What must a Florida employer check before hiring?

The short version

• Check work authorization. Section 448.09 makes it unlawful to knowingly employ, hire, recruit, or refer, for yourself or for someone else, an alien who is not authorized to work under U.S. immigration law, the U.S. Attorney General, or the Secretary of Homeland Security.
• Form I-9 is the federal record. The IRS hiring page says every U.S. employer must complete Form I-9 for every person hired for employment in the United States, including citizens and noncitizens.
• E-Verify is an extra Florida step for some employers. Section 448.095 requires a public agency, and a private employer with 25 or more employees, to use E-Verify for a new employee. The private-employer date in the statute is July 1, 2023.
• The $1,000-a-day fine is for repeated failure to use E-Verify. Commerce imposes it after three determinations in 24 months. It is not an automatic fine for every hiring mistake or every unauthorized worker.
• The largest published resolutions are criminal and civil cases, not the state daily fine. A 2017 guilty plea produced a $95 million recovery. Florida sentences include prison, restitution, and forfeiture. A settlement is not a conviction.

Work authorization is the test

Section 448.09(1) uses one test: whether the person is duly authorized to work. Citizenship is a different fact. The IRS says Form I-9 covers citizens and noncitizens.

Section 448.095 defines an unauthorized alien as a person who is not authorized under federal law to be employed in the United States, as described in 8 U.S.C. section 1324a(h)(3). The Florida definition must be read consistently with that federal section and the federal rules.

The Justice Department's Justice Manual says United States citizens, many recent lawful permanent residents, asylees, and refugees are protected from citizenship-status discrimination in hiring, firing, and recruitment or referral for a fee. The same paragraph says an employer that discriminates by citizenship status in order to comply with a law, regulation, executive order, or government contract is exempt from that provision. A contract or a defense-related industry does not, by itself, create a citizens-only rule. The exemption is for compliance with a requirement that actually applies.

The same Justice Manual section says all work-authorized individuals are protected from national-origin discrimination under the Immigration and Nationality Act's anti-discrimination provision, within the employer-size rules that section describes. National origin there can include place of birth, ancestry, native language, accent, or foreign appearance.

Who must use E-Verify

Two duties sit next to each other in section 448.095(2).

Paragraph (2)(a) says an employer shall verify each new employee's employment eligibility within 3 business days after the first day the new employee begins working for pay, as required under 8 C.F.R. section 274a.

Paragraph (2)(b) adds E-Verify:

The statute's employee is an individual filling a permanent position who performs labor or services under the employer's control, in exchange for pay. Casual labor, as defined in section 443.036, performed entirely in a private residence is not employment of the occupant or owner. An independent contractor, as defined in federal laws or regulations, hired for a specified portion of the labor or services is not an employee under this section.

That state definition and the IRS Form I-9 sentence are not the same sentence. Calling a job temporary does not erase the IRS statement that Form I-9 is completed for every person hired for employment in the United States. A private employer under 25 employees is outside the E-Verify headcount line. That employer is still inside paragraph (2)(a) and the IRS Form I-9 statement.

A public agency in this section is broad. It includes a state, county, or city body, and also a private person or business acting on behalf of a public agency. A headcount under 25 does not answer a public-contract question. The contract section is below.

The 2026 bills did not change the 25-employee line

Three 2026 bills would have widened private-employer E-Verify. None of them is a chapter law. The 2026 statute still begins the private-employer rule on July 1, 2023, and it still says 25 or more employees. The history line on section 448.095 is chapter 2020-149, chapter 2023-40, and chapter 2024-6.

A House vote is not a statute. The Online Sunshine copy of section 448.095, opened November 6, 2026, still contains the 25-employee sentence.

Certification, an outage, and the file

Registering for E-Verify is not the annual certification. An employer required to use the system certifies compliance on its first reemployment-tax return of the calendar year. A voluntary user may certify on that first return as well.

If E-Verify is unavailable for 3 business days after the first day of work for pay, and the employer cannot access it, the employer must use Form I-9. The employer documents that unavailability by keeping a screenshot from each day showing the lack of access, a public announcement that the system is unavailable, or any other recorded communication about the outage. The statute says that outage does not bar the rebuttable presumption in subsection (4)(a).

The employer must keep a copy of the documentation provided, and any official verification generated, for at least 3 years.

