Mamdani Administration Celebrates Formation of 100th City-Supported Tenant Union

8609 Bay 16th St. is the 100th tenant association organized through HPD’s Partners in Preservation program (PiP), which supports tenants fighting unsafe conditions and landlord harassment   

Milestone comes as the administration advances legal recognition of tenant unions through the Rental Ripoff Report and Block by Block housing plan  

Mayor Zohran Kwame Mamdani, New York City Department of Housing Preservation and Development (HPD) Commissioner Dina Levy and Mayor’s Office to Protect Tenants (MOPT) Director Cea Weaver yesterday celebrated a major milestone in HPD’s Partners in Preservation (PiP) program: the formation of the 100th City-supported tenant union, at 8609 Bay 16th St. in Brooklyn. 

Through PiP, HPD partners with community-based tenant organizing groups to help residents confront unsafe living conditions, landlord harassment and neglect. PiP funds organizers at 20 trusted organizations across 39 community districts, supporting tenants as they form associations, build collective power and hold negligent landlords accountable. 

“Housing is about more than four walls and a roof, it’s about feeling safe when you come back at the end of the day. When tenants organize together, they can win repairs, improve building conditions and collectively bargain with their landlords. Reaching our 100th City-supported tenant union is proof that collective action works, and it’s only the beginning. Through our Block by Block housing plan, we will legally recognize tenant unions and support tenant organizing so more New Yorkers have the power to fight for the homes they deserve,” said Mayor Mamdani.

“Partners in Preservation has supported thousands of New Yorkers in fighting for their rights and better building conditions. Through Block by Block and the Rental Ripoff actions, we will build on that work by working hand-in-hand with organized tenants to strengthen code enforcement and preserve affordable housing,” said Leila Bozorg, Deputy Mayor for Housing and Planning. “Congratulations to the tenants, organizing partners, and HPD staff who have played a part in reaching this milestone!” 

“Partners in Preservation is a groundbreaking program that empowers tenants to advocate for better conditions and a better future,” said HPD Commissioner Dina Levy. “Organized tenants make housing safer, stronger, and more stable. HPD is proud to lead this incredible program and to support organized tenants in every borough across New York City.”

“The most protected tenant is an organized tenant. Reaching 100 tenant associations is a testament to the dedication of tenants, organizers and community partners across this city. We’re building on that momentum by making it easier for New Yorkers to organize and fight for the safe, affordable housing they deserve,” said Cea Weaver, Director of the Mayor’s Office to Protect Tenants.

“Neighbors Helping Neighbors is proud to organize alongside the 8609 Bay 16th Street tenants. In a few short months, we have secured a commitment to repair building issues that have persisted for over 15 years, and we will continue to work together to make those commitments reality,” said Michelle de la Uz, Executive Director of Neighbors Helping Neighbors. “We are especially thrilled to celebrate this milestone at the New Utrecht Library, whose upcoming redevelopment will bring much-needed affordable housing opportunities to South Brooklyn. Thank you to the City of New York for its commitment to housing justice and to expanding affordable housing and building tenant power.”

The tenant association at 8609 Bay 16th St. was organized by Neighbors Helping Neighbors, an affiliate of Fifth Avenue Committee. Organizers first canvassed the building in December 2025, identified widespread concerns and returned five more times early in 2026 to help residents establish a tenant association.

Tenants reported pest infestations, inconsistent heat and hot water, unresolved lead paint complaints, poor apartment maintenance, neglected common spaces, stairwell accessibility issues and difficulty reaching building management. After tenants sent a demand letter to the landlord in March 2026 outlining these issues and requesting immediate action, the landlord initially denied the claims. Following sustained organizing, the landlord has begun to work with tenants to address several longstanding housing issues. 

Photos from the recognition of the 100th City-supported tenant union are available via Flickr. 

This milestone comes as the Mamdani administration expands support for tenant organizing across the city. Earlier this month, the administration released the Rental Ripoff Report, which identifies empowering tenants as one of four key strategies for holding negligent landlords accountable. Among its proposals is legally recognizing tenant unions, building on commitments outlined in Block by Block, the administration’s housing plan.

