A woman from Georgia who operated as a “money mule” in a large real estate wire fraud scheme was sentenced to jail time and probation in Ventura County late last week, the Ventura County District Attorney’s Office said. 

Jasmine Shante Faniel, 39, participated in a scheme where scammers gain access to real estate transactions by impersonating trusted parties like escrow officers, real estate agents and title representatives, among others, the DA’s Office stated in a release issued Monday afternoon. 

“This fraud typically occurs through sophisticated computer scammers operating outside the U.S. who compromise emails between the parties,” officials said. “Once fraudsters gain access to the transaction, they target buyers’ closing fees, sellers’ proceeds, lenders’ funds and even commissions.” 

The legitimate parties in the transaction send funds to the “money mules” after they are deceived through intercepted or manipulated emails, the DA’s office elaborated. The “money mules,” said to be low-level participants in the fraud, receive the stolen funds and launder them to individuals higher up in the scheme who are typically located outside of the United States. 

In the case of Faniel, she was found to have opened multiple bank accounts in her home state under the name Teresa Dennis in March 2023. She used those accounts to accept and launder the funds stolen from a Ventura County family attempting to purchase their first home, authorities said. 

The native of Conyers, Georgia – a city in the Atlanta metropolitan area – received the funds from another co-defendant, Abdoul Aziz Bah, and subsequently transferred most of the money to a bank account in Nigeria, where it was laundered through international auto auctions, the DA’s office release stated.

Investigators said she only retained a small portion for herself. 

“The investigation in this case determined both defendants acted as ‘money mules’ and that they received the stolen $201,000 from the victims and then laundered it,” authorities said. “During the investigation, $33,500 of the victims’ stolen money was traced to an account in Georgia in Faniel’s false name, Teresa Dennis.” 

Bah was sentenced to one year in jail and two years of probation in late September, authorities said. He was also ordered to pay full restitution to the victims; he had already paid $5,000 in restitution before his sentencing. 

Faniel pleaded guilty to receiving stolen property over $950 and money laundering on Sept. 26. Following her plea, the Ventura County District Attorney’s Office Real Estate Fraud Unit obtained a court order requiring the funds to be returned to the victims. As of Tuesday, $38,500 has been recovered and returned. 

She was sentenced to nine months in jail followed by two years of formal probation. 

The Ventura County District Attorney’s Office Real Estate Fraud Unit was assisted in the investigation by the Ventura County Sheriff’s Office Fugitive Unit, which completed the extraditions of the defendants from Georgia.

Officials remind homebuyers to always verify wire transfer requests by calling a known member of the transaction to confirm the request is valid before ever wiring funds.

The Maricopa County Recorder’s Office is standing by its choice to restore voter registration status of individuals affected by a glitch that impacted 218,000 voters.

“Maricopa County did not receive a complete list from the Secretary of State’s Office regarding who may have been impacted by the MVD data oversight,” the Recorder’s Office said in a statement to Fox News in part. 

“However, if impacted voters submitted a new voter registration form after the oversight was found, they appeared in our system as needing to provide DPOC upon their new registration form being processed. These voters were contacted individually to let them know their registration was incomplete. However, after further consideration, the decision was made to fully restore those voters from the not registered status, only if they were previously an existing, registered voter,” the statement read.

ARIZONA HIGH COURT RULES SECRETARY OF STATE MUST TURN OVER LIST OF NONCITIZENS ON VOTER ROLL

A worker at the Fulton County Board of Registration and Elections works to process absentee ballots at the State Farm Arena, Nov. 2, 2020, in Atlanta. (AP Photo/John Bazemore, File)

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Now, these voters can participate in the upcoming election as they did before, the recorder’s office said.

“Additionally, we know roughly 2,000 voters who were impacted in the MVD data oversight submitted voter registration updates and some of those may have been contacted about providing DPOC,” the statement read.

The county recorder added, “but since then, regardless of if they have provided that additional information, they have since been restored their original status for this election.”

Arizona’s high court ruled last Thursday the county must provide a conservative watchdog group with a list of noncitizens currently registered to vote after a lawsuit was lobbed against the county last year.

During an evidentiary hearing, Arizona Secretary of State Adrian Fontes testified that a system error had affected approximately 218,000 registered voters, the court document states.

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ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS ON VOTER ROLLS SPURS WATCHDOG GROUP TO SUE MARICOPA COUNTY

The order notes that Fontes acknowledged having a partial list of about 98,000 voters who have not confirmed their proof of citizenship but stated that no complete list of all 218,000 affected voters exists. Fontes attributed a government press release’s mention of a complete list to “hasty drafting” and unclear language. He also claimed that the Motor Vehicle Division (MVD) had not provided him with any list containing personal information for the additional voters potentially lacking sufficient documentation.

However, the court concluded his testimony was inconsistent; Fontes initially denied possessing the list of 98,000 voters before amending his statement.

“His testimony suggested that he lacked detailed familiarity with the AZSOS’s [Arizona Secretary of State] efforts with regard to the issue and with regard to the records in the possession of the AZSOS related to the 218,000 individuals,” the court document states.

The decision comes after AFL filed suit on behalf of the nonprofit group Strong Communities Foundation of Arizona and Yvonne Cahill, a registered voter and naturalized citizen in Maricopa County.

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IN ARIZONA SPEECH, VANCE SAYS NEXT PRESIDENT MUST PUT AMERICANS FIRST, SLAMS FEMA MONEY FOR MIGRANTS

Candidates for president and vice president of the United States, Democrats Vice President Kamala Harris and Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, and Republicans former President Donald Trump and Sen. JD Vance, R-Ohio, are seen on part of a mail-in election ballot in New York on Sunday, Nov. 3, 2024.  (AP Photo/Patrick Sison)

AFL had previously given Maricopa County one week to address the alleged noncitizens on its voter rolls.

