A federal grand jury in the District of Nebraska returned an indictment Wednesday charging six individuals for their roles in a large conspiracy to deploy malware and steal millions of dollars from ATMs in the United States, a crime commonly referred to as “ATM jackpotting.”
About 87 others have already been charged, bringing the total to 93 charged defendants.
Wester Eduardo Dugarte Goicochea, 43; Mauro Angel Briceno Caldera, 37; Henry Rafael Gonzalez-Gutierrez, 37; and Giovanny Miguel Ocanto Yance, 26, Venezuelan nationals residing in the Houston area, were charged. In addition to Jelfenson David Bolivar Diaz, 38, and Arlinzon Jose Reyes Villegas, 21, both Venezuelan nationals, were charged.
This indictment alleges five counts, including conspiracy to commit bank fraud, conspiracy to commit bank burglary and computer fraud, bank fraud, bank burglary, and damage to computers.
The most recent indictment follows a previous one returned on Dec. 9, 2025, that alleged that Tren de Aragua, a designated foreign terrorist organization, conducted jackpotting attacks across America. The Dec. 9 indictment charged 22 individuals with offenses for their roles in the conspiracy: 13 individuals are charged with conspiracy to provide material support to terrorists, 10 with conspiracy to commit bank fraud, 10 with conspiracy to commit bank burglary and fraud and related activity in connection with computers, and 22 with conspiracy to commit money laundering. The indictment also alleges that TdA used jackpotting to steal millions of dollars in the United States and then transferred the proceeds among its members and associates to conceal the illegally obtained cash. The indictment alleged a national conspiracy to commit these offenses, with crimes committed all over the United States in furtherance of these conspiracies that generated millions in illegal proceeds for the combined defendants and the TdA organization.
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A related indictment returned on Oct. 21, 2025, charged 32 individuals and alleged 56 counts, 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. An additional indictment returned on Jan. 21 charged 31 individuals and alleged 32 counts, including one count of conspiracy to commit bank fraud, one count of conspiracy to commit bank burglary and computer fraud, 10 counts of bank fraud, 10 counts of bank burglary, and 10 counts of damage to computers. The loss to victim financial institutions was in excess of $100,000 per jackpotting attempt. The overall loss to the victim's financial institutions is over $6 million, with at least an additional $1.74 million attempted.
If convicted, the defendants face maximum penalties of between 20 and 335 years in prison.
TdA is a violent transnational criminal organization that originated as a prison gang in Venezuela in the mid-2000s. TdA has expanded its criminal network throughout the Western Hemisphere and established a presence in the United States. TdA’s criminal activities range from drug trafficking and firearms trafficking to commercial sex trafficking, kidnapping, robbery, theft, fraud, and extortion. TdA members also commit murder, assault, and other violent acts to advance the organization’s criminal activities. TdA has also developed an additional revenue stream through financial crimes that target financial institutions throughout the United States, including using jackpotting to steal millions of dollars in cash.
In the past six months, the Justice Department has secured charges against a total of 93 TdA members and leaders with a range of federal offenses that include material support to a designated foreign terror organization, bank burglary, money laundering, damage and unauthorized access to protected computers, bank fraud, and conspiracy to commit the same offenses.
This case is being prosecuted by the Justice Department’s Computer Crime and Intellectual Property Section, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Nebraska, and Joint Task Force Vulcan. The Department of Justice’s Office of International Affairs, the U.S. Attorney’s Offices for the Western District of Washington, Eastern District of California, Southern District of New York, Northern District of Illinois, Central District of Illinois, Eastern District of Oklahoma and Eastern District of Wisconsin, as well as the Larimer County Attorney’s Office, Colorado Attorney General’s Office, Tennessee 9th District Attorney General’s Office, Tennessee 5th District Attorney General’s Office, the Texas Financial Crimes Intelligence Center, East Baton Rouge Sheriff’s Office, and Louisiana State Police have provided significant assistance.
This Operation is part of the Homeland Security Task Force initiative established by Executive Order 14159, Protecting the American People Against Invasion. The HSTF is a whole-of-government partnership dedicated to eliminating criminal cartels, foreign gangs, transnational criminal organizations, and human smuggling and trafficking rings operating in the United States and abroad.
Joint Task Force Vulcan was created in 2019 to eradicate MS-13 and has now expanded to target TdA. JTFV is comprised of U.S. Attorney’s Offices across the country, including Southern and Eastern Districts of New York; Eastern and Western Districts of North Carolina; Eastern and Western Districts of Virginia; Southern District of Florida; Eastern District of Texas; Western District of Oklahoma; Northern District of Indiana; and the District of Nevada, as well as the Executive Office for U.S. Attorneys, and the Department of Justice’s National Security Division and Criminal Division. Additionally, the FBI, DEA, HSI, ATF, USMS, and the Bureau of Prisons are essential law enforcement partners with JTFV.
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