News Releases and Statements

Anthony “Tony” Mace, 66, of the United Kingdom, the former CEO of SBM Offshore, N.V. (SBM), a Dutch oil services company, and a former board member of SBM’s U.S.-based subsidiary, SBM Offshore USA Inc. (SBM USA), was sentenced to serve three years in federal prison and to pay a fine of $150,000. Robert Zubiate, 66, of Agoura Hills, California, a former sales and marketing executive at SBM USA, was sentenced to serve 30 months in prison and to pay a $50,000 fine.

Juan Carlos Castillo Rincon (Castillo), 55, of Conroe, Texas, previously of Miami, Florida, pleaded guilty in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas to one count of conspiracy to violate the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA).  Castillo is scheduled to be sentenced, Feb. 21, 2019.

Robert P. Hoopes, 71, of Doylestown, Pennsylvania, pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit money laundering and four counts of Hobbs Act extortion under color of official right.

In connection with the fraud, the defendants and their associates improperly accessed more than 3,300 customers’ cellphone accounts, fraudulently obtained more than 1,200 cellphones, and caused losses exceeding $1 million.

Former insurance agents Ali Kakande, 38, and Sulaiman Lutale, 36, pleaded no contest to multiple felony counts of insurance fraud, grand theft, and forgery after falsifying life insurance applications to collect over $150,000 in unearned commissions.

Pursuant to an investigation by ICE's HSI-led El Dorado Task Force, two Florida men were arrested Tuesday for money laundering and conspiracy to commit money laundering in connection with their ownership and operation of Flawless Escorts, a nationwide business offering prostitution services, as well as the seizure of Flawless Escorts’ website.  

Luis Carlos De Leon-Perez (De Leon), 42, pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to violate the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) and one count of conspiracy to commit money laundering. He is scheduled to be sentenced for both charges Sept. 24.

A former professional basketball player was sentenced to six years in federal prison Monday on charges related to an extensive charity fraud scheme.

Walter Diggles, 66, was sentenced to nine years in federal prison and ordered to pay $1,326,049.91 in restitution to the government. Rosie Diggles, 64, and Anita Diggles, 42, were each sentenced to 54 months in federal prison and ordered to pay restitution jointly to the government in the amount of $971,143.57.

Louis Ong, 37, was arrested in July, following a series of bitcoin for cash sales with an HSI special agent. Ong repeatedly told the agent that he did not want to know the source of the cash so that he would have ‘plausible deniability.’ Even after Ong registered as a money transmitter, he made little effort to comply with regulations regarding the reporting of suspicious transactions.

Pedro Alvarez Rodriguez, 36, and Dunieski Santana Moreno, 27, both Florida residents, were sentenced by Chief U.S. District Court Judge Leonard T. Strand to prison terms of 42 and 40 months, respectively.

Tomas Yarrington Ruvalcaba, 61, from Mexico arrived in the Brownsville April 20 to face the charges, and is expected to make his initial appearance Monday, April 23 at 1:30 p.m. before U.S. Magistrate Ronald Morgan.

On April 2, Carlos Efrén Reyes-Rosado, aka Farruko, 27, traveled by helicopter from the Dominican Republic to Puerto Rico. When Reyes-Rosado filled out the CBP 6059B customs declaration form, he indicated that he was not carrying more than $10,000.

Rodolfo Quiambao, the former President and CEO of the engineering and electrical design firm Rudell & Associates, Inc. (Rudell), was sentenced for his role in a scheme to pay bribes and kickbacks to supervisors at Consolidated Edison of New York (Con Ed) in exchange for receiving lucrative contracts and other benefits from the public utility services provider.  Quiambao was also sentenced to pay a $125,000 fine and more than $4.5 million in restitution to the IRS.  At the time of his guilty plea in March 2016, Quiambao agreed to forfeit $1 million in criminal proceeds.

Former life insurance agents Mohammed Kakooza, 44, Margret Birabwa, 35, Michael Chibueze Monday, 43, and Denis Osikol, 36 – all from the Los Angeles area – were arrested Tuesday on multiple felony counts for their role in an alleged $1.9 million scam involving the submission of fraudulent life insurance applications to score advance commissions from insurance companies.

Specifically, Chukwuma Jonas Osuagwu, 45, of Dallas, was convicted of five counts of bank fraud and one count of conspiracy to commit bank fraud following a seven-day jury trial before U.S. District Judge Ed Kinkeade.

Muhammad Ismail, 67, of Meriden, Connecticut and Kamran Khan, 38, of Hamden, Connecticut, Pakistan nationals with lawful permanent U.S. residence status, pleaded guilty Monday in Bridgeport, Connecticut federal court to money laundering in connection with funds they received for the unlawful export of goods to Pakistan; a third defendant, Imran Khan, 43, of North Haven.

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Homeland Security Investigations Mexico City and the Department of Justice’s Office of Overseas Prosecutorial Development Assistance and Training (DOJ-OPDAT) hosted the first in a series of four money laundering and asset forfeiture courses Feb. 13-15 in Aguascalientes, Mexico.

According to charges filed on June 14, 2017, Kay Ann Locke, of Edmond, Oklahoma, worked as a bookkeeper at Delta Promotions Team Corporation in Oklahoma City from 2005 until April 2016.

Yong “David” Lu, 54, of Arcadia, and Wenzhu Guo, also 54, of Monterey Park, were arrested Thursday morning by federal authorities.

In October 2017, Spanish authorities arrested four of the following defendants on arrest warrants based on a 20-count indictment returned Aug. 23, 2017, in the Southern District of Texas:  Luis Carlos De Leon Perez (De Leon), 41, Nervis Gerardo Villalobos Cardenas (Villalobos), 50, Cesar David Rincon Godoy (Cesar Rincon), 50, and Rafael Ernesto Reiter Muñoz (Reiter), 39.

HSI Acting Special Agent in Charge, Michael Shea, along with United States Attorney Andrew E. Lelling, whose office prosecuted the case, announced that Cleber Rene Rizerio Rocha, 28, was sentenced by U.S. District Court Judge Leo T. Sorokin to 33 months in prison and one year of supervised release. In October 2017, Rocha pleaded guilty to one count of conspiring to commit money laundering and one count of money laundering.

Rabobank National Association (Rabobank), a California subsidiary of the Netherlands-based Cooperatieve Rabobank U.A., pleaded guilty to a felony conspiracy charge and agreed to pay $368,701,259 – the largest financial penalty in the Southern District of California – as part of a plea agreement to settle allegations that it hid deficiencies in its anti-money laundering program.