Using E-Verify, or Form I-9 when the outage rule applies, creates a rebuttable presumption that the employer has not violated section 448.09 as to that employment. Using the same documentation United States Citizenship and Immigration Services requires on Form I-9 creates an affirmative defense to a section 448.09 violation as to that employment.

After the employer obtains knowledge that a person is or has become an unauthorized alien, section 448.095(2)(e) says the employer may not continue to employ that person.

The Department of Law Enforcement, the Attorney General, the state attorney for the circuit where the new employee works, the statewide prosecutor, or the Department of Commerce may request the documents the employer relied on. The employer must provide them. The requester must rely on the federal government to verify eligibility and may not make its own final determination that the employee is an unauthorized alien.

Section 448.095(7) says the section is enforced without regard to race, color, or national origin, and is construed consistently with federal law. The E-Verify requirements do not apply in a federal fiscal year in which the federal government does not fund the system. The section also says it expires 60 days after E-Verify is no longer a pilot program and the federal government requires every U.S. employer to use it. That expiration sentence is the statute's own condition. It is not a statement that the condition has already happened.

Public contracts

A public agency must require, in the contract, that the contractor and any subcontractor register with and use E-Verify for all new employees. A public agency, contractor, or subcontractor may not enter the contract unless each party registers and uses E-Verify.

A subcontractor gives the contractor an affidavit stating that the subcontractor does not employ, contract with, or subcontract with an unauthorized alien. The contractor keeps the affidavit for the life of the contract.

A good-faith belief that the other party has knowingly violated section 448.09(1) requires termination of that contract. If the subcontractor knowingly violated the contracting subsection and the contractor complied, the public agency notifies the contractor and orders immediate termination of the subcontract. Termination under that paragraph is not a breach of contract.

A contractor whose public contract is terminated under that paragraph may not receive a public contract for at least 1 year after the termination date, and is liable for any additional costs the public agency incurs because of the termination. A challenge goes to circuit or county court no later than 20 calendar days after the termination date.

Knowingly employing an unauthorized worker

Section 448.09 and the E-Verify fine are different consequences.

If Commerce finds, or is notified under section 448.095(3)(a), that an employer knowingly employed an unauthorized alien without verifying that person's eligibility, Commerce must enter an order under chapter 120 and require repayment of any economic-development incentive under section 288.061(6).

For a violation of section 448.09, Commerce places the employer on probation for 1 year and requires quarterly reports showing compliance with subsection (1) and with section 448.095.

The license table is for another violation within 24 months after a previous violation. It is not an automatic first-offense schedule.

The licenses are those issued by a licensing agency subject to chapter 120. For a business that needs one of those licenses to operate, a suspension or revocation can stop the business.

Subsection (5) is a crime by the worker, not the employer's daily fine. An alien who is not authorized to work and who knowingly uses a false identification document, or fraudulently uses another person's identification document, to obtain employment commits a felony of the third degree, punishable as provided in sections 775.082, 775.083, or 775.084. This page does not restate the punishment amounts in those three sections.

The $1,000-per-day E-Verify fine

Beginning July 1, 2024, if Commerce determines that an employer failed to use E-Verify as required, Commerce must notify the employer and give 30 days to cure. That duty is in addition to section 288.061(6).

If Commerce determines that the employer failed to use E-Verify three times in any 24-month period, Commerce must impose a fine of $1,000 per day until the employer provides sufficient proof that the noncompliance is cured. That noncompliance is grounds for suspension of all licenses issued by a licensing agency subject to chapter 120 until the noncompliance is cured.

The fines go to the State Economic Enhancement and Development Trust Fund for employer outreach and public notice of the verification laws.

Federal fines, separate from the Florida fine

The ranges below are from 8 C.F.R. section 274a.10. The eCFR display said Title 8 was up to date as of November 5, 2026, and was last amended October 14, 2026. This page was checked November 6, 2026. They are ranges. A finding of more than one violation in a single proceeding counts as one offense for the tier, and that one offense still includes a penalty for each unauthorized alien.

Knowing hire, referral for a fee, or continued employment

These amounts are for conduct after November 2, 2015. The same regulation prints lower brackets for conduct before March 27, 2008, and for conduct from that date through November 2, 2015. The order also includes cease and desist.

