The Department of Justice confirmed that on December 4, an Austin court sentenced Kota Youngblood to 40 years in prison. This judgment comes over a year after his arrest at the Austin Bergstrom International Airport, and a few months after trial. Back in April, he was convicted of four counts of wire fraud and one count of money laundering. Through the years he defrauded 32 victims of $12 million.
His mode of operation involved targeting families from his son’s hockey team. Per NY Post court documents detail that he lied to his victims about them being targeted by dangerous Mexican cartels. He posed as a retired Delta Force agent with a wealth of information that could offer them protection.
At a 2023 trial, some of his victims shared their experiences with the conman. One of the witnesses was a divorcee whose son was on the same hockey team as Kota’s. So the scammer used his son to lure his victim claiming that it was an issue regarding his ex-wife.
The suspect revealed that he had hard-core evidence of the ex-wife enlisting a hitman to kill the victim, to claim the $6.1 million insurance on his life. However, he promised protection and demanded money. The victim gave him $70,000, $86,000, and $83,000 respectively.
Throughout the dealings, the fraudster refused to communicate by phone or via email as he always made his meetings physical. Authorities confirmed that his crimes date back to 2010. In May 2023, the convict spoke with an undercover cop. Unbeknownst to him, Kota Youngblood lied about his work prowess, adding that he freelanced for the Department of Defence.
#Clique, what are your thoughts?
