Oxford Man Sentenced to 51 Months in Prison for $3 Million Fraud

BOSTON, MA—An Oxford man was sentenced yesterday in federal court for a $3 million dollar fraud against an Irish businessman.

Acting United States Attorney Michael K. Loucks and Warren T. Bamford, Special Agent in Charge of the Federal Bureau of Investigation - Boston Field Division, announced that ALLEN SEYMOUR, age 41, of Worcester, MA, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge F. Dennis Saylor IV to 51 months imprisonment, to be followed by 3 years of supervised release and restitution in the amount of $2,940,000. SEYMOUR plead guilty to wire fraud, interstate transportation of property taken by fraud and bulk cash smuggling out of the United States.

At the earlier plea hearing, the prosecutor told the Court that SEYMOUR fraudulently obtained nearly $2 million belonging to a client of now-disbarred attorney Raymond Desautels III, then flew to Florida and attempted to flee to Venezuela with his wife and children. SEYMOUR was arrested at a Florida airport in February 2008 with $1.37 million in cash hidden in his luggage. He has been held in custody since. In addition to the $2 million he stole, SEYMOUR caused his victim to loss an additional $1 million deposit on a parcel of real estate which the victim, a businessman from Ireland, planned to purchase with the $2 million.

The case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the United States Customs and Border Protection. It was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Mark J. Balthazard of Loucks’ Economic Crimes Unit and Assistant U.S. Attorney Strider L. Dickson of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Florida.