San Francisco Man Sentenced to 40 Months in Prison in Fraud Scheme

SAN FRANCISCO—Blessed Marvelous Herve (aka Herve Rodrigue Ndandou, aka Blessed Roll Herve) was sentenced today to 40 months in federal prison after pleading guilty to defrauding two victims of more than $1.6 million over the course several years, announced United States Attorney Melinda Haag and FBI Special Agent in Charge David J. Johnson.

Herve pleaded guilty to wire fraud on September 6, 2013. According to the plea agreement, Herve admitted to executing a scheme to defraud two victims of approximately $1.6 million through a series of false statements and promises. Among other false statements, Herve falsely stated that his father was a foreign dignitary and a multi-billionaire and that the United States government had seized millions of dollars belonging to Herve. Herve claimed that he needed money from his victims to prevail in a secret federal case to gain access to these funds, which he would then use to repay his victims.

Herve, 41, of San Francisco, was arrested on April 24, 2013, after a criminal complaint was filed against him. He was indicted by a federal grand jury on May 7, 2013. The indictment charged Herve with one count of wire fraud, in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Section 1343.

The sentence was handed down by the Honorable Charles R. Breyer, United States District Court Judge. Judge Breyer also sentenced the defendant to a three-year period of supervised release following his prison term and ordered him to pay $1,605,926 in restitution to the victims of his fraudulent scheme. Herve has been in custody since his arrest on April 24, 2013.

Hallie Hoffman and Doug Sprague are the Assistant United States Attorneys who are prosecuting the case with the assistance of Muffy Mallory, Rayneisha Booth, and Rawaty Yim. The prosecution is the result of an investigation by the Federal Bureau of Investigation.