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Amarillo trio arrested in $30 million elder fraud scheme linked to violent California gang
Showing posts with label elder fraud scheme. Show all posts
Showing posts with label elder fraud scheme. Show all posts
Thursday, October 23, 2025
Thursday, April 27, 2023
Two Marion County Kentucky Women Sentenced for Elder Fraud Scheme
For Immediate Release
U.S. Attorney's Office, Western District of Kentucky
Louisville, KY – Two Marion County women were sentenced yesterday for their roles in an over $500,000 elder fraud scheme. Donna Jean Bradshaw, 57, of Lebanon, Kentucky, was sentenced to 48 months of imprisonment, followed by 48 months of supervised release. She was also ordered to pay restitution of $582,635. Tammy Lynn Gilbert, 49, of Bradfordsville, Kentucky, was sentenced to 5 years of supervised release, including 12 months of home incarceration, and was ordered to pay $10,000 in restitution and a $1,000 fine.
U.S. Attorney Michael A. Bennett of the Western District of Kentucky and Special Agent in Charge Jodi Cohen of the FBI Louisville Field Office made the announcement.
According to court documents, between March 2013 and June 2016, Bradshaw, aided by Gilbert, engaged in multiple schemes to commit bank fraud and wire fraud. Bradshaw, with Gilbert’s aid, engaged in various means to defraud an elderly victim of funds, including creating a fictitious United States Occupational Safety and Health Administration mortgage loan reimbursement program and fabricating documents from a Louisville law firm to create the appearance of a fictitious inheritance.
Bradshaw pleaded guilty to two counts of bank fraud and eight counts of wire fraud on January 25, 2023. Gilbert pleaded guilty to two counts of bank fraud and eight counts of wire fraud on June 25, 2020.
The case was investigated by the FBI Louisville Field Office.
Assistant U.S. Attorneys David Weiser and Corrine Keel prosecuted the case.
This case was investigated and prosecuted as part of the National Elder Justice Task Force and the Kentucky Elder Justice Task Force. The Department of Justice’s mission of its Elder Justice Initiative is to support and coordinate the Department’s enforcement and programmatic efforts to combat elder abuse, neglect and financial fraud and scams that target our nation’s older adults. In response to the growing need and targeting areas of greatest concern, the Department of Justice initially stood up 10 task forces made up of 11 federal districts to combat a variety of elder abuse, including elder financial exploitation. Kentucky’s federal districts make up two of the 11 districts under the Initiative. Kentucky’s task force is comprised of investigators, prosecutors, and others at the local, state, and federal level with a common objective of protecting seniors across Kentucky.
In October, the Department announced that as part of its continuing efforts to protect older adults and bring perpetrators of fraud schemes to justice it is expanding the Transnational Elder Fraud Strike Force, adding 14 new U.S. Attorney’s Offices. Expansion of the Strike Force will help to coordinate the Department’s ongoing efforts to combat largest and most harmful fraud schemes that target or disproportionately impact older adults.
To report elder fraud, for non-life-threatening emergencies, call the
National Elder Fraud Hotline at 1-833-FRAUD-11 (or 833-372-8311).
Full Article & Source:
Two Marion County Kentucky Women Sentenced for Elder Fraud Scheme
Monday, May 10, 2021
Two Texas Women Sentenced to Federal Prison for Involvement in Transnational Elder Fraud Scheme
Department of Justice
U.S. Attorney’s Office
Eastern District of Texas
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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Thursday, May 6, 2021
Two Texas Women Sentenced to Federal Prison for Involvement in Transnational Elder Fraud Scheme
TYLER, Texas – Two Texas women have each been sentenced to 24 months in federal prison for conspiracy charges in the Eastern District of Texas, announced Acting U.S. Attorney Nicholas J. Ganjei today.
Pamela Sue Hannan, 68, of Sherman, and Pamela Sue Jennings, 69, of Houston, pleaded guilty on August 6, 2020, to conspiring with foreign co-conspirators to operate an unlicensed money transmitting business and were sentenced to 24 months in federal prison by U.S. District Judge J. Campbell Barker today.
“Today’s sentences send a clear message that schemes targeting elderly victims will not be tolerated, and those facilitating such schemes will be held accountable,” said Acting U.S. Attorney Nicholas J. Ganjei. “By acting as domestic money transmitters for foreign co-conspirators, these defendants played fundamental roles that allowed foreign actors to reach from overseas to target elderly victims in communities across the United States. Bringing the remaining perpetrators to justice remains a priority for this office.”
