Crime

Impersonator Arrested for Defrauding Elderly Victims, Impersonating Federal and Territorial Officials, and Obstruction of Justice

ST. THOMAS — United States Attorney Gretchen C.F. Shappert for the District of the Virgin Islands announced that a federal complaint has been filed charging Yamini Potter with eighty counts of wire fraud, two counts of impersonating a federal judge, obstruction of justice in violation of federal law, two counts of acting in assumed character, and one count of grand larceny in violation of Virgin Islands law. According to the affidavit filed in this case, between May 2019 and July 2020, Potter received over $100,000 from the victims, at least one of whom is elderly, for purported legal fees associated with a lawsuit filed against the United States. Potter claimed he could assist the victims with a lawsuit to obtain a money judgment and return of one of the victim’s medical licenses. Investigators located no such lawsuit anywhere in the United States. Potter is not a licensed attorney in any jurisdiction in the United States. Initially, Potter claimed to be the son of former Lt. Govern...