New York Criminal Lawyer Blog
The white collar criminal defense attorneys and former Manhattan prosecutors at Saland Law PC have learned that the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office will announce the indictment today of 18 people, including accused ring leader James Malloy, in an alleged counterfeit check fraud scheme that utilized forged NYPD checks to perpetrate a multi-million dollar theft.
According to media reports, up to 40 people may have been arrested. It is alleged that the scheme operated by having an individual deposit a forged check into a bogus account. A teller, who was in on the scheme, allegedly provided the fraudsters with accurate account and check information to enable the fraudsters to create the fake checks and deposit them. In all, it is alleged that hundreds of checks were drawn off the accounts of about 20 companies.
When James Malloy was arrested and a search warrant was executed at his home, sources have stated that they found hundreds of counterfeit checks as well as the profiles of customers at banks and the magnetic paper to create the forged checks.
Although the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office has not issued a press release and an indictment has not been unsealed as of the time this entry was drafted, I anticipate that some of the charges these individuals will face may include Grand Larceny, Forgery, Criminal Possession of a Forged Instrument, Falsifying Business Records, Identity Theft, Conspiracy and potentially Enterprise Corruption depending on the structure of the organization. More importantly, depending on which charge these people face and their criminal history, a sentence of state prison is a very real possibility.
To better understand the above mentioned charges and to educate yourself on the law, feel free to review the blog and its entries as they apply to Fraud Related Offenses, Identity Theft and White Collar Crimes.