Minnesota Woman Sentenced to 84 Months in Prison

FORT WAYNE – Kirsten M. Blackwell, 63 years old, of Minneapolis, Minnesota, was sentenced by United States District Court Chief Judge Holly A. Brady after pleading guilty to conspiring to commit wire fraud and money laundering, announced Acting United States Attorney Tina L. Nommay.

Blackwell was sentenced to 84 months in prison, 3 years of supervised release, and ordered to pay $3,628,192.67 in restitution.

According to documents in the case, Blackwell conspired with others to defraud victims of millions of dollars and then laundered the fraud proceeds through various bank accounts she had created between 2019 and 2022.  Through a variety of schemes, victim businesses and individuals were deceived into sending money to accounts under Blackwell’s control.  After laundering the money through her accounts, Blackwell sent fraud proceeds to an overseas conspirator.  In total, the conspirators attempted to steal over $5 million dollars, and Blackwell laundered well over $3 million dollars in fraud proceeds that had been obtained through business email compromise schemes, romance and military scams, as well as fraud against a government program.

This case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation. The case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Anthony W. Geller.