{"id":71484,"date":"2016-07-30T04:18:03","date_gmt":"2016-07-30T08:18:03","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/?p=71484"},"modified":"2016-07-29T19:21:16","modified_gmt":"2016-07-29T23:21:16","slug":"lee-and-green-allegedly-cashed-more-than-100000-in-fraudulent-checks","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/?p=71484","title":{"rendered":"Lee and Green Allegedly cashed more than $100,000 in fraudulent checks"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Attorny_General_Eric_T_Schneiderman\"<\/a>Defendants Face A Maximum Of 10 To 20 Years In State Prison If Convicted<\/em><\/p>\n

Attorney General Eric T. Schneiderman announced the arraignment today of Kevin Lee (aka Kev Escobar) and Daniel Green (aka Lance Gambino) on a 19-count indictment charging them with issuing over $100,000 in fraudulent checks written in the name of a fictitious business as part of a scheme to defraud vulnerable account holders and small financial institutions.\u00a0 Lee and Green are accused of convincing vulnerable individuals, many of whom were contacted over Facebook and other social media outlets, to deposit forged checks into their personal checking accounts. Lee and Green then allegedly drained the accounts of the available balances before the checks were returned and the financial institutions discovered them to be worthless.\u00a0 The defendants are charged in Onondaga County Supreme Court with Grand Larceny, Forgery, and Identity Theft, among other charges. The defendants face a maximum of 10 to 20 years in state prison.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese defendants allegedly attempted to line their own pockets by preying on vulnerable New Yorkers who were looking for an extra financial boost,\u201d said Attorney General Schneiderman. \u201cMy office has zero tolerance for those who commit identity theft and seek to exploit local financial institutions that ordinary consumers rely on for stability.\u201d<\/p>\n

State Police Superintendent George P. Beach II said,\u00a0 \u201cThese suspects are accused of using a devious scheme to victimize vulnerable people for their own gain. I commend the Attorney General and our Special Investigations Unit in Syracuse for their work on this case. It\u2019s because of our strong partnership that we were able to bring charges and seek to hold these two suspects accountable for their alleged crimes.\u201d<\/p>\n

According to statements made by prosecutors in court today, Lee created phony bank accounts in the name of Jones Maintenance, a fictitious business in which Lee claimed to have an interest.\u00a0 Thereafter, Lee and Green, relying heavily on Facebook and other social media outlets, allegedly targeted numerous financially vulnerable individuals\u2014college students, young single parents, and other indigent, disadvantaged, and unwary young adults\u2014to whom they issued forged checks in the name of that company. In exchange for depositing these forged checks in their accounts, the account owners were promised a portion of the check as a fee. After the checks were deposited and the funds cleared and became available, the defendants allegedly withdrew the money for their own personal use. In some instances, the defendants are accused of assuming the identities of the account holders, accessing their accounts, and withdrawing funds through ATM transactions using personal information the account holders had been required to provide for asserted security purposes. \u00a0As a result, the targeted financial institutions targeted were forced to devote resources to compensate account holders for the phony checks and fraudulently withdrawn funds.<\/p>\n

Also according to prosecutors, between December of 2015 to May of 2016 alone, Lee and Green issued over $100,000 in fraudulent checks pursuant to this alleged scheme, primarily targeting small, local or regional credit unions and banks.<\/p>\n

The Attorney General\u2019s indictment charges Kevin Lee\u00a0 with three counts of Grand Larceny in the Third Degree (a class D felony), three counts of Attempted Grand Larceny in the Third Degree (a class E felony), one count of Grand Larceny in the Fourth degree (a class E felony), six counts of Forgery or Criminal Possession of a Forged Instrument in the Second Degree (class D felonies), one count of Identity Theft in the First Degree (a class D felony), one count of Identity Theft in the Second Degree (a class E felony), one count of Falsifying Business Records in the First Degree (a class E felony), and one count of Scheme to Defraud in the First Degree (a class E felony). Daniel Green is charged with two counts of Grand Larceny in the Third Degree, one count of Attempted Grand Larceny in the Third Degree, two counts of Forgery in the Second Degree and one count of Scheme to Defraud in the First Degree.<\/p>\n

Lee, 26, of Clay; and Green, 20, of Syracuse, were arraigned Friday in Onondaga County Court before the Honorable Judge Aloi; Lee is currently being held without bail, and Green is currently being held on $150,000 bond over $75,000 cash bail.<\/p>\n

The charges against the defendants are allegations and they are presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.<\/p>\n

The Office of the Attorney General is continuing to investigate the alleged operation of this check cashing ring in other counties across the state, including Westchester, Rensselaer, Albany, Schenectady, Saratoga, Oneida, Broome, and Oswego counties.<\/p>\n

The Office of the Attorney General thanks the New York State Police Special Investigations Unit \u2013 Syracuse and the Financial Crimes Unit for their invaluable assistance on this case.<\/p>\n

The charges against the defendant are merely accusations, and the defendant is presumed innocent until and unless proven guilty.<\/p>\n

The criminal case against Lee and Green is being handled by Assistant Attorneys General John R. Healy and Andrew Tarkowski of the Criminal Enforcement and Financial Crimes Bureau.\u00a0 The Criminal Enforcement and Financial Crimes Bureau is led by Bureau Chief Gary T. Fishman and Deputy Bureau Chief Stephanie Swenton. The Division of Criminal Justice is led by Executive Deputy Attorney General Kelly Donovan.<\/p>\n

The Attorney General\u2019s investigation was conducted by Investigator Joel Cordone and Deputy Chief Antoine Karam. Forensic accounting was performed by Associate Auditor Matthew Croghan under the supervision of Deputy Chief Auditor Sandy Bizzarro. The Investigations Bureau is led by Chief Dominick Zarrella.\u00a0 The Forensic Audit Section is led by Chief Auditor Edward J. Keegan.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Defendants Face A Maximum Of 10 To 20 Years In State Prison If Convicted Attorney General Eric T. Schneiderman announced the arraignment today of Kevin Lee (aka Kev Escobar) and Daniel Green (aka Lance Gambino) on a 19-count indictment charging them with issuing over $100,000 in fraudulent checks written in the name of a fictitious […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":70131,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[32,8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-71484","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-crime","category-top-story"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/71484","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=71484"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/71484\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/70131"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=71484"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=71484"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=71484"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}