Higham man sentenced for money laundering scheme

BOSTON — A Hingham man who was previously convicted of money laundering was sentenced Wednesday in connection with a business email compromise (BEC) scheme, according to a statement from acting United States Attorney Nathaniel R. Mendell.

Yannick A. Minang, 27, was sentenced by U.S. District Court Judge Patti B. Sarris to more than four years in prison, according to the statement.

In September 2020, Mendell said Minang pleaded guilty to five counts of wire fraud, one count of unlawful monetary transactions, and one count of money laundering conspiracy.

Minang conspired with co-conspirator Bintu Toure and others to open numerous bank accounts in Massachusetts in the name of sham companies, as part of an apparent business email compromise (BEC) scheme, according to the statement.

A BEC scheme is a sophisticated scam often targeting businesses involved in wire transfer payments. The fraud is carried out by compromising and/or “spoofing” legitimate business email accounts through social engineering or computer intrusion techniques to cause employees of the victim company (or other individuals involved in legitimate business transactions) to transfer funds to accounts controlled by the scammers.

Through the use of fraudulent invoices and spoofed email accounts, Mendell said Minang conspired to trick the victims of the scheme into wiring hundreds of thousands of dollars to bank accounts under his control.

Minang and his co-conspirators then transferred funds from the accounts to others located overseas, according to the statement.

On April 16, 2021, Toure was sentenced by U.S. Senior District Court Judge Mark L. Wolf to one year and one day in prison, three years of supervised release, restitution, and forfeiture after previously pleading guilty to a separate wire fraud and money laundering conspiracy.

In September 2019, Minang was sentenced to nearly four years in prison after pleading guilty to his role in a separate BEC scheme.

Assistant U.S. Attorney William B. Brady, Chief of Mendell’s Criminal Division, prosecuted the case.

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