The Mayor’s Office of Mass Engagement (OME) and MOPT also recently launched “Talk to Tenants,” a citywide organizing effort in which volunteers contact New Yorkers to inform them of their right to organize and connect them with resources to advocate for safer, healthier homes.

Together, these efforts reflect the Mamdani administration’s broader approach to preserving affordable housing and improving housing quality across the city. Organized tenants are better equipped to win repairs, challenge negligent landlords and protect their rights – not only for themselves, but for future generations of New Yorkers.

Since its launch, PiP has established more than 100 tenant associations. Organizers have knocked on more than 30,000 doors in over 700 buildings, held more than 600 workshops and trainings, and provided more than 3,500 one-on-one counseling sessions. 

Comptroller Review Urges Stronger Support for ATWORK to Expand Employment Opportunities for New Yorkers with Disabilities

 

Report finds program has successfully connected hundreds of New Yorkers with disabilities to jobs but limited performance tracking and impact cap potential

The Office of New York City Comptroller Mark Levine today issued a new review of the City’s ATWORK program, which for nearly a decade has supported people with disabilities across the five boroughs to enter the workforce through job placement and other employment services. The review found that while ATWORK has successfully provided these services to hundreds of New Yorkers, its impact has been limited by fragmented resources and insufficient data tracking. To strengthen the program and expand its reach, the report recommends expanding resources, improving performance tracking, and removing barriers to employment so the program can connect more New Yorkers with disabilities to jobs.  

“Every New Yorker deserves the opportunity to find meaningful work, and that includes ensuring people with disabilities have the support they need to succeed in the workforce,” said City Comptroller Mark Levine. “Job placement programs like ATWORK help connect New Yorkers with consolidated resources while strengthening families, communities and our local economy. As we undertake the hard-but-necessary work of making government more efficient, strengthening proven programs like ATWORK must be part of the conversation.”  

ATWORK, which has been situated within the Mayor’s Office for People with Disabilities (MOPD) since 2017, operates to recruit, pre-screen, and connect New Yorkers with disabilities to jobs and internships with established business partners in both the public and private sectors. To qualify for the program, job seekers must be: 18 years of age or older; have a documented disability; reside in the five boroughs; have career goals, resumes and cover letters; basic interviewing skills; and must be motivated to conduct a job search independently. ATWORK provides a host of services for New Yorkers with disabilities, such as reviewing resumes and cover letters, conducting interview preparation workshops and mock interviews, communicating with potential employers on the status of applications, and maintaining regular contact with job seekers throughout the search process.  

The Comptroller’s review of ATWORK, which examined FY 2024 and FY 2025, made several determinations about the program, including:  

• Success Despite Challenges. Although ATWORK has just six dedicated staff members, they were able to provide services to 1,268 people with disabilities and connected 99 of those individuals to employment. ATWORK staff also hosted more than five dozen workshops, conducted more than 200 mock interviews, and hosted seven job fairs.  

• Limited Resources, Limited Impact. The 1,268 people supported through ATWORK represented just 4% of the 35,000 New Yorkers with disabilities seeking employment. That reflected a limited impact among other City initiatives for these individuals to assist them to find work. MOPD also cited a lack of funding and staffing, hindering its ability to fill key positions.  

• Lack of Effective Data Tracking. MOPD did not have an effective tracking system to monitor the number of people who were enrolled in the program, those who had been connected to jobs, and in active status with the Office at any given time. This hindered the agency’s ability to effectively track its program performance.  

• Demographic Imbalance. An analysis found that the ethnicity of those finding employment through the program was disproportionate to their percentage of the population. 

The Comptroller’s Office made several recommendations, with which MOPD agreed, to strengthen the effectiveness of ATWORK. Those include:  

• Work with the City Council to secure funding to expand ATWORK’s effectiveness, as well as to provide additional services.  

• Improve tracking key performance indicators to fully evaluate the impact of ATWORK.  

• Address demographic imbalances by expanding Spanish-language outreach to potential job seekers.  

• Reduce misunderstandings about the services ATWORK provides and better explain that participation may not guarantee employment, as well as conduct annual surveys with participants to understand their perspective on the program’s impact. 

