Life Sentence

Hüseyin Yildirim (born March 10, 1928) is a Turkish-American auto mechanic who was sentenced to life imprisonment in the United States for his courier role in the espionage activities of U.S. serviceman James Hall III during the Cold War era (1981 to 1989).

On July 20, 1989, after a two-day, seven-hour trial, the federal jury found Yildirim guilty of his role as a courier for the convicted spy James Hall III. Hüseyin Yildirim was convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment without the possibility of parole. (1)

Frederick Kramer of Savannah, Georgia, the U.S. assistant attorney who prosecuted Yildirim, sees his old foe as “a manipulative, lying mercenary who creates a simple-minded persona to conceal his absolute cunning”.

B. Avant Edenfield, the federal judge who sentenced the spy to life without possibility of parole, writes that “Yildirim is loathsome, should never be freed and is fortunate not to have forfeited his life for a sordid and treacherous business."

A retired counter-intelligence investigator, who requested anonymity, was no less inflexible: "The Meister (Yildirim's code name) was not small fry. He was one of the most effective, damaging, dangerous spies in the history of the Cold War." (2)

On December 29, 2003, Hüseyin Yildirim BOP Register Number 09542-018 (3) was secretly extradited from the Lompoc Federal Correctional Complex to Turkey within the scope of a bilateral treaty on prisoner exchange between Turkey and the United States. (4)

In January 2013, a federal judge sentenced British businessman Christopher Tappin to nearly four years in prison for trying to buy surface-to-air missile parts from undercover U.S. agents to resell to Iran.

In 2006, Tappin associate Robert Gibson contacted a company set up by undercover U.S. agents to buy batteries for surface-to-air missiles.

U.S. authorities alleged Tappin provided undercover agents with false documents to deceive authorities and circumvent the requirement for the batteries to be licensed by the U.S. government before being exported. (1)

Christopher Harold Tappin BOP Register Number 90763-280 was successfully treaty transferred back to the UK on September 26, 2013. (2) 

William Wise was from Cornwall, Ontario, Canada and once owned an Ontario Hockey League team, was sentenced to 262 months in prison by Federal judge Edward Chen for his part in a Ponzi scheme that defrauded more than 1,200 people out of more than $75 million USD. (1)

On September 3, 2014, he plead guilty to the charges and was sentenced on February 4, 2015.

A statement issued by U.S. Justice Department officials said the scheme, which dated back to at least 1999, involved the sale of certificates of deposit issued by Millennium Bank, United Trust of Switzerland and Sterling Bank and Trust. (2)

Prior to his pleading guilty, a deal was reached with the US. Attorney’s office in the Northern District of California to expedite his treaty transfer to Spain, where Mr. Wise is a citizen.

William Wise BOP Register Number 17168-111 was successfully treaty transferred back to Spain on April 22, 2015. (3) 

On December 10, 2010, British citizen Ian Norris, 68, the former CEO of Morgan Crucible Co., was sentenced in Federal Court to 18 months in prison and fined $25,000 USD for orchestrating a conspiracy to obstruct justice in a federal grand jury investigation into price fixing of carbon brushes and related products. (1)

It could have been worse for Norris, since the government sought a jail sentence of 66 months — the top end of the federal sentencing guideline range applicable to his case.  It was still bad news for Norris, who is now nearly 69 and a cancer patient.  Norris, who has been detained since his July 27, 2010 conviction, hoped for a sentence of time served. (2)

Additionally, since Norris is not a U.S. citizen, he was not be eligible for halfway-house placement, and so was administratively confined for some time after completing his sentence as he awaited deportation.

Ian Norris BOP Register Number 65112-066 was successfully treaty transferred back to the UK on November 14, 2011. (3)

In June 2013, Romano Pisciotti, an Italian national, was arrested at Frankfurt Airport in Germany while in transit from Nigeria to Italy.  His arrest was executed upon request of the U.S. Department of Justice’s Antitrust Division (DOJ) for price-fixing charges, pursuant to a bilateral extradition treaty between Germany and the United States. (1)

On April 3, 2014, Pisciotti was extradited to the United States to appear before a U.S. District Court in Florida.  Two weeks later, he pleaded guilty and was sentenced to serve 56 months in prison and pay a $550,000 USD fine, but was credited the nine-month period already served in Germany pending the extradition. (2)

Romano Pisciotti BOP Register Number 05074-104 was successfully treaty transferred back to Italy on March 16, 2015. (3)

Jeffery Tesler, 62, a UK citizen and licensed solicitor, was extradited on March 10, 2011 from the UK to the United States.  Tesler pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge Keith P. Ellison to one count of conspiracy to violate the FCPA and one count of violating the FCPA contained in a February 17, 2009 indictment. (1)

On February 23,2012, he received a sentence of 48 months with 24 months’ probation and agreed to forfeit more than $148 million USD (£94 million) from accounts in 12 Swiss banks and four from Israel, money that was traceable proceeds from the bribery.

Jeffery Tesler BOP Register Number 71732-279, is a dual citizen of the UK and Israel, and was successfully treaty transferred back to the UK on March 19, 2013. (2)

In January 1994, Ranjit Singh Cheema was indicted and charged in the U.S. with being the head of an international drug smuggling operation plotting to ship heroin from Pakistan to California to exchange for cocaine through his Columbian connection.  He fought extradition for over a dozen years, but lost all his appeals and was sent to the U.S. in 2008. (1)

On August 18, 2008, Cheema was sentenced to 120 months and sent to Lompoc USP to serve his sentence.  Assistant U.S. Attorney Christopher Lui confirmed this sentence was to be followed by eight years of mandatory supervision.  The U.S. attorney argued that Cheema should spend 20 years behind bars — the same amount of time as his Canadian co-accused who were arrested back in 1993.  “Had the defendant and his co-conspirators been successful in their scheme to traffic this heroin, countless lives would have undoubtedly been affected by the introduction of this heroin into the United States or Canada,” Lui argued in his submission, adding that “Mr. Cheema is a long time member of organized crime in Canada and has been investigated in many murders and drug smuggling over a twenty five year period.”

Ranjit Singh Cheema BOP Register Number 33455-112 was successfully treaty transferred back to Canada on January 13, 2012. (2)

Jeremy Snow was indicted in Washington State in January 2009 along with Colin Hugh Martin, Sean Doak and James Cameron after an investigation into a sophisticated drug operation known as "Operation Blade Runner" that used helicopters to fly marijuana and ecstasy south, and cocaine north. (1)

He was arrested in the U.S. on March 5, 2009 after flying a helicopter into northern Idaho with 325 pounds of marijuana and 40,000 ecstasy pills.

He pleaded guilty on December 19, 2009 and was sentenced to 68 months in Federal prison.

On June 23, 2011, Jeremy Snow BOP Register Number 14152-023 was successfully treaty transferred back to Canada. (2)

Mikael Patrick Sallnert, a 37-year-old citizen of Sweden, was arrested in Denmark on January 19, 2012, on charges that he masterminded an international cybercrime ring that netted $71 million USD by infecting victims’ computers with “scareware” and selling rogue antivirus software that was supposed to secure victims’ computers but was, in fact, useless.

The scareware worked like any normal anti-virus software and thus, scans the software being installed and shows results that a number of malicious software has been installed into the computer with the software, scaring the computer owner, at which time the scareware asks for up to $129 USD to get the software fixed. In actual terms, there was nothing in the computer.

Sallnert was extradited to the United States on March 17, 2012.  He pleaded guilty on August 17, 2012, to one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and one count of accessing a protected computer in furtherance of fraud; he was ordered to pay a fine of $8.55 million USD and sentenced to 88 months in Federal prison. (1)

Mikael Patrick Sallnert BOP Register Number 42178-086 was successfully treaty transferred back to Sweden on March 11, 2014. (2)

On June 1, 2011, Albanian police arrested an ethnic Albanian from neighboring Kosovo who was wanted by the United States on human trafficking charges. Police identified the man as 53-year-old Deme Nikqi alias Hektor Kelmendi. He was arrested at the northeastern Morini border crossing coming from Kosovo with a Serb passport.

