A citizen of Jamaica has been charged with fraud and money laundering offenses stemming from his alleged participation in a sweepstakes scam that defrauded primarily elderly victims across the country of millions of dollars.
The indictment of Richard Murray, 31, was announced Wednesday by David X. Sullivan, US Attorney for the District of Connecticut, and Ketty Larco-Ward, Inspector in Charge of the U.S. Postal Inspection Service, Boston Division.
The indictment alleges that, since at least 2018, Murray and others used a sweepstakes scheme to induce primarily elderly victims to provide them with money.
As part of this scheme, scammers notified victims, typically by telephone, that they won a Publishers Clearing House sweepstakes. The victims were told that in order to collect their winnings, they must pay fees and taxes.
Following the initial phone call, Murray and others mailed the victims fake documents, including a “winning notification” letter from Publishers Clearing House and a letter from the Internal Revenue Service stating that the victims were required by law to pay taxes on their winnings.
Victims sent cash, money orders or checks through the mail to various addresses in Connecticut and throughout the U.S.
The indictment also alleges that Murray and others used a network of “money mules” to receive funds obtained from victims and transfer them to Murray and other members of the conspiracy. Some of the money mules were themselves victims of the scam who had also been deceived into accepting and transferring funds on behalf of members of the conspiracy.
Murray and his co-conspirators also recruited people to provide accounts that count be used to launder money, moved money received from victims through various accounts in different companies’ names, and provided co-conspirators in Jamaica with ATM cards for U.S. bank accounts that allowed them to withdraw funds generated through the scam.
On April 16, 2024, a federal grand jury in New Haven returned an indictment charging Murray with one count of conspiracy to commit mail fraud and wire fraud, three counts of mail fraud, and one count of conspiracy to commit money laundering. Each of these offenses carries a maximum term of imprisonment of 20 years.
Murray was located and arrested in Hampton, Georgia, on January 22, 2026. He appeared Wednesday before U.S. Magistrate Judge Robert M. Spector in New Haven and pleaded not guilty. He has been detained since his arrest.
U.S. Attorney Sullivan stressed that an indictment is not evidence of guilt. Charges are only allegations, and a defendant is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.
This investigation is being conducted by the U.S. Postal Inspection Service with the assistance of U.S. Marshals Service Fugitive Task Forces in Connecticut and Georgia. The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Heather L. Cherry.