Jessica D. Aber, U.S. Attorney | U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia
A Henrico man has been sentenced to three years and ten months in prison for his involvement in a conspiracy to commit bank fraud. Deonte Trent, 31, was implicated in a fraudulent scheme known as "card-cracking," which operated from at least June 2018 through April 2020.
Court documents reveal that Trent enticed employees and tellers at Wells Fargo to provide him with personal information of existing customers, including names, addresses, bank account numbers, and Social Security numbers. Using this information, he created fraudulent checks.
Trent also persuaded existing Wells Fargo customers to allow the deposit of these fake checks into their accounts, promising them financial compensation. In some cases, he recruited individuals to open new accounts for this purpose. These account holders often provided Trent with their debit cards and PINs so that he could deposit the fraudulent checks and withdraw funds before detection by the bank.
Additionally, Trent coached complicit account holders on how to respond when contacted by Wells Fargo about the suspicious activity, instructing them to give false information.
The sentencing was announced by Erik S. Siebert, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia, alongside Brent Daniels, Special Agent in Charge of the U.S. Secret Service’s Richmond Field Office. The case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Heather H. Mansfield and former Assistant U.S. Attorney Kashan Pathan under U.S. District Judge David J. Novak.
Further details can be found on the websites of both the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Virginia and the District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia.
