FBI Busts $5M Utility Scheme by Illinois Man Over 7 Year Period

The FBI in Illinois has announced that a man in Illinois was caught creating a $5 million dollar utility scheme that victimized thousands and was carried out over a 7-year period.

The FBI in Chicago just shared a stunning result on their social media pages involving a guilty plea from a man in Illinois who fraudulently offered to arrange utility services for two thousand properties.

The United States Attorney's Office in the Northern District of Illinois added more details about exactly what David W. Brown, 55, of Chicago did that led to this guilty plea. They stated that Mr. Brown "offered to arrange electricity and natural gas services for residential and commercial properties in the Chicago area in return for a fee". He then opened new accounts for these services with a utility company at the addresses where individuals paid him. The FBI says that he would use fake customer names and when the utility companies would threaten to disconnect, he would open more new accounts using false identities to keep the scheme going. They say the scheme resulted in $5 million dollars of fraud and was carried out beginning in 2017 and continuing through early 2024. His guilty plea to a federal wire charge could result in up to 20 years in federal prison. David W. Brown's sentencing is scheduled for October 15, 2025.