Troopers aid in scam case
By Jayna Boyle
Saturday, February 17, 2007
Texas Department of Public Safety troopers in San Angelo helped make major breaks in a nationwide money-laundering investigation and recovered more than $150,000 recently.
Working with the Sutton County Sheriff’s Department and the DPS Texas Highway Patrol Division, San Angelo DPS Narcotics Service officers intercepted $155,300 in cash on Feb. 8 that was being shipped through the Concho Valley, said Sgt. Vince Luciano with San Angelo DPS Narcotics. The money was coming from California on its way to Delaware.
The money laundering scam is known as a “pump and dump” stock market scheme in which the culprit pumps up the values of stock on a fictitious company to draw in investors.
The manner in which the money was seized cannot be revealed because it is part of an ongoing investigation, Luciano said. One man — a Florida resident — who had the money was arrested, but authorities cannot release his name because the investigation is ongoing.
Authorities have been investigating the case for about nine months, Luciano said. Police officials do not know how long the money scam has been going on, he said, but some estimate at least seven years.
Luciano said authorities have not identified all the artificial companies involved in the operation. He said the companies have been posing as Internet-based businesses.
Because most of the money laundering occurs through online trading, Luciano said, most people do not realize that they have been victims, and authorities do not know how many people have been victims of the fraud.
It is yet to be determined whether money was regularly brought through Texas, Luciano said. The money-laundering case is suspected to have ties to the Genovese crime family in New York.
After money was recovered in Texas, authorities in Delaware made one major arrest in the case. Pawel Dynkowski, 21, of Newark, Del., was arrested Feb. 10 on suspicion of laundering money, and more search warrants were issued the following day, Luciano said.
In the Delaware arrest and search warrants, police recovered $109,642 in cash and five vehicles totaling $440,000 in value and suspected of being purchased with laundered money.
Authorities are looking for at least five others regarding the money-laundering scam, Luciano said.
Other law enforcement agencies involved in the investigation include the Delaware State Police; the Orange County, Calif., organized crime unit; and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
Luciano said to avoid becoming a victim of a “pump and dump” stock market scam, research the companies in which you plan to invest, and do not do all the research online.
If you suspect that you have invested in a fraudulent company, contact the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. |
