ERIE, Pa. - A resident of Providence, Rhode Island, has been sentenced in federal court to 96 months in jail and ordered to make $335,725 in restitution on his conviction of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and aggravated identity theft, United States Attorney Scott W. Brady announced today.
United States District Judge David S. Cercone imposed the sentence on Doherty Kushimo, 56.
According to information presented to the court, Kushimo traded stolen identities with other co-conspirators via email which were used to open bank accounts and file fraudulent federal tax returns. The bank accounts were then used as repositories for federal tax refunds which were obtained by filing the fraudulent federal tax returns using the stolen identities that Kushimo and his co-conspirators traded amongst each other. Over a thousand credit cards, obtained using stolen identities, were found during a search of Kushimo’s residence. Handwritten lists containing over fifty thousand stolen identities were also found in Kushimo’s house. Kushimo also opened and controlled numerous bank accounts himself using stolen identities, including several at Widget Financial (formerly Erie General Electric Federal Credit Union) in Erie, Pennsylvania. Kushimo also controlled numerous mail boxes that were used as repositories for stolen identity information, credit cards and federal tax information.
Assistant United States Attorney Christian A. Trabold prosecuted this case on behalf of the government.
United States Attorney Brady commended the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Internal Revenue Service, Criminal Investigation for the investigation leading to the successful prosecution of Kushimo.
Source: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of the United States Attorneys
