sentenced

Mexican drug kingpin Ismael ‘El Mayo’ Zambada has been sentenced to life in prison in the US, following a plea deal last year when he admitted to trafficking millions ⁠of kilograms of cocaine. El Mayo led one of Mexico’s most violent drug cartels, the Sinaloa Cartel, for about four decades.

July 20 (UPI) — Ismael Zambada Garcia, also called El Mayo, was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole Monday by a U.S. federal judge.

Zambada Garcia, 76, the co-founder and the former leader of Mexico’s Sinaloa drug cartel, pleaded guilty last year to leading the extensive criminal network, in which he made billions of dollars through illegal drug trafficking and violent crime. He worked with Joaquín Guzmán Loera, also called El Chapo, who is also serving life in prison.

Zambada Garcia avoided arrest for decades before authorities captured him in 2024 in El Paso, Texas. His arrest created extensive violence in the Sinaloa state of Mexico as people rushed to fill the power vacuum, The Washington Post reported.

“Ismael Zambada Garcia spent nearly four decades poisoning American communities to make billions of dollars in profit and ordering the murders of anyone who stood in his way,” said Joseph Nocella, U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of New York. “Today, that chapter closes for good.”

Zambada Garcia read a statement in Spanish in his courtroom appearance. He expressed remorse and said his upbringing was in “an environment where violence and crime seemed normal,” The New York Times reported.

“To the next generation, I say: Choose a different path,” he said.

Judge Brian Cogan of the Federal District Court in Brooklyn also ordered Zambada Garcia to forfeit $15 billion, though it’s unlikely that will happen, The Times reported.

Zambada Garcia was arrested after an ally — the son of Joaquín Guzmán Loera — took him onto a plane to allegedly go look at real estate. Instead, they flew over the border to Texas, where federal authorities arrested him. Tensions between U.S. and Mexico authorities continue over the operation, and the Mexican attorney general office said this month that it is investigating if the U.S. government lied about its involvement.

Georges Hana Dib, known as Dr Food, was sentenced for smuggling hashish out of Lebanon in cake packaging.

Beirut, Lebanon – The popular Lebanese food influencer, known as Dr Food and dubbed Lebanon’s Breaking Bad, has been sentenced to life in prison with hard labour for drug smuggling.

Hashish reportedly hidden in cake packaging produced in Baalbek in eastern Lebanon was transported to Turkiye and then shipped internationally.

Georges Hanna Dib and other Lebanese and Syrian nationals were sentenced under Lebanon’s Narcotics Law, which covers the manufacturing of banned drugs, according to reports.

Judge Elie al-Helou, sentenced him to life imprisonment with hard labour and fined him 120 million Lebanese pounds ($1,341).

The sentencing comes after a 2024 drug bust involving 820kg (1,800 pounds) of hashish hidden in cake packaging.

Dib, who is not a real doctor but has more than five million followers on TikTok, is believed to be out of the country. He and others who were sentenced in their absence were also stripped of their civil rights.

Dib was recommended a life sentence and hard labour in February last year when a Mount Lebanon investigative judge charged him with “manufacturing, trafficking, and smuggling drugs abroad”.

On Sunday, Dr Food’s Instagram page made no mention of the court case or any reaction to the sentencing. The page shared a giveaway that his food product brand was running.

People who received the message, posted it on TikTok and received 100,000 views would win $100 from the influencer.

In one video posted to Instagram, Dr Food appears to be filming himself in his car but does not address the court’s decision.

His last story was posted on March 27 from Beirut’s waterfront. There, he is asking displaced Lebanese what they miss eating and then proceeds to order food for them from some of Lebanon’s most popular food chains.

Lebanon’s Bekaa Valley is notorious for hashish production. Last November, Lebanese police arrested Noah Zaiter, a 48-year-old drug trafficker, known as the Lebanese Pablo Escobar. He was sentenced to four months in prison in February.

The former CEO of Italy’s main highway operator has been given 12 years in prison over the collapse of a motorway bridge in Genoa that killed 43 people in 2018. Families say the verdict against Giovanni Castellucci confirmed the disaster was preventable.

In all, 32 defendants convicted and 25 acquitted or cleared by statute ‌of limitations over 2018 Morandi bridge disaster.

A court has sentenced the former CEO of Italy’s main highway operator ⁠to 12 years in prison over the collapse of the Morandi road bridge in the port city of Genoa.

