KTBB News, Weather, Talk

Senior personnel at a telecommunications company orchestrated a "calculated embezzlement scheme" to divert millions of dollars into their own pockets, federal prosecutors in New York charged in the first case of its kind that involved self-reporting by the company that allowed the corporation to avoid criminal charges.

Mohd Hafiz Lockman, Mohd Yuzaimi Yusof and Khanh Thuong Nguyen allegedly misappropriated more than $20 million from Telekom Malaysia's U.S. subsidiary using false statements, forged records, fictitious transactions and corporate and individual impersonations to deceive counterparties, suppliers, auditors and supervisors, the indictment said.

Lockman, 48, of Dublin, California, Yusof, 44, of Livermore, California, and Nguyen, 48, of Manassas, Virginia, are charged with wire fraud conspiracy, wire fraud and aggravated identity theft. All three were taken into custody last month and were released on bond. They have not yet entered pleas.

Their parent company, Telekom Malaysia Berhad, reported the alleged fraud to the U.S. attorney’s office in Manhattan last month and the company has been cooperating with the ongoing investigation, prosecutors said.

It's the first prosecution to result from a self-reporting program U.S. Attorney Jay Clayton announced earlier this year. Telekom Malaysia received a conditional declination of charges against the company provided it cooperates, pays restitution and agrees to report any future criminal conduct for the next three years.

"Today’s fraud charges come within weeks of receiving a self-report from the company,” Clayton said in a statement announcing the charges. “As alleged, Mohd Hafiz Lockman, Mohd Yuzaimi Yusof, and Khanh Thuong Nguyen perpetrated a sprawling fraud to steal over $20 million. The defendants deceived counterparties, suppliers, auditors, and their own supervisors. As a result of the fact that the conduct was reported to this Office and quickly investigated, the defendants will now be held to account for fraudulently lining their own pockets.”

According to the indictment, the defendants first schemed to sell Telekom. Malaysia's broadband capacity without authorization and divert the proceeds to their own accounts. Then, they allegedly impersonated one of Telekom Malaysia's suppliers and intercepted payments the company made to that supplier.

They also allegedly impersonated employees and interns and captured their salaries. The fourth component of the fraud involved reimbursements for fabricated work expenses, officials said.

As one example, the indictment said the trio collaborated to request reimbursement for expenses incurred for a work trip to Las Vegas in December 2025. In fact, no such trip occurred. According to the indictment, when the parent company requested pictures from the trip, the defendants hastily organized a trip to Las Vegas and photographed scenes with Christmas trees to make it appear as though photographs had been taken in December.

Copyright © 2026, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

(WASHINGTON) -- The Army has canceled dozens of medical training courses as the service moves to manage a multibillion-dollar budget shortfall that is rippling across the force, according to multiple U.S. officials and internal documents reviewed by ABC News.

At least 34 medical-related courses have been canceled during the second half of the Pentagon’s fiscal year, which ends Sept. 30, according to the documents. 

The cuts come from the Army Medical Center of Excellence, the service’s hub for its medical training, headquartered at Fort Sam Houston, Texas.

Those cuts come as commanders are being told to closely scrutinize their spending as the service faces ballooning operational costs, including those related to the war in Iran and skyrocketing fuel costs. 

Many of the canceled medical training programs are tied to frontline combat casualty care. An internal memorandum describing the reductions cites "funding shortfalls and limited resources."

Other cuts include leadership and certification courses for senior medical officers, including training for officers preparing to command helicopter medical evacuation units. The service also canceled courses related to animal care, behavioral science, food safety inspections and operating in radioactive environments, according to internal service plans.

"The Army has issued guidance to subordinate commands – for the remainder of this fiscal year, to make tough and sound resource decisions that optimize and prioritize resources toward their most critical requirements, to include major training and readiness events," Col. Marty Meiners, a service spokesperson, said in a statement. 

The cuts are part of a broader financial squeeze that has forced Army planners to slash training across the force while commanders reshuffle money. ABC News previously reported that Army planners had begun canceling training events as the service confronted a projected $4 billion to $6 billion funding shortfall.

The medical course cuts are in addition to what was previously reported, and the cancellations offer the most detailed account of specific training events getting axed until at least October, when the new fiscal year starts. 

Last week, Gen. Chris LaNeve, who is serving as the Army’s top officer in an acting capacity, disputed ABC News’ earlier reporting during testimony before lawmakers.

"We haven't canceled anything," LaNeve said, while acknowledging the Army is in a funding pinch.

