U.S. indicts Mohameds in massive gold fraud

Oct 07, 2025 News

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…seeking forfeiture of assets
…duo faces lengthy prison term if convicted

(Kaieteur News) – Leader of the We Invest in Nationhood party (WIN) Azruddin Mohamed and his father, Nazar “Shell” Mohamed, have been indicted in a U.S. federal court in Miami, Florida on 11 charges of wire and mail fraud, conspiracy to commit money laundering and the importation of a Lamborghini luxury car- all stemming from accusations of massive tax fraud committed against Guyana.

The indictment, unsealed on October 2, 2025, accuses the Mohameds of orchestrating an elaborate fraud and money-laundering scheme involving gold exports, customs fraud, bribery, and the evasion of millions in taxes and royalties owed to Guyana.

The case, captioned United States of America v. Nazar Mohamed & Azruddin Mohamed, is filed in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida under case number 25-CR-20441 (WILLIAMS/LETT). Among the statutes cited are: conspiracy to commit mail and wire fraud (18 U.S.C. § 1349), wire fraud (18 U.S.C. § 1343), mail fraud (18 U.S.C. § 1341), conspiracy to commit money laundering (18 U.S.C. § 1956(h)), and related forfeiture statutes (18 U.S.C. §§ 981, 982).

At the heart of the US Government’s case lie several core allegations, among them gold export fraud and customs seal reuse. The indictment seen by this newspaper charges that Mohamed’s Enterprise, the Guyana-based gold wholesaling and export company controlled 90% by Nazar and 10% by Azruddin, is alleged to have sold gold to buyers in Miami and Dubai, while circumventing Guyana’s revenue and regulatory system. The indictment claims that the defendants would reuse official Guyana Revenue Authority (GRA) and Guyana Gold Board (GGB) customs seals and export declarations, originally applied legally on one shipment on subsequent shipments for which they had not paid taxes or royalties. This, prosecutors say, created the false impression that proper payments had been made.

Additionally, the duo is also accused of bribing state officials to facilitate their alleged corrupt acts. The indictment sets forth that the Mohameds paid bribes to Guyanese government officials, including customs agents to allow the acceptance of duplicate paperwork and reused seals. Through this mechanism, the scheme allegedly enabled the evasion of duties and royalties that should have gone to Guyana’s coffers.

According to the court papers from 2017 through June 11, 2024, the indictment alleges the defendants caused exports of at least 10,000 kilograms of gold to pass through Miami without payment of the proper dues to Guyana, amounting to a loss of approximately US$50 million to the Guyanese government. The indictment further charges the Mohameds with conspiring to transport, transmit, and transfer funds derived from their criminal scheme, including through international wire transfers, with the intent to promote the underlying illegal activity. The scheme is said to have used U.S. and foreign financial institutions to move illicit proceeds.

According to the court papers, the purpose of the conspiracy was for the defendants to unlawfully enrich themselves and defraud the government of Guyana in connection with taxes and royalties owed on the sale and export of gold by fraudulently reusing Guyana customs declarations and seals on gold shipments sent through Miami to make it appear that Mohamed’s Enterprise had paid taxes and royalties when it had not actually paid them.

According to the court documents, the manner and means by which the defendants and their co-conspirators sought to accomplish the purpose of the conspiracy included, among other things, the following: NAZAR MOHAMED and AZRUDDIN MOHAMED entered into agreements on behalf of Mohamed’s Enterprise to sell thousands of kilograms of gold per year from Guyana to buyers in Miami and Dubai. The court documents did not identify by name the companies, but noted that the pair coordinated with Company 1, via electronic communications between Guyana and Miami, to transport gold sold by Mohamed ‘ s Enterprise from Guyana to Miami and Dubai (through Miami). In connection with those shipments, NAZAR MOHAMED and AZRUDDIN MOHAMED caused payments to Company 1 from bank accounts in Guyana to the Southern District of Florida.

