A former New Jersey man has been extradited back to the state to face charges he stole at least $660,000 when he ran a service matching art and music students seeking lessons with teachers offering instruction more than a decade ago.
Michael Lawson, 49, was indicted in 2013 on six counts of wire fraud and six counts of international money laundering, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for New Jersey said Friday.
Lawson repeatedly renewed students’ contracts without their consent by charging credit cards they had provided when he ran Amadeus Home Music School and Home Art School out of his home in Sparta in 2008 and 2009, prosecutors said. He also failed to pay teachers who were owed money for lessons they had already provided, authorities said.
Lawson later traveled to Freetown, Sierra Leone and Dubai, United Arab Emirates and arranged for two of his employees to wire him thousands of dollars to international accounts because he was investing in a gold mine in Africa, according to court papers. All of the money wired was increments of less than $10,000 so Lawson could avoid detection, prosecutors said. In all about $207,000 was wired to Lawson between September 2008 and February 2009.
Credit card companies reimbursed students for $660,000 in fraudulent charges but haven’t been able to recover the funds from Lawson, charging documents state.
Our journalism needs your support. Please subscribe today to NJ.com.
Jeff Goldman may be reached at [email protected].