Corporate Hijacker Sentenced in $1.4 Million ID Theft Scheme

ALEXANDRIA, Va. – Myrick Clift Beasley, 56, of Las Vegas, was sentenced today to 60 months in prison for mail fraud in connection with a scheme to obtain goods and services on credit using the stolen identities of legitimate, inactive businesses.

“Beasley used his considerable business acumen to develop a scheme to defraud some of the nation's largest retailers and service providers," said Dana J. Boente, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia. "This was a complex, sophisticated fraud that required a high level of expertise to unravel. I want to thank our investigators and prosecutors for their outstanding work on this case.” 

“The FBI works relentlessly to identify and disrupt complex fraud schemes such as this one,” said Paul M. Abbate, Assistant Director in Charge of the FBI’s Washington Field Office.  “As a result of a thorough criminal investigation, FBI agents and analysts identified this financial predator and brought him to justice.  I want to thank the dedicated FBI personnel, federal prosecutors, and our law enforcement partners for their tireless efforts to ensure that corporate and personal identities are protected and identity thieves are held accountable under the law.”

According to court documents, from 2010 through 2015, Beasley assumed the identity of at least 148 legitimate businesses nationwide, and used those stolen identities to obtain, on credit, at least $1.4 million in goods and services from various victims.  Beasley admitted that, as part of the scheme, he would identify inactive, legitimate businesses that had previously been located in office buildings where virtual office providers were also located.  Beasley admitted that we would assume the inactive businesses’ identities by renting virtual office space in the buildings in the names of the legitimate businesses, creating internet domain names and email addresses in the identified businesses’ names, obtaining phone numbers previously identified with the businesses when available, and, at times, supplementing state corporate filings and commercial credit records with fraudulent information designed to further the scheme.  Beasley admitted that he concealed his true identity throughout the fraud by using false names and paying for the costs of operating his scheme with prepaid debit cards.  Once he would assume a business’s identity, Beasley admitted that he would then order goods and services — particularly, smart phones, computers, and other electronics — from retailers on credit and have the items shipped to the virtual office location, which would then, at his direction, re-ship the items to rented mailboxes elsewhere in the country.  Beasley admitted he would then retrieve the items from the rented mailboxes and sell them.

Beasley has a history of using his skills to commit fraud. He was convicted for mail fraud in 1989 and again in 1999.

Dana J. Boente, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia; Paul M. Abbate, Assistant Director in Charge of the FBI’s Washington Field Office; and Edwin C. Roessler Jr., Chief of the Fairfax County Police Department, made the announcement after the plea was accepted by U.S. District Judge T.S. Ellis, III.  Special Assistant U.S. Attorney Christopher R. Fenton and Assistant U.S. Attorney Paul J. Nathanson are prosecuting the case.

A copy of this press release may be found on the website of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Virginia.  Related court documents and information may be found on the website of the District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia or on PACER by searching for Case No. 1:15-CR-353.