Tampa, Florida – U.S. District Judge Kathryn K. Mizelle today sentenced Tracy Lee Jedlicki (56, Delray Beach) to 30 months in federal prison for conspiracy to commit wire fraud. As part of her sentence, the Court also ordered Jedlicki to forfeit $750,000, a 4.01 carat diamond ring, a 11-carat diamond necklace, and a South Florida residence worth more than $2 million. The Court also ordered Jedlicki to pay $3,244,592 in restitution to the victims. Jedlicki had pleaded guilty on February 24, 2022.
According to court documents, Jedlicki and her coconspirators operated international boiler rooms in Panama and elsewhere. The boiler rooms used high-pressure sales techniques to defraud individuals who believed they were investing substantial amounts of money in regulated financial products or markets, such as options in commodities and stocks. The majority of the victims targeted by the boiler rooms operated by Jedlicki and her coconspirators were located in Canada, the United Kingdom, Australia and New Zealand.
Jedlicki and her coconspirators then laundered fraud proceeds generated by the boiler rooms through several money laundering rings, to overseas accounts, with the launderers receiving a percentage of the funds they had moved. Jedlicki’s duties included, among other tasks, arranging travel for boiler room workers to the boiler room locations, calling victims while posing as an employee of a fake investment firm to set up loading calls for coconspirators operating the boiler rooms, serving as a liaison between the boiler rooms and a money laundering organization, maintaining records of coconspirator wire transfer payments to foreign and domestic bank accounts, and reconciling payments between the boiler rooms and the money laundering organization.
Jedlicki herself received a 2% referral fee for referring victims’ funds to a money laundering ring and used the funds to perpetuate the conspiracy and for her own personal enrichment. Jedlicki and her coconspirators wired or caused to be wired victims’ funds in the approximate amount of $3,244,592 to money laundering accounts in furtherance of the wire fraud conspiracy.
“We are committed to stopping transnational criminal organizations that target the elderly with fraudulent investment schemes that use high-pressure tactics,” said HSI Tampa Assistant Special Agent in Charge John Dumas. “This conviction should send a message that HSI and the Internal Revenue Service – Criminal Investigation (IRS-CI), working with together with our international partners, are a formidable investigative force that is unwavering in our pursuit of fraudsters.”
“These boiler rooms used high-pressure sales to peddle millions of dollars in bogus investments to unsuspecting victims across the globe,” said Brian Payne, Special Agent in Charge of the IRS Criminal Investigation Tampa Field Office. “Thanks to the investigative work of IRS-CI and HSI special agents, another transnational criminal organization has bit the dust.”
This case was investigated by Homeland Security Investigations and the Internal Revenue Service – Criminal Investigation. It was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney David W.A. Chee and Assistant United States Attorney Craig Gestring.