News

A former chair of the Fairfax County School Board’s budget committee will return to the panel after a judge tossed out a complaint accusing him of embezzling $175,000 from a company he was a part owner of.

Kyle McDaniel, who served as the budget committee chair for 10 months before stepping down last April, is expected to be appointed vice chair of the committee when the school board meets tonight (Thursday), according to the meeting agenda.


News

A McLean man faces 30 years in prison after being convicted on charges related to his operation of a Ponzi scheme centered on the buying and selling of precious metals.

Warith Deen Muhammad, 39, was convicted in federal court on Wednesday (Feb. 4), less than four months after being arrested for his role in the scheme that netted him $1.5 million between November 2021 and June 2023.


News

A Tysons man will spend nearly two years in prison for fraudulently claiming that he didn’t receive more than $1 million in luxury watches he had ordered, when he was actually attempting to resell them for profit.

Jaivin Raj Karnani, 45, was sentenced Thursday (Jan. 8) to one year and nine months in prison after pleading guilty to one count of mail fraud, announced federal prosecutors with the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Virginia.


News

A Herndon man who previously represented western Fairfax County in the Virginia House of Delegates will avoid jail time after admitting to fraudulently obtaining a Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loan.

Democrat Ibraheem Samirah, who represented the old 86th district from 2019 until 2022, was sentenced yesterday (Thursday) by a federal judge in Alexandria to three years of probation for fraudulently obtaining the $83,300 loan for his dentist practice, NOVA Healthy Smiles (NHS), in May 2020.


News

The travel agent who pretended to organize a preseason trip to the Bahamas for the George Mason University men’s basketball team will spend the next 13 months behind bars.

Maurice Eugene Smith, 44, was sentenced today (Thursday) to one year and one month in federal prison after pleading guilty to one count of wire fraud back in April, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Virginia announced.


Countywide

A Fairfax County School Board member accused of defrauding a company he is a part owner of out of more than $1.5 million has stepped away as chairman of the board’s budget committee.

Kyle McDaniel, an at-large representative, no longer oversees the committee, having willingly ceded the position to vice chair Rachna Sizemore Heizer in recent weeks, he confirmed to FFXnow.


News

A Georgia-based travel agent faces a maximum of 20 years in federal prison for his role in defrauding the George Mason men’s basketball team out of a trip to The Bahamas in August.

Maurice Eugene Smith, 44, pleaded guilty to one count of wire fraud in federal court earlier this month, stemming from a scheme he orchestrated that left George Mason’s plans for the trip unbooked and unpaid for, according to federal court documents.


News

A Great Falls businessman has been ordered to serve prison time and pay restitution for stealing nearly $4.5 million from the IRS and his customers.

A federal judge sentenced Rick Tariq Rahim, 56, on Friday (March 14) to six years and six months in prison after he pleaded guilty last year to wire fraud and intentionally failing to report and pay taxes, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Virginia announced.


News

A one-time Virginia Senate candidate will have to spend time in jail and pay restitution to her victims after fraudulently posing as an immigration lawyer.

Jasmine Moawad, a 49-year-old woman originally from Bolivia, was sentenced to five years in jail for fraud on Friday, March 7, with all but six months suspended, the Fairfax County Commonwealth’s Attorney’s Office announced.


News

A Centreville woman could face up to two decades in prison for embezzling thousands of dollars from the Herndon-based farmers’ cooperative where she worked.

Paula Sue Leventhal, 64, pleaded guilty in federal court on Wednesday (Feb. 19) to wire fraud after she redirected $550,000 from the cooperative to her personal bank accounts, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Virginia announced.


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