Businessman sentenced to prison for laundering over $35 million in scams in Massachusetts and Rhode Island

Boston – A 75-year-old man from Rhode Island was handed a federal prison sentence yesterday in Boston for his involvement in laundering over $35 million from online scams.

According to the Massachusetts Department of Justice, Craig Clayton, from Cranston, R.I., received a four-year incarceration term from U.S. District Court Judge Richard G. Stearns, followed by three years of supervised release and a $40,000 restitution order. Clayton admitted guilt in May 2025 to one count each of conspiring to launder money and obstructing justice. He faced initial charges via complaint in February 2023.

Between 2019 and 2021, Clayton leveraged his accounting and “virtual CFO” firm, Rochart Consulting, as a cover to clean illicit funds from internet frauds for his overseas associates. He formed shell entities to establish commercial bank accounts in Rhode Island and Massachusetts, funneling the scam proceeds through them. Clayton guided his clients on how to arrange incoming funds, craft misleading wire transfer descriptions, and fabricate corporate records to mask the money’s origins and movements.

In messages with a Rochart accomplice, Clayton referred to their role as “money mules” complicit in the clients’ crimes, noting the legal risks involved. In secure chats with another partner, he voiced fears of phone surveillance by authorities and tried to gather compromising information on a scam victim to divert police attention. In one discussion, he suggested shifting to Signal for communications, citing WhatsApp’s vulnerability to interception.

As financial institutions and investigators scrutinized Rochart, Clayton misrepresented his dummy companies as genuine operations to both banks and officials. During a sting operation with an undercover agent posing as a prospective client, he revealed that Rochart avoided anyone linked to law enforcement and that some clients were evading justice. Upon learning of a federal grand jury probe into his activities, Clayton hindered the inquiry by providing false information to agents during questioning.

United States Attorney Leah B. Foley; Michael J. Krol, Acting Special Agent in Charge of Homeland Security Investigations in New England; Thomas Demeo, Acting Special Agent in Charge of the Internal Revenue Service Criminal Investigation, Boston Field Office; and Jennifer De La O, Director of Field Operations, U.S. Customs and Border Protection, Boston Field Office made the announcement today. Valuable assistance was provided by the Internal Revenue Service, Criminal Investigation and the United States Postal Inspection Service. Assistant United States Attorneys Ian J. Stearns and Kaitlin R. O’Donnell of the Securities, Financial & Cyber Fraud Unit and Alexandra Amrhein of the Criminal Division prosecuted the case.