US authorities have charged US citizen Blade Bai and Chinese citizens Bowen Hu, Tairan Shi and Yan Fu for laundering fraud proceeds stored on Target-issued gift cards.
Bai, Hu and Shi obtained over 5,000 gift cards and had them distributed to Fu and others who used the cards at Target stores in California to purchase items like consumer electronics, other gift cards, etc. The aim of this operation was to conceal the original illicit sources of the funds stored on the gift cards.
The 4 defendants were laundering proceeds that fraudsters had obtained illicitly from US-based victims of their schemes. As such, the defendants could face prison sentences of up to 20 years each.
Source: US Department of Justice