Transnational Crimes Weekly Recap 12-9-05

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Human Smuggling—Arrest in Puerto Rico

A US citizen has been arrested in San Juan, Puerto Rico at the Luis Munoz Marin International Airport by Immigration and Customs Enforcement [hereinafter ICE] special agents for allegedly attempting to smuggle a Dominican boy into the United States.^[1]

Enid Rosario-Montanez gave Customs inspectors a fraudulent US birth certificate in order to smuggle the boy into the country; the inspectors subjected Ms. Rosario-Montanez to a secondary inspection, where she allegedly admitted that she lied to the inspectors.^[2] Allegedly, she was hired and offered $2,000 to bring the boy from the Dominican Republic to Puerto Rico.^[3]

Ms. Rosario-Montanez is currently in federal custody and the boy has been transferred to Puerto Rican Social Services authorities until he can be returned to the Dominican Republic.^[4]

It is illegal for a person to knowingly bring an alien into the United States at a place other than an official port of entry, regardless of whether the alien has received prior official authorization;^[5] the punishment for doing so is a fine, the potential for life in prison or both.^[6]

It is also a crime for a person, knowing that an alien has not received prior official authorization to enter the United States, to bring that person into the US for the purpose of financial gain.^[7] The punishment for violating this section is a fine, imprisonment for up to 10 years, or both.^[8]

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[1] ICE, Press Release: Woman Arrested by ICE for Attempting to Smuggle Boy Into the U.S., Dec. 9, 2005.
[2] Id.
[3] Id.
[4] Id.
[5] 8 U.S.C. § 1324(a)(1)(A)(i).
[6] Id. § 1324(a)(1)(B).
[7] Id. § 1324(a)(2)(B)(ii).
[8] Id. § 1324(a)(2)(B).

IP Theft and Computer Crimes—FBI talks with China and Russia

The expansion of United States jurisdiction continues apace as the FBI has initiated talks with Chinese officials “to develop a closer working relationship to reduce computer-related crime and intellectual-property theft in China.”^[1] The talks are part of a larger strategy to address cyber crime.

When Louis Reigel III—the assistant director of the FBI’s cyber division—visited Beijing in November, he saw warehouses full of counterfeit goods, and while he thinks that “the Chinese are making progress on combating this problem,” he acknowledges that it is a “long term issue” that will require close cooperation into the future.^[2] Mr. Reigel’s visit was the first high-level trip to China by an FBI cyber official.^[3] US and Chinese officials are expected to meet again next month to discuss broader cooperative efforts, including potential joint ventures with the European Union.^[4]

The cyber crimes concerns also center on computer intrusions and child pornography.

According to Mr. Reigel, there are at least 500 major computer intrusion cases being investigated, with many reaching beyond the US borders.^[5] Investigations in the countries from which the attacks originate are investigated by the Bureaus Legats, legal attachés who operate in 46 countries across the globe.^[6] The business community is also being enlisted through the “InfraGard” program, which allows companies to report intrusions to the FBI.^[7] The intrusions have migrated from the mere thrill of trying to infiltrate the Pentagon, to sophisticated attacks for financial gain, “either through the sale of information or extortion.”^[8]

Finally, there are approximately 2,400 child porn cases being investigated, which are conducted under the auspices of the Innocent Images National Initiative [hereinafter IINI].^[9] The IINI “is an intelligence-driven, proactive, multi-agency investigative initiative to combat the proliferation of child pornography … facilitated by an online computer.”^[10] Because child pornography is a transnational enterprise, the IINI “is national and international in scope, requiring unprecedented coordination with state, local, and international governments, and among FBI Field Offices and [Legats].”^[11] The FBI has recently announced that beginning in January, “Russia will place its own investigator in the Innocent Images program.”^[12] Those discussions have come from recent negotiations to get Russia more involved in fighting online child pornography;^[13] Russia hosted the International Conference on Child Trafficking and Internet Pornography on September 26-28 of this year.^[14] Among the delegates at the conference were FBI employees and US federal prosecutors.^[15]

In other FBI news, two paintings by Maxfield Parrish have been added to the Top Ten Art Crimes list, which we mentioned here. The paintings are two of six panels done between 1912 and 1916; they were stolen from a gallery in California in July 2002.^[16] The Parrish paintings replace the Swedish National Museum theft which included a Rembrandt self-portrait and Renoir’s Young Parisian, which were recovered this year.^[17]

