The warning comes as the United States Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of Pennsylvania revealed that a 49-year-old Canadian man has been convicted of conspiracy to commit mail fraud, wire fraud and money laundering. According to United States Attorney Bruce D Brandler, between 2008 and 2010 Mr Okpalefe and his co-conspirators stole more than $23 million from hundreds of US lawyers and law firms. The United States Postal Inspection Service has said that it has reason to believe that this scheme is ongoing and is encouraging anyone receiving a cheque in the mail to be vigilant and to work closely with financial institutions to understand when a check has been verified as legitimate - even if funds are immediately made available upon deposit of the cheque.

The scam

Under the guise of seeking legal representation, the conspirators contacted attorneys and law firms in the United States using fake email accounts. Once an attorney or law firm agreed to represent the purported client, the conspirators sent bank cheques through the mail and instructed them to deposit the money into their IOLTA accounts. From there, the attorneys were provided with wire instructions and they wired their legitimate funds to Asian bank accounts.

Too late

Before the counterfeit cheques were returned as fraudulent, the money had already been withdrawn by co-conspirators in Asia and distributed to conspirators’ bank accounts in Nigeria and Canada.  Mr Okpalefe and his co-conspirators operated in Canada, Nigeria, Japan and South Korea.

Investigation

The case was investigated by the United States Secret Service, the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the United States Postal Inspection Service. The Toronto Strategic Partnership and the Toronto Police Service provided integral assistance in the investigation and prosecution of the case. The case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorneys Chelsea Schinnour and Kim Douglas Daniel.