The Department of Justice said Wednesday that nine individuals are charged with managing a multi-state money laundering scheme that handled $20 million from online fraud.
According to a news release from the DOJ, the nine defendants from Tennessee, Texas, and Missouri reportedly operated a money laundering network since November 2016.
The U.S. District Court for Middle Tennessee in Nashville received their indictment. On Wednesday, the indictment was made public.
“The defendants allegedly used sham and front companies to conceal the fraud proceeds and enrich the members of the conspiracy,” according to DOJ.
The defendants are charged with establishing an organization that recruited and guided “money mules” through the employment of “herders” in order to launder money purportedly obtained through online fraud that targeted both domestic and foreign companies and people.
According to court filings, they have allegedly laundered over $20 million, including company email “compromise schemes,” that were gained through online fraud since 2016.
Although the nine defendants are accused of conspiring to launder money, they are presumed innocent until and unless proven guilty. If found guilty, everyone could spend up to 20 years behind bars.
Murfreesboro, Tennessee is home to the defendants Misha L. Cooper, 50; Robert A. Cooper, 66; Dazai S. Harris, 34; and Edward D. Peebles, 35.
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Houston is home to defendants Samson A. Omoniyi, 43; Carlesha L. Perry, 36; Lauren O. Guidry, 32; and Caira Y. Osby, 44. The 30-year-old defendant, Whitney D. Bardley, lives in Florissant, Missouri.
The DOJ did not specify when the defendants were taken into custody, but it was part of a coordinated operation that took place in Tennessee, Texas, and Missouri.
The federal inquiry was aided by agents from the FBI’s Boise, Idaho, resident agency and its Nashville and Salt Lake City field offices. The forensic accountant support staff at the FBI also did.
The cases against the nine defendants are being prosecuted by trial lawyers Kenneth Kaplan and Jasmin Salehi Fashami, as well as Nashville assistant U.S. attorney S. Carran Daughtrey.