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[1] Anne Marie Squeo, FBI and China Discuss Piracy, Computer Crime, Wall Street Journal, Dec. 8, 2005 (subscription only); see also FBI, Fighting Cyber Crime: FBI Exec Tells All (Well, Not Quite), Dec. 7, 2005.
[2] FBI, supra note 1.
[3] Id.
[4] Squeo, supra note 1.
[5] FBI, supra note 1.
[6] Id.
[7] Id.
[8] Squeo, supra note 1.
[9] FBI, supra note 1.
[10] FBI, Investigative Programs: Online Child Pornography Program, last visited Dec. 8, 2005.
[11] Id.
[12] FBI, supra note 1.
[13] Squeo, supra note 1.
[14] See, Moscow Hosts International Conference on Child Trafficking and Internet Pornography, Pravda.ru, Sep. 28, 2005.
[15] Id.
[16] FBI, Press Release: Addition to Top Ten Art Crimes List Announced, Dec. 6, 2005.
[17] Id.

Lord Conrad Black—John Boultbee and New Charges

Former Hollinger International, Inc. CFO John Boultbee has finally arrived for his arraignment.^[1] As we discussed last week, Mr. Boultbee did not appear for his scheduled arraignment, and there was some discussion that his extradition from Canada would be necessary. Those considerations has have been allayed as Mr. Boultbee arrived in the US District Court in Chicago, pleaded not guilty to his fraud charges, and posted a $1.5 million cash bond.^[2] Furthermore, Mr. Boultbee was told that he could only travel between the United States and Canada, and he signed an affidavit “waiving his right to contest any future extradition order.”^[3] His release was also conditioned on transferring ownership of a rifle that has been in his family for generations to his son.^[4] The “personal matter” which prompted Mr. Boultbee not to arrive at his arraignment last week was that he was apparently moving.^[5]

Additionally, Assistant US Attorney Robert Kent notified the court that additional charges could be filed as early as December 15.^[6] Mr. Kent, however, would not elaborate on what those charges might be.^[7] A status update is scheduled for December 16, and District Jude Amy St. Eve has said that she expects both Lord Conrad Black and Mr. Boultbee to appear.^[8]

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[1] Andrew Stern, Ex-Hollinger Accountant Pleads Not Guilty, Reuters, Dec. 7, 2005.
[2] Id.
[3] Id.
[4] Former Hollinger Exec Pleads Not Guilty, Associated Press, Dec. 7, 2005.
[5] Id.
[6] Tara Perkins, U.S. Prosecutor Warns of New Hollinger Charges; Boultbee Pleads Not Guilty, Canadian Business, Dec. 7, 2005.
[7] Id.
[8] Id.

McNabb in the News

Matthew R. McNabb has had his letter to the editor concerning universal jurisdiction published in the November / December Legal Affairs.

Botched Investigations—CIA and FBI

The Washington Post has two intriguing stories on botched investigations. The first is an interesting development in the abduction of Italian Imam Abu Omar.^[1] The second is a look at a terrorism investigation in Florida.

According to the Post, Hassan Mustafa Osama Nasr, better known as Abu Omar, was reported by the CIA to Italian authorities to have “fled to an unknown location in the Balkans.”^[2] In reality, however, “the CIA’s tip was a deliberate lie, part of a ruse designed to stymie efforts by the Italian anti-terrorism police to track down the cleric.”^[3]

The ruse worked, apparently, for about a year, until Italian investigators learned that Mr. Nasr had not gone to the Balkans, but instead, it is alleged, had been abducted off a street in Milan by a team of CIA operatives, who are now the subject of an extremely contentious extradition request.^[4] The unfortunate aspect of the entire disinformation campaign, according to Armando Spataro—who has requested the agents’ extradition—is that the kidnapping “seriously damaged counterterrorism efforts in Italy and Europe. … In fact, if Abu Omar had not been kidnapped, he would now be in prison, subject to a regular trial, and we would have probably identified his other accomplices.”^[5]

A pressing question is why the United States wanted Abu Omar in the first place. The Italians had him under surveillance because he was a valuable window into the Islamic underground, and they were on the verge of arresting him when he disappeared.^[6] Phone calls from Mr. Nasr to his associates last year suggested that he was in Egypt, who has wanted him for years for allegedly being part of an Islamic opposition group.^[7] While some European counterterrorism officials speculate that Mr. Nasr was abducted as a favor for the Egyptian government, former US intelligence officials disagree.^[8] “They say the kidnapping was the inspiration of the CIA station chief in Rome, who wanted to play a more active role in taking suspected terrorists off the street.”^[9]

