Author: MIL-OSI Publisher

Source: United States Department of Justice Criminal Division

Venezuelan national and illegal alien Rafael Enrique Gamez Salas, 40, has been extradited from the United States to Chile, at the request of the Government of Chile, so that he may be prosecuted on seven charges stemming from his alleged role as a leader of “Los Piratas,” the primary Chilean cell of the Venezuelan transnational criminal organization Tren de Aragua (TdA).

Chile accuses Gamez Salas, who was surrendered to Chilean authorities on Thursday, of directing multiple extortions and kidnappings on behalf of TdA, one of which resulted in the highly publicized murder of a former Venezuelan military officer. This extradition brings Gamez Salas, who also has criminal convictions in the United States for human smuggling and illegal reentry after deportation, one step closer to facing justice in Chile after illegally attempting to seek refuge in the United States.

“The United States is not a safe haven for dangerous criminal aliens,” said Attorney General Todd Blanche. “Rafael Enrique Gamez Salas should never have been in our country in the first place, but under the Biden administration, open-border policies left the doors wide open, and hundreds of suspected and convicted Tren de Aragua terrorists poured into this country. Gamez Salas’s extradition is evidence of the strong cooperation with our Chilean partners to combat transnational crime, dismantle foreign terrorist organizations like Tren de Aragua, and hold members accountable for their heinous criminal acts.” 

“At the time of TdA leader Rafael Enrique Gamez Salas’s arrest on the Chilean extradition charges, he was finishing a sentence here for illegal re-entry into the United States,” said Assistant Attorney General A. Tysen Duva of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division. “Instead of deporting him to Venezuela, which does not extradite its own nationals, he now will be sent to Chile to face charges there that include murder, kidnapping, and extortion. The Criminal Division’s Office of International Affairs worked extensively with Chilean authorities to extradite this defendant and ensure that another violent, illegal alien who came here unlawfully will be punished for breaking our laws and then go to Chile to face the charges levied there. When governments work cross borders together, all communities benefit and become more safe.” 

“Thanks to the previous administration’s open borders, a murderous terrorist was allowed to enter our country,” said First Assistant U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli for the Central District of California. “I commend our law enforcement partners in the United States and Chile for removing this criminal, who will hopefully never see the outside of a prison again.”

Gamez Salas, also known as “Adrian Rafael Gamez Finol” and “Turko,” is accused of overseeing the criminal activities of Los Piratas in Chile. According to Chilean authorities, he planned and coordinated kidnappings, homicides, extortions and other offenses on behalf of the TdA affiliate, which included instructing subordinates to obtain necessary resources to execute the offenses and ensuring that financial resources generated for Los Piratas were transferred abroad. Chile sought Gamez Salas’s extradition so that he may stand trial for one count of criminal association, two counts of extortion, two counts of unjustified firearm discharge, one count of kidnapping resulting in homicide and one count of kidnapping for extortion, arising from separate crimes against multiple victims.

Chile alleges, among other things, that Gamez Salas, acting under the supervision of senior TdA leadership, directed and planned the February 2024 kidnapping and murder in Santiago, Chile, of a former Lieutenant in the Venezuelan military.

According to Chile, members of Los Piratas arrived at the victim’s apartment building in the middle of the night armed with firearms and in a car equipped with a blue light in an apparent attempt to impersonate officers of the Chilean Investigative Police. After using a battering ram to force entry into the victim’s apartment, the perpetrators handcuffed the victim and forcibly removed him from the building and into a car.

Around one week later, in response to a tip from a witness, authorities discovered the victim’s body by drilling into the concrete floor of a makeshift dwelling in a housing development elsewhere in Santiago, Chile. The victim’s body was found covered in lime, concealed inside a suitcase, buried in concrete more than three feet deep and sealed beneath a concrete slab.

An autopsy determined that the victim’s cause of death was asphyxia due to hanging, and the victim’s body showed signs of suspension by the upper extremities, lesions consistent with torture and partial postmortem dismemberment. Testimony obtained in the Chilean investigation revealed that the victim’s kidnapping and murder was allegedly ordered by leaders of TdA and directed to be paid for from outside of Chile.

Additionally, in an intercepted conversation, Gamez Salas allegedly told other Los Piratas members that he had been assigned “from above” the task of coordinating and executing the crime.

In support of its other charges against Gamez Salas, Chile also alleges that he played a leading role in an April 2024 deadly armed confrontation that killed a Chilean police officer; February and June 2024 kidnappings for extortion; and a March 2024 attempted kidnapping, among other offenses.

