Moving company fraudster gets 2 years in jail

August 29, 2024 Brooklyn Eagle Staff

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DOWNTOWN BROOKLYN — A MOVING COMPANY sales representative was sentenced to two years in prison on Wednesday in Brooklyn federal court over his role in a far-reaching fraud scheme that conned $3 million from over 800 victims. The defendant, Andre Prince of Florida, was convicted in December of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and was also ordered by U.S. Circuit Judge Denny Chin to pay forfeiture in the amount of $100,000. As proven at trial, Prince between 2017 and 2020 worked for a number of moving companies controlled by co-defendant Yakov Moroz, luring customers by posting fake reviews online and offering low-cost services; but after contracts were signed and, in some cases, after customers’ belongings were loaded on the truck, the movers would regularly threaten to hold goods hostage unless customers paid extra fees, while staff, including Prince, ignored phone calls and joked about the scam’s profits. Prince’s co-defendant, fellow employee Kristy Mak, is awaiting sentencing. Moroz is currently a fugitive.

FBI Acting Assistant Director in Charge Christie M. Curtis stated: “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;” U.S. Attorney Breon Peace stated, “For his crime of conviction, it is Prince who will be moving — to a federal prison.”

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