Worcester News

Worcester man among 6 arrested in multi-state bank fraud case

  • Posted by Worcester News Jul 27 - Filed in News - #Worcester  #crime  #U.S. Attorney  #bank fraud  #Selby Okai  - 7,269 views

    2017 Moakley US Courthouse from Central Wharf
    Beyond My Ken, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

    BOSTON — A Worcester man was 1 of 6 Mass. residents arrested Tuesday in connection with a wide-ranging scheme to defraud banks across 3 states using stolen customer identities, federal prosecutors said.

    Selby Okai, 23, of Worcester, was indicted on charges of conspiracy to commit bank fraud, bank fraud and conspiracy to commit money laundering, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Massachusetts.

    Also indicted were Phalentz Vernot, 24, of Waltham — who faces an additional charge of aggravated identity theft — Yves Bissainthe, 23, of Randolph; Marvin Kimani, 24, of Lowell; Keith Wainaina, 23, of Lowell; and Victor Kolawole, 25, of Brockton.

    Prosecutors allege that from at least December 2022 through the present, the defendants orchestrated a sophisticated identity theft scheme, obtaining names, dates of birth, Social Security numbers and bank account details of customers from various local banks. They then allegedly recruited individuals to pose as those customers and used fraudulent identification documents to withdraw large sums of money, often in the form of cashier’s checks.

    The suspects allegedly deposited the stolen funds into accounts they controlled, transferring the money through various channels to conceal its origin. Authorities also say the group recruited bank insiders to help carry out the scheme by disabling account alerts and accessing sensitive customer information.

    The charges carry maximum penalties ranging from 20 to 30 years in prison and substantial fines. The aggravated identity theft charge carries a mandatory 2-year sentence to run consecutively with any other imposed sentence.

    All 6 defendants appeared in federal court in Boston on Tuesday following their arrests.

    The investigation remains ongoing.

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