Operation LAND OF THIEVES: Cabrera's Cove of Secrets
- CNMIGA .ORG
- 3 days ago
- 12 min read
Updated: 18 hours ago
In the annals of Pacific intrigue, few nicknames sting quite like "Island of Thieves,"
a label slapped on Guam by the ever-dramatic Ferdinand Magellan back in 1521.
Picture this: Magellan, the Portuguese explorer turned Spanish globetrotter, stumbles upon Guam (or Guahan, as the Chamorro people called it, meaning "we have"—how ironically abundant) during his quest to circumnavigate the globe.
His crew, weary from waves and waning rations, docks for a resupply pit stop.
The locals, ancient seafarers with a communal vibe honed over 4,000 years, greet them with food, water, and what Magellan mistakes for sticky fingers.
A few trinkets vanish—perhaps a boat skiff or iron tools—and boom!
Magellan, in a fit of colonial huff, dubs it the "Island of Thieves."
Was it outright larceny?
Nah, more like a cultural comedy of errors:
Chamorros ( Spanish-Filipinoes), with no rigid concept of "mine vs. thine," saw sharing (or borrowing) as hospitality, while Magellan's Euro-centric lens screamed "thieves!"
Historians quibble—derogatory slur?
Warning sign for sailors? Or just Magellan's bad day venting?
Either way, it stuck, overshadowing the CNMI/Guam's rich tapestry of empires, beaches, and warm welcomes. Satirically speaking, it's like accusing your neighbor of burglary because they "stole" a glance at your BBQ—exaggerated, biased, and forever etched in maps.
But oh, the delicious irony in 2026! Fast-forward five centuries, and "Land of Thieves" feels tailor-made for the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI),
Guam's neighbor in mischief, where federal funds vanish faster than Magellan's patience. Back then, it was a misunderstood skiff; now, it's billions in grants playing hide-and-seek in a typhoon of corruption.
Satire alert: If Magellan thought Chamorros were light-fingered for "borrowing" iron, he'd faint at CNMI's modern magicians—officials allegedly conjuring grants into personal piggy banks, sole-source contracts vanishing into family clans like ghosts at a luau.
Why appropriate now? Picture the "rampant federal fraud" as a sequel:
Typhoons Mangkhut and Yutu (2018) unleash disaster aid, COVID pumps in ARPA/CARES billions, and poof—$257M to $550M "questioned" or misspent, per audits. It's like inviting FEMA to a party and waking up to find the punch bowl empty, the DJ unpaid, and your wallet funding phantom projects.
The "5 clan" sole-source mafia?
Think feudal lords doling out no-bid deals to kin, turning U.S. taxpayer dollars into island empires—roads half-built, waterlines leaking dreams, all while remittances zip to Philippines, China, Korea like homing pigeons with fat wallets.
Epi Cabrera, our phantom protagonist, oversaw this symphony of shadows; his ouster?
Perhaps the feds' way of saying, "We see your tricks, Houdini."
In this "Land of Thieves," the real heist isn't cultural curiosity—it's systemic sleight-of-hand, where grants "disappear" into unaccounted abysses, leaving CNMI's people holding empty promises.
Magellan would chuckle: From boat oars to BOOST boondoggles (FBI-raided Bank of Saipan dishing dubious loans), the theft evolved from petty to prodigious.
Transparency?
Under Trump/Rubio's Indo-Pacific doctrine, it's the new sheriff, tracking wires to Manila or Beijing, unmasking shell corps like Hong Ye or Marianas Integration as potential fronts.
Satirically, Guam's old name fits CNMI's new game—proving history doesn't repeat, it just upgrades the loot.
This moniker, born of misunderstanding, now satirizes a deeper rot:
Where Magellan's "thieves" were innocent exchangers, today's are alleged insiders funneling funds abroad, dodging audits like pros.
GAO flags chronic fiscal fog; OIG probes ghost transactions.
How much to Philippines (remittance hubs for labor ties)?
China (influence ops via construction gigs)?
Korea (visa schemes)?
Names lurk: Atalig's BOOST favoritism, Nonstop Corp.'s hotel tabs—clans pocketing while infrastructure crumbles.