An international arrest warrant was issued for Nikqi following the May 2010 charges in a New York court.  Albanian authorities completed documentation for his extradition and on January 6, 2012 he was extradited to the U.S. (1)

Nikqi was the leader and organizer of an international criminal network dedicated to smuggling Kosovars from the Balkans into the United States via Latin America.  According to court documents, Nikqi and his co-conspirators are estimated to have smuggled hundreds of individuals across the Mexican border and into the United States each year.  One of Nikqi’s smuggling operations allegedly resulted in the death of a Kosovar in Texas in 2010.

According to court documents, Nikqi typically charged individuals over 12,000 Euros each; in return, he would supply them with fraudulent passports and visas, as necessary, and arrange flights from various locations in Europe to Cancun, Mexico, San Jose, Costa Rica, and Buenos Aires, Argentina.  Working with co-conspirators in these countries, Nikqi allegedly arranged overland transportation through Central America, Mexico and then into the United States. 

On February 2, 2010, a car transporting three Kosovars and other Latin Americans crashed while being pursued by Texas Highway Patrol in the area of Laredo, Texas.  One Kosovar and one Salvadoran national were killed, and several others in the same vehicle were severely injured.

On August 13, 2012, he plead guilty to six counts of the indictment and was sentenced to 324 months in Federal prison. (2)

Deme Nikqi BOP Register Number 65874-053 was successfully treaty transferred back to Kosovo on September 30, 2014. (3)

David B.Schrooten, a Dutch citizen, was arrested in Romania on March 7, 2012 on a U.S.-requested Interpol Red Notice warrant for committing bank and credit card fraud.

Following his arrest, he was extradited to the Western District of Washington State, U.S. on June 9, 2012, where he was charged with a 14-count indictment charging him with conspiracy, access device fraud, bank fraud, intentional damage to a computer, and aggravated identity theft in excess of $63 million USD. (1)

Schrooten, 21, known in the online hacking community as “Fortezza,” is one of the most prolific hackers the U.S. has ever extradited.

He was sentenced to 144 months by U.S. District Judge Ricardo S. Martinez, who said:  “By trafficking over 100,000 credit card numbers stolen by hackers, this defendant helped create the profitable black market for stolen data.” (2)

David B. Schrooten BOP Register Number 42318-086 was successfully treaty transferred back to Holland on August 25, 2014. (3)

On July 18, 2012, Estonian national Aleksandr Suvorov, 27, was sentenced to 210 months in US Federal Prison for his part in stealing thousands of credit card records by hacking into the Islandia’s Dave & Buster’s computerized system. This alleged crime involved more than 240,000 stolen credit card numbers as well as trafficking in unauthorized access devices charge, which resulted in theft of $400 million USD. (1)

Suvorov was arrested in Germany on May 7, 2008, and was extradited to the United States to stand trial, where he was held without bail for 66 months.

Along with his co-defendants, Maksym Yastrzemski of Ukraine and Albert Gonzales of Florida, Suvorov was found guilty of the crime as well, with their sentences being 330 and 240 months respectively.  It is charged that the hack was done using a piece of eavesdropping software, called a packet sniffer, to capture the information during the transfer between the restaurant and the Ben & Jerry’s corporate headquarters, located in Dallas. (2)

Aleksandr Suvorov BOP Register Number 72258-053 was successfully treaty transferred back to Estonia on April 7, 2014. (3)

Ramanan Mylvaganam, 29, a Canadian citizen from Waterloo, Ontario, Canada, was arrested on August 24, 2006 and made a secret appearance in a Brampton, Ontario courtroom the next day.  He was arrested on behalf of the U.S. government which charged him with conspiracy to provide material support to a foreign terrorist organization, the Tamil Tigers/LTTE. (1)

He was extradited to the U.S. on August 28, 2009.

The U.S. Federal government alleged that Mylvaganam conspired to purchase approximately $22,000 USD worth of submarine design software for the LTTE from a United Kingdom company.  Mylvaganam also attempted to purchase night vision equipment for the LTTE from a company in British Columbia, Canada.

To deceive the British Columbia company, Mylvaganam falsely told its representative that the night vision equipment was for “a fourth year design project we are doing at our university.”  Mylvaganam also assisted a co-conspirator in purchasing computer equipment, electronics components and communications equipment for the LTTE. 

Mylvaganam is a Canadian citizen who previously lived in the United States.

On February 8, 2012, Ramanan Mylvaganam pleaded guilty before United States District Judge Raymond J. Dearie to conspiring to provide material support to a foreign terrorist organization, the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (“LTTE”), in connection with his attempt to procure sophisticated technology, including submarine design software and night vision equipment, for the LTTE. Mylvaganam was sentenced to a term of 180 months’ imprisonment. (2)

Ramanan Mylvaganam BOP Register Number 77608-053 was successfully treaty transferred back to Canada on May 15, 2012. (3)

On December 18, 2008, Ravi Shanker, 46, a Canadian citizen of Brampton, Ontario, Canada, along with Varinder Sahota, 48, of Caledon, Narinder “Ladi” Singh, 43, also of Brampton, and Thi Mong Huyen Tran, 45 of Montreal were arrested by the Greater Toronto Area Combined Forces Special Enforcement Unit (CFSEU) and RCMP. (1)

The arrests were based on Extradition Act warrants as a result of a lengthy international criminal investigation that lead to drug related charges laid by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) in Los Angeles, California. (2)

CFSEU and Peel Regional Police Service started a two-year investigation in conjunction with the DEA which led to the seizure of 48 kilograms of cocaine in September 2007.  The South Asian organized crime group has been involved in a large scale cross border trafficking of illicit drugs since 2005. (3)

On December 13, 2010, Shanker was extradited to the U.S. to stand trial and on March 17, 2011 he plead guilty to conspiracy to import narcotics into the U.S. and received a sentence of 252 months in Federal prison.

On January 13, 2012, Ravi Shanker BOP Register Number 57920-112 was successfully treaty transferred back to Canada. (4)

Varinder Sahota, 48, a Canadian citizen of Caledon, Ontario, Canada, along with several other co-conspirators were arrested on December 18, 2008, by a joint task force of the Greater Toronto Area Combined Forces Special Enforcement Unit (CFSEU) and RCMP. (1)

The arrests were based on Extradition Act warrants as a result of a lengthy international criminal investigation that led to drug-related charges laid by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) in Los Angeles, California. (2)

CFSEU and Peel Regional Police Service started a two-year investigation in conjunction with the DEA which led to the seizure of 48 kilograms of cocaine in September 2007.  The South Asian organized crime group has been involved in a large scale cross border trafficking of illicit drugs since 2005. (3)

On May 13, 2011, Varinder Sahota was extradited to the U.S. to stand trial and on December 17, 2011 he pled guilty to conspiracy to import narcotics into the U.S. and received a sentence of 220 months in US Federal prison.

On November 19, 2013, Varinder Sahota BOP Register Number 60455-112 was successfully treaty transferred back to Canada. (4)

Huyen (Helen) Thi Mong Tran, 45, along with several other co-conspirators were arrested on December 18, 2008, by a joint task force of the Greater Toronto Area Combined Forces Special Enforcement Unit (CFSEU), DEA, CBSA and RCMP. (1)

The arrests were based on Extradition Act warrants as a result of a lengthy international criminal investigation that led to drug related charges laid by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) and ICE in Los Angeles, California. (2)

CFSEU, RCMP and Peel Regional Police Service started a two-year investigation in conjunction with the DEA which led to the seizure of 48 kilograms of cocaine in September 2007.  The South Asian organized crime group has been involved in a large scale cross border trafficking of illicit drugs since 2005. (3)

On June 12, 2011, Huyen (Helen) Thi Mong Tran was extradited to the U.S. to stand trial on money laundering and conspiracy to import narcotics.  The investigation leading to the charges were initiated in late 2006 after Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) received information about a major international money laundering ring based in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, with associated individuals throughout the United States including Houston and was dubbed “Operation Tien Can”. (4)

On February 20, 2012, Tran plead guilty to conspiracy to import narcotics and to money laundering the proceeds of crime ($54.7 million USD) and received a sentence of 260 months in U.S. Federal prison.

