BOSTON – A New York man pleaded guilty in federal court in Boston to using counterfeit United States passport cards in the name of three Massachusetts residents in order to withdraw money from their bank accounts.
According to the Massachusetts Department of Justice, Jean Andre Bontiffe, 41, pleaded guilty to three counts of bank fraud, one count of forgery or false use of a Passport and one count of aggravated identity theft. Chief U.S. District Court Chief Judge F. Dennis Saylor IV scheduled sentencing for May 6,2025. Bontiffe was previously charged by criminal complaint in October 2023.
On Aug. 9, 2022, Bontiffe was arrested in New York for attempting to pass through TSA screening at LaGuardia Airport using a counterfeit California driver’s license in the same name as one of the Massachusetts victims. A subsequent investigation revealed that, between July 20 and July 22, 2022, Bontiffe traveled to Massachusetts from New York, and made nine attempts to withdraw money from bank accounts that belonged to three victims from Massachusetts – stealing a total of $13,800. On July 20, 2022, Bontiffe entered a TD Bank branch in North Andover, Mass. and presented a United States passport and a Discover credit card, both in the name of a Massachusetts resident who had an account at the bank, as proof of identity and attempted to withdraw $4,500 from that account. Due to unmatched signatures, the bank denied the transaction and confiscated the passport and credit card prior to Bontiffe fleeing the scene…