Jamare Mason, Bank and Wire Fraud, Florida 2022

A 27-year-old Georgia man who redirected the benefits of veterans and Social Security Administration beneficiaries to accounts that his co-conspirators set up and controlled has been sentenced to 78 months in federal prison, to be followed by five years of supervised release.

The defendant, Jamare Mason, was also ordered to pay more than $1.3 million in restitution to his victims.

Mason, a member of a conspiracy that obtained the personal information (including names, dates of birth and Social Security numbers) of disabled veterans and Social Security beneficiaries, used this information to fraudulently open bank accounts and prepaid debit cards in the victims' names.

He and his co-conspirators forged documents in the victims' names that directed the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs and the Social Security Administration to deposit benefit payments into those fraudulent accounts, instead of the victims' legitimate bank accounts.

Over the course of five years, from 2012 to 2017, members of the conspiracy attempted to redirect over $1.8 million in benefits from more than a hundred disabled veterans and Social Security beneficiaries.

Although several of these attempts were blocked, the defendants' scheme resulted in the actual loss of over $1 million, money that was diverted from disabled veterans and Social Security beneficiaries.

Jamare Mason, 27, was sentenced for conspiring to commit bank and wire fraud.

U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Florida Juan Antonio Gonzalez commended the investigative efforts of the Transnational Elder Fraud Strike Force.

Source: https://www.justice.gov/usao-sdfl/pr/defendant-who-stole-veteran-and-social-security-benefits-sentenced-federal-prison