DOJ this week indicted two co-founders of virtual currency mixer Tornado Cash, which it said facilitated more than $1 billion in money laundering transactions for the Lazarus Group, the sanctioned North Korean cybercrime organization. The agency said Roman Storm of Auburn, Washington, and Russian national Roman Semenov knowingly conspired to violate U.S. sanctions.
Charles McGonigal, a former senior FBI official, pleaded guilty in connection with a scheme to violate U.S. sanctions against Russia, DOJ announced Aug. 15. McGonigal was charged with conspiring to violate the International Emergency Economic Powers Act in January after DOJ said he “provided services” to sanctioned Russian oligarch Oleg Deripaska in exchange for payments, including by agreeing to investigate a Russian oligarch who was a rival of Deripaska (see 2301230030 and 2308080030).
Colombian conglomerate Grupo Aval and its subsidiary Corporacion Financiera Colombiana (Corficolombiana) will pay more than $60 million to settle allegations that the firms violated the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, the SEC and DOJ announced last week. The government alleged Corficolombiana bribed Colombian government officials to win a contract for a 328-mile highway infrastructure project in the South American nation.
Rhode Island resident Robert Alcantara pleaded guilty to conspiring to traffic in firearms after planning to sell more than 100 “ghost guns” to people in the Dominican Republic, DOJ announced this month. DOJ said Alcantara used his home as a factory to turn gun kits into ghost guns, which have no serial numbers and are untraceable. Alcantara received payments for some gun exports to the Dominican Republic and laundered those funds. He faces a maximum five-year prison sentence for conspiring to traffic firearms and a maximum 20-year sentence for conspiring to launder money.
The U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia dismissed a case against a United Arab Emirates cigarette filter and tear tape manufacturer following a more than $660,000 settlement agreement with the government for violating U.S. sanctions against North Korea . Essentra FZE Company Limited exported cigarette filter rods to North Korea and did not voluntarily disclose the violations, which the Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control said constituted an egregious case (U.S. v. Essentra FZE Company, Dist. D.C. # 20-112).
Two U.S. Navy servicemembers, Jinchao Wei and Wenheng Zhao, were arrested in California as part of two separate cases for "transmitting sensitive military information" to China, DOJ announced Aug. 3.
New Hampshire-based furniture seller Yogibo will pay $217,832 to settle charges it violated the False Claims Act by "failing to pay customs duties on imports from China," the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Massachusetts announced July 26. The case was brought by David Kohlenberger, a whistleblower and former senior logistics and warehouse manager for Yogibo from 2017 to 2021, who will receive 20% of the settlement.
The Federal Reserve Board on July 19 fined Deutsche Bank, its New York branch and other U.S. affiliates $186 million for violating two consent orders with the bank dealing with sanctions compliance and anti-money laundering controls. The board said Deutsche Bank "made insufficient remedial progress" under the two orders and had insufficient "anti-money laundering internal controls and governance processes" stemming from its past relationship with the bank's Estonian branch.
Vadim Konoshchenok, a Russian citizen allegedly linked to Russia's Federal Security Service, appeared before the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York on July 14 on charges of conspiracy related to a "global procurement and money laundering" scheme to benefit the Russian state, the U.S. Attorney's Office for that district announced. He faces a maximum of 30 years in prison.
DOJ this week indicted Gal Luft, former co-director of a Maryland think tank, on charges related to “multiple international criminal schemes,” including arms trafficking and violating U.S. sanctions against Iran. The agency said Luft, a dual U.S.-Israeli citizen who worked at the Institute for the Analysis of Global Security, for “years” worked as a Chinese agent to “advance the interests” of the Chinese government, including by acting as a middleman in a range of illegal weapons and oil deals.