News Releases and Statements

According to court documents, from at least March 2013 to February 2017, Raymond Juiwen Ho, 48, of Vienna, engaged in a large-scale money laundering scheme that resulted in millions of dollars being moved through bank accounts  that Ho or his co-conspirators controlled.

Raul Perez, 38, sentenced to 24 months imprisonment with credit for time served, three years supervised release and restitution in the amount of $14,992.96; Alexis Delgado, 44, sentenced to 18 months imprisonment with credit for time served, three years supervised release, restitution in the amount of $14,992.96, and a $5,000 fine; and, Leyanis Menendez, 38, sentenced to 18 months imprisonment with credit for time served, three years supervised release, restitution in the amount of $14,992.96, and a $5,000 fine.

The indictment charges eight members of the Bonanno Family: Acting Boss Joseph Cammarano, Jr., Consigliere John Zancocchio, Joseph Sabella, George Tropiano, Albert Armetta, Domenick Miniero, Joseph Santapaolo, and Simone Esposito, all with with racketeering conspiracy involving a wide range of crimes, including extortion, loansharking, wire and mail fraud, narcotics distribution, and conspiracy to commit murder. Genovese Family member Ernest Montevecchi is charged with participating in that conspiracy as well. Several of the defendants and Luchese Family member Eugene Castelle are charged with conspiracy to commit extortion. Armetta is additionally charged with assault resulting in serious bodily injury in aid of racketeering, and aiding and abetting the same.

Yomtov Scott Menaged, 40, of Phoenix, was sentenced Dec. 19 by U.S. District Judge G. Murray Snow.  Menaged had previously pleaded guilty in October to charges of bank fraud, money laundering, and aggravated identity theft. The court also ordered Menaged to serve 36 months of supervised release after he completes his prison term; he must also pay $33,558,407.76 restitution to the various victims.

Randy Wang, 33, was arrested on charges stemming from his scheme to defraud his former employer, a company based in Manhattan that manages a global airline alliance whose members consisted of approximately 13 international airlines and their affiliates (“Company”), by incurring more than $2.2 million in unauthorized charges on the Company’s credit card account, and then making changes to the Company’s accounting system to evade detection.

Geoffrey Comstock, 54, owner and operator of the Frio Nevado Corporation, was convicted Dec. 13 on one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and six substantive counts of wire fraud.

Fernando Ardila Rueda (Ardila), 49, of Miami, Florida, pleaded guilty Oct. 11 in a Houston federal court to one count of conspiracy to violate the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) and one count of violating the FCPA. U.S. District Judge Gray H. Miller accepted the guilty plea. Sentencing is scheduled for Feb. 8, 2018. 

Un Hag Baeg, 58, of Marina del Rey, Calif., a Korean national currently living in the U.S., pleaded guilty Tuesday to conspiring to defraud the United States government by evading federal excise taxes due on 143 million cigarettes sold domestically, but which the co-conspirators claimed were destined for cargo vessels sailing out of the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach.

As alleged in the complaint, Notations repeatedly ignored warning signs that its business partner, which imported garments from China, was engaged in a scheme to underpay customs duties owed on the imported garments it sold to Notations.  Pursuant to the settlement, Notations admits and accepts responsibility for failing to act in response to indications of fraudulent conduct, agrees to pay $1 million in damages, and agrees to implement measures designed to prevent future fraud by Notations or its business partners.

Marco Antonio Delgado, aka Marco Delgado Licon, 51, was ordered to serve half of the imposed 10-year prison sentence consecutively to a 16-year prison term he is serving in a separate federal case.

Roman Valeryevich Seleznev, aka Track2, aka Bulba, aka Ncux, 33, entered guilty pleas in two separate criminal cases at a hearing before U.S. District Judge Steve C. Jones of the Northern District of Georgia. Seleznev pleaded guilty to one count of participating in a racketeering enterprise related to an indictment returned in the District of Nevada, and one count of conspiracy to commit bank fraud as part of an indictment returned in the Northern District of Georgia.

Cory Werito, 33, from Farmington, New Mexico, and his co-defendant, Rosita Toledo, 48, of Kirtland, New Mexico, were charged in a 10-count indictment filed June 15, 2016. The indictment included nine health care fraud charges against Werito and Toledo, and an aggravated currency structuring charge against Werito.

Twelve of the defendants named in the indictment were arrested Wednesday morning during a carefully coordinated operation in the San Diego area involving more than 250 federal, state, and local law enforcement personnel. Three of those charged in the cases were already in custody. The other seven individuals named in the indictment remained at large as of early Wednesday afternoon. The defendants who are in custody are scheduled to make their initial appearances in federal court Thursday morning before U.S. Magistrate Judge Barbara Lynn Major.

James VanBlaricum, 78, of Colleyville, Texas, who operated Signal Oil and Gas Company (SOG) and Texas Energy Management, which later became Texas Energy Mutual (TEM), pleaded guilty in February 2017 to one count of mail fraud.  He has been in custody since his arrest in mid-August 2016.

Ziming Zhou, 47, entered the United States lawfully on May 6, 2014, in Los Angeles s a non-immigrant visitor for pleasure with authorization to remain in the country until Nov. 5, 2014. Zhou failed to depart within the allotted time frame. On Feb. 11, 2016, ERO Newark arrested Zhou at his place of residence.

Paula Anthony, 65, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Douglas L. Rayes. She was indicted by a grand jury in January 2016 on one count of conspiracy to defraud, five counts of mail fraud, five counts of identity theft, and a second conspiracy charge involving money laundering.

Stefan Dumitru, 29, of Queens, New York, and Florian Calin Crainic, 47, of Des Plaines, Illinois, pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit bank fraud.