It's a farce: U.S. pours aid for resilience, only for it to "evaporate" in procurement phantoms.
Regime change?
Dominoes teeter, with Treasury's IRS-CI and FinCEN as the new explorers, clawing back via Executive Order 14249.
In this onion of espionage, peel back: Historical "thieves" were victims of bias; modern ones? Perhaps scapegoats for a system where accountability is the real missing treasure.
SCENE 2#
In the steamy shadows of the Pacific, where typhoons whisper secrets and coral reefs hide sunken treasures, a phantom operation unfolds.
Epiphanio "Epi" Cabrera, the enigmatic guardian of federal fortunes, has vanished from his post like a ghost in the night.
Terminated without a whisper of explanation by Acting Governor Dennis James Mendiola on February 19, 2026, Cabrera's fall from grace sends ripples through the clandestine corridors of CNMI power.
Was he the mastermind of a grand illusion, or just a pawn in a deeper game?
As the fog lifts layer by onion layer, one can't help but wonder: Who knows the truth?
The Shadow knows... but stay tuned, for the plot thickens in this island thriller where billions in federal funds dance like fireflies in the dark, only to disappear into the abyss.
Picture this: Cabrera, perched in his federally funded lair at the Office of Grants Management & State Clearinghouse (OGM-SC), orchestrating a symphony of grants since the shadowy dawn of Governor Ralph Torres' regime around 2015.
His role?
The ultimate gatekeeper—coordinating, administering, and ensuring compliance for a torrent of U.S. taxpayer dollars flooding the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands.
From tracking shadowy applications to doling out sub-grants and filing cryptic reports, Cabrera was the linchpin in a web connecting agencies like the U.S. Department of the Interior (DOI), FEMA, EDA, EPA, and more.
His $100,000 annual salary, drawn straight from federal coffers, painted him as a high-stakes operative in the insular world's financial espionage.
But on that fateful day, as Cabrera hunkered down on Tinian—perhaps scanning the horizon for incoming storms or signals from afar—he frantically dialed Governor David M. Apatang, who was ensconced in Washington, D.C., for high-level 902 consultations on CNMI-U.S. ties.
No official dossier explains the axe that fell; attempts to interrogate Cabrera yielded only silence.
In a swift counter-move, Mendiola installed Bruce Camacho, a grants specialist and wordsmith, as acting OGM-SC chief, demanding full loyalty from department heads to sustain the administration's covert priorities.
This abrupt switcheroo begs the thriller's eternal question:
Is this the beginning of something larger, a purge echoing through the halls of Capital Hill?
Or is it the regime change the CNMI has been awaiting, dismantling the Torres-era relics amid whispers of mismanagement?
Was this termination demanded by our federal partners, a direct hit from D.C. shadows,
or is Epi Cabrera the convenient "scapegoat" for sins buried deeper?
And crucially, will this departure change, stop, or ignite a larger federal demand for reckoning—and how will it shatter the "(5) clan" CNMI "sole source" mafia, those alleged familial syndicates who've long monopolized no-bid contracts like ghosts in the procurement machine?
Satirically, if Magellan's thieves were mere borrowers, these clans are professional vanishing artists, turning grants into family fortunes while infrastructure begs for crumbs.
Peel back the first layer:
Cabrera's tenure was a high-wire act amid unprecedented federal influxes, fueled by cataclysmic typhoons and a global plague.
Post-Mangkhut (2018) and Super Typhoon Yutu's wrath, plus COVID-19's invisible assault, OGM-SC became the nerve center for aid distribution.
Yet, detailed ledgers of grants under his watchful eye remain as elusive as a double agent—aggregated in federal reports, shrouded in open-source obscurity.
Agency dispatches and audits hint at the scale:
a cascade of millions vanishing into projects, but who truly benefited?
Expanding on this, consider the historical parallel—Magellan's "thieves" hid nothing; today's phantoms squirrel away funds in sole-source sleights, echoing colonial misunderstandings but with million-dollar stakes.
SCENE 3#
The Department of the Interior (DOI), the insular territories' shadowy benefactor, funneled funds through Capital Improvement Projects (CIP), Technical Assistance Program (TAP), Maintenance Assistance Program (MAP), and beyond.
