A four-count criminal indictment has been unsealed charging Shan Anand, Nosakhare Nobore, Nicholas Pappas, Leonard Ujkic, Solomon Aluko, aka D1 ReallyRich, and Jorge Gonzalez with a scheme to obtain cheques and launder the proceeds fraudulently.
Many of the cheques were funds provided by the government for COVID-19 relief that the defendants stole before depositing into bank accounts opened using sham businesses or stolen or fake identities.
In total, the defendants attempted to steal approximately $80 million and succeeded in depositing approximately $50 million.
These six defendants allegedly used sham businesses and stolen and fake identities to operate a multi-year check fraud scheme, resulting in $50 million in illicit funds being deposited into their accounts, according to FBI acting assistant director Leslie R. Backschies.
The defendants “brazenly” attempted to exploit multiple U.S. government programmes to enrich themselves illegally.
From 2021 to 2025, the six defendants worked together to steal money from the U.S. government, banks, and individuals. The defendants opened bank accounts for individuals or businesses using fake or stolen identity information.
They were assisted in doing so by one of the defendants, a teller at a major bank. From the inside, he worked to open or alter bank accounts to advance the defendants’ fraud.
The defendants then deposited fraudulently obtained or counterfeit checks into the accounts. Many of the cheques were issued by the U.S. Treasury based on false and fraudulent filings with the Internal Revenue Service in connection with the Employee Retention Credit and Qualified Sick Leave Wages credit.
The ERC is a refundable tax credit for businesses and tax-exempt organizations that had employees during and were affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. Employers must have paid qualified wages to claim the credit. The QSLW credit is a related credit that was also established in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The defendants did not operate businesses that would have qualified for these credits. The businesses they used to open bank accounts and apply for the credits were fake or sham businesses.
Other Treasury checks passed as part of the defendants’ scheme were payments for different tax refunds, including personal and corporate income tax refunds. Still, other Treasury checks were associated with programs at other government agencies, such as the Department of Veterans of Affairs and the Social Security Administration.
Some of the checks involved in the scheme—both Treasury checks and other business or individual checks—were stolen from the mail or elsewhere. Other checks were partially or completely forged.
Once the checks were deposited, the defendants withdrew the fraudulently obtained funds in cash or transferred them to other bank accounts under their control. Over the course of their scheme, the defendants attempted to obtain approximately $80 million in total. They succeeded in depositing approximately $50 million.
The defendants communicated openly about their fraud. One defendant sent another a video of a screen recording of a document or documents titled “✅ 2021 Fraud Bible ✅” shown in the following image:
This “Fraud Bible” contained instructions on how to engage in various forms of fraud, including credit card fraud, ATM fraud, and mobile cash transfer fraud. Since at least 2021, some members of the conspiracy have worn clothing items bearing a logo depicting a sack of money running along with the phrase “Bag Hunter.”
Certain members of the conspiracy wore this logo while engaging in criminal conduct. For example, the following image shows NOBORE withdrawing fraudulently obtained funds while prominently displaying the Bag Hunters logo:
They are each charged with conspiracy to commit wire fraud and bank fraud, which carries a maximum sentence of 30 years in prison; conspiracy to commit money laundering and engaging in a monetary transaction in property derived from specific unlawful activity, which carries a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison; conspiracy to defraud the government, which carries a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison; and aggravated identity theft, which carries a mandatory sentence of two years in prison.
The charges in the indictment are merely accusations, and the defendants are presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.