Additionally, the documents said the Mohameds set up a system whereby Mohamed’s Enterprise would pay taxes and royalties in Guyana on one shipment of gold and receive the appropriate GRA and GGB seals, but then reuse the same customs declarations and GRA and GGB seals on the subsequent shipment so that Mohamed’s Enterprise could avoid taxes and royalties on the second shipment.

The court documents said too that the Mohameds caused Company 2 to ship empty wooden boxes with intact GRA and GGB seals from gold buyers in Dubai to Miami. Azruddin Mohamed the court pointed out caused Company 3 in Miami to ship those empty boxes with intact GRA and GGB seals from Miami to Mohamed’s Enterprise office in Guyana.

The duo is accused of then reusing empty boxes with intact GRA and GGB seals for shipments of gold to make it appear that Mohamed’s Enterprise had paid Guyana taxes and royalties on shipments of gold when, in truth and in fact, Mohamed’ s Enterprise had not paid them on those shipments of gold.

Luxury vehicle undervaluation scheme

In a separate count, Azruddin Mohamed, the presumptive nominee for the constitutional post of leader of the opposition here is charged with submitting fraudulent documents to the Guyana Revenue Authority regarding a Lamborghini Aventador SV shipped from Miami to Guyana. The indictment claims he falsified invoices to show the vehicle’s value as around US$75,300, when its true cost was approximately US$680,000, thereby evading over US$1 million in taxes. The WIN leader is currently before a Guyana court on this matter.  He was first arraigned in May 2025 and placed on $500,000 bail after pleading not guilty to the charges before Magistrate McGusty.

Forfeiture of assets

Meanwhile, the U.S. Government in the court papers indicted that it will be seeking forfeiture of property traceable to the proceeds of the scheme, including a seized shipment containing approximately US$5.3 million in gold bars intercepted at Miami International Airport on June 11, 2024. This matter was never reported locally and it came after the Mohameds were sanctioned by the United States Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) and their businesses barred from doing business with the Guyana Government.  Should the Mohameds be convicted under these charges, the penalties may include substantial fines, asset forfeiture, and lengthy prison terms under U.S. law. The Demerarawaves reported that the pair could face a maximum of 20 years on each count, maximum supervised release of three years, a maximum fine of US$250,000 or twice the gross pecuniary gain or loss. On the charges of wire fraud, he could also be sentenced to 20 years imprisonment and maximum supervised release of three years and a fine of US$250,000 or twice the gross pecuniary gain or loss. The Grand Jury is also seeking a maximum of 20 years imprisonment, three years supervised release and a fine of US$500,000 or the value of the property involved in the transaction for conspiracy to commit money laundering.

New Opposition Leader

The timing and gravity of this indictment come at a time when Azruddin Mohamed is about to step into the constitutional office of Leader of the Opposition. His four-month-old WIN party captured 16 seats in the new National Assembly, surpassing the old PNCR-led APNU grouping to become the primary opposition bloc. His rise caught many by surprise, with political watchers still figuring out what caused the seismic shift in the electorate. Mohamed has already expressed readiness to take on his role as Opposition Leader pledging to channel his salary into community causes and to hold the government strictly accountable. His party has named its 16 candidates to take up their positions as Members of Parliament in the 65-seat legislature here. Observers say that this grand jury indictment could scare or embolden supporters of the WIN party.

On Facebook yesterday political opponents have wasted no time in raising the alarm. Some warn that allowing an indicted individual to assume such a powerful office may erode public trust in Parliament, but supporters of Mohamed, for their part, have argued that he is the target of political persecution and that he remains innocent until proven guilty.

Writing in a column in another section of the media, Kaieteur News columnist, GHK Lall said:  “A man out of nowhere electrified swaths of the Guyanese electorate, even with sanctions hanging around his neck, and matters have come to this.  Indictment via a U.S. grand jury.  My first question out of a few today, is what does this do to the will of the Guyanese people, and their power to choose their own champions?  Has the will of Guyanese been subverted, reduced to zilch?”

