A Middletown man has been indicted on charges of money laundering for a South African group connected with internet scams by using bank accounts opened in the United States, the U.S. Attorney’s Office announced Friday.
Andrew Suarez, 29, is charged with money laundering conspiracy, substantive money laundering counts and aggravated identity theft. U.S. Attorney Philip R. Sellinger said in the announcement. He said Suarez was working on behalf of a group called the Cape Town Zone of Black Axe.
Between August and December of 2017, Suarez worked with conspirators to launder money to entities in Cape Town, South Africa, according to Sellinger, including to an account in the name of Abravoo Trading Co., an entity controlled by a founding member of the Cape Town Zone of Black Axe, whose members were responsible for widespread internet-based fraud schemes.
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Suarez opened bank accounts in the U.S. which were used to conceal money obtained through business email compromises and other fraud schemes, the announcement said. He transferred money made from the schemes to other U.S. accounts and wired it to accounts in Cape Town, changing the information on some of the accounts to list the name and address of a victim to avoid detection.
Each of the money laundering charges carries a sentence of up to 20 years in prison and a maximum fine of $500,000, Sellinger said, or twice the value of the…