In 2016, $1.4M in general grants and $4.6M in CIP trickled in; by 2018, $2.3M TAP for waste ops. Fast-forward to 2025: $8.1M CIP earmarked for law enforcement ($3M), roads ($2.2M), waterlines ($0.9M), plus $11.3M across TAP/MAP, including $560K for Managaha Island erosion probes and $285K for invasive species hunts via the Department of Lands and Natural Resources (DLNR).
Satire here: Like Chamorros "stealing" for curiosity, these hunts might chase ghosts—funds invasive as brown tree snakes, slithering offshore.
FEMA, the disaster recovery phantom, loomed large: $4.4M extra for Yutu in 2019-2020, an $88.7M Community Disaster Loan in 2021. Broader strokes from 2016-2025: Mangkhut and Yutu declarations leveraged up to $165M in plans like CDBG-DR, with FY2025 national prep grants hitting $1B, CNMI's slice veiled but laced with hazard mitigation.
EDA targeted economic shadows: 2021 saw $10.7M to Northern Marianas College, $1M to Office of Planning and Development (OPD), $19.6M for the Economic Resiliency Center.
EPA's eco-ops: 2024's $17.1M for lead pipes, $3M climate cuts; 2025 unlocked $34M from $56M ASADRA for solid waste, plus $48.6M for EVs.
Key players in this covert network?
Local outfits like Hong Ye Rental & Construction Ltd. and Marianas Integration LLC snagged mods in a $45B U.S. military pact in 2026. Government fronts—Commonwealth Utilities Corporation (CUC) for solar, Commonwealth Healthcare Corporation, mayoral dens—pocketed chunks.
BECQ and DLNR got environmental nods.
But peel deeper:
Who or what firms received those federal funds?
Many to public shells, yet private contractors via sole-source sleight-of-hand reaped rewards, stoking "sole source mafia" lore.
And the burning query:
Who/which companies did all those missing and unaccounted federal dollars disappear to? How much was funneled to the Philippines, China, Korea, etc.?
What names lurk behind these entities—clans, shell corps, or foreign phantoms?
Epi Cabrera's co-conspirators?
The plot demands answers.
Expanding satirically: If Magellan's crew lost a skiff, imagine losing $48.6M EVs to "climate cuts"—poof, electrified theft!
To illuminate the shadows, let's decode the annual inflows through a classified dossier of estimates, drawn from open-source intelligence like USAspending.gov and GAO reports. These figures, while approximations, reveal an escalating torrent of funds, often spiking post-disaster:
Year | Estimated Total Federal Grants to CNMI (Major Highlights) | Key Agencies Involved |
2016 | ~$6M (CIP $4.6M, general $1.4M) | DOI |
2017 | Limited pre-typhoon baseline; ~$5-7M in ongoing aid | DOI, others |
2018 | ~$2.3M TAP + initial disaster declarations post-Mangkhut | DOI, FEMA |
2019 | Post-typhoon surge; ~$4.4M FEMA add-ons + Yutu recovery (~$165M total CDBG-DR over years) | FEMA, EDA, DOI |
2020 | COVID/typhoon overlap; ~$481.9M ARPA/CARES contributions | FEMA, Treasury, HHS |
2021 | ~$120M+ (incl. $88.7M FEMA loan, $31.3M EDA incl. $10.7M college, $19.6M resiliency) | FEMA, EDA, DOI, HHS ($130M+ health) |
2022 | ARPA/CARES continuations; ~$200M+ incl. ongoing COVID relief | Various, Treasury |
2023 | Infrastructure focus; ~$150M+ incl. audit backlogs masking full scope | EPA, DOI, FEMA |
2024 | ~$20M+ (EPA lead/climate $17.1M + $3M) | EPA, DOI |
2025 | ~$100M+ (incl. $8.1M DOI CIP, $34M EPA waste, $48.6M EPA EVs; total obligations ~$207.8M) | DOI, EPA, FEMA, HHS |
These approximations mask the thriller's core:
CNMI's annual federal hauls often topped $200M post-catastrophe, orchestrated via OGM-SC. But where did the phantoms flee?
SCENE 4#
Unveil the next layer: CNMI audits expose a labyrinth of lapses—delays, questioned costs, mismanagement—like clues in a cold case under Cabrera's regime, though sources stop short of fingering him.