On December 18, 2012, Huyen (Helen) Thi Mong Tran BOP Register Number 60455-112 was successfully treaty transferred back to Canada. (5)

On December 7, 2009,  Ehab Ali Ashoor, 49, a Saudi Arabian national living in the United States was arrested and charged  with selling counterfeit computer parts to the U.S. Marine Corps.  Ashoor was said to have procured equipment  from the U.S. firm Cisco, but were actually produced in China.

The United States government presented evidence proving Ashoor, through his company CDS Federal Inc., was awarded a contract in June 2008 to supply 200 Cisco GBICs to the Marine Corps for use in their computer network at the Marine Base in Al Taqaddum, Iraq, located approximately 65 kilometers west of Fallujah.

Despite receiving a warning from an online vendor that GBICs being sold by Chinese online vendors were counterfeit, Ashoor nevertheless purchased 200 GBICs from a Hong Kong vendor off eBay for approximately $25 USD each on July 21, 2008.

Further, e-mails recovered by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents showed that Ashoor had to specify to the Hong Kong seller that he wanted the GBICs to be in Cisco packaging.  The price Ashoor paid for the GBICs were less than 1% of the market price for genuine Cisco GBICs.  He was to be paid $1,595 USD per GBIC for a total contract price of $319,000 USD while Ashoor paid only $5,500 USD for the 200 counterfeit Cisco GBICs from China. Thus, Ashoor would have netted a profit of more than $314,000 USD, or 4,000%, had Customs and Border Protection Inspectors in Chicago, Illinois, not intercepted the counterfeit parts on July 28, 2008, before Ashoor could successfully deliver them to the Marine Corps in Iraq. (1)

On May 9, 2010, the Saudi businessman was convicted on all charges of supplying counterfeit equipment to the U.S. military and was sentenced to 120 months' imprisonment and a $1 million USD fine.

On October 24, 2013, Ehab Ali Ashoor, BOP Register Number 43633-279 was successfully treaty transferred back to Saudi Arabia. (2)

On November 15, 2012 in Bogota Colombia, Adriana Gonzalez-Marquez, a Colombian national and criminal defense attorney was arrested, along with Freddy Mauricio Tellez-Buitrago, for obstructing justice by selling sensitive and confidential United States law enforcement information to a narcotics trafficker concerning prosecutions in the Eastern District of New York.

Tellez-Buitrago was employed as an administrative services assistant at the International Affairs Office within the Attorney General’s Office in Colombia. Gonzalez-Marquez, a former prosecutor at the Attorney General’s office in Colombia, is now a Colombian criminal defense attorney.

The arrests resulted from an investigation which revealed that Tellez- Buitrago had specialized access to law enforcement materials, including requests from the United States government for the extradition of alleged Colombian drug traffickers. (1)

Tellez-Buitrago is charged with accepting bribes from Gonzalez-Marquez in exchange for leaking documents relating to EDNY extradition requests for narcotics traffickers.  Gonzalez-Marquez, in turn, allegedly sold the information to a narcotics trafficker in exchange for the equivalent of approximately $80,000 USD.

On August 2, 2013, Adriana Gonzalez-Marquez was extradited back to the U.S. to stand trial on four counts of corruption of a government official.  On December 9, 2013 at the federal courthouse in Brooklyn, New York, Gonzalez-Marquez plead guilty before U.S. Magistrate Judge Cheryl M. Pollak to obstruction of justice for stealing and selling sensitive and confidential United States law enforcement information concerning prosecutions in the Eastern District of New York and selling that information to a narcotics trafficker in Colombia.  Gonzalez-Marquez was sentenced to 160 months imprisonment and a fine of $250,000 USD; she also agreed to forfeit $80,000 USD. (2)

On August 12, 2014, Adriana Gonzalez-Marquez BOP Register Number 80673-053 was successfully treaty transferred* back to Colombia. (3)

*Colombia and the U.S. do not have a prisoner treaty transfer in effect; Amicus secured an agreement with the U.S. Department of Justice to make this transfer possible.

On November 15, 2012 in Bogota Colombia, Freddy Mauricio Tellez-Buitrago, a Colombian and employee of the Attorney General’s Office in Colombia, was arrested and charged with obstructing justice by selling sensitive and confidential United States law enforcement information concerning prosecutions in the Eastern District of New York to a former prosecutor at the Attorney General’s office in Colombia, Adriana Gonzalez-Marquez (now a criminal defense attorney in Columbia); in turn, Gonzalez-Marquez sold the information to a narcotics trafficker.

The arrests resulted from an investigation which revealed that Tellez-Buitrago had specialized access to law enforcement materials, including requests from the United States government for the extradition of alleged Colombian drug traffickers. (1)

Typically, the Colombian authorities treat such extradition requests as sensitive and confidential until the arrest of the individual whose extradition is sought. Tellez-Buitrago was charged with accepting bribes from Gonzalez-Marquez in exchange for leaking documents relating to EDNY extradition requests for narcotics traffickers.  As already mentioned, Gonzalez-Marquez, allegedly sold the information to a narcotics trafficker in exchange for the equivalent of approximately $80,000 USD.

On August 3, 2013, Freddy Mauricio Tellez-Buitrago was extradited back to the U.S. to stand trial on four counts of corruption of a government official.  On December 9, 2013 at the federal courthouse in Brooklyn, New York, Tellez-Buitrago plead guilty before U.S. Magistrate Judge Cheryl M. Pollak, to obstruction of justice for stealing selling sensitive and confidential United States law enforcement information concerning prosecutions in the Eastern District of New York and selling that information.  He was sentenced to 240 months' imprisonment and a fine of $250,000 USD; he also agreed to forfeit $30,000 USD. (2)

On August 13, 2014, Freddy Mauricio Tellez-Buitrago BOP Register Number 80674-053 was successfully treaty transferred* back to Colombia. (3)

*Colombia and the U.S. do not have a prisoner treaty transfer in effect; Amicus secured an agreement with the U.S. Department of Justice o make this transfer possible.

31 Korean Nationals Arrested Throughout the Northeastern United States in Federal Human Trafficking Case

Myong Moon, a South Korean national, along with 30 individuals, was arrested on August 16, 2006 and charged in a wide-ranging human trafficking ring operating throughout the northeastern United States.

The defendants include brothel owners and managers, middlemen who worked as transporters and otherwise assisted the organization, and individuals involved in unlicensed money transmitting businesses.

The defendants faced maximum sentences of 15 years’ imprisonment for the conspiracy charges, and up to 20 years’ imprisonment for interstate transportation of women for the purpose of prostitution. (1)

On August 27,2007, Moon was sentenced to 92 months in Federal prison in the U.S.  On May 8, 2009, Myong Moon BOP Register Number 80673-053 was successfully treaty transferred back to South Korea. (2)

On April 20, 2005, Corinna Mehrer, a Costa Rican national, was arrested for using internet pharmacies to dispense controlled substances to customers nationwide without a medical prescription or evaluation; over 15 million illegal pharmaceutical pills were also seized.

The investigation leading to the charges and arrests announced were conducted by the DEA Long Island Office and the New York Drug Enforcement Task Force.

According to government filings on the case in the Eastern District of New York, Mehrer owned "internationalpharmacy.com" (IP) that controlled and operated approximately 60 websites that illegally distributed prescription drugs to thousands of Americans weekly, grossing more than $55 million USD in profits over a 10-month period; IP's gross sales in just one day would total nearly $940,000 USD.  The indictment charged that the proceeds of the pharmaceutical sales were laundered through seemingly legitimate businesses and by wire-transfers to domestic and off-shore bank accounts under Mehrer's control.

Mehrer faced a mandatory minimum of 20 years' imprisonment to a maximum of life imprisonment, and a $2 million USD fine.  IP received a maximum fine of $5 million USD.  In addition, the indictment sought a forfeiture money judgment against all defendants totaling $64.7 million USD, for which the defendants were jointly and severally liable. (1)

On December 12, 2005, Mehrer was sentenced to 144 months in Federal prison in the U.S., and on March 2, 2006, Corinna Mehrer BOP Register Number 72966-053 was successfully treaty transferred back to Costa Rica. (2)

On September 28, 2005, Carmen Luise Rodriguez, a Colombian national, was arrested in “Operation Pier Pressure," which was led by ICE in conjunction with the DEA, FBI and the Waterfront Commission, with assistance provided by U.S. Customs and Border Control, and was coordinated by the U.S. Attorney's Office.