• Assess what skills gaps exist between job seekers and opportunities, then develop a strategy to confront them.  

• Collaborate with City agencies as well as employer partners to remove clear barriers to employment for New Yorkers with disabilities.  

The full review is available here: https://comptroller.nyc.gov/reports/review-of-the-nyc-atwork-program/ 

DHS Highlights Successful Arrests and Rescues in Crackdown on Human Trafficking During FIFA World Cup

 

In total, DHS arrested more than 900 suspects and rescued more than 180 victims

The United States Department of Homeland Security (DHS) celebrates the resounding success of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) in cracking down on human trafficking operations during the 2026 FIFA World Cup.

In total, HSI and the DHS Center for Countering Human Trafficking (CCHT), along with federal, state, and local partners, arrested 905 suspects and rescued 180 victims – 150 adults and 30 juveniles.

In one operation on July 24, HSI Dallas executed 8 federal arrest warrants related to an adult bookstore in Dallas that had operated as an illicit and covert brothel for more than 20 years. The investigation, which was started by HSI Dallas in 2023, determined that thousands of adults and minors were sold for commercial sex through the illicit business, with dozens of victims being identified. One victim was murdered in 2024, for which a defendant was convicted and sentenced to life in prison. The targets of the arrest warrants were indicted on multiple counts, including conspiracy to commit sex trafficking, sex trafficking through force, fraud, and coercion, and conspiracy to launder monetary instruments. The investigation is being prosecuted by the U.S. Attorney’s Office in the Northern District of Texas.

In another operation on June 23, HSI San Francisco, along with the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and the San Francisco Police Department, conducted an operation that identified two female minor victims of human trafficking and rescued them. One of the two victims was reported missing out of Bakersfield, California in November of 2025 and had not been seen since.

“While Americans and international visitors were enjoying the FIFA World Cup, the men and women of ICE law enforcement were hard at work cracking down on human trafficking operations in FIFA host cities across the country,” said Assistant Secretary Lauren Bis. “Federal law enforcement arrested more than 900 suspects and rescued nearly 200 victims. Under President Trump and Secretary Mullin, we are dismantling human trafficking networks.”

The human trafficking arrests are just one aspect of the many accomplishments by DHS and its components during the World Cup. Other achievements include:

• Combined, DHS and FBI seized more than 700 unauthorized drones. 
• CBP’s Air and Marine Operations flew 50+ air missions over stadiums and host cities. 
• CBP completed more than 19,000 inspections of vehicles headed into stadiums and fan festivals. 
• CBP seized more than 473,000 counterfeit FIFA World Cup merchandise items, with an estimated genuine retail value totaling more than $33 million.
• HSI intellectual property rights (IPR) enforcement efforts resulted in 48 arrests and 164 seizures related to FIFA World Cup counterfeit goods, which included over 530,000 items worth over $85 million MSRP.

Kellyville Man Sentenced After Agents Discovered He Was Receiving Illegal Drugs Through the Mail

 

A Kellyville man was sentenced today for attempting to possess nearly a pound of methamphetamine for distribution and possessing a firearm while drug trafficking.  

U.S. District Judge John F. Heil, III, sentenced Austin Dewayne Nation, 31, for Attempted Possession of Methamphetamine with Intent to Distribute and Possession of a Firearm in Furtherance of Drug Trafficking. Nation was ordered to serve 210 months imprisonment, followed by five years of supervised release. 

Agents with the Drug Enforcement Administration Tulsa Resident Office and the Office of Inspector General for the U.S. Postal Service began a targeted investigation in 2025 regarding controlled substance distribution. The investigation revealed that Nation was receiving illegal narcotics through the mail. Nation received numerous parcels of mail in a 60-day period from out of state. 

When a package was delivered to the post office, a K9 deputy with the Tulsa County Sheriff’s alerted its handler that drugs were inside the parcel. Agents obtained a search warrant for the package and discovered more than 445 grams of methamphetamine disguised as counterfeit pills. Agents swapped the drugs out and allowed the package to be delivered. Agents saw Nation receive the package at his home and detained him. After agents obtained a search warrant for Nation’s home in Kellyville, court records show they found additional drugs, scales, baggies, approximately $3,625 in cash, and two firearms.    

