Month: August 2022

Source: United States Department of Justice News

Three Miami Residents Stole $1,400,000 From Hundreds of Depositors by Posing as Security Officials to Obtain Access to Online Accounts.

          GRAND RAPIDS, MICHIGAN — U.S. District Judge Paul Maloney today sentenced Cedric Smith to a prison term of 70 months.  His sentence is the last handed down in a West Michigan federal case charging three Miami, Florida residents with bank fraud and aggravated identity theft. 

          In February 2021, a grand jury charged Cedric Smith, Daja Smith and Devonte Hoskins with stealing the identities of customers of banks and credit unions and then using that information to commit widespread fraud.  Prior to today’s sentence, Judge Maloney ordered Daja Smith to a prison term of five years; Devonte Hoskins received a term of six years. 

          The fraudulent scheme exploited the online system used by customers of banks and credit unions everywhere.  The defendants identified a targeted customer’s online account using compromised personal information they purchased from computer hackers on the internet.  To obtain a customer’s confidential password and access to the money in the customer’s account, the defendants called the customer, posing as bank security personnel, and induced the victim to share the onetime code a bank sends its customers when they need to reset their password.  Then defendants drained the victim’s account and moved the money to where they could use it for their own purposes. The defendants, operating out of Miami, Florida, targeted victims around the U.S. in this fashion, including customers of United Federal Credit Union in St. Joseph, Michigan.  Total losses are estimated at $1,400,000.     

          U.S. Attorney Mark Totten stated he was pleased with the convictions and sentences.  “Online thieves like these think they will never be caught because they can hide on the internet.  They are wrong.  We have the tools to identify and hunt them down, even if they committed their crimes from hundreds of miles away.  And that is what we will do.”

          “These defendants may have thought they were beyond the reach of law enforcement because their crimes were committed entirely online,” said James A. Tarasca, Special Agent in Charge of the FBI in Michigan. “They were sorely mistaken. The FBI treats these types of financial crimes very seriously and we will use our considerable resources to bring cybercriminals to justice.”

          This case was investigated by the St. Joseph office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation.  Prosecution was handled by Assistant United States Attorney Timothy VerHey.           

###

Source: United States Department of Justice News

Gregory Dwyer Managed BitMex’s Flouting of U.S. Anti-Money Laundering Rules

Source: United States Department of Justice News

A Springfield Gardens man was sentenced to five years in prison yesterday for conspiring to commit aggravated identity theft and aiding in the preparation of false tax returns for his transportation business.

According to court documents and evidence presented at trial, Afolabi Ajelero worked at Kaybamz, a tax preparation business, during tax season from approximately 2012 through 2016. Ajelero conspired with Hakeem Bamgbala, the owner of the business, and others to prepare and file tax returns seeking fraudulent refunds in the names of individuals whose identities had been acquired unlawfully. Bamgbala then forged the names of the taxpayers on the refund checks and provided the checks to Michael Campbell and other co-conspirators to be cashed at banks. Among other roles, Ajelero was responsible for supplying his Electronic Filing Identification Number (EFIN) for use on each fraudulent return and helping fabricate tax paperwork to satisfy a third party that audited some of the returns filed by Kaybamz.

In addition to participating in the identity theft conspiracy, Ajelero also owned Mo-Betta Ventures, a transportation business that provided airport shuttle services in the New York City metropolitan area. From 2011 through 2016, Ajelero aided the filing of false corporate tax returns for Mo-Betta Ventures. Each of these returns included false items, including exaggerated fuel tax credits or deductions intended only for off-highway vehicles such as farm equipment.

In addition to the term of imprisonment, U.S. District Judge William F. Kuntz II ordered Ajelero to serve two years of supervised release and to pay approximately $45,000 in restitution to the United States.

Bamgbala previously pleaded guilty to 18 counts of wire fraud, 22 counts of aggravated identity theft, one count of conspiring to commit aggravated identity theft, and one count of aiding and assisting the filing of a false tax return. Bamgbala died before he could be sentenced. Campbell pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit aggravated identity theft. He is scheduled to be sentenced on August 19.

Acting Deputy Assistant Attorney General Stuart M. Goldberg of the Justice Department’s Tax Division and U.S. Attorney Breon S. Peace for the Eastern District of New York made the announcement.

Trial Attorneys Mark McDonald and Eric B. Powers of the Tax Division prosecuted the case.

Source: United States Department of Justice News

Greenbelt, Maryland – U.S. District Judge George J. Hazel sentenced Anthony Erik Hebron, a/k/a “Pain”, age 29, of Washington, D.C., to 14 years in federal prison, followed by 5 years of supervised release, for conspiracy to commit kidnapping. 

The sentence was announced by United States Attorney for the District of Maryland Erek L. Barron; Special Agent in Charge Wayne Jacobs of the Federal Bureau of Investigation – Washington Field Office Criminal Division; and Acting Special Agent in Charge Robert Turner of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Baltimore Field Office.

