Michele Beckwith Acting U.S. Attorney | U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of California
Alex Altoh, a 64-year-old resident of Roseville, has been sentenced to three years and ten months in prison for his involvement in a money laundering conspiracy. The announcement was made by Acting U.S. Attorney Michele Beckwith. In addition to the prison sentence, Altoh is required to pay $1,478,068.99 in restitution.
Court documents reveal that between January 2021 and November 2021, Altoh and co-defendant Oumar Sidibe engaged in a scheme to launder proceeds from two business email compromise schemes. These schemes involved deceiving corporate victims into making payments to bank accounts controlled by Altoh and another individual instead of the intended recipients. Altoh, Sidibe, and others quickly withdrew substantial portions of these funds through check deposits, effectively transferring the money while concealing its illegal origins.
One specific incident occurred on October 26, 2021, when an employee of a victim company was misled into wiring approximately $3.5 million to Altoh's Wells Fargo account. Within less than two hours on the same day, Altoh withdrew funds by depositing five checks across multiple bank branches in Sacramento. Among these transactions was a $248,000 check that he wrote to himself and deposited into his Chase bank account. That day alone saw him withdraw about $1.1 million from his Wells Fargo account—funds that were never recovered. Law enforcement linked Altoh and Sidibe to nearly $3.9 million in laundered fraud proceeds.
Sidibe remains at large with charges pending against him; he is presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation conducted the investigation leading to this case's prosecution by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Denise N. Yasinow and Matthew Thuesen.