According to the indictments, complaints, and a detention memorandum filed by the government, the investigation began in December 2000, when law enforcement learned that Jose Escobar was supervising an international narcotics operation from the Federal Correctional Center in Allenwood, Pennsylvania, where he is serving a 30-year sentence for his role in the 1995 importation of 180 kilograms of cocaine into Port Newark, New Jersey.  In August 2001, as a result of leads developed in the investigation, ICE, DEA, and the New York/New Jersey Port Authority Police arrested five individuals and seized approximately 78 kilograms of cocaine from a container at Howland Hook.  The five defendants were subsequently convicted of felony narcotics distribution charges in the Eastern District of New York.  Following additional advances in the investigation, during the next two years, federal agents and inspectors seized another 270 kilograms of cocaine hidden in containerized shipments at Howland Hook.

In November 2003, based in large part on the information agents learned from Escobar's prison calls, the government obtained court authorization to intercept the telephone conversations of a trusted Escobar associate.  Those intercepts, as well as other investigative techniques, revealed that the Escobar organization was expecting another cocaine shipment at Howland Hook in early December 2003.  Agents established surveillance and on December 5, 2003, seized an additional 157 kilograms of cocaine at Howland Hook, with a street value of approximately $3.925 million USD.  Six individuals were arrested as they loaded the cocaine into a minivan.

In October 2004, Escobar's son, Jose M. Escobar, Jr., and Julio Gongora traveled to San Francisco to meet with Rodriguez and her contacts at the port to discuss moving the drug-smuggling operation to the West Coast.  Upon his return, Escobar, Jr. met with his father at Allenwood and reported that "the game cannot be done through the piers" because the ports in San Francisco and Oakland were under such tight security that cocaine could not be successfully imported there. Escobar, Jr. then told his father that based on what "the supervisor at the pier" told him "the terminal is under 24-hour surveillance by the Feds."

Each of the defendants were charged with conspiracy to import cocaine into the United States and faced a mandatory minimum sentence of 20 years' imprisonment and a maximum sentence of life, lifetime supervised release, and a fine of $4 million USD.  Jose Escobar Orejuela, Grecia Escobar, Joseph Escobar, Jr., Cenide Tovar, and Manuel Llanos Escobar were also charged with money laundering.  If convicted, each faced a maximum sentence of 20 years' imprisonment, three years of supervised release, and a fine of $500,000 USD. (1)

On June 17, 2008, Rodriguez plead guilty to conspiracy to import narcotics into the U.S. and was sentenced to 210 months in Federal prison and ordered to pay a fine of $500,000 USD.

On May 21, 2010, Carmen Luise Rodriguez BOP Register Number 90762-038 was successfully treaty transferred* back to Colombia. (2)

*Colombia and the U.S. do not have prisoner treaty transfer in effect; Amicus secured an agreement with the U.S. DOJ to make this transfer possible.

a/k/a “La Reina de Pacifica”

Sandra Ávila Beltrán (born October 11, 1960) is a Mexican drug cartel leader, dubbed "La Reina de Pacífica" (The Queen of the Pacific) by the media.  She was arrested on September 28, 2007, and charged with organized crime and conspiracy to traffic drugs.

Some charges were later dropped but she was still held for possession of illegal weapons and money laundering, pending her extradition to the U.S.

On August 10, 2012, she was extradited to the U.S. to answer to criminal charges of money laundering by the U.S. government.

Mexican and U.S. officials considered her an important link between the Sinaloa Cartel in Mexico and the Colombian Norte del Valle Cartel.

She is believed to be a high ranking member of the Sinaloa Cartel.

On December 17, 2012, Ávila Beltrán was sentenced to 56 months in Federal prison in the U.S.

On July 30, 2013, Sandra Ávila Beltrán BOP Register Number 98356-004 was successfully treaty transferred back to Mexico. (2)

Romanian national Emil Butoi was extradited to the United States on February 22, 2013 from the Czech Republic, to face charges related to his participation in a sophisticated multi-million dollar cyber fraud scheme that targeted consumers on U.S.-based internet marketplace websites such as eBay.com.

Butoi specialized in making high-quality fraudulent passports to open U.S. bank accounts used to launder the stolen funds.  His extradition followed a coordinated international takedown in December 2012 during which law enforcement officials in Romania, the Czech Republic, the United Kingdom, and Canada, acting at the request of the United States, arrested six Romanian nationals. (1)

He plead guilty to committing passport fraud and money laundering, and on November 5, 2013 was sentenced to 180 months.

On November 21, 2014, Emil Butoi BOP Register Number 80700-053 was successfully treaty transferred back to Romania. (2)

Ning Guo, 41, a Chinese national whom authorities called a key player in a large-scale international smuggling ring, was indicted and arrested on March 4, 2013.

Guo was one of 29 people charged in what authorities said was an operation that smuggled counterfeit UGG boots, smuggling counterfeit Nike sneakers, fake Burberry, Gucci, Louis Vuitton and Coach handbags, cigarettes and other items worth more than $300 million USD to the U.S. over a seven year period beginning in 2005.

On April 27, 2014, he pleaded guilty to two counts of conspiracy.  A Federal judge in Newark sentenced him to 96 months in prison, and deportation when he is released. (1)

On December 4, 2014, Ning Guo BOP Register Number 64255-050 was successfully treaty transferred back to Hong Kong. (2)

Ling Xu, also known as “Cherry,” 48,  a citizen of China residing in Kansas City was arrested and indicted on December 8, 2008 for coercing persons to travel across state lines to engage in prostitution and illegal sexual services.  Xu was also charged with 88 counts of money laundering by wiring more than $500,000 USD from the proceeds of unlawful activity to China and to aggravated identity theft for using the passports and identification of her female workers in order to make most of those wire transfers. (1)

On October 14, 2009, Ling Xu was sentenced in Federal court to 108 months.

On July 15, 2014, Ling Xu BOP Register Number 19894-045 was successfully treaty transferred back to Hong Kong. (2)

The Justice Department unsealed a grand jury indictment in January 2012 alleging that Qiao Jian Jun, 51, and his ex-wife, Zhao Shilan, 51, fraudulently obtained visas to enter the U.S. through an immigrant investor program by lying about their marriage status, and laundered money to buy property in Washington.  She was arrested in Newcastle, Washington, and held without bail. Qiao is being sought.

Qiao was once director of China's largest grain stockpile, Sinograin, and has been sought by the Chinese government since 2011 after he fled to the U.S. on suspicion of bribery and theft of national assets. The couple then transmitted $900,000 USD to the U.S. and bought properties in suburban Seattle. (1)

In China, both the Supreme People's Procuratorate and Ministry of Public Security provided evidences to their American counterparts, besides helping the U.S. law enforcement officers gather information and conduct interviews in Henan province in China.

On May 1, 2015, Shilan Zhao BOP Register Number 44815-086 was successfully treaty transferred back to Hong Kong. (2)

Then a 33-year-old Brazilian residing in Miami, Rodrigo Molina was found guilty on February 26, 2009 of 11 counts money laundering $13.5 million USD, and faced a maximum sentence of 20 years in Federal prison.

The Court’s decision followed a 7-day jury trial in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida. (1)

On May 23, 2009, he was  sentenced to 128 months in prison, and ordered deported when released, and on June 4, 2010, Rodrigo Molina, BOP Register Number 81024-004 was successfully treaty transferred back to Brazil. (2)

Chi Tong Kuok, a foreign national from Macau, China, was convicted on four counts related to attempting to have classified military equipment sent to Macau and Hong Kong.  The equipment included an encryption device for internet communications for the U.S. military made under contract by the National Security Agency, prosecutors said.

Additionally, he tried to buy a GPS device used by the U.S. and NATO militaries and a device used by American and NATO forces to load encryption software into their communications devices.  U.S. law bans the export of such devices without permission from the State Department.

