NICK ALICEA: The MoneyGram case came to our attention when we saw a large buildup of agents who were conducting frauds– lottery schemes, business opportunity schemes, Internet purchase schemes– all different types of schemes.
CRAIG TIMM: MoneyGram received thousands, tens of thousands of complaints from victims.
KIM DANIEL: We soon came to realize that the company was aware of what was going on with some of these corrupt agents.
CRAIG TIMM: They gave these agents additional outlets. They gave them bonuses. In one case, they threw a party for the agent.
CHRISTY FAWCETT: Certainly there was a trend that was noticed by all of us who were involved in these investigations and prosecutions, and that is that we saw more and more of these collusive agents. It was a joint decision to pursue MoneyGram.
CRAIG TIMM: The MoneyGram case would have never gotten to where it was without the work of Nick Alicea and Mike Hartman, two postal inspectors in the Middle District of Pennsylvania.
KIM DANIEL: These Postal Inspectors that we worked with, they did not give up.
CRAIG TIMM: They worked for year after year after year, facing obstacle after obstacle after obstacle, with their ultimate goal of getting this money back to victims.
NICK ALICEA: AFMLS's been tremendous with this case. They were not only tremendous on the prosecutorial end, but they've been tremendous on the remission end.
CRAIG TIMM: To be able to bring restitution back to tens of thousands of people– people that lost their life's savings, people who were true victims– it's a great feeling at the end of the day.
NICK ALICEA: This case has been the most rewarding case I've ever worked. So far, through March of this year, we've been able to return over $62 million dollars to over 22 thousand victims.
KIM DANIEL: Some of these people had been waiting many, many years for a restitution check like that.
NICK ALICEA: We were able to bring the financial justice to these victims.
