Source: United States Department of Justice Criminal Division

WASHINGTON—Today, the Justice Department announced that it has acted to end the state of Illinois’ unlawful minority-only scholarship program.  After the Justice Department threatened to file suit, the state and six universities suspended the program.

On March 31, 2025, the Justice Department found that an Illinois scholarship program unconstitutionally discriminated on the basis of race in violation of the Fourteenth Amendment.  Following the Supreme Court’s recent decision in Students for Fair Admissions Inc. v. President & Fellow of Harvard Coll., 600 U.S. 181 (2023), colleges and universities are prohibited from using race to select winners and losers in higher education. The scholarship program established by Illinois law used race as a prerequisite for participation, specifically excluding students of some races but not others in violation of federal law.

After the Justice Department notified the educational institutions of its findings, multiple universities informed the Justice Department that they had ended their participation in the program, including Northwestern University, Loyola University of Chicago, and the University of Chicago.  None of the institutions that the Department notified of its findings is currently electing to continue its participation in the program.

Additionally, the Illinois Board of Higher Education, which administers the state-created DEI scholarship program, responded to the Department’s threatened lawsuit by suspending all its activities relating to the program until it can comprehensively review the program with the Illinois General Assembly during the current legislative session.   

“This Department of Justice is committed to rooting DEI out of American institutions, including in the education system,” said Attorney General Pamela Bondi. “This latest victory illustrates that the threat of legal action can be enough to force bad actors into dissolving harmful practices that disregard merit and divide Americans based on race.”

To learn more about the Civil Rights Division visit www.justice.gov/crt, and to report possible violations of federal civil rights laws go to www.civilrights.justice.gov or call toll-free at 800-253-3931.

Source: United States Department of Justice Criminal Division

A federal grand jury in Kansas City returned an indictment yesterday charging a Kansas woman with tax evasion and wire fraud.

The indictment alleges that Michelle O’Connor, of Louisburg, owned and operated a realty company based in the Kansas City metro area. For tax years 2008 through 2015, O’Connor filed federal income tax returns, self-reporting that she owed approximately $300,000 in taxes. Despite acknowledging she owed the taxes, O’Connor did not pay them. In 2011, the IRS audited her 2008 and 2009 tax returns and concluded that O’Connor had improperly claimed tens of thousands of dollars in personal expenses as charitable deductions to the “Church of Revelation and Love,” a purported church she and her husband created and were, along with her family, its primary members. Based on that audit, the IRS assessed over $40,000 in additional taxes against O’Connor.  

Starting in 2011, the IRS began trying to collect the outstanding taxes from O’Connor, sending her over 50 notices regarding them. From 2011 through 2023, however, Michelle O’Connor tried to stymy the IRS’s collections efforts by, among other things, filing three separate false and frivolous bankruptcy petitions, purchasing approximately $250,000 of cashier’s checks to reduce her bank account balances, and closing her personal bank accounts and using her business’ bank accounts to pay personal expenses.

By 2020, O’Connor owed the IRS nearly $500,000 in taxes, penalties, and interest.

In 2020, O’Connor submitted 34 fraudulent COVID-19 Economic Injury Disaster Loan (EIDL) applications on behalf of her real estate business and seven other corporate entities she created for the purpose of maximizing potential EIDL credits. Under the EIDL program, a small business could receive a loan of up to $150,000 from the Small Business Administration to cover six months of working capital. In total, O’Connor received nearly $300,000 from her fraudulent EIDLs, which she used for personal purposes, including $115,000 to purchase cryptocurrency.

If convicted, O’Connor faces a maximum penalty of five years in prison for tax evasion and a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison for each count of wire fraud. A federal district court judge will determine any sentence after considering the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.

Acting Deputy Assistant Attorney General Karen E. Kelly of the Justice Department’s Tax Division made the announcement.

IRS Criminal Investigation is investigating the case.

Trial Attorneys Dominick Giovanniello and Robert Kemins of the Tax Division are prosecuting the case.

An indictment is merely an allegation. All defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.