Florida Man Gets Indicted Over Fraud Scheme Involving China-Based Banks

The Department of Justice in Washington on Jan. 9, 2025. Madalina Vasiliu/The Epoch Times

A man from Florida has been indicted for allegedly running an international fraud scheme that involved China-based banks, after being extradited from the Dominican Republic, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York stated on Jan. 29.

Erick Jason Victoria-Brito, 30, and his co-conspirators were accused of reaping $60 million from their victims between December 2017 and  November 2022, while attempting to steal more than $150 million.

The victims included a major U.S. sports organization, a publicly traded health care company, a prominent international nonprofit organization, multiple city governments, law firms, construction companies, and investment funds.

“As we allege, Erick Jason Victoria-Brito and his co-conspirators ran an international bank fraud and money laundering scheme designed to help carry out business email compromise scams,” Danielle R. Sassoon, the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York, said in a statement.

“These scams cause significant harm to businesses, nonprofits, and even local governments. As the successful extradition of Erick Jason Victoria-Brito shows, this Office and our partners will not rest until every individual responsible is held accountable.”

According to the FBI, a business email compromise scam involves criminals sending emails that appear to come from a known source and make legitimate requests. For example, a scammer could impersonate a company’s vendor to trick an employee into transferring funds to his account.

Prosecutors said Victoria-Brito and his co-conspirators allegedly registered more than 1,000 bogus businesses, which were then used to create bank accounts to receive money from their targets.

The funds were subsequently wired primarily to banks in China to prevent victims from recuperating their losses, prosecutors alleged.

“This alleged scheme rained down financial ruin upon unwitting businesses and individuals,” U.S. Secret Service Special Agent in Charge Patrick J. Freaney said in a statement.

“While the suspects operated with impunity across the nation and beyond, the U.S. Secret Service and its partners remained steadfast in building a strong case—no matter where the evidence took them.”

Victoria-Brito was charged with one count of conspiracy to commit bank fraud and one count of conspiracy to commit money laundering.

If convicted, he could face a maximum of 30 years in prison for the bank fraud conspiracy charge and up to 20 years for the money laundering conspiracy charge.

In response to an email inquiry from The Epoch Times, Victoria-Brito’s attorney said that she has no comment on the case at this time.

There have been other business email compromise scams involving Chinese banks in recent years.

In April 2024, Chinwendu Alisigwe of Jamaica, New York, was sentenced to five years in prison and five years of supervised release for carrying out different fraud schemes, including business email compromise scams, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York.

From 2017 to 2020, Alisigwe used fake IDs to open 36 different bank accounts at six separate financial institutions, using more than a dozen fake passports and other fraudulent identity documents.

Alisigwe transferred wired fraud proceeds to bank accounts in foreign countries, including the UK and China.

His victims included a children’s charity, individual bank accounts, a public company, a life insurance company, and a county government.

Alisigwe received a total of about $4.5 million of fraud proceeds into his bank accounts.