Thanks to reader Judy for alerting me to the story at the Washington Times from yesterday entitled:
ICE, FBI agents took bribes to provide ‘protection,’ cook books on immigration cases, feds say
I’ll let you read that yourself. LOL! The story has so many twists that I figured it would be easiest to first check out the press release from ICE, here.
LOS ANGELES – A Calabasas man has agreed to plead guilty to five federal offenses – one related to a credit card bust-out scheme, and the others related to more than $250,000 in bribes he paid to two federal agents for assistance that included sensitive law enforcement information.
Edgar Sargsyan, 39, an attorney with law offices in Beverly Hills, was charged today with conspiracy to commit bank fraud, two counts of bribing a public official, and two counts of making false statements to federal investigators. In a plea agreement also filed today in U.S. District Court, Sargsyan agreed to plead guilty to the five felony counts, which cumulatively carry a statutory maximum penalty of 50 years in federal prison.
In the plea agreement, Sargsyan admitted paying tens of thousands of dollars from the beginning of 2015 through early 2017 to a special agent with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) and a special agent with the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
[….]
Sargsyan paid the HSI agent at least $32,000 in checks and at least $45,000 to $50,000 in cash in return for assistance that included the HSI agent searching law enforcement databases to corruptly obtain information that he passed to Sargsyan, according to the plea agreement. The HSI agent also altered a Department of Homeland Security database to make it more likely that a foreign national who was a client of Sargsyan’s law firm would be allowed to enter the United States. In another corrupt act detailed in the plea agreement, the HSI agent prepared a document on HSI letterhead in an unsuccessful attempt to have one of Sargsyan’s relatives from Armenia admitted into the United States.
Sargsyan also admitted he paid the FBI agent monthly cash bribes of up to $10,000 beginning in 2015 in exchange for the agent providing protection, which included running queries on law enforcement databases and warning Sargsyan to stay away from certain individuals who were the targets of criminal investigations. The agent, who worked out of the FBI’s San Francisco Field Office, accepted the cash payments on trips to Southern California, where he stayed at luxury hotels that were paid for by Sargsyan. The FBI agent also accepted from Sargsyan a $36,000 racing motorcycle as a bonus for running database checks on a particular person. Sargsyan also gave the FBI agent a $30,000 cashier’s check that was made to appear to be a payment to the agent’s business, according to court documents.
In his plea agreement, Sargsyan also admitted he participated in a conspiracy that defrauded financial institutions by fraudulently obtaining credit cards in the names of aliens who had previously been in the United States on J1 visitor visas. Once the credit cards were issued by the financial institutions, Sargsyan and his co-conspirator charged purchases, including more than $941,000 that Sargsyan personally charged at two businesses he controlled, Pillar Law Group and Regdalin Group.
Beverly Hills lawyer is at center of FBI agent corruption scandal, sources say
The FBI agent charged last week, Babak Broumand, ran Cisneros’ and Dermen’s names in restricted law enforcement databases, according to an affidavit supporting charges against Broumand. The queries showed both men were the subjects of ongoing investigations, the affidavit said.
Broumand retired last year after a 20-year career at the bureau. Prior to his departure, he was assigned to the FBI office in San Francisco, trusted with recruiting sources for investigations into national security matters. It was unclear from court records whether he’d retained an attorney.
East Bay FBI Agent Took Bribes From Armenian Mob, Feds Say
Now get this!
If there isn’t another EdgarSargsyan in the Los Angeles area we find his name pop up again in a 2018 report fromFox News:
Clinton donor’s dealings and murky connections questioned by watchdog group
EXCLUSIVE: The murky nature of Hillary Clinton’s former presidential campaign fund continues to rise to the surface.
Fox News has learned that one of the top donors to the “Hillary Victory Fund” (HVF) in 2016 was a Los Angeles-based attorney who is alleged to have misused company funds to create his own $22 million real estate portfolio. He has also been considered by California to be one of the state’s biggest tax cheats, and allegedly has ties to the Kremlin.
The donor, Edgar Sargsyan, contributed $250,000 to the Hillary Victory Fund in 2016, according to Federal Election Commission (FEC) filings, ands chaired a $100,000-a-couple Clinton fundraiser in Beverly Hills in September 2016. He is also being sued by his former company for allegedly diverting those funds to start his own real estate company.
There is much more in each of the links above!
I sure wish I knew how to draw one of these for this story!
As you can imagine, with all the fear and the federal bucks floating around scammers are in fat city.
Editor: I know a few of you noticed that I haven’t been posting because I heard from you. Thanks for your concern that I might have been sick. But a big storm took out our TV and internet for a couple of days. LOL! I have to admit, I wasn’t sure if I wanted it back on! Amazing how many projects around the farm could get done with most access to the world cut off! So, I am way behind in finding stories and posting and will be trying to catch up.
