During his five-plus years in Mexico, Ballow and his criminal associates opened various bank accounts in Mexico and several other countries and transferred millions of dollars in investment money from his clients into these bank accounts—and ultimately into their own pockets.

But the gravy train ended in July 2010, when Ballow was detained by Mexican authorities on an arrest warrant issued by the Southern District of Texas related to his previous money laundering conviction. He was extradited back to the U.S. in April 2011, and not long after that, he was sentenced to 10 years on the money laundering charge.

Also in July 2010, the same month Ballow had been apprehended in Mexico, he was indicted again—this time related to the E-SOL stock fraud scheme. A few months later, his co-conspirators were indicted and additional charges were lodged against Ballow.

This complex case, which started in the FBI’s San Antonio Field Office but was eventually moved to the Houston Division, was worked closely with the Internal Revenue Service’s Criminal Investigation (CI) Division—in particular, IRS-CI Agent Aaron Gogley, who was detailed to an FBI Houston task force.

“Aaron was a vital part of the investigation,” explained Hopper. “An important aspect of these kinds of cases involves following the money trail left by the criminals—and Aaron’s expertise in doing just that made a big difference in the outcome of the case.”

Gogley said that investigators in the case were motivated by a desire to stop a career criminal who had financially hurt a large number of victims from taking advantage of one more person. “Most of Ballow’s victims were not wealthy people,” the IRS-CI agent explained. “They were just regular folks planning for their financial futures—families with kids, workers nearing retirement, retirees. Some even took out loans to fund their investments, and the loss of this money had a severe impact on them.”

In addition to the IRS, the Bureau received invaluable assistance from authorities in Canada and Mexico, along with the U.S. Marshals Service and Postal Inspection Service. This case was yet another example of the importance of multi-agency collaboration—even across national borders—in solving crimes and protecting the public.