Judges delivered their verdict on Thursday in Genoa in the first trial over the collapse of the bridge, which killed 43 people when it fell apart on August 14, 2018. It is considered one of the country’s worst infrastructure disasters.

Atlantia CEO Giovanni Castellucci ⁠was found guilty of vehicular homicide and negligence related to the Morandi bridge’s collapse.

The bridge was operated by Atlantia’s motorway unit, Autostrade per l’Italia, which has come under severe scrutiny in this affair.

Castellucci is already in prison, serving a six-year sentence over another fatal incident in 2013 on a viaduct in southern Italy, and was not in court to hear the verdict.

Also convicted on Thursday were Autostrade’s former head of maintenance, Michele Donferri Mitelli, who was sentenced to 11 years in prison and the former CEO of the SPEA engineering company, Antonino Galata, who received five years and six months.

In all, 32 people were convicted and handed sentences ranging from one year and 11 months to 12 years. Others were either found not guilty, or lesser charges had expired under the statute of limitations.

Relatives of the victims, meanwhile, packed the court to hear the outcome of a case that has become a symbol of Italy’s decaying infrastructure and slow justice system. The verdict came after four years of trial hearings for 57 defendants, including company executives, engineers and transport ministry officials, on charges of manslaughter, endangering transport safety and falsifying official documents.

The 1,182-metre (1,293-yard) bridge, which had been dubbed Italy’s “Brooklyn Bridge”, was designed by the architect Riccardo Morandi and inaugurated in 1967.

By the turn of the century, experts continued to warn that the structure was deteriorating, yet critical repairs were never carried out.

Prosecutor Walter Cotugno dubbed the bridge “a ticking time bomb” at the verdict.

The collapse of the then-51-year-old bridge triggered years of investigations into the maintenance of its decrepit infrastructure. A 50-metre (160-foot) high section of the bridge collapsed with as many as 35 vehicles on it, which fell onto warehouses and a riverbed below.

“I ⁠wish to apologise to the victims’ families, to the people of Genoa, and to all Italians for the suffering caused by the tragic Morandi disaster, fully aware that our gesture can never erase their pain,” Autostrade CEO Arrigo Giana wrote in an apology statement on Wednesday.

Prosecutors argue that years of ‌inadequate maintenance, ignored warning signs and delayed safety work contributed to the collapse, alleging that vital work was postponed, while profits continued to be generated and distributed.

The defence’s main argument was that the bridge had a hidden construction defect, namely corrosion of its cables, that caused its collapse, not a lack of maintenance.

A Seoul district court on Monday sentenced former President Yoon Suk Yeol to two years in prison after finding him partially guilty of accepting illegal political funds in the form of free opinion polls from a self-proclaimed power broker.

The Seoul Central District Court convicted the jailed former president on charges of violating the Political Funds Act in a ruling that marked a departure from a separate trial where his wife was acquitted on the same charges.

Special counsel Min Joong-ki’s team earlier indicted Yoon on charges of colluding with his wife, former first lady Kim Keon Hee, and receiving 58 opinion polls worth about 270 million won (US$180,100) in total for free from the power broker, Myung Tae-kyun, between April 2021 and March 2022.

In its ruling, the court recognized that Yoon had received 14 opinion polls from Myung for free over the period, sentencing him to prison and ordering a forfeiture of 13.96 million won.

It recognized the special counsel team’s argument that Yoon had promised to support former Rep. Kim Young-sun’s nomination as a candidate for the conservative People Power Party in the parliamentary by-elections in June 2022 in exchange for the opinion polls.

“The defendant’s actions sowed distrust in politics and undermined the public trust in the development of democracy,” the court said. “A punishment commensurate with the wrongdoing is inevitable.”

The court also sentenced Myung to 18 months in prison on the charges.

The special counsel team had sought a four-year prison sentence for Yoon and a three-year term for Myung.

The ruling diverged from an appellate court’s acquittal of Yoon’s wife on charges of accepting free opinion polls from Myung in a separate trial.

In Kim’s acquittal in April, the Seoul High Court ruled the couple could not be seen as profiting off the opinion polls as Myung had provided them to other people as well. Min’s team has appealed that ruling.

After the ruling, Yoon’s lawyers vowed to appeal, saying the verdict was “difficult to understand” given the former first lady’s acquittal in her trial.

The special counsel team called the latest ruling “very meaningful,” noting the bench appeared to have closely considered the various evidence and arguments presented in its judgment.

