A Florida woman pleaded guilty Wednesday to conspiring to launder millions of dollars from American fraud victims to a co-conspirator abroad, officials stated.
According to court documents, Cristine Petitfrere, 30, of Miramar, used bank accounts to receive proceeds from romance scams.
After receiving money from victims of the scams, Petitfrere kept a portion as a fee and funneled the remainder to her co-conspirator overseas. Petitfrere laundered over $2.7 million and earned hundreds of thousands of dollars in fees.
Romance scams involve fraudsters creating fake online personas to gain the trust and affection of victims, ultimately leading to financial exploitation. These schemes not only cause significant financial losses but also deeply impact the lives of victims, many of whom are elderly.
According to Federal Trade Commission data, Americans lost $1.14 billion to romance scams in 2023.
“Romance scams cause not only significant losses but also profound emotional harm to countless individuals,” said Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Brian Boynton, head of the Justice Department’s Civil Division. “This prosecution underscores the department’s efforts to dismantle the criminal networks that engage in these sophisticated financial schemes to exploit vulnerable Americans.”
Petitfrere is scheduled to be sentenced in Florida on Dec. 11. She faces up to 10 years in prison.
The FBI Miami Field Office investigated the case.
Trial Attorneys Matthew Robinson and Lauren M. Elfner of the Civil Division’s Consumer Protection Branch are prosecuting the case.
For more information about the Consumer Protection Branch and its fraud enforcement efforts, visit www.justice.gov/civil/consumer-protection-branch.