US-indicted WIN founder Azruddin Mohamed hires US lobbying firm as extradition looms 

– makes US$250,000 advance payment

The main Parliamentary opposition party, We Invest in Nationhood (WIN), founded by US-indicted businessman Azruddin Mohamed, has hired a lobbying firm to engage the US Government and business leaders.
According to filings with the US Department of Justice (DOJ), Wyoming-based LSG LLC is the consulting firm hired by WIN. The firm registered on February 24, 2026, under the DOJ’s Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA).
“The Registrant will advise the Foreign Principal in developing and cultivating its relationships within the United States Government and private sector,” LSG LLC said.
In its FARA registration, LSG LLC disclosed that it received US$250,000 from WIN on February 13 as an advance payment for services. These services include preparing and distributing informational materials such as memoranda and other documents.
LSG LLC added that no budget has been established for its activities in preparing or disseminating informational materials, which will be shared with groups such as US legislators.
The filing also stated that no individuals or organisations, including public relations firms or publicity agents, will participate in preparing or disseminating the materials.
The registration document named LSG LLC’s President, Stephen Payne, and Vice President, Logan Somera, as the individuals providing services directly for WIN.
Payne previously served as an aide to former US President George W. Bush. He and Somera reportedly have close connections to the energy sector in Texas, where they both live.
WIN’s recruitment of a lobbyist firm comes as its founder, Azruddin Mohamed, now the Opposition Leader, faces extradition to the US.
Azruddin and his father, Nazar Mohamed, have been indicted by a federal grand jury in the US District Court for the Southern District of Florida on 11 criminal charges, including wire fraud, mail fraud, tax evasion, and money laundering. The charges are related to alleged irregularities in gold exports to the US through their company, Mohamed’s Enterprises.

The US has requested the extradition of the Mohameds to face the indictments. The extradition proceedings are currently pending in the local courts.
The Mohameds are accused of conspiring to defraud the US and Guyanese Governments between 2017 and June 11, 2024. They are also accused of using a scheme to unlawfully obtain property by transmitting communications via interstate and foreign commerce, in violation of US law.
According to US prosecutors, the scheme aimed to enrich the Mohameds and defraud the Government of Guyana by evading taxes and royalties on gold exports. They allegedly reused Guyana customs declarations and official seals on multiple shipments to make it appear that taxes and royalties had been paid.
The indictment stated that Mohamed’s Enterprise would pay taxes and receive official Guyana Revenue Authority (GRA) and Guyana Gold Board (GGB) seals for one shipment, then reuse those same seals and documents on subsequent, untaxed shipments.
The indictment further alleges that the Mohameds arranged for empty wooden boxes bearing intact GRA and GGB seals to be shipped from gold buyers in Dubai to Miami and then sent to Guyana. These boxes were then used to export gold while falsely appearing to have cleared customs and tax obligations.
US authorities allege the scheme resulted in more than US$50 million in lost taxes and royalties to the Government of Guyana. Additional indictments detail similar conduct involving shipments of gold, emails allegedly from Nazar Mohamed requesting the sealed boxes from Miami, and exports of over 165 kilograms (kg) of gold per shipment destined for Dubai.
Charges six to nine focus on mail fraud, referencing the shipment of sealed empty boxes from Dubai to Miami, while charge 10 addresses money laundering, which alleges that the Mohameds knowingly transferred funds within the US with the intent to promote unlawful activity.
The other charge has to do with Azruddin Mohamed purchasing and importing a Lamborghini sports car to Guyana in 2020. The indictment alleges he directed someone to purchase the car for US$680,000, then falsify the invoice to state a value of US$75,300 to understate import taxes.
If convicted, most charges carry a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison and fines of up to US$250,000, while the money laundering charge carries a fine of US$500,000 or the value of the laundered property.
The US Government is seeking forfeiture of certain assets connected to the accused and has since assigned asset forfeiture specialist Assistant US Attorney Joshua Paster to join the case involving the two Guyanese businessmen in the Florida Court, pending their extradition.
These indictments follow sanctions imposed over a year ago by the US Department of Justice’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) on the Mohameds, their businesses, and Guyanese Government Permanent Secretary (PS) Mae Thomas in relation to the same allegations.
The sanctions are related to the evasion of taxes on gold exports, with OFAC noting that between 2019 and 2023, Mohamed’s Enterprise omitted more than 10,000 kg of gold from import and export declarations and avoided paying more than US$50 million in duty taxes to the Government of Guyana.
Since the imposition of the sanctions in June 2024, the Guyana Government has suspended the licences of the Mohameds’ various businesses, highlighting that the US-sanctioned businessman is a risk and a threat to Guyana’s financial stability, sovereignty, and diplomacy. Subsequently, several Government entities and local businesses, including commercial banks, have cut ties with the Mohameds.
Azruddin founded the WIN party in June 2025 – one year after these sanctions were imposed – and contested the September 2025 General and Regional Elections, which put him in Parliament as the main Parliamentary opposition. In October, a 25-page indictment was unsealed in the Florida court, charging the father and son businessmen.
The US Government subsequently issued an extradition request to Guyana for the duo to face the charges there.
The Mohameds are currently out on $150,000 bail each as they continue to fight their extradition. That case is going to the Georgetown Magistrates’ Courts and has been adjourned to March 12.