Paperwork violations

Failure to comply with the employment-verification requirements in section 274a.2(b), for a violation after November 2, 2015, is a civil penalty of not less than $288 and not more than $2,861 for each individual. The amount takes account of the size of the business, good faith, the seriousness of the violation, whether the individual was an unauthorized alien, and the history of previous violations.

That paperwork penalty can apply when the worker was authorized. The regulation lists unauthorized status as one factor in the amount. It does not list it as a requirement that the person lack authorization.

Pattern or practice

8 U.S.C. section 1324a(f), in the House Office of the Law Revision Counsel text, and the same words in 8 C.F.R. section 274a.10(a), say a pattern or practice of the prohibited hiring or continued-employment violations shall be fined not more than $3,000 for each unauthorized alien, imprisoned for not more than six months for the entire pattern or practice, or both, notwithstanding any other federal law relating to fine levels.

That $3,000 figure and that six-month figure are the criminal pattern-or-practice provision. They are not the inflation-adjusted civil ranges in the table above. The Attorney General may also seek an injunction against a pattern or practice.

Other crimes proved in the same investigation, including tax crimes, wire fraud, and unlicensed money transmission, carry their own punishments. The case section keeps those results separate from the section 448.09 license table and from the $1,000-a-day E-Verify fine.

Major cases

Each result below is tied to the Justice Department release that states it. A guilty plea and a sentence are labeled as the release labels them. A settlement is not a conviction. An allegation is not a sentence. Dollar figures are the release's own figures. They are not a standard fine for every Florida employer.

Asplundh: a $95 million national resolution

On September 28, 2017, the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania announced that Asplundh Tree Experts, Co., of Willow Grove, Pennsylvania, pleaded guilty to unlawfully employing aliens. Judge John R. Padova sentenced the company to a forfeiture money judgment of $80,000,000.00 and an ICE Homeland Security Investigations administrative compliance agreement. A separate civil settlement required an additional $15,000,000.00. The release calls the $95,000,000.00 recovery the largest payment ever levied in an immigration case.

The release says the highest levels of management remained willfully blind while lower-level managers hired and rehired employees they knew to be ineligible to work. Court documents described in the release say that from 2010 until December 2014 the company hired and rehired employees in many regions while accepting identification documents it knew to be false.

This was a national prosecution of a Pennsylvania company. It was not a Florida-only case. A September 19, 2017 release charged the company by information. That charging release is not the sentence. The sentence is the September 28 release.

Wesley Chapel: 48 months, and more than $55 million in restitution

The Justice Department's February 20, 2025 release says Manual Domingos Pita, of Wesley Chapel, was sentenced the day before to 48 months in prison. The court ordered forfeiture of more than $5.5 million, plus numerous real properties and cash, and restitution of over $55 million. He had pleaded guilty on July 9, 2024, to conspiracy to commit wire fraud, conspiracy to defraud the United States, and willful violation of a workplace standard that resulted in the death of an employee.

The release says he owned Domingos 54 Construction, a wood-framing subcontracting shell used to provide workers, including undocumented aliens. It says he falsified workers' compensation applications as to the number of workers, failed to pay federal employment taxes on wages from 2018 through 2022, caused an insurance-premium loss of over $22.7 million, and failed to pay over $33.7 million in federal employment taxes. OSHA issued six citations between February and July 2019 for failure to provide fall protection.

The figure over $55 million is restitution in that scheme. It is not the Florida $1,000-a-day E-Verify fine, and it is not the civil fine for one unauthorized employee.

Key West staffing: prison and $1,836,960.68 in restitution

On April 22, 2024, the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of Florida announced sentences for operators of staffing companies, including PSEB Services Inc., E.S.F. Services Inc., and Expert Services F.S. Inc. Between January 2014 and October 2019, Zdenek Strnad, Vasil Khatiashvili, and others helped run companies that facilitated employment, in hotels, bars, and restaurants in Key West and elsewhere, of non-resident aliens who were not authorized to work. The companies did not withhold federal income taxes or Social Security and Medicare taxes, and did not report the wages.

Judge Jose E. Martinez sentenced Strnad to 44 months in prison and Khatiashvili to 38 months. The release says he ordered them to both serve three years of supervised release and to pay $1,836,960.68 in restitution to the United States. The same release says co-defendant Petr Sutka was sentenced to 48 months on March 18. It does not print the year of that March 18 date.

