Homeland Security investigator from Naperville convicted of concealing stolen money

After a three-week trial in Chicago, a federal jury on Friday convicted a former Homeland Security Investigations agent from Naperville of illegally concealing money he stole from the government and from drug dealers.

Prosecutors said Anthony Sabaini, 41, collected $50,000 in protection money from a confidential informant in the Oakbrook Terrace field office for Homeland Security Investigations and in turn tipped off the informant to investigations by the FBI and the Drug Enforcement Administration. Authorities also said he lied in memos to Homeland Security Investigations about his informant in 2017 and 2018.

To evade federal bank reporting rules, he used 162 transactions to deposit a total of $250,000, the news release said.

Sabaini was convicted of one count of illegal structuring, one count of engaging in a scheme to conceal a material fact in a matter within the jurisdiction of the Department of Homeland Security, and five counts of knowingly filing a false federal tax return.

His sentencing date has not been set. The structuring and concealment charges carry sentences of up to five years in prison, while the tax charges are punishable by up to three years each.