Jamaican man extradited to Michigan gets 72 months for $3.4 million fake lottery scheme
Sefton Olivair Stewart was sentenced to 72 months in prison for a fake lottery prize scheme that took $3.4 million from 28 victims; a co-conspirator who pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit money laundering earlier received 37 months.
Sefton Olivair Stewart, 41, of Montego Bay, Jamaica, was sentenced to 72 months in federal prison by US District Judge Paul Maloney, the US Attorney's Office for the Western District of Michigan announced on 16 October 2026. Stewart was extradited from Jamaica to Grand Rapids and pleaded guilty in July 2026 to participating in a conspiracy to commit mail and wire fraud. The US Attorney's Office says he will be removed from the United States after serving his sentence.
According to the US Attorney's Office, from October 2019 to September 2024 Stewart, co-conspirator Danielle Diarbakerly and others told victims they had won large cash prizes and luxury vehicles in a multistate lottery. Victims were told they had to pay taxes and fees before they could claim the winnings. The prizes did not exist. The conspirators used fake bank and US government documents to convince some victims the claims were real. The scheme obtained $3.4 million from 28 victims across the country, including one in West Michigan.
Diarbakerly, a Florida resident, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit money laundering and was sentenced to 37 months in federal prison, the US Attorney's Office says. Homeland Security Investigations in Grand Rapids and IRS Criminal Investigation investigated the case.
Why it matters to AML professionals
Advance-fee lottery scams depend on a way to collect and move victims' payments, and that role is often filled by people in the victims' own country who launder the money. AML professionals who review payments from older or vulnerable customers can stop losses early and identify the accounts that receive the funds.
Red flags in this case
- A customer, often older, sending repeated payments described as taxes or fees to release a prize
- Payments to individuals or accounts with no known link to the customer, sometimes in another state
- A customer showing bank or government letters about prize winnings that look unofficial
- An account receiving many payments from unrelated people across the country, then moving the money on quickly
If this landed in your queue
- Speak with the customer, where your procedures allow, to understand why the payments are being made and whether a prize claim is involved
- Review the receiving accounts for payments from other unrelated senders that suggest a collection account
- Follow your institution's elder financial exploitation procedures, including any holds or referrals they allow
- Document the facts and escalate for a suspicious activity report decision
Key terms
- Advance-fee fraud
- A scam in which victims are asked to pay money up front, such as taxes or fees, to receive a prize or payment that never arrives.
- Extradition
- The formal transfer of a person from one country to another to face criminal charges.
- Conspiracy to commit money laundering
- An agreement between two or more people to launder money; each member can be charged even if they handled only part of the scheme.
Interview angle
An older customer is making repeated payments to release lottery winnings. What do you do?
Explain that genuine lotteries do not charge winners fees, describe speaking with the customer where allowed, reviewing the receiving accounts, following elder exploitation procedures and escalating for a suspicious activity report decision.
Sources
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