Supervisor of Bank Fraud Conspiracy Pleads Guilty to Conspiracy to Commit Bank Fraud

Greenbelt, Maryland – Chesterfield Stewart V, age 22, of Germantown, Maryland, pleaded guilty yesterday to conspiracy to commit bank fraud.

The guilty plea was announced by United States Attorney for the District of Maryland Erek L. Barron; and Special Agent in Charge James R. Mancuso of Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) Baltimore.

According to his guilty plea, from February 2020 to December 2020, Stewart conspired with others to recruit individuals and use their bank accounts to receive fraudulent check deposits and share the recruited individuals’ personal identifying information and bank account information amongst co-conspirators and others.  Once the co-conspirators obtained the individual’s bank information, Stewart and another co-conspirator produced and obtained counterfeit checks and then deposited those fraudulent checks into the individual’s bank account.

After the counterfeit checks had been deposited, co-conspirators traveled to numerous financial institutions and withdrew the funds from the individual’s account before the financial institution could determine that the source of the checks were fraudulent and the checks were counterfeit.  As a result of the conspiracy, the intended loss within the scope of the conspiracy and reasonably foreseeable to Stewart was more than $250,000 but not more than $550,000.

For example, on March 12, 2021, a co-conspirator deposited a counterfeit check in the amount of $73,019.42 into Individual 1’s bank account.  Then, on March 14, 2020, Stewart, two co-conspirators, and Individual 1 traveled to three different financial institutions where Individual 1 obtained three cash advances from their bank account in the amounts of $10,000, $10,000, and $5,000.  The total actual loss to Individual 1’s financial institution after the collection fees was $24,976.36.

Additionally, on March 18, 2020, co-conspirators provided Individual 2’s bank account information to Stewart.  The co-conspirators thereafter deposited a counterfeit check into Individual 2’s bank account in the amount of $15,000.  That same day, Stewart, three co-conspirators and Individual 2 traveled to a Rockville, Maryland financial institution where, at the direction of Stewart and another co-conspirator, Individual 2 obtained a cash withdrawal from their bank account in the amount of $1,500.  Co-conspirator 2 also made an ATM withdrawal in the amount of $300 from Individual 2’s bank account at the financial institution.

The following day on March 19, 2020, the co-conspirators conducted three separate money transfers to a co-conspirator’s mobile banking app account, for a total of $1,450, and transferred an additional $500 to another individual.  The total actual loss to the financial institution was at least $3,750.

As part of his plea agreement, Stewart will be ordered to pay at least $28,726.36 in restitution.

Stewart faces a maximum sentence of 30 years in prison followed by five years of supervised release for conspiracy to commit bank fraud.  U.S. District Judge George J. Hazel has scheduled sentencing for June 8, 2022 at 10:00 a.m.

United States Attorney Erek L. Barron commended the HSI for their work in the investigation. Mr. Barron thanked Assistant U.S. Attorney Kelly O. Hayes, who is prosecuting the case.

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