Examples of International Investigations - Fiscal Year 2013

Criminal Investigation (CI) is increasing its focus on international tax compliance. 

International investigations encompass a wide range of activities such as abusive tax schemes, narcotics, non-filers, money laundering, and terrorism funding. Criminal Investigation works closely with international law enforcement partners as well as federal, state, and local law enforcement agencies to investigate financial fraud.

The following examples of investigations with international links are written from public record documents on file in the court records in the judicial district in which the cases were prosecuted. 

Corporate Fraud

President of Costa Rican Company Sentenced for Fraud Scheme
On October 23, 2012, in Richmond, Va., Minor Vargas Calvo was sentenced to 60 years in prison for carrying out a half-billion-dollar fraud scheme that affected more than 3,500 victims throughout the United States and abroad. Vargas, a citizen and resident of Costa Rica, is the majority owner of Provident Capital Indemnity (PCI) Ltd., an insurance and reinsurance company registered in the Commonwealth of Dominica and doing business in Costa Rica. Vargas was sentenced for one count of conspiracy to commit mail and wire fraud, three counts of mail fraud, three counts of wire fraud and three counts of money laundering.  Evidence at trial showed that Vargas and Jorge Castillo, PCI’s purported independent auditor, used lies and omissions to mislead PCI’s clients and investors regarding PCI’s ability to pay claims when due on the financial guarantee bonds that PCI issued.  Evidence at trial showed that Vargas spent more than $23 million of his ill-gotten gains on his professional soccer teams in Costa Rica, his unrelated companies, his family and himself.  Castillo, who was a PCI employee prior to becoming PCI’s “outside auditor,” pleaded guilty to conspiring to commit mail and wire fraud and awaits sentencing.

Financial Institution Fraud

Mexican Pecan Company Owner Sentenced for Scheme to Defraud the U.S. Export-Import Bank
On November 7, 2012, in El Paso, Texas, Leopoldo Valencia-Urrea, the owner of a pecan brokerage company in Ciudad Juarez, Chihuahua, Mexico, was sentenced to 48 months in prison, three years of supervised release and ordered to pay $58,000 in restitution and $399,075 in forfeiture. Valencia pleaded guilty on October 13, 2011, to one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud, one count of wire fraud and one count of money laundering conspiracy in connection with the scheme to defraud the Export-Import Bank of the United States (Ex-Im Bank) of approximately $400,000. According to court documents, Valencia, a U.S. citizen, was the owner of a pecan brokerage company in Ciudad Juarez and resided in El Paso. Valencia admitted that in 2006, he applied for an Ex-Im Bank insured loan for $406,258 through a bank in Miami. Valencia and others submitted a fraudulent loan application, financial statements, invoices, letters and bills of lading to falsely represent to the Miami bank and the Ex-Im Bank the purchase and export of U.S. goods to Valencia in Mexico. After the exporter who conspired with Valencia received $399,075 from the Miami bank, Valencia and others diverted the loan proceeds directly to Valencia and others in Mexico. As a result of the fraud, Valencia’s loan defaulted, causing the Ex-Im Bank to pay a claim to the lending bank on a $371,962 loss.

Gaming

Missouri Men Sentenced for Running Illegal Gambling Operation
On October 31, 2012, in Springfield, Mo. William Lisle, of Joplin, was to two years of probation, including six months of home detention, and ordered to pay a $2,000 fine and forfeit $98,263. On October 18, 2012, Kenneth B. Lovett, of Joplin, was sentenced to two years of probation, including six months of home detention. Lisle and Lovett each pleaded guilty to operating an illegal gambling operation over the Internet. Lisle also pleaded guilty to money laundering. According to court documents, from January 1, 2003 to February 8, 2011, Lisle and Lovett used the Internet to transmit wagering information, including placing bets on sporting events, as part of their gambling business. Lisle sent cashier’s checks, payable to a false name in an effort to conceal the transfer, to the Costa Rican company that operated the Web sites. Lisle’s plea agreement cites 15 instances in which he sent cashier’s checks totaling $72,000 to Costa Rica as part of his scheme to launder money obtained from the gambling enterprise.

General Fraud

Defendant Sentenced for Role in Internet Fraud Scheme
On December 20, 2012, in Manhattan, N.Y., Razvan Marcu, of Las Vegas, Nevada, was sentenced to 60 months in prison, three years of supervised release, and ordered to pay $1 million in restitution and forfeit more than $1 million. Marcu pleaded guilty in July 2012 to one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud for his role in an Internet fraud scheme in which at least 80 victims were defrauded of more than $1 million. According to court documents and statements made in court, from at least 2009 through about 2011, Marcu and his international co-conspirators engaged in a scheme to defraud individuals seeking to buy items, including cars, which were listed for sale on various Internet websites, including eBay.com, Autotrader.com, and Craigslist.com. As part of the scheme, Marcu recruited Timothy Harron and instructed him to recruit individuals to open bank accounts into which money from victims could be sent, or to agree to receive money sent by victims through money transmission services. Once a victim contacted the purported seller over the Internet and the parties agreed to the terms of sale, the victim received an e-mail message that appeared to be from the website on which the item was listed, or some other legitimate website designed for online transactions. The e-mail asked the buyer to wire money to one of the people Harron had recruited or to one of the bank accounts that was opened to facilitate the scheme. The victims never received the items for which they paid. After victims wired money, Harron arranged for the money to be withdrawn in cash and then deposited into accounts of others or transmitted to co-conspirators, including those located in Romania, where leaders of the scheme were also based. Some of the victims’ money was also deposited into Marcu’s bank accounts. He used the money to purchase and lease numerous luxury automobiles and for other personal expenses.

