US authorities have sentenced Los Angeles (California) resident Brandon Ross to 18 months in jail for a large-scale money laundering conspiracy. Ross will further have to serve three years of supervised release and pay a minimum of $1,500,000 in restitution.
During 2015-17, Ross and co-conspirators operated a scheme to launder criminal proceeds by fraudulently procuring tech-related products without payment and then selling them. To obtain the products, Ross defrauded three tech companies by convincing them to ship cell phones, computers, televisions, etc. to his co-conspirators without actually paying for the products. Ross and his co-conspirators would then either sell or dispose of products.
The purpose of these transactions was to conceal the true source and ownership of the illicit proceeds. In addition, Ross received the fraudulently obtained proceeds and transferred them to his co-conspirators to conceal the crime. Overall, the three victim companies lost over $1,500,000 due to the fraud.
Source: US Department of Justice