NEW YORK CITY— Two women, who were falsely posing as booking agents for famous entertainers, have been arrested by federal agents for a fraudulent scheme in which they claimed that they could book Justin Timberlake and Bruno Mars to perform at a concert to benefit the Sandy Hook Promise foundation, according to a statement from the US Attorney for the Eastern District of New York.

A criminal complaint was unsealed on January 9 in federal court in Brooklyn charging Nancy Jean, 51, of Riverdale, Ga., and Carissa Scott, 41, of Fayette, Miss., with a scheme to defraud concert investors by falsely claiming to act as booking agents for well-known entertainers. The defendants were arrested on January 8 at John F. Kennedy International Airport in Queens.

US Attorney Richard P. Donoghue, and William F. Sweeney, Jr, who is the assistant director in charge of the FBI’s New York field office, publicly announced the arrests.

As alleged in the criminal complaint, in September 2019, Jean and Scott were contacted by an investor who was organizing a concert at the Alamodome in San Antonio, Texas, to benefit the Sandy Hook Promise Foundation.

The defendants falsely represented that they could book top-tier musical acts to perform at the concert, and provided the investor with a contract for a total fee of $500,000 that purported to commit Timberlake to perform.

One of the investors then wired a $100,000 deposit to the defendants. Subsequently, when Timberlake’s social media account failed to mention or promote the event, the investor requested confirmation that Timberlake was booked.

In response, the investor received a telephone call from an unidentified individual who falsely claimed to be Timberlake’s manager. The unidentified individual stated that Timberlake would perform at the concert, but that the fee would have to be raised to between $800,000 and $1 million.

In November 2019, the defendants sent the investor an agreement stating that Mars would perform at the concert as an alternative to Timberlake for a fee of $600,000. The investor agreed that Mars could be the headliner, but did not send an additional deposit to the defendants.

Within a month of receiving the original $100,000 deposit, approximately half of the money was used by the defendants for personal expenses or withdrawn as cash, according to the statement from the US Attorney.

“As alleged, the defendants viewed a fundraiser for a charity formed to protect children from gun violence as an opportunity to commit fraud and line their own pockets,” Mr Donoghue said. “Simple stealing is bad enough, this is worse,” he added.

“Nancy Jean and Carissa Scott may have been able to realize a quick profit as a result of their alleged fraudulent booking scheme, but not long after their illegal activity took off, they landed in New York to face federal criminal charges. It’s discouraging to think these defendants were willing to defraud an investor supporting a charity foundation. Fortunately, the FBI doesn’t entertain such activity,” Mr Sweeney said.