AFFIDAVIT IN SUPPORT OF VERIFIED COMPLAINT FOR CIVIL ...

[Pages:15]Exhibit A AFFIDAVIT IN SUPPORT OF VERIFIED COMPLAINT FOR CIVIL FORFEITURE

IN REM OF APPROXIMATELY $119,087.69 IN UNITED STATES CURRENCY FROM BANK OF AMERICA ACCOUNT ENDING IN 9049

I, Jeffrey Ferris, being first duly sworn on oath, do hereby depose and say: 1. I am a Special Agent with the United States Secret Service ("Secret Service"), and have been so employed since 2011. I am currently assigned to the Milwaukee Resident Office. My duties as a Special Agent with the Secret Service include investigating financial crimes such as identity fraud, check fraud, credit card fraud, bank fraud, wire fraud, currency-counterfeiting offenses, and money laundering. During my employment with the Secret Service, I have conducted several investigations that have resulted in seizures of criminally derived property, including monetary instruments. 2. As a Special Agent, I have conducted investigations into wire fraud, money laundering, and other complex financial crimes. In the course of those investigations, I have used various investigative techniques, including conducting and reviewing physical and electronic surveillance, conducting undercover operations, obtaining and reviewing financial records, and working with cooperating sources of information. In the course of those investigations, I have also become familiar with techniques that criminals use to conceal the nature, source, location, and ownership of proceeds of crime and to avoid detection by law enforcement of their underlying acts and money laundering activities. 3. All the information contained in this affidavit is based on my personal knowledge, including what I have learned through my training and experience as a law enforcement officer, my review of documents and other records obtained in the course of this investigation, and information I have obtained in the course of this investigation from witnesses having personal

Case 2:15-cv-01490-DEJ Filed 12/14/15 Page 1 of 15 Document 1-1

knowledge of the events and circumstances described herein and from other law enforcement officers, all of whom I believe to be truthful and reliable. I have not included in this affidavit every fact I know about this investigation.

4. I submit this affidavit in support of a Verified Complaint for Civil Forfeiture in rem against the defendant property, approximately $119,087.69 in United States currency from Bank of America account ending in 9049 held in the name of HNV Shipping & Export, LLC, which was seized on or about August 20, 2015.

Background 5. According to a March 2013 publication of the U.S. Federal Trade Commission, consumers lose hundreds of millions of dollars annually to cross-border financial crimes. Some of the most common cross-border financial schemes originate in West African nations such as Nigeria. Law enforcement agencies therefore sometimes refer to such schemes as "West African fraud schemes." 6. Common West African fraud schemes include: business email compromise scams ("BEC scam"), romance scams, work-from-home scams, and advance payment scams. 7. These scams work as follows:

A. BEC scam ? a fraudster gains unauthorized access to, or spoofs the email address of a victim and instructs the victim's financial institution to wire money to a bank account controlled by the fraudster or his associates.

B. Romance scam ? a fraudster uses electronic messages, sent via email or social media services, to delude the victim in the United States into believing the victim is in a romantic relationship with the person the fraudster purports to be and the fraudster then causes the victim to wire money to an account controlled by the fraudster on false pretenses.

C. Work-from-home scam ? a fraudster deludes a victim into believing that the victim can work from home doing legitimate work and the fraudster causes the victim to open a domestic bank account that the fraudster uses

2

Case 2:15-cv-01490-DEJ Filed 12/14/15 Page 2 of 15 Document 1-1

to receive fraud proceeds and to then wire those proceeds to an account controlled by the fraudster. D. Advance-fee scam ? a victim is deceived into believing that he has won a lottery or is to receive an inheritance from a distant relative or some other type of payment. The fraudster tricks the victim into paying an advance fee to the fraudster on the false premise that the fraudster will then pay the lottery winnings, inheritance, or other promised monies to the victim. The fraudster then keeps the advance fee or fees paid by the victim and the victim gets nothing in return. 8. Foreign perpetrators of such scams sometimes recruit witting or unwitting persons within the United States to open bank accounts that the foreign perpetrators use to receive proceeds of the scam. The foreign perpetrators often target persons within the United States who lack education or common sense, or who are seeking companionship, to open such accounts at financial institutions within the United States. Sometimes those accounts are opened by a victim of a romance scam. Sometimes the accounts used to receive proceeds of a West African fraud scam are opened in the name of a fictitious business, such as a limited liability company, in order to conceal the fraudulent nature of the recipient bank account from victims and victims' financial institutions.

Facts Supporting a Verified Complaint July 23, 2015 attempt to wire $10,000 in proceeds of business email compromise scam to the HNV Shipping & Export, LLC Bank of America account ending in 9049

9. During July 2015, unknown subjects tried to wire $10,000 in proceeds of a business email compromise scam, perpetrated in part in this judicial district, into the HNV Shipping & Export, LLC Bank of America account ending in 9049.

10. Specifically, on or about July 23, 2015, an unknown suspect or suspects hacked into an email account, XXXXXX@, which belonged to the owner of Van Horn Auto Group ("VHAG"), whose initials are "T.V.," without T.V.'s permission.

