Two Brooklyn men were sentenced to prison on Wednesday after they were convicted of a telemarketing scam that defrauded more than $12 million from victims, many of them elderly.
Yveler Marcellus and Felix Marcial, both from Brooklyn, were sentenced to over 5 years in prison for money laundering conspiracy, and mail and wire fraud conspiracy, according to Joseph Nocella, Jr., United States Attorney for the Eastern District of New York and Ketty Larco-Ward, Inspector in Charge, United States Postal Inspection Service, New York.
There were four additional New Yorkers and one Florida resident who were also sentenced to prison for stealing about $12.5 million from victims.
From approximately January 2022 through December 2023, the defendants and their co-conspirators participated in a scheme in which individuals in India contacted victims by phone and convinced victims to send checks and money orders, addressed to the defendants.
The India-based co-conspirators fraudulently induced the victims, many of whom were elderly, to send checks to the defendants under false pretenses, including that the victims’ money was at risk of being stolen from their bank accounts.
After receiving the victims’ checks, the defendants and their 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 India, Nocella said.
“Today’s punishment was certainly warranted for the defendants who caused tremendous harm to the victims, many of whom were elderly or otherwise vulnerable,” Nocella said in a statement. “Through their callous scheme, the defendants profited by moving millions of dollars of victims’ hard-earned funds through their accounts and other accounts that they controlled and transferring a share of those proceeds to co-conspirators aboard who coordinated the telemarketing scheme."
Marcellus was ordered to pay back $185,000, while Marcial was ordered to pay $700,000, according to officials.
"Too many seniors fall for these financial schemes, it’s crucial to protect them and their hard-earned money, and that’s what was done in this case," Larco-Ward said.
