Jamaica Extradites 8 Persons to the U.S. on Lottery Scam Charges

On April 27, 2017, the U.S. Department of Justice announced that eight Jamaicans charged in a transnational organized crime advance fee “lottery scam” fraud are now in federal custody in the United States, after being extradited by the Jamaican government last month.  The eight were arrested in Jamaica over one year ago, shortly after the United States applied to the Jamaican government to arrest and extradite 14 defendants charged federally in a wire/mail fraud and money laundering conspiracy investigation dubbed “Operation Hard Copy.”  The charges, announced by U.S. Attorney Christopher C. Myers of the District of North Dakota, allege that the scam defrauded at least 90 mostly elderly U.S. residents out of over $5.7 million dollars.