Issah Mohammed, Bank and Wire Fraud Conspiracy, Maryland 2023

Baltimore, Maryland - Issah Mohammed, a/k/a Yissa and Ali, a 28-year-old citizen of Ghana residing in Laurel, Maryland, pleaded guilty today to federal bank and wire fraud conspiracy charges related to a scheme in which Mohammed and his co-conspirators impersonated individual victims to remove funds from the victims’ investment accounts.

According to his plea agreement, from at least January 31, 2013, through May 12, 2014, Mohammed were part of a conspiracy that acquired stolen vehicles, some of which were stolen from other states and transported to Maryland, and then shipped to Africa for sale. Members of the conspiracy in the United States would hire others to steal vehicles – with the keys – so that the vehicles could be more easily sold.

Mohammed and other members of the conspiracy: purchased the stolen vehicles from the thieves or an intermediary; arranged to store the vehicles at parking lots and other locations, known as “cooling spots”; loaded the vehicles into a shipping container; and transported the containers to a port, including the Port of Baltimore, for export to destinations including Lagos, Nigeria and Accra, Ghana.

In order to ship vehicles overseas, shipping companies are required to have valid titles for the vehicles. As part of the scheme, Mohammed and other members of conspiracy used fraudulent title information in an effort to conceal that the cars they sought to ship had been stolen.

Mohammed faces a maximum sentence of 30 years in prison for the bank and wire fraud conspiracy, and a fine of $1 million.

The total intended loss was approximately $1,022,183.10, and the actual loss, that is funds successfully withdrawn, was $292,463.19.

The guilty plea was announced by United States Attorney for the District of Maryland Rod J. Rosenstein, Special Agent in Charge Andre R. Watson of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), U.S. Customs and Border Protection Baltimore Port Director Dianna Bowman, Chief James W. Johnson of the Baltimore County Police Department, and Chief Hank Stawinski of the Prince George’s County Police Department.

Source: https://www.justice.gov/usao-md/pr/laurel-man-pleads-guilty-federal-charges-related-bank-fraud-scheme-and-conspiracy