NEWARK, NJ – Jerrid Douglas, a 49-year-old man from Freehold, Monmouth County, was sentenced to 45 months in prison for his involvement in a $1 million upfront-fee scheme, U.S. Attorney Philip R. Sellinger announced.
Douglas was convicted on Oct. 21, 2022, of wire fraud conspiracy and four counts of wire fraud, following a five-week jury trial.
The sentence was handed down by U.S. District Judge John Michael Vazquez. Douglas’ two co-defendants, Roy Johannes Gillar, 51, of Las Vegas, and Harold Mignott, 60, of Voorhees, New Jersey, were sentenced in June.
Between March 2016 and June 2016, the defendants conned the owners of the victim company out of $1 million. They used their New Jersey-based shell company to falsely claim they could provide a “standby letter of credit” (SBLC) backed by €1 billion in cash or Mexican gold bonds.
Once the victims transferred $800,000 of the $1 million, the defendants failed to provide an SBLC or anything of value. The money was used for personal expenses. Douglas’ sentence also includes three years of supervised release, restitution of $1.1 million, and forfeiture of $44,750.