News Releases and Statements

According to the affidavits supporting the complaints, the Internal Revenue Service has identified approximately 7,000 fraudulent tax returns related to this scheme that cumulatively sought about $38 million in refunds.

The police department plans to use the nearly half-million dollars to purchase body cameras and additional surveillance equipment.

Ricardo Reid, 30, a resident of Jamaica, was indicted by a federal grand jury on one count of conspiracy to commit mail and wire fraud. He will be arraigned at a date to be determined.

Alberto Companioni, 31, and his girlfriend Patricia Perez-Gonzalez, 26, both of Miami, Florida, allegedly stole the identity of victims across the United States resulting in approximately $2 million in fraud.

The ensuing probe by HSI special agents in Los Angeles and Hong Kong, working closely with U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) and HKSAR’s Customs and Excise Department, revealed the smuggling scheme resulted in more than 7,000 shipping containers of apparel, worth over $600 million, being illegally imported into the United States.

Victor Flores, 45, and José Juan Saavedra, 40, both from Houston, and Ricardo Cavazos-Garza, 51, of Brownsville, were sentenced by U.S. District Judge Lee H. Rosenthal to 30, 24 and 28 months in federal prison, respectively.

Abraham Jose Shiera Bastidas (Shiera), 52, of Coral Gables, Florida, pleaded guilty March 22 in federal court before U.S. District Judge Gray H. Miller to one count of conspiracy to violate the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) and commit wire fraud, and one count of violating the FCPA.

Andre Hugh Saunders, 35, aka David Turner, has been in custody since his arrest in October 2015 in New York on a criminal complaint.

Koren Robert Kechedzian, 24, of Studio City, was convicted by a federal jury March 11 of two counts of credit card fraud (specifically, two counts of possession of 15 or more counterfeit access devices) and two counts of aggravated identity theft.

According to plea documents filed in the case, Hao Tran, 37, of Grand Prairie, Texas, purchased a $150,000 cashier’s check using profits from his illegal drug trafficking business which he operated between California and Texas.

Kyong Suk Kipilla, 58, of St. Louis, Missouri, was sentenced March 4 to two years' probation and fined $20,000 for illegally structuring financial transactions.

Jackson and his conspirators allegedly agreed to defraud account holders at Pittsburgh area banks by a remote deposit, mobile-banking scheme in which Jackson and conspirators deposited fictitious checks into victim accounts, and later withdrew cash at the Rivers Casino and ATMs.

Amsterdam-based VimpelCom Limited, the world’s sixth-largest telecommunications company and an issuer of publicly traded securities in the United States, and its wholly-owned Uzbek subsidiary, Unitel LLC, entered into resolutions with the Department of Justice Thursday.

Luis Ramon Casellas, 42, of Canóvanas, Puerto Rico, pleaded guilty July 15 before U.S. Magistrate Judge Camille L. Velez-Rive of the District of Puerto Rico to three counts of bulk cash smuggling and one count of theft of government property.

HSI plays a key role in combating cross-border crime and is a leader in the global fight against transnational criminal organizations (TCOs) that exploit legitimate travel, trade and financial systems for illicit purposes.

Michael Silva, 25, of West Orange, N.J., was arrested Sept. 11, 2015, on a 15-count indictment charging him with one count of conspiracy to commit aggravated identity theft, 11 counts of access-devise fraud, and two counts of aggravated identity theft.

The ruse entices victims with a promise of an inheritance or business opportunity and the requirement that they fly to various countries to meet with “attorneys” or “business partners,” with all travel and expenses paid by the transnational criminal organization.

Naadir Cassim, 40, of Barcelona, Spain, and Orlando; Jon Craig Nelson, 69, of Houston, Texas; Michael Skillern, 49, of Houston, Texas; and Adriana Maria Camargo, a/k/a Adriana Palomino, 37, of Barcelona, Spain; each face a maximum penalty of five years in federal prison on the conspiracy count, 20 years’ imprisonment on the money laundering conspiracy count and 20 years in prison for each mail fraud count.

Arthur Budovsky, 42, founded and operated Liberty Reserve, an underworld cyber-banking system that laundered hundreds of millions of dollars in illicit proceeds for criminals around the world.

According to the indictment, the defendants also routinely ignored cease and desist orders directed at them, including a December 17, 2013 order from the State of Connecticut Department of Banking to cease and desist from charging advance fees to Connecticut residents for mortgage modification services.

Diane Maxine Richards 60, of Kingman, was indicted Jan. 12 by a state grand jury on 23 felony counts – including theft, forgery and misuse of public money. Richards is currently in custody at the Mohave County Jail on a $100,000 bond.

Kenneth Kapikian, 58, of Wayne, Pennsylvania, pleaded guilty June 10, 2015, to six counts of wire fraud and one count of conspiracy to commit money laundering. His co-defendant, Dennis Gagliardi, of Chester Springs, Pennsylvania, pleaded guilty to four counts of wire fraud and one count of conspiracy to commit money laundering.

HSI special agents arrested Alonzo Knowles, 23, of Freeport, Bahamas, after a meeting with an HSI undercover special agent in New York.

The dark-haired suspect is seen in video captured by a surveillance camera at the Walnut Creek Safeway in September removing a skimming device from under his jacket and installing it at a checkout stand.