It marked the latest conviction for Yoon, who has been standing multiple trials following his failed 2024 martial law bid. In February, Yoon was sentenced to life imprisonment for leading an insurrection through his short-lived imposition of martial law.

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US prosecutors have alleged those involved in the Prairieland Detention Center protest were linked to antifa.

Seven more people have been sentenced to prison over a protest that culminated in a police officer being shot outside an immigration detention centre last year.

A federal court in Fort Worth handed down the latest sentences on Wednesday. Critics, however, say the case could reshape how protest is prosecuted in the United States.

The case centres on a shooting outside the Prairieland Detention Center, near Dallas, Texas, that took place during an antigovernment protest.

Six of the defendants in Wednesday’s sentencing hearing had pleaded guilty to providing material support to “terrorism” and received prison terms ranging from nearly two to 15 years.

A seventh defendant, Ines Soto, was sentenced to 50 years in prison after being convicted of “providing material support to terrorists”, as well as charges related to rioting and conspiracy to carry an explosive.

The protest in question took place on the night of July 4, 2025. Activists had gathered outside Prairieland to denounce President Donald Trump’s push for mass deportation. Some set off fireworks. Others have been accused of vandalism.

Prosecutors said that, during the demonstration, former US Marine reservist Benjamin Song shot and wounded a police officer who had just arrived at the centre. Song had reportedly shouted, “Get out the rifles,” prior to opening fire.

The Trump administration has described the protest as an act of “terrorism”, and 19 people were ultimately arrested.

Some of those detained were not present at the Prairieland protest. But the Trump administration has designated antifa — a loose-knit, left-wing antifascist movement — as a “domestic terrorist organisation”, and it accused the protest’s supporters of being part of an “antifa cell”.

Prosecutors for the US Department of Justice also argued that bringing firearms, first aid kits and body armour to the protest showed nefarious intent.

“The sentences handed down today make clear that Antifa terrorists who attack law enforcement and federal facilities will face swift and uncompromising justice,” acting Attorney General Todd Blanche said in a statement last week.

But civil liberties advocates say the case could have broad implications for protesters nationwide.

It will also likely test the boundaries of the free speech rights protected under the First Amendment of the US Constitution.

The Justice Department touted last week’s initial round of sentencing as the first time alleged antifa members were sentenced on criminal charges since Trump issued his executive order designating the group a “domestic terrorist” body.

Lawyers for the defendants, however, have largely denied links to antifa and rejected the prosecution’s characterisation of the protest.

They argued there was no planned ambush and that those carrying firearms only did so for their own protection, as is allowed under the Constitution’s Second Amendment. The fireworks, they added, were meant as a show of support for immigrants detained inside Prairieland.

On June 23, the eight defendants who chose to stand trial were handed lengthy prison terms.

Song was sentenced to 100 years in prison after being convicted of attempted murder in the shooting. The seven others received sentences ranging from 30 to 70 years. They received a combined 450 years in prison.

One defendant, Daniel Rolando Sanchez Estrada, has argued his only crime was to move a box of belongings, including zines. Prosecutors, meanwhile, have characterised his actions as “transporting a box containing numerous Antifa materials” and attempting to conceal them.

Several of the defendants, including Song and Sanchez Estrada, have filed notices of appeal.

In handing down last week’s sentences, US District Judge Reed O’Connor said what happened was not a protest but an “assault on democracy” and that “the need to deter this type of conduct is high”.

Indonesia court finds former education minister guilty of abuse of authority and of causing state losses.

A court in Indonesia has sentenced former Education Minister Nadiem Makarim, co-founder of the Gojek app, to 10 years in prison on corruption charges.

Judges at the Jakarta anti-corruption court on Tuesday found Makarim guilty of corruption related to the procurement of Chromebook laptops for schools during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Chief Judge Purwanto Abdullah, presiding over the ruling at Indonesia’s Corruption Court in Jakarta, said a panel of judges had found Makarim guilty of abuse of authority and of causing state losses. He was found not guilty of directly seeking to enrich himself.

The court said the case caused state losses of approximately $120m. It also ordered Makarim to pay a fine of Rp1 billion ($55,850) and Rp809 billion (more than $45m) in restitution, or face additional prison time.

The verdict marks a sharp fall for the Ivy League-educated entrepreneur once seen as a symbol of Indonesia’s startup sector.

Makarim, 41, co-founded Gojek in 2010, growing it from a call centre with 20 motorcycle drivers into a major ride-hailing and delivery platform.

He became one of Indonesia’s youngest cabinet ministers in 2019 and served as education minister until 2024.

