Two New York Men Plead Guilty To Grand Larceny – Scheme Involved Doctored USPS Money Orders

ROCKLAND COUNTY MEN PLED GUILTY TO GRAND LARCENY, FORGERY IN TWO-STATE BANK FRAUD SCHEME

Rockland County District Attorney Thomas P. Zugibe today announced that Lawrence Lazard of 106 Union Road, Apartment 2L, Spring Valley, New York and Fabrice Stinfil of 5 George St., Apt.9, Spring Valley, New York have pled guilty to stealing more than $20,000 from several banks in a scheme involving doctored U.S. Postal Service money orders.

District Attorney Zugibe said, “The defendants have admitted guilt, waived appeal and acknowledged that they ripped off numerous banks for thousands of dollars in a decidedly low-tech scam. They victimized not only the banks, which were forced to cover heavy losses, but also the honest customers who pay the price in higher fees. The defendants have now been held accountable for their deceit and greed.”

Special Agent in Charge of HSI New York, Angel M. Melendez said, “These men defrauded our New York and New Jersey banks, leaving them exposed to major monetary losses. They admitted to fleecing these institutions by altering money orders, or passing stolen checks, and making away with thousands of dollars. HSI continues to partner with local law enforcement to infiltrate the operations like these, and ensure that greedy thugs, like Lazard and Stinfil, are held accountable for their actions.”

“Postal Inspectors have no tolerance for the misuse of Postal Service Money Orders in furtherance of criminal activity. We will spare no resource to protect our most trusted financial instrument from fraud. We value the positive working relationships we have fostered with our law enforcement partners and their assistance in bringing these individuals to justice,” said United States Postal Inspection Service Inspector in Charge Philip R. Bartlett.

Lazard pled guilty to Criminal Possession of a Forged Instrument in the First Degree before the Honorable David Zuckerman, who indicated that he would sentence the defendant to two to six years in state prison. In addition, the defendant must forfeit $17,568.24 to Capital One Bank and KeyBank.

Stinfil pled guilty on August 3, 2016 to Grand Larceny in the Fourth Degree and Criminal Facilitation in the Fourth Degree before the Honorable David Zuckerman. He faces up to four years in state prison. In addition, he must forfeit $2,724.56 to KeyBank as part of his sentence.

Between June 2013 and November 2014, the defendants admitted to playing roles in a sweeping, two-state scheme to deposit more than 300 altered money orders into dozens of bank accounts at various branches in Rockland and Orange counties in New York and Bergen County in New Jersey. The financial institutions impacted by the scam included Sterling National Bank, First Niagara Bank (now KeyBank) and Capital One Bank, with a total exposure of more than $300,000 in losses.

The charges stemmed from a joint investigation by the Rockland County District Attorney’s Office’s Special Investigations Unit, ICE Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) and the United States Postal Inspection Service.

The indictment accused Lazard of depositing 25 money orders into five different bank accounts, with a total exposure of $25,000 and an actual theft of approximately $20,000. The defendant deposited the altered United States Postal Service Money Orders into the bank accounts, then withdrew the money prior to the fraud being detected by the banks or the USPS. The money orders were altered by the pasting of photocopied, larger-dollar amounts over the smaller-dollar amounts printed on actual USPS Money Orders. The pasted portions were comprised of words, symbols and numbers, such as “$1000” and “One Thousand Dollars & 00c” and were pasted over USPS Money Orders actually valued at $1.00, $2.00 and/or $3.00.

Lazard used the debit/ATM card and PIN associated other individuals’ bank accounts to deposit the altered USPS Money Orders. Automatic Teller Machines would scan the altered USPS Money Order without detecting the alteration. The account would then be increased in value by the amount of deposit until the altered USPS Money Order was either discovered at the local bank branch where it had been deposited or at the Federal Reserve Bank in New York City, often many weeks later.

In all, at issue in the indictment were deposits and withdrawals involving nine bank accounts: Five accounts at Capital One Bank (belonging to “Emmanuel Raymond,” “Carl Sanon,” “Anthony Lauture,” “Kevi Ven,” and “Kadaphy Destin,”; Three accounts at First Niagara Bank (belonging to “Esther Elie,” “Ralph Boursiquot,” and “Fabrice Stinfil”; and one account at Sterling National Bank (belonging to “Anthony Lauture”), with activity at various branches of those banks located in Rockland County, including Mount Ivy, Nanuet, New City, Pearl River, Spring Valley, Suffern and Valley Cottage.

Other than Anthony Lauture’s Sterling National Bank account, the accounts had no other deposits of legitimate value beyond the approximately $20-$50 used to open the account. The deposits and many withdrawals by Lazard are all captured and preserved on bank video. Stinfil admitted that he facilitated Lazard to commit a crime by opening a bank account at First Niagara Bank, turning the debit/ATM card and PIN over to Lazard, who then deposited altered USPS Money Orders into Stinfil’s account. On various dates, Stinfil and Lazard withdrew more than $1000 from the account that was only comprised of the illegitimate funds made up by the altered USPS Money Orders.

District Attorney Zugibe thanked the U.S. Postal Inspection Service, ICE Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), Capital One Bank, Sterling National Bank and KeyBank for their partnership and assistance during the investigation.

Senior Assistant District Attorney Robert Trudell handled the prosecution of the case, with the assistance of Executive Assistant District Attorney Richard K. Moran.

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