BOSTON - A Hingham man who was convicted earlier this year of money laundering now faces new charges of money laundering conspiracy.
Yannick A. Minang, 26, was arrested earlier today and charged by criminal complaint with one count of international money laundering conspiracy. Minang will appear in federal court in Boston this afternoon. Earlier this year, Minang pleaded guilty to a five-count indictment for his role in a similar business email compromise (BEC) scheme in 2017. Minang is scheduled to be sentenced on those charges on July 17, 2019 before U.S. District Court Judge F. Dennis Saylor.
As alleged in the charging document, Minang conspired with others to open numerous bank accounts in Massachusetts in the name of sham companies, as part of an apparent BEC scheme. A BEC scheme is a sophisticated scam often targeting businesses involved in wire transfer payments. The fraud is carried out by compromising and/or “spoofing" legitimate business email accounts through social engineering or computer intrusion techniques, to cause employees of the victim company (or other individuals involved in legitimate business transactions) to transfer funds to accounts controlled by the scammers.
It is alleged that, through the use of fraudulent invoices and spoofed email accounts, Minang conspired to trick a victim of the scheme into wiring hundreds of thousands of dollars to a bank account under his control. Minang and his co-conspirators then transferred funds from the account on to others located overseas.
The charge of money laundering conspiracy provides for a sentence of no greater than 20 years in prison, three years of supervised release and a fine of $500,000 or twice the amount involved in the transaction, whichever is greater. Sentences are imposed by a federal district court judge based upon the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.
United States Attorney Andrew E. Lelling and Joseph R. Bonavolonta, Special Agent in Charge of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Boston Field Division, made the announcement today. Assistant U.S. Attorney William B. Brady of Lelling’s Criminal Division, and Jordi de Llano, Deputy Chief of Lelling’s Securities & Financial Fraud Unit, are prosecuting the case.
The details contained in the complaint are allegations. The defendant is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.
Source: U.S. Department of Justice, Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI)
