Georgetown woman defrauded of $300K; man federally charged, facing 3 counts
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AUSTIN (KXAN) — A man was federally charged May 7 and accused of defrauding an elderly woman living in Georgetown out of hundreds of thousands of dollars, according to federal court documents.
Records showed Moinuddin Mohammed served as a courier for the conspiracy in the investigation.
Court documents said Mohammed participated in a scheme to defraud/attempt to defraud elderly individuals out of hundreds of thousands of dollars of cash and gold, engaged in a conspiracy to launder the proceeds of that scheme and lied to FBI agents to cover up his actions.
“On more than one occasion, and at the direction of and in coordination with one or more coconspirators, [Mohammed] received gold and cash from the victims of the fraud scheme, conveyed a portion of the proceeds to his coconspirators, and kept a percentage of the proceeds for his own benefit,” documents said.
One victim was an elderly woman living in Georgetown who was defrauded out of approximately $300,000, according to records.
“At the direction of members of the conspiracy, [she] purchased gold online and delivered it to [Mohammed] on at least three different occasions,” documents said.
The court documents also identified an elderly woman living in Pharr, Texas, who withdrew approximately $150,000 from her bank account and made two deliveries of cash to Mohammed, and an elderly man living in College Station, who was defrauded out of approximately $400,000 after purchasing gold online and delivering it to members of the conspiracy.
“Law enforcement has identified over $850,000 in losses connected to [Mohammed] and attributable to the wire fraud and money laundering conspiracy. However, the investigation shows that this conspiracy extends to other states in the country and likely greatly exceeds the loss amount identified above,” documents said.
Mohammed faces three counts—one for Conspiracy to Commit Wire Fraud, another for Conspiracy to Commit Money Laundering, and a final charge for giving a false statement.