Hackensack Couple Admits Illegally Moving $60 Million to Latin America

Federal prosecutors say the pair used sham companies and rotating bank accounts to secretly move funds from U.S.-based websites to Colombia over four years.

A 23-year-old Colombian national formerly of Hackensack and his partner, a Hackensack resident, have pleaded guilty in federal court to operating unlicensed money transmitting businesses that moved more than $62 million from the United States to Colombia between 2021 and 2025.

Nicholas Ortega Munoz and Isabella Valderrama Ospina entered their pleas before Susan D. Wigenton in the U.S. District Court in Newark, according to an announcement by Senior Counsel Philip Lamparello.

Ortega Munoz pleaded guilty to conspiring to operate and operating an unlicensed money transmitting business. Valderrama Ospina pleaded guilty to operating and aiding and abetting the operation of an unlicensed money transmitting business.

Scheme Allegedly Used Sham Companies

According to court documents and statements made in court, the couple and others created two companies — BLK Graphics Group and Technology SD — that functioned as shell entities to facilitate the transfer of funds overseas. Prosecutors said the businesses were never properly registered as money transmitting businesses with the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN), as required under federal law.

Authorities described the companies as “cash pipelines” used to funnel money from U.S.-based sources to accounts in Colombia. Between April 2021 and June 2025, the entities moved more than $62 million to Colombian accounts.

The operation allegedly relied on a network of bank accounts at multiple financial institutions. Funds were deposited into those accounts from various entities, including pornographic websites. In one example cited by prosecutors, online consumers purchased digital “tokens” to pay adult performers for virtual content. Those tokens were converted into cash withdrawals from the platforms and deposited into BLK and Technology SD accounts. The funds were then quickly transferred to shell companies in Colombia.

Legal Requirements and Potential Penalties

Federal law requires money transmitting businesses to register with FinCEN, a bureau of the U.S. Treasury responsible for safeguarding the financial system against illicit activity, including money laundering. Registration enables regulatory oversight and law enforcement monitoring.

Each charge — conspiracy to operate an unlicensed money transmitting business and operating or aiding and abetting such a business — carries a statutory maximum sentence of five years in prison. The charges also carry a maximum fine of the greatest of $250,000, twice the gross pecuniary gain derived from the offense, or twice the gross pecuniary loss sustained by any victims.

Ortega Munoz is scheduled to be sentenced on June 23, 2026. Valderrama Ospina’s sentencing is set for June 25, 2026.

Investigation and Prosecution

Lamparello credited special agents of the FBI’s Newark Field Office, under the direction of Special Agent in Charge Stefanie Roddy, along with investigators from the U.S. Attorney’s Office, for leading the investigation that resulted in the guilty pleas.

The government is represented by Assistant U.S. Attorney Robert L. Toll of the U.S. Attorney’s Office’s Health Care Fraud & Opioids Enforcement Unit in Newark.

The case underscores federal authorities’ ongoing efforts to enforce financial registration requirements and monitor cross-border monetary transfers originating in New Jersey and elsewhere in the United States.