A South Florida man is awaiting extradition to South Carolina after being arrested in connection with a multimillion-dollar sweepstakes scam that mostly targeted seniors, according to court documents acquired by Local 10 News on Monday.
Evans Class Brown, 27, of Coral Springs, is among numerous people facing federal accusations for wire fraud, mail fraud, and money laundering.
In a March news release, federal prosecutors in Charleston, South Carolina, where the case is being tried, identified five of Brown’s accused co-conspirators as Charleston residents Kemar Christopher Edwards, 28, Xavier Gordon, 25, Warner Gordon, 27, and Kevin Milton Simpson, 30, as well as another Floridian, Tashagae Narcia Leslie, 25, of Orlando.
A Jan. 28 grand jury indictment names two other co-defendants: Justine Danielle Smith, 34, who was arrested in Connecticut in June, and Marcia Minora Lawrence.
According to federal investigators, the scammers convinced victims that they had won cash prizes in contests, but that they needed to pay taxes and fees before getting their rewards. Authorities said the 100-plus victims, “a substantial portion” of whom were elderly, donated money to the group via mail or wire transfer.
Prosecutors claim the group then laundered the money and distributed a portion of the proceeds to co-conspirators in Jamaica, keeping some for themselves.
Authorities reported that the victims lost more than $3.5 million as a result of the scam.
Brown was arrested on Wednesday and was being held at the Broward Sheriff’s Office Main Jail facility in Fort Lauderdale on behalf of the United States Marshals Service as of Monday afternoon.
It wasn’t immediately apparent when he was supposed to be taken to SC.
If convicted, the accused could spend several decades in prison.
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