Three
men
duped
New
York-area
banks
into
shelling
out
more
than
$10
million
and
tried
to
make
off
with
the
money
by
converting
it
to
crypto,
U.S.
Attorney
Damian
Williams
said
Thursday
in
a
statement.
Zhong
Shi
Gao,
Naifeng
Xu
and
Fei
Jiang
allegedly
stole
millions
of
dollars
from
nearly
a
dozen
financial
institutions
throughout
the
New
York
metropolitan
area
between
2018
and
2022,
law
enforcement
officials
said.
The
trio
bilked
banks
out
of
the
funds
by
posing
as
victims
of
fraudulent
money
transfers,
prompting
institutions
to
credit
them
in
the
amount
of
the
supposed
unauthorized
transfers
and
“effectively
doubling
their
money,”
according
to
an
indictment.
“These
charges
should
serve
as
a
warning
to
fraudsters
and
cybercriminals
who
think
they
can
turn
to
cryptocurrency
to
hide
their
identities
–
together
with
our
partner
agencies,
we
will
find
you
and
hold
you
accountable
for
your
crimes,”
Williams
said
in
the
statement.
Each
of
the
accused
men
has
been
arrested
by
the
Federal
Bureau
of
Investigation
and
faces
four
criminal
charges
in
U.S.
District
Court
for
the
Southern
District
of
New
York:
bank
fraud
conspiracy,
conspiracy
to
commit
wire
fraud
affecting
a
financial
institution,
money
laundering
conspiracy
and
aggravated
identity
theft.
The
maximum
sentence
for
all
the
charges
combined
could
amount
to
nearly
100
years,
the
release
shows.
Authorities
said
the
men
enlisted
foreign
nationals
from
China
and
Taiwan
to
open
U.S.
bank
accounts
that
the
trio
could
use
to
manage
the
transfers
that
they’d
pretend
were
unwanted.