A resident of Kirkland, in the west of the island of Montreal, Martin Hogan, will be charged with fraud, conspiracy and laundering of the proceeds of crime, at 10 a.m. on Monday, before a judge in the West District of the State of New York.
Posted on 1is February 2021 at 5:00 am
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Hogan is suspected of having been the head of a network of fraudsters who allegedly defrauded at least 30 people, mostly aged 70 to 90, across the United States, between 2015 and 2020.
According to a court document from the United States, the fraud would have earned Hogan at least 1.5 million US dollars. Victims would have lost their life savings.
Martin Hogan intended to have a sunny holiday in Jamaica, but he was arrested by local police, at the behest of the Americans, on January 2, and extradited to the United States at the end of last week, for doing in the face of justice.
Last year, U.S. Revenue Service investigators arrested four suspected accomplices of Hogan, Anthony Laughing Jr., Devlin Laughing, Cory LaPlant and Brenda Garrow, all U.S. citizens living in New York State, who admitted their guilt to counts of fraud and conspiracy, and who collaborated with American justice in exchange for a more lenient sentence.
Between 2016 and 2020, all were the subject of a major investigation in which investigators from the United States Postal Service, Homeland Security (Homeland) and Customs also participated. At least two accomplices of the suspects collaborated with the authorities. Numerous witnesses were met, and monitoring operations and controlled deliveries were carried out. Money orders were authorized to obtain delivery records from FedEx and UPS companies, telephone records and bank statements.
An unscrupulous ploy
According to US court documents, the victims received calls from a man and a woman telling them they had won a large sum in a Canadian lottery. Calls were always made from a Canadian phone number.
The interlocutors, who said they were called Dave Harris or Charles, for the man, and Karen Williams, for the woman, pretended to be an American lawyer established near the Canadian border, a representative of customs or the United States government, or a broker.
They explained to their victims that in order to be entitled to their prize of $ 250,000 – sometimes even over $ 1 million – they had to pay a tax or other fee of several thousand dollars.
They invited victims to make money transfers to a business account at a bank in the Western District of New York State or to send cash in packages, mostly by FedEx or UPS.
The criminals were so daring as to ask their victims to call them after going through the post office and give them the package tracking number. They also had to ensure that no signature was required upon receipt of the package.
The packages had to be addressed to a false name and sent generally to five addresses in Bombay, Malone, Massena, Constable or Akwesasne, New York, and all of them connected to one or the other of the accomplices.
According to the documents, Martin Hogan would have followed the progress of the delivery and warned Anthony Laughing Jr. of the imminent arrival of the money. Barely a few minutes after the arrival of the package, the latter, or one of the three other accomplices, showed up at the residence and collected the package.
Laughing would open it, take an amount equivalent to 10 or 20%, close it and go himself, or send a henchman, deliver the money to Hogan in the Montreal area the same day, according to the claims of the American authorities. .
When it was a question of a money transfer, it was made in the bank account of a company belonging to an acquaintance of the suspects. As soon as the transfer was made, the manager of that company would withdraw the money and give it to Laughing Jr., and the same game would begin again.
Ruined victims
Two victims in New York and California alone transferred more than US $ 360,000 in 2015 and 2016.
The one in New York State, to whom the fraudsters told she had made 3 million, made 7 transfers of $ 290,000 in total before friends discovered the scam and the victim filed a complaint with the police in 2016.
Some of the seniors cheated by fraudsters, including the one in California who lost $ 60,000 in the affair, even mortgaged their homes to pay the required tax.
One of them sent a total of 16 remittances, emptied her bank account and mortgaged her residence.
Victims identified Hogan’s voice as that of Dave Harris or Charles. The documents also speak of Canadian co-conspirators, without identifying them.
Investigators established that more than 200 fraud-related packages were shipped by FedEx or UPS between 2015 and 2020.
“It’s easy money”
“It’s easy money, no need to work,” Laughing Jr. told a civilian undercover agent who worked for the authorities.
Thanks to their cooperation and that of victims, investigators observed fraudsters appearing at delivery addresses within minutes of the FedEx truck passing by.
In August 2019, Laughing son was arrested, and investigators seized and analyzed his phone.
They were able to cross-reference the shipments of parcels by the victims and the text messages exchanged by the accomplices on the application. WhatsApp about sums of money and addresses to which they were to be delivered.
They also found that Laughing was talking or interacting with an individual whose phone number was Canadian, a certain Mike 2, whom investigators say was Martin Hogan, and who used prepaid or disposable phones (burners).
“We had a great day,” Laughing told LaPlant on Jan. 22, 2019, of a package containing $ 16,500. “F ..! This is how work should be. Tell them to take it up a notch, ”LaPlant replies.
“He said next week will be just as busy,” Laughing adds.
“Awesome! Tell them we can handle it, ”LaPlant replies.
On July 29, 2019, Mike 2 wrote to Laughing:
“I thought it was going to be a transfer, but when it’s cash it’s better. ”
“Just need to find a few new people, and we’ll ride again (roll again) », he adds.
“I can’t wait for things to get better,” Laughing replied.
On July 31, 2019, Laughing sends another message to Mike 2, about a pending FedEx delivery vehicle.
“Days like today are shitty, but it’s still easy money. ”
On August 6, 2019, the day Laughing was arrested, Brenda Garrow texted him saying, “Cory says they’re looking for you. Throw your phone away, they’re at your residence too. ”
However, it will be too late.
– With the collaboration of Vincent Larouche, Press
To reach Daniel Renaud, dial 514 285-7000, extension 4918, write to [email protected] or write to the postal address of Press.
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