Leah B. Foley United States Attorney for the District of Massachusetts | Department of Justice
A Rhode Island business owner has been sentenced to four years in prison for his role in laundering more than $35 million from internet fraud schemes. Craig Clayton, 75, of Cranston, was sentenced by U.S. District Court Judge Richard G. Stearns in Boston and will also serve three years of supervised release and pay $40,000 in restitution.
Clayton pleaded guilty in May 2025 to one count of money laundering conspiracy and one count of obstruction of justice. He was arrested and charged by criminal complaint in February 2023.
According to court documents, between 2019 and 2021, Clayton used his accounting firm Rochart Consulting as a front to launder proceeds from internet fraud on behalf of foreign-based clients. He created shell companies and opened fraudulent business bank accounts in Rhode Island and Massachusetts for this purpose.
Prosecutors said Clayton advised clients on how to structure deposits, draft wire memos that concealed the true nature of fund transfers, and create false documentation for account inflows and outflows.
In communications with co-conspirators at Rochart Consulting, Clayton acknowledged their risk: “money mules complicit in [Rochart’s clients’] offenses” that “opens [them] up to charges.” In encrypted messages with a client co-conspirator, he expressed concern about law enforcement surveillance on his phone and discussed obtaining information about a victim who reported the fraud scheme “to distract the police.” He also suggested switching electronic communications from WhatsApp to Signal because WhatsApp “can be tapped.”
When authorities began investigating Rochart Consulting, Clayton falsely claimed that his shell companies were legitimate businesses. During a recorded conversation with an undercover agent posing as a potential client, he said Rochart did not “deal with anyone who has law enforcement connections” and mentioned that some clients were “fugitives from justice.” After learning about a federal grand jury investigation into his activities, Clayton attempted to obstruct justice by making false statements during an interview with federal agents.
The sentencing was announced by United States Attorney Leah B. Foley; Michael J. Krol, Acting Special Agent in Charge of Homeland Security Investigations in New England; Thomas Demeo, Acting Special Agent in Charge of IRS Criminal Investigation’s Boston Field Office; and Jennifer De La O, Director of Field Operations for U.S. Customs and Border Protection’s Boston Field Office. The Internal Revenue Service Criminal Investigation unit and the United States Postal Inspection Service provided assistance. Assistant United States Attorneys Ian J. Stearns and Kaitlin R. O’Donnell from the Securities, Financial & Cyber Fraud Unit along with Alexandra Amrhein from the Criminal Division prosecuted the case.
