Source: Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) State Crime Alerts (c)

Seattle – A 22-year-old French citizen from Epinal, France, was sentenced today in U.S. District Court in Seattle to three years in prison and more than $5 million in restitution for conspiracy to commit wire fraud and aggravated identity theft, announced Criminal Chief Sarah Vogel for the Western District of Washington. Sebastien Raoult, aka ‘Sezyo Kaizen,’ was arrested in 2022 in Morocco and was extradited to the U.S. in January 2023. At the sentencing hearing, U.S. District Judge Robert S. Lasnik said, “This is an extraordinarily serious offense. We’re talking about him robbing people of millions of dollars.”

“For over two years, Mr. Raoult participated in extensive computer hacking that caused millions of dollars in losses to victim companies and unmeasurable additional losses to hundreds of millions of individuals whose data was sold to other criminals,” said Criminal Chief Sarah Vogel of the Western District of Washington. “Mr. Raoult’s motive was pure greed. He sold hacked data. He stole people’s cryptocurrency. He even sold his hacking tools so that he could profit while other hackers attacked additional victims.” 

According to records filed in the case, Raoult and his co-conspirators hacked into protected computers of corporate entities for the theft of confidential information and customer records, including personally identifiable information and financial information. They hacked numerous companies, including companies in Washington State, elsewhere in the United States, and around the world. After Raoult and his co-conspirators hacked companies, a user going by the name ShinyHunters posted hacked data from many of those companies for sale on dark web forums, including RaidForums, EmpireMarket, and Exploit. Between April 2020 and July 2021, ShinyHunters posted sales of hacked data from more than 60 companies. Sometimes ShinyHunters threatened to leak or sell stolen sensitive files if the victim did not pay a ransom.

Raoult helped create websites that pretended to be login pages belonging to legitimate businesses. The conspirators sent phishing emails to company employees that were designed to look like they came from legitimate businesses and contained links to those login pages. Victims provided their account sign-on credentials on those fake login pages, and the conspirators obtained the victims’ credentials. Raoult and his co-conspirators used the login information to breach victims’ accounts, steal the data stored there, and search the stolen data for credentials to access additional data on companies’ networks and third-party service providers, such as cloud storage services. In total, the conspirators stole hundreds of millions of customer records and caused loss to victim companies that is estimated to exceed $6 million.

In asking for a six-year prison term, Assistant United States Attorney Miriam Hinman wrote to the court, “Stealing and selling customer records put these hundreds of millions of individual customers at risk of identity theft and financial loss. As ShinyHunters demonstrated by listing the number of stolen customer records in its sale offerings, buyers would value the stolen data based on the number of customers whose data could be used. Raoult understood that buyers of the stolen data sought to misuse customers’ financial information, and yet he was eager to find those buyers.”

“The lengths to which Mr. Raoult and his co-conspirators went to steal personal and financial information are remarkably devious, and he played a substantial part in the scheme by creating code and phishing websites,” said Richard A. Collodi, Special Agent in Charge of the Seattle field office. “Thanks to the diligent work of federal and international law enforcement, Mr. Raoult will be held accountable for his cyber-crimes, which caused millions of dollars of harm to companies and customers.”

Speaking to the court, Sebastian Raoult said “I understand my mistakes and I want to put that part behind me.  No more hacking.  I don’t want to disappoint my family again.”

Judge Lasnik said he believed Raoult’s arrest and imprisonment “has gotten through to Sebastian.” Still, he urged Raoult’s family and friends in the courtroom to “keep an eye on him” when he returns to France to guard against a return to criminal conduct.

The case is being investigated by the FBI Seattle Cyber Task Force. The case is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Miriam R. Hinman. DOJ’s Office of International Affairs provided substantial assistance. The Department of Justice also appreciates the significant cooperation and assistance provided by Moroccan and French authorities.

Source: Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) State Crime Alerts (c)

Jose Louise Trujillo pleaded guilty to conspiracy, interference with federally protected activities, and using and carrying a firearm during a crime of violence.

Source: Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) State Crime News

BEAUMONT, Texas– A Houston man has been sentenced to federal prison for bank robbery in the Eastern District of Texas, announced U.S. Attorney Damien M. Diggs.

Michael Raymond Karras, 65, pleaded guilty to bank robbery and was sentenced to 188 months in federal prison by U.S. District Judge Marcia Crone on Jan. 9, 2024.  

According to information presented in court, on June 6, 2023, Karras robbed the Chase Bank on Eastex Freeway in Beaumont.  Within minutes of the robbery, Karras was located at a convenience store wearing a trench coat and driving the vehicle described in the robbery.  After detaining Karras and obtaining consent to search his vehicle, officers discovered $2,870.00 in cash and the handwritten note Karras had used in the robbery. 

This case was investigated by the Beaumont Police Department and the FBI and prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Joseph R. Batte.

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Source: Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) State Crime Alerts (b)

            WASHINGTON – Shawn Wooden, 41, of Washington, D.C., was sentenced today to 92 months in prison in connection with a drug trafficking conspiracy called the “MLK Crew” based in Southeast Washington, announced United States Attorney Matthew M. Graves, FBI Special Agent in Charge Geist, of the Washington Field Office Criminal and Cyber Division, and Chief Pamela Smith, of the Metropolitan Police Department (MPD).

            Wooden, aka “Black,” pleaded guilty on September 12, 2023, to unlawful possession of a firearm by a person convicted of a crime punishable by imprisonment for a term exceeding one year. In addition to the prison term, U.S. District Court Judge Dabney L. Friedrich ordered Wooden to serve three years of supervised release.

