Tag: Manhattan

Jermaine Brown, Fentanyl Distribution, New York 2026
⏱ 2 min read Jermaine Brown, a Manhattan man, has been charged with dealing fentanyl that resulted in the deaths of two victims. The indictment, unsealed in the Southern District of New York, alleges that Brown distributed heroin laced with fentanyl to New Yorkers, leading to the fatal overdoses. The case is being prosecuted by…

Mark Dygdon and Rodrigo Castro, Gamma-butyrolactone Trafficking, New York 2026
⏱ 2 min read Mark Dygdon and Rodrigo Castro, two Manhattan men, have been charged with conspiracy to distribute millions of doses of gamma-butyrolactone, a deadly date rape drug, throughout the New York City area. The alleged conspiracy took place from at least August 2023 to June 2026, with the defendants importing and distributing the…

Matthew Blake Morrow-Wu, Wire Fraud, Mail Fraud, New York 2026
⏱ 2 min read Matthew Blake Morrow-Wu, a serial fraudster, has been sentenced to 160 months in prison for perpetrating a scheme to defraud a Manhattan architecture firm of nearly $400,000 during the COVID-19 pandemic. The scheme, which took place between 2020 and January 2023, involved Morrow-Wu using inside information to steal money from the…

Mohammad Baqer Saad Dawood Al-Saadi, Terror-Related Offenses, New York 2026
⏱ 3 min read A seasoned commander of the Iranian-backed terrorist group Kata’ib Hizballah, Mohammad Baqer Saad Dawood Al-Saadi, was snared in a global sting, charged with six counts of terror-related offenses. Al-Saadi, a senior member of the group, orchestrated nearly 20 attacks and attempted attacks worldwide, including in the U.S. and NYC. Al-Saadi’s reign…

Jared Solomon, Wire Fraud, Identity Theft, Bank Fraud, New York 2023
⏱ 2 min read A decade-long grift by a Manhattan real estate big shot has finally run out of steam. Jared Solomon, a former VP at Vornado Realty Trust, was just found guilty of bilking his former employer out of $9.5 million in a scheme that spanned from 2009 to 2023. Solomon cooked up fake…

Stefan Pildes, Wire Fraud, New York 2026
⏱ 3 min read A New York City charity event turned out to be a giant scam. Stefan Pildes, the mastermind behind SantaCon, allegedly used the event to bilk over $1 million from attendees and local charities. Organizers claimed the event would raise millions for charity, but instead, Pildes used the cash to fund his…

Emir Balat, Ibrahim Kayumi, Terrorism, New York 2026
⏱ 2 min read Emir Balat and Ibrahim Kayumi allegedly carried out a terrorist attack outside Gracie Mansion in Manhattan on March 7, 2026, targeting multiple innocent victims in the name of ISIS. According to the indictment, the duo was planning a meticulous attack, armed with explosive devices and bomb-making materials, which were seized from…

Jay Clayton, Iranian Terror Payout, New York 2008
⏱ 2 min read Hundreds of victims of Iranian state-sponsored terrorism, including those affected by the 1984 bombings of U.S. military facilities in Beirut, Lebanon, and the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks in New York and Washington, D.C., will receive a payout of approximately $318 million. The payment is the result of a 17-year forfeiture…

Kenneth Thom, Pump-and-Dump Scheme, New York 2026
⏱ 3 min read Kenneth Thom, a 40-ish ex-broker known online as “K$” and “K Money,” confessed in Manhattan Federal Court today to fleecing investors with a classic pump-and-dump scheme. Thom, already radioactive in the financial world, built a slick online persona to lure victims after being barred from trading in 2011. He’s facing sentencing…

Michael Smith, AI-Generated Song Fraud, Manhattan NY, 2023
⏱ 3 min read Michael Smith, a hustler from North Carolina, copped a plea in Manhattan federal court today for a brazen scheme to steal millions from the music industry. Smith wasn’t a musician; he was a fraudster who used artificial intelligence to generate thousands of worthless songs, then flooded streaming platforms with billions of…
