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Pharmaceutic Frat Boys Foiled by Feds

Etexhorn13

By Etexhorn13
in Daily Texan

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Brisketexan

Brisketexan 105161

Posted
Posted (edited)

Benny Daneshjou (the developer who ended up in litigation with Sandra Bullock over her totally screwed up house) is one of the defendants here.  UT students involved.  Based on current scuttlebutt in other circles, I have to wonder how Kendra Scott is connected to one of the players here.  Because that's how things seem to be going in Austin/UT 2020.

In fact, the way I read this.....Benny Daneshjou is going to be our new football coach.  It's done.

Edited by Brisketexan
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TwiceHorn

TwiceHorn 31510

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https://www.justice.gov/usao-wdtx/pr/13-arrested-connection-lsd-fentanyl-and-methamphetamine-trafficking-and-money

Those arrested include: 23-year-old Varun Prasad of Austin; 26-year-old Charles Zenker of Houston; 68-year-old Benny Daneshjou of Austin; 26-year-old Ashley Larue of Austin; 21-year-old Drew Zarate of Austin; 32-year-old Christopher Edwards of Portland, Ore.; 21-year-old Jacob Schelling of Cypress; 22-year-old Madison Scott of Houston; 21-year-old Adrian Andreescu of Plano; 21-year-old Nikit Shingari of Austin; 21-year-old Nolan Fogleman of Austin; 23-year-old Samuel Parry of Austin; and 27-year-old Brandon Carpenter of Austin. All of the defendants are charged with conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute a controlled substance. Prasad, Daneshjou, Larue and Zarate are also charged with conspiracy to commit money laundering.

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crash_davis

crash_davis 23114

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Posted

bolded for lulz. English is hard.

 

https://www.kxan.com/news/doj-13-people-including-current-and-former-ut-students-arrested-on-drug-trafficking-charges/

AUSTIN (KXAN) — Federal, state and local authorities have arrested 13 individuals Thursday, including current and former University of Texas at Austin students, charged in connection with trafficking, LSD, fentanyl, and methamphetamine pills to UT students in Austin.

United States Attorney Gregg N. Sofer, DEA Special Agent in Charge Steven S. Whipple and IRS-Criminal Investigation Special Agent in Charge Richard Goss all spoke about the arrests at a press conference Friday.

The defendants allegedly conspired to distribute LSD, fentanyl and methamphetamine in the Austin metropolitan area and other locations since April 2019 and also allegedly conspired to launder the financial proceeds of unlawful activities. Investigators says during the course of the investigation, called Operation Spiderweb, more than $1 million of “camouflaged poison” were sold and distributed to people in Austin, including students at UT.

“These kids, they’re all well-educated. We saw eight current or former UT students that were members of this organization. We saw mathematics majors, chemistry majors, a psychology major, business majors, and they decided to turn their talents into this illicit operation,” Whipple said.

Those arrested include:

  • Varun Prasad, 23, of Austin
  • Charles Zenker, 26 of Houston
  • Benny Daneshjou, 68, of Austin
  • Ashley Larue, 26, of Austin
  • Drew Zarate, 21, of Austin
  • Christopher Edwards, 32, of Portland, Oregon
  • Jacob Schelling, 21, of Cypress, Texas
  • Madison Scott, 22, of Houston
  • Adrian Andreescu, 21, of Plano
  • Nikit Shingari, 21, of Austin
  • Nolan Fogleman, 21, of Austin
  • Samuel Parry, 23, of Austin
  • Brandon Carpenter, 27 of Austin

All of the defendants are charged with conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute a controlled substance. Prasad, Daneshjou, Larue and Zarate are also charged with conspiracy to commit money laundering.

Sofer said two suspects in the investigation overdosed and died while the investigation was ongoing. He also said the organization used smartphone apps GroupMe and Venmo to initiate and complete transactions.

A former professor at the University of Texas at San Antonio is also implicated in the case. Rose Rodriguez-Rabin is accused of giving methamphetamine-laced counterfeit drugs to Prasad “on numerous occasions,” Sofer said. Her and Brandon Sims were indicted in January on separate cases and are awaiting trial.

FBI Special Agent in Charge Christopher Combs, San Antonio Field Office; Travis County Sheriff Sally Hernandez; Austin Police Chief Brian Manley; and Lakeway Police Chief Todd Radford were also part of the announcement.

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TwiceHorn

TwiceHorn 31510

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I sometimes try to put myself in the shoes of a criminal, to try and see if I can figure out what they were thinking when they did their crimes.

I get that the money from drug dealing can be seductive.  And maybe in a lot of cases, you don't see the destruction first hand.  But it's hard to ignore.

It strikes me as a pretty compromised thing to do.

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Bevo

Bevo 13582

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Posted
39 minutes ago, TwiceHorn said:

21-year-old Nolan Fogleman of Austin

I hope that isn't the son of Ricky Fogelman. He was a friend of mine back in the day. His dad has lots of things named after him at Tulane and a freeway named after him in Memphis. Owned the Royals back in the day.

