Financial Crime Weekly: Florida Duo Busted For Smuggling Military Equipment Into Colombia, Diesel Parts Seller Fined $1M

The Department of Justice has nabbed two men from Florida for smuggling firearms and other military equipment into Colombia.

Jordan Guy MacDonald Goudreau, 48, of Melbourne, Florida, and Yacsy Alexandra Alvarez, 43, of Tampa, Florida, were arrested Tuesday following an indictment charging them with conspiracy to violate export laws, smuggling goods from the U.S., violating the Arms Export Control Act and violating the Export Control Reform Act.

The indictment also charges Goudreau with violating the National Firearms Act and unlawful possession of machine guns, the DOJ said.

Beginning in November 2019, Goudreau, Alvarez and others conspired to export AR-type firearms, night vision devices, laser sights and other equipment from the United States to Colombia, without obtaining the required export licenses, according to court documents.

They procured the goods, which included machine guns and unregistered silencers and were intended for activities in Venezuela, through Goudreau’s Melbourne-based company Silvercorp.

If convicted, Goudreau and Alvarez face five years in prison for conspiracy, 10 years for smuggling, 20 years for violations of export control laws, and 10 years for each violation of the National Firearms Act and unlawful possession of a machine gun.

Deisel Performance Parts Sellers Fined $1M For Tampering With Emission-Control Devices

DP Tuning LLC and Custom Auto of Rexburg LLC, two diesel performance parts retailers doing business as Gorilla Performance, and their owner Barry Pierce were sentenced on Tuesday in federal court for illegally tampering with emission-monitoring devices required under the Clean Air Act.

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Senior U.S. District Court Judge B. Lynn Winmill for the District of Idaho sentenced Pierce to four months in prison. GDP Tuning and Gorilla Performance were sentenced to five years of probation.

Pierce and his two businesses, which previously pleaded guilty to the charges, were also ordered to jointly pay a $1 million fine, the DOJ stated.

They tampered with the on-board diagnostic (OBD) systems in diesel trucks by removing the emissions control devices to “delete” a truck and then used computer software to reprogram or “tune” the vehicle's OBD to not recognize the tampering.

Pierce and GDP Tuning and Gorilla Diesel Performance “tuned” and “deleted” hundreds of vehicles at the Gorilla Diesel Performance auto repair shop in Rexburg, Idaho, from about 2016 to 2020, according to court documents.

GDP Tuning produced sales data indicating that it sold over 20,000 tuning products for about $14 million in revenue from January 2018 to early August 2019.

Employees told an uncover EPA agent that both companies routinely "deleted" and “tuned” trucks at the Gorilla Diesel Performance location. The agent determined that at least seven workers were carrying out these illegal procedures at Pierce’s direction.

Canadian Man Used Fake Checks To Steal Millions Of Dollars From U.S. Victims In Money-Laundering Scheme

A Canadian man pleaded guilty yesterday in federal court in Las Vegas to conspiracy to commit wire fraud and money laundering after committing a scheme to steal millions of dollars from thousands of people in the United States.

According to court documents, Poupak Jannissar, 52, of Quebec, Canada, operated and controlled sham companies that used fake checks and other fraudulent debits to steal from victims' accounts at banks in the United States.

These bogus companies pretended to sell internet-based services for consumers but did not provide any real products or services.

Court documents stated that Jannissar and his co-conspirators bought lists containing misappropriated personal information belonging to thousands of potential victims.

They falsely informed banks and others that the victims had authorized debits from their bank accounts. If the victims did not notice or dispute the initial charge, the sham companies would fraudulently debit their bank accounts multiple times and then transfer the stolen money to accounts in Canada.

Jannissar pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and one count of money laundering in front of U.S. District Judge Andrew P. Gordon of the U.S. District Court for the District of Nevada.

Jannissar faces a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison per charge.

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