A San Diego jury convicted Kuok on all four counts on May 12, 2010, including conspiracy to violate U.S. export laws, smuggling, and money laundering.  He faced up to 45 years in prison. (1)

On August 27, 2010, he was sentenced to 240 months in Federal prison, a fine of $2 million USD and deportation when he is released.

On October 16, 2012, Chi Tong Kuok BOP Register Number 61142-019 was successfully treaty transferred back to Hong Kong. (2)

Monday, March 16, 2009 - Iranian Man and His Company Charged in International Scheme to Supply Iran with Sensitive U.S. Technology

An Iranian citizen and his Tehran business have been charged with purchasing helicopter engines and advanced aerial cameras for fighter bombers from U.S. firms and illegally exporting them to Iran using companies in Malaysia, Ireland and the Netherlands.  Among the alleged recipients of these U.S. goods was an Iranian military firm that has since been designated by the United States for being owned or controlled by entities involved in Iran’s nuclear and ballistic missile program. (1)

Hossein Ali Khoshnevisrad, 55, was described by U.S. officials as a key figure in Iran's vast network of businesses and front companies seeking Western technology for weapons ranging from ballistic missiles to improvised explosive devices.

On May 20, 2010, he was sentenced to 268 months in prison, and ordered deported when he is released, and on August 18, 2014, Hossein Ali Khoshnevisrad, BOP Register Number 12780-111 was successfully treaty transferred to Spain.* (2)

*Amicus secured a Spanish citizenship for Khoshnevisrad and arranged for his treaty transfer to Spain.

On February 26, 2009, an Iraqi-born Dutch citizen, Wesam Al Delaema, was charged with participating in a conspiracy to attack Americans based in Iraq.

The criminal complaint was filed at U.S. District Court in the District of Columbia on July 27, 2008.  Al Delaema, a/k/a Wesam Khalaf Chayed Delaema, was charged on four counts:  conspiracy to kill U.S. citizens abroad; conspiracy to use a weapon of mass destruction (explosives); possession of a destructive device (explosives) during a crime of violence; and conspiracy to possess a destructive device (explosives) during a crime of violence. (1)

Al Delaema, 32, was born in Fallujah, Iraq.  He was arrested by Dutch law enforcement authorities on May 2, 2005 and was facing similar charges in that country.  The United States informed the Dutch authorities of its intention to request his extradition to face the charges filed in the U.S.

On September 22, 2008, Dutch authorities announced that Al Delaema had been transferred into extradition custody in response to the request from the United States.

Al Delaema pled guilty in Federal Court in Washington, D.C. on February 26, 2009, and was sentenced to 300 months in Federal prison.

 On March 29, 2010, Wesam Al Delaema BOP Register Number 28879-016 was successfully treaty transferred back to the Netherlands. (2)

On September 12, 2011, former Bennett Environmental Inc. executive, Robert Griffiths, a Canadian, was sentenced to serve 70 months in U.S. Federal prison and pay a fine of $1 million USD after pleading guilty to participating in a fraud and money laundering conspiracy.

Bennett Environmental was an environmental soil remediation company. Beginning in 2001, it won a series of contracts to remediate soil at a major environmental cleanup in the U.S. known as the Federal Creosote site. (1)

An investigation by the U.S. Justice Department’s Antitrust Division revealed that bidders on the project, including Bennett Environmental, had conspired in the bidding process, fraudulently inflated the price of certain subcontracts, and paid kick-backs.

On October 10, 2013, Robert Griffiths BOP Register Number 30078-050 was successfully treaty transferred back to Canada. (2)

Belgian-born and French resident arms dealer Jacques Monsieur was sentenced to 120 months in prison after pleading guilty to a conspiracy charge accusing him of trying to illegally export fighter jet engines to Iran.

A Federal judge sentenced the 57-year-old Monsieur to also pay a fine of $8 million USD.  Upon his release, he was ordered to be transferred to immigration officials for deportation, according to a ruling by Chief Judge William H. Steele of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Alabama. (1)

On June 7, 2011, Jacques Monsieur BOP Register Number 10746-003 was successfully treaty transferred back to France. (2)

Rodolfo Rodriguez Cabrera was arrested on June 8, 2009, in Riga, Latvia, and extradited from Latvia to the United States on October 23, 2009.  Cabrera is the first individual to be extradited from Latvia to the United States under a new extradition treaty between it and the U.S., which came into force on April 15, 2009.  Cabrera’s extradition and prosecution is the result of cooperation between U.S. and Latvian law enforcement and the Latvian government.

Cabrera, 43, a Cuban national, was sentenced to 68 months in Federal prison for conspiring to produce and sell counterfeit International Game Technology (IGT) video gaming machines, commonly known as slot machines, and counterfeit IGT computer programs. (1)

The court also ordered Cabrera to pay $1,151,800 USD in restitution and to serve three years of supervised release following his prison term.  The defendant also agreed to forfeit any and all counterfeit items in his possession and any illegal proceeds from his criminal activity.

On March 3, 2011, Rodolfo Rodriguez Cabrera BOP Register Number 44358-048 was successfully treaty transferred back to Latvia. (2)

Scott Anthony Walker, 36, an Australian national working for an American engineering company in Afghanistan, was indicted by the U.S. Department of Justice for abuse of his position on an influential committee in Afghanistan to award a security subcontract to a vendor in return for payment of $250,000 USD. (1)

According to court documents, the subcontracts provided for private security services to protect U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) personnel and contractors in Afghanistan operating under the $1.4 billion USD ($1.49 billion) Afghanistan Infrastructure Rehabilitation Project (AIRP) contract.(2)

On November 16, 2009, Walker was extradited to the U.S., and on January 29, 2010 plead guilty and was sentenced to 66 months in Federal prison.

On August 10, 2010, Scott Anthony Walker BOP Register Number 73966-083 was successfully treaty transferred back to Australia. (3)

Soong-Young Park, a South Korean national and northern New Jersey resident who authorities say ran a multi-state scheme that provided fake driver’s licenses and other documents to people in the country illegally, was sentenced to Federal prison on May 7, 2013.

The 58-year-old was one of nearly two dozen people charged in June 2012. The U.S. attorney’s office alleged Park obtained blank immigration forms that were then filled out with customers’ personal information and used to procure driver’s licenses and other forms of identification; the ring also produced counterfeit documents including passports. (1)

The U.S. Attorney said the ring leader was Park, who allegedly had a confederate in California who was able to steal genuine immigration forms from a federal warehouse.  The forms were called I-797s and were used to make copies with font styles used by the government, prosecutors said.

Park was sentenced to 96 months and ordered to forfeit $1.2 million USD.

On August 29, 2014, Soong-Young Park BOP Register Number 63113-112 was successfully treaty transferred back to South Korea. (2)

Ramin Bibian, 47, a Turkish national, who admitted to operating two websites that sold counterfeit IDs, was sentenced on January 29, 2014 to 66 months in Federal prison for transferring false identification documents.

In addition to the prison term, the court also ordered Bibian to forfeit $1.9 million USD to the federal government, covering the proceeds from the sale of the false identification documents.

He was charged following a probe by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) and the HSI-led multi-agency Document and Benefit Fraud Task Force.

Through www.newidcards.com, Bibian offered state driver’s licenses and identification cards for prices ranging from $135 to more than $250 USD.  For an additional fee, customers could add special features to their identification cards, such as holograms, magnetic encoded strips and high definition printing similar to that used by state agencies. (1)

On January 16, 2015, Ramin Bibian BOP Register Number 98007-012 was successfully treaty transferred back to Turkey. (2)

September 10, 2013, Los Angeles — Approximately 1,000 law enforcement officials fanned out across the Fashion District in downtown Los Angeles to execute dozens of search warrants and arrest warrants linked to businesses suspected of using “Black Market Peso Exchange” schemes to launder narcotics proceeds for international drug cartels.

Authorities arrested nine defendants and seized what was estimated to be at least $65 million USD in cash and from bank accounts around the world in relation to asset forfeiture actions filed as part of the ongoing investigations.

