Thread: ICE seized $19.4 MILLION in cash

I.C.E. News Releases
FINANCIAL CRIMES
01/05/2017

ICE Boston seizes nearly $20 million, arrests Brazilian national in money laundering scheme linked to TelexFree




BOSTON — Federal special agents in Massachusetts seized $19.4 million in cash and arrested a Brazilian national late Wednesday in connection with a money laundering conspiracy, which was part of the massive TelexFree pyramid scheme.

This seizure and arrest resulted from a complex investigation by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), with the assistance of the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA), Massachusetts State Police, Bristol County Sheriff’s Department, and the police departments of the Massachusetts cities of Boston, Hudson and Westborough.
Cleber Rene Rizerio Rocha, 28, a Brazilian national living in Westborough, Massachusetts, was charged via criminal complaint with one count of conspiring to commit money laundering. Rocha was ordered detained following an appearance Thursday before U.S. District Court Magistrate Judge Judith G. Dein.

According to the complaint, in April 2014, HSI special agents searched the headquarters of TelexFree, Inc., in Marlborough, Massachusetts. Later that day, Carlos Wanzeler, one of the founders of the company, allegedly fled to Brazil, his native country, where he has since remained. Wanzeler and TelexFree co-founder James Merrill were indicted in July 2014 on charges that they operated TelexFree as a massive pyramid scheme. Merrill pleaded guilty to those charges in October 2016 and is awaiting sentencing.

The Rocha complaint alleges that an intermediary working on Wanzeler’s behalf contacted an associate for help transferring millions of dollars of TelexFree money – still hidden in the greater Boston area – from the United States to Brazil. The associate, who subsequently became a cooperating witness for the government, allegedly arranged with Wanzeler’s nephew in Brazil to launder the cash through Hong Kong, convert it to Brazilian Reals, and transfer it to Brazilian accounts.

According to court documents, Rocha, acting as a courier for Wanzeler’s nephew, flew from Brazil to JFK Airport in New York City a few days ago. On Wednesday, Rocha met the cooperating witness at a restaurant in Hudson and allegedly gave him $2.2 million in a suitcase. After the meeting, agents followed Rocha to an apartment complex in Westborough, Mass., and later arrested him. That night, federal agents searched an apartment at the Westborough complex and seized a massive stockpile of cash hidden in a box spring. The cash totals $19.4 million.

The charging statute provides for a sentence of no greater than 20 years in prison, three years of supervised release and a fine of $250,000 or twice the gross gain or loss, whichever is greater. Actual sentences for federal crimes are typically less than the maximum penalties. Sentences are imposed by a federal district court judge based on the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.

Assistant U.S. Attorneys Andrew E. Lelling and Neil J. Gallagher, Jr., are prosecuting the case.

The details in the complaint are allegations. The defendant is presumed to be innocent unless and until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.

https://www.ice.gov/news/releases/ic...ndering-scheme

Hide and seek: Feds find $20 million in a mattress

By Doug Criss, CNN
Updated 1936 GMT (0336 HKT) January 24, 2017

(CNN)Where's the best place to hide millions of dollars in cash?

In a safe? Buried deep underground?

How about the box spring of your mattress?

That's where a Brazilian man reportedly hid $20 million that authorities said was related to a massive pyramid scheme.

The U.S. Attorney's Office said the suspect, Cleber Rene Rizerio Rocha, flew from Brazil to the US a few days ago to met a person who is a cooperating witness in the pyramid scheme case. Rocha and the witness met at a restaurant in Hudson, Massachusetts. There the witness allegedly gave Rocha a suitcase filled with $2.2 million in bills.

Federal agents followed Rocha to an apartment complex in Westborough, Massachusetts, where they arrested him. Later that night the agents searched the apartment and found the cash, packed inside the box spring of a mattress. It wasn't immediately clear if the $2.2 million in the suitcase was part of the $20 million found in the box spring.

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Rocha was charged with one count of conspiring to commit money laundering. The feds say Rocha was acting as a courier for Carlos Wanzeler, one of the founders of TelexFree Inc., a Massachusetts-based Internet phone service company. Federal authorities said TelexFree morphed into a pyramid scheme that defrauded people out of around $1 billion.

Wanzeler fled to Brazil in April 2014, the U.S. Attorney's Office said, just a couple of months before he was indicted on charges with co-founder James Merrill. Rocha was in the United States to secure millions of dollars of hidden TelexFree cash and get it to Brazil by laundering the money through Hong Kong, the feds said.

Rocha faces up to 20 years in prison on the money laundering charge.

http://edition.cnn.com/2017/01/24/he...rnd/index.html

1 year of supervised release???

02/09/2018

ICE Boston announces sentencing of Brazilian National convicted in $20 million dollar international money laundering pyramid scheme

BOSTON – Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) Boston and the U.S. Attorney for Massachusetts announced the sentencing in federal court Thursday of a Brazilian national on charges in a $20 million dollar money-laundering international pyramid scheme based in the Boston area.

HSI Acting Special Agent in Charge, Michael Shea, along with United States Attorney Andrew E. Lelling, whose office prosecuted the case, announced that Cleber Rene Rizerio Rocha, 28, was sentenced by U.S. District Court Judge Leo T. Sorokin to 33 months in prison and one year of supervised release. In October 2017, Rocha pleaded guilty to one count of conspiring to commit money laundering and one count of money laundering.

“This sentencing serves as a real warning to those who delude themselves into thinking they can defraud Americans and flagrantly violate U.S. financial laws without consequences.” said Michael Shea, Acting Special Agent in Charge of Homeland Security Investigations in Boston

“This investigation and successful prosecution, accomplished through a years-long team effort, highlights HSI’s continued emphasis to dismantle large scale money laundering organizations that utilize our financial institutions to defraud the American public.

After a search warrant executed in April 2014 at the headquarters of TelexFree Inc., a massive pyramid scheme based in Marlborough, Mass. that caused billions of dollars in losses to nearly two million victims worldwide, Carlos Wanzeler, one of the founders of the company, fled first to Canada and then to Brazil, his native country. In his haste to flee the U.S.,Wanzeler left millions of dollars hidden in the greater Boston area.

In 2015, an intermediary working on Wanzeler’s behalf contacted an associate for help transferring the money from the United States to Brazil. The associate, who later cooperated with federal authorities, arranged with Wanzeler’s representative in Brazil to launder cash through Hong Kong, convert it to Brazilian Reals, and then transfer it to Brazilian accounts.

In January 2017, Rocha, working as a courier for Wanzeler’s representative in Brazil, flew from Brazil to New York City. Rocha later met the cooperating witness in Hudson, Mass., where Rocha gave him a suitcase containing $2.2 million of Wanzeler’s hidden TelexFree money, intending that the cooperating witness help launder the cash out of the United States. Rocha was arrested after being followed to an apartment in Westborough, Mass., which was later searched and resulted in the seizure of approximately $20 million in cash found hidden in a mattress box spring.

Wanzeler and TelexFree co-founder James Merrill were indicted in July 2014 on charges that they operated TelexFree as a massive pyramid scheme. Merrill pleaded guilty to those charges and was sentenced in March 2017 to six years in prison. Wanzeler remains a fugitive.
https://www.ice.gov/news/releases/ic...rvey-target-id

Buy some trains and buses and start MASSIVE DEPORTATION to the Southern Tip of Mexico!

Let Mexico deport the Central American's from there!

Mexico let them through and they can ship them out!

Newmexican wrote:

1 year of supervised release???

I certainly hope ICE deports him after the completion of his prison sentence.