Jamal Simon, Identity Theft & Wire Fraud, New York 2017

Eleven defendants have been charged with perpetrating a multimillion-dollar identity theft and wire fraud scheme in Manhattan federal court, according to authorities.

Geoffrey S. Berman, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, and William F. Sweeney Jr., the Assistant Director in Charge of the New York Field Office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, announced the unsealing of an Indictment charging Jamal Simon, David Boyd, Melvin Brown, Darren Davidson, Dwight Forde, Yvette Lubrun, Rashaun McKay, Megan Montoya, Demali Mosely, Dwayne Norville, and Jillian Walcott with conspiring to commit access device fraud and wire fraud, and aggravated identity theft.

Simon and Walcott are also charged with wrongfully obtaining and disclosing individually identifiable health information. Eight of the defendants were arrested on these charges yesterday in California, New Jersey, and New York.

Brown, Lubrun, McKay, Mosely, and Walcott were presented and arraigned yesterday before United States Magistrate Judge Katharine H. Parker in Manhattan federal court. Boyd and Davidson will be presented and arraigned today before Judge Parker. Montoya will be presented today in federal court in the Northern District of California. In addition, Norville is currently in custody on state charges in Brooklyn, New York, and will be transferred to federal custody. Simon and Forde remain at large.

The case has been assigned to United States District Judge Paul A. Crotty.

According to the allegations in the Indictment, from March 2017 through at least July 2017, the defendants carried out a wide-ranging fraudulent scheme that involved unlawfully obtaining individually identifiable information of other individuals; impersonating those individuals in order to obtain unauthorized access to their bank accounts, credit and debit card accounts, and cellphone service provider accounts; and then using such access to, among other things, facilitate the fraudulent transfer of funds to bank accounts controlled by members of the conspiracy and the unauthorized purchasing of merchandise and gift cards at retail stores.

The defendants' scheme defrauded financial institutions and individual victims of more than $3.5 million. Simon and his co-conspirators obtained individually identifiable information of prospective victims from, among other sources, Walcott, who stole patient information during her employment at an urgent care clinic in Manhattan, New York.

The charges against the defendants carry a maximum sentence of 30 years in prison and a fine of up to $1 million. The case is being handled by the Office of the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York.

Defendant Information:

Name: Jamal Simon, David Boyd, Melvin Brown, Darren Davidson, Dwight Forde, Yvette Lubrun, Rashaun McKay, Megan Montoya, Demali Mosely, Dwayne Norville, Jillian Walcott

Criminal Charges: Conspiring to commit access device fraud and wire fraud, and aggravated identity theft

City and State: Brooklyn, New York

Arrest Date: Yesterday

Status: Eight defendants were arrested; three defendants remain at large

Sentence: Maximum sentence of 30 years in prison and a fine of up to $1 million

Amount: $3.5 million

Source: https://www.justice.gov/usao-sdny/pr/11-defendants-charged-manhattan-federal-court-multimillion-dollar-identity-theft-and