News Releases and Statements

Two Puerto Rican senior financial executives, Arturo Carrion and Juan de La Cruz, were recognized by ICE's Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) with the Honoring and Recognizing Private Industry for Excellence Program (HARPE) award in a ceremony during the ninth Puerto Rican anti-money laundering symposium in San Juan.

Moshe Barmuha, of Studio City, Calif., was sentenced to 7 1/2 years in prison for attempting to extort money and gain ownership of a shopping mall kiosk business from two former business partners following an extensive investigation conducted by ICE's Homeland Security Investigations (HSI).

A Bay Area couple who operated local elder care facilities, and two area real estate agents have pleaded guilty to federal charges stemming from a multi-agency investigation involving a large-scale multi-million dollar mortgage fraud scheme. The defendants have agree to pay more than $8 million in restitution.

Twelve defendants who attempted to smuggle $3.1 million in U.S. currency concealed in luggage into Mexico have been sentenced to federal prison. On Sept. 26, 2010, U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officers and ICE Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) agents stopped and searched a southbound commercial passenger bus at Hidalgo, Texas.

Thomas Jefferson, 50, and James Robinson, 41, pleaded guilty on Jan. 3 before U.S. District Judge William D. Quarles, Jr. Jefferson also pleaded guilty to possessing the stolen goods. Alan Verschleisser, 66, of Baltimore, pleaded guilty in a sealed proceeding on Dec. 20, 2011, to the same charge.

A federal grand jury has indicted six foreign nationals on charges related to an Internet sales scheme that allegedly defrauded Americans who attempted to purchase automobiles and other vehicles on the Internet through websites that included eBay Motors, Auto Trader, Yahoo Auto, Edmunds.com and Craigslist.

Three defendants - Henry Oliver Ford, Vincent James Vendittelli and Jason Mark Chrzanowski - have each been sentenced to two years in prison on mortgage fraud conspiracy charges following a three-year investigation by ICE's Homeland Security Investigations (HSI).

Government officials announced today that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's (ICE) National Bulk Cash Smuggling Center (BCSC) has expanded its operations center to enhance efforts to combat bulk cash smuggling.

"Scott Alan Stuart, a Blaine, Wash., man convicted on federal wire fraud and tax charges for his role in a ""Nigerian inheritance"" fraud scheme, was sentenced Friday to five years in prison following a probe by ICE's Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) and Internal Revenue Service Criminal Investigation (IRS-CI). "

Two New York men have been charged for violating the Trading with the Enemy Act (TWEA), a law which prohibits unlicensed financial transactions with Cuban nationals. Both individuals were arrested on charges stemming from an investigation by ICE's Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), with the assistance of the Internal Revenue Service (IRS).

The defendants were involved in schemes that solicited and accepted millions of dollars in kickbacks from contractors between 2000 and 2009 in connection with construction projects in Manhattan, the Bronx and Westchester County.

Mohamad Mohamad of Cambridge, Mass., was arrested Wednesday and charged with importing and selling hundreds of thousands of packages of contraband cigarettes in Rhode Island following a five-state joint federal-state investigation involving U.S. ICE's Homeland Security Investigations (HSI).

A New York man was sentenced to 151 months in federal prison to be followed by three years of supervised release. The man was also ordered to pay restitution of $5,308,340.02 to the victims of his Ponzi-style scheme involving entities formerly known under the name 'Swiss Capital Harbor.'

The U.S. government filed two civil forfeiture complaints today against approximately $70.8 million in real and personal property, which the government alleges are the proceeds of foreign corruption offenses by Teodoro Nguema Obiang Mangue and was laundered in the United States.

Gilberto Baez-Garcia of El Paso, Texas was sentenced Oct. 20 to 24 months in prison for his role in a scheme to defraud the Export-Import Bank of the United States (Ex-Im Bank) of more than $3.6 million. This sentencing followed an investigation ICE's HSI in El Paso, and the Ex-Im Bank Office of Inspector General.

In August 2009, ICE established the National BCSC in Williston, Vt. The BCSC operates around the clock to help ICE agents and their law enforcement partners identify, investigate and disrupt criminal organizations profiting from financial crime.

Jamaican law enforcement officers searched a total of 12 locations and arrested 14 individuals.

A Romanian native was sentenced Wednesday to more than three years in prison for wire fraud, use of an altered passport and improper entry by an alien following an investigation by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI).

The last of 27 individuals arrested on federal charges pleaded guilty to participating in a bank fraud scheme that used computer software known as 'Zeus Trojan' to steal millions of dollars from U.S. bank accounts.

A Mexican woman was sentenced on Thursday to 24 months in federal prison for attempting to smuggle more than $270,000 in cash stuffed in teddy bears and pillows, announced U.S. Attorney Jose Angel Moreno, Southern District of Texas.

A Santa Fe used-car business owner pleaded guilty Aug. 12 to federal currency-structuring offenses under a plea agreement with the U.S. Attorney's Office. The owner has agreed to forfeit more than $500,000 and 10 vehicles. U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) special agents investigated this case.

Melvin Taplet, Jr., formerly of Elkton, Md., was sentenced to 10 years in prison on a federal charge stemming from a foiled murder-for-hire plot, following an investigation by U.S. ICE's Homeland Security Investigations (HSI). The plot was unraveled with Taplet's arrest before anyone was harmed.

A New Hampshire woman was sentenced in federal court in Concord Monday in a drug smuggling and money laundering case investigated jointly with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI).

Renjie Huang and Yong Xu, two Chinese nationals from the Los Angeles area, made their initial appearance in federal court Friday afternoon following their arrest on charges stemming from their role in a retail theft ring that used counterfeit credit cards to buy high-end electronics from Wal-Mart stores throughout the Los Angeles area.

Christopher Blackwell, 32, of Colleyville, Texas, was arrested in Phoenix, Ariz., earlier this month on a charge outlined in a related federal complaint filed in the NDTX. Blackwell remains in custody; a date has not yet been set for his arraignment in U.S. District Court in Fort Worth.