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Tag: DEA

Two Former Federal Agents Involved In Silk Road Probe Were Bitcoin Thieves And One Was An Extortionist, Justice Department Says

UPDATED 8:33 P.M. EDT U.S.A. There must be some long faces at the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration and the U.S. Secret Service today. That’s because two federal agents once assigned to a Task Force investigating the illicit Silk Road marketplace have been charged with federal crimes. Carl M. Force, 46, of Baltimore, was a DEA…

Mar 30, 2015
International MLM Huckster Who Laundered Money For Colombian Narcotics Operation Sentenced To 9 Years In U.S. Prison; David Murcia Also Faces 30-Year Term Behind Bars In South America Upon Release

David Eduardo Helmut Murcia Guzman (David Murcia), the MLM huckster whose pyramid scheme targeted the poor in Latin America and laundered money for a Colombian narcotics operation, has been sentenced to nine years in a U.S. federal prison. Murcia, 30, also faces a 30-year prison sentence in Colombia after his release from a U.S. jail.…

Jul 12, 2011
Fugitive With Links To The Late Pablo Escobar And Medellin Cartel Arrested 17 Years After Indictment; Sigifredo Maya Pleads Guilty In Florida

The long arm of U.S. law — and the long memory of U.S. law enforcement — has resulted in the guilty plea in Southern Florida of a Colombian fugitive linked to the defunct Medellin cocaine cartel and the late Pablo Escobar. In 1989, federal prosecutors said, Sigifredo Maya directed a money courier to deliver $3…

May 3, 2011
SPECIAL REPORT: Forex Firms Named In CFTC Sweep Used Same Offshore Processor As Alleged Imperia Invest Fraud; Name Of Man Linked To ‘Perfect Money’ Appears In Ponzi Forfeiture Complaint In Which Feds Tied Cash To International Narcotics Trade

SPECIAL REPORT: UPDATED 2:27 P.M. ET (U.S.A., FEB. 9) Federal court and web records show that at least three of the 14 purported Forex dealers named defendants in a major sweep of unregistered firms last month by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission advertised that they accepted funds from Perfect Money. Perfect Money is a murky…

Feb 8, 2011
UPDATE: Robert Hodgins Still Wanted By Interpol; Co-Defendant In Narcotics Probe With Link To AdSurfDaily Case Sentenced To Prison; Colombian Drug Business Used Same Debit Card As ASD

A Colombian national implicated in an international conspiracy to launder drug money has been sentenced to 45 months in prison, federal prosecutors announced. Meanwhile, another figure in the alleged scheme — Robert Hodgins, the operator of Dallas-based Virtual Money Inc. (VM) — remains at large, prosecutors said. Hodgins is wanted by Interpol on a warrant…

Aug 15, 2010
ANOTHER MYTH-BUSTER: U.S. Extradites ‘Legal Adviser’ To Corrupt MLM From Colombia; Margarita Pabon Castro Charged With Helping Pyramid Scheme Launder Money For Narco Businesses

EDITOR’S NOTE: It is common for fraudsters to claim that “offshore” locations insulate HYIPs, autosurfs and other investment-fraud schemes from prosecution in the United States. It is equally common for purveyors to claim the schemes are harmless. The story of the alleged DMG pyramid scheme is one in which prosecutors allege a monstrous multilevel-marketing company…

Aug 9, 2010
KABOOM! Agents Tie Alleged ‘Evolution Market Group’ Ponzi And HYIP Fraud Scheme To Narcotics Case In Arizona; Tens Of Millions Of Dollars Seized; Firms Promoted On ASA Monitor, TalkGold Forums

Kaboom! It has happened again. Explosive court filings by the government show that kneejerk apologists and defenders of High Yield Investment Programs (HYIPs) and autosurfs are quickly running out of cover when they assert that anything is noble or even real about the programs they relentlessly push for their share of purported profits from introducing…

May 16, 2010
UPDATE: 5 Convictions To Date In Money-Laundering Cases Involving Colombian Drug Operation That Used Same Debit Card As AdSurfDaily Autosurf

Federal prosecutors have announced five convictions in an international money-laundering case involving drug proceeds and the use of “stored-value” debit cards. (See subhead below.) The cases were brought by the Drug Enforcement Administration in 2008 as a result of an undercover operation. The debit cards used in the transactions were provided by Virtual Money Inc.,…

Apr 17, 2010
BREAKING NEWS: Secret Service Feared Bowdoin Would Flee Country After Moving Money Offshore And Relinquishing His Interest In Golden Panda Ad Builder

The U.S. Secret Service feared AdSurfDaily President Andy Bowdoin had become aware of scrutiny into his business affairs and planned to flee the country, according to a 37-page affidavit originally filed under seal in the case. Meanwhile, the affidavit revealed that a key Secret Service investigator in the case formerly was a member of a…

Nov 18, 2009