Jamaican man sentenced to 6 years for $3.4m lottery fraud scheme

Sefton Stewart, 41, of Montego Bay, was sentenced to 72 months in federal prison for defrauding 28 victims across multiple US states.

Grand Rapids court jails Jamaican man six years over multi-state lottery scam

A federal judge in Grand Rapids, Michigan sentenced a Jamaican national to 72 months in prison on Friday for his role in a lottery fraud scheme that netted $3.4 million from 28 victims across the United States, detroitnews.com reports.

Sefton Olivair Stewart, 41, from Montego Bay, pleaded guilty in July to conspiracy to commit mail fraud and wire fraud. U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Michigan, Timothy VerHey, confirmed the sentence. Stewart will be deported to Jamaica upon completing his prison term.

"If you engage in fraud, we will find you no matter where you are, charge you, convict you and persuade a judge to put you in prison," VerHey said in a statement. "Stewart got that message today. Other con artists out there need to get the message that it's time to change careers."

Fake lottery wins, false government documents

Authorities alleged that Stewart, along with co-conspirator Danielle Diarbakerly and others, told at least 28 people between October 2019 and September 2024 that they had won cash prizes and luxury vehicles in a multistate lottery. Before victims could claim their winnings, the conspirators demanded upfront payments for taxes and fees — a hallmark of so-called advance-fee fraud.

To lend credibility to the scheme, investigators said the group used counterfeit bank and U.S. government documents. Homeland Security Investigations confirmed the operation fraudulently obtained $3.4 million in total.

Diarbakerly, a Florida resident who has been married to Stewart since January 2025 according to court records, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit money laundering and received a 37-month federal prison sentence.

Stewart was indicted in October 2025. After being extradited from Jamaica to Grand Rapids by the U.S. Marshals Service, he entered his guilty plea the following July.

Defence cites poverty, family ties

In a sentencing memo filed on Stewart's behalf, public defenders Sean Tilton and Eric Fleddermann of the Federal Public Defender's Office said their client accepts full responsibility and expressed remorse.

"Mr. Stewart apologizes for committing this offense," they wrote. "He is sorry for the harm suffered by the victims."

The attorneys also outlined Stewart's personal circumstances. He grew up in poverty and was forced out of his home at the age of ten, the memo stated. He has a documented history of substance abuse. Stewart has seven children, aged between ten months and 15 years, living in both Jamaica and the United States. He has not yet met his youngest daughter, who was born after his arrest.

According to the sentencing memo, Stewart launched a watersports business in Jamaica in 2019, and his ambition to expand that operation led him into the scheme.

VerHey was unsparing in his assessment of the case: "There are people out there, like Stewart and Diarbakerly, who have decided to make a career out of defrauding U.S. citizens. We are doing everything we can to send the message that such careers have no future."

Series of fraud sentences in Michigan

Stewart's sentencing came in the same week a federal judge in Detroit handed a former FBI agent convicted of fraud a 71-month prison term. Earlier in October, a Wayne County Circuit Court judge sentenced a Warren woman convicted of mortgage fraud and filing a false tax return to 51 months in prison. Last month, a Farmington Hills man pleaded guilty to orchestrating a COVID-19 loan fraud scheme.

Source: Google News JM — Crime