2 men charged in NYC with running a fencing operation for South American theft groups targeting pro athletes
The men, Dimitriy Nezhinskiy, 43, and Juan Villar, 48, were charged with conspiracy to receive stolen property as part of an alleged 'fencing' operation. They are due to appear in federal court in Brooklyn on Wednesday.
As defined by the Department of Justice, those involved in fencing operations buy stolen goods 'knowing some or all of them may be illicit,' then resell them, thereby creating a 'fence' around the stolen merchandise.
In a statement announcing the charges, United States Attorney John Durham said the men allegedly "created an illicit market and fueled demand for burglaries by South American Theft Groups and other crews around the country by purchasing stolen watches, jewelry and other luxury items, and then re-selling them in their New York City store."
According to the indictment unsealed Tuesday, between 2020 and 2025 the defendants conspired to 'receive and purchase stolen property, including jewelry, watches, handbags and assorted luxury items that had been stolen outside of the state of New York and transported into New York.'
Prosecutors say Nezhinskiy and Villar 'regularly served as 'fences' for burglary crews based out of South America who traveled around the United States committing burglaries, typically targeting wealthier neighborhoods or jewelry vendors, and stealing luxury accessories.'
Prosecutors say evidence — including phone records and surveillance footage — links Nezhinskiy to at least two members of a four-man burglary crew believed to be involved in the 'Dec. 9, 2024, burglary of a high-profile athlete in Ohio.' Cincinnati Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow's home in Anderson Township, Ohio, was burglarized on that date. According to investigators, Nezhinskiy was in contact with that crew less than one week before the Dec. 9 burglary, the records show.
The U.S. Attorney's Office in the Eastern District of New York said that law enforcement executed search warrants Tuesday at Nezhinskiy and Villar's business in Midtown as well as storage units belonging to Nezhinskiy in New Jersey, seizing large quantities of suspected stolen property, including dozens of high-end watches, handbags, jewelry, wine, sports memorabilia, artwork and 'power tools consistent with those commonly used in burglaries and opening safes.'
Nezhinskiy and Villar each face up to 10 years in prison if convicted.
In late December, the FBI issued a report warning professional sports leagues in the United States that 'organized theft groups' from South America were behind the string of burglaries at the homes of star athletes.
'These homes are targeted for burglary due to the perception they may have high-end goods like designer handbags, jewelry, watches, and cash,' the FBI said.
The break-ins were preplanned and appear designed to take place when the athletes were not home, according to the FBI.
In November, the NBA and the NFL issued memos to players and coaches warning that the theft groups appear to be taking advantage of the timing of the star athletes' schedules, targeting their homes on game days.
Here is a partial list of burglaries that have taken place at the homes of sports stars since September:
Sept. 15: NBA guard Mike Conley Jr. of the Minnesota Timberwolves had his home broken into while he was attending a Minnesota Vikings game, and jewelry was stolen.
Sept 16: The Minnesota home of NBA forward Karl Anthony Towns was burglarized, with thieves getting away with property worth more than $100,000.
Oct. 6: Local police were called to the home of Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes after a break-in was reported by a member of his security team the night before an Oct. 7 home game. 'It's disappointing. I can't get into too many details because the investigation is still ongoing,' Mahomes said during a Nov. 13 press conference.
Oct. 7: A thief broke into Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce's home while he was playing against the New Orleans Saints. Police had confirmed that $20,000 in cash was stolen but did not previously disclose a stolen watch that has now been recovered in Providence, R.I.
Nov. 2: The home of Milwaukee Bucks forward Bobby Portis was broken into while he was playing a game against the Cleveland Cavaliers. He has offered a $40,000 reward for information that leads to the return of his belongings after he put out a plea on social media saying that thieves took 'most of my prized possessions.'
Nov. 29: Dallas Stars hockey player Tyler Seguin reported that $500,000 in watches were stolen from his home while he was playing a home game at American Airlines Arena. No one was home at the time of the robbery, though video of the crime was captured by security cameras.
Dec. 9: The Ohio home of Cincinnati Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow was broken into while Burrows was in Texas playing a game against the Dallas Cowboys.
Dec. 23: Thieves targeted then-Dallas Mavericks forward Luka Doncic's home in North Dallas, making off with $30,000 in jewelry.
