#money-laundering

#money-laundering

"Thanks to President Trump's First Step Act, I have been released from prison early,"

According to court documents, Ryan Goldberg, 40, of Georgia, Kevin Martin, 36, of Texas, and a third, unnamed co-conspirator successfully deployed the ransomware known as ALPHV (BlackCat) between April 2023 and December 2023 against multiple victims located throughout the United States. The three men agreed to pay the ALPHV BlackCat administrators a 20% share of any ransoms received in exchange for access to the ransomware and ALPHV BlackCat's extortion platform.

CASE UPDATE: MINNESOTA FRAUD SCHEME The FBI is aware of recent social media reports in Minnesota. However, even before the public conversation escalated online, the FBI had surged personnel and investigative resources to Minnesota to dismantle large-scale fraud schemes exploiting federal programs. Fraud that steals from taxpayers and robs vulnerable children will remain a top FBI priority in Minnesota and nationwide.

An elder law attorney from Florida has been sentenced to 25 years in prison for stealing nearly $2 million from his clients' accounts. Polk County, Florida, Judge Cassandra Denmark also sentenced Jason Penrod, the founder of the now-closed Family Elder Law in Florida to 15 years of probation following his prison sentence, according to USA Today. Penrod pleaded guilty to two counts of grand theft and 19 counts of money laundering on Dec. 12, USA Today also reports.

Police are investigating suspected fraud and money laundering by a former member of staff at Tower Hamlets Council, according to a report. Documents presented to the council's audit committee say the allegations involve inappropriate procurement and approval of services and payments involving undeclared conflicts of interest. The council says the alleged crimes date back to 2018 and that a police investigation is ongoing. The town hall launched an internal investigation called Operation NextWage after police alerted it to the potential crimes.

Spanish prosecutors are probing evidence that the company made an inadequate use of public funds approved by the Spanish government on March 9, 2021, and that the bailout money was instead used to pay off previously existing loans. Plus Ultra appears as a signatory and beneficiary of loan agreements with three companies belonging to the criminal organization, and involved in sales of gold, states the documentation seen by EL PAIS.

The Santa Clara County District Attorney's Office has charged members of a San Jose family with running a network of brothels in Santa Clara County that were trafficking dozens of women and bringing in about a million dollars per year. Multiple co-defendants are facing felonies involving their operation of a network of at least 10 commercial sex brothels in Gilroy, Morgan Hill, San Jose, Cupertino and Mountain View, according to an announcement today by the District Attorney's Office.

Spanish officials now believe they have enough evidence to bring criminal charges against Gerry Hutch over a money laundering investigation in the Canary Islands.

Jurors can expect to hear a rollicking Hollywood tale featuring a bidding war (a half-dozen streamers, including Amazon, had vied for the project's rights) and at least one celebrity (Keanu Reeves was an early investor, according to the New York Times.) They'll likely see raw footage from Rinsch's dystopian, AI-themed thriller, "White Horse," turning a federal courtroom in Manhattan into the project's first public screening venue. And they'll hear extensive details of Rinsch's spending - with what prosecutors contend was Netflix's money - on cars, watches, clothing, luxury rentals, and those two very pricey premium mattresses.

Since 2016, Europol said, Cryptomixer facilitated the laundering of 1.3 billion euros ($1.5 billion) in bitcoin. Hackers and other criminals use laundering services such as Cryptomixer to obfuscate and hide the provenance of their cryptocurrency. By design, cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin and Ethereum are built on public blockchains that allow law enforcement, as well as blockchain intelligence firms such as Chainalysis and Elliptic, to follow the money over time.

Switzerland's federal prosecutor has filed charges against the failed bank Credit Suisse and its new owner, UBS, over the long-running tuna bonds loan scandal that crashed Mozambique's economy nearly a decade ago. The Swiss attorney general said on Monday that it had brought money-laundering charges against an unnamed employee of Credit Suisse, but was also taking action against the lender and its rival-turned-owner UBS.

But this is not the first time Rocha has been the subject of the authorities' interest. The businessman, with a lavish track record in the corporate world and in the import and export of hydrocarbons in Mexico, is wanted for his involvement in a fuel, weapons, and drug smuggling ring originating in Guatemala that connects him to the Jalisco New Generation Cartel and the Mexico City-based cartel La Union Tepito.

Prosecutors named the defendants as Samy Fadi Khouadja, 45, of France and the United Arab Emirates; Eamma Safi, 38, of the United Arab Emirates and Germany; Zhi Ge, 34, of Singapore; Christophe Dong, 41, of France; Julien Liu, 35, of France and Hong Kong; Patrick Chou, 38, of France and Hong Kong; Cheuk Yue Lee, 43, of Hong Kong; and Dev Ananth Durai, 39, of Singapore.

The NCA said the enterprise benefited criminals globally, from Russian-speaking hackers with millions in cryptocurrency to British street gangs laundering physical cash. Launderers for the group operate in at least 28 UK cities and towns, with couriers collecting cash for crypto conversion. A company linked to one of the network's bosses purchased the bank now facilitating payments supporting the Russian military.

escaped from under the noses of the soldiers guarding him. Zhang, an alleged drug trafficker, managed to get to Cuba and then reportedly all the way to Russia only to be turned back. At the end of October, the Cuban government announced that it had arrested him. The same day he was flown back to Mexico and extradited straight to the US.

Antonietta Nguyen has been sentenced to 36 months in federal prison for her role in orchestrating multiple fraud schemes against ABS Seafood, Inc., a major seafood wholesaler in San Francisco where she had previously served as chief financial officer. U.S. District Judge Susan Illston sentenced Nguyen on Nov.14. She was convicted in June of 12 felony counts, following her arrest in June 2023.

Linda Sun stands accused of being a Chinese agent. She previously served as a high-ranking official at the Chinese Consulate in New York and as an aide to two New York governors, Kathy Hochul and Andrew Cuomo. Sun and her husband, Chris Hu, are charged with money laundering and fraud. Their trial, which will take place in Brooklyn, New York, centers on their alleged years-long work as agents for China.

A former aide to New York Governors Kathy Hochul and Andrew Cuomo is on trial facing charges she acted as an undisclosed agent to the Chinese government in exchange for millions of dollars in business transactions and benefits secured through Chinese officials. Sun is accused of political activities intended to influence the public on China's behalf, and committing wire and visa fraud, money laundering and other financial crimes in procuring a bounty from the Chinese government.