Banking insiders working with an organised crime group have been sentenced on charges of stealing up to £1 million from customer accounts
Organised crime group members Tosin Aminoritse, Matthew Abass and Emmanuel Chukwumeka Okafor recruited bank staff Tyrone Ayodele Odesanya, Ishmeal Jack and Hasses Khan, to create a sophisticated criminal network, targeting numerous victims.
The criminal network unlawfully accessed customer accounts to steal their money, using individuals pretending to be genuine customers to attend branches, conduct withdrawals and transfer funds to bank accounts under the group’s control.
The group were sentenced at Southwark Crown Court on 1 and 2 November 2023. Aminoritse received six and half years in prison, Abass received five and a half years, and Okafor received four years.
Bank staff Odesanya and Jack were sentenced to three years and nine months respectively, whilst Khan received a community order for 18 months to complete 240 hours unpaid work.
Detective Constable Andrew Hammond who investigated the case for the banking industry sponsored police unit, the Dedicated Card and Payment Crime Unit, comments: “Aminoritse, Abass and Okafor callously orchestrated the theft of over £1 million from unsuspecting victims. They carefully worked together to defraud banks and their customers. Odesanya, Jack and Khan abused their positions of trust and responsibility that came with their roles as bank staff."
The name of the bank(s) involved was not disclosed.