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In July 2019, the convicted sex offender was arrested on the more serious charge of sex trafficking a minor. That same day, the FBI raided Epstein's Manhattan mansion, collecting computer hard drives and other potential evidence. After Epstein died, law enforcement also raided his property in the U.S. Virgin Islands. Those investigations would have produced a range of materials and documents, according to former law enforcement officials. It would include records of various witness interviews and details that could span well beyond information that was relevant to the criminal charges brought against Epstein and Maxwell. "People volunteer whatever they want and and sometimes people are very vocal, and they tell you personal things that have nothing to do with the investigation," said Katherine Schweit, a former FBI special agent and former Illinois state prosecutor. That could mean the files contain information or allegations dealing with third parties who have never been charged with a crime. In a news release in February, the Justice Department said it planned to release "thousands of pages" of never-before-disclosed documents after reviewing and redacting them to protect the identities of Epstein's victims. In a memo in July, however, the department reversed course and said no further disclosure was warranted. Trump was reportedly told in May that he is named multiple time in the files. Trump and Epstein were friends for many years, living near each other and partying together as far back as the early 1990s. Archived video footage and photos revealed by CNN July 22 show Epstein attending Trump's wedding to his second wife, Marla Maples, at the Plaza Hotel in 1993. The two men's friendship ended in about 2004, around the time they battled over an oceanfront Palm Beach mansion, according to The Washington Post. Trump recently said he banned Epstein from his Florida Mar-a-Lago club because Epstein "stole" staffers from the spa, including Virginia Giuffre, a well-known victim of Epstein who died by suicide earlier this year. Will grand jury transcripts cover the Epstein files? The grand jury transcripts requested by the Justice Department probably amount to just a sliver of what the FBI has in its possession, Epner said. "Grand jury testimony – while it could be, in theory, very broad – in this case, is very narrow," Epner said. A federal judge in Florida already rejected the Justice Department's request for the release of grand jury transcripts from around 2006. Two separate requests for the grand jury transcripts that led to charges against Epstein and Maxwell in New York more than a decade later are still pending. Epner explained that grand jury materials are just a subset of the work product the FBI and DOJ likely put together in the course of their Epstein-related investigations. And the Justice Department isn't even seeking all grand jury materials – only the grand jury transcripts. That wouldn't include, for instance, bank records obtained through a grand jury subpoena. Theoretically, a list of grand jury witnesses can be long. Prosecutors may call many witnesses before a grand jury so they can be confident of what the witnesses will say under oath at trial. Some grand juries also conduct investigations and call a wide range of witnesses for that purpose. But that's not what happened in Maxwell and Epstein's New York criminal cases. Only two witnesses testified before the grand juries, according to the Justice Department. They were an FBI agent and a New York police detective who, at the time, was working with the FBI's Child Exploitation and Human Trafficking Task Force. Those witnesses summarized what interview subjects said. That means the transcripts wouldn't include direct testimony from victims. It also suggests the grand jury processes in the two cases were streamlined rather than sprawling. In addition, if the Manhattan federal court agrees to release the transcripts, the Justice Department has said it plans to redact not just victim-related information, but also "other personal identifying information." That may mean blocking out identifiers for third parties tied to Epstein – the type of people whom members of the public may want to investigate as potential clients of Epstein. "I don't think the people that are behind all this, people that are have so much of an outcry about this, that they're going to be satisfied with just grand jury information, unless they don't know what it is," said Rick Smith, a former FBI special agent who now provides investigative services to law firms. That doesn't mean the grand jury transcripts couldn't contain revelations. Schweit noted that court rules that restrict testimony at trial are relaxed before grand juries, so the jurors who charged Maxwell and Epstein may have heard things that weren't discussed at Maxwell's public trial in 2021. "You might include in a grand jury somebody's criminal background, or ask questions about where they went to college and who their roommates were, and did they know this person or that person? Some things that in a regular court might be hearsay, it might be secondary information," Schweit said. Why not release the files? There are arguments against releasing the files. The Justice Department has said its review of the files didn't produce evidence to justify investigating anyone who hasn't been charged already. Assuming that was a fair assessment of the evidence, releasing the files could unfairly tie third parties to Epstein's suspected crimes. "The thing that happens with something like this is there are a lot of people out there that are scared to death of this thing, who had nothing to do with anything untoward," Smith said. Trump isn't the only famous person who has been tied to Epstein in ways that fueled speculation – without proof – of Epstein-related criminal conduct. Former President Bill Clinton flew repeatedly on Epstein's private jet, according to flight logs reported on by The Palm Beach Post. Former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak met with Epstein dozens of times and also took flights on the jet, according to a Wall Street Journal investigation. Others may simply have been present at one of the many glamorous parties Epstein attended in his social heyday. If the Justice Department one day finds new evidence and concludes investigating someone else is appropriate, releasing the evidence it has could jeopardize that investigation. There is no statute of limitations that would restrict federal prosecutors from going after someone else for suspected sex trafficking. "We want to ensure that we can continue to truthfully look for whether somebody is guilty or innocent, whether further investigation needs to be done," Schweit said. Still, releasing the files also could clear people who have come under suspicion in some corners of the court of public opinion. Actor Kevin Spacey, who – according to Law & Crime – acknowledged in court testimony flying on Epstein's plane along with Clinton, wants the files released so he can clear his name. "Release the Epstein files. All of them," Spacey, 65, posted on X July 15. "For those of us with nothing to fear, the truth can't come soon enough. I hate to make this about me – but the media already has." And part of what makes the Epstein-related investigations different is the level and spread of conspiracy theories surrounding how Epstein died and who may have also been involved in his crimes. Several members of Trump's own administration fanned the flames of those conspiracy theories for years. Now, those same officials are facing a wide segment of the public that doesn't trust that all investigative leads have been followed. "If there wasn't so much of an outcry that there was a conspiracy, I don't think we'd be where we are right now," Smith said. "But now that the people that had the most say about it are in the position to do something about it, it becomes a problem." This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: If Epstein files were released, what would be in them? Solve the daily Crossword