Alarms blare on fraud:
Where were the defrauded federal funds funneled?
To insider vaults, offshore havens, or remittance rivers?
Audits point to unallowable spends, procurement phantoms, oversight voids—perhaps to cronies or clans.
Pre-2020 (2016-2019): Sparse trails pre-COVID/typhoons, but GAO flagged chronic fiscal fog.
2020-2022: $257.4M questioned—unallowables, weak bids. $165.5M ARPA/CARES tied ($110.8M ARPA, $54.7M CARES). Glitches: $28.8M negative balances, ghost transactions, subrecipient surveillance slips. FY2022 audit disclaimed, $163M flagged ($107M ARPA, $39.3M Medicaid).
2023-2025: Audit backlogs (FY2022 23 months tardy, extending to 2027). Repayment specters loom ($11M CARES clawed back), funding faucets threatened. GAO's national fraud estimate: $233B-$521B yearly; CNMI's unquantified beyond questions.
Total enigma: $257.4M spotlighted 2020-2022; elsewhere, shadows.
Warnings of criminal pursuits, probes active.
How does this mesh with the larger question of 257 to 550 million misspent federal funds? And the remittances riddle: Will the Dept of Treasury track and trace all remittances and funds transfers, and how far will they look?
Transparency by the Trump administration is the new calling card of the Trump/Rubio doctrine of Pax Americana in the Indo-Pacific—demanding audits, exposing flows to Manila, Beijing, Seoul.
How much vanished abroad?
Names?
Co-conspirators?
The Shadow probes...
SCENE 5#
Is This the Beginning of the "Domino Effect" Against CNMI Corruption???
Ah, the dominoes—precariously aligned in this Pacific puzzle, teetering on the edge of collapse.
Cabrera's ouster: mere prelude or the first tile to topple?
Whisper networks buzz with speculation:
Is this the beginning of the "domino effect" against CNMI corruption???
Picture it—a chain reaction sweeping from Capital Hill to D.C., toppling entrenched empires. How deep does this action go?
Was this a U.S. Dept of Treasury, IRS-CI, or FinCEN request, leveraging Executive Order 14249's anti-fraud arsenal to claw back waste?
The BOOST program, that ARP-fueled boondoggle administered by Bank of Saipan, reeks of intrigue:
FBI raids in 2022, lawsuits alleging admin David Atalig's favoritism, $825K halted disbursements, $332K to Nonstop Corp. for dubious hotel tabs.
How does this effect Bank of Saipan and those that misspent the BOOST funds?
Probes into Magalahi Grill's pre-application windfall, Nonstop's marketing mirage—could these be the threads unraveling the sole-source syndicate?
READ:>>>
The effect? Seismic.
If Cabrera's the opening salvo, who's after Epi?
Torres holdouts?
Clan kingpins?
How far will the accountability go—indictments, clawbacks, regime realignment?
Beginning of "regime change in the CNMI"?
Perhaps, as Apatang's D.C. parleys align with federal hawks.
In this onion-layered saga, each peel reveals rot: $200K CNMI Bar fraud, Senate probes into Cabrera's discrepant reports.
Stay tuned—the page turns, dominos fall, shadows lengthen.
The Trump/Rubio Indo-Pacific watchdogs demand clarity:
remittances traced to foreign shores, funds funneled through phantom firms.
Will Treasury's trackers unearth billions siphoned to Philippines (remittance hubs), China (influence ops), Korea (labor ties)? Names like Hong Ye, Marianas Integration—fronts or culprits? Co-conspirators: Arroyo at Bank of Saipan? Atalig?
The thriller builds—federal partners' demand?
Deep as the Marianas Trench.
SCENE 6#
Cabrera's dossier: $100K salary, federally sanctioned despite CNMI caps.
Taxes, biz ties, assets? Veiled by privacy veils—no licenses, deeds, disclosures surface.
Yet, in this espionage epic, even shadows cast doubts.
But let's delve deeper into the abyss, peeling back more layers to expose the intricate web of grants and their vanishing acts.
