A Vestavia Hills man has pleaded guilty Tuesday to laundering about $2.3 million in illicit funds.

Robert Carlton Howard, 39, entered his guilty plea to conspiracy to commit money laundering Tuesday before U.S. District Judge Madeline H. Haikala, according to a joint Wednesday announcement by Northern District of Alabama U.S. Attorney Prim Escalona and FBI Special Agent in Charge Carlton Peeples.

A federal grand jury issued the seven-count indictment against Howard in 2023.

Authorities said the illicit funds were derived from business email compromise schemes targeting American businesses.

According to the indictment, from at least July 2021 through August 2021, Howard was part of a scheme that used fake email accounts designed to “spoof” or impersonate companies’ third-party vendors.

The fake email accounts were created to trick those companies into wiring large amounts of money into bank accounts controlled by the conspiracy.

Howard opened and controlled at least one bank account into which he received approximately $2.3 million in business email compromise proceeds within two days.

Howard immediately converted those proceeds to cryptocurrency and transferred them to other members of the conspiracy and to his personal bank account, authorities said.

Of the approximately $2.3 million Howard received and transferred, he retained and spent approximately $210,000 as compensation for his role in the scheme.

The FBI investigated the case.  Assistant U.S. Attorney Jonathan “Jack” Harrington is prosecuting the case.

Howard faces up to 20 years in prison. Sentencing has not yet been announced.