Two Fulton County men have been sentenced in federal court after pleading guilty to a multi-million dollar fraud scheme.
The scheme operated by Franck Davidoff, 34, of Milton, and Dwight Pearson, 49, of Johns Creek, resulted in the loss of over $2,000,000 to Synchrony Bank.
“These two defendants not only harmed the bank, but the pair also victimized countless businesses and individuals by stealing their information and posing as them to perpetrate a massive bank fraud scheme,” said Acting U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Georgia Kurt R. Erskine. “We warn others who might follow their example that this conduct will be prosecuted.”
Davidoff was sentenced to six years, six months in prison followed by two years supervised release. Pearson was sentenced to seven years in prison with three years of supervised release to follow. Both have been ordered to pay restitution in the amount of $2,379,178.19, each.
Davidoff was convicted on March 22, 2021; Pearson was convicted on May 17, 2019.
According to Erskine, the charges and other information presented in court: From January 2017 until they were arrested in October 2018, Franck Davidoff and Dwight Pearson conspired to defraud Synchrony Bank in a complicated fraud scheme that netted them over $2 million. The scheme involved using stolen corporate information to open merchant bank accounts at Synchrony Bank.
Specifically, in June 2018, Davidoff and Pearson opened a merchant account with Synchrony Bank in the name “S&G Carpet Stores,” a real business that operates in the state of Florida and used S&G Carpet’s CEO’s information to open the account. At the time the account was created, the pair directed the bank to transfer any funds deposited into the S&G Carpet account into a separate merchant account opened in their own names.
The pair then established $600,000 worth of lines of credit for 57 individuals whose information they stole. The lines of credit appeared to be advance financing for large purchases from S&G Carpet. Once the money was deposited into the S&G Carpet account, it was immediately transferred to the secondary account. Davidoff and Pearson conducted this scheme multiple times using multiple businesses. They targeted businesses in Florida for the merchant accounts. They also targeted residents in a wealthy neighborhood in Florida to use for the fake lines of credit.
Both men were charged with a wire fraud conspiracy to defraud Synchrony Bank, 13 counts of wire fraud, and seven counts of aggravated identity theft. Each pled guilty to the wire fraud conspiracy and aggravated identity theft.
http://accesswdun.com/article/2021/8/1034340/fulton-county-men-sentenced-in-mutli-million-dollar-fraud-scheme