Three members of a Temple City family — Xilin Chen, 55; Chuang Feng Chen (aka “Tom”), 24, who is Xilin Chen’s son; and Aixia Chen, 28, who is Xilin Chen’s daughter — were charged with conspiring to launder monetary instruments, money laundering, and various immigration offenses for their roles in running various businesses in the Fashion District that were used in BMPE schemes.

Xilin Chen faced a statutory maximum sentence of 100 years in federal prison, Chuang Chen up to 40 years, and Aixia Chen to as much as 80 years. (1)

Xilin Chen plead guilty and received a 130-month Federal prison sentence and a $10 million USD fine.

On September 19, 2014, Xilin Chen BOP Register Number 68152-112 was successfully treaty transferred back to Hong Kong. (2)

September 10, 2013, Los Angeles — Approximately 1,000 law enforcement officials fanned out across the Fashion District in downtown Los Angeles to execute dozens of search warrants and arrest warrants linked to businesses suspected of using “Black Market Peso Exchange” schemes to launder narcotics proceeds for international drug cartels.

Authorities arrested nine defendants and seized what was estimated to be at least $65 million USD in cash and from bank accounts around the world in relation to asset forfeiture actions filed as part of the ongoing investigations.

Three members of a Temple City family — Xilin Chen, 55; Chuang Feng Chen (aka “Tom”), 24, who is Xilin Chen’s son; and Aixia Chen, 28, who is Xilin Chen’s daughter — were charged with conspiring to launder monetary instruments, money laundering, and various immigration offenses for their roles in running various businesses in the Fashion District that were used in BMPE schemes.

Chuang Chen faced up to up to 40 years in federal prison, Xilin Chen a maximum sentence of 100 years, and Aixia Chen to as much as 80 years. (1)

Chuang Feng Chen plead guilty and received a 110-month Federal prison sentence and a $2 million USD fine.

On September 15, 2014, Chuang Feng Chen BOP Register Number 66878-050 was successfully treaty transferred back to Hong Kong. (2)

Ian Kaye was arrested by the Israel National Police ("INP") pursuant to a U.S. extradition request on a superseding indictment filed on July 16, 2009, in Manhattan federal court.

From approximately 2005 through 2009, Kaye participated in a phony "lottery prize" scheme that targeted victims, mostly elderly, in the United States.

In reality, there was no lottery prize and the victims were ultimately bilked out of an estimated total of approximately $85 million USD. (1)

On May 29, 2011, Kaye was sentenced to 96 months in Federal prison and a fine of $1 million USD.

On May 12, 2012, Ian Kaye BOP Register Number 98007-012 was successfully treaty transferred back to Israel. (2)

Limor Cohen was arrested by the Israel National Police ("INP") pursuant to a U.S. extradition request on a superseding indictment filed on July 16, 2009, in Manhattan federal court.

From approximately 2005 through 2009, Cohen, along with Ian Kaye, participated in a phony "lottery prize" scheme that targeted victims, mostly elderly, in the United States.

In reality, there was no lottery prize and the victims were ultimately bilked out of an estimated total of approximately $85 million USD. (1)

On April 8, 2012, Cohen was sentenced to 106 months in Federal prison and a fine of $1 million USD.

On May 3, 2014, Limor Cohen BOP Register Number 66865-064 was successfully treaty transferred back to Israel. (2)

Naor Green was arrested by the Israel National Police ("INP") pursuant to a U.S. extradition request on a superseding indictment filed on July 16, 2009, in Manhattan federal court.

From approximately 2005 through 2009, Green participated in a phony "lottery prize" scheme that targeted victims, mostly elderly, in the United States.

In reality, there was no lottery prize and the victims were ultimately bilked out of an estimated total of approximately $85 million USD. (1)

On May 19, 2011, Green was sentenced to 86 months in Federal prison and a fine of $500,000 USD.

On May 16, 2012, Naor Green BOP Register Number 91505-054 was successfully treaty transferred back to Israel. (2)

Toshin Charles Samuels was arrested by the Israel National Police ("INP") pursuant to a U.S. extradition request on a superseding indictment filed on July 16, 2009, in Manhattan federal court.

From approximately 2005 through 2009, Samuels participated in a phony "lottery prize" scheme that targeted victims, mostly elderly, in the United States.

In reality, there was no lottery prize and the victims were ultimately bilked out of an estimated total of approximately $85 million USD. (1)

On May 29, 2011, Samuels was sentenced to 72 months in Federal prison and a fine of $250,000 USD.

On December 18, 2012, Toshin Charles Samuels BOP Register Number 62634-054 was successfully treaty transferred back to Israel. (2)

Michelle Caroline Yuval was arrested by the Israel National Police ("INP") pursuant to a U.S. extradition request on a superseding indictment filed on July 16, 2009, in Manhattan federal court.

From approximately 2005 through 2009, Yuval participated in a phony "lottery prize" scheme that targeted victims, mostly elderly, in the United States.

In reality, there was no lottery prize and the victims were ultimately bilked out of an estimated total of approximately $85 million USD. (1)

On May 19, 2011, Yuval was sentenced to 76 months in Federal prison and a fine of $250,000 USD.

On August 16, 2012, Michelle Caroline Yuval BOP Register Number 66866-054 was successfully treaty transferred back to Israel. (2)

In July 2008, Moshe Malul, a citizen of Israel, was indicted for racketeering, conspiracy to commit extortion, murder and conspiracy to import ecstasy into the United States from Belgium, as set out in a 77-page federal grand jury indictment in the Central District of California.

According to the indictment, Malul was a captain of the Abergil crime family and used the power and influence of the Abergil family to conduct criminal activities in Israel and around the world.

Malul was extradited in January 2011 to the United States from Israel.  The January 2011 extradition was the first of its kind under Israel’s racketeering law, a law that parallels the United States' federal racketeering statute known as the RICO Act, which is designed to combat organized crime. (1)

On September 25, 2012, Malul plead guilty on charges of racketeering and murder based on Malul’s alleged hiring of members of the Vineland Boys street gang to kill Arron Atias in retaliation for Atias stealing 700kg of ecstasy that belonged to Malul; he was sentenced to 296 months in Federal prison and a fine of $5 million USD.

On September 10, 2014, Moshe Malul BOP Register Number 60115-112 was successfully treaty transferred back to Israel. (2)

In July 2008, Sasson Barashy, a citizen of Israel, was indicted for racketeering, conspiracy to commit extortion, murder and conspiracy to import ecstasy into the United States from Belgium, as set out in a 77-page federal grand jury indictment in the Central District of California.

According to the indictment, Barashy was a captain of the Abergil crime family and used the power and influence of the Abergil family to conduct criminal activities in Israel and around the world.

He was extradited to the United States from Israel  in January 2011.

The extradition was the first of its kind under Israel’s racketeering law, a law that parallels the United States federal racketeering statute known as the RICO Act, which is designed to combat organized crime. (1)

On June 17, 2012, Barashy plead guilty on charges of racketeering and murder based on his alleged hiring of members of the Vineland Boys street gang to kill Arron Atias in retaliation for Atias stealing 700kg of ecstasy that belonged to Barashy and fellow co-conspirators; he was sentenced to 266 months in Federal prison and a fine of $5 million USD.

On January 15, 2013, Sasson Barashy BOP Register Number 60115-112 was successfully treaty transferred back to Israel. (2)

In October 2009, Eun Sook Chang was indicted and charged with multiple counts of human trafficking and money laundering following a three-year FBI investigation into a network of prostitution businesses that engaged in illegal sex trafficking in New York City’s Korean community.  This investigation, aided by confidential sources, undercover officers, and recordings (including court-authorized wiretaps), uncovered a network of 20 brothels in New York, Texas, North Carolina, and Pennsylvania.

In many cases, the prostitution businesses formally purport to be legal enterprises, such as massage parlors or health spas, but in fact generate the vast majority of their revenue through illegal prostitution.

Chang, along with 21 co-defendants, faced a maximum of 40 years on each count of human trafficking and 20 years on each count of money laundering.

On May 19, 2011, Chang was sentenced to 286 months in Federal prison and a fine of $1.5 million USD. (1)

On March 7, 2013, Eun Sook Chang BOP Register Number 91505-054 was successfully treaty transferred back to South Korea. (2)

On August 7, 2008, Ousama Naaman, a citizen of Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates and Canada, was indicted in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia.  He was arrested on July 30, 2009, in Frankfurt, Germany, and extradited to the United States.

