Four Charlotte Men Are Sentenced To Prison For Bank Fraud

Summary

Press release of the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Western District of North Carolina dated November 17, 2021, announcing prison sentences from Judge Robert J. Conrad Jr. for four Charlotte men in a bank fraud and identity theft scheme: Jamel Johnson, 70 months; David Clarke, 54 months; Justin Parks, 65 months; and Mikael Roberts, 57 months. According to the release, from as early as April 2019 the defendants used stolen personal identifying information to seek fraudulent bank loans and merchandise, attempting to obtain more than $1,000,000. Johnson and Clarke were also sentenced on separate wire fraud charges for COVID-19 unemployment insurance fraud, obtaining more than $189,912 and over $79,000 respectively. In a separate case, Malcolm Bynum, 29, received 101 months.

Summary drafted by a model from the document's text below and checked by script against that text before publication. It is a navigation aid, not a reading of what the document proves. Where AI is used

Full text

                                      Department of Justice
                                        U.S. Attorney’s Office
                                 Western District of North Carolina


FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE                                                 Wednesday, November 17, 2021

     Four Charlotte Men Are Sentenced To Prison For Bank
                            Fraud
  Two of the Defendants Were also Sentenced for Receiving over $270,000 in
           Fraudulent COVID-19 Unemployment Insurance Benefits
CHARLOTTE, N.C. – On Wednesday, November 16, 2021, U.S. District Judge Robert J. Conrad Jr.
sentenced four Charlotte men to prison for their involvement in a bank fraud and identity theft
scheme, announced William T. Stetzer, Acting U.S. Attorney for the Western District of North
Carolina. Two of the defendants were also sentenced on separate charges for receiving fraudulent
COVID-19 Unemployment Insurance benefits.

Jamel Johnson, 31, of Charlotte, was sentenced to 70 months in prison. David Clarke, 30, of
Charlotte, was ordered to serve 54 months in prison. Justin Parks, 32, of Charlotte, was sentenced to
65 months in prison, and Mikael Roberts 27, also of Charlotte, was ordered to serve 57 months in
prison.

On June 19, 2020, a federal grand jury indicted the four men for executing a bank fraud scheme
using stolen identities. According to court documents and the sentencing hearings, from as early as
April 2019, the defendants obtained over the internet and elsewhere multiple victims’ Personal
Identifying Information (PII), including names, Social Security Numbers, dates of birth, and
addresses, which they used to apply for and obtain fraudulent bank loans – including automobile
and personal loans – and other goods, such as Apple iPhones and iPads. During the course of the
scheme, the co-conspirators fraudulently attempted to obtain more than $1,000,000 in fraudulent
loans and merchandise.

In September and October 2020, federal wire fraud charges were filed separately against Johnson
and Clarke, for using stolen identities to obtain COVID-19 Unemployment Insurance (UI) benefits.
According to court documents filed in these proceedings, over the course of the investigation into the
bank loan scheme, law enforcement discovered that Johnson and Clarke were executing a separate
scheme involving COVID-19 UI benefits. Court records show that, Johnson and Clarke defrauded the
U.S. Department of Labor, the State of Wisconsin, and the State of Arizona by submitting fraudulent
claims for unemployment insurance benefits in the names of identity theft victims. During the
relevant time-period, Johnson fraudulently obtained more than $189,912 in fraudulent
unemployment benefits using the names of approximately 70 victims. Similarly, Clarke obtained
over $79,000 in fraudulent UI benefits using the compromised identities of more than 60 victims.

In announcing the sentences, Judge Conrad stated regarding Johnson and Clarke’s COVID-19 fraud
scheme that taking advantage of the pandemic was “strikingly reprehensible,” and noted that it is
important to “punish defendants who seek to profit from national disasters.”

Acting U.S. Attorney Stetzer commended the U.S. Postal Inspection Service (USPIS) for their
investigative efforts and thanked the Atlanta Regional Office of the U.S. Department of Labor, Office
of the Inspector General, and the Charlotte Mecklenburg Police Department for their invaluable
assistance.
                                                ***

In a separate case, Judge Conrad also sentenced Malcolm Bynum, 29, of Charlotte, to 101 months in
prison for aggravated identity theft and conspiracy to commit bank and wire fraud. Court documents
filed in this case reveal that Bynum and his co-conspirators used the stolen PII of victims to create
fake identifications they then used to obtain fraudulent loans and merchandise in the victims’ names.
Over the course of the scheme, Bynum and his co-conspirators obtained more than $150,000 in
fraudulent goods and loans.

Bynum’s case was investigated by USPIS and CMPD. The prosecution of both cases was handled by
Assistant U.S. Attorney Jenny G. Sugar of the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Charlotte.
Topic(s):                                             Component(s):
Coronavirus                                           USAO - North Carolina, Western
Financial Fraud


File and source

File

2021-11-23-Four-Charlotte-Men-Are-Sentenced-To-Prison-For-Bank-Fraud-USAO-WD-NC-11-17-2021.pdf

Size

111,336 bytes

SHA-256

873bf726b9050d94159e20854080e4367f0208f96164b05649816d55be069b9d

Our copy

2021-11-23-Four-Charlotte-Men-Are-Sentenced-To-Prison-For-Bank-Fraud-USAO-WD-NC-11-17-2021.pdf

Original

No public link identified.