Mecina Barrera was the leader of an international narcotics importation and distribution organization that imported hundreds of kilograms of crystal and liquid methamphetamine from Mexico. Mecina Barrera was the leader of an international narcotics importation and distribution organization that imported hundreds of kilograms of crystal and liquid methamphetamine from Mexico.
December 14, 2021 Damian Williams, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, Jonathan Mellone, Special Agent in Charge of the New York Regional Office of the U.S. Department of Labor Office of Inspector General ("DOL-OIG"), Ricky Patel, Acting Special Agent in Charge of the New York Field Office of Homeland Security Investigations ("HSI"), and Damon Wood, Inspector in Charge, Philadelphia Division of the United States Postal Inspection Service ("USPIS"), announced today the unsealing of a complaint charging Mariluz Fermin, Bellanilda Fermin, and Juan Nolasco with conspiracy to commit wire fraud, theft of government benefits, and aggravated identity theft in connection with a COVID-19 unemployment benefit scheme that attempted to steal more than $1.3 million from the New York Department of Labor ("NY DOL"). Mariluz Fermin, Bellanilda Fermin, and Nolasco were arrested this morning in Yonkers, New York, and will be presente
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Audrey Strauss, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, William F. Sweeney Jr., Assistant Director-in-Charge of the New York Field Office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (“FBI”), and Jonathan D. Larsen, Special Agent in Charge of the New York Field Office of the Internal Revenue Service, Criminal Investigation (“IRS-CI”), announced that ALHASSAN IDDRIS LARI, a/k/a Hassan Lari, pled guilty today to conspiring to commit money laundering and operating an unlawful money transmitting business, in connection with his involvement from at least in or about 2014 through in or about 2020 with a Ghana-based criminal enterprise that has fraudulently obtained millions of dollars through business email compromises and romance scams that targeted the elderly. The plea was entered in front of U.S. District Judge George B. Daniels. LARI is the seventh defendant to plead guilty in the case.