Florida Man Sentenced for Laundering Proceeds of Nigerian Romance Scams and Business Email Compromises

For Immediate Release

Office of Public Affairs

A Florida man was sentenced today in federal court to 48 months in prison for his role in laundering the proceeds of scams against American consumers and businesses to co-conspirators located in Nigeria.

According to court documents, Niselio Barros Garcia Jr., 50, of Winter Garden, was part of a network of individuals who laundered proceeds of fraud from romance scams, business email compromises and other fraud schemes. Garcia supplied bank accounts to his co-conspirators for the purpose of receiving proceeds from the scams. After he received the proceeds, Garcia used a cryptocurrency exchange to conceal and transfer the funds in Bitcoin to co-conspirators in Nigeria.

Business email compromises involve criminals hacking or spoofing business email accounts to initiate fraudulent money transfers. Romance scams involve fraudsters creating fake online personas to gain the trust and affection of victims, leading to financial exploitation. These schemes not only cause significant financial losses, but also deeply impact the lives of victims.

Garcia pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit money laundering in the Southern District of Florida in January. According to Garcia’s plea agreement, Garcia personally laundered over $2.3 million of criminal proceeds. As part of his sentence, Garcia was ordered to forfeit $464,923.91 in proceeds that he personally received from the offense. Four additional defendants have been charged in this scheme but remain at large.

“This case demonstrates the department’s continued commitment to prosecuting transnational fraud and those who knowingly facilitate it,” said Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Brian Boynton, head of the Justice Department’s Civil Division. “By facilitating the concealment of illicit profits, third-party money launderers enable large-scale transnational fraud schemes. This case underscores the department’s commitment to protecting consumers and disrupting the infrastructure that makes these crimes lucrative.”

The FBI Buffalo Field Office investigated the case.

Trial Attorneys Lauren M. Elfner and Matthew Robinson of the Civil Division’s Consumer Protection Branch are prosecuting the case.

If you or someone you know is age 60 or older and has experienced financial fraud, experienced professionals are standing by at the National Elder Fraud Hotline: 1-833-FRAUD-11 (1-833-372-8311). This Justice Department hotline, managed by the Office for Victims of Crime, can provide personalized support to callers by assessing the needs of the victim and identifying relevant next steps. Case managers will identify appropriate reporting agencies, provide information to callers to assist them in reporting, connect callers directly with inappropriate agencies and provide resources and referrals, on a case-by-case basis. Reporting is the first step. Reporting can help authorities identify those who commit fraud and reporting certain financial losses due to fraud as soon as possible can increase the likelihood of recovering losses. The hotline is open Monday through Friday from 10:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. ET. English, Spanish and other languages are available. 

More information about the department’s efforts to help American seniors is available at its Elder Justice Initiative webpage at www.justice.gov/elderjustice. For more information about the Consumer Protection Branch and its enforcement efforts, visit www.justice.gov/civil/consumer-protection-branch. Elder fraud complaints may be filed with the FTC at www.reportfraud.ftc.gov/ or at 877-FTC-HELP. The Justice Department provides a variety of resources relating to elder fraud victimization through its Office for Victims of Crime, which can be reached at www.ovc.gov.

Updated April 23, 2024

 

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Florida Man Sentenced for Laundering Proceeds of Nigerian Romance Scams and Business Email Compromises

Jury convicts Maryland lawyer of money laundering conspiracy

Another attorney and a private investigator were acquitted in the case

 

By Paul Duggan

A federal jury on Tuesday convicted a prominent Maryland lawyer in a money-laundering conspiracy case but acquitted one of his colleagues and a private investigator who were co-defendants in the trial, authorities said.

Kenneth W. Ravenell, 61, of Monkton, Md., faces up to 20 years in prison. A judge scheduled sentencing for May 14.

Ravenell was convicted of conspiracy to commit money laundering but acquitted of racketeering-conspiracy and narcotics-conspiracy charges by the jury in U.S. District Court in Baltimore, according to the U.S. attorney’s office in Maryland. In addition, the office said, Ravenell, along with lawyer Joshua R. Treem, 73, of Columbia, Md., and private investigator Sean F. Gordon, 45, of Crownsville, Md., were found not guilty of falsifying documents, obstructing an official proceeding and conspiring to commit crimes against the federal government.

The charges were part of a long-running investigation tied to a multistate marijuana operation. Ravenell was first indicted in September 2019 and accused of coaching drug kingpin Richard Byrd, who was his client, and others about how to evade law enforcement. Prosecutors alleged that Ravenell used his law firm’s bank accounts to funnel and hide hundreds of thousands of dollars in drug proceeds and to make payments to lawyers retained by other members of the conspiracy.

Ravenell and Treem are experienced criminal defense attorneys. Treem, a former federal prosecutor, was an attorney for Lee Boyd Malvo, one of the shooters in the 2002 Washington-area sniper attacks. Treem and Ravenell practiced law at the same firm in the 1990s and early 2000s. In 2016, Treem began representing Ravenell in connection with a federal grand jury investigation into Ravenell’s work.

As part of the investigation, federal agents searched the law offices of Ravenell and Treem’s firm, Brown, Goldstein & Levy.

“The jury’s unanimous verdict confirms that Joshua Treem did nothing wrong but rather acted as the superb defense attorney that he is,” lawyer Andrew E. Levy said in a statement Tuesday.

An indictment issued last December alleged that Ravenell, Treem and Gordon worked together to impede the federal grand jury investigation into Ravenell and one of his clients.

For instance, the indictment said, Treem and Gordon traveled to an Arizona jail in 2017 to meet with a former client of Ravenell’s who was a potential witness against him. The two allegedly presented the man with a document, prepared by Ravenell, containing false statements helpful to Ravenell. At the jailhouse meeting, in Phoenix, Treem and Gordon urged the inmate to sign the document, according to the indictment.

“Treem had in front of him a document that contained 53 statements which were, in effect, false denials about Ravenell’s involvement in criminal conduct,” the indictment alleged.

Prosecutors said Ravenell, Treem and Gordon then prepared documents, including an affidavit from Gordon that referred to the inmate’s false statements and a letter Treem wrote to a federal judge in February 2018 related to the inmate.

“It’s outrageous that the government used its tremendous resources to prosecute Josh for doing his job — investigating leads and advocating for his client,” Levy said. “The United States attorney’s office owes our partner an apology.”

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Jury convicts Maryland lawyer of money laundering conspiracy