These are sentences. Hiring through a staffing company did not remove the tax and immigration charges in this release.

Key West, a longer sentence in a related staffing prosecution

An August 26, 2022 Justice Department release says Mykhaylo Chugay was sentenced that day to more than 24 years in prison for tax, immigration, and money-laundering crimes. The release says the staffing companies facilitated employment in Key West hotels, bars, and restaurants of people who were not authorized to work, and that Chugay and co-conspirators defrauded the IRS of more than $25 million in taxes that should have been collected and paid over. Judge Martinez ordered three years of supervised release. The release says a forfeiture money judgment and a payment order would be entered later. This page does not add a later dollar amount the August 26 release had not entered.

A January 27, 2025 Justice Department release, under Operation RoomKey, says Oleg Oliynyk and Oleksandr Yurchyk were each sentenced that day to 15 years in prison for conspiracy to defraud the United States and conspiracy to commit money laundering. The release says Judge Martinez ordered them to each serve three years of supervised release, pay $10,863,233.05 in restitution to the United States, and forfeit $11 million. That restitution figure is the January 27 release. It is not Strnad's $1,836,960.68, and it is not Chugay's tax-loss description.

Orlando cash payroll: a guilty plea, not a sentence on this page

On March 23, 2026, the Justice Department announced that Mario Lisandro Flores Moradel, a Honduran national, pleaded guilty that day to conspiracy to defraud the United States and conspiracy to operate an unlicensed money transmitting business. The release describes an off-the-books construction cash-payroll system, shell companies that cashed approximately $89 million in checks, losses of more than $38 million to the U.S. government, and an admitted tax loss of more than $9.4 million. It says the scheme let contractors pay workers in cash without required payroll taxes and without regard to whether the workers were legally authorized to work.

The release set sentencing for June 24 and stated a maximum of five years in prison on each conspiracy count. That maximum is what the plea release said he faced. It is not a sentence the release announced. This page does not report a prison term from the June 24 date, because the release opened here is the plea.

The same release says Michael Mayorga and Francisco Alvarez pleaded guilty on May 22, 2025, and Iris Villafranca and Osman Zapata pleaded guilty on October 9, 2025. Those are their plea dates in that release. This page does not move another person's tax-loss figure onto Flores.

The approximately $89 million is the check volume in the release. The more than $38 million is the scheme's loss to the government. The more than $9.4 million is the tax loss Flores admitted. None of those figures is an I-9 fine.

A payroll sentence that the release does not call unauthorized hiring

On July 29, 2025, the Middle District of Florida announced sentences for Eduardo Anibal Escobar, Carlos Alberto Rodriguez, and Adelmy Tejada, all of Orlando, for conspiracy to commit wire fraud and conspiracy to commit tax fraud. Escobar received 4 years and 9 months, Rodriguez 3 years and 4 months, and Tejada 18 months plus 6 months of home detention. The release says $146,077,535 in payroll checks moved through the companies, and the court ordered $36,957,616 in restitution to the IRS and $397,895 to two insurers.

The release describes Escobar and Rodriguez as legal permanent residents from El Salvador and Tejada as a naturalized U.S. citizen. It describes off-the-books construction pay used to avoid payroll taxes and workers' compensation premiums. It does not say the workers lacked authorization to work. That case stays in the payroll column.

Miami janitorial company: $140,000, and it is a settlement

On September 28, 2023, the Justice Department announced a settlement with Greene Kleen of South Florida Inc., a Miami janitorial company. The department determined that from at least January 1, 2019, to February 28, 2022, the company let U.S. citizens choose which acceptable documents to present and required lawful permanent residents and other non-U.S. citizens to present only one kind. The settlement requires $140,000 in civil penalties, training, revised policies, and department monitoring.

Checking authorization is required. Demanding a different document because of citizenship is a separate violation in that release. The announcement is a settlement. It is not a guilty plea and not a criminal sentence.

Jacksonville job advertisement: a settlement of $3,855

On May 26, 2023, the Justice Department announced a settlement with N2 Services Inc., a Jacksonville information-technology company. The department determined that a recruiting agent published an advertisement titled "Software Developer Exclusively for OPT," with criteria that applicants "must be under OPT visa right now." The release says Optional Practical Training is temporary work authorization for certain non-U.S. citizen students, and that the advertisement unlawfully excluded asylees, refugees, lawful permanent residents, and U.S. citizens and nationals.