During Cabrera's watch, the CNMI navigated a perfect storm of natural disasters and pandemics, transforming OGM-SC into a high-stakes command center. Super Typhoon Yutu in 2018 alone devastated Saipan, Tinian, and Rota, triggering a FEMA declaration that unlocked hundreds of millions in recovery aid.
Open sources like FEMA's grant portals reveal that between 2018 and 2020, CNMI received approximately $165M through the Community Development Block Grant-Disaster Recovery (CDBG-DR) program, earmarked for housing, infrastructure, and economic revitalization.
Yet, audits whisper of discrepancies: funds allocated for water system repairs that never materialized, or road reconstructions delayed by "procurement irregularities."
Satirically, it's Magellan's skiff 2.0—stolen not by hands, but by hazy bids.
Layer upon layer, the COVID-19 era amplified the influx.
The American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) and CARES Act poured in $481.9M in 2020 alone, blending with typhoon relief to create a fiscal fog thick enough to hide a submarine.
HHS contributed over $130M in health grants by 2025, focusing on Medicaid expansions and vaccine distributions.
But GAO reports paint a grim picture: in FY2022, CNMI's single audit was delayed by nearly two years, with independent auditors issuing qualified opinions on major programs due to material noncompliance.
Questioned costs ballooned to $257.4M from 2020-2022, including $110.8M in ARPA funds flagged for unallowable expenditures—perhaps lavish contracts or ghost payrolls.
What of the unaccounted funds year by year?
Pre-2018, the baseline was modest, with DOI's TAP and MAP programs accounting for most inflows, but GAO noted "chronic fiscal fog" with untracked sub-grants. In 2019, post-Yutu, $4.4M in FEMA add-ons vanished into "questioned" categories per OIG reviews.
The pandemic years saw the peak: 2020's $28.8M in negative balances suggested phantom transactions, while 2021's $88.7M FEMA loan came under scrutiny for weak bidding processes.
By 2023-2025, audit backlogs hid even more—GAO estimates national fraud at up to $521B annually, with CNMI's slice potentially in the tens of millions, including $11M CARES repayments.
SCENE 7#
Now, trace the funnels: remittances to the Philippines, a CNMI labor hub, could mask outflows.
Treasury's FinCEN might already be decoding wire transfers—how much of the $45B military pact funds trickled to Hong Ye, a firm with alleged Chinese ties? Or Marianas Integration, snagging sole-source mods?
These entities, often family-linked, embody the "5 clan" mafia, monopolizing no-bid deals in construction and utilities.
Cabrera's personal veil adds intrigue.
His $100K salary, exempt from CNMI caps as federally funded, raises eyebrows—open sources show no business taxes or assets like properties in Saipan or Manila.
Was he a lone wolf or part of a cabal?
Co-conspirators might include BOOST admins like Atalig, sued for favoritism, or Senate figures probing his reports.
As the plot twists, consider the broader Indo-Pacific doctrine:
Trump's transparency push, via Rubio's oversight, demands regime change.
Will IRS-CI raid Capital Hill?
Track remittances to Manila's labor firms or Beijing's influence ops?
The dominos wobble—next could be CUC's solar scandals or DLNR's invasive species hunts, where $285K evaporated.
Stay tuned, for in this page-turner, the Shadow reveals all. Is this the end... or just the beginning?
About the Author
Zaji “Persona Non Grata” Zajradhara is a staunch advocate for American workers and indigenous rights in the CNMI. Labeled a “persona non grata” by the CNMI government for his whistleblowing & relentless pursuit of justice and his outspoken criticism of corruption and foreign influence, Zajradhara has become a symbol of resistance against the forces seeking to undermine American sovereignty in the islands.
As An Unemployed Afro-American resident and father, Zajradhara's firsthand experience with the CNMI’s dysfunctional labor market, its rigged political system, and the exploitation of vulnerable communities has fueled his activism. He has filed numerous legal claims against companies, including Tan Holdings, for violating labor laws and discriminating against American workers.
His unwavering commitment to exposing the truth, challenging the status quo, and demanding accountability has made him a thorn in the side of the CNMI establishment and a target of their efforts to silence him. However, Zajradhara remains undeterred, determined to fight for the rights of American workers and to protect the CNMI from the grip of foreign influence.