United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, Jamie McDonald, and Assistant Director in Charge of the New York Field Office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, James C. Barnacle, Jr., announced on July 30 the arrests of Catora Noel, Darren Stephenson, and Imani-Kai Brown. The three are charged with stealing personal identifying and financial information from dozens of victims as part of a conspiracy to fraudulently take over bank accounts and initiate more than $1.6 million in unauthorized wire transfers and ATM withdrawals.
Noel and Stephenson were arrested in Brooklyn, New York, and appeared before U.S. Magistrate Judge Katharine H. Parker in Manhattan federal court. Brown was arrested in Miami, Florida, with an appearance scheduled before U.S. Magistrate Judge Edwin G. Torres.
“As alleged, Noel, Stephenson, and Brown engaged in a coordinated scheme to defraud financial institutions and steal over $1.6 million from the bank accounts of dozens of hardworking New Yorkers,” said U.S. Attorney Jamie McDonald. “As part of this scheme, Stephenson exploited his employment at a bank to feed sensitive customer information to his co-defendants, who intercepted bank debit cards and posed as bank customers over the phone and in person.”
According to authorities, from July 2022 through September 2024 the defendants participated in an identity theft scam involving primarily one unnamed financial institution with multiple locations across the New York metropolitan area referred to as Victim Institution-1. They allegedly intercepted new or replacement debit cards mailed by Victim Institution-1 by stealing them from mail deposits or requesting cards be sent to addresses accessible by members of their group using stolen personal information.
Stephenson is accused of using privileged access during his employment at Victim Institution-1 to provide confidential customer account data for use by his co-conspirators via text messages and encrypted applications. Noel then allegedly posed as legitimate customers—both remotely by phone calls providing accurate personal data—and conducted unauthorized transactions including wire transfers or ATM withdrawals using intercepted cards.
All three face charges including one count each for bank fraud conspiracy (maximum sentence: 30 years) and aggravated identity theft (mandatory minimum: two years). Noel faces an additional charge for access device fraud (maximum sentence: 10 years). The statutory penalties are set by Congress; actual sentencing will be determined by a judge if there is a conviction.
McDonald praised Operation Riptide’s investigative work led by the FBI’s Cyber Crimes Task Force along with support from NYPD and U.S. Customs & Border Protection. Operation Riptide is described as an ongoing campaign against cybercrime networks responsible for increasing losses reported nationwide.
The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Dana R. McCann under the General Crimes Unit; all allegations remain unproven unless established beyond a reasonable doubt.