U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Florida Enjoys Success in Protecting Older Adults Through Transnational Elder Fraud Strike Force

MIAMI – The United States Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Florida has put a bullseye on those who would defraud elderly Americans through its work with the Justice Department’s Transnational Elder Fraud Strike Force.

In fact, the Strike Force is adding 14 additional U.S. Attorney’s Offices nationwide, bringing the total to 20. These include U.S. Attorneys’ Offices in California, Arizona, Texas, Florida, Georgia, Maryland, and New York. USAO-SDFL was one of the first to join in 2019. Since that time, the Justice Department’s Consumer Protection Branch, U.S. Attorneys’ Offices, the FBI, U.S. Postal Inspection Service, and Homeland Security Investigations have brought successful cases against the largest and most harmful global elder fraud schemes. These organizations also worked with foreign law enforcement to disrupt criminal enterprises, disable their infrastructure, and bring perpetrators to justice.

“The most common scams that target the elderly include impersonating a government official, robocalls, and sweepstakes,” said Juan Antonio “Tony” Gonzalez, U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Florida. “Age-related health conditions such as dementia or decreased cognitive function can make it difficult for our senior citizens to detect a scam. Preying upon our elderly population is a shameful thing to do and it’s our job to go after these perpetrators and prosecute them to the fullest.”

 And go after them is just what the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) plans to do by doubling down on its efforts and increasing available resources.

“We are intensifying our efforts nationwide to protect older adults, including by more than tripling the number of U.S. Attorneys’ offices participating in our Transnational Elder Fraud Strike Force dedicated to disrupting, dismantling and prosecuting foreign-based fraud schemes that target American seniors,” said Attorney General Merrick B. Garland. “This expansion builds on the Justice Department’s existing work to hold accountable those who steal funds from older adults, including by returning those funds to the victims where possible.”

From September 2021 to September 2022, DOJ personnel and its law enforcement partners pursued approximately 260 cases involving more than 600 defendants.  Over that same time period, USAO-SDFL staff also had great success going after those who would swindle elders out of their money. Below are USAO-SDFL prosecutions that highlight those efforts:

United States v. Johnny Ray Thomas Case No. 22-20332

South Florida resident Johnny Ray Thomas and his Indian co-conspirators, Saher Mash Uppal and Prateek Uppal, operated several fraudulent Information Technology (IT companies), which falsely and fraudulently convinced elderly victims to make payments to the defendants’ companies for purported IT services and software when, in truth, and in fact, the victims received no legitimate services or software from the defendants’ businesses. Defendants and their co-conspirators “cold called” victims to inform them their computers had been hacked or otherwise compromised and convinced the victims to pay thousands for worthless “anti-virus” software and other services. Defendants and their co-conspirators installed remote access software on the victims’ computers in order to install the worthless software, which often consisted of nothing more than “scripts” that generated pop-ups on the victims’ computers notifying them their computers were infected with viruses. Defendants diverted the victims’ funds to corporate and personal bank accounts they controlled for their personal use and benefit and to carry out the conspiracy by paying for Internet marketing and other “leads.” Twelve victims lost over $20,000 each.

United States v. Jamare Mason, Case No. 19-60313

In November 2021 defendants Omar Bailey and Ronaldo Green were found guilty of conspiracy to commit wire fraud. The two, along with conspirators Jamare Mason, Mario Ricketts, and Kadeem Gordon were involved in a scheme in which the defendants fraudulently redirected Veteran Affairs benefits Social Security Administration benefits from rightful beneficiaries to accounts controlled by the defendants. The scheme was operated from Jamaica and involved stealing personal identifying information of veterans and social security beneficiaries. They then changed the deposit information from the original accounts to accounts that they controlled, providing the Veterans Administration and Social Security Administration with the information to these fraudulently created accounts. They then had the prepaid debit cards and ATM cards to these fraudulently created accounts sent to addresses of conspirators and thereafter used by coconspirators to withdraw funds from the accounts controlled by them. Once withdrawn, the funds were distributed to the conspirators in the United States and also sent to co-conspirators in Jamaica. Green was sentenced on March 2, 2022, to 78 months of imprisonment, five years supervised release and ordered to pay $915,825.97 in restitution. Bailey was sentenced on February 8, 2022, to 24 months of imprisonment, four years of supervised release and ordered to pay $48,000 in restitution.  Jamare Mason was sentenced on January 18, 2022, to 78 months of imprisonment, five years of supervised release and ordered to pay $1,314,986.45 in restitution. Kadeem Gordon’s sentence was reduced for his cooperation and he was sentenced on December 14, 2021, to six months of imprisonment, 5 years of supervised release and ordered to pay $40,667.46 in restitution and Mario Ricketts’ sentence of 13 months imprisonment was reduced on December 21, 2021, to time served based on his cooperation. He was ordered to pay $564,230 in restitution.

