A former TD Bank employee in Florida has pleaded guilty to accepting bribes in exchange for fraudulently opening bank accounts, many of which were later used in other financial crimes.
In a U.S. district court in New Jersey, Jhonnatan Steven Rodriguez pleaded guilty to one count of taking bribes as a bank employee and one count of making false bank entries in connection with a scheme that involved accepting bribes of between US$200 and US$250 per account to open approximately 140 bank accounts for purported customers.
According to court filings, starting in late 2022, Rodriguez began accepting bribes to open accounts for individuals who were not present during the onboarding process and whose identities were not verified.
He allegedly communicated over a private messaging app with the purported clients using an alias, received payments through a peer-to-peer money transfer network and forged the clients’ signatures on the account-opening documents.
During the scheme, he allegedly opened multiple accounts at the bank for several clients. Numerous accounts were later used for fraudulent activity, including cheque fraud and money laundering through ATMs in Colombia, U.S. authorities alleged.
Rodriguez’s sentencing is scheduled for Nov. 25.