What happened? Dwayne C. Hans was charged with wire fraud, computer fraud and money laundering for allegedly being behind a scheme to steal more than $1.5 million from an unnamed U.S. financial institution.
Jurisdiction: Hans' initial appearance was in the U.S. Courthouse in Spokane, Wash., but he will likely be moved to the Eastern District of New York for further proceedings.
Background? The Department of Justice alleges that Hans stole $134,000 from the financial institution in question and then attempted to take an additional $1.5 million. According to a DOJ statement, Hans allegedly posed as a person authorized to conduct business for the company and then misappropriated money from corporate bank accounts to buy stocks and real estate.
Hans also allegedly hacked into SAM.gov, which stores information on companies doing business with the U.S. government, in order to commit further crimes. Due to Hans' manipulation of SAM.gov, the Pension Benefit Guarantee Corporation sent more than $1.5 million to his account instead of the financial institution.
Quote: “During this unauthorized website intrusion, the defendant changed information in entries pertaining to the financial institution, including by replacing the bank account information for the financial institution with the defendant's personal bank account information,” the DOJ wrote.
