Victim organizations (mostly business email compromises)
(a) an environmental trust
b) an urban redevelopment program
c) a medical center
d) a transport company
e) an apartment complex corporation
f) a K-12 school district in Montana
g) a private liberal arts college
h) the Delaware River & Bay Authority
i) a Colorado real estate agency
j) Larimer County, Colorado
k) an RV dealership
l) a health center with 17 locations
m) a real estate/property management company
n) a real estate company in Texas
o) Vigo County, Indiana
The indictment clearly states that the defendants’ Shell companies DOESN’T:
– have physical operations
– have professional premises
– engage in legitimate commercial activities
– earn gross income
– bear the cost of goods sold
– incur administrative expenses related to commercial operations
– report employee wages to the State of Maryland
– have a large number of employees
A little hint for those who control professional accounts. If someone runs a car dealership in a residential area, has never bought a car, and has no employees, it’s unlikely that it’s a successful business you’d want to bank!
The Shell companies listed in the indictments include:
Gifted LLC; Blue Skye Real Estate; Faiz Automobiles SARL; First Property Management Company LLC; FB Morgan LLC; Smart Logistics LLC; Parker Transportation LLC; Blaxstone Enterprises LLC; Satisfied Healthcare LLC; KC All Pro HVAC Service LLC; Colon Enterprise LLC; Lorena Pérez Herrerra LLC; YS domain and properties; Victor’s Trucking and Pull LLC; Vieta Collection; The company Justin LLC; (Identity Theft Victim) Company LLC
This list of companies does not represent all of the shell companies operated by the accused. For example, Faizou Gnora owned numerous companies:
– First Realty Management LLC, 12825 Locbury Cir, #B, Germantown, MD 20874
– Faiz Express Trucking LLC, 369 W. Side Dr, 102, Gaithersburg, MD 20878
– Gnora Capital LLC, 6800 Wisconsin Ave #1086, Chevy Chase, MD 20815
– Premier Strength Training LLC, 12825 Locbury Cir, Apt B, Germantown, MD 20874
– Faiz Automobiles LLC, 12825 Locbury Cir, Suite B, Germantown, MD 20874
– Faiz Express Trucking LLC, 225 S Whiting St Apt 307, Alexandria, VA 22304-7132
His company “Faiz Express Trucking” is listed with the Department of Transportation, which gives the Alexandria address for the company, but notes Faizou’s Gathersburg address as the point of contact.
The companies listed in the indictment used the following accounts for money laundering purposes:
Bank of America – 3 accounts
Capital One Bank – 6 accounts
Citibank – 6 accounts
JPMorgan Chase – 3 accounts
PNC Bank – 7 accounts
M&T Bank Corporation – 2 accounts
Navy Federal Credit Union – 2 accounts
SunTrust/Truist – 6 accounts
Wells Fargo – 5 accounts
Woodforest Bank – 6 accounts
Another example of the close connections between these cases: all of the bank accounts listed in the second indictment are also found in the first indictment. Based on the charges in both indictments, between November 17, 2020 and October 21, 2022, the crew moved at least $7.2 million between their front companies, as described below.
The big unanswered question for me is: SO WHERE DID THE MONEY GO? According to the seizures, very few funds were still in the possession of the laundering team. So who recruited them? And where did the funds go when they left their control? We MUST keep pulling the string and find out!