Prosecutors said his decision to purchase Chromebook laptops, which run Google’s ChromeOS, was linked to the US tech giant’s investment in Gojek.

Makarim has consistently denied wrongdoing and vowed to appeal.

“The judges couldn’t even look me in the eye,” he said, adding he could not pay the amount ordered under the ruling.

The former minister has said the procurement saved money and called the case an “investigative error”.

In his defence this month, he said: “Experts and factual witnesses have stated: there is no element of state loss, no element of violation of the law, no element of self-enrichment, enrichment of another person or company, and no malicious intent or bad intentions.”

Prosecutors had sought an 18-year prison sentence and Rp5.68 trillion (about $313m) in restitution. Google was not charged and has denied any wrongdoing.

GoTo Group, formed after Gojek merged with Tokopedia in 2021, said Makarim had not had a decision-making role since resigning in 2019.

Makarim, whose lawyer father once served on the ethics committee of Indonesia’s anti-corruption body, said he joined the government to encourage professionals to enter public service.

A Seoul court on Friday sentenced former first lady Kim Keon Hee to seven years in prison for taking expensive gifts in return for job appointments and business favors.

The Seoul Central District Court handed down the sentence to Kim, the wife of ousted former President Yoon Suk Yeol, after she was indicted on charges of accepting bribes for mediation, including over 100 million won (US$64,750) worth of jewelry in exchange for a government job for a son-in-law of a construction company chairman.

In total, she was charged with taking approximately 300 million won worth of gifts, and the court found her guilty on all counts.

“The defendant disregarded the social responsibilities associated with the position of first lady and used it merely as a means to pursue her private interests,” presiding judge Cho Sun-pyo said during the hearing, which was televised live.

Kim was indicted in December on charges of receiving a Van Cleef & Arpels necklace and other jewelry from the construction company chairman between March and May 2022; a golden turtle ornament in April 2022 from Lee Bae-yong, former head of the National Education Commission, in exchange for her appointment; a Dior bag worth 5.4 million won from a pastor the same year; and a Vacheron Constantin watch from another businessperson in September 2022.

In February 2023, she was accused of receiving a painting by renowned artist Lee Ufan from a former prosecutor in return for her help in securing him a nomination for an election.

The exchanges mostly took place during the period her husband was in office from May 2022 until his ouster in April 2025.

The judge said Kim sought to evade responsibility for her crimes by returning some of the gifts once an investigation got under way or arguing she had purchased them herself.

“This shows that she was fully aware of the illegality of her actions but tried to conceal it,” he said.

Special counsel Min Joong-ki’s team, which had demanded a 7 1/2-year prison term, welcomed the ruling. Kim’s lawyers said they would appeal.

The court also sentenced the construction company chairman to a one-year prison term, suspended for two years, the businessperson who gifted the watch to a 10-month prison term, suspended for two years, and the pastor to a fine of 8 million won.

The former first lady has already been sentenced by an appeals court to four years in prison in a separate corruption case.

She is also set to stand trial over her alleged involvement in a case where members of the Unification Church were reportedly forced to join the now main opposition People Power Party ahead of the 2022 presidential election in an attempt to influence the outcome of the party primary to pick its presidential candidate, which her husband Yoon won.

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FORT WORTH, Texas — A demonstrator who shot and wounded a police officer outside a Texas immigration center last July 4 was sentenced to 100 years in federal prison Tuesday, while other protesters accused of having links to antifa were given multiple decades in federal prison.

Benjamin Song was convicted of attempted murder last March after prosecutors say he opened fire and wounded a police officer at the Prairieland Detention Center in Alvarado.

The seven other protesters sentenced Tuesday received prison terms ranging from 30 to 70 years.

“Our issue with this case has always been this isn’t a bunch of terrorists. This is a bunch of kids and young adults who really have a really big heart and really wanted their voice to be heard,” Philip Hayes, Song’s attorney, said outside the federal courthouse in Fort Worth. “It was never intended that anybody get hurt. It was never intended that any shots would be fired.”

He said his client would appeal the sentencing.

“Song, aside from this day, has had an impeccable life. A former Marine. A good student,” Hayes said. “He had a lot of good qualities that were just ignored. The judge went ahead and gave as much as he could.”

One of the defendants, Daniel Sanchez Estrada, was convicted of corruptly concealing a document and conspiracy to conceal documents. Others pleaded guilty to providing material support to terrorists rather than take their case to trial.

