Northborough Man Sentenced In Fraud Scheme That Targeted Elderly

NORTHBOROUGH, MA — A 29-year-old Northborough man was sentenced to 97 months and 17 days in prison for his role in a fraud scheme.

Austin Nedved pleaded guilty in December to aiding and abetting wire fraud and money laundering conspiracy. He operated a business that sold Bitcoin — a digital currency — for cash, and helped defraud elderly people in romance and lottery schemes.

In the romance schemes, the "fraudsters" would convince the victims to send money abroad to potential love interests. In lottery schemes, they were told that they could receive lotto winnings or government grants if they just paid a fee. Nedved's role was to sell the people Bitcoin in order to send money.

"For instance, in late 2017, an individual posing as 'Jonathan G.' over social media led a 78-year old victim to believe that he was a Weston, Mass. businessman who owned an oil company," the attorney general's release reads. "Without ever meeting 'Jonathan G.' in person, the victim fell in love and agreed to marry him. 'Jonathan G.' then falsely told the victim that his oil company had experienced an accident abroad in which people had died, and that he needed money to settle financial obligations arising from the accident with a foreign government."

The victim paid him via Nedved's Bitcoin. Authorities say Nedved knew that the person he was selling Bitcoin to was a fraud victim, or we was "willfully blind" to the fact.

Following his prison sentence, Nedved will serve three years of supervised release and pay a $569,750 restitution.