TYLER, Texas — Twenty-one people have been charged for their alleged involvement in money laundering networks that stole millions of dollars from United States citizens thanks to a multi-year operation initiated in East Texas.
U.S. Attorney Brit Featherston of the Eastern District of Texas, William Smarr (special agent of the U.S. Secret Service's Dallas Field Office), and Inspector in Charge Thomas Noyes of the U.S. Postal Inspection Service announced Operation Crypto Runner, an Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces investigation into transnational cryptocurrency money laundering networks.
These networks facilitate the movement of fraud proceeds from victims in the U.S. to foreign criminal organizations, the U.S. Department of Justice said.
Some of the schemes included romance scams, business email compromises and technical support schemes
"These defendants orchestrated highly organized and sophisticated schemes to launder fraud proceeds through cryptocurrency," Featherston said. "Today's announcement sends a clear message that money laundering networks that service fraud schemes targeting American victims, especially the elderly, will not be tolerated, and those operating such networks will be held accountable. By acting as domestic money launderers for foreign co-conspirators, these defendants played indispensable roles that allowed foreign actors to reach from overseas to target victims in communities across the United States."
Noyes said Operation Crypto Runner started in the Eastern District of Texas by postal inspectors and the Secret Service.
So far, the operation has stopped more than $300 million in annual money laundering transactions, seized and forfeited millions in cash and cryptocurrency and identified thousands of victims, according to federal officials.
"Interagency cooperation is essential to be effective in disrupting organized crime," Noyes said. "I commend the exceptional work of our law enforcement partners and emphasize our agency's ongoing commitment to combatting fraud and money laundering schemes."
Some of the schemes alleged within the indictments include:
Lois Boyd, 76, of Virginia, a member of the Konda Organization, conspired with others to receive victims' money from a variety of fraud schemes and launder the proceeds through cryptocurrency. She structured deposits to avoid transaction reporting requirements and to hide the nature and source of the criminal proceeds.
Boyd and others in her group exchanged the criminal funds for cryptocurrency and directed the cryptocurrency to wallets controlled by foreign co-conspirators. In August 2020, Boyd and others traveled to Longview, where they tried to exchange over $450,000 for Bitcoin, the DOJ said in a news release.
Boyd pleaded guilty to federal violations on June 14.
