Category: US Department of Justice

Source: United States Department of Justice Criminal Division

The Justice Department’s Antitrust Division and the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) are extending the deadline for the public to comment on serial acquisitions and roll-up strategies that harm competition by 60 days. The joint request for information (RFI) seeks to learn more about how corporate actors, including private equity owned businesses, become larger — and potentially dominant — through acquisitions of several smaller firms in the same or related business sectors or industries. The new deadline to submit comments is Sept. 20.

Businesses do not have to report every deal to the federal antitrust agencies, but some non-reportable deals still allow firms to amass significant control over key products, services or labor markets without government scrutiny. These types of transactions can harm competition to the detriment of consumers, workers and innovation across an entire industry or business sector.

The agencies’ RFI seeks to understand more about these deals and strategies, and invites a wide range of stakeholders including consumers, workers, businesses and others to submit their comments. Comments can be submitted via Regulations.gov. Once submitted, comments will be posted to Regulations.gov.

Source: United States Department of Justice Criminal Division

Two foreign nationals pleaded guilty today to participating in the LockBit ransomware group—at various times the most prolific ransomware variant in the world—and to deploying LockBit attacks against victims in the United States and worldwide.

“Today’s convictions reflect the latest returns on the Department’s investment in disrupting ransomware threats, prioritizing victims, and holding cybercriminals accountable,” said Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco. “In executing our all-tools cyber enforcement strategy, we’ve dealt significant blows to destructive ransomware groups like LockBit, as we did earlier this year, seizing control of LockBit infrastructure and distributing decryption keys to their victims. Today’s actions serve as a warning to ransomware actors who would attack Americans: we will find you and hold you accountable.”  

“The defendants committed ransomware attacks against victims in the United States and around the world through LockBit, which was one of the most destructive ransomware groups in the world,” said Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Nicole M. Argentieri, head of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division. “But thanks to the work of the Computer Crime and Intellectual Property Section, along with its domestic and international partners, LockBit no longer claims that title. Today’s convictions represent another important milestone in the Criminal Division’s ongoing effort to disrupt and dismantle ransomware groups, protect victims, and bring cybercriminals to justice.”

According to court documents, Ruslan Magomedovich Astamirov (АСТАМИРОВ, Руслан Магомедовичь), 21, a Russian national of the Chechen Republic, Russia, and Mikhail Vasiliev, 34, a dual Canadian and Russian national of Bradford, Ontario, were members of LockBit. In the period between January 2020 and February 2024, LockBit grew into what was, at times, the most active and destructive ransomware group in the world. LockBit attacked more than 2,500 victims in at least 120 countries, including 1,800 victims in the United States. Those victims included individuals, small businesses, multinational corporations, hospitals, schools, nonprofit organizations, critical infrastructure, and government and law-enforcement agencies. LockBit’s members extorted at least approximately $500 million in ransom payments from their victims and caused billions of dollars in additional losses to victims, including costs like lost revenue and for incident response and recovery.

LockBit’s “affiliate” members, including Vasiliev and Astamirov, first identified and unlawfully accessed vulnerable computer systems, and then deployed LockBit ransomware on those systems to both steal and encrypt stored data. When LockBit attacks were successful, LockBit’s affiliate members then demanded ransoms from their victims in exchange for decrypting the victims’ data and then claiming to delete the affiliates’ copies of the data. When victims did not pay the demanded ransoms, LockBit’s affiliates often left the victim’s data permanently encrypted and publish the stolen data, including highly sensitive information, on a publicly accessible internet site under LockBit’s control.

“Astamirov and Vasiliev thought that they could deploy LockBit from the shadows, wreaking havoc and pocketing massive ransom payments from their victims, without consequence,” said U.S. Attorney Philip R. Sellinger for the District of New Jersey. “They were wrong. We, in New Jersey, along with our domestic and international law enforcement partners will do everything in our power to hold LockBit’s members and other cybercriminals accountable, disrupt and dismantle their operations, and put a spotlight on them as wanted criminals—no matter where they hide.”

