| A Pennsylvania man pleaded guilty earlier this week in federal court in Boston in connection with a scam in which he and co-conspirators, including a Boston man, defrauded victims by pretending to be employees of the Securities and Exchange Commission.
Frank Gregory Cedeno, 27, of Mahanoy City, Pennsylvania, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit wire fraud and conspiracy to commit money laundering.
Cedeno conspired with others to defraud victims by pretending to be employees of the SEC from at least November 2015 through November 2017, demanding money from victims and directing them to send it to members of the conspiracy, including Cedeno, who was then living in Ocoee, Florida.
The conspirators who received the money generally withdrew it from bank accounts quickly, then forwarded much of it to individuals in the Dominican Republic. In one common version of the scam, victims received emails that used official-seeming documentation and the SEC seal to induce the victim to pay a fee in order to receive a portion of a legal settlement.
In another version, victims received emails and official-seeming documents labeling the victim a defendant in a civil lawsuit, in which the victim owed tens of thousands of dollars in supposed disgorgement, penalties and fees. The documents gave the victim a choice of either appearing in court to contest the lawsuit or paying a smaller fee.
Co-conspirator Leonel Alexis Valerio Santana, 28, of Boston, was sentenced in August to 63 months in prison and three years of supervised release, and ordered to pay restitution of $105,869 after pleading guilty to his role in the scheme.
Cedeno’s sentencing is scheduled for March 21, 2019. He was arrested and charged in January.
