United States Attorney David Metcalf announced today that Samuel D. Marcus, 33, of Oreland, was arrested for his allegedly serving as a “money mule” for a group of Nigerian-based scammers between July 2023 and December 2025.
According to the announcement, Marcus “received, concealed, and laundered millions of dollars in fraud proceeds.” He has been charged by indictment with one count of conspiracy to commit money laundering, six counts of illegal monetary transactions, and one count of money laundering – illegal concealment.
The indictment alleges that Marcus, while employed as a Logistics Specialist with the Department of Defense, was in direct and regular contact with Nigerian fraudsters who “engaged in a variety of wire fraud schemes that targeted victims based in the United States, including romance fraud, cyber fraud, tax fraud, financing fraud, and business email compromise schemes, to which victims lost millions of dollars.”
The group allegedly employed a network of U.S.-based money mules to help launder the fraud proceeds, and instructed victims to transfer funds to financial accounts opened and operated by various money mules, including those controlled by Marcus. They used aliases “Rachel Jude” and “Ned McMurray,” among others, while carrying out the activities.
The announcement continues:
The indictment alleges that, under the direction of fraudsters, the defendant and other money mules conducted a series of rapid financial transactions to convert fraud victim funds deposited into their accounts into cryptocurrency and to move those funds into foreign accounts. Marcus personally deposited and transferred millions of dollars of fraudulently obtained money into and through his personal and business accounts, while fully aware that “Rachel Jude” and “Ned McMurray” were scammers who carried out sophisticated fraud schemes. Marcus also affirmatively misled and lied to his financial institutions and law enforcement officers about the laundered funds, to include sending fraudulent invoices to make the transactions appear legitimate.
In fact, the indictment alleges that the defendant continued to work as a money mule for the fraudsters after being informed by FBI agents that the money passing through his accounts had been stolen from other people and that his monetary transfers were consistent with money laundering.
Marcus faces a maximum possible sentence of 100 years’ imprisonment, three years’ supervised release, and a $2 million fine.
The case was investigated by FBI Philadelphia’s Fort Washington Resident Agency, with assistance from Homeland Security Investigations and the Department of Defense Office of Inspector General’s Defense Criminal Investigative Service, and is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Samuel S. Dalke.
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