“Astamirov and Vasiliev were members of the LockBit ransomware group, which has caused severe harm around the globe by attacking computer systems in over a hundred countries damaging organizations ranging from government and law-enforcement agencies to hospitals and schools,” said FBI Deputy Director Paul Abbate. “Today’s plea shows our relentless and unwavering commitment to ensuring that cyber criminals are brought to justice for their actions. The FBI is proud of the international collaboration that led to these individuals being held accountable under the law for the damage their actions have caused.”

Between 2020 and 2023, Astamirov deployed LockBit against at least 12 victims, including businesses in Virginia, Japan, France, Scotland, and Kenya. Operating under the online aliases “BETTERPAY,” “offtitan,” and “Eastfarmer,” he extorted $1.9 million from those victims. As part of his plea agreement, Astamirov agreed to forfeit, among other assets, $350,000 in seized cryptocurrency that he extorted from one of his LockBit victims. Astamirov was first charged and arrested in this matter in June 2023.

Between 2021 and 2023, Vasiliev, operating under the online aliases “Ghostrider,” “Free,” “Digitalocean90,” “Digitalocean99,” “Digitalwaters99,” and “Newwave110,” deployed LockBit against at least 12 victims, including businesses in New Jersey, Michigan, the United Kingdom, and Switzerland. He also deployed LockBit against an educational facility in England and a school in Switzerland. Through these attacks, Vasiliev caused at least $500,000 in damage and losses to his victims. Vasiliev was first charged in this matter and arrested in Canada by Canadian authorities in November 2022, and extradited to the United States in June.

Astamirov pleaded guilty to a two-count information charging him with conspiracy to commit computer fraud and abuse and conspiracy to commit wire fraud. He faces a maximum penalty of 25 years in prison. Vasiliev pleaded guilty to a four-count information charging him with conspiracy to commit computer fraud and abuse, intentional damage to a protected computer, transmission of a threat in relation to damaging a protected computer, and conspiracy to commit wire fraud. He faces a maximum penalty of 45 years in prison. A sentencing date has not yet been set. A federal district court judge will determine any sentence after considering the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.

The LockBit Investigation

Today’s guilty pleas follow a recent disruption of LockBit ransomware in February by the U.K. National Crime Agency’s (NCA) Cyber Division, which worked in cooperation with the Justice Department, FBI, and other international law enforcement partners. As previously announced by the Department, authorities disrupted LockBit by seizing numerous public-facing websites used by LockBit to connect to the organization’s infrastructure and by seizing control of servers used by LockBit administrators, thereby disrupting the ability of LockBit actors to attack and encrypt networks and extort victims by threatening to publish stolen data. This disruption succeeded in greatly diminishing LockBit’s reputation and its ability to attack further victims, as alleged by documents filed in this case.

Today’s guilty pleas also follow prior announcements of charges brought in the District of New Jersey against four other LockBit members, including its alleged creator, developer, and administrator, Dmitry Yuryevich Khoroshev. According to an indictment unsealed in May, Khoroshev allegedly acted as the group’s administrator from as early as September 2019 through 2024. In that role,  Khoroshev recruited new affiliate members, spoke for the group publicly under the alias “LockBitSupp,” and developed and maintained the infrastructure used by affiliates to deploy LockBit attacks. Khoroshev also took 20% of each ransom paid by LockBit victims, allowing him to personally derive at least $100 million over that period. Khoroshev is currently the subject of a reward of up to $10 million through the U.S. Department of State’s Transnational Organized Crime (TOC) Rewards Program, with information accepted through the FBI tip website at https://tips.fbi.gov/home.

