Chicago-Area Man Sentenced for Role in Nationwide Fraud Conspiracy

BOSTON – A Chicago-area man was sentenced yesterday in federal court in Springfield, Mass. for his role in a nationwide wire fraud conspiracy that victimized businesses and individuals across the United States.  

Demario Sorrells, 38, of Rockford, Ill., was sentenced by U.S. District Court Judge Mark G. Mastroianni to three years of probation, $106,000 in restitution, and $106,000 in forfeiture. In February 2024, Sorrells pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to cin December 2020ommit wire fraud.  Sorrells was initially indicted by a federal grand jury in December 2020 along with five co-defendants, including rap promoter Antonio Strong and rap artists Herbert Wright and Joseph Williams.

Beginning in at least March 2017 through November 2018, Sorrells, Wright, Williams, and, allegedly, their co-defendants conspired to defraud numerous businesses and individuals throughout the United States by using unauthorized and stolen payment card account information of real individuals – including the actual cardholders' names, addresses, security codes and account expiration dates. Generally, because the payment card information was authentic, the defrauded businesses and individuals successfully processed the fraudulent transactions and provided the goods and services to Wright and his alleged co-conspirators. The actual cardholders discovered these transactions on their accounts and disputed the charges with their card companies who then charged back the transactions to the businesses and individuals, which consequently suffered losses in the amounts of the unauthorized transactions.

On certain occasions, Strong obtained valuable goods and services for the benefit of Sorrells, including private jet flights, luxury accommodations and elite automobile rentals. On other occasions, Strong contacted Sorrells to obtain illicit account information and Sorrells provided Strong with illicit account information that he obtained from the dark web. On other occasions, Strong sometimes paid Sorrells in exchange for the illicit account information. Sorrells knew the illicit account information was stolen data. In total, Sorrells was responsible for $106,000 in victim losses. 

In May 2024, Strong pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and four counts of wire fraud, and he is scheduled to be sentenced on Sept. 19, 2024.  In July 2023, Wright pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and one count of making a false statement to a federal official, and in January 2024 he was sentenced to three years’ probation and was ordered to pay restitution and forfeiture of $139,968.  In March 2024, Williams pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and in August 2024 he was sentenced to three years’ probation and was ordered to pay restitution of $155,392 and forfeiture of $102,116.

Acting United States Attorney Joshua S. Levy and Andrew Murphy, Special Agent in Charge of the United States Secret Service, Boston Field Office made the announcement. Assistant U.S. Attorney Steven H. Breslow of the Springfield Branch Office and Trial Attorneys Andrew Tyler and Kyle Crawford of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division’s Fraud Section are prosecuting the case.

The details contained in the charging documents are allegations. The remaining defendants are presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.