Prosecutors say the eight are members of antifa, a decentralized anti-fascist organization that has become a target of the Trump administration. They have denied any affiliation and maintain they attended the demonstration to show support for immigrants inside the detention center.

President Donald Trump last fall signed an executive order designating antifa a domestic terrorist organization, even though there is no domestic equivalent to the State Department’s list of foreign terror organizations.

Critics warn the case could have wide-reaching impact on protests given that organizations operating within the U.S. are supposed to be protected by First Amendment free-speech rights.

Short for “anti-fascists,” antifa is not a single organization but rather an umbrella term for far-left militant groups that confront or resist neo-Nazis and white supremacists at demonstrations.

Last week, federal prosecutors charged 15 people with impeding the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown in Minnesota. They claimed the demonstrators were members of antifa who conspired against the federal government to block arrests and deportations by setting up blockades around government buildings and throwing chunks of ice at federal vehicles, among other actions.

Stengle and Marcelo write for the Associated Press. Marcelo reported from New York.

Grammy-nominated rapper Mystikal has been sentenced to 20 years in prison for third-degree rape.

The “Danger” rapper was arrested in the summer of 2022 and booked into the Ascension Parish Jail in Louisiana and charged with first-degree rape, simple robbery, domestic abuse battery–strangulation, false imprisonment and simple criminal damage to property after the victim identified the rapper as the suspect from the hospital where she was being treated for injuries.

According to Baton Rouge-based ABC affiliate WBRZ, the victim told a Louisiana courtroom on Tuesday that Mystikal, real name Michael Tyler, punched and choked her, pulled braids out of her hair and forcibly raped her during the 2022 incident. The victim requested the maximum sentence for the rapper.

“If I did that to you, I deserve the max sentence,” Tyler told the courtroom before he was sentenced to 20 years for third-degree rape, which carries a maximum sentence of 25 years with no chance for early release or probation.

In March, Tyler entered a guilty plea, which knocked his first-degree rape charge down to third-degree. In Louisiana, first-degree rape carries a maximum sentence of life imprisonment. According to WBRZ, the rapper’s attorney filed a motion to withdraw the guilty plea days before Tyler was sentenced, but the motion was tossed.

The New Orleans-born artist was convicted more than two decades ago of sexual battery after pleading guilty to charges in 2003. He served six years in prison and was released in 2010.

The rapper was previously indicted in 2017 on rape and kidnapping charges stemming from allegations in 2016. He spent 18 months in jail before being released in 2019 on a $3-million bond, the Associated Press reported. The Caddo Parish district attorney in Louisiana ultimately dropped those charges in 2020 after a second grand jury declined to bring an indictment.

With his raspy vocal intensity and scream-like musical delivery, Mystikal shot to the top of the charts with Master P’s No Limit Records in the late 1990s. In 2004, the embattled rapper’s original label, Jive Records, released two compilations of his music, “Prince of the South … The Hits” and “Chopped & Screwed.”

Former Times staff writer Nardine Saad contributed to this report.

June 15 (UPI) — Marius Borg Hoiby has been found guilty of two counts of rape and other charges and sentenced to four years in prison.

Hoiby, the son of Norway’s Crown Princess Mette-Marit, has also been convicted for domestic violence, violent threats and filming people without their consent. He pleaded guilty to assault, harassment and malicious damage to property but denied four counts of rape.

While Hoiby is the eldest son of the crown princess and stepson to Norway’s heir, he is not a member of the royal family.

Hoiby faced two more counts of rape but the three judges at the Oslo District Court acquitted him on those counts. However, he is ordered to pay damages to the four women who accused him of rape in the amount of nearly $61,000.

Hoiby’s attorneys have pleaded for his release from prison so he can be with his mother who has been diagnosed with pulmonary fibrosis and is seeking a lung transplant. The Oslo District Court granted his release last week but the decision was overturned on appeal.

Earlier this year, it was revealed in a tranche of files released by the U.S. Department of Justice that Mette-Mait had a three-year friendship with convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

Prosecutors in the case sought a sentence of seven years in prison for the 39 charges Hoiby faced. They also wanted Hoiby banned from communicating with one of the alleged victims and to have several of his devices confiscated, including three iPhones and a MacBook.

In the case of all four rape charges, the victims were either asleep or incapacitated.

The allegations against Hoiby involved six women. One of them testified that she was incapacitated or asleep when Hoiby raped her in March 2024.

Hoiby also admitted to transporting marijuana.