3

Case 2:15-cv-01490-DEJ Filed 12/14/15 Page 3 of 15 Document 1-1

11. VHAG's Corporate Headquarters is located in Plymouth, Wisconsin, within the

Eastern District of Wisconsin.

12. Between July 23, 2015, and July 28, 2015, the suspects used T.V.'s email

account, without permission, to email messages to Bank First National and Chase Bank, where

VHAG held bank accounts, to fraudulently instruct those banks to make the following wire

payments:

A. July 23, 2015 ? $10,000.00 From: VHAG Bank First National account ending in 0419 To: Bank of America account ending in 9049 held in the name of HNV Shipping & Export, LLC

B. July 23, 2015 ? $5,000.00 From: VHAG Bank First National account ending in 0430 To: US Bank account ending in 8907 held in the name of an individual with initials K.S.C.H.

C. July 23, 2015 ? $10,000.00 From: VHAG Bank First National account ending in 0430 To: First National Bank account ending in 1517 held in the name of an individual with initials J.K.

D. July 24, 2015 ? $5,000.00 From: VHAG Chase Bank account ending in 0397 To: VYSTAR Credit Union account ending in 4016 held in the name of an individual with initials L.J.

E. July 24, 2015 ? $15,000.00 From: VHAG Bank First National account ending in 0419 To: First National Bank account ending in 1517 held in the name of an individual with initials J.K.

F. July 28, 2015 ? $100,000.00 From: VHAG Bank First National account ending in 2829 To: First National Bank account ending in 2196 held in the name of a business with the initials K.C.

13. As noted in the summary above, one of the fraudulent email messages sent from

T.V.'s XXXXXX@ account on July 23, 2015, instructed Bank First National to wire

4

Case 2:15-cv-01490-DEJ Filed 12/14/15 Page 4 of 15 Document 1-1

$10,000 from VHAG's Bank First National account ending in 0419 to the account at issue in this

Complaint, the HNV Shipping & Export, LLC Bank of America account ending in 9049.

14. Based on that message, on July 23, 2015, Bank First National wired $10,000 from

VHAG's Bank First National account ending in 0419 to the HNV Shipping & Export, LLC Bank

of America account ending in 9049.

15. On July 28, 2015, after this suspected BEC scam was reported to the Secret

Service, the Secret Service's Milwaukee Financial Crimes Task Force and VHAG worked with

Bank First National, First National Bank, Bank of America, Chase Bank, and US Bank to try to

rescind the wire transfers identified above.

16. As a result of those efforts, Bank of America successfully rescinded the attempted

wire transfer of the $10,000 from the VHAG Bank First National account to the HNV Shipping

& Export, LLC Bank of America account ending in 9049. Bank First National, US Bank, Chase

Bank, VYSTAR Credit Union, and First National Bank also successfully rescinded three other

fraudulent wire transfers from VHAG accounts and thereby prevented VHAG from losses with

respect to those fraudulent attempted wire transfers.

17. But VHAG did suffer losses totaling $25,000 from the two fraudulent transfers to

the First National Bank account ending in 1517 held in the name of J.K. The $25,000 loss by

VHAG is not at issue in this civil forfeiture case, but information obtained by Secret Service

shows the following:

A.

According to First National Bank Compliance Officer B.C., at the time the

fraudulent transfers were discovered, the account holders of the First

National Bank account ending in 1517, had already withdrawn the

majority of the two wire payments of $10,000 and $15,000 made by

VHAG on July 23 and 24, 2015, respectively.

5 Case 2:15-cv-01490-DEJ Filed 12/14/15 Page 5 of 15 Document 1-1

B.

On July 28, 2015, the local branch manager of First National Bank

contacted the account holder, J.K., and asked for return of the funds, but

J.K. never returned the funds.

C.

Between July 23, 2015, and July 31, 2015, the account holders of First

National Bank account ending in 1517 had sent $7,100 via Western Union

to persons in Nigeria, including $3,500 after J.K. had been notified of the

fraudulent transfers and had been asked to return the money.

HNV Shipping & Export, LLC's registration to Smart Chika Osuagwu and lack of any internet presence

18. The Secret Service's Milwaukee Financial Crimes Task Force obtained and

reviewed records from VHAG, First National Bank, Bank of America, the TLO law enforcement

database, the State of New Jersey, and open internet searches.

19. According to information received from the State of New Jersey, Division of

Revenue and Enterprise Services, HNV Shipping and Export, LLC was registered in New Jersey

on March 18, 2010.

20. According to the TLO law enforcement database search, HNV Shipping and

Export, LLC is registered to Smart Chika Osuagwu.

21. Internet inquiries of "Smart Chika Osuagwu" resulted in listings of numerous

persons, several of whom were identified as being from Nigeria or of Nigerian descent.

22. Internet inquiries of "HNV Shipping and Export" did not reveal any company

website or yield any reference to actual business being conducted online by HNV Shipping and

Export.

