FLORIDA
A federal judge on Tuesday sentenced Maryland resident to two years and nine months in prison for defrauding victims into paying for falsified bank documents from a bank in the Dominican Republic, according to officials.
Mohammed Mohajer, 63, of Silver Spring, Maryland, plead guilty in the U.S. District Court to one count of wire fraud.
U.S. District Judge Sheri Polster Chappel also ordered Mohajer forfeit $194,000, and pay restitution in the amount of $565,000 to two victims.
According to the defendant’s admissions, Mohajer falsely told victims that he had a relationship with a bank in the Dominican Republic.
He represented to the victims that in exchange for an up-front payment, he could help them access credit at the bank and that the bank would issue SWIFT interbank messages to the victims’ designated banks showing that the victims had access to those funds.
In fact, Mohajer had no relationship with the Dominican bank and provided the victims with fake documents that falsely showed that their promised bank documentation had been transmitted. In total, Mohajer defrauded the victims out of $565,000.