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www.desitalk.com – that’s all you need to know 8 CRIME December 12, 2025 US Authorities Issue Arrest Detainer For Indian Truck Driver Involved In Oregon Accident A merican immigration officials have asked for custody of an Indian truck driver involved in a fatal motorway accident in Or- egon that killed two people in the United States. Rajinder Kumar is currently lodged in Deschutes County jail as he faces criminal charges linked to the fatal accident. The US’ Immigration and Customs Enforce- ment (ICE) has stated that it will take steps for the custody of Kumar if he is released by local authorities. US Immigration and Customs En- forcement (ICE) said Kumar entered the country “illegally” through Arizona in November 2022 and was subsequently granted work authorisation and a com- mercial driving license by California state authorities. The case follows several similar ac- cidents involving Indian nationals driving heavy goods vehicles in America. In recent months, US authorities have high- lighted at least three other fatal crashes involving undocumented Indian lorry drivers in Florida and California. Immigration officials say they are in- creasingly concerned about the number of people entering the country without proper documentation who obtain com- mercial driving licences from certain US states. In the United States, individual states, rather than the federal government, issue driving licences. Some states, including California, have enacted laws allowing undocumented immigrants to obtain driving licences, arguing this improves road safety by ensuring all drivers are tested and insured. However, the issuance of commercial driving licences–which permit the opera- tion of large trucks and coaches–to indi- viduals without legal immigration status has become politically contentious. The cases have become politically charged in America, with incoming administration officials criticising what they term “sanctuary” policies in certain states that limit cooperation between local authorities and federal immigration enforcement. Oregon, where the latest accident oc- curred, has such policies in place. This means local police do not automatically detain individuals for immigration viola- tions, requiring federal authorities to take separate enforcement action. -ANI PHOTO:US DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITYVIA ANI Rajinder Kumar, the accused truck driver Indian National Sentenced To Prison For $1 Million Medicare Fraud Scheme A n Indian national convicted of health care fraud was sentenced December 2, 2025, in .S. District Court in Seattle to two years in prison, announced U.S. Attorney Charles Neil Floyd. Mohammed Asif, 35, was arrested on April 10, 2025, at Chicago O’Hare International Airport while attempting to board an international flight. On Septem- ber 4, 2025, Asif pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit health care fraud in connection with the operation of American Labworks LLC, a diagnostic testing laboratory in Everett, Washington. Asif conspired with others to bill Medicare for COVID-19 tests and other respiratory illness tests that had not been ordered or performed. At the Dec. 2 sentencing hearing U.S. District Judge James L. Robart said the fraud amount, $1,174,813, “was a significant amount of money. It was money that was siphoned out of the Medicare system that is designed to treat the elderly and the poor… (The defendant) lacks moral character as a knowing participant in the fraud… He is someone the public needs to be protected from.” Asif was ordered to pay $1,174,813 in restitution. He will likely be deported following his prison term, the Justice Department press release said. According to records filed in the case, theWashington Secretary of State has American Labworks being formed in October 2021 and dissolved in March 2025. Washington Department of Health records indicate that its license as a Medical Test Site expired in December 2023. Asif is listed in filings with the state and with Medi- care as the owner and director of American Labworks. Claims data from April 2024 to December 2024 show that American Labworks billed Medicare more than $8.7 million for laboratory testing services, including for COVID-19 testing. Medicare paid out over $1.1 million to the lab. Between June 2024 and March 2025, Medicare received more than 200 complaints from enrollees and others about American Labworks. Many of these complainants reported that Medicare was billed for testing that was never received. In some instances, the billing records indicated a beneficiary’s testing date of service occurred after other records indicated the beneficiary was dead. And in other instances, the physician who allegedly referred the patient for testing was dead at the time of the date of service. Financial records indicate Mohammed Asif received multiple checks and made withdrawals from the Ameri- can Labworks bank account, which he controlled. In May 2024, he withdrew $260,000 from the American Labworks checking account. Soon after that Asif, who had been in the U.S. on a student visa, returned to India. He came back to the U.S. in March 2025 as investigators were unraveling the fraud. Prosecutors and special agents with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Of- fice of Inspector General (HHS-OIG) and Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) moved quickly to draft the criminal complaint and take Asif into custody. A grand jury then returned the indictment of Asif on April 23. Asif conspired with other people to accomplish the fraud, the Justice Department press release says, adding that the government’s investigation is ongoing. By a StaffWriter New York Archdiocese To Settle Sexual Abuse Plaints By Over 1,300 Accusers T he Roman Catholic Archdiocese of NewYork said on Monday that it was raising at least USD 300 million as it moved to negotiate a settlement that would benefit roughly 1,300 people who have said they were sexually abused as minors by its priests and lay staff members, NewYork Times reported. The archdiocese said it had agreed with representatives of the accusers on a me- diator and had begun to raise money by cutting costs and selling assets, including its headquarters and other real estate. Jeff Anderson, a lawyer who represents 300 people who have filed abuse claims against the archdiocese, said on Monday that the archdiocese had taken “a step in the right direction,” but cautioned that the matter was far from settled. “There is no agreement at all —what we do have is a proposal for a process by which you go into a mediation,” Anderson said. But, he added, “This is the first time the archdiocese has shown willingness to engage in any kind of process to bring all of this toward resolution,” as reported by NewYork Times. “Any time the church shows a willing- ness to engage in serious negotiation, all of us who represent survivors are eager to work together toward that end,” he said. “We are hopeful that we can and that we will.” It was not clear that the two parties would agree to USD 300 million as the size of the settlement; the final number to be paid to accusers could be higher or lower. The announcement of the media- tion was made in a letter published on Monday by Cardinal Timothy Dolan, who said that archdiocese officials had met in recent weeks with lawyers to discuss the contours of a global settlement between the church and its accusers, as per New York Times. “As we have repeatedly acknowledged, the sexual abuse of minors long ago has brought shame upon our church,” the car- dinal wrote in an email to roughly 300,000 Catholics across NewYork. “I once again ask forgiveness for the failing of those who betrayed the trust placed in them by fail- ing to provide for the safety of our young people.” -ANI