Source: Office of United States Attorneys
BOSTON – A Chicago-area man has pleaded guilty in federal court in Springfield, Mass. to his role in a nationwide wire fraud conspiracy that victimized businesses and individuals across the United States.
Demario Sorrells, 38, of Rockford, Ill., pleaded guilty on Feb. 2, 2024 to one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud. U.S. District Court Judge Mark G. Mastroianni scheduled sentencing for May 28, 2024. Sorrells was initially indicted by a federal grand jury in December 2020 along with five co-defendants, including rap promoter Antonio Strong and rap artist Herbert Wright.
According to court documents, beginning in at least March 2017 through November 2018, Sorrells, Wright and, allegedly, their co-defendants conspired to defraud numerous businesses and individuals throughout the United States by using unauthorized and stolen payment card account information of real individuals – including the actual cardholders’ names, addresses, security codes and account expiration dates. Generally, because the payment card information was authentic, the defrauded businesses and individuals successfully processed the fraudulent transactions and provided the goods and services to Wright and his alleged co-conspirators. The actual cardholders discovered these transactions on their accounts and disputed the charges with their card companies who then charged back the transactions to the businesses and individuals, which consequently suffered losses in the amounts of the unauthorized transactions.
According to court filings, on certain occasions, Strong obtained valuable goods and services for the benefit of Sorrells, including private jet flights, luxury accommodations and elite automobile rentals. On other occasions, Strong contacted Sorrells to obtain illicit account information and Sorrells provided Strong with illicit account information that he obtained from the dark web. On other occasions, Strong sometimes paid Sorrells in exchange for the illicit account information. Sorrells knew the illicit account information was stolen data. In total, Sorrells was responsible for $106,000 in victim losses.
On Jan. 11, 2024, Wright was sentenced to three years’ probation and was ordered to pay restitution and forfeiture of $139,968 each, as well as a $5,500 fine. In July 2023, he pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and one count of making a false statement to a federal official.
The charge of wire fraud conspiracy provides for a sentence of up to 20 years in prison, up to five years of supervised release and a fine of $250,000. Sentences are imposed by a federal district court judge based upon the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and statutes which govern the determination of a sentence in a criminal case.
Acting United States Attorney Joshua S. Levy and Andrew Murphy, Special Agent in Charge of the United States Secret Service, Boston Field Office made the announcement. Assistant U.S. Attorney Steven H. Breslow of the Springfield Branch Office and Trial Attorneys Andrew Tyler and Kyle Crawford of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division’s Fraud Section are prosecuting the case.
The details contained in the charging documents are allegations. The remaining defendants are presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.