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The Department of Justice has announced the arrest of a Department of Defense employee who allegedly laundered millions of dollars for a Nigerian fraud ring.

Getting into it: According to the DOJ, Samuel D. Marcus, 33, of Oreland, Pennsylvania, worked with a network of Nigeria-based scammers to launder millions of dollars stolen from American victims through various online fraud schemes. The scammers, operating under aliases such as “Rachel Jude” and “Ned McMurray,” used Marcus as a money mule, directing him to open multiple personal and business bank accounts to receive large wire transfers from victims. Acting under their instructions, Marcus created a limited liability company to further disguise the movement of funds, converting the stolen money into cryptocurrency and transferring it to foreign accounts to obscure its origins.

Prosecutors allege that Marcus was fully aware of the fraudulent nature of the operation, yet continued to aid the scheme even after being warned by the FBI that the funds he was handling were stolen. The scammers’ operations included romance scams, tax fraud, cyber fraud, business email compromise, and other types of financial deception targeting US citizens. Marcus allegedly deposited and moved millions of dollars through his accounts, sometimes receiving transfers of up to $200,000 at a time. In exchange, he was paid either flat fees or allowed to skim money from the amounts he laundered.

As part of the scheme, Marcus is accused of lying to financial institutions and law enforcement, including submitting fake invoices to make the transactions appear legitimate.

At the time of his arrest on February 3, he was still employed as a logistics specialist for the Defense Logistics Agency and held a security clearance. Investigators also found more than 100 credit and debit cards in his possession.

Marcus has been charged with one count of conspiracy to commit money laundering, one count of money laundering involving concealment, and six counts of illegal monetary transactions. If convicted on all charges, he faces up to 100 years in prison and a fine of up to $2 million.