UMVA has learned that a former Department of Justice contractor turned the nation’s justice system into his personal loot vault, stealing and reselling thousands of government‑issued cell phones.
Javan King, a 42‑year‑old IT contractor in the DOJ’s Civil Rights Division, exploited his trusted position to order phones the agency never needed, then quietly funneled them to resellers for cash.
Prosecutors estimate the scheme siphoned more than $1.3 million from taxpayers between 2021 and 2025, with King pocketing roughly the same amount.
The fraud exploded after pandemic‑induced oversight lapses left King with “full control of the device management process,” allowing him to submit fabricated requests for iPhone lines labeled for attorneys, appointees, or “extra” devices.
In June 2025, King ordered 164 new iPhone 15 lines, 15 of them flagged only as “extra.” The Justice Department approved 163 through AT&T, and the phones were shipped to DOJ offices, where King seized at least 162 and sold them for $170 each.
Across the operation, King moved about 4,700 phones to at least nine resellers, with a single buyer snapping up more than 3,200 devices and wiring over $950,000 via PayPal.
Investigators uncovered a personal Yahoo email used to arrange sales and shipments; many messages were deleted before agents could seize them, though copies were later recovered from a reseller.
The scheme unraveled when a Kentucky woman discovered an iPhone she bought online was still tied to the Justice Department, prompting a federal investigation.
During a January 2026 meeting, King confessed that he squandered nearly every dollar on gambling at MGM casinos and FanDuel, luxury vacations, private‑school tuition, and a $92,000 Range Rover purchased just before his downfall.
U.S. Attorney Pirro called King’s theft “a brazen betrayal of the public trust,” noting the stolen funds have now been ordered repaid to the American taxpayer.
After pleading guilty to mail fraud, King received a sentence of 12 months and one day in federal prison, followed by two years of supervised release, and an order to repay $1,319,172.85.
While on pre‑trial release, King attended Gamblers Anonymous meetings and told investigators he was trying to break his gambling habit.
