Baton Rouge Man Sentenced to 70 Months in Federal Prison for Conspiracy to Commit Wire Fraud

United States Attorney Ronald C. Gathe, Jr. announced that Chief Judge Shelly D. Dick sentenced Terrance August, age 48, a resident of Baton Rouge, Louisiana, to 70 months in federal prison following his conviction for conspiracy to commit wire fraud.  The Court further sentenced August to serve three years of supervised release following his term of imprisonment and ordered him to pay $179,976.99 in restitution to financial institutions.   

According to admissions made as part of his guilty plea, August conspired and agreed with others to commit wire fraud.  August and other co-conspirators defrauded financial institutions by using the personal identifying information (“PII”) of bank customers, including names, social security numbers, and dates of birth, to obtain access to account information.  August and other co-conspirators then used the PII of bank customers to contact financial institutions and request changes to victim accounts.  During these calls, members of the conspiracy impersonated victims and falsely represented to the financial institutions that they were the bank customer requesting the changes to the account. In some instances, members of the conspiracy changed the phone number, mailing address, and statement preferences on the customers’ accounts.  In others, members of the conspiracy enrolled the victims in online banking, without the victims’ knowledge or consent.  

Thereafter, August and his co-conspirators accessed victims’ accounts and initiated interstate wire transfers of funds from victim accounts to accounts held by August and other co-conspirators. Once the funds were received from financial institutions located outside of the State of Louisiana, members of the conspiracy withdrew the funds as cash at multiple ATMs and bank branches located in the Middle District of Louisiana.  August and other co-conspirators retained a portion of the stolen funds for their own personal enrichment and financial gain.

This case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Kristen Lundin Craig.