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Nasir Joseph Outlaw, of King of Prussia, pleaded guilty in December 2019 to two counts of bank fraud and two counts of aggravated identity theft, First Assistant United States Attorney Jennifer Arbittier Williams said.
Outlaw admitted that between June and Dec 2017, he knowingly executed separate schemes to defraud First National Bank and Fulton Bank by depositing fraudulent checks and withdrawing cash, authorities said.
Outlaw said that he recruited at least six other people to participate as account holders and additional recruiters, and admitted to using the account holders’ ATM debit cards and PINs to personally deposit fraudulent checks and make cash withdrawals, authorities said.
He apparently supervised and instructed the other members to also make deposits and withdrawals from the accounts, and he personally obtained checks from inactive or closed accounts that he knew were closed, authorities said.
Authorities state that Outlaw was directly responsible for defrauding the two banks out of $47,575, and he admitted that he intended to defraud the banks out of more than $64,000.
Outlaw's conviction also led to separate federal charges against 31 other members of the same fraud ring – 30 of whom have since pleaded guilty, while charges remain pending against one member of the fraud ring, authorities said.
Another leader of the fraud ring, Steven Ronald Randal of Philadelphia, was previously sentenced in June 2018 by Judge Leeson to 111 months in prison.
“This was a sophisticated scheme involving dozens of defendants that took excellent investigative work to unravel,” said Williams. “Financial fraud and identity theft harm hard-working individuals every day. Our office will continue to aggressively prosecute the perpetrators and seek justice for victims.”
Authorities noted that the conspiracy's decision to rely on the mail to obtain the stolen debit cards is what allowed them to track the suspects down.
"When criminals use the mail to commit a crime, they shouldn’t be surprised when Postal Inspectors knock on their door along with their law enforcement partners," said Damon Wood, Postal Inspector in Charge of the Philadelphia Division.
Outlaw is expected to spend 44 months in prison and five years of supervised release, and ordered to pay $47,575 in restitution by United States District Judge Joseph F. Leeson, Jr.
The case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the United States Postal Inspection Service, and the Cumru Township Police Department, and is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Michael S. Lowe.
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