LOUISVILLE LYFT RAPIST: ICE Asks Kentucky Authorities to Not Release Criminal Illegal Alien Charged for Sexual Assaulting a Mother of Four Passenger

 

Criminal illegal alien released by Biden locked the woman in his car, pulled a gun on her, and sodomized her

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) released the following statement announcing U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) lodged an arrest detainer for Yordan Basilio Diaz Vera, a criminal illegal alien who sexually assaulted his Lyft passenger he was driving in Louisville, Kentucky on February 4.

Earlier this month, ICE lodged the detainer for Diaz Vera—a criminal illegal alien from Cuba—following his arrest by local authorities on charges for sodomizing and kidnapping a mother of four in Louisville, Kentucky.

Local reports state this criminal illegal alien picked up the woman in a Lyft to transport her to a doctor’s appointment. After picking her up, Diaz Vera allegedly drove the woman to a parking lot, locked the doors and pulled a gun from the glove compartment. This predator climbed into the backseat and sodomized the woman. Diaz Vera is charged with sodomy, menacing, and kidnapping.

“Yordan Basilio Diaz Vera was released into our communities under the Biden administration before he went onto to brutally sodomize a mother of four at gunpoint in Louisville. This criminal illegal alien is a monster who has no right to be in our country and this crime was entirely preventable,” said Deputy Assistant Secretary Lauren Bis. “We have lodged an arrest detainer requesting local authorities notify ICE law enforcement instead of RELEASING this predator from jail into Louisville neighborhoods. President Trump and Secretary Noem will not allow sexual predator illegal aliens to roam free in America.”

Diaz Vera illegally entered the U.S. in November 2022 under the Biden administration and was released into the country.

DHS law enforcement is protecting American communities every day from another senseless tragedy like this taking place in another town, to another family. Victims of illegal alien crime may receive support from the Victims of Immigration Crime Engagement (VOICE) Office by contacting 1-855-488-6423.

Statement from Speaker Julie Menin on Status of Rafael Rubio, City Council Employee Detained by ICE

 

Today, New York City Council Speaker Julie Menin issued the following statement on the federal court’s decision to delay the release of City Council employee Rafael Rubio, who has been in federal detention since January 12, 2026: 

“We are deeply disappointed and outraged that our City Council colleague Rafael Rubio remains in federal custody.

From the very beginning, we have said clearly: Rafael’s detention was unlawful. He had legal authorization to remain in this country. There was no judicial warrant. And yet he was taken into custody at what should have been a routine immigration appointment. 

This is an employee who has done everything right. He complied with the law. He showed up for his appointment. He has served the people of New York City with integrity and dedication. He is beloved by his colleagues, and his absence has been deeply felt. 

The New York City Council acted immediately. We filed an emergency habeas petition to ensure he remained in New York. Our General Counsel attended every hearing. We worked around the clock, filed an amicus brief demanding his release, and pressed for accountability at every level. 

We will pursue every legal avenue available to secure Rafael’s release. We will continue to press for transparency and accountability. And we will continue to stand by him and his family during this painful and unacceptable ordeal.” 

Tommy Schaefer Is Returned to Chicago to Face Federal Charges for the 2014 Murder of U.S. Citizen in Bali, Indonesia

 

Tommy Schaefer, 32, of Chicago, was arrested in international air space on a flight back to the United States yesterday to face a three-count indictment in the Northern District of Illinois charging him with one count of conspiracy to kill in a foreign country, one count of conspiracy to commit foreign murder of a U.S. national, and one count of obstruction.

Schaefer is alleged to have conspired with his girlfriend, Heather Mack, to kill Mack’s mother, Sheila Von Weise, while Mack and Von Weise were on vacation in Bali, Indonesia, in 2014. Court documents allege that Mack arranged for Schaefer to travel to Bali for the purposes of killing Von Weise. The indictment alleges that before the murder, Schaefer exchanged messages with his cousin, Ryan Bibbs, regarding different ways to kill Von Wiese. 

In December 2016, Bibbs pled guilty to one count of Conspiracy to Commit Foreign Murder of a U.S. National for providing advice to Schaefer for how to kill Von Weise. Court documents in that case reveal that Mack had also asked Bibbs if he knew anyone who would kill her mother in exchange for money. The indictment alleges that Schaefer and Mack discussed how and when to kill Ms. Von Weise and eventually followed through with the plan on Aug. 12, 2014, in her hotel room. It is alleged that immediately following the murder, Schaefer and Mack placed Von Weise’s body inside a suitcase that they loaded into the trunk of a taxi.

