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Money Laundering

FBI Thwarts Iran-Linked Plan To Assassinate Donald Trump, DOJ Says FBI Thwarts Iran-Linked Plan To Assassinate Donald Trump, DOJ Says
FBI Thwarts Iran-Linked Plan To Assassinate Donald Trump, DOJ Says An Iranian operative and two associates living in America have been charged in a murder-for-hire plot targeting United States citizens, including President-elect Donald Trump. Federal authorities have charged Farhad Shakeri, an alleged operative of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), along with two New York City associates in a plot to assassinate a US citizen critical of the Iranian government.  The case highlights the continued threat posed by Iran’s attempts to silence dissidents and even target top US. officials. According to the Department of Justice criminal complai…
Founder Of LGBTQ+ Non-Profit In DC Pleads Guilty To Fraud After 'Unexpected Return' To US: Feds Founder Of LGBTQ+ Non-Profit In DC Pleads Guilty To Fraud After 'Unexpected Return' To US: Feds
Founder Of LGBTQ+ Non-Profit In DC Pleads Guilty To Fraud After 'Unexpected Return' To US: Feds The trailblazing founder of Casa Ruby, a DC-based non-profit that had provided services to the LGBTQ+ community admitted to stealing at least $150,000 in COVID relief funds and stashing it in Central America for her personal use, authorities announced Ruby Corado, 53, pleaded guilty on Wednesday in US District Court to diverting the taxpayer-backed emergency funds to private off-shore bank accounts, which then was used for her own gain. She was charged in March with bank fraud, wire fraud, laundering of monetary instruments, monetary transactions in criminally derived proceeds, and fai…
Founder Of LGBTQ+ Non-Profit In DC Charged For Fraud After 'Unexpected Return' To US: Feds Founder Of LGBTQ+ Non-Profit In DC Charged For Fraud After 'Unexpected Return' To US: Feds
Founder Of LGBTQ+ Non-Profit In DC Charged For Fraud After 'Unexpected Return' To US: Feds The trailblazing founder of Casa Ruby, a DC-based non-profit that provided services to the LGBTQ+ community is facing charges for alleged fraud and money laundering, according to prosecutors. Ruby Corado, 53, made her initial court appearance in DC on Wednesday to face charges for allegedly defrauding Paycheck Protection and the Economic Injury Disaster Loan programs, and money laundering after fleeing the country, authorities announced. Specifically, Corado is accused of diverting at least $150,000 of $1.3 million in taxpayer-backed emergency relief funds, intended for the organi…
Man's Brother Pretended To Be NY Mobster As Part Of $4M Embezzlement Scheme In MD/DC: Feds Man's Brother Pretended To Be NY Mobster As Part Of $4M Embezzlement Scheme In MD/DC: Feds
Man's Brother Pretended To Be NY Mobster As Part Of $4M Embezzlement Scheme In MD/DC: Feds Henry Hill immortalized the line "as far back as I can remember, I always wanted to be a gangster."  That mantra didn't work out well for a pair of brothers - one of whom pretended to be a New York mobster - to get a Maryland man to embezzle more than $4 million from his employer in Washington, DC.  New York native Corry Blue Evans, 31, has been sentenced to 41 months in prison for his role in an elaborate fraud, extortion, and money laundering scheme that involved several other close-knit co-conspirators who worked to exploit the multi-million dollar scheme. The sentence comes y…
Drug Trafficker With Ties To  DC Wanted For Running 'Sophisticated Operation' In DMV: FBI Drug Trafficker With Ties To  DC Wanted For Running 'Sophisticated Operation' In DMV: FBI
Drug Trafficker With Ties To DC Wanted For Running 'Sophisticated Operation' In DMV: FBI An alleged drug trafficker who goes by many names is on the run from the FBI after helping to run a massive scheme throughout the DMV region. Samuel Lee Rose, 44, who moved kilograms of cocaine, heroin, and crack from Maryland to West Virginia is among the state's most wanted after running what federal authorities described as "a sophisticated operation" that lined his pockets with hundreds of thousands of dollars. Rose stands accused of his role in a conspiracy to traffic large amounts of heroin, fentanyl, cocaine base, and cocaine hydrochloride from Hagerstown into Berkeley County in West…
Mid-Atlantic Crime Ring Arrests For Armed VA Jewelry Robberies, Carjackings Mid-Atlantic Crime Ring Arrests For Armed VA Jewelry Robberies, Carjackings