LaNeve seemingly conceded to lawmakers that some training cuts were planned, which he framed as typical toward the end of the fiscal year. Yet the service was only halfway through the fiscal year when those plans were being made, documents show. The Army did not make LaNeve available for comment.

Military spending does start to draw more scrutiny from commanders toward the end of the summer as money for the fiscal year dries up, but any belt-tightening is traditionally at the margins, multiple current and former U.S. officials explained. 

The service’s III Armored Corps, based out of Fort Hood, Texas, which includes some 70,000 soldiers and made up of much of the Army’s tank and other heavily armored units, recently had much of its training funds diverted, while an internal memorandum warned that its helicopter units expected to deploy to Europe next year will be at “a lower state of readiness,” as pilot training had to effectively be frozen outside of the bare minimum military requirements to fly. 

All of the Army's major formations are being directed to make cuts, officials explained. The full scope of training and other events being canceled is likely much more significant.

Just to keep its helicopters flying at that minimum level required, $26.6 million was siphoned from the corps’ ground combat training units, an amount of money just slightly higher than cost estimations to keep flying time at a minimum, internal documents show, which directs commanders to scratch any training of scale. Flyovers for public events were also canceled. 

The shortfall stems from a combination of rising costs and increasingly demanding volume of operations, according to two U.S. officials, with one describing it as "a perfect storm."

Those costs include the Army’s support to the Department of Homeland Security during its 76-day shutdown, which involved border construction projects and assistance missions along the southern border. The Army is expected to eventually recoup nearly $2 billion tied to those DHS missions. 

Additionally, rising fuel costs have forced commanders to heavily scrutinize travel, as soldiers mostly use commercial travel to fly to different courses and training events. 

The service is also absorbing expenses tied to the conflict with Iran, as well as the expanding National Guard mission in Washington, D.C., which is projected to cost about $1.1 billion this year, according to estimates from the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office. One U.S. official said the mission is set to roughly double in size, expected to grow to roughly 5,000 troops over the summer.

The financial strain comes as the Pentagon is seeking a $1.5 trillion budget next year, 50% above current funding levels. The sticker shock has drawn fierce blowback from Democrats on Capitol Hill. But the record-setting request does not account for the costs of the Iran war, which Defense Department officials estimate has already topped $29 billion as of last week. Those expenses are largely tied to munitions and do not include the potentially massive bill for rebuilding bases damaged in Iranian strikes.

Lawmakers on Capitol Hill are now bracing for the Pentagon to send Congress a supplemental funding request to cover the mounting war-related costs.

On Thursday, Adm. Daryl Caudle, the Navy’s chief of naval operations, warned lawmakers that the service may soon face similar tradeoffs unless Congress approves supplemental funding on top of the Pentagon’s proposed $1.5 trillion budget request, which was finalized before the Iran conflict escalated.

"The [fiscal 2026] budget didn't bake in [Operation] Epic Fury," Caudle told the House Armed Services Committee. "You see a large Navy force in the Middle East. So we're burning bright … but it does come at cost, and it comes at operational costs."

Copyright © 2026, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

(BROOKWOOD, Ala.) -- An Alabama man has been charged with manslaughter after his 1-year-old child was found dead in a vehicle, still strapped into a car seat, after the father had allegedly been drinking throughout the day while the infant was in his sole care, authorities said.

Multiple agencies responded to a home in Brookwood, in Tuscaloosa County, Wednesday evening after the child's family reported that the infant was found dead in the vehicle, authorities said.

"Initial investigation shows that the child was in the vehicle for an extended [amount] of time," Tuscaloosa County Sheriff's Office Violent Crimes Unit Capt. Jack Kennedy said in a statement, noting that the temperatures that afternoon were in the mid-90s.  

The child, whose name was not released, had been in the "sole care of its father all day," Kennedy said.

The father, identified by the sheriff's office as 30-year-old Logan Keith Chewning, allegedly admitted to drinking at different points throughout the day and leaving the residence at one point to buy more alcohol, authorities said.

"The father reported that he believed that the child had been sleeping in its crib but must have been left behind in the vehicle," Kennedy said.

Chewning was charged with manslaughter following consultation with the Tuscaloosa County District Attorney's Office, the sheriff's office said.

He is being held in jail, with a bond to be set by a judge at a later date. It is unclear if he has an attorney at this time.

The child's exact cause of death will be determined by the medical examiner, authorities said.

Copyright © 2026, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.