Eastern District of New York
Press releases recorded for this federal judicial district.
Luchese Crime Family Captain Sentenced to Prison for Racketeering, Money Laundering, and Illegal GamblingRead the Press Release
Earlier today, in federal court in Brooklyn, Anthony Villani, a captain in the Luchese organized crime family, was sentenced by United States District Judge Kiyo A. Matsumoto to 21 months in prison following his conviction for racketeering with predicate acts of money laundering and illegal gambling related to his running of a large-scale, illegal online gambling business that operated under the protection of the Luchese organized crime family of La Cosa Nostra. The gambling business, known as “Rhino Sports,” operated since the early 2000s and brought in at least $35 million in illicit profits during its operation. As part of the sentence, Villani was ordered to pay $4 million in forfeiture.
Joseph Nocella, Jr., United States Attorney for the Eastern District of New York, and Christopher G. Raia, Assistant Director in Charge, Federal Bureau of Investigation, New York Field Office (FBI) announced the sentence.
“Today’s sentence holds Villani accountable for racketeering crimes committed on behalf of the Luchese organized crime family, while lining the enterprise’s coffers and his own pockets with millions of dollars,” stated United States Attorney Nocella. “Illegal gambling and extortion may be commonplace for the Mafia, but a prison term is a bitter outcome for mobsters who show no regard for the law.”
“Anthony Villani, a Luchese organized crime family captain, has been justly sentenced for his extensive criminal exploits related to his illegal gambling operation. Today’s sentencing should serve as a warning to the Mafia and all organized criminal members, the FBI will continue to hold you accountable for the illicit criminal enterprises you rely on to fund your lifestyles and broader criminal activity,” stated FBI Assistant Director in Charge Raia.
According to court filings, the gambling business (the Gambling Business) that Villani supervised was in continuous operation from at least 2004 through December 2020. During that period, the Gambling Business was hosted online using offshore servers in Costa Rica and employed local bookmakers to pay and collect winnings in cash. Bookmakers were responsible for taking wagers from a group of bettors, collecting and paying individual bettors, and settling with Villani. Villani received a percentage of each bookmaker’s earnings. Records obtained from the Gambling Business’s website indicated that Villani’s illegal gambling operation regularly took bets from between 400 and 1,300 bettors each week, most of whom were based in New York City and the metropolitan area. Villani’s bookmakers regularly included members and associates of the Luchese crime family and other La Cosa Nostra families. Villani personally made at least $15 million in illegal profits from his work as the leader of the Gambling Business.
Villani employed several trusted associates to help him manage the Gambling Business. These employees included co-defendants Louis Tucci, Jr. and Dennis Filizzola, who reported directly to Villani as part of their work for the Gambling Business. Both were responsible for picking up and collecting money from other bookmakers and met frequently with Villani. In addition, co-defendants James Coumoutsos, who operated in the Gambling Business under the name “Quick,” and Michael Praino, who operated under the name “Platinum,” were bookmakers for the Gambling Business. These four co-defendants previously pleaded guilty and are awaiting sentencing. As part of their sentences, they have agreed to pay approximately $1 million in forfeiture.
In addition to operating the Gambling Business, Villani and Filizzola engaged in money laundering to conceal the source and nature of the significant illicit proceeds. At Villani’s direction, Filizzola took proceeds from the Gambling Business and used them to purchase U.S. Postal Service money orders in false names, which were then made payable to one of Villani’s property companies to appear as legitimate rental payments.
In addition to operating the Gambling Business and laundering its illicit proceeds, Villani also extorted John Doe. Between October 2019 and October 2020, Villani threatened John Doe over the non-payment of approximately $300,000 that he stole from the Gambling Business. Villani made several threats to John Doe. Among these threats, Villani stated on April 27, 2020, “I’m not going to repeat myself. I’m not going to ever say this again. We’re just going to have a problem if I find out. Alright? And I don’t want to threaten you with my friends or anything, I’m not gonna, you put me in a f-----g hole with this guy?” Villani’s threats against John Doe escalated and later on October 10, 2020, he stated, “Listen, get the f-----g money. I’m telling you right now, you don’t get this money – f-----g run away. Go get this f-----g money.” Based on these threats and others, John Doe believed that the defendant or other members of the Luchese crime family would physically hurt or kill him if he did not repay the debt.
The government’s case is being handled by the Office’s Organized Crime and Gangs Section. Assistant United States Attorney Antoinette N. Rangel is in charge of the prosecution. Assistant United States Attorney Claire S. Kedeshian of the Office’s Asset Recovery Section is handling forfeiture matters.
The Defendant:
ANTHONY VILLANI
Age: 60
Pleasantville, New YorkE.D.N.Y. Docket No. 22-CR-405 (KAM)
Six Individuals Arrested in Two Separate Firearms Trafficking CasesRead the Press Release
Two indictments have been unsealed in federal court in Brooklyn charging a total of six defendants variously with firearms trafficking, unlicensed firearms dealing, and being a felon in possession of a firearm. Yesterday and this morning, Karsem Allen, also known as “Short,” Carolyn Hicks-Torres, Henry McCummings, Rohnique Posey, also known as “Pioneer,” and Dominic Smith were arrested on an 11-count indictment. They will be arraigned today before United States Magistrate Judge Vera M. Scanlon. Yesterday, James Strong was arrested on a separate indictment and was ordered detained this morning by Magistrate Judge Scanlon.
Joseph Nocella, Jr., United States Attorney for the Eastern District of New York, Bryan Miller, Special Agent in Charge, Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives, New York Division (ATF New York), and Jessica S. Tisch, Commissioner, New York City Police Department (NYPD), announced the arrests and charges.
“As alleged, the defendants brought deadly weapons to communities in Queens, flagrantly selling them in broad daylight near an elementary school and inside apartment complexes,” stated United States Attorney Nocella. “The public should know that my Office and brave members of federal and local enforcement are working tirelessly to reduce gun violence by disrupting the flow of illegal guns to and within New York City and keeping them out of the hands of criminals.”
“These indictments are the result proactive investigative efforts using crime gun intelligence and strong partnerships. The brazenness of these firearms trafficking operations — selling nearly 50 illegal firearms and machine gun conversion devices in broad daylight near apartment buildings and a school — shows a complete disregard for the safety and well-being of the community. Thanks to the outstanding work of the ATF New York Crime Gun Enforcement Team, ATF NYPD Joint Firearms Task Force, the NYPD's Intelligence Bureau, Detective Bureau, and Major Case Ghost Gun Team, ATF Newark, New Jersey, ATF Raleigh, North Carolina, the United States Postal Inspection Service, and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of New York, these individuals have been held accountable. We will continue to bring all resources to bear to stem the flow of illegal firearms into our neighborhoods. Every illegal gun taken off the street is a potential life saved,” stated ATF New York Special Agent in Charge Miller.
“James Strong and his co-defendants allegedly funneled untraceable ghost guns and other deadly firearms into a vibrant Queens community, putting countless lives—including children—at risk,” stated NYPD Commissioner Tisch. “Strong is a convicted killer who was out on parole when he carried out these sales, often in broad daylight and just steps from a school. This case is a powerful reminder of the importance of the work we do with our federal partners to get guns off our streets. None of this would be possible without the dedicated work of the members of the NYPD, ATF, and the U.S. Attorney’s Office.”
United States v. James Strong
As set forth in court filings, Strong sold 21 firearms to two separate undercover law enforcement officers (the UCs) in heavily populated areas of Queens Village in broad daylight. In some cases, the firearms were sold just blocks away from an elementary school. The UCs told Strong that they were smuggling the guns to Trinidad in barrels. In connection with these firearms sales, Strong is also charged with being a felon in possession of firearms due to his previous felony conviction for manslaughter stemming from a 2007 incident in which he shot an individual eight times, killing him, at a birthday party in Valley Stream on Long Island. Strong was sentenced to 18 years in prison and was released on parole in October 2023. Strong was on parole at the time he made the illegal sales.
U.S. v. Karsem Allen, et al.As set forth in the indictment and other court filings, between December 2024 and June 2025, Allen, Hicks-Torres, McCummings, Posey, and Smith made multiple sales of at least 29 firearms, including semi-automatic and defaced weapons, inside apartment complexes in the Rockaways. Allen and Hicks-Torres illegally obtained firearms in North Carolina from straw purchasers and then transported the weapons to New York City to be sold through Posey. On one occasion, Allen and Hicks-Torres sold four machine gun conversion devices, which are designed for converting semi-automatic pistols into machine guns. McCummings and Smith primarily sold “ghost guns” which typically do not have serial numbers and therefore are untraceable. Posey is also charged with selling crack cocaine on four occasions.
The charges in the indictments are allegations and the defendants are presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.
The government’s cases are being handled by the Office’s General Crimes Section. Assistant United States Attorney Stephen Petraeus is in charge of prosecuting Strong. Assistant United States Attorney Daniel Marcus is in charge of prosecuting Allen, Hicks-Torres, McCummings, Posey, and Smith.
The Defendants:
JAMES STRONG
Age: 35
Long Beach, New YorkE.D.N.Y. Docket No. 25-CR-214 (NGG)
KARSEM ALLEN (also known as “Short”)
Age: 49
Henderson, North CarolinaCAROLYN HICKS-TORRES
Age: 53
Henderson, North CarolinaHENRY MCCUMMINGS
Age: 43
Arverne, New YorkROHNIQUE POSEY (also known as “Pioneer”)
Age: 47
Arverne, New YorkDOMINIC SMITH
Age: 31
Teaneck, New JerseyE.D.N.Y. Docket No. 25-CR-216 (BMC)
MS-13 Gang Leader Sentenced to 68 Years in Prison for Eight Murders, Multiple Attempted Murders, Arson, Narcotics Trafficking, and Firearms OffensesRead the Press Release
Earlier today, in federal court in Central Islip, Alexi Saenz, also known as “Blasty” and “Plaky,” the leader of the Brentwood/Central Islip chapter of the Sailors Locos Salvatruchas Westside (Sailors) clique of La Mara Salvatrucha, also known as the MS-13, a transnational criminal organization, was sentenced by United States District Judge Gary R. Brown to 68 years’ imprisonment. On July 10, 2024, Saenz pleaded guilty to racketeering charges in connection with his participation in eight murders, namely, the January 28, 2016 murder of Michael Johnson; the April 29, 2016 murder of Oscar Acosta; the September 5, 2016 murder of Marcus Bohannon; the September 13, 2016 murders of Kayla Cuevas and Nisa Mickens; the October 10, 2016 murder of Javier Castillo; the October 13, 2016 murder of Dewann Stacks; and the January 30, 2017 murder of Esteban Alvarado-Bonilla, in addition to his participation in three attempted murders, and arson, narcotics trafficking, and firearms offenses.
Joseph Nocella, Jr, United States Attorney for the Eastern District of New York; Christopher G. Raia, Assistant Director in Charge, Federal Bureau of Investigation, New York Field Office (FBI New York); and Kevin Catalina, Commissioner, Suffolk County Police Department (SCPD), announced the sentence.
“Alexi Saenz led an unspeakable reign of terror, killing, and crime that damaged his community and cost several people their lives,” stated United States Attorney Nocella. “My Office and our law enforcement partners will continue to work tirelessly to hold the MS-13 and its members accountable for their horrific acts, including the pain they’ve caused victims and their loved ones. This sentencing is one of many in our relentless pursuit to dismantle the MS-13 and other violent criminal organizations.”
“For years, Alexi Saenz wielded his role as a local MS-13 leader to facilitate and participate in eight brutal murders of perceived rivals. Saenz terrorized Long Island as he indiscriminately targeted and hunted a wide range of victims, with careless regard to innocent bystanders harmed by his actions. May today’s sentencing emphasize the FBI’s relentless determination to crush all gang violence plaguing our communities,” stated FBI New York Assistant Director in Charge Raia.
“Alexi Saenz is a violent career criminal whose path of destruction ripped apart families and terrorized Suffolk County with his MS-13 cohorts,” stated SCPD Commissioner Catalina. “I commend the efforts of the SCPD officers and our law enforcement partners who are dedicated to bringing violent gang criminals to justice and offering closure to the victims’ families.”
As set forth in the government’s sentencing memorandum, prior court filings, and statements during the sentencing, Alexi Saenz was the local leader of the Brentwood/Central Islip chapter of the Sailors clique of the MS-13 – one of the more powerful, violent, and well-established cliques on the East Coast of the United States. He committed the following crimes in order to maintain and increase his membership and status within the gang and to further the mission of the MS-13:
January 28, 2016 Murder of Michael Johnson
On January 28, 2016, Alexi Saenz and other MS-13 members and associates were at the Jocorena Deli in Brentwood, where they saw 29-year-old Michael Johnson, and claimed to recognize him as a member of the rival Bloods street gang. At that point, Johnson was marked as their “food” – a reference to their intention to kill him.
After receiving the requisite approval from the New York leader of the Sailors clique to commit this murder, Alexi Saenz contacted several other MS-13 members, informed them of the plan to kill Johnson, and instructed them to bring weapons, including a machete and a baseball bat, to a wooded area in Brentwood. Alexi Saenz then lured Johnson to that secluded meeting location under the guise of smoking marijuana. The MS-13 members and associates ambushed Johnson from behind – striking Johnson with the baseball bat, stabbing him with a knife, and taking turns hacking him with the machete. They fled after hearing police sirens in the area.
Johnson was reported missing by family members. Less than one week after his murder, on February 2, 2016, members of the SCPD responded to a 911 call about a body found in the woods by a passerby, and recovered Johnson’s body. An autopsy determined Johnson’s cause of death to be sharp and blunt force injuries.
April 29, 2016 Murder of Oscar Acosta
In early 2016, Alexi Saenz and his fellow Sailors clique members decided to “green light,” or approve, the murder of 19-year-old Oscar Acosta because they suspected that he was associating with the rival 18th Street gang after previously aligning himself with the MS-13. The New York Sailors clique leader assigned roles as to which members would take the lead in planning and carrying out the murder.
On April 29, 2016, MS-13 members met Acosta in a wooded area near an elementary school in Brentwood where he had been lured under the guise of smoking marijuana. They brutally beat Acosta with tree limbs, knocking him unconscious. They bound Acosta’s hands and feet, wrapped an article of clothing around his mouth to prevent him from making noise, and summoned other MS-13 members, including Alexi Saenz. The MS-13 members loaded Acosta into the trunk of Alexi Saenz’s car, and drove to a more secluded area in Brentwood near the abandoned Pilgrim State Psychiatric Hospital. At the direction of Alexi Saenz, the MS-13 members removed Acosta, who was still alive, from the trunk and carried him deeper into the woods where they took turns hacking him to death with a machete. The murder was supervised by Alexi Saenz, as his role as the local clique leader. The MS-13 members then buried Acosta’s body in a shallow grave.
Acosta’s body was discovered by law enforcement nearly five months later, on September 16, 2016, during a search for another MS-13 victim. His cause of death was homicidal violence, including sharp and blunt force injuries to his head and torso.
July 18, 2016 Attempted Murders of John Doe #1 and John Doe #2
On July 18, 2016, during a Sailors clique meeting at Alexi Saenz’s house in Central Islip, the defendant instructed the group to hunt for rival gang members who had been disrespectful to the MS-13, in order to attack and kill them.
Later that evening, other members of the MS-13, who were driving around Brentwood armed with firearms and a machete, spotted a group of men on Apple Street. Believing these men to be members of a rival gang, three MS-13 members got out of the car and attacked the group, firing rounds from two different guns, and then using a machete to hack at one of the men who had fallen to the ground. After the attack, the group drove back to Alexi Saenz’s house, where they hid the weapons.
Two individuals were injured as a result of this attack. John Doe #1 was struck with a bullet, but survived. John Doe #2 was attacked with a machete, and was permanently disfigured.
August 10, 2016 Attempted Murders of Suspected Rival Gang Members
In 2016, members of the MS-13 were engaged in a series of disputes with members of the Goon Squad, a rival gang in Brentwood.
On August 10, 2016, Alexi Saenz and another MS-13 member drove through the neighborhood around Lukens Avenue in Brentwood, and spotted several men who they believed were members of the Goon Squad. They then rallied other members of the Sailors clique to come kill the rivals.
The MS-13 members divided into two vehicles, and drove towards the house where the suspected Goon Squad members had been spotted. Alexi Saenz’s car kept watch for the police, while two other MS-13 members, each bearing a gun, approached the group of suspected rivals and fired numerous shots in their direction. No one was hit, although a stray bullet entered a neighbor’s house and struck the headboard of a bed in which the neighbor was sleeping.
September 5, 2016 Murder of Marcus Bohannon
On September 4, 2016, during a Sailors clique meeting at Alexi Saenz’s house in Central Islip, the defendant and other MS-13 members went out hunting for rival gang members to kill.
The MS-13 members separated into several cars and drove around Central Islip and Brentwood, until Alexi Saenz’s group spotted 27-year old Marcus Bohannon walking along Lowell Avenue in Central Islip in the early morning hours of September 5. Suspecting that Bohannon was a member of the rival Bloods gang, two MS-13 members, carrying firearms, got out of the vehicle, approached him, and started shooting. Alexi Saenz then drove them away. Bohannon was struck nine times, including in his head, neck, and chest, and died from his wounds.
September 12, 2016 Arson
During the summer of 2016, Sailors clique members of the MS-13 engaged in regular altercations with local gang members based in a neighborhood on Freeman Avenue in Brentwood.
On September 12, 2016, MS-13 members retaliated by setting fire to a car parked in the driveway of one of the houses in that rival gang neighborhood. Alexi Saenz directed other gang members to purchase gasoline and carry out the arson, while he drove around watching for police presence. The other MS-13 gang members drove to that house, where they poured gasoline on a car parked in the driveway, and set it on fire. The car exploded, and set another parked car on fire.
September 13, 2016 Murders of Kayla Cuevas and Nisa Mickens
On September 13, 2016, Sailors clique members brutally murdered 15-year-old Nisa Mickens and 16-year-old Kayla Cuevas, both students at Brentwood High School.
In the months leading up to the murders, Cuevas was involved in a series of disputes with members and associates of the MS-13. Approximately one week before the murders, these disputes escalated when Cuevas and several friends were involved in an altercation with MS-13 members at Brentwood High School. After that incident, the MS-13 members vowed to seek revenge against Cuevas.
On the evening of September 13, 2016, Alexi Saenz and other members of the Sailors clique of the MS-13 were driving in separate cars around Brentwood in search of rival gang members to attack and kill. One group of MS-13 members spotted Cuevas and Mickens walking down residential Stahley Street. Recognizing Cuevas, they called Alexi Saenz and were granted permission to kill the girls. Several MS-13 members then chased down and attacked both Cuevas and Mickens, wielding baseball bats and a machete, striking each of the girls numerous times in their heads and bodies, while Alexi Saenz’s car drove around watching for police. After the murders, the group retreated to Alexi Saenz’s home in Central Islip, where they changed clothes and hid the weapons.
Mickens, whose body was discovered later that evening on Stahley Street, not far from Cuevas’s home, sustained significant sharp force trauma to her face and blunt force trauma to her head. Cuevas, whose body was discovered the following day behind a house adjacent to where Mickens’s body was found, sustained significant blunt force trauma to her head and body and multiple lacerations.
October 10, 2016 Murder of Javier Castillo
In October 2016, the MS-13 targeted 15-year-old Javier Castillo because he was believed to be a member of the 18th Street gang, one of MS-13’s principal rivals.
On October 10, 2016, several members of the Sailors clique convinced Castillo, who lived in Central Islip, to drive with them to Freeport – approximately 30 miles away – to smoke marijuana. Once there, they met Alexi Saenz and other Sailors clique members. The group then lured Castillo to an isolated marsh area in Cow Meadow Park, where they attacked him, taking turns hacking him to death with a machete.
Afterwards, the MS-13 members dug a hole and buried Castillo’s body, which was not recovered until one year later, in late October 2017. Castillo was determined to have suffered multiple sharp force injuries to his head, neck, torso, and extremities.
October 13, 2016 Murder of Dewann Stacks
On the evening of October 13, 2016, Alexi Saenz and other members of the Sailors clique of MS-13 were driving around Central Islip and Brentwood in search of rival gang members to attack and kill.
That night, they spotted 34-year-old Dewann Stacks and, believing him to be a rival gang member, Alexi Saenz authorized his murder. While Alexi Saenz drove around watching for police presence, another group of MS-13 members, armed with two machetes and a baseball bat, drove over to attack Stacks. Three armed MS-13 members got out of the car, and beat and hacked Stacks to death on American Boulevard, a residential street in Brentwood. Stacks sustained severe sharp and blunt force trauma to his face and head, leaving his body nearly unrecognizable.
January 30, 2017 Murder of Esteban Alvarado-BonillaOn the morning of January 30, 2017, Alexi Saenz and other members of the Sailors clique of MS-13 spotted 29-year-old Esteban Alvarado-Bonilla inside El Campesino Deli in Central Islip. Since Alvarado-Bonilla was wearing a football jersey bearing the number “18,” the MS-13 concluded that he was a member of a rival gang and plotted to kill him.
Several other MS-13 members obtained a mask and another vehicle that would be used to commit the murder. Alexi Saenz provided the clique’s 9-millimeter handgun for use in the murder.
At approximately 10:30 a.m., a masked MS-13 member entered the deli, approached Alvarado-Bonilla from behind, and shot him multiple times, killing him. One of the bullets pierced through Alvarado-Bonilla’s head and struck the chest of a female employee of the deli, who was standing directly in front of him. The deli employee survived the gunshot wound.
Narcotics Trafficking Conspiracy
For a year and a half, from approximately April 2016 through March 2017, in order to finance the illegal operations of the Sailors clique, Alexi Saenz obtained wholesale quantities of cocaine and marijuana, which he distributed to other Sailors clique members and associates for street-level sales in Brentwood and its surrounding areas. After the sales, the profits were turned over to Alexi Saenz, for use in, among other things, purchasing firearms for use by clique members, wiring money to MS-13 leaders in El Salvador, and buying additional narcotics for further distribution.
* * * *
Today’s sentencing is the latest achievement in a series of federal prosecutions by the United States Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of New York targeting members of the MS-13, a violent, transnational criminal organization. The MS-13’s leadership is based in El Salvador, Honduras, Guatemala, and Mexico, but the gang has thousands of members across the United States. With numerous branches, or “cliques,” the MS-13 is the most violent criminal organization on Long Island. Since 2003, hundreds of MS-13 members, including dozens of clique leaders, have been convicted on federal felony charges in the Eastern District of New York. A majority of those MS-13 members have been convicted on federal racketeering charges for participating in murders, attempted murders, and assaults. Since 2010, this Office has obtained indictments charging MS-13 members with carrying out more than 75 murders in the Eastern District of New York, resulting in the convictions of dozens of MS-13 leaders and members in connection with those murders. These prosecutions are the product of investigations led by the FBI’s Long Island Gang Task Force, which is comprised of agents and officers of the FBI, SCPD, Nassau County Police Department, Nassau County Sheriff’s Department, Suffolk County Probation Office, Suffolk County Sheriff’s Office, the New York State Police, the Hempstead Police Department, the Rockville Centre Police Department, and the New York State Department of Corrections and Community Supervision.
The case is part of Operation Take Back America, a Department of Justice initiative aimed at eradicating transnational criminal organizations, combating violent crime, and restoring the rule of law.
This prosecution is also part of an Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces (OCDETF) investigation. OCDETF identifies, disrupts, and dismantles the highest-level drug traffickers, money launderers, gangs, and transnational criminal organizations that threaten the United States by using a prosecutor-led, intelligence-driven, multi-agency approach that leverages the strengths of federal, state, and local law enforcement agencies against criminal networks.
The government’s case is being handled by the Criminal Section of the Office’s Long Island Division. Assistant United States Attorneys John J. Durham, Paul G. Scotti, Justina L. Geraci, and Megan E. Farrell are in charge of the prosecution, with the assistance of Paralegal Specialist Kerryanne Ucci and Automated Litigation Specialist Michael Compitello.
The Defendant:
ALEXI SAENZ (also known as “Blasty” and “Plaky”)
Age: 30
El Divisadero, Morazán, El Salvador; and Central Islip, New YorkE.D.N.Y. Docket No. 16-CR-403 (S-8) (GRB)
Final Defendant in Large-Scale Firearms Trafficking Ring in Brooklyn Sentenced to 63 Months in PrisonRead the Press Release
Earlier today, at the federal courthouse in Brooklyn, Calvin Tabron was sentenced by United States District Judge William F. Kuntz II to 63 months in prison for conspiring to traffic firearms. Tabron acted as a straw purchaser for a gun trafficking ring that operated around the Breukelen Houses, a New York City Housing Authority development in Canarsie, Brooklyn. Tabron pleaded guilty to the charge in March 2024.
Judge Kuntz previously sentenced Tabron’s three co-defendants who pleaded guilty to gun and narcotics trafficking charges: David Mccann was sentenced to 108 months’ imprisonment for conspiring to traffic firearms and fentanyl; Tajhai Jones was sentenced to 97 months’ imprisonment for conspiring to traffic firearms; and Raymond Minaya was sentenced to 135 months’ imprisonment for conspiring to traffic firearms and cocaine base. The defendants were charged in January 2023 in the first case in New York to publicly charge the gun trafficking provisions of the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act.
Joseph Nocella, Jr., United States Attorney for the Eastern District of New York; Frank A. Tarentino, III, Special Agent in Charge, Drug Enforcement Administration, New York Division (DEA); and Jessica S. Tisch, Commissioner, New York City Police Department (NYPD), announced the sentences.
“The defendants’ convictions and sentences demonstrate our resolve to hold accountable those who flood the streets of Brooklyn with deadly weapons and drugs, feeding the cycles of gun violence and substance abuse,” stated United States Attorney Nocella. “My Office will continue to vigorously enforce our laws by using the tools provided by Congress, such as the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act, to prosecute gun traffickers.”
“Today’s sentencing of Calvin Tabron is a direct result of the collaboration we have with our law enforcement partners in targeting those individuals who compromise the safety and security of our communities,” stated DEA New York Special Agent in Charge Tarentino. “Mr. Tabron not only pushed fentanyl onto our streets, but chose to push and sell weapons as well, both which could have resulted in senseless and deadly consequences. Removing these individuals from our streets, saves lives.”
“Today’s sentencing is the culmination of government at every level—local, state, and federal—working together to hold dangerous criminals accountable,” stated NYPD Commissioner Tisch. “Calvin Tabron pumped illegal weapons, including untraceable ghost guns, and drugs into a Brooklyn community, putting countless lives at risk. I thank all the NYPD investigators, the DEA, and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for their tireless efforts in this historic case.”
According to court filings, the defendants’ gun-trafficking operation involved the sale of at least 50 illegal firearms over multiple transactions in Brooklyn between January 2022 and August 2022. The defendants conducted these firearms sales in broad daylight in a public park, in shopping center parking lots, in vehicles in and around the Breukelen Houses, across from a church, and blocks away from a preschool and grade school. Tabron and Jones obtained firearms in Virginia and then transported them to New York to be sold on the streets of Brooklyn. Some of the firearms sold by the defendants had defaced serial numbers or were made from ghost gun kits, making them harder for law enforcement to trace. Mccann and Minaya also engaged in significant narcotics trafficking conspiracies, including a fentanyl distribution conspiracy that introduced thousands of lethal doses of fentanyl into the community.
Firearms sold in the conspiracy have also been linked to shootings in Brooklyn. For example, on June 22, 2022, Minaya sold an undercover officer a Glock 30, .45 caliber handgun. The investigation revealed that this gun was used in an August 21, 2021 shooting in Bedford-Stuyvesant during which armed perpetrators shot into a large crowd gathered for a family day celebration. In total, eight individuals were struck by gunfire. Another gun trafficked by Minaya—a Glock 43, 9-millimeter caliber handgun—is linked to a December 18, 2021 shooting of an individual in Canarsie, in the blocks surrounding the Breukelen Houses complex. That individual sustained multiple gunshot wounds to his body.
The government’s case is being handled by the Office’s General Crimes Division and supervised by the Office’s International Narcotics and Money Laundering Section. Assistant United States Attorneys Adam Amir, Irisa Chen, and James R. Simmons are in charge of the prosecution.
The Defendant Sentenced Today:
CALVIN TABRON
Age: 27
Virginia Beach, VirginiaDefendants Previously Sentenced:
DAVID MCCANN
Age: 30
Brooklyn, New YorkTAJHAI JONES
Age: 31
Portsmouth, VirginiaRAYMOND MINAYA
Age: 29
Brooklyn, New YorkE.D.N.Y. Docket No. 23-CR-8 (WFK)
11 Defendants Indicted in Multi-Billion Health Care Fraud Scheme, the Largest Case by Loss Amount Ever Charged by the Department of JusticeRead the Press Release
BROOKLYN, NY – Fifteen individuals, including two pharmacists, have been charged for their participation in schemes in which the Medicare and Medicaid programs, and other health care benefit programs, were fraudulently billed more than $10.6 billion. In one case, dubbed “Operation Gold Rush” by law enforcement, 11 defendants, members of a transnational criminal organization (the Organization) based in Russia and elsewhere, allegedly orchestrated a multi-billion-dollar health care fraud and money laundering scheme to steal from the Medicare program and private health insurance companies. The charges filed in the Eastern District of New York are part of the 2025 National Health Care Fraud Takedown, a coordinated law enforcement action across the United States led by the Department of Justice’s Criminal Division, Fraud Section Health Care Fraud Unit.
United States Attorney General Pamela Bondi; Joseph Nocella, Jr., United States Attorney for the Eastern District of New York; Matthew R. Galeotti, Head of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division; and Christian J. Schrank, Deputy Inspector General for Investigations, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Office of the Inspector General (HHS-OIG) announced the charges.
“This record-setting Health Care Fraud Takedown delivers justice to criminal actors who prey upon our most vulnerable citizens and steal from hardworking American taxpayers,” stated Attorney General Bondi. “Make no mistake – this administration will not tolerate criminals who line their pockets with taxpayer dollars while endangering the health and safety of our communities.”
“As alleged, the defendants perpetrated health care frauds of staggering proportions, victimizing taxpayers and government programs that serve the most vulnerable members of our society,” stated United States Attorney Nocella. “My Office is working closely with our law enforcement partners to investigate and track down, here and abroad, those criminals who treat government funded programs and insurance providers like ATMs, and to hold them accountable for every dollar they brazenly stole. As for the defendants charged with submitting billions of dollars in phony Medicare claims, that is a health care fraud record they will regret setting.”
Mr. Nocella expressed his appreciation to the Federal Bureau of Investigation, New York and Connecticut Field Offices; Internal Revenue Service Criminal Investigation, New York; the Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces; the New York City Department of Investigation; the New York City Police Department; and the Nassau County Police Department for their invaluable assistance.
“The Criminal Division is intensely committed to rooting out health care fraud schemes and prosecuting the criminals who perpetrate them because these schemes: (1) often result in physical patient harm through medically unnecessary treatments or failure to provide the correct treatments; (2) contribute to our nationwide opioid epidemic and exacerbate controlled substance addiction; and (3) do all of that while stealing money hardworking Americans contribute to pay for the care of their elders and other vulnerable citizens,” stated Matthew R. Galeotti, Head of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division. “The Division’s Health Care Fraud Unit and U.S. Attorneys’ Offices stand united with our law enforcement partners in this fight, and we will continue to use every tool at our disposal to protect the integrity of our health care programs for the American people.”
“This case underscores the relentless commitment of HHS-OIG and our law enforcement partners to protecting the integrity of federal health care programs,” stated HHS-OIG Deputy Inspector General Schrank. “Despite the scope and sophistication of this transnational criminal enterprise, our collaborative efforts helped prevent billions in fraudulent claims from being paid by Medicare. We will continue to work tirelessly across borders and agencies to identify, disrupt, and dismantle those who seek to exploit our health care system and steal from American taxpayers.”
