The Justice Department on Thursday announced charges against five people in Operation Ghostbusters, a nationwide investigation into student aid fraud. The department also said investigators seized more than $750,000 in cryptocurrency tied to the scheme.
According to the department, criminals used stolen identities of U.S. citizens to file false Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) forms and enroll “ghost students” in colleges. The students never attended class. After loan and grant money was paid out, refunds were sent to bank accounts controlled by foreign actors, with help from money mules in the United States, including Kenyan nationals. A money mule is a person who moves illegally obtained money for others.
The department’s National Fraud Enforcement Division announced the cases with the U.S. Attorney’s Offices for the Eastern District of Virginia, Nebraska and New Jersey. Charges are allegations. All defendants are presumed innocent unless proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in court.
In New Jersey, three people were arrested on a criminal complaint: Mabed Patricia Utate-Alberto, Patricia Arisleydi Perez and George Arturo Alfau Mendez. The complaint accuses them of conspiring with people in Kenya, starting in about March 2021, to obtain more than $1 million in federal student aid. The department said the three received the money in U.S. bank accounts and sent it overseas to people tied to a Kenyan safari company after taking a cut. It said two co-conspirators in Kenya will be charged as the case continues.
In Virginia, a federal grand jury on Oct. 21 returned an indictment against a Kenyan national, who was not named in the release. The charges are conspiracy to commit wire fraud and student aid fraud. The indictment says the defendant received more than 700 fraudulently obtained refund deposits totaling about $1,439,548, and that at least $1.3 million was then moved to accounts in the United States and Kenya.
In Nebraska, a federal grand jury on Oct. 19 indicted Francis Mogambi, a Kenyan citizen, on five counts of theft of government money and five counts of aggravated identity theft. The indictment says he used stolen identities between November 2025 and May 2026, kept 30% of the proceeds and sent the rest to conspirators in Kenya. A court ordered him held pending trial.
The department said the cryptocurrency was seized with help from Kenyan law enforcement after Justice Department and partner agency representatives visited Kenya in September. Assistant Attorney General Colin M. McDonald said it was “the first international seizure of its kind in Kenya.”
The department said investigators believe the fraud has run since at least 2021 and estimated its scale at well over $200 million. It said there are more than 40 open cases across 26 FBI field offices and more than 20 U.S. Attorneys’ Offices. FBI Assistant Director Heith Janke said the FBI has identified more than $32 million in losses in similar schemes.
In September and October, investigators identified 830,840 potentially fraudulent federal student aid IDs tied to nearly $130 million. They recommended that the Department of Education disable them. The release did not say whether the department has done so.
People who believe they are victims can report to the Department of Education Office of Inspector General hotline. The FBI has sent letters to many identified victims, and the department said those who received one should follow its instructions.