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Prison guard admits to smuggling contraband into NYC jail

The Metropolitan Correctional Center.

On August 24, former federal correctional officer Victor Casado, 35, of the Bronx, New York, pled guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit bribery and to introduce contraband into prison. He also agreed to forfeit $26,500 worth of bribes to the government. Casado was a correctional officer at the Metropolitan Correctional Center (MCC), a federal jail in Manhattan, from 2012 to 2018.

The smuggling scheme

In 2016 and 2017, Casado smuggled cellphones, alcohol, over-the-counter medications, and food into the MCC in exchange for bribe payments from inmates. The scheme is described in detail here.

In October 2017, one of the inmates pled guilty to bribing Casado and became a cooperating witness for the government. Read about the inmate’s case here.

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Turkish-Iranian gold trader pleads guilty to violating Iran sanctions

Video: TRT World – YouTube

This is the second post in a series about two separate but related federal criminal cases: USA v. Casado, and USA v. Zarrab. The first post focused on the recent indictment of federal correctional officer Victor Casado for allegedly taking bribes to smuggle contraband into jail. This post focuses on the case against businessman Reza Zarrab who pled guilty to violating U.S. sanctions against Iran in October 2017.

Casado and Zarrab are roughly the same age, 35 and 34, respectively, although they come from very different backgrounds. Their fates became linked after Zarrab was transferred to the federal jail where Casado works in lower Manhattan in mid-2016, and Casado allegedly solicited a bribe from Zarrab.

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Prison guard arrested for smuggling contraband into NYC jail

The Metropolitan Correctional Center.

Federal correctional officer Victor Casado, 35, of the Bronx, New York, was arrested on April 5, 2018, and charged with taking bribes to smuggle cellphones, alcohol, over-the-counter medications, and food into the Metropolitan Correctional Center (MCC), a federal jail in lower Manhattan.

The alleged smuggling scheme 

According to the complaint, sometime in the second half of 2016, an inmate at the MCC named Reza Zarrab was approached by another inmate who told him that Casado wanted to give him his phone number. The inmate suggested that Zarrab should payoff Casado. Zarrab agreed and directed one of his attorneys to pay Casado $5,000. Zarrab’s attorney arranged for a car service driver who worked for her to deliver the cash.