PANAMA CITY, Panama, CMC – The authorities in Panama have deported a 31-year-old Jamaican man to the United States, where he will face charges of defrauding several senior citizens of millions of dollars in a lottery scam.
The police report that Adrian Lawrence – also known as the ‘Mastermind’ – was detained here last month and extradited to the United States earlier this week at the request of U.S. authorities.
He is facing a six-count indictment charging him with conspiracy to commit mail and wire fraud and correspondence and wire fraud in connection with a scheme to defraud U.S. citizens.
Lawrence was arraigned on Friday in federal court in New York.
According to the Attorney for the Eastern District of New York, Breon Peace, Lawrence, and his co-conspirators defrauded dozens of elderly victims of collectively more than US$ 5 million by misleading them to believe they had won sweepstakes and needed to pay fees to release their winnings.
The fraudulent scheme was allegedly committed from October 2013 to April 2020.
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