A 27-year-old Venezuelan national was sentenced to eight years in federal prison in Omaha, Nebraska, for his role in a scheme that used malware to force ATMs to dispense cash, in what prosecutors describe as the longest federal sentence ever handed down for so-called "ATM jackpotting."
The sentence
Juan Manuel Gouveia-Aguilera pleaded guilty to bank fraud, bank burglary and cyber-enabled fraud. Chief US District Court Judge Brian C. Buescher sentenced him on August 20 to 96 months in prison, five years of supervised release, and ordered restitution tied to more than $3.5 million in losses the court attributed to him. Jackpotting attacks typically involve removing an ATM's outer casing, connecting a laptop, and installing malware that instructs the machine to empty its cash reserves.
Part of a wider investigation
Federal investigators say Gouveia-Aguilera's case is one piece of a broader probe into ATM jackpotting that has resulted in charges against 119 people in Nebraska, amid a nationwide pattern the FBI has linked to roughly 1,900 jackpotting attacks and more than $20 million in losses in 2025 alone. Two other defendants in related cases, Oddry Arnoldo Cabrera Torrealba and Carlos Javier Padron, both Venezuelan nationals, were separately sentenced to 78 months each. Authorities allege the individuals charged were working on behalf of Tren de Aragua, a Venezuelan criminal organization the US government has designated a terrorist group; IF Daily has not independently verified the specifics of that organizational connection beyond what prosecutors have alleged in court filings.