Nick Pasqual, an actor who appeared in “How I Met Your Mother,” has been sentenced to 32 years to life for the attempted murder of his estranged girlfriend, L.A.-based makeup artist Allie Shehorn.

Following a jury trial, Pasqual was also convicted of counts of injuring a spouse or partner, first-degree burglary and rape, according to court documents. During the trial, Shehorn had visible scars on her hands and neck when she testified, per ABC.

The incident occurred in May 2024, when Pasqual repeatedly stabbed Shehorn in her Shadow Hills home. Prosecutors said that the actor broke into Shehorn’s home just before 4:30 a.m. on May 23, attacked her with a knife and fled California.

Days before the attack, Shehorn had filed a restraining order against Pasqual, detailing acts of sexual and physical assault. While the judge approved the order, it was unclear whether Pasqual had been served prior to the stabbing.

Christine White, Shehorn’s friend and roommate, discovered the makeup artist lying in a pool of blood and called emergency services. Friends believe Shehorn was stabbed more than 20 times. Following the attack, Shehorn underwent emergency surgery and spent days in intensive care.

Pasqual was ultimately stopped by authorities at a border checkpoint in Sierra Blanca, Texas, and extradited to Los Angeles.

The former couple met on the set of Zack Snyder’s film “Rebel Moon,” where Pasqual worked as a background actor and Shehorn worked as a makeup artist.

Last week, Shehorn sued the actor for sexual battery, assault and negligence, among other counts, according to a lawsuit submitted in Los Angeles County Superior Court.

The 17-page complaint echoes details about the May 2024 stabbing that led to Pasqual’s arrest two years ago and his attempted murder conviction.

Staff writer Alexandra Del Rosario and former staff writer Nathan Solis contributed to this report.

DES MOINES, Iowa — The former superintendent of Iowa’s largest school district who was arrested last year in the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown was sentenced Friday to two years in prison.

Ian Roberts is likely to be deported to his native Guyana in South America once he serves the sentence. He pleaded guilty in January to falsely claiming to be a U.S. citizen and illegally possessing firearms, which together carry a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison. His lawyers had proposed that he be put on probation “to facilitate his removal from the United States,” but prosecutors had argued that his likely deportation should not be a factor.

Prosecutors alleged Roberts knowingly lacked employment authorization for nearly all of his two-decade career in urban education and submitted a counterfeit Social Security card when he was hired as superintendent of the Des Moines public school district, which serves 30,000 students.

Roberts’ stunning case bookended the school year. His September arrest occurred as President Trump’s administration was sending increased numbers of federal immigration officers into American cities to round up immigrants.

Des Moines Public Schools said last month that it revised its conflict-of-interest policy after an audit found Roberts awarded district business to a consulting firm he worked for, affirming findings first reported by the Associated Press in the weeks after federal immigration officers detained him.

Roberts was in his school-issued vehicle when officers stopped him on Sept. 26 in a targeted U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement operation. He allegedly fled before he was located with the help of state troopers. Authorities said a loaded handgun was wrapped in a towel under the seat and $3,000 in cash was in the car. Three other weapons were recovered during a search of his home.

In a court filing, attorneys for Roberts said he has dedicated his life in the U.S. to public service and has not been a threat to public safety. After Roberts married a U.S. citizen, his attorneys said, he was denied lawful permanent residency because he failed to disclose that he had been arrested. He said he did not think he needed to because the charges against him were dropped.

“While Dr. Roberts tried to adjust his status three more times, this initial mistake by Dr. Roberts sealed his fate,” his attorneys wrote. “In the background of his career for the next 24 years, this denial of his adjustment of status haunted Dr. Roberts like a ghost, eventually derailing his life and career.”

Dozens of people submitted letters on Roberts’ behalf to dispute how he has been portrayed and provide details of his positive impact. His lawyers wrote that he likely faces deportation to Guyana, where he will “be left without his career, without his wife, without his children, in a country where he has not lived for thirty years.”

In recommending a three-year sentence, prosecutors described a yearslong and deliberate misrepresentation of his legal status. Prosecutors said a reduced sentence is not appropriate just because Roberts is likely to be deported.

They said they do not know what documents Roberts presented to show eligibility for work dating back to 2008, years before he was approved for temporary status in 2018, but he “deliberately obtained employment without work authorization at school after school, within state after state.”

Fingerhut writes for the Associated Press.

MATTHEW Perry’s live-in assistant has been jailed for three years and five months after injecting the actor with ketamine and leaving him alone to die.

