Nigerian National, Modile Pleads Guilty to Multi-Million Dollar Fraud Schemes and Money Laundering

A Nigerian, Joseph Modile, Monday 27th February, 2023 in the federal court in Brooklyn, pleaded guilty to an indictment in the Eastern District of New York charging him with conspiracy to commit bank and wire fraud and aggravated identity theft, and an information filed in the Southern District of Texas and transferred to the Eastern District of New York, charging him with money laundering and wire fraud.  

The proceeding was held before United States Magistrate Judge Ramon E. Reyes, Jr.  When sentenced, Modile faces up to 20 years’ imprisonment for each of the fraud counts and the money laundering count and a consecutive sentence of two years’ imprisonment for the aggravated identity theft count.  Upon completion of his sentence, Modile faces deportation from the United States.

Breon Peace, United States Attorney for the Eastern District of New York, and Alamdar S. Hamdani, United States Attorney for the Southern District of Texas (SDTX), announced the guilty plea.

He said, "With today’s guilty plea, Modile is revealed as a prolific fraudster and money launderer who has left a trail of fake documents, plundered bank accounts, and financial victims from Brooklyn all the way across the country.  

"I commend all of the law enforcement agencies for pulling together the threads of the defendant’s complex schemes in order to hold him accountable for his multiple crimes". 

US Attorney Hamdani in his comments said, "A major figure in fraud has been taken out of the equation.  

"Thanks to the partnerships in law enforcement and the sophisticated techniques used during the investigation, this prolific money launderer had no choice but admit his guilt and will be held accountable for his crimes". 

According to court documents, in a scheme that was charged in the Eastern District of New York, from January 2014 and September 2018, Modile and others defrauded victims, businesses, and financial institutions in the United States through a sophisticated home equity line of credit (HELOC) scheme involving a series of bank account takeovers.  

During this time, Modile and others also laundered proceeds from the bank account takeovers.  In furtherance of the HELOC fraud scheme, Modile and others acquired personal identifying information (PII) of the actual holders of the targeted bank accounts at the financial institutions.  

The co-conspirators then used the PII to impersonate the actual holders of the targeted bank accounts, thereby gaining control of the accounts.  In some cases, members of the conspiracy recruited “runners,” who impersonated the actual account holders inside bank branches using forged and fraudulent identification documents created at the direction of Modile and others.  

In most instances, the stolen funds were first deposited into fraudulent bank accounts set up and controlled by co-conspirators in the names of the actual victims from whom the money had been stolen.  

In other cases, the bank accounts into which the stolen funds were first deposited were in the names of sham corporations, which were opened using false and fraudulent identification.  

In total, Modile and others stole at least $5 million as part of the HELOC fraud scheme.