BOSTON – A Belgian and Lebanese national holding an Illinois law license has been convicted by a federal jury of fraud and money laundering charges in connection with multiple scams that defrauded victims in several states.

Hassan A. Abbas, 64, of Belgium, was convicted following a six-day jury trial of one count of money laundering conspiracy, one count of money laundering, two counts of unlawful monetary transactions and two counts of wire fraud. U.S. District Court Judge Leo T. Sorokin scheduled sentencing for Sept. 2022. Abbas was indicted in January 2020 and subsequently charged in a superseding indictment in November 2020.

Read-Helplessness in the Face of Dirt

“The defendant was part of a scheme that toyed with people’s emotions, deceiving them to take their money. The funds he swindled were supposed to be used as the down payment on a home or to fund a comfortable retirement. There are real victims in financial frauds and my office fights for victims. We always have and we always will.” said United States Attorney Rachael S. Rollins.

- Legalizing Crime and Criminality

“Hassan Abbas should be ashamed of himself for using his law license as a shield to exploit the hopes and dreams of innocent victims to line his own pockets. He targeted, preyed upon, and systematically ripped them off without a second thought,” said Joseph R. Bonavolonta, Special Agent in Charge of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Boston Division. “Last year, Massachusetts residents reported losing more than $83 million due to romance and business email compromise scams, and the FBI is committed to holding the criminals behind these scams accountable for the harm they do to everyday citizens and our financial institutions.”

-Landlords and Tenants Associations, Crime and Criminality

Between June 2017 and January 2019, Abbas and others defrauded victims through a series of romance, business email compromise (BEC), and other scams designed to trick victims into wiring monies to bank accounts they controlled. A BEC scheme is a sophisticated fraud often targeting individuals and businesses involved in wire transfer payments. The fraud is carried out by compromising and/or “spoofing” legitimate business email accounts through social engineering or computer intrusion techniques, to cause victims to transfer funds to accounts controlled by the scammers. In romance scams, perpetrators generally create fictitious online personas to develop online romantic relationships with individuals in the U.S., and then leverage those relationships to obtain money and/or property. 

-Law Enforcement: The Reactionary Approach

Abbas created sham corporate entities and opened bank accounts in the name of those entities. Under false pretenses, both individual and corporate victims were then instructed to wire funds into the accounts Abbas controlled. Some victims were in the process of buying homes and believed the funds were for that purpose, including two Massachusetts victims who were tricked into wiring money to an individual they believed was their real estate broker. Others, including a third Massachusetts victim, believed they were transferring funds on behalf of or for the benefit of their romantic partners. Corporate victims were targeted as part of the scheme as well and were deceived into remitting invoice payments to the accounts Abbas controlled. 

Shortly after receiving the victim funds, Abbas transferred the funds to overseas accounts, domestic personal accounts or spent the funds on personal expenses.  

-Government Workers-A Subject of Debate

The charge of wire fraud provides for a sentence of up to 20 years in prison, three years of supervised release and a fine of up to $250,000. The charge of money laundering provides for a sentence of up to 20 years in prison, three years of supervised release and a fine of $500,000, or twice the value of the criminally derived property. The charge of unlawful monetary transaction provides for a sentence of up to 10 years in prison, three years of supervised release and a fine of $250,000, or twice the value of the criminally derived property. Sentences are imposed by a federal district court judge based upon the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and statutes which govern the determination of a sentence in a criminal case.

U.S. Attorney Rollins and FBI SAC Bonavolonta made the announcement today. Valuable assistance was provided by the Essex County District Attorney’s Office. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Mackenzie A. Queenin and David Holcomb of Rollins’ Securities, Financial & Cyber Fraud Unit are prosecuting the case.

Source : FBI

                                                        Press Release

Two Nigerian fraudsters arrested in DOJ’s Operation reWired have been sentenced to a combined 22 ½ years in federal prison, announced acting U.S. Attorney Chad E. Meacham.

Opeyemi Abidemi Adeoso, 46, pleaded guilty in June of 2020 to 17 counts of wire fraud, eight counts of money laundering, six counts of use of a false passport, one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud, and one count of conspiracy to commit money laundering. He was sentenced Thursday by Chief U.S. District Judge Barbara M.G. Lynn to 151 months in federal prison and ordered to pay $9.3 million in restitution.

His coconspirator, Benjamin Adeleke Ifebajo, 47, pleaded guilty in March 2020 to seven counts of wire fraud, six counts of money laundering, four counts of use of a false passport, one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud, and one count of conspiracy to commit money laundering. He was sentenced in June to 120 months in federal prison and ordered to pay $2.1 million in restitution.

“These defendants utilized multiple tactics to deceive unsuspecting businesses out of their money. By assuming fictitious identities they defrauded dozens, which risks business health and in turn, erodes overall economic health,” said FBI Dallas Special Agent in Charge Matthew J. DeSarno. “Along with our federal law enforcement partners, we will continue to hold fraudsters accountable for their crimes and the harm they cause.”

Agents initiated an investigation into the pair in August 2018, after receiving a report of a business email compromise scheme from a victim who had transferred more than $504,000 into a bank account registered to a “Daniel Sammy Campbell.” Using the address associated with the account, they traced it back to Mr. Adeoso. Agents then reviewed bank surveillance footage and traced funds to identify Mr. Adeoso and Mr. Ifebajo, Nigerian nationals in the U.S. on non-immigrant vias.

According to court documents, the defendants admitted they used fraudulent passports to open individual bank accounts under assumed names. Other members of the conspiracy then sent phishing emails – which spoofed the email addresses of victims’ employers, supervisors, and other known business contacts – to numerous individuals prompting them to initiate wire transfers from their personal bank accounts or from their employer’s bank accounts.

Once the money hit the defendants’ accounts, they withdrew the money, often tens of thousands of dollars at a time, in cash, via cashiers’ checks, or through electronic transfer, then deposited the funds into other alias accounts. Occasionally, they made purchases with the money.

Mr. Adeoso is believed to have used aliases including, but not limited to: Peter Kuffor, George Macharty, Nelson Johnson, Braheem Larke, Michael Albert, Michael Jaden Sean, Michael Jeff Brown, and Benjamin Zee Brown. Mr. Ifebajo is believed to have used aliases including, but not limited to: Joseph Eric Johnson, Jeremiah Alex Malcom, Tidwell Anthony Wilson, and Andrew James Williams.

A third co-conspirator, Temitope Aminat Folorunsho, 35, pleaded guilty in July 2020 to multiple counts of wire fraud, money laundering, use of false passport, and conspiracy and was sentenced in July 2021 to 37 months in federal prison and ordered to pay roughly $221,000 in restitution. Ms. Folorunsho used aliases Terri L. Brown, Michelle Angel Cole, Robyn L. Granell, and Deborah Kiki Philip.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation’s Dallas Field Office, the U.S. Department of State’s Diplomatic Security Service (DSS), and Homeland Security Investigations’ Dallas Field Office conducted the investigation. Assistant U.S. Attorney Tiffany H. Eggers prosecuted the case.

Source : FBI

Also read-Legalizing Crime and Criminality

                 -Landlords and Tenants Associations, Crime and Criminality

                 -Law Enforcement: The Reactionary Approach

                 -Government Workers-A Subject of Debate