A federal jury on Thursday found a Saluda man and his Charlotte-based niece guilty for their parts in what prosecutors describe as a coast-to-coast business-email-compromise scam that siphoned more than $25 million from companies and private individuals. After seven days of testimony, jurors convicted 51-year-old Demani Jawara Bosket and 53-year-old Tanya Lashawn Bosket, with sentencing to be scheduled once pre-sentence reports are completed. According to trial testimony, the victims included real-estate closings, vendor payments, loan disbursements and even an inheritance that was quietly rerouted.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of South Carolina said the jury convicted both defendants of a wire-fraud conspiracy and a conspiracy to commit money laundering. Demani Bosket was also found guilty on six substantive wire-fraud counts, while Tanya Bosket was convicted on four. According to a U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of South Carolina release, prosecutors presented evidence that the fraud ring used sham businesses and U.S. bank accounts to catch incoming transfers, drain them quickly and push a large share of the money overseas. “This case involved a sophisticated transnational fraud ring,” U.S. Attorney Bryan Stirling said in the statement.
How the Scheme Worked
At trial, prosecutors outlined a playbook that has become grimly familiar in cybercrime circles. Foreign operators first stole or spoofed legitimate business email accounts and watched them for big-dollar transactions. When the timing was right, they sent bogus payment instructions that quietly redirected money into bank accounts controlled by the ring. Once the funds landed in U.S. business accounts opened under fake company names, members moved fast, withdrawing cash, buying cashier’s checks and funneling the money through multiple accounts to make clawing it back as difficult as possible. The operation ran from 2020 through 2024 and relied on U.S.-based recruiters and account holders to launder the proceeds, according to Regtechtimes.
Other Defendants and Recoveries
According to the Department of Justice, the United States Secret Service recovered about $2.5 million that will be returned to victims, a fraction of what the scheme pulled in but still a rare bright spot in this kind of case. Several co-defendants pleaded guilty before trial, including Jahbir Rolando Fowle, Raymone Tyshay Scott Sr., Michael Bevans-Silva, Carlise Roland, Daniel Alexander Edwards, Danny Heard and Jamian Butler, according to the same U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of South Carolina materials. The investigation drew in USAID’s Office of Inspector General, IRS Criminal Investigation, Homeland Security Investigations and the FBI’s Columbia field office.
Why BECs Matter
Business-email-compromise scams remain among the most expensive internet crimes in the United States; the FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center logged $2.77 billion in reported BEC losses in 2024. These attacks hit the everyday plumbing of the economy, including real-estate closings, vendor invoices and loan disbursements, which means a single successful spoofed email can empty out a large transfer before anyone spots the problem. Federal guidance notes that once money leaves U.S. accounts and is routed overseas it becomes very difficult to recover, which is why sprawling, multi-agency investigations like this one are increasingly common, according to the FBI Internet Crime Complaint Center 2024 report.
What’s Next
Demani Bosket faces a statutory maximum of 30 years in prison and Tanya Bosket faces a maximum of 20 years, with substantial fines and restitution also on the table. Sentencing will follow after the U.S. Probation Office prepares pre-sentence reports for the court. The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys T. DeWayne Pearson and A. Lothrop Morris, according to reporting that tracks the underlying Justice Department filings. Prosecutors say they plan to keep chasing assets and working with international partners in an effort to get as much money back to victims as possible, Regtechtimes reports.
