PITTSBURGH, Pa. ‑ A resident of Uniontown, Pa., has been indicted by a federal grand jury in Pittsburgh on charges of bank fraud and conspiracy to commit money laundering , United States Attorney David J. Hickton announced today.

The four-count indictment named Veronica Smith, 55, as a defendant.

According to indictment, Smith executed a scheme to defraud Dwelling House Savings and Loan (DHSL) of its assets using fraudulent ACH transactions. Smith opened a PayPal account and associated her DHSL bank account to the PayPal account.  Using PayPal to initiate ACH transactions, she caused disbursements to be made from DHSL in amounts that far exceeded any balance she had in her accounts at DHSL. Those insufficient funds transactions were not rejected and reversed by DHSL personnel.  Smith also used various bank and credit card accounts of others for the same purpose. The loss attributed to Smith is at least $213, 286.53. Smith also was charged with conspiracy to commit a money laundering transaction that derived from proceeds of bank fraud.

The law provides for a maximum total sentence of 110 years in prison, a fine of $3,500,00.00, or both. Under the Federal Sentencing Guidelines, the actual sentence imposed would be based upon the seriousness of the offenses and the prior criminal history, if any, of the defendant.

Assistant United States Attorney Paul E. Hull is prosecuting this case on behalf of the government.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Internal Revenue Service and the Pittsburgh Bureau of Police conducted the investigation leading to the indictment in this case.

An indictment is an accusation.  A defendant is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.

Return to Top