The other interesting story about investigations gone awry comes out of Florida. According to Justice Department investigators, “FBI agents botched a terrorism investigation in Florida and tried to cover up mistakes.”^[10] The investigators also concluded that “a high-ranking official” retaliated against a “longtime undercover agent” who pointed out the problems.^[11] The agent in question is Michael German, who was criticizing an investigation in Orlando that he “believed showed promising signs of a link between terrorism financing and that sale of illegal drugs.”^[12] This theory has quite a bit of credibility as last week’s U.S. News & World Report cover story is about the linkage of transnational crimes and terrorist financing.^[13]

Among the mistakes the Justice Department investigators discovered “in an inquiry that began in January 2004 was the use of correction fluid to alter dates on three FBI forms to obscure an apparent violation of a federal wiretap law.^[14] Furthermore, the agent who handled the FBI investigation in 2002 put predated reports to make it appear that he completed them much earlier than he actually had.^[15] In addition, an account of a key meeting between an informant and the subject of the FBI investigation was not entered into the FBI database for 10 months; “FBI policy says such reporting normally should be done within five days.”^[16]

Because Mr. German complained of the practices, it seems he was excluded from serving as an instructor in undercover training programs.^[17]

We have previously discussed FBI investigatory woes here, and here.

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[1] We have previously discussed Abu Omar here, here, and here.
[2] Craig Whitlock, CIA Ruse is Said to Have Damaged Probe in Milan, Dec. 6, 2005.
[3] Id.
[4] Id.
[5] Id.
[6] Id.
[7] Id.
[8] Id.
[9] Id.
[10] Mark Sherman, FBI Bungled Florida Terrorism Investigation, Justice Department Finds, Dec. 6, 2005.
[11] Id.
[12] Id.
[13] See David E. Kaplan, Paying for Terror, U.S. News & World Report 40, Dec. 5, 2005. Interestingly, one of the subjects of Mr. Kaplan’s article is Dawood Ibrahim. One of his associates is Abu Salem, whose first wife is perhaps the subject of an extradition request to the United States, which we have discussed here.
[14] Sherman, supra note 10.
[15] Id.
[16] Id.
[17] Id.

International Money Laundering—Airport Employees

Three women who worked at Boston’s Logan International Airport as ticket counter representatives have been arrested on charges that “they laundered U.S. currency and smuggled cash out of the United States to the Dominican Republic.”^[1] The three women—Ana Tejada-Holmes, Angie Marinez, and Marianela Sosa—are alleged to have secretly transported US currency that was represented to be the proceeds of narcotics transactions on passenger flights from Logan International Airport.^[2] They allegedly evaded security procedures at the airport to avoid scrutiny of the cash and currency reporting requirements, and then delivered the cash to another person who was waiting at the airport in the Dominican Republic.^[3]

The women have been charged with conspiracy, money laundering, and evasion of currency reporting requirements.

Conspiracy is covered by 18 U.S.C. § 371, which makes it a crime for a person to conspire with at least one other person to commit an offense against the United States, and then do an overt act in furtherance of the conspiracy. The punishment for a violation of section 371 is a fine, imprisonment for up to five years or both.

Money laundering is covered by 18 U.S.C. § 1956(a)(3)(C), which makes it a crime for a person to conduct a financial transaction involving money represented to be the proceeds of specified unlawful activity with the intent to avoid a transaction reporting requirement. The specified unlawful activity in question is narcotics trafficking.^[4] The punishment for a violation of section 1956(a)(3) is a fine, imprisonment for up to 20 years, or both.

Finally, evasion of currency reporting requirements is covered by 31 U.S.C. § 5324(c)(3), which makes it a crime for a person to structure the exportation of monetary instruments for the purpose of evading the reporting requirements of 31 U.S.C. § 5316. These reporting requirements state that a person must file a report with the Secretary of the Treasury when that person knowingly transports monetary instruments of more than $10,000 at one time from a place in the United States to a place outside the United States.^[5] The penalty for violating section 5324(c) is a fine, imprisonment for up to 5 years, or both.

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[1] US Attorney’s Office, Press Release: Three Former Logan Ticket Agents Arrested for Currency Smuggling and Laundering, Dec. 2, 2005.
[2] Id.
[3] Id.
[4] 18 U.S.C. § 1956(c)(7)(A) (incorporating an offense found in 18 U.S.C. § 1961(1)).
[5] 31 U.S.C. § 5316(a)(1)(A).