The U.S. Treasury Department sanctioned 10 people and entities tied to an alleged Tren de Aragua (TdA) ATM-fraud network on September 30, 2026, and separately designated senior TdA leader Juan Gabriel Rivas Nunez, known as “Juancho.” Treasury says the Mexico- and Venezuela-based network used malware to make U.S. ATMs dispense cash, laundered the proceeds, and routed money to TdA members.
What the September 30 sanctions target
The Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) acted under Executive Orders 13581 and 13224, as amended. The designations target a financial network supporting TdA as well as Juan Gabriel Rivas Nunez (“Juancho”), described by Treasury as a high-ranking leader.
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Treasury says the action builds on OFAC designations issued on June 24, July 17 and December 3, 2025. The department describes TdA as a Venezuela-origin organization that expanded across the Western Hemisphere and is involved in drug trafficking, migrant smuggling, human trafficking, extortion, sexual exploitation, money laundering and murder-for-hire.
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The sanctions are an economic measure, not a criminal verdict. They are intended to isolate leadership, facilitators, front companies and other financial channels that allegedly moved money from the ATM attacks into the organization.
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How the alleged ATM jackpotting attacks worked
ATM jackpotting is a cyberattack in which malware forces an ATM or interactive teller machine to dispense cash without debiting a customer account. The alleged TdA-linked operations followed a physical-and-digital sequence:
- Reconnaissance: crews identified vulnerable machines and planned access.
- Physical entry: operators opened an ATM hood or service door, replaced or modified a hard drive, or connected an external device such as a thumb drive.
- Malware deployment: investigators identified the malware as Ploutus.
- Remote activation: the installed malware was activated after the crew left or from a separate location.
- Cash dispensing: Ploutus sent unauthorized commands to the ATM’s Cash Dispensing Module, causing the machine to release currency.
- Evidence removal: prosecutors said the malware was designed to delete evidence of its presence.
Ploutus did not need to compromise individual customer accounts to produce cash. The alleged intrusion targeted the ATM’s control environment and its connection to the cash-dispensing mechanism.
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How much money was allegedly stolen?
| Measure | Figure | Qualification |
|---|---|---|
| Reported U.S. losses | $40.73 million | U.S. Treasury total reported loss as of August 2025 |
| Alleged attacks | More than 1,500 | U.S. attacks associated with that loss figure as of August 2025 |
| People indicted since October 21, 2025 | 98 | Treasury’s count reported in 2026 |
| Joint restitution ordered | $1,537,696 | Amount Carlos Javier Padron and Oddry Arnoldo Cabrera Torrealba were ordered to pay victim banks |
The $40.73 million figure is a reported-loss total, not a finding that every dollar was personally taken by the individuals designated on September 30, 2026. Treasury attributes the alleged proceeds to a broader network whose members laundered money and transferred funds to TdA associates.
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Who was charged or sentenced?
Padron and Torrealba
On June 26, 2026, the Justice Department announced that Carlos Javier Padron and Oddry Arnoldo Cabrera Torrealba each received 78-month prison sentences. DOJ said both helped deploy Ploutus and ordered them to pay the joint restitution amount shown above.
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Broader federal prosecutions
The cases include allegations of providing material support to a designated foreign terrorist organization, bank burglary, bank fraud, money laundering, unauthorized access to or damage of protected computers, and conspiracy. DOJ said the charged conspiracies carried potential maximum prison terms ranging from 20 to 335 years; those are statutory maximums, not sentences imposed on every defendant.
DOJ’s January 26, 2026 release described a 31-person indictment and 87 people charged at that point. Treasury later reported that DOJ had indicted 98 people since October 21, 2025, reflecting additional indictments after the earlier release. A December 2025 Nebraska case involved two indictments charging 54 people and alleged that proceeds were transferred among TdA members and associates.
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Why the case is tied to terrorism financing
The terrorism connection comes from the alleged destination and purpose of the money, not from the ATM machines themselves. Treasury says jackpotting proceeds became an important revenue source for TdA. Prosecutors have therefore brought material-support allegations in cases where defendants are accused of helping generate or move funds for an organization designated as a terrorist group.
The State Department identified TdA as a Foreign Terrorist Organization on February 20, 2025. OFAC had already designated TdA as a transnational criminal organization on July 11, 2024. Those designations provide separate legal and sanctions frameworks that can overlap when criminal proceeds are alleged to benefit the group.
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“President Trump’s administration will not allow terrorist organizations like Tren de Aragua to exploit the U.S. financial system or enrich themselves through theft and other criminal activity targeting American individuals and businesses,” Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said.
A terrorism-support charge still requires proof in court. An OFAC designation does not establish that every person named in an indictment committed the alleged conduct.
What happens next for defendants and the sanctioned network?
Sanctions can restrict the designated network’s access to the U.S. financial system and make it harder for banks, businesses and other counterparties to handle its property or transactions. Criminal cases proceed separately through indictments, pleas, trials and sentencing.
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Quick Recap
Key dates in the crackdown
| Date | Development |
|---|---|
| July 11, 2024 | OFAC designated TdA a transnational criminal organization. |
| February 20, 2025 | The State Department identified TdA as a Foreign Terrorist Organization. |
| August 2025 | Treasury reported more than 1,500 alleged U.S. jackpotting attacks and $40.73 million in reported losses. |
| December 2025 | Nebraska prosecutors announced two indictments charging 54 people. |
| January 26, 2026 | DOJ reported a 31-person indictment and 87 total defendants charged at that point. |
| June 26, 2026 | Padron and Torrealba each received 78-month sentences and joint restitution. |
| September 30, 2026 | OFAC designated 10 TdA-linked targets and senior leader Juan Gabriel Rivas Nunez (“Juancho”). |
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