Piscataway Man Admits To Financial Crime

PISCATAWAY, NJ — A Piscataway man admitted in federal court Wednesday to structuring more than $250,000 in bank deposits, U.S. Attorney Philip Sellinger announced.

Abdel Elgendy, 67, of Piscataway, New Jersey, pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge Esther Salas in Newark federal court to one count of structuring.

Structuring is a financial crime that involves splitting large amounts of money into smaller transactions to avoid detection and reporting requirements. It is often used in fraud and money laundering.

Federal prosecutors say that from March 2021 to November 2021, Elgendy purposefully engaged in a pattern of structuring activity to deposit over $250,000 in cash at various financial institutions. He did this to avoid various reporting requirements for transactions larger than $10,000.

However, U.S. Attorneys did not say why Elgendy did this, or where the $250,000 came from.

A New Jersey bank teller was tipped off in September 2021, when the FBI says Elgendy accidentally gave the teller more than $10,000 to be deposited. When the teller informed him the cash totaled more than $10,000, Elgendy took some of the money back to ensure the deposit was less than $10,000.

He will be sentenced in October and is facing up to 10 years in prison.