Orange County Bank Fraud Ringleader Convicted

The ringleader of an Orange County bank fraud and identity theft scheme, where nearly half a million dollars was stolen, was convicted on a 15-count indictment.

According to Attorney General Eric T. Schneiderman, 29-year-old Tyrone “Reece” Lee was convicted for running an identity-theft operation that stole over $457,000 from customers of Wachovia Bank, now Wells Fargo, in Newburgh between July 2010 and August 2011.

An Orange County jury convicted Lee of all 15 counts charged, including grand larceny and identity theft. Lee, who is already serving a sentence of 4 ½ to 9 years in prison for operating a similar identity-theft scheme in Westchester County, faces up to 20 years in prison.

According to evidence from the trial, Lee recruited his girlfriend, Nadia Figueroa, to obtain a position as a bank teller at the Wachovia branch located at 41 North Plank Road in Newburgh. Lee directed Figueroa to search for common names and to copy specific information, including account numbers, social security numbers, and signature cards.

Many of the accounts victimized were selected by a practice known as “name surfing,” wherein Figueroa illegally searched Wachovia’s customer database for common names, states of residence, and high account balances.

Figueroa testified that during her 7 weeks of employment, she illegally accessed the personal identification information of over 200 Wachovia bank account holder. Using the stolen account information, Lee and co-conspirators withdrew funds from 77 customer accounts at branches located in Nassau County and New York City, as well as in Connecticut, Florida, Maryland, New Jersey and Virginia.

Earlier this year Lee pleaded guilty to an entire 37-count Westchester County indictment, including multiple counts of grand larceny and identified theft.

Figueroa pleaded guilty to grand larceny and was sentenced to 2 to 6 years in prison. 3 charged co-conspirators in the Westchester scheme also plead guilty.

Lee is scheduled to be sentenced on April 6th.