Miami man charged in connection with grandparent scam and failure to appear

Date: Feb. 13, 2026

Contact: [email protected]

Burlington, VT - The Office of the United States Attorney for the District of Vermont announced that on Jan. 23, 2025, a federal grand jury returned a superseding indictment charging Otmane Khalladi of Miami, Florida, with conspiring to commit wire fraud, conspiring to launder monetary instruments, and failure to appear.

Khalladi entered a plea of not guilty to the charges during an arraignment on Friday, Feb. 13, 2026, before United States Magistrate Judge Kevin J. Doyle. Judge Doyle ordered that Khalladi be detained during the pendency of this matter.

According to court records, Khalladi is alleged to have participated in a conspiracy involving a "grandparent scam" and is further alleged to have participated in a conspiracy to launder the proceeds of that scam. He was initially arrested in Miami, Florida, in April 2023, and was released on a $100,000 bond. Khalladi failed to appear for a court hearing in December 2024 and was detained in Mexico by Mexican immigration authorities and removed to the United States.

The United States Attorney's Office emphasizes that an indictment contains allegations only and that Khalladi is presumed innocent until and unless proven guilty. Khalladi faces up to 60 years of imprisonment if convicted. The actual sentence, however, would be determined by the District Court with guidance from the advisory United States Sentencing Guidelines and the statutory sentencing factors.

First Assistant United States Attorney Jonathan A. Ophardt commended the investigatory efforts of Internal Revenue Service Criminal Investigation, Homeland Security Investigations, as well as Customs and Border Protection, and recognized the contributions of the FBI in assisting with locating Khalladi in Mexico.

The prosecutors are Assistant U.S. Attorneys Nate Burris and Michelle Arra. Khalladi is represented by Assistant Federal Public Defender Steven Barth.

This prosecution is part of the Homeland Security Task Force (HSTF) initiative established by Executive Order 14159, Protecting the American People Against Invasion. The HSTF is a whole-of-government partnership dedicated to eliminating criminal cartels, foreign gangs, transnational criminal organizations, and human smuggling and trafficking rings operating in the United States and abroad. Through historic interagency collaboration, the HSTF directs the full might of United States law enforcement towards identifying, investigating, and prosecuting the full spectrum of crimes committed by these organizations, which have long fueled violence and instability within our borders. In performing this work, the HSTF places special emphasis on investigating and prosecuting those engaged in child trafficking or other crimes involving children. The HSTF further utilizes all available tools to prosecute and remove the most violent criminal aliens from the United States. HSTF Vermont comprises agents and officers from Homeland Security Investigations, the FBI, the Drug Enforcement Administration, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives, the Diplomatic Security Services, the Internal Revenue Services-Criminal Investigation, and state and local partner agencies, with prosecutions being led by the United States Attorney's Office for the District of Vermont.

IRS-CI is the law enforcement arm of the IRS, responsible for conducting financial crime investigations, including tax fraud, narcotics trafficking, money laundering, public corruption, healthcare fraud, identity theft and more. It is the only federal law enforcement agency with investigative jurisdiction over violations of the Internal Revenue Code. IRS-CI has 18 field offices located across the U.S. and maintains an international presence through attaché posts abroad.