Huntington Beach Man Accused Of Stealing Millions From Bank Accounts

HUNTINGTON BEACH, CA — A federal grand jury charged 14 defendants, including a man from Huntington Beach, for their participation in a years-long scheme that lifted millions of dollars from bank accounts across the county, the Department of Justice announced Wednesday.

According to the Justice Department, the defendants were members and associates of a racketeering enterprise that obtained identifying and banking information for victims and created shell entities that claimed to offer products or services, such as cloud storage.

"This sophisticated scheme allegedly generated millions of dollars in revenue by stealing consumers’ personal information and then using that information to fraudulently reach straight into the bank accounts of thousands of Americans," said U.S. Attorney Martin Estrada for the Central District of California.

The DOJ said the enterprise executed unauthorized debits against bank accounts disguising the transactions as authorized by the account holders. Some of the unlawful debits were returned, resulting in paybacks that generated high return rates, officials said.

To conceal and continue the debits, the shell entities also generated “micro debits,” or transactions in an amount less than $1, against accounts controlled and funded by or for the enterprise, according to authorities. The micro debits artificially lowered the shell entities’ return rates to levels conspirators believed would reduce bank scrutiny, authorities said.

According to the justice department, the defendants include:

• Eric Bauer, 65, of Huntington Beach, California
• Veronica Crosswell, 35, of Long Beach, California
• Edward Courdy, 73, of Hawaiian Gardens, California
• Linden Fellerman, 67, of Las Vegas
• Guy Benoit, 68, of Cyprus
• Steven Kennedy, 54, of Canada
• Sayyid Quadri, of Canada
• Ahmad Shoaib, 63, of Canada
• John Beebe, 52, of Honolulu
• Michael Young, 41, of Hollywood, Florida
• Lance Johnson, 52, of Laveen, Arizona
• Jenny Sullivan, 46, of Denver
• Randy Grabeel, 71, of Pittsburg, California
• Debra Vogel, 68, of Las Vegas

Baur, along with 11 other defendants, is charged with racketeering conspiracy and wire fraud according to the DOJ. If convicted, Baur could face up to 20 years in prison for racketeering and 30 years for wire fraud, authorities said.

“The scheme alleged in the indictment involved an elaborate plot to reach into consumers’ bank accounts and steal their hard-earned savings,” said Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Brian M. Boynton, head of the Justice Department’s Civil Division. “The Department of Justice will use all of the tools at its disposal to prosecute such schemes.”

The DOJ urged people to look out for unauthorized debits to their accounts by regularly checking banks, credit cards and other financial statements and contact the bank if there is an unrecognized charge.

Officials asked that any identified fraudulent debits be reported to the FTC at www.ftccomplaintassistant.gov or 877-FTC-HELP.

Patch staffer Anna Schier contributed to this report.