A Naperville man who worked as a special agent for U.S. Department of Homeland Security has been convicted on charges related to giving an informant investigation information, stealing money from the agency and drug dealers, and filing false tax returns.
Following a three-week trial in Chicago, a federal jury found Anthony Sabaini, 41, guilty Friday of one count of structuring, one count of willfully engaging in a scheme to conceal a material fact in a matter within the jurisdiction of the departmemt and five counts of willfully filing a false federal tax return, a U.S. Attorney’s Office news release said.
Sabaini was a special agent with Homeland Security Investigations, a criminal investigative unit within the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, and assigned to a field office in Oakbrook Terrace.
According to trial evidence, Sabaini had a “corrupt relationship” with a confidential informant to whom he’d provide tips on Homeland Security investigations and would protect from federal law enforcement investigations being done by the FBI and the Drug Enforcement Administration. In exchange, the informant paid him about $50,000, the release said.
He also illegally took money earmarked for investigative activity from Homeland Security Investigations and stole cash from drug dealers.
Trial evidence also showed Sabaini made 162 bank deposits adding up to more than $250,000 in amounts of less than $10,000 so he could evade federal reporting rules, the release said. Financial institutions are required to notify the U.S. Department of the Treasury about transactions of more than $10,000.
He also lied in official memos in 2017 and 2018 to protect his relationship with the informant and knowingly covered up material facts, “including that the (informant) was a target of ongoing criminal investigations conducted by other law enforcement agencies and that the (informant) had recently engaged in unauthorized criminal conduct that Sabaini knew would have affected his suitability as a paid HSI informant,” the release said.
As a result of the additional unreported income, Sabaini was convicted of filing false federal tax returns.
In 2021, a federal jury convicted Sabaini’s partner, Fernando Zambrano, of lying to investigators during the Sabaini probe, the release said. Zambrano, a Palos Heights police officer assigned to a Homeland Security Investigations task force, was sentenced to three months in federal prison.
No sentencing date has been set for Sabaini, who faces up to five years in prison for the structuring and concealment charges and up to three years in prison for each tax charge.