Belleville Man Pleads Guilty To Money Laundering And Wire Fraud

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Stephen R. Wigginton, United States Attorney for the Southern District of Illinois, announced today that on May 28, 2014, Brian J. Fields, 52, of Belleville, Illinois, pled guilty to a two-count information charging in count one that he engaged in a scheme to commit wire fraud and in count two that he had committed money laundering. At his sentencing, Fields will face up to 20 years in federal prison as to each count, a fine of up to $750,000 and up to 3 years of supervised release. Sentencing has been set for September 12, at 1:30 p.m. in United States District Court in East St. Louis, Illinois.

During his plea hearing, Fields admitted that he assisted a person from oversees (Nigeria) in defrauding United States Citizens by sending counterfeit checks and money orders to individuals in several schemes (such as a “Secret Shopper” scam). The schemes resulted in victims receiving the counterfeit check or money order, depositing it into their own bank account, and then at the direction of Fields, the victim would wire transfer legitimate funds to Fields. By the time the person learned the check or money order was worthless, they had already sent the money to Fields. When Fields received the victims’ money, he would keep a portion for himself and then to further the scheme, Fields would send the remaining funds to a person located in Nigeria. Agents were able to identify over 70 victims that had lost over $100,000.

The investigation was conducted by the Criminal Investigation Division of the Internal Revenue Service, the United States Secret Service, and the Swansea, Illinois, Police Department.

The case is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Ranley R. Killian.