US authorities have charged Robert Lenard Booth, Michael D’Urso, Alyssa D’Urso, Jay Garnock, and Antonella Chiaramonte with conspiracy to commit securities fraud, wire fraud, and ML, and operation of unlicensed money transmitting businesses. In 2019-21, the five defendants participated in a sophisticated international mass-marketing investment fraud scheme to defraud investors internationally, launder the proceeds and distribute them among the conspirators.
Booth ran a boiler room operation in Thailand, presenting it as a Manhattan-based investment firm to the investors. Booth and his co-conspirators created fake identities, webpages, email addresses, and phone numbers to support their lie. By convincing the investors that they were purchasing securities in privately-held and publicly-traded American companies, Booth stole over $1 million from the victims.
The other four defendants operated a network of shell companies and their bank accounts in New York. They conspired with several boiler rooms, including Booth’s, to receive over $8.4 million in stolen funds from victims of the investment fraud in shell company accounts. They then laundered over $4.6 million of the stolen money and distributed it to the conspirators.
Source: US Department of Justice