NEWARK, N.J. – A California man has admitted to conspiring to launder money obtained from internet-related fraud.
According to the U.S. Attorney’s Office, District of New Jersey, Charles Singleton, 64, of Los Angeles, has pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge Madeline Cox Arleo to an indictment charging him with one count of conspiracy to commit money laundering.
The Allegations
According to documents filed in this case and statements made in court:
- From September 2018 to August 2020, Singleton worked with conspirators to launder money obtained through business email compromises—a threat credit unions are warned about regularly--, which is a method of wire fraud often targeting businesses or individuals working on business transactions involving high-dollar wire transactions.
The fraud is carried out by compromising, hacking, or “spoofing” legitimate email accounts through social engineering or computer intrusion techniques to cause employees of a target company, or other individuals involved in legitimate business transactions, to conduct unauthorized transfers of funds, most often to accounts controlled by the fraud perpetrators, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said.
- Singleton opened several business bank accounts in the names of companies he controlled and received proceeds of wire fraud in those accounts. The U.S. Attorney said Singleton and his conspirators then withdrew and transferred money from various bank accounts and shared among themselves the account information of bank accounts.
Singleton also executed at least one fraudulent contract with a conspirator for a wire of $70,000.
As part of the plea, Singleton agreed to forfeit over $1.1 million constituting proceeds derived from the conspiracy, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said.
Potential Sentence
The charge of money laundering conspiracy carries a maximum term of 20 years in prison and a fine of up to $500,000 or twice the value of the funds involved in the transfer, whichever is greater. Sentencing is scheduled for Jan. 28, 2025.