The schemes charged in the Eastern District of New York, detailed in four indictments and one information, are as follows:
Operation Gold Rush: In the largest health care fraud case by loss amount ever charged by the Department of Justice, Imam Nakhmatullaev, Svjatoslav Jakovlev, Eric Juergens, Jaan Juergens, Ilja Karunas, Juri Karunas, Jason Onoufrienko, Renek Tiku, Vladislav Turaskin, Kevin Valdhans, and Vjatseslav Zogolev were charged with conspiracy to commit money laundering. Nakhmatullaev, Jakovlev, Eric Juergens, Jaan Juergens, Onoufrienko, Tiku, Turaskin, Valdhans, and Zogolev were also charged with conspiracy to commit health care fraud, and wire fraud, and Jakovlev, Valdhans, Jaan Juergens, and Onoufrienko were each charged with one count of health care fraud. As alleged in the indictment, the defendants were members of a transnational criminal organization based in Russia and elsewhere, that orchestrated a multi-billion-dollar health care fraud and money laundering scheme to target, exploit, and steal from Medicare. The Organization purchased dozens of durable medical equipment companies (Scheme DME Companies) that already had the ability to submit claims to Medicare and Medicare Supplemental Insurers. The Organization executed these purchases by paying foreign nationals and others to serve as nominee owners of the Scheme DME Companies. The Organization then created fictitious corporate records that falsely indicated that the nominee owners controlled the Scheme DME Companies when, in fact, they were controlled by the Organization’s foreign-based leadership. After the Organization gained control over the Scheme DME Companies, it rapidly submitted billions of dollars in false and fraudulent health care claims to Medicare. The Organization did so by stealing the identities and personal identifying information of more than one million Americans in all 50 states, including elderly and disabled Americans.
The Organization submitted over $10.6 billion in fraudulent Medicare claims for DME. HHS-OIG and the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services successfully prevented the Organization from receiving the vast majority of the money that it conspired to steal from Medicare. The fraudulent scheme nonetheless resulted in payments to Scheme DME Companies from Medicare Supplemental Insurers estimated to be nearly $900 million and Medicare payments to the Scheme DME Companies of approximately $41 million.
As further alleged, the Organization exploited the U.S. financial system. The Organization leveraged U.S. financial institutions to deposit checks and transfer funds out of accounts. The health care fraud proceeds were particularly susceptible to laundering because they originated from legitimate sources—Medicare and Medicare Supplemental Insurers—giving the funds the initial appearance of legitimacy. The Organization deployed a range of tactics to circumvent the anti-money laundering controls at multiple financial institutions. To open financial accounts, the Organization armed its nominee owners, many of whom were not lawfully present in the United States, with false documentation reflecting that the nominee owners maintained beneficial ownership and control of the Scheme DME Companies for which they were attempting to open accounts and thereby disguised the true beneficial ownership and control of the entities and the accounts. Moreover, the use of the Scheme DME Companies’ names to open financial accounts allowed the Organization to benefit from the illusion of legitimate commercial activity within the health care market. Upon opening the financial accounts, the Organization funneled fraud proceeds from Medicare and Medicare Supplemental Insurers into the accounts as seemingly “clean” money. From there, the Organization siphoned off the funds to shell companies and various banks overseas, including banks in China, Singapore, Pakistan, Israel, and Turkey. To further conceal the money trail, the Organization leveraged cryptocurrency to launder the stolen funds.
The Organization constantly evolved, recruiting new nominee owners, stealing new identities, and acquiring new Scheme DME Companies to replace those shut down by law enforcement. This evolution was made possible through the Organization’s extensive use of virtual private servers (VPSs) to execute nearly all digital aspects of the scheme. The VPSs allowed the Organization to use a cyberinfrastructure that helped conceal conspirators’ true physical locations, mask Organization IP addresses, and scale fraudulent operations internationally.
Four defendants, Ilja Karunas, Juri Karunas, Erik Juergens, and Renek Tiku were arrested June 25, 2025 in Estonia on these charges, and the United States is seeking their extradition. The remaining seven defendants are at large.
To date, the government has seized approximately $27.7 million in fraud proceeds as part of Operation Gold Rush, subject to criminal forfeiture and civil forfeiture in a case filed in the District of Connecticut. The criminal case is being prosecuted by Strike Force Assistant Chiefs Kevin Lowell and Shankar Ramamurthy, and Strike Force Trial Attorneys Leonid Sandlar, Sara Porter, Andres Almendarez, Monica Cooper, Thomas Campbell, Danielle Sakowski, and Matthew Belz. Trial Attorneys Emily Cohen and Chelsea Rooney of the Money Laundering and Asset Recovery Section, and Assistant U.S. Attorney David C. Nelson of the District of Connecticut are handling civil forfeiture matters.
The United States thanks the Economic Crime Bureau of the National Criminal Police of the Estonian Police and Border Guard Board and the Office of the Prosecutor General for support with the investigation.
United States v. Mak: Hong Yuen Mak, also known as “Joe Mak,” waived indictment and pleaded guilty to an information charging him with conspiracy to offer and pay kickbacks in an alleged scheme to fraudulently bill Medicare over $1 million for over the counter (OTC) products. As alleged, Mak, a pharmacy owner, and his co-conspirators paid pharmacy customers with gift cards in exchange for charging the customers’ OTC cards for non-existent transactions. Assistant U.S. Attorney John Vagelatos is in charge of the prosecution.
United States v. Manaev: Boris Manaev is charged with health care fraud and unlawful monetary transactions in connection with an $8.2 million scheme. As alleged in the indictment, Manaev, the owner of BB Medical Equipment Inc., billed Medicare $8.2 million for medically unnecessary DME that was shipped nationwide. Hespent some of the proceeds of the fraud on improvements to his home. Trial Attorney Patrick J. Campbell of the Northeast Strike Force is in charge of the prosecution.
United States v. Huq: Mujjahid Huq is charged by indictment with three counts of health care fraud, two counts of unlawful monetary transactions, and conspiracy to make false statements in health care matters in connection with a $2.1 million pharmacy fraud scheme. As alleged in the indictment, Huq, a licensed pharmacist, owned several pharmacies in Brooklyn, Queens, and Buffalo, New York. Through these pharmacies, Huq billed Medicare and Medicaid $2.1 million for drugs that were not dispensed. Huq also allegedly agreed with others to make false statements about his ownership of the pharmacies, and used the fraud proceeds for his personal benefit. Trial Attorneys Patrick J. Campbell and Arun Bodapati of the Northeast Strike Force are in charge of the prosecution.
United States v. Brown-Arkah: Joseph Tony Brown-Arkah is charged with conspiracy to commit health care fraud, health care fraud, conspiracy to distribute narcotics, and narcotics distribution in connection with an alleged $85 million health care fraud and narcotics distribution scheme. As alleged in the superseding indictment, Brown-Arkah, the owner of a Suboxone clinic doing business as American Medical Centers (AMC), together with others, engaged in a scheme to bill Medicare and Medicaid fraudulently for services not provided or not provided as billed, and to prescribe narcotics pursuant to prescriptions that were not issued for a legitimate medical purpose by a provider acting in the usual course of professional practice. In particular, AMC patients received prescriptions for Suboxone (a Schedule III narcotic) after meeting with non-licensed medical providers, an excluded provider, or in some instances, no health care provider whatsoever. The prescriptions were written by a medical provider living in Florida, who did not see or speak with the patients; instead, the provider typically issued the prescriptions based on information provided by Brown-Arkah or another co-conspirator. AMC patients were also required to submit to urine drug screening, blood tests, and sometimes other diagnostic testing in order to receive their Suboxone prescriptions; the laboratory and diagnostic tests, which were typically ordered by Brown-Arkah or by a co-conspirator who had been excluded from Medicare and Medicaid, were likewise billed to Medicare and Medicaid. Trial Attorneys Miriam Glaser Dauermann of the National Rapid Response Strike Force and Maggie Mortimer of the Northeast Strike Force are in charge of the prosecution.The charges in the indictments and the information are allegations, and the defendants are presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.
The Defendants:
IMAM NAKHMATULLAEV
Age: 24
RussiaSVJATOSLAV JAKOVLEV
Age: 29
Estonia; New York, New YorkERIC JUERGENS
Age: 29
Estonia; Brooklyn, New YorkJAAN JUERGENS
Age: 32
Estonia; Brooklyn, New YorkILJA KARUNAS
Age: 26
EstoniaJURI KARUNAS
Age: 27
Estonia; Brooklyn, New YorkJASON ONOUFRIENKO
Age: 24
Plantation, FloridaRENEK TIKU
Age: 34
Estonia; Brooklyn, New YorkVLADISLAV TURASKIN
Age: 29
Estonia; Brooklyn, New YorkKEVIN VALDHANS
Age: 27
Czech RepublicVJATSESLAV ZOGOLEV
Age: 33
EstoniaE.D.N.Y. Docket No. 25-CR-203 (RPK)
HONG YUEN MAK (also known as “Joe Mak”)
Age: 40
Brooklyn, New YorkE.D.N.Y. Docket No. 25-CR-158 (DG)
JOSEPH TONY BROWN-ARKAH
Age: 78
Brooklyn, New YorkE.D.N.Y. Docket No: 24-CR-263 (FB)
BORIS MANAEV
Age: 45
Lynbrook, Long IslandE.D.N.Y. Docket No. 25-CR-202 (RER)
MUJJAHID HUQ
Age: 45
Halesite, New YorkE.D.N.Y. Docket No. 25-CR-213 (FB)
Serial Fraudster Sentenced to 18 Years in Prison for Swindling Investors out of $17 Million in Stock Manipulation and Money Laundering SchemesRead the Press Release
Earlier today, in federal court in Brooklyn, Richard Dale Sterritt, Jr., also known as “Richard Richman,” was sentenced to 18 years in prison by United States District Judge Kiyo A. Matsumoto for conspiracy to commit securities fraud and wire fraud, multiple counts of securities fraud, and conspiracy to commit money laundering. The charges relate to a scheme to defraud investors in Zona Energy, an oil and gas exploration company in Texas, and a scheme to manipulate stock in OrgHarvest, Inc., a publicly traded company that Sterritt controlled. In total, Sterritt raised approximately $17 million from investors and misappropriated most of the money. As part of the sentence, Sterritt was ordered to forfeit approximately $17 million in fraudulently obtained gains and pay approximately $16.3 million in restitution to his victims. Sterritt pleaded guilty to the charges in November 2023. Sterritt had previously been convicted on federal securities fraud charges and imprisoned for five years for his role in a nearly identical fraud scheme.
Joseph Nocella, Jr., United States Attorney for the Eastern District of New York, and Christopher G. Raia, Assistant Director in Charge, Federal Bureau of Investigation, New York Field Office (FBI), announced the sentence.
“For years, Richard Sterritt preyed on unsuspecting investors and betrayed their trust by spending their money on expensive cars, luxury goods, and high-end travel,” stated United States Attorney Nocella. “Today’s sentence punishes Sterritt for his crimes and protects the public from this serial fraudster. My Office is committed to protecting the investing public and the integrity of the markets from white-collar criminals like the defendant.”
Mr. Nocella thanked the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) for their invaluable assistance in the investigation.
“Despite his prior conviction for a similar conspiracy, Richard Sterritt once again facilitated the theft of more than $17 million from trusted investors and shareholders through misrepresentations while separately attempting to manipulate the stock of another company,” stated FBI Assistant Director in Charge Raia. “Sterritt's multiple attempts to defraud investors reflects his relentless pursuit to use others' money to fund his personal lifestyle and businesses. May today's sentencing emphasize the FBI's continued commitment to investigate any individual who manipulates our economic market to line their own pockets.”
The Zona Energy Scheme
Between March 2018 and January 2021, Sterritt and his co-defendants James Christopher Pittman, Mark Ross, and Robert Magness defrauded investors in an early-stage oil-and-gas company called Zona Energy. Sterritt used a series of sham entities and nominees to conceal his control of Zona Energy. Sterritt also concealed his criminal history from investors and potential investors by adopting the alias “Richard Richman.” The co-conspirators made a series of misrepresentations about Zona Energy’s business, management, and use of proceeds from the offering, ultimately raising approximately $17 million from investors. Sterritt and his co-conspirators misappropriated more than $10 million of the proceeds to purchase luxury items, pay personal expenses, or funnel funds into other businesses Sterritt controlled, including a cannabis company.
The ORGH Market Manipulation
To cover up the Zona Energy scheme, Sterritt, Ross, and Magness conspired with an undercover FBI agent (the “Undercover Agent”) posing as a corrupt stockbroker to manipulate the price and trading volume of publicly traded shares of stock in OrgHarvest, Inc., which traded under the stock ticker “ORGH.” Sterritt, who secretly controlled the majority of ORGH shares through trusts in the names of his associates, family members, and co-conspirators, agreed with the Undercover Agent to place matched trades at specific prices, volumes, and times to inflate the price of ORGH stock. Between approximately May 19, 2020 and May 28, 2020, the co-conspirators placed test matched trades at the pre-determined prices and volumes agreed to with the Undercover Agent. The ORGH Market Manipulation scheme was halted by regulators on June 1, 2020 before the co-conspirators could trade larger blocks of shares.
In addition, Sterritt and his co-defendants, including Michael Greer and Sterritt’s ex-wife Robyn Straza, laundered the proceeds of the schemes by facilitating financial transactions to conceal and promote the fraudulent schemes, including by transferring investor funds through a series of bank accounts controlled by the defendants. Furthermore, Sterritt obstructed the administration of justice when he directed co-conspirators to create fake and backdated documents and sent them to the SEC in response to subpoena requests.
All six defendants in the case have pleaded guilty. Straza was sentenced to 10 months in prison; Ross was sentenced to three months in prison; Greer, Magness, and James Christopher Pittman are awaiting sentencing.
The government’s case is being handled by the Office’s Business and Securities Fraud Section. Assistant United States Attorneys Sarah M. Evans, Nick M. Axelrod, and Jessica K. Weigel are in charge of the prosecution.
The Defendant:
RICHARD DALE STERRITT, JR. (also known as “Richard Richman”)
Age: 67
Residence: Garland, TexasCo-Defendants Who Previously Pleaded Guilty:
MICHAEL GREER
Age: 48
Dallas, TexasROBERT MAGNESS
Age: 54
New York, New YorkJAMES CHRISTOPHER PITTMAN
Age: 52
Dallas, TexasMARK ROSS
Age: 56
Parkland, FloridaROBYN STRAZA
Age: 61
Dallas, TexasE.D.N.Y. Docket No. 21-CR-193 (KAM)
Owners of Construction Company Charged with Defrauding the City of New York in Connection with over $13.5 Million of Public School RepairsRead the Press Release
Earlier today, in federal court in Brooklyn, a complaint was filed charging Dalip Singh and Gurnirmal Singh, the owners of TEMCO Construction NY, Inc., with conspiracy to commit wire fraud in a scheme to submit falsified payroll records to the New York City Department of Education (DOE) about the wages and benefits paid by TEMCO to employees performing repairs on New York City public schools. Dalip Singh and Gurnirmal Singh were arrested this morning and will make their initial appearance this afternoon before United States Magistrate Judge Cheryl L. Pollak.
Joseph Nocella, Jr., United States Attorney for the Eastern District of New York; Harry T. Chavis, Jr., Special Agent in Charge, Internal Revenue Service-Criminal Investigation, New York (IRS-CI); Michael Alfonso, Acting Special Agent in Charge, Homeland Security Investigations, New York (HSI New York); and Amy Connelly, Special Agent in Charge, Social Security Administration, Office of the Inspector General, Boston-New York Field Division (SSAOIG), announced the arrests and charges.
“As alleged, the defendants lied to the DOE about using undocumented workers, and deprived those workers—who toiled long days, school holidays, and weekends—of proper compensation they had earned, so that they could line their pockets and bank accounts on New York City’s tab,” stated United States Attorney Nocella. “My Office and our law enforcement partners will vigorously pursue employers who try to gain an unfair advantage over honest companies that follow the law and treat their workers fairly.”
Mr. Nocella expressed his appreciation to the DOE and the New York City Office of the Comptroller for their assistance.
“The Singhs allegedly laundered more than thirteen million dollars from the City of New York, underpaying their workers in cash and pocketing the difference. These two men took advantage of both the taxpayers and undocumented workers, then tried to destroy the evidence. It is clear that there was no regard for the rule of law, but after today, they will learn what justice is all about,” stated IRS-CI New York Special Agent in Charge Chavis.
“Today’s charges reflect our relentless pursuit of criminal businesses that undermine the viability of immigration systems, circumvent labor laws, and ultimately gain an unfair financial advantage in the national economy via the employment of illegal aliens,” stated HSI New York Acting Special Agent in Charge Alfonso. “The message is clear: if you exploit the unauthorized workforce for personal gain and undercut American jobs, HSI—along with our law enforcement partners—will hold you accountable.”
“These defendants broke the law by hiring illegal undocumented workers, exploited them by underpaying them and manipulating wage records to falsely inflate their own and their family members’ Social Security earnings,” stated Amy Connelly, Special Agent in Charge, SSA OIG, New York Field Division. “Their scheme defrauded federal programs that rely on accurate wage reporting. We thank our partners at the IRS and HSI New York for their collaboration in uncovering this fraud and holding the owners of TEMCO Construction NY accountable.”
From approximately December 2017 to April 2025, TEMCO maintained an office in Jamaica, New York. In April 2025, TEMCO moved its office to Hicksville, New York. According to the criminal complaint, between 2017 and 2025, Dalip Singh and Gurnirmal Singh, who are not related, hired undocumented aliens without legal authorization to work in the United States to provide masonry, scaffolding, and construction services at New York City public schools and DOE buildings (“DOE Worksites”) at below the prevailing wage required by New York State labor law and contracts with the DOE. Dalip Singh then submitted false certified payrolls to the DOE for work performed by TEMCO employees at DOE Worksites. These payroll certifications falsely listed relatives who did not actually work at the DOE Worksites, falsely omitted some undocumented workers who actually worked at the DOE Worksites, and falsely overstated the wages being paid to TEMCO’s workers.
Specifically, Dalip Singh falsely stated that TEMCO had paid its employees the prevailing wage when in fact, the employees had been paid far less, often in cash, or had their wages on other jobs lowered to offset the prevailing wages on the DOE work. The defendants pocketed the difference that their employees were underpaid.
As further alleged in the complaint, the defendants attempted to conceal their fraud, directing their workers to lie to New York City investigators about the wages they received. When Dalip Singh suspected that law enforcement agents were investigating, he directed his employees to conceal and destroy records.
The charges in the complaint are allegations and the defendants are presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty. If convicted of wire fraud, the defendants each face up to 20 years in prison.
This case is part of the U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of New York’s Transnational Criminal Organizations (TCOs) Strike Force. Capitalizing on the Office’s preeminence in this area, the Strike Force focuses on investigating, prosecuting and dismantling cartels and TCOs.
The government’s case is being handled by the Office’s Business and Securities Fraud Section. Assistant United States Attorney John Vagelatos is in charge of the prosecution.
The Defendant:
DALIP SINGH
Age: 67
East Meadow, Long IslandGURNIRMAL SINGH
Age: 64
Westbury, Long IslandE.D.N.Y. Docket No. 25-MJ-219
dalip_and_gurnirmal_complaint.pdfCo-Owner of Virtual Currency Companies Sentenced to 97 Months in Prison for Operating Crypto Ponzi SchemesRead the Press Release
Earlier today, in federal court in Brooklyn, Dwayne Golden was sentenced by United States District Judge William F. Kuntz, II to 97 months in prison for conspiracy to commit wire fraud and money laundering. The charges relate to a conspiracy to offer fraudulent investments in digital assets. Golden and his co-conspirators raised more than $40 million from investors based on false promises of guaranteed returns from trading in digital assets. In fact, the defendants’ businesses operated as Ponzi schemes and used the money to repay existing investors or to benefit themselves. After the schemes collapsed, Golden and co-defendants William White and Gregory Aggesen conspired to obstruct multiple federal investigations. As a part of his sentence, Golden was also ordered to forfeit approximately $2.46 million in ill-gotten gains. Restitution will be determined by the Court at a later date. Golden pleaded guilty in September 2024.
Joseph Nocella, Jr., United States Attorney for the Eastern District of New York, and Christopher G. Raia, Assistant Director in Charge, Federal Bureau of Investigation, New York Field Office (FBI), announced the sentence.
“Dwayne Golden and his co-conspirators took advantage of investor interest in exciting new technologies to perpetrate a fraud scheme that is as old as time, and to make millions of dollars for themselves in the process,” stated United States Attorney Nocella. “Golden and his co-defendants offered no legitimate services and none of the companies engaged in any actual trading in cryptocurrency as they claimed. My Office is committed to protecting the investing public and the integrity of the digital assets markets from fraudsters like the defendant, and we will be relentless in pursing justice for investors.”
Mr. Nocella thanked the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) for its invaluable assistance in the investigation.
“Alongside his co-conspirators, Dwayne Golden orchestrated an elaborate scheme rooted in deceit and false promises to swindle investors of more than $40 million. Johnson’s lack of candor misled both his clients and federal investigators, demonstrating an utter disregard for integrity to his company or adherence to the law,” stated FBI Assistant Director Raia. “May today’s sentencing reflect the FBI’s steadfast commitment to dismantling any sham company that steals from the pockets of unsuspecting victims.”
Between April 2017 and August 2017, Golden, co-defendants Gregory Aggesen, and Marquis Demacking Egerton, also known as “Mardy Eger,” together with others, operated a series of digital asset companies called EmpowerCoin, ECoinPlus, and Jet-Coin. EmpowerCoin, ECoinPlus, and Jet-Coin promised investors and potential investors guaranteed fixed returns on digital asset investments. They further fraudulently promised investors and potential investors that these returns were made possible through overseas digital asset trading operations. In reality, the assets were used to repay other investors or stolen by Golden, Aggesen, and Egerton, and the companies collapsed shortly after receiving the investors’ assets without the companies having engaged in trading activity. In total, during its period of operation, EmpowerCoin, ECoinPlus, and Jet-Coin received more than $40 million from investors.
From July 2017 to the March 2022, Golden, Aggesen and White conspired to obstruct a Federal Trade Commission (FTC) investigation and a federal criminal grand jury investigation into the fraudulent schemes. Golden, Aggesen, and White destroyed evidence, and White, on Aggesen’s behalf, provided false and misleading information to the FTC and in response to a federal grand jury subpoena.
If you were an EmpowerCoin.com, ECoinPlus.com and/or Jet-Coin.com investor, you may be entitled to restitution. To submit a claim for restitution, please visit http://fbi.gov/jetcoinscams.
The four defendants in the case have pleaded guilty. White was sentenced to 30 months in prison. Aggesen and Egerton are awaiting sentencing.
The government’s case is being handled by the Office’s Business and Securities Fraud Section. Assistant United States Attorneys Alixandra E. Smith, Catherine M. Mirabile and Nick M. Axelrod are in charge of the prosecution, with the assistance of Assistant United States Attorney Claire Kedeshian of the Office’s Asset Recovery Section, who is handling forfeiture matters.
The Defendants:
DWAYNE GOLDEN
Age: 57
Harrisburg, PennsylvaniaGREGORY AGGESEN
Age: 58
Standfordville, New YorkMARQUIS DEMACKING EGERTON (also known as “Mardy Eger”)
Age: 58
Washington, North CarolinaWILLIAM WHITE
Age: 54
Harrisburg, PennsylvaniaE.D.N.Y. Docket No. 22-CR-88 (S-1) (WFK)
International Arms Dealer Pleads Guilty to Conspiring to Export Firearms to RussiaRead the Press Release
Yesterday in federal court in Brooklyn, Sergei Zharnovnikov, 46, of Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit export violations. The defendant exported firearms and ammunition worth over $1.5 million from the United States to Russia, in violation of U.S. law. When sentenced, Zharnovnikov faces up to 20 years in prison.
“By his own admission, Zharnovnikov willfully violated U.S. export controls to smuggle American-made firearms into Russia,” said Assistant Attorney General for National Security John A. Eisenberg. “The National Security Division will continue to work closely with our law enforcement partners to disrupt illicit arms networks and prosecute those who illegally transfer U.S. weaponry abroad.”
“The defendant admitted that he purchased American-made, military-grade firearms and re-exported them to Russia,” said U.S. Attorney Joseph Nocella for the Eastern District of New York. “Today’s guilty plea is the culmination of extensive investigative work, showing that this office will not allow merchants of lethal weapons and Russia to flout U.S. sanctions.”
According to court filings and statements made during the plea proceeding, the defendant is the owner of an arms dealer located in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan (Kyrgyzstan Company-1). Since at least March 2020, the defendant, together with others, has conspired to export firearms controlled by the U.S. Department of Commerce from the United States to Russia. The defendant exported $1,582,836.52 worth of U.S.-manufactured firearms and ammunition from the United States to Russia without the required licenses from the Department of Commerce. In one transaction, he entered into a five‑year, $900,000 contract with a company in the United States (U.S. Company‑1) to purchase and export U.S. Company-1 firearms to Kyrgyzstan. The Department of Commerce issued a license for U.S. Company-1 to export firearms to Kyrgyzstan Company-1. The license, however, explicitly prohibited the export or re-export of the firearms to Russia. Nevertheless, the defendant exported and re-exported U.S. Company‑1 firearms, including semi‑automatic hybrid rifle-pistols, to Russia via Kyrgyzstan without the necessary approvals.
According to an export filing, in connection with the defendant’s contract with U.S. Company-1, U.S. Company-1 exported semi-automatic rifles from John F. Kennedy International Airport to Kyrgyzstan Company-1 on or about July 10, 2022. On or about Nov. 14, 2022, the General Director of a Russian company — a client of the defendant — executed a tax form listing the same semi‑automatic rifle‑pistols that U.S. Company‑1 had exported to Kyrgyzstan Company‑1, the defendant’s company. The defendant did not apply for, obtain, or possess a license to export or re-export the semi‑automatic pistol-rifles to Russia.
Zharnovnikov traveled from Kyrgyzstan to the United States on or about Jan. 18, 2025. The defendant traveled to Las Vegas, where he attended the Shooting, Hunting, and Outdoor Trade (SHOT) Show to meet with U.S. arms dealers.
The FBI New York Field Office and Department of Commerce Bureau of Industry and Security Office of Export Enforcement are investigating the case.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Ellen H. Sise for the Eastern District of New York and Trial Attorney Leslie Esbrook of the National Security Division’s Counterintelligence and Export Control Section are prosecuting the case, with assistance from Litigation Analyst Rebecca Roth of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of New York.
Fraudster Sentenced to 30 Months in Prison for Stealing Homeless Victims’ Identities and Using Them to Apply for Unemployment BenefitsRead the Press Release
Earlier today, in federal court in Brooklyn, Marc Lazarre was sentenced by United States District Judge Kiyo A. Matsumoto to a prison term of 30 months for conspiracy to commit wire fraud and aggravated identity theft as part of a scheme to steal the personal identifying information of homeless individuals and to use that stolen information to fraudulently apply for unemployment insurance benefits.
Joseph Nocella, Jr., United States Attorney for the Eastern District of New York; Christopher G. Raia, Assistant Director in Charge, Federal Bureau of Investigation, New York Field Office (FBI); and Jocelyn E. Strauber, Commissioner, New York City Department of Investigation (DOI), announced the sentence.
“The defendant exploited his relationship with a corrupt city employee to access vulnerable homeless victims’ personal identifying information in an attempt to defraud a state agency,” stated United States Attorney Nocella. “Exploiting positions of power for personal financial gain—or conspiring with public employees who abuse their positions of public trust—will be vigorously investigated and prosecuted.”
“With the assistance of a corrupt city employee, Marc Lazarre misused restricted information to fraudulently obtain unemployment benefits using stolen identities of homeless individuals. This conspiracy not only violated and exploited a vulnerable population’s privacy, but also deprived these victims of vital financial benefits. The FBI is committed to disrupting all corrupt schemes that target our city’s financial assistance programs and profit at the expense of defenseless victims,” stated FBI Assistant Director in Charge Raia.
DOI Commissioner Jocelyn E. Strauber stated: “This defendant participated in a fraudulent scheme to unlawfully obtain the personal information of homeless New Yorkers and steal public benefits to which he was not entitled and today he faces the consequences of his conduct. I thank the United States Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of New York and the FBI for their continued partnership in protecting public funds and holding accountable those who drain critical resources intended for New York’s most vulnerable.”
In the fall of 2020, Lazarre conspired with co-defendant Olabanji Otufale, a fraud investigator with the New York City Department of Homeless Services, to steal the personal identifying information of homeless individuals and to use that stolen information to fraudulently apply for unemployment insurance benefits in the names of those homeless individuals without their knowledge or consent.
Otufale used his access to a Department of Homeless Services database to commit fraud. He stole the personal identifying information—names, social security numbers, and dates of birth—of vulnerable victims who had given that personal information to the Department of Homeless Services when they applied for social services. Otufale then texted this information to Lazarre, who applied online for unemployment benefits in the names of the homeless victims. Otufale was previously sentenced by Judge Matsumoto to 27 months’ imprisonment.
The government’s case is being handled by the Office’s Public Integrity Section. Assistant United States Attorneys Sara K. Winik, Laura Zuckerwise, and Katherine P. Onyshko are in charge of the prosecution.
The Defendant:
Marc Lazarre
Age: 40
Secaucus, New JerseyDefendant Previously Sentenced:
Olabanji Otufale
Age: 42
Brooklyn, New YorkE.D.N.Y. Docket No. 24-CR-170 (KAM)
Former High-Ranking New York State Government Employee and her Husband Charged with Accepting Kickbacks in PPE Fraud SchemeRead the Press Release
BROOKLYN, NY – A federal grand jury in Brooklyn yesterday returned a second superseding indictment that added charges against Linda Sun and her husband and co-defendant Chris Hu related to a fraudulent scheme involving procurement of personal protective equipment (PPE) by the New York State (NYS) government at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. As part of the scheme, Sun steered contracts to vendors with whom she had undisclosed personal connections, and she and Hu received millions of dollars from the vendors, including some in the form of kickbacks, which Sun did not disclose to the NYS government. The new charges against Sun and Hu include honest services wire fraud, honest services wire fraud conspiracy, bribery, and conspiracy to defraud the United States. Additionally, Hu is charged with tax evasion. The defendants will be arraigned on Monday, June 30, 2025.
Joseph Nocella, Jr., United States Attorney for the Eastern District of New York; Christopher G. Raia, Assistant Director in Charge, Federal Bureau of Investigation, New York Field Office (FBI); and Harry T. Chavis, Jr., Special Agent in Charge, Internal Revenue Service-Criminal Investigation (IRS-CI New York), announced the new charges.
“As alleged, Linda Sun not only acted as unregistered agent of the government of the People’s Republic of China, but also enriched herself to the tune of millions of dollars when New York State was at its most vulnerable at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic,” stated United States Attorney Nocella. “When masks, gloves, and other protective supplies were hard to find, Sun abused her position of trust to steer contracts to her associates so that she and her husband could share in the profits. We demand better from our public servants, and this Office will continue to hold accountable public officials who enrich themselves at the expense of the New York taxpayers.”
Mr. Nocella expressed his appreciation to the Department of Justice’s National Security Division, the New York State Office of the Inspector General, the New York State Police, and the U.S. Department of State’s Diplomatic Security Service (DSS) for their work on the case. He also thanked the New York State Executive Chamber for its cooperation with the investigation.
“During a global pandemic, Linda Sun allegedly leveraged her authority within the New York State government to secretly steer contracts to selective PPE vendors in exchange for millions of dollars in kickbacks to her and her husband,” stated FBI Assistant Director in Charge Raia. “This alleged scheme not only created an unearned and undisclosed benefit for the defendants and their relatives, but it also exploited the state's critical need for resources in a health crisis. The FBI will never tolerate any public official who abuses their position to profit at the expense of others, especially when their objectives align with foreign agendas.”
“Not only did Sun allegedly use Chinese money and her influence in New York State to benefit the Chinese government, it is further alleged that she used her position to steer multi-million-dollar contracts to companies controlled by family members and friends. With this investigation, this husband-and-wife team with supposed ties to corruption has been rooted out, and they will soon understand that in legitimate government spending, there is no friends and family discount,” stated IRS-CI New York Special Agent in Charge Chavis.
As alleged in the superseding indictment, at the outset of the COVID-19 pandemic and while working with the team of NYS government employees responsible for obtaining PPE, Sun used her position of influence with the government of the People’s Republic of China (PRC) to coordinate the NYS government’s purchase of PPE from vendors located in the PRC. In addition to certain vendors referred by the PRC government, Sun referred two vendors (the Cousin Company and the Associate Company) that were not recommended by the PRC government but rather had ties to Sun and Hu, while claiming falsely that these, too, were referrals from components of the PRC government. In reality, the Cousin Company was operated by one of Sun’s second cousins, and the Associate Company was operated by Hu and one of Hu’s business associates. With Sun’s assistance, the Cousin Company and the Associate Company each entered into multiple contracts with the NYS government worth millions of dollars apiece.
