Date: 04-03-2018

Case Style:

Case Number: 2:17-cr-00168-JCJ

Judge: JCJ

Court: United States District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania (Philadelphia County)

Plaintiff's Attorney: Michael S. Lowe

Defendant's Attorney: Dereck M. Wright

Description: Philadelphia, PA - Brooklyn Man Sentenced To 80 Months’ Incareration For Bank Fraud And Aggravated Identity Theft

Bright Ogodo, 43, of Brooklyn, New York, was sentenced on March 28, 2018 to 80 months in prison following his conviction of bank fraud and aggravated identity theft, announced United States Attorney Louis D. Lappen.

In sentencing Ogodo, the court found that Ogodo was a leader of a bank fraud and aggravated identity theft ring that used “runners,” to pose as TD Bank customers by using false drivers’ licenses and other means of identification of the TD Bank customers, including their names, social security numbers, and dates of birth. As part of his guilty plea, Ogodo had admitted that he recruited the runners, drove the runners to TD Bank branches in the Philadelphia area, as well as in New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, and Delaware, gave the runners the false drivers’ licenses and other means of identification, and instructed them how to access the TD Bank customers’ accounts. Ogodo had also admitted that he and the runners deposited large-dollar counterfeit checks and small amounts of cash and money orders into the bank accounts, thereby learning the account numbers (if they were not already known) and also as a way of being able to know the exact date, location, and amount of the last deposit into the account, which co-schemers then used to set up on-line access to the accounts. Ogodo admitted that the runners, posing as the true account holders, obtained new ATM cards tied to the TD Bank customers’ checking accounts, and then one or more co-schemers, including defendant Ogodo himself, began to deplete the funds in that checking account by using the newly-obtained ATM cards to withdraw cash and purchase merchandise and money orders. Ogodo also admitted that he transferred funds from the TD Bank customers’ existing home equity lines of credit (HELOC) into the checking accounts that were tied to the ATM cards in the possession of defendant Ogodo and other co-schemers, which allowed defendant Ogodo and other co-schemers to obtain over $523,000 from the TD Bank accounts. Ogodo admitted that he intended to cause TD Bank to sustain more than $785,000 in losses, as that is the amount of counterfeit checks and HELOC and other transfers made into the checking accounts tied to the ATM cards in the co-schemers’ possession.

The case was investigated by the Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Homeland Security Investigations.

Outcome: Defendant was sentenced to 80 months in prison.

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Defendant's Experts:

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