US authorities have sentenced Julien Richardson to 40 months of imprisonment for conspiring to commit money laundering. Between 2016 and 2018, Richardson conspired with Akeem Fields to launder money that other perpetrators had stolen from numerous victims, thus defrauding the victims of over $549,000.
Richardson and Fields set up aliases and shell companies to open bank accounts. They used these bank accounts to receive and launder illegal funds. These funds came from several fraud schemes such as elder fraud, lottery fraud and business email compromise schemes. Richardson and Fields rapidly distributed the fraudulent proceeds to avoid detection. They each received 15% of the proceeds, while the rest went to those behind the fraud schemes.
Richardson pled guilty in February 2020 while Fields pled guilty in a separate case. In addition to 40 months in prison, Richardson will serve three years of supervised release and pay restitution and a forfeiture money judgment.
Source: US Department of Justice