Sun, the Associate Company, and the Cousin Company did not disclose to the NYS government (1) the fact that Sun and Hu had relationships with the Associate Company and the Cousin Company, or (2) that Sun and Hu received a portion of the profits that the Associate Company and the Cousin Company made as a result of their contracts with the NYS government for PPE, including through kickback payments from the Cousin Company.
To conceal her relationship with the Cousin Company from procurement authorities at the NYS government, Sun falsified a document to suggest that the Jiangsu Department of Commerce had recommended the Cousin Company. On or about March 20, 2020, Sun and other NYS government officials received an email from the U.S. representative to the Jiangsu Trade & Business Representative Office in Albany, New York suggesting four PRC-based vendors who were able to provide PPE for the NYS government. On or about March 21, 2020, Sun forwarded herself an altered version of the email in which she replaced the first suggested vendor—a vendor that produced ventilators—with the Cousin Company and wrote that the Cousin Company was recommended by the Jiangsu Department of Commerce.
On or about March 24, 2020, in an email with the subject line “Already VERIFIED by Linda Sun,” Sun wrote to NYS procurement officials that the Cousin Company “came recommended by Jiangsu Chamber of Commerce,” that the representative had helped “screen potential vendors,” and that the Cousin Company’s surgical mask was the “gold standard.” Below Sun’s message was what purported to be quoted text from the Jiangsu Chamber of Commerce’s email recommending vendors. However, the email in the quoted text was the altered email.
In connection with the Cousin Company contracts with the NYS government, a spreadsheet maintained on Sun and Hu’s personal computer indicated that the Cousin provided payments to Hu (and Sun) totaling approximately $2.3 million during 2020 and 2021. These kickbacks from the Cousin Company represented taxable income. Hu did not report these payments as income to the U.S. government, as required, or pay taxes on this income in Forms 1040 for 2020 and 2021 that he filed on behalf of himself and Sun.
In part, Hu laundered the income from the Cousin Company by having the Cousin make $1.5 million in payments in three $500,000 increments from another entity that the Cousin owned (the Cousin Entity) to U.S. accounts at a financial institution. Hu created these accounts in a close relative’s name instead of his own on April 29, 2020, two days before the final $6 million payment from NYS government to the Cousin Company.
Sun also arranged for the Associate Company to be a vendor for NYS government contracts. On March 14, 2020, Sun wrote an email with the subject “Mask suppliers” to other members of the NYS government PPE task force with procurement authority and listed the Associate Company as a potential supplier. Sun subsequently communicated with the Associate Company by email to obtain a price quote for the contract and provided a status update to the NYS government about the contracts with the Associate Company.
A computer owned by the defendants contained a NYS internal document tracking various state PPE contracts, broken out by vendor. One of the fields in the document contained, for each company, an answer to the question “why did we do business with this vendor?” For the Associate Company, the answer to the question was listed as: “referred by Chinese chamber of commerce.” However, there was no such referral for the Associate Company.
According to a spreadsheet found in one of Hu’s electronic accounts, the total profits Hu expected to reap from the contracts that the Associate Company and the Cousin Company had with the NYS Department of Health totaled $8,029,741. Hu marked the column for these expected profits with the word “me.”
The new charges are in addition to the existing charges against Sun, which include violating and conspiring to violate the Foreign Agents Registration Act, visa fraud, alien smuggling, and money laundering, and the existing charges against Hu, which include money laundering conspiracy, money laundering, as well as conspiracy to commit bank fraud and misuse of means of identification. The charges in the superseding indictment are allegations and the defendants are presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.
The government’s case is being handled by the Office’s National Security and Cybercrime Section. Assistant United States Attorneys Alexander A. Solomon, Robert M. Pollack, and Amanda Shami are in charge of the prosecution, with the assistance of Trial Attorney Eli Ross from the National Security Division’s Counterintelligence and Export Control Section and Litigation Analyst Emma Tavangari. Assistant U.S. Attorney Laura Mantell of the Office’s Asset Recovery Section is handling forfeiture matters.
The Defendants:
LINDA SUN, also known as “Wen Sun,” “Ling Da Sun,” and “Linda Hu”
Age: 41
Manhasset, New YorkCHRIS HU
Age: 40
Manhasset, New YorkE.D.N.Y. Docket No. 24-CR-346 (S-2) (BMC)
linda_sun_chris_hu_s-2_indictment.pdfInternational Arms Dealer Pleads Guilty to Conspiring to Export Firearms to RussiaRead the Press Release
Earlier today in federal court in Brooklyn, Kyrgyz national Sergei Zharnovnikov pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit export violations. The defendant exported firearms and ammunition worth over $1.5 million from the United States to Russia, in violation of U.S. law. When sentenced, Zharnovnikov faces up to 20 years in prison.
Joseph Nocella, Jr., United States Attorney for the Eastern District of New York; John Eisenberg, Assistant Attorney General for the Justice Department’s National Security Division; Christopher G. Raia, Assistant Director in Charge, Federal Bureau of Investigation, New York Field Office (FBI); and Jonathan Carson, Special Agent in Charge, U.S. Department of Commerce, Bureau of Industry and Security, Office of Export Enforcement, New York Field Office (BIS-OEE), announced the guilty plea.
“The defendant admitted that he purchased American-made, military-grade firearms and re-exported them to Russia,” stated United States Attorney Nocella. “Today’s guilty plea is the culmination of extensive investigative work, showing that this Office will not allow merchants of lethal weapons to flout U.S. sanctions.”
“By his own admission, Zharnovnikov willfully violated U.S. export controls to smuggle American-made firearms into Russia,” stated Assistant Attorney General for National Security Eisenberg. “The National Security Division will continue to work closely with our law enforcement partners to disrupt illicit arms networks and prosecute those who illegally transfer U.S. weaponry abroad.”
“Sergei Zharnovnikov admitted to violating export control laws by exporting US semi-automatic firearms to Russia via Kyrgyzstan. Schemes designed to evade export laws are not only illegal but also endanger our country’s security. The FBI along with our partners will continue our efforts to defend the homeland by bringing to justice any criminal attempting to evade the laws enacted to protect our national security,” stated FBI Assistant Director in Charge Raia.
According to court filings and statements made during the plea proceeding, the defendant is the owner of an arms dealer located in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan (Kyrgyzstan Company-1). Since at least March 2020, the defendant, together with others, has conspired to export firearms controlled by the United States Department of Commerce (DOC) from the United States to Russia. The defendant exported $1,582,836.52 worth of U.S.-manufactured firearms and ammunition from the United States to Russia. In one transaction, he entered into a five‑year, $900,000 contract with a company in the United States (U.S. Company‑1) to purchase and export U.S. Company-1 firearms to Kyrgyzstan. DOC issued a license for U.S. Company-1 to export firearms to Kyrgyzstan Company-1, but the license prohibited the export or re-export of the firearms to Russia. Nevertheless, the defendant exported and re-exported U.S. Company‑1 firearms to Russia (via Kyrgyzstan), including semi‑automatic hybrid rifle-pistols from U.S. Company-1.
According to an export filing, U.S. Company-1 exported semi-automatic rifles from John F. Kennedy International Airport to Kyrgyzstan Company-1 on or about July 10, 2022. On or about November 14, 2022, the General Director of a Russian company that is a client of the defendant executed a tax form listing the same semi‑automatic rifle‑pistols that U.S. Company‑1 had exported to Kyrgyzstan Company‑1, the defendant’s company. The defendant did not apply for, obtain, or possess a license to export or re-export the semi‑automatic pistol-rifles to Russia.
The government’s case is being handled by the Office’s National Security and Cybercrime Section. Assistant United States Attorney Ellen H. Sise is in charge of the prosecution, along with Trial Attorney Leslie Esbrook of the National Security Division’s Counterintelligence and Export Control Section, with assistance from Litigation Analyst Rebecca Roth.
The Defendant:
SERGEI ZHARNOVNIKOV
AGE: 47
Bishkek, KyrgyzstanE.D.N.Y. Docket No. 25-CR-45 (HG)
Five MS-13 Gang Members Indicted for a Murder in Kings Park and a Related Murder ConspiracyRead the Press Release
Earlier today in Central Islip, an indictment was unsealed in federal court charging five members of the violent transnational criminal organization La Mara Salvatrucha, also known as the “MS-13,” with multiple racketeering offenses in connection with two murders—the October 28, 2023 murder of Yoneli Ramos-Moreno at the Sunken Meadow Bluff in Kings Park, New York, and the March 3, 2025 murder of Carlos Lopez-Lopez in Blue Point, New York—and with other charges including murder, conspiracy to commit murder, and narcotics trafficking conspiracy (the Indictment). The five defendants are David Orellana-Aleman, also known as “Tenebroso” (Orellana-Aleman), who is a leader in the Hollywood Locos Salvatruchas (Hollywood) subgroup or “clique” of the MS-13; Noel Portillo-Romero, also known as “Discreto” (Portillo-Romero), a member of the Carlington Locos Salvatruchas clique of the MS-13 (Carlington); Cruz Eduardo Sanchez-Gutierrez, also known as “Escriper,” “Poison,” and “Bellaco” (Sanchez-Gutierrez), a member of the Hollywood clique; Ernesto Torres-Hernandez, also known as “Perverso” (Torres-Hernandez), a member of the Carlington clique; and Omar Zavala-Ventura, also known as “Snyder,” “Little Ejecutor,” “Pequeno Ejecutor,” and “Liro” (Zavala-Ventura), a member of the Hollywood clique.
Portillo-Romero, Sanchez-Gutierrez and Torres-Hernandez were arrested yesterday, and they are scheduled to be arraigned this afternoon before United States District Judge Gary R. Brown. Orellana-Aleman is currently in the custody of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (“ICE”), and Zavala-Ventura is currently in federal custody. They will be arraigned at a later date.
Joseph Nocella, Jr., United States Attorney for the Eastern District of New York; Michael Alfonso, Acting Special Agent in Charge, Homeland Security Investigations, New York (HSI New York); Kevin Catalina, Commissioner, Suffolk County Police Department (SCPD); Raymond A. Tierney, Suffolk County District Attorney; and Steven G. James, Superintendent, New York State Police (NYSP), announced the arrests and charges.
“The legal terms in the Indictment cannot adequately describe the sheer savagery with which the defendants, in service to the MS-13 gang, beat, strangled, and murdered Ramos-Moreno, and plotted to murder Lopez-Lopez,” stated United States Attorney Nocella. “The charges in the indictment demonstrate my Office and our law enforcement partners’ resolve to hold vicious transnational organized crime groups like MS-13 accountable for their crimes and continue the mission to eradicate them from Long Island.”
Mr. Nocella expressed his appreciation to the Federal Bureau of Investigation, U.S. Customs and Border Protection, the Suffolk County Sheriff’s Office, the New York City Police Department, the Glen Cove Police Department, and U.S. Customs and Immigration Enforcement, Enforcement and Removal Operations for their valuable assistance and partnership in this case.
“These violent gang members, allegedly involved in murder and poisoning our communities through the sale of drugs, pose a serious threat to our communities that we will not tolerate,” stated HSI New York Acting Special Agent in Alfonso. “MS-13 gang members committing such vile acts, as outlined in this indictment, represent the 'worst of the worst' among criminal aliens. HSI is dedicated to disrupting and dismantling these foreign terrorist organizations that threaten our communities and national security.”
“The indictment of these five individuals connected to the brutal executions of two people—all because they were viewed as disloyal—is a clear demonstration of our commitment to hold these defendants accountable,” stated SCPD Commissioner Catalina. “The violence carried out by MS-13 reaches barbaric proportions and we will continue to collaborate with our law enforcement partners to put an end to this transnational gang’s reign of terror.”
“I thank the U.S. Attorney’s Office EDNY for their leadership in working together with their local partners to investigate and charge these alleged members of the MS-13 gang. Meaningful collaboration between all levels of law enforcement is always vital to safeguard public safety, but never more so then when you are investigating alleged crimes committed by members and associates of violent transnational gangs such as the MS-13,” stated Suffolk County District Attorney Tierney.
“Precise coordination, excellent police work and investigative persistence at all levels was key in bringing these murderers to justice. I commend each agency involved for their tireless efforts and invaluable partnership. The New York State Police remains committed to keeping our communities safe from dangerous criminals and the violence that they perpetuate,” stated NYSP Superintendent James.
As alleged in the Indictment, the defendants participated in the murder of Ramos-Moreno, a former associate of the MS-13, who was targeted by the gang because he was suspected of being disloyal, and specifically by associating with the rival Latin Kings. Ramos-Moreno was first lured to a parking lot in Hauppauge and then driven to the Sunken Meadow Bluff where he was strangled with a rope and beaten to death. The gang members dragged his body deeper into the woods and left the area. Later, the defendants burned the rope used to kill Ramos-Moreno and destroyed his cellular phone.
Three of the defendants, Portillo-Romero, Torres-Hernandez, and Zavala-Ventura, have also been charged with a conspiracy to murder Carlos Lopez-Lopez, who was stabbed to death and drowned after being attacked on the beach in Blue Point, New York. The victim, a former member of the MS-13 who also participated in the Ramos-Moreno murder, was targeted because the MS-13 members believed that he was cooperating with law enforcement.
Finally, the Indictment charges the defendants with conspiring to distribute cocaine and marijuana. These charges stem from the MS-13 cliques’ street-level sales of cocaine and marijuana on Long Island, the proceeds of which were used to help finance the MS-13’s criminal operations, including purchasing firearms, ammunition, and other weapons, and sending money to MS-13 leadership in the United States and Central America.
The Indictment is the latest in a series of federal prosecutions by the United States Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of New York targeting members of the MS-13, a violent transnational criminal organization. The MS-13 is comprised primarily of immigrants from Central America, and it has leaders in El Salvador, Honduras, Mexico, and the United States, with thousands of members all over the world. With numerous branches, or “cliques,” the MS-13 is the most violent criminal organization on Long Island. Since 2003, hundreds of MS-13 members, including dozens of clique leaders, have been convicted on federal felony charges in the Eastern District of New York. A majority of those MS-13 members have been convicted on federal racketeering charges for participating in murders, attempted murders and assaults. Since 2010 alone, this Office has obtained indictments charging MS-13 members with carrying out more than 75 murders in the Eastern District of New York, and it has convicted dozens of MS-13 leaders and members in connection with those murders. These prosecutions are the product of extensive collaboration with numerous law enforcement agencies, including HSI, FBI, and our local and state partners.
The charges in the Indictment are allegations, and the defendants are presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty. If convicted, each of the defendants faces up to life in prison, or the possibility of the death penalty.
This case is part of Operation Take Back America, a Department of Justice initiative aimed at eradicating transnational criminal organizations, combating violent crime, and restoring the rule of law.
The government’s case is being handled by the Criminal Section of the Office’s Long Island Division. Assistant United States Attorneys Megan E. Farrell, Paul G. Scotti, and Justina L. Geraci are in charge of the prosecution.
The Defendants:David Orellana-Aleman (also known as “Tenebroso”)
Age: 27
Hyattsville, MarylandNoel Portillo-Romero (also known as “Discreto”)
Age: 27
Hempstead, New York and Central Islip, New YorkCruz Eduardo Sanchez-Gutierrez (also known as “Escriper,” “Poison,” and “Bellaco”)
Age: 29
Glen Cove, New York and Central Islip, New YorkErnesto Torres-Hernandez (also known as “Perverso”)
Age: 26
Port Jefferson, New York and Central Islip, New YorkOmar Zavala-Ventura (also known as “Snyder,” “Little Ejecutor,” “Pequeno Ejecutor,” and “Liro”)
Age: 27
Glen Cove, New YorkE.D.N.Y. Docket No. 25-CR-209 (GRB)
25cr209_orellana_aleman_et_al_indictment.pdfLong Island Child Therapist Pleads Guilty to Distribution of Child PornographyRead the Press Release
Earlier today, in federal court in Central Islip, Renee Hoberman, also known as “Rina,” a licensed social worker, pleaded guilty to receipt and distribution of child pornography. The proceeding was held before United States District Judge Joanna Seybert. When sentenced, Hoberman faces a minimum sentence of five years’ imprisonment, and up to 20 years in prison.
Joseph Nocella, Jr., United States Attorney for the Eastern District of New York; Michael Alfonso, Acting Special Agent in Charge, Homeland Security Investigations, New York (HSI); and Patrick Ryder, Commissioner, Nassau County Police Department, announced the guilty plea.
“The defendant, a licensed social worker, admitted to distributing extremely vile and unthinkable videos depicting the horrific sexual abuse of babies. The videos the defendant distributed and sought for her own perverse pleasure showed the most innocent members of our society being restrained and violently raped,” stated United States Attorney Nocella. “The defendant’s crimes should outrage and offend every decent member of our society. My Office will relentlessly pursue predators like this defendant who victimize those who often cannot speak for themselves. We will work tirelessly to ensure that those who harm children and perpetuate the plague of child sexual abuse and child pornography are held accountable to the fullest extent of the law.”
Mr. Nocella expressed his appreciation to HSI and the Nassau County Police Department for their work on the case.
As set forth in court filings and on the record at today’s plea proceeding, Hoberman admitted to using encrypted social media messaging applications to upload, receive, and trade digital videos and images depicting minors engaging in sexually explicit conduct, including several videos of infants six months to one year of age being physically restrained and raped by an adult male as the infants cried and frantically screamed for the duration of the videos. The defendant also engaged in multiple online “chats” concerning child sexual molestation. In these chats, the defendant, posing as the father of several minor children, claimed to have sex with the children and punish them by getting naked, stripping the children naked, and spanking them while the other children watched. The defendant invited another user to visit “his” family in New York to spank and sexually abuse the children. In addition, the defendant described sexually abusing “his” children and their friends, and then uploaded and sent two videos containing child sexual abuse material, claiming that these videos depicted the defendant’s own children.
According to public records and as alleged in court documents, during the same time period that Hoberman was distributing child sexual abuse material online, she was also working as a therapist with an organization based in Melville, New York, which serves children up to the age of 17.
This prosecution is part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse. Led by United States Attorneys’ Offices, Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state, and local resources to better locate, apprehend, and prosecute individuals who exploit children via the Internet, as well as to identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit https://www.justice.gov/psc.
Anyone with information about sexual exploitation by the defendant is asked to contact HSI’s tip line: 1-877-4-HSI-TIP or website: https://www.ice.gov/webform/ice-tip-form.
The government’s case is being handled by the Criminal Section of the Office’s Long Island Division. Assistant United States Attorney Kaitlin McTague is in charge of the prosecution, with assistance from Paralegal Specialist Janelle Robinson.
The Defendant:
RENEE HOBERMAN (also known as “Rina”)
Age: 37
Plainview, Long IslandE.D.N.Y. Docket No. 24-CR-463 (JS)
Eight Members and Associates of the Transnational 18th Street Gang Charged with Racketeering Crimes in QueensRead the Press Release
Earlier today in federal court in Brooklyn, an indictment was unsealed charging eight members and associates of the 18th Street gang, a violent transnational criminal organization, with serious crimes. Six defendants are charged with racketeering conspiracy, including predicate acts involving narcotics and firearms trafficking, production and sale of fraudulent identification documents, and extortion. Seven defendants are also charged with assaults in aid of racketeering. One defendant is charged with being an alien in possession of a 9mm semiautomatic pistol and ammunition.
Seven defendants were taken into custody in New York City and are scheduled to be arraigned this afternoon before United States Magistrate Judge Cheryl M. Pollak. Another defendant, currently in custody on separate criminal charges, is expected to be arraigned tomorrow.
Joseph Nocella, Jr., United States Attorney for the Eastern District of New York; Christopher G. Raia, Assistant Director in Charge, Federal Bureau of Investigation, New York Field Office (FBI); Jessica S. Tisch, Commissioner, New York City Police Department (NYPD); and Melinda Katz, Queens District Attorney, announced the arrests and charges.
“This indictment represents a significant step in our ongoing effort to dismantle violent gang networks in our communities,” stated United States Attorney Nocella. “The 18th Street gang exploited a Queens neighborhood as a hub for violence and illicit activity. Today’s arrests show the community that my Office and our law enforcement partners are working tirelessly to put these violent criminals behind bars.”
Mr. Nocella expressed his appreciation to the Queens County District Attorney’s Office, the FBI New York Metro Safe Streets Task Force, the Department of Labor Office of the Inspector General – New York Office, the United States Secret Service, and the Department of Homeland Security, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Enforcement and Removal Operations, New York City Field Office, for their invaluable assistance with the case.
“These violent members and associates of the 18th Street gang allegedly relied on violence—including assault of innocent civilians and rival gang members—to exert and maintain control over a busy commercial corridor along Roosevelt Avenue in Jackson Heights, Queens. Those arrested today acted and behaved with callous and cruel disregard for those around them. Our actions today represent yet another example of the FBI’s commitment to crushing the violent transnational gangs plaguing our communities,” stated FBI Assistant Director in Charge Raia.
“The defendants in this case are accused of unleashing terror onto Queens communities through brutal assaults, extortion, fraud, and drug trafficking—all in furtherance of the 18th Street gang’s agenda. Every resident deserves to feel safe walking down the street, without having to worry about gang violence. My office will continue to combat violent criminal enterprises and assist partner investigations to dismantle gangs as they try to establish themselves in our neighborhoods, stated Queens District Attorney Katz. “We thank the U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of New York, the FBI and the NYPD for their hard work in this case.”
As alleged in the indictment and other court filings, the 18th Street gang is a violent transnational criminal organization with members and associates throughout the United States and Central America. The gang is divided into several “cliques.” The defendants are members and associates of the “54 Tiny Locos” clique, which controls a busy commercial corridor along Roosevelt Avenue in Jackson Heights, Queens. For years, 18th Street has maintained control over this area through violence, including assaults on perceived rival gang members that often result in harm to innocent civilians. The gang financed its operations through drug-dealing and various other crimes, including trafficking in fraudulent identification documents and counterfeit currency. The gang’s production and sale of fraudulent documents—including fake passports, permanent resident cards, Social Security cards, driver’s licenses, and Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) cards—was a primary driver of income for its members and associates. Members of 18th Street, including the defendants, also committed extortion by charging “rent” to other illicit businesses operating in the area, including unregulated brothels.
Certain of the defendants are also charged in connection with three assaults in-aid-of racketeering in Queens, New York, that wounded four individuals.
The December 2021 Assault
As alleged, on December 31, 2021, members of 18th Street, including Bonilla Ramos, Ramirez, and a co-conspirator, assaulted two victims, including John Doe #1, outside of a bar in Queens, New York, after asking if they were in a gang. The defendants violently beat both John Doe #1 and his friend, including twice smashing John Doe #1’s head with a glass bottle of tequila, leaving him with severe lacerations to his face and nerve damage.
The January 2022 Assault
As alleged, on January 15, 2022, members of 18th Street attacked two victims, John Doe #2 and John Doe #3, outside a bar in Queens, New York. A co-conspirator stabbed John Doe #2 while two other defendants held him in place. John Doe #2 sustained serious injuries, including injuries to his lung. The defendants then attacked a second victim, John Doe #3, with large wooden planks, causing lacerations that required sutures. The serious injuries to John Doe #2, the victim who was stabbed, were reflected in the blood left behind after the assault.
The June 2024 Assault
As alleged, on June 20, 2024, members of 18th Street attacked a victim, John Doe #4, who they believed was a rival gang member, in a parking lot in Queens, New York. The assailants, including certain of the defendants, beat John Doe #4 with a bike lock and a metal chair, among other things. John Doe #4 received medical care for lacerations to his head, which required sutures.
The charges announced today are allegations, and the defendants are presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.
The case is part of Operation Take Back America, a Department of Justice initiative aimed at eradicating transnational criminal organizations, combating violent crime, and restoring the rule of law.
This prosecution also is part of an Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces (OCDETF) operation. OCDETF targets the highest-level criminal organizations threatening the U.S., using a prosecutor-led, intelligence-driven, multi-agency approach. More info is available here: www.justice.gov/OCDETF.
The government’s case is being handled by the Office’s Organized Crime and Gang Section. Assistant United States Attorneys Lauren A. Bowman, Andy Palacio, and Kamil R. Ammari are in charge of the prosecution.
The Defendants:
FELIX BONILLA RAMOS (also known as “Chabelo” and “Ferras”)
Age: 36
Corona, New YorkURIEL LOPEZ (also known as “Tanke”)
Age: 30
Jackson Heights, New YorkREFUGIO MARTINEZ (also known as “Cuco”)
Age: 32
Elmhurst, New YorkMARGARITO ORTEGA (also known as “Pinocchio”)
Age: 38
Elmhurst, New YorkORLANDO RAMIREZ (also known as “Niñote”)
Age: 24
Elmhurst, New YorkGERMAN RODRIGUEZ (also known as “Loco”)
Age: 34
Woodhaven, New YorkDAVID VASQUEZ CORONA (also known as “Teba”)
Age: 29
Elmhurst, New YorkMARCO VIDAL MENDEZ (also known as “Matute”)
Age: 36
Formerly of Elmhurst, New YorkE.D.N.Y. Docket No. 25-CR-196
Trinitarios Gang Leader Sentenced to More Than 15 Years in Prison for Triple Shooting in QueensRead the Press Release
Earlier today, in federal court in Brooklyn, Pedro Serrano, also known as “Papo,” the leader of the Ozone Park (or “OZP”) set of the Trinitarios street gang, was sentenced by United States District Judge Eric N. Vitaliano to 183 months in prison for carrying out a June 29, 2021 shooting that injured three victims. The shooting was part of a long-running conspiracy to murder members of a rival Trinitarios gang set. Serrano pleaded guilty in March 2024 to assault in-aid-of racketeering and discharging a firearm during a crime of violence.
Joseph Nocella, Jr., United States Attorney for the Eastern District of New York, and Christopher G. Raia, Assistant Director in Charge, Federal Bureau of Investigation, New York Field Office (FBI), announced the sentence.
“Serrano was ruthlessly committed to a dangerous criminal enterprise, and he and his co-conspirators shot multiple victims in furtherance of a senseless gang rivalry to advance his enterprise,” stated United States Attorney Nocella. “Such warfare jeopardizes public safety and underscores the importance of my Office’s mission to eradicate violent gangs from our communities.”
"Pedro Serrano, a leader of a Trinitarios sect, waged a reckless shootout, targeting, and injuring rivals to bolster his gang’s hierarchical status," stated FBI Assistant Director in Charge Raia. "His actions not only jeopardized the safety of a residential community, but also perpetuated the gang’s years-long territorial feud. May today’s sentencing reflect the FBI’s dedication to crushing any gang violence that threatens our city."
Mr. Nocella expressed his appreciation to the New York City Police Department for their work and assistance on the case.
According to court filings, Serrano, along with other members of the gang, engaged in a series of violent feuds with rivals, including rival sets within the Trinitarios. Beginning in at least 2021, disputes arose between OZP and other sets of Trinitarios from Queens and Brooklyn, including the Southside set, resulting in back-and-forth shootings between sets. On June 29, 2021, Serrano carried out a retaliatory shooting—while driving through a residential neighborhood in Queens—targeting Southside members.
Serrano enlisted fellow OZP members—including co-defendant Albert Santana-Fernandez, also known as “Pipa,” a Pennsylvania-based member of OZP—to help attack OZP rivals. After departing from Serrano’s house, the co-conspirators drove around until they located a rival group of Trinitarios on 77th Street near Jamaica Avenue near the Queens-Brooklyn border. Serrano and Santana-Fernandez were armed with firearms and after locating their rivals, fired shots at them from their moving vehicle. At least 13 shell casings were recovered at the scene, and three victims were wounded—one of whom sustained a gunshot wound to the back of his head. Santana-Fernandez pleaded guilty to his role in the shooting in October 2024 and is awaiting sentencing.
The government’s case is being handled by the Office’s Organized Crime and Gangs Section. Assistant United States Attorneys Lindsey R. Oken and Benjamin Weintraub are in charge of the prosecution.
The Defendants:
PEDRO SERRANO (also known as “Papo”)
Age: 24
Brooklyn, NYALBERT SANTANA-FERNANDEZ (also known as “Pipa”)
Age: 27
Philadelphia, PAE.D.N.Y. Docket No. 23-CR-28 (ENV)
Former New York State Assembly Candidate Charged with Wire FraudRead the Press Release
Earlier today in federal court in Brooklyn, a criminal complaint was unsealed charging Dao Yin, a Queens resident and former 2024 New York State Assembly candidate, with wire fraud in connection with his scheme to defraud New York State’s public campaign finance system by reporting false campaign contributions—including forged signatures of purported contributors—to secure matching funds. Yin was arrested today and is scheduled to be arraigned this afternoon before United States Magistrate Judge Vera M. Scanlon.
Joseph Nocella, Jr., United States Attorney for the Eastern District of New York; Matthew R. Galeotti, Head of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division; Christopher G. Raia, Assistant Director in Charge, New York Field Office (FBI); and Jocelyn E. Strauber, Commissioner, New York City Department of Investigation, announced the charges.
“As alleged, the defendant, a former candidate for public office, submitted forged campaign contribution cards from members of the very community he hoped to represent, to fraudulently obtain thousands of dollars in public matching funds that he was not entitled to receive,” stated United States Attorney Nocella. “Today’s arrest demonstrates that this Office will protect the integrity of elections and pursue candidates for elected office who violate campaign finance laws.”
Mr. Nocella expressed his appreciation to the New York State Public Campaign Finance Board (PCFB) for its assistance.
“Through lies and deceit, the defendant allegedly stole over $160,000 in taxpayer dollars to fund his campaign for elected office,” stated Matthew R. Galeotti, Head of the Department of Justice’s Criminal Division. “Fraud and public corruption threaten the integrity of our elections and will not be tolerated. The Criminal Division remains committed to aggressively prosecuting frauds that undermine U.S. interests and waste public funds.”
“Dao Yin allegedly fabricated support to be unlawfully awarded more than $150,000 to further his election campaign. Yin also allegedly abused his position to defraud a matching funds program that could have been used to support other candidates for state office. The FBI remains committed to investigating any individual who implements deceitful tactics to find a seat in public office,” stated FBI Assistant Director in Charge Raia.
“As charged, this former candidate for the New York State Assembly manipulated the campaign finance system through fraudulent campaign contributions in order to claim matching funds that he was not eligible to receive,” stated DOI Commissioner Strauber. “DOI and our law enforcement partners in the United States Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of New York and the FBI remain committed to protecting the integrity of the campaign finance system and public dollars.”
The New York State Public Campaign Finance Program
The PCFB oversees and administers the New York State Public Campaign Finance Program (the Program), which provides candidates running for statewide or state legislative office the ability to qualify for and receive public matching funds based on small donations from residents in applicable districts.
To participate in the Program, a candidate must register an authorized committee with the PCFB, be in a covered election for a covered office, meet threshold requirements for the number of matchable contributions received, and total monetary contributions received, and adhere to all other program requirements such as making periodic disclosures to the PCFB. Contributions between $5 and $250 are generally eligible for public matching funds provided they meet certain criteria. For a State Assembly race, the candidate generally must have raised a minimum of $6,000 in matchable contributions and have a minimum of 75 matchable donations. For cash contributions to qualify for matching funds, the candidate’s authorized committee is required to submit contribution cards that, among other information, list each contributor’s name, residential address, and date of contribution. The contribution card also must be signed by the contributor.
The Fraudulent Scheme
As alleged in the complaint, the defendant registered his campaign committee, Dao Yin for New York 2024 (the Committee), with the PCFB so that it could receive funds through the Program. The defendant served as the treasurer of the Committee.
To qualify for public matching funds, the defendant submitted fraudulent contribution cards through the Committee to the PCFB that listed the names and purported to bear the signatures of individuals he falsely claimed had donated to the Committee. By doing so, the defendant obtained approximately $162,800 in public matching funds from the Program.
The charges in the complaint are allegations, and the defendant is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty. If convicted of all charges, the defendant faces a maximum sentence of 20 years’ imprisonment.
The government’s case is being handled by the Office’s Public Integrity Section and the Public Integrity Section of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division. Assistant United States Attorneys Andrew D. Grubin and Rebecca Schuman, along with Trial Attorney Lina Peng, are in charge of the prosecution with assistance from Paralegal Specialist Daniel Arakawa.
The Defendant:
DAO YIN
Age: 62
Flushing, NYE.D.N.Y. Docket No. 25-MJ-208
yin_complaint_signed.pdfOwner of Long Island Ambulette Services Pleads Guilty to Leading Multimillion Dollar Healthcare Fraud SchemeRead the Press Release
Earlier today, in federal court in Central Islip, Adnan Arshad, also known as “Eddie,” pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit healthcare fraud and conspiracy to commit money laundering in connection with a scheme to steal approximately $20 million from Medicaid. The proceeding was held before United States Magistrate Judge Anne Y. Shields. When sentenced, Arshad faces up to 20 years’ imprisonment, restitution of at least $16 million, and forfeiture of over $19 million, including several real properties and vehicles.
