North Fulton County

Sandy Springs man sentenced to prison for laundering $4.5M from business and romance schemes

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ATLANTA — A Sandy Springs man has been sentenced to 10 years in federal prison for laundering more than $4.5 million taken from romance fraud schemes and business email compromise schemes, including a criminal conspiracy that defrauded a healthcare benefit program.

According to information presented in court, Malachi Mullings opened 20 bank accounts from at least 2019 through July 2021 in the name of a sham company.

Mullings used those accounts to launder millions of dollars of fraudulent profits generated by business email compromise schemes targeting a healthcare benefit program and private companies, and romance fraud scams targeting numerous people, several of whom were elderly.

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Mullings made financial transactions to hide the fraudulent proceeds and used some of the money to buy luxury items, such as expensive cars and jewelry.

In one instance, Mullings stole $260,000 from a romance scam involving an elderly victim, which he used to buy a Ferrari.

Mullings was sentenced to 10 years in prison to be followed by three years of supervised release.

He was also ordered to pay restitution to his victims.

He pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit money laundering and seven counts of various money laundering offenses on Jan. 17, 2023.

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