Malden Man Sentenced For Role In Bank Fraud Scheme

MALDEN, MA — A Malden man was sentenced in federal court for his role in a conspiracy to defraud bank customers.

Lajerran Long, 27, pleaded guilty in June to one count of bank fraud conspiracy.

Long's case was part of a larger investigation into a scheme to withdraw money, in the form of checks and cash, from customer accounts at several banks. The ringleaders paid people to go into banks with falsified identification documents in the names of bank customers and request withdrawals from those accounts, the U.S. Attorney's office said.

Bank tellers were also recruited to accept the falsified documents without scrutiny and facilitate the withdrawals. The money was then negotiated through accounts at other banks that had been opened in the names of businesses that did not exist, the USAO said.

Federal authorities said Long was paid to recruit a teller at Santander Bank. In December 2017 and January 2018, the teller was used to fraudulently withdraw more than $800,000, the majority of which was recovered by the bank, the USAO said.

Long was sentenced to nine months in prison and three years of supervised release. He was also ordered to pay restitution of $357,333 and forfeiture of $5,000.