Ahmed Bamidele Ponle, Bank Fraud Conspiracy, New Jersey 2022

CAMDEN, N.J. – Ahmed Bamidele Ponle, 42, of Darby, Pennsylvania, pleaded guilty to his role in a bank fraud conspiracy that targeted 12 different financial institutions in southern New Jersey and southeastern Pennsylvania, U.S. Attorney Philip R. Sellinger announced.

Ponle admitted to using several false identities to open fraudulent bank accounts and making numerous deposits of stolen checks to these accounts and withdrawing funds from the accounts. The bank fraud conspiracy charge carries a maximum potential penalty of 30 years in prison and a maximum fine of $1 million.

According to documents filed in this case and statements made in court, Ponle was part of a multi-defendant, Nigerian-based, multi-layered criminal organization that engaged in a massive bank fraud conspiracy in several states, including New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Maryland, and Rhode Island, between June 2016 and March 2020.

Members of the group acquired numerous business checks that were stolen from the United States mail, altered the payee on the checks to a fraudulent name. They deposited the checks into bank accounts that had been opened with forged foreign passport documents and fraudulent U.S. visas that matched the names on the stolen checks. Once the banks credited all or a portion of the funds to the accounts, but before the checks had cleared, the defendants withdrew the funds from ATMs or purchased money orders, using debit cards associated with the fraudulent accounts.

Members of the organization have used over 400 fraudulent accounts opened with fake identity documents to defraud the victim banks. To date, the total loss to the victim banks is approximately $6 million. As part of his plea, Ponle agreed to forfeit his interest in approximately $90,000 worth of money orders which were proceeds of the bank fraud and which were seized from a public storage facility in Philadelphia used by the conspirators to store additional fraudulent identity documents and proceeds of the bank fraud.

The government is represented by Assistant U.S. Attorney Patrick C. Askin of the U.S. Attorney’s Office Criminal Division in Camden. Sentencing is scheduled for Aug. 10, 2022.

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