Broward Resident Charged for her Participation in a Fraudulent Jamaica Based Lottery Scheme

A Broward County resident was charged criminally, for her involvement in a Jamaica based telemarketing fraud scheme          

Wifredo A. Ferrer, United States Attorney for the Southern District of Florida and Delany De-Leon Colon, Acting Inspector in Charge, U.S. Postal Inspection Service (USPIS), Miami Division, made the announcement.

Elizabeth Gonzalez, 25, of Hollywood and Miami Gardens, is charged by criminal information with one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud, in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Section 1349, and eight counts of wire fraud, in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Section 1343.  If convicted, Gonzalez faces a maximum statutory sentence of twenty years in prison as to each count.

According to the information, beginning in or about September 2015, Gonzalez’s co-conspirators are alleged to have contacted elderly victims in the United States and falsely informed them that they had won a lottery prize.  The co-conspirators told victims they had to pay several thousand dollars in taxes and fees, in order to collect their purported lottery winnings.  The co-conspirators then allegedly instructed the victims on how to send the money, and to whom, including sending wire transfers to Gonzalez.  In December 2015 and January 2016, Gonzalez received nine separate wire transfers from various telemarketing lottery fraud victims in California, Connecticut, New York and North Carolina. 

The defendant’s husband, Delroy Drummond, was previously convicted of conspiracy to commit wire and mail fraud for his role in a Jamaican based telemarking fraud scheme that involved some of the alleged victims of Gonzalez’s fraud scheme (Case No. 16-60023-CR-WPD).  Drummond is scheduled to be sentenced on May 31, 2016 at 1:15 p.m. by U.S. District Judge William P. Dimitrouleas.

Mr. Ferrer commended the investigative efforts of USPIS, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's Homeland Security Investigations (ICE-HSI), Miami Field Office, U.S. Marshals Service, Broward County Drug Task Force and the Miami-Dade Police Department Economic Crimes Bureau.  This case is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Randy Katz.

An information is merely an allegation and every defendant is presumed innocent until proven guilty.

Related court documents and information may be found on the website of the District Court for the Southern District of Florida at www.flsd.uscourts.gov or on http://pacer.flsd.uscourts.gov.