Nation will remain in custody pending transfer to the U.S. Bureau of Prisons.

Cuban National Sentenced for His Role in an International Alien Smuggling, Asylum Fraud, and Money Laundering Conspiracy

 

A Cuban National was sentenced today to 30 months in prison for his role in an international alien smuggling, asylum fraud, and money laundering conspiracy.

“Ventura-Castro was part of a complex conspiracy responsible for smuggling aliens into the United States on a massive scale,” said Assistant Attorney General A. Tysen Duva of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division. “The defendant and others recruited aliens using social media, charged thousands of dollars to bring them into the country illegally, and helped them get immigration benefits to which they were not entitled.” 

“Enforcing our nation’s immigration laws is essential to maintaining safe and secure borders,” said U.S. Attorney Gregory W. Kehoe for the Middle District of Florida. “The conspirators in this case used sophisticated methods to violate those laws and engaged in an elaborate human smuggling scheme, for profit. The diligence demonstrated by our law enforcement partners in this case ensured that this defendant was brought to justice.” 

“The exploitation of vulnerable people through these types of intricate schemes are egregious crimes that threaten our national security and exploit the integrity of our immigration system,” said Acting Special Agent in Charge Nicholas Ingegno of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) Tampa. “They knowingly orchestrated a sophisticated scheme to recruit and smuggle thousands of Cuban nationals into the United States, and unlawfully obtained immigration benefits through fraudulent applications, deliberate misrepresentations, and illicit financial transactions. Such calculated criminal conduct undermines the integrity of our immigration system and will be met with the full force of the law.”

“Today’s sentencing is evidence of our all-out war on immigration fraud,” said Director Joseph Edlow of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. “U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services is proud to have worked with our law enforcement partners to dismantle this criminal enterprise, which churned out thousands of fake asylum claims and flooded the country with illegal aliens. As Ventura-Castro and his criminal associates are being brought to justice, we will continue our mission protecting Americans from those who seek to exploit our laws and endanger our communities.”

According to court documents, Erik Ventura-Castro, 24, of Hialeah, Florida, between January of 2021 and June of 2025, conspired with others to operate an alien smuggling organization (ASO) which encouraged or induced thousands of Cuban aliens to enter the United States through the southern border and used fraudulent Electronic System for Travel Authorization (ESTA) and visa waivers. The defendants advertised their smuggling services and bogus visa services across multiple social media platforms to solicit Cuban nationals and other aliens to attempt to illegally enter the United States and fraudulently obtain lawful status in the United States. The alien smuggling organization (ASO) advertised services included assisting Cubans with making false claims of European citizenship to enter the United States on a European tourist visa waiver or ESTA and filing hundreds of fraudulent ESTA applications with U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP), using fake addresses and fabricated documents. To obtain admission under the ESTAs, the defendants made false representations that the applicants had not been in Cuba since 2011. The defendants knew that Cubans are not eligible for the ESTA program, and that the applicants were actually in Cuba at the time the ESTA applications were submitted.

Passports and Boarding Passes obtained as part of the scheme.

Social media account advertising ASO services.

Social media account using photo from human smuggling event to advertise ASO services.

Ventura-Castro furthered the conspiracy by advertising trips for aliens to travel from Cuba to the United States through third-party countries and assisting the aliens in obtaining fraudulent ESTAs. The defendant submitted over 40 electronic payments to U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) for fraudulent ESTA applications. As part of the conspiracy, aliens were charged between $1,500 and $40,000 for smuggling services. Co-conspirators sometimes even chartered private planes to move groups of aliens. Ventura-Castro and co-defendants conspired with each other to regularly move funds to companies operating outside of the United States and to other places outside the United States, such as by purchasing international flights for aliens to travel into the United States. Ventura-Castro transmitted over $97,000 from the United States to the Cayman Islands, Colombia and Mexico to purchase flights for aliens to unlawfully enter the United States.

Ventura-Castro pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit alien smuggling for financial gain and conspiracy to launder monetary instruments on May 7.