The press release says N2 will pay a civil penalty and does not print the amount. The settlement agreement states a civil penalty of $3,855.00 to the United States Treasury. The agreement says N2 does not admit a violation. Monitoring lasts two years. This is a settlement, not a conviction.

The same kind of violation can run against U.S. citizens and nationals. Limiting a job to one temporary status, and shutting out other work-authorized people, is the violation the N2 release describes.

Contractor labels, cash, and employee leasing

Section 448.095's employee definition already excludes an independent contractor as federal law defines that term, when the person is hired for a specified portion of the work. A signed label does not decide the question. The federal definition does.

The eCFR text opened for this page also says that, for the contract-labor provision, a hire occurs when a person or entity uses a contract, subcontract, or exchange to obtain the labor of an alien in the United States, knowing that the alien is unauthorized. A subcontract, in that text, is not a shield for knowing use of unauthorized labor.

A chapter 468, part XI, employee-leasing company that has a written agreement placing the primary obligation for section 448.095 on the client is not required to verify the client's new employees under that state section. Without the writing, the leasing company is responsible for compliance with the section. The statute says the leasing company remains an employer as otherwise defined in federal laws or regulations. "The payroll company handles it" is not the written agreement.

Cash is a way to pay. The Key West, Wesley Chapel, and Orlando releases above describe missing withholding, missing reports, false workers' compensation information, or an unlicensed money-transmitting business. Those releases do not say that paying wages in cash, by itself, is the crime.

An ITIN is not work authorization

The IRS ITIN page says an Individual Taxpayer Identification Number does not authorize a person to work legally in the United States, does not provide or change immigration status, and does not serve as identification outside the federal tax system.

The IRS hiring page says: do not accept an ITIN in place of a Social Security number for employee identification or for work. It describes an ITIN as a 9-digit number that begins with 9 and is formatted like a Social Security number. A person who later becomes eligible to work must obtain a Social Security number. Filing a tax return does not replace Form I-9 or E-Verify.

Questions

Does Florida require an employer to hire only U.S. citizens?

No. Section 448.09 makes it unlawful to knowingly employ, hire, recruit, or refer an alien who is not authorized to work. The IRS says every U.S. employer must complete Form I-9 for every person hired, including citizens and noncitizens. A May 26, 2023 Justice Department release says a Jacksonville job advertisement limited to Optional Practical Training unlawfully excluded asylees, refugees, lawful permanent residents, and U.S. citizens and nationals. The hiring rule on this page is work authorization.

Who must use E-Verify in Florida?

A public agency must use E-Verify for a new employee. Beginning July 1, 2023, a private employer with 25 or more employees must use E-Verify for a new employee. Section 448.095 also says an employer shall verify each new employee's employment eligibility within 3 business days after the first day the new employee begins working for pay, as required under 8 C.F.R. section 274a. A private employer under 25 employees is outside the E-Verify headcount sentence. That employer is still inside the 3-business-day sentence, and the IRS still requires Form I-9.

Did the 2026 bills make E-Verify mandatory for every private employer?

No. Senate Bill 1278 died in Commerce and Tourism on March 13, 2026. House Bill 197 passed the House on January 15, 2026, by 80 yeas to 30 nays, and died in Senate Rules on March 13, 2026. Senate Bill 1542 died in Commerce and Tourism on March 13, 2026. The 2026 statute still says a private employer with 25 or more employees, beginning July 1, 2023.

What is the $1,000-per-day fine?

It is the fine in section 448.095(6)(b). If the Department of Commerce determines that an employer failed to use E-Verify as required three times in any 24-month period, the department must impose $1,000 per day until the employer provides sufficient proof that the noncompliance is cured. That noncompliance is also grounds for suspension of licenses issued by a licensing agency subject to chapter 120 until the noncompliance is cured. A first determination starts with notice and 30 days to cure. Those 30 days are not permission to keep employing a person the employer knows is unauthorized.

What can happen for knowingly employing an unauthorized worker?

