Jamaican Fraudster Extradited to Michigan Sentenced to 72 Months in $3.4M Lottery Scam
The U.S. Attorney's Office for the Western District of Michigan announced on October 16 that Sefton Olivair Stewart, also known as 'Powa,' 41, of Montego Bay, Jamaica, was sentenced to 72 months in federal prison for his role in a nationwide scheme that fraudulently obtained $3.4 million from 28 victims, including one in West Michigan. U.S. District Judge Paul Maloney sentenced Stewart in Grand Rapids; Stewart will be removed from the United States after serving his sentence.
Stewart was extradited from Jamaica to Grand Rapids by the U.S. Marshals Service in July 2026, and pleaded guilty to participating in a conspiracy to commit mail and wire fraud. Between October 2019 and September 2024, Stewart, Florida resident Danielle Diarbakerly and others falsely told victims they had won large cash prizes and luxury vehicles in a multistate lottery, and that they first had to pay taxes and fees to claim them, using fake bank and U.S. government documents to support the claims. Diarbakerly previously pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit money laundering and was sentenced to 37 months.
'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,' said U.S. Attorney Timothy VerHey. The case was investigated by Homeland Security Investigations in Grand Rapids and IRS Criminal Investigation. (GSM, from the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Western District of Michigan)
Published by GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: 密歇根州大急流城地标雕塑「La Grande Vitesse」 / La Grande Vitesse, the landmark sculpture in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Photo: Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 2.0.