In 2015, Schaefer and Mack were convicted in Indonesia of criminal charges related to Ms. Von Weise’s murder. Mack was sentenced to 10 years in prison. After Mack was released from the Indonesian prison and returned to the United States, she pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to kill a U.S. national and was sentenced to 26 years in prison in June 2023. Schaefer was sentenced in Indonesia to 18 years in prison. Schaefer was returned to the United States yesterday after completing his sentence, which was reduced by the Indonesian authorities due to remissions and general good behavior.

If convicted, Schaefer faces a maximum penalty of life in prison for counts one and two, a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison for count three, and a maximum fine of $250,000. A federal district court judge will determine any sentence after considering the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.

Assistant Attorney General A. Tysen Duva of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division, U.S. Attorney Andrew S. Boutros for the Northern District of Illinois, and Special Agent in Charge Douglas S. DePodesta of the FBI Chicago Field Office made the announcement.

The FBI is investigating the case.

Acting Deputy Chief Frank Rangoussis of the Justice Department’s Human Rights and Special Prosecutions Section and Assistant U.S. Attorney Ann Marie Ursini of the Northern District of Illinois are prosecuting the case. The Justice Department’s Office of International Affairs provided assistance.

An indictment is merely an allegation and all defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.

Creator Of “OnlyFake” Charged And Pleads Guilty To Selling More Than 10,000 Digital Fake Identification Documents

 

Among First Ever Charges for Digital Fake Identification Documents

United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, Jay Clayton, and Assistant Director in Charge of the New York Field Office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (“FBI”), James C. Barnacle, Jr., announced today that Ukrainian national YURII NAZARENKO, a/k/a “Yuriy Nazarenko,” a/k/a “Uriel Septimberus,” a/k/a “Tor Ford,” a/k/a “John Wick,” has been charged and pled guilty for his role in operating the website “OnlyFake,” which sold fake photos of identification documents such as passports and driver’s licenses (“Digital Fake IDs”).  NAZARENKO pled guilty today to conspiracy to commit fraud in connection with identification documents, authentication features, and information before U.S. District Judge Margaret M. Garnett. 

“We rely on government issued IDs to combat terrorism, hijackings, fraud, money laundering, and a host of other crimes,” said U.S. Attorney Jay Clayton.  “OnlyFake’s manufacture of fraudulent IDs and other documents puts us all at risk and must be stopped.” 

“Yurii Nazarenko developed a website to produce more than 10,000 fake identification documents, earning hundreds of thousands of dollars from these illicit sales.  This platform offered its clients a myriad of criminal opportunities, including bypassing traditional regulations to launder money.  The FBI will not tolerate any individual who exploits technology to allow others to conceal their true identity for potentially nefarious purposes,” said FBI Assistant Director in Charge James C. Barnacle, Jr.

According to the charging documents and statements made in public filings and public court proceedings:

OnlyFake offered its customers the ability to generate various types of Digital Fake IDs.  For example, OnlyFake allowed its customers to generate fake U.S. identification documents, including digital versions of driver’s licenses for each of the fifty states, United States passports, United States passport cards, and Social Security cards.  OnlyFake also offered customers the ability to generate fake digital versions of identification documents of various other countries, including passports for approximately 56 countries other than the United States.

OnlyFake customers could customize the type of Digital Fake ID they wanted, including whether the Digital Fake ID should appear to be a scan of a real identification document, or appear to be a photograph of a real identification document taken on a surface like a table.  Photos of the menu to generate a Digital Fake ID and of a fake United States passport generated through OnlyFake are below:

Customers paid OnlyFake for Digital Fake IDs in cryptocurrency.  OnlyFake offered discounts for bulk purchases of Digital Fake IDs and offered packages of as many as 1,000 Digital Fake IDs at once. NAZARENKO operated and controlled OnlyFake.  From approximately 2021, up to and including 2024, OnlyFake received at least approximately hundreds of thousands of dollars from customers purchasing Digital Fake IDs, and OnlyFake was used to generate at least approximately 10,000 Digital Fake IDs.