Mid-Atlantic Crime Ring Arrests For Armed VA Jewelry Robberies, Carjackings An indictment of 16 members of a violent mid-Atlantic crime ring has been unsealed and the federal agencies are naming names.  Of the 16, eight of the alleged crime ring members were arrested in the morning on Wednesday, Aug. 30, 2023, police in Fairfax County, Virginia announced later that day.  They were all arrested in connection to a violent crime spree that took place between Jan. 7, 2022, through Jan. 27, 2023.  The crime ring members were all from Maryland and the District of Columbia. They met with their accused leader – Trevor Wright, also known as “Taliban Glizzy” …
Mastermind Of Historic $175M Psychic Mail Scam Convicted, Feds Cite More Than 1M Victims Mastermind Of Historic $175M Psychic Mail Scam Convicted, Feds Cite More Than 1M Victims
Mastermind Of Historic $175M Psychic Mail Scam Convicted, Feds Cite More Than 1M Victims The mastermind of a mass-mailing scam that stole $175 million from more than a million victims, most of them elderly or ailing, was convicted by a federal jury in New York City. Patrice Runner, a 57-year-old Canadian and French citizen, directed a ruthless psychic mail scheme for over two decades, beginning in 1994, the jurors found. It was one of the largest -- if not the largest -- scam of its kind ever, the U.S. Department of Justice said on Friday, June 16, in announcing the verdict reached a day earlier on Long Island. Runner sent mailings to millions of Americans that claimed t…
'PlugwalkJoe' Admits Unprecedented Twitter Hack That Included Musk, Kardashian, Biden: Feds 'PlugwalkJoe' Admits Unprecedented Twitter Hack That Included Musk, Kardashian, Biden: Feds
'PlugwalkJoe' Admits Unprecedented Twitter Hack That Included Musk, Kardashian, Biden: Feds A 23-year-old British citizen who hacked the Twitter accounts of Joe Biden, Elon Musk, Kim Kardashian and Bill Gates, among others, pleaded guilty in federal court to a host of related charges as part of a deal with the government. Joseph James O'Connor -- also known as "PlugwalkJoe" -- technically faces up to 77 years in prison under federal sentencing guidelines but will likely get somewhere between 10 to 20 years when all is said and done. The Liverpudlian hacker admitted during a plea hearing in federal court in Manhattan on Tuesday, May 9, that he committed one of the largest high-pro…
NJ-Bred Fugees Founder Pras Michél Convicted In Federal Foreign-Influence Trial NJ-Bred Fugees Founder Pras Michél Convicted In Federal Foreign-Influence Trial
Nj-bred Fugees Founder Pras Michél Convicted In Federal Foreign-Influence Trial UPDATE: New Jersey-bred rapper and producer Pras Michél, best known as a founding member of the Fugees, was convicted by federal jurors in what the government called a "clandestine foreign influence campaign scheme." The Grammy-winning '90s hip-hop star was found guilty of 10 counts following an influence-peddling trial in Washington, DC, that featured high-profile witnesses such as Leonardo DiCaprio and former U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions. The Justice Department accused Michél, 50, of collecting millions of dollars from Malaysian financier Low Taek Jho to launder money embezzled fro…
Love At First Site: Ex-NJ Couple, Nigerian Wingman Charged In $4.5M Cyberfootsies Scam Love At First Site: Ex-NJ Couple, Nigerian Wingman Charged In $4.5M Cyberfootsies Scam
Love At First Site: Ex-NJ Couple, Nigerian Wingman Charged In $4.5M Cyberfootsies Scam A former New Jersey couple and a Nigerian national scammed more than 100 lonely hearts out of $4.5 million in an elaborate online romance scheme, federal authorities charged. Martins Inalegwu, 34, of Philadelphia and Steincy Mathieu, 26, of Brooklyn cooked up the plot with Moses Chukwuebuka Alexander and several of his Nigerian brethren, an indictment returned by a federal grand jury alleges. Together, they trolled online dating and social media sites for willing marks, whom they “wooed with words of love” on the phone and in emails, U.S. Attorney for New Jersey Philip R. Sellinger said. T…
Ex-Trump PAC Exec Who Blamed 'That B****' Hillary Clinton For Probe Indicted By Feds In NJ Ex-Trump PAC Exec Who Blamed 'That B****' Hillary Clinton For Probe Indicted By Feds In NJ
Ex-Trump PAC Exec Who Blamed 'That B****' Hillary Clinton For Probe Indicted By Feds In NJ A former pro-Trump PAC exec who blamed "that b**** Hillary Clinton" for his troubles with the law swindled more than two dozen investors out of $7 million, an indictment returned Tuesday by a federal grand jury in Newark alleges. U.S. Homeland Security agents a year ago this month smashed the alleged Ponzi scheme that they said New Jersey-based businessman David Schamens, 65, used to fund a lavish lifestyle. Now comes a March 28 indictment that charges him with wire fraud, securities fraud and money laundering. Schamens, of Greensboro, North Carolina, used some of the investment money fro…
