A North Carolina woman who pleaded guilty three years ago to charges of wire fraud and money laundering as part of a debt collection scam that netted nearly $2 million in payments has been sentenced to 54 months in prison.
The Backstory: Carissa Eugenia Brown, 35, ran the scam from 2015 through 2020 when she was caught. Brown managed three different companies and called individuals who had been sued by various creditors for not paying their debts and misrepresented that she was authorized to collect on behalf of those creditors. Brown would offer to settle the debt for less than the full balance owed on the condition that payments be made immediately. To make the offer seem legit, she would mail documents to the victims, including settlement documents. Only after the payments were made did the victims realize that Brown was not authorized to collect on behalf of the creditors.
- Brown also left voicemails for consumers and sent documents making it appear as though the communications were coming from a law firm.
The Sentence: Along with being sentenced to 4 1/2 years in prison, Brown was also ordered to serve three years under court supervision after she is released and pay $1.7 million in restitution.
Company Names: The names of the companies that Brown used were:
- Accredited Recovery Solutions, LLC (a/k/a Accredited Recovery Network)
- Elite Credit Adjusters, LLC (a/k/a Elite Credit Network)
- Martin Recovery Group, LLC (a/k/a Martin Recovery, P.C. and the Law Office of Martin and Associates)
