A Florida woman has been sentenced to three years in prison for her role in a business email compromise scheme that stole more than $1.5 million from victims across the country, federal prosecutors said.
Zamar McPherson, 50, of Boynton Beach, Florida, pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit bank and wire fraud and two counts of wire fraud. She was sentenced on November 12th, 2026, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Virginia.
The court imposed three years of supervised release in addition to the prison term. McPherson must also forfeit $154,474.85 and share responsibility for restitution payments exceeding $1.5 million to four victims along with her co-conspirators.
How the scheme worked
Prosecutors said McPherson conspired with Garland Shelton of Wytheville, Virginia, Olivia Oxley of Brooklyn, New York, and others in the business email compromise scheme.
The victims had planned to send legitimate wire payments to certain payees. A member of the conspiracy created and used fictitious email accounts and provided new account information for the wire payments to the victims, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
The victims were then defrauded into sending large sums of money to bank accounts belonging to McPherson, Shelton and Oxley. The three created and used personal and illegitimate business accounts at various financial institutions to facilitate the fraudulent wire transfer payments.
Co-conspirators and investigation
Shelton and Oxley received their sentences earlier in 2026.
Homeland Security Investigations and the Eden Prairie Police Department led the inquiry with assistance from additional state and local agencies. Assistant U.S. Attorney Corey Hall prosecuted the case.
