Faces Up to Five Years in Federal Prison and Must Forfeit Nearly $200,000 in Funds Seized by Government
DALLAS - A man who owned and operated a check cashing business in Dallas appeared today in federal court before U.S. Magistrate Judge Paul D. Stickney and pleaded guilty to a superseding information charging one count of conspiracy to launder monetary instruments, announced U.S. Attorney John Parker of the Northern District of Texas.
Obinna Njoku, who was the sole director of All Ways Insurance Group, LLC, and who owned and operated All-Ways Check Cashing, Inc., according to the factual resume filed in the case, faces a maximum statutory sentence of five years in federal prison and a $250,000 fine. He will also be required to forfeit approximately $194,294 in funds that the government has seized from his Comerica Bank accounts. A sentencing date was not set; he will remain on bond.
According to the factual resume filed in the case, from January through April 2012, Njoku was asked by several individuals to cash, through All-Ways, numerous checks purporting to be federal income tax refunds and appearing to be issued to individuals residing in the Dallas area. The individuals asking Njoku to cash these checks brought “batches" of checks, often eight to 12 at a time, to Njoku at the All-Ways location on Forest Lane in Dallas. These “batches" of checks often had consecutive numbers, and each check was always for less than $10,000. The individuals who brought the checks to Njoku to cash were not the individuals to whom the checks were payable. In addition, the total amount of each batch of checks presented to Njoku, as well as the amount of cash released to the respective individual presenting the “batch" of checks, was usually well over $10,000.
Njoku believed, according to the factual resume, that the individuals asking for the checks to be cashed had prepared and filed federal income tax returns for the persons to whom the checks were issued. Njoku suspected that the individuals cashing the checks had illegally obtained higher federal income tax refunds, using improper credits and falsely inflated deductions, for the purported payees on the checks. While he believed the checks were likely derived from criminal activity involving fraudulent federal tax returns, Njoku did not ask or seek details. Further, he did not investigate or confirm that the individuals presenting the checks had been involved in preparing tax returns for the check payees or had any business relationship with the payees. Instead, Njoku deliberately blinded himself to what he suspected was the source of the checks and through All-Ways, caused the checks to be deposited into Comerica Bank accounts and caused funds to be withdrawn from Comerica Bank accounts to give to the individuals presenting the checks. As his commission for cashing the checks, Njoku kept 25% to 35% of the overall amount of each check “batch" presented to him for cashing. This commission was much higher than the usual 3% to 5% commission he collected for other checks presented at All-Ways for cashing.
The factual resume states that these checks presented to Njoku for cashing during this time were derived from fraudulently filed federal income tax returns. The payees on these checks had their identities stolen by individuals who then used the information to file fraudulent federal tax returns with and make fraudulent refund claims of the Internal Revenue Service. The total amount of the checks obtained through wire fraud and cashed by Njoku through All-Ways was at least $300,000.
Internal Revenue Service Criminal Investigation investigated the case. Assistant U.S. Attorney John J. de la Garza is in charge of the prosecution.
Source: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of the United States Attorneys
