New York Man Sentenced to Five Years in Prison For Role in $4 Million Extortion Scheme

            WASHINGTON – Robert Evans, 35, of New York, N.Y., was sentenced today to five years in prison for his role in a wide-ranging fraud, extortion, and money laundering scheme, which involved one of his brothers pretending to be a New York mobster to get a Maryland man to embezzle more than $4 million from his Washington, D.C., employer.  Evans is the fourth defendant to be sentenced in the case.

            The announcement was made by U.S. Attorney Matthew M. Graves and Wayne A. Jacobs, Special Agent in Charge of the FBI Washington Field Office’s Criminal Division.

            Evans pleaded guilty in April 2021, in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, to interference with interstate commerce by extortion. He was sentenced by the Honorable Emmet G. Sullivan. In addition to the prison term, Judge Sullivan ordered that Evans serve three years of supervised release. Consistent with his plea agreement, Evans also must pay $4,217,542 in restitution and $777,955 in a forfeiture money judgment.

            In April 2018, a federal grand jury indicted Evans, his common-law ex-wife Gina Russell, his brothers Tony John Evans and Corry Blue Evans, and his parents Archie Kaslov and Candy Evans, on various charges.

            According to the government’s evidence, as part of the scheme, a New York woman conspired with Robert Evans, Russell, Tony John Evans, Corry Blue Evans, and Kaslov to extort money and gold bars from a Maryland man, which caused the man to embezzle funds from his employer between January 2017 and March 2017. The man converted embezzled funds to cash and gold bars. He delivered the money and gold bars to New York drop-off locations, including a hotel room, believing the funds were going to mobsters to whom the New York woman owed money. At one point during the scheme, Tony John Evans spoke to the man on the phone and threatened him by asking if he needed to remind the man where his kids went to school and where the man lived.

            In reality, all of the funds that the man embezzled and delivered to New York went to members of the Evans-Kaslov family. Among other things, Robert Evans arranged the logistics of a $500,000 cash payment, which involved renting hotel rooms, retrieving the cash after the Maryland man delivered it, and taking the cash to a co-conspirator’s residence.

            Like Robert Evans, Tony John Evans and Russell pleaded guilty to interference with interstate commerce by extortion. Tony John Evans, 33, was sentenced to five years in prison. Russell, also 33, has not yet been sentenced.

            Kaslov, 55, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit wire fraud, and admitted to driving family members around New York with cash obtained from the scheme, selling gold bars for cash, and traveling to Texas to purchase a Rolls Royce Phantom Drophead for more than $300,000 in cash. In April 2022, Judge Sullivan sentenced Kaslov to 30 months in prison.

            Candy Evans, 53, pleaded guilty to tampering with a witness by corrupt persuasion or misleading conduct. As part of her guilty plea, she admitted that once the FBI launched its investigation, she counseled the New York woman whom the Maryland man met on Backpage to lie to people, including the FBI.  In November 2017, she also instructed Russell to lie to the FBI.  In April 2022, Judge Sullivan sentenced her to a year and a day in prison.

            Charges remain outstanding against Corry Blue Evans, 29, who has pleaded not guilty.

            In announcing the sentence, U.S. Attorney Graves and Special Agent in Charge Jacobs commended the work of those who investigated the case from the FBI’s Washington Field Office Criminal Division. They expressed appreciation for assistance provided by the U.S. Department of Justice Office of the Inspector General.  They also acknowledged the efforts of those who worked on the case from the U.S. Attorney’s Office, including Assistant U.S. Attorneys Diane Lucas and Arvind Lal, who assisted with forfeiture issues, Assistant U.S. Attorneys Oliver McDaniel and Melissa Goforth Koenig, who assisted with restraining funds that Candy Evans attempted to dissipate between the date of her guilty plea and sentencing, Forensic Accountant Bryan Snitselaar, and former Paralegal Specialists Jessica Mundi, Brittany Phillips, Stephanie Frijas, Kristy Penny, and Joshua Fein.

            Finally, they commended the work of Assistant U.S. Attorney Kondi Kleinman and former Assistant U.S. Attorney David Kent for investigating and prosecuting the case.