FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — A man from suburban Denver was booked into the Broward County jail on Thursday after Lighthouse Point police said he scammed a woman out of more than $61,000.
However, that’s a small sum compared to the more than $10 million in reported losses that Kevin Crosswright, 64, of Northglenn, Colorado, is believed to have been involved in nationwide.
The woman told a Lighthouse Point Police Department detective that Crosswright was “a full-blown scammer and liar” who left her feeling “horrible and penniless,” according to a police report dated Jan. 27.
The report doesn’t outline details about how the alleged scam worked, but it said Crosswright was involved in a “scheme to defraud several victims with the promise of a return on their investments.”
Investigators said the woman communicated with a “James Lee Jackson,” whose Gmail account was linked to a Nigerian telephone number and accessed from IP addresses from Washington, D.C., Miami and South Africa.
Authorities said two cashier’s checks made out to Crosswright, totalling $61,530, were cashed at a Bank of America branch in another Denver suburb: Broomfield, Colorado.
According to the report, an FBI agent recognized Crosswright from surveillance footage at the bank, which showed him “wearing a brown zip-up sweatshirt, blue t-shirt and a Colorado Rockies baseball hat.”
Police said FBI documentation showed “a clear pattern of money laundering that Crosswright was involved with,” totalling more than $17 million in losses.
While the report makes mention of a federal investigation, Crosswright’s name did not turn up in a search of online federal court records as of Friday morning.
“It appears that (Crosswright) claims to not have knowledge of the criminal activity, however, his actions in receiving the checks and immediately sending them to Bitcoin accounts show clear deception, especially with the frequency in which he was doing so,” LPPD Detective Michael Tomasi wrote in the report.
He added, “The victim has attempted several times to contact ‘James Lee Jackson’ in attempts (to) retrieve her funds back to no avail.”
According to the report, the woman told police that she does not want Crosswright, who she said “betrayed” her, released before trial.
Crosswright appeared in court on a grand theft charge late Friday morning, where a Broward judge granted him a $60,000 bond and ordered that he have no contact with the victim.
However, before he posts the bond, he’ll have to prove the funds came from a legitimate source.
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