Florida Man Sentenced in Fraudulent Movers Scam That Bilked 800 Victims of $3M

This is the situation an estimated 800 customers of a Brooklyn moving company – who were extorted out of approximately $3 million – faced from January 2017 to August 2020. Andre Prince, the latest member of the gang to be brought to justice, was sentenced Aug. 28 to 24 months in federal prison and ordered to forfeit $100,000 for his part in the scheme, the U.S. Attorney for Eastern New York announced in a press release.

Prince, 45, of Taramac, Fla., was arrested in April 2021 and transferred from Fort Lauderdale to New York to face charges. He was convicted in December 2023 of conspiracy to commit wire fraud.

Four Down, One To Go

Five people were indicted in 2020 for their roles in the fraud and extortion racket. Four have been convicted or pled guilty. The ringleader, Yakov Moroz, is currently a fugitive after jumping bail and absconding after his arrest.

“The defendant (Prince) enticed victims to use the moving companies he worked for and then held their belongings hostage to substantially higher prices and the threat of auctioning them off unless they agreed to the fraudulent demands,” U.S. Attorney Breon Peace said. Peace said it now Prince’s turn to move – “to a federal prison.”

FBI Acting Assistant Director in Charge Christie M. Curtis said Prince convinced customers “to entrust fraudulent moving companies with their household goods, only to financially extort them with threats of selling their belongings. Prince utilized his skills as a sales representative to prey upon more than 800 victims undergoing a stressful event by boxing them into misleading contracts and false estimates.

“May the defendant’s move to prison reflect the FBI’s dedication to disrupting widespread fraud schemes and deter future unlawful attempts to monopolize an industry,” Curtis added.

Special Agent in Charge, Christopher A. Scharf, of the Department of Transportation’s Office of Inspector General (DOT-OIG), said the case “demonstrates our commitment to detecting and prosecuting fraudulent household goods movers who take advantage of unsuspecting customers by holding their personal belongings hostage. We will continue our vigorous efforts to root out bad actors from the moving industry and reinforce adherence to federal laws and regulations designed to protect the public.”

In an Aug. 5, 2020 press release announcing the charges against Morov and another of his employees, Tal Ohana, then Acting Assistant Director in Charge William F. Sweeney Jr. said, “Imagine moving every item you own from one place to another, trusting the moving company loading up the truck to not rip you off. The subjects in this scheme allegedly used that vulnerability in a cruel way, knowing victims would pay almost anything to get their prized possessions back.”

Ohana later pled guilty in August 2021 and was sentenced to two years of probation in July 2022 for conspiracy to defraud the United States, the DOT-OIG reported at the time.

The OIG said Ohana submitted forms to the DOT regarding motor carriers that contained false information about the companies’ ownership and location. The forms also failed to disclose the motor carriers’ affiliations with other motor carriers whose operating authority had been revoked or suspended by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA).

Ohana and other co-conspirators directed others to lie to federal regulators and customers to conceal the moving companies’ location and obstructed FMCSA from enforcing safety regulations that govern the use of commercial motor vehicles in interstate commerce, according to the OIG.

What They Did

The most recent U.S. Attorney’s press release notes that the trial of Prince and co-defendant Kristy Mak included evidence that they worked for a number of moving companies controlled by co-defendant Yakov Moroz. They operated under several names, including Great Moving USA, Green Movers, New City Moves, Cross Country Moving and Storage and Movers Consulting.

Mak was a customer service representative for the companies and supervised Prince, a senior sales representative responsible for convincing individuals to choose one of the fraudulent moving companies, according to the press release.

The fraudsters posted fake reviews online and had sales associates offer low-cost transportation of their household goods, the press release said.

“After a contract was signed and, in some cases, after the customer’s belongings were loaded on the truck, the movers would spring new expenses on them,” the office said. “If the customer tried contacting the sales associate about the surprise fees, that person was unreachable, and the customers were faced with drivers who threatened to hold their goods hostage unless they paid additional fees, which were sometimes double or triple the original estimated cost.”

Mak, also convicted of wire fraud conspiracy charge, is set to be sentenced on Jan. 15, 2025. Two other members, Paula Jones and Kristen Smith, previously pled guilty. Smith was sentenced on May 10 to time served since her arrest. Jones’ sentencing was set for Sept. 9.

Peace said victims of this kind of fraud can file a complaint with the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration at https://nccdb.fmcsa.dot.gov/nccdb/home.aspx.