A Fayetteville man and three co-conspirators were sentenced Nov. 24 in federal court for a bank fraud scheme that targeted more than 150 Bank of America accounts and involved more than $4 million in fraudulent withdrawals. Three “runners” in the scheme traveled to banks in multiple states to cash counterfeit checks in order to avoid detection.
U.S. Attorney John Horn said Alwin Peterson, Jr., 38, of Fayetteville, was sentenced to 12 years, one month in prison followed by five years of supervised release and was ordered to pay $1.02 million in restitution.
Horn said from approximately November 2012 through his arrest in August 2014, Peterson led a bank fraud scheme that targeted over 150 corporate accounts at Bank of America. Peterson first collected personal information about the individuals listed on the accounts, many of which belonged to small businesses, Horn said.
Using that information, Peterson then called Bank of America’s customer service and impersonated the true account holders, said Horn. In those calls, Peterson obtained additional account information, monitored account balances and learned about the latest transactions on existing accounts. Peterson also changed the online banking passwords for some of the accounts so that he could access the accounts by computer, Horn said.
“After fraudulently acquiring the account information, Peterson employed a group of ‘runners’ to enter bank branches and withdraw money from the accounts,” said Horn.“Using fake identifications, the runners posed as the true account holders and wired money from the victims’ accounts to other accounts Peterson opened.”
Peterson’s co-defendants cited as runners in the scheme included:
• Allen Parham, 46, of Atlanta, Ga., was sentenced to 6 years, six months in prison to be followed by five years of supervised release and ordered to pay $85,414.11 in restitution.
• Vivienne Bloch, 54, of Decatur, Ga., was sentenced to 5 years in prison to be followed by five years of supervised release and ordered to pay $538,383.50 in restitution.
• Kori Henegar, 35, of Spring, Texas was sentenced to 2 years, nine months in prison to be followed by five years of supervised release and ordered to pay $395,583.87 in restitution.
Horn said Peterson also used counterfeit checks to steal money from the accounts. The defendants traveled to numerous bank branches in different states throughout the country in an attempt to evade detection. Peterson is responsible for more than $4 million in fraudulent withdrawals from the targeted accounts, said Horn.
“Their criminal actions damaged not only the small businesses they targeted, but also the employees and vendors who depended on timely payments to meet their day-to-day needs,” said Horn. “This case reminds business owners that they need to be vigilant in protecting sensitive personal and bank account information.”
Commenting on the case, Special Agent Reginald Moore in charge of the Atlanta Field Office of the United States Secret Service said, “The U.S. Secret Service and our law enforcement partners work tirelessly to protect consumers and businesses against bank fraud schemes such as this. These sentences are a testament to that collaborative effort.”
