Man and woman charged in elder fraud conspiracy

MIAMI – On Feb. 1, a federal grand jury returned an indictment charging a man and a woman for their alleged involvement in an elder fraud conspiracy.

Monique C. Clarke, aka Monique Clark-Mootoo, aka Rebecca White, and aka Mark Hilton, 28, a Jamaican national, and Jon-Michael Hudson, 33, a resident of Jamaica, were charged in federal court by indictment with conspiracy to commit money laundering. Allegedly, the criminal enterprise targeted a total of 51 elderly victims throughout the United States and incurred in a total loss of more than $6.6 million dollars. 

According to the allegations in the indictment, court documents, and statements made during court hearings, from October 2020 through January 2021, Clarke and Hudson were allegedly engaged in laundering proceeds from a criminal enterprise that targeted elderly victims throughout the United States. As alleged in a court document, members of the criminal enterprise engaged in a lottery scam.

The co-conspirators made telephone calls to elderly victims and told them that they had won a lottery contest prize of millions of dollars. The victims were told that to collect the prize, they must pay fees for shipping, taxes, insurance, and customs processing, among other things. The co-conspirators then asked the victims to send the funds (generally, via personal checks and cashier’s checks) to third-party individuals, commonly known as money mules, who are known for receiving and moving money that is fraudulently acquired from victims. Then, these individuals allegedly deposited the checks into their bank accounts, withdrew the cash and sent it to Clarke and other co-conspirators via a courier service.

A court document further alleges that Clarke received over $500,000 of $1,653,473 from the proceeds of five victims’ losses. Clarke and Hudson allegedly deposited a portion of the fraudulently obtained proceeds into Clarke’s bank accounts. Later, Clarke allegedly wired transferred $150,000 to a car dealer’s bank account in Jamaica for the purchase of a 2020 AMG GT 63 S Coupe Mercedes Benz.

On Feb. 14, Clarke and Hudson made their initial appearances in federal court. On Feb. 20, Hudson had his detention hearing. Clarke’s detention hearing was continued to Feb. 23. If convicted, Clarke and Hudson each face up to 20 years in federal prison. A federal district court judge will determine any sentence after considering the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines along with other mitigating, aggravating, and statutory factors.

U.S. Attorney Markenzy Lapointe for the Southern District of Florida and Special Agent in Charge Anthony Salisbury of Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), Miami, made the announcement.

HSI Ft. Lauderdale investigated the case with assistance from the Broward Sheriff’s Office (BSO) and U.S. Postal Inspection Service (USPIS). Assistant U.S. Attorney Joseph A. Cooley is prosecuting it. Assistant U.S. Attorney Sara Klco is handling asset forfeiture.

If you or someone you know has been a victim of elder fraud, help is standing by at the National Elder Fraud Hotline at 1-833-FRAUD-11 (833–372–8311).  Victims or witnesses can also contact the HSI Tip Line by calling (866) 347-2423.  If you have received a scam phone call, email, or message, you may also report it to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) at https://reportfraud.ftc.gov.

The Department of Justice is committed to helping protect American seniors.  The public is encouraged to remain vigilant and not to provide personal identifiable information (PII), such as a social security number, or money in response to false claims.  For information regarding the Department’s Elder Justice Initiative visit https://www.justice.gov/elderjustice.  The Department of Justice also offers a variety of resources relating to elder fraud victimization through its Office for Victims of Crime at https://www.ovc.gov.

An indictment contains mere allegations, and all defendants are presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty in a court of law.

Related court documents and information may be found on the website of the District Court for the Southern District of Florida at www.flsd.uscourts.gov or at http://pacer.flsd.uscourts.gov, under case number 24-cr-60023. 

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