BOSTON — This is an official press release from the U.S. Department of Justice (USAO - Massachusetts), published as received.
BOSTON – A Milton man was sentenced in federal court in Boston today in connection with a scheme involving the use of false identification documents to obtain funds from bank customers’ accounts.
Fesnel Lafortune, 32, of Milton, was sentenced by U.S. District Court Senior Judge Douglas P. Woodlock to 31 months in prison and five years of supervised release. Lafortune was also ordered to pay approximately $200,000 in restitution. In November 2019, Lafortune pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit bank fraud and one count of aggravated identity theft.
In April 2017, co-conspirators accessed the account of a Santander Bank customer using fraudulent identification documents and withdrew approximately $350,000 in the form of official bank checks and cash. Lafortune deposited one of these checks, in the amount of $175,500 into a sham business bank account he had opened using a false identity. Within days of depositing the check, Lafortune withdrew nearly $30,000 in cash in three separate transactions at three different bank branches. In June 2017, Lafortune used a second false identity to open business bank accounts in the name of another fictitious entity, into which co-conspirators wired more than $200,000 in fraudulently-obtained funds. The loss to banks and individual bank customers totaled approximately $200,000.
Acting United States Attorney Nathaniel R. Mendell; Joseph R. Bonavolonta, Special Agent in Charge of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Boston Division; and Joshua McCallister, Acting Inspector in Charge of the U.S. Postal Inspection Service made the announcement. Assistant U.S. Attorney Leslie A. Wright of Mendell’s Securities, Financial & Cyber Fraud Unit prosecuted the case.
