“Socalj” for Borderland Beat
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U.S. Attorney Damian Williams said: “Martin Mizrahi brazenly used his company as a front to launder millions of dollars in drug and fraud proceeds and to deceive credit card companies into processing additional millions of dollars in sham charges. The jury’s unanimous verdict sends a resounding message that individuals who steal and introduce illicit funds into the U.S. financial system will be held accountable.”
Becoming involved in the early adoption of the internet during the 1990s, Mizrahi founded LV.net, a Las Vegas-based internet company. He claims to have registered 100,000s of domains. He owned notable websites including Vegas.com, Hawaii.com, LA.Com, and Illinois.Com that were turned into tourism sites before being sold off over the years, maintaining LV.net.
Cartel Money Laundering
Beginning in or about February 2021, Mizrahi began accepting bulk cash narcotics proceeds, which he laundered for individuals associated with a Mexican-based cartel by converting the money into Bitcoin and then sending it to anonymous cryptocurrency wallets provided to him by co-conspirators.
In addition, he laundered fraud proceeds sent to his company by wire transfer, which he also converted into cryptocurrency before sending it to anonymous cryptocurrency wallets.
Multi-Million Dollar Fraud Scheme
The FBI arrested Martin “Marty” Mizrahi in December 2022 for conspiracy to commit wire and bank fraud. According to documents, prosecutors allege Mizrahi and three other men defrauded banks, businesses, and individuals of more than $9 million through compromised email addresses and credit cards.
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Who is “Marty Vegas?”
Marty Mizrahi was a successful Las Vegas businessman who started Vegas.com and purchased hundreds of thousands of domains in the early 1990s when the internet was first gaining traction.
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“Marty Mizrahi, before the internet existed was in the computer business (sales and repairs). Then In the early 90’s Marty Mizrahi gave up on repairs and founded Eastman Computers, a computer wholesale company. Marty in his early 20’s had guided Eastman into a company selling computer parts to every retail computer business in Vegas.”
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“Marty Mizrahi has been in the real estate business since early 90’s Marty Mizrahi bought and sold many homes in Las Vegas During Mizrahi’s real estate investing he still ran his businesses Mizrahi owns many residential and commercial properties”
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His full bio reads that Martin “is an entrepreneur, innovator, visionary, and developer known to all as “Marty”. Marty is renowned for having launched numerous companies dating back to the early 1980s, From Flyer businesses in his early teens to the computer business evolving into an Internet Trailblazer in 1993 when the Internet first began. He has made prominent contributions to the City of Las Vegas, Downtown Area by providing free Wi-Fi Internet service to the city’s visitors.
He began working as early as elementary school gaining knowledge and business experience he would maintain throughout his career. Following the path of his father as an entrepreneur, he started the first wholesale computer company in Las Vegas, Nevada, Eastman Computers. Within a few years, Marty lead the company to gross over $7 million per year. A short time after he founded Metro Net Paging and Cellular, a business he eventually sold to a local paging company.”
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Mizrahi started Vegas.com in 1998, developing it into a prime tourist destination site before selling the website to the Las Vegas Greenspun Group. The Greenspun Group owns the Las Vegas Sun newspaper as well as other Vegas and tourist-related media titles. Currently, Remark Holdings (formerly Remark Media) owns the website.
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| Las Vegas Sun newspaper founder Hank Greenspun. |
In 1947, when the Haganah was already in armed conflict with Arab forces, Greenspun shipped machine guns and airplane parts to that organization (which later became the core of the Israel Defense Forces). This was a violation of the U.S. Neutrality Acts, a crime for which Greenspun was arrested and ultimately convicted on July 10, 1950.
He was fined $10,000 but received no prison time. On October 18, 1961, President John F. Kennedy granted Greenspun a pardon. Later, Greenspun would be tied to the infamous Watergate Scandal with the CIA “Plumbers” who broke into the Democratic headquarters at the Watergate Hotel had previously attempted to break into Greenspun’s safe to allegedly retrieve possible blackmail material on a possible Democratic Presidential candidate.
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@MartyVegas
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| Deceased mobster Spilotro and his lawyer Oscar Goodman. |
The former Mayor Oscar Goodman was a well-known Vegas mob lawyer. Oscar defended notable LCN/Mafia members including Anthony “Ant” Spilotro, played by Joe Pesci in the movie Casino. Oscar himself also appeared in the movie as a defense lawyer for Robert De Niro’s character. Among Goodman’s other mob clients were Meyer Lansky, Nicky Scarfo, Phil Leonetti, Herbert “Fat Herbie” Blitzstein, former Stardust Casino boss Frank “Lefty” Rosenthal, and Jamiel “Jimmy” Chagra, who was convicted of ordering the assassination of a federal Judge during his drug trafficking trial in Texas.
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Mizrahi’s 2023 Statement
“I am confident that once all the facts in this case come out, I will be exonerated of these charges,” Mizrahi said. “I can unequivocally state that I did not commit any of the acts of fraud alleged in the indictment and I look forward to confirming my innocence as the case progresses.”