Jury Convicts D.C. Woman for Credit Card Fraud Scheme Involving Hundreds of Victims

ALEXANDRIA, Va. – A federal jury convicted a Washington, D.C. girl at this time on a number of fees of conspiracy to commit financial institution fraud, financial institution fraud, trafficking in unauthorized entry gadgets, aggravated id theft, illegal possession of 15 or extra entry gadgets, and possession of entry device-making gear with intent to defraud.

In accordance with courtroom information and proof introduced at trial, Adiam Berhane, 50, carried out a fraud scheme from no less than 2013 to 2016 within the Washington, D.C. metropolitan space involving stolen bank card data that was used to buy reward playing cards, costly luxurious items, and different gadgets from native retail shops. Berhane labored with a number of co-conspirators, together with Keith Lemons, 55 of Clinton, Maryland; Tiffany Youthful, 50 of Washington, D.C.; and an unindicted co-conspirator (UCC-1), to steal the identities of residents of the Washington, D.C. metropolitan space and elsewhere, inflicting a whole lot of hundreds of {dollars} in losses to space retailers and monetary establishments.

The conspiracy created fraudulent cost playing cards utilizing bank card manufacturing gear that investigators discovered within the condominium that Berhane shared with UCC-1. Berhane would acquire stolen bank card data from the web and supply it to UCC-1, who would then manufacture the playing cards, which Berhane then distributed to co-conspirators to be used at space shops.

Berhane performed a central function within the conspiracy. She purchased the stolen card data. She managed the distribution of the fraudulent cost playing cards. She suggested Lemons and Youthful on tips on how to perform fraud specifically shops and determined how Lemons and Youthful can be compensated. As a part of the scheme, gadgets bought with victims’ bank card data would generally be returned for refunds to financial institution accounts that Berhane managed, together with her private account and the accounts of Caffe Aficionado, a espresso store within the Rosslyn neighborhood of Arlington that Berhane owned and operated with UCC-1.

Along with fraudulently buying gadgets and receiving fraudulent refund proceeds to her financial institution accounts, Berhane used fraudulent cost playing cards to buy reward playing cards at retail shops which had been then redeemed at her enterprise, Caffe Aficionado. Greater than a 3rd of Caffe Aficionado’s revenue from June 2013 to July 2016 got here from a sample of extremely uncommon redemptions of American Categorical reward playing cards, with the sample starting a number of months earlier than Caffe Aficionado truly opened in roughly October 2013.

Lemons and Youthful beforehand pleaded responsible to conspiracy to commit financial institution fraud and are awaiting sentencing.

Berhane faces a compulsory minimal penalty of two years in jail and a most penalty of 196 years in jail when sentenced on March 15, 2023. Precise sentences for federal crimes are usually lower than the utmost penalties. A federal district courtroom choose will decide any sentence after taking into consideration the U.S. Sentencing Pointers and different statutory components.

Jessica D. Aber, U.S. Lawyer for the Japanese District of Virginia; Wayne A. Jacobs, Particular Agent in Cost of the FBI Washington Subject Workplace Felony Division; and Andy Penn, Arlington County Chief of Police, made the announcement after U.S. District Choose Anthony J. Trenga accepted the decision.

This case was prosecuted with the help of the Montgomery County Police Division, the FBI Cyber Process Power, the U.S. Postal Workplace of the Inspector Normal, the U.S. Secret Service, and the U.S. Capitol Police.

Assistant U.S. Attorneys Jonathan S. Keim and Bibeane Metsch are prosecuting the case.

A replica of this press launch is situated on the web site of the U.S. Lawyer’s Workplace for the Japanese District of Virginia. Associated courtroom paperwork and knowledge are situated on the web site of the District Court docket for the Japanese District of Virginia or on PACER by looking for Case No. 1:21-cr-27.

Keith Lemons and Tiffany Youthful are being prosecuted in associated circumstances within the Japanese District of Virginia. See United States v. Keith Lemons, 1:22-cr-9-ATJ; United States v. Tiffany Youthful, 1:20-cr-25-AJT.