Uko criminal Complaint
https://www.justice.gov/usao-sdny/press-release/file/1253371/download

Sagiao et al. criminal Complaint

https://www.justice.gov/usao-sdny/press-release/file/1253366/download

From at least in or about July 2018 up to and including at least in or about November 2019, SAGIAO, PENEUETA, JACKSON, FITTEN, COTTRELL, OBIKA, BASS, URO, AHAIWE, ANYAOGU, and UKO received and laundered the proceeds of three business email compromise schemes, in which the corporate and organizational victims were fraudulently induced to send nearly $5 million to bank accounts controlled by SAGIAO, OBIKA, and others.

From at least in or about June 2019 up to and including the present, JACKSON participated in and received proceeds from an online romance fraud scheme, in which the victim was fraudulently induced to send over $130,000 to JACKSON and others.

In or about October 2018, ANYAOGU participated in and received proceeds from an email compromise scheme, in which a foreign law firm was fraudulently induced to transfer approximately $380,000, intended for another person, to a bank account ANYAOGU controlled.

In or about February 2020, UKO made the false statements to federal law enforcement officers that he had never exchanged text messages with a co-conspirator and that certain transactions were for a textile business rather than to launder the proceeds of criminal activity.

[I]n 2018, North Korean co-conspirators hacked into a virtual currency exchange and stole nearly $250 million worth of virtual currency.  The funds were then laundered through hundreds of automated cryptocurrency transactions aimed at preventing law enforcement from tracing the funds.  The North Korean co-conspirators circumvented multiple virtual currency exchanges' know-your-customer controls by submitting doctored photographs and falsified identification documentation.  A portion of the laundered funds was used to pay for infrastructure used in North Korean hacking campaigns against the financial industry.

The pleadings further allege that between December 2017 and April 2019, Yinyin and Jiadong laundered over $100 million worth of virtual currency, which primarily came from virtual currency exchange hacks.  The defendants operated through independent as well as linked accounts and provided virtual currency transmission services for a fee for customers.  The defendants conducted business in the United States but at no time registered with the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN).

The pleadings further allege that the North Korean co-conspirators are tied to the theft of approximately $48.5 million worth of virtual currency from a South Korea-based virtual currency exchange in November 2019.  As with the prior campaign, the North Korean co-conspirators are alleged to have laundered the stolen funds through hundreds of automated transactions and submitted doctored photographs and falsified identification documentation.  The pleadings identify how the North Korean co-conspirators used infrastructure in North Korea as part of this campaign.

The civil forfeiture complaint specifically names 113 virtual currency accounts and addresses that were used by the defendants and unnamed co-conspirators to launder funds.  The forfeiture complaint seeks to recover the funds, a portion of which has already been seized.  

aliases to convince USLG management that they held the requisite securities licenses to engage in investor solicitations. From September 2015 through November 2018, Arthur and Bongiorno allegedly solicited individual investors throughout the United States to invest in securities issued by USLG and PQEFF. The complaint alleges that, operating under their aliases, Arthur and Bongiorno used lead lists to cold call prospective investors and hired others to work below them to solicit investors to purchase USLG or PQEFF securities. In order to obfuscate their receipt of commissions, Arthur and Bongiorno allegedly submitted misleading invoices to USLG and PQEFF. Arthur and Bongiorno allegedly received commissions of 35% to 50% of investor funds, totaling at least $1,174,057.10 and $2,356,358.91, respectively.

The Securities and Exchange Commission ("Commission") is adopting amendments to the financial disclosure requirements for guarantors and issuers of guaranteed securities registered or being registered, and issuers' affiliates whose securities collateralize securities registered or being registered in Regulation S-X to improve those requirements for both investors and registrants. The changes are intended to provide investors with material information given the specific facts and circumstances, make the disclosures easier to understand, and reduce the costs and burdens to registrants. In addition, by reducing the costs and burdens of compliance, issuers may be encouraged to offer guaranteed or collateralized securities on a registered basis, thereby affording investors protection they may not be provided in offerings conducted on an unregistered basis. Finally, by making it less burdensome and less costly for issuers to include guarantees or pledges of affiliate securities as collateral when they structure debt offerings, the revisions may increase the number of registered offerings that include these credit enhancements, which could result in a lower cost of capital and an increased level of investor protection.