Ex-Wells Fargo Manager Pleads Guilty to Bank Fraud for Role in Scheme that Laundered $14 Million in

[TexasTowelie]

Ex-Wells Fargo Manager Pleads Guilty to Bank Fraud for Role in Scheme that Laundered $14 Million in Tax Fraud Proceeds


SANTA ANA, California – A former bank branch manager at Wells Fargo pleaded guilty today to one felony count of bank fraud for using his position to help launder proceeds of a tax fraud and identity theft scheme that used false identities and bogus Republic of Armenia passports to fraudulently obtain $14 million in tax refunds from the Internal Revenue Service.

Hakop Zakaryan, 34, of Glendale, entered a guilty plea this afternoon before United States District Judge Andrew J. Guilford, who scheduled a November 18 sentencing hearing, at which time Zakaryan will face a statutory maximum sentence of 30 years in federal prison.

Zakaryan admitted in his plea agreement that he used his position as bank manager in Glendale to “unfreeze” bank accounts that Wells Fargo had frozen because of suspected fraud. To do so, Zakaryan called the bank’s loss prevention department and provided false information to unfreeze the bank accounts, even though he knew that the schemers were using fraudulent identities, according to the plea agreement. Zakaryan admitted that he assisted the schemers because they paid him thousands of dollars in cash.

For example, in July 2014, Zakaryan called the bank’s loss prevention department and provided false information to unfreeze the bank account, which helped the schemers to withdraw $29,453 in cash from that account. Zakaryan admitted that he unfroze the account in exchange for approximately $3,000 in cash from the schemers.

Read more: https://www.justice.gov/usao-cdca/pr/ex-wells-fargo-manager-pleads-guilty-bank-fraud-role-scheme-laundered-14-million-tax