教授，博士生導師。復旦大學中國反洗錢研究中心首任主任，復旦大學俄...
復旦大學國際金融學院教授，中國反洗錢研究中心執行主任，陸家嘴金...
復旦大學法學院教授、博士生導師；復旦大學國際刑法研究中心主任。...
華東政法大學刑法學教授，復旦大學中國反洗錢研究中心特聘研究員，荷...
安永金融服務風險管理、咨詢總監，曾任螞蟻金服反洗錢總監，復旦大學...
周錦賢先生，香港人，廣州暨南大學法律學士，復旦大學中國反洗錢研究中...
高級經濟師，復旦大學金融學博士，復旦大學經濟學博士后。現供職于中...
武漢中南財經政法大學信息安全學院教授。長期專注于反洗錢/反恐...
生辰：1977.7.26 籍貫：遼寧撫順 民族：漢 黨派：九三學社 職稱：教授 研究...
祝亞雄，1974年生，浙江衢州人。浙江師范大學經濟與管理學院副教授，博...
復旦大學中國反洗錢研究中心特聘研究員；現任安永管理咨詢服務合伙...
工作履歷：曾在國家審計署從事審計工作，是國家第一批政府審計師；曾在...
Four flight attendants were taken into custody on Tuesday after an investigation revealed a yearslong operation to smuggle $8 million drug money from New York to the Dominican Republic.
The suspects were employed by various airlines that made several trips from John F. Kennedy Airport (JFK) in Queens to the Dominican Republic. With their status as flight attendants, the group was able to utilize the special security lane when entering the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) checkpoints. A witness told authorities they organized and operated money laundering and narcotic sales with flight attendants like the four that were detained on Tuesday, the U.S. Attorney's Office, Southern District of New York news release said.
To get their money to the Dominican Republic, the witness would give the flight attendants a small percentage of the money in New York before they left. To catch the flight attendants in action, the witness agreed to participate in numerous sting operations where money would be given to the suspects to be transferred to the Dominican Republic and handed off to another cooperating witness, the news release said.
The cooperating witness operated a "significant money laundering organization" prior to being arrested in 2021, the news release said.
“As alleged, the defendants knowingly smuggled large amounts of illicit money linked to the sale of narcotics, to include fentanyl, and took advantage of airport security checkpoints by using their trusted positions as flight attendants,” Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) Special Agent in Charge, Ivan Arvelo said in a statement.
"This investigation has exposed critical vulnerabilities in the airline security industry and has illuminated methods that narcotics traffickers are utilizing," Arvelo said.
Following the flight attendants arrest, the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York, Damian Williams, said this announcement should serve as a warning that smuggling millions of dollars from the United States to another country has consequences.
“[Wednesday]’s charges should serve as a reminder to those who break the law by helping drug traffickers move their money that crime doesn’t pay,” Williams said.
Since December 2018, HSI and the New York Police Department (NYPD) were investigating an international drug trafficking and money laundering organization which allegedly trafficked fentanyl into the United States, the criminal complaint said.
USA TODAY reached out to the JFK Airport for comment.
Flight attendants face several charges
The flight attendants charged were 42-year-old Charlie Hernandez of New Jersey, 42-year-old Sarah Valerio Pujols of New York, 34-year-old Emmanuel Torres of New York and 35-year-old Jarol Fabio of New York.
According to the news release from the U.S. Attorney's Office, all of the suspects will be charged with the following:
one count of operation of an unlicensed money transmission business, five years in prison,
one count of entering an airport or aircraft area in violation of security requirements, 10 years in prison
In addition, two of the flight attendants will face these charges:
one count of conspiracy to operate an unlicensed money transmission business, five years in prison
Another suspects in the group is charged with:
one count of bulk cash smuggling, five years in prison
All four attendants were scheduled to appear in court this week.