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November 21, 2018

Florida Men Sentenced For Laundering Proceeds of IRS Impersonation Scam

On September 13, 2018, in the Southern District of Florida, Scott Levenberg and Bradley Wright were sentenced for their roles in a conspiracy involving the impersonation of Internal Revenue Service (IRS) employees. The pair had been indicted in April 2018, and each pled guilty to conspiracy to launder money and identity theft in June 2018. Levenberg also pled guilty to being a felon in possession of ammunition.

According to the court documents, from about September 2016 through about March 2018, Levenberg, a resident of Palm Beach County, Florida, conspired with others to launder money and commit identity theft in connection with a wire fraud scam. Coconspirator Wright, also a Palm Beach County resident, worked under the direction of Levenberg as a manager in the scheme from about October 2017 to about March 2018.

The wire fraud scam involved various individuals who called victims and pretended to be Government officials, most often pretending to be agents from the IRS. They falsely told victims that they owed money to the IRS and threatened arrest if they did not immediately deposit money into specified bank accounts.

As part of the conspiracy, Levenberg recruited others in South Florida to open bank accounts for the purpose of receiving these funds and agreed to pay the account owners a percentage of the deposited money for the use of their accounts. Levenberg and his managers, including Wright, instructed the account owners of the specific time and location to make withdrawals. Levenberg insisted the withdrawals be made as quickly as possible after the scammed funds were deposited, before the transactions could be reversed or the funds frozen.

After the victims made the deposits, the impersonators instructed the victims to send them copies of the deposit receipts and their driver's licenses. The coconspirators then sent these items to Levenberg, who in turn, gave them to Wright or the account holders to use in withdrawing the scammed funds. This was done to create the appearance that the account holder knew the person who made the deposit.

In one instance, Wright instructed the account holder, who was an undercover officer, to tell bank officials that the individual was his aunt who had wired him money to purchase a car.

After collecting the money and taking their fees, Levenberg and Wright forwarded the remaining funds to third parties as directed by those perpetrating the wire fraud scheme, effectively laundering the fraud proceeds of their coconspirators.

Levenberg was sentenced to 84 months in prison followed by three years of supervised release. He was ordered to pay $339,396.30 in restitution to victims. Wright was sentenced to 24 months' imprisonment followed by three years of supervised release and was ordered to pay $91,777.30 in restitution.

    Source:  The facts in this case narrative come from the following publicly available documents: S.D. Fla. Indict. filed Apr. 12, 2018; S.D. Fla. Plea Agr. filed June 26, 2018; S.D. Fla. Factual Agr. filed June 26, 2018; S.D. Fla. Plea Agr. filed June 28, 2018; S.D. Fla. Factual Agr. filed June 28, 2018; S.D. Fla. Judgment filed Sep.14, 2018; S.D. Fla. Judgment filed Sep. 14, 2018.