty to negligently discharging oil into the San Pedro Bay. In October 2021, approximately 25,000 gallons of crude oil were discharged during an offshore leak in the 17-mile long San Pedro Bay Pipeline. The pipeline, which was used to transfer crude oil from several offshore facilities to a processing plant in Long Beach, began leaking on the afternoon of October 1.
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10.03.2022
On September 8, 2022, Brent Brewbaker, a North Carolina engineering firm executive, was sentenced in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of North Carolina to 18 months of incarceration, 24 months of supervised release, an $111,000 fine, and a $600 special assessment. The investigation revealed that between 2009 and 2018, Brewbaker participated in conspiracies to rig bids and submit false certifications of non-collusion for more than 300 North Carolina-funded aluminum structure projects.
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10.03.2022

The Government Charge Card Abuse Prevention Act of 2012 requires executive branch agencies to establish and maintain internal controls to ensure the proper, efficient, and effective use of travel charge cards and safeguards and internal controls for purchase cards. The act also requires inspectors general to perform periodic risk assessments of illegal, improper, or erroneous purchases in charge card programs of executive agencies spending more than $10 million annually.

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10.03.2022