Judge sentences launderer for scam ring that targeted southern Arizona seniors

A New York man who laundered nearly $1 million from scams targeting older Americans, including southern Arizonans, was sentenced to more than 10 years in prison.

Ivan Seales, 58, was sentenced to 121 months on Friday. He was also ordered to pay back about $855,000.

While Seales had victims across the country, at least two were in Arizona.

One Pima County victim mailed Seales a $185,000 cashier’s check in February 2023 before wiring more than $220,000 to other companies in response to fake invoices.

A Sierra Vista victim got a fake Apple support warning and sent money to Seales via Zelle.

Prosecutors said Seales was part of an international group of scammers that used pop-ups, emails and texts posing as banks and tech companies. They told victims their accounts had been hacked or that they’d been mistakenly “over-refunded.”

Seales moved the money through shell companies, cryptocurrency and offshore transfers.

He was arrested in February 2023.

After his arrest, Seales agreed to help investigators.

But court filings show he kept messaging a contact in the scam network, asking for a cut of roughly $500,000 a month in stolen funds. Seales claimed he was keeping the line open for police. Arizona detectives told him to stop trying to “commit a crime to solve a crime.”

Seales already appealed the conviction.

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