Banks and cryptocurrency exchanges generally require individuals seeking to open accounts to provide some type of government-issued identification document to prove their real identity (called Know Your Customer, or “KYC” programs) in order to prevent money laundering.  Many of those financial institutions allow individuals to submit scans or photographs of their government-issued identification documents to establish their identity.  The Digital Fake IDs sold by OnlyFake allowed individuals to circumvent KYC programs and to launder money by concealing their real identities.

NAZARENKO, 27, of Ukraine, pled guilty to one count of conspiring to commit fraud in connection with identification documents, authentication features, and information, which carries a maximum sentence of 15 years in prison.  NAZARENKO also agreed to forfeit $1,200,000, representing the proceeds of OnlyFake’s activity.

The maximum potential sentence is prescribed by Congress and is provided here for informational purposes only, as any sentencing of the defendant will be determined by the judge.  NAZARENKO is scheduled to be sentenced by Judge Garnett on June 26, 2026.

Mr. Clayton praised the outstanding work of the FBI.  He also thanked Romanian authorities and the U.S. Department of Justice’s Office of International Affairs for their assistance in securing Nazarenko's September 2025 extradition from Romania. 

The case is being prosecuted by the Office’s Complex Frauds and Cybercrime Unit. 

Attorney General James Sues Game Developer for Promoting Illegal Gambling Through Video Games

 

Valve’s Counter-Strike, Team Fortress, and Dota Games Have Slot Machine-Like Features That Entice Users to Pay for the Chance to Win Rare Prizes That Can Be Exchanged for Money

Lawsuit Alleges Valve’s In-Game “Loot Box” Feature Violates New York’s Gambling Laws and Can Lead to Serious Harms, Especially for Young People

New York Attorney General Letitia James today sued Valve Corporation (Valve), a video game developer, for illegally promoting gambling through video games popular with children and teenagers. An investigation by the Office of the Attorney General (OAG) found that Valve’s video games, including Counter-Strike 2, Team Fortress 2, and Dota 2, enable gambling by enticing users to pay for the chance to win a rare virtual item of significant monetary value. In Valve’s most popular game, the process resembles a slot machine, with an animated spinning wheel that eventually rests on a selected item. The randomly selected virtual items have no in-game functionality but can be sold online for money, with one item reportedly being sold for more than $1 million. The lawsuit alleges that Valve has made billions of dollars luring its users, many of whom are teenagers or younger, to engage in gambling in the hopes of winning expensive virtual items that they can cash in on. With this lawsuit, Attorney General James seeks to permanently stop Valve from continuing to promote illegal gambling in its games and to pay disgorgement and fines.

“Illegal gambling can be harmful and lead to serious addiction problems, especially for our young people,” said Attorney General James. “Valve has made billions of dollars by letting children and adults alike illegally gamble for the chance to win valuable virtual prizes. These features are addictive, harmful, and illegal, and my office is suing to stop Valve’s illegal conduct and protect New Yorkers.”

Valve is a developer, publisher, and distributor of video games and the operator of a platform called Steam, which allows users to directly download its games, including Counter-Strike 2, Team Fortress 2, and Dota 2. The lawsuit alleges that Valve enables gambling through these games by charging users for the chance to win a rare virtual item by paying to open a virtual container known as a “loot box.”

The virtual items awarded when a user opens a “loot box” are cosmetic, like a hat for a player’s character or artistic skins for a player’s weapons. Like slot machines, the prizes won from loot boxes are determined randomly in accordance with odds set by the casino, which in this case is Valve. Valve intentionally makes some items far harder to win than others, making the rare items more valuable. Despite having no in-game functionality, these virtual items can be extremely valuable, with the rarest items selling for thousands of dollars online.

The value of Counter-Strike’s skins rose significantly in recent years, attracting speculators and investors who viewed these virtual items as potentially lucrative digital assets. In March 2025, it was reported that the market for Counter-Strike skins had surpassed $4.3 billion.

Image of an AK47 Counter-Strike skin, which reportedly sold for more than $1 million in June 2024

Valve allows users to cash in on the virtual items they have won in two ways. Users can sell the items they won through Valve’s own virtual marketplace, the Steam Community Market, where they can use the proceeds to buy other video games, video game hardware, and other virtual items. Users can also connect their Valve accounts to third-party marketplaces where the virtual items can be sold directly for cash. The OAG’s investigation found that Valve facilitates and even assists these third-party marketplaces in their operations.

The high value of Counter-Strike’s rare skins and the ease of liquidating items through third-party marketplaces have made Valve’s virtual items an attractive target for thieves. Valve has received hundreds of thousands of support requests from users reporting that their Steam accounts had been hacked, or that they had been tricked into transferring items to a bad actor. 