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MAROON

MAROON 445

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Posted
55 minutes ago, TwiceHorn said:

https://www.justice.gov/usao-wdtx/pr/13-arrested-connection-lsd-fentanyl-and-methamphetamine-trafficking-and-money

Those arrested include: 23-year-old Varun Prasad of Austin; 26-year-old Charles Zenker of Houston; 68-year-old Benny Daneshjou of Austin; 26-year-old Ashley Larue of Austin; 21-year-old Drew Zarate of Austin; 32-year-old Christopher Edwards of Portland, Ore.; 21-year-old Jacob Schelling of Cypress; 22-year-old Madison Scott of Houston; 21-year-old Adrian Andreescu of Plano; 21-year-old Nikit Shingari of Austin; 21-year-old Nolan Fogleman of Austin; 23-year-old Samuel Parry of Austin; and 27-year-old Brandon Carpenter of Austin. All of the defendants are charged with conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute a controlled substance. Prasad, Daneshjou, Larue and Zarate are also charged with conspiracy to commit money laundering.

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XYZ

XYZ 2154

Posted
Posted
55 minutes ago, TwiceHorn said:

I sometimes try to put myself in the shoes of a criminal, to try and see if I can figure out what they were thinking when they did their crimes.

I get that the money from drug dealing can be seductive.  And maybe in a lot of cases, you don't see the destruction first hand.  But it's hard to ignore.

It strikes me as a pretty compromised thing to do.

There’s a multi-part documentary on Netflix with a chic (ex CIA analyst, I think) who covers a different drug in each episode. She was talking with poppy farmers and they clearly understood the ramifications of their trade, but it didn’t seem to create any conflict in them. Like, that was their livelihood, end of story.

We are a lot more like monkeys than we’d like to admit. I often wonder how scammers manage to sleep at night.

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TwiceHorn

TwiceHorn 31510

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2 hours ago, XYZ said:

There’s a multi-part documentary on Netflix with a chic (ex CIA analyst, I think) who covers a different drug in each episode. She was talking with poppy farmers and they clearly understood the ramifications of their trade, but it didn’t seem to create any conflict in them. Like, that was their livelihood, end of story.

We are a lot more like monkeys than we’d like to admit. I often wonder how scammers manage to sleep at night.

I can see growers maybe justifying growing moreso than dealers dealing.

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atomheartbevo

atomheartbevo 89737

Posted
Posted
6 hours ago, TwiceHorn said:

I sometimes try to put myself in the shoes of a criminal, to try and see if I can figure out what they were thinking when they did their crimes.

I get that the money from drug dealing can be seductive.  And maybe in a lot of cases, you don't see the destruction first hand.  But it's hard to ignore.

It strikes me as a pretty compromised thing to do.

"It's just one time!"  "We'll do these two deals, and less than a week later, you'll have money that can't be traced!" etc.

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Doc Reeves

Doc Reeves 6434

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Posted
1 hour ago, Blotto said:

Lulz. I got fuuuuuuuucked up at some Deke parties in the 90's. 

Fuck man. I knew the dekes from 1997 till ‘03 extremely well

i remember breaking up wood furniture to burn in their fire place to stay warm while on mushrooms. Also doing a sheet toss with a sloot who we accidentally launched about 20ft and broke her arm. 

Lord. 

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ztejas

ztejas 43503

Posted
Posted

Title seems misleading unless I'm missing a reference to a fraternity being involved. 

10 hours ago, TwiceHorn said:

I sometimes try to put myself in the shoes of a criminal, to try and see if I can figure out what they were thinking when they did their crimes.

I get that the money from drug dealing can be seductive.  And maybe in a lot of cases, you don't see the destruction first hand.  But it's hard to ignore.

It strikes me as a pretty compromised thing to do.

 

9 hours ago, XYZ said:

There’s a multi-part documentary on Netflix with a chic (ex CIA analyst, I think) who covers a different drug in each episode. She was talking with poppy farmers and they clearly understood the ramifications of their trade, but it didn’t seem to create any conflict in them. Like, that was their livelihood, end of story.

We are a lot more like monkeys than we’d like to admit. I often wonder how scammers manage to sleep at night.

Generally, people selling drugs are doing the drugs themselves. Or have at the very least done them before. So not only do moral justifications arise such as: "it's fine, I tried it","it's cool, I do it all the time","you're good, I used to do it a bunch" they are coupled with/exacerbated by impaired thinking.

Now, as @XYZ brought up if, if you're selling drugs simply to put food on the table, because you HAVE to and can't find another way to make a living, you might not even care.

And then you have things like weed or psychedelics that aren't really dangerous or ruin people's lives anyway so there's really no justification needed other than the legal risk involved.

I have personal anecdotes that part of me would like to share but I'm not quite comfortable doing so.

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TwiceHorn

TwiceHorn 31510

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6 hours ago, ztejas said:

Title seems misleading unless I'm missing a reference to a fraternity being involved. 

 

Generally, people selling drugs are doing the drugs themselves. Or have at the very least done them before. So not only do moral justifications arise such as: "it's fine, I tried it","it's cool, I do it all the time","you're good, I used to do it a bunch" they are coupled with/exacerbated by impaired thinking.

Now, as @XYZ brought up if, if you're selling drugs simply to put food on the table, because you HAVE to and can't find another way to make a living, you might not even care.

And then you have things like weed or psychedelics that aren't really dangerous or ruin people's lives anyway so there's really no justification needed other than the legal risk involved.

I have personal anecdotes that part of me would like to share but I'm not quite comfortable doing so.

Fair points, all.  There's a spectrum, for sure.  But those with other opportunities make a highly questionable choice.  Even those "in the ghetto" who have not a lot of choices also typically see and live among the devastation.

People always associate West Campus with frats, but there are a ton of non-Greeks in West Campus.  Or there used to be, anyway.  Most of the co-ops are or were in West Campus.

Edited by TwiceHorn
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