Naaman admitted to paying and promising to pay more than $6.8 million USD in bribes from 2004 to 2008, in the form of cash, travel and entertainment, to officials of the Iraqi Ministry of Oil and the Trade Bank of Iraq to secure sales of tetraethyl lead in Iraq, as well as to secure more favorable exchange rates on the contracts for his company, Innospec Inc.

Naaman plead guilty on June 25, 2010, to two charges: one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud, violate the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA), and falsify the books and records of a U.S. issuer; and one count of violating the FCPA.  He was sentenced to 96 months in Federal prison and a fine of $2 million USD. (1)

On December 14, 2012, Ousama Naaman BOP Register Number 31056-016 was successfully treaty transferred back to Canada. (2)

Armen Kazarian, an Armenian national, was extradited to the U.S. in 2010 for his involvement with the Mirzoyan-Terdjanian Organization, an Armenian-American organized crime enterprise engaged in a wide range of criminal activity.

Kazarian was a “Vor,” a term translated as “Thief-in-Law.”  The term refers to a member of a select group of high-level criminals from Russia and the countries that had been part of the former Soviet Union, including Armenia.

Vors offer prestige and protection to criminal organizations in return for a share of criminal earnings and use their position of authority to resolve disputes among criminals.  Kazarian used his status as a Vor within the criminal community to assist the Mirzoyan-Terdjanian Organization, which was involved in an extensive range of criminal offenses including the operation of a $100 million USD Medicare fraud billing ring. (1)

As part of his involvement with the group, Kazarian engaged in extortion both on behalf of the organization and his own.

In July 2011, Kazarian plead guilty to racketeering conspiracy and was sentenced to 97 months in Federal prison and a fine of $1 million USD.

On October 9, 2013, Armen Kazarian BOP Register Number 59722-112 was successfully treaty transferred back to Armenia. (2)

Arus Gyulbudakyan, an Armenian national, was extradited to the U.S. in January, 2011, for her involvement to defraud Medicaid and other healthcare programs such as Medicare, in an amount totaling $193 million USD.  More than 50 ethnic Armenians living in Armenia and the United States were arrested on October 13, 2010.

Authorities began the investigation after information on 2,900 Medicare patients in upstate New York — including Social Security numbers and dates of birth — were reported stolen. (1)

The defendants also had stolen the identities of doctors and set up 118 phantom clinics in 25 states.  The names were used to submit fake bills for care that was never given.

Prosecutors said the phony paperwork showed eye doctors doing bladder tests; ear, nose and throat specialists performing pregnancy ultrasounds; and obstetricians testing for skin allergies.

Unlike other cases involving crooked medical clinics bribing people to sign up for unneeded treatments, the operation was “completely notional,” Janice Fedarcyk, head of the FBI’s New York office, said in a statement. “The whole doctor-patient interaction was a mirage.”

On September 19, 2011, Gyulbudakyan was sentenced to 78 months in Federal prison and a fine of $250,000 USD. (2)

On May 8, 2012, Arus Gyulbudakyan BOP Register Number 59719-112 was successfully treaty transferred back to Armenia. (3)

Sahak Tumanyan, an Armenian national was extradited to the U.S. in January, 2011 for his involvement to defraud Medicaid and other healthcare programs such as Medicare, in an amount totaling $193 million USD.  More than 50 ethnic Armenians living in Armenia and the United States were arrested on October 13, 2010.

Authorities began the investigation after information on 2,900 Medicare patients in upstate New York — including Social Security numbers and dates of birth — were reported stolen. (1)

The defendants also had stolen the identities of doctors and set up 118 phantom clinics in 25 states.  The names were used to submit fake bills for care that was never given.

Prosecutors said the phony paperwork showed eye doctors doing bladder tests; ear, nose and throat specialists performing pregnancy ultrasounds; and obstetricians testing for skin allergies.

Unlike other cases involving crooked medical clinics bribing people to sign up for unneeded treatments, the operation was “completely notional,” Janice Fedarcyk, head of the FBI’s New York office, said in a statement. “The whole doctor-patient interaction was a mirage.”

On October 14, 2012, Tumanyan was sentenced to 96 months in Federal prison and a fine of $500,000 USD. (2)

On May 2, 2014, Sahak Tumanyan BOP Register Number 59727-112 was successfully treaty transferred back to Armenia. (3)

Hasmik Tumanyan, an Armenian national was extradited to the U.S. in January, 2011 for her involvement to defraud Medicaid and other healthcare programs such as Medicare, in an amount totaling $193 million USD.  More than 50 ethnic Armenians living in Armenia and the United States were arrested on October 13, 2010.

Authorities began the investigation after information on 2,900 Medicare patients in upstate New York — including Social Security numbers and dates of birth — were reported stolen. (1)

The defendants also had stolen the identities of doctors and set up 118 phantom clinics in 25 states.  The names were used to submit fake bills for care that was never given.

Prosecutors said the phony paperwork showed eye doctors doing bladder tests; ear, nose and throat specialists performing pregnancy ultrasounds; and obstetricians testing for skin allergies.

Unlike other cases involving crooked medical clinics bribing people to sign up for unneeded treatments, the operation was “completely notional,” Janice Fedarcyk, head of the FBI’s New York office, said in a statement. “The whole doctor-patient interaction was a mirage.”

On September 14, 2011, Tumanyan was sentenced to 68 months in Federal prison and a fine of $250,000 USD. (2)

On May 29, 2012, Hasmik Tumanyan BOP Register Number 59727-112 was successfully treaty transferred back to Armenia. (3)

Khoren Gasparian, an Armenian national was extradited to the U.S. in January, 2011 for his involvement to defraud Medicaid and other healthcare programs such as Medicare, in an amount totaling $193 million USD.  More than 50 ethnic Armenians living in Armenia and the United States were arrested on October 13, 2010.

Authorities began the investigation after information on 2,900 Medicare patients in upstate New York — including Social Security numbers and dates of birth — were reported stolen. (1)

The defendants also had stolen the identities of doctors and set up 118 phantom clinics in 25 states.  The names were used to submit fake bills for care that was never given.

Prosecutors said the phony paperwork showed eye doctors doing bladder tests; ear, nose and throat specialists performing pregnancy ultrasounds; and obstetricians testing for skin allergies.

Unlike other cases involving crooked medical clinics bribing people to sign up for unneeded treatments, the operation was “completely notional,” Janice Fedarcyk, head of the FBI’s New York office, said in a statement. “The whole doctor-patient interaction was a mirage.”

On November 20, 2012, Gasparian was sentenced to 148 months in Federal prison and a fine of $750,000 USD. (2)

On January 17, 2014, Khoren Gasparian BOP Register Number 78693-083 was successfully treaty transferred back to Armenia. (3)

In December 2012, Galina Kravchenko was transported by U.S. Marshals from Chisinau, Moldova, the capital city of one of Eastern Europe’s poorest countries. She had been living in Moldova since she fled in 2008 with her husband, Aleksandr, and their three children.

Federal officials say the couple played a major role in the May 2009 failure of Westsound Bank, which once was the Pacific Northwest’s fastest-growing bank. At the end of 2009, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. (FDIC) estimated the Bremerton bank’s failure cost its insurance fund $82.6 million. (1)

On March 15, 2014, Kravchenko was sentenced to 128 months in Federal prison and a fine of $1 milion USD.

On March 6, 2015, Galina Kravchenko BOP Register Number 44663-086 was successfully treaty transferred back to Armenia. (2)

On February 2, 2006, Jose Guerrero, a Mexican national, was arrested and indicted along with 23 others for conspiracy to distribute cocaine and money laundering; the indictments were a culmination of three separate investigations that involved undercover purchases of narcotics from the defendants over a three year period. (1)

On May 19, 2008, Guerrero was sentenced to 196 months in Federal prison and a fine of $500,000 USD.

