Eric Bullard, Money Laundering, New Jersey 2023
NEWARK, N.J. - Two California men were sentenced to prison terms for conspiring to launder money that originated from internet-related fraud that targeted a law firm based in New Jersey and from fraudulently obtained loans from the U.S. Small Business Administration.
Eric Bullard, 62, of Los Angeles, California, was sentenced to 37 months in prison, and Anthony Hannah, 61, of Moreno Valley, California, was sentenced to 33 months in prison.
Bullard and Hannah each previously pleaded guilty to informations charging them with conspiracy to commit money laundering.
According to documents filed in this case and statements made in court, in June 2020, Victim-1 communicated via email with a law firm in New Jersey that was advising Victim-1, a resident of Bergen County, New Jersey, on a real estate transaction.
A business email compromise 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 and/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.
A co-conspirator conducted a business email compromise and sent an email to Victim-1 purporting to be on behalf of the law firm with fraudulent instructions to wire approximately $560,000 to a bank account controlled by Bullard.
Relying on the fraudulent instructions, Victim-1 wired approximately $560,000 into a bank account controlled by Bullard.
After receiving the funds, Bullard made several cash withdrawals and transferred money to other co-conspirators, including approximately $230,000 of the fraudulently obtained proceeds to an account controlled by Hannah.
In addition to laundering proceeds from the business email compromise, Bullard and Hannah also obtained and laundered funds from the U.S. Small Business Administration’s (SBA) Economic Injury Disaster Loan (EIDL) program based on fraudulent loan applications.
EIDL loans were intended to be for small businesses that were experiencing substantial financial disruption due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
In July 2020, Bullard received into a business bank account that he controlled approximately $143,100 from an SBA EDIL loan intended for a pharmacy company with a listed location in Colorado.
Hannah also received approximately $145,400 from the SBA for a loan intended for a pharmacy company with a listed location in Idaho.
Hannah then transferred approximately $51,395 to a bank account controlled by Bullard.
Additionally, in addition to the prison terms, Judge Arleo sentenced Bullard and Hannah each to three years of supervised release and to pay $705,400 in restitution to the victims.
Judge Arleo ordered forfeiture of $611,395 for Bullard and $375,400 for Hannah, constituting proceeds derived from the conspiracy.
Key Facts
- State: New Jersey
- Category: Fraud & Financial Crimes
- Source: DOJ Press Release â†â€â€
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