Sean Kerwin Bindranauth, a resident of Florida, USA, has been found guilty of conducting an unlicensed money transmitting business and laundering $1 million obtained through romance and investment fraud scams that targeted elderly victims, primarily lonely older women.
Bindranauth’s co-conspirators befriended the victims online by posing as men living in remote locations. Later, these co-conspirators convinced the victims to send them money. The co-conspirators also used investment scams to trick some of their victims. In 2018-19, Bindranauth received around $1 million from over 12 victims of both scams via cash, wire transfer or checks. He then sent the money to Nigeria through international money transfer companies and direct bank transfers.
In addition to monetary penalties, Bindranauth faces a maximum prison sentence of 20 years each for his several ML-related charges, and five years for the unlicensed money transmitting charge.
Source: US Department of Justice