Florida Woman Sentenced for Scamming Millions of Dollars by E-mail

ABINGDON, Va. - A Florida woman who conspired with others to execute a business email compromise scheme to steal millions of dollars from victims throughout the United States was sentenced yesterday to 36 months in federal prison.

Zamar McPherson, 50, of Boynton Beach, Florida, pled guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit bank and wire fraud and two counts of wire fraud. For her role in the conspiracy, McPherson was sentenced to imprisonment for a term of three years followed by three years of supervised release. In addition, she was ordered to forfeit $154,474.85. McPherson was further ordered to pay restitution to four victims totaling over $1.5 million jointly and severally with her coconspirators.

Two of McPherson's coconspirators, Garland Shelton, 57, of Wytheville, Virginia, and Olivia Oxley, 35, of Brooklyn, New York, were sentenced earlier this year for their roles in the scheme.

McPherson conspired with Shelton, Oxley, and others to engage in a business email compromise scheme. The victims in this case had planned to send legitimate wire payments to certain payees. A member of the conspiracy created and utilized fictitious email accounts, however, and provided new account information for the wire payments to the victims. The victims were then defrauded into sending large sums of money to bank accounts belonging to McPherson, Shelton, and Oxley. McPherson, Shelton, and Oxley created and utilized personal and illegitimate business accounts at various financial institutions to facilitate these fraudulent wire transfer payments.

First Assistant United States Attorney Robert N. Tracci, Acting Special Agent in Charge Kai Wah Chan of Homeland Security Investigations Washington Division, and Ian Kaufmann, Special Agent in Charge of the FBI's Richmond Division made the announcement.

The case was investigated by Homeland Security Investigations, St. Paul, Minnesota, and the Eden Prairie, Minnesota Police Department with valuable assistance provided by Virginia State Police; Middlesex County, New Jersey Prosecutor's Office; and Palm Beach County, Florida Sheriff's Office.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Corey Hall is prosecuting the case.