Six charged with fleecing nearly $50 million from bank

A Corporate Area teacher is among six persons who were brought before the courts yesterday for their alleged participation in a multimillion-dollar fraud scheme that fleeced a local bank of almost $50 million.

The teacher, 22-year-old Winsome Bradshaw, is charged along with Jahsean Brown, Everald McKenzie, Treveon Barrett, Racquel Morrison and Sophia Dobson on a 98-count indictment on charges of engaging in a transaction involving criminal property, facilitating a transaction involving criminal property, simple larceny, unauthorised access to computer data, making available device or data for the commission of an offence and conspiracy to defraud, contrary to the Proceeds of Crimes Act, Larceny Act and Cybercrimes Act.

The accused are among 31 persons who investigators believe participated in the scheme. Stashanie Smellie, 35, Kehoe Hibbert, 43, and Timera Whyte, 25, have faced the court. Prosecutors in the Kingston and St Andrew Parish Court yesterday theorised that Bradshaw, Brown, McKenzie, Barrett, Morrison and Dobson are accountable for receiving at least $13 million from the bank.

Twenty-three-year-old Brown, unemployed, is accused of receiving $5.4 million while McKenzie, 24, a warehouse supervisor, is accused of receiving $988,000 in his account. It is alleged that Barrett, a 22-year-old bartender, received $1.6 million and Morrison, 29, hairdresser, received $988,000 to her account. Dobson, 48, is accused of receiving $950,000 to her account and Bradshaw allegedly received $1.9 million.

Chief Parish Judge Chester Crooks made the accused subjects of a fingerprint order and ordered that on the next mention date, they should surrender their passports or birth certificates to the court's office. The matter is to be mentioned on July 25, when Smellie, Hibbert and Whyte are set to return to court.

The allegations are that on March 14, the bank made a report to the police in relation to fraudulent transfers being made from a customer's account to accounts at other financial institutions. The affected customer went to the offices of the Constabulary Financial Unit with bank statements. However, someone with the customer's banking informational called the bank's customer service unit, pretending to be the customer, and requested that certain credentials linked to the account be changed. Online banking access was created and the affected customer's daily online transaction limit was increased to $8 million.

It was further alleged that between February 15 and 22, some 49 transfers were made via the online banking platform totalling $46,247,000. The funds were allegedly transferred to 34 different accounts held at three other financial institutions.