2 Las Vegas residents face charges in bank fraud scheme
Two Las Vegas residents were named in a federal indictment accusing 14 people of racketeering charges in a years-long scheme to steal millions of dollars from bank accounts, the Justice Department announced Wednesday.
Linden Fellerman, 67, and Debra Vogel, 68, both of Las Vegas, were indicted by a federal grand jury in Los Angeles, along with 12 other defendants from California, Canada, Hawaii, Florida and Arizona, according to a news release. The defendants are accused of being “members and associates of a racketeering enterprise” that made unauthorized debits against victims’ bank accounts.
In December, 69-year-old Harold Sobel was sentenced to more than three years in prison for his role in the bank fraud scheme. A related civil case in Los Angeles federal court has also led to nearly $5 million in injunctive relief and settlements against several people involved in the scheme, according to the press release.
“This sophisticated scheme allegedly generated millions of dollars in revenue by stealing consumers’ personal information and then using that information to fraudulently reach straight into the bank accounts of thousands of Americans,” Martin Estrada, the U.S. Attorney for the central district of California, was quoted in the release.
The defendants were accused of obtaining identifying banking information for victims and creating shell entities that claimed to offer services such as cloud storage. The enterprise then made unauthorized debits against victims’ bank accounts, the release said.
Fellerman was indicted on charges of racketeering conspiracy and wire fraud, and Vogel was indicted on a racketeering conspiracy charge, the Justice Department said.
Contact Katelyn Newberg at knewberg@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0240. Follow @k_newberg on Twitter.