On February 12, 2010, Jose Guerrero BOP Register Number 90091-011 was successfully treaty transferred back to Mexico. (2)

On May 24, 2011, after a 12-day trial and four days of deliberations, Chun-Yu Zhao, a Chinese national, was convicted by a federal jury in Alexandria, Virginia, for her role in a sophisticated scheme to import and sell counterfeit Cisco-branded computer networking equipment.  Zhao was convicted on 15 counts, including importation fraud, trafficking in counterfeit goods and labels, false statements to law enforcement, false statements in naturalization, and money laundering.

According to the evidence introduced at trial, Zhao and her family members in China operated a large-scale counterfeit computer networking equipment business under the name of Han Tong Technology (Hong Kong) Limited.  Zhao and her associates used a number of sophisticated schemes to defraud U.S.-based purchasers through a Virginia-based company called JDC Networking Inc. (1)

On August 4, 2011, Zhao was sentenced to 110 months in Federal prison, the forfeiture of  two Porsches, one Mercedes, seven bank accounts containing more than $9.6 million USD, and four homes and three condominiums with a total value of more than $12.6 million USD.

On December 23, 2013, Chun-Yu Zhao BOP Register Number 76728-083 was successfully treaty transferred back to Hong Kong. (2)

Peter Philip Nash was arrested in Australia on December 20, 2013, by the Australian Federal Police in Brisbane, Australia.

Nash conspired to run the Silk Road website with Ross William Ulbricht, a/k/a “Dread Pirate Roberts,” a/k/a “DPR,” a/k/a “Silk Road,” the alleged owner and operator of the Silk Road anonymous market; Ulbricht was previously arrested in San Francisco, California, on October 1, 2013. (1)

From about January 2011 until October 2, 2013, the Silk Road website hosted a sprawling black market bazaar on the internet where illegal drugs and other illicit goods and services were regularly bought and sold by the site’s users.

During its more than two-and-a-half years in operation, Silk Road was used by several thousand drug dealers and other unlawful vendors to distribute hundreds of kilograms of illegal drugs and other illicit goods and services to well over a hundred thousand buyers and to launder hundreds of millions of dollars deriving from these unlawful transactions. (2)

On March 6, 2015, Nash was sentenced to ten years in Federal prison.

On May 30, 2015, Peter Philip Nash BOP Register Number 92226-054 was successfully treaty transferred back to Australia. (3)

On October 24, 2010, Miguel Ruiz-Bravo, 39, of Apatzingan, Mexico, was sentenced by United States District Judge Morrison C. England Jr. to 23 years and four months in prison for conspiring to distribute methamphetamine. (1)

In March 2003, U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration agents discovered an active methamphetamine laboratory in the Tehama County town of Corning.  The agents arrested seven individuals and seized approximately 186 pounds of methamphetamine. These individuals were observed traveling in three different vehicles, all of which were registered in the names of aliases used by Miguel Ruiz-Bravo, who was believed to be in Mexico at the time of the arrests.

On March 9, 2012, Miguel Ruiz-Bravo, BOP Register Number 07502-265 was successfully treaty transferred back to Mexico. (2)

Canadian gets nearly 16 years for U.S. ecstasy bust, Montreal woman hid 70,000 pills in gas tank

Jan 31, 2012 (1)

A Canadian woman caught trying to smuggle more than 70,000 tablets of Ecstasy into the U.S. by sticking them in her car's gas tank has been sentenced in New York to nearly 16 years in prison.

The U.S. attorney's office in Albany announced Tuesday that 34-year-old Tara Haynes, of Montreal, was sentenced Monday to 15 years and eight months in federal prison.  She was convicted in August of attempting to import a controlled substance.

U.S. inspectors at the border crossing in Champlain in northern New York searched Haynes' rental car in June and found the drugs vacuum-sealed and packed in the vehicle's gas tank.

Her lawyer had argued that she didn't know the drugs were there.

Authorities say the drugs were valued at $500,000 to $2.1 million.

On December 24, 2015, Tara Haynes BOP Register Number 19134-052 was successfully treaty transferred back to Canada. (2)

Camilla Broe is the first Danish citizen to be extradited to a country outside the European Union, when she was handed over to the American police after being indicted on 14 counts of drug trafficking on September 4,2009.

Camilla Broe first arrived in the United States in 1986 where she meets her then boyfriend, Jacob Orgad aka "Koki”. (Later convicted of smuggling Ecstasy)  She becomes a naturalized US. Citizen in 1996. In July of 2001 she returned to Denmark rather then testify against Orgad.

On 22 March 2010, Camilla Broe, BOP Register Number 82672-004, a dual citizen of the US. and Denmark, and was successfully treaty transferred back to Denmark.(1)

Blackshades Leader Alex Yucel Sentenced to Prison for Selling Malware

JUNE 23 2015

by REUTERS and JAMES ENG

NEW YORK -- The leader of a group called Black-shades was sentenced to 4-3/4 years in prison on Tuesday for distributing software that authorities say was used to hack into half a million computers worldwide. Alex Yucel, a 25-year-old Swede, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Kevin Castel in Manhattan, after pleading guilty in February to distribution of malicious software.

U.S. prosecutors had sought up to 7-1/2 years in prison for Yucel, who was arrested in November 2013 in Moldova and later extradited to the United States. They said he ran the Blackshades organization under the alias "marjinz" and acted as its primary software engineer.

According to court documents, Blackshades sold and distributed malware to thousands of cyber-criminals throughout the world. The organization's flagship product was known as the Blackshades Remote Access Tool, or "RAT," a sophisticated piece of malicious software that enabled cyber-criminals to secretly and remotely gain control over a victim's computer.

"Alex Yucel created, marketed, and sold software that was designed to accomplish just one thing — gain control of a computer, and with it, a victim's identity and other important information," Manhattan U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara said in a statement. "This malware victimized thousands of people across the globe and invaded their lives. But Yucel's computer hacking days are now over."

He pleaded guilty on June 23, 2015 and was sentenced to 54 months in Federal prison.

On November 1, 2016, Alex Yucel BOP Register Number 71044-054 was successfully treaty transferred back to Sweden. (1)

 A Dutch national has plead guilty to federal drug trafficking and money laundering charges, admitting that he was one of the leaders of a conspiracy that developed and operated a secret, on-line narcotics marketplace known as the “The Farmer's Market” that sold controlled substances such as LSD, “ecstasy” and marijuana to thousands of customers around the world.

Marc Peter Willems, 45, of the Netherlands, plead guilty  to two federal charges – conspiracy to distribute controlled substances and conspiracy to launder money.

Willems was one of eight defendants charged in relation to The Farmer’s Market in April 2012 as the result of an investigation called Operation “Adam Bomb.”

“Adam Bomb” was a two-year investigation led by the Drug Enforcement Administration that uncovered The Farmer’s Market, which was an international drug ring that attempted to operate in secret by using the TOR network, IP anonymizers and covert currency transactions.

The encrypted TOR network allows websites and electronic mail communications to completely mask IP address information by spreading communications over a series of computers, or relays, located throughout the world.

The Farmer’s Market accepted payments for illegal drug sales through Western Union, Pecunix, PayPal and I-Golder.

Willems was sentenced to 120 months in the US. December 11,2014.

On February 3,2016 Marc Willems BOP. Reg.number #67557-112 was successfully treaty transferred back to the Netherlands.(1)

Online drugs dealer has US jail term cut by Dutch judges.

June 22, 2016

A Dutch national sentenced to 10 years in jail by the US for selling drugs via the internet has had his sentence cut to 6.5 years by judges in the Netherlands.

Marc Willems, a former soldier, was arrested along with seven others in 2012 for selling LSD, ecstasy, marijuana and other drugs to some 3,000 customers in 34 countries.

Willems and the others were arrested after American undercover police bought drugs via the online shop The Farmers Market, which ran on a hidden Tor network. He was arrested at his home in Lelystad and deported to the US to face charges at the beginning of 2014, where he was sentenced to 10 years in jail. Willems was then sent back to the Netherlands to serve his sentence, under an agreement reached with the US authorities.

Judges in Utrecht have now reduced the sentence to 6.5 years. Given the time he has already spent in jail and time off for good behavior, Willems will be released in early August.

Read more at DutchNews.nl: Online drugs dealer has US jail term cut by Dutch judges