Vestavia Hills man pleads guilty to money laundering in business scam

From a Tribune staff report

BIRMINGHAM — Robert Carlton Howard, 39, of Vestavia Hills, pleaded guilty Tuesday before U.S. District Judge Madeline H. Haikala to money laundering conspiracy.

According to U.S. Attorney Prim F. Escalona and Special Agent in Charge Carlton L. Peoples of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Howard pleaded guilty to laundering approximately $2.3 million in illicit funds obtained from business email compromise attacks targeting U.S. companies.

According to the plea agreement, from July 2021 through August 2021, Howard participated in a scheme to use fake email accounts designed to “spoof,” or impersonate, third-party vendors for the companies. The fake email accounts were created to trick those companies into transferring large amounts of money to Howard’s bank account. Within two days, Howard received approximately $2.3 million in business email compromise proceeds.

Howard immediately transferred the funds to an IBS-based Kraken cryptocurrency trading account, and a series of transfers were made from the IBS Kraken account to multiple other cryptocurrency wallets controlled by the Nigerian-based conspirators.

Of the approximately $2.3 million that Howard received and transferred, he retained and expended approximately $210,000 as compensation for his role in the scheme.

The FBI investigated this case. Assistant U.S. Attorney Jonathan “Jack” Harrington is prosecuting the case.