14 DAY TRIAL // The New York County District Attorney's Office announced that an identity theft gang had been indicted for operating a check scam that targeted numerous commercial banks in Manhattan. The operation relied on bank insiders to provide full customer information for counterfeiting checks.
"The investigation leading to today’s indictment revealed that the defendants obtained personal and bank account information belonging to 500 identity theft victims and used it primarily to manufacture thousands of counterfeit checks," is noted in a press release from the office of District Attorney Robert M. Morgenthau.
Jasper Grayson, 25, a.k.a. "Lyte" and James Malloy, 26, a.k.a. "Sal" or "Sah," are named as the gang's leaders and the ones who started the whole scheme from their apartments in Bronx. The two recruited bank employees and money mules, whom they called "soldiers."
The bank insiders had the role of providing the fraudsters with photos of legit checks, which they processed at work, as well as full personal details of their future victims. Three bank employees are named as defendants in the indictment: Renece Razor, a former teller at a JP Morgan Chase Bank branch in Manhattan, Ilaura Walker, a former teller at a TD Bank branch in Manhattan, and Keisha Polonio, a former teller at an HSBC Bank branch in the Bronx.
The losses suffered as a result of this scam by JP Morgan Chase alone are estimated at over $1,440,000. Other institutions targeted by the gang include TD/Commerce, Wachovia, HSBC, Bank of America, Citibank, Capitol One Bank, Washington Mutual Bank, EAB Bank, Banco Popular, Amalgamated Bank, M & T Bank, Sovereign Bank, First National Bank, United Bank, Citizens Bank, and Fleet Bank. "The extent of the theft from these institutions is still under investigation," the press release notes.
Another method of defrauding involved paying employees at various companies for their personal details. Grayson and Malloy would then create fake payroll checks, which the "soldiers" would go and cash in for a percentage of the loot. Additionally, the banking information provided by the corrupt bank tellers was used to make money transfers from the accounts of the victims to accounts under the control of the gang. The authorities are still looking for insiders at other banks or financial institutions that might have been involved in the scam.
According to the indictment, the scheme ran from October 2007 until February 2009. The nine-month investigation started in mid-2008 and was "a joint effort by the Identity Theft Unit of the District Attorney’s Office and the Special Frauds Squad of the New York City Police Department."