By Juan Salinas II | Nebraska Examiner
Justice Department highlighted the indictment as a ‘nationwide crackdown’
LINCOLN — A federal grand jury in Nebraska charged 54 people with deploying malware and stealing millions of dollars from ATMs around the country, Nebraska U.S. Attorney Lesley Woods announced this month.
One indictment, returned Dec. 9, charges 22 people with offenses corresponding to their alleged roles in the conspiracy, including conspiracy to provide material support to terrorists, conspiracy to commit bank fraud, conspiracy to commit bank burglary and fraud and related computer activity and conspiracy to commit money laundering.
A related indictment, returned Oct. 21, charged 32 people, alleging 56 crimes, including one count of conspiracy to commit bank fraud, one count of conspiracy to commit bank burglary and computer fraud, 18 counts of bank fraud, 18 counts of bank burglary and 18 counts of damage to computers, Woods’ office said.
The indictments also allege that the gang Tren de Aragua used jackpotting to steal millions of dollars in the U.S. and transferred the proceeds among its members and associates to conceal the illegally obtained cash.
Tren de Aragua is a Venezuelan gang that started in a prison and has since expanded into Central America and the U.S., including to Texas, New York, Colorado and Wisconsin.
According to a report from Transparency Venezuela, the group adopted its name between 2013 and 2015 but likely began operations earlier. The group has been accused of human smuggling and other criminal activity that targets migrants, including kidnapping, extortion and drug trafficking.
One of the people in indicted was Jimena Romina Araya Navarro, an alleged Tren De Aragua leader and Venezuelan entertainer who was sanctioned by the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control.
OFAC alleged that Navarro helped the notorious head of Tren de Aragua, Hector Rusthenford Guerrero Flores, escape from a prison in Venezuela in 2012, and that others in the network laundered money for Tren de Aragua leaders.
The U.S. Attorney for Nebraska said the “case demonstrates what state, federal, and local law enforcement officers can accomplish when they fully join forces … [and] TdA members will find no safe harbor in the State of Nebraska.”
The Justice Department highlighted the indictment in its “Nationwide Crackdown on Tren de Aragua” press release. The announcement cited other indictments in New York, Texas, Colorado, and New Mexico.
Nebraska Gov. Jim Pillen said in a social media post that this is “another recent example of why I believe Nebraska has to do our part, through setting up the ICE Detention Facility in McCook and by sending the Nebraska National Guard and State Patrol to secure our southern border, to help the federal government root out and deport criminal, illegal aliens.”
The State Department designated the gang as a foreign terrorist organization in February. President Donald Trump has justified a U.S. military strike on a boat in waters off South America because he said Tren de Aragua operated it. Strikes have continued and face scrutiny from U.S. lawmakers and human rights activists. They told the Associated Press the administration has offered scant evidence that its targets are indeed drug smugglers and say the fatal strikes amount to extrajudicial killings.
Trump also mentioned the gang during the 2024 campaign. It was the group Trump named when calling a Colorado city a “war zone” after online right-wing reports of Venezuelan gangs “taking over” a Colorado apartment complex, amplifying social media claims later found to be false.
Woods’ office said the alleged ATM conspiracy developed and deployed a variant of malware known as Ploutus, which was used to hack into ATMs and force the machines to dispense cash. The malware’s primary purpose was to issue unauthorized commands to the cash dispenser to force withdrawals.
The conspiracy relied on recruiting several individuals to deploy Ploutus malware nationwide, authorities said. Members of the conspiracy and the gang would travel in groups, using multiple vehicles, to the locations of targeted banks and credit unions, according to Woods’ office. Authorities say the conspiracy members would then split the proceeds into predetermined portions.
If convicted, the defendants face a maximum term of imprisonment ranging between 20 and 335 years.