Other charges against LockBit members include the following:

• In February 2024, in parallel with the disruption operation, an indictment was unsealed in the District of New Jersey charging Russian nationals Artur Sungatov and Ivan Kondratyev, also known as Bassterlord, with deploying LockBit against numerous victims throughout the United States, including businesses in the manufacturing and other industries, as well as victims around the world in the semiconductor and other industries.
• In May 2023, two indictments were unsealed in Washington, D.C., and the District of New Jersey charging Mikhail Matveev, also known as Wazawaka, m1x, Boriselcin, and Uhodiransomwar, with using different ransomware variants, including LockBit, to attack numerous victims throughout the United States, including the Washington, D.C., Metropolitan Police Department. Matveev is currently the subject of a reward of up to $10 million through the U.S. Department of State’s TOC Rewards Program, with information accepted through the FBI tip website at tips.fbi.gov/.

The U.S. Department of State’s TOC Rewards Program is also offering rewards of:

• Up to $10 million for information leading to the identification and location of any individuals who hold a key leadership position in LockBit; and
• Up to $5 million for information leading to the arrest and/or conviction in any country of any individual participating or attempting to participate in LockBit.

Information is accepted through the FBI tip website at www.tips.fbi.gov/.

Khoroshev, Matveev, Sungatov, and Kondratyev have also been designated for sanctions by the Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control for their roles in launching cyberattacks.  

Victim Assistance

LockBit victims are encouraged to contact the FBI and submit information at https://lockbitvictims.ic3.gov/. As announced by the Department in February, law enforcement, through its disruption efforts, has developed decryption capabilities that may enable hundreds of victims around the world to restore systems encrypted using the LockBit ransomware variant. Submitting information at the ICE site will enable law enforcement to determine whether affected systems can be successfully decrypted.

LockBit victims are also encouraged to visit www.justice.gov/usao-nj/lockbit for case updates and information regarding their rights under U.S. law, including the right to submit victim impact statements and request restitution, in the litigation against Astamirov and Vasiliev.

The FBI Newark Field Office, under the supervision of Special Agent in Charge James E. Dennehy, is investigating the LockBit ransomware variant. The FBI Atlanta Field Office, under the supervision of Special Agent in Charge Keri Farley; U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Georgia; Ontario Provincial Police in Ontario, Canada; and Crown Attorney’s Office in Toronto, Canada, provided significant assistance in the Vasiliev matter. The United Kingdom’s NCA; France’s  Gendarmerie Nationale Cyberspace Command and Cyber Division of the Paris Prosecution Office; Germany’s Landeskriminalamt Schleswig-Holstein and the Bundeskriminalamt; Switzerland’s Federal Office of Justice and Police, Public Prosecutor’s Office for the Canton of Zurich, and Zurich Cantonal Police; Japan’s National Policy Agency; Australian Federal Police; Sweden’s Polismyndighetens; Royal Canadian Mounted Police; Politie Dienst Regionale Recherche Oost-Brabant of the Netherlands; Finland’s Poliisi; Europol; and Eurojust have provided significant assistance and coordination in both matters and in the LockBit investigation generally.

Trial Attorneys Jessica C. Peck, Debra Ireland, and Jorge Gonzalez of the Criminal Division’s Computer Crime and Intellectual Property Section (CCIPS) and Assistant U.S. Attorneys Andrew M. Trombly, David E. Malagold, and Vinay Limbachia for the District of New Jersey are prosecuting the charges against Astamirov and Vasiliev.

The Justice Department’s Cybercrime Liaison Prosecutor to Eurojust, Office of International Affairs, and National Security Division’s National Security Cyber Section also provided significant assistance.

Additional details on protecting networks against LockBit ransomware are available at StopRansomware.gov. These include Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency Advisories AA23-325A, AA23-165A, and AA23-075A.       

Source: United States Department of Justice Criminal Division

Ray Hunt, also known as Abdolrahman Hantoosh, Rahman Hantoosh and Rahman Natooshas, 70, of Owens Cross Roads, Alabama, pleaded guilty today to conspiracy to export U.S.-origin goods to the Islamic Republic of Iran in violation of trade sanctions.

