Eight defendants are facing federal charges in connection with a multimillion-dollar fraud scheme that prosecutors say targeted national financial institutions for years. The case, announced Wednesday, centers on allegations that the group worked together — and with others — to defraud banks starting at least as far back as 2022.
According to the US Attorney SDNY
, the eight people named in the indictment were charged in what officials are calling a multimillion-dollar fraud scheme. U.S. Attorney Jamie McDonald tied the case to a broader pattern prosecutors are watching closely, saying bad actors are increasingly seeking to abuse technology platforms — including social media platforms — to commit fraud.
A snippet of the indictment, as cited by the Southern District of New York, names the defendants as Bingham, Sherrir, Forrest, Anderson, Davis, Spence, Boothe and Hylton. The filing alleges that, from at least 2022 through the filing of the indictment, the eight defendants — together with others — defrauded various national financial institutions.
Social Media's Growing Role in Financial Fraud
McDonald's comment about technology platforms lands amid a documented surge in fraud tied to social media. The Federal Trade Commission reported in April that, in 2025, nearly 30% of people who said they lost money to a scam told investigators it started on social media, with reported losses reaching $2.1 billion, according to the FTC.
Separate federal data point to investment fraud as an especially costly category. The FBI's Internet Crime Complaint Center found that investment fraud was the highest source of reported financial losses to Americans in 2025, totaling $7.2 billion, per the 2025 IC3 Annual Report. That report notes scammers typically initiate contact through text messages, social media sites, advertisements or dating apps before moving the conversation elsewhere.
A Pattern Prosecutors Have Seen Before
This is not the first time federal authorities have unwound a group fraud case built around social platforms. In December 2022, prosecutors in the Southern District of Texas charged eight men with conspiracy to commit securities fraud in what they described as a long-running, social-media-based pump-and-dump scheme, according to the Southern District of Texas.
No court date, case number, or details on the defendants' legal representation or responses to the charges have been made public in connection with this week's indictment. It also remains unclear whether any of the eight defendants have been arrested or have entered pleas. The U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York has not released further specifics about each defendant's alleged role in the scheme.