The lawsuit claims that, as of April 2024, more than 35,000 registered voters in Arizona had not provided proof of citizenship, limiting them to voting only in federal races, according to the Arizona Secretary of State’s Office.

Maricopa County Recorder Stephen Richer, through his attorney, stated that he would not take any action, “citing, among other things, concerns for the safety of voters, and concerns about the accuracy of the list,” and claimed his office is already complying with the law, the Arizona high court document read.

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Get the latest updates from the 2024 campaign trail, exclusive interviews and more at our Fox News Digital election hub.

Jamie Joseph is a writer who covers politics. She leads Fox News Digital coverage of the Senate. 

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SEATTLE (AP) — Factory workers at Boeing voted to accept a contract offer and end their strike after more than seven weeks, clearing the way for the aerospace giant to resume production of its bestselling airliner and generate much-needed cash.

Leaders of the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers district in Seattle said 59% of members who cast ballots agreed to approve the company’s fourth formal offer and the third put to a vote. The deal includes a 38% wage increase over four years, and ratification and productivity bonuses.

However, Boeing refused to meet strikers’ demand to restore a company pension plan that was frozen nearly a decade ago.

The contract’s ratification on the eve of Election Day cleared the way for a major U.S. manufacturer and government contractor to restart Pacific Northwest assembly lines that the walkout idled for 53 days.

Bank of America analysts estimated last month that Boeing was losing about $50 million a day during the now-ended strike, which did not affect a nonunion plant in South Carolina where the company makes 787s.

Boeing CEO Kelly Ortberg said in a message to employees that he was pleased to have reached an agreement.

“While the past few months have been difficult for all of us, we are all part of the same team,” Ortberg said. “We will only move forward by listening and working together. There is much work ahead to return to the excellence that made Boeing an iconic company.”

According to the union, the 33,000 workers it represents can return to work as soon as Wednesday or as late as Nov. 12. Ortberg has said it might take “a couple of weeks” to resume production in part because some workers might need retraining.

The average annual pay of Boeing machinists is currently $75,608 and eventually will rise to $119,309 under the new contract, according to the company. The union said the compounded value of the promised pay raise would amount to an increase of more than 43% over the life of the agreement.

Reactions were mixed even among union members who voted to accept the contract.

Although she voted “yes,” Seattle-based calibration specialist Eep Bolaño said the outcome was “most certainly not a victory.” Bolaño said she and her fellow workers made a wise but infuriating choice to accept the offer.

“We were threatened by a company that was crippled, dying, bleeding on the ground, and us as one of the biggest unions in the country couldn’t even extract two-thirds of our demands from them. This is humiliating,” she said.

For other workers like William Gardiner, a lab lead in calibration services, the revised offer was a cause for celebration.

“I’m extremely pumped over this vote,” said Gardiner, who has worked for Boeing for 13 years. “We didn’t fix everything — that’s OK. Overall, it’s a very positive contract.”

Union leaders had endorsed the latest proposal, saying they thought they had gotten all they could though negotiations and the strike. Along with the wage increase, the new contract gives each worker a $12,000 ratification bonus and retains a performance bonus the company wanted to eliminate.

“It is time for our members to lock in these gains and confidently declare victory,” leaders of IAM District 751 said before the vote. “We believe asking members to stay on strike longer wouldn’t be right as we have achieved so much success.”

President Joe Biden congratulated the machinists and Boeing for coming to an agreement that he said supports fairness in the workplace and improves workers’ ability to retire with dignity. The contract, he said, is important for Boeing’s future as “a critical part of America’s aerospace sector.”

Biden’s acting labor secretary, Julie Su, intervened in the negotiations several times, including when Boeing made its latest offer last week.

A continuing strike would have plunged Boeing into further financial peril and uncertainty. Last month, Ortberg announced plans to layoff about 17,000 people and a stock sale to prevent the company’s credit rating from being cut to junk status.

The strike began Sept. 13 with an overwhelming 94.6% rejection of the company’s offer to raise pay by 25% over four years — far less than the union’s original demand for 40% wage increases over three years.

Machinists voted down another offer — 35% raises over four years, and still no revival of pensions — on Oct. 23, the same day that Boeing reported a third-quarter loss of more than $6 billion.

The contract rejections reflected bitterness that built up after union concessions and small pay increases over the past decade.

The labor standoff — the first strike by Boeing machinists since an eight-week walkout in 2008 — was the latest setback in a volatile year for the aerospace giant. The 2008 strike lasted eight weeks and cost the company about $100 million daily in deferred revenue. A 1995 strike lasted 10 weeks.

Boeing came under several federal investigations this year after a door plug blew off a 737 Max plane during an Alaska Airlines flight in January. Federal regulators put limits on Boeing airplane production that they said would last until they felt confident about manufacturing safety at the company.

The door-plug incident renewed concerns about the safety of the 737 Max. Two of the planes had crashed less than five months apart in 2018 and 2019, killing 346 people. The CEO at the time, whose efforts to fix the company failed, announced in March that he would step down. In July, Boeing agreed to plead guilty to conspiracy to commit fraud for deceiving regulators who approved the 737 Max.

Washington Gov. Jay Inslee said Monday’s vote puts Boeing’s future back on more solid footing.

“Washington is home to the world’s most skilled aerospace workers, and they understandably took a stand for the respect and compensation they deserve,” Inslee said in a statement congratulating the workers.

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Koenig reported from Dallas and Schoenbaum from Salt Lake City.