A Los Angeles County man pleaded guilty Tuesday to helping operate a $10 million financial fraud scheme that targeted more than 100 victims, many of them elderly.
Lovert Che, 44, of Lomita entered his plea in downtown Los Angeles to one federal count of conspiracy to commit money laundering, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
Sentencing was set for Aug. 8.
Prosecutors said that from at least November 2021 and continuing until February, Che and others created fake identification documents of fictitious people, including passports and driver’s licenses. Using the fake documents, the defendant and associates invented at least 36 shell companies in California, which conducted no legitimate business and were created solely to advance their crimes, prosecutors said.
“As the indictment alleges, these defendants built a sophisticated fraud and money laundering scheme that targeted and preyed on our most vulnerable citizens,” former Acting U.S. Attorney Joseph T. McNally said in a statement when the defendants were charged.
“They not only stole the victims’ money, but robbed them of their security and trust. Let this serve as a clear message: If you defraud members of our community, especially the elderly, we will hold you accountable to the fullest extent of the law.”
Che, along with Sylas Verdzekov, 38, of Chino Hills and Mustapha Yamie, 29, of Inglewood, opened at least 145 bank accounts and at least 32 private mailboxes across Southern California using the fake identities and sham businesses, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
In one scheme specifically targeting elderly victims using phone calls and email pop-ups, the defendants posed as law enforcement personnel or employees with well-known companies attempting to help the victims maintain the security of their accounts, papers filed in Los Angeles federal court allege.
They then allegedly fabricated claims of victim bank accounts or payment accounts being compromised and needing to be resolved quickly. Victims were told they needed to move money from their “corrupted” accounts quickly to ensure they kept all their money, and to move it into accounts that Che, Verdzekov and Yamie fraudulently opened and controlled, prosecutors allege.
In a similar scam, the defendants allegedly posed as a real estate owner selling property. Using fake identification and credentials, the defendants allegedly deceived victims into believing that they were entering into a legitimate sale of the property and tricked the victims into wiring money or mailing a check to an account or mailbox the defendants and their co-conspirators controlled, according to the indictment.
In total, Che, Verdzekov, Yamie and co-conspirators laundered at least $10 million in funds taken from at least 100 victims, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
Verdzekov and Yamie are set to face trial in downtown Los Angeles in July.