News Releases and Statements
News Releases and Statements
During a joint press conference Sept. 21 in Naples, authorities announced the launch of the Southwest Florida Inter-Agency Child Exploitation and Person Trafficking (SWFL INTERCEPT) Task Force. This task force is a unique public–private partnership where involved nonprofit organizations provide much-needed and hard to find resources.
Acting Special Agent in Charge of HSI Kansas City Taekuk Cho and U.S. Attorney Steven Russell announced that Jason C. Olderbak, 35, of Grand Island, was sentenced June 21 for unlawful possession of official U.S. insignia following an HSI investigation.
Law enforcement conducted more seizures than any previous operation, including 117 firearms, 850 kilograms of drugs that include 64 kilograms of fentanyl or fentanyl-laced narcotics, and $53.4 million in cash and virtual currencies.
The training is part of a comprehensive initiative launched in 2021 to teach critical infrastructure stakeholders in the Houston area to identify and report malicious cyberactivity to law enforcement.
Coinciding with the ChipMixer takedown efforts, Minh Quốc Nguyễn, 49, of Hanoi, Vietnam, was charged today in Philadelphia with money laundering, operating an unlicensed money transmitting business and identity theft connected to ChipMixer’s operation.
Ezennia Peter Neboh, 48, Kennedy Ikponmwosa, 51, and Prince Amos Okey Ezemma, 49, of Madrid, Spain; and Iheanyichukwu Jonathan Abraham, 44, Emmanuel Samuel, 39, and Jerry Chucks Ozor, 43, of London, face federal charges in Miami.
As part of ongoing efforts to combat cyber crimes and online financial fraud, HSI launched an awareness campaign yesterday – Valentine’s Day – to educate the public on dangers associated with online romance scams and how individuals can protect themselves and loved ones.
Mexican American businessman Julio Santamaria, 49, pleaded guilty Feb. 7 after admitting he conspired to sell and use private computer-hacking tools in Mexico and the U.S. to monitor political and business rivals.
A large percentage of these sextortion schemes originate outside the United States, primarily in West African countries such as Nigeria and Ivory Coast. As children enter winter breaks this holiday season, HSI and whole-of-government partners encourage parents and caregivers to engage with kids about sextortion schemes to help prevent them from becoming victims.
HSI welcomed seven new forensic analysts into its ranks during the HERO Corps graduation ceremony Dec. 8.
The briefing covered trends in cryptocurrency, cyber-enabled crimes, bulk cash smuggling, and money laundering. Briefers also discussed the role that intelligence and technology play in combatting these crimes and how these crimes permeate the breadth of HSI’s investigative mission set.
Le Anh Tuan, 26, was charged with one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and one count of conspiracy to commit international money laundering in connection with a scheme involving the “Baller Ape” non-fungible tokens (NFT).
The multi-agency awareness campaign runs Feb. 7 to Mar. 11, to help individuals protect their heart and their wallet and illustrates to the public how to recognize the scams before they give any money or assets and provides steps to take if they are victimized.
Ilya Lichtenstein, 34, and his wife, Heather Morgan, 31, both of New York, New York, were scheduled to make their initial appearances in federal court today at 3:00 p.m. in Manhattan.
After previously pleading guilty, Garrett Endicott, 22, of Warrensburg Missouri, was sentenced to serve 10 months in prison and pay restitution in the amount of $121,549.37. He was the final defendant to be sentenced in this case, which was indicted in 2019.
Operation Dark HunTor led to 65 arrests in the United States, one in Bulgaria, three in France, 47 in Germany, four in the Netherlands, 24 in the United Kingdom, four in Italy, and two in Switzerland. A number of investigations are still ongoing.
The fraudulent websites allegedly offer a number of drugs for sale for the experimental and unapproved treatment or prevention of COVID-19. Instead, the domains were allegedly used to collect the personal information of individuals visiting the sites in order to use their information for nefarious purposes, including fraud, phishing attacks and/or deployment of malware.
According to the affidavit filed in support of the seizure, the HSI Intellectual Property Rights Center (“IPRC”) and the HSI Cyber Crimes Center (“C3”) discovered an apparent fraudulent website, named “freevaccinecovax.org.” A domain analysis conducted by HSI indicated the domain name was created on April 27, 2021, using an IP address located in Strasbourg. The registrant country was listed as Russia.
According to the affidavits filed in support of these seizures, these investigations began in March 2021. Homeland Security Investigations and the National Intellectual Property Rights Center received notification of two fraudulent websites, “genobioscience.com” and “healthbridgescience.com.” The third site, “global-pandemic-vaccines.com,” was discovered by Homeland Security Investigations’ Cyber Crimes Center (C3) during ongoing investigations for malicious websites. The cases were referred to HSI Baltimore for investigation.
Sergey Medvedev, aka “Stells,” “segmed,” and “serjbear,” 33, of Russia, pleaded guilty in the District of Nevada to one count of racketeering conspiracy in June 2020, and was sentenced today to 10 years in prison. Marko Leopard, aka “Leopardmk,” 31, of North Macedonia, pleaded guilty in the District of Nevada to one count of racketeering conspiracy in November 2019 and was sentenced today to five years in prison.
The NCA-led investigation into these attacks identified numerous victims, including well-known influencers, sports stars, musicians and their families. On Feb. 9, eight suspected members of the criminal group aged 18-26 were arrested in England and Scotland.
"This operation illustrates the ongoing efforts of the National Intellectual Property Rights Coordination Center, private industry and international law enforcement agencies in keeping our communities safe and free from corruption."
HSI Cartagena and the National Police of Colombia marked an important milestone in Cartagena’s fight against the cybercrimes that have impacted the community with the opening of TC2IL Sept. 28. During the inauguration of the TC2IL, HSI Operations Manager Randy Richardson, Assistant Attaché Antonio Crespo, and Regional Attaché Brian Vicente were awarded the Colombian National Police Directorate of Criminal Investigation and Interpol Medal for Meritorious Service.
Andres Bermudez, 37, of Palmdale, allegedly supplied methamphetamine to the “Stealthgod” crew, was named in a criminal complaint filed Sept. 18. An affidavit in this case outlines how Bermudez allegedly supplied methamphetamine to the “Stealthgod” drug trafficking organization and details negotiations involving transactions of 30 pounds and 40 pounds of methamphetamine. Bermudez is currently a fugitive sought by federal authorities.
Valerian Chiochiu, aka “Onassis,” “Flagler,” “Socrate,” and “Eclessiastes,” 30, pleaded guilty before U.S. District Court Judge James C. Mahan in the District of Nevada. Chiochiu is a national of the Republic of Moldova, but resided in the United States during the period of the conspiracy. His plea came just over a month after the co-founder and administrator of Infraud, Sergey Medvedev of Russia, separately pleaded guilty June 26. Sentencing for Chiochiu has been scheduled for Dec. 11.
Updated: 03/10/2023
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