ERIE, Penn.—A woman who used phony checks to steal more than $500,000 from two CUs has pleaded guilty to bank fraud and has been sentenced to two years and four months in federal prison.
Ayisat Yekinni, 30, formerly a citizen of Nigeria, was sentenced to pay $527,730.66 in restitution to two Virginia-based CUs, Navy Federal Credit Union and the Pentagon Federal Credit Union, GoErie.com reported.
Yekinni pleaded guilty to a single felony count of bank fraud in August. She was indicted on the charge in October 2015. Yekinni was accused of using aliases to open accounts at several area banks to funnel fraudulent checks between June and August 2015. She similarly defrauded several out-of-state financial institutions, according to the indictment. The checks ranged from more than $22,000 to more than $70,000, GoErie.com reported.
According to the indictment, Yekinni opened accounts at offices of PNC Bank and Marquette Savings Bank. She also deposited a fraudulent check for $70,038 at a Marquette Savings Bank branch.
Yekinni also wire transferred $24,560 to an account at a Fidelity Bank office in Nigeria.
Yekinni held both Nigerian and Mexican passports, the indictment states.
Yekinni was sentenced by U.S. District Judge David S. Cercone, who also ordered that she serve five years of probation after her prison sentence. As a condition of her probation, Yekinni must make payments toward the restitution of at least 10% of her monthly income, GoErie.com reported.