BOSTON — This is an official press release from the U.S. Department of Justice (USAO - Massachusetts), published as received.

BOSTON – A Hingham man who was previously convicted of money laundering was sentenced on Wednesday, Oct. 27, 2021 in connection with a business email compromise (BEC) scheme.

Yannick A. Minang, a/k/a “Africa,” 27, was sentenced by U.S. District Court Judge Patti B. Sarris to 52 months in prison. In September 2020, Minang pleaded guilty five counts of wire fraud, one count of unlawful monetary transactions and one count of money laundering conspiracy.

Minang conspired with co-conspirator Bintu Toure and others to open numerous bank accounts in Massachusetts in the name of sham companies, as part of an apparent business email compromise (BEC) scheme. A BEC scheme is a sophisticated scam often targeting businesses involved in wire transfer payments. The fraud is carried out by compromising and/or “spoofing” legitimate business email accounts through social engineering or computer intrusion techniques to cause employees of the victim company (or other individuals involved in legitimate business transactions) to transfer funds to accounts controlled by the scammers.

Through the use of fraudulent invoices and spoofed email accounts, Minang conspired to trick the victims of the scheme into wiring hundreds of thousands of dollars to bank accounts under his control. Minang and his co-conspirators then transferred funds from the accounts to others located overseas.

On April 16, 2021, Toure was sentenced by U.S. Senior District Court Judge Mark L. Wolf to one year and one day in prison, three years of supervised release, restitution and forfeiture after previously pleading guilty to a separate wire fraud and money laundering conspiracy.

In September 2019, Minang was sentenced to 46 months in prison after pleading guilty to his role in a separate BEC scheme.

Acting United States Attorney Nathaniel R. Mendell and Joseph R. Bonavolonta, Special Agent in Charge of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Boston Division made the announcement. Assistant U.S. Attorney William B. Brady of Mendell’s Criminal Division prosecuted the case.