‘Blood is on your hands’: Feds say incarcerated man extorted $3.5M from Delaware woman

From Philly and the Pa. suburbs to South Jersey and Delaware, what would you like WHYY News to cover? Let us know!

From behind bars in Georgia, a man with a history of firearms and theft convictions allegedly made an offer to a Delaware woman whose boyfriend was incarcerated.

For $40,000, Dante Fredrick claimed he could persuade a witness to recant her incriminating statements against the Delaware woman’s boyfriend and get him out of the Georgia prison.

So she paid, transferring $40,000 from her Bank of America account to a Georgia credit union.

The woman’s payment, however, was just the start of what federal prosecutors describe as a relentless, frightening and wide-ranging extortion, wire fraud and money laundering scheme that Fredrick and several “money mules” committed against her over a one-year period ending in November 2022.

In all, prosecutors said the Delaware woman paid “the criminal enterprise” cash and property valued at a whopping $3.5 million.

Fredrick, 43, also extorted three loved ones of two other men incarcerated in Georgia, according to an indictment filed in U.S. District Court in Wilmington in April. Eight other Georgia residents who worked as Fredrick’s “money mules” also face charges in the case. The indictment was not made public until this month.

Frederick and his partners allegedly used the money to buy used luxury vehicles, including a Bently, a Maserati, two Hummers, mobile homes and land in and around Brunswick, Georgia. They also allegedly funded a car rental business called One Way Auto.

The other members of the alleged crime ring opened and maintained bank accounts where the extorted money was kept, and bought cars, property and ran the rental lot at Fredrick’s direction, the indictment said.

Fredrick, who also uses the name Asaad Amir Hasuan, has pleaded not guilty.

None of the alleged victims or the incarcerated men they were trying to help with their payments were identified.

‘I hope you have money for funeral arrangements.’

While the other alleged victims — a New Jersey woman whose brother was in prison along with a Georgia man and woman whose relative was behind bars — ponied up a total of $375,000, the fraud against the Delaware woman was massive and details of the crimes against her dominate the 28-page indictment.

After the woman sent the $40,000, prosecutors say the demands intensified, often accompanied by threats. Sometimes, Fredrick sent texts from prison, and other times he had his partners contact her, the indictment said.

Fredrick followed up with his promise of getting the witness to recant by telling the Delaware woman that her boyfriend would be killed, and that she and her family also were in danger, unless she sent more cash, prosecutors wrote.

He also allegedly informed the woman that he was a wealthy real estate investor and stockbroker who could recoup her money through investments that he would facilitate in real estate and other business ventures. Actually, Fredrick has spent 12 of the last 16 years behind bars and is currently serving a 10-year sentence for false imprisonment, Georgia state prison records show.

The Delaware woman sent the money, sometimes more than $200,000 at a time, using “wire transfers, online banking transfers, cashier’s checks, money orders, peer to peer payments and cash,’’ the indictment said.

Fredrick also gave her pointers about how to handle or ward off inquiries from her banks, which besides Bank of America also included M&T and Wells Fargo. For example, when she made the first $40,000 wire transfer, the woman wrote “property purchase” to describe the transaction, the indictment said.

The woman funded the purchases of cars and property in a variety of ways, such as withdrawing money from retirement accounts and taking cash advances on credit cards, the indictment said.

One wire transfer was for $59,000 and was allegedly used to buy a 2010 Bentley Continental GT sedan from an Ohio dealership.

By November 2022, after paying $3.5 million total, the woman decided enough was enough and informed Fredrick she wouldn’t pay any more, the indictment said, but he responded by sending a series of threatening text messages, the indictment said.

“Answer the [expletive] phone or you will regret it,’’ one text message said, according to the indictment. “This blood is on your hands,’’ another said.

Fredrick allegedly claimed in the texts that she owed him $2 million, adding “I hope you have money for funeral arrangements.” He finally gave her an ultimatum: “If you want to survive this the money must go in,” the indictment said.

The woman halted her flow of money that month, however, to what the indictment called “the criminal enterprise.”

At some point, the FBI began investigating, and in April, Frederick and the others were indicted.

Delaware U.S. Attorney for Delaware David Weiss and the case prosecutors would not agree to an interview about the case.

In a written statement, Weiss said that while behind bars, Frederick “orchestrated an illegal scheme that defrauded victims of millions of dollars. Working with our law enforcement partners, my office will continue to prioritize prosecuting individuals who choose to continue to disregard the rule of law.”

Federal authorities are seeking to identify possible additional victims of the alleged extortion scheme. Anyone with information is urged to contact the FBI’s Baltimore office at 410-265-8080.