Joseph Nocella, Jr., United States Attorney for the Eastern District of New York; Naomi Gruchacz, Special Agent in Charge, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Office of Inspector General (HHS-OIG); Harry T. Chavis, Jr., Special Agent in Charge, Internal Revenue Service Criminal Investigation, New York, (IRS-CI); and Raymond A. Tierney, Suffolk County District Attorney, announced the guilty plea.
“The defendant was the leader of a massive fraud scheme in which he and his co-conspirators bilked Medicaid out of millions of dollars of government and taxpayer funds intended to help the needy and infirm,” stated United States Attorney Nocella. “With his guilty plea today, the defendant admitted that he abused our health care system for his own enrichment. Arshad lived large on his illicit profits—buying expensive homes and driving luxury vehicles—but today’s guilty plea demonstrates there is a steep price for his fraudulent scheme.”
Mr. Nocella also thanked the Office of the New York State Comptroller and the Medicaid Fraud Control Unit of the New York State Attorney General's Office for their assistance in the case.
“For self-serving purposes, the defendant in this case egregiously diverted crucial Medicaid funds,” stated HHS-OIG Special Agent in Charge Gruchacz. “HHS-OIG will continue to work with our law enforcement partners to ensure the integrity of federally funded health care programs which relies, in part, on providers billing only for services they actually provide.”
“While Mr. Arshad should have been transporting medical patients as designed, the only people he took for a ride were the American taxpayers. Nearly $20 million was misappropriated by Mr. Arshad and his partners, who used his ambulette service as a backdrop for fraud and deceit - exploiting the Medicaid program and pocketing the illicit gains. With today’s plea, Mr. Arshad will need to give up his life of extravagance funded by tax dollars to face prison time, which is far less luxurious,” stated IRS-CI New York Special Agent in Charge Chavis.”
“Today's conviction represents a significant step forward in our ongoing efforts to protect taxpayer-funded healthcare programs from fraudulent schemes," stated District Attorney Tierney. “Healthcare fraud not only diverts critical resources from those who need them most, but it also undermines public trust in these essential programs. My office will continue to work with our state and federal partners to investigate and prosecute those who would defraud Medicaid and other public healthcare systems.”
As set forth in court filings and facts presented during the plea hearing, Arshad was the owner of MTK Taxi LLC in Montauk, Long Island, and part owner of All-Star Taxi LLC, in Ronkonkoma, Long Island. From approximately December 2020 to his arrest in June 2024, Arshad and his co-conspirators paid illegal health care kickbacks to Medicaid beneficiaries for fraudulent ambulette services. Pursuant to the scheme, the beneficiaries would order medical transportation services specifically from Arshad and his co-conspirators, including for transportation to addiction treatment centers for the beneficiaries’ purportedly necessary methadone treatment. In reality, Arshad’s businesses generally did not provide the medical transportation services ordered by the Medicaid beneficiaries. At least two claims were submitted to Medicaid for individuals who were deceased, and some claims were submitted for individuals who were hospitalized or incarcerated. In total, Arshad and his co-conspirators fraudulently billed Medicaid millions of dollars for these non-existent services throughout the course of the scheme.
Arshad and his co-conspirators also submitted artificially inflated claims to Medicaid. Although there were numerous addiction treatment centers on Long Island the beneficiaries could have utilized, Arshad and his co-conspirators instructed them to order rides to addiction treatment centers in New York City and to list false addresses so they could obtain higher reimbursement rates from Medicaid for longer rides. The transportation companies owned or operated by Arshad and his co-conspirators billed Medicaid over $16 million for trips to three addiction treatment centers in New York City.
Arshad used the illicit proceeds to purchase several additional transport vehicles for use in the scheme and to purchase multimillion-dollar homes and luxury vehicles, including a Ferrari, BMWs, and multiple Mercedes.
Five co-conspirators previously pleaded guilty to their participation in the scheme and are awaiting sentencing.
The government’s case is being prosecuted by the Criminal Section of the Office’s Long Island Division. Assistant United States Attorney Adam Toporovsky and Special Assistant United States Attorney Jennifer Milito of the Suffolk County District Attorney’s Office are in charge of the prosecution, with the assistance of Paralegal Specialist Janelle Robinson. Assistant United States Attorney Tanisha Payne of the Office’s Asset Recovery Section is handling forfeiture matters.
The Defendant:
ADNAN ARSHAD (also known as “Eddie”)
Age: 46
Mount Sinai, New YorkE.D.N.Y. Docket No. 24-CR-231 (JMA)
Founder of Sexual Wellness Company “OneTaste” and Former Head of Sales Convicted of Forced Labor ConspiracyRead the Press Release
Earlier today, in federal court in Brooklyn, a federal jury convicted Nicole Daedone, the founder and former Chief Executive Officer of OneTaste, Inc. (OneTaste), a sexual wellness education company, and Rachel Cherwitz, the company’s former head of sales, of forced labor conspiracy in connection with their coercive scheme to obtain the labor and services of certain OneTaste employees. To achieve their goal, the defendants and their co-conspirators subjected the victims to economic, sexual, emotional, financial, and psychological abuse, as well as surveillance, indoctrination, and intimidation. The verdict was returned after a five-week trial before United States District Judge Diane Gujarati. When sentenced, Daedone and Cherwitz each face up to 20 years in prison.
Joseph Nocella, Jr., United States Attorney for the Eastern District of New York and Christopher G. Raia, Assistant Director in Charge, Federal Bureau of Investigation, New York Field Office (FBI), announced the verdict.
“The jury’s verdict has unmasked Daedone and Cherwitz for who they truly are: grifters who preyed on vulnerable victims by making empty promises of sexual empowerment and wellness only to manipulate them into performing labor and services for the defendants’ benefit,” stated United States Attorney Nocella. “I commend the witnesses who testified at trial notwithstanding the trauma that they experienced at the defendants’ direction. It is my hope that the just conclusion of this process will bring them closure, and that future charlatans think twice about exploiting human beings in this manner.”
“Today's verdict sends a clear message— controlling your labor force by relying on lies, manipulation, and abuse is a crime. The victims in this case were offered sexual empowerment and wellness as a pathway to healing past trauma, but instead received various forms of abuse and manipulation on behalf of Daedone and Cherwitz for the financial benefit of OneTaste. The FBI will continue to ensure those responsible for forced labor schemes are made to answer for their crimes,” stated FBI Assistant Director in Charge Raia.
OneTaste was a privately held company founded by Daedone in 2004. Its principal place of business was San Francisco, California, and it operated at various locations within New York, Los Angeles, Denver, Austin, and London. OneTaste promoted itself as a sexually focused wellness education company that offered hands-on classes on “orgasmic mediation” (OM), which involved stroking a woman’s genitals for 15 minutes. OneTaste generated revenue by providing courses, coaching, OM events, and less-publicized courses in other sexual practices in exchange for a fee.
As proven at trial, between 2006 and May 2018, Daedone and Cherwitz obtained the labor and services of multiple young women who had turned to OneTaste for healing and spirituality by coercing them to perform labor, including sexual labor, for the defendants’ benefit. OneTaste advertised that its courses and teachings could heal past sexual trauma and dysfunction. Daedone and Cherwitz used abusive and manipulative tactics designed to control OneTaste members by making them emotionally and psychologically dependent on OneTaste, including encouraging them to incur debt by opening lines of credit to finance the expensive courses, subjecting them to constant surveillance in communal homes, collecting sensitive information about their prior trauma and sexual histories, depriving them of sleep, and subjecting them to sexual abuse.Once they had secured the loyalty and indebtedness of certain OneTaste members, Daedone and Cherwitz engaged in abusive employment practices. They directed OneTaste members to work long hours seven days per week with little or no compensation; that work included manual labor and the provision of sexual services. For example, Daedone and Cherwitz coerced their victims to sexually service OneTaste’s current and prospective investors, clients and employees for the financial benefit of the company. Three witnesses testified about how they were coerced into becoming a “handler” for OneTaste’s initial investor, who was also Daedone’s boyfriend, which required them to live with him, perform demeaning sex acts at his direction, and cook for him. Multiple other witnesses testified that they were coerced under threat of termination, demotion, ostracism, and financial and spiritual ruin by Daedone and Cherwitz into performing various sex acts with OneTaste’s potential clients and investors. In 2017, Ms. Daedone sold OneTaste—a company built on the backs of coerced and unpaid or substantially underpaid labor—for $12 million.
The government’s case is being handled by the Office’s Human Trafficking and Civil Rights Section. Assistant United States Attorneys Kayla C. Bensing, Kaitlin T. Farrell, Nina C. Gupta, and Sean Michael Fern are in charge of the prosecution with assistance from Paralegal Specialists Liam McNett and Marlane Bosler.
The Defendants:
NICOLE DAEDONE
Age: 57
New York, New YorkRACHEL CHERWITZ
Age: 44
Philo, CaliforniaFounder of Cryptocurrency Payment Company Charged with Evading Sanctions and Export Controls, Defrauding Financial Institutions, and Violating the Bank Secrecy ActRead the Press Release
BROOKLYN, NY – Earlier today, at the federal courthouse in Brooklyn, a 22-count indictment was unsealed charging Iurii Gugnin with wire and bank fraud, conspiracy to defraud the United States, violation of the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA), operating an unlicensed money transmitting business, failing to implement an effective anti-money laundering compliance program, failing to file suspicious activity reports, money laundering, and related conspiracy charges. Gugnin, a resident of New York and citizen of Russia, allegedly used his cryptocurrency company “Evita” to funnel more than $500 million of overseas payments through U.S. banks and cryptocurrency exchanges while hiding the source and purpose of the transactions. Gugnin was arrested this morning and arraigned before United States Magistrate Judge Taryn A. Merkl. The defendant was ordered detained pending trial.
Joseph Nocella, Jr., United States Attorney for the Eastern District of New York; John A. Eisenberg, Assistant Attorney General, the Justice Department’s National Security Division; Christopher G. Raia, Assistant Director in Charge, Federal Bureau of Investigation, New York Field Office (FBI); Harry Chavis, Acting Special Agent in Charge, Internal Revenue Service-Criminal Investigation, New York (IRS-CI); and Jonathan Carson, Special Agent in Charge, U.S. Department of Commerce, Bureau of Industry and Security, Office of Export Enforcement, New York Field Office (BIS-OEE) announced the arrest and charges.
“As alleged, Gugnin came to the United States and set up a money laundering operation under the guise of a cryptocurrency start-up, which he then used to evade sanctions and export controls and defraud U.S. financial institutions,” stated United States Attorney Nocella. “Today’s arrest demonstrates that this Office will vigorously prosecute those who abuse the U.S. financial system in furtherance of criminal activity, particularly when it undermines national security.”
Mr. Nocella also expressed his appreciation to the Justice Department’s Money Laundering and Asset Recovery Section for their assistance with the investigation.
“The defendant is charged with turning a cryptocurrency company into a covert pipeline for dirty money, moving over half a billion dollars through the U.S. financial system to aid sanctioned Russian banks and help Russian end-users acquire sensitive U.S. technology,” stated Assistant Attorney General Eisenberg. “The Department of Justice will not hesitate to bring to justice those who imperil our national security by enabling our foreign adversaries to sidestep sanctions and export controls.”
“Iurii Gugnin, a Russian national, allegedly served as a financial intermediary to sanctioned Russian entities by covertly laundering more than $500 million in illicit transactions through U.S.-based accounts and cryptocurrency exchanges,” stated FBI New York Assistant Director in Charge Raia. “Gugnin’s alleged scheme manipulated our nation’s financial infrastructure to benefit our nation's adversaries. The FBI remains committed to apprehending any individual who seeks to circumvent export controls, defraud our country, and jeopardize our national security.”
“It’s alleged Gugnin used deception and fraud to cover up a financial trail that showed him moving more that $500 million through U.S. banks on behalf of foreign clients. He supposedly evaded U.S. sanctions, lied to banks and cryptocurrency exchanges, manipulated invoices to hide Russian contacts, and violated the Bank Secrecy Act – all while leaving an internet search trail to show he knew he was breaking the law. Through a complex investigation conducted by federal law enforcement, Gugnin now faces prosecution for this multi-million-dollar scheme and its impending consequences,” stated IRS-CI Special Agent in Charge Chavis.
“Export control violations are often intertwined with a range of serious criminal activities, including illicit finance and transnational organized crime. The Office of Export Enforcement remains committed to working alongside our law enforcement partners to hold accountable those who compromise our national security by violating U.S. export laws,” stated Special Agent in Charge Carson.”
As alleged in the indictment, Gugnin is the founder, President, Treasurer, and Compliance Officer of U.S-based Evita Investments, Inc. (Evita Investments) and Evita Pay, Inc. (Evita Pay) (collectively, Evita). Gugnin used both companies to enable foreign customers—many of whom held funds at sanctioned Russian banks—to provide him with cryptocurrency, which he then laundered through cryptocurrency wallets and U.S. bank accounts. Gugnin ultimately converted the funds into U.S. dollars or other fiat currencies and then made payments through bank accounts in Manhattan on behalf of his foreign customers. In the process, the sources of the funds were obscured, disguising the audit trail and hiding the true counterparties to the transactions. Between June 2023 and January 2025, Gugnin used Evita to facilitate the movement of approximately $530 million through the U.S. financial system, most of which he received in the form of a cryptocurrency stablecoin known as Tether, or “USDT.”
To effectuate the scheme, Gugnin defrauded various banks and cryptocurrency exchanges through which he converted funds and made wire transfers. Gugnin repeatedly lied to these banks and exchanges, telling them that Evita did not conduct business with entities in Russia and did not deal with sanctioned entities. In fact, many of Gugnin’s customers were located in Russia, and he facilitated payments in funds held at sanctioned Russian banks, including PJSC Sberbank, PJSC Sovcombank, PJSC VTB Bank, and JSC Tinkoff Bank. Gugnin maintained personal accounts at two sanctioned Russian banks, JSC Alfa-Bank and PJSC Sberbank, with which he transacted while residing in the United States. Gugnin also facilitated payments by foreign customers to procure sensitive electronics, including an export-controlled server designed by a U.S. technology company, and laundered funds from a Moscow-based supplier to purchase parts for Rosatom, Russia’s state-owned nuclear technology company. To conceal his activities, Gugnin regularly obfuscated invoices by digitally “whiting out” the names and addresses of his Russian customers.
Gugnin also failed to implement Evita’s own purported anti-money laundering program and failed to file suspicious activity reports, as required under the Bank Secrecy Act. Although Gugnin represented to banks and cryptocurrency exchanges that Evita followed rigorous anti-money laundering and know-your-customer requirements, in practice he flouted those requirements, as well as the requirement to file reports of suspicious activities with the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN). Gugnin ultimately registered Evita Pay as a money transmitter with FinCEN and the state of Florida but did so by making materially false statements to the state of Florida about Evita Pay’s business. Gugnin used that fraudulently obtained state license to induce a cryptocurrency exchange to process transactions on his behalf.
In the course of his scheme, Gugnin conducted web searches that confirmed his awareness that he was breaking the law, including searches for “how to know if there is an investigation against you”; “evita investments inc. criminal records search”; “Iurii Gugnin criminal records”; “money laundering penalties US”; and “penalties for sanctions violations EU luxury goods.” He also visited website pages titled, respectively “am I being investigated?”; “signs you may be under criminal investigation”; and “what are the best ways to find out if you’re being investigated and what can someone do when they think they might be under investigation.”
The charges in the indictment are allegations, and the defendant is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.
If convicted, Gugnin faces up to 30 years’ imprisonment on the bank fraud counts; 20 years’ imprisonment for the wire fraud, IEEPA, money laundering, and related conspiracy counts; 10 years’ imprisonment for failure to implement an effective anti-money laundering program and failure to file suspicious activity reports; and 5 years’ imprisonment for conspiracy to defraud the United States and operation of an unlicensed money transmitting business.
Today’s actions were coordinated through the Justice and Commerce Departments’ Disruptive Technology Strike Force. The Disruptive Technology Strike Force is an interagency law enforcement strike force co-led by the Departments of Justice and Commerce designed to target illicit actors, protect supply chains, and prevent critical technology from being acquired by authoritarian regimes and hostile nation states.
The government’s case is being handled by the Office’s National Security and Cybercrime Section. Assistant United States Attorney Matthew Skurnik is in charge of the prosecution, with assistance from paralegal specialist Emma Tavangari, along with Trial Attorney Dallas Kaplan of the National Security Division’s Counterintelligence and Export Control Section. Assistant United States Attorney Laura Mantell of the Office’s Asset Recovery Section is handling forfeiture matters.
The Defendant:
IURII GUGNIN (also known as “Iurii Mashukov” and “George Goognin”)
Age: 38
New York, New YorkE.D.N.Y. Docket No. 25-CR-191 (NRM)
Founder of Cryptocurrency Payment Company Charged with Evading Sanctions and Export Controls, Defrauding Financial Institutions, and Violating the Bank Secrecy ActRead the Press Release
A 22-count indictment was unsealed today charging Iurii Gugnin, also known as Iurii Mashukov and George Goognin, 38, a resident of New York and citizen of Russia, with various offenses related to using his cryptocurrency company Evita to funnel more than $500 million of overseas payments through U.S. banks and cryptocurrency exchanges while hiding the source and purpose of the transactions.
According to court documents, Gugnin is charged with wire and bank fraud, conspiracy to defraud the United States, violation of the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA), operating an unlicensed money transmitting business, failing to implement an effective anti-money laundering compliance program, failing to file suspicious activity reports, money laundering, and related conspiracy charges. Gugnin was arrested and arraigned today in New York.
“The defendant is charged with turning a cryptocurrency company into a covert pipeline for dirty money, moving over half a billion dollars through the U.S. financial system to aid sanctioned Russian banks and help Russian end-users acquire sensitive U.S. technology,” said John A. Eisenberg, Assistant Attorney General for National Security. “The Department of Justice will not hesitate to bring to justice those who imperil our national security by enabling our foreign adversaries to sidestep sanctions and export controls.”
“As alleged, Gugnin came to the United States and set up a money laundering operation under the guise of a cryptocurrency start-up, which he then used to evade sanctions and export controls and defraud U.S. financial institutions,” said U.S. Attorney Joseph Nocella Jr. for the Eastern District of New York. “Today’s arrest demonstrates that this Office will vigorously prosecute those who abuse the U.S. financial system in furtherance of criminal activity, particularly when it undermines national security.”
“Gugnin’s cryptocurrency company allegedly served as a front to launder hundreds of millions of dollars for sanctioned Russian entities and to obtain export-controlled technology for the Russian government,” said Assistant Director Roman Rozhavsky of the FBI’s Counterintelligence Division. “Let this serve notice that using cryptocurrency to hide illegal conduct will not prevent the FBI and our partners from holding you accountable.”
As alleged in the indictment, Gugnin is the founder, President, Treasurer, and Compliance Officer of U.S-based Evita Investments Inc. (Evita Investments) and Evita Pay Inc. (Evita Pay) (collectively, Evita). Gugnin used both companies to enable foreign customers — many of whom held funds at sanctioned Russian banks — to provide him with cryptocurrency, which he then laundered through cryptocurrency wallets and U.S. bank accounts. Gugnin ultimately converted the funds into U.S. dollars or other fiat currencies and then made payments through bank accounts in Manhattan on behalf of his foreign customers. In the process, the sources of the funds were obscured, disguising the audit trail and hiding the true counterparties to the transactions. Between June 2023 and January 2025, Gugnin used Evita to facilitate the movement of approximately $530 million through the U.S. financial system, most of which he received in the form of a cryptocurrency stablecoin known as Tether, or “USDT.”
To effectuate the scheme, Gugnin defrauded various banks and cryptocurrency exchanges through which he converted funds and made wire transfers. Gugnin repeatedly lied to these banks and exchanges, telling them that Evita did not conduct business with entities in Russia and did not deal with sanctioned entities. In fact, many of Gugnin’s customers were located in Russia, and he facilitated payments in funds held at sanctioned Russian banks, including PJSC Sberbank, PJSC Sovcombank, PJSC VTB Bank, and JSC Tinkoff Bank. Gugnin maintained personal accounts at two sanctioned Russian banks, JSC Alfa-Bank and PJSC Sberbank, with which he transacted while residing in the United States. Gugnin also facilitated payments by foreign customers to procure sensitive electronics, including an export-controlled server designed by a U.S. technology company, and laundered funds from a Moscow-based supplier to purchase parts for Rosatom, Russia’s state-owned nuclear technology company. To conceal his activities, Gugnin regularly obfuscated invoices by digitally “whiting out” the names and addresses of his Russian customers.
Gugnin also failed to implement Evita’s own purported anti-money laundering program and failed to file suspicious activity reports, as required under the Bank Secrecy Act. Although Gugnin represented to banks and cryptocurrency exchanges that Evita followed rigorous anti-money laundering and know-your-customer requirements, in practice he flouted those requirements, as well as the requirement to file reports of suspicious activities with the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN). Gugnin ultimately registered Evita Pay as a money transmitter with FinCEN and the state of Florida but did so by making materially false statements to the state of Florida about Evita Pay’s business. Gugnin used that fraudulently obtained state license to induce a cryptocurrency exchange to process transactions on his behalf.
In the course of his scheme, Gugnin conducted web searches that confirmed his awareness that he was breaking the law, including searches for “how to know if there is an investigation against you”; “evita investments inc. criminal records search”; “Iurii Gugnin criminal records”; “money laundering penalties US”; and “penalties for sanctions violations EU luxury goods.” He also visited website pages titled, respectively “am I being investigated?”; “signs you may be under criminal investigation”; and “what are the best ways to find out if you’re being investigated and what can someone do when they think they might be under investigation.”
If convicted, Gugnin faces a maximum penalty of 30 years in prison for each count of bank fraud; a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison for each of the wire fraud, IEEPA, money laundering, and related conspiracy counts; a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison for failure to implement an effective anti-money laundering program and failure to file suspicious activity reports; and a maximum penalty of five years in prison for conspiracy to defraud the United States and operating an unlicensed money transmitting business.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Matthew Skurnik for the Eastern District of New York and Trial Attorney Dallas Kaplan of the National Security Division’s Counterintelligence and Export Control Section are prosecuting the case. Assistant U.S. Attorney Laura Mantell for the Eastern District of New York’s Asset Recovery Section is handling forfeiture matters.
An indictment is merely an allegation. All defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.
Brooklyn Man Convicted of Committing Murder in the Course of Sex Trafficking at “Penn Track” in East New York, BrooklynRead the Press Release
Omari Scott, also known as “Prince” and “Sir Prince,” was convicted by a federal jury today of murder in the course of sex trafficking and the sex trafficking of Jane Doe 2. Prior to trial, on May 16, 2025, the defendant pleaded guilty to two counts of the indictment, charging him with promoting prostitution and sex trafficking of Jane Doe 1. The charges relate to Scott’s trafficking of women at an open-air sex market along a stretch of Pennsylvania Avenue in Brooklyn known as the “Penn Track.” As proven at trial, Scott orchestrated and participated in the May 1, 2023 murder of rival pimp, Cleveland Clay, after a dispute over the control of a trafficking victim. The verdict followed a two-week trial before United States District Judge Kiyo A. Matsumoto. Scott is the first defendant convicted of murder in the course of sex trafficking after a trial. When sentenced, Scott faces a mandatory minimum term of 15 years in prison and up to life in prison.
Joseph Nocella, Jr., United States Attorney for the Eastern District of New York, Christopher G. Raia, Assistant Director in Charge, Federal Bureau of Investigation, New York Field Office (FBI), and Jessica S. Tisch, Commissioner, New York City Police Department (NYPD), announced the verdict.
“As proven at trial, the defendant is a murderer, sex trafficker, and abuser of women with no regard whatsoever for human life, who now faces punishment for his vicious crimes,” stated United States Attorney Nocella. “The Penn Track has been a blight for too long and my Office and our law enforcement partners are working diligently to prosecute violent sex traffickers who promote prostitution by exploiting vulnerable victims and endangering the entire community.”
“Not only did Omari Scott force women to perform sexual acts, but he murdered those who threatened to steal his twisted source of revenue,” stated FBI Assistant Director in Charge Raia. “Scott’s callous actions reflect an apathetic sentiment of human life, treating his victims as property and using them to profit. May today’s conviction reflect the FBI’s unwavering commitment to dismantling sex trafficking networks which target vulnerable victims and incite violence in our city streets.”
“Omari Scott didn’t just profit from trafficking women along the Penn Track — he enforced that control through violence, including orchestrating the murder of a rival trafficker,” stated NYPD Commissioner Tisch. “Today’s conviction holds him accountable for his brutal crimes and makes clear that this kind of violent behavior has no place on our streets. I am grateful to the NYPD investigators, the FBI, and the prosecutors in this case for bringing him to justice and for their commitment to protecting the survivors of these horrific crimes.”
As proven at trial, in April 2023, Scott learned that Jane Doe 2 was planning to leave his employ to work for Clay, who was also trafficking women on the Penn Track. Scott was captured on a recorded call bemoaning his loss, telling an associate, “I don’t got no hoes right now.” Scott further explained that Jane Doe 2 “chose on me,” a reference to leaving one pimp for another. On April 30, 2023, Scott found Jane Doe 2 on the Penn Track, grabbed her by the hair, dragged her in the street and threw her into his car. The next morning, Scott was captured on surveillance video engaged in a heated argument with Clay along the Penn Track. Scott recruited another sex trafficker, Michael Simmons, to murder Clay, which Simmons carried out by shooting Clay multiple times at point blank range in a White Castle parking lot on the Penn Track. Simmons then returned to Scott, who had been waiting for him in a nearby laundromat parking lot, to report that the job was done. Clay succumbed to his wounds several hours later. Simmons pleaded guilty in January 2025 to murder in the course of sex trafficking and sex trafficking of Jane Doe 2 and is awaiting sentencing.
The government’s case is being handled by the Office’s Human Trafficking and Civil Rights Section. Assistant United States Attorneys Erin Reid, Anna Karamigios, and Miranda Gonzalez are in charge of the prosecution, with the assistance of Paralegal Specialist Eleanor Jaffe‑Pachuilo, and additional assistance from Victim Witness Coordinator Huda Abouchaer, Victim Witness Specialist Kristina Marius, and Paralegal Specialist Paul Padilla.
The Defendant:
OMARI SCOTT (also known as “Prince” and “Sir Prince”)
Age: 44
Brooklyn, New YorkDefendant Who Previously Pleaded Guilty:
MICHAEL SIMMONS (also known as “Victory”)
Age: 41
Pittsburgh, PennsylvaniaE.D.N.Y. Docket No. 24-CR-158 (KAM)
Two Men Sentenced to Prison for Aggravated Identity Theft and Computer Hacking CrimesRead the Press Release
Earlier today, in federal court in Brooklyn, United States District Judge Frederic Block sentenced Sagar Steven Singh, also known as “Weep,” to 27 months’ imprisonment for conspiracy to commit computer intrusion and aggravated identify theft. On May 30, 2025, Nicholas Ceraolo, also known as “Convict,” “Anon,” and “Ominous,” was sentenced to 25 months’ imprisonment for the same offenses.
Joseph Nocella Jr., United States Attorney for the Eastern District of New York, andMichael Alfonso, Acting Special Agent in Charge, Homeland Security Investigations, New York (HSI New York) announced the sentencings.
“The defendants breached a federal law enforcement database, used multiple means to steal sensitive personal information, and exploited that data to extort and threaten innocent people and their families,” stated United States Attorney Nocella. “This sentence sends a clear message that my Office is committed to protecting victims from digital predators and that those who exploit vulnerabilities in government systems will face jail time.”
“The defendants impersonated law enforcement, illegally accessed government databases, and even faked life-threatening situations to bypass criminal procedures through which they could obtain sensitive personal information,” stated HSI Acting Special Agent in Charge Alfonso. “They threatened innocent victims’ livelihoods and were found to have joked about their deceptive, exploitative, and calculated scheme in messages with each other. As a result of the HSI New York El Dorado Task Force’s commitment to justice in this case, both men will now have months in federal prison to consider the seriousness of these crimes.”
Singh and Ceraolo belonged to a group called “ViLE,” whose logo is the body of a hanging girl.
Members of ViLE sought to collect victims’ personal information, including social security numbers. ViLE then threatened to “dox” victims by posting that information on a public website administered by a ViLE member. Victims could pay to have their information removed from or kept off the website.
Singh and Ceraolo unlawfully used a law enforcement officer’s stolen password to access a nonpublic, password-protected web portal (the “Portal”) maintained by a U.S. federal law enforcement agency for the purpose of sharing intelligence with state and local law enforcement. The Portal detailed nonpublic records of narcotics and currency seizures, as well as law enforcement intelligence reports.
The defendants used their access to the Portal to extort their victims. Singh wrote to a victim (“Victim-1”) that he would “harm” Victim-1’s family unless Victim-1 gave Singh the credentials for Victim-1’s Instagram accounts—and appended Victim-1’s social security number, driver’s license number, home address, and other personal details. During the conversation, Singh told Victim-1 that he had “access to [] databases, which are federal, through [the] portal, i can request information on anyone in the US doesn’t matter who, nobody is safe.” He added: “you’re gonna comply to me if you don’t want anything negative to happen to your parents.” Singh ultimately directed Victim-1 to sell Victim-1’s accounts and give the proceeds to Singh.
After Singh and Ceraolo accessed the Portal, they both acknowledged that their conduct was criminal. Ceraolo wrote to Singh: “were all gonna get raided one of these days i swear.” Later that day, Singh wrote to a contact that the “portal [] i accessed i was not supposed to be there not one bit.” Singh said he had “jacked into a police officer’s account” and “that portal had some fucking potent tools.” Singh continued: “it gave me access to gov databases,” followed by the names of five search tools accessible through the Portal.
The government’s case is being handled by the Office’s National Security and Cybercrime Section. Assistant United States Attorneys Alexander Mindlin, Ellen H. Sise, and Adam Amir are in charge of the prosecution.
The Defendants:
NICHOLAR CERAOLO (also known as “Convict,” “Anon,” and “Ominous)
Age: 27
Queens, New YorkSAGAR STEVEN SINGH (also known as “Weep”)
Age: 21
Pawtucket, Rhode IslandE.D.N.Y. Docket No. 23-CR-236 (FB)
Manager at Long Island Company Indicted for Stealing $1.6 Million from Customer Credit AccountsRead the Press Release
Earlier today, at the federal courthouse in Central Islip, Tony Ream was arraigned on an indictment charging him with wire fraud and money laundering in connection with his employment at a Long Island company (the Company). Ream was a credit supervisor for the Company, which was a worldwide distributor of medical and dental supplies with its principal place of business in Melville, New York. Over the course of four years, Ream sent wire transfers totaling approximately $1.6 million from the Company’s bank account to a bank account that he controlled. The arraignment was held before Magistrate Judge Steven I. Locke.
Joseph Nocella, Jr., United States Attorney for the Eastern District of New York, and Christopher G. Raia, Assistant Director in Charge, Federal Bureau of Investigation, New York Field Office (FBI), announced the arraignment.
“As alleged, Ream is a thief who abused his authority and betrayed his employer to fund his lifestyle, including paying for the renovations of a restaurant he opened, footing the bill for his own wedding, and traveling around the world, all on the company’s dime,” stated United States Attorney Nocella. “Embezzling company funds is a serious crime and my Office will vigorously prosecute this case to ensure Ream is held accountable for his brazen scheme.”
“Tony Ream allegedly embezzled over one million dollars from his former company by diverting corporate funds to his personal account and deceiving his subordinates into perpetuating this theft,” stated FBI Assistant Director in Charge Raia. “Ream allegedly abused his position and stole from his former company to fund his extravagant expenses. The FBI remains committed to investigating any individual who orchestrates a scheme to exploit their company to finance personal wish lists.”
As set forth in court filings and statements made in court, Ream was hired by the Company in 2019 to work in their credit department. Starting in 2020 as a credit supervisor, Ream stole corporate funds from customer refund accounts and diverted the funds to his own accounts. Additionally, while in his role as supervisor, Ream deceived employees whom he supervised into taking steps that assisted him in carrying out his fraudulent scheme. Ream spent tens of thousands of dollars of the proceeds of his fraud on his wedding, hundreds of thousands on a failed restaurant venture in South Carolina, and tens of thousands on luxury international vacations.
