New York Man Sentenced for Fraud Scheme and Aggravated Identity Theft

NEW ORLEANS – U.S. Attorney Duane A. Evans announced that EMMANUEL COBBS, age 34, of New York, was sentenced today by United States District Judge Jane Triche Milazzo to 48 months in federal prison for his role in opening fraudulent bank accounts in New Orleans. COBBS’s sentence is comprised of 24 months for bank fraud conspiracy, and a mandatory consecutive sentence of 24 months for aggravated identity theft.  Judge Milazzo also sentenced COBBS to three years of supervised release and the payment  of a $200 mandatory special assessment fee.

According to court documents, in February 2020, in New Orleans, COBBS and a co-conspirator, also a New York resident, opened fraudulent checking accounts in other people’s names without their permission.  The defendants used these victims’ accounts to cash counterfeit checks drawn from other customers’ accounts.  They also fraudulently obtained, and used, debit cards to rent vehicles, allowing them to avoid being easily tracked.

This investigation began with the discovery of fake identification cards, discarded at a rental car agency at the Louis Armstrong International Airport.  Homeland Security Investigations  developed evidence to show that the man pictured in the fake cards (COBBS’s co-conspirator) had committed fraudulent transactions at various bank branches.  Agents later learned that COBBS had assisted in the fraud.