Ex-Special Agent Took Payoff, Stole Cash, Filed Fake Tax Returns: Feds

NAPERVILLE, IL — A Naperville man who formerly served as a special agent with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS), has been convicted on seven federal charges.

Following a three-week trial, the jury convicted Anthony Sabaini of structuring, filing false tax returns and willfully engaging in a scheme to conceal a material fact in a matter within the jurisdiction of DHS.

Authorities say Sabaini had been working at the DHS office in Oakbrook Terrace in the department of Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) when he told a confidential informant about several federal investigations. Sabaini had been accused protecting the informant in exchange for $50,000. According to federal documents, Sabaini stole investigation money from the HSI and drug dealers during this time.

In total, Sabaini was found to have deposited over $250,000 over 162 transactions in an account in his name. The structuring charges against him were filed because each deposit had been kept under $10,000, which is the federal reporting limit.

Memoranda had shown that in 2017 and 2018, Sabaini concealed material facts about the informant. He was also accused of misrepresenting his total income on his tax returns.

Sabaini's former partner, Fernando Zambrano, was sentenced to three months in federal prison after being convicted in 2021 of lying during a federal investigation.

As of Monday, a sentencing date had not been set for Sabaini.