Arizona Man Pleads Guilty to Fraudulent Emissions Test Scheme
A Phoenix man pleaded guilty Tuesday to violating the Clean Air Act for operating a business that installed devices in vehicles to cheat state emissions tests, federal prosecutors said.
Francisco Antonio Saenz Olivas admitted in federal court to temporarily installing hidden “defeat devices” in cars to produce fraudulent passing results required to register vehicles in Arizona. Sentencing is scheduled for June 22, 2026.
According to court documents, Olivas or an employee would meet customers in parking lots, install the devices, drive the vehicles through state-approved emissions testing sites, and then remove the devices. Customers were provided with the falsified emissions test paperwork to register their vehicles. Authorities said Olivas’s business solely focused on circumventing emissions testing and did not perform legitimate auto repairs.
California Hunter Sentenced for Smuggling Endangered Sheep Trophy
A California man was sentenced Tuesday to six months in federal prison for conspiring to smuggle an endangered wild sheep trophy into the United States, prosecutors said.
Jason K. Bruce, a recreational big game hunter, also received 24 months of supervised release and was ordered to pay an $85,000 fine after pleading guilty to conspiracy to violate the Endangered Species Act.
Bruce and co-defendant Pir Danish Ali, a Pakistani national and CEO of a hunting outfitting company in Pakistan, hatched the scheme in 2016. Prosecutors said they conspired to hunt a Ladakh urial and smuggle the trophy into the U.S. Bruce allegedly knew exporting the species from Pakistan was illegal and agreed to falsify documents to conceal the import.
Court filings show Bruce paid Ali $50,000 for the hunt in December 2016 and successfully shot the urial in April 2017. Between 2017 and 2018, Bruce made multiple trips between Pakistan and the U.S. to facilitate smuggling the trophy.
In March 2018, Bruce was stopped at San Francisco International Airport while carrying eight hunting trophies, including the Ladakh urial. He presented forged export documents claiming the trophies had been legally exported.
Investigators determined that between 2013 and 2018, at least 25 hunters working with Ali’s company used falsified documents to import 97 hunting trophies into the United States.
California Man Sentenced for Smuggling Tropical Fish and Violating Wildlife Export Laws
A man from Northern California was sentenced on Friday to five years of probation and required to pay $41,292 in restitution for smuggling tropical fish and falsifying export documents, according to federal prosecutors.
Futseng Chen, who operated through his previous company, Sealogic International Inc., pleaded guilty to breaching the Lacey Act and related smuggling laws. The charges against the company were dropped after Chen demonstrated that Sealogic had been dissolved.
Court records indicate that from January 2018 to December 2024, Chen smuggled approximately 200 shipments of live tropical fish from the United States to various countries, including Hong Kong, Sri Lanka, Taiwan, China, and Japan. In an additional 79 shipments, he allegedly falsified labels to evade export fees. The total worth of the wildlife involved exceeded $1.4 million.
After being indicted in August 2024, Chen was informed that Sealogic’s Wildlife Import/Export License had been suspended, preventing him from engaging in further trade. Despite this suspension, prosecutors claimed that Chen conspired with another person to utilize her inactive license, paying between $500 and $1,200 for each shipment, and carried out 52 imports and 10 exports of live tropical fish and coral.
Chen, who has a previous Lacey Act conviction from 2009, was investigated by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Office of Law Enforcement, Homeland Security Investigations, and the U.S. Department of Commerce’s Bureau of Industry and Security, with support from U.S. Customs and Border Protection.
San Diego Man Fined for Smuggling Endangered Amazon Parrots
A man from Southern California was sentenced on Tuesday to pay a total of $2,486 for the illegal importation of endangered exotic birds, according to federal prosecutors.
Juandaniel Medina, a resident of California, pleaded guilty to breaching the Lacey Act after authorities found seven live Amazon parrots concealed in a cardboard box on the passenger floor of his vehicle at the San Ysidro Port of Entry on May 26, 2025. Medina confessed to paying $700 in cash for the birds, intending to breed or resell them within the United States.
All species of Amazon parrots are safeguarded under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES). Prosecutors highlighted that smuggled birds, which are not subjected to quarantine, may carry avian influenza and other diseases that pose risks to humans and domestic poultry.
Medina was mandated to pay $1,486 to the Lacey Act Reward Fund and $1,000 in restitution to SoCal Parrot, an organization dedicated to rescuing and rehabilitating both wild and urban parrots.
Justice Department, EPA Reach $668M Settlement to Clean Up Lower Duwamish Waterway in Seattle
SEATTLE — On Wednesday, the U.S. Justice Department, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), and the State of Washington revealed a proposed settlement of $668 million involving over 100 parties to tackle years of industrial pollution in Seattle’s Lower Duwamish Waterway.
As part of this agreement, Under the agreement, the Lower Duwamish Waterway Group — including The Boeing Company Administrator Emma Pokon said the cleanup will enhance recreational uses, support safer fishing, protect wildlife, and strengthen the industrial core in Seattle.
The settlement is being filed under the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (Superfund) and Washington State’s Model Toxics Control Act. It is subject to a 30-day public comment period and court approval.