Manitowoc woman sentenced for $10M money laundering

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A 64-year-old Manitowoc woman was sentenced to 18 months in federal prison and ordered to pay more than $10 million in restitution for a money laundering scheme.

According to court records, Cherie Campion, through her temporary staffing agency, generated and submitted thousands of fraudulent invoices, causing respective losses of $5 million and $5,389,371 for two companies she deceived. Campion pleaded guilty to two counts of money laundering.

While imposing her sentence, Judge Lynn Adelman emphasized this was “significant” misconduct, involving large dollar amounts and lies that continued over the course of years. Adelman noted that Campion’s crimes were sophisticated and involved “intricate operations,” including the generation of fake financial records; the creation of a fictitious persona to deceive her victims; and Campion’s employment of a voice modulator to facilitate her deception. Although Adelman concluded Campion was unlikely to reoffend given her age and lack of prior criminal history, he still believed prison time was necessary to “promote general deterrence” and hopefully dissuade other would-be white-collar criminals.

In addition to prison time and reimbursement, Adelman also ordered Campion to three years of supervised release.

“Cherie Campion devised an elaborate fraud scheme which caused significant loss to the victims. The sentencing of Campion and the accompanying restitution order of more than $10 million serves justice for the victims of this fraud scheme,” said FBI Milwaukee Special Agent in Charge Alan Karr.