Members of a transnational crime syndicate have been sentenced to federal prison for defrauding elderly Americans.
The Justice Department announced in a press release on Monday that the crime syndicate members were sentenced in the Eastern District of Texas. The age of those sentenced ranged from 32 to 51, with charges of conspiring to commit wire fraud and money laundering. Sentences ranged from 109 months in federal prison to 480 months.
“According to information presented in court, beginning around January 2017, the defendants used a multitude of fraudulent schemes to obtain money from their victims, including online romance scams, business email compromise and investor fraud, and unemployment insurance fraud,” said the press release.
“The defendants coordinated how to extract money from their victims, and then how to disguise, disburse, and launder that money once they successfully defrauded their victims,” it continued. “The scheme resulted in approximately $17 million fraudulently obtained from at least 100 individual victims, companies, and government entities from across the world.”
The various schemes targeted elderly persons with online dating sites to lure victims. Acting U.S. Attorney Jay R. Combs said the perpetrators had targeted the “hard-earned savings of elderly and vulnerable populations.”
“The long arm of the American justice system has no limits when it comes to reaching fraudsters who prey on our nation’s most vulnerable populations,” said Combs. “The defendants’ lengthy sentences in this case reflect the seriousness of their crimes and the dedication of law enforcement officers and prosecutors to bring them to justice. I want to thank our law enforcement partners for their outstanding work on this case.”
FBI Dallas Special Agent in Charge R. Joseph Rothrock said the crime syndicate “defrauded victims collectively out of millions of dollars.”
“For some individuals, this was their life savings, and they were unable to financially recover,” said Rothrock. “We hope these sentences give them a sense of comfort and sends a clear message that the FBI is committed to pursuing justice for victims.”
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