November 28: The Department of Justice said Wednesday that nine people are being charged with running a multi-state group that laundered $20 million in money from internet fraud.
The nine people from Tennessee, Texas, and Missouri are accused of running a money-laundering ring since November 2016, the DOJ said in a news statement.
They were charged in Nashville’s U.S. District Court for Middle Tennessee. On Wednesday, the charge was made public.
“The defendants allegedly used sham and front companies to conceal the fraud proceeds and enrich the members of the conspiracy,” the DOJ stated.
The defendants are accused of setting up a business that used “herders” to find and direct “money mules” to launder money that they reportedly got from scams that targeted businesses and people in the US and other countries.
According to court papers, they allegedly laundered more than $20 million that they got through internet fraud, such as “compromise schemes” involving business emails.
The nine people charged with planning to launder money are thought to be harmless until proven guilty. If found guilty, each could spend up to 20 years in jail.
From Murfreesboro, Tenn., are Misha L. Cooper, 50; Robert A. Cooper, 66; Dazai S. Harris, 34; and Edward D. Peebles, 35.
Samson A. Omoniyi, 43; Carlesha L. Perry, 36; Lauren O. Guidry, 32; and Caira Y. Osby, 44 are all from Houston and are defendants. The defendant, Whitney D. Bardley, is 30 years old and lives in Florissant, Missouri.
In a coordinated operation, the defendants were caught in Tennessee, Texas, and Missouri. However, the DOJ did not say when the charges took place.
The government investigation was helped by agents from the FBI’s field offices in Nashville and Salt Lake City and the agency based in Boise, Idaho. The FBI’s forensic accountant support team did the same thing.
Assistant U.S. Attorney S. Carran Daughtrey is trying the nine suspects in Nashville and trial lawyers Kenneth Kaplan and Jasmin Salehi Fashami.
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