Archive

January 5, 2024

A Florida man, Karel Felipe, and Florida woman, Tamara Quicutis, have been sentenced to 8 years and 5 years respectively for their roles in a $93 million fraud scheme against Medicare.  Felipe and Quicutis were found guilty last October of submitting claims on behalf of three Michigan-based home health companies, for services never rendered, using stolen patient information, and then laundering the proceeds through dozens of shell companies and hundreds of bank accounts.  Their fellow co-conspirators—Jesus Trujillo, Didier Arcia, Alexey Gil, and Jeffrey Avila—have already been sentenced for their roles.  DOJ

July 12, 2023

Florida man Adam Todd and his companies, Digitex LLC, Digitex Limited, Digitex Software Limited, and Blockster Holdings Limited Corporation, have been banned from registering with the CFTC and trading in CFTC-regulated markets, and ordered to pay almost $4 million in disgorgement and $12 million in civil monetary penalty.  According to the agency, the defendants failed to register with the CFTC, failed to comply with certain regulations, attempted to manipulate the price of a digital asset token, and violated anti-money laundering procedures.  CFTC

April 27, 2023

Gary James Harmon will spend 51 months in prison for stealing 712 bitcoin subject to forfeiture. Gary’s brother, Larry Dean Harmon, operated a cryptocurrency money laundering service on the darknet, with large amounts of said money coming from darknet markets. Knowing the government was attempting to seize Larry’s crypto, Gary transferred the $4.8 million in bitcoin to his own accounts, using Larry’s credentials to effectuate the transfer. DOJ, USAO DC

March 17, 2023

A man in New York who laundered millions of dollars of criminal proceeds from a panoply of illegal schemes—including computer hacking, healthcare fraud, loan fraud involving Small Business Administration (SBA) funds, and operating an unlicensed international money transmitting business—has been sentenced to 10 years in prison.  According to the DOJ, Djonibek Rahmankulov worked with computer hackers to gain control of U.S. bank accounts, then executed millions of dollars of fraudulent wire transfers into accounts controlled by him and his associates.  He also worked with pharmacies to launder millions of dollars of Medicare and Medicaid reimbursements for HIV medications that were not actually dispensed or legally obtained.  During the pandemic, Rahmankulov submitted fraudulent applications to the SBA for his companies, laundered the proceeds, and made false statements to financial institutions regarding his activities.  Finally during his trial, he repeatedly sought to obstruct justice by threatening a witness and producing fraudulent letters of support from the community.  USAO SDNY

January 24, 2023

Popular Bank was fined $2.3 million by the Federal Reserve Board following an investigation into its processing of Paycheck Protection Program loans.  Popular Bank was approved as a PPP lender by the Small Business Administration, and was required to follow the Bank Secrecy Act and program guidelines, including verification of customer identity and the documentation, investigation, and reporting of suspicious activities.  The Board’s Consent Order found that in August 2020, the Bank processed and funded six PPP loans, totaling approximately $1.1 million, despite having detected that the loan applications contained significant indicia of potential fraud.  The Bank self-reported to the Board.  Fed

December 20, 2022

Futures commission merchant CHS Hedging LLC will pay civil penalty of $6.5 million to resolve claims that it failed to implement an adequate AML program and failed to implement risk-based limits concerning trading in an account controlled by one of its customers that owned and controlled a ranching company and other related businesses.  The customer engaged in speculative trading that was inconsistent with its financial resources and hedging needs, and, over the course of four years, made net margin payments of more than $147 million to CHS Hedging.  The government alleged that the company did not adequately investigate the source of the customer’s funds or report the transactions as suspicious.  CFTC

December 13, 2022

Danske Bank will pay over $2 billion to resolve charges from the SEC and DOJ arising from failures in its anti-money laundering compliance program at an Estonian bank it acquired and began operating as a branch in 2007, and from its failure to disclose the risks posed by the program’s significant deficiencies.  Danske Bank had received information from an internal whistleblower, conducted internal audits, and received information from regulators, from which it knew that the Estonian branch served high-risk customers, including many Russians, who were engaged in billions of dollars in suspicious and potentially criminal transactions; that its internal policies were inadequate; and, that its AML and KYC procedures were not being followed.  Despite this knowledge, the bank made materially misleading statements and omissions that it complied with its AML obligations and that it had effectively managed its AML risks.  These statements mislead investors and U.S. banks and allowed its high-risk customers to gain unlawful access to the U.S. financial system.  Danske agreed to pay an SEC penalty of $413 million and, as part of a criminal plea to conspiracy to commit bank fraud, will forfeit over $2 billion, with $850 million of that amount being credited from separate criminal or civil resolutions with foreign and domestic authorities, including the SEC.  DOJ, SEC, SDNY

October 18, 2022

Building materials manufacturer Lafarge S.A., together with its Syrian subsidiary, pleaded guilty to conspiring to provide material support and resources to U.S.-designated foreign terrorist organizations, paying penalties, fines, and forfeitures totaling $778 million.  According to the plea, during the civil war in Syria, Lafarge negotiated to pay armed factions to ensure continued operation of a cement plant it operated in Syria.  Defendants effectively entered into a revenue-sharing agreement with ISIS, paying the terrorist organization based on the amount of cement that defendants were able to sell.  DOJ; USAO EDNY

June 28, 2022

Paulette Carpoff will spend over 11 years in prison for her role in DC Solar’s billion-dollar Ponzi scheme. Between 2011 and 2018, DCS manufactured and sold trailer-mounted mobile solar generators, using the available federal solar tax credit to lure investors. In a leaseback arrangement, investors paid a percentage of the cost and financed the rest via DCS. Instead, DCS paid early investors with new investors’ money. Carpoff controlled the Ponzi-like payments, generated fake engineering reports for nonexistent MSGs, and lied to investors about DCS’ success. Carpoff enjoyed the spoils of the fraud, which included over 150 luxury and collector vehicles, lavish jewelry, and a private subscription jet service. USAO EDCA

May 20, 2022

Wells Fargo Advisors, which is a registered broker-dealer and investment advisor, agreed to pay $7 million to resolve allegations that it had an inadequate anti-money laundering system.  As a result, the SEC alleged, Wells Fargo did not file timely suspicious activity reports including with respect to foreign wire transfers to or from its customers’ brokerage accounts.  SEC