In 2023, Gamez Salas was removed from the United States to Venezuela for having entered the United States illegally. He subsequently illegally reentered the United States and was prosecuted for human smuggling by the Val Verde County District Attorney’s Office in Texas. He was convicted in February 2025, after which he was indicted in the Southern District of Texas for illegally reentering the United States. He pled guilty to the illegal reentry charge in April 2025 and was serving his prison sentence in the Central District of California when he was arrested on Chile’s provisional arrest request in this matter. Gamez Salas was also subject to an order of removal to Venezuela, which does not extradite its own nationals.

On June 30, following Chile’s submission of a formal extradition request, Gamez Salas consented to extradition, and U.S. Magistrate Judge Charles F. Eick for the Central District of California certified his extradition to the Secretary of State. The U.S. Department of State subsequently issued a surrender warrant authorizing Gamez Salas’s extradition. The extradition matter for Gamez Salas was handled by Assistant U.S. Attorney John J. Lulejian for the Central District of California and Trial Attorneys Reena T. Mittelman and Ruxandra Barbulescu of the Justice Department’s Office of International Affairs. The U.S. Marshals Service provided significant assistance in this case and ensured a smooth and safe transfer of custody to Chilean authorities so that Gamez Salas could be transported back to Chile to face trial.

Previously, in September 2025, the United States extradited to Chile another alleged TdA member, Edgar Javier Benitez Rubio, who was charged in Chile with multiple offenses arising from this same kidnapping and murder of the former Venezuelan Lieutenant. That extradition matter was handled by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Indiana and the Justice Department’s Office of International Affairs.

Source: United States Department of Justice Criminal Division

A Brooklyn, New York, woman pleaded guilty today to preparing false tax returns for clients.

According to court documents and statements made in court, Edris Cust operated a tax preparation business called Cust Tax Service. From approximately 2019 through 2023, Cust prepared false and fraudulent individual tax returns for multiple clients of Cust Tax Service. These returns included, among other false items, false elections for head-of-household filing status, sales of capital assets resulting in losses and rental receipts, as well as inflated rental expenses. These false items resulted in Cust’s clients reporting to the IRS income tax returns that sought refunds they were not entitled to receive or lower taxes than they should have paid. Cust caused a total loss to the IRS of more than $1.4 million.

Cust pleaded guilty to one count of willfully aiding and assisting in the preparation and presentation of a false tax return. She will be sentenced at a later date and faces a maximum penalty of three years in prison. A federal district court judge will determine any sentence after considering the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.

Assistant Attorney General Colin McDonald of the Justice Department’s National Fraud Enforcement Division and Special Agent in Charge Henry Chavis of IRS Criminal Investigation (IRS-CI) New York made the announcement.

IRS-CI is investigating the case.

Trial Attorneys Richard J. Kelley and Joseph D.G. Castro of the National Fraud Enforcement Division’s Tax Section are prosecuting the case.

On April 7, the Department of Justice announced the creation of the National Fraud Enforcement Division. The Fraud Division is laser-focused on investigating and prosecuting those who commit fraud against the American people. The Department’s work to combat fraud supports President Trump’s Task Force to Eliminate Fraud, a whole-of-government effort chaired by Vice President J.D. Vance to eliminate fraud, waste, and abuse within Federal benefit programs.

Source: United States Department of Justice

A Nigerian national was sentenced yesterday to 95 months in prison for his role in a money laundering conspiracy involving millions of dollars tied to various fraud schemes — including business email compromise, romance, and unemployment insurance fraud scams — perpetrated against U.S. citizens. 

According to court documents, Oluwasegun Baiyewu, 40, of Houston, Texas, led a conspiracy that laundered over $3.1 million in proceeds of various fraud schemes by purchasing used cars with illicit proceeds and then shipping those cars to West Africa. Between approximately May 2020 and October 2021, Baiyewu worked with at least six other co-conspirators in the United States and Nigeria. Using encrypted messaging applications, such as WhatsApp, Baiyewu and his co-conspirators coordinated the receipt and use of illicit money to purchase salvaged cars and then ship them to Nigeria.

In one instance, Baiyewu conspired to launder funds obtained from a business email compromise scheme perpetrated against a Puerto Rican renewable energy company, which was tricked into sending approximately $280,000 by wire to bank accounts controlled by fraudsters and money launderers. Baiyewu then worked with his co-conspirators to launder the Puerto Rican company’s money by paying toward the purchase of cars located in the United States that he arranged to export and ship to Nigeria to benefit the co-conspirators. A federal jury convicted Baiyewu in August 2025 of one count of conspiracy to commit money laundering. 

