DEA Archived Press Releases

Press Releases before January 20, 2025
10 Results - Showing 1 to 10
PRESS RELEASE

24 People Indicted for Cross-County Marijuana Distribution and Money Laundering Conspiracies, Firearms Offenses, and Other Crimes

ALBANY, NEW YORK – Twenty-four defendants have been charged with marijuana distribution, money laundering, firearms, and related offenses in an indictment returned last month. The announcement was made by United States Attorney Carla B. Freedman; John B. DeVito, Special Agent in Charge of the New York Field Division of the...
PRESS RELEASE

Queens Man Convicted of Laundering Bitcoin and Operating Unlicensed Money Transmitting Business

BROOKLYN, NEW YORK – Earlier today, a federal jury in Brooklyn convicted Mustafa Goklu, also known as “Mustangy,” of money laundering and operating an unlicensed money transmitting business as part of a scheme to launder the purported Bitcoin proceeds of drug trafficking. The verdict followed a four-day trial before United...
PRESS RELEASE

Dark Web Narcotics Trafficker Sentenced to 96 Months in Prison

BROOKLYN, NY – Earlier today, at the federal courthouse in Brooklyn, Joanna De Alba was sentenced by United States District Judge Dora L. Irizarry to 96 months in prison for distributing, and possessing with intent to distribute, illegal drugs over the “dark web.” De Alba distributed an array of illegal...
PRESS RELEASE

Dark Web Narcotics Traffickers Plead Guilty to Conspiracy to Distribute Illegal Drugs in Exchange for Cryptocurrency

BROOKLYN, NY - Earlier today, in federal court in Brooklyn, Gilberto Melgarejo pleaded guilty to conspiracy to distribute and possess with intent to distribute illegal drugs over the “dark web.” Co-defendant Brooke Gray pleaded guilty to the same charge on August 10, 2021. Melgarejo and Gray participated in dozens of...
PRESS RELEASE

Colombian Narcotrafficker Sentenced for Distributing Over 30,000 Kilos of Cocaine in the U.S.

BROOKLYN, NY - Earlier today, in federal court in Brooklyn, Carlos Gentil Ordonez Martinez was sentenced to 210 months’ imprisonment by United States District Judge Edward R. Korman for conspiracy to internationally distribute cocaine. As part of the sentence, the Court entered a forfeiture money judgment of $10 million. Ordonez...
PRESS RELEASE

Seven Defendants Charged for Laundering Over $28 Million for DTO

NEW YORK - Ray Donovan, Special Agent in Charge of the New York Division of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, and Audrey Strauss, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, announced charges today against seven individuals involved in laundering tens of millions of dollars for drug...
PRESS RELEASE

Rochester Man Sentenced for Selling Cocaine and Laundering the Proceeds

ROCHESTER, N.Y. – U.S. Attorney James P. Kennedy, Jr. and U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration Special Agent in Charge Ray Donovan, New York Division announced today that Edwin Calderon, 39, of Rochester, NY, who was convicted of conspiring to possess with intent to distribute, and to distribute, 500 grams or more...
PRESS RELEASE

Staten Island man sentenced to nine years’ imprisonment for international arms trafficking and money laundering

BROOKLYN, N.Y. – Earlier today, in federal court in Brooklyn, Albert Veliu was sentenced by United States District Judge Kiyo A. Matsumoto to nine years’ imprisonment for his role in a money laundering scheme that resulted in the defendant’s purchase and sale of an anti-tank rocket launcher and AK-47s rifles...
PRESS RELEASE

Seven individuals arrested for allegedly operating an advance fee loan scheme

HAUPPAUGE, N.Y. – Seven people were arrested in connection with an alleged advance fee loan scheme that affected more than 35 identified victims across the country. The arrests are the result of a more than year-long investigation conducted by the District Attorney’s Office, Federal Bureau of Investigations, U.S. Drug Enforcement...
PRESS RELEASE

Federal jury convicts Arizona man of drug trafficking and money laundering conspiracy charges

SYRCAUSE, NY - Drug Enforcement Administration Special Agent in Charge James J. Hunt of the New York Division, United States Attorney Grant C. Jaquith, U.S. Postal Inspector in Charge Joseph Cronin, and New York State Police Superintendent George P. Beach II announced that Alonzo Harris, 43, of Youngtown, Arizona, was...