Three Jamaican males from Montego Bay and two South Florida residents had been amongst a bunch of fraudsters not too long ago arrested for allegedly stealing almost $3 million from largely aged People in an elaborate fraud scheme.
A gaggle of seven people had been indicted by a federal grand jury in Pittsburgh on expenses of conspiracy to commit mail fraud, wire fraud, and cash laundering, United States Lawyer Eric G. Olshan introduced final week.
The fees stem from the Division of Justice’s wide-ranging efforts to guard older adults from fraud and monetary exploitation.
Defendants, Jason Plummer, 31; Troy Williams, 38; and Tajay Singh, 26, every of Montego Bay, Jamaica, had been every named in separate, two-count indictments.
A fourth two-count indictment named defendants Tashane Murray, 30, of Miramar, Florida; Clevon McKenzie, 31, of Mount Vernon, New York; Gyzzell Byfield, 27, of Bridgeport, Connecticut; and Daneil Reid, 27, of Fort Lauderdale, Florida.
Murray, McKenzie, Byfield, and Reid had been arrested in the US on November 16, 2023. Plummer and Singh had been arrested in Jamaica on December 13, 2023. Williams was arrested in Jamaica on December 14, 2023.
A $2.8 million fraud scheme
In response to the indictments, the defendants executed a scheme to defraud that stole greater than $2.8 million from the aged and weak victims in Pennsylvania and elsewhere in the US.
As a part of that scheme, conspirators contacted the victims and falsely advised them that that they had gained one million or multi-million-dollar sweepstakes, however wanted to pay sure taxes and costs earlier than they may declare their prize.
Williams, Plummer, Singh, Murray, and McKenzie all focused victims in a number of of these methods. The conspirators then directed the victims to ship cash, together with money, checks, and cash orders, to folks designated by the conspirators.
A few of these folks had been victims of the lottery rip-off, who had been unwittingly fooled into accepting and shifting cash on behalf of the members of the conspiracy. Others, like Byfield and Reid, had been members of the conspiracy themselves.
After being laundered by a community of financial institution accounts and cash mules, sufferer cash was withdrawn by members of the conspiracy residing in Jamaica.
“These charged focused and took benefit of a number of the most weak folks in our society,” stated FBI Pittsburgh Particular Agent in Cost Mike Nordwall.
“This was a wide-reaching conspiracy that value victims thousands and thousands of {dollars}. Sadly, it’s a criminal offense that’s growing yearly, and Pennsylvania stays certainly one of prime states within the nation that’s impacted. The FBI is devoted to stopping crime teams overseas and right here at house who exploit our seniors with monetary fraud schemes.”