Feds Charge Exiled Chinese Tycoon With $1B Fraud That Funded $26.5M NJ Mansion Buy, More Feds Charge Exiled Chinese Tycoon With $1B Fraud That Funded $26.5M NJ Mansion Buy, More
Feds Charge Exiled Chinese Tycoon With $1B Fraud That Funded $26.5M NJ Mansion Buy, More Exiled Chinese tycoon Miles Guo was arrested by the FBI Wednesday on charges of swindling his online followers out of more than $1 billion that the government said he used, in part, to buy a 58-room mansion in Mahwah. Some of the agents were still at Guo’s 15-room penthouse in the Sherry-Netherland Hotel on Manhattan’s Upper East Side the afternoon of March 15, six hours after he’d been arrested there, when a mysterious fire broke out on the 18th floor, responders said. No injuries were reported, but authorities said the blaze significantly damaged Guo’s unit. No one drew any immediate conn…
CEO Admits To Laundering $3.5M In Pot Profits From DC Delivery Service CEO Admits To Laundering $3.5M In Pot Profits From DC Delivery Service
CEO Admits To Laundering $3.5M In Pot Profits From DC Delivery Service A weed dealer in Washington, DC has admitted to laundering millions of dollars he generated through the illegal sale of marijuana and THC products, according to federal officials. Connor Pennington, 39, pleaded guilty this week to conspiracy to commit money laundering while he was the CEO of a marijuana delivery service in the region. Authorities say that Pennington was the CEO of JointVentures LLC, which operated under the name “Joint Delivery,” a delivery service of pot products, including THC vape cartridges, wax, and edibles, though it was never licensed as a dispensary in DC or any oth…
Four Busted Selling MDMA, Laundering Cash In Virginia, Along East Coast: Feds Four Busted Selling MDMA, Laundering Cash In Virginia, Along East Coast: Feds
Four Busted Selling MDMA, Laundering Cash In Virginia, Along East Coast: Feds Four men were arrested and charged with selling MDMA and laundering their earnings through Massachusetts and Virginia.  Federal agents charged the following people:  Sathtra Em, 35, of Lowell Kenneth Owen, a/k/a “Apple,” a/k/a “Carlos,” 22, of Charlotte Court House, Va. Michael Mao, a/k/a “Whitebodian,” a/k/a “Spook,” a/k/a “Leno,” 36, of the Buckingham Correctional Center in Dillwyn, Va. They are each charged with money laundering conspiracy and conspiracy to distribute and to possess with intent to distribute MDMA and Buprenorphine, the US Attorney for Massachusetts s…
Four In Virginia Accused Of Forcing Undocumented Immigrants Into Labor At Laundry Facility Four In Virginia Accused Of Forcing Undocumented Immigrants Into Labor At Laundry Facility
Four In Virginia Accused Of Forcing Undocumented Immigrants Into Labor At Laundry Facility Four people in Virginia are facing charges for alleged labor trafficking, forced labor, and immigration offenses in connection to a laundry facility they operated, federal authorities announced. A 33-count indictment has been unsealed charging four in the region for defrauding and committing offenses against the US, including human trafficking from Central America, money laundering, benefiting from forced labor, and harboring undocumented immigrants, according to the Department of Justice. Those charged with engaging in a conspiracy to harbor, transport, and benefit from the work of non-cit…
BENE(PHISH)IARY: Scam FBI Email Says You’re Owed $4.1M — And Are Suspected Of Tax Evasion BENE(PHISH)IARY: Scam FBI Email Says You’re Owed $4.1M — And Are Suspected Of Tax Evasion
Bene(Phish)Iary: Scam FBI Email Says You’re Owed $4.1M — And Are Suspected Of Tax Evasion This one’s rich (no pun intended): A familiar phishing scam that claims federal authorities have seized $4.1 million intended for you from a shady foreign diplomat is again making the rounds. A surety bond for the princely sum was found in two consignment boxes seized at JFK Airport in Queens, NY, along with documents bearing YOUR name, according to the hoax email. The author, who claims to be FBI Deputy Director Paul M. Abbate in Washington, D.C., then offers to “walk you through the process of clearing and claiming the money.” That’s the good news. “After questioning the diplomat t…
DC Man Sentenced For Scheming To Steal $31M In COVID-19 Funds DC Man Sentenced For Scheming To Steal $31M In COVID-19 Funds
