Business Owner Charged With Using Mass., RI Banks for Fraud Scheme

A Rhode Island man was arrested and charged in Boston federal court yesterday for an alleged laundering scheme that involved about 80 business bank accounts at Massachusetts and Rhode Island banks.

Craig Clayton, 73, of Cranston, was charged with one count of conspiracy to commit money laundering and one count of obstruction of justice, the U.S. attorney’s office said in a statement.

According to the charging documents, Clayton and others allegedly used Rochart Consulting, Clayton’s business that offers accounting and virtual chief financial officer services, as a front to launder the proceeds of internet fraud schemes from 2019 to the present.

As part of the alleged conspiracy, Clayton founded dozens of shell companies in the United States and used those shell companies to open business bank accounts in Rhode Island and Massachusetts, the statement said. He then allegedly laundered criminal proceeds for his clients in exchange for fees.

The U.S. attorney’s office said that since 2019, Clayton has allegedly opened approximately 80 bank accounts on behalf of 65 different companies and used these accounts to launder more than $35 million in fraud proceeds.

Prosecutors also allege that when banks and law enforcement began to investigate Rochart Consulting, Clayton falsely told investigators and bank personnel that his shell companies were legitimate businesses. After he became aware that a federal grand jury was investigating him, Clayton allegedly attempted to obstruct the ongoing investigation by making several false statements to federal agents during an interview, the statement said.

Five seizure warrants were executed on Rochart Consulting bank accounts, which hold several hundred thousand dollars of alleged money laundering proceeds, and a Mercedes-Benz sport utility vehicle that Clayton purchased, the U.S. attorney’s statement said.