A Utah man will spend nine years behind bars and pay millions of dollars in restitution after defrauding investors to the tune of $3.7 million.

In a press release, the Department of Justice says Santiago Garcia Gutierrez is guilty of wire fraud, impersonating a federal officer, aggravated identity theft and making a false statement after orchestrating two separate fraudulent investment schemes.

Authorities say that between 2018 and 2020, Gutierrez siphoned more than $2.8 million from a victim by pretending that he was working as a confidential informant for the Department of Homeland Security.

Gutierrez fraudulently claimed that he could use his position to get discounts on exotic cars, planes and vessels that were seized by the US government. He duped the victim into using him as a middleman for purchasing what turned out to be nonexistent luxury assets.

To make the scheme look legitimate, he sent the victim text messages from different phone numbers and made it appear that messages were from a confidential government informant, federal agent and even his own attorney.

Gutierrez also defrauded eight other victims between 2019 and 2024. He persuaded them to invest in federal oil wells he had an ownership interest in, with promises of large returns. The victims did not receive any profit as Gutierrez used the money for his personal benefit, causing investor losses of more than $900,000.

Gutierrez did not pay the federal government royalties on the sale of the oil extracted from the wells, despite knowing that he had to do so.

On top of prison time, Gutierrez was ordered to pay $3.7 million in restitution to the victims and to forfeit $2.85 million.

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A Cleveland bank teller has reportedly been accused of forging names and other documents to drain tens of thousands of dollars out of customers’ bank accounts.

According to a new report by a local news outlet, federal prosecutors say that Denice James, a teller at First Federal Savings of Lorain, allegedly stole approximately $75,000 from eight different victims by faking documents and embezzled $1,000 from the bank itself.

The report says that James stole the money between July 25, 2023, and November 2, 2023, by forging customers’ names on bank slips and submitting them right before the bank closed, as no customers were inside. She would then process the withdrawals and take the cash for herself.

She has been charged with eight counts of bank fraud, eight counts of aggravated identity theft, and one count of embezzlement, to which she has pleaded not guilty.

This incident is the latest in a string of fraud schemes involving bank tellers. In May, a bank teller in Maryland pleaded guilty to stealing $255,000 from his employer’s elderly clients by having conspirators impersonate victims to make fraudulent bank withdrawals.

In March, a bank teller from New York, whose job it was to tally up money at the end of the day, was accused of stealing $1,000,000 in cash from his bank’s vault by forging signatures.

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Disclaimer: Opinions expressed at The Daily Hodl are not investment advice. Investors should do their due diligence before making any high-risk investments in Bitcoin, cryptocurrency or digital assets. Please be advised that your transfers and trades are at your own risk, and any losses you may incur are your responsibility. The Daily Hodl does not recommend the buying or selling of any cryptocurrencies or digital assets, nor is The Daily Hodl an investment advisor. Please note that The Daily Hodl participates in affiliate marketing.

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An employee at a $23.8 billion bank embezzled $44,000 worth of customer money before getting slapped with an industry ban.

The Federal Reserve says former Bank of Hawaii employee Alohi Kaupu-Grace, 23, stole from customer accounts and falsified the customers’ signatures on cash withdrawal slips and cashier’s check purchase slips.

Kaupu-Grace paid $5,200 in partial restitution to the bank and was fired in March. The Hawaii resident consented to an order from the Federal Reserve Board of Governors banning her from working for any of the Fed’s insured depository institutions.

The ban will stay in place indefinitely unless the Board of Governors rescinds it, and the order doesn’t prohibit any other Federal or state agency or department from taking action against Kaupu-Grace.

In May, Hawaii Island police arrested Kaupu-Grace for allegedly using someone else’s credit card.

A victim contacted police after receiving a text from his credit card company about a fraudulent charge made to his account. The police say they tracked the credit card usage back to Kaupu-Grace, who allegedly secured the victim’s confidential information while working at Bank of Hawaii.

She was charged with second-degree theft, second-degree identity theft, unauthorized possession of personal confidential information and fraudulent use of a credit card.

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Disclaimer: Opinions expressed at The Daily Hodl are not investment advice. Investors should do their due diligence before making any high-risk investments in Bitcoin, cryptocurrency or digital assets. Please be advised that your transfers and trades are at your own risk, and any losses you may incur are your responsibility. The Daily Hodl does not recommend the buying or selling of any cryptocurrencies or digital assets, nor is The Daily Hodl an investment advisor. Please note that The Daily Hodl participates in affiliate marketing.

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