A 22-year-old Bronx man is headed to federal prison after prosecutors said he helped turn victims’ bank accounts into pipelines for cash withdrawals across Arizona, Colorado and California. Richard Modou Bah was sentenced last week to 58 months, closing the latest chapter in a scheme involving fake business accounts, stolen identities and withdrawals at banks and casinos.
Bah pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit bank fraud and was sentenced in Tucson to nearly five years in prison, followed by four years of supervised release, according to KTAR News. Prosecutors said the Bronx resident also recruited and supervised people who impersonated victims during the operation.
According to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Arizona, Bah and his co-conspirators used victims’ personal identifying information and fraudulent identification documents to open phony business accounts connected to the victims’ legitimate accounts. The group then transferred money into those accounts before withdrawing the funds as cash at financial institutions and casinos.
Fake Accounts Turned Legitimate Bank Funds Into Cash
The mechanics of the scheme were built around impersonation, prosecutors said. People recruited by Bah allegedly posed as identity-theft victims while opening fraudulent accounts and making withdrawals, giving the operation a way to move stolen money through the banking system…