Financial Fraud: Junaidu Saljan Savage Sentenced For Conspiring to Commit Bank Fraud And For Aggravated Identity Theft

<h2>Lanham Man Sentenced to Over Seven Years in Federal Prison for Bank Fraud Conspiracy<&sol;h2>&NewLine;<p><strong><em>Baltimore&comma; <&sol;em><&sol;strong>Maryland – On October 14&comma; 2016&comma; U&period;S&period; District Judge George L&period; Russell III sentenced Junaidu Saljan Savage&comma; a&sol;k&sol;a James Kamara&comma; age 30&comma; of Lanham&comma; Maryland&comma; to 87 months in prison&comma; followed by five years of supervised release&comma; for conspiring to<strong> commit bank fraud and for aggravated identity theft arising<&sol;strong> from a <em>scheme to defraud a bank<&sol;em> by using account holders’ personal information to take over their accounts&period; Judge Russell also ordered Savage to pay restitution of &dollar;36&comma;400&period; A federal jury convicted Savage on March 15&comma; 2016&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<div class&equals;"mh-content-ad"><script async src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;pagead2&period;googlesyndication&period;com&sol;pagead&sol;js&sol;adsbygoogle&period;js&quest;client&equals;ca-pub-9162800720558968"&NewLine; crossorigin&equals;"anonymous"><&sol;script>&NewLine;<ins class&equals;"adsbygoogle"&NewLine; style&equals;"display&colon;block&semi; text-align&colon;center&semi;"&NewLine; data-ad-layout&equals;"in-article"&NewLine; data-ad-format&equals;"fluid"&NewLine; data-ad-client&equals;"ca-pub-9162800720558968"&NewLine; data-ad-slot&equals;"1081854981"><&sol;ins>&NewLine;<script>&NewLine; &lpar;adsbygoogle &equals; window&period;adsbygoogle &vert;&vert; &lbrack;&rsqb;&rpar;&period;push&lpar;&lbrace;&rcub;&rpar;&semi;&NewLine;<&sol;script><&sol;div>&NewLine;<p>The sentence was announced by United States Attorney for the District of Maryland Rod J&period; Rosenstein&semi; Postal Inspector in Charge Terrence P&period; McKeown of the U&period;S&period; Postal Inspection Service &&num;8211&semi; Washington Division&semi; Special Agent in Charge Brian Ebert of the United States Secret Service &&num;8211&semi; Washington Field Office&semi; and Chief J&period; Thomas Manger of the Montgomery County Police Department&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>According to testimony at his six-day trial&comma; from January 1&comma; 2012 through April 2012&comma; Savage conspired with Jayad Zainab Ester Conteh&comma; Paul Anthony Williams and others to <strong>defraud a bank<&sol;strong>&period;  Conteh&comma; a bank teller&comma; looked up bank account holder information on the computer system without authorization and disclosed the account holders’ personal identifying information to Savage and other co-conspirators&period;  Using that information&comma; Savage would call the bank pretending to be the account holder&comma; change certain account information and order checks on the compromised account to be delivered by overnight mail&period;  Savage and other co-conspirators would obtain those checks&comma; including by intercepting the checks upon delivery at the actual account holders’ addresses&period;  Wilson cashed the checks at bank branches in Maryland&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Trial evidence showed that as a result of the conspiracy at least seven bank account holders’ accounts were improperly accessed&comma; with intended losses of more than &dollar;120&comma;000&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Jayad Zainab Ester Conteh&comma; age 24&comma; of Glenarden&comma; Maryland&comma; was convicted after trial and sentenced to 64 months in prison for conspiring to commit bank fraud&comma; bank fraud&comma; aggravated identity theft and unauthorized access to a computer to obtain banking information&period; Judge Russell also entered an order that Conteh pay &dollar;36&comma;400 in restitution to the victim bank and forfeit &dollar;36&comma;400&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>According to court documents and trial testimony&comma; in July 2014&comma; after Conteh had reported to prison to begin serving her sentence&comma; Savage went to visit her relatives&period;  An audio and video recording of the meeting revealed that Savage told Conteh’s relatives that he was involved in her criminal conduct and would pay the restitution ordered by the Court&period;  In late August 2014&comma; Savage’s girlfriend provided &dollar;6&comma;000 in cash to a relative of Conteh as partial payment of Conteh’s restitution&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Co-conspirator Paul Anthony Wilson&comma; a&sol;k&sol;a Anthony Johnson&comma; age 53&comma; of Washington&comma; D&period;C&period;&comma; was arrested while attempting to cash a check on the account of one of the victims&period;  Wilson pleaded guilty to his role in the conspiracy and was sentenced to 39 months in prison&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Today’s announcement is part of the efforts undertaken in connection with the President’s <a class&equals;"wpil&lowbar;keyword&lowbar;link" href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;www&period;fraudswatch&period;com&sol;tag&sol;financial-fraud&sol;amp&sol;" title&equals;"Financial" data-wpil-keyword-link&equals;"linked" data-wpil-monitor-id&equals;"622">Financial<&sol;a> Fraud Enforcement Task Force&period;  The task force was established to wage an aggressive&comma; coordinated and proactive effort to investigate and prosecute financial crimes&period;  With more than 20 federal agencies&comma; 94 U&period;S&period; attorneys’ offices&comma; and state and local partners&comma; it’s the broadest coalition of law enforcement&comma; investigatory and regulatory agencies ever assembled to combat fraud&period;  Since its formation&comma; the task force has made great strides in facilitating increased investigation and prosecution of financial crimes&semi; enhancing coordination and cooperation among federal&comma; state and local authorities&semi; addressing discrimination in the lending and financial markets&semi; and conducting outreach to the public&comma; victims&comma; financial institutions and other organizations&period;  Since fiscal year 2009&comma; the Justice Department has filed over 18&comma;000 financial fraud cases against more than 25&comma;000 defendants&period;  For more information on the task force&comma; please visit <a href&equals;"http&colon;&sol;&sol;www&period;stopfraud&period;gov&sol;"><u>www&period;StopFraud&period;gov<&sol;u><&sol;a>&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>United States Attorney Rod J&period; Rosenstein praised the U&period;S&period; Postal Inspection Service&comma; Secret Service and Montgomery County Police Department for their work in the investigation&period;  Mr&period; Rosenstein thanked Assistant United States Attorneys Thomas P&period; Windom and Ray D&period; McKenzie&comma; who prosecuted the case&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;www&period;justice&period;gov&sol;usao-md&sol;pr&sol;lanham-man-sentenced-over-seven-years-federal-prison-bank-fraud-conspiracy">Original PressReleases&&num;8230&semi;<&sol;a><&sol;p>&NewLine;

Financial FraudIdentity Theft