According to court documents, in May 2014, Hunt registered Vega Tools LLC with the Alabama Secretary of State, listing the nature of the business as “the purchase/resale of equipment for the energy sector.” He operated Vega Tools, including purchasing, receiving and shipping U.S.-origin goods, from locations in Madison County, Alabama. Beginning at least as early as 2015, Hunt conspired with two Iranian companies located in Tehran, Iran, to illegally export U.S.-manufactured industrial equipment for use in Iran’s oil, gas and petrochemical industries.

Hunt engaged in a series of deceptive practices to avoid detection by U.S. authorities, including using third-party transshipment companies in Turkey and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and routing payments through UAE banks, as well as lying to shipping companies about the value of his exports to prevent the filing of electronic export information to U.S. authorities. Hunt lied to suppliers and shippers by claiming the items he purchased on behalf of the Iranian co-conspirators were destined for end users in Turkey and UAE, while knowing the exports were ultimately destined for Iran. Hunt lied also to U.S. Customs and Border Patrol officers regarding the nature and existence of his business when questioned upon his return from a March 2020 trip to Iran.   

Hunt pleaded guilty to a conspiracy charge and faces a maximum penalty of five years in prison. A federal district court judge will determine any sentence after considering the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.

Assistant Attorney General Matthew G. Olsen of the Justice Department’s National Security Division, U.S. Attorney Prim F. Escalona for the Northern District of Alabama, Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Export Enforcement Matthew S. Axelrod and Executive Assistant Director Robert Wells of the FBI National Security Branch made the announcement.

The Department of Commerce Bureau of Industry and Security is investigating the case with valuable assistance provided by the FBI. 

Assistant U.S. Attorneys Jonathan “Jack” Harrington, Jonathan Cross and Henry Cornelius for the Northern District of Alabama and Trial Attorneys Emma Ellenrieder and Adam Barry of the National Security Division’s Counterintelligence and Export Control Section are prosecuting the case.

Source: United States Department of Justice Criminal Division

The last defendant of 18 La Mara Salvatrucha (MS-13) gang members charged in connection with a multi-year investigation by federal, state, and local law enforcement was sentenced today. The investigation involved charges of racketeering conspiracy, murder in aid of racketeering, attempted murder in aid of racketeering, kidnapping, drug trafficking, firearms offenses, obstruction of justice, and destruction of evidence.

According to court documents and evidence presented at trial, the defendants were members and associates of MS-13’s Thompson Place Locos Salvatrucha clique, which has operated in Nashville, Tennessee, since at least 2014. MS-13, an international street gang composed largely of individuals of Salvadoran or Central American descent, seeks to protect its power, territory, reputation, and profits through murder, attempted murder, drug trafficking, robbery, kidnappings, extortion, and other criminal activities. In addition, cooperation with law enforcement is strictly prohibited under MS-13’s rules. Members are required to confront, fight, and/or kill rival gang members and to retaliate quickly and viciously against anyone who disrespects or threatens the gang’s authority, power, reputation, or control of a neighborhood. Prospective members committed murders to gain entrance into MS-13 or to earn respect among the members.

In addition to drug distribution and firearms offenses, the defendants were also convicted of conspiring with each other and committing acts of violence, including the following:

On April 6, 2016, MS-13 members and associates, including Jose Pineda-Caceres, murdered Victim 1 because they believed he was a rival gang member. They lured Victim 1 to a secluded field in a rural area of Davidson County, Tennessee, under the guise of going to smoke marijuana. When they arrived at the field, the gang members confronted Victim 1 about their belief that he was in a rival gang before shooting him multiple times, killing him.

On July 31, 2016, MS-13 members and associates, including Pineda-Caceres, went to a South Nashville nightclub, where Pineda-Caceres saw Victim 2, who he believed was a rival gang member. Victim 2 and his younger sister, Victim 3, were at the nightclub with friends, celebrating Victim 3’s 18th birthday. When Victim 2 left the nightclub with his friends and Victim 3, Pineda-Caceres and another MS-13 associate chased Victim 2’s car on Interstate 24 and shot into it. A bullet stuck Victim 3 and killed her. Pineda-Caceres fled the United States after this murder but was arrested when he returned to the United States in November 2017.