The charges in the indictment are allegations and the defendant is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty. If convicted, Ream faces up to 20 years in prison.
The government’s case is being handled by the Criminal Section of the Office’s Long Island Division. Assistant United States Attorney Charles P. Kelly is charge of the prosecution with the assistance of Paralegal Specialist Samantha Schroder.
The Defendant:
TONY REAM (also known as “Tony Ream-Hendley” and “Tony Moul Ream”)
Age: 33
Greenville, South CarolinaE.D.N.Y. Docket No. 25-CR-179 (SJB)
ream.indictment.pdfBloods Gang Leader Convicted of Narcotics Distribution Resulting in Three OverdosesRead the Press Release
A federal jury yesterday in Central Islip convicted Gary Johnson, a Bloods gang leader, on 22 counts of a second superseding indictment charging him with narcotics distribution, including distribution that resulted in three non-fatal overdoses, as well as a firearms-related crime. The verdict followed a four-week trial before United States District Judge Joan M. Azrack. When sentenced, Johnson faces a mandatory minimum sentence of 20 years in prison and up to life in prison.
Joseph Nocella, Jr., United States Attorney for the Eastern District of New York; Christopher G. Raia, Assistant Director in Charge, Federal Bureau of Investigation, New York Field Office (FBI); and Kevin Catalina, Commissioner, Suffolk County Police Department (SCPD), announced the verdict.
“Johnson peddled his potentially lethal drugs across Long Island while lining his pockets with profits, causing life threatening injuries to several members of our community in the process,” stated United States Attorney Nocella. “This Office, along with our law enforcement partners, remains committed to finding, arresting, and prosecuting the drug traffickers and gang members who seek to profit from the ongoing opioid crisis and stopping all of the devastating effects these narcotics have brought with them.”
“For years, Gary Johnson, a Bloods gang leader, carelessly supplied potentially lethal quantities of heroin and fentanyl to turn a profit,” stated FBI Assistant Director in Charge Raia. “By distributing highly addictive narcotics, Johnson demonstrated a disregard to communal health and endangered countless residents, even causing three individuals to overdose. With the assistance from our law enforcement partners, the FBI will never cease its mission to disrupt all criminal enterprises poisoning our communities with dangerous drugs.”
“While nothing can take away the suffering of those who experienced life-threatening impacts caused by Johnson’s greed, let this sentence bring some solace that his crimes will not go unpunished,” stated SCPD Commissioner Catalina. “We will continue to collaborate with our law enforcement partners to ensure narcotics trafficking is ceased.”
As proven at trial and set forth in court filings, between June 2013 and November 2020, Johnson, a leader in the G-Shine set of the Bloods based in Suffolk County, sold fentanyl, cocaine, and heroin throughout Long Island. The drugs the defendant sold resulted in multiple victims experiencing overdoses, including three overdoses in March and May 2020. The jury returned a verdict convicting Johnson of multiple counts of distributing heroin, cocaine, and/or fentanyl. In connection with the overdoses, Johnson was convicted of three counts of narcotics distribution resulting in serious bodily injury.
Johnson was also convicted of being a felon in possession of a firearm. This charge arose from evidence recovered from Johnson’s residence when law enforcement executed a search warrant and recovered a semi-automatic firearm.
The government’s case is being handled by the Criminal Section of the Long Island Division. Assistant United States Attorneys Meredith A. Arfa, Stephen Petraeus and Mark E. Misorek are in charge of the prosecution with assistance from Paralegal Specialists Dejah Turla, Rebecca Roth, and Adam Bernard, as well as Victim Witness Specialist Stephanie Marroquin.
The Defendant:
GARY JOHNSON
Age: 41
Bellport, New YorkE.D.N.Y. Docket No. 20-CR-518 (S-2) (JMA)
Brooklyn Man Sentenced to 19 Years in Prison for Selling Heroin and Fentanyl That Killed New York ActivistRead the Press Release
Earlier today, in federal court in Brooklyn, United States District Judge Brian M. Cogan sentenced Michael Kuilan to 19 years’ imprisonment for selling fentanyl and heroin that caused the fatal overdose of LGBTQ activist Cecilia Gentili. As part of the sentence, Kuilan was ordered to pay $24,482 in restitution and forfeit $30,000 and a seized firearm. The defendant was also sentenced to serve 15 years concurrently for unlawfully possessing a firearm as a felon. Kuilan has three prior state felony convictions for drug offenses relating to the sale of heroin. He pleaded guilty to the federal charges on September 23, 2024.
Joseph Nocella, Jr., United States Attorney for the Eastern District of New York; Frank A. Tarentino, III, Special Agent in Charge, Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA); and Jessica S. Tisch, Commissioner, New York City Police Department (NYPD), announced the plea.
“Cecilia Gentili was tragically poisoned from fentanyl-laced heroin. Today, the perpetrators who sold the deadly drugs to Gentili are being held accountable,” stated United States Attorney Nocella. “This Office will be relentless in prosecuting fentanyl dealers.”
"Michael Kuilan sold the lethal drugs that took the life of LGBTQIA+ activist and leader Cecilia Gentili, and now, he is being held accountable for this horrible crime," said NYPD Commissioner Tisch. “While we can sadly never bring Cecilia back, today, some semblance of justice is finally being served. I thank the NYPD investigators, the DEA, and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for their work in delivering justice in this case.”
According to court documents and facts presented in court, on February 6, 2024, Gentili was found dead in her bedroom in Brooklyn. Gentili died due to the combined effect of controlled substances, including fentanyl, xylazine, cocaine, and heroin. Text messages and other evidence revealed that co-defendant Antonio Venti sold the fentanyl and heroin mixture to Gentili on February 5, 2024, and that Kuilan supplied Venti with those lethal narcotics. When law enforcement searched an apartment in Williamsburg, Brooklyn belonging to Kuilan, they found hundreds of baggies of fentanyl, a handgun, and ammunition.
On February 12, 2025, Judge Cogan sentenced Venti to five years’ imprisonment for the same drug offense.
The government’s case is being handled by the Office’s International Narcotics and Money Laundering Section. Assistant United States Attorney Adam Amir is in charge of the prosecution, with the assistance of Paralegal Specialist Samuel Ronchetti.
The Defendant:
MICHAEL KUILAN
Age: 45
Brooklyn, New YorkPreviously Sentenced Defendant:
ANTONIO VENTI
Age: 53
West Babylon, New YorkE.D.N.Y. Docket No. 24-CR-130 (BMC)
United States Citizen Arrested for Attempted Firebombing of U.S. Embassy Branch Office in Tel Aviv, IsraelRead the Press Release
Earlier today, Joseph Neumeyer, a dual U.S. and German citizen was arrested at John F. Kennedy International Airport by FBI special agents and a complaint was unsealed in the Eastern District of New York charging Neumeyer with attempting to destroy, by means of fire or explosive, the Branch Office of the United States Embassy located in Tel Aviv, Israel. Neumeyer was deported by Israeli authorities to the United States. Neumeyer made his initial court appearance before U.S. Magistrate Judge Peggy Kuo of the Eastern District of New York and was ordered detained.
As alleged in the complaint, Neumeyer arrived in Israel in April 2025. On May 19, Neumeyer, 28, arrived outside of the U.S. Embassy in Tel Aviv carrying a dark-colored backpack. Without provocation Neumeyer spit on an Embassy guard as he walked past. Neumeyer managed to break free as the guard attempted to detain him, leaving behind his backpack. A search of Neumeyer’s backpack revealed three rudimentary improvised incendiary devices commonly known as Molotov cocktails. Law enforcement tracked Neumeyer to his hotel, where he was arrested. Neumeyer’s social media revealed that earlier in the day on May 19, he posted, “join me as I burn down the embassy in Tel Aviv. Death to America, death to Americans, and f---k the west.” Law enforcement authorities confirmed the presence of flammable fluid in the devices. Other social media posts from an account believed to be used by Neumeyer revealed his threats to assassinate President Trump. On May 25, Israeli authorities returned Neumeyer to the United States.
“This defendant is charged with planning a devastating attack targeting our embassy in Israel, threatening death to Americans, and President Trump’s life,” said Attorney General Pamela Bondi. “The Department will not tolerate such violence and will prosecute this defendant to the fullest extent of the law.”
“As alleged, Neumeyer, armed with potentially lethal devices, sought to cause chaos and destruction at the U.S.Embassy in Tel Aviv,” said U.S. Attorney Joseph Nocella for the Eastern District of New York. “His arrest and prosecution clearly show that my Office and the Department of Justice will not tolerate violence in our homeland or violence targeting U.S. interests abroad.”
“The defendant is charged with attempting to firebomb the U.S. Embassy and making threats to President Trump,” said FBI Director Kash Patel. “This despicable and violent behavior will not be tolerated at home or abroad, and the FBI, working with our partners, will bring him to face justice for his dangerous actions.”
If convicted, Neumeyer faces a minimum of five years in prison and a maximum of 20 years in prison, and a maximum fine in the amount of $250,000. A federal district court judge will determine any sentence after considering the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.
The FBI Washington Field Office is investigating this case with assistance from the FBI New York Field Office. The Justice Department’s Office of International Affairs and the FBI Legal Attaché’s Office in Israel provided substantial assistance. The Justice Department thanks our Israeli law enforcement partners, whose actions ensured that no lives were lost.
Acting Deputy Chief Frank Rangoussis of the Criminal Division’s Human Rights and Special Prosecutions Section and Assistant U.S. Attorney Lindsey Oken for the Eastern District of New York are prosecuting the case with assistance from Trial Attorney Ryan White of the National Security Division’s Counterterrorism Section.
A criminal complaint is merely an allegation, and all defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.
United States Citizen Arrested for Attempted Firebombing of U.S. Embassy Branch Office in Tel AvivRead the Press Release
BROOKLYN, NY – Earlier today, at the federal courthouse in Brooklyn, a complaint was unsealed charging Joseph Neumeyer, a dual U.S. and German citizen, with attempting to destroy, by means of fire or explosive, the Branch Office of the United States Embassy located in Tel Aviv, Israel. Neumeyer was deported by Israel to the Eastern District of New York on May 24, 2025 and made his initial court appearance this afternoon before United States Magistrate Judge Peggy Kuo. Neumeyer was ordered detained pending trial.
United States Attorney General Pamela Bondi; Joseph Nocella, Jr., United States Attorney for the Eastern District of New York; and Steven J. Jensen, Assistant Director in Charge, Federal Bureau of Investigation, Washington Field Office (FBI), announced the arrest and charge.
“This defendant is charged with planning a devastating attack targeting our embassy in Israel, threatening death to Americans, and President Trump’s life,” stated Attorney General Bondi. “The Department will not tolerate such violence and will prosecute this defendant to the fullest extent of the law.”
The Justice Department thanks our Israeli law enforcement partners, whose actions ensured that no lives were lost.
“As alleged, Neumeyer, armed with potentially lethal devices, sought to cause chaos and destruction at the United States Embassy in Tel Aviv,” stated United States Attorney Nocella. “His arrest and prosecution clearly show that my Office and the Department of Justice will not tolerate violence in our homeland or violence targeting U.S. interests abroad.”
Mr. Nocella also thanked the FBI’s New York Field Office for their assistance. Mr. Nocella expressed his appreciation to the FBI’s Legal Attaché in Tel Aviv, the U.S. Embassy Branch Office Tel Aviv, Department of State Diplomatic Security Service, the government of Israel, Israel National Police, Enforcement and the Foreigners Administration at the Israeli Population and Immigration Authority for their valuable cooperation. U.S. Customs and Border Protection also provided logistical assistance for the defendant’s arrest at John F. Kennedy International Airport.
“Neumeyer not only made threats against Americans and U.S. diplomatic missions, but also allegedly attempted to carry out those threats by bringing potentially deadly devices to the U.S. Embassy in Tel Aviv,” stated FBI Assistant Director in Charge Jensen. “Let his arrest carry an unmistakable message: The FBI and our partners will aggressively pursue those who attempt to harm U.S. citizens and interests abroad.”
As alleged in the complaint, Neumeyer arrived in Israel in April 2025. On May 19, 2025, Neumeyer posted on his Facebook account “join me this afternoon in Tel Aviv we are burning down the US. embassy” and “join me as I burn down the embassy in Tel Aviv. Death to America. Death to Americans and f—k the west.” That same day, Neumeyer arrived outside the Branch Office of the Embassy of the United States in Tel Aviv carrying a backpack. Neumeyer approached an Embassy guard and spat on the guard. The guard attempted to detain Neumeyer who uttered profanities before turning and fleeing, leaving his backpack behind. Law enforcement recovered from Neumeyer’s backpack several bottles that had been turned into improvised incendiary devices, commonly known as “Molotov cocktails.” Authorities confirmed the presence of flammable fluid in the bottles. Law enforcement tracked Neumeyer to the hotel where he was staying, and he was placed under arrest.Neumeyer’s social media accounts also contained threatening posts that, among other things, called for the assassination of President Donald J. Trump.
The charge in the complaint is an allegation and the defendant is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty. If convicted, Neumeyer faces a mandatory minimum sentence of five years in prison and a maximum of 20 years in prison.
The government’s case is being handled by the Office’s National Security and Cybercrime Section. Assistant United States Attorney Lindsey R. Oken is in charge of the prosecution, with assistance from Acting Deputy Chief Frank Rangoussis of the Criminal Division’s Human Rights and Special Prosecutions Section and Trial Attorney Ryan White of the National Security Division’s Counterterrorism Section.
The Defendant:
JOSEPH PATRICK NEUMEYER
us_v._neumeyer_complaint.pdf
Age: 28
ColoradoGeorgian National Extradited from Moldova to Face Charges for Soliciting Hate Crimes and Planning Mass Casualty Attack in New York CityRead the Press Release
BROOKLYN, NY – Georgian national Michail Chkhikvishvili, also known as “Mishka,” “Michael,” “Commander Butcher,” and “Butcher,” was extradited to the United States from Moldova on May 22, 2025 and will be arraigned in federal court in Brooklyn this morning before United States Magistrate Judge Peggy Kuo. Chkhikvishvili was arrested in Chișinău, Moldova in July 2024 in connection with a four-count indictment returned in the Eastern District of New York charging him with soliciting hate crimes and acts of mass violence in New York City. Chkhikvishvili is a leader of the Maniac Murder Cult, also known as “Maniacs Murder Cult,” “Maniacs: Cult of Killing,” “MKY,” “MMC,” and “MKU,” an international racially motivated violent extremist group. As alleged in the indictment, Chkhikvishvili recruited people to commit violent acts in furtherance of MKY’s ideologies, including planning and soliciting a mass casualty attack in New York City.
United States Attorney General Pamela Bondi; Joseph Nocella, Jr., United States Attorney for the Eastern District of New York; Christopher G. Raia, Assistant Director in Charge, Federal Bureau of Investigation, New York Field Office (FBI); and Jessica S. Tisch, Commissioner, New York City Police Department (NYPD), announced the extradition.
“This case is a stark reminder of the kind of terrorism we face today: online networks plotting unspeakable acts of violence against children, families, and the Jewish community in pursuit of a depraved, extremist ideology,” stated Attorney General Bondi. “The Department of Justice will not tolerate hate-fueled violence, and we will pursue those who threaten innocent lives wherever they may be.”
“As alleged, the defendant, a white supremacist, recruited others to participate in a violent campaign of hatred against racial minorities and the Jewish community and to engage in the mass killing of children and others in these communities using poison, suicide bombs, firearms, arson fires, and vehicle explosions. Today’s extradition is a giant step forward in holding the defendant accountable for his unspeakably reprehensible and vile efforts to spread fear, chaos, and hate,” stated United States Attorney Nocella. “Protecting our homeland, city, district, and country from violent extremists will always be one of the top priorities of the Justice Department and my Office.”
Mr. Nocella praised the outstanding investigative work of the FBI’s New York Joint Terrorism Task Force, which consists of investigators and analysts from the FBI, the New York City Police Department, and over 50 other federal, state, and local agencies, Department of State, and U.S. Customs and Border Protection. Mr. Nocella also thanked the Justice Department’s Office of International Affairs and the government of Moldova for their crucial assistance in securing Chkhikvishvili’s arrest and extradition.
“Michail Chkhikvishvili allegedly attempted to recruit people to commit mass casualty attacks here in New York City —specifically targeting the Jewish community—in the name of his heinous and depraved ideology,” stated FBI Assistant Director in Charge Raia. “This extradition is a clear sign the FBI, our Joint Terrorism Task Force, and law enforcement partners are committed to protecting our nation and city and will bring any individual desiring to enact racially motivated violence to justice—no matter where in the world they are located.”
“This defendant allegedly planned to poison Jewish children and carry out mass murder in New York City,” stated NYPD Commissioner Tisch. “He incited bombings, arsons, and violence against racial and religious minorities – driven by a hateful Neo-Nazi ideology. These weren’t idle threats. They were detailed plans. This extradition demonstrates the reach and the determination of American law enforcement agencies to track down the most dangerous and depraved of criminals. Thanks to the exceptional work of the NYPD, the FBI, the Justice Department, and the U.S. Attorney’s Office, we have sent a clear message: hate has no place in our city and justice will be served.”
Chkhikvishvili’s MKY adheres to a Neo-Nazi accelerationist ideology and promotes violence against racial minorities, the Jewish community, and other groups it deems “undesirables.” MKY members share a common goal of challenging social order and governments via terrorism and violent acts that promote fear and chaos. MKY has members in the United States and abroad.
Since approximately September 2021, Chkhikvishvili has distributed a manifesto titled the “Hater’s Handbook” to MKY members and others. The Hater’s Handbook encourages people to commit acts of mass violence. In the Hater’s Handbook, Chkhikvishvili states that he has “murdered for the white race” and encourages others to commit acts of mass violence and “ethnic cleansing.” For example, the Hater’s Handbook encourages its readers to commit school shootings and to use children to perpetrate suicide bombings and other mass killings targeting racial minorities. It also describes methods and strategies for committing mass “terror attacks,” including, for example, using vehicles to target “large outdoor festivals, conventions, celebrations, “parades,” and “pedestrian congested streets.” The Hater’s Handbook specifically encourages committing attacks within the United States.
In June 2022, Chkhikvishvili traveled to Brooklyn. As alleged, as early as July 2022, Chkhikvishvili repeatedly encouraged others, primarily via encrypted mobile messaging platforms, to commit violent hate crimes and other acts of violence on behalf of MKY. This included conspiring to solicit violent acts with the leader of a separate violent extremist Neo-Nazi group. It also included soliciting acts of mass violence in New York from an individual who claimed to be a prospective MKY recruit, but who, unbeknownst to Chkhikvishvili, was actually an undercover FBI employee (the UC).
In a September 2023 conversation, the UC messaged Chkhikvishvili asking whether there was an application process to join MKY. The defendant responded, “we ask people for brutal beating, arson/explosion, or murder vids on camera.” Chkhikvishvili further stated that “[p]oisoning and arson are best options for murder,” and suggested also considering a larger “mass murder […]” within the United States. Chkhikvishvili advised the UC that the victims of these acts should be “low race targets.”
Beginning in approximately November 2023, Chkhikvishvili solicited the UC to commit violent crimes, such as bombings and arsons, for the purpose of harming racial minorities, Jewish individuals, and others. Chkhikvishvili provided detailed plans and materials such as bomb-making instructions and guidance on making Molotov cocktails to facilitate carrying out these crimes. In November 2023, Chkhikvishvili began planning a mass casualty attack in New York City to take place on New Year’s Eve. The scheme involved an individual dressing up as Santa Claus and handing out candy laced with poison to racial minorities. In January, the scheme evolved and Chkhikvishvili specifically directed the UC to target the Jewish community, Jewish schools, and Jewish children in Brooklyn with poison. Chkhikvishvili drafted step-by-step instructions to carry out the scheme and shared detailed manuals about creating and mixing lethal poisons and gases with the UC. He also instructed the UC on methods of making ricin-based poisons in powder and liquid form, including by extracting ricin from castor beans. Chkhikvishvili distributed materials linked to radical Islamist jihadist groups and designated foreign terrorist organizations such as ISIS.
Chkhikvishvili wanted the planned attack to be a “bigger action than Breivik,” referring to Anders Behring Breivik, a Norwegian Neo‑Nazi who killed 77 people in a bombing and mass shooting in Norway in 2011. Meanwhile, Chkhikvishvili told others of his plan and claimed to have previously committed other hate crimes while living in Brooklyn in 2022. Chkhikvishvili boasted to others that he was “glad I have murdered,” and that he would “murder more” but “make others murder first.”Chkhikvishvili’s solicitations of violence have resulted in multiple attacks and killings around the world. In August 2024, an individual livestreamed himself stabbing approximately five people outside of a mosque in Eskisehir, Turkey, wearing a tactical vest adorned in Nazi symbols. A manifesto attributed to the attacker included explicit references to Chkhikvishvili and to violent statements made by him. Before the attack, the attacker also distributed a link to the Hater’s Handbook, authored by Chkhikvishvili, and other violent propaganda.
The charges in the indictment are allegations, and the defendant is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty. If convicted, Chkhikvishvili faces a maximum sentence of 20 years’ imprisonment for solicitation of violent felonies (including hate crime acts and transporting an explosive with intent to kill or injure), five years’ imprisonment for conspiring to solicit violent felonies, 20 years’ imprisonment for distributing information pertaining to the making and use of explosive devices and ricin poison, and five years’ imprisonment for transmitting threatening communications.
The government’s case is being handled by the Office’s National Security and Cybercrime Section. Assistant United States Attorneys Ellen H. Sise and Andrew D. Reich are in charge of the prosecution, with assistance from Trial Attorney Jennifer Levy of the National Security Division’s Counterterrorism Section and Paralegal Specialists Wayne Colon and Rebecca Roth. The Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division also provided assistance.
The Defendant:
MICHAIL CHKHIKVISHVILI (also known as “Mishka,” “Michael,” “Commander Butcher,” and “Butcher”)
Age: 21
Tbilisi, GeorgiaE.D.N.Y. Docket No. 24-CR-286 (CBA)
chkhikvishvili_indictment.pdfGeorgian National Extradited from Moldova to Face Charges for Soliciting Hate Crimes and Planning Mass Casualty Attack in New York CityRead the Press Release
Defendant Allegedly Planned Scheme to Distribute Poisoned Candy on New Year’s Eve
Georgian national Michail Chkhikvishvili, also known as Mishka, Michael, Commander Butcher, and Butcher, 21, of Tbilisi, was extradited to the United States from Moldova on May 22, and will be arraigned in federal court in Brooklyn today. Chkhikvishvili was arrested in Chișinău, Moldova, in July 2024 in connection with a four-count indictment returned in the Eastern District of New York charging him with soliciting hate crimes and acts of mass violence in New York City.
According to court documents, Chkhikvishvili is a leader of the Maniac Murder Cult, also known as Maniacs Murder Cult, Maniacs: Cult of Killing, MKY, MMC and MKU, an international racially-motivated violent extremist group. As alleged in the indictment, Chkhikvishvili recruited people to commit violent acts in furtherance of MKY’s ideologies, including planning and soliciting a mass casualty attack in New York City.
“This case is a stark reminder of the kind of terrorism we face today: online networks plotting unspeakable acts of violence against children, families, and the Jewish community in pursuit of a depraved, extremist ideology,” said Attorney General Pamela Bondi. “The Department of Justice will not tolerate hate-fueled violence, and we will pursue those who threaten innocent lives wherever they may be.”
“The defendant is accused of recruiting others to kill Jewish people, kill racial minorities, and of providing instructions on how to commit other lethal attacks — even targeting children around the holidays by poisoning candy,” said FBI Director Kash Patel. “These allegations are despicable, and thanks to the work and partnership of the FBI and the authorities in Moldova, Michail Chkhikvishvili has been brought to the United States to face charges in our justice system.”
“As alleged, the defendant, a white supremacist, recruited others to participate in a violent campaign of hatred against racial minorities and the Jewish community and to engage in the mass killing of children and others in these communities using poison, suicide bombs, firearms, arson fires, and vehicle explosions. Today’s extradition is a giant step forward in holding the defendant accountable for his unspeakably reprehensible and vile efforts to spread fear, chaos, and hate,” said U.S. Attorney Joseph Nocella Jr. for the Eastern District of New York. “Protecting our homeland, city, district, and country from violent extremists will always be one of the top priorities of the Justice Department and my office.”
Chkhikvishvili’s MKY adheres to a neo-Nazi accelerationist ideology and promotes violence against racial minorities, the Jewish community and other groups it deems “undesirables.” MKY members share a common goal of challenging social order and governments via terrorism and violent acts that promote fear and chaos. MKY has members in the United States and abroad.
Since approximately September 2021, Chkhikvishvili has distributed a manifesto titled the “Hater’s Handbook” to MKY members and others. The Hater’s Handbook encourages people to commit acts of mass violence. In the Hater’s Handbook, Chkhikvishvili states that he has “murdered for the white race” and encourages and instructs others to commit acts of mass violence and “ethnic cleansing.” For example, the Hater’s Handbook encourages its readers to commit school shootings and to use children to perpetrate suicide bombings and other mass killings targeting racial minorities. The Hater’s Handbook describes methods and strategies for committing mass “terror attacks,” including, for example, using vehicles to target “large outdoor festivals, conventions, celebrations and parades” and “pedestrian congested streets.” The Hater’s Handbook specifically encourages committing attacks within the United States.
In June 2022, Chkhikvishvili traveled to Brooklyn. As alleged, beginning at least as early as July 2022, Chkhikvishvili repeatedly encouraged others, primarily via the encryption-enabled mobile messaging platform Telegram, to commit violent hate crimes and other acts of violence on behalf of MKY. This included conspiring to solicit violent acts with the leader of a separate violent extremist neo-Nazi group, and soliciting acts of mass violence in New York from an individual who claimed to be a prospective MKY recruit, but who, unbeknownst to Chkhikvishvili, was actually an undercover FBI employee (the UC).
In a September 2023 conversation, the UC messaged Chkhikvishvili asking whether there was an application process to join MKY. The defendant responded, “we ask people for brutal beating, arson/explosion or murder vids on camera.” Chkhikvishvili further stated that “[p]oisoning and arson are best options for murder,” and suggested also considering a larger “mass murder[]” within the United States. Chkhikvishvili advised the UC that the victims of these acts should be “low race targets.”
Beginning in approximately November 2023, Chkhikvishvili solicited the UC to commit violent crimes, such as bombings and arsons, for the purpose of harming racial minorities, Jewish individuals and others. Chkhikvishvili provided detailed plans and materials such as bomb-making instructions and guidance on making Molotov cocktails to facilitate carrying out these crimes. In November 2023, Chkhikvishvili began planning a mass casualty attack in New York City to take place on New Year’s Eve. The scheme involved an individual dressing up as Santa Claus and handing out candy laced with poison to racial minorities.
In January, the scheme evolved and Chkhikvishvili specifically directed the UC to target the Jewish community, Jewish schools, and Jewish children in Brooklyn with poison. Chkhikvishvili drafted step-by-step instructions to carry out the scheme and shared detailed manuals about creating and mixing lethal poisons and gases with the UC. He also instructed the UC on methods of making ricin-based poisons in powder and liquid form, including by extracting ricin from castor beans. Chkhikvishvili sent materials linked to radical Islamist jihadist groups and designated foreign terrorist organizations such as ISIS.
Chkhikvishvili wanted the planned attack to be a “bigger action than Breivik,” referring to Anders Behring Breivik, a Norwegian neo‑Nazi who killed 77 people in a bombing and mass shooting in Norway in 2011. Meanwhile, Chkhikvishvili told others of his plan and claimed to have previously committed other hate crimes while living in Brooklyn in 2022. Chkhikvishvili boasted to others that he was “glad I have murdered,” and that he would “murder more” but “make others murder first.”Chkhikvishvili’s solicitations of violence have resulted in multiple attacks and killings around the world. In August 2024, an individual livestreamed himself stabbing approximately five people outside of a mosque in Eskisehir, Turkey, wearing a tactical vest adorned in Nazi symbols. A manifesto attributed to the attacker included explicit references to Chkhikvishvili and to violent statements made by him. Before the attack, the attacker also distributed a link to the Hater’s Handbook, authored by Chkhikvishvili, and other violent propaganda.
If convicted, Chkhikvishvili faces a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison for solicitation of violent felonies (including hate crime acts and transporting an explosive with intent to kill or injure); five years in prison for conspiring to solicit violent felonies; 20 years in prison for distributing information pertaining to the making and use of explosive devices and ricin poison; and five years in prison for transmitting threatening communications.
The FBI’s New York Joint Terrorism Task Force which consists of investigators and analysts from the FBI, the New York City Police Department, and over 50 other federal, state, and local agencies, as well as the Department of State, and U.S. Customs and Border Protection are investigating the case. The Justice Department’s Office of International Affairs and the U.S. Department of State’s Diplomatic Security Service (DSS) agents provided significant assistance in securing the arrest and extradition of Chkhikvishvili from Moldova.
Assistant U.S. Attorneys Ellen H. Sise and Andrew D. Reich for the Eastern District of New York and Trial Attorney Jennifer Levy of the National Security Division’s Counterterrorism Section are prosecuting the case, with valuable assistance from Paralegal Specialists Wayne Colon and Rebecca Roth. The Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division has also provided assistance.
An indictment is merely an allegation. All defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.
United States Files Civil Enforcement Action and Obtains Temporary Restraining Order to Stop Queens-Based Logistics Company and Others from Shipping Packages from China with Counterfeit Postage LabelsRead the Press Release
Joseph Nocella, Jr., United States Attorney for the Eastern District of New York, and Edward Gallashaw, Acting Inspector in Charge, United States Postal Inspection Service (USPIS) announced today that the United States has obtained a temporary restraining order barring two logistics companies, one based in Queens, New York, and the other in Los Angeles, California, and their owner from using the United States Postal Service (USPS) to ship packages containing counterfeit postage.
On May 15, 2025, the United States filed a civil complaint in federal court in Brooklyn against the two shipping logistics companies and the companies’ owner (collectively Defendants), alleging that Defendants have committed mail fraud and conspired to commit mail fraud for years by shipping thousands of parcels through USPS using counterfeit USPS postage labels. Defendants, YDH Express, Inc., YDH Int’l Inc., and their owner/operator Yizhao Hou, also known as Harvey Hou, receive these parcels from their customers, which are companies located in China. The complaint seeks injunctive relief under the Anti-Fraud Injunction Act, as well as additional relief to remedy financial losses incurred by USPS. The United States also sought a temporary restraining order immediately barring Defendants from using USPS to mail parcels pending further order of the Court. On May 16, 2025, United States District Judge Natasha C. Merle entered a temporary restraining order against Defendants.
“The Postal Service provides essential services to Americans, and we will not tolerate attempts by unscrupulous overseas businesses using fake postage to unlawfully deprive USPS of revenue it is entitled to,” stated United States Attorney Nocella. “My Office is working diligently with our partners at the United States Postal Inspection Service to stop this ongoing fraud against the Postal Service.”
Mr. Nocella expressed his appreciation to the United States Postal Inspection Service and Customs and Border Patrol (CBP) for their work on the case.
“Hou allegedly cared only about making a profit at the expense of the USPS. The U.S. Postal Inspection Service, along with Homeland Security Investigations and U.S. Customs and Border Protection, have a shared commitment in identifying individuals like Yizhou Hou who allegedly facilitate and perpetuate the use of fraudulent or counterfeit postage,” stated USPIS Acting Inspector in Charge of the New York Division Gallashaw. “Postal Inspectors will use all of our resources to put an end to the use of counterfeit postage and hold accountable all who seek to defraud the USPS. We will fulfill our mission to strengthen the American public’s trust in the U.S. Mail.”
As alleged in the complaint, Defendants have conspired to ship thousands of parcels bearing counterfeit USPS labels, which they receive in bulk from their customers, sellers of goods located in China. Defendants have allegedly deprived USPS of substantial revenue through their use of counterfeit postage labels. The complaint alleges that Defendants have committed mail fraud and conspiracy to commit mail fraud, and violated the False Claims Act (FCA), as a result of their misconduct. The FCA allows the government to seek treble damages and penalties against those who defraud the United States, including by knowingly failing to pay obligations to the government. The complaint seeks injunctive relief, damages, and penalties.
As set forth in the May 16, 2025 temporary restraining order (TRO), the Court found that there is “probable cause to believe that defendants are still engaged in the ongoing commission of mail fraud, and are still engaged in the ongoing conspiracy to commit mail fraud,” and that USPS would suffer “irreparable harm” absent a TRO because it “would continue to be defrauded by defendants’ use of counterfeit or invalid postage labels, or both.”