Twelve individuals were charged in a superseding indictment for their roles in the conspiracy. Defendants Liannys Yaiselys Vega-Perez, 31, Miguel Alejandro Martinez Vasconcelos, 31, Layra Libertad Treto Santos, 30, Emanuel Martinez Gonzalez, 29, and Walbis Pozo-Dutel, 31, have all pleaded guilty and are awaiting sentencing. Defendants Lazaro Alain Cabrera-Rodriguez, Luis Emmanuel Escalona-Marrero, and Gisleivy Peralta Consuegra are awaiting trial scheduled to begin on Sept. 21. 

The investigation and superseding indictment were supported and prosecuted by Joint Task Force Alpha (JTFA), the Department’s lead effort in combating high-impact human smuggling and trafficking committed by cartels and Transnational Criminal Organizations (TCOs). A highly successful partnership between the Department of Justice and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), JTFA investigates and prosecutes human smuggling and trafficking and related immigration crimes that impact public safety and border security. JTFA’s mission is to target the leaders and organizers of Cartels and TCOs involved in human smuggling and trafficking throughout the Americas. The Attorney General has elevated and expanded JTFA to target the most prolific and dangerous human smuggling and trafficking groups operating not only in Mexico and the Northern Triangle countries of Guatemala, El Salvador, and Honduras, but also in Canada, the Caribbean and the maritime border, and elsewhere. Led by the Criminal Division’s Human Rights and Special Prosecutions Section and supported by the Money Laundering, Narcotics and Forfeiture Section, the Office of International Affairs, and the Office of Enforcement Operations, among others, JTFA has dedicated Assistant U.S. Attorneys from the Southern District of California; District of Arizona; District of New Mexico; Western and Southern Districts of Texas; Southern District of Florida; Northern District of New York; and District of Vermont. JTFA also partners with other USAOs throughout the country and supports high-priority cases in any district. All JTFA cases rely on substantial law enforcement resources from DHS, including HSI and CBP U.S. Border Patrol and Office of Field Operations, as well as FBI and other law enforcement agencies. To date, JTFA’s work has resulted in more than 465 domestic and international arrests of leaders, organizers, and significant facilitators of alien smuggling and/or trafficking; more than 424 U.S. convictions; and more than 368 significant jail sentences imposed, and forfeitures of substantial assets. 

HSI Tampa, U.S. Border Patrol Miami Sector, and USCIS’s’ Fraud Detection and National Security led U.S. investigative efforts, with substantial assistance from HSI’s Human Smuggling Unit in Washington, D.C. and CBP’s National Targeting Center International Interdiction Task Force. Authorities in the Cayman Islands provided valuable assistance.

Attorney General James and Bipartisan Coalition of Attorneys General Urges Federal Government to Strengthen Know Your Customer Rules to Stop Illegal Robocalls

 

AG James and Bipartisan Coalition of Attorneys General Push for Stronger Requirements for Phone Companies to Stop Scammers from Making Illegal Robocalls

A bipartisan coalition of 50 attorneys general urged the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to strengthen its “Know Your Customer” (KYC) rules to help prevent scammers from making illegal robocalls. KYC rules require phone companies to know who is making calls through their networks and what kinds of business their customers are conducting. Phone companies use this information to terminate callers who use their networks to make unlawful calls and can decline to do business with customers that are not legitimate companies or cannot prove that they conduct lawful business. In a letter to FCC, Attorney General James and the coalition urge the agency to adopt additional KYC requirements for phone companies to help better detect and stop fraud.  

“Fraudsters are using their access to our country’s phone networks to flood New Yorkers with scam calls at all hours of the day,” said Attorney General James. “The companies that run our phone networks have a responsibility to stop these illegal robocalls. Together with a broad bipartisan coalition of attorneys general, we are calling on the federal government to strengthen requirements for phone companies to ensure robocallers are not abusing their networks.”

Robocalls are a pervasive source of fraud that costs Americans billions of dollars every year. In 2025, Americans received more than 29.6 billion scam robocalls and texts and lost nearly $2 billion to these scams. Attorney General James and the coalition explain in their letter that current KYC requirements do not go far enough to stop robocallers from gaining access to U.S. telephone networks.

