New Jersey Man Sentenced for Money Laundering and Identity Theft in Scheme Linked to City of Lexington

Press Release

Scheme included effort to steal millions from the City, using fake email ploy

LEXINGTON, Ky. - A North Bergen, N.J., man, Jean Mejia-Garcia was sentenced on Tuesday, by U.S. District Judge Karen Caldwell, to 72 months, for conspiracy to commit money laundering and aggravated identity theft. He was also ordered to pay $4,690,870.81 in restitution.

According to his plea agreement, from February 2022 to February 2023, Garcia worked with his co-conspirators, Nana Kwabena Amuah and Shimea McDonald, to commit money laundering. Garcia also worked for Amuah to procure fake identity documents, establish shell companies with numerous Secretaries of State, and open bank accounts in the names of other, real people to receive funds that Amuah directed towards the accounts. Once the money was received in those accounts, Amuah would notify Garcia of the payments and directed Garcia to bring him the stolen funds, after Garcia retained his portion. Garcia would then wire or bring money or checks to the co-conspirators who facilitated further transfers or initiated the underlying scheme to defraud the victims. Garcia also helped to procure fake identification cards for other coconspirators to use to open bank accounts for the purpose of laundering other victim funds.

In August 2022, using email, the coconspirators impersonated a nonprofit organization working to reduce poverty, which was working with the Lexington Fayette Urban County Government (the "City") on a housing project. The coconspirators then convinced a City official to wire funds owed to the nonprofit organization, to a bank account at Truist Bank. That account was in the name of Gretson Company LLC, but coconspirator Shimea McDonald had opened that account, in the name of another person, using a fake identity card provided by Garcia. The City wired a total of $3,905,837.05 to the Gretson Company LLC bank account at Truist Bank. At Amuah's direction and using checks provided by McDonald, Garcia then wrote checks, funded with the money the City had wired, to other bank accounts. Ultimately, Truist Bank and the City were able to recover all the funds that were transmitted.

Amuah was previously sentenced to 86 months in prison, followed by three years of supervised release. McDonald was previously sentenced to 80 months, followed by three years of supervised release. Both were ordered to pay $4,690,870.81 in restitution.

Under federal law, Garcia must serve 85 percent of his prison sentence. Upon his release from prison, he will be under the supervision of the U.S. Probation Office for three years.

Carlton S. Shier, IV, United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Kentucky; Michael Stansbury, Special Agent in Charge, FBI, Louisville Field Office; and Chief Lawrence Weathers, Lexington Police Department; jointly announced the sentence.

The investigation was conducted by the FBI and Lexington Police Department. Assistant U.S. Attorney Kate Dieruf prosecuted the case on behalf of the United States.

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Updated August 7, 2024