Defendants Have Pled Guilty in Conspiracy that Netted Over $1.7 Million
ALBANY, NEW YORK – Davon Hunter, age 27, of Richmond, Virginia, Christian Quivers, age 20, of Richmond, and Crystal Kurschner, age 44, of Brooklyn, New York, have pled guilty for their respective roles in a bank fraud conspiracy.
As part of their pleas, Hunter, Quivers, and Kurschner each admitted that they were members of a conspiracy to defraud financial institutions all over the country by obtaining the personal identifying information of victims and using lower-level “workers” to impersonate the identity-theft victims to conduct fraudulent banking transactions in their names.
As part of a plea agreement entered, Quivers admitted that he was a supervisor in the conspiracy and relayed instructions he obtained from supervisors, including Oluwaseun Adekoya, Kani Bassie, and Hunter, to lower-level members of the conspiracy who impersonated identity-theft victims and conducted fraudulent transactions in their names.
As part of a plea agreement entered earlier this week, Kurschner admitted that she was a “worker” who impersonated identity theft victims and provided most of the fraud proceeds to her supervisors.
Earlier this month, Hunter admitted that he was a manager of the conspiracy who received directions and PII from supervisors, including Adekoya and Bassie and orchestrated fraudulent transactions on their behalf.
Hunter and Quivers each pled guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit bank fraud and one count of aggravated identity theft. Kurschner pled guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit bank fraud.
Adekoya, 39, a Nigerian citizen living in Cliffside Park, New Jersey, is charged with one count of conspiracy to commit bank fraud, one count of money laundering conspiracy, and nine counts of aggravated identity theft.
Bassie, 36, of Brooklyn, is charged with one count of conspiracy to commit bank fraud, one count of money laundering conspiracy, and two counts of aggravated identity theft.
Jermon Brooks, 20, of Richmond, Virginia, is charged with conspiracy to commit bank fraud and one count of aggravated identity theft.
As to these defendants, the charges in the second superseding indictment are merely accusations. These remaining defendants are presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.
The prosecution is the result of an ongoing investigation led by the U.S. Attorney’s Office and FBI-Albany, which began after the May 2022 arrest of Daniyan, Gaysha Kennedy, age 46, of Brooklyn, and Victor Barriera, age 64, of the Bronx, by the Cohoes Police Department after the trio travelled to the Capital Region to commit bank fraud.
According to documents previously filed in the case, the investigation has uncovered over $1.7 million in fraudulent transactions to date. Eleven defendants have pled guilty and forfeited hundreds of thousands of dollars in proceeds, luxury apparel, and jewellery.
At sentencing later this year, Hunter, Quivers, and Kurschner each face a maximum term of 30 years’ incarceration for the bank fraud conspiracy. Hunter and Quivers each face a mandatory consecutive term of 2 years’ incarceration for their convictions of aggravated identity theft. The defendants will be ordered to pay restitution and face a term of post-incarceration supervised release of up to five years.
