The Department of Justice is returning approximately $2.5 million in corruption proceeds to the Republic of The Gambia to be used to compensate victims of the Jammeh regime. Yahya Jammeh, the former President of The Gambia, and his wife, Zineb Jammeh, used criminal proceeds and misappropriated Gambian public funds to purchase a mansion in Potomac, Maryland, for their personal use. The Department of Justice forfeited and liquidated that property in United States v. Real Property Located in Potomac, MD, Commonly Known as 9908 Bentcross Drive, 8:20-cv-2071 (D. Md.). As alleged in the complaint, Yahya Jammeh corruptly obtained millions of dollars through the embezzlement of public funds and the solicitation of bribes from businesses seeking to obtain monopoly rights over various sectors of the Gambian economy. Jammeh conspired with his family members and close associates to utilize a host of shell companies and overseas trusts to launder his corrupt proceeds throughout the world.
“This case is an important example of international cooperation to hold accountable those who use our financial system to attempt to hide illicit criminal proceeds,” said Assistant Attorney General A. Tysen Duva of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division. “Returning these funds forfeited from the former leader to compensate his victims demonstrates our commitment to recover funds taken in violation of the rule of law and to return them for the benefit of victims in a lawful process.”
“Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) remains committed to protecting the integrity of the U.S. financial system by ensuring that corrupt foreign officials cannot use the United States to hide, move, or enjoy the proceeds of bribery, embezzlement, and abuse of office,” said Acting Executive Associate Director John A. Condon of HSI. “This return of approximately $2.5 million to The Gambia demonstrates the impact of HSI’s illicit finance investigations and our enduring partnerships to identify, seize, and return stolen assets for the benefit of victims harmed by corruption.”
The recovered funds from the sale of the mansion in Potomac, Maryland, resulted in the return of $2,507,911.73 in net proceeds to The Gambia based on the valuable assistance of officials of The Gambia in cooperation with the United States, which facilitated the successful forfeiture. The agreement entered into with The Gambia provides that it will use these funds to compensate eligible victims of the Jammeh regime, as defined under the Gambian Victims Reparations Act of 2023, which was established to benefit the people harmed by former President Jammeh’s acts of corruption and abuse of office.
The investigation was conducted by HSI’s Illicit Proceeds and Foreign Corruption Group in Miami, with the assistance of HSI Baltimore and the HSI Attaché Office in Dakar. HSI established this group in 2003 to conduct investigations into the laundering of proceeds emanating from foreign public corruption, bribery, and embezzlement. HSI’s goal is to prevent foreign-derived, ill-gotten gains from entering the U.S. financial infrastructure.
The case was handled by Trial Attorneys Steven Parker and Kaycee Sullivan of the Criminal Division’s Money Laundering, Narcotics and Forfeiture Section. Substantial assistance was provided by the government of The Gambia, the Justice Department’s Office of International Affairs, the U.S. Department of State, and the U.S. Department of the Treasury.
The Money Laundering, Narcotics and Forfeiture Section's (MNF) mission is to take the profit out of crime, eliminate drug cartels, and protect the U.S. financial system. MNF pursues criminal prosecutions and criminal and civil asset recovery actions involving: financial facilitators who launder profits for criminals; financial institutions and their officers and employees whose actions threaten the U.S. financial system and financial institutions; international money launderers who support transnational organized crime; and the top command and control of international drug trafficking organizations.
MNF’s International Unit investigates and prosecutes cross-border money laundering schemes involving transnational criminal organizations, cartels, foreign official corruption and related money laundering affecting the U.S. financial system and prosecutes criminal cases and civil forfeiture matters to recover the proceeds of those crimes.
HSI Miami Illicit Proceeds and Foreign Corruption Investigations Group was established in 2003 to target corrupt foreign officials around the world that attempt to utilize U.S. financial institutions to launder illicit funds. Since inception, the group has seized over $500 million in ill-gotten gains traced to foreign corruption. To report suspicious activity, reach out to your local HSI office or call 1-866-347-2423.
