Second Bank Employee Admits Role in Fraud Conspiracy
PROVIDENCE – Another former bank employee today admitted to a federal judge that she stole the banking information of unsuspecting individuals and businesses and provided that information to co-conspirators, who used it to create fraudulent personal and business checks, announced United States Attorney Zachary A. Cunha.
Isha-Lee Savage, 24, admitted that, while employed by Santander Bank, she accessed customer information and sent screenshots of that information to co-conspirators. The information was used to create fraudulent checks that the leader of the fraud conspiracy, Richard Koboi, provided to other individuals that he solicited on Facebook and paid to deposit the checks into bank accounts that they controlled. Savage also used her position working in the bank’s call center to ask customers to provide their debit card information which Savage then provided to her co-conspirators so that they could make fraudulent purchases.
On January 19, 2023, Savonnah Briggs, 28, a now former employee of Citizens Bank, admitted that, while employed by the bank, she similarly accessed customer banking information and check images and provided them to Kobi, who similarly used the information to create fraudulent checks for deposit by himself or others. After the checks were deposited, Koboi and others made, or attempted to make, rapid withdrawals of cash from ATMs or bank tellers.
According to information presented to the court, members of the conspiracy created and deposited approximately $330,000 worth of counterfeit checks.
Savage and Briggs each pleaded guilty to a charge of conspiracy to commit bank fraud. Briggs is scheduled to be sentenced on April 25, 2023; Savage is scheduled to be sentenced on May 2, 2023. The defendants’ sentences will be determined by a federal district judge after consideration of the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.
Richard Kobi pleaded guilty on April 27, 2022, to conspiracy to commit bank fraud, ten counts of bank fraud, and being a felon in possession of a firearm. He was sentenced in December 2022 to three years in federal prison.
The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Ly T. Chin.
The matter was investigated by the U.S. Postal Inspection Service, with the assistance of the FBI, United States Secret Service, ATF, Rhode Island State Police, Providence Police Department, and Delaware State Police.
