California Man, Zheng B. Ni, Pleads Guilty To Credit Card Fraud And Aggravated Identity Theft

U.S. Attorney Kenneth Allen Polite, Jr. announced that yesterday, ZHENG B. NI, age 26, a resident of Los Angeles, California, pled guilty before U.S. District Judge Ivan L.R. Lemelle to four counts of access device fraud and one count of aggravated identity theft.

 According to the court documents, on or about September 3, 2012, NI fraudulently used credit cards belonging to three individuals without their consent or authorization.  In one day, NI made or attempted to make purchases totaling over $67,000 at various stores in the Greater New Orleans area.

NI faces a sentence of up to 10 years’ imprisonment on each count of access device fraud, followed by a mandatory minimum of 2 years’ imprisonment for the aggravated identity offense, to run consecutive to any term of imprisonment he receives on the access device fraud charges.  In addition, NI will be ordered to pay restitution for the amounts charged to the credit cards.  His sentence is scheduled for September 3, 2014.

The case was investigated by the United States Secret Service and prosecuted by Emily K. Greenfield.