DC Man Sentenced For Scheming To Steal $31M In Covid-19 Funds A 31-year-old D.C. man was sentenced to 10 years in prison for trying to steal $31 million from the government’s COVID relief programs, officials said.  Elias Eldabbagh used his company, Alias Systems, LLC, to apply for 25 phony Paycheck Protection Program loans between July 2020 and May 2021, the U.S. Attorney's Office reported. Eldabbagh used an alias to hide his identity and steal over two million dollars, which he spread across 13 separate bank and brokerage accounts, authorities said.  He also stole from the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act, which…
Maryland Men Convicted Of Running $13M Money Laundering Scheme In Alexandria Maryland Men Convicted Of Running $13M Money Laundering Scheme In Alexandria
Maryland Men Convicted Of Running $13M Money Laundering Scheme In Alexandria Two Maryland men have been convicted after running a $13 million business email compromise scheme, authorities say. Onyewuchi Victor Ibeh, 33, of Mitchellville, and Jason Eugene Joyner, 42, of Hyattsville, participated in the scheme to launder proceeds by infiltrating computer systems of victim companies through phishing and malware attacks, according to the Department of Justice. Once the pair would gain access to the accounts, prosecutors said they would pose as the victim's business partner and claim the bank account information has changed so the victim business sends money to accounts …
Special Deputy US Marshal Charged In Maryland For Laundering $1.9M During Romance Scam: DOJ Special Deputy US Marshal Charged In Maryland For Laundering $1.9M During Romance Scam: DOJ
Special Deputy US Marshal Charged In Maryland For Laundering $1.9M During Romance Scam: DOJ A romantic scam artist from Upper Marlboro lured his way into nearly $2 million before being caught, authorities say. Isidore Iwuagwu, 35, has been federally charged for conspiring to commit money laundering related to multiple online relationship scams according to the Department of Justice. Iwuagwu was able to commit these crimes all while working security as a Special Deputy United States Marshal and Department of Justice contractor, prosecutors said. Iwuagwu allegedly contacted victims on social media platforms and dating sites, engaging in online relationships with them before asking …
Loudoun County Deputy Named National Correctional Officer Of The Year Loudoun County Deputy Named National Correctional Officer Of The Year
Loudoun County Deputy Named National Correctional Officer Of The Year A Loudoun County Sheriff's deputy earned a national honor this week for service that went above and beyond the call of duty.  Major County Sheriffs of America named Loudoun County Deputy First Class Gloria Turin as the 2021 Correctional Officer of the Year at a recent ceremony. She's been with the Sheriff's Office for nearly five years.  Turin helped uncover a money-laundering scheme that had far-reaching implications. That investigation turned into a multi-jurisdictional case that stretched across the country, a press release about Turin's award said. She also was key i…
Feds Charge MD Man In $246,390 401(k) Theft From NJ Employee Feds Charge MD Man In $246,390 401(k) Theft From NJ Employee
Feds Charge MD Man In $246,390 401(k) Theft From NJ Employee A Maryland man conspired with others to steal $246,390 from a New Jersey worker’s 401(k), federal authorities charged. Oladapo Sunday Ogunbiyi, 40, of Greenbelt, and others secretly tapped into the fund, added a bank account belonging to someone else and began steering money into it, an indictment returned by a grand jury in U.S. District Court alleges. “Ogunbiyi and others directed that the fraud proceeds be converted into cashier’s checks, which were provided to Ogunbiyi,” U.S. Attorney Philip R. Sellinger said. “He then deposited the cashier’s checks into bank accounts under his control…
Major Drug Trafficker Admits Shipping 40 Pounds Of Heroin From Cali To NJ On Car Carrier Major Drug Trafficker Admits Shipping 40 Pounds Of Heroin From Cali To NJ On Car Carrier
Major Drug Trafficker Admits Shipping 40 Pounds Of Heroin From Cali To NJ On Car Carrier UPDATE: A major drug trafficker from Somerset County who led investigators on a high-speed chase admitted moving massive amounts of heroin into New Jersey, federal authorities said. Authorities targeted William T. Bouza, 45, of Watchung, in early 2019 after intercepting 33 pounds of heroin stashed in a secret compartment of a Mercedes shipped on a car carrier to New Jersey from California, U.S. Attorney Philip R. Sellinger said. Bouza was waiting for the drugs in Union but bolted after sensing something fishy, an indictment returned in U.S. District Court in Newark says. The following mont…