United States v. Aisladys Diaz, Case No. 22-20354

Five defendants, Aisladys Diaz, 45, of Miami, her daughter Ailensy Buron Diaz, 29, of Miami, Berto Omar Rodriguez Fonseca, 33, of Cutler Bay, Florida, and husband and wife Yandys Diaz and Yainelis Perez Diaz of Miami, were charged in an indictment with conspiracy to commit access device fraud. According to allegations in the indictment, in May 2020 Aisladys Diaz, who was employed as an aide at a nursing home in Homestead, Florida, stole the personal identifying information of two elderly residents who were in her care.  Diaz then shared that information with her daughter, Ailensy Buron Diaz, Berto Omar Rodriguez Fonseca, a finance manager at a car dealership in Miami Lakes, and Yandys Perez and Yainelis Perez Diaz, who used the information to purchase numerous new and used vehicles at car dealerships in Miami-Dade County, apply for numerous credit cards, and apply for an Economic Injury Disaster Loan, and an SBA loan under the CARES Act. The loss is approximately $700,000.

United States v. Sherri Lynn Smith, Case No. 21-14023

On August 26, 2022, defendant Sherri Lynn Smith of Broward County was sentenced to 51 months in prison, 4 years of supervised release and ordered to pay $288,865.92 in restitution for stealing from an elderly couple while she was employed as their caretaker.  Smith worked for the couple from 2016 through 2019 and had access to the victims’ bank account to assist them in paying their bills.  She used that access to embezzle approximately $300,000 out of the victims’ accounts without their knowledge or consent.  She accomplished this by writing and forging the victim’s signature on checks made payable to herself, her family members, and her creditors; initiating Zelle electronic money transfers from the victims’ accounts to her own bank account; and making electronic payments from the victims’ accounts to her and her husband’s numerous credit card accounts.

United States v. Sean Kerwin Bindranauth, Case No. 19-10016

On March 21, 2022, defendant Sean Kerwin Bindranauth was sentenced to 180 months in prison for laundering approximately $1 million of victims’ funds that were illegally obtained from romance and investment fraud scams that targeted the elderly. According to court documents and the evidence presented at trial, Bindranauth’s conspirators contacted the victims who were generally lonely older women via social media, developed online relationships with the victims, and convinced them to send money to Bindranauth. Once Bindranauth received the money, he sent it from the United Sates to Nigeria using international money transfer companies, initialing direct bank transfers, purchasing gift cards, and relaying the gift card information. Over a dozen seniors and other victims were tricked into sending Bindranauth and his co-conspirators approximately $1 million. Evidence at trial also showed that other victims sent Bindranauth cash via USPS. 

United States v. Isaac Grossman, Case No. 19-60300

On February 10, 2022, defendant Isaac Grossman, 47, of Parkland, Florida, was sentenced to 87 months in federal prison for directing an elder fraud scheme in which he sold stock in his South Florida-based technology company to elderly investors across the country and then misappropriated the funds for his own personal use. From September 2014 through April 2018, Grossman raised approximately $2.4 million in investor funds for his company, Dragon-Click Corp. He told potential investors the company was developing an internet application that would revolutionize internet shopping. He solicited funds by falsely telling potential investors they would double, triple, or quadruple their investments, and that Dragon-Click was on the verge of being sold to a large tech company, such as Google, Apple, or Amazon for more than $1 billion. He said investor funds would be used to complete technical development of the App, pay legal fees, etc. Grossman concealed from investors that he had been permanently barred by the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority from acting as a broker-dealer or associating with any broker-dealer firm. Grossman also had been permanently banned from commodities trading by the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission. Not only did Grossman never use Investor money to develop the App, he instead spent $1.3 million on gambling, diamond jewelry, luxury cars, home mortgage payments, and tuition payments for his children’s private school education. For example, Grossman’s unlawful expenditures included a McLaren MP4-12C, a Chevrolet Corvette, and a 4.81 carat diamond ring.

These cases illustrate just some of the ways elders can be preyed upon. Just knowing some of a criminal’s tactics can make a big difference when it comes to defending against them. As part of the elder fraud efforts, USAO-SDFL staff regularly reach out to the community to raise awareness about scams and exploitation. During their weekly food distribution events around Miami and the surrounding areas they hand out elderly fraud and abuse flyers in addition to groceries.

Another big help is using the tip line. Consumer reporting about fraud and attempted fraud is critical to law enforcement efforts to investigate and prosecute schemes targeting older adults. Anyone age 60 or older who has been a victim of financial fraud, help is available from the National Elder Fraud Hotline: 1-833 FRAUD-11 (1-833-372-8311). This DOJ Hotline is staffed by experienced professionals who provide personalized support to callers by assessing the needs of the victim and identifying the next steps. Case managers will identify appropriate reporting agencies, provide information to callers to assist them in reporting or connect them with agencies and provide resources and referrals. The hotline is staffed seven days a week from 6 a.m. to 11 p.m. English, Spanish and other languages are available. More information about the DOJ’s elder justice efforts can be found on its Elder Justice website at www.elderjustice.gov.

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.

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