Jamaican pleads guilty to conspiracy charge in fraudulent lottery scheme targeting elderly Americans
The United States Department of Justice (DOJ) said on Friday that a Jamaican national, who was previously extradited to the United States from Jamaica, has pleaded guilty in the US District Court for the Western District of North Carolina in connection with a fraudulent Jamaica-based lottery scheme that targeted elderly victims in the United States.
According to court documents, Antony Linton Stewart, 39, of St. James Parish, Jamaica, pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit mail and wire fraud.
As part of his plea agreement, the DOJ said Stewart admitted that he contacted elderly Americans by telephone and falsely told them that they had won money and other prizes in a sweepstakes or lottery.
The DOJ said Stewart told victims that they needed to send money to pay fees and taxes on their winnings.
Stewart contacted victims repeatedly for as long as they could be persuaded to send additional money, the DOJ said.
“At Stewart’s direction, victims used wire transfers and the US Postal Service, among other means, to send money to individuals in the United States and Jamaica who served as intermediaries and transmitted the money to Stewart,” the DOJ said.
“In fact, no lottery ever existed, and no victim ever received any money or other prizes,” it added.
The DOJ said the scheme defrauded victims out of hundreds of thousands of dollars.
“The Department of Justice’s Consumer Protection Branch is committed to investigating fraudulent schemes targeting elderly Americans, wherever those schemes are based,” said Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Brian M. Boynton, head of the Justice Department’s Civil Division. “Stewart is the latest example in the department’s ongoing efforts to root out and deter fraud from foreign locations that targets our most vulnerable consumers.”
“Each year, millions of older Americans suffer heavy financial losses in the hands of scammers operating in the United States and abroad,” said US Attorney Dena J. King for the Western District of North Carolina.
“Today’s guilty plea underscores our efforts to investigate and bring to justice perpetrators of elder fraud schemes no matter where they originate,” she added. “We will continue to join forces with our law enforcement counterparts to do all we can to stop these criminals from stealing from our seniors.”
Inspector in Charge Christopher A. Nielsen of the USPIS Philadelphia Division, said the US Postal Inspection Service (USPIS) is “committed to investigating those who use the US Mail to commit fraud and target elderly and vulnerable American citizens both domestically and abroad.
“Today’s plea exemplifies the unwavering efforts of Postal Inspectors in collaboration with our law enforcement partners – here in the United States and around the world – to bring these callous criminals to justice,” he added.
