US authorities have sentenced the owner of a used car dealership in Massachusetts to six months of home confinement and two years of supervised release for money laundering. The convict must also pay a fine of $5,500.
The 52-year-old convict laundered the proceeds of fraudulent schemes, including romance scams and pandemic unemployment fraud, by using his car dealership, vehicle auctions and international car shipping. He would accept fraud proceeds in cash, retain a commission for his laundering service, and use the rest to purchased vehicles at auto auctions. He would then ship those vehicles to Nigeria, where they were sold for profits received by the fraudsters.
An undercover agent had busted the convict’s operation in September 2020, when he agreed to accept fraud proceeds from the agent and transfer them abroad in the form of a used luxury vehicle.
Source: US Department of Justice
