May 14, 2022 10:45 a.m.
On Friday, a federal jury in Eugene found a former New Jersey man guilty for his role in a scheme to steal $1 million from an elderly man living in Roseburg.
A release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office – District of Oregon, said 43-year old Thomas Mautone, formerly of Newark, New Jersey was found guilty of four counts of wire fraud.
According to court documents and trial testimony, Mautone was one of five individuals who together perpetrated a monthslong scheme to convince the victim to invest $1 million in a fraudulent high-yield international investment scheme. The release said in July 2015, one of Mautone’s co-defendants, 46-year old Jared Mack of Utah, made initial contact with the victim, by email, to pitch an investment opportunity claiming to produce weekly returns of twenty percent. Once the victim expressed interest in the purported investment opportunity, Mack introduced him to Mautone, the supposed connection to investment “platform partner” and later codefendant, 39-year old Olabode Olukanni, of New York.
The U.S. Attorneys Office said for several months, Mautone and his co-defendants maintained frequent contact with the victim and repeatedly attempted to assure him, via a series of “increasingly intimidating and pressure-laden communications”, of the investment opportunity’s legitimacy, low risk, and promised returns. The release said these false representations were made despite Mautone knowing that others had their money stolen by his supposed Hong Kong investment partner, “YanXin Deng”.
In December 2015, the victim wired $1 million to a bank account in Dubai, which was controlled by codefendant Rovshan Bahader Oglu Qasimov, age 38, of Azerbaijan. Qasimov immediately withdrew the money and used it to purchase gold from a jewelry store in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. The release said the victim never saw his money again, nor did he receive the promised investment returns.
Wire fraud is punishable by up to twenty years in prison, a $250,000 fine and three years supervised release. Mautone will be sentenced on September 8th by U.S. District Court Judge Michael J. McShane.
Mack, Olukanni and Qasimov have all pleaded guilty and been sentenced for their roles in the scheme.
U.S. Attorney Scott Erik Asphaug of the District of Oregon made the announcement.
The case was investigated by the FBI. U.S. Attorney’s Gavin W. Bruce and William M. McLaren prosecuted the case.