Second Louisiana Defendant Pleads Guilty in $6.4 Million Conspiracy to Commit Wire Fraud and Money Laundering 

New Orleans, Louisiana – A second Louisiana defendant has pleaded guilty in a $6.4 million conspiracy to commit wire fraud and money laundering.

Lance M. Vallo, age 38 and a resident of Gueydan, Louisiana, pleaded guilty on April 6, 2023, to one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and one count of conspiracy to commit money laundering before U.S. District Court Judge Jane Triche-Milazzo, announced U.S. Attorney Duane A. Evans.

According to court records, Vallo plotted with Ryan Mullen, Duane Dufrene, Dillon Arceneaux, Grant Menard, and Zeb Sartin to swindle a merchant cash company based in Georgia by using a number of shell Louisiana companies with no assets. Mullen and Dufrene aided in the establishment of Arceneaux, Vallo, Menard, and Sartin as owners of existing firms. Mullen and Dufrene then set up bogus vendor accounts for the corporations, and Mullen, with the assistance of another individual, set up bogus bank records for the corporations. Vallo then used an alias to present himself as a broker for the companies he helped establish.

Mullen used another broker to supply the victim merchant cash advance company with bogus vendor accounts and bank data in order to receive funds. The victim cash advance firm approved the loans and began electronically wiring millions of dollars in advances to Arceneaux, Vallo, Menard, and Sartin. Arceneaux, Vallo, Menard, and Sartin laundered some of the funds by giving Mullen and Dufrene percentages. Arceneaux, Vallo, Menard, and Sartin subsequently shut down their non-existent enterprises before fully repaying the victim merchant cash advance company, resulting in $6.4 million in total damages. Vallo was solely accountable for the victim’s damages of around $876,000.

Vallo is scheduled to be sentenced on July 19, 2023, and faces a maximum term of five years for wire fraud conspiracy and up to twenty years for money laundering conspiracy. Following imprisonment, the offender faces up to three years of supervised release and a $250,000 fine for wire fraud and up to three years of supervised release and a $500,000 fine for money laundering. Each count is also subject to a $100 special assessment cost.

U.S. Attorney Evans praised the Federal Bureau of Investigation and IRS-Criminal Investigation special agents for their handling of the case. Assistant United States Attorneys Edward J. Rivera and Andre Lagarde of the Financial Crimes Unit are prosecuting the case.

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