Ocean County, NJ, man goes to prison for money laundering

An Ocean County man has been sentenced to 24 months in prison for illegally laundering the proceeds of a wire fraud scheme.

43-year-old Eli Schamovic of Lakewood had previously pleaded guilty to a money laundering charge in federal court; he was sentenced late last week.

Federal authorities said Schamovic "made or caused others to make numerous fraudulent financial transactions through at least two entities that Schamovic formed and established as merchants that used multiple credit card processing companies." Those transactions resulted in more than $1 million in losses to a financial services corporation that specialized in payment cards. Schamovic laundered portions of the proceeds of this scheme, including through an approximately $500,000 wire transfer from a bank account under his control.

In addition to the prison term, Schamovic was ordered to pay $1.68 million in restitution and he will be under three years of supervised release once released from prison.

U.S. Attorney Philip Sellinger thanked agents with the U.S. Postal Inspection Service in Newark, the FBI, and the IRS for their work in this case.