Indictment Returned Against Five Brazilians for Operating Skimming Ring

Acting U.S. Attorney Duane A. Evans announces the return of an Indictment charging five Brazilian citizens with crimes related to a bank card skimming ring that was uncovered earlier this month.

The Indictment names Joao Freire Da Silva Neto, age 33, Andre Lion Goncalves Pereira, age 28, Herik Lucian Enedino Dos Santos, age 31, Fernando Finatto Minguzzi, age 21, and Rubens Eleuterio de Almeida Junior, age 28. All of the defendants are Brazilian nationals.

According to the Indictment, Joao Freire Da Silva Neto, Andre Lion Goncalves Pereira, Herik Lucian Enedino Dos Santos, and Fernando Finatto Minguzzi were arrested by members of the Louisiana Financial Crimes Task Force on August 3, 2017, at a hotel in the Algiers neighborhood of New Orleans. They were found in possession of re-encoded credit cards, embossers, encoders, ATM skimmers, false identification, and other contraband. In the course of this investigation, U.S. Secret Service agents learned that de Almeida was mailing skimmers, pinhole cameras, and other tools for credit card fraud from Oklahoma City to the four New Orleans-based members of this conspiracy. de Almeida was arrested in Midwest City, Oklahoma, in possession of counterfeit credit cards, blank credit cards, an ATM skimmer, pinhole cameras, memory cards, an embosser, and other items used to create counterfeit credit cards.

The Indictment charges all five defendants with conspiracy to use counterfeit access devices and to possess fifteen or more counterfeit access devices, which carries a penalty of up to five years of imprisonment. It also charges all five defendants with conspiracy to possess and traffic in device-making equipment, which carries a penalty of up to seven and a half years in prison.

The Indictment further charges Joao Freire Da Silva Neto, Andre Lion Goncalves Pereira, Herik Lucian Enedino Dos Santos, and Fernando Finatto Minguzzi with one count of possession of fifteen or more counterfeit access devices, a charge that carries a maximum penalty of ten years in prison. Those four defendants are also charged with possession and trafficking in device-making equipment, which carries a maximum penalty of fifteen years in prison.

In addition to the penalties listed above, each count also carries a maximum fine of $250,000 and a term of supervised release up to three years.

Acting U.S. Attorney Evans reiterated that the Indictment is merely a charge and that the guilt of the defendants must be proven beyond a reasonable doubt.

Acting U.S. Attorney Evans praised the agencies that contributed to this Indictment, which represents a coordinated effort of federal and state law enforcement authorities within the Louisiana Financial Crimes Task Force. The Task Force includes representatives from the U.S. Secret Service, the U.S. Postal Inspection Service, the Louisiana Attorney General’s Office, the Jefferson Parish Sheriff’s Department, and the New Orleans Police Department. Acting U.S. Attorney Evans thanked the U.S. Secret Service Oklahoma City Field Office and the Midwest City, OK Police Department for their assistance. Assistant United States Attorney Matthew Payne is in charge of the prosecution.