New York Couple Sentenced to Prison for Roles in $4 Million Extortion Scheme

DOJ Press

            WASHINGTON – Archie Kaslov, 55, and Candy Evans, 52, of New York, N.Y., were sentenced to prison terms today for their roles in a wide-ranging fraud, extortion, and money laundering scheme, which involved one of their sons pretending to be a New York mobster to get a Maryland man to embezzle more than $4 million from his Washington, D.C., employer.

            The sentencings took place in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. The announcement was made by U.S. Attorney Matthew M. Graves and Wayne A. Jacobs, Special Agent in Charge of the FBI Washington Field Office’s Criminal Division.

            Kaslov was sentenced by the Honorable Emmet G. Sullivan to 30 months in prison, to be followed by three years of supervised release. The first six months of his time on supervised release must be spent in home detention. Evans was sentenced to 12 months and a day in prison, to be followed by three years of supervised release.  Evans, too, must spend the first six months of her supervised release in home detention.

            Consistent with their plea agreements, each defendant was ordered to pay $4,217,542 in restitution. Kaslov also was ordered to pay $1,057,682 in a forfeiture money judgment.


            In April 2018, a federal grand jury indicted Kaslov and Evans, as well as their sons, Tony John Evans, Corry Blue Evans, and Robert Evans, and Robert Evans’ common-law ex-wife Gina Russell, on various charges related to the extortion scheme.


            As part of the scheme, a New York woman conspired with Kaslov, Candy Evans, Tony John Evans, Corry Blue Evans, Robert Evans, and Russell to extort money and gold bars from the Maryland man, which caused him to embezzle funds from his employer between January 2017 and March 2017. He converted the funds to cash and gold bars and delivered the money and gold bars to New York drop-off locations, including a hotel room, believing the funds were going to mobsters to whom the New York woman owed money. In reality, all of the funds he embezzled and delivered to New York went to members of the Evans-Kaslov family.

            Kaslov pleaded guilty in September 2020 to conspiracy to commit wire fraud. As part of his guilty plea, he admitted that he drove members of his family around New York with cash obtained from the scheme. On one such occasion, he drove to the New York diamond district on 47th Street, where he and family members spent tens of thousands of dollars in criminal proceeds from the scheme on watches, including Rolexes.

            Kaslov also admitted that, after the Maryland man delivered approximately $2 million in gold bars to Tony John Evans and other individuals, Kaslov and others turned around and sold the gold bars for cash. Kaslov also traveled to Texas in May 2017 with a family member, where the two paid more than $300,000 in cash, the majority of which was proceeds from the scheme, to purchase a Rolls Royce Phantom Drophead from a car dealer.  In January 2020, Kaslov and Candy Evans sold that Rolls Royce in New Jersey for $120,000.

            Candy Evans pleaded guilty in September 2020 to tampering with a witness by corrupt persuasion or misleading conduct. As part of her guilty plea, she admitted that once the FBI launched its investigation, she counseled the New York woman whom the Maryland man met on Backpage to lie to people, including the FBI. In April 2017, Candy Evans, believing that married individuals could not be compelled to testify against each other, advised the New York woman and Russell to get married to prevent such testimony about the scheme in Court.  The New York woman and Russell married at City Hall in New York. 

            Candy Evans further panicked and wanted a letter that would exonerate her, Kaslov, and their three sons from any involvement in the scheme to get money from the Maryland man. Thus, she directed Russell and the New York woman to sign a handwritten, notarized confession attempting to fully implicate themselves and to exonerate Candy Evans, Kaslov, and their sons. Later that month, when the New York woman was scheduled to meet with the FBI, Candy Evans counseled the woman to lie by telling the FBI that there actually never had been an extortion scheme and that the Maryland man had invented the entire story about mobsters to justify why he embezzled money from his employer. In October 2017, two days after the FBI executed search warrants at various Evans-Kaslov family members’ residences, Candy Evans called an FBI special agent who was investigating the case and told him that Kaslov and two of her other sons had not done anything illegal, which she acknowledged was false, and that it was just Tony John Evans, Russell, and the New York woman who had committed the crimes.  In November 2017, prior to Russell’s interview with the FBI, Candy Evans also instructed Russell to lie to the FBI.

            On May 6, 2021, the Vice President of Investigation and Fraud for a New York bank informed the government that Candy Evans had attempted to withdraw $50,000 in cash from an account that she recently opened. The bank contacted the government after it conducted due diligence regarding the attempted withdrawal and learned, from a prior Department of Justice press release, that Evans had been involved in the above-described criminal scheme. The government successfully moved the Court to restrain Evans from dissipating the $50,000 in funds. Today, Judge Sullivan said he will grant the government’s motion requiring that the bank pay the $50,000 in restrained funds towards Evans’ restitution obligation, which will be distributed to the victim from whom the Maryland man embezzled the funds.

            Kaslov and Candy Evans are the second and third defendants to be sentenced in connection with this case. In September 2018, their son, Tony John Evans, now 33, pleaded guilty to interference with interstate commerce by extortion. Judge Sullivan sentenced him to five years in prison.

            Their son, Robert Evans, now 34, pleaded guilty in April 2021 to interference with interstate commerce by extortion. He is awaiting sentencing. Russell, now 33, also pleaded guilty in July 2019 to interference with interstate commerce by extortion and is awaiting sentencing. Charges remain outstanding against Corry Blue Evans, 29, who has pleaded not guilty.

            In announcing the sentences, U.S. Attorney Graves and Special Agent in Charge Jacobs commended the work of those who investigated the case from the FBI’s Washington Field Office Criminal Division. They expressed appreciation for assistance provided by the U.S. Department of Justice Office of the Inspector General.  They also acknowledged the efforts of those who worked on the case from the U.S. Attorney’s Office, including Assistant U.S. Attorneys Diane Lucas and Arvind Lal, who assisted with forfeiture issues, Assistant U.S. Attorneys Oliver McDaniel and Melissa Goforth Koenig, who assisted with restraining funds that Evans attempted to dissipate, Forensic Accountant Bryan Snitselaar, and former Paralegal Specialists Jessica Mundi, Brittany Phillips, Stephanie Frijas, Kristy Penny, and Joshua Fein.

            Finally, they commended the work of Assistant U.S. Attorneys David Kent and Kondi Kleinman, who investigated and are prosecuting the case.

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