OCALA, Florida — Clarence Christofer Ward, also known as Khaled Yaqud Mansur-El, has been sentenced to five years in federal prison for wire fraud, money laundering, and making a false claim to the IRS.
U.S. District Judge Thomas P. Barber handed down the sentence, which includes the forfeiture of $4,197,981.28 in proceeds derived from Ward’s wire fraud offense. Additionally, Ward must forfeit his interest in four residential properties in Chattanooga, Tennessee, purchased with approximately $1,584,300 in fraud proceeds, according to U.S. Attorney Gregory W. Kehoe.
Ward was indicted by a federal grand jury on April 30, 2024, and found guilty of all charges after a two-day jury trial in September 2025. Evidence presented at trial revealed that in November 2020, Ward filed a tax return on behalf of a trust in his name, falsely claiming that the trust had paid over $7 million in taxes to the IRS in 2019. He sought a $4.1 million refund, despite IRS records showing no taxes were paid by the trust…