https://patch.com/new-york/lindenhurst/4-men-plead-guilty-stealing-2m-money-laundering-scheme-feds

LINDENHURST, NY —Four men pleaded guilty to money laundering conspiracy after scheming to steal millions of dollars from a global financial company based in California, Breon Peace, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of New York announced.

Edward "Ghost" Hernandez, Christopher "Venus" Flagg, Daquan "Payday" Lloyd and Corey "Jefe" Ortiz pleaded guilty between June 4 and July 18 before Judge Gary R. Brown in federal court in Central Islip to money laundering conspiracy in connection with a scheme to steal millions of dollars from a global financial services company based in Menlo Park, California, Peace said.

While implementing their scheme, the men were located in New York and North Carolina. Hernandez, 33, is a resident of Lindenhurst; Flagg, 28, and Lloyd, 29, reside in Copiague; and Ortiz, 29, lives in Greensboro, North Carolina, according to Peace.

Each man faces a maximum sentence of 20 years imprisonment, restitution of up to $2,087,164, and forfeiture between $56,390 and $700,425 upon sentencing, Peace said.

Between December 2018 and January 2023, the defendants engaged in a scheme to defraud a global financial services company of millions of dollars of short-term cash advances, called “Instant Deposits,” Peace said. The Instant Deposits were intended to enable legitimate investors to immediately trade in their brokerage accounts without having to wait for an incoming wire transfer to clear. To gain access to millions of dollars of Instant Deposits, which were typically capped at $5,000 per account, the defendants established a multi-state recruitment network through which the defendants opened hundreds of fraudulent accounts held in the names of straw account holders, or “Losing Accounts,” Peace said.

According to the investigation, the four men repeatedly bought thinly traded and highly speculative stock options at above-market prices using the Instant Deposits available to the Losing Accounts, Peace said.

Selecting these virtually worthless stock options enabled the defendants to match their bids in the

Losing Accounts with offers to sell the same overpriced stock options initiated by other

brokerage accounts, or “Winning Accounts,” that were also controlled by the defendants and

their conspirators. In effect, the defendants transferred the Instant Deposits from the Losing

Accounts to the Winning Accounts by way of fraudulent securities transactions, Peace said.

Meanwhile, Peace said that the incoming wire transfers supposed to cover the Instant Deposits in the Losing Accounts had purposely been initiated by the defendants from bank accounts that had little or no balance. The wire transfers then failed to clear, but not before the defendants drained the Instant Deposits, leaving the accounts with negative balances and worthless options, Peace said.

The defendants then laundered the stolen funds through multiple electronic banking platforms. In total, the defendants recruited dozens of individuals to engage in their fraudulent scheme and stole more than $2 million, Peace said.

“Each defendant was convicted of their roles in a sprawling and complex nationwide scheme organized from Long Island to steal millions of dollars that were intended for legitimate investors and launder the proceeds of their crime,” Peace said.“Today’s guilty plea demonstrates how this Office will swiftly bring to justice those who fraudulently manipulate the financial system, no matter how complex the scheme.”