Lall further said: “I get belated understanding as to why the parliamentary clock is currently being rundown to the last day. Could it be that developments from U.S. federal jurisprudence were awaited?  What now, a request for extradition?  Meanwhile, Guyana’s parliament is enjoying a sabbatical, with taints staining long before its doors are reopened.” Lall said whatever Azruddin Mohamed was and is, however he would have turned out to be in parliament, he may not be allowed to put foot in there. “I note that while several of Mohamed enterprises are specifically named in the grand jury indictment, the We Invest in Nationhood (WIN) party is not among them.  If the head of WIN is removed, where does that leave the remaining body in parliament, and to what effect, since the people didn’t vote for them?  How could that prompt his supporters to react?  The seismic change in the political landscape could be the first victim.  Neutered before it got going, and with implications for a return to the old rancid racial and political divisions,” Lall commented.

US sanctions

In mid-2024, OFAC imposed sanctions on both Azruddin and his father and then PPP executive member and Permanent Secretary, Mae Thomas citing allegations of tax evasion, corruption, and gold export schemes that deprived Guyana of substantial revenues. According to the OFAC, the Mohamed’s allegedly evaded tax on gold exports and defrauded the Guyanese government of tax revenues by under declaring their gold exports to Guyanese authorities. “Between 2019 and 2023, Mohamed’s Enterprise omitted more than 10 thousand kilograms of gold from import and export declarations and avoided paying more than US$50 million in duty taxes to the Government of Guyana,” the US Treasury alleged.

It further alleged that: “Mohamed’s Enterprise has bribed customs officials to falsify import and export documents, as well as to facilitate illicit gold shipments. Mohamed’s Enterprise had paid bribes to Guyanese government officials to ensure the undisrupted flow of inbound and outbound personnel that move currency and other items on behalf of Azruddin and Mohamed’s Enterprise,” OFAC alleged.

OFAC had also implicated Thomas in the Mohamed’s web of alleged corruption. In exchange for cash payments and high-value gifts, it was stated that Thomas misused her position, while as PS for the Ministry of Home Affairs to influence the award of official contract bids and the approval processes for weapons’ permits and passports on behalf of Mohamed’s Enterprise. While the department only named and sanctioned Thomas, it was stated that other government officials are complicit for accepting bribes and giving the Mohamed’s favourable treatment. “In return, corrupt officials receive cash and gifts for incidents that are overlooked. Additionally, Mohamed’s Enterprise has paid bribes to corrupt Guyanese government officials to facilitate the award of government contracts,” the OFAC alleged.

Jurisdiction and extradition

Meanwhile, Guyanese have already started to ask question as to whether the US will seek the extradition of the Mohameds. Guyana does have an extradition treaty with the United States and in recent times officials from that country have come here to discuss matters pertaining to extradition.  Back in July this year Attorney General and Minister of Legal Affairs, Mohabir Anil Nandlall met with  Sandy Rao, Senior Inspector, United States Department of Justice, United States Marshals Service, and  Timothy Semons, Regional Security Officer, Embassy of the United States of America.

The US Marshal Service is the lead Federal Law Enforcement Agency and Subject Matter Expert in fugitives and extradition matters in the United States of America. A release from the AG’s Chambers had said that Rao expressed gratitude to the Government of Guyana for enacting crucial amendments to the Fugitive Offenders Act. These amendments will mutually enhance both countries’ ability to expedite extradition cases between the two countries, many of which are pending, the release said. Both sides had pledged to continue to work together in enhancing every aspect of mutual assistance and co-operation in criminal matters between the two countries.

(See full list of Indictment: https://kaieteurnewsonline.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/Mohamed.pdf)

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• Azruddin Mohamed, indicts, Nazar Mohamed, OFAC sanctions, U.S. federal court, US sanctions, We Invest in Nationhood party

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