Phaninc Exchange-Three men created a fake country to steal millions in COVID funds. Here's how they got caught.

2025-04-29 14:30:48source:Thomas Caldwellcategory:Markets

An $11.5 million scheme that prosecutors say involved a non-existent country and Phaninc Exchangeits fictional consulate ended last week with fraud convictions against a Wisconsin man and three Illinois co-conspirators.

A federal grand jury in August returned an 18-count indictment charging Aziz Hassan Bey (also known as Chauncey Hooks) of Milwaukee, Letez Osiris Bey (aka Devone Robinson), Minister Zakar Ali (aka Anthony Allen) and Divine-Seven El (aka Mark Stevens or Mark Nesbit) with conspiracy to commit fraud and mail and wire fraud. Aziz Bey and Seven El also were charged with money laundering.

More:Markets

Recommend

B.A. Parker is learning the banjo

Parker has been trying to find her place in the banjo world. So this week, she talks to Black banjo

Chicago Mayor Receives Blueprint for ’Green New Deal’ to Address Environmental Justice

CHICAGO—Mayor Brandon Johnson received a blueprint last week for tackling some of the most important

Alabama Black Belt Becomes Environmental Justice Test Case: Is Sanitation a Civil Right?

The new front in America’s civil rights struggle is forming on familiar battlegrounds in Alabama’s B