Money Laundering

Two Texas Men Sentenced for Money Laundering
On October 30, 2012, in Laredo, Texas, Nelson Casarez and Miguel Santos were sentenced their roles in laundering millions of drug proceeds for the Los Zetas organization. Casarez was sentenced to 108 months in prison and ordered to forfeit $$2,999,310. Santos was sentenced to 72 months in prison and ordered to forfeit $4 million.  According to court documents, Casarez provided a tractor trailer yard in Laredo for use by Los Zetas as a receiving station for other co-conspirators who transported bulk cash drug proceeds from the Chicago, Ill., area to Laredo. Casarez then coordinated the receipt and transfer of bulk cash drug proceeds to other co-conspirators who would transport it to Nuevo Laredo, Mexico.  Casarez was involved in the laundering of approximately $5 million. Santos was a commercial truck driver who transported drug proceeds from the Chicago area to Laredo. Santos transported drug proceeds on at least two occasions in 2010 with each bulk shipment totaling approximately $2 million.

Narcotics

Drug Trafficker Sentenced on Drug and Money Laundering Charges    
On December 11, 2012, in Atlanta, Ga., Jason Barbour, of Manhattan Beach, California, was sentenced to 136 months in prison and five years of supervised release. Barbour was convicted on October 6, 2011, upon his plea of guilty for conspiring to distribute marijuana and cocaine and conspiring to launder money.  According to court documents, Barbour was a member of a conspiracy that obtained high-grade marijuana from sources in Canada and arranged for the transportation of those drugs to the Pacific Northwest. From there, Barbour and members of his conspiracy would transport the drugs via private airplane to cities throughout the United States, including Atlanta.  Money that was generated from the marijuana sales was used to purchase cocaine in Los Angeles, California, for ultimate sale to the marijuana suppliers in Canada.

Guam Resident Sentenced on Drug and Money Laundering Charges
On October 30, 2012, in Agana, Guam, Gina Fresnoza Medina was sentenced to 324 months in prison and five years of supervised release. Medina pleaded guilty plea to money laundering, conspiracy to distribute methamphetamine hydrochloride ("ice"), and conspiracy to import methamphetamine hydrochloride. According to the plea agreement, since 2004, Medina had been importing methamphetamine hydrochloride from the Philippines and distributing it in Guam. Medina would purchase the ice in the Philippines and have others carry it into Guam, as well as smuggling it in herself. In July 2007, Medina moved to the Philippines and continued to direct her drug trafficking organization until August 2009 when she returned to Guam. Between September 2007 through March 2010, Medina caused several individuals to wire money which she had acquired through drug trafficking, with the intent of concealing and disguising the nature, source, ownership and control of the funds.

Former Airlines Employee Sentenced for Leading a Criminal Drug Enterprise
On October 16, 2012, in Brooklyn, N.Y., Victor Bourne, a Barbadian national, was sentenced to life in prison and ordered to pay a $5.1 million forfeiture judgment for his leadership of an international drug trafficking organization that smuggled cocaine from the Caribbean into the United States through John F. Kennedy International Airport. Bourne was convicted of narcotics trafficking offenses and money laundering following a month-long trial in October 2011. The investigation into Bourne's organization has resulted in 20 convictions, including 19 airline employees, the seizure of 13 kilograms of cocaine and 2,900 pounds of marijuana, and the forfeiture of $6.9 million. According to the evidence at trial, between 2000 and 2009, the Bourne Organization used corrupt employees of commercial airlines working at domestic and international ports of entry to smuggle illegal narcotics into the United States and throughout the Caribbean. Bourne paid dispatching crew chiefs at the airlines to assign crews of baggage handlers, who, in turn, were paid tens of thousands of dollars by the Bourne Organization to retrieve the cocaine from the flights upon arrival. The cocaine was hidden behind panels in the front and rear cargo holds, the ceiling and wing assemblies, and in an aircraft’s avionics and other vital equipment compartments. After removing the cocaine from these locations, the baggage handlers hid the drugs inside their coats and airline equipment bags to avoid detection by law enforcement and safely transport the drugs to Bourne. The Bourne Organization was responsible for importing over 150 kilograms of cocaine into the U.S. Bourne reaped millions of dollars in illegal cash proceeds from his illegal drug trafficking, and laundered his drug proceeds through businesses and real estate ventures in Brooklyn and Barbados.

Fiscal Year 2012 - International Investigations

Fiscal Year 2011 - International Investigations

Criminal Enforcement Home Page