Illegal robocalls require access to a phone company’s network, making due diligence done by these companies critical to stopping scammers from reaching people. Attorney General James and the coalition urge the FCC to adopt new KYC rules in addition to what they’re already doing. These include:

• Requiring providers to understand their customers’ business. In addition to verifying a customer’s identity and existence, phone companies should also be required to examine and understand the customer’s business practices, reputation, history, intended use of their services, and compliance with state and federal laws. 
• Holding all providers to KYC standards. Even small service providers should be required to meet enhanced KYC standards. Scammers use providers, regardless of size, to access the communications network. In fact, illegal calls are often facilitated by smaller voice service providers. Not holding small providers to the same standards could cause them to be even more attractive to bad actors looking to use them to make illegal robocalls.  
• Require providers to collect additional information on high-risk customers. While KYC requirements should be universal, Attorney General James and the coalition support additional long-term monitoring of customers who are more likely to make illegal robocalls, such as those subscribing to high volume services.  

New York Attorney General James joined in signing the letter to FCC with the attorneys general of Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Georgia, Hawaii, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Utah, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, West Virginia, Wisconsin, Wyoming, American Samoa, the District of Columbia, and the U.S. Virgin Islands.

8 REPUTED “SHIESTY 66” GANGMEMBERS/ASSOCIATES SENTENCED IN MASSIVE FRAUD WHERE OVER $10M WAS STOLEN

 

Defendants Used Money on Luxury Cars, Chartered Yachts and Jewelry

Bronx District Attorney Darcel D. Clark announced that eight alleged members and/or associates of the “Shiesty 66” gang have been sentenced for their roles in a bank fraud scheme in which they stole over $10 million. The fraud was uncovered following an investigation by the Office’s Investigations Division, the NYPD, U.S. Secret Service, and the U.S. Postal Inspection Service. 

District Attorney Clark said, “Over the course of 16 months, these defendants stole millions of dollars from hard working people. They recruited vulnerable individuals with no prior involvement in gang activity to assist them in their fraudulent scheme, exploiting them for financial gain. Then, they used their illicit proceeds to spend lavishly on cars, expensive jewelry, designer clothes and international vacations. Thanks to the coordinated efforts of multiple law enforcement agencies, their financial crime spree has ended. The defendants have now been held accountable for their actions, delivering justice for the victims they targeted.”

Each defendant pleaded guilty and was sentenced by Bronx Supreme Court Justice Margaret Clancy. 

Souleman Traore pleaded guilty to one count of Enterprise Corruption on February 17, 2026. Sentenced to 2-6 years and ordered to pay $50,000 in restitution on April 14, 2026. 

Amadou Balde pleaded guilty to one count of Enterprise Corruption on February 17, 2026. Sentenced to 1-3 years and ordered to pay $24, 412.50 in restitution on April 3, 2026. 

Lahaji Traore pleaded guilty to one count of second-degree Forgery, one count of Attempted Forgery in the second-degree and one count of second-degree Criminal Possession of Stolen Property on February 17, 2026. Sentenced to one year in prison and ordered to pay $30,000 in restitution on April 14, 2026.

Moussa Cisse pleaded guilty to one count of Enterprise Corruption on April 21, 2026. Sentenced to 2-6 years and ordered to pay $25,000 in restitution on June 16, 2026. 

Abubacar Daffeh pleaded guilty to three counts of second-degree forgery on February 4, 2026. Sentenced to one year and ordered to pay $5,200 in restitution on March 24, 2026. 

Seth Young pleaded guilty to one count of second-degree Criminal Possession of a Forged Instrument on February 3, 2026. Sentenced to two months in jail plus 5 years post-release supervision and ordered to pay $5,000 in restitution on April 7, 2026. 

Keon Gulley pleaded guilty to one count of second-degree Forgery on December 9, 2025. Sentenced to 1 ½ to three years on February 3, 2026. 

Sekou Kaloka pleaded guilty to one count of Attempted Criminal Possession of a Weapon in the second-degree on September 30, 2025. His plea requires him to enter a diversion program.

According to the investigation, between April 28, 2022, and September 11, 2023, the defendants, acting in concert with each other, engaged in a card-cracking, check washing, and bank fraud scheme. They exploited loopholes in the banking system to commit fraud throughout the tri-state area and the West Coast.

