prison
A federal judge sentenced three leaders to a combined 421 months in prison for plotting a $15 million nationwide business check fraud and money-laundering scheme causing $2.9 million in losses for 14 credit unions and banks.
The leaders, Thaddeus Jerome Lee, Latroy L. Currie and Johnnie Lee Thomas, operated the scheme from California to Connecticut and multiple states in between, the U.S. Attorney’s office in Des Moines said last week.
Over more than two and a half years, the three men and 15 coconspirators attempted to deposit at least $15 million in stolen business checks at credit unions and banks. They successfully obtained nearly $3 million in fraudulent funds. A federal grand jury indicted them in September 2024 on charges including bank fraud, money laundering and conspiracy.
Last month, U.S. District Court Judge Rebecca Ebinger sentenced Lee to 151 months in prison and ordered him to pay $121,525 in restitution. Currie received a 135-month sentence and was ordered to pay $85,446 in restitution. Thomas was also sentenced to 135 months in prison; no restitution was ordered for him.
The 18-member fraud ring obtained stolen business checks from legitimate companies and then registered sham entities with the IRS and state government agencies in Arizona and Iowa using the names of or names similar to the targeted businesses, court records showed.
Using these fictitious company names, the fraudsters opened accounts at credit unions and banks to deposit the stolen checks. Once the deposits were cleared, they withdrew large sums of cash or obtained cashier’s or official checks to launder and distribute stolen money among members of the fraud ring.
Victimized credit unions included the $571 million Ascentra Credit Union in Bettendorf, Iowa; the $1.5 billion Collins Community Credit Union in Cedar Rapids, Iowa; the $870 million Community Choice Credit Union in Johnston, Iowa; the $226 million million Financial Plus Credit Union in West Des Moines, Iowa; the $677 million Greater Iowa Credit Union in Ames; the $10.7 billion GreenState Credit Union in North Liberty and the $8.2 billion Veridian Credit Union in Waterloo, Iowa. The victimized banks were Bank of America, BMO Bank, First Central State Bank Great Southern Bank, JPMorgan Chase bank, PNC Bank and U.S. Bank.
Eleven persons who were involved in the fraud ring have already been sentenced. They include: Kira Johnson (42 months, $202,534, restitution), Tiarra Jones (96 months, $187,962, restitution), Stephan Haley (384 months, $66,437, restitution), Jazlinn Tapp (four months, $21,789, restitution), Lovely Hall (60 months), Kila Wright (54 months), John Winston (30 months), Reanna Haymon (12 months), Shapara Hunter (eight months), Mario Smith (six months) and Somore Hill (12 months).
Four additional coconspirators, Malik Marshal, Toni Renfroe, Carnell Thomas and Erin R. Smith, are awaiting sentencing, prosecutors said.
Peter Strozniak can be reached at pstrozniak@cutimes.com.
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