Georgia Man Gets 10 Years for Laundering $4.5 Million from Romance Scams and Other Fraud

A Georgia man was sentenced this week to 10 years in prison for laundering millions derived from cyber fraud together with nine other scammers.

31-year-old Malachi Mullings, of Sandy Springs, laundered millions of dollars of fraud proceeds generated by schemes including romance scams targeting elderly victims, and business email compromise (BEC) fraud, targeting health care benefit programs and private companies.

“Together with his co-conspirators, Mullings engaged in financial transactions designed to conceal the fraud proceeds and used some of the proceeds to purchase luxury items, such as expensive cars and jewelry,” according to the US Department of Justice.

In one instance, Mullings diverted $310,000 from a state Medicaid program that had been intended as reimbursement for a hospital. In another, Mullings bought a Ferrari after scamming a victim out of $260,000.

Romance scammers typically promise money and other goods in exchange for their alleged affection. In a recent alert, the Better Business Bureau (BBB) said scammers are now offering to become your literal “sugar momma” or “sugar daddy” on dating platforms to con you out of money.

According to court documents and evidence presented at sentencing, Mullings used 20 bank accounts opened under a sham company named after himself: The Mullings Group LLC. From at least 2019 through July 2021, Mullings used those accounts to launder some $4.5 million dollars.

Mullings pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit money laundering and seven counts of various money laundering offenses in January of last year. He had nine co-conspirators, according to the DOJ.

He was sentenced this week to 10 years in prison for his crimes.

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