On November 16, 2021, in the District of Arizona, Joseph Batts was sentenced for conspiracy to commit mail fraud and wire fraud, and conspiracy to commit money laundering for his role in a fraudulent sweepstakes and lottery scheme. Batts was indicted on these charges on November 6, 2019, and he pled guilty on November 10, 2020.

According to the court documents, Batts voluntarily conspired with others to execute a scheme to obtain money by means of false and fraudulent representations. The primary purpose of the scheme was to obtain money from victims through a fraudulent sweepstakes or lottery scheme. As part of the conspiracy, the coconspirators would e-mail fraudulent letters purporting to be from the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) and Publishers Clearing House, falsely representing that the victims had won a prize and were required to pay taxes or other fees in order to obtain their winnings.

For example, an 87-year-old victim residing in Arizona received the fraudulent communications, which included a letter on IRS letterhead. The victim subsequently communicated with one or more of the coconspirators by phone to make arrangements to pay the fee. The victim was led to believe she had won $5 million and a brand-new Lincoln MKZ automobile. The victim was instructed to deposit money into various bank accounts and also to mail and/or wire the money. The victim withdrew all of the money, approximately $72,000, from her Individual Retirement Account (IRA) and provided it to the coconspirators. When she received a check from the coconspirators, she believed it was a portion of the prize winnings, but when the check was deposited it was deemed fraudulent and did not clear. The victim never received any legitimate money or prize winnings. As a result of the scheme, the victim lost a total of approximately $74,000.

Batts sentenced to 70 months’ imprisonment, with credit for time served, three years of supervised release, was ordered to pay $72,900 in restitution, and a $200 special assessment fee.

Source:  The facts in this case narrative come from the following publicly available documents: D. Ariz., J., filed November 19, 2021; D. Ariz., Crim. Compl., filed October 5, 2018; and D. Ariz., 2nd Superseding Indict., filed November 6, 2019.