Identity Theft Ring, Including Former Bank Employee, Charged With Posing As Bank Customers And Stealing Over $1.6 Million

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 ("FBI"), James C. Barnacle, Jr., announced today the arrests of CATORA NOEL, DARREN STEPHENSON, and IMANI-KAI BROWN, who are charged with stealing the personal identifying and financial information of dozens of victims as part of a conspiracy to fraudulently take over those victims' bank accounts and initiate over a million dollars in unauthorized wire transfers and ATM withdrawals. NOEL and STEPHENSON were arrested in Brooklyn, New York, this morning and presented this afternoon in Manhattan federal court before U.S. Magistrate Judge Katharine H. Parker. BROWN was arrested today in Miami, Florida, and will be presented tomorrow in the Southern District of Florida 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. Thanks to the tireless efforts of our law enforcement partners, this insider scheme has been disrupted."

"The co-defendants spent years targeting and exploiting dozens of U.S. businesses and innocent victims, stealing more than $1.6 million through compromised personal and confidential information," said FBI Assistant Director in Charge James C. Barnacle, Jr. "The FBI remains relentless in our mission to hold accountable and impose repercussions on those who prey on our country and our communities through fraudulent and predatory schemes."

As alleged in the Complaint:(1)

From at least in or about July 2022 through in or about September 2024, NOEL, STEPHENSON, and BROWN participated in an identity theft scam and related fraud operation involving primarily a bank with multiple locations in the New York metropolitan area ("Victim Institution-1"). Through the fraud scheme, one or more of the participants, including NOEL, intercepted new or replacement bank debit cards that Victim Institution-1 mailed to its customers.

The defendants unlawfully obtained customers' bank debit cards by stealing bank debit cards from mail deposits and placing recorded calls to banks, impersonating customers by providing the customer's name, personal identifying information ("PII"), and debit card number, and requesting that the bank mail a debit card for the customer's account to an address accessible to the defendants or their co-conspirators. NOEL, STEPHENSON, and BROWN communicated through, among other means, text messages and an encrypted messaging application and exchanged the information, including names, PII, and bank card and account numbers, of bank customers. STEPHENSON, a former Victim Institution-1 employee, used his privileged access to customer account information to steal customer PII and provide it to his co-conspirators in furtherance of the scheme.

Among other things, NOEL then posed as bank customers of Victim Institution-1 to conduct unauthorized and fraudulent transactions, including wire transfers, teller withdrawals, and automated teller machine ("ATM") withdrawals. Specifically, NOEL posed as bank customers by calling and visiting Victim Institution-1, providing the customer's PII and account information, and requesting a wire transfer or withdrawal of funds from the customer's Victim Institution-1 account to another bank account. Alternatively, NOEL would use the intercepted bank cards to conduct fraudulent withdrawals from ATM machines.

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NOEL, 42, and BROWN, 33, both of Brooklyn, New York, and STEPHENSON, 41, of Valley Stream, New York, are each charged with one count of bank fraud conspiracy, which carries a maximum sentence of 30 years in prison, and one count of aggravated identity theft, which carries a mandatory minimum sentence of two years in prison. NOEL is also charged with one count of access device fraud, which carries a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison.

The statutory minimum and maximum penalties in this case are prescribed by Congress and provided here for informational purposes only, as any sentencing of the defendants will be determined by the judge.

Mr. McDonald praised the outstanding investigative work of Operation Riptide of the FBI New York Field Office and Cyber Crimes Task Force, as well as the New York City Police Department and U.S. Customs and Border Protection.

This action is part of Operation Riptide, an ongoing FBI campaign targeting the criminal actors, infrastructure, and financial networks behind cybercrime, cyber-enabled crime, and fraud against the American people. Last year, Americans reported over $20 billion in losses to cybercrime, a 26% single-year increase. Operation Riptide is the FBI's sustained enforcement response to that threat.

The case is being handled by the Office's General Crimes Unit. Assistant U.S. Attorney Dana R. McCann is in charge of the prosecution.

The charges contained in the Complaint are merely allegations, and the defendants are presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.

1. ^

   As the introductory phrase signifies, the entirety of the Complaint to date constitutes only allegations, and every fact described herein should be treated as an allegation.