Tag: U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Tennessee

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Romance Scammers Sentenced to Federal Prison

Photo by Jamie Street on Unsplash

Four Nigerians were sentenced here to years in federal prison  recently for their parts in a years-long, international romance scam.

Reagan Fondren, Acting U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Tennessee, announced the sentences Tuesday. The group was indicted with conspiracy to commit fraud and money laundering in June 2023. 

Those indicted were: 

• Patrick Edah, 40, a Nigerian citizen residing in the Toronto, Canada area

• Efe Egbowawa, 41, a Nigerian citizen residing in the Atlanta area

• Igocha Mac-Okor, 40, a Nigerian citizen residing in the Atlanta area

• Kay Ozegbe, 44, a naturalized U.S. citizen residing in Atlanta

The group operated the conspiracy from 2017 to 2021. They assumed false identities on social media, gaming applications, dating websites, and other internet-based platforms to trick victims into entering friendships and romantic relationships. They then played various roles in exploiting those connections to convince individuals to send them money via wire, check, U.S. mail, and package delivery services.

Dozens of victims lost amounts ranging from several thousand dollars to several hundred thousand dollars. One victim in West Tennessee lost more than $400,000 to this scheme over the course of several months.

In the conspiracy, romance scammers or “handlers” posed as potential friends or romantic partners and entered online relationships with unwitting victims. The relationships usually developed quickly through social media contact, text messages, email, and phone calls. 

Once the victim was clearly engaged in the scam, the scammer would begin to ask for emergency financial assistance. If the victim sent money, the scammer would ask for increasingly larger amounts of financial assistance.

Edah, Egbowawa, Mac-Okor, and Ozegbe functioned as “money mules” in the conspiracy. They worked in conjunction with other members of the conspiracy to move the financial proceeds of the scams through several layers of bank accounts and shell companies to hide the sources of the money and made it difficult to trace.

For their roles, Egbowawa was sentenced to 60 months in federal prison, Ozegbe was sentenced to 36 months, Edah and Mac-Okor were sentenced to 30 months and 50 months, respectively.

“These individuals used deception and fraud to prey on the vulnerable causing unmeasurable emotional damage and significant financial losses,” said Special Agent in Charge Joe Carrico of the FBI Nashville Field Office, Memphis Resident Agency.

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Arrest Made in ‘Brazen’ Fraud Scheme on Graceland, Presley Family

Graceland Mansion (Photo: Shara Clark)

Suspicious minds at the U.S. Attorney’s Office found a Missouri woman was a devil in disguise for a fraud scheme against Elvis Presley’s family that may now have her singing “Jailhouse Rock.”

Lisa Jeanine Findley (also known as Lisa Holden, Lisa Howell, Gregory Naussany, Kurt Naussany, Lisa Jeanine Sullins, and Carolyn Williams), 53, was arrested Friday morning for an attempt to steal the Presley family’s ownership in Graceland. The woman will appear later today in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Missouri.

“As alleged in the complaint, the defendant orchestrated a scheme to conduct a fraudulent sale of Graceland, falsely claiming that Elvis Presley’s daughter had pledged the historic landmark as collateral for a loan that she failed to repay before her death,” said Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Nicole M. Argentieri, head of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division. “As part of the brazen scheme, we allege that the defendant created numerous false documents and sought to extort a settlement from the Presley family. Now she is facing federal charges. The Criminal Division and its partners are committed to holding fraudsters to account.”

According to court documents, Findley allegedly posed as three different individuals affiliated with a fictitious private lender named Naussany Investments & Private Lending LLC. Findley allegedly claimed falsely that Lisa Marie Presley had borrowed $3.8 million in 2018 from Naussany Investments, pledged Graceland as collateral for the loan, and failed to repay the debt. 

To settle the purported claim, Findley allegedly sought $2.8 million from Elvis Presley’s family. She allegedly fabricated loan documents on which Findley forged the signatures of Elvis Presley’s daughter and a Florida State notary public. 

She then allegedly filed a false creditor’s claim with the Superior Court of California in Los Angeles, and a fake deed of trust with the Shelby County Register’s Office in Memphis. Findley also allegedly published a fraudulent foreclosure notice in The Commercial Appeal, announcing that Naussany Investments planned to auction Graceland to the highest bidder on May 23rd. 

Finally, when Naussany Investments was sued by Presley’s family in Tennessee state court as part of an effort to stop the sale of Graceland, Findley allegedly submitted false court filings.

After the scheme attracted global media attention, Findley allegedly wrote to representatives of Presley’s family, the Tennessee state court, and the media to claim falsely that the person responsible for the scheme was an identity thief located in Nigeria.

