A Miramar woman is facing a decade in federal prison after she pleaded guilty to laundering millions of dollars that were stolen in romance scams, authorities said.
Cristine Petitfrere, 30, pleaded guilty Wednesday to conspiring to launder over $2.7 million, the U.S. Department of Justice said.
Prosecutors said Petitfrere used bank accounts to receive the proceeds from the romance scams, kept a portion as a fee and funneled the rest to a co-conspirator overseas.
She received hundreds of thousands of dollars for her efforts.
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Authorities said romance scams involve fraudsters creating fake online personas to gain the trust and affection of victims, who they then financially exploit.
Americans lost $1.14 billion to romance scams in 2023, officials said. Many of the victims are elderly.
Petitfrere is scheduled to be sentenced on Dec. 11. She faces a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison.
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“Romance scams cause not only significant losses but also profound emotional harm to countless individuals,” said Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Brian Boynton, head of the Justice Department’s Civil Division. “This prosecution underscores the department’s efforts to dismantle the criminal networks that engage in these sophisticated financial schemes to exploit vulnerable Americans.”
