A former employee of JPMorgan Chase in Columbus, Ohio is going to federal prison for stealing thousands of dollars from customers while emptying people’s pockets in an online romance scam.
Prince Oduro has been sentenced to 8.5 years in prison for money laundering and wire fraud, NBC affiliate news channel WCMH-TV reports.
The 34-year-old pleaded guilty to stealing a total of $1.8 million from the victims and has been ordered to pay back.
“According to the federal complaint, Oduro had access to the banking information of at least five customers while working for JPMorgan Chase Bank in Columbus.
He then transferred customer funds to PayPal accounts and withdrew the money as cash.”
Oduro’s illegal banking activities began in 2015, along with the concurrent online romance scam.
He told victims he needed money for a medical procedure, that he was a U.S. soldier who had been injured overseas, or that he had access to a wealth of gold and silver.
Oduro told a victim that her late husband had stolen expensive works of art and convinced her to send him about $400,000.
According to the complaint, Oduro was first arrested in 2022 and recently rearrested in November 2023 for continuing his romance scam.
Records from Oduro’s phone show that he bragged about his crimes on WhatsApp.
“This is the only business I can do in America: make $20,000 in a month without getting arrested…
I track money, I don’t cheat anyone… It’s called money laundering.”
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