Kenneth Iwamasa, 60, learned his fate as he appeared in federal court in Los Angeles on Wednesday.

He was the fifth and final defendant to be sentenced for playing a role in the actor’s 2023 overdose death.

Iwamasa, who was previously out on bail, avoided photographs by turning up to court at 7am when the doors opened, two hours ahead of the hearing, a source told The U.S. Sun.

He was then granted a delayed surrender date of July 17.

Los Angeles Judge Sherilyn Peace Garnett also ordered him to pay fines of $10,000 and $100 and be on supervised released for two years.

JAIL TIME

Matthew Perry’s street dealer gets 2yrs after admitting he’s ‘haunted by mistake’

Iwamasa wore a grey suit and matching tie with a white shirt for the hearing.

“Kenny wishes he would have had the strength to push back and say no and for that he will forever be remorseful,” his lawyer, Alan Eisner, said as he stood beside him outside of the court.

“Kenny is not the only person here who partook in this tragic event.”

He said Perry had agency, and his family should have also been there for him during his relapse.

“Mr Perry’s family could have said no along the way,” he bizarrely stated.

His loved ones previously insisted they had no idea he had fallen back into addiction.

The attorney said the blame shouldn’t all fall on his client, a man who is at the “low end of the totem pole” and wasn’t benefiting financially like those who sold him the drugs.

Asked why he left him alone to die after injecting him with the drug, the lawyer called the comments “vindictive” and said it was an unfair narrative.

Perry’s stepfather, Keith Morrison, who arrived with the actor’s mother, Suzanne, gave an emotional impact statement, along with estate manager, according to the New York Post.

Iwamasa was reportedly on the verge of tears as Morrison addressed him in court but he did not speak to reporters outside.

Although he pleaded guilty, his counsel argued that he was trapped in a toxic employer-employee dynamic and felt unable to refuse Perry’s requests.

The actor’s publicist, Lisa Calio, who was close to him for 30 years and is now the CEO of The Matthew Perry Foundation, wrote a heartbreaking letter to the judge and slammed Iwamasa.

She claimed he hatched a delusional plan to get rid of those tasked with keeping Perry safe so he could run the show and live a lavish lifestyle, before sourcing drugs for him.

She wrote, “His narcissistic, outrageous, irresponsible behavior, his psychotic plan, caused him to heat up the jacuzzi, give Matthew the giant shot he requested and leave him alone to die.”

Referencing the day Perry was found dead, she recalled, “I received a text from Kenny at 4 a.m. as he was driving one of Matthew’s cars from the house in the Hollywood Hills to the house in the Palisades. And he was loving it.”

She claimed, “Kenny convinced Matthew that there were too many people around and that he didn’t need to spend the money on them anymore. And that battle, Kenny won. I was not aware.”

Calio claimed that it was “the beginning of the end.”

She added, “Whatever sentence he receives, it won’t be long enough.

“He will always be known as the man who killed Matthew Perry, I suppose there should be some comfort in that.”

Before he was Perry’s live-in assistant, the star had other staff members and a sober companion who saved his life.

Iwamasa had been working for Perry’s manager, Doug Chapin, since the 1990s and took a more hands-on role as the actor’s live-in assistant around 2022, according to reports.

Court documents showed he was paid around $150,000 a year to assist Perry around the clock and was tasked with helping to manage his sobriety.

They lived together at a Beverly Hills rental after Perry sold his “mansion in the sky” in Century City and was waiting for renovation work to be completed on his new home in the Pacific Palisades.

As Perry relapsed, Iwamasa obtained ketamine from suppliers and was taught how to administer it, according to court documents.

Iwamasa admitted to injecting Perry with the drug three times on the day he died, including twice in 40 minutes.

He then left him alone near his hot tub at the star’s home in the Pacific Palisades, and when he returned, he found the actor unresponsive in the water.

Iwamasa was accused of repeatedly lying to investigators, including allegedly hiding the fact that he injected Perry with several ketamine shots on the day of his death, court documents also show.

He later admitted he “cleaned up the scene” during a phone call with middleman Erik Fleming, officials claimed.

The assistant reportedly said he got rid of syringes and bottles, changed passwords on Perry’s devices and “deleted everything.”

The five responsible for Matthew Perry’s death

Here are the five individuals allegedly behind Perry’s ketamine overdose.