On Nov. 13, 2016, MS-13 members and associates, including Jorge Flores, were at a South Nashville nightclub when they saw Victim 4, who they believed was a rival gang member. The MS-13 members and associates, including Flores, followed Victim 4 from the nightclub to his apartment in Antioch, Tennessee. An MS-13 member shot Victim 4 and then fled. Victim 4 died from his injuries.

On or about Jan. 18, 2017, MS-13 members and associates, including Jorge Flores, saw Victim 5, who they believed was responsible for a recent murder of an MS-13 member, at a Wal-Mart in Antioch. The MS-13 members chased Victim 5 as he rode in a car with his girlfriend and her young children. The MS-13 members eventually cornered the car and shot into it, striking Victim 5 multiple times.

In February 2017, MS-13 members and associates, including Carlos Ochoa and Jorge Flores, conspired to murder rival drug dealers, Victims 6 and 7. The MS-13 members also conspired to murder another MS-13 member because he associated with Victims 6 and 7. On Feb.18, 2017, MS-13 members and associates chased the three victims in a car for miles and attempted to kill them by shooting at them. The gang members chased their victims to a South Nashville nightclub, shot at them, and continuously shot into the nightclub, which was filled with patrons. The following weekend, on Feb. 25, 2017, MS-13 members and associates chased the victims again and shot Victim 6 in the neck and torso, causing Victim 6 to suffer life-threatening injuries. Metropolitan Nashville Police Department officers promptly provided medical care to Victim 6, helping to save his life. 

On April 2, 2017, MS-13 members and associates were inside a South Nashville nightclub when they saw Victims 8 and 9. The gang members informed another MS-13 member and MS-13 associate, who were not in the nightclub, of the victims’ presence inside the nightclub and the gang members’ belief that the victims were rival gang members. The MS-13 member and associate outside of the nightclub retrieved an AK-47 rifle and shot Victims 8 and 9 multiple times when they left the club, killing them both.

On May 21, 2017, MS-13 members, including Flores and Kevin Tidwell, were parked in the parking lot of a South Nashville nightclub when they saw Victim 10, who they believed to be a rival gang member, pull into the parking lot. The gang members drove next to Victim 10’s car and shot him numerous times in his head and torso as he sat in his car, killing him.

On May 27, 2017, MS-13 members were at a convenience store in South Nashville, where Tidwell got into a verbal altercation with Victim 11 and felt disrespected. Tidwell got into a truck driven by Flores and waited behind the store until Victim 11 and Victim 12 drove away from the store. The MS-13 members chased the car while shooting at it with an AK-47 rifle and a 9mm pistol. Victim 11 was struck by the gunfire and died from his injuries. The MS-13 members later burned the truck in an abandoned field.

On June 17, 2017, several MS-13 members were at a nightclub and confronted Victim 13 for falsely claiming to be an MS-13 member. The gang members summoned additional members to the club for assistance. When the additional members arrived, a fight ensued between the MS-13 members and Victim 13 and his friends. Gerson Serrano-Ramirez ultimately retrieved an AK-47 rifle from a car and fired a round of ammunition into the air. The MS-13 members then forced Victim 13 into a car and took him to a secluded location, where they beat him.

On July 25, 2017, at Serrano-Ramirez’s home, Serrano-Ramirez physically assaulted Victim 14 for saying that MS-13 members and their drug activities were causing problems in a local nightclub. Serrano-Ramirez accused Victim 14 of cooperating with law enforcement, then pointed a rifle at him, choked him with the strap of the rifle, sprayed bleach in his eyes, suffocated him by placing a plastic bag over his head, and broke one of his fingers with a pair of pliers.

On Sept. 24, 2017, MS-13 members, including Luis Colindres, saw Victim 15, who they believed to be a rival gang member, in a South Nashville nightclub. MS-13 members watched him leave the nightclub with two other individuals, then drove to his apartment complex to await his return. When Victim 15 arrived, the gang members blocked the car with their car, got out, and shot Victim 15 in the head and torso multiple times, killing him. The members also shot one of the car’s passengers, Victim 16, in the head and torso multiple times to prevent him from cooperating with law enforcement.

