Overview
- A federal judge sentenced Javan King to 12 months and one day in prison on Tuesday, May 26, 2026, after he pleaded guilty to mail fraud for reselling thousands of DOJ-issued phones.
- Prosecutors said King used his role as an IT contractor in the Civil Rights Division from 2021 to 2025 to request unneeded devices, selling about 4,700 phones to resellers and generating roughly $1.3 million in proceeds.
- Court filings show one buyer purchased more than 3,200 phones and paid King over $950,000 via PayPal while the DOJ also paid AT&T for unused wireless lines that increased the agency’s loss.
- King told prosecutors he spent nearly all the money on gambling at MGM casinos and FanDuel, plus vacations, tuition, and a $92,000 Range Rover, and he has attended Gamblers Anonymous while on pretrial release.
- Investigators say the scheme was detected after a Kentucky buyer reported a government-linked device, and the case highlights weak oversight of device ordering, shipment routing, and contractor controls that the DOJ may need to fix.