‘Elaborate scheme.’ Georgia man gets prison time in $1.3M Manatee County scam
A Georgia man who helped carry out a fraud scheme that cost Manatee County Government nearly $1.4 million will spend decades under court supervision after a judge rejected requests for a lighter sentence.
Judge D. Ryan Felix sentenced Ezekiel Deshaun Chester, 27, to six years in prison followed by 54 years of probation after Chester pleaded no contest in December to charges of scheme to defraud and money laundering. During Friday’s sentencing hearing, attorneys for both sides sparred over whether Chester deserved prison time or a lighter sentence.
Manatee County Attorney Pamela D’Agostino urged the court to impose a substantial sentence, describing the crime as a “deliberate and calculated betrayal of the public trust.”
“Despite court orders and ongoing proceedings, the vast majority of the stolen taxpayer funds remain unrecovered,” D’Agostino said. “The financial harm to the county and its citizens is real, ongoing and substantial.”
Jennifer Linzy, a spokesperson for the clerk’s office, told the Bradenton Herald on Friday that about $510,000 has been recovered to date.
Man sentenced in Manatee County fraud scheme
Defense attorney Daphney Branham argued Chester played a relatively minor role in the scheme, worked had maintained full-time employment and cooperated extensively with federal investigators. She asked Felix to impose a lighter sentence that would allow Chester to work and pay restitution.
D’Agostino, however, also noted that co-defendant Timothy Ledford, who previously received a substantially lighter sentence, is facing allegations that he violated his probation after failing to make required restitution payments.
Felix agreed that several factors weighed in favor of a lighter sentence, including Chester’s relatively minor role in the scheme and the need for him to remain employed to pay restitution. But Felix said the seriousness of the crime outweighed those factors and rejected the request.
“The primary purpose of sentencing is to punish,” Felix said. “Rehabilitation is a desired goal of the criminal justice system, but is subordinate to the goal of punishment.”
Felix said stealing more than $1 million from a public institution weighed heavily in his decision and described the fraud as a “sophisticated” and “elaborate scheme.”
Local fraud case part of international scheme, prosecutors say
Assistant State Attorney Justin Foster sought a sentence of 15 years in prison followed by 15 years of probation. Foster argued that although Chester was near the bottom of the operation, the scheme could not have succeeded without people willing to provide bank accounts and move stolen money.
“Without these even lower-level folks, the fraud can’t be perpetrated,” Foster said at the hearing.
Foster told the court the fraud was part of a larger international scheme in which overseas hackers gained access to business email accounts, monitored communications and intercepted payments using spoofed email addresses. He said Chester and Ledford were recruited to provide bank accounts used to receive and move stolen funds after the money was diverted from its intended recipient.
Foster later told the Bradenton Herald that the fraud closely mirrored conduct alleged in a federal case in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Ohio involving an international email-spoofing and money-laundering operation. Foster said the hackers responsible for the scheme were “almost certainly” located in Nigeria.
Judge gives Georgia man harsher sentence than co-defendant
A defense attorney argued Chester deserved a sentence similar to co-defendant Ledford, who previously received 11 months and 29 days in jail followed by probation and was ordered to pay $1.37 million in restitution after agreeing to testify against his co-defendants.
Branham noted Chester argued the disparity between his proposed sentence and Ledford’s was difficult to justify because prosecutors acknowledged the two men occupied similar roles in the conspiracy.
She also highlighted Chester’s participation in a roughly 30-hour interview with federal investigators.
Chester apologized during the hearing and said he initially did not understand the full scope of the fraud. “At first I really didn’t understand what I had gotten into,” Chester said. “I was trying to get some quick money.”
Chester testified that he personally received about $7,500 after cashing a $20,000 check connected to the scheme.
How was Manatee County scammed out of $1.3 million?
Chester was one of three men prosecutors say were involved in a 2023 fraud that targeted the Manatee County Clerk of the Circuit Court and Comptroller’s Office.
Investigators say county officials were tricked into sending two wire transfers totaling $1,370,631 to bank accounts controlled by the suspects after they posed as representatives of Neal Land and Neighborhoods, a Lakewood Ranch-based development company that was expecting payment for work on an extension of Fort Hamer Road in Parrish.
According to an arrest report, the fraud began when the clerk’s office emailed legitimate Neal Land representatives in March 2023 regarding payment for the project.
Investigators say an unknown third party then began responding to those emails while posing as company representatives and requested that the payment method be changed from an in-person check to a wire transfer.
Detectives say the impostor supplied fraudulent documents on Neal Land letterhead, including a falsified W-9 tax form, a standby letter of credit and a letter of account verification.
A little more than a week later, investigators say, the clerk’s office wired $221,165 to a Capital One bank account controlled by Ledford. Three days later, officials sent a second wire transfer of $1,149,466 to the same account.
Bank records later reviewed by detectives showed large withdrawals and transfers following the wire payments. Investigators also obtained surveillance photos showing withdrawals at multiple bank branches.
Investigators say the scheme unraveled when representatives of Neal Land contacted the county to ask when they should expect payment and learned the money had already been sent.
Fraud coordinated through messaging app, prosecutors say
Manatee County Clerk of the Circuit Court and Comptroller Angel Colonneso previously described the case as a “highly sophisticated fraud.”
Deputies arrested Chester and Ledford in Georgia in 2023 before extraditing both men to Manatee County.
Court records show Chester’s case remained pending for more than two years as hearings were postponed and trial dates reset several times before he entered his plea on the day his trial was scheduled to begin.
As part of the plea agreement, prosecutors dropped a related conspiracy charge.
During Friday’s hearing, Foster said Chester and Ledford occupied the lowest level of the operation, while alleged co-defendant Ibrahima Biteye operated one level above them. Chester testified that he met Biteye through a Telegram group chat and introduced him to Ledford. Foster later told the Bradenton Herald that Ledford provided the bank accounts used in the scheme, while Chester helped connect Ledford and Biteye.
Court records show Manatee authorities obtained an arrest warrant for Biteye in 2024 on allegations of fraud, money laundering and conspiracy. Foster told the Bradenton Herald that Biteye is currently in custody in Georgia on racketeering charges and will be extradited to Manatee County once those proceedings are complete.
After Chester completes his prison sentence, he will spend 54 years on probation, including 24 years for the fraud conviction and a consecutive 30 years for money laundering. Felix also prohibited Chester from working in positions involving control of third-party funds or fiduciary responsibilities.
Under Florida law, Chester faced a maximum of up to 60 years in prison.
A restitution hearing will be scheduled at a later date to determine how much Chester must repay.