The Department of Justice’s Criminal Division, through its Cyber-Enabled Scam Initiative (CSI), works to disrupt and stop cyber-enabled criminal networks that prey on Americans. CSI brings together expert prosecutors from across the Division to accelerate the prosecution of cyber-enabled financial crimes, including investment and crypto scams, government imposter schemes, romance and inheritance scams, financially motivated sextortion, lottery and sweepstakes scams, and other predatory schemes. With nationwide jurisdiction and global reach, CSI leverages every available tool to dismantle criminal operations, pursue bad actors, recover criminal proceeds, and obtain justice for victims. The Criminal Division partners with U.S. Attorney’s Offices across the country and is a founding member of the Scam Center Strike Force launched in November 2025 by Jeanine Ferris Pirro, U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia.

The U.S. Postal Inspection Service, U.S. Department of Labor Office of Inspector General, and FBI San Juan Cyber Task Force investigated the case, with assistance from the National Unemployment Insurance Fraud Task Force supporting the COVID-19 Fraud Enforcement Strike Force teams.

Trial Attorneys Emily Powers and Richard Greene of the Criminal Division’s White Collar and Corporate Enforcement Section and Assistant U.S. Attorney Linet Olinghouse for the District of Puerto Rico prosecuted the case.

Source: United States Department of Justice

Yesterday, the Justice Department’s Energy and Natural Resources Division (ENRD) filed a statement of interest in a lawsuit brought by the Oklahoma Attorney General, expressing support for the construction of a primary aluminum smelter in Inola, Oklahoma.

ENRD’s filing concerns a case where the Oklahoma Attorney General has sued Century Aluminum Company and Aluminum Oklahoma, alleging environmental violations under state nuisance laws. Plaintiff’s allegations concern the federal Clean Air Act and Clean Water Act, which require environmental permits for the construction and operation of the primary aluminum smelter. Instead of allowing review of these environmental permits in the first instances, the Oklahoma Attorney General seeks to enjoin construction through this premature lawsuit, threatening vital materials critical to our nation’s defense.

“This project advances national and economic security by reducing the country’s reliance on foreign sources of materials critical to the national defense,” said Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Adam Gustafson of ENRD.  “The Department of Justice is committed to supporting military readiness and opposing litigation that subverts environmental regulatory processes established by Congress.”

President Donald J. Trump’s recently issued executive order Further Strengthening Actions Taken to Adjust Imports of Aluminum into the United States, recognizing that the quantities of aluminum imported into the United States threaten to impair our national security. Domestic production and supply of primary aluminum is imperative in producing an irreplaceable strategic material that is indispensable to our modern defense manufacturing. The Department of War requires primary aluminum for aerospace and air dominance, ground combat vehicles, naval systems, missiles, and space programs. However, the United States now represents less than 1 percent of the global primary aluminum production. As a result, China, the leading global producer of primary aluminum, has sought to leverage its position in primary aluminum production to gain advantage over the United States. 

As outlined in ENRD’s statement of interest, the primary aluminum smelter in Inola is the nearest-term solution in combating this national security risk. Once completed, the smelter would be the first constructed in the United States in over 40 years and would rank as the largest primary aluminum production facility in the United States, more than doubling the nation’s output. The Department of Energy recently awarded $500 million in support of this project, recognizing its importance in increasing domestic production of primary aluminum while avoiding an estimated 75 percent of emissions from a traditional smelter. A delay in construction would place the United States at risk of foreign reliance and severely limits our ability to produce the armor, aircraft, and munitions required for national defense.

The Clean Air Act and Clean Water Act provide the appropriate mechanism to address environmental concerns raised by the Oklahoma Attorney General. In its filing, ENRD asked the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Oklahoma to dismiss the lawsuit, which would otherwise stop construction of the primary aluminum smelter and threaten America’s security by denying access to this critical material necessary for military readiness.

Attorneys with ENRD’s Environmental Defense Section are handling this matter.

Source: United States Department of Justice

A vessel operating company pleaded guilty today in the Eastern District of Pennsylvania to charges stemming from the discharge of oily waste into the sea. MSC Shipmanagement Limited, one of the largest shipping companies in the world, pleaded guilty to two counts of violating the Act to Prevent Pollution from Ships (APPS) for conduct that occurred on the motor vessel MSC Samira III between June 2024 and January 2025. The vessel’s owner, Hong Kong Spirit Shipping and Trading Limited, also pleaded guilty to two counts of violating APPS. Both companies were sentenced to pay a combined fine of $1.75 million and serve four years of probation. Second Engineer Mikhail Tsurikov previously pleaded guilty to violating APPS and is scheduled to be sentenced on Sept. 10. 