Valve’s loot box model can be especially harmful to children. Attorney General James asserts that young users with limited funds can be enticed to start gambling through loot boxes in the hopes of obtaining a virtual item that they believe will enhance their status in the games’ virtual worlds. Research has shown that children who are introduced to gambling are four times more likely to develop a gambling problem later in life than those who are not. In addition, although this case is about illegal gambling, it is important to note that Valve’s promotion of games that glorify violence and guns helps fuel the dangerous epidemic of gun violence, particularly among young gamers who can become numbed to grave violence before their brains are fully developed.

In the lawsuit filed today, Attorney General James seeks to permanently stop Valve from promoting gambling features in its games, disgorge all ill-gotten gains, and pay fines for violating New York’s laws.

This lawsuit is the latest effort by Attorney General James to protect children online and prevent illegal gambling in New York. Earlier this month, Attorney General James warned New Yorkers of the risks posed by sports betting and prediction markets ahead of the Super Bowl. In February, Attorney General James and a bipartisan coalition of 39 attorneys general called on Congress to pass the Senate version of the Kids Online Safety Act (KOSA) to protect children and their data. In 2024, Attorney General James championed New York’s SAFE for Kids Act to restrict addictive social media feeds for users under 18. Attorney James is currently leading bipartisan coalitions in separate lawsuits against Meta and TikTok addressing the harms to young people’s mental health caused by those platforms. Last year, Attorney James stopped 26 online casinos masquerading as legal sweepstakes from illegally operating in New York.

Governor Hochul Announces Appointment of John Kagia as Acting Executive Director of Office of Cannabis Management

Mr. Kagia Will Serve as Acting Executive Director Until Confirmed by State Senate

Governor Kathy Hochul today appointed John Kagia to serve as Acting Executive Director of the Office of Cannabis Management (OCM). Mr. Kagia will serve as Acting Director until confirmed by the Senate.

“John Kagia holds several years of experience in both the public and private sectors and will be able to lead the OCM efficiently, while delivering for New Yorkers across the state,” Governor Hochul said. “Mr. Kagia embodies what it means to serve others, and I am confident that he will continue to use his talents to uplift our multibillion-dollar, equitable cannabis industry.”

Office of Cannabis Management Acting Executive Director John Kagia said, “It is an extraordinary privilege to lead this program at this pivotal moment for our cannabis industry. New York has built the most exciting, equitable, innovative, and opportunity-rich cannabis market in the world, and I look forward to working with the Governor, the incredible staff at the Office, and with all our stakeholders to continue to grow our industry.”

Governor Hochul appointed John Kagia to serve as Acting Executive Director of the OCM. Mr. Kagia served as the Director of Policy at OCM where he led the team responsible for policy development and implementation for the medical, adult use and cannabinoid hemp programs, and managed the development of research systems in New York. Since joining the cannabis industry in 2014, John Kagia has been a pioneering industry analyst delivering groundbreaking research into emerging global markets, investment and capital flows, supply chain trends, product innovation and evolving consumer behavior. He works with policy makers, investors and business owners to capitalize on emerging opportunities, hedge against risk, and predict market defining trends. Prior to joining the cannabis industry, Mr. Kagia spent a decade delivering market research and strategic intelligence to high-performing organizations across the federal government, technology and non-profit sectors. 

NYC PUBLIC ADVOCATE’S STATEMENT ON THE DETENTION OF A COLUMBIA STUDENT BY ICE

 

"We are still working to gather information about the ICE abduction at Columbia this morning. What we know is that federal agents have detained another immigrant New Yorker, another Columbia student, and that this rogue agency has no regards for our policies, our laws, or our rights. 

"It appears that agents may have misrepresented their identity and purpose to access the building and carry out this raid – a despicable and lawless act. Columbia’s leadership bent the knee to the Trump administration last year, and this incident should show them that caving to this bully only invites further abuse. Now, the institution needs to reverse course and stand with the faculty and staff committed to standing up– it’s on all of us to stand with immigrant New Yorkers– including the student detained and all those under threat."

Public Advocate Williams is currently at Columbia University to speak to students and officials on-site and is available to speak to the media there.

Join us on Saturday for the 32nd Bronx Parks Speak Up

 

register here https://forms.gle/WpekWxgcACp2qtfm6