FBI News:

ALBUQUERQUE — A California woman was sentenced to 30 months in prison and will be ordered to pay more than $1 million in restitution for orchestrating a decades long advance fee fraud scheme that promised victims access to a nonexistent multi-million-dollar fortune.

There is no parole in the federal system.

According to court records, beginning in 2001 and continuing through September 2023, Lanette Bashore orchestrated an advance fee fraud scheme in which she falsely claimed to own or control a multi-million-dollar fortune that was tied up by taxes, legal holds, and other financial barriers. Using a mutual acquaintance to gain the trust of victims, Bashore convinced individuals in New Mexico and elsewhere to send her thousands of dollars upfront to “unlock” the purported fortune, promising to repay them with massive returns. In reality, no such fortune existed. Bashore deposited the payments from victims into bank accounts she controlled and used the money to fund her personal lifestyle and gambling.

As victims grew suspicious and reported the scheme, the FBI opened an investigation that confirmed Bashore’s fraud through victim interviews and banking records. After being interviewed by agents in 2023, Bashore contacted victims and attempted to persuade at least one of them to falsely characterize her representations about the multi-million-dollar fortune to the FBI – conduct that resulted in an obstruction enhancement at sentencing.

Bashore pled guilty to mail fraud. Upon her release from prison, Bashore will be subject to three years of supervised release.

Acting U.S. Attorney Ryan Ellison and Justin A. Garris, Special Agent in Charge of the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s Albuquerque Field Office, announced this case.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation’s Albuquerque Field Office investigated this case with assistance from the U.S. Marshals Service. The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of New Mexico prosecuted the case.