“Foreign vessels that enter the ports of the United States and present false documents undermine our efforts to preserve our environment and enforce the law,” said Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Adam Gustafson of the Energy and Natural Resources Division (ENRD). “We will vigorously protect the integrity of our port state control system against actors who put profit over compliance with the law.”

“These companies repeatedly cut corners and covered it up, befouling the marine environment,” said U.S. Attorney David Metcalf for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania. “Their violations evidence both a disdain for our country’s laws and a clear case of greed. Shippers who illegally discharge pollutants and doctor their records will be prosecuted and held accountable.”

“Deliberately concealing illegal discharges puts our marine environment at risk and undermines the domestic and international regulatory frameworks designed to keep our waterways safe,” said U.S. Coast Guard Capt. Roberto Rivera, captain of the port and commander of Sector Delaware Bay. “The Coast Guard remains committed to working with our federal partners to hold operators accountable when they violate the laws that protect our oceans.”

“The Coast Guard Investigative Service (CGIS) possesses unique statutory authorities and specialized investigative capabilities purpose-built to address complex criminal conduct in the maritime environment,” said CGIS Assistant Special Agent in Charge Javiel Gonzalez. “When maritime operators engage in criminal deception, falsify official records, and attempt to circumvent federal oversight, CGIS special agents have the technical expertise and jurisdiction to uncover the truth and hold perpetrators accountable. This case underscores our unwavering commitment to maintaining the integrity of our waterways and enforcing the rule of law across the maritime domain.”

Between June and September 2024, senior officers in the engine department of the MSC Samira III instructed lower-level crew members to pump oily bilge water from the vessel’s bilge holding tank to the sewage holding tank using portable pumps and hoses. The crew members then discharged the oily bilge water into the sea using the sewage holding tank’s overboard discharge valve. In doing so, they bypassed the oil water separator, a piece of pollution prevention equipment that is designed to prevent the discharge of oily bilge water containing more than 15 parts per million of oil into the sea. 

Such exceptional discharges of oil are required by U.S. and international law to be recorded in a ship’s oil record book, but the officers in charge of these operations failed to do so. In addition to these discharges of oily waste from the vessel’s sewage holding tank, on several occasions between September 2024 and January 2025, senior engine department crew members also tricked the oil water separator by running fresh water instead of oily bilge water through the equipment’s oil content monitor. Doing so allowed them to discharge oily bilge water directly into the sea through the oil water separator. These discharges were also not accurately recorded in the vessel’s oil record book as required by law. 

In January 2025, the MSC Samira III made two separate calls in the Port of Philadelphia, where its crew presented the false oil record book to the U.S. Coast Guard. 

The U.S. Coast Guard Sector Delaware Bay and the U.S. Coast Guard Investigative Service investigated the case. 

Trial Attorney Lauren Steele of ENRD’s Environmental Crimes Section and Assistant U.S. Attorneys Angella Middleton and Anthony Scicchitano for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania prosecuted the case.

Source: United States Department of Justice

Yesterday, the Justice Department’s Energy and Natural Resources Division (ENRD) filed a statement of interest in a lawsuit brought by the Oklahoma Attorney General, expressing support for the construction of a primary aluminum smelter in Inola, Oklahoma.

ENRD’s filing concerns a case where the Oklahoma Attorney General has sued Century Aluminum Company and Aluminum Oklahoma, alleging environmental violations under state nuisance laws. Plaintiff’s allegations concern the federal Clean Air Act and Clean Water Act, which require environmental permits for the construction and operation of the primary aluminum smelter. Instead of allowing review of these environmental permits in the first instances, the Oklahoma Attorney General seeks to enjoin construction through this premature lawsuit, threatening vital materials critical to our nation’s defense.

“This project advances national and economic security by reducing the country’s reliance on foreign sources of materials critical to the national defense,” said Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Adam Gustafson of ENRD.  “The Department of Justice is committed to supporting military readiness and opposing litigation that subverts environmental regulatory processes established by Congress.”

President Donald J. Trump’s recently issued executive order Further Strengthening Actions Taken to Adjust Imports of Aluminum into the United States, recognizing that the quantities of aluminum imported into the United States threaten to impair our national security. Domestic production and supply of primary aluminum is imperative in producing an irreplaceable strategic material that is indispensable to our modern defense manufacturing. The Department of War requires primary aluminum for aerospace and air dominance, ground combat vehicles, naval systems, missiles, and space programs. However, the United States now represents less than 1 percent of the global primary aluminum production. As a result, China, the leading global producer of primary aluminum, has sought to leverage its position in primary aluminum production to gain advantage over the United States. 

