Sentenced to 9 years in prison: the director of company that sold Blackberrys to the Sinaloa Cartel
The director of a company providing telecommunications equipment and services encrypted to the Sinaloa Cartel was sentenced to nine years in federal court in San Diego, California on crime charges related to the facilitation of drug trafficking.
Vincent Ramos, chief executive of the Canadian company Phantom Secure, must deliver $ 80 million dollars, which represents the profits of his business with the Sinaloa Cartel, to the US government as part of the ruling issued this day, the South District Attorney's Office reported in San Diego California.
This is the first time that the United States government has brought a company to court for selling services to a transnational criminal organization with knowledge that they would be used for illicit activities.
For the District Attorney, Robert Brewer, the Vincent Ramos company had an active participation in the Sinaloa Cartel's ability to coordinate their crimes without being tracked by the authorities.
Phantom Secure was a formally established company that offered services that could not be intervened or deciphered, not even by the government. For this reason, according to documents presented at the Court, the company erased and destroyed evidence of equipment that it knew had been confiscated by public security and law enforcement agencies.
In October 2018, Ramos was arrested by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and since then, the Office of the Prosecutor presented evidence against him, such as communications records he maintained with his employees, in which he reported that he had just concluded a deal with the Sinaloa Cartel.
With only six of the Blackberry phones modified and encrypted, the Prosecutor's Office showed, the Sinaloa Cartel was able to coordinate the transfer of more than one ton of cocaine from Mexico to the United States and from there to Canada and Australia.
The investigations of the Prosecutor's Office show that the Sinaloa Cartel used at least 7,000 of these pieces of communications equipment at the time that Ramos was arrested.
Four other Co-Conspirators on the Run:
The Justice Department’s announcement names Kim Augustus Rodd from Phuket, Thailand; Younes Nasri from Dubai in the United Arab Emirates; and Michael Gamboa and Christopher Poquiz both from Los Angeles as alleged co-conspirators of Vincent Ramos, Phantom’s Canada-based CEO. All five are charged with racketeering conspiracy offenses and conspiracy to aid and abet the distribution of narcotics, both of which carry a maximum of life in prison.
Notably, although authorities have arrested Ramos, the four remaining defendants are not in custody, and are currently fugitives, according to the Justice Department press release.
FBI Director Christopher Wray said in a statement, “The indictment of Vincent Ramos and his associates is a milestone against transnational crime.”
“Phantom Secure allegedly provided a service designed to allow criminals the world over to evade law enforcement to traffic drugs and commit acts of violent crime without detection. Ramos and his company made millions off this criminal activity, and our takedown sends a serious message to those who exploit encryption to go dark on law enforcement,” he added.
See the US DOJ Indictment here
See the US DOJ Indictment here
I used to have one of those Phantom Secure Blackberry phones with the El Jefe de La Sierra Ringtone.
ReplyDeleteNow I use a Mossad modified Samsung Note tactical smartphone woth Android Watermelon strictly for use by NSA personnel with the "La Llamada Del Chapo " corrido ringtone
Good to see these white collar criminals getting jail time.
ReplyDeleteI wonder if they got the idea of prosecuting from watching "Better Call Saul".
ReplyDeleteHow many illicit activities do governments partake in?
ReplyDelete3:24 not many right now,
Deletethey are too busy covering up Russiagate and all the Kompromat and protecting the, snitches from any more bean spilling with promises of pardon me's and "Me no sabe" Barrs of the wrong kind.
I know I can’t count that high
Delete6:48 Si no te hubieras dejado estirar las orejas por atras,
DeleteOra no serias tan burro.
So THIS is why you cant get a blackberry like those anymore!
ReplyDeleteThey are just as vulnerable as any other phone.
DeleteAmerican interests of eavesdropping technology are not handed to them.
DeleteSomething Bog Brother doesn't like.
not true. the older blackberries are the only phone with built in security not apps ever needed. the most secure android is blackberry key2.
DeleteWell they better start cracking down on wall street. Tons of crooked people working for gansters.
ReplyDelete6:02 HSBC paid a fine of 1.9 billion dollars in the 90s for money laundering back in the days of Bill Clinton, some say it was about 5 weeks worth of earnings, other banks got fines of 600 million dollars, about 10% of the money they laundered.
DeleteAnd these pinchis pendejos get all of their 80 on million dollars, all the total company assets, all the money and their nalgas...
--BECAUSE Ramos is not an American Citizen. Obviously.
Ha! As if that were ever to happen.
DeleteWall street and their cronies (politicians) are mirror image of themselves.
Lannie Brewer worked the 1.9 billion deal with HSBC,
Deleteis he now defending Michael Cohen?
Trruuueeee, but that’s not going to happen. Most of those upper echelon wealthy people are tied in together. They pay the big bag, as the youth likes to say now a days. Annnddd if they ever go broke, guess what, they’ll just print more money, honey.
Delete$80 million you say? Sinaloa had to pay some real money to capitalist America. Welcome to yankee land
ReplyDeleteWell thank you Edgar, I love America the land of the free.
DeleteThat ASS belongs to Uncle Sam @6:57.
DeleteDont be FOOLED
Vincent Ramos, born in Winnipeg Canada 1977.
DeleteBut he may come from Sinaloa blood.
So was the crime the encryption itself or knowingly working with the Cartel? Or both. If this owner would have been smarter and eliminated any conversations concerning illegal activity, I wonder if they could have charged him still. 🤷🏽♂️
ReplyDelete4:39 and UNCLE Sam's ass belong to the Chinese...
ReplyDeleteSorry, well, the Chinese, are the Face of outsourcing and offshoring, there are a lot of secret money laundering parnas behind it all...