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August 29, 2012
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Shepherdstown Resident Enters Pleas of Guilty to
Wire Fraud and Money Laundering Charges

MARTINSBURG, WEST VIRGINIA - A 63-year old Shepherdstown, West Virginia, resident entered pleas of guilty on August 27, 2012, in United States District Court in Martinsburg before Magistrate Judge David J. Joel.

United States Attorney William J. Ihlenfeld, II, announced that: DAVID F. BRACKETT, JR. entered pleas of guilty to one count of Wire Fraud and one count of Money Laundering from January of 2002 to March of 2011, in West Virginia, Virginia and Maryland. BRACKETT devised a scheme to defraud by obtaining “loan” money from victims and falsely promising to repay the victims with substantial lottery winnings that BRACKETT had never won. BRACKETT also fraudulently obtained money by making materially false statements about his assets and expected profitability of his business ventures. In total, BRACKETT fraudulently obtained over $5.5 million from his victims and laundered his money through a variety of bank transactions involving different banks and accounts. BRACKETT, who is in state custody on an unrelated state offense, faces a maximum exposure of 30 years imprisonment and a fine of $500,000.

The case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Andrew R. Cogar and was investigated by the Internal Revenue Service.