Convicted Money Launderer Pleads Guilty to Defrauding Bank While He Was Serving Term of Supervised Release

            WASHINGTON – Deallto McQuil Key Davis, 25, of Maryland, pled guilty today to conspiring to defraud Wells Fargo Bank out of hundreds of thousands of dollars, announced Acting U.S. Attorney Michael R. Sherwin and James A. Dawson, Special Agent in Charge of the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s (FBI) Washington Field Office Criminal Division.

            Davis pled guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit bank fraud, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 371, in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. The charge carries a statutory maximum sentence of five years in prison. Under federal sentencing guidelines, Davis faces a likely recommended sentence of 24 to 30 months in prison.  The plea agreement calls for Davis to pay $144,117 in restitution and the same amount in a forfeiture money judgment.

            In 2015, Davis was convicted of conspiracy to commit money laundering in federal court in Virginia. He was sentenced to six months in prison and three years of supervised release for that offense.

            From January 2018 through April 2018, while he was on supervised release, Davis conspired with others to defraud Wells Fargo Bank. The conspiracy involved Davis traveling to Wells Fargo ATMs in the District of Columbia, Maryland, and Virginia, depositing worthless checks into accounts belonging to other account holders, and causing the ATMs to malfunction. The checks Davis deposited were ultimately dishonored by the issuing banks, but in some cases, any hold that Wells Fargo placed on the deposited checks expired before Wells Fargo discovered the fraud. In total, Davis used Wells Fargo ATMs to conduct 24 fraudulent check deposits totaling approximately $390,000 into various Wells Fargo accounts. Participants in the conspiracy accessed approximately $144,000 from the accounts before Wells Fargo discovered the fraud.

           The Honorable Trevor N. McFadden accepted Davis’ guilty plea and scheduled his sentencing for October 8, 2020.

            In announcing the plea, Acting U.S. Attorney Sherwin and Special Agent in Charge Dawson commended the work of those from the FBI’s Washington Field Office who investigated the case. They also expressed appreciation to Paralegal Specialists Mariela Andrade and Amanda Rohde. Finally, they commended the work of former Assistant U.S. Attorney Anthony Saler, and Assistant U.S. Attorneys Kondi Kleinman and David Kent, for prosecuting the case.