There are way to many stories to post about scammers in this brave new world we live in now, but this one caught my eye at Psychology Today. The title grabbed my attention!
5 Coronavirus Scams That Can Fool Even Smart People
Here are a few examples from the article, but please read it all!
In just the first nine days of April, the Federal Trade Commission reported $7 million lost to scams.
Here’s a current rogue’s gallery of coronascams:
The Stimulus Scam. You’re excitedly waiting for your stimulus check or student-loan forgiveness. You get an email with a government logo. It says you need to apply—Just provide your Social Security Number and date of birth and perhaps a small registration fee. Gotcha.
The CoronaTracking Scam. You heard, correctly, that Apple and Google are creating a corona-tracking app. Then, you get a text claiming to be from the government, perhaps the CDC or WHO, informing you that you’re eligible to get the app free. It says that, to avoid fraud, it needs your Social Security Number and birth date. Gotcha.
[….]
The Product Scam. An email or text offers to sell you sanitizer, masks, etc. By the time you get to the final screen, the shipping cost atop an inflated price makes it exorbitant. But you’ve put in the effort to get that far (commitment bias), so you click “order.” Worse, you click “order” and not only don’t get the product, the scammers use your credit card to buy themselves cool stuff or gift cards for their programmers so the scam can metastasize.
More! Read it all and see if you are one of the smart people who just might have fallen for one of these!
I’m continually amazed at the complexity of the scams many foreigners are using to rip-off Americans and America.
Stories similar to this one pass me by every day and I can’t possibly post them all, but ones with a twist, like this one, are interesting and worth reporting.
Rarely are we rewarded with photos of the foreign fraudsters! Estefano Dall Anese Borlotti
In this case Estefano Dall Anese Borlotti, 35, is here illegally and according to one report on his arrest, he used a Brazilian passport to obtain a Florida drivers license—is that possible!
Can a person in the country apparently illegally (he is now being held on an immigration detainer) just willy-nilly get a drivers license?
Here is the bare outline of the scheme that enabled him to steal tens of thousands of dollars from New Hampshire banks.
Secret Service: Brazilian’s bank data scheme hits Seacoast ATMs
PORTSMOUTH — A Secret Service agent’s affidavit alleges a Brazilian man, with unnamed accomplices, were able to transfer stolen bank data onto Dunkin’ Donuts gift cards they used to withdraw more than $100,000 from bank ATMs in Manchester, Barrington, Dover, Durham and Portsmouth.
The affidavit was filed with the U.S. District Court of New Hampshire by Special Agent Timothy Benitez on Oct. 24, leading to a warrant for the arrest of Estefano Dall Anese Borlotti, 35.
Miami, Florida, police records show Borlotti was arrested Thursday for unrelated charges alleging he “reincoded” stolen bank data onto credit cards and is being held there on $22,500 bail, as well as an immigration detainer.
[….]
The federal charges in New Hampshire allege Borlotti reincoded bank account information onto Dunkin’ Donuts cards to withdraw cash at Federal Savings Bank locations in Barrington, Dover, Durham, Portsmouth and Rochester at different times in April and May.
[….]
The affidavit notes the Dunkin’ Donuts cards contained “a wide variety of both United States and foreign” bank account information and were used to withdraw cash across the Seacoast, as well as in Brazil.
[….]
Miami, Florida, police records report Borlotti is being held there on charges alleging trafficking counterfeit credit cards, organized fraud and two counts of credit card forgery/intent to defraud. He’s also being held on a federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement detainer, according to court records.
Read the whole story for more details on the scam.
And,see herewhere we learn about the drivers license:
Officials said Borlotti has a Brazilian passport, which he used to obtain a Florida driver’s license.
They really aren’t Maryland men, but likely Nigerians based on their names and the fact that one of the men involved in the scheme purchased cars and shipped them to Nigeria (on your dime)! (Secret decoder ring at work!)
I searched for photos of the accused, but as usual their pictures are no where to be found. (If you find the alleged scammers’ mugshots, please send my way!). Here is the storythat appeared in the Washington Post, but was picked up all over the country. The Nigerian tip-off comes near the end. (Hat tip: TwoLaine)
Prosecutors: Group swindled $8M designated for hurricane and wildfire victims
In Maryland – far from where the California wildfires and Hurricanes Harvey, Irma and Maria struck – a group of residents managed to scam the federal government out of $8 million in relief funds designated for those who needed it most, according to prosecutors. Money meant for California wildfire victims ended up in the hands of African scammers! The money was supposed to be for those who needed to rebuild their lives.
In the wake of massive hurricanes and wildfires that pummeled the United States in recent years, the federal government made relief funds available for those who found themselves uprooted amid the rubble of charred or washed-out homes. But in Maryland – far from where the California wildfires and Hurricanes Harvey, Irma and Maria struck – a group of residents managed to scam the federal government out of $8 million in relief funds designated for those who needed it most, according to prosecutors. Members of the group, prosecutors allege, were part of a scheme that stole the identity of disaster victims and applied for victim benefits – to pay their own rents, buy cars or make personal purchases.
