United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, Jamie McDonald, announced that JORDAN TROUGHT was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Vincent Briccetti to eight years in prison for his role as a high-ranking member of an international fraud ring that stole more than $9 million from more than 200 elderly victims in the United States via sweepstakes scams. TROUGHT was arrested in Jamaica on August 28, 2025, and subsequently extradited to the United States on October 22, 2025. In June 2026, he pled guilty before U.S. Magistrate Judge Judith C. McCarthy to conspiracy to commit wire fraud, mail fraud, and bank fraud.
“This sentence reflects the seriousness of schemes that deliberately target elderly victims and strip them of their financial security,” said U.S. Attorney Jamie McDonald. “Jordan Trought defrauded hundreds of elderly victims out of millions of dollars, taking advantage of their age to rob them of their hard-earned life savings. In doing so, he and his co-conspirators imposed devastating financial consequences on their victims.”
According to the Superseding Indictment, plea agreement, and statements made in public filings and in public court proceedings:
From at least 2015 through at least 2025, TROUGHT and others engaged in a fraud scheme perpetrated against elderly victims (the “Elder Fraud Scheme”), through which TROUGHT and his co-conspirators defrauded more than 200 elderly victims of more than $9 million. Victims of the Elder Fraud Scheme typically received an unsolicited phone call or text from an individual using a common name—e.g., “David Miller”—claiming they had won a life-changing amount of money and a luxury car from a well-known marketing and sweepstakes company, but needed to pay taxes or fees to addresses and accounts specified by the caller before receiving the prize. The caller then remained in contact with the victims and, after the victims made their initial payments as directed, informed the victims that additional payments were required to receive their purported winnings. Victims were instructed to send money by mailing checks, money orders, and cash, as well as by wire, Zelle, and Venmo transfer, to addresses and accounts identified by the caller. TROUGHT and his co-conspirators also gained control of some victims’ bank accounts, which they used to transfer money out of and through those accounts. Victims’ funds were ultimately transferred to associates of TROUGHT and his co-conspirators, as well as to an automobile business operated by TROUGHT in Jamaica.
TROUGHT, a citizen of Jamaica, operated the Elder Fraud Scheme from Jamaica, alongside co-conspirators based in both Jamaica and the United States. TROUGHT joined the fraud ring in or around March 2021 and became one of its leaders. TROUGHT is being held responsible for more than $6 million stolen from more than 100 victims from March 2021 through TROUGHT’s arrest in August 2025.
In addition to the prison term, TROUGHT, 31, was sentenced to three years of supervised release and ordered to pay forfeiture of $6,166,227.00.
Mr. McDonald praised the outstanding investigative work of the Special Agents of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York and the Internal Revenue Service – Criminal Investigation. Mr. McDonald also thanked the U.S. Marshals Service, the U.S. Department of Justice’s Office of International Affairs, and Jamaican authorities, including the Jamaican Constabulary Force, for their assistance in securing TROUGHT’s arrest and extradition.
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