19 individuals were arrested today in the United States, Colombia, Ecuador, and El Salvador in connection with racketeering, money laundering and visa fraud charges. Five of the arrestees are charged in a U.S. indictment for participation in a four-year transnational visa fraud, racketeering, and money-laundering scheme that defrauded thousands of Central and South American nationals seeking to work lawfully in the United States. Victims were defrauded of over $2.5M dollars.
The U.S. defendants face charges of racketeering conspiracy, money laundering conspiracy, and conspiracy to defraud the United States by impersonating U.S. officials and misusing and counterfeiting the seals and insignia of U.S. departments and agencies. One of the U.S. charged defendants was arrested in Sacramento, California, and one was arrested in the Dallas area. The remaining three U.S. defendants were arrested in Medellin, Colombia. The defendant arrested in Sacramento, California, made his initial appearance in court today; the other will see a judge tomorrow. The three defendants arrested in Colombia will be the subject of extradition proceedings. One indicted defendant in Colombia remains at large.
Other individuals arrested in this international law enforcement operation were arrested in Ecuador and El Salvador and will likely face separate charges in those countries.
“These defendants are charged with masquerading as United States officials in order to fraudulently enrich themselves at the expense of victims seeking to lawfully travel to the United States,” said Acting Assistant Attorney General Matthew R. Galeotti of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division. “The defendants are alleged to have deployed their scheme to steal tens of thousands of dollars from hundreds of victims. The Criminal Division will aggressively pursue schemes that undermine immigration laws and erode confidence in government processes.”
“The Diplomatic Security Service (DSS) is committed to protecting the integrity of U.S. travel documents and investigating those who seek to exploit the visa and passport process,” said Chief Joseph Jung of the DSS Overseas Criminal Investigations Division. “This operation demonstrates the strength of our international law enforcement partnerships and our resolve to hold fraudsters accountable. DSS is proud to have supported this coordinated effort, which has resulted in arrests across four countries and the disruption of a transnational visa and financial fraud scheme affecting victims throughout Latin and South America.”
“HSI and our federal partners have successfully dismantled a sophisticated international multi-million-dollar immigration fraud scheme that not only spanned multiple countries, but also preyed on thousands of migrants seeking to enter the United States the right way,” said Assistant Director for International Operations Ricardo Mayoral of Immigrations and Customs Enforcement Homeland Security Investigations (HSI). “Our mission is to restore integrity to our nation’s immigration system after years of abuse and neglect. HSI and our federal partners will not rest until this scourge is finally put to rest.”
“U.S. Agency for International Development Office of Investigations Office of Inspector General (USAID/OIG) works in close coordination with our law enforcement counterparts to aggressively disrupt criminal activity across the globe to ensure significant consequences for defrauding the United States.” said Acting Special Agent-in-Charge Zachary Baumgart for the USAID/OIG.
Victims were deceived into believing that they were participating in a legitimate visa-application process though Facebook pages and other websites fraudulently advertising assistance in obtaining supposedly legal work-visas for the United States. Instead, victims were guided through an elaborate, fake process during which co-conspirators called “asesores” (consultants) pretended to help with the application process and made false representations during calls and electronic communications about jobs that were available or offered. These aseores worked out of illegal call centers in Colombia.
As part of the fraud, defendants and other co-conspirators impersonated U.S. government officials in video calls and induced victims to make international wire transfers supposedly to pay required U.S. fees to intermediaries in at least 16 states. Victims were shown counterfeit documents, such as fake visa approvals and employment authorizations that included counterfeit replicas of U.S. department and agency seals. The money bilked from victims was laundered as money made its way from the intermediaries in the U.S. to enterprise leaders, it typically changed hands at least twice; often more frequently.
Believing that they had actual appointments at U.S. Embassies in their home countries to obtain a valid U.S. visa, unwittingly victims would report to U.S. embassies in those countries for appointments that did not exist. In fact, no legitimate visas or services of any kind were rendered to victims. Some victims traveled long distances to non-existent appointments at U.S. Embassies.
Law enforcement has interviewed approximately 700 victims to date and there is evidence that over 7000 additional victims were drawn into the fraud scheme. Reported victim losses range from approximately $50 to $90,000 per person. Between approximately 2021 and the present, enterprise members have been responsible for approximately $2.5 million sent from victims in up to 15 countries to the United States in relation to this scheme.
U.S. Defendants
The six defendants indicted on Oct. 1, 2025, in the Southern District of Florida are as follows:
Edwin Alberto Correa-David supervised approximately eight call center offices in Medellin, including deciding which fraudulent websites to use, how much to charge victims, and which U.S. fund-recipients to use as intermediaries.
Andres Giraldo-Ospina, another leader in Medellin, was responsible for the creation of multiple fraudulent websites and provided technical assistance to call centers when websites did not work properly. Over time, he also took charge of an additional group of call centers beyond those overseen by Correa.
Danna Pamela Porras-Marin managed one Medellin call center and provided broad-ranging administrative support for other call centers. She also obtained and designed websites used in the fraud.
Esteban Robledo-Correa started as a U.S. intermediary and recruited and managed other intermediaries to receive funds from victims and then moved the funds onward. After returning to Colombia, he helped manage call centers in Medellin. Robledo-Correa remains a fugitive.
Julian Giraldo-Ospina, who was arrested in Sacramento, California, oversaw a group of intermediaries laundering money in the Sacramento, California area and partnered with his brother, Andres Giraldo-Ospina, in leading a Medellin-based center.
Viviana Urrego-Rojas, who was arrested in Denton, Texas, coordinated intermediaries to receive money from victims and then relayed the funds back to Colombia.
Additional Arrests in Colombia, El Salvador and Ecuador
The U.S. and Colombian arrests were part of a coordinated law enforcement campaign in four countries. In Colombia, the Colombian National Police’s Directorate of Criminal Investigations-Transnational Criminal Investigative Unit and the Colombian Attorney General’s Office conducted the arrests as well as searches of three call centers.
In El Salvador, an investigation by the National Police and Office of the Attorney General, resulted in the arrest of six people in this and other visa-fraud schemes.
The Ecuadorian National Police’s Anti-Human Trafficking and Smuggling Unit (UNAT), in coordination with the Ecuadorian Prosecutor General’s Office for Guayas Province conducted coordinated operations in five cities throughout the country, resulting in the arrest of eight people and raids of two locations. These individuals were responsible for the Ecuador-based operations of the racketeering and money-laundering scheme.
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The indictment is the result of a law enforcement investigation conducted with multiple agencies, including USAID/OIG; DSS, United States Department of Homeland Security (DHS), including HSI, Citizenship and Immigration Service, Enforcement and Removal Operations, and Customs and Border Protection.
Significant assistance was provided by the Colombian National Police’s Directorate of Criminal Investigations – Transnational Criminal Investigative Unit, the Colombian Attorney General’s Office, the Salvadoran National Police, the Salvadoran Attorney’s General Office, the Ecuadorian National Police, and the Ecuadorian Prosecutor General’s Office for Guayas Province.
Trial Attorneys Amy L. Schwartz, Grace Bowen, and Kelly Pearson, of the Justice Department’s Violent Crime and Racketeering Section, are prosecuting the case. Substantial assistance was provided by the Justice Department’s Office of International Affairs and Judicial Attaché in Bogotá, Colombia and the U.S. Attorney’s Offices for the Southern District of Florida, the Eastern District of California, and the Eastern District of Texas.