Brooklyn Man Pleads Guilty in Manhattan Federal Court to Fraudulently Obtaining Loans Using Identities Stolen from Federal Reserve Bank

PREET BHARARA, United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, announced that KENNETH WILTSHIRE pleaded guilty today in Manhattan federal court before United States Magistrate Judge HENRY B. PITMAN to one count of mail fraud and one count of aggravated identity theft in connection with his having obtained boat loans using stolen identities.

According to the Superseding Information to which WILTSHIRE pleaded guilty, the Complaint filed in connection with this case, and statements made in court during today's plea proceeding:

From 2006 to 2008, WILTSHIRE used identities stolen from, among other places, the Federal Reserve Bank of New York ("FRB-NY") where his brother CURTIS WILTSHIRE worked, to obtain loans to purchase boats. Following the trail of certain loans that had been obtained with fraudulent documentation, a United States Postal Inspection Service ("USPIS") Inspector was led to a mailbox at a commercial mail-receiving agency in Jersey City, New Jersey. The mailbox had been opened with a phony driver's license bearing the picture of an FRB-NY employee, and was being used by WILTSHIRE to receive documents for a boat loan in the name of a person whose identity was being used without permission. A phony driver's license with the picture of another FRB-NY employee was also used in connection with the boat loan application, as well as a fake income tax return in the name of a FRB-NY employee. The Postal Inspector was able to follow WILTSHIRE from the mail-receiving agency through the Holland Tunnel into New York and to observe him purchasing postal money orders that were mailed to the boat loan company in the name of the individual who was purportedly seeking the loan. Over the course of the scheme, WILTSHIRE sought more than eight boat loans, totaling over $900,000.

WILTSHIRE, 40, resides in Brooklyn, New York. On the mail fraud and aggravated identity theft charges, respectively, he faces a maximum sentence of 30 years in prison and a mandatory minimum sentence of two years, which must be consecutive to the sentence imposed on the mail fraud charge. In addition, the mail fraud charge carries a maximum fine of $1 million and the identity theft charge carries a maximum fine of $250,000 or twice the gross gain or loss from the offense.

Mr. BHARARA praised the investigative work of the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the USPIS. Mr. BHARARA thanked the Federal Reserve Bank of New York for its assistance in the investigation.

The case is being handled by the Major Crimes Unit of the United States Attorney's Office. Assistant United States Attorneys DANIEL W. LEVY and ZACHARY FEINGOLD are in charge of these prosecutions.