• “Ketamine Queen of Los Angeles” Jasveen Sangha – Sangha, 42, pleaded guilty in September 2025 to federal charges for supplying the ketamine that caused Matthew Perry’s fatal overdose. Prosecutors say that after Perry’s death, she reportedly searched online, “can ketamine be listed as a cause of death.” She has now been jailed for 15 years.
• “Dr. P” Dr. Salvador Plasencia – Plasencia, 44, was one of the physicians who illegally supplied ketamine to Perry before his death. He pleaded guilty in mid‑2025 to several federal counts of ketamine distribution. In December 2025, he was sentenced to 30 months in federal prison and fined; he was remanded immediately to begin serving his term.
• Dr. Mark Chavez – Chavez, 55, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to distribute ketamine in connection with Perry’s death. In December 2025, he was sentenced to eight months of home confinement, ordered to complete community service, and placed on supervised release.
• Kenneth Iwamasa – Iwamasa, 60, Perry’s live‑in assistant, admitted he obtained and administered ketamine to Perry as part of the scheme. He pleaded guilty to conspiracy to distribute ketamine causing death and is set to be sentenced in May.
• Erik Fleming – Fleming, 56, an intermediary dealer who helped coordinate the flow of ketamine from suppliers to Perry’s assistant, pleaded guilty to conspiracy and distribution charges. He was sentenced to two years in prison.

It was several months before it was revealed that Iwamasa played a part in Perry’s death, shocking not only his family and friends but thousands of fans worldwide.

He pleaded guilty in August 2024 to one count of conspiracy to distribute ketamine resulting in death and initially faced 15 years behind bars.

But prosecutors said in court documents that he provided significant cooperation in the government’s investigation, leading to a reduced sentencing recommendation of three years and four months.

Perry’s mum, Suzanne Morrison, also described Iwamasa in a victim impact statement ahead of sentencing as a “man without conscience” and said the family felt betrayed by him.

In the statement, Morrison said Iwamasa not only delivered the fatal dose but also painted himself as someone who was trying to help Perry, and even went as far as begging to speak at his funeral.

She said in court filings, “He clung to me and the family as if he was somehow the good guy who tried to save Matthew.”

She added: “We trusted a man without a conscience, and my son paid the price.”

Four others were convicted in recent months after being involved in Perry’s death.

Erik Fleming, a middleman and former drug counsellor, was sentenced to two years in prison, while Jasveen Sangha, also known as “The Ketamine Queen”, was handed 15 years.

Dr. Salvador Plasencia, who was involved in supplying and administering ketamine linked to Perry, received two and a half years.

He obtained the drug from a fellow doctor, Mark Chavez, who received eight months of home detention after pleading guilty.

Perry rose to fame as Chandler Bing on the hit 90s sitcom Friends.

A man accused of nabbing unreleased music by Beyoncé in a vehicle break-in last summer has pleaded guilty to the theft and has been sentenced to serve time in prison.

Kelvin Evans, 41, on Tuesday entered guilty pleas in Fulton County Superior Court in Georgia to counts of entering an automobile and criminal trespass. Fulton County Superior Court Senior Judge Jane C. Barwick sentenced Evans, who was set to go on trial this week, to two years in prison and three years on probation. Evans was also warned to keep his distance from the victims and the scene of the theft.

Evans was sentenced less than a year after stealing the pop diva’s unreleased music from her choreographer’s van in Atlanta. According to police, Evans broke into the Jeep Wagoneer rented by choreographer Christopher Grant and dancer Diandre Blue when they stopped at a restaurant to eat. The artists were in town for the “Diva” singer’s four-night takeover of Atlanta’s Mercedes-Benz Stadium for her Cowboy Carter tour.

Evans damaged the trunk window and stole a pair of suitcases that contained two computers and five jump drives of unreleased music as well as footage, plans for the tour production and past and future set lists, the police report said. He also stole clothing, Apple AirPods Max headphones and designer sunglasses, police said.

Police arrested Evans in August. He was indicted in October and initially pleaded not guilty in January and even rejected the plea deal during a hearing last month.

Despite his arrest, police have not recovered the stolen items.

The chances of Beyonce releasing new music was already pretty slim heading into Evan’s scheduled trial. Speculation swirled online that the Grammy winner would drop the third act of her planned music trilogy timed to the summer. The singer’s rep Yvette Noel-Schure put a hard stop on those rumors in late April.

“This is unequivocally false!!” Noel-Schure posted on X.

Times assistant editor Christie D’Zurilla and the Associated Press contributed to this report.