From Nebraska to Connecticut: more TdA ATM jackpotting arrests, sentencings

By Bethany Blankley
The Center Square

From Nebraska to Connecticut, more Venezuelan nationals tied to the foreign terrorist organization, Tren de Aragua, are being arrested, prosecuted and sentenced.

In Connecticut, four Venezuelans were charged on Monday in a national ATM “jackpotting” conspiracy with alleged TdA ties. This was after two Venezuelans were sentenced in Nebraska for their role in an extensive national conspiracy.

After a record more than one million Venezuelans, including some connected to TdA, illegally entered the country during the Biden administration, increased crime was reported nationwide. One is ATM “jackpotting” involving using malware at ATMs to steal millions of dollars from banks nationwide.

The conspiracy was originally uncovered in Nebraska where border crimes have been rampant, including law enforcement arresting wanted FTO assassins and massive identity theft schemes. Earlier this year, 87 foreign nationals were indicted in Nebraska for their alleged TdA connection and jackpotting crimes, The Center Square reported.

Nationwide, by December 2024, TdA members were reported to be committing crimes in at least 22 states, The Center Square exclusively reported. TdA is known for violence, murder, kidnapping, extortion, bribery and human and drug trafficking and are linked to hundreds of law enforcement investigations nationwide.

President Donald Trump was the first to designate TdA as an FTO. Since he’s been in office, the Department of Justice has charged more than 260 TdA members and associates nationwide.

On Monday, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Connecticut charged four Venezuelans for allegedly stealing more than $500,000 from ATMs in Connecticut. They did so while illegally living in North Carolina, New York and Massachusetts, according to the charges.

In this case, they are accused of accessing ATMs in Milford and Ansonia and at I-95 rest stops in Fairfield, Branford, Madison and Darien. Surveillance video showed a pattern: one acted as a lookout; one opened the hood of the ATM and accessed its internal components and then left the area. Next, they each took turns withdrawing cash, including arriving in different clothes to avoid suspicion, according to the charges. In total, they stole $529,220 from eight ATM machines in 10 days, according to the charges.

They were arrested on June 25 after an investigation by the FBI, Connecticut State Police, New York City and Raleigh, NC, police departments and U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of North Carolina. They were charged with interstate transportation of stolen property and conspiracy. If convicted, they each face up to 15 years in prison.

In Nebraska, two Venezuelans, also in the country illegally, were each sentenced to 78 months in prison for their role in a national jackpotting scheme. More sentencings are expected.

“ATM jackpotting is TdA’s business plan and their assessed primary source of revenue to fund their terrorist activities that range from reprehensible forms of human trafficking to armed robbery, murder, and the general undermining of America’s national security by flooding our communities with controlled substances,” U.S. Attorney Lesley Woods for the District of Nebraska said. “We will use these prosecutions to put a chokehold on their funding pipeline.”

The Venezuelans “were part of a sophisticated criminal network responsible for ATM jackpottings throughout the United States” that deploys Ploutus malware onto ATMs in person. Once installed and activated, conspirators force unauthorized withdrawals of cash. Ploutus malware is also “designed to delete evidence of its existence to prevent financial institutions from detecting its use on ATMs,” investigators found.

Lincoln, Nebraska, police officers made initial arrests in October 2024, which led to a comprehensive federal investigation identifying a network of co-conspirators operating nationwide and abroad.

So far, 96 defendants have been indicted for their alleged roles in the conspiracy. Charges include material support to a designated foreign terror organization, bank burglary, money laundering, bank fraud, among others.

The Nebraska investigation “also established extensive direct and indirect links between the indicted co-conspirators and TdA,” the DOJ said. “TdA has also developed an additional source of revenue stream through financial crimes that target financial institutions throughout the United States, including using ATM jackpotting to steal millions of dollars in cash.”

Multiple federal agencies and local law enforcement are involved in ongoing TdA jackpotting investigations in dozens of states.