Section 448.09 requires 1-year probation and quarterly compliance reports. If Commerce finds the employer knowingly employed an unauthorized alien without verifying eligibility, Commerce must enter a chapter 120 order and require repayment of any economic-development incentive under section 288.061(6). A violation within 24 months after a previous violation can suspend or revoke licenses: 1 to 10 workers, up to 30 days; 11 to 50, up to 60 days; more than 50, revocation. For conduct after November 2, 2015, the federal civil ranges are $716 to $5,724 per unauthorized alien for a first offense, $5,724 to $14,308 for a second, and $8,586 to $28,619 for a third or subsequent offense. A pattern or practice can be a criminal fine of not more than $3,000 for each unauthorized alien, imprisonment of not more than six months for the entire pattern or practice, or both.

Can an employer be fined when the workers are authorized to work?

Yes. For a failure to comply with the employment-verification requirements after November 2, 2015, 8 C.F.R. section 274a.10 sets a civil penalty of not less than $288 and not more than $2,861 for each individual. One factor in the amount is whether the individual was an unauthorized alien. Work authorization does not erase a missing verification record. Florida also requires the employer to keep a copy of the documentation and any official verification for at least 3 years.

Does an ITIN authorize employment?

No. The IRS says an ITIN does not authorize a person to work legally in the United States. The IRS hiring page says an employer must not accept an ITIN in place of a Social Security number for employee identification or for work.

Does calling someone a contractor remove the duty?

Not by the label alone. Section 448.095 says an independent contractor, as defined in federal laws or regulations, hired to perform a specified portion of labor or services is not an employee under that section. The federal regulation opened for this page says a hire also occurs when a person uses a contract or subcontract to obtain the labor of an alien while knowing the alien is unauthorized. A licensed employee-leasing company can place the state verification duty on the client only through the written agreement the statute describes. Without that writing, the leasing company is responsible under the state section.

What did the Asplundh case resolve?

On September 28, 2017, Asplundh Tree Experts, Co., of Willow Grove, Pennsylvania, pleaded guilty to unlawfully employing aliens. Judge John R. Padova sentenced the company to an $80,000,000 forfeiture money judgment and an ICE Homeland Security Investigations compliance agreement. A separate civil settlement was an additional $15,000,000. The release calls the $95,000,000 recovery the largest payment ever levied in an immigration case. It was a national case, not a Florida-only prosecution.

Was the Miami janitorial payment a criminal conviction?

No. On September 28, 2023, the Justice Department announced a settlement with Greene Kleen of South Florida Inc., a Miami janitorial company. The department determined the company let U.S. citizens choose acceptable documents and required lawful permanent residents and other non-U.S. citizens to present only one kind. The settlement requires $140,000 in civil penalties, training, policy changes, and monitoring. A settlement is not a guilty plea and not a sentence.

Sources

Checked November 6, 2026, against the 2026 Florida Statutes on the Florida Senate site, the bill pages linked here, the eCFR penalty section displayed as of November 5, 2026, 8 U.S.C. section 1324a(f), the IRS pages linked here, and the Justice Department releases linked here.

• Florida Statutes section 448.09 (2026)
• Florida Statutes section 448.095 (2026)
• Florida Statutes section 288.061 (2026)
• Senate Bill 1278 (2026), died in Commerce and Tourism
• House Bill 197 (2026), died in Senate Rules
• Senate Bill 1542 (2026), died in Commerce and Tourism
• 8 C.F.R. section 274a.10, penalties, eCFR display as of November 5, 2026
• 8 U.S.C. section 1324a
• IRS, hiring employees
• IRS, Individual Taxpayer Identification Number
• Justice Manual, section 8-2.000, Immigrant and Employee Rights jurisdiction
• Asplundh Tree Experts, Co., guilty plea and sentence, September 28, 2017
• Manual Domingos Pita, sentence announcement, February 20, 2025
• Strnad and Khatiashvili sentences, April 22, 2024
• Mykhaylo Chugay sentence, August 26, 2022
• Oliynyk and Yurchyk sentences, January 27, 2025
• Mario Lisandro Flores Moradel guilty plea, March 23, 2026
• Escobar, Rodriguez, and Tejada sentences, July 29, 2025
• Greene Kleen of South Florida Inc. settlement, September 28, 2023
• N2 Services Inc. settlement announcement, May 26, 2023
• N2 Services Inc. settlement agreement (PDF)

The statutes and the official releases control. This page reports the sections and the official pages opened on November 6, 2026. A settlement, a charging document, and a scheduled sentencing date are not convictions.