US authorities have sentenced a 35-year-old man and a 42-year-old woman, both of Miami, Florida, to 27 months in prison and 1 year of probation, respectively, for conspiring to commit money laundering. Both had previously pleaded guilty to their charges.
During 2015-19, the man was involved in a scheme to launder thousands of gift cards obtained using fraudulent debit and credit cards by co-conspirators. The co-conspirators used to encode these cards with information stolen through gas station skimming. The man would sell the illicitly-obtained gift cards on a gift card exchange website and transfer the gains to personal bank accounts. Thereafter, he would distribute some of the funds to his co-conspirators, while retaining a commission. The man has agreed to forfeit over $1,020,193.
The woman was involved in the same conspiracy. She used multiple bank accounts in her name to launder money orders purchased using fraudulent debit cards. As before, these cards were encoded with information obtained through gas station skimming devices. Over the course of this scheme, the woman deposited over 1,100 money orders worth over $691,000, into her accounts. She then withdrew most of the illicit funds in cash. The woman will forfeit $49,162 as part of her plea agreement.
Source: US Department of Justice
