Attorney for Mona Faiz Montrage popularly known as Hajia4real, Adam Cortez has revealed that his client [Montrage] will be released on home detention to her aunt’s New Jersey residence in the coming days on $500,000 bond, with GPS tracking via an ankle monitor,
Ms Montrage was extradited from the UK to the US for allegedly defrauding elderly single American men and women out of almost $2 million in a romantic scam.
Mona is charged with wire fraud, money laundering, receiving stolen money, and conspiracy, according to Manhattan US Attorney Damian Williams Mona received money from several other people who had been defrauded by con artists operating inside her network.
She was associated with a group of con artists from West Africa from at least 2013 to 2019 according to court filings.
The con artists would deceive victims into sending money to them under false pretenses, such as helping to transport gold into the US from abroad, ending fictitious FBI investigations, and paying for assistance for fictitious US Army commanders in Afghanistan.
Cortez said his client can only travel to certain parts of New York and New Jersey pending her case.
If convicted on the top charge, Mona could face up to 20years in prison.
Montrage was arrested in the United Kingdom on November 10, 2022, and was extradited from the United Kingdom on May 12, 2023.