Oakland money service business operators charged with laundering thousands, as feds signal their intent to target drug traffickers’ proceeds

They kept 15,000 digital fake IDs, feds say

OAKLAND, Calif. — According to court records, the owners of a local money service business have been charged with laundering funds to “high risk drug trafficking areas” in Central America, indicating that federal prosecutors in the Bay Area are targeting more than just fentanyl trafficking.

Silvana Jorge de Oliveira and Jose Luis Garcia, the Oakland-based owners of Envios Express, have been charged with conspiracy to commit money laundering. According to federal prosecutors, the couple illegally transferred $136,000 for one unidentified co-conspirator in a single month in 2020, by transferring funds to people in Mexico and Honduras.

According to the indictment, Oliveira and Garcia violated Bank Secrecy Act regulations requiring operators of money transfer businesses to flag suspicious transfers and require certain information and identification for transfers totaling more than $3,000. Prosecutors also claim that a confidential informant was able to transfer funds — up to $9,000 at a time — without having to show ID or follow any other rules.

According to court records, federal agents searched the business in August 2022 and discovered a cache of “15,000 digital images of California Driver’s licenses and national ID cards from Central American countries,” as well as a few dozen physical ID cards in a drawer. Prosecutors believe these were used to facilitate illegal transactions.

The US Attorney’s Office has taken steps to prevent Oliveira and Garcia from operating their business while the case is being resolved. That motion has yet to be decided by a judge.