A Chicago man has been sentenced in federal court in Springfield, Mass., for his role in a nationwide wire fraud conspiracy that victimised businesses and individuals across the United States.
Terrence Bender, aka ‘Blends’, ‘Dopeblends’, 32, was sentenced by U.S. District Court Judge Mark G. Mastroianni to three years of probation.
Bender was also ordered to pay $103,000 in both restitution and forfeiture. In November 2024, Bender pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud.
A federal grand jury indicted Bender in December 2020 and five co-defendants, including rap promoter Antonio Strong, rap artists Herbert Wright and Joseph Williams, their associate Demario Sorrells and one other co-defendant.
According to court documents, beginning in at least March 2017 through November 2018, Bender, Strong, Williams, Sorrells, Wright and, allegedly, one other co-defendant conspired to defraud numerous businesses and individuals throughout the United States by using unauthorized and stolen payment card account information of real individuals – including the actual cardholders’ names, addresses, security codes and account expiration dates.
Generally, because the payment card information was authentic, the defrauded businesses and individuals successfully processed the fraudulent transactions and provided the goods and services to Bender and his co-conspirators.
The actual cardholders discovered these transactions on their accounts and disputed the charges with their card companies, who then charged back the transactions to the businesses and individuals, who consequently suffered losses in the amounts of the unauthorized transactions.
Strong was a music promoter and Bender was a rap artist and celebrity barber in the area around Chicago.
Bender and his co-conspirators used illicit account information to obtain, among other things, a private jet chart flight, a New York City villa rental, designer puppies from a pet boutique and car insurance in Bender’s own name.
In total, Bender was responsible for $103,000 in victim losses.
On July 28, 2023, Wright pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and one count of making a false statement to a federal official, and on January 11, 2024, was sentenced to three years’ probation and ordered to pay restitution and forfeiture of $139,968 and a $5,500 fine.
On February 2, 2024, Sorrells pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and, on August 29, 2024, was sentenced to three years’ probation and ordered to pay restitution and forfeiture of $106,481.
On March 8, 2024, Williams pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and, on August 13, 2024, was sentenced to three years’ probation and ordered to pay restitution and forfeiture of $155,392.
On May 22, 2024, Strong pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and four counts of wire fraud and, on October 29, 2024, was sentenced to three years in prison and ordered to pay restitution and forfeiture of $2,159,874.