Later that evening, on Sept. 24, 2017, MS-13 members and associates, including Flores and Colindres, lured Victim 17 to a secluded location to murder him for failing to repay a drug debt. When Victim 17 arrived, they ordered him into the trunk of a car and shot him multiple times. They then drove Victim 17’s body to Cheatham County, Tennessee, where they burned him inside of the car’s trunk to destroy evidence of the murder.

Throughout the course of the conspiracy, the MS-13 members committed several armed carjackings of citizens near the Nashville, Tennessee, area.

The defendants were sentenced as follows:

• Jorge Flores, 31, life plus 65 years in prison;
• Kevin Tidwell, 30, life plus 30 years in prison;
• Luis Colindres, 27, 55 years in prison;
• Jose Pineda-Caceres, 25, 52 years and three months in prison;
• Gerson Serrano-Ramirez, 36, 34 years in prison;
• Carlos Ochoa-Martinez, 34, 30 years in prison;
• Francisco Avila, 26, 30 years in prison;
• Franklin Hernandez, 24, 28 years and 11 months in prison;
• Jason Sandoval, 38, 20 years in prison;
• Oscar Delgado-Flores, 30, 19 years and eight months in prison;
• Angel Daniel-Garcia, 38, 13 years and nine months in prison;
• Bryan Paredes, 27, 10 years in prison;
• Jose Calderon, 24, 10 years in prison;
• Hector Venturas, 28, 12 years and seven months in prison;
• Juan Melendez, 25, eight years in prison;
• Franklin Pineda-Caceres, 23, seven years and six months in prison;
• Sergio Alvarado-Ochoa, 30, two years and six months in prison; and
• Anabely Caceres, 44, time-served sentence of one year and one month.

Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Nicole M. Argentieri, head of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division; Acting U.S. Attorney Thomas J. Jaworski for the Middle District of Tennessee; Special Agent in Charge Marcus Watson of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) Nashville Field Division; Special Agent in Charge Rana Saoud of Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) Nashville; Acting Special Agent in Charge Erek Davodowich of the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) Louisville Field Division; U.S. Marshal Denny King for the Middle District of Tennessee; Chief John Drake of the Metropolitan Nashville Police Department; and Director David Rausch of the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation made the announcement.

The ATF, HSI, DEA, U.S. Marshals Service, Metropolitan Nashville Police Department, Tennessee Bureau of Investigation, La Vergne Police Department, and Kentucky State Police investigated the case.

Deputy Chief Matthew Hoff of the Criminal Division’s Violent Crime and Racketeering Section and Assistant U.S. Attorneys Ahmed Safeeullah and Brooke Farzad for the Middle District of Tennessee prosecuted this case. 

This prosecution 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 www.justice.gov/OCDETF.

Source: United States Department of Justice 2

The last defendant of 18 La Mara Salvatrucha (MS-13) gang members charged in connection with a multi-year investigation by federal, state, and local law enforcement was sentenced today. The investigation involved charges of racketeering conspiracy, murder in aid of racketeering, attempted murder in aid of racketeering, kidnapping, drug trafficking, firearms offenses, obstruction of justice, and destruction of evidence.

According to court documents and evidence presented at trial, the defendants were members and associates of MS-13’s Thompson Place Locos Salvatrucha clique, which has operated in Nashville, Tennessee, since at least 2014. MS-13, an international street gang composed largely of individuals of Salvadoran or Central American descent, seeks to protect its power, territory, reputation, and profits through murder, attempted murder, drug trafficking, robbery, kidnappings, extortion, and other criminal activities. In addition, cooperation with law enforcement is strictly prohibited under MS-13’s rules. Members are required to confront, fight, and/or kill rival gang members and to retaliate quickly and viciously against anyone who disrespects or threatens the gang’s authority, power, reputation, or control of a neighborhood. Prospective members committed murders to gain entrance into MS-13 or to earn respect among the members.