You can report mail theft, identity theft, fraud, or other crimes involving the U.S. mail by calling the Postal Inspection Service’s national toll-free number: 877-876-2455 or at http://uspis.gov/report.
The government’s case is being handled by the Office’s Civil Division. Assistant United States Attorneys David A. Cooper and Logan J. Gowdicott are in charge of the case, with assistance from Paralegal Specialist Loan Nguyen.
E.D.N.Y. Docket No. 25-CV-2719 (NCM)
Defendants Charged for Their Roles in Two Schemes to Pay Kickbacks in Return for Business from Non-Profit OrganizationRead the Press Release
Earlier today, in federal court in Brooklyn, a superseding indictment was unsealed charging Gary DSilva, also known as Pankaj DSilva, Jonathan Velazquez, Luis A. Camarena, and Pradeep Nigam with conspiracy to commit wire fraud and bribery, as well as substantive counts of wire fraud and federal-program bribery; DSilva and Velazquez are also charged with money laundering conspiracies. The new charges arise from a scheme in which DSilva and Velazquez, employees of a Brooklyn-based non-profit organization (the Organization), received kickbacks from Nigam in exchange for steering business to a vendor owned by Nigam (Vendor 2). DSilva, Velazquez, and Camarena had been charged in a previous indictment that was unsealed on November 21, 2024, for their roles in a similar scheme in which DSilva and Velazquez received kickbacks from Camarena in return for steering business to a vendor owned by Camarena (Vendor 1). Nigam surrendered to authorities earlier today and will be arraigned this afternoon before the United States Magistrate Judge Marcia M. Henry. DSilva, Velazquez, and Camarena will be arraigned at a later date.
Joseph Nocella, Jr., United States Attorney for the Eastern District of New York; Jocelyn E. Strauber, Commissioner, New York City Department of Investigation (DOI); and Christopher G. Raia, Assistant Director in Charge, Federal Bureau of Investigation, New York Field Office (FBI); announced the arrest and charges.
“As alleged, DSilva, Velazsquez, and Nigam set up a secret side deal with Nigam and awarded Nigam business contracts worth millions of dollars that provided essential information-technology services to homeless shelters in return for illegal kickbacks,” stated United States Attorney Nocella. “Today’s indictment underscores our strong commitment to prosecuting all illegal fraud and contract steering schemes.”
DOI Commissioner Jocelyn E. Strauber stated, “These defendants, employees of a City-funded nonprofit and principals of the nonprofit’s subcontractors, engaged in kickback schemes in return for millions of dollars in contracts, as charged. These funds were intended to provide technology services in homeless shelters operated by the non-profit, instead the defendants exploited these arrangements to benefit themselves. I thank the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of New York and the New York Office of the FBI for their continued partnership and commitment to protect public funds.”
“These four defendants allegedly crafted a kickback scheme to enrich themselves by discreetly contracting a co-conspirator’s company to install security systems in several New York City homeless shelters,” stated FBI Assistant Director in Charge Raia. “This alleged conspiracy prioritized personal interests and established an unfair financial advantage to perpetuate the cycle of unlawful payments flowing into the defendants’ bank accounts. The FBI remains committed to investigating any instance of quid pro quo, especially when it impacts critical services to our city’s vulnerable communities.”
As alleged in the superseding indictment, DSilva and Velazquez were employed in the Management Information Systems department of the Organization, which supplied numerous services to indigent New Yorkers, including administering multiple homeless shelters. As part of their work for the Organization, DSilva and Velazquez were responsible for soliciting vendors to complete various projects involving information technology.
The superseding indictment details two schemes in which DSilva and Velazquez received kickbacks for steering contracts for the Organization to specific vendors. In the first scheme, which was also detailed in the original indictment, DSilva and Velazquez received approximately $500,000 in kickbacks from Camarena in return for steering contracts worth approximately $1.6 million to Vendor 1, Camarena’s company, for installing and/or replacing security cameras at the Organization’s homeless shelters. In the second scheme, DSilva and Velazquez took payments from Nigam in exchange for the approval of payments from the Organization to Vendor 2, Nigam’s company. The payments from the Organization were for the installation and maintenance of telephone, Internet, and network services at homeless shelters operated by the Organization. DSilva, Velazquez, and Nigam had a secret deal whereby they agreed to split the profits Vendor 2 made on the payments from the Organization three ways. DSilva and Velazquez had control over how much Nigam charged the Organization. In one instance, DSilva, using a personal email account, sent to Nigam an invoice for Vendor 2 to submit to the Organization—DSilva’s employer. As part of the conspiracy, Nigam regularly sent money to companies in the names of relatives of DSilva and Velazquez. In total, the Organization paid almost $2 million to Vendor 2 during the operation of the scheme, and Nigam paid kickbacks exceeding $700,000 to DSilva and Velazquez.
The charges in the superseding indictment are merely allegations and the defendants are presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.
The government’s case is being handled by the Office’s Public Integrity Section. Assistant United States Attorneys Laura Zuckerwise and Turner Buford are in charge of the prosecution, with the assistance of paralegal specialist Kavya Kannan.
The Defendants:
GARY DSILVA (also known as “Pankaj DSilva”)
Age: 46
Manalapan, NJJONATHAN VELAZQUEZ
Age: 54
Massapequa Park, NYLUIS A. CAMARENA
Age: 57
Bronx, NYPRADEEP NIGAM
Age: 63
Edison, NJE.D.N.Y. Docket No. 24-CR-471 (S-1) (HG)
Chief Executive Officer of Digital Asset Company Found Guilty in Multi-Million Dollar Crypto-Fraud SchemeRead the Press Release
Earlier today, at the federal courthouse in Brooklyn, a federal jury convicted Braden John Karony on all counts of a three-count indictment charging him with conspiracy to commit securities fraud, wire fraud, and money laundering. The charges arose from the defendant’s and his co-conspirators’ roles in defrauding investors in a decentralized finance digital asset called “SafeMoon,” issued by their company SafeMoon LLC. As alleged, the defendant agreed with his co-conspirators to lie to SafeMoon investors about whether SafeMoon executives could access the liquidity pool and whether they were using the assets from the liquidity pool for their personal benefit. As SafeMoon’s market capitalization grew to more than $8 billion, the defendant fraudulently diverted and misappropriated millions of dollars’ worth of liquidity from the SafeMoon liquidity pool for their personal benefit. The verdict followed a 12-day trial before United States District Judge Eric R. Komitee. When sentenced, Karony faces up to 45 years in prison. The jury also issued a verdict to forfeit one residential property and the proceeds from the sale of another residential property, amounting to approximately $2 million.
Joseph Nocella, Jr., United States Attorney for the Eastern District of New York; Christopher G. Raia, Assistant Director in Charge, Federal Bureau of Investigation, New York Field Office (FBI); Harry T. Chavis, Jr., Special Agent in Charge, Internal Revenue Service Criminal Investigation, New York (IRS-CI); and Darren B. McCormack, Acting Special Agent in Charge, Homeland Security Investigations, New York (HSI New York) announced the verdict.
“As proven at trial, the SafeMoon digital asset was anything but safe and turned out to be pie in the sky for investors who were deliberately misled by Karony, a man who sought to get rich quick by stealing and diverting millions of dollars,” stated United States Attorney Nocella. “Karony used his scheme to purchase multiple homes, sports cars, custom trucks, and other luxury goods. Today’s guilty verdict should serve as a warning to all would-be fraudsters that my Office will vigorously prosecute individuals like the defendant who victimize digital asset investors and undermine investor confidence in digital assets markets, thereby threatening the stability and growth of these emerging technologies.”
Mr. Nocella expressed his appreciation to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission for its work on the case.
“Braden Karony, the CEO of SafeMoon, exploited his company’s digital portfolio with fictional success stories and stole millions of dollars in crypto-assets to finance luxury purchases,” stated FBI Assistant Director in Charge Raia. “Along with his co-conspirators, Karony violated his clients’ trust and wallets while attempting to conceal his misconduct through discreet transactions. May today’s conviction emphasize the FBI’s commitment to securing all markets and protecting the American people from individuals who abuse their position to satisfy personal greed.”
“Braden Karony misled investors; intentionally diverted and misappropriated millions in cryptocurrency for his personal benefit; and lined the driveways of his million dollar homes with luxury cars. While the name of his company is SafeMoon, there was nothing safe about this investment that was just a front for theft. By following the money with complex cryptocurrency tracing, IRS-CI New York’s Cyber and J5 groups worked with our investigative partners to see that this conman is held accountable for his greedy acts,” stated IRS-CI New York Special Agent in Charge Chavis. “The Joint Chiefs of Global Tax Enforcement (J5) is a global partnership that works together to gather information, share intelligence, and conduct coordinated operations against transnational financial crimes. The J5 includes the Australian Taxation Office, the Canada Revenue Agency, the Dutch Fiscal Intelligence and Investigation Service, His Majesty’s Revenue and Customs from the U.K. and IRS-CI from the U.S.”
“Steered by his selfish desires and insatiable greed, Braden John Karony treated millions of dollars in investors’ funds as his own personal bank account,” stated HSI New York Acting Special Agent in Charge McCormack. “The defendant will soon be trading his sprawling real estate and luxury vehicles for a jail cell within the four walls of a federal penitentiary. As reflected by today’s conviction, whether it involves fiat or crypto, HSI New York’s El Dorado Task Force will relentlessly pursue individuals intent on exploiting investors and the American financial system for their own gain.”
Background on SafeMoon
As proven at trial, SafeMoon tokens were digital assets first issued in March 2021 by SafeMoon LLC on a public blockchain. Through the operation of SafeMoon’s smart contract, every transaction in SafeMoon was automatically subject to a 10% tax, meaning, for example, that if a holder of SafeMoon transferred 10 SafeMoon to another user, 1 SafeMoon would automatically be retained from the transfer as a tax and the remaining 9 SafeMoon would be received by the other party. As marketed to SafeMoon investors, the proceeds of SafeMoon’s 10% tax were split into two 5% tranches, the proceeds of which were supposed to benefit holders of SafeMoon in specific ways. The first 5% tranche of the tax proceeds would be “reflected” back to, and distributed among, all SafeMoon holders in proportion to their current SafeMoon holdings and thereby increase the total quantity of SafeMoon held by every SafeMoon investor automatically. The remaining 5% tranche of SafeMoon tax proceeds would be deposited into designated SafeMoon liquidity pools. The larger the SafeMoon liquidity pool, the greater the liquidity in the market for SafeMoon. In the months after its launch in March 2021, SafeMoon grew to have millions of holders and a market capitalization of more than $8 billion.
The Defendants’ Fraudulent SchemeKarony and his co-conspirators misrepresented various material aspects of the SafeMoon offering to investors. Such misrepresentations included that SafeMoon relied on “locked” liquidity pools that would automatically increase in size due to a 10% tax imposed on every SafeMoon transaction; that the “locked” SafeMoon liquidity pool prevented the defendants and other insiders at SafeMoon from being able to “rug pull”—a type of crypto fraud— SafeMoon investors by removing liquidity from the SafeMoon liquidity pool; that tokens in the liquidity pool would only be used for limited pre-defined business purposes, not personal enrichment; that the defendants would manually add token pairs to the SafeMoon liquidity pool when transactions of SafeMoon occurred on specific centralized exchanges; and that the developers were not and had not been holding and trading SafeMoon for their benefit.
In reality, Karony and his co-conspirators retained access to the SafeMoon liquidity pools and used that access to intentionally divert and misappropriate millions of dollars’ worth of tokens for their personal benefit. In addition, although they publicly denied that they personally held or traded SafeMoon, they repeatedly bought and sold SafeMoon, sometimes at the height of SafeMoon market price, which generated millions of dollars in profits. Karony and his co-conspirators masked their movement of the fraudulent proceeds via numerous private un-hosted crypto wallet addresses, complex transaction routing, and pseudonymous centralized exchange accounts. Karony acquired over $9 million in crypto assets from the scheme and used some of the proceeds to purchase luxury vehicles and real estate, including a $2.2 million home in Utah, additional homes in Utah and Kansas, a $277,000 Audi R8 sports car, another Audi R8, a Tesla, and custom Ford F-550 and Jeep Gladiator pickup trucks.
Co-conspirator Thomas Smith previously pleaded guilty and is awaiting sentencing. Co-conspirator Kyle Nagy remains at large.
The government’s case is being handled by the Office’s Business and Securities Fraud Section. Assistant United States Attorneys Dana Rehnquist, Sara K. Winik, and Jessica K. Weigel are in charge of the prosecution, with assistance from Paralegal Specialists Asher Martin-Rosenthal and Madison Bates. Assistant United States Attorney Laura Mantell is handling forfeiture matters.
The Defendant:
BRADEN JOHN KARONY
29
Provo, UtahE.D.N.Y. Docket No. 23-CR-433 (EK)
Brooklyn Man Sentenced to 60 Months in Prison for $1.75 Million Covid-19 Unemployment FraudRead the Press Release
Earlier today, in federal court in Brooklyn, Bryan Abraham was sentenced by United States District Judge William F. Kuntz, II to 60 months in prison for aggravated identity theft and conspiring to commit access device fraud. Judge Kuntz also ordered Abraham to forfeit $579,862 and to pay restitution in that same amount. Abraham pleaded guilty in January 2023.
Joseph Nocella, Jr., United States Attorney for the Eastern District of New York, and Edward Gallashaw, Acting Inspector in Charge, United States Postal Inspection Service (USPIS), announced the sentence.
“Today’s sentence is a reminder that there is no free pass for fraudsters like the defendant who shamefully stole public funds intended to alleviate the suffering of New Yorkers during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic,” stated United States Attorney Nocella. “My Office will continue to work with our law enforcement partners to unravel these criminal schemes and hold the perpetrators accountable for their greed.”
Mr. Nocella expressed his appreciation to the New York City Police Department and the U.S. Department of Labor, Office of the Inspector General, for their assistance on the case.
“Postal Inspectors have worked aggressively to investigate all types of pandemic related frauds occurring via the U.S. Mail,” said Ed Gallashaw, Acting Inspector in Charge, U.S. Postal Inspection Service, New York Division. “These individuals unfortunately thought they could exploit government unemployment benefits and get away with it and will now rightly serve the consequence for their actions."
As set forth in court filings, between June 2020 and April 2021, Abraham and his co-conspirators capitalized on the relaxed requirements for claiming unemployment benefits during the COVID-19 pandemic to defraud the New York State Department of Labor (NYSDOL) out of more than $1.75 million in unemployment benefits in the names of approximately 250 victims. Abraham was personally responsible for fraudulent claims in the names of at least 78 victims, for which benefits in excess of $579,862 were paid.
To execute the scheme, Abraham and his co-conspirators purchased personal identifying information (PII) of victims through end-to-end encrypted applications like Telegram, and then used the victims’ PII to make fraudulent claims for unemployment benefits. Funds from the fraudulent claims were deposited into bank accounts they controlled or were provided via reloadable KeyBank debit cards, which they had mailed to addresses they could access. The defendant and his co-conspirators regularly traveled to ATMs together to withdraw thousands of dollars from the KeyBank cards. They flaunted their ill-gotten gains on social media—posing with stacks of cash, designer clothing, jewelry, and luxury cars. They communicated on Telegram concerning the logistics of the scheme, including where to purchase victim PII, the logistics of withdrawing fraudulent funds, and the luxury items and trips they were purchasing with their fraudulently obtained wealth.
Abraham was charged in the case alongside co-defendants Armani Miller, Seth Golding, Gianni Stewart, Andrew Ruddock, Angel Cabrera and Carlos Vazquez. Miller and Golding were both sentenced to 57 months’ imprisonment for conspiring to commit access device fraud, and Stewart was sentenced to 24 months’ imprisonment for conspiring to commit access device fraud. Ruddock was sentenced to probation for operating an unlicensed money transmitting business, and specifically for selling cryptocurrency to his co-conspirators. Cabrera pleaded guilty to conspiring to commit access device fraud and awaits sentencing. Vazquez pleaded guilty to aggravated identity theft and conspiring to commit access device fraud and also awaits sentencing.
The government’s case is being handled by the Office’s Business and Securities Fraud Section. Assistant United States Attorney Tara B. McGrath is in charge of the prosecution with assistance from Assistant United States Attorney Brendan G. King of the Office’s Asset Recovery Section.
The Defendant:
BRYAN ABRAHAM
Age: 22
Brooklyn, New YorkE.D.N.Y. Docket No. 21-CR-411 (WFK)
Former New York City Police Officer Sentenced to 23 Years’ Imprisonment for Sexually Exploiting Minors OnlineRead the Press Release
Earlier today, at the federal courthouse in Central Islip, Carmine Simpson was sentenced by United States District Judge Gary R. Brown to 23 years in prison for sexually exploiting minors online. On March 24, 2023, the defendant pleaded guilty to one count of sexually exploiting a minor. The charges stem from Simpson’s extensive online conduct in 2020, while he was a New York City Police Department (NYPD) officer, which includes engaging numerous children in sexual conversations, enticing and manipulating them into sending him nude images and videos, routinely requesting them to engage in live chat sessions on FaceTime and Snapchat, directing them to physically harm themselves, and asking them to write degrading sexual phrases on their nude bodies. Simpson resigned from the NYPD in 2022.
Joseph Nocella, Jr., United States Attorney for the Eastern District of New York, and Christopher G. Raia, Assistant Director in Charge, Federal Bureau of Investigation, New York Field Office (FBI), announced the sentence.
“The defendant’s repeated sexual solicitation and exploitation of minors is reprehensible,” stated United States Attorney Nocella. “That he was a law enforcement officer at the time he committed these crimes makes his conduct even more horrific. My Office will continue to work to protect vulnerable children from predators like the defendant.”
“Carmine Simpson betrayed his badge by preying upon minors for twisted sexual gratification. Simpson repeatedly prowled online for minor victims before coercing them to provide sexually explicit and degrading content,” stated FBI Assistant Director in Charge Raia. “The FBI will never tolerate any individual who exploits children, especially those with sworn duties to protect them.”
Simpson, then a police officer with the NYPD, targeted vulnerable children on Twitter for the purpose of having them create and send him sexually exploitative photos and videos of themselves. Simpson had multiple Twitter profiles and pretended to be a 17-year-old boy to entice minors into engaging with him, even using a filter to alter his own appearance so that he looked younger. Simpson then communicated with numerous minors, including some as young as 13-years-old.
Law enforcement first learned about the defendant’s conduct in December 2020, after the mother of John Doe 2, a 13-year-old transgender male, filed a police report after finding chat communications with the defendant on her child’s computer. In those messages, the defendant stated, “Do you take good nudes?” and “You take good nudes? Prove it.” He gave instructions to write words on the victim’s body with a marker and commented: “How many words do you think we can add to your body?” As part of that conversation, John Doe 2 sent the defendant at least two sexually explicit videos.
This prosecution is part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse. Led by United States Attorneys’ Offices, Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state, and local resources to better locate, apprehend, and prosecute individuals who exploit children via the Internet, as well as to identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit https://www.justice.gov/psc.
The government’s case is being handled by the Criminal Section of the Office’s Long Island Division. Assistant United States Attorney Megan E. Farrell is in charge of the prosecution.
The Defendant:
CARMINE SIMPSON
Age: 30
Holbrook, New YorkE.D.N.Y. Docket No. 21-CR-97 (GRB)
Defendant Sentenced to 25 Years in Prison for the Murder of a Poughkeepsie Man During a Violent Drug-Related Robbery in Brighton BeachRead the Press Release
Earlier today, in federal court in Brooklyn, Marcus Ricketts was sentenced by United States District Judge LaShann DeArcy Hall to 25 years in prison for causing death through use of a firearm. Ricketts pleaded guilty to the charge on April 4, 2024.
Joseph Nocella, Jr., United States Attorney for the Eastern District of New York and Christopher G. Raia, Assistant Director in Charge, Federal Bureau of Investigation, New York Field Office (FBI), announced the sentence.
“My Office continues to work tirelessly to dismantle violent robbery crews that wreak havoc on communities throughout New York City, such as the one the defendant led,” stated United States Attorney Nocella. “Today’s sentencing reaffirms that brazen and incorrigible violence will be severely punished. It also reconfirms our commitment to prosecuting defendants who are here illegally and commit violent acts to the fullest extent of the law.”
Mr. Nocella expressed his appreciation to the New York Field Office of the FBI.
“For years, Marcus Ricketts led a violent robbery crew targeting victims across the city with firearms and threats of death, which was followed through on one occasion,” stated FBI Assistant Director in Charge Raia. “Despite a previous conviction and deportation, Ricketts continued to display little concern for the law with repeated attempts to unlawfully enrich himself and his cohorts. May today’s sentencing reflect the FBI’s steadfast commitment to crush violent crime and deter chronic recidivists from entering this country illegally determined to wreak criminal havoc in our communities.
As set forth in the government’s sentencing memorandum, prior court filings, and statements during the sentencing, Ricketts led an armed robbery crew that targeted marijuana dealers throughout New York City. In addition to Ricketts, the crew included co-defendants Mark Goulbourne, Jonathan Goulbourne, Juvanie Crossgill, Chevonne Williams, Amari Webber, and Romeo Jonas.
Between June 2020 and December 2021, after illegally returning to the United States following his deportation, Ricketts, a Jamaican citizen, perpetrated three armed robberies with the crew, one of which resulted in a shootout and a murder. Each time, the crew posed as marijuana dealers, arranged to meet the marijuana sellers for a purported purchase, and then robbed the dealers at gunpoint.
In July 2020, Ricketts orchestrated the robbery of a victim selling marijuana from his store in the Bronx (Victim 1). Victim 1 was held at gunpoint while Ricketts stole approximately 40 pounds of marijuana.
In October 2021, Ricketts orchestrated the robbery of a victim selling marijuana from his store in Staten Island (Victim 2). Victim 2 and his younger brother were ordered to the floor at gunpoint and threatened with death. The crew stole approximately 100 pounds of marijuana and Victim 2’s car.
In December 2021, Ricketts and others orchestrated the robbery of a victim from Poughkeepsie (Victim 3) and his friend (Victim 4) who were selling marijuana. Ricketts and the crew met the victims at an Airbnb in Brighton Beach, posing as buyers for the approximately 165 pounds of marijuana brought into the Airbnb for the sale. While Ricketts, Mark Goulbourne, and others were inside the Airbnb with Victim 3 and Victim 4, a shootout erupted, killing Victim 3 and wounding Victim 4.
Ricketts and Mark Goulbourne fled the Airbnb carrying guns, and Ricketts also carried a large duffle bag of marijuana. On a nearby street, Ricketts stole a Citi Bike from a passerby, which he attempted unsuccessfully to transport the marijuana. Ricketts was then picked up in Jonathan Goulbourne’s car, and they fled the scene. In the hours that followed, at Ricketts’s instruction, Crossgill returned to the scene several times to locate evidence the crew had left behind.
Notably, this was not Ricketts’s first conviction for armed robbery. In August 2014, Ricketts organized a violent robbery of an individual in the Bronx, for which he was convicted and sentenced in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York. On February 28, 2019, after serving his sentence, Ricketts was deported to Jamaica. By June 2020, he had illegally returned to the United States and was again orchestrating violent robberies in New York City.
Previously, Webber and Jonas pled guilty to Hobbs Act robbery and conspiracy to commit the same and were sentenced to 108 months and 144 months’ imprisonment, respectively. Jonathan Goulbourne pled guilty to obstruction of justice and was sentenced to 81 months’ imprisonment. Crossgill and Williams both pled guilty and await sentencing.
Mark Goulbourne has pled not guilty and is scheduled to start trial on June 16, 2025. The charges against Mark Goulbourne are merely allegations and he is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.
This effort is part of an Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces (OCDETF) operation. OCDETF identifies, disrupts, and dismantles the highest-level criminal organizations that threaten the United States using a prosecutor-led, intelligence-driven, multi-agency approach. Additional information about the OCDETF Program can be found at https://www.justice.gov/OCDETF.
The government’s case is being handled by the Office’s International Narcotics and Money Laundering Section. Assistant United States Attorneys Tara B. McGrath, Chand W. Edwards-Balfour, Rebecca M. Schuman, and Francisco J. Navarro are in charge of the prosecution.
The Defendant:
MARCUS RICKETTS
Age: 48
JamaicaE.D.N.Y. Docket No. 22-CR-106 (LDH)
Former Private Equity Executives Sentenced to PrisonRead the Press Release
Earlier today, in federal court in Brooklyn, David Gentile, the founder and former Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of GPB Capital, and Jeffry Schneider, the former CEO of Ascendant Capital, were sentenced by United States District Judge Rachel P. Kovner to seven years in prison and six years in prison, respectively, for their roles in a multi-year scheme to defraud more than 10,000 investors by misrepresenting the performance of three GPB Capital private equity funds and the source of funds used to make monthly distribution payments to investors. Collectively, the GPB funds raised approximately $1.6 billion from investors. Both defendants were convicted by a federal jury in August 2024 following an eight-week trial of securities fraud, securities fraud conspiracy, and wire fraud conspiracy; Gentile was also convicted of wire fraud. Additional penalties of forfeiture and restitution will be imposed at a later date.
Joseph Nocella, Jr., United States Attorney for the Eastern District of New York, and Christopher G. Raia, Assistant Director in Charge, Federal Bureau of Investigation, New York Field Office (FBI), announced the sentences.
“The defendants built GPB Capital on a foundation of lies,” stated United States Attorney Nocella. “They raised approximately $1.6 billion from individual investors based on false promises of generating investment returns from the profits of portfolio companies, all while using investor capital to pay distributions and create a false appearance of success. The sentences imposed today are well deserved and should serve as a warning to would-be fraudsters that seeking to get rich by taking advantage of investors gets you only a one-way ticket to jail. My Office is committed to protecting the investing public and the integrity of the financial markets.”
Mr. Nocella expressed his appreciation to the Securities and Exchange Commission, the New York City Business Integrity Commission, and the New York City Police Department for their valuable assistance with the case.
"For years, David Gentile and Jeffry Schneider wove a web of lies to steal more than one billion dollars from investors through empty promises of guaranteed profits and unlawfully rerouting funds to provide an illusion of success. The defendants abused their high-ranking positions within their company to exploit the trust of their investors and directly manipulate payments to perpetuate this scheme. May today’s sentencing deter anyone who seeks to greedily profit off their clients through deceitful practices," stated FBI Assistant Director in Charge Raia.
As proven at trial, GPB Capital, founded by Gentile in 2013, was a New York-based registered investment advisor. Ascendant Capital, a marketing firm founded by Schneider, was the exclusive placement agent for GPB. GPB Capital’s funds offered private equity-style investments to individual investors. The GPB funds were presented to investors as “income-producing” private equity, meaning that investors would receive monthly distributions from cash flow generated by portfolio companies owned by the GPB funds, in addition to a return on their investment at the end of the fund. In total, GPB and Ascendant Capital raised approximately $1.6 billion for three funds, GPB Holdings I, LP (Holdings I), GPB Holdings II, LP (Holdings II), and GPB Automotive Portfolio, LP (GPB AP) and together with Holdings I and Holdings II, (the GPB Funds). Gentile and Schneider worked closely on the operation and marketing of the GPB Funds and were personally involved in pitching broker-dealers and registered investment advisors. They were also involved in investment decisions at GPB Capital and in the day-to-day operations of the GPB Funds.
Between approximately 2015 and 2018, the defendants defrauded investors and prospective investors in the GPB Funds through misrepresentations about the performance of the GPB Funds and the source of the investors’ monthly distributions.
In 2015 and 2016, the defendants, with their co-conspirators, used fraudulent, back-dated “performance guarantees” to artificially inflate the income of Holdings I and GPB AP. The performance guarantees were executed by GPB operating partner Jeffrey Lash for certain dealerships owned by the funds and falsely represented that Lash had agreed to cover a shortfall in profits at the dealerships. In or about March 2015, at the direction of the defendants, Lash executed two performance guarantees falsely representing that he had agreed to cover a shortfall in profits at two dealerships owned by Holdings I for audit year 2014. In April 2016, the defendants and Lash executed another fraudulent performance guarantee for a dealership owned by GPB AP for audit year 2015. Gentile then routed funds from another GPB-owned fund through Lash’s accounts to create the appearance that the performance guarantee had been paid. Holdings I and GPB AP booked the fraudulent performance guarantees in their audited financial statements, artificially inflating the funds’ returns as presented to investors for 2014 and 2015 respectively. After fraudulently inflating their audited financial statements, the GPB Funds raised approximately $1 billion from investors.
Between approximately August 2015 and December 2018, the defendants also misrepresented the source of the monthly distributions paid to investors. Specifically, the defendants represented to investors and prospective investors that GPB would pay monthly distributions from income generated by portfolio companies when in fact they used investor capital to cover a significant share of the distributions paid by the GPB Funds. At the direction of the defendants, the GPB Funds used approximately $100 million in investor capital to cover distributions to investors and maintain the Funds’ distribution rates.
Lash, the defendants’ co-conspirator, pleaded guilty to wire fraud in 2023 and will be sentenced at a later date.
The government’s case is being handled by the Office’s Business and Securities Fraud Section. Assistant United States Attorneys Jessica K. Weigel, Nick M. Axelrod, and Kate Mathews are in charge of the prosecution with assistance from Paralegal Specialists Madison Bates and Allison Henry. Assistant United States Attorney Claire Kedeshian is handling forfeiture matters.
The Defendants:
DAVID GENTILE
Age: 58
Manhasset, Long IslandJEFFRY SCHNEIDER
Age: 56
Austin, TexasE.D.N.Y. Docket No. 21-CR-54 (RPK)
Defendant Convicted of Armed Robbery at a Brooklyn Convenience StoreRead the Press Release
Earlier today, at the federal courthouse in Brooklyn, a federal jury convicted Michael Rutledge on all counts of a superseding indictment charging him with Hobbs Act robbery conspiracy, Hobbs Act robbery, and discharging a firearm during a crime of violence. The charges arose from a robbery committed at gunpoint by Rutledge and two co-conspirators on February 10, 2023. The verdict followed a five-day trial before United States District Judge Frederic Block. When sentenced, Rutledge faces a mandatory minimum sentence of 10 years in prison and up to life in prison.
Joseph Nocella, Jr., United States Attorney for the Eastern District of New York; Bryan Miller, Special Agent in Charge, U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives, New York Field Office (ATF); and Jessica S. Tisch, Commissioner, New York City Police Department (NYPD), announced the verdict.
“Rutledge and his co-conspirators meticulously planned a violent robbery in a neighborhood convenience store in Clinton Hill, during which a customer was brutally pistol-whipped and shot, and a hard-working store clerk was held at knifepoint while thieves lined their pockets with thousands of dollars in cash,” stated United States Attorney Nocella. “Thanks to exceptional investigative work by the ATF and the NYPD, the defendant was identified, apprehended, and rightly convicted today.”
This conviction is a testament to the strength of New York City’s law enforcement partnerships and our shared commitment to protecting the public from violent gun crime,” stated ATF Special Agent in Charge Miller. “The brazen and violent acts committed in this case are unacceptable. Thanks to the tireless work of the ATF/NYPD SPARTA Group (Strategic Pattern Armed Robbery Technical Apprehension), NYPD 88th Precinct Detective Squad and our partners at the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District, this defendant has been held accountable and will face the consequences of his actions. We will remain relentless in our efforts to identify, investigate, and stop those who use illegal firearms to terrorize people in our communities.”
“Michael Rutledge didn’t just act as a getaway driver—he aided and abetted violent criminals who held a store clerk at knifepoint, stole thousands of dollars from his business, and shot an unassuming victim in a targeted attack,” stated NYPD Commissioner Tisch. “Today’s guilty verdict holds him accountable for his role in this senseless violence and his attempt to evade justice. We remain committed to working with all of our law enforcement partners to ensure that those who threaten the safety of our communities face the full consequences of their actions.”
As proven at trial, Rutledge drove co-defendant Angel Gomez and their other co-conspirator (Co-Conspirator) from the Bronx to Brooklyn’s Clinton Hill neighborhood to execute their plan to rob a convenience store on Myrtle Avenue. Rutledge parked their vehicle while Gomez and Co-Conspirator walked to the store. Inside, Gomez displayed a gun and Co-Conspirator pulled out a knife, menacing the store worker. Co-Conspirator then rifled through two cash registers, removing more than $4,000 in cash. Meanwhile, Gomez pointed his gun at a customer, struck the customer in the head repeatedly with the gun, and shot him in the hip. The robbery duo fled back to the meet-up location where Rutledge was waiting to drive them away.
