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  Case 8:23-cr-00431-TPB-SPF
  

  On June November 28, 2023, The United States Attorney brought charges against Morris Goldstein.  For more information, please check in United States District Court, Middle District of Florida, Tampa Division (Case 8:23-cr-00431-TPB-SPF)
  
  The following are United States Attorney charges filed against Morris Goldstein:
   
  COUNT I: Conspiracy to Commit Money Laundering

  COUNT II: Filing False Federal Tax Returns

   

  Beginning around March 2015 and continuing through May 18, 2022, the defendant conspired to commit money laundering, knowing the financial transactions represented proceeds of some form of bank fraud, knowing the transaction was designed in whole or part to conceal and disguise the nature, location, source, ownership and control of the proceeds of unlawful activity.

   

  It was a part of the conspiracy that Goldstein and others would and did recruit and hire others (“straw owners”), purportedly to work for Aspire Marketing, in order to obtain and use their personally identifiable information (“PII”). The PII of straw owners were used to create shell companies, Goldstein and others would and did take steps to make the shell companies legitimate, including: establishing under the straw owner business name, address, telephone number, email addresses and websites; obtaining Employer Identification Numbers; opening business bank accounts at various financial institutions in the names of the shell companies. They hid the business affiliation with Goldstein and/or Aspire Marketing, MSJ Enterprises, and JMS Enterprise by suggesting the shell company was owned by the straw owner.

   

  Conspirators would and did use the shell companies’ merchant processing accounts to process credit cards and/or debit cards purportedly relating to the sale of dietary products and/or skin care products for customers who had unwittingly signed up for a monthly subscription for the products. Customer complaints about the monthly charges gave rise to a high level of chargebacks and closure of the accounts by the Acquiring Banks and/or ISOs, the conspirators would and did open new shell companies and new merchant accounts repeating the process. The conspirators would share bank fraud proceeds from the merchant accounts between and among accounts owned by Goldstein at several different financial institutions, including Bank of Tampa, Bank OZK, Hancock Whitney, and Fifth Third Banks.

  On or about October 14, 2021, in the Middle District of Florida and elsewhere, the defendant Morris Goldstein, did willfully make and subscribe a joint IRS Form 1040 for calendar year 2020, which was verified by a written declaration that it was made under penalties of perjury, which the defendant does not believe to be true and correct as to ever material matter. The IRS Form 1040 stated an amount of total income at Line 09 of $314,638.00 which the defendant then and there knew was understated and did not include at least $1,972,421 in income that was generated from Aspire Marketing, JMS Enterprise, and MSJ Enterprise business bank accounts and subsequently used for personal expenses.

  Upon conviction of violation, the defendant shall forfeit to the United States and property constitution real or personal involved in such offense or any property traceable to such property. The property to be forfeited includes, but is not limited to:

   

  - Contents of multiple Hancock Whitney bank accounts under the names of: Aspire Marketing Enterprises LLC; JMS Enterprise Inc of Largo

  - Contents of Fifth Third Bank accounts under the names of: Morris Kent Goldstein; Stanley Goldstein

  - A 2017 Aston Martin

  - A 2018 Dodge Challenger

  - $152,500 in United States Currency

  - $18,661 in United States Currency

   

  If any of the property described above, as a result of any act or omission of the defendant: cannot be located upon the excise of due diligence; has been transferred or soled to or deposited with a third party; has been placed beyond the jurisdiction of the Court; has been substantially diminished in value; or has been comingled with other property which cannot be divided without difficulty; the United States shall be entitled to forfeiture of substitute property under the provisions of statute.

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