In addition to drug distribution and firearms offenses, the defendants were also convicted of conspiring with each other and committing acts of violence, including the following:

On April 6, 2016, MS-13 members and associates, including Jose Pineda-Caceres, murdered Victim 1 because they believed he was a rival gang member. They lured Victim 1 to a secluded field in a rural area of Davidson County, Tennessee, under the guise of going to smoke marijuana. When they arrived at the field, the gang members confronted Victim 1 about their belief that he was in a rival gang before shooting him multiple times, killing him.

On July 31, 2016, MS-13 members and associates, including Pineda-Caceres, went to a South Nashville nightclub, where Pineda-Caceres saw Victim 2, who he believed was a rival gang member. Victim 2 and his younger sister, Victim 3, were at the nightclub with friends, celebrating Victim 3’s 18th birthday. When Victim 2 left the nightclub with his friends and Victim 3, Pineda-Caceres and another MS-13 associate chased Victim 2’s car on Interstate 24 and shot into it. A bullet stuck Victim 3 and killed her. Pineda-Caceres fled the United States after this murder but was arrested when he returned to the United States in November 2017.

On Nov. 13, 2016, MS-13 members and associates, including Jorge Flores, were at a South Nashville nightclub when they saw Victim 4, who they believed was a rival gang member. The MS-13 members and associates, including Flores, followed Victim 4 from the nightclub to his apartment in Antioch, Tennessee. An MS-13 member shot Victim 4 and then fled. Victim 4 died from his injuries.

On or about Jan. 18, 2017, MS-13 members and associates, including Jorge Flores, saw Victim 5, who they believed was responsible for a recent murder of an MS-13 member, at a Wal-Mart in Antioch. The MS-13 members chased Victim 5 as he rode in a car with his girlfriend and her young children. The MS-13 members eventually cornered the car and shot into it, striking Victim 5 multiple times.

In February 2017, MS-13 members and associates, including Carlos Ochoa and Jorge Flores, conspired to murder rival drug dealers, Victims 6 and 7. The MS-13 members also conspired to murder another MS-13 member because he associated with Victims 6 and 7. On Feb.18, 2017, MS-13 members and associates chased the three victims in a car for miles and attempted to kill them by shooting at them. The gang members chased their victims to a South Nashville nightclub, shot at them, and continuously shot into the nightclub, which was filled with patrons. The following weekend, on Feb. 25, 2017, MS-13 members and associates chased the victims again and shot Victim 6 in the neck and torso, causing Victim 6 to suffer life-threatening injuries. Metropolitan Nashville Police Department officers promptly provided medical care to Victim 6, helping to save his life. 

On April 2, 2017, MS-13 members and associates were inside a South Nashville nightclub when they saw Victims 8 and 9. The gang members informed another MS-13 member and MS-13 associate, who were not in the nightclub, of the victims’ presence inside the nightclub and the gang members’ belief that the victims were rival gang members. The MS-13 member and associate outside of the nightclub retrieved an AK-47 rifle and shot Victims 8 and 9 multiple times when they left the club, killing them both.

On May 21, 2017, MS-13 members, including Flores and Kevin Tidwell, were parked in the parking lot of a South Nashville nightclub when they saw Victim 10, who they believed to be a rival gang member, pull into the parking lot. The gang members drove next to Victim 10’s car and shot him numerous times in his head and torso as he sat in his car, killing him.

On May 27, 2017, MS-13 members were at a convenience store in South Nashville, where Tidwell got into a verbal altercation with Victim 11 and felt disrespected. Tidwell got into a truck driven by Flores and waited behind the store until Victim 11 and Victim 12 drove away from the store. The MS-13 members chased the car while shooting at it with an AK-47 rifle and a 9mm pistol. Victim 11 was struck by the gunfire and died from his injuries. The MS-13 members later burned the truck in an abandoned field.