[….] John Irogho, 38, of Upper Marlboro, Maryland, has been charged with conspiracy to commit wire fraud and conspiracy to commit money laundering, according to federal prosecutors. Odinaka Ekeocha, 33, of Laurel, Maryland, has been charged with conspiracy to commit money laundering. Their arrests come a few weeks after another Maryland man, Tare Stanley Okirika, 30, of Laurel, pleaded guilty to wire fraud conspiracy, admitting that he fraudulently obtained government benefits to pay his rent and for other expenses, according to court documents. To better understand how the scam worked. See the Justice Department Press Release here: https://www.justice.gov/usao-md/pr/two-maryland-men-facing-federal-indictment-their-roles-scheme-allegedly-stole-government
[….]
The scheme relied heavily on “Green Dot” prepaid cards, according to prosecutors and court records. Those eligible for emergency benefits from the Federal Emergency Management Agency could opt to claim the funding through the cards that can be purchased at local grocery or convenience stores and registered to receive cash, court documents state.
Between 2016 and 2018, the group filed false claims for disaster relief and purchased hundreds of Green Dot cards to claim the money using the stolen identities of victims impacted by various disasters around the country, the government said. The documents do not detail how the stolen identities were obtained.
At least 16 victims from California, Georgia, Florida and Texas were listed in Okirika’s case, according to his indictment. Investigators with the U.S. Secret Service said he used some of the fraudulently obtained money to buy cars and ship them to Nigeria.
More here.
Of course none of these media accounts (or the Justice Department press release!) identify the alleged fraudsters as Nigerians or mention their immigration status.
How did these creeps get in here in the first place?
And, is this what the New American Economy claims is the entrepreneurial spirit migrants bring to America?
Looks like they just flew in and set up a credit card skimming fraud scheme. Did you know you could take a course (if you speak Russian) in how to steal credit card data! https://www.lowcards.com/russian-credit-card-fraud-gangs-offering-courses-to-would-be-crooks-50328
Check out this story from the Tri-City Herald, a paper serving Kennewick, Pasco and Richland, Washington. And, check out this fantastic reporting by Kristin Kraemer! This is reporting as it should be!
No typical politically-correct reporting identifying the perps as “man,” or Washington “man” here.
No ‘secret decoder ring’ needed!
Straight up in the headline—these are foreign crooks! Two are Russians, the other two are from Romania and Moldova.
These foreigners ran a credit card skimming ring in the Tri-Cities, say police
Dozens of Tri-Citians were the victim of a highly sophisticated credit card scam that ended with the arrests of four Eastern Europeans.
Police say the alleged thieves weren’t caught until they had already siphoned $17,000 from accounts just after Christmas.
And there may be dozens more unknowing victims throughout Eastern Washington since police confiscated at least 268 gift cards, each one loaded with a separate account number, name and PIN number.
While the suspects were nabbed at Numerica Credit Union in Richland, court documents show they were operating out of hotels in Yakima County and driving rental cars from Seattle and Southern California.
[….]
Emil Kabirov, 21, Denis Legun, 24, Ana Onici, 22, and George Vasile, 35, appeared Friday in Benton County Superior Court.
Judge Joe Burrowes raised Kabirov’s bail to $500,000 — an amount typically reserved for defendants in murder, violent assault and certain child sex cases.
Bail is set at $100,000 each for Legun and Vasile with the stipulation that they surrender their passports before posting bond. If they don’t hand them over but want to be released, the bail amount increases to $500,000 on each.
[….]
The suspects may have used a skimming device attached to an ATM, gas pump or a card reader in a store to record legitimate transactions.
The stolen information, or metadata, is then downloaded from the device, providing scammers with account numbers and access PINs.
Often, that information is used to make counterfeit cards with blank gift cards so the thieves can use them like credit or debit cards at various ATMs to unlawfully withdraw money from those accounts.
Muchmore here.
Kabirov and Legun are identified as Russians, Vasile is Romanian, and Onica is from Moldova and all are ordered to appear in court in February. A fifth suspect got away.
Kudos to Ms. Kraemer! So why can’t we have reporting like this more often—reporting that doesn’t shy away from telling the public when the crooks are immigrants of some sort!
However, I still have one question: which legal immigration program did this bunch use to get in to the US, or did they arrive illegally somehow? How can we ever reform immigration if we don’t know where the loopholes are that crooks like these creeps take advantage of?
However, I still have one question: which legal immigration program did this bunch use to get in to the US, or did they arrive illegally somehow? How can we ever reform immigration if we don’t know where the loopholes are that crooks like these creeps take advantage of?