A Los Angeles-area man has been sentenced to 11 years in federal prison after pleading guilty to bank fraud, aggravated identity theft and money laundering charges. Martin Quoc Pham, 28, and an accomplice called Joe Inthisone, obtained birth dates, social security numbers and other personal information belonging to hundreds of JPMorgan Chase Bank customers, court documents stated. They do not explain how this information was obtained, however.
According to Pham's plea agreement, the conspirators used the personal information to obtain "unlawful online access to home equity line of credit accounts at JPMorgan Chase Bank". Between October 2006 and February 2007, they exploited that access by transferring HELOC funds to accounts they controlled at Washington Mutual. While this scheme lasted just five months, it netted more than $1m. Once the money had been transferred to their Washington Mutual accounts, the partners in crime withdrew it or transferred it to other accounts they controlled.
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