News Releases and Statements

Alexander Vinnik, 37, served as the owner and operator of a business known as BTC-e and was also the primary owner of BTC-e’s managing shell company, Canton Business Corporation. According to court documents, numerous withdrawals from BTC-e accounts went directly to Vinnik’s personal bank accounts. The indictment further alleges that proceeds from well-known hacks and thefts from bitcoin exchanges were funded through a BTC-e administrator account associated with Vinnik. He was arrested in Greece July 25. 

Marcel Peckham, 43, of Little Neck, New York, Catalin Mihai Dragomir, 33, of Glendale, New York, Eduard Vasilica Ticu, 32, of Glendale, and Silvester Florentin Papp, 25, of Ridgewood, New York, pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit bank fraud.

Rehan A. Merchant, 40, pleaded guilty in June 2016, admitting that from Sept. 2014, through Sept. 2015, he and his co-conspirators used and attempted to use counterfeit and stolen credit and debit cards to make fraudulent purchases at the Cigar and Tobacco Outlet.

Johanne P. Jarlego, 44, of Kapolei, was indicted by a federal grand jury June 21 following a probe by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), Internal Revenue Service – Criminal Investigation and the U.S. Postal Inspection Service.

According to court documents, in 2014, HSI Atlanta special agents began investigating individuals across the Atlanta area that were suspected of using money-broker businesses to launder drug proceeds from the United States back to Mexico by breaking up large amounts of cash into smaller transactions, and using false names and addresses in an attempt to disguise the electronic transfers as remittances.

ICE HSI Atlanta Special Agent in Charge Nick Annan and U.S. Customs and Border Protection Acting Atlanta Field Office Director Robert M. Del Toro signed an MOA between the agencies Wednesday to implement the Atlanta Trade Enforcement Coordination Center (TECC).

The entire administration of the Luchese Family, as well as the captains, soldiers and associates, 19 members in total, are being charged with racketeering, murder, narcotics and firearms offenses. The superseding indictment announced Wednesday stems from a joint investigation by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) New York, the FBI, the New York Police Department (NYPD) and the Waterfront Commission of the New York Harbor.

Michael Rizzi, 45, of Staten Island, NY, was sentenced to 15 months imprisonment, ordered to forfeit 58 websites and $120,247 seized from merchant accounts, as well as the Florida vacation home that the he had purchased using proceeds of his prostitution operation. 

Monica Velasco, the 43-year-old sister of Dalia, Emmanuel and Samuel, remains a fugitive in this case. Monica Velasco is charged with conspiracy to violate the RICO statute, two money laundering counts and conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute and import over 1,000 kilograms of marijuana.

Ali Kakande, 37, of Los Angeles, and Sulaiman Lutale, 35, of Woodland Hills, were taken into custody by investigators with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) and the California Department of Insurance.

James Merrill, 55, of Ashland, Massachusetts, was sentenced by U.S. District Court Judge Timothy S. Hillman to six years in prison and three years of supervised release. In October 2016, Merrill pleaded guilty to one count of wire fraud conspiracy and eight counts of wire fraud. He also agreed to forfeit approximately $140 million and other assets.

Rufus Seth Williams, 50, is charged with 10 counts of travel and use of interstate facilities to promote and facilitate bribery contrary to Pennsylvania law, two counts of Hobbs Act extortion under color of official right, five counts of honest services wire fraud and six counts of wire fraud.

Clarence Counterman, 59, owner of an income tax return preparation business known as Taxrite, was sentenced to 12 years in federal prison followed by three years of supervised release. Counterman’s co-defendant, Robert Loya, 52, was sentenced to 10 years in federal prison followed by five years of supervised release.

Miguel Antonio Azcona, aka “Miguel A. Azcona-Peralta,” 38, pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge Mary L. Cooper in Trenton federal court to information charging him with one count of theft of government funds.

The San Juan TECC is the first federal partnership of its kind in Puerto Rico and tenth in the nation to combat fraudulent foreign trade. The center will identify, inspect and investigate foreign trade suspected of being fraudulently introduced into Puerto Rico.

Juan Jose Hernandez Comerma (Hernandez), 51, of Weston, Florida, pleaded guilty in federal court in Houston to one count of conspiracy to violate the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) and one count of violating the FCPA. Charles Quintard Beech III, 46, of Katy, Texas, pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to violate the FCPA.

Cleber Rene Rizerio Rocha, 28, a Brazilian national living in Westborough, Massachusetts, was charged via criminal complaint with one count of conspiring to commit money laundering.  Rocha was ordered detained following an appearance Thursday before U.S. District Court Magistrate Judge Judith G. Dein.

In total, Ray, Valdez Pinon, Ramnarine, Perez and their co-conspirators paid more than $2 million in bribes to Mexican officials, including Hernandez Montemayor and Nevarez, in order to secure aviation maintenance, repair and overhaul contracts.

Brian Brundage, 45, of Dyer, Indiana, the former owner of Intercon Solutions Inc., and the current owner of EnviroGreen Processing LLC, caused thousands of tons of e-waste and other potentially hazardous materials to be landfilled, re-sold to customers who then shipped the materials overseas, or stockpiled, according to an indictment returned in U.S. District Court in Chicago.

John I. Waltman, 59, of Trevose, Pennsylvania, Robert P. Hoopes, 69, of Doylestown, Pennsylvania, and Bernard T. Rafferty, 62, of Langhorne, Pennsylvania, were named in the indictment.

James VanBlaricum, 77, has been in custody since his arrest in mid-August 2016 by U.S. Postal Inspectors on a related federal criminal complaint.

Alonzo Knowles, 23, of Freeport, Bahamas, was arrested after a meeting with an HSI undercover special agent in New York. During the meeting, Knowles attempted to sell to the special agent, in exchange for $80,000, approximately 15 movies and television scripts, sexually explicit videos of celebrities and other professionals in the entertainment and media industry that he had unlawfully obtained.