Man extradited from Germany is charged in alleged $4 million fake-psychic mail scheme

As of 8:41 a.m. ET, Wednesday, Nov. 4, 2026

A man accused of helping run a mail scheme that used fake psychics to take more than $4 million from Americans has been extradited from Germany to face federal charges, the Justice Department said.

Mael Chemla, 61, appeared in federal court in Miami on Monday, Nov. 2, according to a Justice Department release dated Nov. 3. He is a U.S., French and Israeli citizen who previously lived in Aventura, Florida, the department said.

Chemla is charged with conspiracy, mail fraud and wire fraud. An indictment against him was unsealed the same day. He is presumed innocent unless proven guilty in court.

What prosecutors allege

According to the indictment, Chemla conspired with others to send letters to people across the United States. The letters looked like personal messages from psychics, prosecutors said.

The letters allegedly told each person that a psychic had learned they were about to receive a large sum of money. To get it, the person first had to send a payment, according to the release.

Prosecutors allege Chemla opened U.S. bank accounts in the names of the supposed psychics. He then deposited checks from victims into those accounts and wired the money to European bank accounts controlled by a co-conspirator, the department said.

From September 2016 through November 2020, Chemla and his co-conspirator collected more than $4 million from thousands of people in the United States, the Justice Department alleges. Many of them were elderly and otherwise vulnerable, it said.

The release does not name the co-conspirator.

What happens next

If convicted, Chemla faces a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison on all counts, the department said.

The U.S. Postal Inspection Service is investigating the case. Trial Attorneys Ann Entwistle and Charles Dunn of the Justice Department's Criminal Division are prosecuting it.

The department's Office of International Affairs worked on the case in a German extradition court. After extradition was granted, it arranged with the U.S. Marshals to bring Chemla to the United States, the release said.

It was not immediately clear whether Chemla had a lawyer who could comment on the charges.

"An indictment is merely an allegation," the Justice Department said.