Business

The individuals were charged with counts of wire and bank fraud conspiracy.

These four individuals made a mistake when they allegedly directed some calls and emails into Massachusetts.

The Acting U.S. Attorney for the District of Massachusetts Nathaniel Mendell is leading a case against four individuals charged with “conspiring to deceive banks into allegedly processing more than $150 million in credit and debit card payments on behalf of merchants involved in prohibited and high-risk businesses, including online gaming, debt collection, debt relief, online pharmaceuticals and payday lending, among others,” according to a Thursday release.

Two were charged with wire fraud conspiracy — Ahmad “Andy” Khawaja, 49, of Los Angeles, and Thomas Wells, 74, of Martin County, Fla. — while two others were charged with wire and bank fraud conspiracy — Mohammad “Moe” Diab, 45, of Glendale, Calif., and Amy Ringler Rountree, 38, of Logan, Utah.

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Diab, Rountree, and Wells were arrested Wednesday, but Khawaja remains a fugitive.

Khawaja was the owner and CEO of Allied Wallet, a payment processing company headquartered in Los Angeles; Diab and Rountree worked in leadership positions there. According to charging documents, Allied Wallet connected clients to services enabling them to access various credit card companies and served as the intermediary between clients and banks. Wells, through his company Priority Payout, allegedly introduced clients to Allied Wallet.

The individuals allegedly aimed to defraud several financial institutions by providing payment processing services to clients running prohibited or high-risk transactions, some that were terminated for fraud, and misrepresenting the kinds of transactions being processed as well as client identities.

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“The defendants and their co-conspirators allegedly accomplished the scheme through, among other steps, creating shell companies, designing fake websites that purported to sell low-risk retail and home goods and using industry-standard codes that miscategorized the true nature of the transactions,” the release said.

The four allegedly obtained over $150 million in payment card processing through more than 100 “sham merchants.” As part of the scheme, they caused calls and emails to be directed through Massachusetts.

The three arrested individuals will appear in federal court in Boston at a later date.