Officials stated that a Florida man pleaded guilty Monday for funneling the proceeds of scams against American consumers and businesses to co-conspirators located in Nigeria.
On July 12, 2023, a grand jury indicted Niselio Barros Garcia Jr., 50, of Kissimmee.
According to court documents, Garcia supplied bank accounts to his co-conspirators to receive proceeds from romance scams, business email compromises, and fraud schemes.
After receiving the criminal proceeds, Garcia used a cryptocurrency exchange to conceal and transfer the funds in Bitcoin to co-conspirators in Nigeria. Garcia personally laundered over $2.3 million of criminal proceeds and earned hundreds of thousands of dollars in fees.
Business email compromises involve criminals hacking or spoofing business email accounts to initiate fraudulent money transfers. According to officials, romance scams involve fraudsters creating fake online personas to gain the trust and affection of victims, leading to financial exploitation.
These schemes not only cause significant financial losses but also deeply impact the lives of victims.
“This prosecution demonstrates our ongoing commitment to protecting the public from complex financial crimes,” said Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Brian Boynton, head of the Justice Department’s Civil Division. “This case serves as a reminder of the sophisticated methods employed by criminals and the need for vigilance in the digital age. The Justice Department remains committed to aggressively pursuing individuals and groups involved in these kinds of illicit activities.”
Garcia is scheduled to be sentenced on April 23. He faces a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison. Four additional defendants have been charged in this scheme but remain at large.
The FBI Buffalo Field Office investigated the case.
Trial attorneys Lauren Elfner and Matthew Robinson of the Civil Division’s Consumer Protection Branch are prosecuting the case.
For more information about the Consumer Protection Branch and its enforcement efforts, visit www.justice.gov/civil/consumer-protection-branch. Information about the Justice Department’s Elder Fraud Initiative is available at www.justice.gov/elderjustice.