Rutledge was apprehended on June 21, 2023 after law enforcement executed a search warrant at an address in the Bronx where he was staying and where he fled after completing the robbery. They recovered the clothing he wore on the night of the robbery.
On February 12, 2025, Gomez pleaded guilty to Hobbs Act Robbery and brandishing a firearm in furtherance of a crime of violence. Gomez is awaiting sentencing. Co-Conspirator remains at large.
The government’s case is being handled by the Office’s General Crimes Section. Assistant United States Attorneys James R. Simmons and Vincent M. Chiappini are in charge of the prosecution with the assistance of Paralegal Specialist Matias Burdman and Criminal Investigations Unit Intelligence Research Specialist Ashley Hinkson.
The Defendant:
MICHAEL RUTLEDGE
Age: 45
Bronx, New YorkDefendant Who Previously Pleaded Guilty:
ANGEL GOMEZ
Age: 45
Bronx, New YorkE.D.N.Y. Docket No. 23-CR-269 (S-1) (FB)
MS-13 Gang Member Sentenced to 55 Years in Prison for the Murders of Four Young Men in a Central Islip ParkRead the Press Release
Earlier today, at the federal courthouse in Central Islip, Omar Antonio Villalta, also known as “Anticristo,” a member of the Guanacos Lil Cycos Salvatruchas (Guanacos) clique of the violent transnational criminal organization La Mara Salvatrucha, also known as the MS-13, was sentenced by United States District Judge Gary R. Brown to 55 years’ imprisonment. On May 26, 2023, Villalta pleaded guilty to racketeering, including predicate acts of murder and conspiracy to murder rival gang members. The charges stemmed from his involvement in the April 11, 2017 murders of Justin Llivicura, Michael Lopez, Jorge Tigre, and Jefferson Villalobos, who were hacked to death in a Central Islip park, and his involvement in the July 3, 2017 murder of Marvin Rivera Guevara, in Charlottsville, Virginia.
Joseph Nocella, Jr., United States Attorney for the Eastern District of New York; Christopher G. Raia, Assistant Director in Charge, Federal Bureau of Investigation, New York Field Office (FBI); and Kevin Catalina, Commissioner, Suffolk County Police Department (SCPD), announced the sentence.
“My Office and our law enforcement partners have worked endlessly to hold MS-13 accountable for their unspeakable crimes and the harm they’ve caused to countless victims and their loved ones,” stated United States Attorney Nocella. “This sentencing and others demonstrate our relentless pursuit to dismantle MS-13 and other violent criminal organizations in totality.”
“Omar Antonio Villalta, an MS-13 member, repeatedly played judge, jury, and executioner by unlawfully issuing death sentences to five victims perceived to be disrespectful or rivals to the gang,” stated FBI Assistant Director in Charge Raia. “These slaughters reflect the gang’s gruesome retributive tactics while demonstrating utter disregard for life with the rapid succession of murders. May today’s legitimate sentencing reflect the FBI's steadfast commitment to dismantling any gang from plaguing our communities with rampant violence.”
“The torture carried out at the hands of Villalta was inconceivable and sadistic— all because of his devotion to MS-13,” stated Suffolk County Police Commissioner Kevin Catalina. “His crimes sent shock waves through our communities but thanks to our collaboration with our law enforcement partners, Villalta was apprehended, and we will continue to target violent gang members who are a threat public safety.”
As set forth in the government’s sentencing memorandum, prior court filings, and statements during the sentencing, Llivicura, Lopez, Tigre, and Villalobos were lured to their deaths by Villalta and more than a dozen other members and associates of the MS-13. Specifically, the victims were led to a community park in Central Islip (the Park) by two female associates of the MS-13, Leniz Escobar and Keyli Gomez, where they were attacked by members and associates of the gang, including Josue Portillo, Freiry Martinez, Alexis Hernandez, Edwin Rodriguez, Sergio Segovia-Pineda, Henry Salmeron, Anderson Sanchez, and others.
The MS-13 members believed the victims to be members of a rival gang and at least two of the victims had offended the MS-13 by posting photos on social media in which they wore certain items and flashed hand signs that signified membership in the MS-13 gang. After the gang-related photos were brought to their attention by Escobar and Gomez, Villalta and several other MS-13 members formulated and carried out a plan to kill the victims. On the night of the murders, Villalta and more than a dozen other MS-13 members and associates gathered in the woods adjacent to the Park. Once there, the members who had been planning the attack, including Villalta, instructed the others to prepare themselves, as the female associates were luring a group of rivals to the Park for them to attack and kill.
Villalta distributed weapons to certain gang members, including knives and machetes, while others took clubs made of tree limbs as the group waited for the victims to arrive. Meanwhile, Escobar and Gomez met the victims, drove with them to the Park, led them to a predetermined wooded area, and sent the MS-13 members text-messages notifying them of their arrival. The MS-13 members and associates proceeded to the designated location and encircled the victims under the cover of darkness. One of the intended victims immediately fled and was able to escape. Llivicura, Lopez, Tigre, and Villalobos were surrounded by the MS-13 members, who attacked them with machetes, knives, an axe, and wooden clubs. After the attack, the MS-13 members dragged the victims’ bodies to a more secluded spot in the woods, piled them up, and fled. The victims’ bodies were discovered the following evening.
Following the murders, Villalta fled to Charlottesville, Virginia, where he connected with local MS-13 members. He soon began work at a pizzeria with a fellow MS-13 member. Within days of starting work, Villalta reported to other MS-13 members, including the leader of the Guanacos clique, that a co-worker, Marvin Rivera Guevara, had flashed an 18th Street gang hand sign indicating his membership in one of the MS-13’s principal rivals. Villalta was given authorization to kill the victim and a plan was quickly developed to carry out the murder. On the evening of July 3, 2017, the MS-13 member who worked at the pizzeria convinced the victim to drive with him to a remote location under the guise of smoking marijuana and meeting women. Once they arrived at the designated location, Villalta and other MS-13 members forced the victim at gunpoint deeper into the woods where they attacked him with a machete and knives. Villalta and the others then threw the victim’s body off a nearby bridge into the river below.
More than a dozen MS-13 members and associates have been charged in connection with the April 11, 2017 quadruple murder, including the individuals listed above. Of these defendants, Villalta is the sixth person to be sentenced. Josue Portillo was sentenced to 55 years’ imprisonment; Freiry Martinez to 50 years’ imprisonment; Leniz Escobar to 50 years’ imprisonment; Anderson Sanchez to 32 years’ imprisonment; and Alexis Hernandez to 29 years’ imprisonment. The remaining defendants are awaiting sentence.
Today’s sentencing is the latest in a series of federal prosecutions by the United States Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of New York targeting members of MS-13. Since 2010, the Office has obtained indictments charging MS-13 members with carrying out more than 70 murders in the Eastern District of New York, resulting in the convictions of dozens of MS-13 leaders and members in connection with those murders. These prosecutions are the product of investigations led by the FBI’s Long Island Gang Task Force, which is comprised of agents and officers of the FBI, SCPD, Nassau County Police Department, Nassau County Sheriff’s Department, Suffolk County Probation Office, Suffolk County Sheriff’s Office, the New York State Police, the Hempstead Police Department, the Rockville Centre Police Department, and the New York State Department of Corrections and Community Supervision.
This case is also part of Operation Take Back America, a nationwide initiative that marshals the full resources of the Department of Justice to repel the invasion of illegal immigration, achieve the total elimination of cartels and other transnational criminal organizations, and protect our communities from the perpetrators of violent crime. Operation Take Back America streamlines efforts and resources from the Department’s Project Safe Neighborhood.
The government’s case is being handled by the Criminal Section of the Office’s Long Island Division. Assistant United States Attorneys Paul G. Scotti, Justina L. Geraci, and Megan E. Farrell are in charge of the prosecution, with the assistance of Automated Litigation Support Specialist Michael Compitello.
The Defendant:
OMAR ANTONIO VILLALTA (also known as “Anticristo”)
Age: 29
Central Islip, New YorkE.D.N.Y. Docket No. 16-CR-403 (S-8) (GRB)
Joseph Nocella, Jr. Appointed Interim United States Attorney for the Eastern District of New YorkRead the Press Release
Joseph Nocella, Jr. has begun serving as Interim United States Attorney for the Eastern District of New York as per the authority of United States Attorney Pamela Bondi. Judge Nocella was sworn in on Monday, May 5, 2025 by United States Chief District Judge Margo K. Brodie. He will serve as Interim United States Attorney for a period of 120 days or until a Presidential nominee has been confirmed by the Senate.
Judge Nocella stated: “I am deeply honored that President Donald J. Trump and Attorney General Pamela Bondi have appointed me United States Attorney for the Eastern District of New York. It is especially gratifying to return to the very District where I began my prosecutorial career. Together with the exemplary staff that has made the Eastern District renown for its excellence, and the dedicated law enforcement agencies that work with the District, I look forward to prosecuting zealously the narcotics-traffickers, gang members, terrorists, human-traffickers and other criminals who have plagued the people of Nassau, Suffolk, Kings, Queens and Richmond Counties. I would also like to thank Acting United States Attorney John J. Durham for his service and leadership.”
Immediately before his appointment, Judge Nocella, 60, was serving as a Nassau County Family Court Judge, following several years of service as a Nassau County District Judge. Judge Nocella began his career in public service as the first law clerk to the Honorable Lawrence M. McKenna, United States District Judge for the Southern District of New York. Judge Nocella continued his career in public service as an Assistant U.S. Attorney in the Criminal Division of the Eastern District of New York, where he served from 1991 to 1995, prosecuting cases involving narcotics-trafficking, organized crime, money laundering and fraud, among others. Judge Nocella was in private practice in New York and Los Angeles from 1989 to 1990, and from 1995 to 2010. He also held various public service roles in government on Long Island, including Hempstead Town Attorney, Oyster Bay Town Attorney, Managing Attorney of the Nassau County Attorney’s Office and Counsel to the Nassau County Executive and Legislative Offices. Judge Nocella graduated from Chaminade High School in 1982, received his bachelor’s degree from Fordham University in 1986 and graduated from Columbia University School of Law in 1989.
Baltimore Man Charged in Second Superseding Indictment for Robbery, Kidnapping, and Shooting Death in QueensRead the Press Release
Earlier today, a seven-count second superseding indictment was unsealed in federal court in Brooklyn charging Jalon Lenny Garrett, also known as “Lips,” Marcus Pittman, also known as “Nacho” and “Cheese,” Delonta Pittman, also known as “D Lo,” and Jerome Waters, also known as “the Engineer” and “Rome,” for their alleged roles in the kidnapping, robbery, and shooting of marijuana dealers on July 25, 2024. Garrett was arrested this morning in Baltimore, Maryland, and will make his initial appearance in the Eastern District of New York at a later date. Marcus Pittman is also newly charged with being a felon in possession of ammunition for his role in the fatal shooting. The remaining defendants are already in custody and will be arraigned at a later date.
John J. Durham, United States Attorney for the Eastern District of New York; Christopher G. Raia, Assistant Director in Charge, Federal Bureau of Investigation, New York Field Office (FBI); and Jessica S. Tisch, Commissioner, New York City Police Department (NYPD) announced the arrests and charges.
“As alleged, the defendants took part in an interstate armed robbery and kidnapping scheme that resulted in the brutal murder of a targeted victim. This prosecution underscores the ongoing threat of guns and drugs in our communities,” stated United States Attorney Durham. “This Office is committed to holding violent offenders accountable and ensuring justice for every victim.”
“These four defendants allegedly traveled across the northeast to brutally kidnap and rob two unsuspecting individuals, ultimately murdering one of the victims,” stated FBI Assistant Director-in-Charge Raia. “This alleged fatal robbery highlights the volatile and random violence that the illicit drug trade can fuel. With our law enforcement partners, the FBI will continue to dismantle any organization implementing lethal tactics to bolster their criminal lifestyles and jeopardize the safety of our city.”
“These individuals came to New York City armed with guns and zip ties — ready to rob, kidnap, and kill,” stated NYPD Commissioner Tisch. “It was a deliberate, brutal attack meant to terrorize our communities. They thought they could hit and run. They were wrong — and anyone else thinking the same should take note. I’m grateful to our partners in Project Safe Neighborhoods for their shared commitment to protecting New Yorkers.”
According to the superseding indictment and other public court filings, the defendants are members of a Baltimore-based robbery crew that conspired to commit an armed robbery and kidnapping of marijuana dealers in Queens, New York. On the evening of July 24,2024, the defendants and their co-conspirators executed a violent armed robbery and kidnapping plot that resulted in John Doe #1’s death. As described below, Garrett robbed and kidnapped John Doe #2 at gunpoint, and Marcus Pittman shot and killed John Doe #1.
Specifically, the defendants drove from Maryland to New York for the purpose of robbing two drug dealers, John Doe #1 and John Doe #2. Once in New York, defendants Jerome Waters and William Barnett met with John Doe #1 and John Doe #2 at a stash house in Queens, New York, under the guise of purchasing marijuana.
At the stash house, Waters and Barnett pulled out their weapons and held up John Doe #1 and John Doe #2 at gunpoint. Next, they let their co-defendants into the stash house to assist in the robbery and kidnapping. While in the stash house, the defendants and their co-conspirators tied up John Doe #1 and John Doe #2 with zip ties and forced them outside and into the back of a Jeep and a U-Haul van, which were driven by Barnett and Israel. At the same time, the defendants and their co-conspirators stole approximately 30 pounds of marijuana from the stash house.
The defendants and their co-conspirators drove John Doe #1 and John Doe #2, who were still tied up, through Queens at gunpoint, demanding drugs and money. Garrett held a gun to John Doe #2 as he was being driven through Queens. Marcus Pittman shot John Doe #1 to death in the back of the U-Haul van. When his body was found by first responders, John Doe #1 still had a zip tie binding one of his hands and was surrounded by bags of marijuana. After the shooting, the defendants fled back to Maryland.
If convicted, defendants Marcus Pittman, Delonta Pittman, and Waters each face mandatory minimum sentences of life imprisonment, and Garrett faces a mandatory minimum of ten years’ imprisonment and a maximum sentence of life imprisonment. The charges in the superseding indictment are allegations and the defendants are presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.
This case was brought as part of Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN), a program bringing together all levels of law enforcement and the communities they serve to reduce violent crime and make our neighborhoods safer for everyone. As part of the program, U.S. Attorneys’ Offices work in partnership with federal, state, local and tribal law enforcement and their local communities to develop effective, locally based strategies to reduce violent crime.
The government’s case is being handled by the Office’s International Narcotics and Money Laundering Section. Assistant United States Attorneys Chand Edwards-Balfour and Adam Amir are in charge of the prosecution, with the assistance of Paralegal Specialist Samuel Ronchetti.
New Defendant:
JALON LENNY GARRETT
Age: 20
MarylandPreviously Charged Defendants:
MARCUS PITTMAN (also known as “Nacho” and “Cheese”)
Age: 30
MarylandDELONTA PITTMAN (also known as “D Lo”)
Age: 31
MarylandJEROME WATERS (also known as “the Engineer” and “Rome”)
Age: 23
MarylandCALVIN ISRAEL
Age: 23
MarylandWILLIAM BARNETT
Age: 27
MarylandE.D.N.Y. Docket No. 24-CR-413 (S-2) (KAM)
Ukrainian National Extradited from Spain to Face Conspiracy to Use Ransomware ChargeRead the Press Release
Earlier today, in federal court in Brooklyn, a superseding indictment was unsealed charging Artem Stryzhak with conspiracy to commit fraud and related activity, including extortion, in connection with computers, for his role in a series of international attacks using the Nefilim ransomware. Stryzhak, a Ukrainian citizen, was arrested in Spain in June 2024 and extradited to the United States on April 30, 2025. The arraignment will be held later today before United States Magistrate Judge Robert M. Levy.
John J. Durham, United States Attorney for the Eastern District of New York, and Christopher J.S. Johnson, Special Agent in Charge, Federal Bureau of Investigation, Springfield, Illinois Field Office (FBI), announced the charges.
“As alleged, the defendant was part of an international ransomware scheme in which he conspired to target high-revenue companies in the United States, steal data, and hold data hostage in exchange for payment. If victims did not pay, the criminals then leaked the data online,” stated United States Attorney Durham. “The criminals who carry out these malicious cyber-attacks often do so from abroad in the belief that American justice cannot reach them. The extradition of the defendant and today’s charges prove that they are wrong.”
Mr. Durham also thanked the Justice Department’s Office of International Affairs, Computer Crime and Intellectual Property Section, the FBI’s New York Field Office and the Government of Spain for their crucial assistance in securing the arrest and extradition from Spain of Stryzhak.
“The FBI has long recognized that combating international ransomware schemes requires strong partnerships,” stated FBI Special Agent in Charge Johnson. “The successful extradition of the defendant is a significant achievement in that ongoing collaboration and it sends a clear message: those who attempt to hide behind international borders to target American citizens will face justice.”
As alleged in the superseding indictment, Nefilim ransomware was deployed to encrypt computer networks in countries around the world, including in the Eastern District of New York. These ransomware attacks caused millions of dollars in losses, both from ransomware payments and damage to victim computer systems. The perpetrators of Nefilim typically customized the ransomware executable file for each victim, creating a unique decryption key and customized ransom notes. If the victims paid the ransom demand, the perpetrators sent the decryption key, enabling the victims to decrypt the computer files locked by the ransomware program.
In June 2021, Nefilim administrators gave Stryzhak access to the Nefilim ransomware code in exchange for 20 percent of his ransom proceeds. He operated the ransomware through his account on the online Nefilim platform, known as the “panel.” When he first obtained access to the panel, Stryzhak asked a co‑conspirator whether he should choose a different username from the one he used in other criminal activities in case the panel “gets hacked into by the feds.”
Nefilim’s preferred ransomware targets were companies located in the United States, Canada, or Australia with more than $100 million in annual revenue. Stryzhak and others researched the companies to which they gained unauthorized access, including by using online databases to gather information about the victim companies’ net worth, size, and contact information. In one exchange with Stryzhak in or about July 2021, a Nefilim administrator encouraged him to target companies in these countries with more than $200 million in annual revenue.
After gaining sufficient access to the victims’ networks, Stryzhak and his co‑conspirators stole data in furtherance of their scheme to extort ransom payments from them. Nefilim ransom notes typically threatened the victims that unless they came to an agreement with the ransomware actors, the stolen data would be published on publicly accessible “Corporate Leaks” websites, which were maintained by Nefilim administrators.
The charges in the indictment are allegations and the defendant is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty. If convicted of the charge, Stryzhak faces up to five years’ imprisonment.
The government’s case is being handled by the Office’s National Security and Cybercrime Section. Assistant United States Attorneys Alexander F. Mindlin and Ellen H. Sise of the Eastern District of New York and Trial Attorney Brian Mund of the Computer Crime and Intellectual Property Section are in charge of the prosecution, with assistance from Paralegal Specialist Rebecca Roth.
The Defendant:
ARTEM ALEKSANDROVYCH STRYZHAK
stryzhak_superseding_indictment_redacted.pdf
Age: 35
Barcelona, Spain
E.D.N.Y. Docket No. 23-CR-324 (PKC)Five Members and Associates of a Long Island-Based Drug Trafficking Organization Indicted for Narcotics DistributionRead the Press Release
Earlier today, at the federal court in Central Islip, an indictment was unsealed charging five members and associates of a Long Island-based drug trafficking organization known as “No Budget” with conspiring to distribute cocaine and fentanyl since 2017. Nicholas Andrade, Julian Hutchins, Prince Jones, Jose Lopez, and Ryan O’Malley engaged in a years’ long drug trafficking operation transporting fentanyl and 137 kilograms of cocaine across the country for distribution primarily in Long Island and Queens, New York. Andrade, the leader of the organization, is also charged for his role in the March 9, 2023 murder of Jose Manuel Sosa in Bay Shore and the March 10, 2023 shooting in Queens of a potential witness to the murder. The four defendants arrested today in New York were arraigned before United States Magistrate Judge Steven I. Locke who ordered them detained pending trial. Hutchins was arrested in Florida and will be arraigned in the Eastern District of New York at a later date. If convicted of the charges, the defendants face up to life in prison.
John J. Durham, United States Attorney for the Eastern District of New York, and Frank A. Tarentino III, Special Agent in Charge, Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), New York Division, announced the arrests and charges.
“As alleged, the defendants participated in the large-scale distribution of deadly narcotics across Long Island and committed crimes of extreme violence to maintain their drug business,” stated United States Attorney Durham. “My Office and our law enforcement partners will continue working tirelessly to eradicate the scourge of fentanyl and drug-related violence on Long Island and the related harm these dangerous drugs pose to our communities.”
Mr. Durham expressed his appreciation to the Suffolk County Police Department, Suffolk County District Attorney’s Office, New York City Police Department, New York State Police, Queens District Attorney’s Office, and U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms for their work on the case.
“The indictment against these individuals who ran a drug trafficking organization known as “No Budget” spared no cost at using violence to run their illicit drug distribution of cocaine and fentanyl,” stated DEA Special Agent in Charge Tarentino. “Thanks to the hard work and determination of the DEA and our law enforcement partners, we were able to remove 137 kilos of cocaine destined for the streets of Long Island. The DEA remains committed to protecting our communities”
As alleged in court filings, since 2017, the defendants carried out the large scale trafficking and distribution of fentanyl and cocaine on Long Island and maintained a series of stash houses in Queens and on Long Island. Throughout the investigation, phone records and surveillance regularly captured the defendants meeting with one another and exchanging duffle bags, luggage, or other bags in manners consistent with narcotics trafficking. As a result of court-authorized searches, law enforcement recovered dozens of kilogram wrappers with cocaine residue, kilogram presses used to reshape narcotics, packaging materials, and quantities of fentanyl and cocaine. On April 27, 2025, law enforcement intercepted a truck travelling from California to New York containing a shipment of 137 kilograms of cocaine destined for No Budget’s distribution operation. In total, the investigation revealed that the defendants were responsible for the distribution of over 235 kilograms of cocaine and 20 kilograms of fentanyl.
In addition to Andrade’s narcotics operation, he directed several violent crimes, including the March 2023 murder of Sosa and the subsequent attempted murder of a potential witness to the murder. Sosa’s murder was precipitated by a dispute that had escalated over the preceding months between Andrade, Sosa, and another Long Island based drug dealer. In early March 2023, Andrade and others planned to rob Sosa’s residence. However, on March 9, 2023, Andrade directed other members of No Budget to kill Sosa. Later that day, when Sosa was alone in his driveway, the shooter exited a borrowed Audi and shot Sosa multiple times, killing him. The shooter and getaway driver sped away and the two met up with Andrade.
The next day, in an effort to cover up No Budget’s involvement in Sosa’s murder, Andrade and the shooter developed a plan to lure John Doe-1—the owner of the Audi used in the murder—to a location in Queens and kill him. When John Doe-1 arrived at the location, acting at Andrade’s direction, the shooter had a brief conversation with John Doe-1 in the Audi, and upon exiting the Audi, turned and fired into the vehicle, striking John Doe-1 in the head. John Doe-1 sustained serious injuries but ultimately survived his wounds.
This effort is part of an Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces (OCDETF) operation. OCDETF identifies, disrupts, and dismantles the highest-level criminal organizations that threaten the United States using a prosecutor-led, intelligence-driven, multi-agency approach.
This case is also part of Operation Take Back America, a nationwide initiative that marshals the full resources of the Department of Justice to repel the invasion of illegal immigration, achieve the total elimination of cartels and other transnational criminal organizations, and protect our communities from the perpetrators of violent crime. Operation Take Back America streamlines efforts and resources from the Department’s Project Safe Neighborhood.
The charges in the indictment are allegations and the defendants are presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.
The government’s case is being handled by the Criminal Section of the Office’s Long Island Division. Assistant United States Attorneys James R. Simmons and Michael R. Maffei are in charge of the prosecution.
The Defendants:
NICHOLAS ANDRADE
Age: 37
White Plains, New YorkJULIAN HUTCHINS
Age: 43
White Plains, New YorkPRINCE JONES
Age: 36
Mineola, New YorkJOSE LOPEZ
Age: 43
Elmont, New YorkRYAN OMALLEY
Age: 34
Port Jefferson Station, New YorkE.D.N.Y. Docket No. 25-CR-147 (GRB)
25-cr-147_andrade_et_al.indictment_redacted_indictment.pdfBrooklyn-Based Gang Associate Convicted of Racketeering, Drug Trafficking, and Committing a July 2020 ShootingRead the Press Release
Earlier today in federal court in Brooklyn, a federal jury convicted Demetrius Johnson on all counts of an indictment charging him with racketeering, narcotics trafficking, and firing a gun in connection with those crimes. The defendant was an associate of a Brooklyn-based gang known as the “Bully Gang,” a violent street gang that operated in and around Bedford Stuyvesant. Today’s verdict followed a two-week trial before United States District Judge Brian M. Cogan. When sentenced, the defendant faces a mandatory minimum of twenty years in prison and a maximum sentence of life.
John J. Durham, United States Attorney for the Eastern District of New York; Bryan Miller, Special Agent-in-Charge, Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, New York Field Division (ATF); and Jessica S. Tisch, Commissioner, New York City Police Department (NYPD), announced the verdict.
“Today’s verdict holds the defendant accountable for teaming up with a dangerous criminal enterprise that—in the defendant’s own words—was known for money and violence,” stated United States Attorney Durham. “Along with other members and associates of the Brooklyn-based Bully Gang, the defendant trafficked massive quantities of deadly drugs up and down the East Coast between New York and Maine, where they were sold for substantial profit. And when conflict arose during the drug operation, the defendant resorted to near-deadly violence, firing almost a dozen shots towards a playground and injuring two victims. As a result of this investigation, more than 50 members and associates of the Bully Gang have been convicted for their crimes, showing that my Office and our law enforcement partners will not rest until violent criminal enterprises are fully dismantled.”
“These convictions put an end to the reign of terror committed by this gang, shattering the myth that criminals can commit atrocious acts without consequence,” stated ATF Special Agent-in-Charge Miller. “This is the result of a multi-year investigation involving multiple law enforcement agencies spanning multiple jurisdictions. I commend our law enforcement partners—NYPD, NYC Department of Investigations, and our law enforcement partners in New Jersey, Massachusetts, Maine, and prosecutors with the U.S. Attorney’s Office—for their relentless efforts in making our communities safer. In particular, I am proud of the men and women of ATF NY and the ATF/NYPD Joint Firearms Task Force, who fight every day to prevent violence in any form, and are committed to dismantling and disarming violent gangs that plague our streets. ATF once again reaffirms its unwavering commitment to protecting the public from violent offenders.”
“These convictions represent the culmination of an extensive investigation combined with a vigorous prosecution,” stated NYPD Commissioner Tisch. “The stakes could not have been higher because these gang members were responsible for an assortment of despicable crimes, including murder, robbery, narcotics trafficking, money laundering, and bribery. A powerful message has been sent: Our city will not tolerate such criminal activity, and the NYPD and our law enforcement partners will keep working tirelessly to identify and investigate these enterprises and bring the individuals involved to justice.”
Johnson was convicted of participating in the Bully Gang’s years-long narcotics trafficking scheme, in which large quantities of drugs, including cocaine base and heroin, were transported from New York and New Jersey to Maine. There, members and associates of the gang sold the drugs out of a rotating series of stash houses. As proven at trial, the conspiracy was responsible for trafficking thousands of kilograms of narcotics and generating hundreds of thousands of dollars in cash. Johnson personally sold drugs in connection with this Bully Gang racket and recruited other participants to join the scheme.One of those participants was a former fellow gang member (“John Doe”), who Johnson enlisted to travel from Brooklyn to Maine to sell drugs. In 2020, after John Doe returned from Maine, a dispute arose between the two over payment owed to John Doe in connection with the drug scheme. On July 18, 2020, Johnson attempted to murder John Doe, who was seated on a bench at a Brooklyn playground with his one-year-old child. Johnson hit and injured both John Doe and a bystander.
Since 2020, 53 defendants have been publicly charged with a variety of crimes in connection with this investigation. To date, 52 of those defendants have pled guilty or been convicted at trial. One remains a fugitive.
The government’s case is being handled by the Office’s Organized Crime and Gangs Section. Assistant United States Attorneys Joy Lurinsky, Victor Zapana, and Michael J. Castiglione are in charge of the prosecution with the assistance of Special Agent Rebecca Sidhu and NYPD Detective Brian Hilt from the Office’s Criminal Investigations Unit and Paralegal Specialists Elizabeth Reed and Amara Mayo.
The Defendant:
DEMETRIUS JOHNSON (also known as “Q”)
Age: 29
Brooklyn, New YorkE.D.N.Y. Docket No.: 20-CR-239 (BMC)
18th Street Gang Member Sentenced to 45 Years in Prison for Racketeering Conspiracy and Two MurdersRead the Press Release
Earlier today, at the federal courthouse in Brooklyn, Yanki Misael Cruz-Mateo, a member of the 18th Street gang, a transnational criminal organization, was sentenced by United States District Judge LaShann DeArcy Hall to 45 years’ imprisonment for racketeering conspiracy in connection with his participation in two murders: the October 25, 2017 murder of 20-year-old Jonathan Figueroa in Saugerties, New York, and the February 2, 2018 murder of 20-year-old Oscar Antonio Blanco-Hernandez in Queens.
John J. Durham, United States Attorney for the Eastern District of New York, and Christopher G. Raia, Assistant Director in Charge, Federal Bureau of Investigation, New York Field Office (FBI), announced the sentence.
“Cruz-Mateo committed two horrific murders and boasted about the carnage in video and text messages to instill fear, exact retribution, and promote gang violence,” stated United States Attorney Durham. “The lengthy sentence imposed today delivers a powerful message that senseless violence carries serious consequences. My Office will continue our tireless efforts to investigate and prosecute violence carried out by the 18th Street and other transnational criminal organizations. It is my sincere hope that the justice meted out today provides a measure of comfort and closure for the victims’ loved ones.”
Mr. Durham expressed his appreciation to the United States Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of New York, the Ulster County District Attorney’s Office, the Queens County District Attorney’s Office, the New York State Police, the Kingston Police Department, and the New York City Police Department for their assistance on the case.
“Yanki Misael Cruz-Mateo, an 18th Street gang member, lured two victims to their brutal murders as retribution for perceived disloyalty and affiliation with rival organizations,” stated FBI Assistant Director in Charge Raia. “His actions mirror the gang’s depravity and its lawless prioritization of social status over human life. May today’s sentencing offer a semblance of justice for the victims’ families and highlight the FBI’s continued determination to eradicate all brutal gang violence plaguing our communities.
Today’s sentence is the latest achievement in a series of prosecutions by this Office and our law enforcement partners of the leaders, members, and associates of 18th Street. According to court filings and proceedings, 18th Street is a transnational criminal organization and violent street gang with members and associates residing throughout New York State, including Queens and Long Island, elsewhere throughout the United States, including Houston, Texas, and Central America. Members of 18th Street regularly engage in murder, attempted murder, assault, extortion, illegal drug and firearms trafficking, false identification document production, witness tampering, and money laundering.
October 25, 2017 Murder of Jonathan Figueroa
As set forth in court filings, including the government’s sentencing memorandum, in the late evening hours of October 24, 2017, Cruz-Mateo lured and travelled with Figueroa from Queens to Kingston, New York. Upon their arrival in Kingston, they were met by Israel Mediola Flores and other 18th Street members and associates who, into the early morning hours the following day, brought Figueroa to Turkey Point State Forest, brutally stabbed him to death and buried him in a makeshift grave. Cruz-Mateo ordered the murder to be video-recorded and captured multiple 18th Street members and associates repeatedly stabbing Figueroa, slashing his throat and severing his ear. In the video, Cruz-Mateo stated that Figueroa was being murdered for “being a rat.” Cruz-Mateo then sent the video to other 18th Street members as a warning. Figueroa’s body was discovered in February 2018 by the FBI, along with state and local law enforcement authorities, in a five-foot deep grave in Turkey Point State Forest. The victim had sustained more than 100 stab wounds.
Co-defendants Walter Fernando Alfaro Pineda, Israel Mediola Flores, and Jose Douglas Castellano pleaded guilty to Figueroa’s murder. Mediola Flores was sentenced to 425 months in prison; Pineda and Castellano are awaiting sentencing.
