Gaithersburg Man Pleads Guilty To Laundering $6.2M In ‘Romance Scheme’

GREENBELT, Md. (AP) — A Maryland antheral pleaded blameworthy Tuesday to conspiring to launder much than $6.2 cardinal from a “romance scheme” to fraudulently solicit wealth from much than 200 victims targeted done societal media and dating websites.

Lesley Annor, 23, of Gaithersburg faces a maximum condemnation of 20 years successful national prison. U.S. District Judge George Hazel is scheduled to condemnation him connected Oct. 29.

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Annor has been jailed since helium and his brother, David Annor, were arrested successful November 2020 connected wealth laundering charges. David Annor pleaded not blameworthy to a conspiracy complaint successful January.

Their victims’ ages ranged from 38 to 83, lived successful the U.S. and overseas and often were aged oregon isolated, prosecutors said.

A Texas pistillate told FBI agents that she mislaid astir $100,000 successful the strategy aft gathering idiosyncratic done Facebook whom she believed was a U.S. worker preparing to instrumentality location from Afghanistan. She thought she was paying for a country for the antheral aft a car accident, an FBI cause said successful an affidavit.

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A Virginia pistillate told FBI agents that she mislaid astir $177,000 aft gathering idiosyncratic done Facebook whom she believed to beryllium an underwater welder from Canada. The Facebook idiosyncratic asked her for wealth to bargain instrumentality aft they engaged successful romanticist conversations, the cause said.

The agent’s affidavit besides describes however the plot’s co-conspirators defrauded a Hawaii woman, a Georgia pistillate and a antheral from Washington state.

Lesley Annor and others laundered wealth done astir 34 slope accounts astatine 11 fiscal institutions, with victims paying much than $400,000 into idiosyncratic slope accounts controlled by Annor, according to prosecutors. They said the brothers sent wealth to different co-conspirators, often successful Ghana, and kept astatine slightest 10% of unfortunate payments for themselves.

David Annor laundered wealth done a ammunition institution called Ravid Enterprise LLC that purportedly sold cars, the FBI said.

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CBS Baltimore Staff