61岁男子从德国引渡回美受审：假通灵信件骗走数千人逾400万美元
美国司法部（DOJ）11月3日发布正式公告：61岁的 Mael Chemla 已从德国被引渡回美国，并于11月2日在佛罗里达州 Miami 的联邦法院首次出庭受审。他被指控经营一桩假冒通灵者的邮件诈骗，从全美数千名受害者手中骗走逾400万美元，受害者中许多是老年人等弱势群体。
Chemla 持有美国、法国与以色列三国国籍，此前居住在佛罗里达州 Aventura。11月2日解封的起诉书指控，他与他人合谋向全美各地的受害者寄送看似由通灵者亲笔写给受害者本人的信件，谎称通灵者预见到受害者即将获得一笔意外之财，受害者须先付款才能领到这笔钱。
起诉书称，Chemla 以这些所谓通灵者的名义在美国开设银行账户，将受害者寄来的支票存入这些账户，再把赃款电汇至一名同伙控制的欧洲银行账户。2016年9月至2020年11月间，Chemla 与同伙共收取逾400万美元。
Chemla 被控共谋罪、邮件诈骗罪与电信诈骗罪。司法部表示，若罪名成立，他在全部罪名上面临最高20年监禁。
此案由美国邮政检查局（U.S. Postal Inspection Service）调查，司法部刑事司白领与公司执法科的审判律师 Ann Entwistle 与 Charles Dunn 负责起诉。司法部国际事务办公室在德国引渡法院的诉讼中提供了重要支持，引渡获准后又与美国法警局协调将被告押送回美。
起诉书只是指控。在法庭以排除合理怀疑的标准证明有罪之前，所有被告均被推定无罪。
Man, 61, Extradited from Germany in Fake Psychic Mailing Scheme That Took Over $4 Million
The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) announced on November 3 that Mael Chemla, 61, was extradited to the United States from Germany and made his initial appearance on November 2 in federal court in Miami, Florida, to face charges for his role in operating a mailing fraud scheme. According to the Department, the scheme collected more than $4 million from thousands of victims across the United States, many of them elderly and otherwise vulnerable.
Chemla, a U.S., French, and Israeli national previously residing in Aventura, Florida, is accused in an indictment unsealed on November 2 of conspiring with others to send letters to victims throughout the United States that appeared to be personalized communications from psychics. The letters falsely informed victims that the psychic had learned of an imminent financial windfall the victim was entitled to receive, and that the victim needed to send a payment in order to receive it.
According to the indictment, Chemla opened U.S. bank accounts in the names of the purported psychics, deposited checks from victims into those accounts, then wired the funds to European bank accounts controlled by a co-conspirator. From September 2016 through November 2020, Chemla and his co-conspirator collected more than $4 million.
Chemla is charged with conspiracy, mail fraud, and wire fraud. The Department said that if convicted, he faces a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison on all counts.
The U.S. Postal Inspection Service is investigating the case. Trial Attorneys Ann Entwistle and Charles Dunn of the Criminal Division's White Collar and Corporate Enforcement Section are prosecuting the case. The Justice Department's Office of International Affairs provided significant support in the litigation before the German extradition court and, once extradition was granted, coordinated with the U.S. Marshals Service to arrange Chemla's transport to the United States.
An indictment is merely an allegation. All defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.
来源：美国司法部
发布：GSM·美国（发布链接）
图片来源：图：美国司法部本部大楼（GSM 四级固定图库）。 / Photo: U.S. Department of Justice headquarters building (GSM fixed asset library).
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