Florida man sentenced to prison after participating in business email compromise scheme in four states

MONTGOMERY, Ala. (WRBL) – On Thursday, U.S. Attorney Sandra J. Stewart announced the sentencing of a Florida man for wire fraud.

On Tuesday, 51-year-old Timothy Scott Marable, from Lake Placid, Florida received a year in prison.

Based on his plea deal and other court documents, from November 2019 to August 2020, Marable acted as a money mule in a business email compromise scheme that scammed at least four businesses in four states, including Alabama, Idaho, Ohio, and Texas.

Other participants in the business email comprise scheme obtained unauthorized access to business email accounts in various ways, such as hacking the account or gaining login information through social engineering.

The schemers then used the comprised email accounts to send emails to other businesses pretending to be legitimate account holders. The schemers mostly attempted to steal money from email recipients by fraudulently showing that legitimate account holders had changed banking information and instructed recipients to make future payments to a new bank account.

The new bank account used belonged to a participant in the scheme, who then would transfer the proceeds to others participating in the scheme.

In Marable's plea agreement, he confessed that he communicated with a person through an online instant messaging platform. The person told Marable to receive substantial amounts of money via multiple deposits into his bank accounts through wire transfers, open new bank accounts, and disburse funds by writing checks and wiring funds to offshore bank accounts.

Marable received at least two wire transfers that were sent by a company based in Montgomery. The U.S. Attorney's Office for the Middle District of Alabama says Marable continuously participated in the scheme despite receiving multiple warnings that he participated in a scheme and the closure of bank accounts due to fraudulent activity.

During Marable sentencing hearing, he was ordered to pay $2,701,746.50 in restitution for the businesses' loss of money due to Marable's actions.