Stole over one million dollars from charities

Jul 3, 2010 10:19 GMT  ·  By

A former Bank of New York computer technician has admitted to orchestrating an identity theft scheme, which involved misusing the personal information of 2,000 bank employees. The stolen identities were used to set up dummy accounts for laundering more than $1.1 million over eight years.

The Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus R. Vance, Jr., announced on Thursday that Adeniyi Adeyemi, 27, pled guilty to grand larceny, money laundering and computer tampering charges. He also forfeited more than $70,000 and acknowledged an almost $400,000 debt with E*Trade, a company defrauded in the scheme.

According to court records, Adeyemi opened over 30 accounts with E*Trade, Fidelity, Citigroup, Wachovia, and Washington Mutual, in the names of his colleagues in the Bank of New York IT department. The computer technician then used the routing numbers published by various charities and nonprofit organizations on the Internet, to wire money from their accounts through E*Trade and Fidelity.

The fraudster also stole money directly from the accounts of his fellow workers, by changing the contact information on their online banking profiles. Adeyemi kept the unauthorized transfers under $10,000 to avoid the transactions being reported to the US Treasury. A total of $128,000 were stolen in this manner and used to pay personal expenses and buy goods that were shipped to Nigeria.

Adeyemi has been in police custody ever since his arrest in April 2009, when police raided his apartment and seized incriminating evidence, including a list with personal information of 2,000 Bank of New York employees and credit cards opened in some of their names. The fraudster is scheduled for sentencing on July 21, 2010.

"This defendant invaded the privacy of thousands of employees by stealing their personal and private information. He victimized his colleagues, charities, and nonprofits. Particularly because Identity theft is such a serious problem in our city and nation, I thank the members of our Cybercrime and Identity Theft Bureau for their work on these difficult cases," District Attorney Vance, commented.

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