Pierre Yvelt Almonor, Business Email Compromise Money Laundering, North Carolina 2024
A brazen business email compromise scheme has landed a Miami Gardens man in prison for 51 months, announced U.S. Attorney Dena J. King for the Western District of North Carolina.
Pierre Yvelt Almonor, 51, was sentenced today, May 30, 2024, to 51 months in prison followed by two years of supervised release for his role in a conspiracy to launder illegal proceeds from a business email compromise scheme that defrauded law firms and other companies of more than $1 million.
Almonor, a resident of Miami Gardens, Florida, orchestrated the BEC scheme, which involved compromising and/or 'spoofing' legitimate business email accounts through social engineering or computer intrusion techniques, to cause employees of the victim company or other individuals involved in legitimate business transactions to transfer funds to accounts controlled by the scammers.
From August 2014 through November 2017, as part of the money laundering conspiracy, Almonor arranged to have nearly $395,000 in real estate closing proceeds stolen through a BEC deposited in a business account over which he exercised control, utilizing it as a 'money mule' bank account.
Money mule bank accounts are accounts used by fraudsters as a pass-through means of moving fraudulently obtained funds. Almonor then facilitated wires to Spain and South Africa totaling more than $200,000 and withdrew more than $50,000 in proceeds as compensation for his role in the conspiracy.
In May 2022, a federal jury convicted Almonor of engaging in a conspiracy to commit concealment money laundering, international concealment money laundering, and transactional money laundering.
Almonor will be ordered to report to the federal Bureau of Prisons to begin serving his sentence, upon designation of a federal facility.
The FBI investigated the case, and Assistant U.S. Attorneys Matthew T. Warren and Maria Vento of the U.S. Attorney's Office in Charlotte prosecuted the case.
Almonor engaged in the following crimes: conspiracy to commit concealment money laundering, international concealment money laundering, and transactional money laundering.
The crime occurred in Charlotte, North Carolina.
Almonor's sentence is a result of his involvement in a business email compromise scheme that defrauded law firms and other companies of over $1 million.
Almonor was sentenced on May 30, 2024.
The outcome of the case is that Almonor was sentenced to 51 months in prison followed by two years of supervised release.
The dollar amounts involved in the case are over $1 million, with nearly $395,000 in real estate closing proceeds stolen and more than $200,000 wired to Spain and South Africa.
Key Facts
- State: North Carolina
- Category: Cybercrime
- Source: DOJ Press Release â†â€â€
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