Eight Defendants Charged in Multimillion-Dollar Bank Fraud Scheme: Allegedly Recruited Account Holders on Social Media to Deposit Fraudulent Instruments
The U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York announced on October 21 the unsealing of an indictment charging eight defendants with bank fraud and conspiracy to commit bank fraud. Prosecutors say that from at least 2022, the group recruited people over social media and other means to provide access to their bank accounts, deposited fraudulent financial instruments such as checks and U.S. Treasury notes, and withdrew the funds before the banks determined the instruments were counterfeit, defrauding various national financial institutions of millions of dollars.
The eight defendants are Jeshon Bingham, 24, Rupertt Sherrir, 26, Mikhail Davis, 31, Juzan Spence, 31, and Michelle Hylton, 33, all of the Bronx, New York; Floyd Forrest, 27, and Reheem Anderson, 23, of Mount Vernon, New York; and Chavaughn Boothe, 32, of Yonkers, New York. According to the indictment, the defendants often discussed the conspiracy on social media and in messaging applications, sharing pictures of fraudulent checks, locations of bank branches, and the personal identifying information of others. Seven defendants were expected to be arraigned that afternoon before U.S. Magistrate Judge Andrew E. Krause; Anderson will be arraigned at a later date.
Each defendant is charged with conspiracy to commit bank fraud and bank fraud, each of which carries a maximum sentence of 30 years in prison; any sentencing will be determined by the judge.
U.S. Attorney Jamie McDonald said bad actors are increasingly seeking to abuse technology platforms, including social media, to commit fraud, and that his office is committed to using every prosecutorial tool to root out this type of fraud. FBI Assistant Director in Charge James C. Barnacle Jr. said the defendants allegedly executed a calculated fraud scheme that caused substantial losses to financial institutions nationwide. The case was investigated by the FBI's Westchester Safe Streets Task Force and the Westchester County District Attorney's Office, and is being handled by the Office's White Plains Division.
The charges in the indictment are merely accusations, and the defendants are presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.
Published by GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: 纽约 Daniel Patrick Moynihan 联邦法院大楼入口（美国纽约南区联邦地区法院所在地）资料图。照片：Ken Lund 摄，CC BY-SA 2.0，经 Wikimedia Commons。 / Entrance of the Daniel Patrick Moynihan U.S. Courthouse in New York, home of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York (file photo). Photo: Ken Lund, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons
