A New Jersey man was sentenced to one year and one day in prison after federal prosecutors said he operated an unlicensed money transmitting business that moved funds from online scam victims to accounts in China and Turkey, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Massachusetts.
Shadrach Anapalum, 36, of Newark, was sentenced by Senior U.S. District Court Judge Nathaniel M. Gorton in federal court in Boston. He was also ordered to serve two years of supervised release and pay $304,000 in restitution.
The sentence follows Anapalum’s March 2026 guilty plea to one count of operating an unlicensed money transmitting business. Prosecutors said the business was used to transmit money derived from criminal offenses and intended to promote and support unlawful activity.
$375,000 From At Least 4 Online Scam Victims
Between May and December 2022, Anapalum received approximately $375,000 from at least four victims of online scams. Prosecutors said he generally kept about 10% of the funds for himself before transmitting the remaining money elsewhere, including to bank accounts in China and Turkey.
The case fits a broader pattern in which scam networks rely on intermediaries, bank accounts, and cross-border transfers to move victim funds quickly after the initial fraud. FinanceFeeds has recently covered multiple cases where law enforcement focused not only on the person who solicited victims, but also on the infrastructure used to receive, disguise, and move proceeds, including the U.S. seizure of $225 million in crypto from a global investment scam network.
In Anapalum’s case, prosecutors said a consensually recorded call with a cooperating witness captured him admitting that he had lied to a bank about the nature of checks he was depositing. According to the U.S. Attorney’s Office, he also agreed that what he was doing was not legitimate.
Unlicensed Money Transmission Remains A Key Fraud Channel
The charge against Anapalum was not wire fraud or securities fraud. It was operating an unlicensed money transmitting business. That distinction matters because federal prosecutors often use money transmission statutes to target the movement of scam proceeds, even when the defendant is not accused of personally creating the underlying online scam.
Money mules and informal transmitters can be central to fraud operations because they provide the accounts, identity layer, and banking access needed to turn victim payments into movable funds. Once money is routed across borders, recovery becomes harder and victims often face delays, partial restitution, or no recovery at all.
That is why restitution remains an important metric in scam cases. Anapalum was ordered to pay $304,000, compared with approximately $375,000 received from victims. In larger crypto and investment fraud cases, asset recovery has become a central enforcement tool, as seen in the Justice Department’s restitution process for victims of the $4 billion OneCoin crypto scam.
Scam Proceeds Are Increasingly Global
The destination of funds in this case, including accounts in China and Turkey, highlights the international nature of modern online scam enforcement. Victims may be located in one jurisdiction, money receivers in another, and ultimate beneficiaries elsewhere.
FinanceFeeds has tracked similar cross-border enforcement themes in cases involving crypto investment fraud, romance scams, pig-butchering operations, forex fraud, and fake trading platforms. In one recent case, Coinbase joined a DOJ-led effort to freeze $3 million tied to Southeast Asia scam networks. In another, federal authorities moved to forfeit nearly $1 million in assets tied to the so-called Crypto Godfather Adam Iza.
The Anapalum sentence is smaller in dollar terms than those crypto-linked cases, but it shows how traditional bank accounts and check deposits remain relevant in online scam laundering. Fraud infrastructure does not always depend on blockchain rails, exchanges, or digital wallets. In many cases, ordinary bank accounts remain the first stop after victims send money.
Federal Prosecutors Keep Pressure On Scam Infrastructure
The case was announced by United States Attorney Leah B. Foley and Ted E. Docks, Special Agent in Charge of the FBI Boston Division. Assistant U.S. Attorney Kristen Kearney of the Securities, Financial & Cyber Fraud Unit prosecuted the case.
Those cases differ in structure, scale, and asset class, but they share a common enforcement theme: prosecutors and regulators are increasingly following the money beyond the original pitch. That means bank accounts, payment processors, crypto wallets, shell companies, and informal money transmitters are becoming central points of investigation.
Takeaway
Shadrach Anapalum’s one-year-and-one-day prison sentence shows how U.S. prosecutors are targeting the financial plumbing behind online scams. The case involved at least four victims, approximately $375,000 in scam proceeds, transfers to China and Turkey, and a $304,000 restitution order. For retail investors and scam victims, the case is another reminder that fraud enforcement increasingly depends on tracing how money moves after the initial deception.
