A lottery scam in Broward conned $6.6 million from senior citizens, feds say
A convicted passport fraudster living in Sunrise — a woman who shouldn’t have been in the country — and a man arrested just before he left the country defrauded 51 senior citizens around the country in a lottery scam, a federal prosecutors say.
The woman, Monique Clarke, used $150,000 of the loot to buy a new Mercedes, prosecutors say in court documents.
Indictments in Fort Lauderdale federal court charge Clarke, 28, and Jon-Michael Hudson, 33, with conspiracy to commit money laundering, claiming they conned $6.6 million out of the senior citizens, then tried to hide it via money laundering.
The prosecution memorandum requesting pre-trial detention for each says Hudson was arrested Feb. 13, just before boarding a flight to Jamaica, where he’s a citizen. Though Clarke’s also a citizen of Jamaica, the request says, she’s been in the United States for 7 years and 10 months on a B1/B2 temporary visa. That’s a six-month visa.
Clarke has a history of fraud with documents. She was convicted in December 2017 for making a false statement on a passport application. She handed in a U.S. passport application at a Sunrise U.S. Post Office branch that used the name, birth certificate and Florida identification of a U.S. Virgin Islands citizen with initials “SDL.” But, “SDL” already had a valid passport, so the Fraud Prevention Unit started an investigation that ended at Clarke.
Clarke was sentenced to time served and three years of supervised release. She remained in the United States, already beyond the limits of her visa.
Prosecutors say when federal officers hit Clarke’s apartment at Metropica, 2000 Metropica Way, with a search warrant, they found a fake Florida driver’s license with Clarke’s face. Postal inspectors searching Hudson’s apartment during an unrelated 2016 case found “thousands of names, addresses, phone numbers, marital status, age, date of birth and income levels.”
“Both Clarke and Hudson have had access to fraudulent identification,” prosecutors said. “Such documentation would enable Clarke and Hudson to deter detection of their activity including travel.”
A decision on their detention status is pending.
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How the lottery scam worked
The first sign of a lottery scam listed by the Federal Trade Commission: “You have to pay to get your prize.”
According to the detention request, back on Nov. 18, 2020, a woman told Fergus Falls (Minn.) police a caller told her she’d won $30 million the Publishers’ Clearing House sweepstakes and all she needed to do was pay the taxes she’d owe on the prize.
After more phone calls and emails, the woman was convinced enough to send a $10,000 check to a “money mule” in Lawrence, Kansas. That started the flow of money via personal and cashier checks sent to that money mule as well as ones in Usk, Washington, and Rockford, Michigan, at the direction of a “George Bernard.”
“In total, Victim No. 1 cashed out her family’s savings and made payments totaling $615,000.00,” the filing said.
An 85-year-old Houston woman said she got a phone call from a “Steve Cannon” telling her she’d won $25 million from American Rewards. She just needed to pay taxes and fees. “Steve Cannon,” prosecutors said, got the Houston woman to send $600,000.
“Steve Cannon” used the number 201-466-6634. According to T-Mobile records, prosecutors say, that number was activated on Oct. 26, 2020, for “Jim Brown” at 4040 NW 34th St. in Lauderdale Lakes. The filing said that was the storefront for Paradigm Beauty Bar, which Google shows at 4050 NW 34th St.
State corporation records say that’s the location of Paradigm the Brand, which has one officer: Monique C. Clarke.
“Further review of call records for the (“Steve Cannon” number) identified a pattern of communication with victims, followed by communication with Clarke’s phone,” the detention filing stated.
Money movers
Clarke was living at Plantation’s Midtown 24 Apartments as the alleged lottery scam started in 2020. The apartments registered resident parcels into a locker. That sends an email to the resident, who enters a code on a kiosk to open the locker. As the person enters the code, a camera snaps the person’s picture.
A “Rebecca White” created an account on Aug. 1, 2020, and added the names of Clarke and “Mark Hilton.” Homeland Security Investigations say from Sept. 10, 2020, and Jan. 21, 2021, records show 60 parcels showed up for apartment No. 1201 addressed to Clarke, 21 to “Rebecca White” and 16 to “Mark Hilton.” Prosecutors say 15 of the 16 parcels to Hilton were linked to lottery scams by victim interviews and shipping records.
“Additionally, bank records and images of the person retrieving parcels from the parcel locker linked the same 15 parcels to Clarke,”
From October 2020 through January 2021, prosecutors claim, the three money mules withdrew $529,500 cash from their bank accounts on or around the day before making parcel shipments to Clarke.
Bank records show Clarke making deposits into various Paradigm the Brand accounts at Chase Bank and TD Bank, usually for less than $10,000. But, from Jan. 20, 2021 through Jan. 25, 2020, she made teller deposits of $21,200; $25,000; $26,050; and an ATM deposit of $19,800 at the banks.
“Apparently, Clarke’s urgency to acquire a “high end” vehicle in Jamaica by the end of the month ... caused Clarke to abandon her common practice of structuring her cash deposits,” the detention request said. “Within six days, starting on January 19, 2021, Clarke sent six $25,000 money wires to Jamaica.”
Prosecutors say that $150,000 went to a car dealer in Jamaica for a Mercedes-Benz 2020 AMG GT 63 S Coupe.
