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French National Sentenced to 10 Years in Prison for Multimillion-Dollar Fraud Scheme
SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Gabriel Adrien Lobe Diop, 35, a French national previously residing in Fremont and Agoura Hills, was sentenced today by U.S. District Judge William B. Shubb to 10 years in prison and ordered to pay $1.8 million in restitution for nine counts of mail fraud and one count of aggravated identity theft.
Diop orchestrated a scheme to fraudulently obtain millions of dollars of Unclaimed Property Division funds from the California State Controller’s Office between 2019 and 2021. He assumed the identities of victims for whom the Controller’s Office was holding significant amounts of unclaimed property and then submitted fraudulent applications for that property.
Diop conceAled his involvement in the fraud using a combination of post office boxes, mail forwarding requests, counterfeit notary stamps, and falsified driver licenses issued by numerous states. He primarily spent the proceeds of his fraud on luxury goods, property, and consumer electronics.
LAW ENFORCEMENT AGENTS EXECUTED search and arrest warrants at Diop’s residence in Agoura Hills in June 2021. Inside his residence, agents seized counterfeit stamps that Diop used to “notarize” his fraudulent applications for unclaimed property, 12 falsified driver licenses, bank cards and check books in his victims’ names.
“It took a remarkable amount of energy for the defendant to steal nearly $2 million from the State Controller’s Office and attempt to steal millions more,” said U.S. Attorney Phillip A. Talbert. “Today’s sentence should make it clear to the defendant and to those who would imitate him that my office and our law enforcement partners will put a similar amount of energy into bringing those who commit serious white-collar crimes to justice.”
The investigation was led by the U.S. Postal Inspection Service with assistance provided by the California State Controller’s Office, the Sacramento Valley Hi-Tech Crimes Task Force, and the U.S. Postal Service Office of Inspector General. Assistant U.S. Attorney Sam Stefanki prosecuted the case.
Defendant: Gabriel Adrien Lobe Diop, Exact Criminal Charges: Nine counts of mail fraud and one count of aggravated identity theft, City and State: Agoura Hills, California, Exact Date: June 2021, Sentence or Outcome: 10 years in prison and ordered to pay $1.8 million in restitution, Dollar Amounts: $1.8 million in restitution, $9 million attempted theft.
Key Facts
- State: California
- Category: Fraud & Financial Crimes
- Source: DOJ Press Release â†â€â€
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