On June 17, 2017, several MS-13 members were at a nightclub and confronted Victim 13 for falsely claiming to be an MS-13 member. The gang members summoned additional members to the club for assistance. When the additional members arrived, a fight ensued between the MS-13 members and Victim 13 and his friends. Gerson Serrano-Ramirez ultimately retrieved an AK-47 rifle from a car and fired a round of ammunition into the air. The MS-13 members then forced Victim 13 into a car and took him to a secluded location, where they beat him.

On July 25, 2017, at Serrano-Ramirez’s home, Serrano-Ramirez physically assaulted Victim 14 for saying that MS-13 members and their drug activities were causing problems in a local nightclub. Serrano-Ramirez accused Victim 14 of cooperating with law enforcement, then pointed a rifle at him, choked him with the strap of the rifle, sprayed bleach in his eyes, suffocated him by placing a plastic bag over his head, and broke one of his fingers with a pair of pliers.

On Sept. 24, 2017, MS-13 members, including Luis Colindres, saw Victim 15, who they believed to be a rival gang member, in a South Nashville nightclub. MS-13 members watched him leave the nightclub with two other individuals, then drove to his apartment complex to await his return. When Victim 15 arrived, the gang members blocked the car with their car, got out, and shot Victim 15 in the head and torso multiple times, killing him. The members also shot one of the car’s passengers, Victim 16, in the head and torso multiple times to prevent him from cooperating with law enforcement.

Later that evening, on Sept. 24, 2017, MS-13 members and associates, including Flores and Colindres, lured Victim 17 to a secluded location to murder him for failing to repay a drug debt. When Victim 17 arrived, they ordered him into the trunk of a car and shot him multiple times. They then drove Victim 17’s body to Cheatham County, Tennessee, where they burned him inside of the car’s trunk to destroy evidence of the murder.

Throughout the course of the conspiracy, the MS-13 members committed several armed carjackings of citizens near the Nashville, Tennessee, area.

The defendants were sentenced as follows:

• Jorge Flores, 31, life plus 65 years in prison;
• Kevin Tidwell, 30, life plus 30 years in prison;
• Luis Colindres, 27, 55 years in prison;
• Jose Pineda-Caceres, 25, 52 years and three months in prison;
• Gerson Serrano-Ramirez, 36, 34 years in prison;
• Carlos Ochoa-Martinez, 34, 30 years in prison;
• Francisco Avila, 26, 30 years in prison;
• Franklin Hernandez, 24, 28 years and 11 months in prison;
• Jason Sandoval, 38, 20 years in prison;
• Oscar Delgado-Flores, 30, 19 years and eight months in prison;
• Angel Daniel-Garcia, 38, 13 years and nine months in prison;
• Bryan Paredes, 27, 10 years in prison;
• Jose Calderon, 24, 10 years in prison;
• Hector Venturas, 28, 12 years and seven months in prison;
• Juan Melendez, 25, eight years in prison;
• Franklin Pineda-Caceres, 23, seven years and six months in prison;
• Sergio Alvarado-Ochoa, 30, two years and six months in prison; and
• Anabely Caceres, 44, time-served sentence of one year and one month.

Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Nicole M. Argentieri, head of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division; Acting U.S. Attorney Thomas J. Jaworski for the Middle District of Tennessee; Special Agent in Charge Marcus Watson of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) Nashville Field Division; Special Agent in Charge Rana Saoud of Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) Nashville; Acting Special Agent in Charge Erek Davodowich of the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) Louisville Field Division; U.S. Marshal Denny King for the Middle District of Tennessee; Chief John Drake of the Metropolitan Nashville Police Department; and Director David Rausch of the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation made the announcement.

The ATF, HSI, DEA, U.S. Marshals Service, Metropolitan Nashville Police Department, Tennessee Bureau of Investigation, La Vergne Police Department, and Kentucky State Police investigated the case.

Deputy Chief Matthew Hoff of the Criminal Division’s Violent Crime and Racketeering Section and Assistant U.S. Attorneys Ahmed Safeeullah and Brooke Farzad for the Middle District of Tennessee prosecuted this case. 

This prosecution 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 www.justice.gov/OCDETF.