According to his guilty plea, in February 2021, Hebron, and co-defendants Darius Young, a/k/a “Mup”, age 30, Christopher Young, age 27, Lamar Perkins, age 28, and Tray Sherman, age 27, all of D.C., worked together to kidnap a victim from a Maryland casino and hotel.

Hebron and Sherman met Victim A at the casino and hotel, where they made the false promise that they would get women for Victim A if Victim A accompanied them to Southeast Washington, D.C.  At approximately 7:30 a.m., Victim A agreed to travel to Southeast Washington, D.C. in Sherman’s car with Hebron.

At 8:13 a.m., Young called Mup to report that Hebron and Sherman had “snatched” Victim A.  Soon after Sherman, Hebron, and Victim A arrived in Southeast D.C., Mup and Young entered Sherman’s vehicle with Victim A inside.  Hebron then pointed a gun at Victim A while his co-conspirators took Victim A’s personal items including Victim A’s wallet, cell phone, hotel room key, and a watch valued at $500.

Hebron, Mup, Young, and Sherman then demanded the code to Victim A’s hotel safe.  When Victim A refused, Hebron struck Victim A in the forehead with the gun.  In response, Victim A told the co-conspirators the code to the hotel safe.  Victim A was then forced out of the car by Hebron.  Soon after, Mup and Young exited the vehicle with Victim A and forced the victim into a boiler room within a D.C. apartment building while Hebron and Sherman drove back to the hotel and casino to burglarize Victim A’s hotel room.

Inside the boiler room, Mup and Young repeatedly assaulted Victim A, threatened his life, demanded Victim A’s PIN number to his ATM card, and demanded information about the items located in his hotel room. 

Simultaneously, Hebron and Sherman accessed Victim A’s hotel room, where they stole Victim A’s property, including a gaming system, $1,500 in casino chips, and approximately $6,000 in cash. 

After Victim A was released by the conspiracy members, law enforcement saw Victim A near the apartment building.  Victim A sustained several injuries, including a bloody wound on his forehead, a broken nose, and cuts on his mouth and eye. 

Co-defendants Perkins, Young, Sherman, and Mup pleaded guilty to federal charges relating to the kidnapping earlier this year.  Mup was sentenced to 126 months in federal prison.  Young was sentenced to 126 months in federal prison.  Perkins was sentenced to 120 months in federal prison.  Sherman is scheduled to be sentenced in October 2022 to at least 96 months.

This case is 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.  PSN, an evidence-based program proven to be effective at reducing violent crime, is the centerpiece of the Department of Justice’s violent crime reduction efforts.  Through PSN, a broad spectrum of stakeholders work together to identify the most pressing violent crime problems in the community and develop comprehensive solutions to address them.  As part of this strategy, PSN focuses enforcement efforts on the most violent offenders and partners with locally based prevention and reentry programs for lasting reductions in crime.

This case is an Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force (OCDETF) investigation.  OCDETF identifies, disrupts, and dismantles the highest-level criminal organizations that threaten the United States using a prosecutor-led, intelligence-driven, multi-agency approach that leverages the strengths of federal, state, and local law enforcement agencies against criminal networks.

United States Attorney Erek L. Barron commended the FBI Washington, and the FBI Baltimore Field Offices for their work in the investigation.  Mr. Barron also praised the Prince George’s County Police Department for their assistance in the investigation.  Mr. Barron thanked Assistant U.S. Attorney Jeffrey J. Izant and Special Assistant U.S. Attorney Jared C. Engelking, who prosecuted the case.

For more information on the Maryland U.S. Attorney’s Office, its priorities, and resources available to help the community, please visit https://www.justice.gov/usao-md/project-safe-neighborhoods-psnexile and https://www.justice.gov/usao-md/community-outreach.

# # #

Source: United States Department of Justice News

CHARLESTON, W.Va. – A Georgia man pleaded guilty today to aiding and abetting the distribution of 50 grams or more of methamphetamine.

According to court documents and statements made in court, Brian Donaldson, 30, of Oakwood, Georgia, admitted to selling approximately 8 ounces of methamphetamine to a confidential informant in the parking lot of a Huntington, West Virginia, restaurant on June 14, 2019.

Donaldson is scheduled to be sentenced on November 3, 2022, and faces a mandatory minimum of  10 years in prison as well as at least five years of supervised release and a $10 million fine.

United States Attorney Will Thompson made the announcement and commended the investigative work of the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA).

United States District Judge Joseph R. Goodwin presided over the hearing. Assistant United States Attorney Negar M. Kordestani is prosecuting the case.

This prosecution is 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.

A copy of this press release is located on the website of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of West Virginia. Related court documents and information can be found on PACER by searching for Case No. 2:21-cr-212.

 

###