In this criminal enterprise, the defendants recruited people on social media to give them access to their debit card information. A phony check was deposited into the account, after which they withdrew funds from that deposited check at an ATM. The debit card holder was given a kickback and instructed to report the card stolen.

In some instances, the defendants recruited unhoused individuals and people with substance abuse problems. They would accompany them into banks to open accounts. In one shocking incident, defendant Moussa Cisse coerced a woman to walk into a bank and open an account using a fraudulent check. The woman was caught while he drove away in a car with her children in the back seat. 

Investigators discovered that Souleman Traore, with the help of his twin brother Lahaji Traore, assumed the identity of a victim and walked into a bank presenting a forged passport to a teller along with forged paperwork and a check. He was caught fleeing from the bank after the teller became suspicious and alerted the authorities. Cellphone data revealed that the Traore twins knew that the person’s identity who they sought to steal was deceased. 

Moussa Cisse, Seth Young, and Abubacarr Daffeh also partook in schemes where the victims were minors or deceased, including one instance in which the last check that was deposited into the victim’s account was for her own funeral.

The investigative team executed several search warrants in this case, including a search warrant upon Moussa Cisse’s residence, recovering a United States Treasury check made payable to a hospital for COVID relief in the amount of $12,614,835.43. Cellphone data revealed that Cisse and another accomplice were working with a bank insider to set up an account to deposit the stolen check on September 11, 2023. Messages also revealed that Cisse and an accomplice went so far as to generate United States Treasury and New York Department of State paperwork to open the account.

The defendants posted pictures on their social media of the stolen cash and the luxury items purchased with the illicit funds, such as clothes from Luis Vitton, Gucci, Cartier, and Burberry, as well as Rolex and Audemars Piguet watches, and vacations to Miami, Kuwait and Paris.

Hundreds of people had their checks stolen, which were subsequently “washed” by the defendants and cashed by them or people they recruited. Investigators were able to return funds to some of the victims they were able to identify. Unfortunately, in most instances, authorities could not identify the original owner of the stolen checks.

NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch said, “These defendants ran a brazen bank fraud scheme, exploiting vulnerable people to help them steal more than $10 million that they used to fund lavish vacations and expensive jewelry. Our multi-agency investigation uncovered these illegal activities, which included stealing checks from deceased individuals, coercing victims into opening fraudulent bank accounts, and stealing government funds for COVID relief. I thank our law enforcement partners and the Bronx District Attorney’s office for their work in shutting down this illegal operation.”

Matt McCool, Special Agent in Charge of the U.S. Secret Service New York Field Office said, “The defendant’s brazen schemes to enrich themselves while preying on unsuspecting victims, hurt hardworking people and people in need. Their sentences should send a clear message to other fraudsters that your misdeeds won’t go unpunished. We will find you and you will be held accountable. Thanks to our law enforcement partners and prosecutors for bringing justice in this case.”

Ketty-Larco Ward, Inspector in Charge of the U.S. Postal Inspection Service New York Division said, “These individuals conspired to steal checks from the U.S. worth millions of dollars that was intended to help those in need. Instead, these stolen funds were used to support the defendant’s short-lived lavish lifestyles. This criminal behavior of theft and fraud is among many that the U.S. Postal Inspectors aim to stop, and these sentencings are proof of that mission. I commend the hard work and partnership of the NYPD and U.S. Secret Service towards the outcome of this investigation.”

District Attorney Clark thanked NYPD Detective Ryan Blair of the Joint Terrorism Task Force, NYPD Intelligence Research Specialist Britney Ford, NYPD Detective Daniel Alessandrino of the Financial Crimes Task Force, Special Frauds Squad; U.S. Secret Service Agent Christine Miller, and U.S. Postal Service Inspector Tad Conklin for their work on the investigation. 

District Attorney Clark thanked Officers Alan Arrington and Ryan Daly of the Greenwich Police Department and the Yonkers Police Department for their assistance in the investigation. 

Governor Hochul Attends Buffalo Bills Training Camp

Earlier today, Governor Hochul attended Buffalo Bills Training Camp at St. John Fisher University.