Former US Defence official who laundered money for Nigerian scammers released

Samuel Marcus, 34, a former US Department of Defence logistics specialist, was released after serving less than nine months in prison. He pleaded guilty to concealing money laundering after transferring proceeds from online fraud to accounts in Nigeria for scammers using aliases including “Rachel Jude” and “Ned McMurray.” The judge ruled that his time in custody was sufficient, a position agreed to by prosecutors and his lawyer; reports said his intellectual disabilities, including autism, partly contributed to the reduced sentence. Marcus will remain under supervised release for three years and is expected to continue mental health treatment.