A former bank employee has been sentenced to prison for a $2 million bank fraud scheme.
Yue Cao, 36, a Chinese national, was sentenced to 10 years in prison by U.S. District Court Judge J. Philip Calabrese after a federal jury in Cleveland convicted him of 15 charges.
According to Cleveland.com, Cao was employed at KeyBank.
Cao, a quant analytics manager, was hired to help protect customers from fraud. He instead used his access to steal the identities and money of elderly customers who had not enrolled in the bank’s online services, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said in a news release.
Cao used an offshore service to create emails in the names of over 100 victims. He then enrolled the victims without their knowledge in online banking accounts. He transferred their money to his personal bank account and credit cards.
He also used the victims’ identities to open bank accounts in their names without their knowledge and transferred their money into them. Some were brokerage accounts, where he used their money to engage in options trading.
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Cao’s victims lived in New York, Pennsylvania, Connecticut, Washington, and Canton and ranged in age from 90 to 103 years old at the time of the incident. In total, he conducted approximately $2 million in unauthorized transfers.
Cao was charged with 10 counts of bank fraud, four counts of aggravated identity theft, and one count of money laundering, all fourth-degree felonies. He was also ordered to serve five years of supervised release after he is released.
Reach Aaron at 330-580-8428 or ahhughes@usatodayco.com. On X: @AaronHughe2
This article originally appeared on The Repository:Former NE Ohio bank employee sentenced in $2M fraud scheme