February 2, 2018 Murder of Oscar Antonio Blanco-Hernandez
On February 2, 2018, several gang members killed Blanco-Hernandez because they believed he was a member of the rival MS-13 gang. Co-defendant Jose Chacon had met Blanco-Hernandez weeks earlier through their mutual employer, a New Jersey-based house painting company. On the morning of the murder, co-defendant Carolina Cruz and Chacon picked up Blanco-Hernandez at his home in New Jersey under the guise of going to smoke marijuana as friends. Cruz and Chacon drove Blanco-Hernandez to Queens where they met 18th Street gang members, including Cruz-Mateo and co-defendant Yoni Sierra, who entered the rear passenger seat of Cruz’s car on opposite sides, sandwiching Blanco-Hernandez between them. Cruz drove Chacon, Cruz-Mateo, Sierra, and their victim about 1.6 miles away to a quiet residential neighborhood. Cruz-Mateo, Sierra, and Blanco-Hernandez got out of the car and started walking eastbound, while Cruz and Chacon stayed behind with the car. After walking for a few minutes, Cruz-Mateo drew a .380 caliber semiautomatic handgun and shot Blanco-Hernandez in the back of the head, killing him instantly. Blanco-Hernandez’s body was discovered on a residential street in the Jamaica Hills section of Queens. He sustained three gunshot wounds: two gunshots to the torso and one to the head.
Sierra, Chacon, and Cruz also pleaded guilty to Blanco-Hernandez’s murder. Chacon was sentenced to 269 months in prison; Sierra to 204 months in prison; and Cruz to 150 months in prison.
This case is part of an ongoing Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces (OCDETF) investigation led by the United States Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of New York and the FBI. The principal mission of the OCDETF program is to identify, disrupt, and dismantle the most serious drug trafficking, weapons trafficking, and money laundering organizations, and those primarily responsible for the nation’s illegal drug supply. OCDETF uses a prosecutor-led, intelligence-driven, multi-agency approach that leverages the strengths of federal, state, and local law enforcement agencies against criminal networks.
The government’s case is being handled by the Office’s International Narcotics and Money Laundering Section. Assistant United States Attorneys Jonathan P. Lax, Erin Reid, Margaret Schierberl, Adam Amir, and Rebecca Urquiola are in charge of the prosecution, with the assistance of Paralegal Specialists Tareva Torres and Samuel Ronchetti.
The Defendant:
YANKI MISAEL CRUZ-MATEO (also known as “Yenki Misael Cruz Mateo,” “Yankee Mateo,” “Doggy,” and “Wino”)
Age: 25
Jamaica, QueensCo-Defendants Previously Convicted:
ERIC CHAVEZ (also known as “Lunatico”)
Age: 25
Jamaica, New YorkWALTER FERNANDO ALFARO PINEDA (also known as “Clever”)
Age: 45
Houston, TexasISRAEL MEDIOLA FLORES (also known as “Chapito” and “Sinaloa”)
Age: 29
Kingston, New YorkYONI ALEXANDER SIERRA (also known as “Arca,” “Arc Angel” and “Wasson”)
Age: 26
Jamaica, QueensJOSE JIMENEZ CHACON (also known as “Little One”)
Age: 26
New Brunswick, New JerseyCAROLINA CRUZ (also known as “La Fiera”)
Age: 31
Elizabeth, New JerseyJOSE DOUGLAS CASTELLANO (also known as “Chino”)
Age: 26
Brooklyn, New YorkJUNIOR ZELAYA-CANALES (also known as “Terco”)
Age: 28
Jamaica, New YorkE.D.N.Y. Docket No. 18-CR-139 (S-7) (LDH)
Leader of the “Route Boys” Gang Sentenced to 22 Years in Prison for Drug Trafficking and Firearms OffensesRead the Press Release
Earlier today in federal court in Central Islip, Jason Liriano, the founder and leader of the Route Boys gang, was sentenced by United States District Judge Gary R. Brown to 22 years’ imprisonment for conspiracy to distribute controlled substances and use of firearms in furtherance of drug trafficking activity. Liriano pleaded guilty to the charges in September 2023. Liriano is the last of 10 defendants affiliated with the Route Boys gang to be sentenced in connection with charges in a third superseding indictment involving drug distribution, use of firearms, pharmacy burglaries, and ATM thefts. The Route Boys burglarized pharmacies and convenience stores in Nassau, Suffolk, Brooklyn, Queens, Westchester, and Rockland Counties, as well as in New Jersey and Connecticut from 2020 through June 2022, when they were arrested.
John J. Durham, United States Attorney for the Eastern District of New York, and Christopher G. Raia, Assistant Director in Charge, Federal Bureau of Investigation, New York Field Office (FBI), announced the sentences.
“For two years the Route Boys, led by Liriano, engaged in a brazen crime spree targeting local businesses throughout the Tri-State area, stealing money and pharmaceuticals to fuel their illegal drug business, which they protected with threats of violence and illegal firearms,” stated United States Attorney Durham. “These significant jail sentences make our communities safer and are the result of my Office’s collaboration with our law enforcement partners, who are dedicated to the shared mission of protecting local businesses from criminals and holding accountable those who seek to flood our communities with dangerous drugs.”
Mr. Durham thanked the New York City Police Department, Nassau County Police Department, Suffolk County Police Department, Westchester Safe Streets Task Force, U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, Kings County District Attorney’s Office, Queens County District Attorney’s Office, Nassau County District Attorney’s Office, and Suffolk County District Attorney’s Office for their assistance with the investigation.
“Jason Liriano, the leader of the Route Boys gang, orchestrated a three-year burglary spree targeting various businesses across the city to steal cash and controlled substances for illicit resale,” stated FBI Assistant Director in Charge Raia. “Liriano’s leadership tormented these local establishments and relied on firearms to further intimidate the gang’s victims into compliance. With the assistance from our law enforcement and prosecutorial partners, the FBI maintains its steadfast resolve to dismantle any unlawful system that finances the gang presence in our communities.”
As set forth in the third superseding indictment, the government’s sentencing memorandum, and other court filings, the Route Boys began committing burglaries in late 2020, breaking into convenience stores, check-cashing businesses, laundromats, and restaurants, stealing primarily cash and tobacco products. In addition, the gang stole free-standing ATMs, forcing them open and stealing the cash from inside the machines, netting tens of thousands of dollars. They then began targeting small “mom-and-pop” pharmacies throughout the Tri-State area by smashing through windows and stealing controlled substances such as oxycodone and promethazine-codeine cough syrup. Liriano possessed a 9mm handgun in furtherance of the drug trafficking operation. They sold the stolen pharmaceuticals on social media immediately after a night of burglaries. The government’s conservative estimate is that the Route Boys committed at least 100 burglaries in the Tri-State area between approximately November 2020 and the summer of 2022. The Route Boys’ crime spree continued after their arrests and incarceration. Some members engaged in witness tampering and possessed illegal cell phones and controlled substances like oxycodone and marijuana while incarcerated at the Metropolitan Detention Center (MDC) in Brooklyn and on Rikers Island, and many brazenly posted on social media using the contraband phones (including a photo posted by Liriano declaring “F**k the Feds”). On numerous occasions, including after he pleaded guilty in federal court, Liriano possessed homemade weapons and drugs inside the MDC, and stabbed a fellow inmate with a long shank when the inmate was working as an orderly delivering his breakfast.
Previously, nine other Route Boys members were convicted and sentenced to federal prison, including: Carlos Acevedo to 126 months in prison; Ramon Collado to 132 months in prison; Naresh Deonarrain to 180 months in prison; Devin Lopez-Dominguez to 60 months in prison; Charlie Maisonet to 96 months in prison; Cavier Nedrick to 120 months in prison; Eric Nunez to 144 months in prison; Alberto Santiago to 180 months in prison; and Jeffrey Vargas to 156 months in prison.
The government’s case is being handled by the Criminal Section of the Office’s Long Island Division. Assistant United States Attorneys Samantha Alessi and Andrew P. Wenzel are in charge of the prosecution, with the assistance of Paralegal Specialist Dejah Turla.
The Defendant:
JASON LIRIANO (also known as “jay_bigfella”)
Age: 25
Brooklyn, New YorkDefendants Previously Sentenced:
CARLOS ACEVEDO (also known as “S.L.” and “cartier_am”)
Age: 26
Brooklyn, New YorkRAMON COLLADO (also known as “Greedy,” “greedy.billzz” and “greedyyt2gg”)
Age: 26
Brooklyn, New YorkNARESH DEONARRAIN (also known as “Kans” and “nocheck _ kans”)
Age: 27
Brooklyn, New YorkDEVIN LOPEZ-DOMINGUEZ
Age: 22
Brooklyn, New YorkCHARLIE MAISONET (also known as “Charlie_._rb”)
Age: 21
Brooklyn, New YorkCAVIER NEDRICK (also known as “Chief,” “big.chiefs,” and “Caviar Nedrick”)
Age: 26
Hauppauge, New YorkERIC NUNEZ (also known as “Tok” and “therealtok”)
Age: 26
Brooklyn, New YorkALBERTO SANTIAGO (also known as “Kom” and “dot.kom”)
Age: 27
Queens, New YorkJEFFREY VARGAS (also known as “Chito” and “chito_1838)
Age: 23
Brooklyn, New YorkE.D.N.Y. Docket No. 21-451 (S-3) (GRB)
Ex-Congressman George Santos Sentenced to 87 Months in Prison for Wire Fraud and Aggravated Identity TheftRead the Press Release
Former Congressman George Anthony Devolder Santos was sentenced today by United States District Judge Joanna Seybert at the federal courthouse in Central Islip to 87 months in prison for committing wire fraud and aggravated identity theft. As part of the sentence, Santos was ordered to pay restitution to his victims in the amount of $373,749.97 and $205,002.97 in forfeiture. Santos pleaded guilty in August 2024.
John J. Durham, United States Attorney for the Eastern District of New York; Matthew R. Galeotti, Head of the Department of Justice’s Criminal Division; Christopher G. Raia, Assistant Director in Charge, Federal Bureau of Investigation, New York Field Office (FBI); Harry T. Chavis, Jr., Special Agent in Charge, Internal Revenue Service Criminal Investigation, New York (IRS-CI New York); and Anne T. Donnelly, Nassau County District Attorney announced the sentence.
“Today, George Santos was finally held accountable for the mountain of lies, theft, and fraud he perpetrated. For the defendant, it was judgment day, and for his many victims including campaign donors, political parties, government agencies, elected bodies, his own family members, and his constituents, it is justice,” stated U.S. Attorney Durham. “To Mr. Santos and other dishonest individuals of that ilk, who lie, steal identities and commit frauds to get elected to public office, this prosecution speaks to the truth that my Office is committed to aggressively rooting out public corruption and that public officials who criminally abuse our electoral process will end up in a federal prison.”
Mr. Durham expressed his appreciation to the U.S. Department of Labor, Office of Inspector General and the New York State Department of Labor, for their assistance.FBI Assistant Director in Charge Raia stated, “Today, former United States Congressman George Santos is held accountable for his repeated criminal dishonesty – financing his election campaign with ill-obtained funds, stealing COVID unemployment benefits, and providing materially false information in his financial disclosure. Santos abused his authority to garner illicit donations and campaign support; ultimately betraying the public’s trust and violating our democratic systems. May today’s sentencing emphasize the FBI’s continued commitment to dismantling any fraudulent scheme designed to unlawfully benefit those in positions of power.”
“George Santos blatantly disregarded campaign finance laws and abused the trust of his constituents and contributors. While he may have made a mockery of his position in public office, today’s sentencing is justice for those he has wronged. CI New York proudly worked with the Eastern District of New York, the FBI and Nassau County DA’s office to ensure that Santos faces the consequences of his years of deception,” stated IRS-CI New York Special Agent in Charge Chavis.
“George Santos spent his brief career in public service conning his donors and constituents until the deceit caught up to him and he was exposed as an opportunist and a fraud. Today’s lengthy prison sentence is a just ending for a weaver of lies who believed he was above the law,” stated Nassau County District Attorney Donnelly. “Being elected to represent any community is accepting a solemn responsibility and a position of great trust. George Santos failed the people he was elected to represent in Nassau County and Queens. He broke that trust and traded in his integrity for designer clothes and a luxury lifestyle. I will continue to work with my partners to root out public corruption and ensure that the crucial standards to which we hold our elected officials and public institutions are upheld.”
The counts to which Santos pled guilty relate to the following criminal scheme, as set forth in the superseding indictment:
The Party Program Scheme
During the 2022 election cycle, Santos was a candidate for the United States House of Representatives in New York’s Third Congressional District. Nancy Marks, who pleaded guilty on October 5, 2023 to related conduct, was the treasurer for his principal congressional campaign committee, Devolder-Santos for Congress. During this election cycle, Santos and Marks devised and executed a fraudulent scheme to obtain money for the campaign by submitting materially false reports to the Federal Election Commission (FEC), in which they inflated the campaign’s fundraising numbers for the purpose of misleading the FEC, a national party committee, and the public.
The purpose of the scheme was to ensure that Santos and his campaign qualified for a program administered by the national party committee to provide financial and logistical support to Santos’s campaign. To qualify for the program, Santos had to demonstrate, among other things, that his congressional campaign had raised at least $250,000 from third-party contributors in a single quarter.
To create the public appearance that his campaign had met that financial benchmark and was otherwise financially viable, Santos and Marks agreed to falsely report to the FEC that at least 11 of their family members had made significant financial contributions to the campaign. In fact, Santos and Marks both knew that these individuals had neither made the reported contributions nor given authorization for their personal information to be included in such false public reports. In addition, Santos and Marks knew that the national party committee relied on FEC fundraising data to evaluate candidates’ qualification for the program, and agreed to falsely report to the FEC that Santos had loaned the campaign significant sums of money, when, in fact, Santos had not made the reported loans and, at the time the loans were reported, did not have the funds necessary to make such loans. These falsely reported loans included one for $500,000 when in fact Santos had less than $8,000 in his personal and business bank accounts.
Through the execution of this scheme, Santos and Marks ensured that Santos met the necessary financial benchmarks to qualify for the program administered by the national party committee. As a result of qualifying for the program, the congressional campaign received significant financial support.
As part of his plea agreement, Santos stipulated that he had engaged in the following additional criminal conduct, as set forth in the superseding indictment and other court filings, and agreed that this criminal conduct would be considered by the Court at the time of sentencing:
The Credit Card Fraud Scheme
Between approximately July 2020 and October 2022, Santos devised and executed a fraudulent scheme to steal the personal identity and financial information of contributors to his campaign. He then repeatedly charged contributors’ credit cards without their authorization. Because of these unauthorized transactions, funds were transferred to Santos’s campaign, to the campaigns of other candidates for elected office, and to his own bank account. To conceal the true source of these funds and to circumvent campaign contribution limits, Santos falsely represented in FEC filings that some of the campaign contributions were made by other persons, such as his relatives or associates, rather than the true cardholders. Santos did not have authorization to use their names in this way. In furtherance of the scheme, Santos sought out victims he knew were elderly persons suffering from cognitive impairment or decline.
Fraudulent Political Contribution Solicitation Scheme
Beginning in September 2022, during his successful campaign for Congress, Santos operated a limited liability company (Company #1) through which he defrauded prospective political supporters. Santos enlisted a Queens-based political consultant (Person #1) to communicate with prospective donors on Santos’s behalf. Santos directed Person #1 to falsely tell donors that, among other things, their money would be used to help elect Santos to the House, including by purchasing television advertisements. In reliance on these false statements, two donors (Contributor #1 and Contributor #2) each transferred $25,000 to Company #1’s bank account, which Santos controlled.
Shortly after the funds were received into Company #1’s bank account, the money was transferred into Santos’s personal bank accounts—in one instance laundered through two of Santos’s personal accounts. Santos then used much of that money for personal expenses. Among other things, Santos used the funds to make personal purchases, including of designer clothing, to withdraw cash, to discharge personal debts, and to transfer money to his associates.
Unemployment Insurance Fraud Scheme
Beginning in approximately February 2020, Santos was employed as a Regional Director of a Florida-based investment firm (Investment Firm #1). By late March 2020, in response to the outbreak of COVID-19 in the United States, new legislation was signed into law that provided additional federal funding to assist out-of-work Americans during the pandemic.
In mid-June 2020, although he was employed and not eligible for unemployment benefits, Santos applied for government assistance through the New York State Department of Labor (NYS DOL), claiming falsely to have been unemployed since March 2020. From that point until April 2021—during which time Santos was working and receiving a salary on a near-continuous basis, and throughout his first unsuccessful run for Congress—he falsely affirmed each week that he was eligible for unemployment benefits when he was not. As a result, Santos fraudulently received more than $24,000 in unemployment insurance benefits.
False Statements to the House of Representatives
Santos, like all candidates for the House, had a legal duty to file with the Clerk of the United States House of Representatives a Financial Disclosure Statement (House Disclosures) before each election. In his House Disclosures, Santos was personally required to give a full and complete accounting of his assets, income, and liabilities, among other things. He certified that his House Disclosures were true, complete, and correct.
In September 2022, in connection with his second campaign for election to the House, Santos filed a House Disclosure in which he vastly overstated his income and assets. In this House Disclosure, he falsely certified that during the reporting period:
- He had earned $750,000 in salary from the Devolder Organization LLC, a Florida‑based entity of which Santos was the sole beneficial owner;
- He had received between $1,000,001 and $5 million in dividends from the Devolder Organization LLC;
- He had a checking account with deposits of between $100,001 and $250,000; and
- He had a savings account with deposits of between $1 million and $5 million.
These assertions were false: Santos had not received from the Devolder Organization LLC the reported amounts of salary or dividends and did not maintain checking or savings accounts with deposits in the reported amounts. Further, Santos failed to disclose that, in 2021, he received approximately $28,000 in income from Investment Firm #1 and more than $20,000 in unemployment insurance benefits from the NYS DOL.
The government’s case is being handled by the Office’s Public Integrity Section and the Criminal Section of the Office’s Long Island Division, along with the Public Integrity Section of the Department of Justice’s Criminal Division. Assistant United States Attorneys Ryan Harris, Anthony Bagnuola, and Laura Zuckerwise, along with Trial Attorney John Taddei, are in charge of the prosecution, with assistance from Paralegal Specialists Rachel Friedman and Dinora Orozco.
The Defendant:
GEORGE ANTHONY DEVOLDER SANTOS
Age: 36
Queens, New YorkE.D.N.Y. Docket No. 23-CR-197 (S-2) (JS)
New York Man Charged with Immigration Fraud for Concealing Role as Perpetrator of Rwandan GenocideRead the Press Release
A federal grand jury in Central Islip, New York, returned an indictment April 22 and unsealed today charging a New York man with lying on his applications for a green card and United States citizenship by concealing his past role as a leader and perpetrator of the genocide in Rwanda in 1994.
According to court documents, Faustin Nsabumukunzi, 65, of Bridgehampton, New York, was a local leader with the title of “Sector Counselor” in Rwanda in 1994 when the genocide began. Between April and July of that year, members of the majority Hutu population persecuted the minority Tutsis, committing acts of violence including murder and rape. An estimated 800,000 ethnic Tutsis and moderate Hutus were killed during the three-month genocide. Nsabumukunzi was arrested this morning on Long Island and is scheduled to be arraigned at 1:30 p.m. ET before U.S. District Judge Joanna Seybert for the Eastern District of New York.
“As alleged, the defendant participated in the commission of heinous acts of violence abroad and then lied his way into a green card and tried to obtain U.S. citizenship,” said Matthew R. Galeotti, Head of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division. “No matter how much time has passed, the Department of Justice will find and prosecute individuals who committed atrocities in their home countries and covered them up to gain entry and seek citizenship in the United States.”
“As alleged, Nsabumukunzi repeatedly lied to conceal his involvement in the horrific Rwandan genocide while seeking to become a lawful permanent resident and citizen of the United States,” said U.S. Attorney John J. Durham for the Eastern District of New York. “For over two decades, he got away with those lies and lived in the United States with an undeserved clean slate, a luxury that his victims will never have, but thanks to the tenacious efforts of our investigators and prosecutors, the defendant finally will be held accountable for his brutal actions.”
“This defendant has been living in the United States for decades, hiding his alleged horrific conduct, human rights violations, and his role in these senseless atrocities against innocent Tutsis,” said Acting Special Agent in Charge Darren B. McCormack of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) New York. “The depraved conduct of which the defendant is accused represent the worst of humanity. As demonstrated through the tireless work of HSI New York agents, analysts, and task force officers, we will never tolerate the safe-harboring of individuals linked to such unimaginable crimes.”
As alleged in the indictment, Nsabumukunzi used his leadership position to oversee the violence and killings of Tutsis in his local area and directed groups of armed Hutus to kill Tutsis. He is alleged to have set up roadblocks during the genocide to detain and kill Tutsis and to have participated in killings. According to court filings, Nsabumukunzi was subsequently convicted in absentia by a Rwandan court for genocide.
As further alleged, Nsabumukunzi applied for refugee resettlement in the United States in 2003, applied for and received a green card in 2007, and later submitted applications for naturalization in 2009 and 2015. Nsabumukunzi is alleged to have lied to U.S. immigration officials in his immigration applications, including by falsely denying any involvement as a perpetrator of the Rwandan genocide. As a result of his ongoing efforts to conceal his actions during the genocide, Nsabumukunzi has been able to live and work in the United States since 2003.
Nsabumukunzi is charged with one count of visa fraud in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1546(a) and two counts of attempted naturalization fraud in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1425 (a) and (b). If convicted, he faces a statutory maximum penalty of 30 years in prison. A federal district court judge will determine any sentence after considering the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.
HSI Long Island is investigating the case, with assistance from the Interagency Human Rights Violators and War Crimes Center.
Trial Attorney Brian Morgan of the Justice Department’s Human Rights and Special Prosecutions Section (HRSP) and Assistant U.S. Attorneys Samantha Alessi and Katherine P. Onyshko for the Eastern District of New York are prosecuting the case, with assistance from HRSP Analyst/Historian Dr. Christopher Hayden and the Justice Department’s Office of International Affairs.
Members of the public who have information about former human rights violators in the United States are urged to contact U.S. law enforcement through the HSI tip line at 1-866-DHS-2-ICE (1-866-347-2423) or internationally at 001-1802-872-6199. They can also email [email protected] or complete its online tip form at www.ice.gov/exec/forms/hsi-tips/tips.asp.
An indictment is merely an allegation. All defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.
Founder and Former CEO of Biscayne Capital Sentenced to 10 Years in Prison for $130 Million Dollar Fraud SchemeRead the Press Release
Earlier today, in federal court in Brooklyn, Roberto Gustavo Cortes Ripalda (Cortes), the co-founder, co-owner, and former Chief Executive Officer of the international investment advisory firm Biscayne Capital, was sentenced by United States District Judge Carol Bagley Amon to 10 years in prison for conspiracy to commit wire fraud. Cortes pleaded guilty to the charge in September 2023 after being charged with conspiracy to commit wire fraud, conspiracy to commit bank fraud, and conspiracy to commit money laundering. As part of the sentence, Cortes was also ordered to pay $3.4 million in forfeiture and $103 million in restitution to over 110 victims.
John J. Durham, United States Attorney for the Eastern District of New York; Matthew R. Galeotti, Head of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division; and Kareem A. Carter, Executive Special Agent in Charge, Internal Revenue Service-Criminal Investigation, Washington Field Office (IRS-CI) announced the sentence.
“Today’s sentence reflects the seriousness of Roberto Cortes’s criminal conduct in orchestrating a years-long scheme with his co-conspirators to prop up a failing business while defrauding Biscayne Capital investors and clients around the globe,” stated United States Attorney Durham. “Using illegal Ponzi payments to their victims, Cortes and his co-conspirators were able to disguise and perpetuate this scheme for years until Biscayne Capital finally collapsed under the defendants’ lies. Today’s sentence demonstrates our Office’s commitment to holding accountable investment professionals who abuse the trust of their clients for personal profit.”
Mr. Durham thanked The Justice Department’s Office of International Affairs for providing significant assistance in securing the defendant’s arrest and extradition from Spain and obtaining evidence in this case. The Department of Justice also thanks the Governments of Spain and Switzerland for their valuable support.“For more than five years, Roberto Cortes and his co-conspirators lied to Biscayne Capital investors — including their friends and family members — about how they were using millions of dollars of their investments,” stated Matthew R. Galeotti, head of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division. “When Biscayne Capital’s debt spiraled with no hope of paying back its early investors, they concealed the scheme by using new and existing investor funds to pay off other investors, resulting in more than $100 million in losses to investors. The sentence will hold Cortes accountable for his years of lies and deception.”
“Regardless of the complexity of the investigation, IRS Criminal Investigation Special Agents and our law enforcement partners will utilize their skills and unique authorities to hold bad actors like the defendant accountable,” stated IRS-CI Executive Special Agent in Charge Carter. “This was a brazen scheme of staggering proportions. Mr. Cortes and his co-conspirators prioritized their own greed, stealing $155 million from investors. Today’s sentencing sends a clear message that we remain vigilant and will vigorously pursue those who attempt to enrich themselves through fraudulent means.”
According to court filings, in approximately 2001, Cortes and his co-defendant Ernesto Heraclito Weisson Pazmino (Weisson) founded South Bay as a real estate development business. South Bay would acquire properties, demolish the houses on those properties, and build new luxury homes. After an initial period in which Cortes and Weisson raised the funds for South Bay’s operations from individual investors and bank loans, they founded Biscayne Capital in 2005 to create a more institutionalized form of financing for South Bay’s operations. Between 2005 and 2018, Biscayne Capital operated in Miami, Argentina, Ecuador, Uruguay, Bermuda, Switzerland, the Bahamas, and the British Virgin Islands.
After South Bay began to experience financial trouble in 2007, Cortes and Weisson created and marketed to investors a series of private structured investment products (the Proprietary Products) to raise funds for, among other things, South Bay’s operations. However, rather than using the investor funds raised through the sale of the Proprietary Products to fund South Bay’s real estate development projects, Cortes, Weisson, co-defendant Fernando Haberer, and additional co-conspirators used the bulk of the investor funds to pay outstanding interest and principal debt obligations to other Proprietary Products investors. By the time the scheme collapsed and Biscayne Capital went into liquidation, Biscayne Capital clients had lost over $130 million.
Cortes and his co-conspirators took calculated steps to perpetuate and conceal the scheme. Cortes directed Biscayne Capital financial advisors to raise new investor funds in order to repay older investors. Cortes was also directly involved in the creation and marketing of the Proprietary Products whose investments were misappropriated. For example, Cortes was instrumental in creating and marketing the Liquidity Note Proprietary Product “as a money market product where clients would have daily access to liquidity.” Cortes and his co-conspirators then misappropriated all the Liquidity Note funds—over $29.6 million—to perpetuate the scheme. Cortes also directed the co-conspirator to fabricate account statements that were sent to clients to conceal how Cortes and his co-conspirators had misappropriated the clients’ funds. In another complex effort to keep the scheme afloat, Cortes’s co-conspirators devised a scheme to obtain short-term credit from banks based on misrepresentations regarding purchases and sales of the Proprietary Products from Biscayne Capital client custody accounts that caused overdrafts in client accounts. Cortes and his co-conspirators used the short-term credit obtained from the banks to cover payments owed to other clients in the scheme and to pay their own salaries, among other things.
Weisson pleaded guilty in April 2022 to conspiracy to commit wire fraud and is awaiting sentencing. Haberer is not in U.S. custody.
The government’s case is being handled by the Office’s Business and Securities Fraud Section and by the Department of Justice’s Fraud and Money Laundering and Asset Recovery Sections. Assistant United States Attorneys Benjamin Weintraub and Drew Rolle, and Trial Attorneys Randall Warden and Morgan Cohen, are in charge of the prosecution. The Justice Department’s Office of International Affairs provided significant assistance in securing the arrest and extradition from Spain and obtaining evidence in this case. The Department of Justice also thanks the Governments of the Cayman Islands, Curaçao, Ecuador, Spain and Switzerland for their valuable support.
The Defendant:
ROBERTO GUSTAVO CORTES RIPALDA
Age: 58
Key Biscayne, FloridaE.D.N.Y. Docket No. 21-CR-458 (CBA)
Bridgehampton Man Charged with Immigration Fraud for Concealing His Role as a Perpetrator of Rwandan GenocideRead the Press Release
CENTRAL ISLIP, NY – Earlier today, at the federal courthouse in Central Islip, an indictment was unsealed charging Faustin Nsabumukunzi with visa fraud and attempted naturalization fraud for lying on his applications for a green card and for United States citizenship by concealing his role as a local leader and perpetrator of violence during the Rwandan genocide in 1994. Nsabumukunzi was arrested this morning on Long Island and is scheduled to be arraigned this afternoon before United States District Judge Joanna Seybert.
John J. Durham, United States Attorney for the Eastern District of New York; Matthew R. Galeotti, Head of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division; and Darren B. McCormack, Acting Special Agent in Charge, Homeland Security Investigations, New York (HSI New York), announced the arrest and charges.
“As alleged, Nsabumukunzi repeatedly lied to conceal his involvement in the horrific Rwandan genocide while seeking to become a lawful permanent resident and citizen of the United States,” stated United States Attorney Durham. “For over two decades, he got away with those lies and lived in the United States with an undeserved clean slate, a luxury that his victims will never have, but thanks to the tenacious efforts of our investigators and prosecutors, the defendant finally will be held accountable for his brutal actions.”
Mr. Durham expressed his appreciation to the United States Interagency Human Rights Violators & War Crimes Center, the Justice Department’s Office of International Affairs, the Department of Homeland Security, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, and the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Office of the Principal Legal Advisor for their work on the case.
“As alleged, the defendant participated in the commission of heinous acts of violence abroad and then lied his way into a green card and tried to obtain U.S. citizenship,” stated Matthew R. Galeotti, Head of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division. “No matter how much time has passed, the Department of Justice will find and prosecute individuals who committed atrocities in their home countries and covered them up to gain entry and seek citizenship in the United States.”
“This defendant has been living in the United States for decades, hiding his alleged horrific conduct, human rights violations, and his role in these senseless atrocities against innocent Tutsis,” stated HSI New York Acting Special Agent in Charge McCormack. “The depraved conduct of which the defendant is accused represent the worst of humanity. As demonstrated through the tireless work of HSI New York agents, analysts, and task force officers, we will never tolerate the safe-harboring of individuals linked to such unimaginable crimes.”
As set forth in court filings, Nsabumukunzi served as a local leader with the title of “Sector Councilor” in Rwanda in 1994 when the genocide began. Between April 1994 and July 1994, members of the majority Hutu population persecuted the minority Tutsis, committing acts of violence, including murder, rape, and sexual violence. An estimated 800,000 ethnic Tutsis and moderate Hutus were killed during the three-month genocide.
As alleged in the indictment, Nsabumukunzi used his leadership position as Sector Councilor to oversee the violence and killings of Tutsis in his local sector of Kibirizi and directed groups of armed Hutus to kill Tutsis. He set up roadblocks during the genocide to detain and kill Tutsis and participated in killings and violence. For example, Nsabumukunzi ordered a group of armed Hutus to locations where Tutsis were sheltering and the Hutus killed them. Nsabumukunzi also facilitated the rape of Tutsi women by verbally encouraging Hutu men to do so. According to court filings, Nsabumukunzi has been convicted of genocide in absentia by a Rwandan court.
As further alleged, Nsabumukunzi applied for refugee resettlement in the United States in August 2003, applied for and received a green card in November 2007, and later submitted applications for naturalization in 2009 and 2015. Nsabumukunzi lied to United States immigration officials to gain admission to the United States as a refugee, by falsely denying in the applications under penalty of perjury that he ever engaged in genocide. He repeated those lies in his subsequent applications for a green card and for naturalization. As a result of his ongoing efforts to conceal his actions during the genocide, Nsabumukunzi has been able to live and work in the United States since 2003.
The charges in the indictment are allegations and the defendant is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty. If convicted on all counts, Nsabumukunzi faces a maximum of 30 years in prison.
The government’s case is being prosecuted by the Office’s Human Trafficking and Civil Rights Section and the Criminal Section of the Office’s Long Island Division. Assistant United States Attorneys Samantha Alessi and Katherine P. Onyshko and Paralegal Specialist Erin Payne are in charge of the prosecution, along with Trial Attorney Brian Morgan from the Criminal Division’s Human Rights and Special Prosecutions (HRSP) Section, with assistance from HRSP Senior Historian Dr. Christopher Hayden.
The Defendant:
FAUSTIN NSABUMUKUNZI
Age: 65
Bridgehampton, New YorkE.D.N.Y. Docket No. 25-CR-138 (JS)
nsabumukunzi_indictment.pdf