Two Men Sentenced To Prison On Wire Fraud Conspiracy Charges For Attempting To Steal More Than $1.3 Million Through Unauthorized Wire Transfers

CHARLOTTE, N.C. – Jamel Ski Yates, a/k/a “Goo,” 43, of Charlotte, was sentenced yesterday by U.S. District Judge Robert J. Conrad, Jr. to 36 months in prison on federal wire fraud conspiracy charges for attempting to steal more than $1.3 million through unauthorized wire transfers, announced Jill Westmoreland Rose, U.S. Attorney for the Western District of North Carolina.  Yates was also ordered to serve two years under court supervision upon completion of his prison term and to pay $251,146 as restitution.   

Yates’ co-defendant, Anthony Shawn Wilkerson, 46, of East Point, Georgia, was also sentenced today, to a year and a day in prison followed by two years of supervised release and was ordered to pay $251,146 as restitution.  Wilkerson pleaded guilty to wire fraud conspiracy and wire fraud charges for his role in the conspiracy. 

John A. Strong, Special Agent in Charge of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), Charlotte Division joins U.S. Attorney Rose in making todays’ announcement.

Five additional defendants who conspired with Yates to execute the wire fraud scheme have been sentenced to date:

• Shaka Stayman was sentenced to 84 months in prison, after pleading guilty to wire fraud conspiracy and wire fraud charges.
• Dural Samuels was sentenced to 28 months in prison and was ordered to pay restitution of $252,730 after pleading guilty to wire fraud conspiracy and wire fraud charges.
• Barry Shade was sentenced to 12 months in prison and was ordered to pay restitution of $251,147 after pleading guilty to wire fraud conspiracy charges.
• Abiola O. Oginni was sentenced to one year and a day in prison after pleading guilty to wire fraud conspiracy charges.
• Dwayne A. Reynolds was sentenced to three years of probation and was ordered to pay restitution in the amount of $20,037 after pleading guilty to wire fraud conspiracy.

According to filed court documents and statements made in court, from about January 2010 through in or about January 2011, Yates and his co-conspirators engaged in a wire fraud scheme by unlawfully accessing multiple customer accounts maintained by a financial services company located in Charlotte.  Court records show that Yates was the insider who stole personally identifiable information (PII) of approximately 90 customers of the victim company, and provided that information to Samuels.  According to court records, using that information, Samuels used his network of co-conspirators, which included Stayman, Shade, Oginni, Wilkerson and Reynolds, to withdraw funds from the compromised victim company accounts and then deposit the stolen funds into the co-conspirators’ own bank accounts or the bank accounts of other individuals (also known as “money mule accounts”).  

According to court records, the co-conspirators attempted to withdraw more than $1.3 million from the compromised customer accounts by executing multiple wire transfers ranging from $6,000 to $48,000.  They then deposited the stolen funds into the money mule accounts and retrieved it through multiple cash withdrawals.  According to court records, the co-conspirators were able to steal more over $300,000 through their wire fraud scheme.

Yates and Wilkerson will be ordered to report to the Federal Bureau of Prisons upon designation of a federal facility to begin serving their prison terms.  All federal sentences are served without the possibility of parole.  

The investigation was led by the FBI.  Assistant U.S. Attorney Thomas O’Malley, of the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Charlotte, prosecuted the case.