According to information presented in court, over the course of several years, Hannan and Jennings received funds from romance scam victims and from victims of other fraudulent schemes on behalf of their co-conspirators, who were based outside of the United States. In order to facilitate the scheme, Hannan and Jennings opened bank accounts in the names of businesses which purported to provide legitimate services. In reality, Hannan and Jennings used these businesses as fronts to facilitate the money transmitting scheme. Together, Hannan and Jennings received more than $4.1 million from victims of the schemes. Hannan and Jennings transferred the majority of the funds they received to their co-conspirators’ foreign bank accounts.
Hannan and Jennings were indicted by a federal grand jury on Oct. 16, 2019.
In October 2017, the Elder Abuse Prevention and Prosecution Act (EAPPA) was signed into law. The EAPPA’s purpose is to increase the federal government’s focus on preventing elder abuse and exploitation. Subsequently, the Department of Justice launched the Elder Justice Initiative (EJI). Through the EJI, the Department has participated in hundreds of criminal and civil enforcement actions involving misconduct that targeted vulnerable seniors. In March of last year, the Department announced the largest elder fraud enforcement action in American history, charging more than 400 defendants in a nationwide sweep. The Department has likewise conducted hundreds of trainings and outreach sessions across the country. The EJI website contains useful information, including educational resources about prevalent financial scams so you can guard against them.
In August of 2020, the Eastern District of Texas announced its own initiative, in partnership with law enforcement and private financial institutions, to identify and prosecute transnational elder fraud. This EDTX initiative is designed to combat these criminal organization, both foreign and domestic, as well their networks of associates and money mules who launder the stolen funds.
If you or someone you know is age 60 or older and has been a victim
of financial fraud, help is standing by at the National Elder Fraud
Hotline: 1-833-FRAUD-11 (1-833-372-8311). This U.S. Department of
Justice hotline, managed by the Office for Victims of Crime, is staffed
by experienced professionals who 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 appropriate 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 staffed 7
days a week from 6:00 a.m. to 11:00 p.m. Eastern Time. English, Spanish,
and other languages are available.
Source:
Wednesday, October 28, 2020
Elder fraud scheme swindles victims out of $9.5 million in fees for false prizes, psychic services
by Kimberly Bonvissuto
A Connecticut list brokerage firm pleaded guilty to facilitating elder fraud schemes resulting in at least $9.5 million in losses to victims through mass-mailing schemes.
A corporate representative for Macromark Inc. pleaded guilty Sept. 25 in the U.S. District Court in Hartford, CT, to charges that the firm was part of a conspiracy to commit mail and wire fraud. The schemes tricked thousands of consumers into paying fees for “falsely promised cash prized and purportedly personalized ‘psychic’ services,” according to the Department of Justice.
The government alleges Macromark provided list-brokerage services from 2005 to 2016 to clients running mass-mailing fraud schemes. Specifically, Macromark reportedly helped fraudulent mass mailers acquire and sell lists of potential victims to other mass mailers. Those lists were “essential” to the fraudulent mass mailer clients, allowing them to more effectively reach consumers susceptible to their schemes, including the elderly and vulnerable, the Justice Department said.
In 2016, the U.S. Postal Inspection Service executed search warrants on the company’s offices, and the Civil Division’s Consumer Protection Branch obtained a federal court order preventing the company from facilitating mass mailing fraud. That court order resulted in a permanent injunction prohibiting Macromark from dealing in certain promotions or solicitations, including sweepstakes reports, wealth-building programs or psychics. The company also was required to hire a compliance officer and to audit a sample of all list orders for five years.
“List brokers and service providers, such as Macromark, who facilitate these schemes are especially dangerous,” said Inspector in Charge Delany DeLeon-Colon of the U.S. Postal Inspection Service’s Criminal Investigations Group. “Data firms such as this have extraordinary access to consumers’ personal information, not just their mailing address. The sale and distribution of this data exponentially magnifies the scale and impact of these schemes.”
Macromark’s guilty plea follows a separate guilty plea by former Macromark Executive Vice President Steven Keats in July 2018 to conspiracy to commit mail and wire fraud. In March, former Marcromark Senior Vice President Norman Newman was indicted by a Connecticut grand jury for conspiracy to commit mail and wire fraud, along with 15 counties of wire fraud. Newman is scheduled for trial on March 1.
Under the terms of the company’s recent guilty plea, Macromark could be sentenced to three years of probation, forfeiture and fines totaling $1 million, and be required to cooperate with any related government investigation or prosecution. The final sentence awaits a ruling from the federal court overseeing the case.
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