As outlined in ENRD’s statement of interest, the primary aluminum smelter in Inola is the nearest-term solution in combating this national security risk. Once completed, the smelter would be the first constructed in the United States in over 40 years and would rank as the largest primary aluminum production facility in the United States, more than doubling the nation’s output. The Department of Energy recently awarded $500 million in support of this project, recognizing its importance in increasing domestic production of primary aluminum while avoiding an estimated 75 percent of emissions from a traditional smelter. A delay in construction would place the United States at risk of foreign reliance and severely limits our ability to produce the armor, aircraft, and munitions required for national defense.

The Clean Air Act and Clean Water Act provide the appropriate mechanism to address environmental concerns raised by the Oklahoma Attorney General. In its filing, ENRD asked the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Oklahoma to dismiss the lawsuit, which would otherwise stop construction of the primary aluminum smelter and threaten America’s security by denying access to this critical material necessary for military readiness.

Attorneys with ENRD’s Environmental Defense Section are handling this matter.

Source: United States Department of Justice

A Nigerian national was sentenced yesterday to 95 months in prison for his role in a money laundering conspiracy involving millions of dollars tied to various fraud schemes — including business email compromise, romance, and unemployment insurance fraud scams — perpetrated against U.S. citizens. 

According to court documents, Oluwasegun Baiyewu, 40, of Houston, Texas, led a conspiracy that laundered over $3.1 million in proceeds of various fraud schemes by purchasing used cars with illicit proceeds and then shipping those cars to West Africa. Between approximately May 2020 and October 2021, Baiyewu worked with at least six other co-conspirators in the United States and Nigeria. Using encrypted messaging applications, such as WhatsApp, Baiyewu and his co-conspirators coordinated the receipt and use of illicit money to purchase salvaged cars and then ship them to Nigeria.

In one instance, Baiyewu conspired to launder funds obtained from a business email compromise scheme perpetrated against a Puerto Rican renewable energy company, which was tricked into sending approximately $280,000 by wire to bank accounts controlled by fraudsters and money launderers. Baiyewu then worked with his co-conspirators to launder the Puerto Rican company’s money by paying toward the purchase of cars located in the United States that he arranged to export and ship to Nigeria to benefit the co-conspirators. A federal jury convicted Baiyewu in August 2025 of one count of conspiracy to commit money laundering. 

The Department of Justice’s Criminal Division, through its Cyber-Enabled Scam Initiative (CSI), works to disrupt and stop cyber-enabled criminal networks that prey on Americans. CSI brings together expert prosecutors from across the Division to accelerate the prosecution of cyber-enabled financial crimes, including investment and crypto scams, government imposter schemes, romance and inheritance scams, financially motivated sextortion, lottery and sweepstakes scams, and other predatory schemes. With nationwide jurisdiction and global reach, CSI leverages every available tool to dismantle criminal operations, pursue bad actors, recover criminal proceeds, and obtain justice for victims. The Criminal Division partners with U.S. Attorney’s Offices across the country and is a founding member of the Scam Center Strike Force launched in November 2025 by Jeanine Ferris Pirro, U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia.

The U.S. Postal Inspection Service, U.S. Department of Labor Office of Inspector General, and FBI San Juan Cyber Task Force investigated the case, with assistance from the National Unemployment Insurance Fraud Task Force supporting the COVID-19 Fraud Enforcement Strike Force teams.

Trial Attorneys Emily Powers and Richard Greene of the Criminal Division’s White Collar and Corporate Enforcement Section and Assistant U.S. Attorney Linet Olinghouse for the District of Puerto Rico prosecuted the case.

Source: United States Department of Justice

First Assistant U.S. Attorney Ryan Ellison is encouraging New Mexico schools, youth-serving organizations, athletic programs and other community groups to take advantage of free training and prevention resources available through the Department of Justice to help protect children from online sexual exploitation and abuse.

Source: United States Department of Justice

Gregory Grooms, 27, of Washington, D.C., was sentenced today to 60 months in prison in D.C. Superior Court for charges related to an assault on a 31-year-old District resident on August 7, 2024, announced U.S. Attorney Jeanine Ferris Pirro.

Source: United States Department of Justice

Adebola Festus Adekunle, 26 years old, of Lagos, Nigeria, has been extradited to the United States from Nigeria to face prosecution in an unsealed indictment for the financially-motivated sextortion of a Mississippi minor, which lead to the victim’s death. The three-count federal indictment charges Adekunle with the sexual exploitation of a minor resulting in death, the production of child sexual abuse material, coercion and enticement of a minor, and interstate threats with intent to extort. He appeared in federal court in Oxford, Mississippi for an initial appearance on August 28, 2026.