23. Information obtained from U.S. Commerce Special Agent Deanna Orobey

showed that HNV Shipping and Export, LLC exported 32 used vehicles, predominantly 2001 to

2005 Toyota Sienna vans, from the United States to Nigeria. The first vehicle was exported on

June 25, 2013, and the last vehicle was exported on December 1, 2014.

6

Case 2:15-cv-01490-DEJ Filed 12/14/15 Page 6 of 15 Document 1-1

24. Despite U.S. Commerce records showing that HNV Shipping and Export, LLC

has not exported a vehicle from the United States since December 1, 2014, a total of over

$180,000 has been deposited into the HNV Shipping & Export, LLC Bank of America account

ending in 9049 since December 1, 2014.

Deposit of $119,087.69 in suspected fraud proceeds, during July and August 2015, into the HNV Shipping & Export, LLC Bank of America account ending in 9049

25. Detectives analyzed financial records obtained from Bank of America on

August 11, 2015, regarding the HNV Shipping & Export, LLC Bank of America account ending

in 9049 ("BOA 9049").

26. According to those records, on September 15, 2014, Smart Chika Osuagwu

opened BOA 9049 in the name of "HNV Shipping & Export, LLC" and listed himself as the

authorized signer. Therefore, BOA 9049 was opened just two and one-half months before the

last recorded vehicle was exported by HNV Shipping & Export, LLC, on December 1, 2014.

27. On June 26, 2015, BOA 9049 had a balance of $6,325.40.

28. Between June 26, 2015, and August 7, 2015, the following eight deposits ?

totaling $176,087.69 and consisting variously of cash deposits, wire deposits, and a cashier's

check deposit ? were made into BOA 9049:

Date 06/26/15 07/13/15 07/14/15 07/31/15 08/03/15 08/03/15 08/03/15 08/07/15

Amount $10,000 $30,000 $35,000 $11,500 $54,587.69 $23,000 $ 5,000 $ 7,000

Deposit Type Cash Cash Cashier's check Cash Wire Cash Cash Wire

Business/Person Unknown Sandra Stolz Unknown Jeanete Tingley Assa Properties M.J. Unknown R.H.

Location Staples, TX Des Moines, IA Haverhill, MA Modesto, CA New York, NY Bolingbrook, IL Clarkston, MI Houston, TX

29. Between July 27 and August 7, 2015, a total of $62,564.91 was withdrawn from

BOA 9049. Specifically, on July 27, 2015, $59,785.98 was wire transferred internationally to 7

Case 2:15-cv-01490-DEJ Filed 12/14/15 Page 7 of 15 Document 1-1

Wenzhou Jumelage Sticken Paper Co. Bank of China account ending in 0130. Between June 26,

2015, and August 7, 2015, nine other withdrawals, totaling $2,778.93, were made. Some of the

withdrawals funded transfers to Smart Chika Osuagwu's savings account.

30. For the reasons set forth below, I submit that at least four of the eight deposits

into BOA 9049 ? which are bolded in the above chart, and which deposits were made between

July 13, 2015, and August 3, 2015, and which totaled $119,087.69 ? consisted of fraud proceeds.

July 13, 2015 deposit by Sandra Stolz of $30,000 in proceeds of romance-inheritance fraud scam into HNV Shipping & Export, LLC Bank of America account ending in 9049

31. On August 11, 2015, I interviewed Sandra Stolz. Ms. Stolz told me the following:

A.

In approximately January 2015, Ms. Stolz had met "Blake Timothy" on a

dating website, . Based on "Blake Timothy's" posted

profile on that website and correspondence, Ms. Stolz believed that "Blake

Timothy" was a 65-year-old Caucasian male from Michigan who traveled

to Arizona.

B.

After making contact through that website with the person she thought to

be "Blake Timothy," Ms. Stolz corresponded with "Blake Timothy" via

email and text messaging for several months.

C.

Ms. Stolz eventually considered herself to be in a committed relationship

with "Blake Timothy."

D.

After reaching that point in their supposed relationship, "Blake Timothy"

told Ms. Stolz that he worked in West Africa and that he was about to

inherit $2 million in U.S. currency. "Blake Timothy" also told Ms. Stolz

that he wanted to spend the rest of his life with Ms. Stolz and share his

inheritance with Ms. Stolz.

E.

"Blake Timothy" then asked Ms. Stolz to provide him with financing to

secure the inheritance. If Ms. Stolz did this, "Blake Timothy" told

Ms. Stolz that he would immediately be able to travel to Des Moines,

Iowa, to live with Ms. Stolz.

F.

On July 13, 2015, Ms. Stolz withdrew $34,700 cash from Ms. Stolz's

Bank of West account.

G.

On July 13, 2015, at the direction of "Blake Timothy," Ms. Stolz

deposited $30,000 into the HNV Shipping & Export, LLC Bank of

8

Case 2:15-cv-01490-DEJ Filed 12/14/15 Page 8 of 15 Document 1-1

 ................
................

In order to avoid copyright disputes, this page is only a partial summary.

Google Online Preview   Download