            Wooden was indicted with 16 co-defendants (listed below) associated with the “MLK Crew.” All 17 defendants have pleaded guilty and only one defendant remains to be sentenced. All 16 defendants who have been sentenced received prison terms ranging from 24 months to 114 months based on their criminal conduct and criminal histories.  

            The case stems from an investigation by the MPD Narcotics and Special Investigations Division and the FBI into the group that operated an open-air drug market around the 2900 block of Martin Luther King Jr. Avenue, SE, Washington D.C.

            The investigation began in response to numerous citizen complaints about rampant drug trafficking and accompanying incidents of violence in the area. In addition to numerous citizen complaints, MPD targeted this area as one of the most notorious in the city in terms of recent shootings and shots fired, as well as for the area’s high numbers of arrests—particularly offenses involving drugs and firearms.

            As part of its investigation, MPD and FBI began conducting surveillance, obtaining search warrants, and making controlled buys of narcotics from suspected members of the conspiracy.

            The investigation revealed that MLK Crew members openly engaged in the sale of various drugs (including PCP, crack, fentanyl, and marijuana) and took over the area and, effectively, some of the neighborhood’s businesses. MLK Crew members would often go into the neighborhood businesses to complete sales and constantly loitered outside of these businesses to engage in sales.

            As part of its investigation, MPD and FBI obtained video of defendants openly conducting narcotics transactions in these businesses and even displaying firearms. Throughout the case, law enforcement seized at least 10 firearms (many of which were privately manufactured firearms or “ghost guns”) from MLK crew members and/or stash houses and a sizeable quantity of various narcotics.

            As discussed at sentencing, Wooden maintained a stash house at an apartment within MLK Crew territory, leased under the name of a different individual, where Wooden stored both firearms and distribution quantities of narcotics. Photographic and video evidence showed Wooden in the apartment, along with several of his co-conspirators, both cooking crack cocaine and separately packaging narcotics for redistribution. Wooden’s stash house was searched on July 19, 2021, where two firearms were recovered, along with 19 grams of fentanyl and 6 grams of crack cocaine. A DNA analysis revealed “very strong support” for the conclusion that Wooden’s DNA was on one of the firearms seized from the crew’s stash-house apartment, specifically, a privately manufactured firearm (a ghost gun) containing a Glock 27 .40 caliber slide, and .40 caliber ammunition in an extended 22- round capacity magazine. Wooden, who has prior felony convictions and was on supervised release at the time of his arrest, is prohibited from legally possessing firearms.

            The MLK Crew’s trafficking contributed to numerous incidents of drug-related violence in and around the 2900 Block of MLK Avenue, including multiple assaults, shootings, robberies, and murders—most notably, the murder of a six-year-old girl who was the daughter of one of the co-defendants in this case. 

            In July of 2021, a few months after opening the investigation, MPD and FBI arrested 11 initial defendants and seized 10 firearms, along with PCP, crack cocaine, powder cocaine, heroin, pills, and more than $2,500 in cash. The additional six defendants, including Wooden, were charged in September 2021, and were arrested shortly thereafter.

            This investigation is part of an Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces (OCDETF) investigation. OCDETF identifies, disrupts, and dismantles the highest-level drug traffickers, money launderers, gangs, and transnational criminal organizations that threaten the United States by using a prosecutor-led, intelligence-driven, multi-agency approach that leverages the strengths of federal, state, and local law enforcement agencies against criminal networks.

            The prosecutions followed a joint investigation by the FBI Washington Field Office’s Cross Border Safe Streets Task Force in partnership with MPD’s Narcotics and Special Investigations (NSID) Violence Reduction Unit (VRU). This partnership targets the most egregious and violent street crews operating in the District of Columbia.

            Assistance was provided by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, the U.S. Park Police, and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF). The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Matthew W. Kinskey and David T. Henek of the Violence Reduction and Trafficking Offenses (VRTO) Section of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia. Former Assistant U.S. Attorney Andy T. Wang also provided valuable assistance.

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Source: Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) State Crime Alerts (c)

Tacoma – A former Air Force Special Agent was sentenced today in U.S. District Court in Tacoma to ten years in prison for enticement of a minor, announced Acting U.S. Attorney Tessa M. Gorman. Joshua Carl Harrod, 44, of Spanaway, Washington, was charged in July 2021 and pleaded guilty in October 2023. At the sentencing hearing, U.S. District Judge Benjamin Settle said the crimes were “sadistic” and “indescribably cruel.”

According to records filed in the case, between October 2017 and April 2018, Harrod sexually molested a young child left in his care. The conduct occurred in the location where he resided on Joint Base Lewis-McChord, an area of exclusive federal jurisdiction. Harrod separated from the Air Force in 2018 and prior to his arrest in this case, served as a recruiter for the Army National Guard in Lakewood, Washington.

Harrod also pleaded guilty to making a false statement to a government agency for his efforts to falsify phone records related to evidence in the case.

In addition to the ten-year prison term, Judge Settle ordered Harrod to be on lifetime supervised release. In handing down the sentence, Judge Settle said, “The consequences of many crimes before me do not have the impact that this one does…Victims of these crimes carry with them a life sentence.”

The case was investigated by the FBI with assistance from the U.S. Air Force Office of Special Investigations (OSI), Joint Base Lewis-McChord Military Police Investigations, the Lakewood Police Department, and the Washington State Patrol.

The case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorneys Kristine Foerster and Elyne Vaught.