Bank Fraud—David Ellison

David Ellison of Alton, Illinois, was sentenced to 33 months in prison for bank fraud related to money orders.^[1] He also received five years of supervised release after he serves his sentence, and he must make $102,662 in restitution payments.^[2] He pleaded guilty in March to purchasing roughly 200 postal money orders with face values of $1 or $2 at St. Louis-area post offices.^[3] He sent the money orders to Houston where they were altered to have face values of $900, and he then took them to various banks across the country to open accounts and cash them in.^[4]

Bank fraud is a crime under 18 U.S.C. § 1344. Under this section, any person who executes a scheme to defraud a financial institution,^[5] or to obtain any money from a financial institution by false pretenses,^[6] can be punished with a fine of up to $1,000,000, imprisonment for up to 30 years or both.

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[1] Alton Man Sentenced to Prison for Bank Fraud, St. Louis Business Journal, Sept. 13, 2005, available here.
[2] Id.
[3] Id.
[4] Id.
[5] 18 U.S.C. § 1344(1).
[6] Id. § 1344(2).