Hogansburg man gets six years for scamming elders out of $2,000,000

A Hogansburg man was sentenced to federal prison after being convicted in a telemarketing scheme to defraud elders.

On Thursday, February 3, 2022 U.S. Attorney Trini E. Ross announced Anthony Laughing Jr., 49, was sentenced to six years by U.S. District Judge Charles J. Siragusa.

According to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Western District of NY, Laughing, along with ringleader Martin Hogan and “multiple co-defendants” conspired for the scheme between September 2015 and March 2020.

Federal prosecutors say Hogan placed telephone calls from Canada to victims in the United States, telling them that they had won the Canadian lottery.

However, victims were told that they had to first pay the taxes, brokerage fee or custom fees due in connection with the winnings. Some victims were instructed to mail cash to addresses controlled by Laughing, who accepted over 300 packages, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.

The cash was then smuggled over the border into Canada and given to Laughing’s Canadian co-conspirators. Laughing kept a portion of the money he accepted as part of the scheme.

In total, the scheme involved over $2,000,000 in funds obtained from elderly victims, federal prosecutors said.

Hogan was previously convicted and is awaiting sentencing. The Justice Department’s Office of International Affairs “provided substantial assistance” extraditing Hogan from Jamaica, prosecutors said.

The sentencing is the result of an investigation by Homeland Security Investigations Border Enforcement Security Task Force, under the direction of Acting Special Agent-in-Charge Matthew Scarpino, the Internal Revenue Service Criminal Investigations Division under the direction of Thomas Fattorusso, special agent-in-charge of the New York Field Office, and the Customs and Border Patrol Air and Marine Unit, under the direction of Brian Manaher, director of marine operations, federal prosecutors said.