Five Jamaican nationals are among six people charged in the United States in connection with an alleged sweepstakes fraud scheme that prosecutors say targeted elderly victims across the country and defrauded them of millions of dollars.
The indictment, returned by a federal grand jury in New Haven, Connecticut, charges Andre-Jon Gayle, 33, Aaliyah Mayne, 25, Onaje Chevers, 29, Matthew Hutchinson, 24, Courtney Reynolds, 31, and US citizen Roshaun Thompson, 24, with conspiracy to commit mail fraud and wire fraud, mail fraud, wire fraud and conspiracy to commit money laundering.
Prosecutors allege that beginning in approximately 2022, the defendants participated in a scheme in which they falsely claimed to represent Publishers Clearing House and contacted elderly people in Connecticut and elsewhere in the United States, telling them they had won millions of dollars in a sweepstakes.
The alleged victims were instructed to pay upfront fees or taxes before collecting their prizes and were directed to send checks, cash and money orders to the defendants and others.
The indictment further alleges that some victims provided driver’s licences, other personal identifying information, and banking and credit card information, which scheme participants used to make personal expenditures. Social Security benefits were also diverted into Green Dot banking accounts opened and controlled by scheme participants.
Each defendant faces one count of conspiracy to commit mail fraud and wire fraud, five counts of mail fraud, four counts of wire fraud and one count of conspiracy to commit money laundering. Each offence carries a maximum prison sentence of 20 years.
Mayne, Chevers and Reynolds were arrested on June 4, Thompson on June 5, Hutchinson on June 9 and Gayle on June 10.
Gayle, Hutchinson, Reynolds and Thompson appeared in federal court in Bridgeport on Thursday, pleaded not guilty and were released on US$250,000 bonds. Mayne and Chevers remain in custody.
‘As alleged, this was an organised sweepstakes scam that ruthlessly preyed upon the vulnerability of our elderly citizens to defraud them out of millions of dollars,’ said US Attorney David X. Sullivan.
US authorities stressed that the indictment is not evidence of guilt and that all defendants are presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.
Earlier this week, another Jamaican, 31-year-old Jimmy Smith, who was residing in Hinesville, Georgia, was sentenced to 46 months of imprisonment for operating a sweepstakes scam.