Weymouth Man Pleads Guilty to Bank Fraud Conspiracy and Identity Theft

BOSTON – A Weymouth man pleaded guilty yesterday to his involvement in a scheme to defraud a financial institution and to obtain money from its customers using fraudulent identification documents.

Judemario Josaphat, Jr., 26, pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit bank fraud and one count of aggravated identity theft. U.S. District Court Judge Denise J. Casper scheduled sentencing for May 4, 2022. Josaphat was charged with an alleged co-conspirator on Feb. 4, 2021.

Josaphat participated in and, at times, directed a scheme to defraud a financial institution. To carry out the scheme, Josaphat and others used fraudulent identification documents, among other means, to withdraw money from customers’ accounts at a federally-insured bank in the form of checks and cash. The fraudulently-obtained funds were then deposited in other bank accounts opened in the names of fictitious business entities before being withdrawn. The scheme resulted in over $800,000 in losses between December 2017 and February 2018.

The charge of conspiracy to commit bank fraud provides for a sentence of up to 30 years in prison, up to five years of supervised release and a fine of $1 million. The charge of aggravated identity theft provides for a mandatory sentence of two years in prison to be served consecutively to any other sentenced imposed, one year of supervised release and a fine of $250,000. Sentences are imposed by a federal district court judge based upon the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.

United States Attorney Rachael S. Rollins and Joseph R. Bonavolonta, Special Agent in Charge of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Boston Division made the announcement. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Leslie A. Wright and Christopher J. Markham of Rollins’ Securities, Financial & Cyber Fraud Unit are prosecuting the case.