“As a Memphian, I know that Graceland is a national treasure,” said Kevin G. Ritz, U.S. attorney for the Western District of Tennessee. “This defendant allegedly used a brazen scheme to try to defraud the Presley family of their interest in this singularly important landmark. 

“Of course, all homeowners deserve to have their property protected from fraud, and the Department of Justice will vigorously prosecute anyone who commits financial crimes or identity theft.”

Findley is charged with mail fraud and aggravated identity theft. If convicted, she faces a mandatory minimum of two years in prison for aggravated identity theft and a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison for mail fraud.

“Fame and money are magnets for criminals who look to capitalize on another person’s celebrity status,” said Inspector in Charge Eric Shen of U.S. Postal Inspection Service (USPIS) Criminal Investigations Group. “In this case, Ms. Findley allegedly took advantage of the very public and tragic occurrences in the Presley family as an opportunity to prey on the name and financial status of the heirs to the Graceland estate, attempting to steal what rightfully belongs to the Presley family for her personal gain. 

“Postal inspectors and their law enforcement partners put an end to her alleged scheme, protecting the Presley family from continued harm and stress. This is an example of our relentless investigative work and commitment to bringing criminals to justice for their illegal activity.”

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New DOJ Office Targets Hate Crimes, Civil Rights Violations

Kevin Ritz. Credit: U.S. Attorneys Office for Western Tennessee

Hate crimes, civil rights violations, and domestic terrorism are the focus of a new U.S. Department of Justice unit in Memphis.

On Monday, United States Attorney Kevin Ritz announced the creation of the new, permanent National Security and Civil Rights Unit. A supervising attorney and several prosecutors will “respond to and prevent hate crimes and civil rights violations, as well as threats to national security.”

“None of us can afford for federal investigators and prosecutors to take a passive role when it comes to protecting the rights guaranteed by the Constitution,” Ritz said in a statement. “We have a responsibility to our communities to be active participants in seeing those rights endure. 

“This new unit mobilizes every tool at our disposal to prosecuting hate-based crimes, civil rights violations, violent extremism, and related crimes. This is a major part of our mission and deserves to always have a clear, formal home in our office.”

Ritz picked Assistant United States Attorney Karen Hartridge to lead the unit. The team will expand quickly as leaders plan to hire multiple attorneys for it by the end of summer. 

The new unit falls in line with a directive from U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland from May 2021. Garland urged U.S. Attorneys like Ritz to “combat hate crimes and incidents, address them when they occur, support those victimized by them, and reduce the pernicious effects these incidents have on our society,” according to a statement.

FBI data show U.S. hate crimes rose from more than 8,000 in 2020 to nearly 11,000 the following year. 

Data from the Tennessee Bureau of Information (TBI) released earlier this year show hate crimes in the state have risen for the last three years. The latest available data show 133 hate crimes were recorded here in 2021, higher than the 122 recorded in 2020, and the 112 hate crimes recorded in 2019.

“Our first job is to send a strong message to the cities and counties we serve that we take these kinds of cases seriously and that we are focused on holding people accountable when there is a report of a violation of civil rights or threat to national security,” Hartridge said in a statement.

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CEO Fined for Filing False Water-Quality Reports

The co-owner of a Memphis water-testing consulting firm must pay a six-figure fine after pleading guilty to fabricating water-quality results for state environmental permits. 

DiAne Gordon, 61, of Memphis, was the co-owner and CEO of Environmental Compliance and Testing (ECT), according to the U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Tennessee. The company was an environmental consulting firm and offered sampling and testing of stormwater, process water (from manufacturing activities, for example), and wastewater. 

The company was hired, largely by concrete companies, to analyze water samples to meet permit requirements in the federal Clean Water Act. Gordon’s firm would, then, send those samples to environmental testing laboratories. The results were put in lab reports and submitted to the Mississippi Department of Environmental Quality and the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation to satisfy permit requirements. 

Court papers say Gordon fabricated the results and the reports. She also forged documents from a reputable testing laboratory. Gordon would then bill her clients for the sampling and analysis. 

Law enforcement and regulators found that Gordon created, submitted, or caused to be submitted at least 405 false lab reports and other forms from her Memphis company since 2017.

For this, Gordon will pay $201,388.88 in restitution to the victims of her crime. She is scheduled to be sentenced in March and faces a maximum penalty of five years in prison.

“By fabricating these reports, Gordon betrayed her position of trust and violated her responsibility to provide information critical to evaluating water quality for residents in Tennessee and Mississippi,” said Assistant Attorney General Todd Kim of the Justice Department’s Environment and Natural Resources Division. “This prosecution shows the value of state and federal partnerships in investigating and prosecuting fraud and upholding the nation’s environmental laws for the good of public health.”

Gordon pleaded guilty to knowingly and willfully making and using false writings and documents in a matter within the jurisdiction of the Environmental Protection Agency.