By Forum Staff
In Brooklyn federal court on Friday, Yveler Marcellus was convicted by a jury of conspiracy to commit money laundering and conspiracy to commit mail and wire fraud in connection with a fraud scheme that targeted dozens of vulnerable victims in the United States, according to prosecutors.
As proven at trial, between January 2022 and December 2023, Marcellus, 32, of Brooklyn, and his co-conspirator—including two men from Queens—participated in a “tech” scheme, through which co-conspirators based in India contacted victims by phone and convinced them to send money instruments, including checks and money orders, to the defendant and other U.S-based co-conspirators at various addresses in the Eastern District of New York. After receiving the victims’ checks, Marcellus and his U.S.-based co-conspirators laundered the check proceeds through their own bank accounts and other bank accounts that they controlled, shared the proceeds amongst themselves, and sent the remainder of the laundered proceeds to the co-conspirators in India. The scheme is estimated to have netted over $12 million from victims across the United States.
Photo Courtesy of the U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of NY
Brooklyn U.S. Attorney Joe Nocella
Seven of Marcellus’s co-conspirators previously pleaded guilty for their roles in the scheme and are awaiting sentencing.
When sentenced, Marcellus faces up to 40 years in prison.
“The evidence showed that Yveler Marcellus worked closely with a crew based in New York, along with co-conspirators abroad, to perpetrate a sprawling, transnational money laundering and fraud scheme that cruelly preyed on vulnerable victims’ fears that their money was compromised and that they were running afoul of the law,” said Brooklyn U.S. Attorney Joe Nocella.
